Lage

The Winterministry

The door opens and grim figures have already gather in the dim lit council room. A melancholy mood fills the room. There are no greetings or conversations, only occasional sighs and coughs.

"Greetings Ministers of Winter. I am addressing you as the Mayor of Dome and the Chairman of Winter Ministry. I would like to begin by thanking everyone present here for respecting me and having gathered here today on such short notice. I know the official date is a month from now, but I promise that I’ve not brought you here to waste our time"

Nods indicate agreement.

"Today is a bit out of the ordinary in more ways than one. My son Paxton is from today, officially my right hand and will be my shadow. He is young and seeks our knowledge, let’s not fail him in these hard times and he might yet grow up to be a leader.”

Men stare at Paxton and express support in silence.

“Well, now for the main event. If oral history is to be believed, our ancestors were part of the Great Expedition. I know there are in your ranks those who are not convinced of this, and if I'm honest with you, I haven't seen convincing physical evidence either. We're not troubled by the lack of historical materials, but we lack brains, experts, translators who would help distinguish the important from the noise. That can now be fixed, gentlemen, I have some news for you!"

The interest in the speaker is growing. The council exchange glances.

"Some time ago there was a merchant in Dome Bazaar. A man who has acquired several languages ​​during his adventures. What makes this man special is the ability to communicate, read and also write in these languages. This linguistic genius agreed to work through a massive amount of documents and letters that originate from the Great Expedition Era, from the Technocrats themselves."

There is shifting and whispering. Some lean forward.

"At this point, I apologize for not bringing this information to you earlier. Since there was no guarantee that we would find anything meaningful during this process, I decided to keep everything a secret for the sake of security. Today I got news that the translator has gone missing. I have allocated a some resources for the search, but to really make a difference, I need your approval to increase the manpower behind the search. The project is still incomplete, but I present to you the information gained with his help, with the hope that you will support the search for the translator."

Nobody's breathing.

"To begin with, we have confirmed that the Technocrats are not a myth. The movement that started in the far south has called itself Krado in the documents, and Expedition North was a much more massive initiative than we could have suspected. For this, settlements were founded in Lage and two existing communities were breathed into life. So we also now know that before Technocrats came here, there was life in the Lage area, and at least two significant settlements have survived to this day.”

Thin plastic sheets with lots of text start circulating in the room. The chairman opens a large map on the table and intently aims his finger at an important place.

"Soosadam. It turns out that in the form of the southernmost border town, it is the oldest settlement in Lage. Its unique location and slightly milder weather conditions were skillfully used by the pioneers of the expedition. Soosadam was the first contact settlement, fortified in hopes to restore trade between the rest of the world and the Lage tribes. Hence the disproportionate the amount of heavy equipment in and around Soosadam. Because of the shallow waters, the ships had to wait for the ice to melt to safely make landfall, and the same is true for departure. There is reason to believe that the exiting of the pioneers was strongly related to climate change, but this is still pure speculation."

People approach the map with interest.

"What about the other settlement?"

"The Dome!" a rasping voice comes from the room.

"I thought so too. And you. And him. We all thought so. Unfortunately, the documents refer to Market instead."

"Market?" people gasp in amazement. Gasps and sighs are heard over and over again, disgust is openly portrayed.

"Calm down, gentlemen. Before our current neighbors became the local residents, before the slavers that we know, this place has had several names. The details are still a bit confusing, but it is certain that Dome, Hut and Factory were founded by Krado. There might have been ruins here and there that were built upon, but we just don’t know yet. In a very short time they were able to create an infrastructure that has fed us until now. There is a lot of information and everyone has the opportunity to familiarize. We need to find out how we can apply the existing information and expand our knowledge."

Intense buzzing fills the hall. People compare the map and the texts.

"If we put history aside and focus on the present, things are shitty - this local balance once created has disappeared. The weather has gotten so bad that our crops can't take root before the night freezes them. Communication with Soosadam has become non-existent, radio is down and the journey is difficult. Not only that, but apparently the Factory is run by cannibals now - there are rumors of secret visits to Market by Raudaur the shield and the ax of Factory. My scouts tell me they have made several trips to the slavers’ base on skis, with minimal weapons. It would be time for us to send a delegation to the place to find out what our future will be like in Lage”