Rumors:
News From The Front! Read It All!
As news filter back from the front of the Horrors our soldiers fight, so do the tales of their bravery, their heroism, and sacrifices. As over a thousand Starlight-Knights descended upon our retreating army with unparalleled coordination, our own met them undaunted by the sea of bodies that tried to stop them. In a display of tactical brilliance, we outright executed the Knights of the Flood. The Knights maneuvered in such a way as always to have superior numbers, drowning our protectors in a sea of bodies and dragging them down with corpses alone, too afraid to meet them themselves. This disturbing lack of care for lives came to a stop as General Janistar Ling devised a trap to force the Flood to bring all its Knights to bear. It ended in the death of all but four, as more than seven-hundred
thousand corpses clogged the canyon, surpassing the thirsting pass in all metrics. Yet not all news are as uplifting as these, as 1.472 Knights and over 57.000 soldiers have died to bring us this pyrrhic victory. And pyrrhic it is, as the survivors of the destroyed Chapters and their retinues choose to stand against the Flood, buying time with their own lives. Time our troops used to re-organize, resupply, and fortify passes and valleys, ordering the civilians living in the regions to flee, lest they become a part of the Flood as well. Let us pray for their success. And for the poor souls that have died for the Councils madness.
First Wave Of Refugees Arrives.
The first wave of evacuated people has arrived a while back, and so far, there has been little tension. Most have family they can go to, while the rest has dispersed over the government's various poor-houses and multiple religions. A few houses on the slums' edges have been bought up to be converted to hold the next and longer waves to ensure that few have to try sleeping under the open sky. What is unsurprising is that many preachers have taken the sight of those displaced people to start proselytizing. Even the Pilgrims have joined in, but they place their new converts into fair housing and supply them with free food, so I'd say that's a karmic even.
Shield-Belt-Alliance Musters Troops Near Evertorch Borders.
The troops of the SBA, that eclectic mix of twenty-seven nations between the Sunners, and us, are mustering. The merchants' news indicates that the Sunners have sent several crazed "Child/Peasant-Crusades" over the border, which ended in predictable results. This is only the latest provocation in a long line of the posturing of the Sunners, though why they choose to do at the moment is up to speculation. The Empire may be occupied with the Flood, but the SBA is more than capable of holding them off until our troops return to aid them.
***
Spy-Network:
The Church Of Eden looks down on you with scorn. The lower members have started to increase their Anti-Pilgrim sentiments in their sermons, which, as far as you can tell, are sanctioned by the higher clergy. They are trying to see how far you can be pushed.
(-10 to all diplomatic rolls in Turn 27)
The Common People are very concerned about the outer villages being evacuated, and many are starting to prepare for evacuation to the bigger city's. The most pressing matter (besides the Titan) is a lack of sanitation, though expanded sewers are currently being constructed. Estimates say they will be finished in one year.
The Mutated are acclimatizing to their new normal. Sure, they are still not allowed to visit or buy in many of the same places as humans do, but they won't be beaten for being near one for more than a few minutes. Some have started to own businesses outside the slums. They have evacuated or sold the outlying building of the slums to the authorities to avoid any trouble early on, though how much that helps is up to debate.