Who Needs Harmony?: An MLP Empire Quest

[Questor]

"You know, I've never been banned from a City before."

"Gwyndlyn..."

"I mean, there's a jewelry store back home I'm not allowed within a stone's throw of, but an entire City-State? That's new."

"Don't start."

"You're broadening all of our horizons Brother."

Gawain groaned and shifted the magically conjured bag of ice on his temple. He made a mental note to get something nice for Merlin when he got the chance. Refrigeration runes were awesome.

"If I could look at you without going crosseyed I'd punch you."

"I'm pretty sure that would hurt you more than me."

Argo was a small City-State near the northernmost point of the Minotaur homeland. A common stop for passing merchant vessels, it made a nice profit from trade and was otherwise not particularly notable to anyone but those who called it home...until the HS Gryphus had made landfall.

Gawain Goldenfeather had been returning from Saddle Arabia alongside Merlin and his friend and aide Sebastian, having met with the Sultan to discuss trade and an exchange of knowledge both arcane and mundane in nature, when he had been contacted by his sisters. As it so happened, Gilda and Gwyndlyn had also been returning to the Empire from their own mission to the newly unified Olenia, while Gleaming Pearl was just wrapping up negotiations with the City-State of Stratos regarding an Orichalcum deposit their miners had recently struck upon, the Changeling Rose serving as both spy and bodyguard to her on her journey. When questioned regarding the ensuing events at a later date, none could claim to able to recall who had proposed the idea of meeting up in Argo before returning home together, but regardless of with whom the idea had originated, the decision to do so had been unanimous amongst the siblings.

The world's first airship had caused quite a stir amongst the locals when it had arrived in the skies overhead, arriving shortly before a more traditional sailing vessel from Neighpon and a sky-carriage from further inland. The equally unanimous choice amongst the Prince and Princesses to give their retainers, staff and crew "shore leave" had done little to calm the city, as it's streets were flooded by Griffins, Dogs, Ponies and Qilin who seemed to have made it their mission to consume the entirety of the City's supply of alcohol…a task that they, by all accounts, had very nearly succeeded at.

Gawain had tried to conduct himself in the dignified manner befitting his position, he really had. But at the urging of both his siblings and his friends, he had agreed to "let his head feathers down", ditch his crown, and pass himself off to the unknowing locals as merely one more visiting Imperial citizen, escaping the burdens of his station for just one night alongside his sisters.

He wasn't entirely sure where he'd spent the night, or if he'd slept at all, but he'd come to his senses with half his clothes missing, an empty coin purse, a hangover the size of a mountain, and a very displeased Minotaur government official glaring down at him.

The cold from the ice was now only adding to his migraine, so he dropped the bag on the ground and turned to Gwyndlyn.

"Why are you so damn chipper? I know I saw you drinking last night."

His Draconic sibling smirked.

"Benefits of a draconic metabolism."

Gawain grumbled jealously. His sister was frustratingly sober and looking like she was enjoying the situation more and more as time went on.

"Alright, since you're clearly in a better headspace than I am right now, and are probably more likely to remember what happened last night, help me out and tell me where everyone is. They gave us less than twelve hours to vacate the city."

Gwyndlyn made a big show of assuming a contemplative look, rubbing her chin as she attempted to recall the events of the last twelve hours.

"Well, Rose and Gilda are at the Town Hall-"

"Why in the world are they-"

"Ki Seong is collecting a bounty."

"Since when is Ki a-"

"And Sebastian and Merlin are in the local jailhouse."

"What?!" Gawain winced, the sound of his own raised voice making his head ring.

"What...just...start at the beginning." He rubbed his temples. "Please."

"You remember starting at the Brass Horn right? The bar right next to the docks? I think we went through…shit, at least a dozen rounds of drinks…most of which were of the harder stuff. Sebastian was passing around a flask of something he wouldn't let me go near, said that if I sneezed it might blow up the whole building…"

"Oh crap…" If Sebastian had been passing around some of his personal brew no wonder he couldn't remember last night. He just hoped that this batch wouldn't have any side effects.

"I think Rose got drunk off the atmosphere more than anything else, but Gilda managed to outdrink seven Minotaur marines. Then she left with Rose. Long story short, your airship is now parked on the roof of the Town Hall."

"How?"

"I consider it one of the better outcomes really. I'm pretty sure that if you had tried to land that thing you'd have flattened the entire city."

Gawain closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Ok. Well, that explains why the locals are pissed at us…what about Ki? You said she's apparently a bounty hunter now?"

"A matter of circumstance, really. No one else was left standing after Redhorn surrendered."

"Wait, wait. Redhorn? As in Captain Redhorn? The pirate?"

"Don't forget kidnapper, slaver, psychopath and all-around bad pony."

"He came here. And surrendered."

"I'm surprised you don't remember that one, actually. Or...maybe not. Aren't you wondering where that head wound came from?"

"What head wound?"

The young Dragon wordlessly pulled out a compact mirror (where had she been keeping that?) and handed it over to her hungover sibling. Sure enough, the origin of his headache was a massive bruise on his forehead. A few trickles of dried blood seeped out from the center of the swelling.

Gawain blinked.

"Ok…that explains the headache at least…never did have a hangover this bad before…"

"Redhorn pulled up onto shore with a few of his crew. Said he wanted to 'avoid bloodshed' by offering the locals a chance to surrender their valuables voluntarily. He was standing in the middle of the street, monologuing, and as we were all standing around watching him you just said 'hold my wine' before shoving your drink into my hands and charging him like a rabid manticore. Would've made Mom proud."

"…you are lying to me."

Gwyndlyn adopted an exaggerated expression of dismay, hands clutched over her chest.

"You wound me Brother! You think I would lie about how you headbutted a Unicorn Pirate Captain so hard his horn snapped off? You can ask the locals, everyone saw!"

"I don't even…then what happened?"

"Well the rest of his crew turned tail and ran; Ki decided to get involved, and nothing scatters a crowd of combatants like a living flamethrower. Everyone decided to buy the nameless Griffon who'd saved them more drinks, but Ki heard there was a bounty and decided to collect, since no one else seemed willing or able at the time."

"Well…good for her I guess."

Gawain put the ice bag back on his head, now focusing on his bruise.

"Shall I go ahead and assume that Sebastian and Merlin tore a hole in the fabric of reality while we weren't watching them?"

"Surprisingly, no! Merlin actually started a riot in the Red Light district."

Gawain blinked.

"What."

Gwyndlyn shrugged.

"I know, I was surprised too! I don't really have the whole story but, from what I've heard, he didn't go down there to solicit the usual services, though exactly what he was after is still up in the air. There was apparently a disagreement with either a brothel madam or a member of the city watch-depends on who's telling the story-about the treatment of some of the prostitutes, and then the prostitutes joined in on the disagreement, and things...spiralled out of control."

"How much of it did he burn down?"

"Surprisingly little! And what he did destroy he was kind enough to repair with his magic before turning himself in…though some of the eyewitnesses are probably going to require trauma counseling. I did not know he practiced those kinds of spells."

"What…you know what, I don't want to know. I suppose Sebastian got caught up in that?"

"No, actually he got picked up for public indecency just a few hours ago."

"Well that's…actually the most mundane thing I've heard so far. I mean it's far from ideal but-"

"Along with three Minotaurs, two Griffins, a Diamond Dog, a Crystal Pony and a Qilin."

Gawain stared blankly into the distance for a long minute.

"I could have gone the rest of my life without that mental image."

"He said that I could join too, if I wanted, but I'm not the kind of girl who appreciates an audience when-"

"Cease and desist right now!"

It took Gawain a few moments to recompose himself, glancing back towards his Sister who was now sporting an utterly insufferable smirk.

"…I can't tell if you were being serious and that's very concerning to me."

The Dragon Princess simply shrugged noncommittally.

"He's surprisingly charming when he's inebriated. Maybe it's a confidence thing?"

Gawain resolved to have an aneurysm regarding the implications of that statement later, rubbing his temples and taking another deep breath to steady himself before exhaling warily.

"Was there anything else that I was personally involved in last night? A bar fight perhaps?"

"No, but you did decide to pen a drunken love letter to Isabelle at around two in the morning."

The Crown Prince of the Empire looked for all the world as if he had just been handed a death sentence.

"Please…please tell me I didn't get the chance to actually send it to her."

Gwyndlyn had the decency to look sheepish in the face of her older brother's pleading expression, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

"Well…remember how I said I'd been practicing that dragonfire message transmission trick I picked up in Neighpon?"

—————————————————————————————

The servants of the Brissette manor had been quite surprised when a mobile puff of smoke had drifted through an open window to materialize into a scroll bearing the Imperial Seal. No strangers to handling correspondence between the lady of the house and a particular member of the Imperial family, the missive had been quietly delivered to the lady Isabelle, who had been delighted to receive correspondence from her fiancé.

They would later discover the young hen passed out in her bedchambers, an incandescent blush coloring her features even as blood dripping from her nose stained the parchment clutched between her talons. Though much of the message penned by the Heir to the Empire had been rendered illegible, the few words that could still be made out were sufficient to make the most jaded and world-weary of chambermaids flush.

—————————————————————————————

Gawain screamed internally, slowly pulling himself to his feet as he stretched his wings, turning his gaze to the horizon for the first time since awakening. And…yep, there was the Gryphus, the massive bulk of its envelope casting a shadow over the city from it's position directly over the City Hall as the sun began to rise.

Though the airship's bulk was dwarfed by a massive crystalline spire that had definitely not been a part of the city's skyline the day before, the morning light glimmering and sparkling off of and through the mass of magically conjured minerals.

Gawain squinted. Actually, now that he looked closer the spire of crystal looked a lot like-

"Oh what the buck!?"

Gwyndlyn glanced in the direction of the massive artistic representation of equine masculine anatomy, grimacing.

"Yeah, that would be the reason why Argo doesn't want us anymore. Gleaming did that."

"…Gleaming."

"Yeah, turns out the downside of being a Princess incognito is that drunk males see no issue hitting on you. Pearl managed to let the first two down easy but there was this one Libertalian stallion we ran into on the street who just wouldn't take no for an answer."

Gawain's shock and confusion quickly turned to anger, but Gwyndlyn was quick to head him off before he could start looking around for something to brain someone with.

"Pearl was about ten shots down at that point and was getting pretty frustrated with him. I was about to set the guy's tail on fire when she finally lost her patience. I can't recall exactly what she said but I think it was something along the lines of 'if I wanted to deal with a gigantic prick I'd'-"

"Stop."

Gawain put his head in his talons.

"Just…stop."

Gawain took one more deep breath before affixing his sister with a steely glare.

"Ok. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to go bail out Merlin and Sebastian, gather up whoever isn't already back aboard the Gryphus, get Gleaming to destroy that...thing...and then we are going to leave this place and never, ever return or speak of this again."

"...Sounds good to me."

The ensuing awkward silence was only allowed to persist for a moment or two before Gwyndlyn's cheerful voice broke it.

"Anyways, congratulations on your first diplomatic incident! Now you really are an ambassador!"

"Gwyndlyn I swear to the Ancestors!"

_______________________________________________________


Me: "Ok, halfway through the next update, I just have to-"
My Muse: "Omake."
Me: "What? No, I'm nearly finished with-"
My Muse: "No update. Only Omake."

But yeah, am almost fished with the next update, but had a random idea that I decided to type up and I figured I'd post it here to hold you guys over.

And for the record, this Omake was inspired by the Leslie Fish song of the same name:

 

[Questor]

To the eternal credit of you and your command staff, it doesn't take you all that long to get over the shock of seeing a gigantic, multi-story star bear punch its way out of a mountain. As the rank and file of your army seek to put some distance between themselves and the massive monster, officers shouting at their troops to move back as they attempt to formulate a plan, you quickly turn to your resident Archmage.

"Ambrosius!"

The ancient Unicorn's horn lights up, his face twisted in concentration.

"Already on it!"

A stream of visible magic flows forth from Merlin's horn, surging like a fluorescent stream through the air. It rapidly closes the distance between your command staff and the beast, the stream quickly splitting into five smaller tendrils, each one converging on one of the Ursa's sensory organs. The streams of golden, glowing energy abruptly turn black as night as they wrap around the monster's eyes, ears and nose.

(Magic Man: 83+20(Archmage)+10(Supporting Mages)=113)

The star bear ceases it's slow but inexonerable advance towards the bulk of your army, suddenly rearing up on it's hind legs and releasing a roar of rage and confusion that shakes the air and disrupts cloud formations directly above it. The unicorn battle mages scattered throughout the gathered allied armies, seeing the spell matrix affecting the multi-story behemoth, quickly add their own magic to it, multicolored streamers surging up to meet the river of gold weaving its way through the sky.

You see a bead of sweat form on Merlin's brow, his eyes screwed tight with the mental exertion necessary to cast an illusion of this level.

"It's blind and deaf now, but it's still a threat! If you're going to do something do it quickly, I can't keep this up forever!"

You turn to the Grandmasters, resplendent in their armor, their weapons drawn and ready.

"My friends, I do believe that it is time that we commit the Knightly Orders."

You gesture to the Ursa Major, now turning this way and that, it's uncertain footsteps making the ground shake as it struggles to orient itself without the use of its three primary senses.

"Bring it down."

Your Grandmasters, the leaders of the Empire's Elite, salute you in unison before unfurling their wings and taking to the sky, moving to join their respective Orders which have already risen into the air in preparation to attack the beast.

You then turn to Burro Delver and Jewelius Pranceus, the former of which is still staring at the towering star-creature, the other eyeing Merlin with an unreadable expression.

"Comrades, if any of your forces could possibly lend assistance to our efforts it would be much appreciated."

Both of the native Maretonians glance between you and the Ursa before nodding in the affirmative, the donkey looking somewhat uncertain but speaking with a steady tone.

"I'll ask my flyers to see if they can toss some lightning at that thing. Don't know if we'll do more than singe it's hide but we'll do our best."

You think you see Pranceus suppress a snort of derision at the words of his Abolitionist counterpart before he turns to the Pegasus courier next to him and begins giving orders to be relayed to his unit commanders. You move on quickly; you can mentally address the tension between your allies later, preferably after Pegicles is defeated.

Finally, you turn to regard your signals troop, a talon-full of Griffons armed with horns and gathered around a collection of flags who offer up salutes the instant you make eye contact with any of them. You take a moment to wax nostalgic for the days when all you needed to command your army was a few banners, horns and sufficiently loud captains. But an army of more than fifty thousand souls requires a more robust and adaptive communications network.

You take a moment to think and determine the best course of action before addressing the messengers.

"General message to all unit frontline unit commanders: ranged troops to the front, skirmish tactics. Inform all battery commanders: danger close precision fire."

The troopers and junior officers salute yet again before hurrying to their task. Flags are waved and trumpets are blown; a code made up of audio and visual cues that every Imperial soldier learns in training relaying your exact words to the generals, colonels and captains that command the Imperial Army.

Your words had been carefully chosen when issuing those orders. "Skirmish Tactics" was tactical shorthand for ordering one's troops to fly forwards into effective shooting range, fire, then retreat to reload before repeating the process. "Danger Close Precision Fire" was the official term used to describe artillery fire that could potentially hit friendly forces, circumstances in which the gunnery crews had to exercise utmost care and only fire when they were absolutely certain they would not hit their fellow Imperials.

The orders and code phrases had been originally devised with more conventional opponents in mind, but they were certainly coming in handy today.

In a way, your vast army is even more of a gargantuan, ungainly beast than the Ursa, and it takes time for your orders and the orders of the allied commanders to trickle down the chains of command, but after a minute or so of watching the beast stumble around, roaring in confusion and blindly swiping its house-sized paws through empty air, thousands of Griffons, Ponies, and Diamond Dogs begin to move in unison.

Your melee troops pull back, their arbalest-bearing colleagues closing to firing range as the Knights surge forwards to stab at the Ursa with their blades. With the beast blind, deaf and dazed as it is, they can afford to take their time moving into position before the strike. Dozens of heavily armored Griffons move to hover over the creature's back, or under its belly, or around its hind legs, anywhere where it won't be able to reach with its forepaws or its massive jaws. Cannon and Bolt-thrower crews carefully adjust their aim, taking care not to point their weapons towards their colleagues as they line up their sights on the beast's center of mass while in the skies above, Pegasi in the colors of the Abolitionists and the Royal Guard push clouds into position for lightning strikes.

All the while, the great beast wavers back and forth indecisively, enraged but confused, unable to sense the legion of fighters assembling to bring it down.

Then, with an unspoken signal, the varied units strike as one.

(Coordinated Assault: 62+20(Magic Crit)+10(Anti-Magic Weapons=92)

There is a great clatter as triggers are pulled on thousands of crossbows, the air filling with arrows that sail through the air in great clouds. Most simply bounce off the Ursa's thick hide, but a few find soft spots in the beast's flesh, drawing thin rivulets of blood the color of midnight. By contrast, the handful of Ballistae bolts fired all strike true, biting deeply and summoning forth larger spurts of black gore. Your knights raise their blades and plunge them in up to the hilt before rapidly withdrawing and thrusting them in again, seeking out the veins, arteries and ligaments buried behind walls of flesh and muscle, trying to cut deeply enough to cause serious damage. Thunderbolts blast smoking craters into the back and sides of the star-bear, the smell of burnt flesh and hair and ozone wafting over the battlefield.

