GemStone IV Wiki - User contributions [en]

Duskruin/saved posts February 2026

2026-02-11T17:50:04Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Teaser 5 - Ethereal */

==Announcements==
===Announcement 1 - Updated Dates===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/796618391262986241/1459206506942562489 Event Dates]
| author = GM Thandiwe
| date = 1/9/2026
}}

2/6 - 3/1 - Duskruin

===Announcement 2 - HESSomatic - Testing ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1468693182232658275 Hessomatic Testing]
| author = GM Naiken
| date = 2/4/2026
}}

Please help stress-test existing and newly automated HESS services! There are five containers currently available in the Test instance in Town Square Central. Please report issues, questions, and comments here:

⁠[Duskruin] HESSomatic Testing
(Check the pins!)

===Announcement 3 - Material Purification ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1467585032750108805 Material Purification]
| author = GM Estild
| date = 2/1/2026
}}

To continue on @Zissu’s work of material purification which he debuted at the recent auction with purified adamantine and eonake, this thread will preview a few other materials that will be available at the upcoming Duskruin.

* Purified sephwir
* Purified rhimar
* Purified zorchar
* Purified faewood
* Purified drakar
* Purified gornar

'''Faewood:''' 
This material has a chance to trigger a fire flare against undead targets that is slightly stronger than standard flares. When it triggers, it also grants Imaea's Blessing, bestowing Quickness (-3 seconds) and +25 AS / +15 CS for one attack. Quickness is a new status condition that grants haste (martial or magical) for a set duration or number of attacks.

'''Sephwir:''' 
This material has a chance to cause ammunition to splinter upon impact. If a secondary target fails a standard maneuver roll (SMR), they are affected by a standard puncture flare, even if the initial attack was fatal. If no other target is present, the splinter can flare against the primary target. Additionally, all ranged attacks using a pure sephwir bow receive a -1% evade chance.

'''Drakar, Gornar, Rhimar, and Zorchar:''' 
These materials have a chance to trigger an elemental flare that is slightly stronger than normal. When this occurs, there is a 25% chance to trigger a second flare that is stronger than the first and significantly more powerful than standard flares. (edited)Thursday, February 5, 2026 8:50 PM

===Announcement 4 - Male Armor Converted to Racial Armor ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1413210156195516508/1467981056560074954 Male Armor Conversion]
| author = GM Vanah
| date = 2/2/2026
}}

Male armor has been converted to Racial Armor.

If you have any, you can choose to FLOURISH CONVERT the script to a flourish, leaving the script slot free

It will also now work for perceived races, for those who have disguise elixirs or monk spell. There is now also only one tier

===Announcement 5 - Shop List ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1413210156195516508/1467981056560074954 Shop List]
| author = GM Thandiwe
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Last Run !! New !! Refresh !! Reopen
|-
| Volatile Storage || Everybody Must Get Stoned || Be Still My Hops (delayed) || Aggro Culture
|-
| Yarrrpeee Shoppe || (Redacted)|| With a Flourish (New Flourishes available) || Alchemical Attractions
|-
| || Grinding Gears|| Coalescence (Twisted Gloves - Acid) || Amalgamations
|-
| || Pinions and Pulse|| Right to Flare Arms (Certificate Updates) || At The Ready
|-
| || || Spellbound (New Trinkets) || Be Warez
|-
| || || ||Beyond Barriers
|-
| || || ||Blood Red Rose, The
|-
| || || ||Bloody Lotus, The
|-
| || || ||Bolt From The Blue
|-
| || || ||Bundle Up
|-
| || || ||Burning Twilight
|-
| || || ||Celadon Thread, The
|-
| || || ||Certifiable
|-
| || || ||Clockwerke Solutions
|-
| || || ||Currents and Safeguards
|-
| || || ||Daily Grind, The
|-
| || || ||Daily Grind, The, Accents
|-
| || || ||Deep Within Darkness
|-
| || || ||Demon Drop, The
|-
| || || ||Diskovery
|-
| || || ||Essencetials
|-
| || || ||Fairy Ring, The
|-
| || || ||First Rule, The
|-
| || || ||Gamac's Goods
|-
| || || ||Good In-Tent-ions
|-
| || || ||Heady Spirits
|-
| || || ||Herbal Huntsman, The
|-
| || || ||Icy Disposition
|-
| || || ||In the Shadows of the Sparrow
|-
| || || ||Just for Kicks
|-
| || || ||Knifery, The
|-
| || || ||Make Your Mark
|-
| || || ||Mar and Scar, the
|-
| || || ||Mind Your Manas
|-
| || || ||Mystic Phrases
|-
| || || ||On The Other Hand
|-
| || || ||Paranormal Pages
|-
| || || ||Petal to the Metal
|-
| || || ||Pirate Looks at Four Teas, A
|-
| || || ||Preening Plover, The
|-
| || || ||Rock Solid
|-
| || || ||Scoria and Dross
|-
| || || ||Sigil Shop
|-
| || || ||Skayl Mix
|-
| || || ||Sparrow's Dance
|-
| || || ||Spellbound
|-
| || || ||Sprite Club
|-
| || || ||Stay Awhile and Glisten
|-
| || || ||Temple of Tentacles
|-
| || || ||Tome Raiders
|-
| || || ||Totemic Spirits
|-
| || || ||Trapper's Shack
|-
| || || ||Twinkling Twilight
|-
| || || ||Twist of Briars, A
|-
| || || ||Untamed Spirit
|-
| || || ||Volatile Storage
|-
| || || ||Wet and Dry
|-
| || || ||Wild Instinct
|-
| || || ||Yarrrpee Shoppe, The
|}
===Announcement 6 - February Updates ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1469401978546159697 February Updates]
| author = GM Wyrom
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

This time around, not too many updates to the arena or sewers.

For the last couple of runs, it has been requested for some form of sewer cache system in the arena. I did add some easter eggs (one of them are still there) just to see what all people may do in the arena for flavor if there wasn't any strings attached. To no one's surprise, there isn't a whole lot of RP happening, it's mostly just business. I didn't want to go back down the road of traps and I didn't want to add more tedium that is just something to script. So I did a year of testing for some data and decided to go another direction.

The rare spawn, last run was the crab that announced "shiny," two years ago were the clockwork golems, and then before that were the automatons, are now a special reward if you get them to randomly spawn. They are quite a bit more frequent than a cache, so the award is a flat 1,000 bloodscrip if you get one. It doesn't mean you may seem them often, if at all, but over the entire event they should be pretty close to the same valuation of sewer caches. I will be monitoring these numbers and tweaking where I can during the live run if I notice things are heading in a poor (or too good of a) direction.

I will also be adding some exposure to some of the other data we've been tracking for years. Like the rare spawn, other little tidbits have been tracked and will show up in your [[Verb:EVENT|EVENT STATS]] after opening night. You will see you likely have some rare spawns already, this would be since the clockwork golems. I need to think about some other way to do achievements vs titles, because the titles are a lot of work and I don't think many people care for the ones we've done. Correct me if I'm wrong.

With loot cap not ignoring event drops, if you select [[Verb:DUSKRUIN|DUSKRUIN REWARD LOOT]], after 10mil silver is earned in the month, you will start to see a message that you are approaching the loot cap. You can leave it on and still get loot, you are still capable of getting a 6x weapon or a nice enhancive, but once you start seeing that message your item cannot be sold at the pawnshop. The messaging happens when you enter the arena or the sewers, so if you want to switch once you see that message, you can. Because loot cap is a percentage, it kind of works like the Canadian penny being retired. There are times you will see the message but your loot can still be sold. It's a rounding issue and I am siding with the player getting the benefit of the doubt vs just hard locking everything from being sold once it happens.

If anything goes haywire, we will adjust as needed.

===Announcement 7 - Simucoin Store Updates ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1469407763041095723 Simucoin Store Update]
| author = GM Wyrom
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

We have migrated our store to the cloud, and I'm still working on getting it updates. That is why you haven't seen the preview just yet on when Duskruin stuff goes on sale. I shouldn't have any issues with vouchers and such, but adding the new item that grants Fash'lo'nae's Tutelage and the updated '''BATTLE VAULT''' might have a staggered release. I am hoping this isn't the case, but because there needs to be a store update and it seems to not be showing up yet, I wanted to make sure expectations are set.

'''The SimuCoins Store will have the following items available from now until February 28, 2026 at 11:45 PM.'''

· '''Battle Vault''' - Two 25-entry booklets, compatible with the [[Booklet Exchange NPC|gladiator NPC]] (booklet exchange), Bottle of 30 advanced [[Spell up Pills|spell up pills]], [[Chaos mirror shard|A special shard of urnon]] (character attuned on REDEEM), [[Experience Scrolls|A golden scroll]] (character attuned on REDEEM), [[Gilded locus oil|Locus oil (]]<nowiki/>account attuned on REDEEM), Expires at the end of the event

· '''The Grandfather’s Token''' – Offering [[Fash'lo'nae's Tutelage|Fash’lo’nae’s Tutelage]]. Be forewarned, the token expires on March 2nd.

==Teasers==

=== Teaser 1 - Flourish Additions ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1467979605515174101 With a Flourish 2026 additions]
| author = GM Vanah
| date = 2/2/2026
}}

We are adding 12 newly converted fluff scripts to the shop With a Flourish for the February 2026 Duskruin run! If you have any of these items already, ANALYZE should prompt you that you can FLOURISH CONVERT to convert the script to a flourish, leaving your script slot free without needing to dabble it off.
* Polite Hat
* Basic Gown
* Graceful Gloves
* Fleecy Folds
* Racial Armor (Formerly Male Armor)
* Artisan's Faire Bow
* Striking Distance
* T'gara Weapon
* Heimer Runestaff
* Katarstrophic
* Dexterous Daggers
* Siolan Weapons
Discord Discussion: ⁠[https://discordapp.com/channels/226045346399256576/1273275053353734256 [Duskruin<nowiki>]</nowiki> With a Flourish]

=== Teaser 2 - Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1467979605515174101 Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition]
| author = GM Marstreforn
| date = 2/2/2026
}}

The new counterparts to Twisted Kicks for Duskruin in 2026 are Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition! These are hand worn armaments with acid flares off-the-shelf, and have features that can be unlocked just like their foot worn variants.

Please discuss matters related to this new release and its associated armaments here!

Discord Discussion: [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1467440050030514280 Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition]

=== Teaser 3 - Pet Rocks ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1468689608446579022 Pet Rocks]
| author = GM Xynwen
| date = 2/4/2026
}}

Ever find the perfect rock and just want to bring it around with you everywhere you go? Well, the wait is over! Just seek out a battered, grime-covered tent near the Locksmehr River encampment and talk to the gnoll. I highly recommend ASKing the gnoll about things before searching the wares on the shelves, especially about dwarves (IYKYK).

This shop will be a delayed open, aiming for 2/15

Wiki: forthcoming
Discussion Forum: ⁠[https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1468689496542548090 [Duskruin<nowiki>]</nowiki> Pet Rocks]

=== Teaser 4 - Mechanical Locksmith Bracers ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1467979605515174101 Mechanical Locksmith Bracers]
| author = GM Scrimge
| date = 2/4/2026
}}

The shop Grinding Gears is returning with updates to a Duskruin event near you! Enjoy two new modules that can be added to any previous tier of bracer, or unlock your current bracer to higher tiers! Review and discuss here:

[https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1468695130071502899 ⁠Updated Grinding Gears - Coming...]

=== Teaser 5 - Ethereal ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/594009933763051549/1469320905573273845 Mechanical Locksmith Bracers]
| author = GM Ethereal
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

Post-gamebreaking hijinks teaser time! Something that's been requested forever...
<pre {{log2}}>
A war griffin tries to bite you!
** For a split second, the striations of your somnis full plate expand into a sinuous pearlescent mist that rushes towards the war griffin, enveloping it entirely! **
[SSR result: 138 (Open d100: 22)]
A war griffin goes limp as it is rendered unconscious!
</pre>

=== Teaser 6 - Energy Wings ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1469472541482553345 Energy Wings]
| author = GM Kenstrom
| date = 2/11/2026
}}

Behold, energy wings! I want to give a huge hats off and eternal thank you to GM Mestys for being the incredible coding talent behind this concept and for the masterful patience and skills to help make this item a reality. Thanks to GM’s Estild, Thandiwe and Tivvy for all of their approvals, help and guidance along the way.

I encourage you to visit Pinions and Pulse this month during Duskruin! You will find two sets of energy wings, Light and Dark! They come in the shape of a pin, can be activated to give you wings with lots of abilities and zest! Don’t just take my word for it, grind for bloodscrip and buy them. It may save you deeds!

The wing-shaped pin may be freely altered, but it must adhere to its energy setting. When worn, the pin will cause wings to emerge from its bearer's back as a temporary unique feature line, or temporarily replace the wings features for Aelotoi. These features may be customized, but the wings will always be feathered, and should also reflect the energy setting of the pin.

[https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1469472541482553345 Energy Wings discussion here!]

</pre>
[[Category:Duskruin saved posts]]

Duskruin/saved posts February 2026

2026-02-11T17:49:37Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Teasers */

==Announcements==
===Announcement 1 - Updated Dates===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/796618391262986241/1459206506942562489 Event Dates]
| author = GM Thandiwe
| date = 1/9/2026
}}

2/6 - 3/1 - Duskruin

===Announcement 2 - HESSomatic - Testing ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1468693182232658275 Hessomatic Testing]
| author = GM Naiken
| date = 2/4/2026
}}

Please help stress-test existing and newly automated HESS services! There are five containers currently available in the Test instance in Town Square Central. Please report issues, questions, and comments here:

⁠[Duskruin] HESSomatic Testing
(Check the pins!)

===Announcement 3 - Material Purification ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1467585032750108805 Material Purification]
| author = GM Estild
| date = 2/1/2026
}}

To continue on @Zissu’s work of material purification which he debuted at the recent auction with purified adamantine and eonake, this thread will preview a few other materials that will be available at the upcoming Duskruin.

* Purified sephwir
* Purified rhimar
* Purified zorchar
* Purified faewood
* Purified drakar
* Purified gornar

'''Faewood:''' 
This material has a chance to trigger a fire flare against undead targets that is slightly stronger than standard flares. When it triggers, it also grants Imaea's Blessing, bestowing Quickness (-3 seconds) and +25 AS / +15 CS for one attack. Quickness is a new status condition that grants haste (martial or magical) for a set duration or number of attacks.

'''Sephwir:''' 
This material has a chance to cause ammunition to splinter upon impact. If a secondary target fails a standard maneuver roll (SMR), they are affected by a standard puncture flare, even if the initial attack was fatal. If no other target is present, the splinter can flare against the primary target. Additionally, all ranged attacks using a pure sephwir bow receive a -1% evade chance.

'''Drakar, Gornar, Rhimar, and Zorchar:''' 
These materials have a chance to trigger an elemental flare that is slightly stronger than normal. When this occurs, there is a 25% chance to trigger a second flare that is stronger than the first and significantly more powerful than standard flares. (edited)Thursday, February 5, 2026 8:50 PM

===Announcement 4 - Male Armor Converted to Racial Armor ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1413210156195516508/1467981056560074954 Male Armor Conversion]
| author = GM Vanah
| date = 2/2/2026
}}

Male armor has been converted to Racial Armor.

If you have any, you can choose to FLOURISH CONVERT the script to a flourish, leaving the script slot free

It will also now work for perceived races, for those who have disguise elixirs or monk spell. There is now also only one tier

===Announcement 5 - Shop List ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1413210156195516508/1467981056560074954 Shop List]
| author = GM Thandiwe
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Last Run !! New !! Refresh !! Reopen
|-
| Volatile Storage || Everybody Must Get Stoned || Be Still My Hops (delayed) || Aggro Culture
|-
| Yarrrpeee Shoppe || (Redacted)|| With a Flourish (New Flourishes available) || Alchemical Attractions
|-
| || Grinding Gears|| Coalescence (Twisted Gloves - Acid) || Amalgamations
|-
| || Pinions and Pulse|| Right to Flare Arms (Certificate Updates) || At The Ready
|-
| || || Spellbound (New Trinkets) || Be Warez
|-
| || || ||Beyond Barriers
|-
| || || ||Blood Red Rose, The
|-
| || || ||Bloody Lotus, The
|-
| || || ||Bolt From The Blue
|-
| || || ||Bundle Up
|-
| || || ||Burning Twilight
|-
| || || ||Celadon Thread, The
|-
| || || ||Certifiable
|-
| || || ||Clockwerke Solutions
|-
| || || ||Currents and Safeguards
|-
| || || ||Daily Grind, The
|-
| || || ||Daily Grind, The, Accents
|-
| || || ||Deep Within Darkness
|-
| || || ||Demon Drop, The
|-
| || || ||Diskovery
|-
| || || ||Essencetials
|-
| || || ||Fairy Ring, The
|-
| || || ||First Rule, The
|-
| || || ||Gamac's Goods
|-
| || || ||Good In-Tent-ions
|-
| || || ||Heady Spirits
|-
| || || ||Herbal Huntsman, The
|-
| || || ||Icy Disposition
|-
| || || ||In the Shadows of the Sparrow
|-
| || || ||Just for Kicks
|-
| || || ||Knifery, The
|-
| || || ||Make Your Mark
|-
| || || ||Mar and Scar, the
|-
| || || ||Mind Your Manas
|-
| || || ||Mystic Phrases
|-
| || || ||On The Other Hand
|-
| || || ||Paranormal Pages
|-
| || || ||Petal to the Metal
|-
| || || ||Pirate Looks at Four Teas, A
|-
| || || ||Preening Plover, The
|-
| || || ||Rock Solid
|-
| || || ||Scoria and Dross
|-
| || || ||Sigil Shop
|-
| || || ||Skayl Mix
|-
| || || ||Sparrow's Dance
|-
| || || ||Spellbound
|-
| || || ||Sprite Club
|-
| || || ||Stay Awhile and Glisten
|-
| || || ||Temple of Tentacles
|-
| || || ||Tome Raiders
|-
| || || ||Totemic Spirits
|-
| || || ||Trapper's Shack
|-
| || || ||Twinkling Twilight
|-
| || || ||Twist of Briars, A
|-
| || || ||Untamed Spirit
|-
| || || ||Volatile Storage
|-
| || || ||Wet and Dry
|-
| || || ||Wild Instinct
|-
| || || ||Yarrrpee Shoppe, The
|}
===Announcement 6 - February Updates ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1469401978546159697 February Updates]
| author = GM Wyrom
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

This time around, not too many updates to the arena or sewers.

