As with any maritime nation, The Concord learns most of its foreign knowledge from across the waves. The rumours of sailors, the manifests of cargo and the flags that hang over ports. This knowledge is a constant flow but it often takes time to gather itself into some sort of cohesive picture, an image the great and powerful of The Concord would do well to consider before making rash action.
News arrives from across all the oceans, each with its own tenor and danger. In the west there is silent imperial dominance as the Artebazzani continue their control, but there are whispers of distant independence. In the East there is conflict on the open sea, corsairs raiding the nations of Drummond, Dendarr and Hukarr. In the south there is mystery and dark waters.
Contained within are those rumours, as well as the results of some action taken by Concordian captains abroad, where it is publicly known.
The Surest Guarantee of Peace - News from the West
Across the Great Trade Seas is the lands of Artebazzan or of ruin. Were one to sail north west from Esterra, with a good wind and fair luck, you may reach Pataviam, the great naval city of Artebazzan upon the homeland of Invicta Minor, or perhaps you may reach the great arc of Invicta Major, where the Artebazzani Empire does war with the Xan Khanate.
Upon the waves of the Great Trade Sea you will see little non-Artebazzani trade this past season. The Empire is great enough that the constant shuttle of galleys and warships bearing Imperial colours or those of a far flung outpost are more than enough to equal or exceed all the seaborne traffic of Esterra. But gone are ships from distant Drummond or the lands to the East. But also gone are the greatest risks of Corsairs, aside from some strangeness in the most distant ports such as Tabbadar far in the south, there is little danger upon the Great Trade Sea.
Concordian ships are seldom welcome in these waters, with Artebazzani ports still closed to them (being rebels and traitors), but those independent ports and rumours still flow. Word has it that the Emperor Urso has celebrated his twenty-first birthday in the city of Davunn-tor, where he received the homage of the King of the Vokoshan people. Together the Emperor's Legions and the Vokoshan warhost have turned back the Xan Khanate army that threatened the city and surrounding countryside. The third victory against the Xan in as many months for the young Emperor. Further south new keels are being laid in Pataviam for a new Imperial Fleet. Whether this will join the other two Imperial fleets in the North supporting the war against the Xan, travel west past the Cape of Tabbadar to support interests there or turn its gaze towards Esterra, remains unknown.
Concordian ships eager to find some sort of advantage in this relative peace may be tempted to look beyond the Basilisk Gate, to the easturine city of Bohak in Zatiri Zan. The Adanji remain, as ever, ornery and violent. The return of the Adanji Fleet from Aprivano to Bohak makes this only more dangerous.
Game Information
Artebazzani ports remain closed to Concordian ships and cannot be traded with. While Concordian ships have not been attacked by Artebazzani Imperial vessels in the Great Trade Sea, it does not take much to imagine that happening.
The Adanji Shahak in the North Western parts of Esterra has nearly no diplomatic ties to The Concord, their only contact being vestigial through the Concordian Embassy in Aprivano where the Adanji fleet has (until recently) been assisting the Trade Prince Majiid. Concordian ships are welcome to try to travel to Bohak, but it is a shallow muddy grave unless you know something others don’t. If you are interested in the Adanji Shahak, speaking to the Ambassador to Aprivano would be the best informed point of contact.
Three Coins Into the Sea - News from the East
The Explorers Sea is alight with flame and hunger. Two fleets, hundreds of ships strong flying the Golden Banner of Ophelia Diablos have laid waste to port cities, trading vessels and flotillas on either side of this eastern sea, leaving hundreds dead and drowned in their wake. The vast raiding, unprecedented in the east, comes as a surprise to the coastal kingdoms of the Dendarri, Hukari and Drummond. Although damage is not visited fairly or equally.
Rumour has it that the Kaludas of Attanax in Hukar paid the Stormqueen a ransom of a ship's hold worth of mithril and a thousand slaves to cease raiding their vessels and their sodden countryside. While the ultimate value may be inflated through the scuttlebutt of sailors, it is likely that some sort of deal has taken place.
The Dendarri have had more luck, with the fleet of Kameiros defending the deep water port fiercely against a force lead by Captain Lukos Axe, Lokhagos of Letters. In the battle that followed the marines of Kameiros burned a dozen Golden Fleet ships and forced them back from the Dendarri port for the remainder of the year. But while the skilled marines were able to secure their home, they are effectively besieged. Very few Dendarri ships have left port since and trade has understandably stifled.
