1383

The close of 1382 was marginally more calm in human vs human conflict. Most of central-to-western Europe was now in the Commonwealth of the Magna Carta. The edges of the CMC were peaceful on either fears of being overthrown or conquered, or hopes of negotiating entry.

What peace the humans built between each other, the orks more than made up for. Jumping from the east to the west, they didn't have the same interaction issues with megafauna that humans did, leading to an ability to "domesticate" the likes of dire wolves. This accelerated their spread into areas where there'd been no pigs or wild boar: the western hemisphere. They'd nearly made Kaskaskia by the end of the year.

The orks took their new mobility discovery back to the east as well, ravaging competing orkish tribes in northeast Siberia who hadn't crossed the strait. Soon after, the orks moved south to eventually conquer the Mongolian Yuan.

In Asia, orks were the biggest news – but from Europe, in the newly rebuilt throne room of Westminster, the most disturbing of the *Incidence of Incidents* yet: the *Altercation of the Angels*. An apparent battle between an archangel and several "regular" angels, humanity discovered it was at the heart of a battle for heaven that rivaled the expulsion of Lucifer.

Undoubtedly connected, but uncertain to exactly how, the countryside northwest of Kilkenny, Ireland, was flattened a month later. Some blamed the archangels, some blamed magic for inciting the archangels, some blamed magic itself. The ROM leaned the latter, and said as much, theorizing that somebody had attempted alchemical transmutation of a lead seam – and the impurities caused an explosion.

By the close of 1382, magical automatons were for sale, helping ease the severe labor shortage (and giving cause to abandon slavery). The biggest non-CMC market was former-Mamluk Egypt, which now had intrigues of its own.

Just as the power and potency of magic came roaring back, there was an attempt on the Ricardian Crown by what appeared to be demons. While the crown was silent on the affair, the narrative was spread by witnesses. Beyond all the earthly politics, there was some hesitation on buying in to the CMC when their enemies included *demons*. On the other hand, not only had they beaten those demons – when it came to identity politics, being hated by demons was a powerful endorsement.

## **World Events**

* **March:** Dan I succeeds his father as Prince of Wallachia. He is the ancestor of the House of Dăneşti.
* **April:** the last remnants of the House of Osman falls in Anatolia to the competing Beyliks of Aydin on the west coast, Karaman on the southeast, and Candar on the north coast (along the Black Sea).
* **May:** Rao Chanda succeeds Rao Biram Dev, as Rathore ruler of Marwar (western India).
* **June:** Löwenbräu beer is first brewed.
* **July:** The Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Temple is built in present-day Thailand, by King Kuena of Lanna.

## **The Sphere of Magic**

### **January**

* **The Kingdom of Henan:** the 250 Chinese survivors of the diplomatic missions were trained as SA and sent back to China. They knew what to expect, they'd been in contact with the emergency SA platoon that had gone in to assist Zhu Biao, but it was still amazing to find an island of tranquility among the devastation of orks and plague-carrying undead. What it shrunk to was now a stable, well-defended kingdom in roughly the borders of the former Province of Henan. The new Ming OM SA now expanded that success over the borders of Henan in the beginning of a process to reclaim China from the forces of destruction.
* **Retirement of the Drums:** another marker in the rise of communications magic, audio transmission had evolved to the point that they could transmit and receive without a wand. This allowed the Royal Arms to create speakers hooked into soldier helmets, bypassing traditional battlefield instructions like drums or horns. While those pitched-battle tools were already on the way out, it was something of a culture shock to not have the rhythm of the drums.

* **Merger of the Iberian Crowns:** Peter IV, King of Aragon, House of Barcelona, pledged his allegiance to John of Gaunt, King of Castile. It was a peaceful affair, performed at the behest of Peter IV, who accepted the demotion from a kingdom to a Grand Duchy of Iberia, thus ensuring the solvency and survival of the House of Barcelona. Some interests, especially in Greece, were reassigned, though the continental titles were retained and Peter earned his *Royal Recompense* by agreeing to integrate peacefully. It was considered a win-win situation.

### **February**

* **Ensuring Portugal's Future:** After the dissolution of the Kingdom of Aragon into a united *Crown of Iberia*, the Kingdom of Portugal agreed to follow suit, becoming the Grand Duchy of Portugal on the west coast of now-unified Iberia. Similar settlements and recompense passed hands, and the Grand Duchy of Portugal was now rich beyond description and had ensured their future access to a magically-driven economy and common defense.