The Ursa roars out in pain and agony, raising it's head and paws to strike at the cloud of insects that it cannot see, before dozens of Cannon rounds impact its star-covered skin with harsh thuds, the creature recoiling as if punched from each and every blow, roaring in confusion as it staggers, stunned.

Thousands of wounds big and small are cut and gouged and blasted into existence in a matter of seconds, the ground beneath the town-sized goliath becoming soaked with a rain of pitch-black ichor.

The Ursa thrashes, it's movements frantic as it swats blindly, wheeling and striking out in every direction as it tries to defend itself. Several Griffons that cannot move out of the way in time are sent flying by blows from muscles the size of buildings, or crushed underneath it's massive paws, but still the assault continues, a legion of ants seeking to bring low a titan through a death by ten thousand cuts.

Through it all, Merlin and his fellow Unicorns work mightily to keep up the illusion spell, the only thing preventing the beast from truly striking back. You see sweat drip from the elderly stallion's brow, and few of the regular battlemages actually collapse from magical exhaustion as they pour every ounce of energy they have into maintaining the spell matrix, but still, the illusion holds, the Ursa kept blind and deaf.

You are not sure how long the battle rages on, how long the beast rages, how long your knights and soldiers shoot and stab away at a creature that seems utterly unaffected by their efforts. But slowly, gradually, even as your own casualties mount, the beast begins to slow, its movements becoming more sluggish and lethargic, striking out less frequently, taking longer and longer to recover from each volley of cannon fire. Its roars become quieter and hoarser sounding as it begins to pant and breathe heavily, swaying and stumbling like a drunk.

Finally, after over a dozen volleys of artillery, hundreds of lightning strikes, thousands of stabs and slashes, and tens of thousands of crossbow bolts, the colossal ursine finally collapses, falling to earth with the force of an avalanche, taking out several more Griffons on its way down. The earth shakes with the force of the impact as the beast struggles faintly, still trying to move even as it weeps an ocean of blood from innumerable wounds, streams of black flowing into the nearby river and clouding its waters.

You watch as the color seems to literally drain out of the creature, the vision of the night sky decorating its body fading as wisps of multicolored smoke waft upwards into the sky before dissipating, the creature quite literally evaporating before your eyes. Within moments its musculature becomes visible, followed shortly thereafter by its skeleton, bones the color of swirling nebula peeking through before they are shrouded by a cloud of rainbow-colored steam.

When the smoke finally clears, the only remaining sign of the beast is the imprint of its body in the ground, along with a massive, lake-sized pool of pitch-black blood.

There is a long silence that falls over the valley, the entire army stunned by the realization of what has just occurred.

Then the cheering starts.

You turn to an exhausted-looking Merlin and give him a grateful nod as your wife stares at the spot where the Ursa fell.

"Well....that was....different."

—————————————————————————————


The day doesn't end there of course. The handful of stragglers hiding within the remains of the mercenary encampment are swiftly flushed out and rounded up, a perimeter established as the valley is finally declared secure. The dead, relatively few that there are on your side, are tallied up and identified, their remains collected and cremated in a brief but solemn ceremony which you personally preside over. Meanwhile, the logistics train, loitering at the entrance to the valley behind you, receives the all-clear signal, swiftly catching up with the main body of the army and setting up camp. Stocks of ammunition are replenished, rations distributed, and canteens refilled from barrels of freshwater that had been hastily sourced from nearby settlements and other sources, the nearby river which the battle had been fought over temporarily polluted by the demise of the Ursa.

You almost cant believe how today's engagement turned out. Despite facing down an army of thousands and an Ursa Major you've suffered only a couple hundred casualties and completely annihilated all of your opposition. Still, you don't think for an instant that things will be this easy going forward.

As the sun begins to set, the command council meets once again to discuss the army's next move, the most powerful beings on the continent gathered around a map of Maretonia.

Pranceus's horn illuminates the Hoof River Valley, indicating your current position, then traces a path South, towards the carved hunk of wood that represents the moving city of Mare-a-Thon, now only a day's march away.

"Abolitionist and Royal Guard scouting parties have corroborated their Intel: As we suspected, Pegicles has consolidated his forces in and around his capital. He's moved it out over open ground, right in the middle of a large plain where his aerial reconnaissance flights will be able to see any force coming from miles away. Aside from moving and fortifying his citadel, he doesn't appear to be conducting any other operations. It seems that he intends to force a decisive battle for the fate of Maretonia there."

You eye the map, humming in thought.

"Any ideas what he might be planning?"

The Captain General shrugs.

"Even before the war, Mare-a-Thon was the most heavily fortified city in Maretonia. With Pegicles paranoia and preparation, it's likely even more-so now. It is probable that he intends to try and bleed us dry through a battle of attrition where he holds the high ground and the defensive advantage."

There are some murmurs among the other council members at that. There's no doubt that Mare-a-Thon will be a tough but to crack. With Pegicles having the ability to make it fly however high he wants it to, it will almost certainly be out of range of your cannon, effectively making the bombardment of the city by conventional means impossible.

You tap a talon along the ground, considering what course of action to take. You'll have to develop a plan of action now. With the wide open space around him and height advantage afforded to him, Pegicles will doubtlessly begin to react the moment your forces enter visual range, a significant distance out from his city.



What is your plan for the Upcoming Engagement?


[ ] Dig In: Park your army within visual range of the city, put it to siege, and wait. With Pegicles forces concentrated as they are, they have to be consuming a great deal of supplies. Supplies that he will find difficult to replenish with his city in an isolated area of the nation, and an army outside ready to intercept any shipments he might try to sneak through. Despite having travelled hundreds of miles, your supply situation is actually better than his! All you have to do is wait him out, and eventually, he'll have no choice but to sally forth from his city to attack you, forcing him to give up the advantage of its defenses.

[ ] Scorched Earth: On the other hand, you may not be content to simply wait for however long it takes for your enemy to get frustrated enough to attack you. Mare-a-Thon is a great fortress, but it's position in the sky means it can't grow it's own food. That task falls to the numerous farms and plantations scattered across Pegicles' territory. You can't lock down each and every one of those farms to prevent them from supplying Storm forces...but you can certainly set them on fire. Most of them are owned by Nobles loyal to Pegicles anyway, and a few even have slaves working on them, so you certainly have a justification for doing so. Of course, Griffons setting fire to the Maretonian countryside will doubtlessly paint a less than positive picture of you and your forces...

[ ] Storm Them: Defensive fortifications can only get you so far. Your cannon may not be effective against a Flying Fortress, but you have hundreds of Pegasi of your own, each capable of launching lightning strikes against Mare-a-Thon. Between them and the overwhelming numbers your Griffons can provide, you should have enough of an upper hand to take the Cloud Citadel with an all-out assault.


[ ] (Write-In)



Imperial Army of Gryphus
24,840 Warriors
12,500 Polearms
12,500 Arbalists
3000 Diamond Dogs
28 Mobile Ballistae
59 Cannons
20 Flame Projectors


Canterburian Mages
Archmage Merlin Ambrosius
Sky Mage Rafale
Earth Mage Puissant Arbre


Imperial Knightly Orders
The Black Watch
22 Black Knights (Black Steel Armor and Weapons)

The Knights Lion
Grandmaster Konrad Hardbeak, (Orichalcum Katana, Runic Armor)
31 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
243 Imperial Knights
289 Squires
600 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights

The Knights Talon
Grandmaster Colombroni Pigeonio (Orichalcum Blade, Runic Armor)
22 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
293 Imperial Knights
247 Squires
500 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights

The Knights Panther
Grandmaster Adrian Dawnquill (Orichalcum Blade, Runic Armor)
26 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
239 Imperial Knights
290 Squires
600 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights


Abolitionist Forces
4,400 Freedom Fighters
2,500 Polearms
2,000 Arbalists
9 Cannons
8 Maretonian Battle-Mages


Maretonian Royal Guard
1020 Pegasi Thunderers
400 Earth Pony Ground-Pounders
50 Unicorn Spell Soldiers
18 Maretonian Battle-Mages





Omake Bonuses weren't used because, as you can see, they weren't necessary. As always, there will be a 24-hour moratorium to allow for discussion and proposal of any Write-ins before voting commences.

 

[Questor]

The morning after the incident with the Ursa Major is remarkably routine, given the circumstances. The soldiers of the allied army wake either with the dawn or the blaring horns of their officers, have a quick breakfast, dismantle their camp, and settle back into the steady march that has become typical of the campaign.

It isn't exactly the same as the initial march South though. Security is a bit tighter than before, and the troops are more tense and alert after a day of combat. Everyone knows that they are drawing close to Mare-a-thon, where the real battle awaits, and the anticipation in the air is palpable. You and the other members of the command council are no exception, discussing battle tactics and drawing up plans for how the flying city will be put to siege once your forces arrive. The discussion is at times heated as commanders advocate for differing strategies or argue over what units shall be given which tasks. The Abolitionist and Royal Guard commanders in particular are often at odds with each other, and on more than one occasion a debate breaks out over who will symbolically tear down the banners of House Storm and raise their own over the city. You manage to diffuse the argument each time by pointing out that the discussion of the topic is pre-mature, given the fact that none of you have even seen Mare-a-thon yet, but you don't doubt for a moment that the topic will come up again when the outcome of the war is more certain.

The tension between Pranceus and Delver only serves to raise your concern about Maretonia's long term stability. Even if…when you kill Pegicles, the nation will still be divided. At that point the Abolitionists and Royal Guard will be the strongest factions, and neither of them has any real claim to the throne…assuming anyone in this war-torn country does at this point. You and your privy council are going to need to have a long talk regarding what might come next after House Storm's destruction when you return to the Empire. Right now you simply hope that your current allies can refrain from tearing into each other the moment their mutual enemy is defeated. The last thing Maretonia needs is more war. You dare say the people here have seen quite enough of that at this point.

The march South proceeds remarkably without incident, so much so that you start to become concerned. Your screening force reports no sightings of Storm soldiers in any number, and your column is never ambushed or sniped at from afar. The farms you pass haven't even been burned in an attempt to deprive your army of supplies, as Pegcicles had done when Marecinas had launched her own offensive into Storm territory. Perhaps he knows that doing so would be pointless when your army has such a robust line of supply to provide all of the food it requires, but if the war has shown anything it is that Pegicles is completely lacking in restraint. The fact that he wouldn't seek to scorch the earth your forces pass through just to make a point has you on edge.

Soon, your screening force reports that they have the flying Storm capitol in sight, the banners of every minor noble house and regiment that has pledged fealty to Pegicles flying from its walls. It would seem that he has rallied all of his forces here for the final battle of decision. Either the defenders do not see your scouts or they do not regard them as a threat, because you receive no reports of any Storm soldiers leaving the battlements to chase them down. Not long after those reports come in, the main body of your army closes to within visual range of Mare-a-Thon, and you get to see the flying fortress with your own eyes.



It's bigger than you'd imagined, higher in the air as well. It's a bit surreal for you to look up into the sky and see an entire city simply floating there in defiance of gravity and logic, it's few visible inhabitants going about their jobs and daily routines as if they weren't several thousand feet in the air. Judging by the exclamations and mutterings you can hear from amongst the rank and file you're not the only person to have those thoughts. Still, flying and made out of clouds or not, Mare-a-Thon is a city like any other, and it can be put to siege like any other. Even if Pegicles has amassed all of his forces here, you still outnumber him by a very significant margin, and that's without taking the forces of your allies into account.

As your army closes the distance, it splits into numerous smaller detachments which break off and move in different directions, quickly surrounding the city and cutting it off from the outside. The division-sized units take their positions to the North, South, East and West of Mare-a-Thon, careful not to draw within range of the lightning strikes or volleys of arrows that they know the defenders will seek to target them with. Then they begin setting up camp. Under ordinary circumstances they'd also begin erecting defenses in the event of a hostile sally, but with an airborne enemy there's little that can be done to prepare for an attack from the sky save pointing the barrels of your cannons upwards. Still, throughout the day, the Storm forces in the city above show no sign of leaving their fortress, only poking their heads out occasionally to observe the hostile army amassed below them. You're not quite sure what they're waiting for. You had at least expected them to take a few pot-shots at you and your troops as they arrived on their doorstep. But they seem content to watch and observe for now.

By the end of the day, the camps have been established, your lines of supply have been moved up, and the siege has well and truly begun. The four divided parts of the army are divided further into shifts to keep watch over the defenders in the days to come, the first taking up defensive positions while others bunk down for the first night of the investment of Mare-a-Thon.

The first night passes uneventfully. Again, despite the fears of you and your officers of a raid by the Storm garrison, no such assaults occur. You're not sure what to make of Pegicles' complacency. It could be that he's simply waiting to see how you approach the siege, or that he is simply seeking to conserve his limited strength, but you can't help but feel as if he's up to something.

The next morning, the first attack is launched. Every officer has been briefed on the strategy in use: a constant low level of skirmishing and hit-and-run attacks to exhaust the defenders and sap their morale. You don't intend to give Pegicles the chance to bleed you dry in a running battle through his city the way Sombra nearly did so long ago, not when the Pegasus and his soldiers are still fresh and at full strength. No, you have the advantage in numbers and supplies, you can afford to take your time and wear the warlord down.

There is no mass wave of warriors, no solid block of thousands of knights in armor rising from your encampments to charge the magically reinforced walls of Mare-a-Thon in a direct assault. Instead, only a few hundred Griffons and Ponies take off, armed with crossbows and bottles of liquid fire. The archers fly quickly into range, fire their weapons, then beat a hasty retreat. The few Pegasi amongst them gather up bits of cloud to use as ammunition themselves, a handful of lightning bolts joining the arrows raining down upon the floating city.

Those bold enough to have chosen to wield incendiary weapons fly much higher than their comrades, almost as high above the city as the city is over the ground. There, where the air is so thin they can barely breathe, out of reach of the defenders, they light the rags and strips of cloth wrapped around the bottles of flammable liquid they carry and let them fall, the fragile vessels shattering and igniting their contents upon the streets and buildings of the city. With their payloads deployed, the high-flying bombers then dive back to the ground to replenish their munitions or rotate out and have another Griffon take their place.

And the process repeats, the soldiers of your army staying mobile, darting in and out of range of the static defenders and pelting them with arrows and electricity as the city is subjected to a gravity-assisted bombardment of fire-cocktails.

(Initial Skirmishes: 96 )

The Storm soldiers don't seem to know how to react to this. From your place down below you can see the sentries and garrison troops posted upon the walls of the city simply standing their ground and holding their positions, even as arrows pierce the armor of their colleagues and lightning bolts incinerate their squadmates. You suppose you can respect their discipline if nothing else.

For a long period, the hostile Pegasi upon the city's battlements seem content to simply draw fire and endure whatever casualties they may take in doing so. Volley after volley of projectiles falls upon them with only an occasional and inaccurate burst of lightning flying towards your soldiers in response. You cannot see the effect the aerial firebombing is having, but judging by the occasional plume of smoke you can see rise over the city before dissipating as the flames at the source are extinguished, it must be having some effect upon the city's denizens, even if it isn't setting the entirety of it ablaze. The bombers themselves report that teams of Pegasi are flying all over the city in makeshift fire-fighting teams, causing miniature downpours to prevent the fires they start from spreading. Fine by you. It will simply tire out the defenders faster.

The first day soon comes to an end. Your forces have taken some casualties, a few lucky shots on the part of the defenders, but their losses far outweigh your own. The coming of the night does not bring the defenders a reprieve however, as your forces continue their attacks throughout the night, the Pegasi among them refraining from throwing lightning to avoid giving away their positions. The accuracy of your troops may suffer as a result of the loss of daylight, but it also makes it virtually impossible for your enemies to fire back, allowing your troops to harass them with impunity throughout the night.

The next morning dawns, a new routine settling in for your troops as the night shift return to their bunks while another group of skirmishers take their turn firing on the walls of the city, the high altitude troops continuing to drop firebombs, their efforts supplemented by a few enterprising archers who dip their arrows in liquid fire and ignite them before firing. They don't serve to ignite much, but the effect they have on enemy morale is significant.

The second day of the siege proceeds much in the same way the first one did, with your soldiers firing and fleeing while the enemy simply stands there and eat the losses they endure while giving off ineffectual return fire that claims a bare handful of lives. You and the other troops not on harassment duty settle in for another day of siege...until something happens to break the newly established routine.

