Once a Blade Pt. 1

The following is an unmarked letter found in the barracks of the Blackstone Monastery's Knight Quarters. An investigation to determine the letter's recipient was launched, but the trail ran cold when they discovered the carrier had been killed. There was no sign of a struggle, but evidence of magic found on his body has led to the involvement of spellwarriors. To this day, neither they nor the templars have managed to discover who this unknown writer was addressing with such a hasty scrawl and no one else described within has been located.

 War came for the entire family when I returned from the Winter Festival. The fog surrounding the "holy" city of Karatal masked the approach of their ship. As it was, we only noticed them floating in our part of the marina just this morning. When I say an enemy ship dropped anchor in our port, you must imagine an army of soldiers who've pledged their lives to some greater cause that somehow involved the Blades' demise. But since you were once a Blade yourself, I shouldn't have to explain the difference between that and the world we live in.

The Northern Lights is what they call themselves. Before you wrack your brains, no you've never heard of them. They were a small time family the last time you visited our world and, since you only stepped in last time to kill Pops, they weren't exactly bound to come up in conversation. But they've been busy in the past decade. They posture as an anti-crime family, which always seemed to mean that they were too clean to do what we do, but too grimy to join the church or just enroll in Hem Academy. We've been running circles around the spellwarriors and the Royal Guard for years, so what's some punk brigade of wannabe vigilantes to us, right? We didn't take them seriously enough.

We came to find out that the Northern Lights was founded by a fucking RAI spy. They had us fooled this whole time, thinking they were some stiff-necked chumps, but their intel gathering only seemed to improve when this rat bastard, Sheldon Hawke, passed on his skills to them. What this guy was doing leaving the Royal Army to hunt gangsters is anyone's guess, but he managed to take down the Krakens, the Demon Dogs, and the Falcons. Three of the five strongest families in Karatal are either pushing daisies or staring at four walls of iron and stone because of these rat bastards and, now, this city is nowhere near what it used to be.

If I think about it, I can almost imagine you'd love to see what the Northern Lights have done with the place. With a bunch of do-gooders running this town, it's getting harder and harder for the Blades to make any money. They even walk around in broad daylight like they own the fucking place. The sheep love these guys and the spellwarriors don't consider their work as worthy of their attention as ours. To the grimy folks like us, these bastards winning the city feels like the fucking apocalypse.

But the Blades have never gone down without a fight. If that's what they've come looking for, that's exactly what they're gonna get. It's been years since we've seen such a blood bath, but no one here is about to back down. Sharpy even came back from Hem to give us a little magical help, so you can imagine we're definitely not fucking around. If this is the last chance I get to write, I should warn you of something. I know the only reason you haven't come after us yourself is your past allegiance with us. There may be no love in your heart for any of the family, but if word were to get out that you used to be a blade, the templars would be done with you. 

That is the understanding that kept you out of our business, but it looks like it might be in your best interest to drop by and help us because the Northern Lights know all about you. For the sake of your career and your second family, you have to come help out your first family.. These guys don't give a damn about your redemption and, if they put us down, they'll be coming after you next. If you sit this one out, the whole world's gonna know you're my brother one way or the other.

So I'll see you soon, if not in the city, then we'll meet in the Forge.

Scouting Report From the Northern Reaches

 Following the conclusion of Comalan's first interstellar war, which saw the liberation of the botanical world of Allene and the end of the aggression they faced from the aquatic world of Mennon, a victory celebration in Dalaska was marred by the capture of a suspicious individual lurking in the city's vacant Chaotic temple. The man remains imprisoned in Heron, having refused to answer any questions. Among his personal effects, the authorities found only a wooden token depicting a wolf standing on a mountaintop and a single document, which only raised more questions.

Though we have discovered much of note in this expedition, it seems appropriate to address the phenomenon that launched our expedition. The mystery of the skybound stars took little time to solve after making landfall on the northern continent. Our journey has taken us across three borders and everyone we've spoken to has spoken with mixtures of worry and excitement that the four nations of this continent, and the system of islands to their immediate east have all banded together to make war beyond the confines of our world. They accomplished this with five large vessels that can fly beyond our skies into the reach of the plane of stars. Even now, their cause is difficult to wrap my head around. One thing is clear, however: despite the spider's foolhardy challenge to their lands, the northerners are unconcerned with any threats from our side of the world.

Our tactical assessment remains inconclusive, however. What our people must understand about the northerners is that, while they have developed some interesting technology--particularly in the southern nation, but some notable examples exist along the eastern shores of Resta and among the visitors from the isles of Midania-- the source of their power lies firmly within the free practice of magic. Here, there are no Eye Witches and Shadow Witches. Their disparate cultures hold distinct views on magic, with the northernmost country being the only region to hold anything approaching a realistic attitude towards the gifts of the Judges. The worst offenders lie within the eastern region of the continent, where magic is practiced freely by commoner and noble alike while two armies of spellcasters wield the official sanction of their royalty.

