This is what I was thinking of to kick things off for each character. If they're okay with everyone, I'll get the threads started.  :-)<br/><br/><br/>Kisara:<br/><br/><em>Lilan, the captain of the <strong>Dragon's Wake</strong> was starting to regret many choices she'd made. Some of them were distant--taking over the captainship of the vessel when the previous holder had been eaten by a siaka, moving into the abundant smuggling trade going in and out of the Azure Sea--but others were more recent. Chief among them was not asking more questions when the mysterious woman had approached them in Jiara and asked for passage, while not seeming too bothered about where the passage was to.<br/><br/>None of that was unusual--Lilan had figured her for a deserter from the Imperial legions, out to vanish into the Threshold. And that wasn't anything she found objectionable.  But now she was having second thoughts, because--<br/><br/>"See it? There on the horizon?" she asks her guest, pointing behind the ship, to the solid blot behind them, the unfurled sails bearing the symbol of House Peleps. "They normally ignore small fry like us! Any idea why we've got a Realm warship snapping at our heels?"<br/></em><br/><br/><br/>Hungry Mouse:<br/><br/><em>It's not been an easy journey through the hillside. The terrain is rugged and dry, the vegetation thinning out until there are few places to hide, find food or to take shelter from the sun overhead. But the people filing across the dry land do not die easily, nor do they give up. They are a motley lot--there are few young men and women among them, most of their number being the aged or young--the ones who would not be the first choice for war. Once one of the People of the Stag, they do not know what to call themselves now. These new lands are strange, and there have been close calls with ghosts or with beastfolk. But they have faith that their new leader will find--or earn--a name for them.<br/><br/>For how can you fail, when a warrior of the Sun leads you?<br/><br/>Water is scarce on the trail, so when the scouts reported a natural spring bubbling up from the rock, it was an obvious place to stop. But the only problem is the walled village that jealously guards it--and which announced their presence with a motley but hardened militia of archers greeting you at the entrance to the valley, the suspicion palpable in the air at these sudden new arrivals.<br/><br/>For a moment, nobody speaks.<br/></em><br/><br/><br/>Talion / Tolina:<br/><br/><em>Some thefts are tempting because of the rich rewards. Others are tempting because of the challenge. In the case of Maur-Azur's temple, they're tempting for both reasons. Wherever there are seas, there will be people seeking to travel them and be protected from them, and the temple of a sea god in a port city never lacks for supplicants and donations. The wealth is evident in how they occupy one of the oldest and grandest buildings of the city, turning the interior into a grand and awe-inspiring testament to the Azure Father. It is also well-guarded<br/><br/>New to this bustling city as you are, the really attention-grabbing rumour was the "priceless offering" that is to be given to the god to secure his favour and goodwill. Whatever that may be, it would surely be a shame to let it just get thrown into the sea tomorrow....right?</em><br/><br/><br/><br/>Zavros:<br/><br/><em>The sun was just beginning to set, and there was the satisfaction of a job well done. Piled into carts, the sacks of fruit and bales of flax represented not just a good harvest, but also the possibility of a respite, the lifting of a weight that had been hovering over the farm for so long it was easy to forget it was there. This was what would allow the farm to pay off their debt to the Guild. It had been an effort not just from the family that lived there, but also from the nearby village. People out on the coast looked out for each other--after all, it was more than they had ever been able to expect from the rulers of the city.<br/><br/>It was a rare moment of respite after the frenzied activity of the past , a chance to simply sit down and enjoy the view. To one side, the sea stretched out, the pure blue marked with gold by the sunbeams passing across the water. Ships drift along in the distance, and to the other, the hills cupped the little valley like protective hands. Water gathered behind dams flowed from there to supply the farms, and they served as a barrier from the outside world.<br/><br/>But the outside world is not where the threat will come from.....</em>