The Rim and the Hammer (Exalted/Warhammer Quest)

[DragonParadox]

The Rim and the Hammer ​

The Change came swift as an a storm out of the North, implacable as an avalanche from the high mountains. Neither man nor spirit, nor any being of Creation great and small save perhaps for the Maidens on their inscrutable thrones knew the purpose or the hour... and perhaps not even them. The Loom cannot read that which is not upon the canvas of Creation, it cannot know the mind and the heart of the Unshaped who dwell in the Courts of Madness, if mind and heart such creatures can be said to have. And yet for the mortals of the Rim, those children of the world driven to the car reaches of the world by war and pestilence by chance or by the desire for freedom from the stiffing hand of the Realm it was all too understandable, all too familiar. The Wyld marched upon the world and the whims of its masters could only be endured until they passed. Little did any of them know just how far the storm would take them.

What eyes not look upon the face of strange skies unveiled? Who are you who listens to the voice of a land your ancestors knew not and which even the gods find frightful and unexplored? Who are you who looks to the horizon with dread, with longing and with hope?

[] Sezakan
Advantages
-People of the Air, among the races created during the High First Age the people of the air were given wings that they may soar freely , swift as an arrow in flight
-High Heritage, the blood of the loyalist Air Dragonblooded, of wind gods and icy spirits runs in the veins of your people
-Reality Engine, though the power of this marvel of the First Age can no longer drive back the Deep Wild as it once did it can still ward the city more than any other arts of this fallen age, reducing the taint of even the Middlemarches to the stability of Creation within the walls of the city

Disadvantages
-Disdain the Wingless, the joy and the glory of flight is central to your society, so you will struggle to deal with those who do not share it. at best your people pity such unfortunates, at worst they fear and despise them
-Isolated, alone among the Northern mountains the city has had little chance to trade or have dealings with other mortal folk. Only the gods and spirits visited through the long years
-Reality Engine. Those Beyond have taken note of the dreadful wonder you carried into this realm

[] Vesathar Valley
Advantages
-One Thousand Dragons of Old: Roughly 600 enlightened Pterok and 400 enlightened Raptok live and work there alongside more than5,000 humans. within their eternally reincarnating souls lie some of the secrets of the First Age and others older still before the birth of man under the strange eye of the Primordials
-Of Leaf and Crystal: Thanks to a series of hothouses the Vale has access to the very simplest of the Dragon Kings vegetative technology and a level of crystal technology which would be counted merely rustic and quaint by the standards of the High First Age
-Broken Skyship, one of the fabulous sky chariots of the first age lies broken upon the floor of the vale, perhaps not beyond repair with dream-wrought memory

Disadvantages
-Not One Dragon More, Dragon Kings to not grow in numbers as mortals do, the souls of the dead merely return to the eggs of their kind and while it is hard to destroy those souls is is seemingly impossible to create more by any power less than the Primordials who are no more
-For the glory of the Most High, Dragon Kings and thus the people of Vesathar Valley worship the Unconquered Sun with ritualistic sacrifice of hearts, a practice which is unlikely to gain your many friends in this new world.
-A People Complacent, the Lunars claim that the greatest evil of the Old Realm was not the depravity of the Solars, but their attempt to create a perfect utopia in which mortals no longer had to strive for anything, given the state of the vale's mortal populace they may have a point. They are content to leave everything outside of the narrow sphere of their own lives to their reptilian overlords.

[] Golden Crown
Advantages
-Land of a Thousand Peoples: In the Republic of Halta many who are shunned in other parts of Creation are welcomed for their unique strengths. Here you might meet a snakeman physician, a hawkman thaumaturge and even a spiderman entertainer, here the ata-beasts, what outsiders call the talking beasts are given the same protections under the law as a human
-Yagan: The ruined city, now the Dominion of the Rhaska Noble Slulura, Lord of the Lower Branches lies a scan two miles from Glorious Crown and it is the source of some of the city's most unique trade goods. The Fair Folk hold much wealth and many secrets, they know much of the Wyld which carried you to this place and whose influence pervades this new land
-Meritocratic Nobility: Where in other lands, even in the Realm which counts itself the heart of the world Nobles are chosen by blood alone in Halta is one is to rule, human, beastman or ata-beast, they must have proven themselves as commanders of war-bands and traveling judges dispensing justice to the scattered villages of the republic

Disadvantages
-Sundered City, Golden Crown is a city that lived off trade, with other Haltan Cities with foreigners and with the Fair Folk. Though all its citizens have passed the Test of Survival, sent alone into the forest until the returned with the pelt of a beast or a rare herb the city is not a single soul, but a vast voracious organism that requires raw materials, trade goods and food from the outlying villages, yet beyond the place that was Changed even the great Redwoods stop
-Yagan: Do the Fair Folk still count themselves bound by the pacts of Queen Chaltra Amritsa to not harm any of those who dwell in the trees? For all that the Haltans have long traded with the Fair Folk for gossamer and woks of Glamor, even allied with them in war against the hated Linowan none of your people forget the dreadful hunger for dreams and souls that hides behind the too-fair face of a Rhaska
-People of the Forest: All works and tools of the Haltan are of the forest, their weapons of ironwood, their armor of chemically treated bark, their longhouses in the branches of the Redwood trees, but there are no redwoods in this new land and all the birds and beasts are strange to you

 

[DragonParadox]

The Voice in the High Hall ​

Date Unknown, Elsewhere

Perhaps alone of all the cities of Creation Sezakan amid its lonely peaks was ruled in a line unbroken since the days of the High First Age. Though its memory was tattered by the slow decay of ages as the Essence Lights failed and scribes were forced once more to work by lantern light and fire's glow they never did forget that they were the heirs of those who had kept the faith in the Deliberative even as traitors raged across the face of Creation. Upon the walls of the Council Chamber etched in finely painted marble, as vivid now as it had been millennia ago the noble countenance of the first Solar Council look upon their decedents, with cold demanding gaze. Will you live up to our legacy? They seem to say. Will you fly the storm winds or instead crash and break upon the mountains of adversity?

Thirteen you are as thirteen there were of old and though the city beyond the windows of the Council Chamber is still and dark, lonely in its vastness with only seven thousand souls within halls that once held a quarter of a million you all still rule by virtue of the the Trials of Dawn which had been instituted when the last Solar Prince of the city was lost. Swiftest fliers are you and most skilled and puissant in the wielding of your own Essence, strong runs the blood of the High Airs in Sezakan as it has not in many a long years. Eleven hands in all of Exalted does the city count among its people, from silver-haired elder to fledgling new come to their power and twenty eight more bear the sign of divine favor upon their blood and their kin.

Gain 55 Azure Dragonbloods and 28 God-Blooded

Thus the priests of the The First Shrine of Sunset claimed it to be a sign, a portent from the Most High, some whispered even of the return of the Lawgivers who will reward you for keeping the faith. But when the world changed it was not in a corona of golden radiance but in a whirling kaleidoscope of color and sound, nameless passions and madness undreamt. The mountains heaved and for one dreadful moment you felt the Essence of the world break, like a calving piece of a glacier falling down in avalanche. And then like ice upon the mountain's slopes it settled elsewhere. The mountains around you were different and the veil of stars strange. Even the face of Luna is not the same, but smaller and more distant and when the sun rose its light seemed fainter and many despaired at the sign. Already some whisper in the market places that you are cursed, that the Council is curse for the choice it took in turnings of the Wheel past. You think back to that day... but you cannot bring yourself to reject the wing raised in approval of mercy.

