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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 1804363" data-attributes="member: 99">To answer a bit of this:Novanus (the High Priest of St. Cuthbert) got his vision on the same night that Capito and Marcus did.  Marcus had already figured out via Speaks' scrying that the Orcish Armada was on the way.  This information was concealed from just about everyone (Celestials and the gods included) thanks to the "shroud of secrecy" over the City of Endless Summer and the immediate surrounding area (you can't scry into or out of the area thanks to the godly magic Bane used to carve the place out.  This is also why teleporting out has...unpredictable results).As of the time of the visions, The Shining Lady knew of the Armada and told Novanus and Capito about it.  Rumors have been flying about "dire portents" and "threats to the Empire from her past" for some months but nobody knew exactly what they were referring to.  The party was largely unaware of this because they have been incommunicado up in the Blackpeaks.  When they did jaunt back to civilization, it was to Oar, which is separated from the Empire proper by the Crescent Sea.  As a result the rumors were less noticable there and Marius did not pick up on them while he was poking around the dock area for information.What he did pick up on (and I think it was mentioned in passing) was that the Imperial Navy, stronger than it had been in years, was waging battle against the Corsairs of the Crescent Sea.  The Corsairs are independant pirates who use the many crags and inlets of the western Crescent Sea (where the Blackpeaks spill down to the ocean) to hide from the Imperial Navy as they prey upon the shipping between the north coast of the Empire and Oar (they attack the northbound vessels, loaded with finished luxury goods and leave alone the southbound vessels, carrying raw materials back to the Empire).All of this was important for two reasons.  First, Flavius (the de facto emperor right now) has long been in favor of rebuilding the northern navy to better secure shipping to and from the Northlands.  He has been fairly successful at pushing this through the Senate and is now in the position to demonstrate the power of this navy by exterminating the Corsairs.  This had the additional benefit of making the crossing safe for the invasion fleet that delivered the Legions to the mouth of the Fodor in anticipation of a spring campaign to finally bring the barbarians under his thumb permanently.  The land and slaves that this would bring to the Empire will start it on the path to greatness once again.The rumors that have been floating around about "threats from the Empire's past" are just the gravy on top.  Flavius has spun this and been able to spread the word that these are premonitions that ill will befall the Empire if they don't take care of old enemies now (i.e. the barbarians).  So that helped to drum up support for his invasion.Further, once he learned that the barbarians were going to try and set up peaceful trade with Oar, he sent provocateurs north.  When the barbarians rolled into town with their trade goods, he made sure that they got a poor reception and provoked them into a fight.  His men were on hand to make sure that things escalated out of hand and people got killed (though it WAS the barbarians who did the killing).  That gave him the last little propoganda bit that he needed to justify his invasion.You'll get a separate look at how things go for Lazarius when he alerts the Imperial War College as to what is going on.  I will say that they, unlike the High Priest of St. Cuthbert, have no clue that there are several thousand Orcs about to try and attack the Empire.One thing that strikes me at this point is, given all the strategic considerations, this thread could benefit from a map.  I'll see if I can get a good scan of the one I've got and post it later today or tonight.  I'll note in advance that it looks absolutely NOTHING like Old One's map of his Faded Glory world.  If he had had one available at the time I started using the setting, I'd have stolen that whole cloth too.  But I didn't think to ask and by the time I'd drawn something up from the description he'd given, I had already committed myself to that geography.</blockquote>

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