For the last couple of runs, it has been requested for some form of sewer cache system in the arena. I did add some easter eggs (one of them are still there) just to see what all people may do in the arena for flavor if there wasn't any strings attached. To no one's surprise, there isn't a whole lot of RP happening, it's mostly just business. I didn't want to go back down the road of traps and I didn't want to add more tedium that is just something to script. So I did a year of testing for some data and decided to go another direction.

The rare spawn, last run was the crab that announced "shiny," two years ago were the clockwork golems, and then before that were the automatons, are now a special reward if you get them to randomly spawn. They are quite a bit more frequent than a cache, so the award is a flat 1,000 bloodscrip if you get one. It doesn't mean you may seem them often, if at all, but over the entire event they should be pretty close to the same valuation of sewer caches. I will be monitoring these numbers and tweaking where I can during the live run if I notice things are heading in a poor (or too good of a) direction.

I will also be adding some exposure to some of the other data we've been tracking for years. Like the rare spawn, other little tidbits have been tracked and will show up in your [[Verb:EVENT|EVENT STATS]] after opening night. You will see you likely have some rare spawns already, this would be since the clockwork golems. I need to think about some other way to do achievements vs titles, because the titles are a lot of work and I don't think many people care for the ones we've done. Correct me if I'm wrong.

With loot cap not ignoring event drops, if you select [[Verb:DUSKRUIN|DUSKRUIN REWARD LOOT]], after 10mil silver is earned in the month, you will start to see a message that you are approaching the loot cap. You can leave it on and still get loot, you are still capable of getting a 6x weapon or a nice enhancive, but once you start seeing that message your item cannot be sold at the pawnshop. The messaging happens when you enter the arena or the sewers, so if you want to switch once you see that message, you can. Because loot cap is a percentage, it kind of works like the Canadian penny being retired. There are times you will see the message but your loot can still be sold. It's a rounding issue and I am siding with the player getting the benefit of the doubt vs just hard locking everything from being sold once it happens.

If anything goes haywire, we will adjust as needed.

===Announcement 7 - Simucoin Store Updates ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1469407763041095723 Simucoin Store Update]
| author = GM Wyrom
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

We have migrated our store to the cloud, and I'm still working on getting it updates. That is why you haven't seen the preview just yet on when Duskruin stuff goes on sale. I shouldn't have any issues with vouchers and such, but adding the new item that grants Fash'lo'nae's Tutelage and the updated '''BATTLE VAULT''' might have a staggered release. I am hoping this isn't the case, but because there needs to be a store update and it seems to not be showing up yet, I wanted to make sure expectations are set.

'''The SimuCoins Store will have the following items available from now until February 28, 2026 at 11:45 PM.'''

· '''Battle Vault''' - Two 25-entry booklets, compatible with the [[Booklet Exchange NPC|gladiator NPC]] (booklet exchange), Bottle of 30 advanced [[Spell up Pills|spell up pills]], [[Chaos mirror shard|A special shard of urnon]] (character attuned on REDEEM), [[Experience Scrolls|A golden scroll]] (character attuned on REDEEM), [[Gilded locus oil|Locus oil (]]<nowiki/>account attuned on REDEEM), Expires at the end of the event

· '''The Grandfather’s Token''' – Offering [[Fash'lo'nae's Tutelage|Fash’lo’nae’s Tutelage]]. Be forewarned, the token expires on March 2nd.

==Teasers==

=== Teaser 1 - Flourish Additions ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1467979605515174101 With a Flourish 2026 additions]
| author = GM Vanah
| date = 2/2/2026
}}

We are adding 12 newly converted fluff scripts to the shop With a Flourish for the February 2026 Duskruin run! If you have any of these items already, ANALYZE should prompt you that you can FLOURISH CONVERT to convert the script to a flourish, leaving your script slot free without needing to dabble it off.
* Polite Hat
* Basic Gown
* Graceful Gloves
* Fleecy Folds
* Racial Armor (Formerly Male Armor)
* Artisan's Faire Bow
* Striking Distance
* T'gara Weapon
* Heimer Runestaff
* Katarstrophic
* Dexterous Daggers
* Siolan Weapons
Discord Discussion: ⁠[https://discordapp.com/channels/226045346399256576/1273275053353734256 [Duskruin<nowiki>]</nowiki> With a Flourish]

=== Teaser 2 - Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1467979605515174101 Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition]
| author = GM Marstreforn
| date = 2/2/2026
}}

The new counterparts to Twisted Kicks for Duskruin in 2026 are Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition! These are hand worn armaments with acid flares off-the-shelf, and have features that can be unlocked just like their foot worn variants.

Please discuss matters related to this new release and its associated armaments here!

Discord Discussion: [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1467440050030514280 Twisted Gloves - Acid Edition]

=== Teaser 3 - Pet Rocks ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1468689608446579022 Pet Rocks]
| author = GM Xynwen
| date = 2/4/2026
}}

Ever find the perfect rock and just want to bring it around with you everywhere you go? Well, the wait is over! Just seek out a battered, grime-covered tent near the Locksmehr River encampment and talk to the gnoll. I highly recommend ASKing the gnoll about things before searching the wares on the shelves, especially about dwarves (IYKYK).

This shop will be a delayed open, aiming for 2/15

Wiki: forthcoming
Discussion Forum: ⁠[https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1468689496542548090 [Duskruin<nowiki>]</nowiki> Pet Rocks]

=== Teaser 4 - Mechanical Locksmith Bracers ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/832466682291027998/1467979605515174101 Mechanical Locksmith Bracers]
| author = GM Scrimge
| date = 2/4/2026
}}

The shop Grinding Gears is returning with updates to a Duskruin event near you! Enjoy two new modules that can be added to any previous tier of bracer, or unlock your current bracer to higher tiers! Review and discuss here:

[https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1468695130071502899 ⁠Updated Grinding Gears - Coming...]

=== Teaser 5 - Ethereal ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/594009933763051549/1469320905573273845 Mechanical Locksmith Bracers]
| author = GM Ethereal
| date = 2/6/2026
}}

Post-gamebreaking hijinks teaser time! Something that's been requested forever...
<pre {{log2}}>
A war griffin tries to bite you!
** For a split second, the striations of your somnis full plate expand into a sinuous pearlescent mist that rushes towards the war griffin, enveloping it entirely! **
[SSR result: 138 (Open d100: 22)]
A war griffin goes limp as it is rendered unconscious!

=== Teaser 6 - Energy Wings ===
{{saved-discord-post
| messagelink = [https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1469472541482553345 Energy Wings]
| author = GM Kenstrom
| date = 2/11/2026
}}

Behold, energy wings! I want to give a huge hats off and eternal thank you to GM Mestys for being the incredible coding talent behind this concept and for the masterful patience and skills to help make this item a reality. Thanks to GM’s Estild, Thandiwe and Tivvy for all of their approvals, help and guidance along the way.

I encourage you to visit Pinions and Pulse this month during Duskruin! You will find two sets of energy wings, Light and Dark! They come in the shape of a pin, can be activated to give you wings with lots of abilities and zest! Don’t just take my word for it, grind for bloodscrip and buy them. It may save you deeds!

The wing-shaped pin may be freely altered, but it must adhere to its energy setting. When worn, the pin will cause wings to emerge from its bearer's back as a temporary unique feature line, or temporarily replace the wings features for Aelotoi. These features may be customized, but the wings will always be feathered, and should also reflect the energy setting of the pin.

[https://discord.com/channels/226045346399256576/1469472541482553345 Energy Wings discussion here!]

</pre>
[[Category:Duskruin saved posts]]

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T02:16:33Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Thadston */

__TOC__

== Rheshay ==

“Keeper o’ the Ember Vale…” A voice crackled like grinding bones as it mocked from deep within the shadows.

She could never forget that voice, or that face, or that stench. But it wasn’t just the blood of their enemies that he was bathed in. Now she could smell her own. A people she vowed to protect against all odds and all threats. A people she fought and defended. A people she would die for. Soon she might just do that.

“Have ye nothin’ ta say?” Tyeid folded out of the shadows as if detaching from the darkness. His eyes were like sunken pools of a starless night, partially concealed by matted locks of reddish-brown hair. Ashen bone studs rose with his eyebrows when he spoke, and one clanked against his sharpened teeth when he grinned.

He grinned a lot.

She hated that and hated him.

Tyeid thumbed at the nightshade purple eyeball dangling from a cord around his neck. Twice he pulled it up to his mouth, licking it and smiling wide as he paced before her cell. Cage to cage to cage. That had been her life most often these days. But she cared little for her own imprisonment, so long as her people were free. Currently, that was not the case. Some were lost to the Hills of Koar, some entombed in Arachne’s embrace, while others hung in the balance.

“Keeper…” he laughed again. His dark eyes sparkled in that moment, so full of himself, so enraptured in delight. “There is still a place for ye. Take the blood. The shield is nae how we survive. We are ta be the spear.”

She would not answer him again. Her mind had not changed. The warchief would come for her. Hagga’s blood or not, his mind and heart were true for their people. She would wait, and knew that on that day, if Koar should have it, she would bite that grin off her enemy’s face and feed it to him.

A shuffling came from the shadows behind Tyeid. Figures approached, swathed in red robes, with their hooded cowl bathing their faces in darkness save for the glistening sheen of their eight ruby eyes. Shambling in chains behind them came several reivers, some warriors still bearing fresh wounds and some children with wide eyes trailing them.

Tyeid almost squealed when he turned around, slowly circling each prisoner as he inspected their faces, arms, and hands. He pointed to half of them, then motioned to the right, and they were escorted away. Those that remained, he motioned to the left, and they were dragged off.

“What is ta the left?” Rheshay finally spoke from the solitude of her cell.

“Oh! She speaks finally.” Tyeid grinned, his dark tongue flicking across the bone stud of his lip.

“What is ta the left?” she asked again, foolishly. She knew the answer.

“Dinner.”

== Enisius ==

“Is this it?” The man’s voice cracked with age.

The wizard blinked in response. It was still never enough, it seemed.

“I have a collection a hundred mages would salivate over.” Enisius tried to foolishly reason with his father.

“The room is small, is all I’m saying.” Ferwin strolled along a wall, lifting a few trinkets off a shelf, turning them around as he surveyed them and put them back down. Immediately Enisius flowed to the shelf, rearranging every item his father had touched. Every single one.

“Little dusty in here too, don’t you think?”

“Dusty?” He looked around, squinting, inspecting, eyeballing for any speck of dust. Not a single one.

“It’s not like home, is all I’m saying.”

“This is home now.”

“That’s what your mother and brother keep saying. Just doesn’t feel like it, you know?”

“Do you want to go back?”

“That ain’t what I’m saying. You’re not listening boy. You read so much, you think so much, sometimes that’s a bad thing.”

“I do not understand.”

He truly did not.

“It’s okay, your brother gets it. Which is good. At least one of you do.”

“Can I help you?” He straightened more of his belongings. Dusted off a few. But they were already clean.

“How’s that reiver bolt coming along?”

That was not what it was called.

“Still storming the castle soon?”

He wasn’t literally, no.

“That lady in the forest sure is creepy.”

“You would need to speak to Elidal about that.”

“Ain’t my business, she just feels odd, is all I’m saying.”

“Can I help you?” He fought hard to hide his agitation. He was unsuccessful.

“Don’t get worked up boy, I just came to visit, and maybe give you some advice. This isn’t like back home. You mess up there, we eat less for a while, but we remake our profits in time. You mess up here, people die. We can’t remake people.”

That was not true.
“My team and I have processed over one thousand and seven calc….”

Ferwin laughed. He shook his head. “Boy, there’s always going to be surprises in life. Hell, you were one yourself.”

“We were?”

“Not what I said.” Ferwin chuckled, “But you have to be ready. There’s isn’t a book on everything.”

Also, not true, but he let it go.

His father walked to the door and turned back. He touched his face. It felt odd, his father’s skin on his, his eyes upon him. It was as if Ferwin saw someone else and wished for someone else.

That he knew, was true.

“This could be a good thing, for your brother, for your mother. This could be home. It ain’t yet, but it could be. Don’t mess it up, is all I’m saying.” With that parting wisdom, his father left the room.

At once, Enisius rushed back to the shelf. Then the desk. Then the chairs. He dusted every spotless item in the room until night fell beyond the windows.

== Haidan ==

His blood would deliver a people to freedom.

That’s what he was told. That’s what the heavens depicted in the blood of the intestines smeared upon the ground. That’s what was proclaimed from the mouth of a serpent, no, a spider. He was declared a savior for his brethren, the heir of a warrior and witch, one who would claim the mantle of warchief and define a new future for the reivers.

Now he was none of those things. But oh, there was blood.

A trail of it as he stumbled more than walked through the forest. It had been hours, perhaps days since the battle. Since the betrayal. It wasn’t even ironic. Arachne was known for such, why expect anything less from her servant. He still felt feverish. The sounds of the woods grew more and more distorted with each passing moment. Every time he blinked; new tears filled his eyes. Every time he swallowed; more blood filled his throat.

A lesser man would have succumbed to his wounds, or even the weakness of surrender. He was content to die, as all true warriors and leaders would one day, but he would not accept it on that day. He was blind to the web of his true enemy all around him, but he refused to let the spider prevail.

He slumped against a tree to catch his breath, to steady his thoughts and feet. From the forest he heard a snap. Faint as it was, it was still nearby. Haidan held up his hatchet, the handle almost slipping from his blood slicked grip. Metal, fist or teeth, he would go out fighting.

Her eyes were the first thing he noticed. Dark, vacant, but enthralling. She reminded him of a ghost, a great specter of the woods with skin paler than he had ever laid eyes upon. Pointed ears, he knew her to be an elf. What kind he could not tell, nor did he care too. But the lattice work of black veins along her brow, it took him back. He thought for sure an agent of Tyeid’s stood before him. His fingers clenched and he prepared to strike.

“I do not belong to any of your enemies.” The woman spoke, her voice quiet and serene like the calm of a storm. “But you know this, you see this and feel this. Because you are still a great man and a leader of a great people.”

It was seconds before he noticed his axe had even fallen. Its bloodstained shaft resting in the foliage at his feet. He grew weak in his legs, fighting back a bout of dizziness. In his vulnerability, the elven woman closed the distance between them. Her hand was already to his chest, palm against his exposed skin.

“Let me mend you, let me guide you. Your destiny is not written in blood, but in stars.”

Her voice trailed as he watched the ground rise up to meet him, as he landed with a thud, his eyes drawn to the scarlet smears along his weapon before darkness set in around him.

== Sablo ==

He would never get used to the smell of canvas.

Or the enclosing walls around him.

Some prisons are cold and metal and barren. Others have walls of cloth, and wooden map markers, and scroll tubes and muffled voices beyond. He still itched for the wild lands, where no rampart touched the sky for thousands of miles and where no whimpering children disguised as men would balk at the truths of war and of survival. The world grew and flourished from the blood of enemies. Empires crumbled and monstrous hordes smashed to dirt. There was always someone new to feed the soil, a barrier to civilization.

But before every expansion came men like him. Pioneers, if he dared to call himself that. Which he did not. No wall can rise in a land littered with danger and debris. No farmer will plant without a field prepared for seed. But the lands of men and masked monsters do not celebrate those that go before. They do not sing ballads of those who must put scythe to sheaf, or sword to bone. They want only to pretend that monsters do not exist, and that man dwells in unclaimed lands, unblemished and set aside for them.

But before peace, there is always horror. Before peace, there is always conflict. Words may placate the masses, and weave a tapestry of illusions, but they do not instill strength and they do not keep enemies at bay. It is through fear, and it is through might, that true order is established and maintained. It is not earned by nobles or councilors, but by warriors, by those who dangerously risk their own humanity for the sake of it in others.

