The relationship between Lerona Mere and The Divine Spheres has always been a complex one - though the Artebazzani Church was once wielded like a gallows, determining the peoples’ fate, the Concordian Church now acts as a platform from which they can change the world. Though the light of The Spheres illuminates so much knowledge and life, it also exposes the ignorance and death some would rather leave shadowed and buried. Though the flames of Anarch burnt away the oppressor’s rope from around their necks, the same flame now divides the people from within and without.
Like in all complex relationships, it is up to the people to decide their fate - to grow in knowing and belief, brought together in challenge, or to fracture into a people shattered by ignorance.
Twice as Many Stars as Usual
The acolyte sighed, nose and fingernails filled with soot, as they finished scrubbing the fireplaces for the day. It was an endless and rewardless task; the fires would stay clean for a handful of hours, the midday sun casting its fractured rays through the stained glass to warm the church, until the evening came and brought its biting shadows with it. Then, without fail, as the warmth of the sun slunk away with its setting, each fireplace would be lit. Ash and soot would cling to their stone surrounds well after the warmth of the fires had faded into sleep, ready to greet the young acolyte each morning, their only companion before the sun rose to join them.
They stood, attempting to stretch out the aching in their spine, and stared up at the window at the back of the church. As the sun decided to rise, it stretched alongside the acolyte, limning the room in colours aplenty, painting the pews in the colours of The Spheres. All six, cast in glass, each unique and beautiful, stared back down at them, and they felt as they do each morning - grateful, despite their tiredness, and faithful, despite their fatigue.
Taking a moment to hold their breath, to bask in the rare moment of silence in Legend City, the acolyte paused, eyes half-lidded, The Spheres’ light a hazy kaleidoscope. They held this light in their periphery as they scrubbed at their hands, red raw but free from soot at last. Then, as they must, they moved to the next task: the placement of the pennons.
First was Lumos, a white pennon embroidered in threads of brass, soon to glow in the growing light.
The acolyte suspended Anarch and Panoply next, then Arcadian and Cervitas, each to be resplendent in the sun.
Then, they took another moment to hold their breath. They hadn’t lost it - how could they have lost it? They pressed it with the others last night, ensuring the silver embroidery lay flat. They remember saying a prayer over it, as they did with each of the pennons, before placing it in the drawer ready for today. They had a routine - they never deviated from the routine.
The acolyte let out a shuddering breath - the pennons weren’t even, three weighing heavy against two. They picked at the imagined soot under their nails, then at the skin around it, tension pulling tightly in their chest. This wasn’t right. There should have been six. It needed to be even.
They inhaled and exhaled in quick succession, the pressure of three against two growing in their skull as they began to panic. Fresh air - they needed fresh air.
The church cast its stairs in shadow, sunrise barely glancing from behind the stone. The not-quite light, along with the dread flooding through their veins, made it difficult to see the creature almost finished gnawing at the stonework above the doorway.
The acolyte stilled, unable to take in the fresh air they needed as the slang hissed at them, finished with its excavation. It did not seem to care for its chipped teeth and bleeding gums as it prised the carved star free from its containment, holding its clawed hands in reverence.
Then, scrambling down the building, it did not look back as it skittered away into the shadows beneath Legend City, leaving the humble church with two fewer stars than before.
—----
Across Legend City, similar tales are relayed - tales of missing banners, books, and other personal or architectural effects, all leaving a star-shaped space where they used to be. At first, this is thought to be happenstance - a coincidence.
But as sightings of the creatures known as Sewer Slangs are reported, a pattern begins to form. No one is injured or killed - no drunkards find themselves maimed beneath midnight skies - but the Slangs are seen, carrying away their Stallian spoils into the night.
Game Information:
The defeat of the Sewer Slangs in the sewers beneath Lerona Mere last Summit, along with the burning of one of their nests has resulted in an immediate end to their attacks upon the citizenry - something that should have been cause for celebration.
Instead, rather than leaving behind blood-soaked bodies, the Slangs have begun taking whatever star-related paraphernalia they can find, fleeing to their homes beneath the city with their prizes.
Stormseeker of the Masses
-=-=-=-
“Surely there is someone we can pay to kill him?”
“An assassin?!”
“Well there must be one assassin among these Concordian heroes! At least one of them with more knives than fear and a willingness to hear our cause!”
