The decision of the Grand Moot was a compromise between the more aggressive and more defensive options; a unified effort to neutralize the Mordok threat in the Great Forest would be the first step. Following this, defensive structures would be built and protected along the border of the Dirge Swamp by smaller settlements across Mardrun while the larger clans and colonies would send troops north to push the Mordok back further than ever before. Clan Steinjottun has taken the lead on pressing through the Great Forest, coordinating with the smaller factions to herd the Mordok into waiting ambushes like the true hunters they are. Other clans are still preparing for the massive venture ahead of them: stores are nearly emptied from Clan Goldenfield to supply the warriors; Ironmound forges have burned nonstop since the moot; Whiteoak and Shattered Spear welcome warriors from the southern clans as they prepare to march north. Warleaders have assembled and begun to discus strategy for the coming assault. Preparations like this have not been seen on Mardrun before, and without the Riverhead catalyst to unite them, Only the Great Wolf knows if they will again.
Further to the south, Clan bickering remains steady, particularly between Stormjarl and Grimward. Wounded honor and scorched homes still sting to the warriors of Clan Stormjarl, who has demanded justice ever since Clan Nightriver put forth the treaty to Clan Grimward to end the Civil War. With attention being forced northwards, however, Grimward has been more dismissive than ever of these claims, using their numbers and military to remind Clan Stormjarl of the need to focus on the Mordok, rather than territory disputes. Honor, according to Grimward’s emissaries, demands Stormjarl’s presence in the Swamp; a point Stormjarl will not publicly deny. Veiled threats have been leveled by Clan Stormjarl, though, that once the fighting to the north is finished, they will take back the land they once owned.
Excited civilians from New Aldoria continue to make the trek to Aylin’s Reach, building new lives for themselves in a land they can call their own. This has not been sitting well with many officials of Newhope, who had hoped that the acquisition of New Aldoria’s land in Nightriver territory would lead to a substantial influx of tax money to be used to continue to improve their many settlements. Now, with so many residents abandoning the city for a more autonomous life in Aylin’s Reach, tax collectors to the city have been returning relatively empty-handed and very flustered.