He is a monster. He knows every last action he has taken in his still relatively young life. He may not recall all the faces, as such repeated onslaught blurs even time, but he never stirs in the night. Not since before coming here. Now each sleep lessens and shrinks. His mind is not fed with the glory of battle, the thrill of victory or the collapse of the enemy. Instead, he sees the books they thrust upon him. Lesson after lesson. Learn their code, honor, chivalry, mercy. Learn their people, soften the truth, speak to hearts, nod and grin.

But they want his claws. He just can’t sharpen them. They want his ferocity, but they won’t remove the chain. They want to mold him as if he is clay, but he is in fact stone. Something that is lost on all of them. Well, most of them.

The flap of the pavilion lifted. He smelled her before he saw her. Lavender this time, but it was still not strong enough to hide the scent of the earth. The feral aroma of a time before, when metal won the day, not words. Her gold-haloed green eyes regarded him as he stood to meet her. Her hair fell down her shoulders like spiraled rays of sunlight. He felt his throat tighten, but he matched her gaze and nodded.

A tome in one hand, an empty glass in another, Aronia smiled as light from the brazier flickered across her face. “Hello Commander. Shall we?”

Sablo Marsh only grinned.

== Elidal ==

Fireleaf and faewood.

The arrows were sharpened with care and were only the latest addition to come to the camp, to help support its defenders and people. Donation bins burst at the edges. Several packages of knitted clothing still remained, which would only prove more valuable as summer gave to fall and then winter. The camp never rested it seemed. Not anymore. It had grown over the last year, with palisade walls to enclose their families, and tall towers to alert them to the danger beyond.

Smoke curled up from firepits and he could not walk several feet without his senses ignited with the mouth-watering scent of seared boar. Sunup and sundown, axes dulled against the great modwirs that brushed the sky. The ring of a blacksmith’s hammer on metal was almost endless and no spot in the camp was ever far from the glow of a weathered forge. Knights came and went, wearing both a bracer with a silver gryphon and a polite, welcoming grin. His men had spent days and weeks following their command, trained to fight, trained to strike, trained to think.

Sometimes it did not feel like his men. Or any of them. Sometimes he drifted about the grounds like a specter, observing all around him but the world would not bend to his presence. Many of the settlers had found their new life, and their new home. Once where they had fallen at his feet begging for help, they now stood beyond his shadow, risen to a status of preservation and purpose.

That is all he had wanted, after all. A shepherd does not walk for his sheep. He does not graze for their nourishment. Only they can do that for themselves. But he was lying if he said he did not miss it at times. Settling a squabble between teamsters. Leveraging coin to repaint a broken wagon. Helping a young boy acquire tomes of lore and heraldry. Did the comfort of small problems make him a small man?

The future weighed heavily on him. The decisions he would soon be faced with were much larger than the scope of angry winemakers or befuddled fishermen. Savages and spiders across the river. Washed up krolvin from a shattered land upon their shores. A dark castle brimming with evil and dread. A logic defying mountain with the potential for catastrophe and a mind-warping boy hidden within it. Those were his new problems, whether he liked it or not.

He walked the camp for a few more minutes, primarily undisturbed. A wave here, a nod there. While every life encircled his, it did not engulf it. He inhaled, taking in the mixture of oil, and meat, and sweat and life. He would miss all of it. Because he knew the moment was fleeting. The walls would come down, the towers broken apart. Every tent, every cooking pit would vanish.

The future would not look like that. It would be trails and cobbled roads. High walls, gatehouses, and towers of stone. It would be ballrooms, courtyards, dignitaries, and endless posturing. Dinnerware, linens, imperial decrees, and tournaments. Heavy perfumes, heavy men, boisterous egos, and treacherous resistance. He was just a simple boy from the plush Riverwood, where comfort came in the form of a hunter’s bow and Aronia’s smile. Not a day passed that he did not wonder if his heart and his shoulders could carry the burden of Darkstone.

He remembered then his mother’s wizened words. “To care, is to reign true. To feel, is to reign long.” If the weight of his role and his people did not press upon him so hard, then perhaps he would not be truly fit for the job at hand. But with each scar, he wore it with them. With each death, he cried beside them. For each name they would never forget, he too would carve into his mind. The way forward was not clear, and the path was littered with obstacle after obstacle. But with those few he trusted still around him, his circle of reliance endured, and he had little doubt he could succeed and bear the torch forward.

== Thadston ==

His steel eyes matched the storm above.

He had already said his farewell the night before. She had shared with him her trials, and he almost shared all of his with her. But she would never be allowed behind both walls, it was a miracle she had crept behind the first. Only one woman had stepped beyond both, and she was violently ripped from the world.

So, when the militia arrived for Casiphia, he did not protest, or shout in defiance. He did not kiss her, or squeeze her, or even reassure her. He wasn’t going to make any promises he could not guarantee. She had chosen her path, time and again, and he had sworn to keep her alive, but his duty had ended there. When she looked back at him, she mouthed something. No one heard it, no one saw it, but he had a good idea of what she said. He nodded in return, and she smirked. She knew it was all she would get in that moment.

He watched the faces of the young guards escort her away. He didn’t recognize a single one of them. Had he been here that long? A generational cycle of militia spanned across his time within Wehnimer’s Landing? He felt older than he ever had in that moment. But the pain in his heart and head was still dim in comparison to the raw wounds along his arms. If he could call them that. The healing had been slow, and the more he moved the more the wounds ripped back open, leaving his flesh gnarled and bloody.

Rest, the healers kept telling him. Herbs, balms, ointments, they applied it all. Even magic, but his recovery was slow. He bit his lip to fight wincing as he moved back to his home. A half-eaten meal for two still cooled on the table inside. He went to sit just as a knock came at the door. Now he protested, both in voice and the creaking of his bones.

A town hall clerk in crisp livery waited outside. He snapped to attention, awkwardly saluted which was not proper formality, and handed the man a weathered parchment sealed with the wax crest of a blue phoenix. He looked down at his sore and mutilated hands. “Read it for me.” He almost snarled.

The clerk broke the seal, cleared his throat and upon eyeing the document said nothing. He instead turned the parchment around to show the words.

Thadston sighed and muttered, “Damnit.”

“Come in and close the door.”

[[Category:North by Northwest]]

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T02:15:51Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Elidal */

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T02:15:04Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Sablo */

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T01:24:29Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Haidan */

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T01:23:44Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Enisius */

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T01:23:03Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Enisius */

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T01:16:18Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Rheshay */

North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 (vignette)

2023-08-30T01:04:16Z

GS4-KENSTROM: Created page with "__TOC__ == Rheshay == == Enisius == == Haidan == == Sablo == == Elidal == == Thadston == Category:North by Northwest"

__TOC__

== Rheshay ==

== Enisius ==

== Haidan ==

== Sablo ==

== Elidal ==

== Thadston ==

[[Category:North by Northwest]]

Category:North by Northwest

2023-08-30T01:00:35Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Official Vignettes */

[[File:North by Northwest.png|250px|thumb|right|North by Northwest, created by GM Kenstrom on Midjourney.]]
==Summary==
North by Northwest started in November 2022 and is an ongoing storyline running in the area around Wehnimer's Landing. It focuses heavily on the new Barony of Darkstone being established in the region just outside of the Landing, as well as the many conflicts around the Barony's creation. Chapter 1: Settlers of Darkstone, ran from November 2022 to February 2023. Chapter 2: Of Rooks and Reivers began in March 2023.

===Map===
Here are the proposed borders of the new Barony of Darkstone, land now claimed by the Turamzzyrian Empire:
[[File:Barony_of_Darkstone.png|350px|thumb|center|Barony of Darkstone, created by GM Kenstrom.]]

===Chapter 1 Summary: Settlers of Darkstone===
* Earl Jovery, the Northern Sentinel, has declared an expansion of the Turamzzyrian Empire. The new territory, aptly named the Barony of Darkstone, will take up land north and northwest of the current imperial border, inching closer to Wehnimer's Landing and some of its wilds. An imperial settlement has temporarily been established in the southern edges of the Lower Dragonsclaw forest, where several refugees from Talador, along with countless settlers from other imperial regions, have come to make a new life.

* Elidal Dhenin, the son of a wealthy river trade family out of Riverwood, was appointed to become the new Baron of Darkstone. Joining him as trusted advisors are his twin brother Enisius, who is a Magister of the Hall of Mages and known for illusions and not liking people or crowds. Sablo Marsh is the Commander of the fledgling Darkstonian army, and spent most of his young life hunting barbarians and monsters in the cold north of Hendor's wilds, where some argue he's lost some of his own humanity and struggles to readjust to civilization. Lady Aronia has also arrived, a member of the Green Sisters who has close, old ties to Elidal and has come to help ensure that nature is not wasted or thrown out of balance as the expansion of the empire stretches north and northwest. The final advisor is Iliyaas, a mysterious sylvan seer who Elidal personally asked to travel with him, but she remains within the woods and will not approach the town or camp.

* A stone giant named Gnul, who appointed himself King of the Mountain Alliance, formed an army of monsters from the Thanatoph, Glatoph, Wehntoph and Sentoph. He waged a months-long war against Wehnimer's Landing and the imperial settlement. He eventually had a trove of plinite shards stolen from beneath the Hendoran outpost, and after failing to use them properly on his minions, he applied other plinite shards to his own body and turned into a 300 foot tall creature that the combined heroes eventually defeated. His decapitated head, the size of a boulder, is visible on the path to the Abandoned Inn in the Upper Trollfang.

* Magister Enisius opened up applications for magic users in the local area to apply to join his Magical Research Team, who would focus on studying the abnormalities of both Melgorehn's Reach and Darkstone Castle. One of their main goals was to ultimately try to break the curse of Darkstone Castle. He is expected to announce the accepted candidates in Charlatos. (March)

* Commander Sablo disobeyed Elidal's public orders during a raid against Gnul's forces, and as such was dispatched to travel back to Riverwood where he would escorts several new caravans to the new settlement, including Elidal and Enisius's parents.

* Iliyaas has warned that while the recent winter storm was brutal, that another storm of worlds was fast approaching and danger was growing on the horizon, and indicated that Melgorehn's Reach may be involved in such things to come.

* Mayor Thadston has tasked the local heroes to devise a safe method to pry the kroderine shards from his arms once and for all. They were originally implanted there during the final battle with Raznel, when he helped close a portal that connected Wehnimer's Landing to the Bleaklands.

* A member of the Blue Water Brigade, imperial Captain Bodohal, had brought his ship the Shiver to the bay outside of Wehnimer's Landing, where both he and his crew have gotten into trouble, even once firing upon the town when they were threatened. He seeks a member of his crew, Tolmis, who escaped his ship and is rumored to know some information about the captain and the possibility of Bodohal having imprisoned Remuliad, a Magister of the Hall of Mages, said to be a captive on the Shiver.

* Mother, the leader of the Brotherhood of Rooks, threatened the imperial settlers and warned that they had until the beginning of Charlatos to tear down their tents and return home or there would be potential violence and starvation thrown at them.

* In the final days of winter, two young settlers in love went missing from the imperial campsite. It was eventually discovered that they were murdered out by the mountain range of Luinne Bheinn, presumably by Reivers who had warned against further imperial incursions and had been growing agitated by the growing conflict.

===Chapter 2 Summary: Of Rooks and Reivers===

==Cast of Characters==
For more information, see the [[North by Northwest (storyline)/NPC Primer (summary)|North by Northwest NPC Primer]] or the individual NPC pages.
<div style="column-count:3;-moz-column-count:3;-webkit-column-count:3">
* [[Alendrial DeArchon]]
* [[Amos]] - Leader of the Darkstone Bay Consortium
* Ardenale - Displaced Madam of the Honey Mine Brothel in Talador before its fall
* [[Aronia]] - Member of the Green Sisters
* [[Bodohal Gallanst]] - Captain of the Shiver
* [[Casiphia Malatina]] - "Mother" and leader of the Brotherhood of Rooks
* [[Cordarius Hodges]] - Regional Envoy of Wehnimer's Landing
* Dikirk - a pastor of the church in [[Luinne Bheinn]]
* Drazinoth - High Priest of Arachne. Killed during an invasion of Wehnimer's Landing.
* [[Eddric Jovery]] - Northern Sentinel and Earl of North Hendor
* [[Elidal Dhenin]] - Future Baron of the Barony of Darkstone
* [[Enisius Dhenin]] - Magister of the Hall of Mages
* [[Filanci]] - Survivor of a caravan attacked by Gnul
* [[Gnul]] - Self-proclaimed King of Thanatoph
* Haidan
* [[Iliyaas]] - Seer
* Jeshiah
* [[Juramis Du'Lasfeur]] - Merchant from Brisker's Cove
* [[Larsya Caulfield]] - Commander of the Imperial Outpost outside the Landing
* Manard - current Judge for Wehnimer's Landing
* [[Octaven]] - Grand Magister of the Hall of Mages
* [[Odelgarde Brindlestraffe]] - Magister of the Hall of Mages
* [[Plaitime]] - "Fat Man" or "Skinny Man" and a shady rogue
* [[Remuliad Calreulius]] - Magister of the Hall of Mages
* Rheshay
* [[Rodnay]] - Orphan of the Wellington home, now a hybrid creation of Human and Ithzir
* [[Sablo Marsh]] - Commander of the Darkstonian Army
* Samfelt - now has the position of emissary to Lord Elidal, and Herald of Darkstone
* [[Stephos DeArchon]]
* [[Talleani]] - "Talon" and Plaitime's ward
* Talmaris
* [[Thadston Andrews]] - Mayor of Wehnimer's Landing
* Todd - a seasoned half-elf militiaman
* [[Tolmis]] - Ex-member of the Bluewater Brigade, revealed to actually be "Samfelt"
* Torcadall Bhodhsa
* Tydina Wiley
* Tyeid
* [[Tyrrax]]
</div>

==Official Vignettes==
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/Prologue (vignette)|Prologue]] - 11-02-2022
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/Wehnimer's Merchants Admonish Black Thorns (vignette)|Wehnimer's Merchants Admonish Black Thorns]] - 01-23-2023
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 Prologue (vignette)|Chapter 2 Prologue]] - 02-17-2023
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/Chapter 2 Vignette |Chapter 2 Vignette]] - 8-29-2023

