Characters:
Further research into the Sixth Council discovered nothing of use, beyond the historical curiosity that a group of Minervans were present, and the kingdom they were from was made up of lands that stretched from the eastern Highland Forests to Mont Villay in Lumene. The earthlings would force them out and Lumene would conquer them in the ensuing centuries, before they were ultimately expelled back to the Highland Forests in the peace settlement two years prior.
Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Apocrypha
Pomegranite's research into the end times as portrayed by the Imperial faith required him to further delve into the libraries of the Imperial College, where he found records of the Sixth Council of the Faithful which had taken place during the Second Empire. This Council had consolidated the faith under the banner of Astraean supremacy due to military and political pressure from the Archbishop of Lumene. As a result of this change in doctrine, many regional texts were no longer recognized as official teachings of the faith, and had been subsequently destroyed. Now that he had a lead, Pomegranite tracked down one of these texts, an early version of the Book from Wrost, which contained a section on the end times being heralded by the sun flickering thirteen times before being extinguished.
Continuing his investigation, Pomegranite found that while the line about seers going mad had become canon, the original text from Segreta had a second line that had not, which stated that the dead would rise from their graves. After weeks of searching, he was able to piece together a similar bit of text from Tauschun, which stated that those bearing the "Mark of Clio" would be "Changed" and have their "wills bent to the works of the Muse". The mention of the Mark of Clio was concerning, as both Granmarg and Thicket had discovered that Mark, a fractal spiral, on their bodies during the campaign in Tauschun. What was meant by the "works of the Muse" was unknown, save that the Muse in question was Clio.
At this point, news swept the campus of the College of a breakthrough in the investigation into the missing Path of Prophecy, and Pomegranite took a break to attend the lecture given by High Magister Eva. In front of a large audience of other Magisters, she announced that she had opened a gate to the edge of the Path of the Void, which bordered Prophecy, and saw there in the void between the Paths a great insectile beast made of bulbous segments, with six legs, six mouths, and six faceless heads. From where she had seen it, it appeared to be "swimming" through the void directly toward her, and therefore the Path of the Void.
This caused an uproar, as opening gates to the Paths required the Path of the Void; if it was destroyed next, how could they deal with this Void Beast in the future? With a wave of her arm, Eva silenced the clamour, and announced that they could surely destroy the Beast if they simply unsealed the Forbidden Paths of Death and Destruction. A motion was made by one Magister to hold off until they had more information, but they were shouted down by someone else insisting they act now. Eva conceded that they actually might have more time than they thought, as they truly had no idea how long it had taken the Void Beast to destroy (or, perhaps, consume?) the Path of Prophecy.
Pomegranite noted that the Paths of Earth and Void were adjacent, which would bode ill for earthling society, while his own Path of Secrets was quite distant and should be safe for now. After listening to the debate for a while, he spoke up with another option none had yet mentioned: what if they used the Path of the Void to open a massive gate and ferried an army into the Paths to fight the Void Beast using mundane means? Many of the more conservative Magisters, including most of the earthlings, echoed him, but when the lecture ended, the debate was still unsettled. Pomegranite dispatched a messenger to warn the Triumvirate, while he himself stayed at the College to continue his study.
The Triumvirate
Having received Pomegranite's message about the Void Beast, Mielikki suggested that they advise the College to pursue the gate invasion strategy. Further, they should reach out to the dwarves for their assistance, as perhaps an existential threat could garner their aid. Without Pomegranite's presence to sabotage relations with the dwarves, unanimous agreement was swiftly reached. As they were all busy, however, they sent some of their retinues, as well as some retired terramorphers who could navigate the underground, to Petra. She was still at work in Frilothurn, which was close to the Dwarven Undersands, and was to be given instructions to travel there and seek out their subterranean holdings.
Over the next few months, news trickled in from the south of chaos in Tauschun. Apparently, Tharivol the elf had gone mad and was now leading a band known as the Changed who were reaving through the countryside, slaying everyone they met. The Triumvirate resolved to do nothing (it was clearly Terra punishing them for resisting the earthling invasion offer of annexation). Before harvest, they heard news from Petra's expedition to the dwarves.
The delegation had managed to make it into a dwarven hold without any incidents and had spoken with their leadership. The dwarves acknowledged that the Void Beast was an existential threat, but so was another demon war, which was, according to them, due any time now. As before, they would assist if the Imperial Army was put under their command. Given the Empire was still in a state of civil war, this seemed unlikely, and the Triumvirate bemoaned typical dwarven stubbornness.
The Mountain's Maw
While half-heartedly arguing over whether to do nothing or invade the dwarves (mostly going through the motions because they knew it's what Pomegranite would want), the council was interrupted by Wildberrybrush, the head of the conservative Terran faction of the earthling faith. He had news from the ruins of the Mountain's Maw temple complex: the terramorphers had quelled some of the shifting earth, and had located the center of the phenomenon. Now that they were closer, the vibrations of the stone had begun to sound like earthsong, and many were beginning to suspect that this was a gate to Terra's realm and/or the Path of Earth.
