So, vote's over, so... it's premature and all that of course, but we've already talked a lot about how the battle
might go and etc, so I'm wondering about what the after-effects of it might be.
What you get, instead, halfway through Pflugzeit, at a time when the fields should be getting ploughed and sown, is the sighting of two massive edifices of black stone and iron. Vast citadels that do not sail so much as force the sea to part before them, surrounded by huge swarms of dagger ships that cut through the water in a way that no Imperial ship ever has. Swarms of winged, screeching creatures leap and flap back and forth across their heights, forming clouds of leathery wings and scaly skin. The waters around them thrashes and roils with barely seen beasts. Those brave wolf ships who bring you these reports, furthermore, inform you that they were allowed to leave and reach you. Because once they were sighted by the Druchii, the dagger ships shot forward through the waters, surrounded them, and then let them go, all the while cackling and laughing at them, maneuvering expertly so that they cannot be hit by the cannons.
Leaving the crews more than a little terrified, which you suppose is the point.
To spread terror at the knowledge of what is coming. That the Druchii don't care that you know. Or even that they want you to, now at least. But you are reasonably sure they don't or didn't know how early you knew. Long enough for you to call your allies, long enough for the coast to be evacuated to Salkalten. Reports begin to appear in your quarters, from seemingly nowhere, written in rough scrawled hand, to inform you that some ships managed to slip forward even past your best observers. Only to find emptied villages and deserted hamlets. Oh, to be sure, the Druchii corsairs burn what they find, but it is out of rage rather than amused cruelty, for there are no prizes for them to take for sacrifice or torture. It is possible that the Flagellants might have done something to these, but not nearly enough to make it matter. Or perhaps you are wrong, but there simply is nothing to be done about it, for your decision was already made.
Mostly, I was thinking that Stephan evacuated his coast... and then both Black Arks hit Ostland, and not even one hit Nordland. Meaning that Stephan evacuated his coast expecting it to get utterly ravaged by a floating mountain, only for that to not happen.
(On the other hand, remember how when we chose to pull our own guys from our coasts rather than to have them be speedbumps for the Druchii? And how the Druchii seemed to be a bit mad about that because they were expecting to get some first blood in? Do you think they were extra frustrated because they had passed Nordland and
also hadn't had any villagers to raid because Stephan abandoned the coast? So they were extra frustrated because after a big fat nothing in Nordland, they
also got a big fat nothing in Ostland?)
(Or do you think they were extra frustrated because they deliberately
skipped Nordland (not even raiding it) in order to focus on Ostland... only to find that all of Ostland's coastal villages were abandoned? Meaning they were in the mindset of "Okay, we skipped the easy pickings of Nordland -- good coast land, but strong navy -- to hit Ostland aaaand it's all gone. Ugh.")
(I think it's the latter; the quoted part has the 2 Arks sighted approaching Ostland, and then corsairs slip past your ships to burn Ostland coastal settlements only to find nothing and be frustrated. I think that meant that the 2 Black Arks skipped Nordland entirely.)
Anyway, reason I bring up Stephan's situation is that...
... Do you think that somebody in his province is going to try and blame him for letting the coastal settlements get torched without putting up a fight? That is, if the Druchii probably torched the coastal villages and cities on their way to Ostland, and the Nordland armies weren't there, then... would people in Stephan's province go "Look at that, they didn't even intend to hit us at all, they went for Ostland. Which means they only did a few pillages-of-opportunity. And if we had been there, we could have driven them off, because they would have been on their way to Ostland rather than intending to fight us here!"
i.e. Did Stephan just get his coastal settlements burnt for "nothing"? Or so some would argue?
Follow-up question would be; if this
is an argument that some jerk in Nordland would make, would that be enemy action (i.e. somebody trying to undermine a loyal and stalwart Elector) rabble-rousing by a traitor or just an ambitious jerk? Or maybe somebody is genuinely convinced Stephan did make a mistake, but they have a Dolph whispering in their ears?
And next next question; given that Stephan withdrew from the coast, do you think the Beast-tide when it hits is going to hit all those people who just withdrew? Or would Stephan wind up extra prepared for such an attack because he had withdrawn those people to defensible and central locations (rather than all spread out along the coast)?
Did his coastal settlements get burnt? If the two Black Arks went for Ostland, how much would have gone for Nordland? Just some fleet elements? A moderate amount of fleet elements; enough to tarpit an Imperial Navy in order to allow the Black Arks to do their business in Ostland? (Or maybe that's where Otto took his fleet; to distract Nordland. Or maybe he did go to Ulthuan as we thought. Or perhaps to Norsca! But if so, then to help the rebellious Norscans, or to help the Chaos Worshipping ones?)
Hopefully Stephan is facing a fight he can win and then take his fleet to Ostland to catch the Black Arks from behind. That way he would have defended his coast, driven off the Druchii fleet, and also had time to swing by and play hammer (alongside Barak Varr and Eldyra) to Salkalten's anvil.
So basically my question is; what do you guys think the political and military outcomes of things might be for Nordland? Good, bad, mixed? Or impossible to say for sure because we have nothing to go on besides speculation (speculation like "some nobles are hounding at Stephan, and they might take the opportunity of a crisis to say that Stephan did something wrong. Regardless of whether Stephan actually did wrong or not."). And also because the Beast-tide might change things enough that "You make the totally correct choice against the Druchii!" becomes a moot factor because it's no longer simply important because you needed to defend yourself against Beastmen and also there's a shitton of people dead and such.