One of your firebombs hits something important. Later, the Griffon responsible for dropping the incendiary device will report that he had targeted an unremarkable building near the center of the city. You don't know exactly what was in the building in question, but the impact of the firebomb sets off a chain reaction that creates an explosion audible in the camps below, and you swear you can see the city itself shake in the sky as a massive plume of smoke rises into the air above the city. Whatever it was, it's destruction has clearly put the city's defenders on edge, the unease with which they dodge the arrows and bolts of lightning sent flying at them easily visible even from the ground.

Shortly after the massive explosion rocks the city, one of Pegicles' officers seems to have enough of the constant, harassing fire. A cry goes up among the Storm Soldiers occupying the North Side of the City as hundreds of them lift off and charge the Griffons and Royal Guard firing on them. The fact that they sally forth alone and without support from their fellows on the other flanks seems to imply that this counterattack was both unplanned and very much against orders. Any hopes that the hot-blooded Storm Officer might have held for drawing his foes into a straight-forward fight are quickly dashed when the ranged combatants he'd risen to meet quickly dive back down to the ground, linking up with the rest of their division. Some of the angered Pegasi return to the walls upon seeing this, not willing to risk charging towards a numerically superior force or getting cut off from the safety of the city.

But most don't, still pressing forwards and closing the gap between the walls of Mare-a-Thon and the now grounded forces below them. Perhaps they intend to launch a hit-and-run strike of their own, or perhaps the experience of taking fire continuously for more than twenty-four hours has driven them berserk to the point where they don't stop to consider the insanity of their actions. Regardless of the reason, they have clearly forgotten exactly why their fortress is so fortunate to be located so high in the air.

More than a dozen cannons loaded with scattershot open up on the densely packed aerial formation bearing down on them.

(Turkeyshoot: 77+10(Scattershot)=87)

The calculus of war quickly becomes clear. There are seventeen cannons aimed at the attacking Storm Force. The average scattershot round contains sixteen projectiles. More than two hundred steel balls are sent flying towards the approaching Storm soldiers in an instant, their crews firing in almost perfect unison.

While your cannons have proven themselves capable weapons upon numerous battlefields, they have only ever fired singular roundshot. Scattershot, while not a recent invention, has never been used in battle prior to this moment.

You are therefore as surprised as everyone else when half the Pegasi bearing down on your troops suddenly drop from the sky and to the ground amid clouds of gore and blood-stained feathers.

The survivors come to a halt, stunned by the sudden loss of hundreds of their fellows in an instant. Then they see the artillery crews beneath them start to reload. That, combined with the sudden realization that they have just left their defenses for an unsupported attack on a numerically superior force at the urgings of a presumably now-dead officer, sends the blood-soaked survivors fleeing back to the safety of the walls of Mare-a-Thon before the cannons can let off another volley, rousing a cheer from the Imperial and Maretonian forces watching from the ground.

There is a brief pause in the harassment campaign as the besiegers await any response from the garrison. When no further sallies appear forthcoming, the skirmishes continue as they had before. Apart from the rare and inaccurate lightning bolt thrown at your forces, there are no other attempts to retaliate by the defenders for the rest of the second day of siege. The smoke plume rising into the sky does not dissipate as the other had, the flames at it's source continuing to burn even as the sun dips below the horizon.

The following night is the same as the one that came before it, with crossbow fire on the part of your troops being met with no response at all from the sentries upon the walls save the occasional scream of pain and panic as an arrow strikes home. The fire bombers report that whatever exploded earlier has ignited an inferno in the center of the city that appears to have engulfed multiple buildings, the light from the fires illuminating hundreds of pegasi struggling to extinguish the flames even as they work to stamp out the smaller fires your troops ignite elsewhere in the city.

When the next morning dawns, you see that the city's inhabitants have not been idle over the night, having shaped additional raw cloudstuff to construct taller barricades along the walls, stationary tower shields for the sentries to take cover behind as they stand guard. Despite their new source of cover the Storm soldiers upon the battlements appear more visibly exhausted and less composed than they had on the first day. Either Pegicles isn't rotating his soldiers on and off the walls, or your harassment campaign is having an effect upon the entirety of Mare-a-Thon by this point.

Whatever the airdropped fire cocktails had ignited the day before appears to have finally been extinguished, the massive smoke plume that had hung over Mare-a-Thon now replaced by the smaller and much shorter lived ones that your high-altitude arsonists continue to set. Aerial scouts report that a large swathe of the city is now a smoking ruin, with the smoking and charred frames of multiple buildings standing in testament to the effectiveness of the airborne fire-starters.

With the exception of the appearance of the new and hastily build defenses, the third day of the siege is largely uneventful. Throughout the day and the coming night your soldiers join the Abolitionists and Royal Guard in continuing to dart in and out of firing range, pelting the few vulnerable soldiers on the walls and parapets with arrows and lightning as they dart from one safe haven to the next, killing several as the defenders try in vain to fire back without leaving cover. Pegicles' forces take fewer loses than they had previously, but their focus on survival has led to even fewer of your own soldiers being hit by return fire. The siege is still firmly in your favor, the city being bled slowly by dozens of tiny pinprick strikes each day. The firebombing campaign continues apace, the plumes of smoke lingering in the sky for greater periods of time before their source is finally snuffed out.

On the dawn of the fourth day of the siege, you can immediately tell that something is different. There are more of Pegicles soldiers on the walls than before, and while they are still hiding behind the parapets and hastily constructed shields, they are clearly less nervous and apprehensive than before, their forms tense with anticipation even as your soldiers continue to pour sporadic fire into them. Several officers can be seen scanning the horizon through telescopes, and a few of your troops report catching brief glimpses of Pegicles himself walking amongst his troops. They're not looking at your soldiers. They're waiting for something.

A few hours after daybreak, the source of their anticipation becomes visible. The Southern division reports the sight of a large formation of Pegasi bearing the Banner of House Storm closing rapidly from the South, the pennants of multiple regiments flying with it. The news makes you curse. It would seem that not all of Pegicles' troops had been in the city when you had surrounded it, that he had sought to artificially inflate the number of soldiers he had at his command by crafting duplicate banners. No wonder the troops upon his walls appear so haggard and weary, with a contingent of their comrades absent from Mare-a-Thon they've likely been forced to endure the skirmishing fire of your troops nonstop without ever having another unit relieve them or take their place on the line.

This explains what Pegicles has been waiting for: he likely intends to try and catch your army between his two forces, for his relief force to act as the hammer that will grind your army against the anvil that is Mare-a-Thon.

What confuses you is why the relief force has waited so long. You have had their fortress under siege for days now, and have caused significant casualties to the defenders and damage to the city. They could have moved to assist their comrades at any time since your troops established their encampments around Mare-a-Thon. Why now?

(???: 4)

As the supposed relief force draws closer, your confusion only increases. The formation of Pegasi can barely even be called such, looking more like a ragtag mob of soldiers who just happen to all be flying in the same direction. Through a looking glass you can see the tattered and singed state of the banners and pendants they bear, the soot-stained state of their uniforms, and the harried, almost desperate look upon the exhausted faces of the mares and stallions making a beeline for the safety of Mare-a-Thon. They don't even look like they notice your army surrounding the city.

This isn't a relief force coming to the rescue. These are the tattered remnants of a routed army in desperate flight for their lives.

When you see the fast approaching shapes on the horizon trailing after them, you realize why.



(3d6=14)

More than a dozen fully grown and fully armored dragons are in pursuit of the tattered Storm force. As you watch, you can see a squadron of Storm soldiers fall too far behind their fellows, only to be swiftly incinerated by jets of flame that erupt from the maws of the airborne reptiles, their comrades desperately accelerating further in their attempt to reach the supposed safety of the besieged city.

To say that the Storm troops within the city itself are dismayed by the sight is perhaps the understatement of the century. The collective cries of disappointment and dread from the garrison are audible from the ground.

You and your command staff stand in stunned silence as you watch the platoon of fire-breathers chase your foes across the sky, those few Pegasi who had still been carrying the banners of their units or faction dropping them to lighten their loads as they make a final dash for perceived safety. Your skirmishers that had moments ago been pelting the wall with arrows don't seem certain of what to do as the dragons and their prey bear down on them, most shifting their positions to move out of the way of the oncoming horde of singed soldiers and their scaled pursuers. Your troops on the ground seem equally confused, simply standing by and observing as events unfold in absence of orders.

The Abolitionist Commander Burro Delver is the first to break the silence.

"Are they...on our side?"

One of the draconian fighters swoops low and quickly incinerates a quartet of airborne Griffons who hadn't dodged out of the way of his flight path fast enough, their charred bodies falling to earth.

Captain Pranceus looks like he wants to strangle his Abolitionist counterpart.

"They're dragons you idiot, they're not on anyone's side!"

Your wife starts swearing a blue streak beside you as the entirety of your army enters a frenzy, horn calls and signal flags going up from all four divisions requesting orders even as the fleeing House Storm force starts to near your Southern encampment.



P-Plan?

[ ] Southern Wall Siege: While an...unexpected development, this does not change the overall plan. A siege means no one is permitted to enter or exit the besieged city, and you intend to enforce that rule. Instruct the Southern Division to engage both the tattered remnants of Pegicles' relief force and the pursuing dragons, with the Eastern and Western divisions contributing some of their own forces to the fight if necessary. Once the threat has been dealt with, the siege will continue as it had before.

[ ] Southern Wall Storm: A significant portion of the defenders have been killed, and sections of the city itself burned over the course of the past few days. The garrison was already weary and approaching exhaustion before the unit they had expected to assist them arrived with over a dozen dragons on their tails. You reckon now is as good a time as any. The Southern Division will engage the hostiles attempting to run their blockade, and while the shock of recent events is still fresh in their minds, the rest of your army will storm the city to finally end this war.

[ ] They Shall Pass: Yes, the dragons have proven themselves hostile, or at least unable or unwilling to differentiate between your forces and those of Pegicles, but they also appear fixated upon the Storm "Relief Force" that is heading towards the city. You see no reason to try to stop them from tearing into Pegicles and his soldiers. Instruct the troops in the path of the fleeing Pegasi and pursuing dragons to clear the area as quickly as possible and get out of the way. Regardless of which side wins the resulting engagement, you'll be dealing with a weakened foe that your forces should be able to easily mop up afterwards.

[ ] (Write-In)




Imperial Army of Gryphus
24,840 Warriors
12,500 Polearms
12,471 Arbalists
3000 Diamond Dogs
28 Mobile Ballistae
59 Cannons
20 Flame Projectors


Canterburian Mages
Archmage Merlin Ambrosius
Sky Mage Rafale
Earth Mage Puissant Arbre


Imperial Knightly Orders
The Black Watch
22 Black Knights (Black Steel Armor and Weapons)

The Knights Lion
Grandmaster Konrad Hardbeak, (Orichalcum Katana, Runic Armor)
31 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
243 Imperial Knights
289 Squires
600 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights

The Knights Talon
Grandmaster Colombroni Pigeonio (Orichalcum Blade, Runic Armor)
22 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
293 Imperial Knights
247 Squires
500 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights

The Knights Panther
Grandmaster Adrian Dawnquill (Orichalcum Blade, Runic Armor)
26 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
239 Imperial Knights
290 Squires
600 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights


Abolitionist Forces
4,382 Freedom Fighters
2,500 Polearms
1,986 Arbalists
9 Cannons
8 Maretonian Battle-Mages


Maretonian Royal Guard
998 Pegasi Thunderers
400 Earth Pony Ground-Pounders
50 Unicorn Spell Soldiers
18 Maretonian Battle-Mages



Remember that random event roll from the end of the turn before the campaign began? And remember how I said that in the case of Maretonian maps, "here be dragons" is very literal? Well, those dragons finally noticed the civil war their neighbors were engaged in and decided to get in on the fun themselves.

As always, a 24-hour moratorium is in place to allow for discussion and plan-building.

 

[Questor]

All things considered, you think you rally your train of thought pretty quickly.

You turn to the signal company commander behind you, the stunned Griffon still staring up at the sky where the titans of scales and flames continue to chase after the Maretonians fleeing towards the besieged city, the sudden movement in his peripheral drawing his attention away from the battle unfolding above. When he realizes exactly who is addressing him, he quickly snaps to attention, but you haven't the time for the typical pleasantries or protocol.

"Lieutenant, sound withdraw, all Divisions."

Your words are carefully chosen. In the Imperial military vernacular, the order to Withdraw is very distinct from the order to Retreat. A withdrawal is a tactical relocation, a momentary disengagement from the enemy to allow soldiers to regroup, rearm and lick their wounds, whereas a retreat is a full blown flight from the battlefield.

The officer doesn't balk at the order, quickly flying off in a burst of speed to shout orders to his subordinates. Signal flags go up, horn calls ring out, and the units of skirmishers that had been harassing the walls quickly pull back to the divisional encampments, linking up with the rest of their comrades to form defensive positions as they seek to put distance between themselves and the two warring factions of hostiles that now confront them.

Your commanders get the message: pull back and let your foes fight each other.

If the dragons notice the sudden lack of Griffons in the sky, they show no indication of it, continuing their single-minded pursuit of their chosen prey, the harried Storm soldiers putting all their remaining energy into a desperate airborne sprint for the perceived safety of Mare-a-Thon's walls. Some of them aren't fast enough, brief flashes of fire in the sky precipitating the fall of charred bodies that indicate when the winged reptilians catch up to them. But the rest of the Pegasi are still faster than their pursuers, and quickly soar over the fortified walls of the city. This is not the end of things however, for the dragons do not break off their pursuit, even as their prey enter a heavily fortified airborne bastion. If anything the beasts actually accelerate, briefly rising upwards before diving down onto the city of solid cloud, spewing flames the entire time.

(Storm vs Dragons, Initial Exchange: 42 vs 62)

The horde of Storm soldiers upon the walls send out a volley of lightning bolts, the energetic projectiles impacting two of the oncoming armored dragons. Were these bolts the product of only one or two Pegasi they would likely have little effect upon the massive creatures, but with hundreds of Pegasi channeling their magic through mana-saturated cloudstuff to produce each bolt, the effect is devastating. The massive suits of iron and steel plate light up with bolts of static visible from afar, the flying scaled titans convulsing in midair before suddenly dropping from the sky. The ground quakes with their impact, massive plumes of dust rising up to obscure the shattered forms of the draconic attackers killed by those who they had seen as beneath them.

The sight of two of their own felled by their enemy does nothing to impede the remaining drakes, who fall upon the Storm army like a dozen flaming meteors, impacting the defensive works with such force that you swear you can see the city jolt in the sky. Flames jet out from gaping maws in unison towards tightly packed formations of soldiers, igniting hundreds in an instant. The screams are audible even from your position well below and outside the city.

You are not idly observing the battle above however, still belting out orders to your troops even as the fight rages on. You summon up the army's demolitions experts and direct them to begin assembling explosive charges loaded with shrapnel, barrels of black powder quickly repurposed into improvised bombs.





As that is being done, you gather all of the mages in the army, Maretonian and Canterburian alike, and ask them to begin scrying the battlespace to determine the exact locations of your draconic foes and the densest concentrations of House Storm soldiers within the city.

(Marking Targets: 70)

Merlin leads his fellow mages in a mass casting, a mass of Unicorn horns lightning up in all the colors of the rainbow and then some, more than two dozen mirror-like irises appearing in a semi-circle around the group of spellcasters, each one displaying a hectic corner of the battlefield, illusion magic being used to depict something that is very much real in crystal clear detail.

(Storm vs Dragons, City Assault: 15 vs 58)

The battle above has descended into a chaotic melee full of fire and lightning as both sides engage within the confined quarters of the airborne city's streets. More than one dragon now lies dead within the boundaries of the citadel, their blood pooling upon solidified water vapor, but for each one that has been felled dozens or even hundreds of Pegasi have been slashed, crushed or incinerated by the armored sky-titans.

You watch individual Pegasi, blades mounted to gauntlets attached to their forehooves, perform coordinated hit and run attacks against the dragons, hitting their joints and the points where their armor and scales are thin, heedless of the dangers as some of their number are incinerated or bisected by razor sharp claws.

You see a collection of lightly armored Pegasi circling above the swirling melee unfolding below them, tossing down spears in an attempt to skewer the beasts pushing deeper and deeper into their home.



You see a grey-scaled dragon, it's chest blackened and scarred from multiple lightning bolts, one of it's eyes weeping a viscous fluid, incinerate a squadron of Pegicles' elite with a blast of fire from its maw shortly before a tremendous bolt of electricity falls upon it from above, it's skeleton briefly becoming visible as it cooks from the inside out.

You see a band of Pegasi bearing no armor or weapons at all, only bands of cloth dyed in the colors of House Storm advertising their allegiance, pushing large clouds back and forth over the city, summoning forth showers of rain in an attempt to douse the fires raging throughout it. More than one is suddenly snatched out of the air by a passing dragon, two of the beasts rapidly flying through the city streets setting fire to everything they can in an attempt to divide the attentions of the defenders.

You see a Pegasus in the gilded armor of an officer cut down two of his own soldiers as they try to flee, staring down the remainder and ordering them back into combat against the scaled death-dealers laying waste to Mare-a-Thon.