That raised some questions, however. While it was broadly accepted that Terra lived within the earth, if he dwelt right underneath their largest city, why had nobody known this? All those priests at the temple complex, for milenia, some of whom went on pilgrimages specifically looking for Terra, and nobody found this until now? Mielikki opined that this could be one of the lesser gods ("Astraeus", perhaps) attempting to usurp Terra, and Thicket nodded and suggested they wait for a sign before opening the gate, if there was one. Despite their suspicions, the Triumvirate ordered the terramorphers to continue on toward the "core", and had their own retinues stand guard over the site. They also had Wildberrybrush make an announcement that they may have found a great holy site, to take advantage of High Priest Friedrich Quarry being out of the province.
Continued Studies
Further examination of the texts that Pomegranite had compiled revealed another trend. While the now-canon Book stated that Astraeus would return and kill all the
unbelievers, the regional versions of the Book all referred to that
region's preferred deity returning instead. Somnus, Lord of Dreams and the Dead, for Segreta, Minerva for the Minervans, and Clio for Tauschun. Looking for more regional prophecies, he found a record from Torella, another of the city-states that now made up the Segretan League, which foretold of the earth being soaked with the blood of the innocent and people descending into a madness of violence.
More research found a text from Halberst, which claimed that the Paths would grow closer and then collide. This would be followed by the return of Medaius, Lord of Magic and the Void, who would, as usual, kill all the non-believers.
War in the South
Mielikki received an update from Duke Muller, who reported that the people of Socerne were capturing as many hawks as possible, and that a great aviary had been built to house them. Similarly, work was continuing apace for Granmarg and Thicket's administrative education reforms. Their domestic concerns were interrupted by news of war breaking out once more between Tauschun and the Segretan League, though this time the Segretans were the invaders. The accounts they had were concerning.
The Segretans were being held back as much by the "endless mass" of Tharivol's Changed as they were Ulrich's armies. Of the Changed, many reportedly bore the Mark of Clio, and far more than one would expect were fighting with the magically-induced temporary mutations typical of magisters of the Path of Change. The Segretans were led by Luana von Kastrop, the old Emperor's daughter, who had her mother's bodyguard, Dina Liguria, at her right hand, and was assisted by the two great Lords of the League, Ducci de Segreti and Aginor de Torelli. Luana, now bearing artifacts that were suspected to have come from the Labyrinth that twisted below the entire Segretan League, was in the thick of the fighting, and their magics had made her into a formidable combatant capable of leading from the front.
Yet more concerning, apparently the slain who fell on the battlefield were rising again, and fighting for the League. Thicket's prognosis for Tauschun was grim. A traditional strategy would be to attempt to funnel the Changed north into the Segretans, buying time for their own armies while weakening their opponents. But with the dead rising, an attrition strategy would favour the Segretans in the end. Ulrich's best bet would be to throw caution to the wind and seek a single decisive battle while more or less ignoring the Changed. This also meant that if the earthlings wanted to take a side in this war, they had very limited time to make their decision.
Mielikki didn't care if Luana (who was also College-trained in the Path of the Moon) was somehow using the Forbidden Path of Death through an artifact, and suggested they side with the winning team, bringing an end to the civil war, as the League and Tauschun would be enough votes to seat Luana as Empress. This would let them pivot to focusing on the existential threat of the Void Beast (and also, the Demonwar). Granmarg and Pomegranite disagreed, while Thicket wanted to wait before acting, which left them at a standstill. For now, Tauschun was going to be on their own.
Later, Granmarg would pull Thicket aside and, presumably through threats, managed to sway him and carry the vote. They dispatched messengers to Tauschun, saying that the Highland Forests would come to their aid come spring, and to stall for now. That then raised the question of what to do about this artifact. Their accounts had Luana bearing many many such artifacts, and they had no idea which was granting her necromantic powers. Pomegranite searched around the College for some kind of artifact that could disable other artifacts, but came up dry.
He then returned to his research, content to pass the rest of the year at the College until he would rejoin the earthling army as they advanced south. In early autumn, a delegation of elves, led by the famous Blademaster known as The Young Heron, arrived at the College, requesting permission to proceed through their lands south into Tauschun, where they intended on capturing Tharivol.
Notes:
A note on earthling burial practices that was made up this session: their bodies do rot, and so they have to be disposed of. The stone and plant parts of the dead are separated and spread around in nature.
The College had brought up unsealing the Forbidden Paths waaaaaay back in the first session, where they were shot down immediately by both the Elves and the Dwarves. At the time, they were even willing to leave the Paths of Death and Destruction sealed, which are now precisely the two they wish to use against the Void Beast.
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