Event synopsis: Break the Ice
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and the snow hides great dangers
in this realm of snow.
The gods have watched over these
rarely-visited cliffs for a thousand years.
Smoke rises gently from chimneys in this peaceful land,
its tranquility broken by a great train rushing through.
Winter is Coming
Under the invitation by Enciodes Silverash, the Doctor takes a winter vacation to the mountainous nation of Kjerag. They have Aurora and Sharp as their bodyguards and members of Karlan Trade as their guide. With that said, the gang are ready for a happy trip, and everything seems peaceful enough.
Up on the temple of the sacred Mount Karlan, there is the meeting of the Tri-Clan Council. But the atmosphere seems tense. Arctosz Paleroche and Ratatos Browntail, leaders of the conservative families, accuse the Silverashes for breaching their territories recently with their factories and railroads and mining the sacred mountain, an offense to their goddess Kjeragandr. In response, Enciodes has fired Gnosis Edelweiss, once his best colleague, who is responsible for the planning. However, this does not satisfy the others; they insist to have the Silverashes hand over their sovereignty of the valley and quarry regions and to banish them from the Council forever. Luckily, Enciodes makes a great move—to crown the Karlan Saintess, his estranged sister Enya Silverash, as the head of state so that she can decide on the matters of the country, a surprising moment since the ascension of Kjeragandr a few thousand years ago. Out of respect for the Saintess, the Paleroches and Browntails unanimously agreed.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and his gang are strolling down the streets to enjoy the upcoming Grand Ceremony, a festival meant to commemorate Kjeragandr. Suddenly, they are surrounded by General Gulo and soldiers of the Paleroches. Little did the Doctor know that the "invitation" is in fact a lie; they are expected to help Enciodes survey his land and set up medical facilities. As part of the decisions made in the Council, the Doctor and the Rhodes Island fellows must be under the Paleroches' supervision. In turn, the R.I. gang willingly follow their orders, but they will also keep their eyes on the families' moves.
After being fired by Enciodes, the frustrated Gnosis approaches the Browntails. He wishes to make an alliance with Ratatos so that the Browntails will not fall into Enciodes' trap as well as taking vengeance against him. In turn, he will make the Browntails great again through the victory in the struggle. As an opportunist, Ratatos accepts him, and her sister Sciurus orders her servant Monch to carry out the plan.
And so the snowflake is about to cause an unexpected avalanche.
Song of Frost and Snow
Visionary or Madman?
The Grand Ceremony for this year will be a unique one. Not only it is the day for the coronation of the Karlan Saintess, but a series of unexpected incidents will ignite a potential disaster.
During the Holy Hunt, a royal hunt for the legendary "Tschäggättäs", Enya and the three families are ambushed by a band of warriors. Meanwhile, Monch approaches Enciodes and is intending to assassinate him. Although Enciodes and the rest bravely suppress the attack and arrest Monch, this already ruins the day. For the Kjeragian common folk, such a tragedy signifies a bad omen.
On the day of the coronation, the three families are to pay annual tribute to the Great Elder, representative of the Vine Bear Court and the Saintess. They also bring in Monch and are about to cast judgment on her. Fearing that Monch's identity will threaten the Browntails, Sciurus surrenders herself for the crime and her husband Yucatan is taken into custody while trying to stop her. Just then, the Great Elder suddenly falls into coma caused by some poison in the wine, and to make the matter worse, the wine is a tribute from the faithful Paleroches. Gnosis appears in the midst of the chaos and proclaims to stop Enciodes in the Browntails' name, but he is immediately arrested through the hands of Enciodes' bodyguard Degenbrecher. Seeing themselves being falsely accused, the two families rally their forces against Enciodes. Enciodes strikes back by bringing in his "Tschäggättäs" a band of special forces, forcing the two families to retreat.
It turns out all is in Enciodes' playbook. While appearing to be foes since his termination on the outside, Gnosis and Enciodes actually made a political "show" in secret so that they could find ways to tarnish the names of the two families; even Gnosis' "termination" is to protect him from his enemies. Gnosis had also used this opportunity to infiltrate the Browntails to make it crumble from the inside through distrust and to secretly bring in the "Tschäggättäs" from Victoria, while providing the very poison in the wine to Valais, the general of the Paleroches who holds grudges against the Court. Enciodes will then launch a coup d'état during the Grand Ceremony. In the aftermath, he even has his forces stationed at Mount Karlan in the name of protecting the Saintess and Elder and portrays himself as the people's hero by proclaiming the families' guilt and his heroism publicly. Enciodes' ultimate goal is simple: to make himself the sole ruler of Kjerag and further Kjerag's modernization.
Cold War
For the Browntails, the false accusation makes them distrust the other families. Not accepting her defeat, Ratatos decides to die together with Enciodes by trapping themselves inside a burning house. There, Ratatos expresses the Browntails' wish to join the country's reformation that was held back by the the conservatism of their predecessor Luca Browntail. She also voices out her disgust by Karlan Commercial's action of monopolizing the nation's economy for the past seven years, causing the country to go astray from Kjeragandr's teaching. In turn, Enciodes persuades her that everything he is doing is to prevent a potential Gallic downfall of Kjerag and even invites her to take part in the grand ambition when everything is over. The two are eventually rescued by Degenbrecher and Sciurus, and the Browntails admit their loss unwillingly for now.
As for the Paleroches, the defeat is a humiliation of their genuine faith in Kjeragandr. Yet they find another ally—the R.I. gang. Arctosz believes that only the Doctor could stop Enciodes from polluting the sacred land. In turn, they agree that the Silverashes are about to start an unnecessary civil war in the country. Joining with the Browntails' forces, Arctosz and the Doctor will command the army to Mount Karlan and rescue Enya from the hands of the Silverashes, while the rest conducts a rescue mission on Yucatan. Meanwhile, a storm is gathering around the Snow Realm, as if the wrath of Kjeragandr has once again descended onto Kjerag as disappointment of Her people.
A Realm Thawed
Inside the temple of Mount Karlan, tensions are building up as well. Just like her brother, Enya has been wishing to reform the nation's faith using her status as the Saintess. However, for the Great Elder, faith is the only way to pacify the people, and reformations means breaking the peace. During the last moment of his life, the Great Elder gives Enya his last teaching of retaining Kjerag's generation-old faith while staying away from the outside world. However, Enya refuses, stating that she has the responsibility to end this conflict using her role as the Saintess.
Indeed, with numerous sources of help, Enya successfully ends a potential civil war. Under the encouragement of both her younger sister Ensia, who secretly sneaks into the temple, and the Court's chief maid Kjera, she reaffirms her decision. While she is descending from Mount Karlan, Kjera provides her aid too by casting a little "miracle." Dark clouds make way for the Saintess; the chilled blizzard stops howling. All the warriors of the three families including even Enciodes, the Saintess' brother, have to bow in front of her. It is like the retelling of a centuries-old legend where the Saintess once pacified the battlefield.
And thus, the "Snow Realm Incident" comes to a conclusion. Enya successfully takes the throne, and she has since been actively opening up the country by accepting foreign believers into the Kjeragian faith. Arctosz has resigned from his position as the head of the Paleroches out of respect for the Saintess, while Ratatos and her family begin their journey to the outside world. The Silverashes take the role of the head of the Tri-Clan Council and continue their modernization of the country. Gnosis accepts to be Enciodes' representative to Rhodes Island, but also learns that Monch left him. As for the Doctor... while Enciodes and Karlan Commercial apologize for using them, better to have another peaceful vacation next time.