You see all of this carnage, and are suddenly very glad that you ordered your troops to pull back and just let the two sides tear into each other.

Scenes of previously unimaginable chaos and bloodshed aside, you can clearly make out several targets of opportunity, both draconic and equine in nature, and with the barrels of black powder and shrapnel prepared, begin phase two of your plan.

A few of the mages glance nervously at the person-sized bombs as their fuses are measured. Teleporting objects to precise coordinates in space is something that they are familiar with, but doing so with live explosives set to go off in seconds? Never mind the fact that only the Canterburians have any real experience handling black powder at this point. Still, the alternative would be confronting both the Dragons and House Storm directly, and the depiction of the bloody clash between the two factions still playing out in the scrying mirrors is enough to convince them that playing magic hot potato with barrel bombs is the safer option.

(Suddenly, Explosions: 87)

This is not the first time in history that a military leader has sought to weaponize teleportation. More than one Equestrian, Canterburian or Maretonian commander has set a fortified town alight from outside its walls with bundles of flaming tinder, or put a strike team inside a castle to open the gates from within. But this is the first time black powder has ever been used in combination with the space-warping spell.

A system is quickly devised for the new tactic. Pairs of mages are given a bomb and a set of spatial coordinates displayed through a scrying portal. Working in concert, one ready to compensate for the other should it be necessary, they teleport the bomb to the indicated position the moment it's fuse is lit.

The results are devastating.

Platoons of soldiers suddenly find barrels of explosives materializing in the middle of their tightly packed formations moments before detonating, shrapnel and splinters tearing through them and killing scores in seconds. With no unicorns of their own among them there's nothing they can do to stop the rain of magically-delivered bombs appearing in their midst.

The dragons are not spared either, explosions bracketing their massive forms, holes blasted into their flanks, their armor pierced and sundered by the explosions ripping through Mare-a-Thon as the barrel-bombs are teleported next to or underneath them. One unfortunate drake actually has a bomb teleported into his mouth as he opens it to breath fire, his head vanishing in a flash of light and a spray of gore, leaving behind only a mangled stump before the mages hastily close the scrying mirror.

The battlefield descends into chaos as the mages continue their teleport bombing. Pegicles' troops scatter as any large groups find themselves subjected to pinpoint bombardment, any officers trying to rally the their subordinates swiftly assassinated via improvised explosive device, the dragons lashing out frantically in a berserk rage as they try in vain to strike back against unseen opponents, causing yet more casualties amongst the city's defenders.

It's a form of warfare quite unlike any you've ever seen...unlike anyone's ever seen. A relatively small group of combatants, so far from the enemy they are fighting they can't even see them without magical assistance, causing mass slaughter with minimal effort and risk to themselves. The term "fish in a barrel" seems almost inadequate. At least a fish can see the creature attacking it.

You don't even need the mages' scrying spells to see the effects your tactics are having by this point, the smoke and blasts of fire visible from your position on the ground, the bellows of the few remaining dragons mixing with the screams and shouts of countless panicking Pegasi as they faintly reach your ears past the intermittent explosions. You can see more than a few of the city's defenders fleeing into the sky by now as well, though their numbers are relatively few, only a handful of Pegasi daring to drop their weapons and make a run for it by abandoning the city and their comrades. The fact that they do so despite having seen their superiors cut down others for trying to do the same only serves to reinforce just how hopeless the once proud soldiers perceive the situation to be.

(Storm vs Dragons, Panicked Rage: 79 vs 15)

After a few long minutes of bloody madness the explosions finally taper off, the mages and demolition crews ceasing their onslaught as they pause to catch their collective breath. This does little to reduce the bloodshed however, as the battle between the dragons and pegasi rages on. But by this point, between the losses they have taken fighting in the city streets and sustained due to your bombs, only a small fraction of the dragons that had assaulted the city are still alive by this point.

They do not remain so for long.

Maybe the defenders hit their second wind, or perhaps the surviving dragons have exhausted themselves fighting furiously to breach the defenses of the city, but the remaining flying reptiles are quickly swarmed by winged equines who skewer them with spears, stab them with swords, slash them with bladed gauntlets, and fry them with conjured lightning.

Through one of the scrying mirrors, you can see a climatic battle. A Pegasus stallion in black and silver armor is engaged in an aerial duel with the last dragon, a house-sized behemoth with scales the color of lava. The smaller and more nimble flyer weaves and dodges around the flames and claws of the reptilian killing machine, blades attached to his wings cutting into the joints and soft spots of the creature as he soars past it over and over, a whirlwind of slashes that eventually severs the beast's wings from its body, sending it plummeting to the ground far below, the creature bellowing vengeance until it strikes the earth with a meaty thud that resounds throughout the entire battlefield.

A sudden silence falls as the dark-armored aerial ace seems to almost stare directly into the invisible gaze of the scrying spell that had provided a close-up of his duel, the sun behind him casting a heroic silhouette as the eyes of Mare-a-Thon's defenders turn to him.

Pegicles unsheathes the sword at his hip and raises it above his head in in a gesture of triumph, eliciting ragged cheers from his followers as they celebrate their victory over the dragons.

You silently turn to regard Captain Kaboom, the Diamond Dog smiling wide and almost vibrating with excitement as he holds a torch next to a barrel of black powder.

The last one.

The one you'd ordered kept in reserve for this very moment.

You glance to Merlin, the Archmage's horn already lit, a tired but determined expression on his wizened face.

You give both a nod.

"Proceed."

(Magic Drone Strike: 98)

There is the fizzle and whoosh of a fuse catching, then a pop and a flash of light.

Through the scrying mirror you get to see Pegicle's eyes widen just before a hundred kilos of black powder goes off in his face.

To your dying day, you will recall the sound of the ragged cheers of House Storm suddenly cutting off into dead silence as their leader's mangled body falls to earth as one of your guiltiest pleasures.

You give one more order, the scrying mirrors vanishing as the exhausted mages gather their remaining magic for one final spell.

And you speak words that are heard by all those who are left alive in Mare-a-Thon, your voice amplified a thousand-fold.

"Inhabitants of Mare-a-Thon. Pegicles is dead. Your city is surrounded. Your forces have been devastated and are grossly outnumbered."

"There is no need for further bloodshed. Throw down your weapons, and your lives will be spared."

"Lay down your arms, and this mad war will end."

There is a tense silence as the world seems to hold it's breath.

(Storm Capitulation?: …)

And then the sky begins to rain armor and spears and shields as the inhabitants of the flying city surrender en masse.

The cheer that rises up from your forces, along with those of the Abolitionists and Royal Guard, shakes the earth.

—————————————————————————————

Things progress swiftly from there. Once the rain of metal finally ceases, the defenders of the wrecked city lower the banners of their now dead leader and raise white flags. The army of the coalition enters the city unopposed, former slaves and the Queen's bodyguards walking through its open gates side by side, and shortly afterwards the banners of the Abolitionist Army and the Maretonian Royal Guard begin to fly over the city. No Imperial banners join them, something you are insistent upon. Though your forces won the battle, this was not an act of conquest for Gryphus, contrary to what Pegicles told his troops.

The Maretonian occupation force, Griffons absent from their number in the streets of the cloud city, swiftly extinguish any fires still raging and see to any wounded ponies. But while those providing aid are native Maretonians, the tools with which they administer it are not. In a display of cosmic irony, bandages and medicines manufactured in the Empire are used to heal those who had so recently fought against it.

The weapons and other martial instruments found scattered on the grassy plain beneath the city are gathered up, along with the bodies of the dead. Those few who died in service of the Empire are cremated in a somber ceremony that you preside over, a funeral with tens of thousands of attendants. The disposal of the bodies of the Maretonians, the Storm troops in particular, is a task left to the locals. You possess no knowledge of Pegasi funerary practices, and have no desire to accidentally commit a grave cultural taboo.

Attempts are made to cremate the remains of the dragons, but unsurprisingly the bodies of creatures capable of swimming through lava are remarkably resistant to heat, refusing to catch even with the assistance of your flamethrowers. Your troops eventually resort to blasting massive graves into the ground with the use of black powder, dozens of Griffons working to push each one of the bodies into the craters before the draconic cadavers are buried by the efforts of hundreds of Diamond Dogs, leaving behind over a dozen hill-like burial mounds.

The mystery behind the unexpected appearance of the Draconic attack force is resolved when a handful of battered and traumatized Pegasi, survivors from the "relief force" that was almost literally mauled by them, offer up an explanation, along with some much needed context that you had been missing.

It would seem that the lands to the South of Maretonia are primarily inhabited, and ruled over, by dragons. These dragons exist in a feudal hierarchy of the strong, with older and larger dragons demanding fealty and tribute from their smaller and weaker kin. And while most dragons seek to pay this tribute and grow their hoards by bullying weaker dragons or digging for precious metals and gemstones themselves, some seek to gather tribute of their own from members of other races that live further afield.

And if this tribute is not given voluntarily, it is taken by force.

The band of dragons that now lie dead beneath Mare-a-Thon had crossed the border intent on raiding and pillaging and flying off with all the material wealth they could carry, something that they had made clear when they had run into the Storm force and demanded the soldiers to hand over their valuables before tearing into them when they had refused to comply. And unfortunately for Pegicles and his army, with much of the Kingdom impoverished as a result of the civil war, Mare-a-Thon was the closest and most attractive target.

The news actually brings you relief. You had feared that the attacking dragons had been soldiers under orders from some sort of lord or monarch, but it would seem that the drakes you killed were acting alone, and you have not just entered into a war with a previously unknown foreign power. Still, the new information is cause for concern. You'll have to address your advisors on this when you return to Gryphus.

You gather together the united war council one final time as dusk falls, your contingent of the army bedding down for the night in their original siege encampments while the Abolitionists and Royal Guard share garrison duty in the city above.

Burro Delver and Jewelius Pranceus eye each other from their positions on the opposite sides of the table in the command tent, the rest of your command staff giving the two a wide berth. You eye the two Maretonian commanders from your place at the head of the table, quietly considering the challenge before you. While you'd like to assume the best of the two males, you don't trust them to not come to blows over "ownership" of the city the moment your army pulls out. After a few moment's deliberation, you break the silence, all eyes turning to you.

"Our primary objective has been completed. Pegicles is dead, his forces destroyed, his city now in the hooves of coalition forces."

Coalition. Not Abolitionist, not Royal Guard, not Imperial. This was a victory secured through cooperation, and you hope that it will lead to a peace secured through the same.

"With House Storm destroyed and House White Star reduced and splintered as it is, the Abolitionists and Royal Guard are effectively the only factions of any significance remaining in Maretonia."

The rival leaders glance at each other. You doubt they need a reminder of that fact.

"Our mission was to end the civil war and prevent a House Storm victory to ensure that a warmonger like Pegicles did not become King of Maretonia, and at that we have unquestionably succeeded."

You give the Donkey and the Unicorn measured looks. Pranceus remains impassive but you can see Delver fidget a little under your gaze.

"The war is over. Maretonia has seen enough bloodshed for a hundred lifetimes."

You press your talons against the table, leaning forward to give your words weight.

"I am not ignorant as to the disagreements that your respective groups have with each other. But it is my hope that you will be able to put your differences aside in the interest of preserving this hard-won peace."

You push yourself off the table, satisfied that your point has been made.

"Tomorrow morning, I and my people shall return to our homeland."

You give the two males a respectful nod.

"Gentlebeings, it has been a pleasure to fight by your sides. I wish you naught but the best in your future endeavors. I look forward to seeing Maretonia reunited."

You think you can see Pranceus's face twitch, but both he and Delver return your nod and offer up words of thanks for your assistance as well as vague statements that essentially state that they will abstain from stabbing each other in the back the moment you leave. You suppose that that is the best you're going to get at this point.

You depart the command tent with a sigh, staring up at the cloud city above you.

You sincerely hope that this kingdom has had enough of internal conflict. Hopefully, with Pegicles gone, the place will finally begin to heal.

Your wife's voice jars you from your somber thoughts as she sidles up next to you. You find yourself extending a wing to pull her close, the two of you breathing a sigh of relief as you realize that you have made it through yet another military campaign unharmed.

"First Brochard, then Sombra, now Pegicles. We're three for three now."

Gabriella huffs.

"Reckon the world's gonna throw a fourth one at us anytime soon?"

You sigh.

"Don't jinx us love."


Maretonian Campaign Result: Victory.






Imperial Army of Gryphus
24,840 Warriors
12,500 Polearms
12,471 Arbalists
3000 Diamond Dogs
28 Mobile Ballistae
59 Cannons
20 Flame Projectors


Canterburian Mages
Archmage Merlin Ambrosius
Sky Mage Rafale
Earth Mage Puissant Arbre


Imperial Knightly Orders
The Black Watch
22 Black Knights (Black Steel Armor and Weapons)

The Knights Lion
Grandmaster Konrad Hardbeak, (Orichalcum Katana, Runic Armor)
31 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
243 Imperial Knights
289 Squires
600 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights

The Knights Talon
Grandmaster Colombroni Pigeonio (Orichalcum Blade, Runic Armor)
22 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
293 Imperial Knights
247 Squires
500 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights

The Knights Panther
Grandmaster Adrian Dawnquill (Orichalcum Blade, Runic Armor)
26 Knights of the Inner Circle (Black Steel Weapons)
239 Imperial Knights
290 Squires
600 Griffons-at-Arms
200 Diamond Knights


Abolitionist Forces
4,382 Freedom Fighters
2,500 Polearms
1,986 Arbalists
9 Cannons
8 Maretonian Battle-Mages


Maretonian Royal Guard
998 Pegasi Thunderers
400 Earth Pony Ground-Pounders
50 Unicorn Spell Soldiers
18 Maretonian Battle-Mages






If that battle seemed anticlimactic...blame the dice. They seem to favor Gryphus an awful lot.

Congratulations. You've accomplished a nearly impossible feat of foreign policy: a successful intervention in another nation's civil war in which your own forces suffered minimal casualties.

Additional posts detailing the immediate aftermath of the Griffon Emperor's successful intervention in the Maretonian Civil War will be coming soon, along with the rumor mill and the next turn.

Glad to see this arc brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

 

[Questor]

Uneasy Peace in Maretonia: Celebrations are held throughout the Empire as the Imperial Army returns triumphant, the warlord Pegicles slain and House Storm utterly destroyed, the removal of the strongest contender for the throne of Maretonia sending shockwaves through the kingdom. Abolitionist fighters swiftly seize control of the now unguarded holdings of the mine and plantation owners who had sworn fealty to the Pegasus warlord, freeing the last of their still-enslaved brethren in what had been Storm Territory as the Royal Guard garrison the newly captured cloud city. But as the liberations and victory celebrations begin to wind down, the question of what comes next is swiftly raised...and just as swiftly answered.

Within days of the battle of Mare-a-Thon, the leadership of the Abolitionists and Royal Guard announce a permanent truce, unwilling to fight against those who they had shed blood with against the mutual threat of Pegicles. Soon afterwards, rumors of a coup within the remnants of House White Star emerge, the infrequent and rambling missives from Duke Haygle ceasing as the few remaining nobles in the splintering and diminished faction rally around Countess Copper Top, who joins her fellow Maretonians in calling for peace and a restoration of order to the war-torn country, ordering the release of the few slaves still in the service of the White Star nobility as a peace offering and gesture of good faith. Those that refuse to give up their "property" are swiftly cast out of the faction, their estates overtaken by Abolitionist fighters shortly thereafter. Within a matter of weeks, the institution of slavery within Maretonia ceases to be.

And thus, after five long and bloody years, the Maretonian Civil War finally comes to an end.

But though peace finally reigns once more, it is a tense and fragile one, the nation's future still very much in question. Much of the kingdom has been reduced to ruin by the rampaging Storm army, the Capital of Roam a burnt out husk and the coast still flooded in many places. Tens of thousands lie dead, with countless more displaced or dispossessed of their homes. The nation's economy has collapsed alongside much of its agricultural base, and while all three of the major factions are working to restore some semblance of law and order within their respective territories, gangs of bandits still roam the countryside, looting and raiding in an attempt to hoard what little remains of the country's wealth. And while the Nobility, Abolitionists, and Royal Guard are no longer at war with each other, the Kingdom is still divided between them, and none have yet dared to voice their thoughts on how it should be put back together...or if it should be put back together at all.

Though their gaze has softened, the eyes of the world are still very much upon Maretonia as its leaders debate the future.


The Sugar Republic: Between years of aggressive foreign investment on the part of Gryphus, Neighpon and the Minotaur Republics, and the recent influx of raw capital courtesy of Hoofbeard and his theft of the bulk of House White Star's treasury, Libertalia and its people have experienced an unprecedented level of prosperity even as they transition to an export-based economy, sugar plantations and rum distilleries popping up across the island nation to meet growing international demand. With the economic revolution has come a political one as well, the council of captains that had informally governed the island for decades slowly morphing into a more formalized structure that mixes the enlightened nobility of Neighpon and the Empire with the democratic traditions of Minotauria. As the richest and most influential person on the island, as well as the pony many see as most responsible for the nation's prosperity, Hoofbeard himself is informally recognized as the closest thing Libertalia has to a ruler, his people entrusting him with the task of negotiating with foreign powers and serving as Libertalia's de-facto head of state. Exactly what the new political strongman will do with his newfound influence, few can say.