“I think you overestimate the pull that we have within the Concordian heroes Alexis. If they were more in line with our thinking then we wouldn’t be in this position.”
“So what do we do then? Allow them to complete this betrayal?!”
“We do what we have always intended to do, we preach to the people of Lerona Mere, we show them freedom, and we push the Council of Six into a corner. That will lead all of us to salvation.”
“If you think politicking and passivity will save your soul Lyam then you are already lost!”
The slither of a blade going back into a scabbard. The slam of a door.
“Anarchia preserve us.”
-=-=-=-
The free Lerona Mere have always been antagonist to established structures. Such is the nature of those who owe all their freedom their destruction of the greatest Empire known. It is easy for The Concord as a whole to consider the screeching and crying of Lerona Mere to be an irritating white noise, lost in the hustle and bustle of bureaucracy. But every now and then, this noise breaks through the surrounding cacophony to say something of note.
The Divine Hall of Anarchia is an older temple to the sphere of elemental chaos that existed since before the revolution. Favoured by that middle class of artisans and traders eager to ‘move fast and break things’ in the name of profit, it grew quickly after the revolution when its favoured cohort took places among the cities upper echelons. It now sits as one of three notable Anarch temples within the city, particularly assisted by its position within the Redbrick District.
While opposition of the Church and an institution and the Council of Six in particular is nothing new, the Council’s recent actions have changed this. Contact with the Artebazzani Church through the visiting Cardinal Imbrex of Cervitas who is currently based in Aprivano foremost among them. Already a vocal opponent of contact with Artebazzan, the Hall of Anarchia took then next step beyond this; declaring themselves free of yoke of The Councilf of Six and the Concordian Church. In doing so they named themselves and their flock the ‘Divine Church of Anarchia”, a Spheric Church that champions the call of Anarch, but still honours all other Spheres.
While largely a political and bureaucratic act, rather than a theological one, the ‘Anarchians’ have already drawn great notoriety. Magistrates in the city argue day and night, some calling for the charges to be laid against the apostates, while others argue that the Church has no right to challenge those who form a faith in the same manner that our Concordian church was founded.
The ‘First Anarchic’ Lyam De’Rosa, and his twin sister Alexis lead the faith from the Church itself. While Lyam is well known as a political agent and firebrand within the city, Alexis is largely unknown. A bravo by trade, she has only recently returned from the Concord’s wars in the west against The Drowned. Regardless of reputation, it appears that this is more than a simple publicity stunt. Sermons continue in the Divine Hall on the Redbrick plaza and while only a scarce two to three hundred mark their vests and hats with the flaming eye of Anarchia, it poses an existential threat to the Concordian Church.
Game Information
A church within Lerona Mere has declared itself separate from the Concordian Church of the Divine Spheres. The resulting bureaucratic, legal, and theological battle this has started makes waves throughout the Church and Concord. There will be additional information and decisions relating to the Divine Church of Anarchia for the Council of Six, The Heterodox, and the Senator of Lerona Mere.
Characters from Lerona Mere who are interested in the Anarchian faith can email the Concord Team at [email protected] before the 14th of April. They will receive some additional information about the Anarchian faith and some Anarchian literature. However it should be noted that attending Anarchian sermons and carrying Anarchian teachings is currently a crime under Concordian law.
I Suppose I Am Nothing But A Product Of You
There were few at Passage during the past Summer Summit who did not know of the presence of The Dead Reckoner. Such a controversial figure of The Spheres, once rumoured to be a Herald in its own right, and such an economic plague upon the people of Lerona Mere. A true measure of bond and faith, perhaps sent knowingly to the heroes of The Concord to test the strength of debt and willingness for it to be held against friend and foe alike.
The Dead Reckoner carried with it a great moral and historical baggage, and for many it was something to simply avoid, as decreed by The Church. Declared as a Being of The Spheres, certainly no herald and a thing to be kept at distance. Those who would follow such walking chaos would even go so far as to name themselves Reckonites, their own existence disallowed yet pursued nonetheless despite the risk it carried.
A fateful night of Summer Two-Two-Four would see the hard-earned culmination of such events. With The Dead Reckoner itself once again within Passage, there would be a solution once and for all. The Dead Reckoner would see its shackles shattered, and at great cost would be cleansed by the hands of heroes and the guiding words of The Promise. The Reckonites would see their existence allowed, and The Reckoner would return from where it came.
