ON SNOWMELT 2 OF 1642,

Issued under the authority of the Lady Steward and Council of the Spire,

Albern’s Crossing Outbreak: Eldarhorn

[OOC: For those interested in this eventline, it is DM’d by Ropefish and has a preliminary report written that can be found HERE]

I. On the Recognition of Threat

Let it be known that the affliction presently observed at Albern Crossing—provisionally named Parasitic Mycelioma, or Eldarhorn—is hereby recognized as a matter of public hazard and emergent contagion.

This disease is not merely of rot or spoil, but of parasitic and arcane nature, capable of taking root within living hosts, propagating through death, and extending itself through soil, air, and carrion alike. Evidence suggests infection across livestock, insects, and potentially persons, with signs of further spread through ecological vectors.

Until such time as certainty may be reached, it shall be treated as highly infectious and environmentally persistent.

II. On the Handling of the Dead & Infected

All deceased animals or persons suspected of infection are not to be disturbed. Movement of such bodies has been observed to trigger violent fungal manifestation.

Reports of the following must be treated with urgency:

• Corpses exhibiting movement, bloating, or unnatural breathing
• Black or reddish-black ooze from orifices
• Root-like growths extending into soil

Only authorized personnel equipped with protective coverings are permitted to handle remains. Burning of infected corpses is suspended until further study determines whether such action spreads spores or etheric residue.

III. Signs of Infection in Persons

All citizens are advised to remain vigilant for the following symptoms:

• Persistent coughing, especially with blood
• Itching or irritation of the throat
• Shortness of breath or labored breathing
• Sudden weakness or internal pressure in the chest

Should these signs present, the afflicted must:

• Report immediately to a sanctioned healer
• Avoid enclosed spaces with others
• Wear facial coverings where possible

Early extraction of mycelial growth has proven possible—delay may render it fatal.

IV. Environmental Warnings

The fungus has demonstrated aversion to light and cold, though not complete vulnerability.

It may remain dormant, only to reanimate under favorable conditions.

Soil beneath infected hosts may contain active mycelial spread. Citizens are warned to avoid contact with:

• Disturbed earth near carcasses
• Unusual root formations
• Areas of blackened or dampened ground

V. Research & Compliance

All scholars, healers, and arcanists are encouraged to contribute findings through proper channels. However:

Unauthorized experimentation, mishandling, or concealment of samples shall be treated as gross negligence.

All collected samples must be securely contained and declared to the Office of the Magister, or logged with the Southern Reach Hospital.

Faded Steppes Outbreak: The Scarlet Plague, Morsanguis

[OOC: For those interested in this eventline, it is part of Fractured Campaign! However, Morsanguis lore itself can be found HERE]

I. On the Classification of the Refugee Camp

Those arriving from the Faded Steppes—numbering presently around a hundred, with more expected—are to be regarded not as criminals, but as potential carriers of a high-risk contagion.

Thus, their encampment is designated a Controlled Quarantine Zone under Seneschalty protection. No harm is to befall them, and no contact is to be made without sanction.

II. Isolation & Camp Boundaries

The refugee camp shall be strictly cordoned off at a safe distance from the Spire and all major roads.

No refugee is permitted to leave the camp, nor any citizen permitted to enter, without authorization.

Militia presence shall be established at the perimeter—not to intimidate, but to enforce distance and prevent accidental spread.

Any attempt to breach containment shall be treated as:

• A medical emergency, not a criminal act
• Responded to with restraint, containment, and immediate evaluation

III. Healer Authorization & Protocol

Only designated healers, surgeons, and sanctioned arcanists may enter the camp.

All such personnel must:

• Wear full protective coverings, including mask, gloves, and sealed garments
• Undergo entry and exit cleansing procedures
• Remain within the camp only as long as necessary

Healers must maintain strict observation logs, including:

• Onset of coughs, blood in sputum, or labored breathing
• Cognitive symptoms, including confusion, delayed speech, or mumbling
• Ocular changes, including bloodshot sclera or weeping blood

Any patient entering the Scarlet Cough stage is to be:

• Immediately isolated from the rest of the camp
• Given palliative care only
• Reported without delay

IV. Supply Dead-Drop System

A designated supply checkpoint shall be established outside the camp perimeter.

Supplies are to be delivered and left unattended for a fixed period. Only once militia and couriers have withdrawn may refugees retrieve them.

Returned items, waste, and containers are to be considered contaminated and handled accordingly.

V. Public Advisory

All citizens are advised:

• To avoid all unnecessary travel toward the refugee encampment
• Not to approach, trade with, or attempt to aid refugees directly
• To report any individuals displaying blooded coughs, wheezing breath, sudden frailty, or confusion

Be mindful that early stages may resemble common illness, yet progress swiftly beyond remedy.

Travel Restrictions

[OOC: Read bottom of post for more of an explanation surrounding this]

I. Albern’s Crossing

Albern Crossing is placed under conditional quarantine.

Entry and exit shall remain open, but all travel is subject to monitoring, inspection, and such containment measures as may be deemed necessary. No livestock, carcasses, or agricultural goods are to leave Albern Crossing without inspection and clearance.

Travelers returning from Albern must submit to:

• Physical examination
• Observation for symptoms for no less than one full day
• Cleansing procedures before reintegration

Unauthorized removal of samples, corpses, or materials from the region shall be treated as endangerment of the Spire.

II. Barracks Inspection Checkpoint

A final inspection checkpoint shall be established at the Militia Barracks for all incoming travelers to the Spire.

All entrants must undergo:

• Visual inspection for persistent coughing, fatigue, disorientation, instability, or bloodshot and discolored eyes
• Verbal responsiveness checks
• Declaration of recent travel routes

Those suspected of illness shall be denied entry and redirected to quarantine or healer custody.