Emerald-Neighponese Alliance: Ties between the Emerald Isles and Neighpon are deepened further this year, as the Emperor Koryù and King Rex the Second sign a mutual defense pact, vowing to come to each other's defense should their neighbor be attacked unprovoked. Most view the signing of the treaty as a mere formality, as Neighponese warships had already been patrolling the waters off the Emerald Coast to defend their trade partners from the threat of Olenian raiders. Some commentators within Gryphus have expressed concerns, stating that the treaty signing is a clear provocation towards Olenia, and fearing how the Caribou may respond to the alliance of island nations.


Equestrian Interest: The return of the Crown Prince's diplomatic expedition to Equestria causes quite a stir amongst the citizens of the Empire. The story of the Equestrian explorers and their rescue by their Imperial counterparts has already entered the annals of Gryphus' military achievements, and the public has been eagerly awaiting news of the rescued ponies homeland. Though not all details of Prince Gawain's journey are publicized (such as the discovery that the rulers of the kingdom have been using the petrified remains of Discord as a lawn ornament) what does find its way onto the pages of newspapers across the country is enough to draw the interest and attention of both the general public and the nobility, the possibility of trade and further contact with another foreign culture driving excitement and speculation across the region.

 

[Questor]

"How has the situation in Maretonia been progressing? Is the ceasefire still holding?"

Ravenburg shuffles his papers on your desk, your Spymaster moving on to the next item in your bi-weekly intelligence and security briefing. It has only been a few weeks since Pegicles' defeat and your triumphant return to Gryphus, but that time period has been an active one, both for yourself and for the war torn country you had departed. The Empire had not stopped turning in your absence, and while you had been overseeing the demobilization of the Imperial Army, Jewelius, Ambrosia and Copper Top had been busy.

"So far, yes. Barring the isolated incidents of violence when a few Noble holdouts refused to release their slaves, the Kingdom has been relatively peaceful."

"Do you expect it to stay that way?"

Ravenburg hums in thought, a talon tapping against the arm of his chair.

"Short-term? Yes. The Royal Guard and White Star remnants are currently focused on reconstruction within their respective territories. With both having been targeted by Pegicles during the war, there's an awful lot of damage to be repaired. Combine that with the numerous groups of bandits and brigands still running amok in the countryside and they'll likely have their hooves full for some time."

"And the Abolitionists?"

Ravenburg shakes his head.

"Now that they've accomplished the goal that they set out to achieve and no longer faced with a dire threat or common enemy, the faction is divided as to how they should proceed. With all the internal bickering they have going on I don't think it's likely they'll be launching an attack against the other two groups anytime soon."

You nod in understanding.

"And predictions for the long-term?"

Your Intrigue advisor sighs.

"Much less clear. The Royal Guard have always been conservative, but after Pegicles slaughtered most of them and burned Roam I dare say they'll be considering taking a more active role in things going forward. What exactly that role will be remains to be seen. While it's not as apparent or dramatic as it is among the Abolitionists, they're also rather divided as to what their next course of action should be. Most are in favor of reuniting Maretonia and reforming the Monarchy, though there is a small but vocal faction calling for the establishment of an independent, militarized government after the 'failure' of the previous system."

"On the subject of the Monarchy, Countess Copper Top is the most viable candidate for the throne with the most legitimate claim, but considering how the war began and the still existing tensions she's been reluctant to press that claim. Her people would be fully behind her should she attempt to do so, but the reactions of the other two groups would likely decide whether such a bid would be successful."

"And the Abolitionists are split several ways. Some, particularly the few nobles and wealthy merchants amongst them, seek a return to the status quo of a Monarchy, but many of the recently liberated have been advocating for a separation from the rest of the Kingdom and the establishment of a new nation entirely. But the separatist camp is itself divided between those who want full independence, and those who are actually advocating for an application to become a Protectorate of the Empire."

You blink.

"Seriously?"

Ravenburg shrugs.

"It's been working pretty well for the Crystal Ponies."

You mull that thought over.

"And what do you think the reaction of the other two would be, were that declaration of independence to come to pass?"

Your friend glances upwards, considering.

"Well, since the Abolitionist territories never came under direct assault from Pegicles, they've suffered the least damage to their economy and military. Even if the Royal Guard and White Star ganged up on them, they probably wouldn't win. And that's assuming we didn't come to their aid, which they'd assume we likely would."

Ravenburg looks back at you.

"The other two would probably let them go...but they probably wouldn't be happy about seeing them leave, especially if they ran straight to us and essentially handed the Empire a piece of Maretonian territory."

You sigh, rubbing your temples.

"So there's no clear solution then?"

Ravenburg nods sympathetically.

"As seems to be the norm for that country's troubles sir."

You groan. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.


Martial: Redbeak has been in good spirits lately. After having the threat of Pegicles finally removed as a concern, you can't blame him. But your military advisor has plenty of other possible dangers to the Empire to worry about. Between Storm Country and the revelations of potentially hostile Dragons to the South, he has a lot of contingency plans to draw up. (Two Actions per Turn)

[ ] Gryphus Foriegn Legion: In a bid to quickly swell the Empire's troop numbers in preparation for a future conflict with Maretonia, Redbeak has made a radical proposal: the recruitment of foreign volunteers. These foreign born soldiers would serve for several years in the military of Gryphus in exchange for citizenship, bringing their own unique skills and abilities to your military. Such an idea is not without merit, you must admit. You figure there's no harm in giving Redbeak the funds to give it a try. Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Imperial Foreign Legion established, Foreign Auxiliaries recruited.

[ ] Flying Fortresses: With the development of a final design for a military airship now complete, you can finally begin to fulfill the once impossible dream of an airborne navy. It will require a great deal of work, time and funds to create the manufacturing and support facilities, as well as train an entirely new breed of sky sailor, but once completed your military will possess an edge no other nation in the world can match. Cost: 1500 Time: Two Years. Reward: First Squadron of Military Airships

[ ] Cog Conversion: The creation of your new Carracks have left much of your existing naval assets obsolete. Rather than simply scrapping them or continuing to field outdated ships, a few clever shipwrights have drawn up a plan to convert the hulls of the Cogs into new cannon-armed Carracks. While it won't be a perfect conversion (the Carracks requiring more building material than a Cog) and the cannons will still have to be sourced from the foundries, it will likely be cheaper than building new vessels from scratch. Cost: 700 Time: Two Years. Reward: 20 Cogs Converted into 14 Carracks.

[ ] Knights of the Frontier: With the settlement and rapid expansion of the frontier territories, now dubbed Kestrella, some have begun to call for the establishment of a new Knightly Order to serve as the guardians of the new province, small and relatively underdeveloped as it is now. Though the war against Sombra has depleted the public's appetite for conflict, there is never any shortage of Griffons willing and eager to join an esteemed Knightly Order. Construct a suitable citadel and begin the search for any aspiring Knights. Cost: 500. Time: Two Years. Reward: New Knightly Order Established to guard Kestrella.

[ ] Security Runes: The combination of scrying, teleportation and explosives during the Maretonian Campaign led to a swift and relatively bloodless victory for your forces, but it also served to illuminate the danger a creative, magically gifted opponent can pose. You have no desire for you or your forces to be on the receiving end of a similar tactic. Merlin has already drawn up a set of anti-scrying and teleport inhibiting runes that are, thankfully, rather simple to inscribe. You won't be able to cover the nation with them, but the Hardbeak Line and other buildings of strategic importance should be doable. It will be expensive, but it is also necessary if you don't want any arcane enemies remotely spying on you or teleporting a bomb or strike force past your physical defenses. Cost: 1500. Time: Two Years. Reward: Strategic Fortifications reinforced with Anti-Scrying and Teleportation Runes.

[ ] Force Recon: The Expedition into Storm Country led to some unpleasant revelations. A slave taking society of raiders with access to Orichalcum? That's a recipe for disaster if you ever heard one. While Captain Dawnclaw's expedition provided invaluable intel, it raised as many questions as it answered. Where did the mined Orichalcum go? What is it being used for? What manner of leadership do the Yetis possess, if any? Ordinarily you would rely upon Ravenburg and Imperial Intelligence for these answers...but if the fate of the Equestrian Expedition taught you anything, it's that Storm Country is inhospitable and unforgiving. Sending a few lightly armed infiltrators will likely end with them being eaten by a Wyvern or a pack of wandering predators before even catching sight of a Yeti. Redbeak has proposed a more...aggressive intelligence gathering mission, one which Captain Dawnclaw has already volunteered to lead if authorized. Reconnaissance in force...a novel concept. Of course, the possibility of poking a hornets nest is something that cannot be discounted, but it may be worth the risk to get more information on this new threat that faces you. Cost: 800. Time: One Year. Reward: Assaults on known Yeti Concentrations, Intelligence on Storm Country. Chance of Success: 60%

[ ] Cautious Curiosity: The Expedition into Storm Country could have ended in disaster...but it didn't. Quite the opposite; it has already begun to be hailed as one of the greatest achievements of your military in recent memory. Such a triumph has done much to erase the stigma of similar missions, and some influential nobles and military figures have actually begun to petition for another such exploratory commission to be established. It might be a bit soon after the last one, but they say there's no time like the present. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Knowledge of Distant Lands.

—[ ] Far South: The revelation of what appears to be a kingdom of dragons to Maretonia's South has raised the concerns of many within your privy council. The ones that you encountered and killed during the Battle of Mare-a-Thon were merely raiders acting alone, but that just makes you more nervous about what an actual armed force might look like. You need intel on what awaits you in the places marked "here be dragons", and you need it sooner rather than later.

—[ ] Far East: Both the Minotaurs and the Caribou have hinted at the existence of a land to the East, across the great ocean. But aside from these cryptic hints, you know little about this strange land. The journey will be long, but it is one you and your people must make if they are to have answers to the many questions that have been raised regarding this mysterious land.



Diplomacy: Gisa, though disappointed that the Maretonian situation necessitated your personal armed intervention, is pleased that peace, however tenuous, has returned to your Southern neighbor. This does not mean she does not have concerns regarding the situation South of the border however, and she has a few proposals she wants you to look over in regards to how you should approach the issue. (Three Actions Per Turn, One Action Locked)

-The Iron Steppe: Cost: 1500. Time: Three Years. Reward: Yak-Storm Border Fortified, Improved YakYakistani Relations. Will Finish This Year

[ ] Post-War Summit: Though the civil war is now over, tensions still exist in Maretonia. For now the three remaining factions are content to sort out the problems within their own territory but eventually thoughts will run to the less immediate future, and already some are debating what shape the future Maretonia will take. Due your proximity as the ruined Kingdom's neighbor, the amount of aid you have provided the nation and its refugees, and your successful intervention which saw the defeat of Pegicles, Gryphus occupies a unique position in relation to Maretonia , and for various reasons you wield a considerable amount of influence with all the standing factions. It should not be too difficult to leverage this influence to call for a meeting of the three groups and help to broker an agreement between them. Cost: 300. Time: One Year. Reward: Maretonian Summit Interlude.

[ ] Libertalian Defense Agreement: You've invested a lot of effort and resources into Libertalia at this point. They have gone from a painful thorn in your side to a valued trade partner, even potential allies against any mutual foes. It would be terrible to see all of that time and money go to waste as a result of foreign aggression. While a mutual defense pact isn't possible on account of Libertalia not having a real military to speak of, you are certain that Hoofbeard and his people would appreciate a formal agreement to come to their aid should they ever be attacked. Send a diplomat and see if they'd be amicable. If they're willing to agree to this, it could open the door to further diplomatic agreements down the line. Cost: 150. Time: One Year. Reward: Signing of Formal Pledge to Aid Libertalia in the event if Foreign Aggression. Further Actions Unlocked. Chance of Success: 70%

[ ] Immigration Campaign: The addition of Magical Advisors to your court, and the memory of how much the integration of the Diamond Dogs improved your Kingdom, has led some to propose the idea of advertising abroad for immigrants, from Neighpon, Yakyakistan and Canterbury. You're not sure how many takers you'll get, but it can't hurt to try. Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Reward: Yak/Neighponese Immigrants. Chance of Success: 65%

[ ] Gaze upon the mists of Fate: The seers and shamans of Yakyakistan have been a subject of interest to you ever since you learned that they had warned their people of the threat of Sombra long before encountering him themselves. In a way, they were partially responsible for your victory at the battle of Redstone, as well as your ensuing positive relationship with the Yak Clans. With the threat of Sombra now extinguished, you find yourself wondering what else these mystics may know...and if they might be willing to share this information with you. There's no harm in asking, right? Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Reward: Chance to gain information from Yak Seers. Chance of Success: 60%.

[ ] She can see the Futuuure!: First the Yak Shamans, now Queen Chevaline. Seriously, how many races can predict the future? Regardless, while the Seer of the Waters may not publish as many prophecies as the Yaks, her predictions tend to be less vague and more detailed. It appears that quality vs quantity is also a problem for prophets. Perhaps you could convince her to share any pertinent vision she may have regarding you or your nation? It might not be as easy as just asking though. Her prophecies are the Word of The Lady, and she might not be eager to share them with outsiders, not even allies. And, considering the actual source of said prophecies, they may not be trustworthy at all. Still, it may be worth a try to get some information that would otherwise be unattainable. Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Reward: Chance to gain Information from Queen Chevaline. Chance of Success: 50%

[ ] Emerald Isles Trade Delegation: The Emerald Dogs (as they have been popularly dubbed by the inhabitants of your Empire), have proven receptive to your diplomatic overtures, and the showcase of Griffon-made goods to the inhabitants of the islands was well received. All that remains is to sort out the details of a trade agreement with the Alphas and allow the wheels of commerce to start turning between your respective nations. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Trade Agreement with the Emerald Isles, New Source of Income. Chance of Success: 75%

[ ] Equestrian Trade Delegation: Now that first contact with Equestria has been made, parties in both nations are chomping at the proverbial bit to gain access to a new and potentially lucrative market for their goods. But before trade can be opened up and profits made by anyone, details will have to be hammered out between your respective governments. Tariffs, currency exchange rates, items banned or restricted for sale to foreign markets, and a dozen other minor issues will have to be addressed. Send a party of economically minded diplomats back to meet with the Alicorn Sisters so that merchants can start plying their wares across the continent. Cost: 600. Time: One Year. Reward: Trade Agreement with Equestria, New Source of Income. Chance of Success: 70%

[ ] YakYakistan Mutual Defense Pact: The world increasingly seems to be a more and more dangerous place. Between the developing situation in Maretonia, the revelations of Changelings in Canterbury, and the ever-present possibility of another outside context problem like Sombra suddenly emerging, threats to the Empire are as numerous as they are worrying. You are therefore not surprised when Gisa draws up a proposal for a mutual defense treaty with the Kingdom of YakYakistan. They are your neighbors, trade partners. You fought alongside each other against Sombra. And, though they themselves are loathe to admit it, you did help them abandon their previous nomadic lifestyles and allowed them to become a unified nation. It would only make sense to ally. Of course, the Yaks are as prideful as they are stubborn, and you suspect that the only thing that would annoy King Rutherford more than the thought of being reliant upon the Empire would be the thought of getting dragged into a war they would have otherwise not been a part of. Still, the arguments in favor are sound, and the thought of a line of Yaks charging down the Empire's foes has a distinct appeal to it. The recent discovery and agitation of the Yetis bordering YakYakistan has only added further urgency to this task. Time: One Year. Cost: 300. Reward: Defensive Pact with YakYakistan. Chance of Success: 65%

[ ] Confronting Canterbury: The revelation of Queen Phalanx, the Changelings, and the conspiracy behind Canterbury and the Church of the Lady has added a new dimension to your previous plans to privately confront the Royarch of Canterbury. Letting her know you know may provide additional information...or show your hand too early. While Rose has assured you that Queen Chevaline and Phalanx are two distinct individuals, neither of you are certain if the Monarch has any idea of the truth behind her nation's history. The risks of such a course of action are obvious, and Rose herself has cautioned you against it...but it may be worth a try. Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Result: ???