Strangest of all portents and most divisive of Elder Blackfeather's decisions as Voice of the Council a pair of the Wyld Kissed now count Sezakan as their home, begotten when their mother, a skilled and savvy Relic Finder had delved too deep in the caves under the Mountains of Frost and come upon the Freehold of the Rashka who claimed those lands. Unlike most who happened upon such dwellings Cunning Sage of Serendipity was not drained of her life, nor was she even enslaved for she entranced the Prince with tales of what she had seen in her journeys and she defeated him often in games of whit and chance. In time she claims those contests lead her to his bed. Two children did she bear him as alike and as different from each other as two snowflakes and in one final trick of which she will not speak she won herself and her children free of her faerie lover returning to Sezakan on the night of the New Moon past when the Wyld is weakest.

A few called to expose the children, to leave them upon the mountain to perish or else be found by their accursed sire, but they were for all their strangeness as your people are of face and form and wing and so they were allowed to remain in the city in the care of their mother, though as all who are touched by the Wyld they are commanded by ancient law to bear and sire no children. The alternative would have been the loss of Cunning Sage of Serendipity not only a skilled Relic Finder but one of the Azure Dragons besides.

Gifts of the Wyld -> Gain 2 Fae-Blooded

"Were this 'prince' of Cunning Sage's able to move mountains she would not have escaped him!" you shout over the din of the council chambers. "Some greater power has moved us across Creation and now it is the place of the Council to lead, not cast blame one upon the other like children pointing fingers at each other over a broken Essence Light."

And so they are still, for now at least. Among those Thirteen you are the Voice of the City, first among equals and in this hour of tumult it falls to you as it did to Righteous Raging Storm to lead Sezakan... for now at least. How long you can keep your seat depends on your decisions in the days ahead.

You look into the darkened glass of the windows and see...

[] A man: Write in name

[] A woman : Write in name

As Sezakan has been inhabited continuously since the days of the Old Realm Sezakanian names are descriptors as was the custom in those days. Long descriptors are often shortened in casual conversation.

Whence springs the Essence that flows through you?

You have Five (5) Bonus points

[] Through long trials and thaumaturgic skill, you are a an Enlightened Mortal (Gain 2 Bonus points; Roll 3d6 for stats; Essence capped at 3)

[] From the gifts and the trysts of the small gods, you are God-Blooded (Roll 3d6 for stats re-roll lowest)

[] From the blood of the dragons who kept their vows, you are one of the Azure Dragons (Costs 2 Bonus points Roll 4d6 for stats)

What face looks back at you from the glass?

[] Write in character appearance (Optional; if none is chosen l I'll look for one)

OOC: Next update we will vote for traits, and the good ones will cost bonus points.

 

[DragonParadox]

A Prayer to Distant Light ​

Date Unknown, Elsewhere

Sharp Gust of Insight would never get used to how soft the chair was, by most accounts the enormous dragonfooted chair just shy of being a throne had been the seat of Righteous Raging Storm, the Loyal Soldier who had lead Sezakan through the chaos of the Usurpation, taken in those few who had come in peace seeking refuge from the traitors and put to the sword any war parties of the traitors searching through the Northwestern mountains. As it happened Gust knew that was all nonsense, the whole chamber had burned to the ground during the chaos following the Great Contagion as the last of the Crimson Dragons immolated himself inside, together with the mob that had come for his head. The histories of the city were quiet on the matter, a silence that only shame could really bring. The survivors had come back though, they had rebuilt, they had kept the Essence mechanisms going and they had dragged this particular charm out of the penthouse apparent of the former Minister of Public Works, Golden Feather of Sunrise who would never have need of it... or of any material comfort.

May He Who is Unconquered by all the trials of the Heaven grant that when my mandate is done they do not have to look for another chair, Gust thought, feathers sighing softly as the brushed against the back of the chair. In the silence that followed his proclamation the sound seemed uncomfortably loud, as though all of them could hear, as though all of them knew that he was just...

Assign Stats: 19, 17, 17, 16, 13, 12, 12

[] Write in (Martial, Diplomacy, Stewardship, Intrigue, Learning Piety, Combat)

Though the gift of the air signs through you, the blood of Mela shining through Sezakan is not the decadent Realm of the Scarlet Empress of which you had heard only rumor born by the wind spirits. One may not by that greatness alone be celebrated, but by the skills you bring forth, as polishing a gemstone calls forth its inner luster

You have Three (3) Bonus Points remaining

[] Write in traits

Inherent
Buffeting Wings - You have learned how to use your wings in battle, another pair of limbs is a distinct advantage, but wings are fragile things (+5 Combat; greater chance of wings being injured in combat) -1 Bonus Point
Cloudy Gaze - Your eyes are an unnerving white as though frozen over. Though your sight is unaffected others find it distinctly disquieting (-3 Diplomacy) +1 Bonus Point
Fragile - You were always delicate as a child, without good fortune and the skills of the healers you might not have seen your third year, but that effort was proven all the more fruitful when you took the Second Breath and became Exalted (-3 to combat; become more easily exhausted in combat) Gain +1 Bonus Point
Sharp Gaze - Your gaze is a sharp as a falcon's from on high (+3 Intrigue May re-roll a failed perception roll such as against an ambush as long as it depends at least partially on physical cues) -1 Bonus Point
Genius - Whatever you put your mind to as a child came easily to you, too easy your father used to say, though he smiles as he did so (+3 to all stats) -2 Bonus points
Strong - Even for one of the Exalted you are strong of limb and have made much use of it (+2 to Combat+1 to Diplomacy) -1 Bonus Point
Strong Wings - All members of the Council are swift and skillful fliers, but you put them all to shame. There has not been such a display as yours for generations (+2 Diplomacy with People of the Air; +10 to all rolls that depend on the speed of one's flight)-1 Bonus Point

Social Traits
Aura of Authority - Your peers have always looked to you for leadership (+2 Diplomacy; Re-roll one failed morale roll per combat as long as you can make yourself seen and heard) -1 Bonus Point
Brave - Ever first into the fray, from childhood squabbles to skirmishes with the horrors unleashed by the Fey (+1 Martial +3 Combat; must roll a DC 50 Martial roll to retreat from combat) -1 Bonus Point
Dour - You are keenly aware of how much your people have lost and fear that you will never again rise to those wondrous heights (-3 Diplomacy +1 Learning; cannot be taken with Gregarious) +1 Bonus point
Gregarious - You enjoy the company of others and they yours (+2 Diplomacy -1 Intrigue) -1 Bonus Point
Multi-Lingual You learned all the other Direction Languages from tomes alone (+1 Diplomacy +20 to rolls to learn new languages) -1 Bonus Point
Proud - To give ground before a foe is to disgrace yourself, your kin and the blood of Mela that flows through your veins (-1 Diplomacy -2 Intrigue) +1 Bonus point

Profession
Beast-Tamer - To most the creatures of the Bordermarches are nothing but horrors to be destroyed, but among them you found a friend (+3 Martial +1 Learning; a Wyld-touched flying war-beast to be your steed; allows for taming other such creatures if you can find them) -2 Bonus points
Thaumaturgic Engineer - You worked with some of the most advanced and most dangerous relics in Sezakan (+5 Learning -1 Martial; Stewardship and Intrigue; +15 in understanding Wyld Effects) -2 Bonus points
Thaumaturgic Healer - You were one of those who helped preserve the life of young and old alike in the face of a harsh world (+2 Learning +1 Piety; can roll to patch up battle wounds reducing the penalty they give in combat by half; In case of crippling injury can prevent it from taking hold with a DC 60 Learning roll) -2 Bonus points
Spirit Speaker - All your people are drawn to the sky, but you were drawn in equal measure to those spirits who are of the sky, among them you found friends and enemies, but from both you found respect (+2 Learning; +2 Piety +10 when conversing with spirits of air frost and similar concepts) -1 Bonus Point
Wyldguard - Guardian, herder, hunter, you have been all three and more on the fringes of the Borderlands (+1 Martial +1 Intrigue; Re-roll a failed roll against enchantment once per battle or engagement) -1 Bonus Point

