A line of carts on sleds, laden with quarried stone from the mines of Sjonn, rode down the frozen River Torrik. They carried their cargo along the full length of the long stretch of snow-covered ice, leading them into the untamed northern forests of Aontas. The carts and their workers hailed from Chatara, along the Bay of Torrik, an ice-water bay fed by the very river the convoy was now astride. The wilds to which they were travelling, nestled in a high valley in Norstra's northern extremities, were known to them as 'Kongeligdal'—a place as harsh and cold to Aontans as Aontas was harsh and cold to southerners. Even the citizens of Torrik, the city whose port was frozen closed for a third of the year, were unaccustomed to the extreme cold and utter isolation afforded by Kongeligdal. The province's mountain ranges, the South and North Kongells, bounding the province from either side, funnelled deathly cold air from the northern edge of the world down into the valley, freezing to death all but the hardiest plants and animals. The bears, seen here in their numbers in the summer months to feast off the bounty of the raging River Torrik, were as often white as black or brown, and no tree other than pine could last a season.
Kongeligdal had long been a part of Aontas, but never meaningfully. Those few men and fewer women and children who dwelt in the valley were the hardy type, unwilling to be reliant on kings hailing from daintier lands to save them in times of crisis. When hardship struck the valley, it seemed only to make its people stronger, to drive them to band together more tightly. Food was shared in times of famine, shelter shared in disaster, and in war, every man—and boy, and some women—would march together against the enemy. Kongeligdal was an untamed land, and its people had largely accepted their lot at the end of the world. Many, in fact, had gone to the valley because of its remoteness and because of its independence. No road, not even a dirt trail, ran through Kongeligdal, and to many, this was a point of pride. To the powers-that-be, though, Kongeligdal's remoteness was a problem to be solved.
Austurby, Kongeligdal's capital and Aontas' eastern keep, marked the entrance to the cold valley from the east. A Marnish city long ago, Austurby was strange; its people spoke a dialect of Aontan quite unlike that spoken in Chatara, or even in the rest of Kongeligdal. Influenced by Marnish, the Austurby dialect made its speakers stand out outside of their home town. With the changes its leaders were pushing for, though, Austurby stood to become a lot less Marnish. The town's government had been pushing the recently reinstated Aontan monarch to construct a road through Kongeligdal, linking Austurby with Torrik, far to the east. Although Kongeligdal was most inhospitable in winter, River Torrik was the only feasible way to transport supplies for the road into the region, and it was thus a necessity to build the road in the winter months. All along the river, at regular intervals, sledded carts carrying stone to be crushed was offloaded at the lumber cams clearing the route. Mined and delivered by men from Chatara in thick winter coats, the stones would be broken to size and spread along the road's route by men from Kongeligdal, in fashioned hides and pelts. Work was slow and arduous, but the labourers fit to the task. Initial reports from Austurby predicted that the road would be completed on schedule and on budget, possibly changing the way of life in the most isolated reaches of Aontas for decades to come.
Kardal, East Folamsiar, Aontas,
King Sverre IV rested his gloved hands on the balcony's railing as he peered out from Kardal Castle's tallest tower towards the endless expanse of hills to the east. The overcast skies set the scene in a dark light, in spite of how much it pleased Sverre; a constant stream of men with hammers trudged eastward along a road they'd only just laboured on, the strong winds off the Smaragd Sea setting their gait slightly left, forcing them to fight against the elements just to walk a straight line. Their plight, well compensated as it was, was a pity. But not could be done for the cold in the north, and there could afford to be no pause in Aontas' plans.
The King of Aontas—the Grand Duke of Folamsiar while he was in Kardal—had long awaited this, the chance to bring Norstra together. The republicans that had taken his kingdom and his family hostage for the last decade had shown little interest in connecting with the rest of Norstra's kingdoms, looking down on them as backwards and provincial. Sverre's predecessors on the throne, too, had been disinterested in cooperating with the neighbour kingdoms, seeing them as rivals to be thwarted. Before Sverre's line had ascended to the throne in Kienne, peacefully uniting Aontas and Folamsiar, the old Aontan kings had been even worse. It was they, in those ages past, who had conquered Austurby on a whim, leading every second able-bodied man in the kingdom to freeze to death in Kongeligdal's bitter cold. In those days, Norstra was no better than the Continent, each kingdom only ever at peace in between wars. Sverre's line had brought war to an end, but had not truly changed the Norstran kingdom's natures. Trade between Svea, Naarden and Marnland, and the roads that carried it, had only been built recently, while Aontas was fighting Cato's wars in the south. Cooperation, the first step towards unity, was a recent development in Norstra. For so long, the kingdoms had tended to their own devices, as ignorant of the affairs of their neighbours as they were of the affairs of the south. King Sverre IV was determined to change Norstra, and take it on a journey in a new direction.
Looking out over the balcony, down onto the workers building Aontas' first firm, physical connection to a neighbour kingdom, the King smiled. This would be the day that he would write about in his memoirs, the day that would be immortalized in history as the first concrete movement towards a strong and united Norstra. Every journey begins with a single step, and this would be the first of many.
Action 1: Build Road between Torrik and Austurby. [-35 Economic Rating]
Action 2: Build Road between Kardal and Cromvoirt. [-35 Economic Rating]
Action 3: Increase Relations with Kingdom of Svea. [+3 Relations]
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Demobilization] - [Mobilization]
Naval Ship AssignmentRoyal Fleet of Aontas; 1 First Rate, 5 Second Rates, 4 Sloops, 8 Frigates. [Home Port Kienne (North Eastern Sea)]
Ducal Fleet of Folamisar; 1 First Rate, 6 Second Rates, 5 Sloops, 7 Frigates. [Home Port Kardal (North Eastern Sea)]
Research PrioritiesArmy — Low
Navy — Low
Industry — Normal [-2 Economic Rating/Year]
Social Thought — High [-3 Economic Rating/Year]
Economics — Normal [-2 Economic Rating/Year]
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