Recaps

The apostles agreed to seek a ceasefire to learn the Expeditionary Army’s aims and give the battered Faith Order time to regroup. Santos asked Mizhene to join the negotiations, and Mizhene recognized that helping end the fighting could spare more believers’ lives.

• The apostles assessed the Order’s severe losses and decided to send an envoy to negotiate with the Expeditionary Army.
• An envoy set out under the Order’s banner toward the Expeditionary Army’s defensive lines.
• Santos stopped Mizhene from withdrawing and asked him to take part in the negotiations.
• Santos explained that Duke Golden Sunflower had ordered the Lord spared and believers who did not resist protected if the Order fell.
• Mizhene accepted that helping end the fighting could save believers from further deaths.

Santos negotiated with the Faith Order’s Third Apostle but rejected its offers of wealth and livestock, insisting on terms that would give the Expeditionary Army control of the Faith Order and its resources. He ended by demanding the surrender of the Judgment holy artifacts and the Enlightened Sanctuary, while leaving the fate of the Faith Order’s senior members to his lord.

• The Third Apostle arrived at Santos’s command post to seek a ceasefire and tend to wounded Faith Order soldiers.
• The Third Apostle offered 50,000 gold in coins, additional gold and silver ingots worth 160,000 to 170,000 gold, livestock, and yearly tribute in exchange for the Expeditionary Army’s withdrawal.
• Santos remained unmoved by the offer, explaining that defeating the Faith Order would give the Expeditionary Army its wealth anyway.
• Santos demanded that the Faith Order surrender all Judgment holy artifacts and the Enlightened Sanctuary intact, lay down its weapons, and let the Expeditionary Army control the valley’s key points and supplies.
• Santos ordered the Faith Order’s senior members to return with him to his territory so his lord could judge them.

Santos gave the Third Apostle one day to accept his surrender terms, and the envoy returned to the Faith Order with the Star of Splendor as a gift. The apostles agreed to surrender but asked that the Venerable Lord remain in the Parasitic Sanctuary because leaving it would kill him.

• Santos warned the Third Apostle that the Expeditionary Army would resume its attack if the Faith Order did not answer by the next day, and the Third Apostle left a precious gemstone before returning to the city.
• Mizhene identified the gift as the Star of Splendor and explained the Third Apostle's position in the Faith Order.
• Santos and Mizhene reviewed the battle and considered where to attack if the Faith Order rejected surrender.
• The Third Apostle reported Santos's terms to the other apostles, and he described the Expeditionary Army as powerful, orderly, healthy, and polite.
• The First Apostle agreed to surrender on the condition that the Venerable Lord remain in the Parasitic Sanctuary because he would die if he left it.

The Faith Order surrendered to Santos’s Expeditionary Army after the apostles saw the Lord’s failing condition, and the army began taking control of the headquarters while arranging medical care. The followers accepted the surrender and cooperated with the occupying force, while Santos learned that their history of hardship had made them quick to move past suffering.

• The First Apostle showed the apostles the Lord sleeping in the Enlightened Sanctuary’s force field, and they agreed to surrender to the Expeditionary Army.
• The Third Apostle offered the Faith Order’s surrender to Santos and asked that the Lord remain at the sanctuary; Santos agreed, provided the others returned with the army.
• The Expeditionary Army took control of key facilities, and the Faith Order’s clergy cooperated by handing over information, technology, and expertise.
• Santos brought medical personnel to examine the Lord, and they recommended medicine and liquid food that might help him regain consciousness.
• The apostles agreed to the proposed treatment, and Santos sent a wireless telegraph requesting specialists from the territory.
• The Faith Order’s followers helped clear the battlefield and repair buildings, and Mizhene explained to Santos that their past hardships had taught them to put suffering behind them.

Santos’s Expeditionary Army secured Hot Spring Valley while Victor planned to visit the Faith Order Headquarters and investigate its resources. Santos’s survey revealed the Faith Order’s wealth and valuable horse breeds, and the army continued consolidating its control over the valley.

• Mizhene praised the Expeditionary Army’s discipline, and the apostles concluded that the Faith Order could not have defeated it.
• Victor ordered Santos to govern Hot Spring Valley, protect its residents, and treat the Faith Order’s leaders respectfully while Victor prepared to visit in person.
• Victor planned to bring Keledu and researchers to examine the Faith Order’s technologies and resources, while Veronica remained in Two Rivers County.
• With Mizhene’s forces assisting, Santos’s army secured Hot Spring Valley, where the Faith Order’s people were recovering from heavy wartime casualties.
• Santos surveyed the Faith Order’s settlements and holdings, finding substantial wealth, productive farms, and valuable livestock.
• Santos examined the Faith Order’s Long-Maned Horses and judged their cold resistance, stamina, versatility, and calm temperaments useful to the Expeditionary Army.

Santos recognized the Faith Order’s Coldwind Horses and Ice Field Ponies as valuable breeding stock and secured information on its other livestock while maintaining order in Hot Spring Valley. A month and a half later, Victor’s large party reached the grasslands outpost, where he praised Konedia and promised him a barony.

• Santos identified the Coldwind Horses and Ice Field Ponies as exceptional warhorses and arranged for desirable livestock traits to be recorded and sent to the territory.
• Officials and experts from the territory’s medical, research, agricultural, industrial, and commerce departments joined Victor’s journey to Hot Spring Valley, along with a larger military escort.
• Victor led the party across the grasslands for a month and a half, upgrading relay stations into planned footholds for the territory.
• Three days after seeing the Ice and Snow Mountains, Victor’s party reached the Intelligence Department’s outpost and was welcomed by Konedia.
• Victor praised Konedia’s work and promised to enfeoff him as a baron, while considering promoting Orlando to viscount and eventually replacing him as intelligence minister.

Victor arrived at Hot Spring Valley to meet the Faith Order and assess its leader’s condition, while considering how to integrate the Order into his territory. He entered Revelation City and discovered that the valley had unusually warm, green surroundings and a concentration of Magic Energy several times higher than outside.

• Victor left the outpost with his guards, medical experts, and scholars, planning for the main army to follow after a week of rest.
• After three days crossing the ice field, Victor reached Hot Spring Valley, where Santos, Mizhene, and the Faith Order’s four apostles welcomed him.
• Santos knelt to greet Victor, who helped him up and privately considered promoting him to command the Northlands legion.
• Victor entered Hot Spring Valley and saw that the area beyond its fortress remained green despite the snow-covered landscape outside.
• In Revelation City, Victor sensed that the valley’s Magic Energy concentration was at least three or four times higher than outside it.