==Character Vignettes==

==Logs==
<div style="column-count:3;-moz-column-count:3;-webkit-column-count:3">
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-04 - Imperial Approachments (log)|2022-11-04 - Imperial Approachments]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-05 - Gnul in the Action (log)|2022-11-05 - Gnul in the Action]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-07 - Absence Makes the Upstarts Stronger (log)|2022-11-07 - Absence Makes the Upstarts Stronger]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-09 - Knightly Respite (log)|2022-11-09 - Knightly Respite]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-13 - Just Troll With It (log)|2022-11-13 - Just Troll With It]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-16 - Elidal On, Future Baron (log)|2022-11-16 - Elidal On, Future Baron]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-18 - Assessments (log)|2022-11-18 - Assessments]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-19 - Four Questions with Bodohal (log)|2022-11-19 - Four Questions with Bodohal]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-19 - Caravan Scramble (log)|2022-11-19 - Caravan Scramble]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-21 - Settling and Unsettling (log)|2022-11-21 - Settling and Unsettling]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-23 - Food Forethought (log)|2022-11-23 - Food Forethought]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-28 - Over the Counterproposal (log)|2022-11-28 - Over the Counterproposal]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-11-29 - Aeritorial Dispute (log)|2022-11-29 - Aeritorial Dispute]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-02 - The Rodnay Not Taken (log)|2022-12-02 - The Rodnay Not Taken]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-03 - The United Fates of Elanthia (log)|2022-12-03 - The United Fates of Elanthia]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-05 - Fire Up the Planning (log)|2022-12-05 - Fire Up the Planning]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-08 - Concessions, Regrets, and Overdue Debts Will Rally the Alleys with Still More Rooks Yet (log)|2022-12-08 - Concessions, Regrets, and Overdue Debts Will Rally the Alleys with Still More Rooks Yet]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-09 - Stop, Rock, and Roll (log)|2022-12-09 - Stop, Rock, and Roll]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-11 - Like Sheep to the Slaughterhouse (log)|2022-12-11 - Like Sheep to the Slaughterhouse]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-12 - A Head-to-Head Kind of Knight (log)|2022-12-12 - A Head-to-Head Kind of Knight]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-13 - Obsidian Tidings (log)|North by Northwest]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-14 - Scouts' Horror (log)|2022-12-14 - Scouts' Horror]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-15 - A Cannonfire Talk and a Fireside Talk (log)|2022-12-15 - A Cannonfire Talk and a Fireside Talk]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2022-12-19 - Finance and Filanci (log)|2022-12-19 - Finance and Filanci]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-03 - Through a Mirror Darkstone (log)|2023-01-03 - Through a Mirror Darkstone]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-04 - Log it Down (log)|2023-01-04 - Log it Down]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-06 - Digging Deeper (log)|2023-01-06 - Digging Deeper]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-07 - Supply Run (log)|2023-01-07 - Supply Run]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-10 - Hire and Higher Walls (log)|2023-01-10 - Hire and Higher Walls]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-12 - Another Form of Combat Drill (log)|2023-01-12 - Another Form of Combat Drill]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-15 - Freepudiation (log)|2023-01-15 - Freepudiation]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-16 - Shiversity of Options (log)|2023-01-16 - Shiversity of Options]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-17 - The Light in the Fight (log)|2023-01-17 - The Light in the Fight]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-18 - A Forgery of Kobolds (log)|2023-01-18 - A Forgery of Kobolds]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-19 - Familial Dispute (log)|2023-01-19 - Familial Dispute]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-20 - Badger of Honor (log)|2023-01-20 - Badger of Honor]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-23 - Goblin Sappers (log)|2023-01-23 - Goblin Sappers]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-24 - Sablo Sendoff and the Plinitaur Problem (log)|2023-01-24 - Sablo Sendoff and the Plinitaur Problem]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-25 - Thoughts and Plans for Plots of Land (log)|2023-01-25 - Thoughts and Plans for Plots of Land]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-27 - Thornabout is Their Way (log)|2023-01-27 - Thornabout is Their Way]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-27 - Word to Your Mother (log)|2023-01-27 - Word to Your Mother]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-28 - The Earl Unfurls (log)|2023-01-28 - The Earl Unfurls]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-30 - Iliyaas Swipes Left (log)|2023-01-30 - Iliyaas Swipes Left]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-01-31 - Iliyaas Sees Sand and Stone (log)|2023-01-31 - Iliyaas Sees Sand and Stone]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-02-01 - Calm Before the Stone (log)|2023-02-01 - Calm Before the Stone]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-02-04 - Ethan More Rae-calcitrant (log)|2023-02-04 - Ethan More Rae-calcitrant]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-10 - The Itsy Bitsy Spiders Went Up the Hunters and Out (log)|2023-03-10 - The Itsy Bitsy Spiders Went Up the Hunters and Out]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-11 - An Attacker's Aroni-ous Assumption (log)|2023-03-11 - An Attacker's Aroni-ous Assumption]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-14 - Shadows of the Empire (log)|2023-03-14 - Shadows of the Empire]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-16 - Concerns of Concert (log)|2023-03-16 - Concerns of Concert]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-16 - Iliyaas in the Faendryl Garden (log)|2023-03-16 - Iliyaas in the Faendryl Garden]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-17 - Of Sheep and Slaughter (log)|2023-03-17 - Of Sheep and Slaughter]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-18 - No Runnin', Yes Haidan (log)|2023-03-18 - No Runnin', Yes Haidan]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-23 - Wehnimer's Town Hall (log)|2023-03-23 - Wehnimer's Town Hall]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-24 - Extending an Embertation (log)|2023-03-24 - Extending an Embertation]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-25 - Intentions Unvaled (log)|2023-03-25 - Intentions Unvaled]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-27 - Arms of the Maw (log)|2023-03-27 - Arms of the Maw]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-28 - A Simmering Lot (log)|2023-03-28 - A Simmering Lot]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-29 - Not Us or Them, but Us or Us (log)|2023-03-29 - Not Us or Them, but Us or Us]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-03-31 - Cain as a Rough Knight (log)|2023-03-31 - Cain as a Rough Knight]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-04-01 - The Affront of Their Front is His End (log)|2023-04-01 - The Affront of Their Front is His End]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-04-03 - Scarabesque Designs (log)|2023-04-03 - Scarabesque Designs]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-04-04 - The Crest and Yet to Come (log)|2023-04-04 - The Crest and Yet to Come]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-04-07 - What a Tangled Web we Cleave (log)|2023-04-07 - What a Tangled Web we Cleave]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-04-08 - Medical Emergencies or Heretical Deterrencies (log)|2023-04-08 - Medical Emergencies or Heretical Deterrencies]]
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/2023-04-10 - Back On Tyrrax (log)|2023-04-10 - Back On Tyrrax]]
</div>

==In-Depth Summaries==
* [[North by Northwest (storyline)/NPC Primer (summary)|NPC Primer]] - This has been established to provide a quick reference for some notable NPCs that will play some role in the storyline North by Northwest. This information was originally shared and updated by GM Kenstrom. It's also worth noting that over half of the NPCs listed are brand new or new-ish, so a player does not need to have knowledge of years of previous storylines in order to engage the NPC's and become involved. For complete information on each NPC, please see their individual character pages.

* [[Player Contest - Darkstone Crest]] - A contest ran from 12/19/22 to 1/15/23 for players to design a crest for the new Barony of Darkstone.

[[Category:Storylines]]
[[Category:2022 storylines]]
[[Category:2023 storylines]]
[[Category:Wehnimer's Landing storylines]]

Wehnimer's Landing Town Council

2023-06-30T15:58:35Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* 2023 Dates */

__TOC__

== Town Council Position (PC) ==

* There are 4 Town Council positions, each to be filled at all times.
* The Town Council position is open to all players who are a Wehnimer's Landing citizen prior to Jan 1st of the current election year.
* The Judge must review and approve of every application for Town Council. (The Landing Town GM will review the player's in-game warnings, conduct, history of policy abuse, etc.)
* The term of each Town Council position will be for 1 year. Elections will be held every summer.
* There is no max term limit for players to hold a town council position, however they must wait 2 years after having served 2 terms before running again.
* Players may be removed from the Town Council at the request of the Mayor (NPC) and a 2/3 majority of the Stewards (NPC). Any removal request must be further approved of by the Town Judge (NPC). This is setup so that if any player is disruptive in the game or wracks up official warnings, they can be removed by the Wehnimer's Landing Town GM with an in-game explanation as well.

== Application Process ==

* The character must be a full citizen of Wehnimer's Landing.
* The account must have been active for the last 30 days.
* The character must submit an application to Moot Hall. (GM Kenstrom)
* The character must pay the council application fee of 500,000 silvers.
* The account must have had no official warnings in the last year.
* There are no restrictions based on membership in CHE's and MHO's or based on level, race, profession or Arkati.
* The elected term is for 1 year, with no limit to number of terms. There is however a 2-year waiting period after every two terms. This allows for more people to run for office, while not preventing others from ever doing it again.

== Application Questions ==

1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you? 
2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving on the town council? 
3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this? 
4. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for mayor? 
5. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing? 

Please complete the application and submit to gskenstrom@yahoo.com with the title "Town Council Application - Character Name"

== Town Council Expectations ==

* The Player Town Council member is expected to have a clean in-game record. Official warnings of any kind can lead to the position being reviewed and possibly revoked.
* The Player Town Council member is expected to maintain full citizenship in Wehnimer's Landing during the course of their term.
* The Player Town Council member is encouraged to put forth ideas for the town, but it will solely be up to the discretion of the Town GM if these projects can be implemented.
* The Player Town Council member is expected to vote on matters brought before them from the Town Mayor. The Town Council member does not need to be in-game, or attend a specific event at a specific time in order to cast their vote. Voting will be done via Email (Town GM and SGMs), or via the Forums, or via a public event if it can be arranged.
* The Player Town Council member is encouraged to organize and attend public town meetings to engage the player base and collect suggestions and concerns of in-game topics.
* The Player Town Council member is allowed to help with smaller town projects such as food/drink design, creating ideas for citizen-only benefits, or other concepts to help improve or update Wehnimer's Landing.
* The Player Town Council member will have access to a new wing of Moot Hall, including their own private office.
* The Player Town Council member is not expected to have a high level of in-game hours, nor are they expected to attend specific events, or be online at specific times.
* The Player Town Council member is expected to serve as a voice of the community and help encourage inclusiveness in the player population.

== Town Council Restrictions ==

* The Player Town Council member CANNOT use their position to make false promises to other players outside of the scope of game mechanics, or against game policy.
* The Player Town Council member does NOT have any GameMaster on speed dial because of this position. They must use the same appropriate channels of communication as everyone else.
* The Player Town Council member title and position is designed primarily to be a "roleplaying" experience, and there remains an NPC Mayor, Stewards, and Judge to help maintain checks and balances.
* The Player Town Council member can collect and propose ideas for the town, but there is no guarantee of anything.
* The Player Town Council member cannot use their position to break game policy or harass other players for any reason.
* The Player Town Council member can not use their position to arrest other characters or appoint deputies.
* The Player Town Council member will lose their title and position if they close their account. If the character goes inactive for more than 30 days their position can be reviewed and replaced if there is no proper communication.

== 2023 Dates ==

* Applications Open - 6/14/23 - 7/9/23
* Town Council Candidates Announced - 7/12/23
* Campaign Season - 7/12/23 - 7/31/23
* Voting Begin - 8/1/23 - 8/9/23
* New Town Council Members Announced - 8/10/23

Wehnimer's Landing Regional Envoy

2023-06-30T15:55:40Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Election Cycle */

__TOC__

== Envoy Position, Application and Requirements ==

The Regional Envoy of Wehnimer's Landing will be a player-position and title that is elected every two summers by the player citizens of Wehnimer's Landing. Below are the details surrounding the position, the application process, and the expectations. Direct all questions to GM Kenstrom.

'''Regional Envoy Position (PC)'''

* There are 2 Envoy positions, each to be filled at all times.
* The roleplaying aspect of the Envoy position is expected that the individual will help craft and maintain a positive, outward perception and foster good relationships with other towns in-game and their leaders or other faction representatives. Envoys are expected to conduct themselves in an outstanding manner and know that their actions help represent Wehnimer's Landing. They may also work with the Town Council and Mayor on any number of initiatives for the betterment of the town.
* The Envoy position is open to all players who are a Wehnimer's Landing citizen.
* The Judge must review and approve of every application for Regional Envoy. (The Landing Town GM will review the player's in-game warnings, conduct, history of policy abuse, etc.)
* The term of each Regional Envoy position will be for 2 years. Elections will be held every other summer.
* There is no max term limit for players to hold an Envoy position, however they must sit out one election cycle before running again after their term is up.
* Players may be removed from the Envoy position at the request of the Mayor (NPC) and a 2/3 majority of the Stewards (NPC). Any removal request must be further approved of by the Town Judge (NPC). This is setup so that if any player is disruptive in the game or wracks up official warnings, they can be removed by the Wehnimer's Landing Town GM with an in-game explanation as well.

'''Application Process'''

* The character must be a full citizen of Wehnimer's Landing.
* The account must have been active for the last 60 days.
* The character must submit an application to Moot Hall. (GM Kenstrom)
* The character must pay the Envoy application fee of 500,000 silvers.
* The account must have had no official warnings in the last year.
* There are no restrictions based on membership in CHE's and MHO's or based on level, race, profession or Arkati.
* The elected term is for 2 years, with no limit to number of terms. There is however a one cycle waiting period after every 1 term. This allows for more people to run for office, while not preventing others from ever doing it again.

'''Application Questions'''

1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you? 
2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy? 
3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this? 
4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important? 
5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy? 
6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing? 

Please complete the application and submit to GS4-KENSTROM@PLAY.NET with the title "Envoy Application - Character Name"

'''Regional Envoy Expectations'''

* The Regional Envoy is expected to have a clean in-game record as it relates to Policy. Official warnings of any kind can lead to the position being reviewed and possibly revoked.
* The Regional Envoy is expected to maintain full citizenship in Wehnimer's Landing during the course of their term.
* The Regional Envoy is encouraged to put forth ideas for the town, but it will solely be up to the discretion of the Town GM if these projects can be implemented.
* The Regional Envoy is encouraged to organize and attend public town meetings to engage the player base and collect suggestions and concerns of in-game topics.
* The Regional Envoy is allowed to help with smaller town projects such as food/drink design, creating ideas for citizen-only benefits, or other concepts to help improve or update Wehnimer's Landing.
* The Regional Envoy will have access to their own private office within Moot Hall.
* The Regional Envoy is not expected to have a high level of in-game hours, nor are they expected to attend specific events, or be online at specific times.
* The Regional Envoy is expected to serve as a voice of the community and help encourage inclusiveness in the player population. Additionally, the Regional Envoy is expected to represent the best traits and uphold the positive reputation of Wehnimer's Landing, both locally and when visiting other locations within Elanthia, even outside of official business.

'''Regional Envoy Restrictions'''

* The Regional Envoy CANNOT use their position to make false promises to other players outside of the scope of game mechanics, or against game policy.
* The Regional Envoy does NOT have any GameMaster on speed dial because of this position. They must use the same appropriate channels of communication as everyone else.
* The Regional Envoy title and position is designed primarily to be a "roleplaying" experience, and there remains an NPC Mayor, Stewards, and Judge to help maintain checks and balances.
* The Regional Envoy can collect and propose ideas for the town, but there is no guarantee of anything.
* The Regional Envoy cannot use their position to break game policy or harass other players for any reason.
* The Regional Envoy member can not use their position to arrest other characters or appoint deputies.
* The Regional Envoy member will lose their title and position if they close their account. If the character goes inactive for more than 60 days their position can be reviewed and replaced if there is no proper communication.
* The Regional Envoy cannot accept or agree upon any terms or pacts with other entities within the game without approval from the Town Mayor (GM NPC).

==Election Cycle==

Application Start: 5/16 
Application End: 5/31 
Campaign Kickoff: 6/2 
Voting Begins: 6/30 
Voting Ends: 7/10 
Announcement: 7/11 

==Candidate Profile: Tennalnen==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
Wehnimer's Landing is the front line. A frontier city that has stood against all threats and overthrown them. It is a beacon of safety and strength in an otherwise hostile location.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
I hope to provide a fresh face, a fresh perspective, and an open minded view that attempts to provide a conduit for the peoples in the region to speak up regarding their circumstances and work towards stronger regional ties.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I have one goal, to hear the voice of the people of the region, and deliver it to the leadership of Wehnimer's Landing. I also hope to expand our regional ties with our neighbors, not only to the North and South, but east to Zul Logoth and the Elven lands, and west to Teras and the islands off the coast.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
My strategum will be simple. Make myself available to the variety of peoples in the region, listen to their words and requests with neutrality, and present their requests to the leadership of Wehnimer's Landing. The region is torn with monsters, and enemies, from within and without, and stronger alliances with our neighbors can only serve to strengthen ourselves.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I cannot say I would be the best choice, as "best" is a relative term, I simply ask to be considered for this role and have the people decide. I first walked these streets in 5120, and was recieved with open arms. After a short time I was recalled to Bourth, yet upon my return earlier this year I was again greeted with warmth and welcome. I am a member of The House of the Rising Phoenix and a member of the Landing Militia. My history may be short, but this city has a strong grasp upon my heart, and I can only hope to do my best to fulfill my duties if I am elected.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of The House of the Rising Phoenix, and a member of the Landing Militia. I am also a Master in the Order of Voln, and a Guildmaster of the Warriors Guild.

==Candidate Profile: Thrassus==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you? '''
To me, the Landing means an oasis of stability and order in the midst of a chaotic wilderness. At least, it should be that. It is my intention that it stay that way and not become a haven for chaos and brigandry that some are currently attempting to make it.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?. '''
I feel that I bring a stable, rational, and non-antagonistic voice to the chaotic mess that relations with the Turamzzyrian Empire currently consists of. Being raised in New Ta'Faendryl before making my home here in the Landing, I understand the importance and above all *necessity* of maintaining good relations with other polities. If you isolate yourself from positive relations with others you invite stagnation and decay.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
My first goal would be to reinforce and grow relations with the nascent Darkstone Barony. I would start by supporting the founding and stability of the barony, thereby gaining an ally that will in turn support and stabilize the Landing. This would consist mainly, at least at first, of mutual preferential trade and defense agreements. Later steps could include cooperation on regional infrastructure projects, research projects, and cultural exchanges.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
The base foundation of a functioning political relationship is mutual respect. Other's systems may not perfectly or even partially match ours, but if they do not mean us ill will there is no reason to treat them as an antagonist. This foundation allows for mutual beneficial actions such as trade, and more importantly, defense. This importance of this is that having to face multiple blades instead of one is a much more daunting task for any potential enemies. Also, close cooperation ensures stability and prosperity for all involved. As they say, rising waters lifts all boats.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I first came to the Landing some twenty-seven years ago in order to find an environment suitable for my personal growth away from some of the hidebound traditions of the place I was born. Throughout the years I assisted the town in taming and dealing with the myriad of threats the region contained... fethidmor, raids from monstrous tribes, the list goes on and on. In that time I have learned that the everyday people of the town (not including some 'adventurers') want *stability*, not constant battles for survival or even dying for a particular ideal. I believe that a large portion of we 'adventurers' lucky enough to be chosen by whatever forces (divine or otherwise) to get back up after death have lost sight of that, and only seek conflict simply for the thrill of it heedless of the masses of mundane folk that get ground underfoot in the process.