Special
Relic Finder Lore - A former Relic Finder, you have delved into lore chance-found that others may count lost, perhaps well lost (+6 Learning Allows access to the fundamentals of a forbidden lore thanks to your experience delving into First Age Ruins) -3 Bonus Points
Elemental Kinship - Those born of the Elemental Dragons, of blood or of spirit share a bond imperishable (+2 Learning +2 Diplomacy; begin with the friendship of a Thunderbird one of the rainbow hued warlike air elementals; the spirit will aid you if you have need of, particularly in battle; and its favor leaves some indelible mark on you) -3 Bonus Points

OOC: You guys might want to keep some of those bonus points for the last character creation round if you want more than seven charms to start with.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Wheels Turning Still​

Date Unknown, Elsewhere

It it weren't for the fact that the Essence lights were still burning in the Council Chamber you would have rushed to the Sezekan's Heart at once and not just to see to the safety of those whom you had worked with and lead for so many years. For most the tall pyramid glowing the cold blue of the sun seen through glacier ice at the crossroad of the city was simply 'magic', a source of pride and reassurance yes, a connection to the glorious past, but one poorly understood. For those who had gained mastery of their own Essence it was a bit more, a reassuring point of stability that one could find and navigate towards even with one's eyes closed from five leagues distant, its quiet hum a sign that home was close. But you know it better than any other living soul, the geometric pathways delved through stone with the perfection of living anima by savants that shone with the brilliance of the Sun itself, the runes that at once proclaimed and enforced its purpose to guard and nurture the city and at the very top of the pyramid the Engine which filled your dreams with its perfection... and your darkest fears of failure.

But in the moment of transposition of change a far greater fear had gripped your heart, all of it all the power of the city, the artifice that allowed your people to be more than barbarians squabbling and scavenging among the rocks was dependent on the Dragon Lines which passed Essence through Creation. If you had been moved to some other place than what chance was there that you would find yourself upon a natural wellspring of power, a domain capable to powering the manse?

And yet the lights were still on. You calm the council as best you can, not for the first time profoundly grateful to Carrie for cutting though the shouting and the recrimination and start taking stock of the situation. 'Start' being the operating word here, everyone is waiting for reports from their own departments, from spirits and priests to the Wyld guard and the healers. As the council takes wing you do as well, the manse you destination.

The upper doors of the manse had long since been sealed, as much to prevent easy access to the Engine by any attackers as because no one would be so conceited as to claim the Prince's apartments, looted though they be. So you dive into the ground level doors, offering that reassurance you can to the engineers at the entrance and pass through halls of stone and glass, through shafts that had once housed the lifts for the use of the Wingless and come at least to the nexus chamber. You need to see it working.

It is, how and why are questions for later, now you are just glad to see it turn and turn again, no different than it had done yesterday or the day before.

The Reality Engine is an icosahedron twice the height of a man, balancing on one point and orbited by a dozen melon-sized tetrahedra, cubes and spheres each filled with intricate clock work that fold and expand space as they turn like the breath of a single living organism, almost painful to watch in its perfection of form... and in spite of all the efforts of your people growing disrepair. Of course, your hopes are to do more than keep it as it is, more than to pass it off to generations hence in the same state you had found it.

Seeking to mend the ancient wonder, to restore it, you had delved into rare and perilous lore, beyond your nature, some would say beyond your station. Fools, you scoff inwardly the Lawmakers are gone and in their absence all you can do it turn what gifts you have to the aid and the betterment of your people. Now that you are the Voice you can reveal and make use of that understanding freely, even teach it to deserving students.

What Forbidden Lore did Sharp Gust of Insight Delve into?

[] Sorcery, be bestride the elements and command the forces of creation

[] Necrotech, the forging of souls into substance and mechanism arcane

[] Astrology, the power to divine and manipulate fate and fortune

[] Write in (Subject to GM approval; must be usable by one of the Terrestrial Exalted)

What are your charms, those powers that mark you as kin of the Elemental Dragon of Air and master of the sky?

Free: Seven Charms, Four of which must come from Aspect or Favored Abilities (Lore, Occult, Stealth and Thrown)

[] Write in (List of Charms)

OOC: Remember that you do have 55 Dragonbloods, though so you are not the only source of Charms at a polity wide level so you do not need to agonize too much on this. Also, of course, you will gain more native charms in play.

 

[DragonParadox]

What Gleams in Ancient Eye ​

Almost without thought you fold your legs beneath you in a lotus position and and staple your hands together in imitation of the Pyramidal structure that is the most pleasing joining of earth and sky. The question burns at you like tongues of fire. Why is the manse still here when the shape of the very mountains is different? You consider the notion that you had not moved at all and some power had simply molded the mountains like clay around you, had grown the thick pine forests you can see to the north and east, but you discard it just as quickly, not all the artifice of the Lawmakers in their days of glory could have reshaped the land so dramatically and even if the Incarna themselves had come down from on high to work their will upon Creation for reasons known only to them that still did not explain the Wyld storm. No, the answer if far more simple, you had 'landed' for lack of a better term upon another manse of equal or greater Essence than the one which once held the Heart of Sazakan.

Breathe in... breathe out...
Breathe in Air and breathe out Will.

Like a faint mist your awareness rises from your lips allowing you to sense the lands along the Dragon Lines of this new place. To the north past the ring of mountains you can see lie peat bogs and beyond those dark gnarled forest that march up the slopes of mountains craggier and more foreboding still, but to the west and southwest the encircling mountains fall away in hills of crumbling obsidian all the way to the banks of a river wide and and growing wider until... the sea. That is it, all the way to the south frothing against a coastline of fjords and narrow inlets. Daystar give me strength if that is the Inland sea so close. Rather than speak the dark suspicion you call out to one of the engineers to fetch the far-eye.

Looking Along the Dragon Lines: 42+34+15 = 91 (Failure)
Third Occult Excellency Re-Roll: 55+34+15 = 104 (Success)

One of the younger engineers rushes to obey. It is not the usual sort of thing to set up extraneous apparatus in this chamber, but this is not the usual sort of day and this is the highest point in the city.

After a bit of scraping and unpacking you have it. the Crystalline Crucible of Sight. A relatively plain bronze tube with circles of shimmering Essence for various simple overlays the instrument had been little more than the toy of a bored noble during the Old Realm. Here and now it is a vital strategic asset of the city.

Spoiler: Crystalline Crucible of Sight

Rotating in the third and largest circle, you see the taint of the Wyld, a patina of too bright colors shimmering atop a coat of tar on all the lands north, south, east and west of you. Taint, but not the grasp of the Wyld itself, not even a hint of the Bordermarches peering over the horizon like the shadow of some dreadful beast.

Stranger and stranger. Where would you find so much tainted land, but no sign of a tear in the fabric of Creation? You are distracted from that thought by an unexpected sight of a more mundane nature, smoke, not the great sheets of it that rise from a forest fire but the threads that mark the dwelling places of man out along the river to the west. It seems the isolation of Sazakan has been brought to an abrupt end by forces beyond any decision the council could make.

At least, another darker thought comes, I hope they are humans. There is enough taint in these lands to sustain many kinds of Wyld barbarians. At least the nearest village along the banks of the river to the west of you does not seem very large. Flipping over to the second lens, circled by a representation of a viper for some reason you had not been able to decipher you see the world in grey shadows and crimson light, cold and heat. More than even the ability to see Wyld taint this Essence lens has saved your life while seeking relics, for in the frozen north heat is life and life can mean foes.