The Drummondites are most aggrieved. A great raid led by the Stormqueen herself saw a failed attempt to steal the fleet of House Rayleigh from Crownsport. While the action failed, most of the fleet burned at anchor while the corsairs made off with booty and plunder from the largest port in Hildeblanc. Rumour has it that the damage of the raid has been extensive, seeing the fortunes of Duke Addenar Rayleigh fall greatly. Duke Alswin Rottmour, Duke of The Manacles, appears poised to take the position of prime maritime Duke of the Realm (as much as that is a title of worth) from the North, although it remains to be seen if Manacle Harbour can replace a wounded Crownsport as the primary port of the Fealties. Since the raid Drummond has been able to protect its coastline enough to let simple trade continue along its sandy beaches, but no Drummondite ship is crossing the Explorers Sea until something changes.
The only vessels that have had success traversing the sea are those flying Concordian colours. The Treaty of the Corsairs and the Treaty of the Bay signed by the Concord and Ophelia Diablos some years ago protect Concordian ships from predation by the Golden Fleet, enabling Concordian captains to flee these violent seas ahead of considerable bloodletting. While the corsairs have been true to their word and no Concordian ships have been broken, it is unlikely that they will return to the Explorers Sea soon, as the ports of Drummond and Dendarr are sealed tight against all comers.
Hidden among this tale of woe and wrath is a smaller tale, albeit no less worrying.
Before the battle outside Kameiros could take place, a Concordian ship flying the colours of The Valley made dock. An honest trading vessel, The Sweet Valley had two tasks; trade in Iron Valley handcrafts, ore and other raw resources, and to deliver the Concordian Ambassador Eadwolf for a series of important meetings with Queen Thestori of Kameiros and others. While The Sweet Valley and its captain, Willow, did good trade, Ambassador Eadwolf has not been seen again. The attack on Kameiros forced the ship to begin the long journey home with its hold overflowing with trade goods, but without the Ambassador, of which nothing has been heard, despite the dedicated efforts of the crew to locate him before they departed.
Game Information
The violent presence of The Golden Fleet in the Explorers Sea has not directly damaged the fortunes of Concordian captains, but has knock-on effects of The Concord.
Both Kameiros and Crownsport are closed to Concordian ships this coming season, not because they are particularly barring Concordian ships, but because they are barring all ships in a pursuit of safety.
Conversely, the Hukari port of Attanax remains open through its willingness to pay a Golden Fleet ransom.
Concordian ships that traded with Kameiros, Crownsport and Attanax will find that they produced as if they were one tier higher this past season, as the threat of the Golden Fleet made prices particularly amenable.
The players of Willow and Eodwulf will receive additional briefs in their player packs, regarding their experiences in Kameiros.
The Concord enjoys protection from the Golden Fleet but has a strained relationship. Without an embassy to the Corsairs of the Guardian, it is difficult to learn or accomplish much. Characters interested in putting pressure on this issue (one way or the other) should speak to their Senators, the Minister of Foreign Affairs or other Ambassadors.
There will be additional information and decisions in regards to the conflict in the east for the Ambassador to the Dendarr Nations.
Unfathomable Depths - News from the South
To the south is cold and silent.
For years the Icereach Sea has been the home of the Illsevir, the hunting ground of the Drowned and the death of great and poor captains alike. Those few successful crews who eked out a living trading with the scattered Idrian Cabal settlements such as Rackhams Point were hardly seeing the heroic mariners that perhaps surviving this sea was owed to them.
But now there is change, not swift and sudden like the storm, but slow and heavy, like a berg. The Icereach is as dark as ever, its hidden depths obscuring beasts of bone, tentacle and gluttony. But the surface is broken with a different wake.
As in the East, so in the South, Corsairs rule here over the Summer.
Concordian Captains who have braved the ice flows speak of a new port that grasps a great stone mountaintop that breaks the waves. Perched like a bird of prey grasping a treetop in a fierce gale, the port is surrounded by a great flotilla, nearly a hundred ships lashed together in a roiling settlement of decks and forecastles. Suspended above all of this is a simple banner, a black kraken speared through on a pale blue backing. The sigil of The Icelords.
Once members of The Golden Fleet, the Icelords appear to have broken ties with their companions, judging by their willingness to pursue ships flying Concordian colours. Despite their naval power and their new home amidst the bergs, it is clear that these corsairs have other pursuits, or else there would be far more hungry ships prowling the waves for Concordian merchants in these southern seas. These merchants have begun to call this port ‘Mount Kraken’.