==Candidate Profile: Kelfyr==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
The Landing is the collective will of a people striving for something better. It was founded by a man seeking escape from the overbearance of the world he left behind, to have something new in the wilds of Elanthia, and to allow for it to grow and prosper. The town is a haven for those with nowhere they fit in, a solace at the edge of the wild world beyond. It is a people living for one another, providing for each other, defending each other, and becoming a greater whole.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
The living dream described above is regularly tried and tested from without and within. Without a strong connection with the outside world, both to represent itself and to define itself, it is liable to be swallowed up or run over. As a Regional Envoy, I feel I can act in the town’s interests at home and abroad, to ensure that it continues to flourish without being subsumed within expanding empires or ostracized by zealous wills.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I would seek, as an Envoy, to change the paradigm the Landing lives under. Every visitor to the town thinks of it as quaint, odd, or unruly. A large portion of this belief is that the town has no representation out among the world and is seen as a place people run to rather than one that radiates outward. By taking on the position, I would seek to establish both regular and fruitful relations among our neighbors and across the Spine, to have the voice of the Landing speak through me, and to champion the town among the larger polities of the world.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
My approach is one of kindness, empathy, and earnestness. Too long has our town been defined by voices from without staking claims upon its territories and waterways, and voices from within either hewing to or decrying outside forces as having influence upon us. We’ve developed alliances of convenience or desperation rather than of intent and mutual gain. By being both strategic and empathetic, we can build bonds across nations and continents, to ensure that mutual respect and kindness to one another build admiration and a defense of purpose, rather than one of fear and distress. By building with intent, we can lay a strong foundation both for the current existence of the town as well as its long term growth into a shining city in what may be the most strategically important position west of the Dragonspine.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I first came to the Landing before there was a Landing, passing through the hills and forest as a young Sylvan seeking my destiny. I travelled much of the world before returning back to where Rone had raised up his Inn and the inklings of the town beside. I sat at the knee of the Thrak, listening to his lessons and taking his tutelage to heart. From that day forward I sought not only my own path but to aid the paths of those that travelled with me. I’ve travelled the whole of Elanthia, its mountains, its valleys, its deserts, its oceans, and have still found the Landing to be a unique and unrivaled place. I’m looking to continue my travels, representing the town on the world stage and seeking out its glory as my own mission, and to continue to aid the people of our town through this work.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of the Silvergate Inn, having been inducted by Enegue himself. Aside from this, and membership in the Adventurer’s Guild, I hold no positions, titles, or ranks with any faction or force. This frees me to act as an ambassador to the will of the people and their chosen representatives, rather than be beholden to the whims of any foreign government or institutional power. As an elected Envoy, I would also continue to declare that I will take up no title nor role in any organization that would compromise my ability to act as an unbound representative of the town and its people.

==Candidate Profile: Tikba==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
Wehnimer's Landing is a free city. 

This has been said many times, by many different people. Perhaps each of those people meant something different when they said it. Perhaps they each came to the Landing, as so many people do, seeking that particular sort of freedom they imagined it might allow. Perhaps they even disagree as to whether the sort of freedom the other seeks is preferable or wise. 

It does not matter. The Landing is large enough for all of them, and all their conceptions of freedom. We do not all agree, nor need we all agree. But we can come together, in this place, and live alongside one another, and protect each other, and perhaps in this way come to understand each other and be compatriots, regardless of our disagreements; and in those disagreements, we may find greatness arises from a hundred different views and approaches, each eager to aid when a problem rears its head. 

Perhaps that is what being a free city truly means. 

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
As an Envoy, I will seek to provide Wehnimer's Landing with the calm and considered representation in other cities and capitals that a small town of great moment deserves. It is easy, in a town so full of strong wills, to be caught up in the challenges of politics within the walls. An Envoy's eyes must look outwards. I will always be ready to speak up for the Landing in any court, royal or republican, foreign or close at hand, and remind people that our gates are always open, that we wish nothing but peaceful friendship, and that opportunities grow in the streets of Wehnimer's Landing like flowers in a field, waiting for those willing to stoop to pluck them from the ground.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I wish nothing but peace for Wehnimer's Landing. When I leave office in two years, I would like those years to be remembered as the calmest and least eventful of our long history. I hope to bring this about by building relationships and forging agreements with powers both great and small, benevolent and malevolent. I will be happy to treat with any who seek to meet with us, whether they are a powerful kingdom or a plucky alliance of pirates, if doing so will leave the Landing more secure. Our enemies should quail before us, knowing the strength of our friends.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
In my time as a priest, I have learned that a proper prayer should be three things: respectful, direct, and brief. The same applies to any form of diplomacy. We should be ready to meet with friends and foe, hesitant to give offense or to recognize it, truthful whenever possible, and devoted to finding the common ground on which we may both stand. It is hard to strike another when you see yourself reflected in their eyes. Instead we may offer our hands to help each other when we are in need, and take care of one another without counting the cost, knowing that the same will be done in turn for us.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I have been in Wehnimer's Landing only a year. In that time, I have been a campaign manager, a militia member, a researcher, a mining teacher, and a defender of the Landing. I list only the opportunities I seized, not the countless others that presented themselves. I did not intend, when I first arrived, to consider this my home, but the year I have spent has taught me me that the Landing is a city where things are possible that can be done nowhere else. Perhaps it is a city where a citizen of only a year could rise to the office of Envoy. Perhaps this would show, more than anything else, that Wehnimer's Landing is a city where anyone can prosper and succeed.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of the Wehnimer's Landing Militia and the Black Hand Trading Company. I am also a member of the Order of Eternal Light and the Beacon Hall Archive.

==Candidate Profile: Faerinn==

'''1. What does Wehnimer’s Landing mean to you?''' 
It means freedom.At its best, the Landing is an alternative to monarchy where one’s birth has nobearing on what kind of person they are or life they can have. At its worst, aplayground for Imperial fugitives and conspiracy theorists. While Hendor infringingupon our self governance threatens this so does becoming a nationalistic cultdrawing a pretend line in the black sands between “outsiders” and those “fromhere.”But above all it is a home for folks that wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer’s Landing ifserving as regional envoy?''' 
Focus, keen observation, insight, fashion sense, and the only head harder than Thadston's. As well as international rapport and cache. Not a member of a clandestine criminal organization.

'''3. What are goals you would like to accomplish for the Landing,how would you do this?''' 
* Become an ally to the Northern Confederation
* Restore Wehnimer’s relationship with the Elven Nations.
* Mend the trust of the average citizen with their elected officials
* Distinguish Wehnimer’s Landing as an autonomous entity from the Empire

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
Food and asking questions. Let them underestimate you. No one can accomplish anything by themselves. You are only as strong as your relationships.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
* I was a refugee from Talador after its takeover by Jantalar. I was an officer of the old Wehnimer's Guard during the Jantalar and Vornavis conflict.
* I was Walkar's lawyer when Grishom Stone and Barnom Slim conspired to remove him and framed him for murder.
* Ran for Mayor in 5120 and 5121
* Identified and negotiated terms for the withdrawal of the enemy General known as the Fist. Not only getting the truth about Vlashandra known, but later a settlement from Socius Leiffen during his time as the Fist.
* Later, was one of those that pierced Vlashandra with a bane arrow sealing away her magic just moments after marrying Thadston to a Bleakstone statue of Lylia and the ghost within.
*Early investor into the mines where Baystone was discovered.
* Brokered Aslyum for Elves fleeing the Empire in Ta’Illistim for elves from all houses while Chaston’s Edict was still in effect.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
Editor of the Free North News, the Clean Old Lads bathhouse club, Caeriel Atelier, and The Darkstone Bay Consortium.

[[Category:Wehnimer's Landing politics]]

Wehnimer's Landing Regional Envoy

2023-06-23T21:47:34Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Election Cycle */

__TOC__

== Envoy Position, Application and Requirements ==

The Regional Envoy of Wehnimer's Landing will be a player-position and title that is elected every two summers by the player citizens of Wehnimer's Landing. Below are the details surrounding the position, the application process, and the expectations. Direct all questions to GM Kenstrom.

'''Regional Envoy Position (PC)'''

* There are 2 Envoy positions, each to be filled at all times.
* The roleplaying aspect of the Envoy position is expected that the individual will help craft and maintain a positive, outward perception and foster good relationships with other towns in-game and their leaders or other faction representatives. Envoys are expected to conduct themselves in an outstanding manner and know that their actions help represent Wehnimer's Landing. They may also work with the Town Council and Mayor on any number of initiatives for the betterment of the town.
* The Envoy position is open to all players who are a Wehnimer's Landing citizen.
* The Judge must review and approve of every application for Regional Envoy. (The Landing Town GM will review the player's in-game warnings, conduct, history of policy abuse, etc.)
* The term of each Regional Envoy position will be for 2 years. Elections will be held every other summer.
* There is no max term limit for players to hold an Envoy position, however they must sit out one election cycle before running again after their term is up.
* Players may be removed from the Envoy position at the request of the Mayor (NPC) and a 2/3 majority of the Stewards (NPC). Any removal request must be further approved of by the Town Judge (NPC). This is setup so that if any player is disruptive in the game or wracks up official warnings, they can be removed by the Wehnimer's Landing Town GM with an in-game explanation as well.

'''Application Process'''

* The character must be a full citizen of Wehnimer's Landing.
* The account must have been active for the last 60 days.
* The character must submit an application to Moot Hall. (GM Kenstrom)
* The character must pay the Envoy application fee of 500,000 silvers.
* The account must have had no official warnings in the last year.
* There are no restrictions based on membership in CHE's and MHO's or based on level, race, profession or Arkati.
* The elected term is for 2 years, with no limit to number of terms. There is however a one cycle waiting period after every 1 term. This allows for more people to run for office, while not preventing others from ever doing it again.

'''Application Questions'''

1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you? 
2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy? 
3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this? 
4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important? 
5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy? 
6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing? 

Please complete the application and submit to GS4-KENSTROM@PLAY.NET with the title "Envoy Application - Character Name"

'''Regional Envoy Expectations'''

* The Regional Envoy is expected to have a clean in-game record as it relates to Policy. Official warnings of any kind can lead to the position being reviewed and possibly revoked.
* The Regional Envoy is expected to maintain full citizenship in Wehnimer's Landing during the course of their term.
* The Regional Envoy is encouraged to put forth ideas for the town, but it will solely be up to the discretion of the Town GM if these projects can be implemented.
* The Regional Envoy is encouraged to organize and attend public town meetings to engage the player base and collect suggestions and concerns of in-game topics.
* The Regional Envoy is allowed to help with smaller town projects such as food/drink design, creating ideas for citizen-only benefits, or other concepts to help improve or update Wehnimer's Landing.
* The Regional Envoy will have access to their own private office within Moot Hall.
* The Regional Envoy is not expected to have a high level of in-game hours, nor are they expected to attend specific events, or be online at specific times.
* The Regional Envoy is expected to serve as a voice of the community and help encourage inclusiveness in the player population. Additionally, the Regional Envoy is expected to represent the best traits and uphold the positive reputation of Wehnimer's Landing, both locally and when visiting other locations within Elanthia, even outside of official business.

'''Regional Envoy Restrictions'''

* The Regional Envoy CANNOT use their position to make false promises to other players outside of the scope of game mechanics, or against game policy.
* The Regional Envoy does NOT have any GameMaster on speed dial because of this position. They must use the same appropriate channels of communication as everyone else.
* The Regional Envoy title and position is designed primarily to be a "roleplaying" experience, and there remains an NPC Mayor, Stewards, and Judge to help maintain checks and balances.
* The Regional Envoy can collect and propose ideas for the town, but there is no guarantee of anything.
* The Regional Envoy cannot use their position to break game policy or harass other players for any reason.
* The Regional Envoy member can not use their position to arrest other characters or appoint deputies.
* The Regional Envoy member will lose their title and position if they close their account. If the character goes inactive for more than 60 days their position can be reviewed and replaced if there is no proper communication.
* The Regional Envoy cannot accept or agree upon any terms or pacts with other entities within the game without approval from the Town Mayor (GM NPC).

==Election Cycle==

Application Start: 5/16 
Application End: 5/31 
Campaign Kickoff: 6/2 
Voting Begins: 7/1 
Voting Ends: 7/10 
Announcement: 7/11 

==Candidate Profile: Tennalnen==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
Wehnimer's Landing is the front line. A frontier city that has stood against all threats and overthrown them. It is a beacon of safety and strength in an otherwise hostile location.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
I hope to provide a fresh face, a fresh perspective, and an open minded view that attempts to provide a conduit for the peoples in the region to speak up regarding their circumstances and work towards stronger regional ties.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I have one goal, to hear the voice of the people of the region, and deliver it to the leadership of Wehnimer's Landing. I also hope to expand our regional ties with our neighbors, not only to the North and South, but east to Zul Logoth and the Elven lands, and west to Teras and the islands off the coast.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
My strategum will be simple. Make myself available to the variety of peoples in the region, listen to their words and requests with neutrality, and present their requests to the leadership of Wehnimer's Landing. The region is torn with monsters, and enemies, from within and without, and stronger alliances with our neighbors can only serve to strengthen ourselves.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I cannot say I would be the best choice, as "best" is a relative term, I simply ask to be considered for this role and have the people decide. I first walked these streets in 5120, and was recieved with open arms. After a short time I was recalled to Bourth, yet upon my return earlier this year I was again greeted with warmth and welcome. I am a member of The House of the Rising Phoenix and a member of the Landing Militia. My history may be short, but this city has a strong grasp upon my heart, and I can only hope to do my best to fulfill my duties if I am elected.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of The House of the Rising Phoenix, and a member of the Landing Militia. I am also a Master in the Order of Voln, and a Guildmaster of the Warriors Guild.

==Candidate Profile: Thrassus==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you? '''
To me, the Landing means an oasis of stability and order in the midst of a chaotic wilderness. At least, it should be that. It is my intention that it stay that way and not become a haven for chaos and brigandry that some are currently attempting to make it.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?. '''
I feel that I bring a stable, rational, and non-antagonistic voice to the chaotic mess that relations with the Turamzzyrian Empire currently consists of. Being raised in New Ta'Faendryl before making my home here in the Landing, I understand the importance and above all *necessity* of maintaining good relations with other polities. If you isolate yourself from positive relations with others you invite stagnation and decay.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
My first goal would be to reinforce and grow relations with the nascent Darkstone Barony. I would start by supporting the founding and stability of the barony, thereby gaining an ally that will in turn support and stabilize the Landing. This would consist mainly, at least at first, of mutual preferential trade and defense agreements. Later steps could include cooperation on regional infrastructure projects, research projects, and cultural exchanges.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
The base foundation of a functioning political relationship is mutual respect. Other's systems may not perfectly or even partially match ours, but if they do not mean us ill will there is no reason to treat them as an antagonist. This foundation allows for mutual beneficial actions such as trade, and more importantly, defense. This importance of this is that having to face multiple blades instead of one is a much more daunting task for any potential enemies. Also, close cooperation ensures stability and prosperity for all involved. As they say, rising waters lifts all boats.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I first came to the Landing some twenty-seven years ago in order to find an environment suitable for my personal growth away from some of the hidebound traditions of the place I was born. Throughout the years I assisted the town in taming and dealing with the myriad of threats the region contained... fethidmor, raids from monstrous tribes, the list goes on and on. In that time I have learned that the everyday people of the town (not including some 'adventurers') want *stability*, not constant battles for survival or even dying for a particular ideal. I believe that a large portion of we 'adventurers' lucky enough to be chosen by whatever forces (divine or otherwise) to get back up after death have lost sight of that, and only seek conflict simply for the thrill of it heedless of the masses of mundane folk that get ground underfoot in the process.

==Candidate Profile: Kelfyr==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
The Landing is the collective will of a people striving for something better. It was founded by a man seeking escape from the overbearance of the world he left behind, to have something new in the wilds of Elanthia, and to allow for it to grow and prosper. The town is a haven for those with nowhere they fit in, a solace at the edge of the wild world beyond. It is a people living for one another, providing for each other, defending each other, and becoming a greater whole.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
The living dream described above is regularly tried and tested from without and within. Without a strong connection with the outside world, both to represent itself and to define itself, it is liable to be swallowed up or run over. As a Regional Envoy, I feel I can act in the town’s interests at home and abroad, to ensure that it continues to flourish without being subsumed within expanding empires or ostracized by zealous wills.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I would seek, as an Envoy, to change the paradigm the Landing lives under. Every visitor to the town thinks of it as quaint, odd, or unruly. A large portion of this belief is that the town has no representation out among the world and is seen as a place people run to rather than one that radiates outward. By taking on the position, I would seek to establish both regular and fruitful relations among our neighbors and across the Spine, to have the voice of the Landing speak through me, and to champion the town among the larger polities of the world.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
My approach is one of kindness, empathy, and earnestness. Too long has our town been defined by voices from without staking claims upon its territories and waterways, and voices from within either hewing to or decrying outside forces as having influence upon us. We’ve developed alliances of convenience or desperation rather than of intent and mutual gain. By being both strategic and empathetic, we can build bonds across nations and continents, to ensure that mutual respect and kindness to one another build admiration and a defense of purpose, rather than one of fear and distress. By building with intent, we can lay a strong foundation both for the current existence of the town as well as its long term growth into a shining city in what may be the most strategically important position west of the Dragonspine.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I first came to the Landing before there was a Landing, passing through the hills and forest as a young Sylvan seeking my destiny. I travelled much of the world before returning back to where Rone had raised up his Inn and the inklings of the town beside. I sat at the knee of the Thrak, listening to his lessons and taking his tutelage to heart. From that day forward I sought not only my own path but to aid the paths of those that travelled with me. I’ve travelled the whole of Elanthia, its mountains, its valleys, its deserts, its oceans, and have still found the Landing to be a unique and unrivaled place. I’m looking to continue my travels, representing the town on the world stage and seeking out its glory as my own mission, and to continue to aid the people of our town through this work.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of the Silvergate Inn, having been inducted by Enegue himself. Aside from this, and membership in the Adventurer’s Guild, I hold no positions, titles, or ranks with any faction or force. This frees me to act as an ambassador to the will of the people and their chosen representatives, rather than be beholden to the whims of any foreign government or institutional power. As an elected Envoy, I would also continue to declare that I will take up no title nor role in any organization that would compromise my ability to act as an unbound representative of the town and its people.