Counting From Afar: 33 + 20 (Stewardship) = 53 (Failure)

Alas without some sense of how much fire each household would need to use and thus how much heat they might give off any guess would make from this distance would be more the product of your fears and hopes than anything. Either way there is no possibility they could have missed Sazakan being deposited just over the hills.

The question now is do you send someone out to greet them? Do you go yourself? Or aught you just set a strong guard on the city and wait for your new... neighbors to make themselves known.

What do you do?

[] Send an Envoy with a detachment of Wyldguard
-[] Cunning Sage of Serendipity, she can spin a good tale
-[] Carrier of Incandescent Truths from the Silver Mountain, perhaps a mortal would be less alarming than one of the Exalted
-[] Write in

[] Go yourself, as Voice it is your responsibility to speak for the people on your first meeting with outsiders

[] Set guards and wait for them to come to you

OOC: This had to be settled before the first turn because turn actions happen on a scale of years whereas it is a mater of days to travel between Sezekan and that village on foot, mere hours in the air.

 

[DragonParadox]

Best Laid Plans​

Season of Earth Probably, Elsewhere

Being all too aware that you are not the easiest person to get along with you decide to dispatch Cunning Sage of Serendipity to the task of dealing with your new... neighbors, asses their intentions and the danger they may pose to Sezekan. 'Just what are you looking for Your Eminence?' Cunning Sage of Serendipity had asked, seemingly casually, perhaps if you had noticed the fascinated gleam in her eye you might have been more specific, but you did not and so you said: "Anything, everything, where we are, who they are, what gods to they pray to, who are their foes and allies, if they are warlike or peaceful, how their spirit guides see the Wyld and the fair folk. "

Thinking about it later maybe the last bit had been a touch insensitive, given her own history with the Rashka, but that does not turn out to be the problem.

No, the problem, which reveals itself when next you meet Cunning Sage of Serendipity three days later in the Hall of Mirrors. No one in Sezekan is sure what the original purpose of the chamber was when the Lawgivers reigned, but the endless recursive reflections of the alchemically reinforced black mirrors covering every inch of the chamber make for an impressive place for the Voice to have private meetings, not that you care that much about such things but... it is rather hard to miss the patch of newly glossy feathers on Sage's left wing when it is reflected hundreds of times over.

"Were the wingless hostile?" you ask concerned.

"Yes, sort of, but I wouldn't blame them, there were mitigating circumstances...."

The words make your stomach clench in anticipation. You had dealt with enough cocky engineers, you had been the cocky engineer enough times that the words 'mitigating circumstances' are never the herald of good things. "Explain."

"So you know I can listen to the breath of meaning behind the words? Not a very useful miracle of Mela I used to think, after all even when I found some lonely traveler on the road and did a spot of trade they still spoke something descended of the Air Tongue. This lot does not speak that, not even close."

"This would appear to be the North," you point out carefully.

She shrugs "I don't know what to tell you, they do not speak anything like the Tongue of Air. It doesn't sound like Old Realm at all in fact." And then she says something in an odd guttural tongue.

"You obtained the language?" you say cheered. Recalling the limitations of the charm-gained insight you start riffling about the cabinets in the back of the room for your Recorder of Everlasting Glory. Getting the thing to work had been a chore since the last owner had gone out of their way to make sure it was as hard as possible to overwrite two days worth of babbling babies and toddlers in various colorful garments. "If you talk into this for a few hours in the language it should retain enough of the vocabulary that you can learn it back later."

"Huh... useful." she tips her head to the side quizzically. "you know I sometimes forget you were a Relic Finder as well."

"Not dashing enough," you say with a dash of self-deprecation amid the humor.

"Not wearing all your interesting loot."

"I don't really think of it as..." you shake your head. "Not important, how did you get hurt?"

"Right so I couldn't just sit on one of their houses and meditate for an hour, they'd shoot arrows at me and I couldn't tell them not to because I did not speak the language. I did not fancy trying to pantomime that after I saw how well armed they all are. Everyone over the age of seven or so has some kind of weapon in there and all the ones who go outside the village carry three weapons on them at least, as well as wearing thick furs that will do for armor in a pinch."

You nod. "So how did you engage them enough to gain their language."

Sage sighs placing her hands to her temples: "We trailed a pair of hunters out of the village, planning to knock them out with a sleep rag, then blindfold and tie them up. in a cave we had found that had two chambers. I could meditate in the outer one and stand guard while they freely spoke to one another in the inner room. It would not much matter what they spoke about as long as they did it long enough. Alas one of them did not go down properly, it's like he was used to fighting enemies from above, we managed to get him under wing eventually and capture him but by then he had seen us. So we've just kept them so far."

Massaging your temples does not work as well as it might be hoped. The small glass of soju is slightly more efficacious. "What did you find out?"

"We are in the lands of the Skorlmlings, loose gathering of three small clans which all worship Olric, god of winter, wolves, winter-hunger and not being hungry. They seem to be a bit confused in that regard."

In spite of yourself you snort in laughter, thankfully without getting any of the liqueur on you. It is going to be a long time before you can spare more rice for alcohol. In a fit of perhaps unwarranted generosity you offer her some as well. She drinks it all in one gulp and then continues the story

"They are enemies of stronger and larger clans from the north, Wyld barbarians, who offer up prisoners and captives to the Fair Folk for... boons of some kind. The Skorlmlings seem to believe that the Rhaska are the ones giving these Skaelings their mutations, which is... not impossible but very odd. More concerning the Skaelings seem to make common warbands with the Rashka which gives them strong magic."

"They could not have more distinct names could they?" you sigh. "I suppose their... er... confused wolf god protects them though?"

"They believed so, but then three days ago there were sounds of thunder and fearful drums, the calls of mad beasts and the cackling of ravens in the night and uncanny lights all around the sacred mountain of Olric and..."

The mussing about the manse comes back to you. "And Sazakan now stands where their holy mountain used to me. The wyld surge might have destroyed their god if he was simply the god of the mountain."

"Yes, the man who saw us, his name is Bron, believes it was the work of some great... Emperor-Rhaska called the Changer of Ways. He also seems convinced that I am a servant of this creature come to tempt him. For what it's worth he does not seem entirely resistant to being tempted. I could perhaps get more information out of him that way."

"And then what are we supposed to do with him?" you ask meaningfully. "Let him go back to his people and say we admitted to serving Rashka?"

She shrugs. "Keep him until he dies of old age then, he is at least forty, old for a mortal I know food is scarce, but one more mouth won't make us starve."

What do you do about your prisoners and the Skorlmlings now that you know more about them?

[] [PRISONERS] Release the one who has not seen one of your people and imprison the one who has

[] [PRISONERS] Imprison both of them

[] [PRISONERS] Have them brought before you that you may judge them for yourself

[] [PRISONERS] Release both of them with some small gifts as apologies

[] [PRISONERS] Write in

[] [NEGOTIATIONS] Try to explain that you are strangers in this land and mean no ill to those who do not mean you ill

[] [NEGOTIATIONS] Wait to see if they send envoys to Sezekan

[] [NEGOTIATIONS] Their god is gone from among them and they are afraid, try to overawe them with power to keep them from growing into enemies

[] [NEGOTIATIONS] Write in

OOC: I thought about doing this as an interlude from Sage, but we have not really got to know Gus well so I did not want to leave his PoV this early, plus his reaction to Sage's shenanigans was fun to write.

