Burrowowl

The Shield of Ord, Midfast is a city truly vital to the security of its nation. Situated at the most navigable pass between Merin and Khador, Midfast has spent centuries as a vital byway of trade and a critical choke-point denying northern aggression. This city has been the scene of numerous seiges, the most famous of which culminated with the ascencion of Markus, the Morrowan patron ascendant of soldiers. To this day, national defense is the primary concern of Midfast.

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File under “Ordic National Board of Tourism”

Nestled between Cygnar, Khador, and the Sea of a Thousand Souls, Ord has ever had a fine naval tradition. What many do not know, though, is the pastoral splendor of our inland valleys, hills, and moors. Though not endowed with the rich mineral deposits of some other lands, Ord is a country steeped in history and culture.

The six Gravs of Ord are ruled by Baird Cathor II, the Bandit King. He has led our country with a skillful hand for over thirty years now, navigating the treacherous waters of international diplomacy and internal politicking with grace and cunning. It is his tact, wit, and guile that have kept Ord both strong and well-clear of the conflicts that presently embroil the other nations of Immorren. Three Lord Castellans and three Moorgraves govern the Gravs of Ord directly, setting local policies as they see fit, with interference from the throne only when necessary.

It is said that the law has a different meaning in Ord, with a storied history of brigandry and piracy going back since before the Orgoth invasion. It could be said that Ordic folk treasure their freedom perhaps a bit too much. From Grav to Grav, and even from town to town, law enforcement varies greatly with the dilligence, competance, and corruption of its leaders. The city of Five Fingers is particularly noted for its lack of governmental oversight and prosperous black market, while the city of Midfast sees very little crime with its preponderance of military personnel. Justice is served by three-judge panels that convict by unanimous vote. Those accused of crimes are considered guilty unless they can prove otherwise, and judges are given a great deal of discretion regarding punishments, which often involves some degree of flogging, or forced labor. Capital crimes are traditionally dealt with by hanging, drowning, or gibbeting.

Ord is the site of several significant religious centers, including the monastery and tomb of Ascendant Markus, Ascendant Gordenn’s tomb, and the Mor Cathedral, built on the site where Ascendant Doleth is said to have departed on his last sea voyage. The church of Morrow is highly active in Ord, though a minority of folk still worship Menoth here.

Ocean trade is the life-blood of Ord on an international scale, with her fleets of skilled sailors and canny merchants. Trade gives rise to currency, and Ord mints its own in accordance with the Corvis Treaties:

• The Blackpenny is roughly equivalent in value to the Cygnaran Farthing, and is struck in copper, and are thusly named due to the minting process leaving them darker in hue than other similar coins.
• A Half-galleon is equal in value to five Blackpennies, and is literally a silver Galleon cut in half. Blackpennies and Half-galleons are the most commonly-used currency amongst the commoners of Ord.
• The Galleon is struck in silver and is roughly the same in value as a Cygnaran Shield. The Galleon’s obverse has a vertical crease that makes chopping it in half quite easy.
• A Silverweight is a large coin struck in silver, and worth two full Galleons.
• The Royal is a coin struck in gold, equivalent to the Khadoran Talon or Cygnaran Crown.

Ordic coin has been plagued by a reputation for shaving, underweight castings, impurities, and counterfeiting, and as a result many merchants prefer Cygnaran currency for moderate and large-scale trade.

I don’t travel a lot. I’ve been out of the country four times, and visited the east coast of the United States twice. I make an occasional road-trip to the Sierra Nevadas. Last weekend, I took a family trip down to Long Beach, California. As has happened to me before at Oakland International Airport, my boarding pass, and that of my wife, were marked for secondary screening. We had gone through secondary screening before, and thought it mildly odd that we would get the extra scrutiny twice out of our past two trips. Imagine my surprise when we are again marked for secondary screening on our way back from Long Beach, CA, a scant four days later.

We asked the screener at Long Beach what might have marked us, as we seem to be getting inspected more carefully than your typical traveler. “I don’t know, the computer does it,” he replied. He continued, as we were asking in a more conversational tone than anything else: “did you get one-way tickets?” No, they were round-trip. “Hmm, did you pay for them in cash, or same-day?” No, we ordered our tickets online a few weeks ahead of time. “I don’t know, then; it’s supposedly random.”

Now I don’t have any reasonable expectation that the guy that waves the metal-detector wand at your genitals is going to have an intimate knowledge of the methods and theory behind the “you’re singled out for special attention” algorithm, so I let it slide. No reason to ruin the guy’s day because we had to take our shoes off and wait for a respectful and gentle pat-down. I spent a fair amount of time on the flight considering what could have gotten me marked.

• My mother reports getting the secondary screening a lot. We share a surname and come from the same place, so whatever is triggering her extra scrutiny may be the same cause for my nuclear family’s.
• I have a personal record for mouthing of on public electronic fora, and have expressed the occasional not-perfectly-aligned-with-the-government viewpoint. Perhaps some system saw me bickering with folks on Sonoma.general and put my name on a list that bled into the TSA database?
• My wife works for the state, in a position that puts her in direct contact with rather intelligent, if sometimes petty, members of the public. Her position also brings her into contact with some rather intelligent, if somewhat ambitious, members of the government. The nature of her position wouldn’t bring her into contact with anybody directly related to the Department of Homeland Security, though, so I would have to rule that out.
• My son, somehow in his 4-month life, may have attempted the violent overthrow of the government. I can’t say for certain, but I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it. He’s just a kid.
• Or, I’m just being mildly paranoid. It’s certainly possible that three of my last four flights have merited extra screening by coincidence.

I’m definitely not on the no-fly-list, or they wouldn’t have given me my boarding pass in the first place. Any additional theories are welcome.