With our embassy projects completed I have easy access to the intel network for the rest of the alliance for major affairs. *looks down at Winter’s section* We may wish to withdraw from this alliance for the time being before we get pulled into that. We have our own problems here in the north, and it looks like the south is going to become very…messy.
In the meantime you should decide who will command the newly recruited soldiers. Finances are improving well at least. Also tunnel construction has hit what can only be described as “a bigger tunnel”. We have since halted the project and stationed guards at the entrance until you make a decision on what to do with this, because in that bigger tunnel were the same people from the strange castle. We lost about twenty workers in the ensuing retreat. To that end –
Sakki has been continuing to hang around the castle, he has actually made some headway on diplomacy somehow. Apparently, he seduced one of them and that’s how he got inside their castle. As to further demonstrate their savagery, they fed him Rakkel for dinner and considered it amusing. Their underground network is big…a lot bigger then we anticipated and every estimate we had about their population from watching from afar was very wrong. Underground they have a city the size of Sybaris. Attempting to siege this would be suicide for us, not only can we not get underground effectively but their numbers are quite high. Sakki did some math that I didn’t know he could do. They don’t know it, but they have a tunnel that goes right under our capital, and they harvest runoff from the very same lake we do when it flows underground.
Gideon has finished exploring the southern border of ice. Without any other standing orders he has opted to just wander off along the border to see what else he might see.
Layla has completed her project that was apparently designed with the help of Ankathi’s research in the village of Sarkisa. She has constructed a fairly large and…spiky building. I’m not even totally sure what it actually is but with the gold you sent her; Layla apparently hired a scholar of some sort to look into the art this monument was designed for. So…I guess we have someone new on the payroll.
The first, and potentially last, blackguard. Through consorting with the dark entities Layla’s Sanctum has produced a sort of knight imbued with dark powers. She is a terrifying warrior, equipped with the best arms and armor we could get ahold of thanks to the new trade route to the Nalkas. Layla says she would make a good commander but wasn’t exactly going to hire an army with her current funds. But according to her Nina has some sort of ability to affect her soldiers in a supernatural way to empower them.
I am wary of this, the way Nina was created was to consort with a much more powerful entity then our witches do but instead of trying to barter with it Nina has become a pawn to it. Avoiding the horrid death many of our aspiring coven witches do but simply submitting herself to those creatures in exchange for great power.
Nina herself is a very…I would describe her as intense personality. Her constant communion with some sort of dark entity has definitely affected her outward demeanor. She seems to have a sense of purpose though, and that causes her to behave perhaps erratically to our perspective. She refers to this entity as “master” and keeps pitching that we should meet with her master. Her loyalty to the throne might be subject to question depending what this entity’s designs are. Be very careful dealing with her, while you or I could deal with her should she rebel against the throne I fear it is actually if she doesn’t that we might be in the most precarious of situations.
((New monument unlocked: Sanctum
New unit unlocked, Blackguard 150g50m | 50g20m: Fully armed infernal knights with less utility then witches but are all-in on combat stats and warfare based abilities. Increases morale and defense scores of any army they command. Increases overall combat level of any army by +1 per soldier. Gains +1 combat power for every 5 enemy soldiers. Has +1 to morale shocks on enemy armies. Prone to downright evil and slightly erratic behavior.))
On to other affairs, here is the governor you wanted for Tethalyn. She’s a fine warrior in her own right, I figured she would be a good choice to govern a fortified city. She has a militaristic mindset demanding strength from her people, increasing the defensive behavior of whatever city she lurks within. As a person she’s quite regal and projects the air of nobility quite well, though is not good with kids given she abandoned her own after ‘doing her part’ for the nation’s reproduction problems.
Aside from all this, Areti has found her way to the front lines of battle between the orcs and the elves. Her report reads “It is a sea of bodies howling for blood as far as I can see. Every night the fires of their camp reach to the horizon. They throw themselves into the elven walls with a zeal for death and glory greater then our own. The elves are evacuating their people every day, they can’t hold this line much longer and they know it. Once this fortress falls the choke point between these two mountains will not be able to hold them back any longer and they will spread through our home forest.”
