It's done, loyal subjects of the Queen! Thanks to you, all Retainers will get their portrait done by the greatest artist in Halloway, Al Lukehart. We won't pretend this wasn't the goal we were hoping to achieve, so we are deeply grateful that you've made it possible.

But there are still ten days to go, and before we unveil another Backdrop from the alternate map of Halloway, we'd like to look back at one of the places from the original map.

Claypit, the Town of Free Golems, inspired a standalone little game for the first edition of Our Queen Crumbles: The Golems of Claypit, by Jason Brown & Adam Vass. It's a one-page experience that uses the same character-revelation mechanics designed for Our Queen Crumbles, with a lighter tone and a smaller-scale story. We'd love to add a copy of it to the boxed set, as a pamphlet or digital freebie with every pledge.

We'd love to help you revisit this place. But we also have new lands in store for you.

One of Halloway's most enigmatic, mysterious institutions, the House of Grey Magick rises at the heart of a vast expanse, kept shrouded by ancient spells under a thick veil of fog. Its warding circles keep the mists at bay, and the lighthouse-tower is a beacon to traverse the misty lands, only visible to those who are allowed to reach it.
The House is both academy and tribunal: here scholar study ancient art of pactmagick, the formation and application of powerful binding magick contracts. Agreements are made and broken here, and the great Library of Pacts preserves the memory of oaths spoken in the darkness of the Cresset Age, before the first Queen ever sat on the Twin Ring Throne.

The court grows again! All thanks to you, loyal subjects of the Queen, and your willingness to honor her memory with us.

Now the game box, the final vessel of her story, will be enriched by gilded details, as is appropriate for a royal. And four new Retainers have a portrait to show off with pride. We won't let the last four stay in hiding, right? Let us introduce them with one last art achievement.

And with them, we also want to introduce one of the new Backdrops for your journey through Halloway.

Ages ago, the Lakebed Nomads werecursed to live below the surface of the great lake of Halloway. Their procession still walks the depths, marking the borders of the Lakebed Lands.
For the most part, surface-dwellers may only glimpse it from above-- but a whirlpool at the heart of the lake provides a portal through the waters, and the great bazaar on the lake's only island allows for trade with the surface. Somewhere down below, the clang of still rings through the waters: this is the Lady's Forge, where cold-iron blades are shaped by the pressure of the abyss.

Our Court grows with four new Retainer portraits! Thanks to your extraordinary support, we have  crowned our first Achievement and can offer you a new goal to meet. Not just four more Retainer portaits for the Fractured Soothsayer, the Hexed Baronet, the Princess of Lyres and the Shrouded Watcher, but a new finish for the boxed set: we've always wanted to splurge on gilded details to embellish the cover, and this is the perfect chance to make them a reality. All in honor of our Queen!

As promised earlier, however, we'd like to take this chance to explore one of the new Backdrops that populate the alternate map of Halloway. This is not the final text you will read on your map sheet, but here's the little preview we shared with Al Lukehart so they could imagine the new map:

Skywalk Burgh is the closest location to the Lonely City, and an extension of its pastures. An ancient burgh is split in half by the two ends of a chasm, with a great bridge crossing the abyss: this is the highway leading into the capital of Halloway.
In the middle of the bridge is a castle, a lodging for the nobles waiting for an audience with the Queen. The two sides of the burgh, divided by the chasm, have a fierce rivalry: the farmers and artisans are in constant competition. The staples of local crafters are red and white wine respectively, and the two cliff faces have been terraced and cultivated with vineyards. One red, one white. The rivalry culminates in a yearly day of contests, The Red-White Tournament— or White-Red, depending on which side of the town you ask— the two sides competing for the honor of getting to stock the pantries of Skywalk Castle.

Keep an ear out for the Queen's heralds and get ready to explore the rest of Halloway. And help us spread her proclamations in every corner of the land, so that we can provide a stately portrait to even more Retainers!