Claiming Baelag’s Holdfast has meant many things to many people over the years that it has stood. For some it meant strength. For others it was simply a means to an end. Some crowned themselves as rulers atop its heights, and others simply took its stones to be used elsewhere when they had the chance.
As far as Valley history is concerned, the last ruler of The Holdfast was The Ninth. Their story is well known.
How shall The Tenth rule?
Orders and Politics, Hand in Hand
To be heralded with thunder and chased by lightning is to feel power in your step. To know that with each purpose driven boot in front of the next you will reach your goal. There will be no land you c annot reach, no river you cannot cross. You will not be stopped by the whims of nature, the roots of trees, the curves of dunes.
It is no easy feat to cross near all of The Concord in one Season. Nonetheless, with hard marching and the power of The Thunderbolt sparking at their heels, The Desert Whisperers would find their way to The King’s Pass. They would arrive with stoic faces, worn-out boots, and far more energy than any deserved given the speed at which they travelled. To the towns and people that they had passed, it was as if they were unresting facades of soldiers, rather than the living and breathing scions of Andash that they were.
Their orders were clear. Hold The King’s Pass.
Janissaries would spread throughout both the fortification of The Holdfast and its surrounding lands, supported by Shesti, Arcanists, and the rarer Corsairs. Flashes of bright Andashi colours would flood The Dawning Fastness, The Outer Hold, and The Inner Gate, securing footholds hard won by heroes. They would station themselves throughout the depths and heights of the fortress, leaving no stone unturned, leaving no chance for an enemy to strike at the unprepared.
There would be no rest for those heralded by thunder. The long march was simply a means to an end, and now that the end had arrived, it sought its due. Andashi soldiers would feel strung out and exhausted by the turning of the season as they kept their eyes peeled for any hint of enemy aggression. They would not march so far only to fail in their duty. They would not falter in this last moment. They would not lose heart nor sight of what stood to be gained.
They would hold The King’s Pass. They would ensure it falls under Concordian control.
And they would succeed.
Game Information
The Desert Whisperers, hard marching and infused with speed only The Divine could muster, spread throughout The King’s Pass. With no rebuke from The Severed Lords, the region is successfully held by The Concord.
Baelag’s Holdfast has been reclaimed. Concordian Banners, and the Banners of the Desert Whisperers, fly over its ruined ramparts.
The King’s Pass will need to be assigned to a Realm during the first Senate session at the coming Summit, as a part of Concordian Business.
While no fighting occurred, the taking of the Territory is considered an aggressive action, and so The Desert Whisperers have not recovered any Strength.
The fortress currently has a strength of 5500 out of a maximum of 7500. However this is hardly as strong as it could be. There will be opportunities for the Vallthane to raise this value to be far higher.
King’s Pass has gained the trait: Unbreakable
| Name | Casualties Inflicted Mod | Casualties Suffered Mod | Claim Mod | Special |
| Unbreakable | - | - | - | This territory cannot be taken until Baelag’s Holdfast is destroyed, or is taken by some other means. |
We Stand Together, Until We Divide the Spoils
Once the dust and blood had settled across the Inner Hold, messengers from the battle wore holes into their hide boots delivering hastily scrawled words onto whatever could pass as paper across the Valley. These words were barely legible, not from hands rapt in fear, but hands shaking from the hot-blooded rush of victory:
Baelag’s Holdfast has been retaken.
Boroughs across the High and Low Valley broke out in songs and drinks in equal overabundance. Any songs worth singing were shouted in something resembling unison, and any dances worth stepping were stomped into the ale-soaked boards. Reeves emptied their pockets with a grin when paying for damages to their local taverns.
While celebration spread across Windholme into Bolsterlee. Baelag’s Holdfast watched over a series of strained encounters taking place in its shadow. Representatives of the War Chamber and Civil Service met outside the Western Outer Gate of Esterra’s largest fortress, and exchanged a carefully raised eyebrow between them when – unexpectedly – neither were permitted entry. There had been a good natured preemptive warning that Valleyfolk might be overly protective in the aftermath, but as the hours passed the mood grew tense. Thankfully the standoff ceased when a Sagite-Warrior, Coenred of Abelard, appeared at the Gate with a letter penned by the Champion of the Valley.
Despite reiterating their point, representatives of the War Chamber were turned away, politely by the Civil Service, then less so by Valleyfolk, as the Champion of the Valley’s orders detailed exactly how the spoils of Baelag’s Holdfast were to be divided.
What followed was weeks of a macabre spring cleaning. Starting at the Western Gate, through The Dawning Fastness and then into the Inner Hold. Bodies were dragged, identified, buried or burned. Stockpiles undisturbed by the Severed Lords or hidden deep in the Holdfast had to be found, collected, counted and categorized.
A crowd of Valleyfolk had journeyed from the Goodream and Brakkenloh, and were allowed to gather in The Dawning Fastness, not that anyone would have dared to stop them. They mourned the dead who had given their lives for their people’s ancestral home without bias of Realm. Sermons were given with equal heart for a fallen Andshi Jannissary as they were for a warrior of the Valley.