 

[DragonParadox]

Words with the Wingless ​

Season of Earth Probably, Elsewhere

In face and stature the man Bron resembles more a man of the west than of the north, he does not have the palor nor the vivid colors of hair and eye that many of your people share, though it is hard to keep your gaze upon his face or meet his eye given that which he lack. It is not that you had not seen Wingless before, painted onto pottery, set in mosaics, carved upon the freezes in the Plaza of the Hidden Moon. You can even seen then in recordings from before the Usurpation preserved in imperishable essence, but this was not paint, nor marble, nor illusion, but a man of flesh and blood before you, young and hale perhaps by the measure of his folk, but to you he seems lacking, at worst crippled, at best unfinished, as though some lazy sculptor had lain down his tools too soon. The instinct to look at his wings to see if he is restive, to judge by the state of their grooming how he had passed his time as a prisoner leaves you looking instead at the mirrored wall over his shoulder and meeting only your own gaze.

Spoiler: Bron

Yet you are not wholly unprepared for the hour, by the grace of Mela upon you never can you be wholly unprepared for a first meeting, first of all the patterns of essence that you had learned to weave. So you do not tip your left wing a little forward to mark that you speak with truthful heart as you would have done meeting a young trapper or warrior for the first time, instead you look him up from his boots to the top of his brown haired head as if you were looking to buy the furs he came in and snort questioningly. "So, you're Bron. I would have thought you would be taller for all the trouble you caused."

Some part of you is wondering furiously what height has to do with anything. Does this lot of barbarians have a height based social order? But you had learned to trust your instincts, on first meeting.

As Sage translates and the man seems to relax a touch and smiles. "Doesn't tale a tall man to shoot a bow high sky jarl. Just a sharp eye and a strong arm. Some men scoff at bows and call them a weakling's weapon, but you can't throw a bearded axe that car now can you?"

Talking to Bron: 63 + 10 (Diplomacy) + 20 (Charm) = 93 (2 Degrees of Success)

It is uniquely bizarre to talk to the man. On the one side he is as rough-hewn as a mountain's face, such that even Cunning Sage of Serendipity finds herself calling out his cheek and she is no great proponent of decorum, but on the other side of the coin it quickly becomes clear that the Skorlmlings maintain not even the most distant memory of the Old Realm or the Deliberative. To him you are a sorcerer, by which he means those who deal with the wyld which rankles... though not as much as.

"Sure and I thought you were all rashka come for my heart. I'm glad you are just beastmen."

Sage gives you an apologetic look for translating that.

Cultural Issues: 41 + 10 (Diplomacy) = 51 (Success)

"I shall say this once because you speak in ignorance!" you snap, your anima rising in cutting wings around you. "I am no creature of the Wyld, no servant nor creation of theirs. We were given wings by the will of the Sun's Chosen and Chosen of the Petitioner of Clouds Accordant to the Call of Battle are we who stand in this chamber with you!"

The barbarian flinches, though his gaze does not drop. Ignorant he might be but not a coward.

"You are the children of a god?" he asks after Sage had translated your words.

"We are the heirs, far-distant of the great dragon Mela," you try to simplify the explanation as much as you can

After a moment the man inclines his head and apologizes for disparaging your bloodline with seeming sincerity so you grant it and move on to more productive matters, like why he is here and the other fellow is not. Apparently 'Hrolf' is very pious and would not want to do anything that might be considered treason to the tribal god.

"Are there many who would see having dealings with us that way?" you ask. "How might they be overcome that they should meet then in strength but not as foes?"

"You broke the mountain, took mountain away, don't know how, don't want to know seid-lore, no offense meant. Ulf will never have peace with you while he has blood in his veins and the strength to carry an axe. Better to kill him between the willow rods than face him in battle with many warriors at his back."

Surely he can't mean... He does, of course he bloody does. Why wouldn't a wyld-addled barbarian think a fight to the death is the only way to solve differences.

And yet you only have the word of one man, you do not think he is lying, but he could be mistaken. Barbarians or not is it wise to start your first meeting with someone by challenging their spirit-speaker to a duel to the death?

What do you do?

[] [MEETING] Challenge the shaman to show your power

[] [MEETING] Try to overawe the tribe with Charms and Sorcery such that they would not dare go to war against Sezekan

What sorcery do you possess for the occasion?
(Choose Four Spells)

Write in (List of Spells)

OOC: I have been struggling to find an online list with all the spells of the Emerald Circle and the above is the best I could do, but it is not all in there. Feel free to pick Emerald Circle Spells from any official Second Edition Source, but if you choose something not on there either include the description or the source and page number so I can copy the description over for people who are unfamiliar with the system.

 

[DragonParadox]

On Wings of Battle ​

Season of Earth Probably, Elsewhere

You take wing at sunset from the high steps of the manse, circling the city in one leisurely turn, giving any who would come to their windows the chance to see you off. A troubled day had given way to an uneasy night and rumors were already swirling about what you had found in the lands beyond, everything from an expeditionary force from the realm to one of the Chosen of the Moon come out of the Wyld leading a throng of barbarians. The truth is far stranger, one to be shared on the wing with those who come to meet you.

Rarely have you seen your fellow councilors armed for war. Auspiciously Broken Haywain wears the ornate ceremonial armor of the Captain of the Guard, golden lions upon his shoulders and a stylized map of Sazakan above his heart in sun-bright Orichalcum that none now can forge. Cunning Sage of Serendipity of course is out to show the way and she is not the least shy in flouting arms and armor of jade and cloak of fey-spun gossamer.

But it is the woman who took up the position of Minister of Essence Management in your place who is ironically garbed in the most warlike manner. Anyone but Shae would have given up of restoring Gunzosha Commando Power Armor: after the first few months of costly and at times dangerous failure as the high-power Essence-circuitry rebelled against the crude diagnostics that were all you could manage in this fallen age. But there is a reason you appointed Shae to your old position after you became the Voice... and it certainly is not her skill with administration. She just will not give up. So alone of the four of you Shadow That Dances with the Lighting Arcs is garbed in the height of ancient artifice, the armor seeming as solid as the shell of a snow scorpion and yet as light as a second skin to its bearer.

"So let me get this straight? We are going to punch barbarians in the face until they agree to be friends?" she asks, chipper as the morning breeze.

"Yes," you reply shortly.

"Are we talking just a few teeth or..."

"Our contact among the wingless has indicated that the local shaman will accept nothing less than a duel to the death, best give it to him quickly so that we may have peace with them," you sigh.

"And he won't have any friends and family, blood-brothers colleagues that want to take revenge on us for killing him?"

"Apparently not, the local tribes value strength, be that of arm or sorcery."

"When you say sorcery do you mean actual..." she glances over at Auspiciously Broken Haywain. It is not that your predilection for gaining knowledge beyond the native gifts of the dragon are unknown, but they are little understood outside the loremasters and the engineers and much like some strange machine of the Old Realm found in the ruins and newly reactivated they are not wholly trusted. There has not been a true sorcerer in Sazakan in fifty years, or a hundred and twenty if one does not count those whose only skill is counter-magic. Thankfully the commander of the Wyldguard does not raise any objections and neither do the dozen guards flying wing-ward.

You leave the city heading southwest amid cheers that ring more of desperate hope than overwhelming support for you personally, not that you can truly blame your fellow citizens, after all you had only been voice for two years compared to your predecessor's one hundred and one years as steward of the city. I will be worthy of their hopes as more than a familiar title to cling to, you vow silently.

The flight is barely long enough to set your mind in order, though you are troubled as you fly by a sliver of green light in the night's sky, like a skewer in the eye which by all your lore you cannot name. Like a storm out of the mountains you descend upon the place and with breath of horns and strike of drum you summon them from their longhouses.

Spoiler: Skorlm

So speaks Cunning Sage of Serendipity in their own tongue: "We come from Mount Vanir That-Is-Not. From the Peak of the Wolf that is of the Wolf No More. Let any who would challenge us in honorable battle come forth now or else be called a craven and a sneak-killer, a nithling."