[ ] Olenian Developmental Aid: Olenia has benefited a great deal from the introduction of Sugar Beets. For the first time, they have a valued trade good that is in high demand, giving their economy a much-needed boost and allowing them to abandon their destructive tradition of nautical raiding. But as far as they have come, they still have a ways to go in terms of development before they can hope to match even the poorest province of the Empire, or even the neighboring Emerald Isles. Gisa, along with several other nobles and business magnates, have approached you with a proposal: further invest in the Kingdom's development, similarly to how you invested in Libertalia to bolster it and ensure an end to the issue of piracy there. It will be a fair bit more difficult, and require a larger amount of funding from both you and private investors, but Gisa seems to think it's possible. The only real problem will be getting the Caribou to go along with it. Cost: 1000. Time: Two Years. Reward: Olenian Economy/Infrastructure Upgraded, Increased Trade Income, Improved Relations with Olenia. Chance of Success: 65%



Stewardship: Frida's recent successes in modernizing the nation's infrastructure can be plainly seen from any window in the Palace after dark, as hundreds of Gaslamps burn brightly through the night, illuminating the Capital. Despite performing what many would consider the crowning achievement of their careers, your Steward shows no intention of taking it easy, putting forward yet more plans to improve the lives of your people and invest in the Empire's development, though at the moment much of her focus is currently upon the construction of the Empire's first College of Magic. (Two Actions Per Turn, One Action Locked)

-Arcane College: Cost: 2500. Time: Two Years. Reward: Imperial College of Magic Constructed. New Options Unlocked. Will Finish This Year

[ ] Western Lumberjacks: The woods of the Western Frontier (now dubbed Kestrella), while not quite as expansive and vast as the forests of the Imperial heartland, are still a potential resource and an ample supply of raw timber. Subsidize the establishment of logging camps and lumber mills in the newly settled territory. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Increased Logging Income.

[ ] Crystal Forests: As the soil fertility and climate of the Crystal Protectorate begins to lend itself towards agriculture, some within the assembly have made an unusual proposal: the planting and cultivation of forests for the express purpose of providing the Protectorate with a domestic source of lumber. An unusual idea...but one worth exploring. Cost: 400. Time: Three Years. Reward: Crystal Protectorate develops domestic logging industry, increased logging income.

[ ] Supplying a Demand: Last year, you invested in the Empire's textile industry, facilitating the construction of mills and weaving houses that quadrupled national linen production. Domestic sales of the material have taken off since then...but you have your eyes set on foreign markets. You want Imperial linen to rival Neighponese silk in the global textile trade. But to do that, you're going to have to drum up demand, and make the relatively unknown cloth seem like an appealing purchase to international customers. A series of tax breaks and subsidies intended to boost the production of linens intended for export, combined with a series of publicly funded publicity events intended to draw the attention of foreign buyers, might be able to accomplish that. Cost: 600. Time: One Year. Reward: Boosted Linen Exports, Additional Trade Income. Chance of Success: 65%

[ ] Griffonstone Revitalization, Part 1: Griffonstone. The original Capital of the first Empire in the Pre-Discordian era. Despite its storied history, it has fallen a long way from the height of its grandeur centuries ago. The rise of Discord and the collapse of the ancient Empire spelled the end of the city's golden age, and ushered in a decline that has only recently been reversed. While the city has been experiencing an economic and population boom alongside the rest of your Empire, it still has a long ways to go before it can hope to even think of recapturing the glory of its past. But Gisa has ideas. Big, big ideas. Her magnum opus, she calls it. A new Griffonstone for a new era, a city to inspire and awe the world, a truly Imperial City. You took the first step with the construction of the Imperial War Memorial, but Gisa says that that is only a glimpse of what could be. Give her some funding and time, and see what she can do. Cost: 3000. Time: Two Years. Reward: First Stage of Griffonstone Revitalization.



Learning: Though Archimedes has passed wizened and is now nearing ancient, he remains the greatest Scholar in the Empire, with Genevieve not far behind him. From what you hear, your son's friend Sebastian has made quite an impression upon the two with his sudden deluge of research notes and prototype inventions, some of which may even have Empire-wide applications. (Two Actions Per Turn)

[ ] Paddle Steamers: Now that you finally have a steam-powered engine suitable for maritime use, it's time to draw up schematics for a vessel designed to make use of it. Assemble the shipwrights and engineers and have them put together a few prototypes for the world's first steamships. Cost: 250. Time: One Year. Reward: Designs for Coastal/Riverine Steam Ships.

[ ] A Different Kind of Mortar: The prospect of war with Maretonia (or what's left of it) has raised numerous concerns amongst the military. Your cannons, while effective at targeting enemies and destroying unreinforced architecture, may not be as effective against the enchanted walls and fortifications of Maretonia. Archimedes has proposed a potential solution: a weapon similar to a cannon, designed to lob projectiles over walls and other obstructions. While these weapons are unlikely to be as useful against mobile targets, they may prove a decisive advantage in siege warfare. Give Archimedes the go-ahead to try and build a few of these new weapons. Cost: 600. Time: One Year. Reward: Mortar Artillery Developed.

[ ] Black-Steel Balls: With the sudden influx of Orichalcum from YakYakistan, you can now afford to produce additional weapons with antimagic properties. One of the weapons that your engineers have been particularly eager to attempt developing is one that will complement the powerful siege weapons that they've made in the past: Black-Steel cannonballs. Sadly, it is not as simple as swapping one metal for another. Black-Steel is notably denser and heavier than simple iron, and the procedures and calculations regarding the use of your cannons will have to be altered to accommodate these properties. Still, you're sure it's nothing Archimedes and his team can't handle. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Army gains Black-Steel Cannonballs.

[ ] Better Breweries: Archimedes' Mushroom Moonshine is not just a popular beverage within the Empire, but a valued Trade good purchased by Yaks, Minotaurs and Qilin alike, netting your government a pretty penny in export duties. Genevieve has been going over the brewing process, and thinks she's come up with a few methods to improve it. Give her some funds and time to see if her theory is workable. Cost: 800. Time: One Year. Reward: Increased Trade Income due to Higher Quality Alcohol.

[ ] Airships-Commercial Refinement: The prototype Airship has proven itself a resounding success, and your engineers have learned a wealth of new information as they observe its performance. The test flights have generated quite a bit of attention as well, from both the common people and from the rich and influential. You've already had several nobles and business magnates inquire as to how or when they can get their talons on a sky ship of their own. As a former merchant, it's not hard for you to imagine the numerous commercial applications for the new technology. But Archimedes and Genevieve still think the design can be improved, turning the current testbed into a dedicated airborne cargo hauler. Have them prioritize that avenue of research. Cost: 1000. Time: One Year. Reward: Designs for Commercial Airships. New Options Unlocked.

[ ] Weaponized Steam Wheels?: Gawain's friend Sebastian has turned out a great deal of research and innovations lately. Some, like his ship-mounted swivel cannons, have already been proven and are now being adopted across the Empire. Others are of...questionable utility. And no, you're not talking about the chemical stimulant he nearly overdosed on. His...steam wheel...seems like more a curiosity than a useful creation...but Archimedes isn't so sure. Sebastian insists it could form the basis of a new weapons system, and his Idol seems to think the idea holds at least some promise. Well, only one way to find out. Cost: 800. Time: One Year. Reward: New Weapon System?

[ ] Bio-magical Samples: Your troops recovered a large number of samples from both the Ursa Major and the Dragons that you encountered in Maretonia, and Archimedes, Genevieve and Merlin are very eager to study them and see what sort of practical uses they might be able to gain from them. Toss some funds at the issue and see if their research bears any fruit. Cost: 200. Time: One Year. Reward: Possible Applications of Ursa blood and Dragon Remains.



Intrigue: Ravenburg remains one of your busiest advisors, constantly keeping you informed of happenings and dangers inside and outside of the Empire. Between the rumblings in Canterbury, the developing Maretonian situation, maintaining security at home and keeping an eye on other developing situations abroad, your spymaster has his talons full. Thankfully he has Rose to serve as his assistant and advisor in matters of espionage...though the Changeling can at times be as much of a curse as she is a blessing. (Two Actions Per Turn)

[ ] Amenable Abolitionists: There exists a faction within the Abolitionists that calls not only for their separation from the rest of Maretonia, but for a closer relationship with Gryphus. Whether they would be allies, a protectorate, or even a new province of the Empire is a question which divides them even further, but the fact of the matter is that they support the foundation of a new nation that would be closely aligned with your interests. It shouldn't be too difficult to pull a few strings, call in a few favors, grease a few hooves, and covertly gather additional support for this idea. Both Ravenburg and Rose think it is reasonably doable. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Additional support for Successionist Faction of the Abolitionists. Chance of Success: 65%

[ ] Equestrian Investigations: From what Gawain has said of his journey to Equestria, the Kingdom appears to be a peaceful place, and its rulers seem friendly, something doubtlessly helped along by your rescue of their expedition. But the revelation that the Alicorn Princesses were the ones responsible for Discord's defeat concerns you...and after the reveal of Canterbury's Changeling conspiracy, you don't believe there is such a thing as "too paranoid." It may be a good idea to have Ravenburg look into your new friends and see if there's anything concerning lying beneath their friendly exterior. Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Intelligence on Equestria, Potential to Unlock New Actions. Chance of Success: 60%

[ ] Riddle of the Labyrinth: Gisa suspects that there's something up with the Minotaur Republics, and after hearing the detailed report on her journey to Labyrinthian, you're inclined to agree. Whether they simply didn't tell you everything or outright lied to your diplomats isn't clear, but you are almost certain that they're hiding something. See if Light Step is willing to act as a spy one last time and have him get to the bottom of this mystery. Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Information on the Minotaur Republics. Chance of Success: 60%

[ ] Storm Chasers: The Yetis of Storm Country. A society of slavers with access to Orichalcum. To say you are concerned is an understatement. You need more solid intel on what's going on in that mountainous, monster-infested land. Redbeak has proposed a dramatic armed reconnaissance mission, but Ravenburg has always been your go-to Griffon for gathering intelligence. You need detailed information, preferably gathered without the knowledge of the locals, and only the Office of Imperial Intelligence can give you that. You have the fullest confidence in Ravenburg's agents to achieve their mission. They've never let you down before have they? Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Detailed Intelligence on Storm Country and the Yetis. Chance of Success: 40%

[ ] Etymological Studies: Thanks to Rose, Ravenburg, and more than a little good old fashioned dumb luck, you now have an intelligence asset planted within the Hive of Queen Phalanx herself. And just in time too; the timing of the newly declared Errantry war with the goal of purging Canterbury's forests seems just a bit too convenient. Rose's intel had led you to believe that the monster population was intentionally cultivated by the Changelings...what has changed? And what else is Phalanx up to that you don't yet know about? Activate your sleeper agent and see if you can get some answers. Cost: 600. Time: One Year. Reward: Intel of Canterbury/Phalanx. Chance of Success: 60%.



Piety: The revelation of the true nature of the Church of the Lady of the Lake has brought new relevance to the issue of faith in your Empire. (One Action Per Turn)

[ ] Holy Icons: Now that they have their artifacts and a grand temple, the Pantheists have begun producing religious icons by the boatload, that all who wish to bear the symbol of their faith may wear it around their necks or build a shrine in their own homes. Naturally, this requires a great deal of raw materials that are very much in demand, and the Pantheists are having a hard time getting their talons on enough metal to make all the icons that they want to. The representative upon the Council of Faiths has petitioned you for some manner of assistance. You suppose you could use your influence and a small part of the treasury to clear this production bottleneck and allow the Pantheists production project to progress. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Expanded Pantheist Influence.

[ ] Expanded Crystal Worship: The Crystal Disciples, though quite pleased with the growth of their faith in recent years, are still struggling to expand their influence beyond the Crystal City, something only compounded by the object of their worship being either unable or (as some assume) unwilling to leave the cities limits. The question of how to worship the central object of their religion without it being present is one that almost all of the disciples have been wrestling with, but a preacher by the name of Varado has come up with what he believes to be a solution after studying the Crystal Heart and the Runes upon it. A particular rune array, intended to be carved upon a miniaturized Crystal Heart that can be placed in shrines and houses of worship across the Empire. Supposedly, it would allow the "worship energy" from distant shrines to reach the Heart itself. In theory. Of course, the rune array is the work of a comparative novice, and the Disciples would appreciate some discretionary funding to produce a few of these miniature hearts for a sort of trial run, to see if the preacher's idea has merit. Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Crystal Shrines outside the Crystal City. Expanded Crystal Disciples Influence.

[ ] Yak Shrine: While shrines, temples and other static buildings are not usually a part of Yak religion on account of their formerly nomadic lifestyles, they are no strangers to the concept. Particularly noteworthy locations or holy sites deemed suitable have seen the construction of permanent structures designed to accommodate the faithful. Such temples serve as rallying points for those who subscribe to such beliefs, and often become symbolic of the faith. The shamanists within your empire wish to construct one such temple, and have requested assistance both fast-tracking the bureaucratic process to secure the proper paperwork and authorization, and raising the funds required to actually build such a structure. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Yak Shrine Constructed. Expanded Yak Shamanist Influence.

[ ] Seaside Shrines: While all natural phenomenon are associated with Kami, and all are important in their own way, the spirits of the winds and waters are regarded as particularly important by followers of Neighponese Spiritualism. Combine this with the fact that most of the practitioners of the Neighponese faith live on or near the coast, and it's fairly obvious what the first shrines they seek to build are going to be dedicated to. Unfortunately, the construction of the shrines is not a simple matter, for two reasons. The first is a matter of material; the followers of a religion originating in Neighpon naturally want materials from said nation to be used in their shrines, which means they'll have to go through the bureaucracy that is the Imperial Customs Office. The second and much larger issue is the fact that several of these shrines are intended to be built in or on the water itself, which may pose a navigational hazard for shallow-draft ships. Naturally, this is a bureaucratic nightmare of its own. The spiritualists would greatly appreciate it if you would grease the wheels of bureaucracy for them so that they can finally build their shrines. Cost: 100. Time: One Year. Reward: Neighponese Shrines constructed.

[ ] The Imperial Creed: Now that the Imperial Cult and it's adherents have agreed on a singular doctrine, they are ready to begin truly spreading their faith across the Empire. But to do this, they will require a sacred text, a holy book to convey their message. Thankfully they already have one: the Lectitio Divinitatus, collaboratively written by several of the cult's founders. Unfortunately, they currently only have the one full copy, with a handful of excerpts transcribed by talon for congregations across the Empire. If they're going to make any headway in converting citizens to their faith, they're going to need to publish their scriptures. Unfortunately, they have been experiencing some difficulties in acquiring the services of bookmakers and printing presses, mostly because, due to their earlier doctrinal disputes, they were late to the holy book publishing party. It appears they'll need some help finding a publisher not already swamped with orders. Cost: 100. Time: One Year. Reward: Lectitio Divinitatus published.



Personal: You refuse to let your duties as Emperor take up every moment of your day. (Two Actions per Turn)

[ ] Overtime: Your advisors can only do so much, and sometimes that's just not enough. If it's truly necessary, you can sacrifice some of your otherwise free time to carry out an additional action from another category, provided said action has a duration of only one year. The costs and chances of success for that action remain the same.

[ ] Imperial Priority: Sometimes you need something done as quickly as possible, regardless of the cost. In such times, you can authorize and oversee the judicious and generous application of funds to speed things along. If necessary, you can reduce the duration of a select action by one year at the cost of a personal action and doubling the per-turn financial cost of the action. The chances of success for said action will remain the same.

[ ] Creative Accounting: Even for an Empire as prosperous as yours, money can be tight. Balancing the budget can be a difficult task at the best of times, but your prior experience as a Merchant has taught you many financial "magic tricks". Taking some time out of your busy schedule to squeeze a few extra coins out of the bureaucracy could be the difference between staying in the black and dipping into your reserve funds. Cost: 0. Time: One Year. Reward: One Small Lump-Sum of Funds. Chance of Success: 60%

[ ] Rune-Sword of the Emperor: While you possess a blade of forged Orichalcum for combat against magical threats, you still wear the blade forged when you were merely the King of Griffonia. Over the years, it has become as symbolic of you and your rule as your crown has. When Merlin cracked the code of the Runes upon the Crystal Heart, he sparked an idea in your mind: could such Runes be used to make your trusty blade more powerful? Only one way to find out. Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Rune-Blade.

[ ] A Gesture of Friendship: The Neighponese have been your closest allies since your battle against Sombra, their soldiers shedding their blood alongside yours in the streets of the Crystal City. You and your family have forged personal connections with your new friends from across the sea, from your son's friendship with the young Qilin Ki Seong, to Gwyndlyn's correspondence with the Emperor Ryuō himself. You feel it's important to show them that you value the relationship you have with your fellow Empire...and Hardbeak's Sword gives you an idea. Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Rune Sword gifted to Emperor Ryuō.

[ ] The Land of the Rising Sun: For years, Gwyndlyn has maintained correspondence with the Emperor of Neighpon, ever since the two first met during your people's first contact so many years ago. She has nurtured a great fascination with and appreciation for Neighponese art and culture, and speaks the language fluently. It therefore did not come as much of a surprise when she (somewhat bashfully) asked to journey to the island nation in person, to see the country that has for so long captured her attentions. Though your fatherly overprotective instincts are threatening to kick in, you can't begrudge her the opportunity. And Gisa has been repeatedly advising you to try and strengthen your diplomatic ties with your oldest and closest ally. You're sure Koryū would be delighted to host his longtime pen-pal. Cost: 300. Time: One Year. Reward: Gwyndlyn visits Neighpon. Potential for rewards and other developments.