==Candidate Profile: Tikba==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
Wehnimer's Landing is a free city. 

This has been said many times, by many different people. Perhaps each of those people meant something different when they said it. Perhaps they each came to the Landing, as so many people do, seeking that particular sort of freedom they imagined it might allow. Perhaps they even disagree as to whether the sort of freedom the other seeks is preferable or wise. 

It does not matter. The Landing is large enough for all of them, and all their conceptions of freedom. We do not all agree, nor need we all agree. But we can come together, in this place, and live alongside one another, and protect each other, and perhaps in this way come to understand each other and be compatriots, regardless of our disagreements; and in those disagreements, we may find greatness arises from a hundred different views and approaches, each eager to aid when a problem rears its head. 

Perhaps that is what being a free city truly means. 

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
As an Envoy, I will seek to provide Wehnimer's Landing with the calm and considered representation in other cities and capitals that a small town of great moment deserves. It is easy, in a town so full of strong wills, to be caught up in the challenges of politics within the walls. An Envoy's eyes must look outwards. I will always be ready to speak up for the Landing in any court, royal or republican, foreign or close at hand, and remind people that our gates are always open, that we wish nothing but peaceful friendship, and that opportunities grow in the streets of Wehnimer's Landing like flowers in a field, waiting for those willing to stoop to pluck them from the ground.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I wish nothing but peace for Wehnimer's Landing. When I leave office in two years, I would like those years to be remembered as the calmest and least eventful of our long history. I hope to bring this about by building relationships and forging agreements with powers both great and small, benevolent and malevolent. I will be happy to treat with any who seek to meet with us, whether they are a powerful kingdom or a plucky alliance of pirates, if doing so will leave the Landing more secure. Our enemies should quail before us, knowing the strength of our friends.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
In my time as a priest, I have learned that a proper prayer should be three things: respectful, direct, and brief. The same applies to any form of diplomacy. We should be ready to meet with friends and foe, hesitant to give offense or to recognize it, truthful whenever possible, and devoted to finding the common ground on which we may both stand. It is hard to strike another when you see yourself reflected in their eyes. Instead we may offer our hands to help each other when we are in need, and take care of one another without counting the cost, knowing that the same will be done in turn for us.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I have been in Wehnimer's Landing only a year. In that time, I have been a campaign manager, a militia member, a researcher, a mining teacher, and a defender of the Landing. I list only the opportunities I seized, not the countless others that presented themselves. I did not intend, when I first arrived, to consider this my home, but the year I have spent has taught me me that the Landing is a city where things are possible that can be done nowhere else. Perhaps it is a city where a citizen of only a year could rise to the office of Envoy. Perhaps this would show, more than anything else, that Wehnimer's Landing is a city where anyone can prosper and succeed.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of the Wehnimer's Landing Militia and the Black Hand Trading Company. I am also a member of the Order of Eternal Light and the Beacon Hall Archive.

==Candidate Profile: Faerinn==

'''1. What does Wehnimer’s Landing mean to you?''' 
It means freedom.At its best, the Landing is an alternative to monarchy where one’s birth has nobearing on what kind of person they are or life they can have. At its worst, aplayground for Imperial fugitives and conspiracy theorists. While Hendor infringingupon our self governance threatens this so does becoming a nationalistic cultdrawing a pretend line in the black sands between “outsiders” and those “fromhere.”But above all it is a home for folks that wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer’s Landing ifserving as regional envoy?''' 
Focus, keen observation, insight, fashion sense, and the only head harder than Thadston's. As well as international rapport and cache. Not a member of a clandestine criminal organization.

'''3. What are goals you would like to accomplish for the Landing,how would you do this?''' 
* Become an ally to the Northern Confederation
* Restore Wehnimer’s relationship with the Elven Nations.
* Mend the trust of the average citizen with their elected officials
* Distinguish Wehnimer’s Landing as an autonomous entity from the Empire

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
Food and asking questions. Let them underestimate you. No one can accomplish anything by themselves. You are only as strong as your relationships.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
* I was a refugee from Talador after its takeover by Jantalar. I was an officer of the old Wehnimer's Guard during the Jantalar and Vornavis conflict.
* I was Walkar's lawyer when Grishom Stone and Barnom Slim conspired to remove him and framed him for murder.
* Ran for Mayor in 5120 and 5121
* Identified and negotiated terms for the withdrawal of the enemy General known as the Fist. Not only getting the truth about Vlashandra known, but later a settlement from Socius Leiffen during his time as the Fist.
* Later, was one of those that pierced Vlashandra with a bane arrow sealing away her magic just moments after marrying Thadston to a Bleakstone statue of Lylia and the ghost within.
*Early investor into the mines where Baystone was discovered.
* Brokered Aslyum for Elves fleeing the Empire in Ta’Illistim for elves from all houses while Chaston’s Edict was still in effect.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
Editor of the Free North News, the Clean Old Lads bathhouse club, Caeriel Atelier, and The Darkstone Bay Consortium.

[[Category:Wehnimer's Landing politics]]

Wehnimer's Landing Regional Envoy

2023-06-23T16:58:11Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Election Cycle */

__TOC__

== Envoy Position, Application and Requirements ==

The Regional Envoy of Wehnimer's Landing will be a player-position and title that is elected every two summers by the player citizens of Wehnimer's Landing. Below are the details surrounding the position, the application process, and the expectations. Direct all questions to GM Kenstrom.

'''Regional Envoy Position (PC)'''

* There are 2 Envoy positions, each to be filled at all times.
* The roleplaying aspect of the Envoy position is expected that the individual will help craft and maintain a positive, outward perception and foster good relationships with other towns in-game and their leaders or other faction representatives. Envoys are expected to conduct themselves in an outstanding manner and know that their actions help represent Wehnimer's Landing. They may also work with the Town Council and Mayor on any number of initiatives for the betterment of the town.
* The Envoy position is open to all players who are a Wehnimer's Landing citizen.
* The Judge must review and approve of every application for Regional Envoy. (The Landing Town GM will review the player's in-game warnings, conduct, history of policy abuse, etc.)
* The term of each Regional Envoy position will be for 2 years. Elections will be held every other summer.
* There is no max term limit for players to hold an Envoy position, however they must sit out one election cycle before running again after their term is up.
* Players may be removed from the Envoy position at the request of the Mayor (NPC) and a 2/3 majority of the Stewards (NPC). Any removal request must be further approved of by the Town Judge (NPC). This is setup so that if any player is disruptive in the game or wracks up official warnings, they can be removed by the Wehnimer's Landing Town GM with an in-game explanation as well.

'''Application Process'''

* The character must be a full citizen of Wehnimer's Landing.
* The account must have been active for the last 60 days.
* The character must submit an application to Moot Hall. (GM Kenstrom)
* The character must pay the Envoy application fee of 500,000 silvers.
* The account must have had no official warnings in the last year.
* There are no restrictions based on membership in CHE's and MHO's or based on level, race, profession or Arkati.
* The elected term is for 2 years, with no limit to number of terms. There is however a one cycle waiting period after every 1 term. This allows for more people to run for office, while not preventing others from ever doing it again.

'''Application Questions'''

1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you? 
2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy? 
3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this? 
4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important? 
5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy? 
6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing? 

Please complete the application and submit to GS4-KENSTROM@PLAY.NET with the title "Envoy Application - Character Name"

'''Regional Envoy Expectations'''

* The Regional Envoy is expected to have a clean in-game record as it relates to Policy. Official warnings of any kind can lead to the position being reviewed and possibly revoked.
* The Regional Envoy is expected to maintain full citizenship in Wehnimer's Landing during the course of their term.
* The Regional Envoy is encouraged to put forth ideas for the town, but it will solely be up to the discretion of the Town GM if these projects can be implemented.
* The Regional Envoy is encouraged to organize and attend public town meetings to engage the player base and collect suggestions and concerns of in-game topics.
* The Regional Envoy is allowed to help with smaller town projects such as food/drink design, creating ideas for citizen-only benefits, or other concepts to help improve or update Wehnimer's Landing.
* The Regional Envoy will have access to their own private office within Moot Hall.
* The Regional Envoy is not expected to have a high level of in-game hours, nor are they expected to attend specific events, or be online at specific times.
* The Regional Envoy is expected to serve as a voice of the community and help encourage inclusiveness in the player population. Additionally, the Regional Envoy is expected to represent the best traits and uphold the positive reputation of Wehnimer's Landing, both locally and when visiting other locations within Elanthia, even outside of official business.

'''Regional Envoy Restrictions'''

* The Regional Envoy CANNOT use their position to make false promises to other players outside of the scope of game mechanics, or against game policy.
* The Regional Envoy does NOT have any GameMaster on speed dial because of this position. They must use the same appropriate channels of communication as everyone else.
* The Regional Envoy title and position is designed primarily to be a "roleplaying" experience, and there remains an NPC Mayor, Stewards, and Judge to help maintain checks and balances.
* The Regional Envoy can collect and propose ideas for the town, but there is no guarantee of anything.
* The Regional Envoy cannot use their position to break game policy or harass other players for any reason.
* The Regional Envoy member can not use their position to arrest other characters or appoint deputies.
* The Regional Envoy member will lose their title and position if they close their account. If the character goes inactive for more than 60 days their position can be reviewed and replaced if there is no proper communication.
* The Regional Envoy cannot accept or agree upon any terms or pacts with other entities within the game without approval from the Town Mayor (GM NPC).

==Election Cycle==

Application Start: 5/16 
Application End: 5/31 
Campaign Kickoff: 6/2 
Voting Begins: 6/23 
Voting Ends: 6/29 
Announcement: 6/30 

==Candidate Profile: Tennalnen==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
Wehnimer's Landing is the front line. A frontier city that has stood against all threats and overthrown them. It is a beacon of safety and strength in an otherwise hostile location.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
I hope to provide a fresh face, a fresh perspective, and an open minded view that attempts to provide a conduit for the peoples in the region to speak up regarding their circumstances and work towards stronger regional ties.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I have one goal, to hear the voice of the people of the region, and deliver it to the leadership of Wehnimer's Landing. I also hope to expand our regional ties with our neighbors, not only to the North and South, but east to Zul Logoth and the Elven lands, and west to Teras and the islands off the coast.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
My strategum will be simple. Make myself available to the variety of peoples in the region, listen to their words and requests with neutrality, and present their requests to the leadership of Wehnimer's Landing. The region is torn with monsters, and enemies, from within and without, and stronger alliances with our neighbors can only serve to strengthen ourselves.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I cannot say I would be the best choice, as "best" is a relative term, I simply ask to be considered for this role and have the people decide. I first walked these streets in 5120, and was recieved with open arms. After a short time I was recalled to Bourth, yet upon my return earlier this year I was again greeted with warmth and welcome. I am a member of The House of the Rising Phoenix and a member of the Landing Militia. My history may be short, but this city has a strong grasp upon my heart, and I can only hope to do my best to fulfill my duties if I am elected.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of The House of the Rising Phoenix, and a member of the Landing Militia. I am also a Master in the Order of Voln, and a Guildmaster of the Warriors Guild.

==Candidate Profile: Thrassus==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you? '''
To me, the Landing means an oasis of stability and order in the midst of a chaotic wilderness. At least, it should be that. It is my intention that it stay that way and not become a haven for chaos and brigandry that some are currently attempting to make it.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?. '''
I feel that I bring a stable, rational, and non-antagonistic voice to the chaotic mess that relations with the Turamzzyrian Empire currently consists of. Being raised in New Ta'Faendryl before making my home here in the Landing, I understand the importance and above all *necessity* of maintaining good relations with other polities. If you isolate yourself from positive relations with others you invite stagnation and decay.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
My first goal would be to reinforce and grow relations with the nascent Darkstone Barony. I would start by supporting the founding and stability of the barony, thereby gaining an ally that will in turn support and stabilize the Landing. This would consist mainly, at least at first, of mutual preferential trade and defense agreements. Later steps could include cooperation on regional infrastructure projects, research projects, and cultural exchanges.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
The base foundation of a functioning political relationship is mutual respect. Other's systems may not perfectly or even partially match ours, but if they do not mean us ill will there is no reason to treat them as an antagonist. This foundation allows for mutual beneficial actions such as trade, and more importantly, defense. This importance of this is that having to face multiple blades instead of one is a much more daunting task for any potential enemies. Also, close cooperation ensures stability and prosperity for all involved. As they say, rising waters lifts all boats.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I first came to the Landing some twenty-seven years ago in order to find an environment suitable for my personal growth away from some of the hidebound traditions of the place I was born. Throughout the years I assisted the town in taming and dealing with the myriad of threats the region contained... fethidmor, raids from monstrous tribes, the list goes on and on. In that time I have learned that the everyday people of the town (not including some 'adventurers') want *stability*, not constant battles for survival or even dying for a particular ideal. I believe that a large portion of we 'adventurers' lucky enough to be chosen by whatever forces (divine or otherwise) to get back up after death have lost sight of that, and only seek conflict simply for the thrill of it heedless of the masses of mundane folk that get ground underfoot in the process.

==Candidate Profile: Kelfyr==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
The Landing is the collective will of a people striving for something better. It was founded by a man seeking escape from the overbearance of the world he left behind, to have something new in the wilds of Elanthia, and to allow for it to grow and prosper. The town is a haven for those with nowhere they fit in, a solace at the edge of the wild world beyond. It is a people living for one another, providing for each other, defending each other, and becoming a greater whole.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
The living dream described above is regularly tried and tested from without and within. Without a strong connection with the outside world, both to represent itself and to define itself, it is liable to be swallowed up or run over. As a Regional Envoy, I feel I can act in the town’s interests at home and abroad, to ensure that it continues to flourish without being subsumed within expanding empires or ostracized by zealous wills.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I would seek, as an Envoy, to change the paradigm the Landing lives under. Every visitor to the town thinks of it as quaint, odd, or unruly. A large portion of this belief is that the town has no representation out among the world and is seen as a place people run to rather than one that radiates outward. By taking on the position, I would seek to establish both regular and fruitful relations among our neighbors and across the Spine, to have the voice of the Landing speak through me, and to champion the town among the larger polities of the world.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
My approach is one of kindness, empathy, and earnestness. Too long has our town been defined by voices from without staking claims upon its territories and waterways, and voices from within either hewing to or decrying outside forces as having influence upon us. We’ve developed alliances of convenience or desperation rather than of intent and mutual gain. By being both strategic and empathetic, we can build bonds across nations and continents, to ensure that mutual respect and kindness to one another build admiration and a defense of purpose, rather than one of fear and distress. By building with intent, we can lay a strong foundation both for the current existence of the town as well as its long term growth into a shining city in what may be the most strategically important position west of the Dragonspine.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I first came to the Landing before there was a Landing, passing through the hills and forest as a young Sylvan seeking my destiny. I travelled much of the world before returning back to where Rone had raised up his Inn and the inklings of the town beside. I sat at the knee of the Thrak, listening to his lessons and taking his tutelage to heart. From that day forward I sought not only my own path but to aid the paths of those that travelled with me. I’ve travelled the whole of Elanthia, its mountains, its valleys, its deserts, its oceans, and have still found the Landing to be a unique and unrivaled place. I’m looking to continue my travels, representing the town on the world stage and seeking out its glory as my own mission, and to continue to aid the people of our town through this work.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of the Silvergate Inn, having been inducted by Enegue himself. Aside from this, and membership in the Adventurer’s Guild, I hold no positions, titles, or ranks with any faction or force. This frees me to act as an ambassador to the will of the people and their chosen representatives, rather than be beholden to the whims of any foreign government or institutional power. As an elected Envoy, I would also continue to declare that I will take up no title nor role in any organization that would compromise my ability to act as an unbound representative of the town and its people.

==Candidate Profile: Tikba==

'''1. What does Wehnimer's Landing mean to you?''' 
Wehnimer's Landing is a free city. 

This has been said many times, by many different people. Perhaps each of those people meant something different when they said it. Perhaps they each came to the Landing, as so many people do, seeking that particular sort of freedom they imagined it might allow. Perhaps they even disagree as to whether the sort of freedom the other seeks is preferable or wise. 