That certainly gets an answer. Warriors, men and women, alike pour out of the houses great and small, bearing mostly axes, though a few have swords, while in the windows of the houses you can see youngsters and old folk drawing bow or hefting spear. Ironically the latter are the most equipped to fight you out of any of them, which is not to say they would stand much of a chance, but you are keenly aware that this is but one village of the wingless in a small confederation of clans.

The chief, jarl in the local tongue, had just made himself known, by the quality of his arms and the bright red of his cloak, but before he could call out a man not so much garbed in fur but wrapped in the pelt of an enormous white wolf, its snarling head resting on his shoulder, walks out of a longhouse. "So you have come, servants of the Great Liar. You could not take our blood or our minds last war season so with foul sorcery you come against us."

Spoiler: Ulf, servant of Olric

"We serve not the power of which you speak..." Sage starts, but the man barks a laugh and looks up at her with scorn.

"As I said, Liar's get. The land will know its own and whatever twisting you forced upon it will be undone in your blood."

How do you fight?

[] Use Burning Eyes of the Offender to weaken the shaman and overawe the crowd

[] Summon an Elemental to your aid, show him that the very land is under the power of the Dragonblooded

[] Break any spell the shaman, try to get him to surrender. Wyld addled or not he surely knows more of this strange land than you do

[] Write in

OOC: I was going to just roll through the fight, but then it occurred to me that you guys do have more options than just BEotO and how you choose to fight this duel will impact how you are perceived by the Norscans.

 

[DragonParadox]

Eve of Snow and Storm ​

Season of Earth Probably, Elsewhere

"I do not lie mortal man and I shall prove it in your despite in the hour of your choosing," you proclaim, anger at the insult warring with good sense or perhaps just with curiosity if you are being honest. This 'Ulf' likely knows more of whatever Sun-Lost corner of Creation you had found yourself in.

As Cunning Sage of Serendipity translates the man calls out something else in a jeering tone. Her smile in return is sharp enough to score granite with... though to be fair the crowd does not seem to take what she is saying well.

Sage Diplomacy: 21 + 18 = 39 (Failure)

Turning she explains: "The dog in wolf's pelt asks that you 'come down to the ground and face him like a man'. I said that the loss of limbs was fair so long as he strapped his arms to his side and faced you like the worm he clearly is."

You manage not to laugh, though that is more than can be said of Auspiciously Broken Haywain.

"Not a worm surely, more like a heron," Shae says frowning. "I mean he would still have his legs to walk on and his mouth to bite you with."

Sage looks at the younger woman, not sure if she is joking and good luck to her with that. You've worked with Shae for years and you were never able to definitively figure that one out.

Meanwhile the locals had been drawing back into a rough circle in the middle of the village and setting down willow rods to fight what Bron had called the holmgang.

I'll stay within the bounds of the air that contains, you decide. That should give him enough space to give him a chance to shoot arrows at you once his magic fails.

As your mind settles in the well worn patterns of stillness and resonance, weaving your essence into the fabric of Creation and holding it fast the taint of the Wyld buzzes unpleasantly at the back of your mind, though this is not the first time you have cast in Tainted land and you have never heard the thing before. Seen yes, as a flicker of unnatural color out of the corner of the eye, smelled also a nauseating perfume, but never heard. You shake off the thought. Wiser men than you had been driven mad trying to find reason in the manifestations of the Wyld.

As soon as you cross the first rod the wolf-bedecked shaman bellows out a spell in his own tongue, his voice like the howl of the wind in winter, reality itself like frozen branches cracking. Horrified you realize he is not weaving the Essence of the World at all, but calling to a thing beyond it. Hairline cracks become leaping silver flame that freezes rather than heats seeking to wrap around you.

Snow King's Decree: 64 + 18 (Piety) +5 (???) = 84

Desperately you reach out to reassert sense, sanity. Fire should not burn with winter's chill, fire is warmth and heat and transformation, fire is rebirth and destruction, not the instrument of some mad thing playing out its ramblings upon the fate of Creation... and the world answers. The air, the wind the sky seem at once frightfully responsive and yet voiceless, without direction. The swirling wind of your anima lashes against rh falser fire casting it aside into darts of perfectly ordinary ice.

Emerald Circle Countermagic: 10 + 34 (Learning) + 15 (First Occult Excellency) - 25 (Inconstant Constants) = 34 (Failure)
Third Occult Excellency Re-roll: 69 + 34 (Learning) + 15 (First Occult Excellency) - 25 (Inconstant Constants) = 94 (Success)

As the icicles falls all around him your foe looks briefly discomfited, this his face sets into a snarl that would do justice to the wolf whose pelt he wears and once more he calls out to his master, opening himself in ways so visceral and absolute you flinch at the sight of it. Barbarian or no what would make a man desperate enough to do that to himself.

Alas you are so distracted at the realization of what the magic of the barbarians his next attempt comes upon you like an avalanche from on high. This time the fire grips you, this time the coldfire burns like the heart of deepest winter when it seems the sun shall never rise.

Shaman's Eye: 16 + 14 (Learning) = 30 (Failure)
Snow King's Decree take Two: 98 +18 (Learning) = 118
Emerald Circle Countermagic: 40 + 34 (Learning) + 15 (First Occult Excellency) = 89

No stranger to that fear are you, nor to cold and frostbite, to the trials of the long journeys of a Relic Finder. Pain passes like rain on the mountainside, wisdom like the stone endures. Yet for all the clarity of your sight and the power of your soul you cannot shake the flames. It is as though you are trying to push back the flow of a river with a bucket.

Casting while Wounded: 92 + 21 (Combat) = 113 (Success)
Dispelling the Flames: 11 + 34 (Learning) + 15 (First Occult Excellency) + 10 (Focus) = 70 (Failure)

Thus you descend upon the shaman still shrouded in the curse flames, but shrouded also in the stromwind aura that is the gift of the Azure dragons. Blow for blow you match him, dao sword against the man-cleaving axe. Had this been a duel of mortals with naught but skill at arms on display perhaps it would have lasted longer. Alas for him 't was not, the wind tears at his flesh even as the fire eats at yours, but he is not among the Chosen of the dragons, only a mortal in wolf's pelt., no matter how high his courage or deep his rage.

Gus Combat: 36 + 21 (Combat) - 10 (Wounded) = 47
Shaman Combat: 36 + 21 (Combat) - 15 (Anima Banner) = 43

Though he calls on the powers of the Wyld as only a lunatic might in the contest at arms the shaman fights with surprising nimbleness, feininf for your wings, then dodging your riposte, deflecting a kick with the flat of his axe and turning his shoulder out of the way of your next blow, making what might have been a crippling wound into merely a painful slash

Gus Combat: 23 + 21 (Combat) - 10 (Wounded) = 34
Shaman Combat: 20 + 20 (Combat) - 20 (Anima Banner) = 20

It is the wind that finally does him in, as he struggles to keep his balance amid the storm he seems for a moment to have gotten the trick of it, to have learned how to put the force of the gale behind his blow, so that axe may land all the heavier. Alas for him it is not merely a storm it is the extension of your soul and your will and it is your will he perish.

Gus Combat: 72 + 21 (Combat) - 15 (Wounded) = 78
Shaman Combat: 57 + 20 (Combat) - 25 (Anima Banner) = 52

Whatever else his Ulf may be he is no coward, he does not beg for mercy at the end when your sword comes for his neck. Man's head and wolf's head fall into the snow before his tribe. Men and women, young and old, all now await your judgement. What is to be the fate of Skorlm?