While this land, known as Resta, wields more magical power under its banner than every single banner that stands over our lands combined, what makes them most dangerous is their political ties to the other countries in the North. While the others have conflicts to exploit, the neutrality and wealth of this kingdom make them a friend to all. Any campaign on this continent must not begin here for to attack them is to provoke four other nations as well.

This leaves the other four nations, which are bound with Resta in an accord of convenience against their otherworldly enemies. But beneath this facade of unity sands two essential alliances, from which the strongest threat stands apart entirely. The southland has developed a warm relationship with the woodlands to the west despite the stark social differences in their cultures. These southern nation, which is called Galeon, feels a lot like home in terms of both society and climate, save for their tolerance of the caste system of their strange, long-eared neighbors. Imagine forming an alliance with the Black Crown and you will understand the confusion with which I observed the relationship between these unlikely allies. There is justified unease among the people of Galeon over this association, but a growing alliance among each of the powers who threaten respectively seems to make it necessary.

The other alliance consists of the archipelago to our northeast and the northlands from which I write this report. The Galeans have come to fear the island nation for their powerful navy. and its recent conflicts with Galean fishermen and oceanic research vessels. Here in the northern nation of Heron, the people are forthcoming with discussion of their centuries-old enmity with the woodlanders of Tanis. While their hostilities have been set aside for now, they are half-expected to resume with the defeat of their common foe. Shrewd politicians from the isles have capitalized on this hatred and the friendship between their foes and Galeon--with whom Heron shares a cold, mildly cordial relationship as is-- to form a compact. Similar to the all-encompassing threat I've referred to in Resta, to launch an attack on Heron is to declare war on Midania as well--and vice cersa.

If you're looking for a weakness in this realm, there are a few bright sides to the dark tidings I've reported so far. The first is that, while their technology has taken unexpected leaps, their most advanced weapons may have been a match for ours no less than twenty years ago. The second is the population itself. From what we've been able to tell, our banner alone carries half as many bodies as all of their combined. If we could get enough ships through the storms, we could overwhelm  each country one at a time. If Raven Hills combines their might with ours, we could claim the entire continent before the red banners realize what's happening.

In conclusion, the northern realm carries a lot of power, but it is not untamable. Although it remains the prerogative of his imperial highness and the Senate whether action in the north realm is appropriate, I offer the following actions in my duty as a scout.

Resta-- This nation is not to be trifled with. Its combination of magical power and political connections make a direct assault on their throne the most dangerous proposal one could make to the Senate. However, their flagrant abuse of the Judges' laws makes them a clear target. A campaign against them must be carefully planned, but cannot be executed swiftly enough from what I can see. But if we conquer their allies or cut their diplomatic connections first, we can put an end to their twisted abuse of magic with little trouble.

Galeon- Limited contact is recommended. Given their agreeable culture, pre-emptive aggression towards this country could be detrimental to morale and their strange ethic of nonintervention would make them poor military allies. Attempts to sabotage their diplomacy with Tanis would be simple and worthwhile, but only to deprive a much higher-priority target of a crucial ally. Whatever we do, we can expect contact with their impeccable spy network. But that is all the more reason to avoid making an enemy of them too quickly.

Tanis- The woodlands are a suitable target for our opening move. The oppressive caste system that guides their society is something few would miss and their reliance on magic is second only to Resta's. Fortunately, nonviolence is their way, so if diplomacy fails, there is little to stop us from subduing them with force once we break through their meager defenders.

Midania- Midania is second in two critical ways. Behind Resta, their legendary navy and political savvy makes them our second-largest threat and their geographically scattered population places them behind Tanis when ranking easy targets. It may be necessary to disable their fleet if our entire army is to make it across the sea.

Heron- Opening a campaign that far north would be most difficult for logistical reasons and their average martial skill could make the empress worry. Not to mention the fact that, while their culture is not as similar to ours as Galeon's, their respect for magic makes them among the least troubling force on the continent. An alliance with Raven Hills would make such a prospect even more unattractive for the same reason I wouldn't ask our own people to attack Galeon. If there was any reason to recommend an attack against Heron it would be the cabal of flame casters that seem to be leading a push to accept magic in the same perverted way the rest of the realm has.

Finally, I would recommend caution around those the north realm folk call Avatars. Their renown is high throughout the entire realm and they are spoken of in the same tones as our own Heroes. But since all of them were involved in this otherworldly campaign, any report I could give on them would be inconclusive. They are said to have been given incredible powers by the Judges, who they have dared to assign names to. It is claimed that each wields the power of a Judge, but the truth of that cannot be determined until they return to the realm. My investigation will continue with these individuals. However the Emperor and Senate choose to act on this information, I reaffirm my commitment to expand the reach of our light.