[ ] Dynasty of Duelists: You admit, you'd had some misgivings about encouraging Gilda to pursue dueling of all things...but your youngest Daughter has taken to her new pastime like a duck to water, honing her reflexes and martial skill through many hours of sparring and drills, first against her Mother, then with the soldiers and knights of the Palace Guard. She's shown a natural talent for the blade, and while she lacks experience, you have no doubt that she could one day become as capable as any knight. Gilda has recently come forwards with proposal...well, more of an idea. In the course of her training, and search for suitable sparring partners of similar experience levels, she's made the acquaintance of several noble scions who also share a love of dueling and games of martial skill. These young Griffons, many of whom aspire to achieve knighthood or serve as officers in the military when they come of age, often organize informal tournaments and competitions to test their mettle and hone their abilities. Gilda, ever enthusiastic, has put forward the idea of officially recognizing these "combat clubs" by hosting a real tournament for aspiring young warriors, like the ones once hosted by kings in the days of old. You admit, the idea does appeal to you...in a world as dangerous as this, it's never too early for the young to learn to defend themselves and others. Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Grand Tournament Held. Potential for further rewards and options.

[ ] The Prince and the Lady: It is obvious, to you and everyone else who sees the two of them together, that Gawain and Isabelle are desperately in love with each other. Though they've kept their relationship discrete (more for the sake of privacy on their dates than any desire to keep their love for each other hidden), at this point half the people in Gryphus Peak know about their nocturnal flights and romantic dinners in the subterranean dog town. It's gotten to the point where the palace staff have started placing bets on when the Prince will finally propose. Judging by his recent visit to a jewelers, it won't be much longer. Cost: 0. Time: One Year. Reward: Gawain asks Isabelle a Very Important Question. (Does not cost an action. Cannot be chosen in the same turn as Gotta get with my Friends)

[ ] Gotta get with my Friends: Though Gawain struggles to meet with his friends in person due to their mutual busy schedules, he cherishes the time he gets to spend with them. But it has occurred to him that the occasions where he has spent time with all of his friends together are few and far between. Perhaps it would be a good idea to find a time and place where they could all meet up at once? Cost: 0. Time: One Year. Reward: Get together of Gawain's Friends, Potential to Unlock New Actions or Trigger Other Events. (Does not cost an action. Cannot be chosen in the same turn as The Prince and the Lady)






There will be a twenty-four hour moratorium to allow for discussion and plan-building.

 

[Questor]

Martial: Redbeak has been in good spirits lately. After having the threat of Pegicles finally removed as a concern, you can't blame him. But your military advisor has plenty of other possible dangers to the Empire to worry about. Between Storm Country and the revelations of potentially hostile Dragons to the South, he has a lot of contingency plans to draw up.

-Knights of the Frontier: Cost: 500. Time: Two Years. Reward: New Knightly Order Established to guard Kestrella.

Kestrella, though the youngest and least developed province of your Empire, is still a vast stretch of territory inhabited by countless Imperial Citizens, not to mention it's importance both as a supplier of raw materials to fuel the nation's industry, but as a gateway to Yakyakistan. And while the great hunt several years ago succeeded in culling the area's monster population, many dangerous beasts still inhabit the region, threatening the lives and livelihoods of the people. After so many years of putting the issue on the back burner in favor of more pressing concerns, you can deny Kestrella's need for it's own Order of Knights no longer.

Funds are set aside for the construction of a new citadel as architects, surveyors and stonemasons are gathered to begin preparations. Meanwhile, the Grandmasters of the other Orders begin scouting their own contingents for Knights suitable to form the core of a new order, even as they simultaneously begin recruiting Squires and Griffons-at-Arms from the local population to form the backbone of the new force. It will be some time before these labors bear fruit...but soon Gryphus' fourth province shall its own dedicated protectors. Will Finish Next Year.



-Security Runes: Cost: 1500. Time: Two Years. Reward: Strategic Fortifications reinforced with Anti-Scrying and Teleportation Runes.

The Maretonian Campaign, more than perhaps anything else, demonstrated to you how the application of magic can turn the tide of a battle. With the aid of Merlin and a scant handful of skilled mages, the aerial citadel of Mare-a-Thon was reduced to a flaming ruin, its defenders slaughtered from afar by enemies that they could not even see. You do not wish for your own troops to ever find themselves on the receiving end of such a tactic. Thankfully you have the knowledge, resources and expertise to ensure that such a thing never comes to pass. Merlin is all too happy to begin work on a series of Anti-Scrying and Anti-Teleportation runes suitable for your Empire's fortifications and other strategic locations, which he and your other magical advisors see to inscribing upon the walls of the Imperial Palace, the various Citadels of the Imperial Knightly Orders, and the Hardbeak Line, just to name a few. Naturally with so many locations to worry about it will be some time before they can be considered truly secured against magical observation or incursion...but you're already better off now than you were before.

Will Finish Next Turn.



Diplomacy: Gisa, though disappointed that the Maretonian situation necessitated your personal armed intervention, is pleased that peace, however tenuous, has returned to your Southern neighbor. This does not mean she does not have concerns regarding the situation South of the border however, and she has a few proposals she wants you to look over in regards to how you should approach the issue.

-The Iron Steppe: Cost: 1500. Time: Three Years. Reward: Yak-Storm Border Fortified, Improved YakYakistani Relations.

After the expenditure of several fortunes and countless hours of labor on the parts of thousands of Griffons, Dogs, Ponies and Yaks, the Great Wall of Yakyakistan is finally complete. Although initially projected to take more than three full years to finish, with the aggressive investment and wholehearted support of King Rutherford the elaborate series of border fortifications has been completed in a fraction of the originally projected timespan. Watchtowers and sentries now observe every inch of land along the border between the Yak Kingdom and Storm Country, and cannon-armed hill forts garrisoned by Yak troops stand ready to repel any potential incursions into the territory of your oldest ally against the forces of darkness and chaos. The border to that untamed wasteland is now as secure as it is ever likely to get.



While the Yaks carried a greater than expected share of the burden to construct this marvel of military engineering, it is clear to all but the most stubborn amongst the steppe dwellers that none of it would have been possible without Imperial funding, industry and expertise. As such, King Rutherford, his court, and the general population of Yakyakistan as a whole have expressed their gratitude to you and your people in their own unique, roundabout ways, be it through blunt letters from Yakistown addressed to your palace or gestures of respect and acknowledgment to the Imperial surveyors and engineers offered up by common Yakistani citizens as they pack up their belongings and return to Gryphus. You think it's safe to say that you've garnered a good deal of good will from your hardy western neighbors.

Yakyakistani-Storm Country Border now Fortified against any Incursions or Invasions. +.5 Yakyakistani Relations.



-Emerald Isles Trade Delegation: Cost: 400. Time: One Year. Reward: Trade Agreement with the Emerald Isles, New Source of Income. Chance of Success: 75%

Required: 25. Rolled: 18+18=36

The Emerald Isles have always been of interest to you and your people. It is the only other land you know of inhabited by Diamond Dogs, and the only nation governed by them. And while you have gone out of your way to establish cordial relations with the island dwelling canines, you have yet to seek closer economic ties with them, as the Neighponese have done. Still, you suppose that late is better than never. Gisa wastes no time assembling a team of diplomats and dispatching them to the court of the Emerald King, who receives them with grace and hospitality.

The team of Griffons and Imperial Dogs are quick to notice the visible signs of Neighponese influence on the smaller island nation: both the port city their ship docks in and the capital are teeming with sailors, soldiers, merchants and diplomats, and the sight of a Qilin, Kitsune or Tanuki on the subterranean road to the underground Stone palace is not an uncommon one. The Dragon Emperor's investment into his neighbor seems to be bearing fruit for him.

Trade talks with King Rex and his advisers last for weeks as details are hammered out and tariff rates agreed upon by both parties, but from the beginning it is clear that the negotiations will conclude in a satisfactory manner for both parties. The Emerald Isles has experienced the growth and advancement that international commerce can bring, and it is eager to gain access to another corner of the world market; at at present Gryphus represents the largest and most lucrative corner of all.

Within a matter of months merchants ships bearing the flag of Gryphus become a common sight off the coast of the Emerald Isles, and yet another source of revenue is gained for the Imperial coffers as wealth flows along the new trade route.
+150 Trade Income.



-Equestrian Trade Delegation: Cost: 600. Time: One Year. Reward: Trade Agreement with Equestria, New Source of Income. Chance of Success: 70%

Required: 30. Rolled: 78+18=96 (Art. Crit!)

Commerce appears to be a theme in the diplomatic corps this year, as even as a trade delegation travels across the ocean to the Emerald Isles, another band of merchants and diplomats makes the long overland journey to Equestria for a similar purpose, albeit under much different circumstances. After all, the Emerald Isles had already been experiencing close ties and lucrative trade with Neighpon…but with the exception of the relatively isolationist Buffalo, Equestria has never had a neighbor to open trade with, and the more economically minded of your diplomatic staff are practically salivating at the potential of a first-mover advantage in a large and untapped foreign market.

The Alicorn Sisters greet your envoys with enthusiasm upon their arrival, as excited as your own people to initiate an exchange of goods across national borders. The Princesses are generous hosts, housing your emissaries in spare rooms of their castle and encouraging them to see the sights and mingle with the nobility and common ponies in and around the capitol, an offer that your people are take them up on as they take advantage of the opportunity to play tourist in a foreign land. The locals are naturally quite curious about your people, the first non-ponies any of them have ever met, and by all accounts the diplomats make a good first impression on them.

By an astonishing coincidence, it appears that a number of wealthy nobles and merchants had arranged to host some manner of business meeting in the capitol at the same time your diplomats were present for their own meeting with the Princesses…and it just so happened that both of the aforementioned groups had deigned to visit the exact same tavern at the exact same time one night.

To make a long story short, the wealthy Equestrians were smart enough to spot the opportunity that was being waved in front of their faces, and your diplomats were more than ready to hype the idea of doing business with the Empire. By the time your diplomats leave with a trade agreement in hand, the wheels of commerce are already turning on both sides of the border, and once goods and gold begin to flow, the amount of revenue gained from tariffs and tolls is significantly more than initially expected. The Empire has gained another lucrative trade partner, and Equestria has gained access to the wider world market.

+250 Trade Income



Stewardship: Frida's recent successes in modernizing the nation's infrastructure can be plainly seen from any window in the Palace after dark, as hundreds of Gaslamps burn brightly through the night, illuminating the Capital. Despite performing what many would consider the crowning achievement of their careers, your Steward shows no intention of taking it easy, putting forward yet more plans to improve the lives of your people and invest in the Empire's development, though at the moment much of her focus is currently upon the construction of the Empire's first College of Magic.

-Arcane College: Cost: 2500. Time: Two Years. Reward: Imperial College of Magic Constructed. New Options Unlocked.

After many months of hard work on the parts of Merlin and the rest of your magical advisors, along with the efforts of Frida and countless laborers and architects, the Imperial College of Magic is finally complete. A massive campus capable of housing and educating hundreds of people at once, with a curriculum to rival any similar institution abroad and with a faculty of experts drawn from Canterbury, Neighpon, Maretonia, and even the recently encountered Equestria, you have every confidence that the arcane academy will be more than sufficient to provide a higher form of education to the Empire's growing population of Ponies, Hippogriffs, and other magically inclined races.

You personally preside over the opening ceremonies, welcoming the college's first batch of students to their magical academia. More than a mere center of higher education, the College will be as much a center of research as it will be a home to countless scholars and aspiring mages. You are certain that it will prove instrumental to the development of new branches of arcane science in the years to come. New spells and runes may only be the start. You look forward to seeing what the Empire's brightest minds can accomplish when they put their heads together.

Imperial College of Magic Completed. Higher Magical Education Now Available to Imperial Magic Users. May Now Train Mages. New Options Unlocked.


-Supplying a Demand: Cost: 600. Time: One Year. Reward: Boosted Linen Exports, Additional Trade Income. Chance of Success: 65%

Required: 35. Rolled: 70+15+10(Back in Marethon omake by @Firebringer2077)=95 (Art. Crit!)

You and your advisors have invested a great deal of time and funds into the cultivation of the Empire's textiles industry. For years it has been your hope that Imperial Linens would be able to compete with Neighponese Silks as a valued trade good in international markets. Steel, food, cannons and alcohol are all well and good, but you know that Gryphus needs to diversify its exports if it is to maintain its economic growth in the long term. And so, in an attempt to drum up demand for the product you're looking to sell on a global scale, you subsidize mills and farms to lower prices, fund expositions, print promotional materials, and have samples of fabric sent to tailors and other interested parties in Neighpon, Canterbury, and the Minotaur Republics.

The response was greater than you could have hoped for.

Virtually overnight, demand for Gryphus-made linens explodes, tailors and entrepreneurs from across the world racing to get ahold of the new material. New uses for the fabric are invented by the day as clothes, pillowcases, bags, tablecloths, bedsheets and furnitures upholstery are churned out by workshops and factories that begin springing up in cities across the Empire and beyond. Farmers throughout Gryphus soon find themselves encouraged to plant additional fields of flax to meet the surging demand which shows no sign of abating. By the end of the year, you've more than made back you're initial investment, and secured your nation's place as a renowned supplier of textiles to the wider world. Not too shabby, if you say so.

Gryphus now rivals Neighpon in the Global Textile Trade. +350 Trade Income.



Learning: Though Archimedes has passed wizened and is now nearing ancient, he remains the greatest Scholar in the Empire, with Genevieve not far behind him. From what you hear, your son's friend Sebastian has made quite an impression upon the two with his sudden deluge of research notes and prototype inventions, some of which may even have Empire-wide applications.

-Paddle Steamers: Cost: 250. Time: One Year. Reward: Designs for Coastal/Riverine Steam Ships.

Archimedes already has the design for a maritime steam engine. Now he just needs a boat to install it into. As your chief scientist and engineer has exhaustively explained to you, existing ship designs meant to incorporate the use of sails as their primary means of propulsion are poorly suited to accommodate his latest invention. The fact that these vessels will be operating primarily in the shallow waters of the Empire's rivers and coastlines only lends additional weight to his argument that an entirely new class of ship will be necessary. A panel of shipwrights and naval architects is quickly assembled and, working with Archimedes, Genevieve, and an enthusiastic Sebastian, they quickly put together, and subsequently reject, multiple proposals before finally settling upon a finalized design.



It's clear to all that look at the schematics that the vessel is clearly not designed to traverse the open ocean. Truthfully it more closely resembles a river barge than a proper ship, but the panel of experts assures you that this is the best design for their needs and the ships intended purpose. You suppose it doesn't matter too much exactly how the thing looks, only if it works as you all hope it will. All that remains now is to actually build the thing and see how it fares in the water.

Steamship Design Developed. New Actions Unlocked.



-Airships-Commercial Refinement: Cost: 1000. Time: One Year. Reward: Designs for Commercial Airships. New Options Unlocked.

Even as they work to develop a new form of maritime transport, your scholars are also hard at work creating an entirely different kind of cargo vessel. Though the commercialized version of the newly developed airship is a very different beast from the steamship project, it proceeds in much the same way: a panel of experts proposing numerous designs which are gradually whittled down until only one, ideal version remains.



The proposed design is very similar in many ways to the militarized version, albeit with more focus on range and cargo capacity than armor and weapons. You believe that this was intentional on the part of the design team, hoping to simplify the assembly and maintenance processes on all future airships. Now, with the designs for both civilian and military models of these new airborne transports, you are ready to start constructing an aerial fleet.

Commercial Airship Designs Acquired. New Actions Unlocked.



Intrigue: Ravenburg remains one of your busiest advisors, constantly keeping you informed of happenings and dangers inside and outside of the Empire. Between the rumblings in Canterbury, the developing Maretonian situation, maintaining security at home and keeping an eye on other developing situations abroad, your spymaster has his talons full. Thankfully he has Rose to serve as his assistant and advisor in matters of espionage...though the Changeling can at times be as much of a curse as she is a blessing.

-Equestrian Investigations: Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Intelligence on Equestria, Potential to Unlock New Actions. Chance of Success: 60%

Required: 30. Rolled: 71+13+15(Regional Flag omake by @Firebringer2077)=99 (Art. Crit!)

The Equestrians are, by all accounts, a decent and friendly people, and their rulers seem to be as committed as you are to pursuing peace and stability as you make your way into the future and seek to distance yourselves from the age of Discord. But if your time as Emperor has taught you anything, it's to be wary...and the revelation of the Changeling Conspiracy in Canterbury (and possibly beyond) has only served to reinforce that lesson. And so, as your diplomats and merchants make their way over the border into Equestria, your spies and infiltrators follow along with them to gather intelligence on your new friends. As it turns out, there's quite a lot to report.