It does not matter. The Landing is large enough for all of them, and all their conceptions of freedom. We do not all agree, nor need we all agree. But we can come together, in this place, and live alongside one another, and protect each other, and perhaps in this way come to understand each other and be compatriots, regardless of our disagreements; and in those disagreements, we may find greatness arises from a hundred different views and approaches, each eager to aid when a problem rears its head. 

Perhaps that is what being a free city truly means. 

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer's Landing, if serving as a Regional Envoy?''' 
As an Envoy, I will seek to provide Wehnimer's Landing with the calm and considered representation in other cities and capitals that a small town of great moment deserves. It is easy, in a town so full of strong wills, to be caught up in the challenges of politics within the walls. An Envoy's eyes must look outwards. I will always be ready to speak up for the Landing in any court, royal or republican, foreign or close at hand, and remind people that our gates are always open, that we wish nothing but peaceful friendship, and that opportunities grow in the streets of Wehnimer's Landing like flowers in a field, waiting for those willing to stoop to pluck them from the ground.

'''3. What are the goals you would like to accomplish for Wehnimer's Landing? How would you do this?''' 
I wish nothing but peace for Wehnimer's Landing. When I leave office in two years, I would like those years to be remembered as the calmest and least eventful of our long history. I hope to bring this about by building relationships and forging agreements with powers both great and small, benevolent and malevolent. I will be happy to treat with any who seek to meet with us, whether they are a powerful kingdom or a plucky alliance of pirates, if doing so will leave the Landing more secure. Our enemies should quail before us, knowing the strength of our friends.

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
In my time as a priest, I have learned that a proper prayer should be three things: respectful, direct, and brief. The same applies to any form of diplomacy. We should be ready to meet with friends and foe, hesitant to give offense or to recognize it, truthful whenever possible, and devoted to finding the common ground on which we may both stand. It is hard to strike another when you see yourself reflected in their eyes. Instead we may offer our hands to help each other when we are in need, and take care of one another without counting the cost, knowing that the same will be done in turn for us.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
I have been in Wehnimer's Landing only a year. In that time, I have been a campaign manager, a militia member, a researcher, a mining teacher, and a defender of the Landing. I list only the opportunities I seized, not the countless others that presented themselves. I did not intend, when I first arrived, to consider this my home, but the year I have spent has taught me me that the Landing is a city where things are possible that can be done nowhere else. Perhaps it is a city where a citizen of only a year could rise to the office of Envoy. Perhaps this would show, more than anything else, that Wehnimer's Landing is a city where anyone can prosper and succeed.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
I am a member of the Wehnimer's Landing Militia and the Black Hand Trading Company. I am also a member of the Order of Eternal Light and the Beacon Hall Archive.

==Candidate Profile: Faerinn==

'''1. What does Wehnimer’s Landing mean to you?''' 
It means freedom.At its best, the Landing is an alternative to monarchy where one’s birth has nobearing on what kind of person they are or life they can have. At its worst, aplayground for Imperial fugitives and conspiracy theorists. While Hendor infringingupon our self governance threatens this so does becoming a nationalistic cultdrawing a pretend line in the black sands between “outsiders” and those “fromhere.”But above all it is a home for folks that wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else.

'''2. What do you feel you can bring to Wehnimer’s Landing ifserving as regional envoy?''' 
Focus, keen observation, insight, fashion sense, and the only head harder than Thadston's. As well as international rapport and cache. Not a member of a clandestine criminal organization.

'''3. What are goals you would like to accomplish for the Landing,how would you do this?''' 
* Become an ally to the Northern Confederation
* Restore Wehnimer’s relationship with the Elven Nations.
* Mend the trust of the average citizen with their elected officials
* Distinguish Wehnimer’s Landing as an autonomous entity from the Empire

'''4. Describe your approach to building good rapport and relationships, and why strong alliances are important?''' 
Food and asking questions. Let them underestimate you. No one can accomplish anything by themselves. You are only as strong as your relationships.

'''5. Describe your connection to Wehnimer's Landing, your history with the town and its people, and why this makes you the best choice for Regional Envoy?''' 
* I was a refugee from Talador after its takeover by Jantalar. I was an officer of the old Wehnimer's Guard during the Jantalar and Vornavis conflict.
* I was Walkar's lawyer when Grishom Stone and Barnom Slim conspired to remove him and framed him for murder.
* Ran for Mayor in 5120 and 5121
* Identified and negotiated terms for the withdrawal of the enemy General known as the Fist. Not only getting the truth about Vlashandra known, but later a settlement from Socius Leiffen during his time as the Fist.
* Later, was one of those that pierced Vlashandra with a bane arrow sealing away her magic just moments after marrying Thadston to a Bleakstone statue of Lylia and the ghost within.
*Early investor into the mines where Baystone was discovered.
* Brokered Aslyum for Elves fleeing the Empire in Ta’Illistim for elves from all houses while Chaston’s Edict was still in effect.

'''6. Do you belong to any organizations, inside or outside of Wehnimer's Landing?''' 
Editor of the Free North News, the Clean Old Lads bathhouse club, Caeriel Atelier, and The Darkstone Bay Consortium.

[[Category:Wehnimer's Landing politics]]

Aronia

2023-06-15T21:30:39Z

GS4-KENSTROM:

{{storynpcbox
|image = [[File:Aronia_8.png|350px|thumb|right|Lady Aronia, created by GM Kenstrom on Midjourney.]]
|caption =
|storyline = Born of Bourth
|storyline2 = North by Northwest
|gender = female
|race = Human
|culture = Talador
|life = Alive
|hometown =
|relationships =
|alias =
|affiliation = [[Orders_of_the_Turamzzyrian_Empire#The_Green_Sisters|The Green Sisters]]
}}
'''Aronia''' was the officiant at the baronial coronation of [[Breshon Caulfield]]. In autumn 2022, she arrived with a caravan of refugees that was attacked en route by [[Gnul]]. Very few survived, but survivors did include Aronia and her order sister, [[Filanci]].
==Description==
<pre{{log3}}>
You see Lady Aronia the Disciple of the Green Sisters.
She appears to be a Human from Talador.
She is taller than average. She appears to be youthful. She has sparkling gold-haloed fern green eyes and sunkissed tan skin. She has waist-length, soft blonde hair that falls in spirals down her back. She has a rounded face, an upturned nose and well-defined cheekbones.
She is in good shape.
She is wearing a series of leaf-etched wyrwood beads strung around her neck, a hooded silver cloak layered in rich velvet, a high-waisted plum faille silk gown sleeved in sheer taupe, a brushed gold ring set with a leaf-shaped emerald, a square-shaped doeskin reticule, and a pair of matte argent slippers beaded in lilac glaes petals.
</pre>

2023-06-01T21:28:31Z

2023-02-18T02:51:21Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* North by Northwest: Chapter 2 Prologue */

{{TOCright}}
[[File:North_by_Northwest.png|350px|thumb|right|North by Northwest, created by GM Kenstrom on Midjourney.]]
== Storyline Dates ==

November 2022 - TBD

== NPC Primer ==
This has been established to provide a quick reference for some notable NPC's that will play some role in the storyline North by Northwest. GM Kenstrom will update this page weekly during the storyline if there are any changes, or as new NPC's are introduced or new information is learned. It's also worth noting that over half of the NPCs listed are brand new or new-ish, so a player does not need to have knowledge of years of previous storylines in order to engage the NPC's and become involved.

<div style="column-count:6;-moz-column-count:6;-webkit-column-count:6">
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Amos|Amos]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Ardenale|Ardenale]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Lady Aronia|Lady Aronia]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Bodohal|Bodohal]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Casiphia Malatina|Casiphia Malatina]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Cordarius Hodges|Cordarius Hodges]]
* [[Eddric Jovery]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Elidal Dhenin|Elidal Dhenin]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Enisius Dhenin|Enisius Dhenin]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Gnul|Gnul]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Iliyaas|Iliyaas]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Juramis Du'Lasfeur|Juramis Du'Lasfeur]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Larsya Caulfield|Larsya Caulfield]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Octaven|Octaven]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Rodnay|Rodnay]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Sablo|Sablo]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Talmaris|Talmaris]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Mayor Thadston Andrews|Mayor Thadston Andrews]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Tolmis|Tolmis]]
* [[:Category:North_by_Northwest#Tydina|Tydina]]
</div>

===Mayor Thadston Andrews===
::''[[Thadston Andrews|See NPC page here.]]
* From North [[Hendor]], and once appointed by Earl Jovery to command the [[Turamzzyrian Empire|Imperial]] Outpost outside of [[Wehnimer's Landing]].
* Has magical kroderine shards imbedded in his arms from when he used kroderine gauntlets to close a portal between Landing and the Bleaklands. The aftermath left him possessed for a time, and now with the ability to absorb/deflect magic with his arms.
* Was once a drunkard, but finally sobered up ages ago after his wife Saraphene and his son Disean left him. Saraphene was later murdered by the witch Raznel, and Disean was warped into an evil Blameless crusader, who now is in a magical stasis within a bane coffin in an unknown location.
* Current Relationship Status: It's Complicated - Had a recent romantic relationship with Casiphia, who later turned out to also be the third incarnation of the vigilante Rone, as well as the masked Mother, who leads the Brotherhood of Rooks.
* Mayor of Wehnimer's Landing.

===Casiphia Malatina===
::''[[Casiphia Malatina|See NPC page here.]]
* Cousin of the ex-mayor Chambeli Malatina, who was once kidnapped by Grishom Stone, and was murdered by the orc Thrayzar, while under an enthrallment from Grishom.
* From [[Mestanir]], ran a weapons shop, before coming to Wehnimer's Landing where she eventually fell victim to Prelate Chaston Griffin's enchantments.
* Was once a member of the Wehnimer's Landia Militia and romantically involved with Thadston. Both spent over a year on the road hunting the witch Raznel.
* Was revealed to be the third incarnation of the masked vigilante Rone.
* Was revealed to be the masked leader of the Brotherhood of Rooks, who called herself Mother.
* With her secrets now revealed, Casiphia was pardoned by Mayor Thadston and is the proprietor of the Rusty Cutlass Tavern.

===Amos===
::''[[Amos|See NPC page here.]]
* Leader of the Darkstone Bay Consortium
* Originally from [[Highmount]], came to Wehnimer's Landing with claims of bringing prosperity and opportunity to the town.
* Owns the mining operations for baystone, an exclusive gemstone recently discovered near Wehnimer's Landing.
* Was once Steward of the Guilds, but was thrown out by the Town Council in 5122.
* Owns the rights to the essence handpylons, and essence belts sold in Bloodriven.
* Has a trusted group of women operatives within his inner circle known as "The Fireflies."
* Is constructing the new Bazaar in Wehnimer's Landing which will house several new merchant shops.
* Rumored to be connected too, or is in fact, the Knave, a mastermind who waged war in Wehnimer's Landing to try to take control of the criminal factions in town. It was later discovered Stephos DeArchon was the Knave, but many claim he was framed.
* Has runic tattoos on his chest that impart him super strength when activated.
* He and Thadston have a history of violence and hatred between them.

===Cordarius Hodges===
::''[[Cordarius Hodges|See NPC page here.]]
* Regional Envoy of Wehnimer's Landing, tasked with representing the town to other places and overseeing political agreements.
* Magister of the Hall of Mages.
* Appointed by Earl Jovery in 5119 to join the Wehnimer's Landing Town Council as the envoy, to help bridge the communication gap between the protectorate of Wehnimer's Landing and the Turamzzyrian Empire.
* Helped oversee the government transition in Wehnimer's Landing that saw changes to both the mayor, town council, and steward roles. His regional envoy position became standalone, no longer part of the town council.
* Was instrumental in helping against Raznel's blight that plagued Wehnimer's Landing and its environs. He created the manafires that burn endlessly near town that help keep the Blight at bay.

===Larsya Caulfield===
::''[[Larsya Caulfield|See NPC page here.]]
* Commander of the Imperial Outpost outside of Wehnimer's Landing
* Sister of Breshon Caulfield, the newly crowned Baron of Bourth in 5122.
* Has a golden-brown wolf named Dawn for an animal companion.
* Was once cursed by a poisoned arrow from Raznel's minion, and thrown into a aging spell that almost ended her life. The heroes of Wehnimer's eventually saved her, and broke her curse, returning her back to her youthful age.
* Likes to pretend she's a pirate named the Dread Black Pirate.
* Can speak with the spirits of the [[Wyrdeep]].
* Likes to tease people with a suction-cup bow.

===Elidal Dhenin===
::''[[Elidal Dhenin|See NPC page here.]]
* Born in the Barony of [[Riverwood]].
* Old friend of Baron Breshon and Larsya Caulfield.
* Selected by Earl Jovery to become the new ruler of the Barony of Darkstone.
* Has a council of trusted advisers who have traveled with him; Enisius, Iliyaas, Sablo and Aronia.

===Lady Aronia===
::''[[Aronia|See NPC page here.]]
* Born in the Barony of [[Talador]], before its fall.
* Old friend of Baron Breshon and Elidal Dhenin.
* Member of the Green Sisters, an organization dedicated to [[Imaera]].

===Enisius Dhenin===
::''[[Enisius Dhenin|See NPC page here.]]
* Born in the Barony of Riverwood.
* Brother of Elidal Dhenin.
* Magister of the Hall of Mages.
* Created an application for magic users to apply for his Research Team into learning more and experimenting with Darkstone Castle and Melgorehn's Reach.
* Is a master of illusions but socially awkward.

===Iliyaas===

* Mysterious sylvan woman who is claimed to be a seer and can receive glimpses of the future.
* Brought to the area by Elidal, who originally met her in Riverwood.
* Stays to the forests, will not enter camp or town.

===Sablo===
::''[[Sablo Marsh|See NPC page here.]]

* Once a member of Mensyl's Maurauders in Northern Hendor.
* Nicknamed "Monster" for his brutality and savage tactics when fighting orcs, ogres and giants of the north.
* 2nd choice of Earl Jovery to become the new Commander of the Darkstonian Army.
* Rough around the edges.

===Juramis Du'Lasfeur===
::''[[Juramis Du'Lasfeur|See NPC page here.]]
* A merchant from Brisker's Cove
* Once worked with Grishom Stone, but later helped the Heroes of Wehnimer's against both Grishom and Barnom Slim.
* Had his business destroyed by Lord Eldurn Winter in 5112.
* Returned to Wehnimer's Landing in 5122, almost a decade later, with his business growing and now associated with Amos and the Darkstone Bay Consortium.

===Ardenale===
* Displaced Madam of the Honey Mine Brothel in Talador before its fall.

===Captain Bodohal===
::''[[Bodohal Gallanst|See NPC page here.]]

* Member of the Bluewater Brigade
* Captain of the Shiver
* Currently positioned near Wehnimer's Landing in the Darkstone Bay.
* Searching for a member of his crew who fled service by the name of Tolmis.
* Rumored to have a Magister of the Hall of Mages imprisoned upon his ship.

===Octaven===
::''[[Octaven|See NPC page here.]]

* Grand Magister of the Hall of Mages.
* Once waged battle against Wehnimer's Landing, only to aid them years later against the Knave and his forces.
* Has in her possession the Talon, an ancient artifact that was corrupted during the creation of the Wizardwaste.
* Resides within the Hendoran Outpost south of Wehnimer's Landing, where she setup shop after the death of Dennet Kestrel.
* Has a sleek white falcon familiar.

===Rodnay===
::''[[Rodnay|See NPC page here.]]

* Was an orphan of the Wellington home in Wehnimer's Landing.
* Abducted by the Ithzir in 5116, along with other orphans, and placed in magical cocoons. He was the only survivor.
* Now appears as a hybrid creation of Human and Ithzir, has demonstrated powerful mental abilities, and aided the people of Wehnimer's Landing on several occassions.
* Was experimented on by the Hall of Mages, but last seen entering a green cocoon within a cavern of Melgorehn's Reach to begin the next step of his evolution.

===Gnul===
::''[[Gnul|See NPC page here.]]

* Self-proclaimed "King" of Thanatoph.
* United the Mountain Alliance, where creatures of Wehntoph, Sentoph, Thanatoph and Glatoph have rallied under his command to fight the imperials and heroes of Wehnimer's Landing.

===Tolmis===

* Ex-member of the Bluewater Brigade.
* Fled from Captain Bodohal and has been spotted within Wehnimer's Landing.

===Tydina Wiley===

===Talmaris===

===Torcadall Bhodhsa===

== Map ==

Here are the proposed borders of the new Barony of Darkstone, land now claimed by the Turamzzyrian Empire.

[[File:Barony_of_Darkstone.png|350px|thumb|left|Barony of Darkstone, created by GM Kenstrom.]]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

== Player Contest - Darkstone Crest ==

On 12/19/22, a new Player Contest to design the crest of the new Barony of Darkstone was announced! The heraldic crest would need to fit the overall theme of the other imperial crests. Links for examples are below. The crest may include objects, animals or designs, but must also use at least two colors.

'''Contest Rules'''

* Contest runs from 12/19/22 to 1/15/23.
* There will be 4 semi-finalists selected. Those designs will go on to have a Grand Prize finalist announced.
* Players may only submit one design.
* Winners will be announced early Feb.
* Entry will be "words/description" not artwork.