And once eyes had dried from grieving, they turned to watch proceedings.
A seemingly endless procession of stockpiles dragged out of the great stone fortress and laid out in the yards. Barrels of Beastbone and Heartswood were dragged out of repositories. Crate upon crate of Sun’s Iron, Forgesteel and Bloodglass were hauled out of the depositories. The High Keep was picked clean of its Crystal Mana and Essencite, carried carefully down its stone steps secured in brass handled chests. Even weapons with names and runes carved into hilt and handle were added unceremoniously to the pile of spoils.
It wasn’t until the Civil Service set attention to the ‘Halting the Fastness’ that the first argument broke out. This immense farmlands that once fed the people in The King’s Pass for generations, looked worse for wear but certainly salvageable in the wake of the Illevsir occupation, and Torben Staldra had not forgotten his family's stories of working these fields.. Torben had to be dragged back to the Goddream Pinnacle by members of his Borough and the General of the Valley’s Own, after attempting to Sokn Duel a confused Civil Service member for his ancestral home.
A pattern emerged, a painful one that could be woven into bands that would cover a Farseer from head to toe. A Valleyer would point to runes chiselled into the stone of a building that recounted the victories and names of their ancestors, and verses whittled into the oak lintel that they would have passed beneath every morning and eve as a youth. An interesting history lesson certainly, but one that gave no weight to their claim.
Another argument, another brawl, and another intervention by the heroic contingent. The Senator of Windholme delegated the Reeve of the Reeveless and Rancor of the Valley to minor scuffles while Thane of Brakkenloh and himself saved the bloodiest brawls to themselves.
By the time the Civil Service departed, Baelag’s Holdfast had been swept clean and prepared to serve its first Vallthane in five years. Songs of celebration warped into words of bitterness as the message carried across the citizenry of the Valley.
This inheritance, these means to rebuild, for the heroes, and not for you.
Game Information
Prior to the retaking of Baelag’s Holdfast, The Champion of the Valley mandated how the spoils within the great fortress would be divided up. Those decisions are as follows:
- A stockpile of various Herbs, equalling 40 measures, will be given to the Head Surgeon of the Passage Field Hospital, Aoife Leigh.
- 10 or so Artisan Crafts will be given to Logi of the Iron Wolves.
- 15 Beastbone and 15 Heartswood gathered from the North of The King’s Pass and stored in The Fastness, will be given to Champion of the Valley, Baire Irongard.
- 15 Sun’s Iron and 15 Forgesteel from the Inner Hold will be given to Champion of the Valley, Baire Irongard.
- 35 Essencite from the High Keep will be given to Champion of the Valley, Baire Irongard.
- 20 Crystal Mana and 20 Bloodglass from the Outer Grounds will be given to Champion of the Valley, Baire Irongard.
- 40 Crystal Mana from the High Keep will be given to Champion of the Valley, Baire Irongard.
- 5 Wains of Arcstone from the High Keep will be given to Champion of the Valley, Baire Irongard.
- “The Godsgyth Growth”, a Tier 3 Herb Garden, will be granted to Champion of the Valley, Baire Irongard.
- “Halting the Fastness”, a Tier 3 Farm, will be granted to Sylphren of the Valley Vipers. This investment is damaged and will need to be repaired.
- The Inner Hold Armoury, a Tier 3 Military Investment, will be granted to Laurence Coin.
- The Outer Training Grounds, a Tier 3 Military Investment, will be granted to Thane of Brakkenloh, of the Valley Vipers.
- The smithy in The Inner Hold known as ‘Burning Scale, Scorched Flesh’ will be granted to The Valley’s Own. As an army is unlikely to stay in one place, various noncombatants and veterans who can no longer fight have taken up residence in this smithy, and will provide the General of the Valley’s Own a portion of their income, likely equivalent to 1-3 Locks each season.
In the aftermath of the reclaiming of Baelag’s Holdfast, there will be decisions to be made regarding future assignment of Spoils of War for the Senate and the War Chamber. Both councils must agree.
My Baelag’s, My Pass.
“I’ve brought you the papers to help with the election for King’s Pass’ senator.”
The Symposiarch looked up from his work as if someone had just offered him a whole roast chicken before introducing themselves.
“The what?”
The clerk stumbled in their words for a moment. Suddenly wrongfooted. They looked down at their carefully gathered papers.
“Its just that I thought- well you see there’s going to be a lot of people living there. I know its just a fort- but surely it’d be a senator?”
The first clerk is nearly bulrushed entirely to the floor as another clerk, with a red-and-black belt sash of the War Chamber barged in.
“The Commandant’s office is demanding the order forms for Baelag’s Holdfast! They have to be ready to be placed in each different realm’s appropriate sealed transfers! How else should we expect the-”
The Symposiarch’s jaw began to slowly drop open. Archivist Frederick, who was actually eating his dinner on the other side of the desk, began to slowly start standing, wiping breadcrumbs from his beard as a storm began to rage behind his eyes.
The first clerk stood back up and, determined to reclaim their honour, turned to confront the bumbler from the War Chamber.
“King’s Pass is the purview of The Central Service good sir! Our matters and matters of the senate take precedence!”