For starters, while everything that the Alicorn Sisters told your son regarding their history is proven to be accurate, it seems that they were somewhat overstating the unified state of their realm. Oh, the various dukes, counts and barons all swear fealty to Celestia and Luna, who categorically forbid any open hostility between their vassals, but that hasn't stopped the more ambitious among them from plotting against each other or waging economic warfare against their rivals. Blackmail, bribery, tax dodging and the occasional magical duel are not uncommon occurrences in the noble courts of Equestria, though it is clear that all those involved take great pains to conceal their activities from their monarchs.

This is not particularly surprising to you. Members of the nobility scheming against each other for more wealth, power and influence seems to be a common trend in nearly all of the nations you have thus far encountered. The fact that your agents had to go digging to find evidence of such activities is actually a point in Equestria's favor; in Maretonia and pre-Imperial Gryphus such things often happened right out in the open, the perpetrators confident that they would face no consequences for their actions. At any rate, the fact that you now have some inkling of the illegal activities some of Equestria's leading citizens are up to gives you a potential opportunity to leverage such information to your advantage.

More interesting to you is the reported discovery that there is apparently another subspecies of Pony that you and your people were hitherto unaware of.



Although bearing some resemblance to the more common Pegasi, these Thestrals are nocturnal, bat-like, and perhaps most importantly, obligate carnivores. This last detail, combined with the fact that their batlike nature was apparently a curse inflicted upon their ancestors by Discord, has led to them being faced with a certain level of discrimination and being pushed to the edges of Equestrian society for much of their race's history, occupying their own secluded settlements far from those of their herbivorous brethren. The only exceptions to this are the soldiers of Princess Luna's Night Guard, who are the only Thestrals to reliably live and work within the major cities of Equestria. It seems that the Lunar Princess has taken it upon herself to attempt to rehabilitate the image of the chiropteran equines, and has made numerous attempts to try to bridge the gap between them and the rest of the Kingdom, though she has thus far made little headway in the endeavor. Still, by all accounts the Thestrals themselves adore the Lunar Princess for her attempts to protect and assist them, so clearly her efforts have had some positive results for her.

And finally, there is one final piece of information that is passed along to Ravenburg. More of a rumor, honestly, but an interesting one. Apparently, some of the more knowledgeable and long-serving staff in the Castle of the Two Sisters have claimed (usually under the influence of alcohol) that the magics used to bind Discord in stone were not purely the product of the Alicorns themselves. Supposedly, they managed to achieve the feat only by using a series of ancient arcane relics known as the "Elements of Harmony". What little information could be found on these fabled objects makes them sound quite similar to the Crystal Heart. This may bear further investigation.

Equestrian Intelligence Gained. New Actions Unlocked.



-Etymological Studies: Cost: 600. Time: One Year. Reward: Intel of Canterbury/Phalanx. Chance of Success: 60%.

Required: 30. Rolled: 86+13+10(It's Raining Storm omake by @Markala)=109 (Art. Crit!)

The recruitment of the Changeling Gyne known as Ruby was a major intelligence coup for Gryphus. You can think of few more powerful information gathering assets than a mole within the Hive of Queen Pharynx. And the return of your newly flipped infiltrator to Canterbury comes at an opportune time. The declaration of an Errantry War to wipe out all of the beasts and monsters within the borders of Canterbury comes as a great surprise to all those in the know regarding the Changeling conspiracy and the sinister true purpose behind the Kingdom's chronic infestation of murderous beasts. Why would the shapeshifters seek to order the extermination of one of their greatest assets in maintaining their grand facade of a religion? You needed answers...and Ruby was more than willing to provide them. Through a series of pre-arranged dead drops and coded messages, all of which are collected by Rose, your spy hidden amongst a race of spies conveys what information she has been able to gather.

Contrary to some of the theories that you and Ravenburg had been formulating in the absence of facts, it seems that Queen Pharynx was indeed the originator of the order to cleanse the realm of dangerous creatures, which was passed along to Queen Chevaline as a command from the Lady. According to Ruby, this change of plans was brought about by Canterbury's greater exposure to other nations. Before, the beasts bred by the Changelings were used to sow fear, to reinforce the importance of unity against a hostile outside world. Apparently the Changeling Queen is of the opinion that it's easy to deceive and manipulate people when you are promising to deliver them from a genuine threat to their lives and loved ones. But now, with Storm Country virtually next door and increasingly powerful neighbors threatening to surpass the strength of the Theocratic Kingdom, Canterbury can no longer afford to be weakened from within. Clearing the dark forests is to the the first step towards making Canterbury a stronger Kingdom, capable of truly standing alongside the likes of Equestria, Gryphus and Neighpon.

Unfortunately, this raises the possibility that the boogeymen that Queen Chevaline intends to rally the inhabitants of Canterbury against will come from outside of its borders...and that you and Gryphus may be counted amongst them. You will have to be watchful going forward.

Canterbury/Hive Pharynx Intelligence Gained. New Actions Unlocked.



Piety: The revelation of the true nature of the Church of the Lady of the Lake has brought new relevance to the issue of faith in your Empire.

-The Imperial Creed: Cost: 100. Time: One Year. Reward: Lectitio Divinitatus published.

Your personal opinion of the so called "Imperial Cultists" has always been rather mixed. While it's true that most of them do not actually worship you as a literal god, their unquestioning praise of your every action makes you more than a little uncomfortable. It was bad enough when people felt the need to bow and scrape to you just because you wore a crown. You've publicly denied your supposedly divine nature on multiple occasions, but this has done absolutely nothing to curb their belief in you. Apparently "only the truly divine deny their own divinity." You almost tore your own head feathers out the first time their representative on the Council of Faiths had offered up that rationalization.

Still, you can't deny that they are a force for good. At the end of the day, they are patriots, utterly devoted to the Empire and it's people, and acts of charity and community service are common amongst their small but tightly-knit congregations. And with the revelations concerning the true nature of the Church of the Lady of the Lake, they are no longer the religion you are most opposed to. Compared to that subversive conspiracy masquerading as a faith, almost any belief system is a preferable alternative.

At any rate, helping your most ardent supporters publish their holy book to spread the tenets of their faith and draw the numerous disparate sects closer together seems harmless enough in your eyes. It only takes a few politely worded letters and a few bags of gold to gain the attention of a few publishing houses that are both willing and able to print off a few thousand copies of the Lectitio Divinitatus, and by the end of the year copies of the sacred text can be found in homes, churches, libraries and bookstores across the Empire, purchased by devout believers and curious potential converts alike.


One of Several Illustrations within the Lectitio Divinitatus

Your most faithful subjects are quite pleased to finally possess their own scriptures, and are even more happy to see their congregations swell with new members in the wake of their distribution across the nation. Most pertinently for you, the surge of new converts has caused them to overtake the Church of the Lady in terms of membership, now leaving them as the second smallest religious organization in Gryphus while the Changeling-inspired cult is forced firmly into the minority. You can be happy about that at least.

+.5 Imperial Cult Influence. New Actions Unlocked.



Personal: You refuse to let your duties as Emperor take up every moment of your day.

-A Gesture of Friendship: Cost: 500. Time: One Year. Reward: Rune Sword gifted to Emperor Ryuō.

Ever since you first met him, the Dragon Emperor Ryuō has always been counted amongst your circle of friends and allies. He and his people moved to assist you and yours in the war against Sombra for no other reason than because it was the right thing to do, and ever since you have been able to count upon the Eastern Dragon to support you and Gryphus should you ever have need to call for their assistance once again. More than that, your fellow Emperor has been a sort of confidante to you. You and he have exchanged many letters bemoaning the bureaucracy and paperwork that accompanies your respective positions and sympathizing with each other's familiar burdens of leadership. Your Imperial penpal even provided crucial knowledge and advised you on what to expect raising a young dragon, advice that has served you well as you have watched Gwyndlyn grow up into a fine young lady of the Imperial Family. You don't think it an exaggeration to state that you owe your friend a great deal...and you think it's high time you did something to repay that debt, and you believe your Draconic daughter's imminent journey to Neighpon is exactly the occasion to do so.

And so, you summon Merlin and a team of some of the Empire's finest sword-smiths to create a blade worthy of your fellow Emperor. Expensive reagents are gathered as the Archmage begins drawing up several unique runes befitting for such a masterwork blade, and the finest ore is sourced from the Empire's mines to provide the purest steel for the blade as the Griffons and Dogs gathered to craft the weapon propose numerous different designs, both Neighponese and Imperial. Seeing as how his own weapon incorporates many of the design philosophies you seek to emulate, Grandmaster Hardbeak is brought in to consult on the process, adding his own considerable experience and valued input. Several blades are forged and tested by the Hero of the Empire before being rejected for one reason or the other; the gift intended for a foreign head of state needs to be as close to perfect as is possible. The final design approved by Konrad is a distinctly Griffonian-style. Surprising perhaps, from one fond of Neighponese style weaponry, but you suppose, as he does, that it suits the sword's dual purpose as a symbol of Gryphus's friendship. Merlin then sets to work inscribing multiple arcane symbols upon the blade, runes meant to increase the weapon's durability and sharpness while reducing it's weight joining a series of sigils intended to make the sword double as a focus for the Celestial Dragon's own inherent magic.



The result is a masterpiece, a wholly unique weapon that is as much a work of art as it is a tool of war. You are certain that Koryu will appreciate his new gift.

To be Continued in "Eastern Sunrise"



-The Land of the Rising Sun: Cost: 300. Time: One Year. Reward: Gwyndlyn visits Neighpon. Potential for rewards and other developments.

To be Continued in "Eastern Sunrise"


-The Prince and the Lady: Cost: 0. Time: One Year. Reward: Gawain asks Isabelle a Very Important Question. (Does not cost an action. Cannot be chosen in the same turn as Gotta get with my Friends)

To be Continued in "The Most Important Question"



Carracks Constructed This Turn: 3



Random Event Rolls:
78 (Pass)
55 (Pass)
100 (To be Continued in Rumor Mill)



Took me some time to get this out due to IRL obligations (currently in the middle of the long and complicated process of moving house), but am pretty happy with how this came out. Informational Posts will be updated tomorrow.

 

[Questor]

Isabelle hadn't ever believed in love.

Oh, she knew that it existed. She knew that many other Griffons got the chance to experience it. But she had never believed that she would ever be among them.

And why would she have? She had been born into nobility; not just any nobility, but into the House of Brochard. Her uncle had been King, ruler of a third of what had once been the First Empire of Gryphus, and set to become the founder of the second. Her fate was to be married off to the scion of a powerful noble house for the sake of a political advantage. Her husband would be chosen for her, and what she might or might not have felt about or for him would never have factored into the equation. She had known this to be her fate from a young age, and had come to accept it as the price for a life of privilege.

Then the Unification War had come. In what had seemed like the blink of an eye, everything that she had known to be true was turned on it's head. Her Uncle, his kingdom, his most loyal supporters, all had been swept away as if they had never existed, the lands of her home country absorbed into the reunited Empire.

And with the rise of the House of Goldenfeather had come the fall of the House of Brochard. Overnight, she and the rest of her family became pariahs, a symbol of the despised old regime. Nobles that had chafed under the now-dead king's iron grip had quickly directed their ire upon their former sovereign's remaining family, and families that had once bowed and scraped to get into the good graces of her parents now did everything possible to distance themselves from their former business partners.

For a time, she had feared that she and her family would be dispossessed of their lands and titles, stripped of their nobility and left to fend for themselves upon the hostile streets of the Empire, or even exiled into the wild lands beyond the nation's borders for their perceived crimes. But the expected punishment from the Emperor her relative had sought to oppose never materialized.

Then again, it wasn't like his personal intervention was necessary. His subjects did a good enough job tearing down her family on their own. Within but a few short years, they had been reduced to a pale shadow of what they had once been, only nobility by technicality as they found themselves ostracized by virtually everyone. Associating with them quickly became an act of social suicide, and Isabelle soon found that the crowds of suck-ups and hangers-on that had once attempted to cozy up to her in hopes of earning her uncle's favor now did everything they could to avoid being seen with her.

For many long months she had endured the whispers, the snubs, the words of derision from her peers, and she had come to fear that these things would follow her for the remainder of her life. Far from being concerned about marrying a male she did not love, Isabelle was now led to fear that she would never get the chance to marry anyone at all. And she had despaired.

And then, miraculously, like something out of a fairytale, a knight in shining armor had come to sweep her off her feet.

She had been terrified when the Crown Prince of the Empire had first approached her, fearful that she was to be made a spectacle, called out and publicly shamed as an example of what fate befell those who would attempt to oppose his own family. But when she had prostrated herself before him and all but begged for mercy, he had simply urged her to her feet and spoken to her as if she was no different than any other hen.

She hadn't known what to think. For a time, she had been utterly convinced that his friendly demeanor was an act, a cruel facade that would be pulled down when she was most vulnerable, that he would drop her like the tainted goods she was like all of her other former "friends" had. But the moment she feared never came. Instead, he had introduced her to his friends, who, like him, seemed to be completely indifferent to her heritage, unafraid to be seen associating with her. He had shown her places where she did not have to hide herself, where she did not need to fear the judgmental stares of others, and he had made it clear to her that he did not believe that she should be punished for the crime of being related to a Griffon who was now long dead.

The other nobles had been jealous of course, that she of all people had managed to gain the attention of the Crown Prince, but she had long grown used to their whispers and veiled insults, and the barbs thrown her way hurt far less now that she had others to support her and remind her that she was more than her bloodline. Despite the lies and slander others sought to spread about her, she had been content, happy for the first time in years.

But the Prince…Gawain, had not been satisfied. He had taken an almost personal offense on her behalf at the poisonous words that he knew were spoken about her when neither of them were present, and he had gone beyond her wildest expectations to see her elevated in the eyes of all those who looked down upon her.

The memory of dancing with Gawain, with the Emperor, as what had felt to her like the entirety of Gryphus looked on, was one that she would cherish for the rest of her days…but not nearly as much as the memory of what had happened after, when Gawain had told her why he had gone so far out of his way for her sake.

"So that others can see you the way I do. Because I…like you."

And Isabelle had finally allowed herself to believe in something as impossible, and wonderful, as love.

It was actually kind of funny how little their relationship had changed after that night. They had already been close, already relied on and confided in each other, already enjoyed each other's company before they had crossed the invisible boundary between friends and something more. But there was definitely something indescribably different about their interactions after that eventful gala. Their talks became more intimate as they discussed their hopes and fears for the future, their shared silences more comfortable as they simply appreciated being in each other's presence, and, of course, their gestures of affection, both physical and otherwise, became far more frequent.

They cherished every moment that they got the chance to share together…with Gawain's growing responsibilities as his father's diplomat, and her family's resurgent popularity necessitating her presence at countless meetings and functions, the opportunities for them to slip away from the crowds of nobles and bureaucrats together were few and far between. But it only made them appreciate the time that they spent with each other even more.

Every day Isabelle gave thanks to the ancestors and whatever guiding force that existed in the universe that she had been so unbelievably fortunate as to meet Gawain.

But despite her joy, a tiny part of her, a voice in the back of her mind nurtured by years of verbal abuse and childhood conditioning, could not help but fear that this wonderful thing that she had found would not last. That Gawain would find a smarter, prettier, more outgoing hen, and leave her all alone once again.


____________________________________________________


Isabelle landed upon the mountainside, Gawain greeting her with a smile and a warm embrace as she arrived at their chosen meeting place. The two sat down upon a blanket together, staring out at the city beneath them.

Gawain had been right. The capitol was beautiful at night.

They sat quietly for a time, neither wishing to be the first to break the silence, before Gawain finally spoke.

"My father used to bring me up here, when I was very young. He'd point out all of the landmarks, teach me how to navigate from the air before I started to fly longer distances. He would tell me that everything I saw from this peak were lands and people that he was responsible for...that it was his duty to watch over and protect them...and that that duty would one day fall to me."

Isabelle did not speak, merely shuffled closer, leaning into his side as he once again shared his innermost thoughts and feelings with her, one of the only people in the world who he felt he could speak to freely and without fear or shame.

"It was...humbling. To know and understand the weight that my father bore, that he continues to bear...that I will eventually have to carry myself."

He shook his head slowly, sighing.

"It is a weight that I do not think I can bear alone."

Isabelle opened her beak to speak, to reassure him, to let Gawain know that he wouldn't have to do anything alone, that she would always be there for him when he needed her...but her words died in her throat when Gawain reached underneath his mantled wing and withdrew a jewelry box.

"Isabelle...I love you. You are the kindest and most beautiful hen I've ever known...and I can't imagine a future without you by my side. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

She could scarcely bring herself to breathe as he opened the box, a diamond ring glittering in the moonlight before her as Gawain's hopeful eyes gazed into hers.

"Isabelle...will you make me the happiest male in Gry-"

The Crown Prince did not get the chance to finish as the object of his affections tackled him to the ground, her beak meeting his as she wept tears of joy, her loud, repeated and enthusiastic agreements shouted from the mountaintop for all the world to hear.

Gawain loved her. He loved her, and she loved him, and for as long as they lived, they would never leave each other's side.


Isabelle Brissette is now Isabelle Goldenfeather.