Beyond this new danger, there is further strangeness in the Icereach. Sailors report strange new colours playing out in the aurora that plays out across the night sky over the land of the Idrian Cabal. Flashes of light and sparks of thunder. But the ports remain open as ever, eager for Concordian traders.
Game Information
The rise of the Icelords has made the Icereach an even more dangerous sea to traverse, but not so impossible that trade with the Idrian Cabal is closed. Concordian ships have a greater chance of being damaged when making this journey, but the rewards are also higher (provided the route remains unpopular).
The Concord lacks an embassy to both the Idrian Cabal and the Icelords, although there may be other methods of contact for both.
The Concords' dealings with the Idrian Cabal will be heavily dependent on a number of choices this season in regards to their laboratory in Mukarrem (see the winds entry ‘In The Reflections of My Enemies’).
Two Concordian fleets would be of sufficient strength to raid Mount Kraken. While they would encounter losses, they would gain the treasury of the Icelords, the stolen knowledge of the Icereach and would see this danger lessened in the Icereach for seasons to come. However these fleets would need skilled navigators and scouting ships. Without twenty naval investment tiers taking the ‘Support the Fleet’ action, this task would be far more dangerous and incur many casualties.
This is if the Concord wishes to make enemies of The Icelords in the pursuit of plunder and knowledge.
An Empire Has No Friends or Enemies, Only Interests
While the danger of the Onyx Aristocracy can seem all consuming, Kameiros can feel a world away and Artebazzan a planet beyond our own, the world the Concord finds itself within is even larger still. There are many nations across the waves and even more hidden among the nooks of the world within our own sight.
As the Corsairs of Andash, The Free Captains of Lerona Mere and the Jarls of the Valley grow in strength, there is a combined desire to see this world explored better. Doing so would surely increase our shared knowledge and opportunities in the world, but would hardly be cheap or easy. But where there is a will, there is a Senate Treasury.
The Concord could send a flotilla East to map the western coast of Hildeblanc, returning with a greater understanding of the lands of Drummond and her neighbours. They could seek out rumours of the Astranan Citadels that look over straits that separate Hildeblanc from Invicta Major, of the Norini, a warlike people that raid the southern borders of the Fealties or more. Doing so would be expensive, a price of at least ten vaults, but would require more in terms of vessels, as the Western coast of Hildeblanc is a vast land that would need a great many hands to map it.
A greater danger, but perhaps a greater interest, is northwards. The Concord could attempt to reach the southern coast of Invicta Major, meeting with the simple and hidden Ushkmandi, seeking out the mighty Xan Khanate or spying the imperious might of the Artebazzani holdings on the warfront. A truly alien land, Invicta Major would offer secrets of magic, man and malice. But doing so would be far more expensive in coin than in power. Any Concordian flotilla would need to band together rather than spread apart and the real cost will be in supplies and armament rather than sails.
Finally, The Concord could complete a madmans quest, an insanity. One that would require faith and long term investment.
The Concord could attempt to map Esterra. A circumnavigation of the continent, peering into its every bay and cliffside. Returning with an understanding of our home better than ever held before. Doing so would require investment now, preparing for a departure in the Summer when conditions are better, but would be more expensive in both manpower and cost than travelling North or East.
Of course, perhaps these are all flights of fancy. Impossibilities against the weight of Concordian bureaucracy.
But maybe, just maybe, The Concord could find itself across that next horizon.
Game Information
At a cost of ten vaults and requiring fifteen naval investment tiers taking the special action ‘Explore Hildeblanc’, the Concord could gain significant knowledge of the continent to its east, including maps of the coast, wealth and contact with the peoples there. This would be provided to both the Senate (through Foreign Service members aboard these vessels) and to the captains who would undertake this journey.
At a cost of twenty vaults and requiring ten naval investment tiers taking the special action ‘Explore Invicta Major’, The Concord could gain significant knowledge of the continent to its north, including maps of the coast, military information and contact with the peoples there. This would be provided to both the Senate (through Foreign Service members aboard these vessels) and to the captains who would undertake this journey.
The Senate could also invest in ‘Preparing to Map Esterra’. Doing so would cost Ten Vaults now and would require further work in Summer. Doing so would organise a flotilla of ships to attempt to map the entire continent, providing maps and contact with the people across this whole continent. Given the greater attention to detail these maps would be of higher quality than those produced by either Hildeblanc or Invicta Major, but would take longer to produce.
More information in regards to each of these journeys will be provided to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.