The larger War Chamber clerk puffed up their chest to a level that didn’t even seem possible.
“If matters of war are not properly controlled then there won’t BE a Senate you fool!”
A third clerk poked their head around the first two, the purple and white belt flap of the Shardcircle held awkwardly in their hand.
“Excuse me-”
“WE WERE FIRST!” Roared the first two clerks in unison.
It was Archivist Frederick who formed the shield against the coming bureaucratic brawl.
“If all of you don’t shut up, I will start smacking heads together until we see which Bureau has the toughest skulls. I’ll even ask the Augury for a Passel on the topic.”
Silence reigned.
Game Information
The title of Vallthane of King’s Pass has been created. Each Realm will be required to elect a Vallthane this season in order to expedite the process once the region of King’s Pass is granted to a single realm at the first senate session of the Summit. The elected Vallthane stand-in cannot hold any other title while they are also the Vallthane stand-in. Only the Vallthane of the realm that is chosen shall be granted the title.
Crossroads of Imperial History
Crag Owls, great stone gray and ice white beasts of the Steinvaults, have been known to fly for days at a time, so high in the frost above the high places that one might forget they stand as tall as a five year old child when on the ground. A crag owl that descended from the heights of the Steinvaults to sail lazily through King’s Pass would have a great amount to see.
First, the pale green of the Attercoppe would unfold beneath its great wings. A dense and hard-scrabble woodland, the Attercoppe is predominantly made of Bladepines, so named for their nearly steel coloured leaves during winter, and Stonebreakers, massive oaks which appear to perish each winter, leaving them sticking up like skeletal hands over their smaller companions. The Attercoppe is known to be a dark and dangerous place, with winding paths, freezing shade, and an infestation of cold-loving spiders that can grow as big as cats. But, the woodland keeps the Pass warm, and its fires burning.
Next, this silent hunter's flight would take it over Haegrim. Set atop a meagre outcropping of stone. This minor town exists to collect the works and peoples that make Kings Pass, but not the fortress of Baelag’s Holdfast their home. It's an honest town, known for its stubborn people who, after centuries of having to stand up for themselves against whomever ruled the fortress, refuse to be told what to do.
Out to the west the Owl could spy Cydigfel, and perhaps it would tempted to try its luck on the lake’s surface hunting for shining river fish or great silver eels. The waters of Cydigfel are so cold that they can’t even be drunk fresh without hurting the teeth and mind, but the denizens of this deep, crystal lake, do not appear to mind one bit.
Lastly, it would behold the great fortress of the Mountain Kings. The modestly named Baelag’s Holdfast could rival Legend City to behold, such is its scale. Its oldest stones are many thousands of years in the living, to run your hand along its walls is to trace the history of the Valley, the history of the world. Its outer walls harbour carefully tilled farmlands and its keeps hold homes for many soldiers.
But as our great snowy hunter alights atop the greatest peak of the keep, the flat-topped courtyard where the last Mountain King breathed his last defiance, and the King’s Pass unfurled beneath is human-like eyes, this land could be seen as what it is; the crossroads of empire, the crossroads of history. A place defined not by its own strength, but the lands it exists between; between east and west, between the Steinvaults and the Cildfrau.
Between a great past and an uncertain future.
Game Information
The taking of King’s Pass had also reclaimed Baelag’s Holdfast. Following this action Civil Servants have flooded the fortress alongside soldiers, settlers, sightseers, and spies.
The Civil Servants can confirm that, from their examinations, there are no strategic resources present within King’s Pass.
The King’s Pass is ready to have settlers both within the walls of the Holdfast, and outside the walls in the town of Haegrim. New investments may be purchased within King’s Pass, or new characters may submit as having their investments in Baelag’s Holdfast. As the region is not assigned to any Realm, any character who does this BEFORE the summit will incur out of realm penalties. In addition, such is the nature of King’s Pass and its focus on supporting the fortress, the following types of investments and enterprises cannot be held in King's Pass:
- Business
- Naval
- Bivouac
- Cove
- Shipyard
- Merchant League
- Marketplace
The Church has managed to assess Baelag’s Holdfast in regards to its role as a holy site of the Spheres. They have assembled the cost for its consecration as follows:
Baelag’s Holdfast
Cost: 5 Vault / 10 Arcstone / 10 Blood Glass / 10 Essencite / 10 Beastbone
Construction Time: 2 Seasons
Income: 15 Locks / 3 Arcstone
Fortress of the Faith
Consigning Baelag’s Holdfast makes numerous changes to the Vallthane of King’s Pass title.
- The Council of Six gains the ability to remove the Vallthane
- Any candidate for Vallthane must have Divine Lore.
- The income gained from the Vallthane’s ‘Master of Fields’ power is given to the Church treasury instead of directly to the Vallthane.
In addition, the Vallthane gains the power; Defender of the Faith
Defender of the Faith - The Vallthane gains votes in the Church as if they were a High Priest. The Vallthane gains membership (but not true membership) to the Council of Six.
Once Consigned, Baelag’s Holdfast will also function as a Monastery.