* **The Principality of Thrace:** The House of Palaiologos surrendered the little power and symbolic titles remaining of the Empire of Byzantium to Prince Edmund *of the Aegean*. Likewise, Murad and sons were caught flat-footed in Edirne, effectively ending the House of Osman. In its place, Edmund was connecting territories scattered through the Aegean into a cohesive, contiguous polity.

### **March**

* **First Circumnavigation:** The *HMS Discovery*, under the command of Captain Theodore Hamton, arrives in London, completing the first full circumnavigation of the world.
* **Magic Construction Methods:** The magical construction methods of the CCC was already famous across Europe, if only for creating a throne room that could contain the fight between angels. While the CCC defined the giant-scale building, magic was trickling into every sphere, including the small artisan and craftsman level – and construction was the perfect example, from using magically-spawned water in concrete mix to the magic motors in the mixers, to things like magical hammers that relied on some of the same principles as arcane weapons technology.
* **Henan Builds Up Its Neighbors:** In the three months since the arrival of the *Company*, the sorties had taken the fight to the orks. They weren't in a position to impose imperial rule, there simply wasn't enough humanity or infrastructure left to do it, but there were conversations about establishing separate kingdoms and rebuilding towards whatever the future offered. Following roughly the logic of previous provinces, Zhu Biao was rebooting the region as China 2.0

### **April**

* **First Easterly Circumnavigation:** The *HMS Explorer*, under the command of Captain Sebastian Langford, arrives in London, completing the second full circumnavigation of the world, and the first headed in an easterly direction.
* **The Royal Republic of Olympus:** This unified the patchwork of regional polities into one cohesive sovereignty. Led by Prince Edmund, the RRO stretched from the Peloponnese north and east across traditionally Greek lands, with the far anchor through Thrace and Constantinople – as well as all the island in between. There was now another CMC anchor in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the effect it had on Eastern European politics was profound.

### **May**

* The**Discord of Heaven:** a year after the Altercation of the Angels, and six months after the consensus-decided demonic attempt on King Rick's life, the Archangels inscribe the message "May God have mercy on your souls" on places of worship around the world. While this sounds ominous and many groups prepare for "the end," the non-arcane healing miracles are still accessible to the Jesuits and Sufis. This muddies the water on the nature of the angels' relationship to God.

* **An Ice-Cold Feeling:** Another "magical miracle," the patents and standards were approved for making things cool. The arcane invention had been played with by the OM for at least the last six years, but now it was entering the general market. This was a solid-state, magically-driven process that could create different grades of cold, from a low-energy "cool" suitable for living spaces, storing easily-spoiled food or even making ice cubes.
* **Dual-Pathology Undead:** in the Chinese kingdom of Henan, the Ming and liaison SA were able to pick out patterns as their operations reached into the ruins of neighboring provinces. The orks were following pretty much what orks do, but the undead had a special pathology, connected to the airborne-transmission plague. Nor was this just opportunistic undeath atop microbial infection, but rather the infection that carried vectors for both death and undeath.

### **June**

* **The Opening of the Sinai Canal:** What might've been called the Suez Canal in another timeline, a magically-dug and constructed lockless canal is built from the Red Sea, through the Salt Valley and up to Arish on the Mediterranean. The path follows the agreed border between Zion and Egypt. The construction concludes an 18-month project that drew pilgrims from Morocco to India to watch the spectacle of magic-made sand tornadoes dig the canal and rivers of molten sand seal the channel.

* **Foundation of the Inca Royal Republic:** The nascent components of the Inca culture, centered in the Peruvian highlands and spread down much of the Andean mountains, united to form the Inca Royal Republic. With guidance and assistance from the RANP and the OM, the IRR implemented their own Magna Carta and entered the *Commonwealth* a mere day later. The lower WestHem had minimal CMC intervention or development at this point, and the IRR would take point for the CMC on regional development, as well as monitoring and responding to *Incidence of Incidents*.

### **July**

* **Food Logistics:** Calorization (and other) processes enter wide availability. While many had been invented some years prior, only now was the standardization and patenting finalized. A dozen other processes follow the precedent, especially in regards to food preparation, such as freeze-drying.
* **Henan's Magna Carta:** Zhu Biao's Chinese kingdom saw infinite wisdom in the Magna Carta, though fully customized it with the collective cultural experience of all the dynasties up to that point. With a local MC in place, the CMC had now had the political trust to increase magical aid to Biao's people.
* **The Gates of Brissac:** In Anjou, five portals were opened to create a Western European instant-travel network. With Brissac as the hub, the five spokes brought distribution to key NP baronies of Calais (northern France), Brest (northwestern Aquitaine), Gibraltar (southern Iberia), Basel (northeast Arelat), and Santa Maria di Leuca (southern tip of the Italian boot). Also potentially usable by Regiments, the biggest travel set were unaffiliated local merchants and a rising class of tourists.

