Chapter 2.1 (such as it is)

[yhlee]

[GM's note: This is Ashari's summation of the mission briefing to Sasha, who is the new team leader in the interests of whisking away inactive PCs. While this letter is addressed privately to Sasha in-character, players are welcome to have out-of-character discussions [in bracketed comments] about, e.g., logistical concerns or things that they would like for their own characters. Regular IC discussion--e.g. if Sasha decides to start a meeting to discuss planning--can also happen in comments to this post, without the brackets.]

[Reminder: I'm out of the country from Sun., Dec. 2 to Wed., Dec. 5, so will be out of commission during those days and maybe a couple after. I apologize for the bad timing but hope this will give y'all something to chew on in my absence.]

[ETA: For reference, this is the one existing map of the hexarchate]. It's ca. Revenant Gun, but you can see some sites of historical interest. Candle Arc, for instance, is near the bottom center, in the Glover March.]

Congratulations, Sasha. You're in charge now. I expect you have very strong opinions on how things should be done. I look forward to hearing all about it upon my return.

As I told you earlier, Kaliyan, Ankat, Yehan, and myself will be siting a new base of operations just in case we need to cut our ties to the rebellion, or the Quill-led part of it. But don't worry. I wouldn't leave you entirely without hawks and foxes to play with. Don't hesitate to bully the new recruits as necessary to get the job done. I for one consider it highly promising that you seem to be getting along smashingly with the new Kel.

Here's your part of the mission. I have received reliable intelligence (no, you don't get to ask what I did to get it, unless you want to arm-wrestle for it after I get back) that there's going to be a significant push into the Lanterner era. Moreover, Quill is involved with rebellion operations via a rift to the heptarchate during 852 [h*archate timeline for reference]. Given what I understand to be the historical significance of that time period, this could be a major push.

Your task is to enter 852 via the rift map that Nirai Remi has provided us and figure out what Quill's people are up to. If this is a major intervention, what are they trying to accomplish? Can we get anything out of it?

The exit of the aforementioned rift will take you to a Lanterner orbital stronghold called Autumn Pyre. (They seem to have gotten their naming sensibilities from the Kel, how tiresome.) It's three days' travel by Cantata to Candle Arc, which has not yet happened. (You know what I mean.) Autumn Pyre is a military base, but it also houses a Lanterner aristocrat-diplomat named Aramis kae Pharon who fancies themself a natural philosopher and is interested in studying rift phenomena. Like civilized people, the Lanterners put their family/house name first, the personal name last. The "kae" designates an aristocrat or person of high rank--it can be given to generals and the like even if they're of low birth, it's all very complicated. Unfortunately for Autumn Pyre, but fortunately for us, Lanterner cultural peculiarities mean that kae Pharon is what we'd consider the "ranking officer."

Quill's people have already made contact with kae Pharon. Quill herself doesn't appear to be on site--yet. I've obtained forged orders that should make you look like reinforcements for the rebellion. Things are chaotic there anyway, what with interdimensional travelers. Get to Autumn Pyre and find out what's going on before it comes around to bite us in the ass. Oh, and if you get a chance, grab me some Lanterner red cordial, I've always wanted to try it. Good luck!

Ashari

Comments

info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[lleullawgyffes]

[before I (accidentally this time) make Virmad spread misinformation in his meeting with Sasha and Sulen, I wanted to check in re what information "about as much as anyone who wasn’t involved in the heresy itself can about the Lanterners’ beliefs" (from Virmad's character write-up) would actually be.

I mentioned in the move-in thread back in, like, move 2 that Virmad has in his possession a small Lanterner icon pendant; I've been thinking about possible ways he could have come into possession of it — I think he probably got it from a Lanterner, which probably means he took it from someone he was interrogating and then just kept it instead of submitting it as evidence. maybe in the aftermath of Candle Arc? not a survivor, since there weren't any, but someone else who was captured in that part of the Glover March.

but he presumably had other sources — some of it was briefing info before the interrogation, some of it is stuff he cobbled together from Lanterner propaganda, some of it is from news reports and history documents, some of it is extrapolation from studies of whichever low culture the heresy originated in (I've been assuming that's where most heresies movements other than the Liozh heresy come from; if that's wrong, then ignore this). I wonder if maybe he met one or more crypto-Lanterners after the heresy was officially suppressed, too, since by that point he was already swinging away from calendrical orthodoxy.

I'll probably have more specific info requests later, but at the moment I guess I'm thinking, what would Virmad think would be useful as cultural context for a briefing with Sasha?]

Re: info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[yhlee]

[Good questions! Here's how I propose handling this: I'm going to give you the basic framework stuff that I know (but which may not have been spelled out in canon) or that can be reasonably extrapolated from canon. Anything outside of that, you are welcome to invent, just as eller has been taking the very scant material on the Hafn and extrapolating her own version of what the Hafn could be like for the purposes of the game. For invented details, if you want any of them to be deliberately inaccurate or scurrilous rumor, please put a note [in brackets] letting us know to help us keep track; I'll do my best to track such material in the wiki if someone doesn't beat me to it.]

Virmad could totes have a Lanterner icon from some unfortunate Lanterner who was captured during some later operations in the Glover March.

All of the following is stuff that Virmad would reasonably be aware of as a person with an interest in the era:

Before going to war with the heptarchate, the Lanterners were a client state that paid nominal homage to heptarchate calendrical norms and doctrine as well as actual tribute/taxes in exchange for a certain small degree of self-determination. This arrangement was originally negotiated, on the heptarchate's side, by some Andan who thought a diplomatic solution was best to protecting the heptarchate's sphere of influence in the region, and Lanterner leaders who were milking the situation for their own internal benefit.

The war happened because people on the Lanterner side came to power who wanted more autonomy than what the heptarchate was willing to give them. The Lanterners also spent some of this period of agitating building a coalition of like-minded neighboring polities (like the Gheffeu that get like a one-line mention in Ninefox).

The dominant Lanterner society has a class system that is largely based on birth, although it is not quite as extreme as a caste system (think British rather than India) and people can intermarry if they're willing to put up with the associated stigma. The military is one of the accepted means of social advancement, hence high-ranking officers being accorded a "courtesy" address of "kae." Their primary language is distantly related to the high language, which perhaps helps explain some of the heptarchate's earlier leniency toward them.

If there's anything else you'd like me to tell you about Lanterner politics/culture, don't hesitate to ping me again.]

Re: info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[lleullawgyffes]

[that all sounds good! I may have some more questions as we continue through this, but that's plenty to work with for now.]

Re: info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[yhlee]

[Glad it helped! And yeah, anytime you have questions, just ping me. :) ]

Re: info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[lleullawgyffes]

[just as a preliminary note, I'm going to take Jedao's comment about the disappointment of the Lanterners using human shields — and his prior relative enthusiasm for them — as an indication that their local calendar is less, ah, demanding than the Heptarchate’s.

EDIT: ...since otherwise Virmad wouldn't be so interested in them, either.]

Re: info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[yhlee]

[Yes, that's correct--the Lanterners using human shields was a desperation move when they were very, very badly losing later in the war thanks to Jedao pummeling them. Their calendar was indeed much less demanding.]

Re: info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[lleullawgyffes]

[perfect! proof that an H*archate-adjacent culture and lifestyle can accident without large-scale human sacrifice.]

Re: info about the Lanterners - paging GM

[yhlee]

[I am all excite to see what Virmad and the team do with this information. =) ]