telerib | Back to the Weekly Grind: World Events

Please excuse the wildly changing tenses. I tried to keep it past tense, but I'm just too used to narrative game stuff in the present. Sorry if I missed some.

If I recollect correctly...

Shortly after the PCs arrive in Lari, Nadia sets off over the pass to return to her people. Miranda goes with her; Florin will catch up after some quality time with the wife and kid(s). Yvonne proposed to Luc, who accepted. Andre began his training for knighthood. Aphax and Tiona took some time to get to know each other again in a crossbow-free environment. TickTock... I don't know what TickTock's immediate plans are.

Within Three Months...
The marriage of Lady Gabrielle to Pierre d'Lari (Yvonne's former brother-in-law) is announced. Yvonne, Tiona and Aphax (at least; other party members may go if desired) are sent to attend and send the Countess's blessings and gifts. (Beatritz is quite eager to see what Odette and her ward are up to since the forest adventure). Discrete inquiries reveal a disturbing trend towards militarization; before more can be learned, Tiona disappears. She'd cornered Gabrielle without proper backup, and the Lady's personal Guard captured her. Aphax rescued her (with assistance, I'm sure, but Gabs remembers *him*, unless anyone else wants a 10 pt Enemy and no, you can't spend the points on other things...) earning the wrath of Odette's heir.

Miranda travelled with Nadia and met a cell of Ehosian Reformers in exile, camped on the grass plains north of Sommayid, the Gateway to the Pearl Kingdom (Ehosia). A handful of somber elves were there as well, and negotiations were underway for an alliance. Nadia actually took a forceful role in squashing the affair. The elves were dae faroth, assassins, and her experience with the Ambassador has convinced Nadia that the Lord of Life would not condone such methods. The elves left without ire, but would continue to select their targets as they saw fit, rather than asking the Reformers for input. One stayed behind, apparently a friend or lover of one of the Ehosian priests in the camp.

Within Six Months...
Florin got to Ehosia after Roslyn had their baby girl. She was none to pleased with his departure, but accepted it as part of her new life. Miranda and Florin were in Ehosia (Nadia stayed with the Reformers, although they probably run into her on occassion in Ehosia's cities) when the Patriarch died - killed by an elven assassin, it was said. The new Patriarch was quick to make peace with the elves, much to everyone's consternation. The Reformers took it as a good sign, since the new Patriarch seemed to be using a lot of their rhetoric about "living together under one sun" and suchlike expressions.

Tiona was delivered of her baby, a son named Armand. Andre, Andre's father, and Aphax complete the family unit.

Baroness Odette began an armed squabble with one of her neighbors, over the same piece of land they disputed 20 or so years ago. (PCs have a map from that event). The Countess of Cascarrone stepped in, and Odette fought her as well. The Countess did not request assistance from the Queen until it was too late.

Nine months...
If Yvonne wanted to have a child, it would be born around this time.

Tensions in Ehosia were high. The ley gate network had been tightly restricted for many months. A series of "incidents" on the western side of the Bahset Mountains between the Ehosians and the Asmundr dwarves kept escalating. The new Patriarch sends word to Ambassador Khalil that he should return home, so he can appoint his own Ambassador.

Tensions in Saromatia were high. Odette gained the support of the merchants of Tourilac, promising them free access to Soustons and trade restrictions on Ritone's pass should she gain power. Her army, supplemented at first with mercenaries, also had the support of the Elemental Brotherhood, a consortium of wizards. Pierre commanded them, and it was loudly and publicly declared that in time, he would co-rule with his wife. Promises of more political power for men were trumpted, bringing other allies.

Many of Cascaronne's neighbors would be bullied or intimidated into allying with (or at least not opposing) Odette; Agin (the county housing Soustons, the port), Ritone, and the Queen are clearly against her. The Northern Ride was in a bind - the Count is loyal to the queen, is intrigued by Odette's promises of male sovreignty, and depends too much on Tourilac for supplies. I'll try and have a full breakdown of alliances by gametime.

Miranda and Florin spotted Ys in Shariz, the captial of Ehosia. They learned only that she is staying in the Patriarch's Silver Palace, and her words are obeyed as law.

Nadia returns over the pass and asks Andre to go with her to Garonne, to warn Ambassador Khalil not to go home. She feels a duty to save the life of the man she tried to kill. The trip is perilous, as it goes through the battle zone. (Beatritz sanctions it, as long as Andre brings back information on unit strength and checks up on the Countess's relative in Vezias). By the end of the adventure, she is quite impressed with Andre's bravery and skill, as well as his kindness.

After a Year...
Armed skirmishes between the Ehosians and the dwarves is turning into a full-out war. The ley gates spring back to life, an apparent benediction of the hostilities. Word of the suspected necromantic fuel for the gates has made its way through Reformer circles by now, and they are aghast at what the war, and the reactivated gates, must mean. Ancient texts circulating over the past year (uncovered by Brother Cael, the fellow with the elven lover) support the idea. If they are not forgeries, this new chapter for the Book of Eho describes how the gates were not gifts of Eho, but rather mortal magic. The clerics tending them all grew old and died before their time. Frantic research revealed a way to use plant life, rather than human, to fuel the gates. The first war with the jungle elves was the result, and the jungle disappeared within a few generations of the war's end.

Given the "dwarf-sucker" experiments, it seems the Ehosians have found a way to return to the older method of powering the gates.

Odette is a clear and present danger in Saromatia. She is obviously making a bid to take the realm's throne by force. Even when Miranda and Florin come racing over the pass with news of Ehosia, Beatritz is far more interested in solving this domestic problem.

Nadia has been dragging her feet on returning to Ehosia, finding as an excuse the need to minister to the Ehosian community in Lari.

The elves don't seem inclined to get involved; they've been fighting a war without help from the dwarves, so the dwarves can fight without them. Besides, they have a religious crusade of their own internally, with a holy warrior and his allies hunting down dae faroth.

The Bersai dwarves are arming, ready to come to the assistance of their western kindred. Hey, it's a fight. Like they'd miss it.

On the new trade:
Ritone and Saromatia learn of several of the nations of the world before trade through the pass falls off due to Ehosian-dwarven hostilities. Trader Enterprises still maintains its warehouse, but shipments are infrequent at best these days. Julia has been back once (to negotiate for rhacos trainers), but underlings have been running it since.