Finally, perhaps miraculously, the pained saga of The Reckoner would come to an end.
Yet a saga would not exist if it were not for the legacy that it leaves, and the questions that remain. What caused such a Being to exist? Was this truly a test manifested by The Eternals or Spheres, or simply an accident? What now will The Reckonites pursue now that their self-chosen charge is gone? What, exactly, are Spheric Beings?
Answers to such questions and more may be hard to come across, and others vastly altered by the opinion of the answerer. Nonetheless, time continues its endless march and people march alongside it, and some questions begin to fade while answers to others manifest far clearer than any could expect.
Lerona Mere, the home and travelling grounds of many of The Reckonites, would see them returned alone. Where normally they would be at the tail of The Reckoner, now they travel as they wish. They return to their homes, their families and their communities. They are welcomed, not as heretics but as the followers that they truly wished to be. They would spread their tale, and the lessons learned at the back of a Being of Panoply. Their words would carry weight, for some of their number were present for its cleansing and the sentiment they shared would be one hard to ignore.
As the months would continue, The Reckonites would not fade into obscurity as an order now defunct, but would instead slowly grow in size. They would take up the word of The Reckoner once again, and walk across Lerona Mere spreading it to any who would listen. They would advise against entering into debts foolishly. They would encourage the prompt payment of held debts. They would even go so far as to say that to renege on a debt is to commit a sin against The Spheres.
But most importantly of all, they would push the sentiment that to allow someone to incur a debt is to be bonded with them. To owe a debt is to be shackled to your debtor, and to be a debtor is to be shackled to the one who owes. To recognise that debts are a bond, no matter what form they take.
While their voices are marred by a history of inconvenience and pain beneath the curse of The Reckoner, it would be remiss to ignore that such voices grow ever louder in Lerona Mere and beyond. At times their gruff demeanour and rough methods cause conflict in their travels, but still their influence slowly grows, and the tale of The Reckoner spreads yet again.
Game Information
In celebration of The Reckoner’s cleansing, the people of Lerona Mere would find themselves eager to do business once more. Coin would flow freely, no longer tainted by ghostly bookings and a loss of valuables. The growing presence of Reckonites, their purpose turned but their goals and inspirations much the same, would see debts taken and paid in equal measure. Perhaps, at times, with an interest paid in bruises.
The economy of Lerona Mere would see itself in a minor boon, with a higher tax income than standard. In addition, Businesses and Farms will find they have produced as if they were 1 Tier higher this past Season.
The Malaise of the Not-Quiet Dead
The dead are well known in their habit of haunting the living. Through trauma, despair and grief, their presence only rarely leaves the minds and lives of those who once knew them. For some, this presence becomes a key point that allows them to grow from the pain and loss. For others, it becomes a foundation that allows them to overcome the trials and tribulations of their future.
More recently, for the people of Gafroza, this presence of death has taken a far more visceral approach to its effect on the living.
There are old gravemarkers spread throughout the region of Lerona Mere. Some newly planted, others older than Legend City and the people that choose to inhabit it. One such gravemarker has been a source of sudden malady for those people living in eastern Lerona Mere, a malady that takes the shadowy form of ghosts and spirits.
The children of the revolution are no strangers to the strange, and for many, such ghosts would wind up the punch line of jokes and clever additions to songs new and old. For a time, it was simply easier to acknowledge their existence and make light of it, hoping that local priests or mages could find a solution in the meantime.
This became far less funny a joke when those priests and mages never made it home.
There are ghosts in Gafroza, and they carry around them the aura of death. Are the ghosts themselves responsible for the deaths caused by their presence? Is there a more sinister and incomprehensible force at play behind their appearance? Is this simply the hallucinations of a local people that have far too often forgotten themselves in the bottom of a tankard?
Such answers will be up to the Heroes of Lerona Mere to discover.
Game Information
There will be a conflux for Lerona Mere Heroes on the first night of the Autumn Summit to attempt to discover and solve the strange happenings in Gafroza. The responsible party for this conflux will be The Champion of the Revolution, who will receive more information at the start of Summit.
The strange ghostly happenings have begun to damage the area around the gravemarker, but for now, the territory itself has not suffered beyond the loss of additional lives.
Further reading at Winds of the World - Autumn 225