[] Trade Partner only, the town will not bear arms against you and will spread the message of what happened here far and wide so that others know not to challenge you

[] Tributary of Sezekan, will send a tribute of 5 Wealth/Turn to the city

[] Vassal of Sezekan, will send a tax of 10 Wealth/Turn to the city, obligation to protect if attacked

OOC: That fight ended up a lot more even than I was expecting with the shaman managing to apply a damage over time effect to Gus that almost compensated for the anima. Keep in mind though he had to pull off a difficult spell for that Snow King's Decree, any Dragonblooded can flare their anima at will. Also Gus is not a combat specialist and he had more combat than he did piety.

 

[DragonParadox]

Year 1 After Arrival​

It is not an easy choice to leave Skorlm with nothing but a promise to trade in peace from the cowed clansmen, but however useful they might prove the peril of being ensnared in the locals feuds seems too great.

The stars themselves are strange, the stars are wrong, that much can be seen even by those uninitiated in the mysteries of the heaven. The Silver Chair of Night is small and distant and beside it a baleful green luminary that none can name. The lands are unknown to eye of scout and map of elder ages alike. As for the people who call them home, they are a savage lot and all too willing to deal with the powers of the Wyld whose influence fills every stone and stream every blade of grass.

You will not lie, if you had been cast in this place alone you would be giving thanks to the Maiden of Journeys for the chance to study such a fascinating realm. But you are not alone, seven thousand souls depend upon your shepherding, a people who need to be fed and clothed, sheltered from earthly foes ad the horrors of the wyld and perhaps if the Sun should shine upon your stewardship brought once more to some semblance of the heights you enjoyed in the days of plenty and of glory.

Martial: Auspiciously Broken Haywain is a likable fellow and skilled in matters of war and husbandry alike, mayhap not the most creative of souls, but that is what he has subordinates for. Faced with a land unknown with perils unguessed the tasks of the Wyldguard will be many
Choose 3 Actions

[] Patrolling: With your maps now worth less than the paper they are made of it falls to the Wyldguard to fly out and make new ones, bold of wings are the scouts and perilous is their path. Specify which direction the scouts should fly in.
-[] South towards the sea, there are more small villages along the coast though none as chose as Skorlm, hopefully opening new avenues for trade
-[] East into the deep pine woods whence the sound of strange drums at times rings
-[] West, into the lands of the Skaelings, find what manner of tribes are the enemies of your new trade parteners
-[] North where the peat bogs lie, in that flat land a scout on the wing can see for leagues without the cover of the trees or of ravines getting in the way, but so too might they be seen
DC ???
Reward: Information
Cost: None

[] Restoring the herds: The hardy northern goats were not only a source of meat and milk for Sezekan, but also wool. Now those herds are lost, but the scouts have seen goats among the encircling peaks.
DC 44/60
Reward: Goat Herds 25/50 Food/Year;
Cost: 25 Wealth
Duration 2 Turns

[] Wyldguard Hunters: The other, more immediate source of food is to simply hunt the local beasts, the local gods grown surly and over-mighty in the company of naught but barbarians might object, but you will set them aright \
DC 50
Reward Hunting Grounds 15/Food/ year
Cost: None

[] Training the Guard: These are far more peopled, far more dangerous lands. perhaps the time has come to train the guard to a higher standard
DC: 58
Reward: Higher quality Wyldguard units, options to further specialize
Cost 40 Wealth

[] Direct Diplomacy: Having begun relations with Skorlm by proving your might in the blood of their shaman , perhaps you could gain warmer relations by doing likewise in the blood of their foes, a few scouts on the wing can go a long way
DC 76
Reward: Improved relations with the Skorlmlings +10 Wealth/turn
Cost None

[] Release the Relic Finders: Trying to keep a Relic Finder in one place is like trying to keep lightning in a bottle, possible with the right skills, but probably ill advised over the long run. Having found themselves in a new land they wish to search for more relics and treasures that are their stock in trade
DC ???
Reward: Information, +1d50 Wealth
Cost: None

-[] Hunt for Offerings: Just as the Wyldguard can look for beasts to hunt for food and meat so too can they hunt or rather those rare plants and animals filled with potent Essence which help fuel works of Thaumaturgy or even sorcery.
DC 65
Reward: 1d3 Rare Reagents which provide a +10 thaumaturgical or spirit negotiation actions
Cost 18 Wealth

[] Raise more Militia: Though the present militia already outnumber the Wyldguard more are needed to meet the challenges of this new land to know how to defend their home
DC 33
Reward: Raise 500 more Militia
Cost 30 Wealth

[] Bring out the War Machines: Over the years the Voices who have come before you have put into storage many large scale weapons unsuited to the task of protecting Sazakan, either because the creatures of the Wyld made poor targets for them or because the Expenditure of Essence would draw too many eyes. The time has come to return them to service
DC 55
Reward: Functional Essence Weaponry revealed and prepared to bring back into service
Cost: None

Diplomacy: You do not have a diplomat of any sort so this is a matter you will handle yourself
Choose Two:

[] Name a diplomat from among the Existing Council: By far the simplest way to deal with the matter the person will simply add to their existence duties and retain their voting privileges
-[] Write in who
DC Automatic;
Reward: Diplomacy Advisor +1 Action
Cost: None

[] Raise up another person to be diplomat: Alternatively you could open the position to new talent, though the notion of a person not on the council holding such an important position as dealing with outsiders would bruise quite a few egos
DC ???
Reward: Diplomacy Advisor +1 Action
Cost: None

[] See what the locals have to trade: Skorlm did not seem particularly prosperous to by your lights, but they almost certainly have some goods you lack and are sure to want some of what you can produce, find out what that might be
DC 25 Reward: Trade deal with Skorlm +4 Wealth/Turn
Cost: None

[] Friends of your friends...?: Find out who the Skorlmlings deal with in peace and how you might contact them without misunderstanding
DC 33/66
Reward: More friendly contacts
Cost: 17 Wealth

[] Shape of the World: Find out more about Skorlmling society, culture and religion
DC Automatic
Reward: Information
Cost: 10 Wealth

[] Give a Speech: Fly out before the people to raise their spirits and offering them reassurance and a vision for the future
DC 45/60
Reward: Increased +1/2 Population Morale
Cost: None

Stewardship: Singer of the White-Gold Dream is a diligent and punctual worker, but you are very glad indeed that you are his superior and not his underling. Rushing along hither and yon fit to loose feathers as your mother would say he has far more ideas than time to implement them
Choose 3 Actions

[] An accounting of the Cerulean Lute: People especially relic finders are not going to enjoy it when you ask them to show you all their 'loot' as Cunning Sage of Serendipity put it, but a good accounting of what you have could be vital to seeing what you can fix
DC 25
Reward: List of Utility artifacts of the Sazakanians
Cost: None

[] Terrace Farm Planning: Another way to solve your food problem as well as potentially raise crops to trade would be to set up terrace farming, though with only vague descriptions to go on Dream would have to create working plans before the first clod of earth is turned
DC 30
Reward: Begin farming rice
Duration 2 Turns
Cost: 200 Wealth

[] Waterworks improvement: It has been half a century since the last time the city's ever degrading water management systems have been repaired, but between the large number of Exalted you have available and the ability to call forth elementals you are quite sure you can do more than simply patch it up. Entire apartment blocks could be reconnected, not to mention the possibility of using the old water works to connect the Essence engines of the city to more simple but still serviceable technology, mills and forges alike
DC 67
Reward: Improved Water Management; +2 Population Morale; +20 Wealth/turn in Tax
Duration 3 Turns
Cost 250 Wealth

[] Plant Healing Herbs: The Ministry of Sanitation has enough supplies of healing tinctures, ointments and teas to last it through a year, perhaps two if you are careful, but with many of the relic gardens now turned to growing food larger fields will be required to maintain the stock
DC 50
Reward Maintain stock of healing herbs for the use of the Ministry of Sanitation; potential trade good
Cost: 80 Wealth

