A report regarding the situation of the Failsafe Device within Iver Volcano

Penned by Ser Hittori Nappara-Bo, Baron of Iver, knight of the Order of Avalon.
Gathering 1124

Considering how the situation has now escalated within the lands under my purview, I felt it was necessary to pen my thoughts and fully explain the details as I know them for all those of Albion. To provide some context for the matter of how the Failsafe Device, the Silver Golem army, and the city of Axiom came to be, I shall start this note from the early beginnings.

When I was given the title of Baron of Iver, I did what I could to ensure the people of the land were made familiar with me, as I am very conscious I can cause some come concerns based on my demeanour as well as my image. I was already made aware that within the lands of Iver, there was a volcano as part of the mountain range to the north, separating Iver from Warwick. Due to my time spent in the lands of Nihon previously, a somewhat volcanic isle, I took what I had learned from those people and put in place measures to ensure that the people of Iver would be kept safe in case of the most dire possibility the volcano should erupt. Although I was reliably informed the volcano had been dormant for some time, it is always wise to expect the unexpected. It was unfortunate that these measures had to be enacted, but as this report will show, I am pleased that I had done so.

Some time after settling into my role of Baron, around the time of the Gathering of 1122 I was informed that there was news of rumblings coming from the volcano and mountains of Iver. I quickly enacted the plans I had previously put in place, and spoke with Spineshank, Mayor of Londinium, and Admiral Carlotta regarding assisting with refugees from my lands.

Upon further investigation, and due to discussions I had been having with the Armourer’s Guild, I was informed soon afterwards that the reason for this rumbling was not due to the volcano becoming active, but in fact due to the awakening of something called the Failsafe Device.

According to the information I had been given at the time, this device hailed from the era of the Empire and had been unwillingly awakened by the Armourers as part of their actions regarding a book they had obtained. Unfortunately, this device is something called a Creation Engine, and is sited within something called the Bastion deep within the volcano of Iver.

To say I was unhappy about this revelation would be somewhat of an understatement on my behalf, but I understood the potential danger this device represented, and knowing the people had been evacuated already helped me rest a little easier.

Unfortunately, it seemed this news was merely the best of what I was to learn in the coming months regarding the Failsafe device.

For those of you reading this report, the purpose of this Failsafe Device is purely focused towards the recreation of the old Empire. To enact this purpose, it has the ability to create a veritable army of Silver Golems. Note that even though they have been named this, they are in fact made of steel material.

Since hearing about this Failsafe Device, I was soon being informed of sightings of these Silver Golems appearing around the mountain range in Iver. Obviously I was becoming more and more concerned about this new threat to the lands of Albion, and decided to work closely with the Armourers Guild to find a way of shutting down the device.

However, matters appeared to escalate at a much quicker pace than I could have imagined. I was informed that the Failsafe Device had sent envoys to the Armourers Guild, demanding the return of the book noted previously. The Armourers refused, and attempted to give commands to shut down. The Failsafe did not recognise their authority, regardless of being the progression of the original Toolmakers Guild. Further to this, due to having Imperial remnants within the Gryphons faction, this was explored as a possibility at shutting the device down, but once again it did not recognise its authority. Unfortunately, as a result of these actions, a declaration of war was presented against the Armourers Guild and the Gryphons Faction by the Envoys of the Failsafe Device.

I do not have access to the full details of this declaration, nor the treaty that was signed as part of this declaration, but I was informed that each side to the war should nominate a General as well as a Capital, each of which would be considered high value targets, and once taken or defeated would result in that side losing within the war.

I should note, at this time, it was becoming more and more apparent what level of power the Failsafe Device has access to. As part of the treaty, it was noted that each side would not utilise the powers of “Chain Ritual Blasting”, which I believe is not something the people of Erdreja has been able to do for some time. In addition, we were made aware that Failsafe has created different types of Silver Golem, ranging from workers, to warriors, but most dangerous of all are the Witnesses. These are able to read people’s memories, as well as the ability to replace or remove those memories. We have also become aware they have the ability to perform Imperial Creed Conditioning.

I was informed later that the Gryphons faction had decided to use this declaration of war as an opportunity. They had nominated one of their enemies as their General, as well as a city of unliving – I believe this was called Neopolis, but this needs confirming – as their Capital, thinking they would slow down the Silver Golem army and remove an enemy at the same time. Events however appeared to go very differently.

Firstly, the city, which the Gryphons had been trying for many years to clear, was razed to the ground in a single day. In addition, the enemy that they had nominated, Iskander, was recognised by Failsafe to be an Emperor in Ascendance.

At this point, it was becoming clear just how powerful the Failsafe Device, and the Silver Golem army really was.

As the Failsafe Device appears to work very particularly on the wording of contracts, the Gryphons claimed that they had in fact not yet lost in this war, as the Golem army had left behind some infrastructure of the city, plus as the general was not considered eligible, they had to nominate a new General. I was informed that this would be a Gryphon called Scipio.

The time is now approaching the Gathering of 1123, and the situation above is looking to be more dire. Having been made aware of how dangerous this device could be, but also realising that the Harts could not simply take military action against it without a much greater risk of being drawn into a war in which we had no treaty, I took it upon myself to ensure the Armourers were doing all they can alongside the Gryphons to destroy or defeat the Failsafe.

I was then saddened to be informed, following a scouting part to Iver, that the golem army – or as it now seems, a version capable of changing the lands – had simply flattened an entire mountain to the ground. To what purpose, we did not know, but this would become apparent at the start of 1124.