### **August**

* **Eschatus:** the war of the angels begins. In short, sporadic battles, mostly in the skies above, there are brilliant battles that seem like lightning storms. Blasts are sometimes seen and heard for dozens of miles, and in some cases, it flattens structures and trees on the surface. Much of the world reasonably sees this as *the Coming of the End*.

* **Evolution of the Sky Cultures:** the war of the angels had a significant impact on the beliefs of humankind, especially those who deified celestial aspects or conflated a theological heaven with the cosmological heavens. This included every religion on earth to a small degree, but for some, was profoundly influential in mitigating mystification of the sky.
* **The Archangela Strain:** Even as the Gods themselves were battling in the sky above, the SA/OM kept fighting beneath them. By the end of August, the portal traffic between Aquitaine and Henan was a two-way highway. The orks were a major threat, but were a tactical challenge. The plague and undeath had been the major concern, and the mystics and RANP combined had sacrificed themselves at an alarming rate looking at the pathology... *then one key breakthrough:* **a cure to the airborne plague**.

### **September**

* **The War of the Fallen:** In what appears to be a diversionary tactic, "entities" attack humanity. The attacks are devastating, especially away from OM/SA or Jesuit/Sufi-patrolled areas, drawing the "regular angels" into responding. There are battles that lay waste to dozens of villages and towns, and in the case of York, England, at least one major city. Celestial search-and-destroy missions wreak havoc in China, Egypt and the Inca region – but draw strong CMC defense and counterattacks.

* **The first human flight:** the Inca culture had long been smitten with the dream of flight. With their own RANP chapter, the focus had been particular to lower WestHem challenges – *except one: Flight.* The banner project was realized in the immediate wake of sky-borne attacks, using the principle of thermodynamics to give lift up and away from the ground. Completely "mundane," magic was just a step behind as the first humans to soar in the sky under their own power were from the proud Inca.

### **October**

* **The Kingdom of Henan joins the CMC:** the Chinese sanctuary kingdom, led by king Zhu Biao, joins the *Commonwealth of the Magna Carta*. The provisional kingdoms of Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui were likely to follow soon. Now in the CMC, Henan's military training and equipment entered *Regimental* capacity. First, though, the overall CMC was engaged in a portal-based race to evacuate humanity from areas where the angels were in combat. It appeared the archangels may have seen the portal activity and started a tactical withdrawal.
* **Arcane Medicinals for sale:** The Royal Arms had been the experimental test subjects for a curative based on a magical proxy of key metabolic functions. The primarily function mimicked oxygenated blood, but also accelerated natural healing of wounds by roughly by a factor of 500. Consumed or applied to wounds, it saved lives.

### **November**

* **General Use Cleaning Wands**: the OM released wands capable of being used by the untrained. In a plague-filled world, cleanliness was next to godliness, so this was a significant step forward not simply in domestic engineering, but overall sanitation – as well as fostering a new level of arcane acceptance for those still wary of magic. The subtext, however, was the mundane actuation. How long until somebody found a way to release a "wand of fireballs"?

* **The Noble Plantagenet assumes Xining:** with the blessing of King Biao of Henan, the NP secured then assumed the area around Xining (most recently of the Gansu province when there had been human habitation). NP Xining became a major target for regional orks, drawing a great deal of heat away from Henan's western borders.

### **December**

* **First Magical Human Flight:** Closer to bird than balloon, and mechanically more like a solid-state helicopter, lift and thrust is achieved entirely with magic. The disadvantages: it is dependent entirely on how much magical charge it's carrying, and it burns through it fast. The advantages: fuel can be field-expedient and equipment failure is far more forgiving that relying on aerodynamics.
* **The Viking Vortex:** After Sweden's continued violation of magical import-export laws, the Ricardian Crown assumes Sweden+Finland, performs a lightning A&R and hands the crowns over and the Scandinavian Houses of Bjelbo/Estridsen (the extant Danish-Norwegian Crown). Rick remains a significant landowner/noble in Sweden/Finland and there is movement towards regional Magna Cartas and eventual induction into the CMC.