[] Nest Industries: Many Clans of the Sazakanians work to produce one thing, be that pottery, knives or a fine woolen shawl from raw resources to finished product. That is by Dream's account a waste of time and labor. Before the Great Contagion the so called 'Nest Industries' worked to ensure specialization of young air-folk in specific professions, much as one might a healer or an engineer. With the population having finally bounced back you can try to reintroduce the system
DC 66
Reward: +40 Wealth/turn More efficient good production; -1 Population Morale
Cost: 300 Wealth

[] Found Lumber camp: While Sazakanisns no great need of wood as a construction material it is of vital importance in keeping warm and safe though the long cold winter months
DC 53
Reward: Gain Lumber camp +10 Wealth/turn; Gain Lumber as trade good
Cost: 35 Wealth

[] Brewing rice wine: An old proverb says that man cannot live by eating rice alone, one must also seek enlightenment, the nourishment of the soul, the jest with which it is oft replied is that the speaker must not have tried drinking rice as well
DC 28
Reward: Rice wine as trade good +1 Population Morale

[] Fire up the forges: For a long time you have had far more capacity for forge weapons and tools than you did hands to use them, odds are the locals would be more than happy to buy weapons off you, if you are willing to become a supplier of weapons in their wars and raids
DC: Automatic
Reward: Tools and Weapons as Trade Good
Cost: 50 Wealth

Piety: The light of the sun is a comfort even in this far off land, though it seems distant you know that no matter where the Wyld may have deposited you while men strive towards excelency the eye of the Sun shall be upon you. In the meantime though you shall take counsel of lesser gods and learn where you had come to be and how this land came to be so tainted
Choose Two Actions

[] Festival of the Sun: Honor the Unconquered Sun, through whose light all things are made excellent that the people may rejoice and the land should know you for your true allegiances
DC 44
Reward: Festival to the Unconquered Sun +1 Population Morale ???
Cost: 22 Wealth

[] Converse with the gods of the Mountains: Nearest to Sazakan and likely the most mighty of the gods of the nearby realm the mountain gods are also likely to be the most perturbed by what has gone on. Mountains do not like it when other mountains move
DC: ???
Reward: Can bargain with the god in question
Cost 20 Wealth

[] Converse with the god of the nearby river: Not as mighty nor as unforgiving as the mountains river spirits can nonetheless be capricious in their moods, moving from wrath to good cheer and from formality to seduction
DC: ???
Reward: Can bargain with the god in question
Cost 15 Wealth

[] Tame the Gods of the Forests: in your experience the Gods who have had the dominion of an untamed forest turn.. strange and need a firm hand to react any sort of agreement beneficial to both sides
DC: ???
Reward: Can bargain with the god in question
Cost None

[] Seek out the City God: Long has the god of Sazakan wept in the deep places of the city, many have sought him and none have found him, but Willing Student of the Unseen Signs has some hope that the transposition may have jolted him from his sorrows
DC 80
Reward: The aid of the City God
Cost: 100 Wealth

[] Question the Locals about their faith: The magic of the shaman was strange and troubling beyond any charm and spell you have ever seen, you would learn more of the locals half-Wyld faith
DC40
Reward: Information
Cost: 15 Wealth

[] A Study in Cults: The Exalted as much as gods can draw power from mortal faith, given the awe that your coming has had on the people of Skorlm that may present an opportunity
DC 66
Reward: A greater understanding of how to found a cult among mortals
Duration: 2 Turns
Cost: None

Intrigue: Skulking in the dark has never been among your skills and to be entirely fair it has not been a skill of Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches. He is more the sort to offer a willing ear and let the secrets of others flow unbidden towards his ear, but now there is a whole world out there and you would rather find out about it before it finds out about you... or worse ends up at your walls
Choose Two Actions

[] Willing spies: Given that Bron was inclined to sell his soul to you odds are he would sell his ears and voice for less. Easier to spy on the wingless when one is wingless also
DC 25
Reward: The beginnings of a spy ring among the Norscans
Cost: 2 Wealth

[] Petty spirits of the air: Little Flute has always had a gift for conversing with and gaining the confidence of the lest elemental spirits, perhaps in another life he would have been a sorcerer, in this one he is a whisperer whose voice carries far. From small spirits great things may be heard
DC 55
Reward: Learn more about the local gods and elementals
Cost: None

[] Inner Network: perhaps the time has come to formally pay one's informants, that you may receive more than rumor from the city
DC 33
Reward: internal Rumor Mill

[] Investigate Councilor (Write in which): You do not know that much about the people whom you share a council chamber with. For good or for ill you would learn more (Can be taken multiple times)
DC: 20+ the Target's Intrigue
Reward: information on the Target's plans and any hidden traits
Cost: 25 Wealth

Learning: The domain in which you feel the most at ease and yet also in which you have the most skilled councilor. Granted Shae can be a little intense at times, but that is a small price to pay for such dedication
Choose Three Actions

[] Ship of the Air: Well alright more of a boat but the Fast Courier Excellent Air Boat has the potential to solve one of the most pervasive limitations of your military, which is only being able to carry what they can take on their backs into the air [Shae Project]
DC: 80
Reward: Fast Courier Excellent Air Boat ready for deployment
Duration: 2 Turns
Cost: 100 Wealth

[] Dragon Armor Survey: The Armor of the Immaculate Dragons is a precious and potent armor of the First Age... it is also of no use in pieces. Yet in spite of that fact many Dragonblooded keep those pieces as mementos, not to mention that certain suite were kept by the descendants of Azure Dragons who never took their second breath. There might even be intact armors out there... though you doubt it
DC: 35
Reward: An accurate accounting of all the power armor in the city, no functional though it might be
Cost: 50 Wealth

[] Delve into the archives for lore: A treasure trove guarded not by mad gods and dangerous automata, but by the sheer disorder that comes upon any hall of learning many centuries old. Still this is the place without which you never would have learned to cast sorcery and so you are inclined to respect the gamble of seeking
DC 25
Reward: Some form of First Age lore

[] Scavenge Essence Pumps: one of the most complex pieces of technology in the city, clearly eclipsed only by the Reality Engine, the four great Essence Pumps once powered a city of a quarter of a million people. Now only one remains in operations, but until now no one has dared scavenge the other three
DC 65
Reward: Greater understanding of Essence infrastructure, a chance to restore another pump?
Cost: None

[] A Study of Taint: the locals claim the taint is particularly strong turning the night when the false-Luna is full, though they are so poor at astrology that they cannot even predict that. Still patience can make up for a lack of data. Stake out some beasts for a longer period of time under observation and see what happens
DC: ???
Reward: Information, more options relating to Wyld taint

[] Higher Education: If there is one thing you lack more than anything else it is... Exalted, but next to that you really lack thaumaturges. It will be costly, but you can train more of them for the good of the city
DC: 20
Reward: Increase the standard of Education +5 to all engineering actions from the greater number of skilled hands
Duration: 3 Turns
Cost: 400 Wealth

[] Mobile Essence Lanterns: Of all the works of the Old Realm, the humble Essence Lantern is the most well understood. Shae thinks she knows enough to make a portable version including a crude Essence capacitor. Such a thing could be of use to scouts and Wyldguard on patrol, but most importantly it would serve as proof of concept for more advanced artifacts
DC 70/90
Reward: Mobile Essence Lanterns
Cost: 150 Wealth

[] Enchanting workshop: a Savant of the Old Realm would weep to hear you call it that, bit for your purposes a spear that is a little sharper or armor that is a little harder could save a life
DC: 45
Reward; Improve the quality of the Wyldguard
Duration 2 Turns
Cost: 20 Wealth

Personal Actions: Not available white Gus holds the Diplomacy position on his own

OOC: And done somehow, I could not get it off my mind until I finished it. Hope you guys enjoy