As for the defense of Tethalyn, the upgrades from Nalkas are still en route, though the first batch has arrived to be utilized for Marilena’s army. Ankathi and Rhea’s are on transit once again. The fighting near Tethalyn has begun, despite the reinforcements to Marilena Neyth doesn’t seem deterred. She instead opted to take on Ankathi and Rhea as they approached from the sides and ignore Marilena’s fortified position for the time being. Losses are already massive, fighting in the forest has given Neyth a significant advantage. Despite us controlling Tethalyn the area is still a familiar ground to the elves. Rhea’s army took the worst of it while Ankathi has just started burning the forest around her, using witchcraft to rot the woods and then set it alight as a defensive mechanism. The fighting still wages on in the form of guerilla warfare in the forests.
Interestingly, Amare has chimed on on this. Neyth is a radicalist, even more so then Amare herself who at least has that whole crucifixion thing to be angry about. That is the reason Neyth is the only commander here assaulting Tethalyn, while the rest remain to the east fighting the orcs. After discussing this with me Amare just flew off, not really sure what she is up to though.
Also Despoina found another village lurking out in the woods. This one is actually quite elven, and close by to the elves. Though seems to lack the flag of the Aywin nation. Perhaps an offshoot colony of some sort?
Greetings keeper! It is a glorious day for the Oda people. I should point out that while Iwanagi is a master at sea, you may want an actual wizard for commanding the fleet advantageously. Especially as we look into producing boats out of the new wood, enchanted boats are best wielded by a proper master of the arcane rather then a monk who is good at floating on the winds.
Also yes the diplomat is here.
A nice old man with a disarming smile. Actually I play go with him on weekends at the local tea house. He currently works as assistant to the local governance, has a knack for diffusing situations before they escalate. I feel he may be the man you are looking for, he isn’t much use in a fight so you will need to keep a retinue with him if he travels abroad but he is definitely an impressive wordsmith. He’s a decent man, concerned with fairness, justice, and good tea. Don’t offer him sake though, he likes to remain clear of mind. He is prone to spouting proverb style wisdom but this seems to impress most around him as to listen to what he has to say.
Also fear not, I have already been assembling the details of higher quality boats for you. It was definitely a first priority for us, including a quite interesting design…
((New unit unlocks:
T2 Warship 450g50m | 20g10m: 35 Naval Power
T2 Hunter Ship 450g50m | 20g10m: 15 Naval Power, 50 Naval power vs monsters
Dawnbreaker Galleon 1100g120m | 40g20m: 85 Naval Power – armed with ballista that can fire for miles into coastal hexes with ease.))
In regards to the temple and the monks, all they do is meditate and try to achieve nirvana as you say. So…they’re well on their way to that. I foresee that whatever this second tier of monk you prophesize might be found through trials and not mere self reflection.
On to Iwanagi, he has made landing at the fort along the coast. They do seem quite friendly actually and interested to meet with us, the fort is guarding a long line of docks along the inlet of water which acts as a trading locale. He describes their wealth as equivalent to ours and trade might be useful. He has been spending the day wandering around their market looking for things of interest to bring back to showcase.
As for the work at the isolationists, Kyoko describes the most vulnerable resource they have to be their water supply of the nearby lake. Their population is dependent on it and even though they don’t live far from areas with good rainfall they didn’t grow exploiting that and they live on the drier badlands side of the borders, so if the lake were to become undrinkable it would definitely hurt them. Though it is not clear if they could trade for that as it is a hard resource to ship. It would significantly reduce their population undoubtedly. Alternatively, Kyoko is pretty sure the denizens of the badlands don’t actually know about that artifact and that is of substantial value to raiders, not to mention it is concealing any other value that might have been causing the marauders to ignore it thus far. If they were to learn about it the isolationists would likely be driven out of their village or at least come to a state where they were in need of protection. As the least cutthroat option though, their metal resources come from a small mine and this is already something they don’t have in particularly great abundance. If the mine were collapsed it could take a little bit of time before they started to feel the pressure of lacking new iron income but it would inevitably effect them as things started to wear down.