It was upon my return from the Winter Campaign period, that I was informed that the Silver Golems had not been idle. They had been sending envoys out across the lands of Erdreja, inviting citizens to a new city, which they had built on the lands of Iver, called Axiom. This invite, asking all who wished to live in Axiom work free, to travel to Iver. The only rule for acceptance being to meet with a Witness type golem. This was of great concern, as it would mean all citizens arriving would be subject to Imperial Conditioning. We were then able to establish that this city was already receiving citizens from across Erdreja, including an entire city from Viper lands.

At this point, the Armourers, Gryphons, myself and Lord Marshal Jebodia attended a War Council to discuss our options moving forward. At this stage, we agreed we needed more information. One of the results of this discussion was to utilise the Helm of Prydwin. I was told that this can allow people to have visions from the perspective of others within the lands of Albion.

Following a rite using the Helm of Prydwin, which involved members of the Armourers – Susan and Ash – as well as the Harts Lord Marshal, we received some very important information regarding what was happening within this new city. It became apparent that large groups of people were tested via an Enthral effect, although it was noted that this was not performed using any kind of vocal effect. The vision then showed that one person that did not get affected by the Enthral was taken away. It was assumed that this person was immune to mind effects. The visions were then changed to the perspective of this individual, having been taken to a separate room. According to those having the vision, this person was thinking in a way that suggested they had been sent there on purpose, though by whom we do not know. This person was then subject to a much more intense conditioning, which managed to break through the immunity.

These visions unfortunately confirmed that there is still a possibility of suffering the effects of Imperial Conditioning, regardless of some of the highest immunities. Later that event, another side effect was discovered, and we noticed that the Lord Marshal was uncharacteristically showing signs of Imperial Conditioning. Obviously this is highly concerning as this was achieved via a vision. However, Ser Thorin was able to remove this somewhat weaker version of the conditioning.

Since this event took place, more research has been performed regarding the creation of the Failsafe Device. I am afraid to report that this was also not overly good news. According to this further research – I would like to note that Ser Ector Sinclair was key to this – the Failsafe device was never built or designed to be shut off. In addition, due to the power that was used to create the device, if we had the power to destroy it, it would be high enough to potentially destroy a large part of Albion itself. Obviously this is an avenue I wish to avoid. The positive part of this research was that we have been able to establish that the Failsafe Device utilises something called Memory Crystals to create the varying types of Golems for its army, in addition to its main Core. The belief is that if we can destroy or remove these Crystals, this will make the Failsafe Device much less effective, and give a military action a much higher chance of success. Our biggest concern with a military option was the mere nature of a potentially endless army of Golems.

However, a further issue was discovered, in that the chamber in which the Failsafe Device resides, appears to have no physical entrance. The further research noted that the golems have the ability to move through the solid material of the mountain itself to get there. We are now approaching the Summer Moot, and I have become more and more frustrated with what appears to be a lot of information, but very little action regarding this matter. This I voiced at the Armourers meeting of this Moot. As a result, two plans of action were put into place: – To investigate the possibility of sending a small, elite strike force into the Bastion to destroy or remove the memory crystals of the Failsafe Device. In order to do this, an entrance needs to be found. It has been suggested that a device belonging to the Martial Guilds, called the Remembered, could be sent in safely to establish this information. – A combined military action, to be set in place only as a last resort, or to react following the success of the above.

At this time, I am unaware of the progress of the second action above, but I can provide more regarding the first.

The Remembered Device was unfortunately not available for use at the Summer Moot, but I was reliably informed by the Armourers that this would be possible at the Gathering of 1124. This was not to be.

According to the updates I received, all members of the Martial Guilds need to agree to the use of the Remembered. However, an alternative use had been suggested, to which the Armourers disagreed.

However, in the meantime, I had been approached by messengers, asking for permission for a Gryphons scouting party to transport to Iver. This seemed unusual, considering the Gryphons are on a war footing with the Failsafe Device, and this would be a high risk option. I did not feel comfortable giving this permission without some form of military approval, so I involved Ser Thorin, who had recently been promoted to Lord Marshal. He agreed that this seemed unusual so requested further information.

I was then informed, around the time that Arthur Pendragon arrived to present his Quest for the final piece of the Round Table, that this mission had escalated to a Legion Strength army that intended an offensive against the Failsafe Device. This was of high concern as this had never been discussed previously.

Myself, Ser Thorin and others proceeded to the Armourers Guild to confirm that this information was correct, as it was Armourers that had delivered the request for permission. Suffice to say, the Guild was equally as surprised as we were at this new tactic.

Following this, we then decided to visit the camp of the Gryphons to speak to Scipio, the nominated General regarding Failsafe and this new request. Due to his absence at the time, this visit resulted in a discussion with the Lady Gryphon Niobe herself. The result of this conversation turned out to be an embarrassing misunderstanding within the Gryphons themselves. When Scipio arrived to confirm the situation, it became apparent that the reason why the Remembered was not sent on the intended mission to the Bastion, was because he had plans for its use on Gryphon Lands.

As it stands, entering the Winter Campaign period of 1124, the best option I see moving forward, is that we establish how we gain access to the Failsafe device, and disable its means of producing Golems. This will then allow a military action against the remaining army to become more viable.

It has been agreed that any member of the Harts or Albion Military that wish to fight in this conflict, shall do so only while under the banner of the Armourers Guild so as to protect them under the signed treaty.

My further concerns are regarding the citizens of Axiom. When we are able to defeat this Failsafe Device, it is unknown how these conditioned people will respond. I intend to speak to those in the Royal Council as to what their position is regarding these citizens. I will endeavour to provide further updates on this matter to anyone that has an interest. In addition, as part of a further report, I shall attempt to provide details regarding the abilities and possible weaknesses of the Silver Golems.

I hope this report has been able to provide suitable information for those unaware of the situation occurring in the lands of Iver.