'''Contest Prizes'''

* All 4 semi-finalists will receive 2 General Alterations by GM Kenstrom.
* The Grand Prize winner will receive the 2 General Alterations, in addition to a T4 Unlocked Handpylon and the custom ancillary title of "Imperial Herald."

'''The Application'''

* Submit your design to GS4-Kenstrom@play.net.
* Subject title of "Darkstone Crest Contest - CHARACTER NAME"

'''Link to Examples'''

https://gswiki.play.net/Crests_of_the_Turamzzyrian_Empire

== North by Northwest: Chapter 2 Prologue ==

She was a ghost.

Not in the true sense of the word, she knew, but she felt a wraith nonetheless as she toured the forest, her bare feet kissing the still hard-packed ground. The snow crunched beneath her feet. The air was quiet, the trees were now free from heavy ice but still bare and their branches more resembling shrunken bones. The earth had not spoken to her in weeks. It was the truth in her sudden cancellation of the ritual.

It was as if the very world around her had collectively held its breath, waiting to see what great destruction was born from the bowels of the Thanatoph. But the powerful behemoth had been stopped. His giant form rendered undone, leaving behind only a huge boulder in its wake. A reminder perhaps, of a time when all blades, all bolts, and all voices rose as one.

She knew it would not last.

But that was not her arena. That was not her monster.

Aronia had known many monsters in her life. The birth of the Bleaklands awakened not only devastation, but all manners of wicked creatures from its belly. She had seen glimpses of the horrors beyond the Tears, where no true life remained. That land was dead and silent too, which is what worried her most of all.
A new land, he had promised her. A new hope, he had said. It would not be another Talador, he swore to her. She touched a finger to the sand-filled vial that brushed the skin of her chest. But not all was wrong with Talador. Her parents had been there. Her farm had been there. But it was all gone now, and she would not get it back.

But she still reflected on his pledge. She adored his optimism, even now, but she knew peace and growth would not come easy and not without sacrifice. She wanted to believe as he did. She wanted his eyes, if even for a moment, to watch the world in brighter shades. She had left behind a land of ruin, but even her arrival to the new frontier was saddled with death and tragedy. No shattering of Gnul would bring back the other members of her Order, no great stone head trophy would breathe life back into those who felt the sting of fire before the end.

She frowned at the swathes of land still burned and blackened from the scorching fires of Gnul’s eyes. She was ready to be done with his mark once and for all. The trees nearby, their old modwir branches, drooped as if burdened by more than snow and cold.

Even the forest was sad.

She picked at the ring upon her finger. It brought her a smile.

Her Goddess was not one to accept senseless devastation. All of life came in seasons. Winter was breaking, and she was reminded of her duty and her purpose in the first place. No amount of mourning would resurrect Talador. But the land around here was at war, beyond that of just men and metal. Her eyes turned to the northwest.

They fell upon that black castle in the hills.

Sickness rolled out from it, perverting the skies, spoiling the land. Most had come to accept it, but she sensed it the first moment she had arrived months before. If there was to truly be a future as he had promised, then no blemish could remain. No festering wound could be allowed to persist. It would be a daunting task, and she wondered if even herself would be up to the challenge ahead.

That is when she felt the tickle upon her foot.

She stopped suddenly, frozen in place.

She looked to the ground and rooting up from the snow and dirt was a single blade of grass, as verdant as her eyes.

She knelt closer, touching it ever so softly with her thumb.

Her eyes teared as the earth sang.

----

She clicked her thumb rings together.

Ting. Ting. Ting.

She watched the young blonde woman parade through the forest, eyes to the ground as if the dirt alone held the answers to the world and those beyond. She pitied her in some ways. She would live a thousand lives more than her, and perhaps it would be her ashes in the dirt should she decide to look upon the ground herself. But that was not where truths existed.

Iliyaas moved with a trained stillness, the bed of snow and dirt muting her steps. She commanded more of the world around her than they could have imagined. Or perhaps the young lord did know it, which is why he begged her to come. Or perhaps he had not stopped dreaming of her body and the lakes water as its beads rolled down her form. He had been so eager to find her again after all. She would not fault him if it was true. She was pleased with her form and accepted it.

She did enjoy his stories. They provided a glimpse into humanity which she had lacked and if she dared to admit it, desired as well. But as fate would have it, if one should believe in such a thing, then he had unwittingly been a far better instrument in shaping the future than she had expected. The edge of civilization did well to hide the spark of tomorrow. But it was not to be found in camps of children or battlefields of men.

Her gaze turned to the lake and its rippling waters shadowed by the great Reach above. She let her robes and cloak drop from her body and she waded into the waters. Winter still hung in the air, but the water was warm and comforting on her skin. She knew it was the veins of mana unseen to most eyes, but she felt them, could touch them. Could she bend them?

Moments passed and she emerged, padding back towards her clothes and with almost unnatural grace donned her robes. Her curved ears were alerted to weeping nearby. She followed, letting herself near when she came upon a small boy crouched above an even smaller pile of dirt.

“Why?” Her voice was sharp.

The boy leapt to his feet and spun. The front of his breeches stained to dark.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, don’t hurt me.” He threw up his hands, trying to tuck his head between his elbows.

Iliyaas moved forward, curling a finger towards the mound of dirt.

The boy peeked at her.

“Why are you pained?”

The boy lowered his arms. A measure of boldness returned to him.

“My...my dog.”

The woman furrowed her brow. She turned to go then stopped. Humanity. This was a moment.

“Show me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Show me.”

The boy nervously knelt before the shallow grave and with his untried hands dug layer after layer of dirt away to reveal the still form of his pet. Its mouth was still frozen, and small daggers of ice still clung to its dark brown coat. Its eyes were matted in death.

Iliyaas moved to the animal and stooping low, she ran her hand along its body and stepped away. The dog’s mouth snapped, and it suddenly shook itself, flinging several icicles free from its coat. It sprang to its feet with the life of a puppy and yapped loudly, almost leaping into the arms of the boy whose face was now soaked with tears.

She heard his thanks before she departed, unmoved by the range of the boy’s emotions, but appreciative of the moment to observe. The young lord would be pleased with her, and she would have another story to share when he brought his to her. But her interest soon waned when she traveled closer again to the high peak towering above.

Her vacant dawn eyes raised to admire the vastness of Melgorehn’s Reach and the power within its depths She clicked her thumb rings together again.

Ting. Ting.

Ting.

----

“Don’t touch me.”

“Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me.” He bemoaned as he hurried through the halls of the Outpost. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Done.

He arrived at the laboratory. Twenty seconds it almost took him, and more than a dozen squires and soldiers and gawkers almost touched him. He could not wait until the day when he had more space, more room to stretch, and less people to avoid. Perhaps he could have a whole wing of a castle to himself? No stench of people. No oily hands. No burping soldiers. Just his things and no one else’s.

He heard shouting from rooms away. Then raucous laughter. How unnerving. There was so much work to be done, so many things to learn, so much to accomplish, how could anyone pitter away time with debauchery? The frontier offered the chance of a lifetime, and he only had one. For now. Nearby vials sizzled and popped. Their liquids blue, yellow, even some of them green. He tapped on one and its color shifted, bleeding from yellow to grey to black. He should label them, so he did not forget.

He looked down.

He sighed.

Where were the labels?

Who moved his things?

“Don’t touch my stuff.” He muttered beneath his breath. He would have to come back to those later. He looked at his palm. Charlatos. He had written Charlatos because his brother had made him. Deadline, he had been told.

“Can I deny them all?” He remembered asking.

The man with his face had made his denial known loud and well.

“What about that short one?” He had asked.

No, was the answer.

“What about that evil one?” He had asked.

“Who?” his brother had asked.

“Never mind.” He had told him to quiet the debate. Charlatos. He would get him his list by Charlatos.

He supposed he could keep them busy in many ways. The Castle. The Reach. There was a lot to do, a lot to see, a lot to touch. Nydds was good, he missed it in many ways, but here might be better. He was surrounded by power and potential they had only read of in South Hendor. He heard someone call his name. Gruff, perhaps a soldier, someone with no business bothering him.

He tapped a ring. He was gone. He was elsewhere. At the edge of the camp and quickly pulling his robe tighter, fending off the remnants of winter. He stepped forward then paused. He let some settlers pass by. He moved further, then paused. Some children at play. What time was it? Go to sleep, he silently commanded. They did not obey.

Another few steps, another long pause, and then he was in his tent. It was quiet. No one touched his things. He looked at the tall mirror. He always saw Elidal. He got that from his father. Maybe one day he’d see something else. All of them. Death pillar, how dare they assume the worst. But it made sense, when did they get the best?

He was there now. Now they got the best.

He paced the floor, tracing his hands in the air. Motes of light trailed his fingers then drifted over to an open tome set upon a table, before imprinting upon its blank pages. He mumbled and muttered, contemplating a thousand scenarios in his mind. The Castle. The Reach. There was a lot to do, a lot to see, a lot to touch.

How dare they nitpick the illusion of his wagon. That was brilliant. Maybe they were jealous. No, they were just assuming the worst, because they hadn’t had the best.

Until now.

He went to the table, touched a rune and watched the dark castle form before him. Then the mountain, then the castle again. He traced his hands in the air again, his thoughts forming in the pages beside him. It would likely take both of them he knew. Leverage was a powerful thing. So many options, so many scenarios. Some of them ended well, so he was making progress.

He heard someone call his name. They weren’t far from the tent. Was he drunk? Was it the short one?

He tapped a ring. He was gone.

He was elsewhere.

----

“When will you stop fighting and start living?”

His mother’s words echoed from the grave.

Is this living, mother? He wondered to himself.

The fields beyond were a variegated stretch of white and green, with the latter being the first harbinger of the spring to come, pushing up through the snow that still clung to the ground, unaware its time had passed.

Was that him? Was he more artifact than auxiliary? Unaware of his own expiration?

If he was poetic enough, he’d say his heart mourned for the cold shadow of the DragonSpine. The fog of his breath in the air. The chill of the wind, its bite against his face. Harsh and unwelcome conditions for some. But he was not like them. He was not like many at all. The thrill of the hunt, his axes sharpened and clean, the wilds beckoning for him to come drive more scourge from the hills. If he didn’t, who would?

That was where he belonged.

Where he stood now? That was not living.

Men and women stumbled over each other, some young, some old, none of them conditioned enough for the road ahead. He lost count at twelve wagons; it might have doubled since that morning. One man resembled a mule, long in the face, but over burdened by several burlap packs hanging from every available appendage. He huffed loudly as he tried to squeeze them into an opening within the wagon. Others groaned behind him, urging him to hurry up. Everyone was anxious, ready to leave, ready to live.

What’s the hurry? He thought, almost aloud. They’ll just try to burn your wagons, spoil your food, steal your children, and defend the grifflets.

Someone shouted. A fight had broken out. The mule man was suddenly bold, no longer saddled with bags. A woman of declining age waved a finger frantically into his face, spouting something and pointing to a small pouch by her feet. The man’s teeth flashed in a snarl, so did the knife in his hand.

Commander Sablo Marsh barreled forward. He stood the height of a human but crossed the distance as if with the legs of a giant. With speed more uncommonly swift for his size, he hit away the man’s knife and drove his fist up into his chin, breaking his jaw and slamming his head against the wagon. The long-faced, broken-jawed man slobbered in pain and tried to crawl to his feet when the first bundle of burlap landed on his head. He threw up his hands. Another bag on his back, then his shoulder, then he just crouched and gave up resisting.

When Sablo had dumped the last of the man’s bags onto him, he raised his voice more for the crowd than the attacker, “Get your bags, fix your face, and get far away from here.” He turned then to those looking on. Some were children. The warning was not for them. Some were women, eyes trained on Sablo, but silently giving their thanks. Others he knew though could be trouble next, and so his words were for them.

“If any one of you draws a blade on anyone, now or on the trail, I’ll make you eat it, twice.”

He watched the wounded man limp off, muttering as he only could now, and dragging more than carrying his bags as he went. The onlookers dispersed soon after, once again focused on the preparations for their journey to the new land. Sablo looked down at his reddening knuckles. He wouldn’t fight if they didn’t make him.

“You’re grinning.” A woman’s voice drew him around.

“Excuse me?”

Her eyes were dark brown, her hair curled and the color of night. Her face was somewhat refined, and he swore her lips held a perpetual smirk. Iliyaas? No, it was not her, but she resembled her in ways. He found that pleasing.

“When you broke that man’s mouth, I was worried your face would crack, for your smile was so big.”

“What is it to you?”

“I am not here to judge; I smiled just the same. The man got less than he deserved. Well done.” She flashed a grin and departed.

Sablo watched her leave, his mind now traveling back to the Dragonsclaw, and the sylvan in the woods whose eyes and words were so sharp and heavy upon him. Weeks, he still had weeks to go.

He turned at the smell of roasted meat. A pig browned on a spit nearby. Breakfast would do him good, it was a long road ahead. Had the aroma not grabbed his attention, he would have seen the grinning woman as she weaved her way through several wagons and stopped from time to time, inspecting each one.

Had he watched her truly, he would have spied the glimmer of glass at her side.

He would have seen the red sphere in the palm of her hand.

----

“Welcome fath...” He sighed.

“Welcome mother and...” He shook his head.

The mirror did not answer back.

He straightened the cape of cream wool upon his shoulder. His mother would want to see him wearing it. She was almost perfect, except her fixation with gifts. Perhaps it came with age, so he humored her, she had earned it. They both had, which is why he sent for them. They would arrive soon enough. He could already see the first signs of spring everywhere he turned. The endless snow had stopped. The winds were still cold, but their teeth had dulled. The sun had already begun to rise sooner, as if it was now safe to chase away night with more boldness than before.

He looked about the chamber. It was simple, the bed was comfortable enough, the aroma of breakfast met him each morn, and the savory appeal of supper drifted by his window each night. Of course, he was rarely there to enjoy either. He was not built for great towers of stone and cold floors. He wanted to feel the earth, inhale the sky, and embrace the people dear to him in life.

But his circle had expanded. Everyone was his friend now, or so they claimed to be. No sooner than the wooden walls going up in the camp did the settlers throw their pleas and problems at his feet. The Earl had warned him. “You are a leader, but they will want you to be a savior. You cannot be both.”

He had listened to Jovery’s words, nodded, and outwardly accepted them. But in his heart, and in his mind, he did not believe it. Why could he not be both? Why could he not blaze a path forward, then carry those in need with him? What good was a valley of gold with no one to share it.

From his window he could see the camp, its new towers nestled amongst the trees of the forest. Perhaps he would relocate there for now, until they claimed their new castle, until they built their new city. He wanted to be among the people. He could not properly guide them from afar. He missed them. He cared for them. It was a burden but an honor. Imaera had helped to breath life into their lungs, and he was her shepherd to see those lives fulfilled.

Elidal slumped into a chair beside a small table, with a map too long for its surface and even draped over its sides. Several painted wooden carvings were positioned about the tiny landscape. A dark castle. A blue mountain. A black tower. An alabaster spire. He thumbed several more in a small box at his side, then slowly and carefully placed them along the map. A brown gate. A brown hammer. A silver sword, a black bird, a black thorn. One by one he placed more and more. Such a large crowd, such a small space. No wonder they worried. No wonder they resisted.

But some had no place in his world.

He abandoned it for now, leaving the table and returning to his mirror. He shifted his posture and corrected his smile three times. His father and mother would come with the next caravan. It would change everything, hopefully for the better. How would Enisius react? Would he rise or fall? Would his mother look upon the fields here as she did at home? Would his father soften his tongue or admonish Aronia again and again?

He thought of a great feast with all of them together. For a fleeting moment he almost would rather invite a Rook and a Dhe’nar. It might have meant less blood. Politics were never bound to borders. He touched the scruff of his cheeks. He hadn’t touched a razor in weeks. Would they even recognize him? He didn’t dare shave it off. It fit the frontier. He needed to be part of that world now.

His world.

A knock came from his door.

He called out and a half-elven woman stepped in. Her eyes were bright and blue, a contrast to the dark ink stains along her vest and blouse. Her familiar smile greeted him, and she unfurled a scroll. Another map.

It was small, sketched with a drawbridge, a cavern, and a mountain. In elegant script in the corner were the words, “Luinne Bheinn.”
He nodded and wished her farewell. He was alone once more. The weight of so many upon his shoulders. But it was not the living that kept him awake. It was not the living that kept him with eyes forward.

He went to his nightstand and from it pulled a small tome. It was light when he bought it. Now it felt heavy. Each page broke his heart. He flipped to the next. He wrote two names. Ethan. Rae. Beside each name he wrote the color of their hair, the shade of their eyes. Names of their families, of which Rae had none. But he would not forget her face, or her memory. He would not forget any of them.

Perhaps the Earl was right.

He couldn’t save them all.

But he would never stop trying.

[[Category:2022 Storylines]] [[Category:Wehnimer's Landing Storylines]][[Category:Storylines]]

Category:North by Northwest

2023-02-18T02:43:25Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* Aronia */

Category:North by Northwest

2023-02-18T02:42:54Z

GS4-KENSTROM: /* North by Northwest: Chapter 2 Prologue */