Recaps

Victor expanded the railway and industrial network, negotiated with Viscount Thoros, and intervened in the treatment of Barbarian slave laborers. When a large Barbarian coalition threatened the Redrock Iron Mine district and Blue Lake Bay, he mobilized troops and railway transport, while James’s force prepared defenses and received a delegation of Barbarian envoys.

• Bruno coordinated ore-train preparations as Bask reunited with Gutierrez, who explained that military trains were carrying troops and supplies for the nobles’ railway plans and Barbarian slave campaign.
• Victor advanced the railway projects, considered financing Alex’s lines against canal tolls, and approved research and staffing plans for the Research Institute.
• Victor inspected Isaac’s Arcane Beast Number One, authorized the next research phase, and later sought to strengthen county authority over the Railway Bureau and its routes.
• Victor rejected capturing Barbarian slaves to meet labor needs and sent Baron Jack’s fleet to buy island slaves, while the Intelligence Department investigated hostile forces disrupting overseas trade.
• Victor hosted Viscount Thoros and Viscount Roy, rejected Thoros’s plan to displace farmers and reduce farmland, and sold him Riverside Town’s old wool-mill equipment while explaining plans for a modern replacement.
• Victor inspected railway construction, ordered better treatment for Barbarian slave laborers, and reviewed the expanding station and new construction machinery.
• After learning that a coalition of at least ten thousand warriors threatened the Redrock Iron Mine district, Victor deployed cavalry and the Fourth Regiment, arranged a war budget, and ordered the Railway Bureau to move troops and supplies.
• James received troops from Viscount Brown and Viscount Markut, strengthened defenses with his allies, and went with Konedia to meet approaching Barbarian envoys while the two viscounts guarded the camp.

Victor learned that the Iron Bone Tribe and the Faith Order were consolidating power on the grasslands, while thousands of Barbarian refugees pledged themselves to the Raine Kingdom. He organized a defensive fortress line with the Northern Frontier nobles as Keledu continued expanding the Faith Order and managing its internal rivalries.

• James brought Dane and Iron Stone, envoys for thirteen Barbarian tribes, to the Temporary Camp, and Victor later received their offer of allegiance.
• Horne told Victor how Keledu and the Iron Bone Tribe had used steel weapons, improved farming, and lightning-firing rods to defeat a tribal coalition and attract refugees and allied tribes.
• Victor arranged food and settlements for the displaced Barbarians, then sent Horne and Zaro with Brown and Sura to help defend Durham County.
• Keledu ordered Mizhene to kill Kachi and keep him from reaching the diocese, then arranged for Kachi’s replacement to take control of the Left Banner.
• Victor and Brown abandoned a preemptive attack because they could not locate the Iron Bone Tribe’s stronghold, and proposed joint forces and fortified strongpoints to defend Durham County.
• Alex gathered the Northern Frontier nobles, who approved fourteen fortress sites and agreed to share construction and garrison duties.
• Victor revised Alex’s proposed military funding list, and Alex planned to seek 70,000 gold from inland nobles.
• Keledu returned with the Warrior Corps to a joyful welcome, then ruled that Kachi’s wife could inherit half of her husband’s flock.

Victor consolidated the Faith Order’s position, advanced Two Rivers County’s industry and military technology, and coordinated with Alex against the Raine Kingdom and the Barbarians. A severe winter storm threatened the Northern Frontier, prompting early war preparations and relief efforts as the story left the territories bracing for an attack ahead of schedule.

• Keledu arranged to combine the Faith Order and Iron Bone Tribe while preserving the Order’s organization and requiring the tribe to attack the southern noble’s territory first.
• Victor expanded mechanized harvesting, ordered James to clear mounted bandits, and learned that Barbarian unity might signal a threat to Two Rivers County.
• Victor inspected the Research Institute’s Thunderous Wrath cannon and ordered development of a lightweight mortar with an impact fuse for combat testing.
• Victor gave Alex Vitri’s list of suspected Raine Kingdom agents and planned a coordinated counteroffensive against the Barbarians while keeping Two Rivers County’s artillery secret.
• Mighty Force III cleared snowbound railway tracks so relief trains could deliver firewood and fuel to Blue Lake Bay.
• Marvin warned Victor that the severe cold threatened the Northern Frontier and could disrupt preparations for war.
• Victor ordered military units to prepare for an early attack, evacuated vulnerable residents from Blue Lake Bay, and made the bay the focus of Two Rivers County’s defense.

As winter hardship pushed the Iron Bone Tribe toward invasion, Keledu joined Heshima’s campaign while Victor prepared the border territories and evacuated threatened tribes. James’s ambush captured valuable prisoners, and Victor sent Jackson north to meet the Iron Bone Tribe’s advancing forces.

• Keledu rescued Yeyasu from the snow, then agreed to march south with Heshima’s Iron Bone Tribe in exchange for an equal share of the spoils.
• Victor inspected the Research Institute’s artillery, ordered production of Flowering Shells and Mortars, and reinforced the border defenses as migrants returned to Woodfort City.
• Hu Tuk sacrificed himself to help a fellow hunter escape with news of the Iron Bone Tribe’s advance, and Jell led the Horseshoe Tribe toward Two Rivers County.
• Victor ordered the tribes’ evacuation, while James lured Barbarian Cavalry into an ambush, defeated them, and captured Shengmasu and other prisoners.
• Heshima learned of the defeat and ordered his forces to attack the three traitor tribes as he waited for his main force and siege engines.
• Victor welcomed the relocated tribes, promised compensation to Jell, and offered him provisional status equivalent to a viscount, while reprimanding James for leaving the defense line.
• Ranger Cavalry reported that the Iron Bone Tribe had sent three forces of about five thousand men to attack the former vassal territories, and Victor sent Jackson north with more than five thousand cavalry.