III. Refugee Camp Access

No citizen may enter the Steppe refugee encampment, nor may any refugee leave it, save by express authorization of the Stewardship, militia command, or sanctioned healers operating under decree.

Produce & Market Restrictions

[OOC: Read bottom of post for more of an explanation surrounding this]

I. Goods from Albern’s Crossing

Until further notice, the following are prohibited from sale, trade, or distribution unless formally cleared:

• Meat from livestock displaying prior illness
• Any animal found dead without clear cause
• Crawfish or scavenger species taken from Albern waters
• Agricultural goods or produce removed from Albern without inspection

All wells and water sources near Albern shall be considered suspect until cleared.

II. Public Food Advisory

Citizens are instructed to inspect all produce for:

• Black or red-veined growths
• Unusual softness
• Pulsing
• Strange discoloration

Boiling, salting, or soaking in water alone is not sufficient to neutralize the fungus.

Alcohol has shown the capacity to render samples inert, but not destroyed. Preservation is not purification.

III. Goods for the Refugee Camp

All goods provided to the Steppe refugee camp must adhere to the following:

• No raw meats or unprocessed animal goods
• Water must be sealed and sourced from cleared wells
• Cloth, facial coverings, soap, and basic sanitation materials are to be prioritized

No item returned from the camp shall be re-entered into public trade without explicit clearance.

Chancellor Election

[OOC: Apologies for the delay on the elections for Chancellor! The post can be found HERE]

Following Ser Adrian Pandion’s resignation from the office of Chancellor, the Lady Steward hereby opens the forthcoming election and calls for citizens of the Spire to put forth their nominations.

The registration of candidates and the sorting of votes shall be overseen by Anya de Clerc, and these proceedings will formally commence once she has sufficiently recovered from the illness suffered in the wake of the recent storm.

The Midnight Circus

[OOC: For those interested in this eventline, it is DM’d by birdmandean and has an interesting read that can be found HERE, to see what’s occurred]

Due to growing concern surrounding the traveling troupe known as The Midnight Circus, the Lady Steward issues the following public statement for clarity and guidance.

The circus was once led by Terryn Bellefuelle—a man whose dealings with the Fey, alongside a proclivity for flame and spectacle, shaped not only the troupe’s reputation, but the very foundation upon which it stands. Its numbers were not built in the manner of most companies, but sustained through the taking in of orphaned children, or those born into his care, and raised wholly within the confines of his design.

From their earliest years, many within the troupe knew no world beyond it.

As such, what is seen from the outside as cruelty, recklessness, or malice is, in many cases, the product of upbringing rather than intent. The use of fire, of explosives, of dangerous spectacle—these were not introduced as aberrations, but as norms. Discipline and control were enforced not only through authority, but through fear, including the implantation of explosive runes to prevent escape. What would be unthinkable to most was made ordinary to them.

Following Terryn Bellefuelle’s death, leadership fell to Ariella Bellefuelle, in the absence of Caleb Citranitas, who had already fled the troupe. Ariella sought to dismantle the influence her father had left behind—to turn the circus away from its origins and toward something freer, if such a thing could be salvaged.

This, inevitably, was met with resistance.

As is the case in any body of governance or leadership, there are always those who will dissent. Within the Midnight Circus, such dissent fractured the troupe entirely. Harrison Bellefuelle, another of Terryn’s blood and a known vampire, assumed control of a splinter faction—one that has since acted with hostility, including the capture of the Spirefolk known as Coronis.

It must be understood: the conflict within the circus is not born of a single will, but of many—shaped by the same fractured past, yet diverging in what they believe should follow it.

Further complicating matters, public outrage toward the circus—however justified in its origin—has not remained without consequence. Such animosity has, in part, served to reinforce the very divisions within the troupe, isolating those who would seek to leave or reform it, and driving them further into the shadow of those who would maintain its more dangerous legacy. In this, Harrison Bellefuelle has proven particularly adept—leveraging perception and fear to consolidate his position, even as Ariella bore the weight of public blame.

Ariella Bellefuelle did, in time, declare her intent to dissolve the Midnight Circus entirely, acknowledging that the generational harm within it could not be easily undone. Yet she also recognized that those within it—particularly its younger members—were as much victims of its making as they were participants in its acts.

On the evening of Snowmelt 2, she privately declared a departure from this more destructive course. Instead, she intended to remove the children from the Reach entirely, escorting them away under the supervision of trusted adults, with the aim of granting them a life beyond what they had known.

Since that time, she has not been seen.

There is reason to believe that, through the influence or intervention of Harrison Bellefuelle, she has been captured or killed in order to secure uncontested leadership.

On the Matter of Judgment

The Lady Steward urges the people of the Spire to exercise discernment in their dealings with any members of the Midnight Circus.

This is not a matter that may be cleanly divided into villain and victim.

There are those within the troupe who perpetuate harm knowingly, and they shall be dealt with accordingly. Yet there are also those who have been shaped from childhood into something they were never given the chance to question—those who do not yet know a life beyond what was forced upon them.

To treat all as one and the same is to risk driving the latter back into the arms of the former.

Let it be known:

• Those who act in hostility toward the Spire or its people shall be met with force.
• Those who seek to leave, to surrender, or to be free of that influence shall be given the opportunity to do so safely.

Compassion, in this matter, is not weakness—it is strategy, and it is justice. The Midnight Circus is not merely an organization. It is a wound—one that has festered across years, passed from hand to hand, shaping those within it long before they had the means to choose otherwise.

And so it shall not be treated as a thing to be simply cut down—but one to be carefully, and deliberately, unraveled.

Black Mark Bounty: Harrison Bellefuelle

For the kidnapping and torture of Coronis, the suspected kidnapping or murder of Ariella Bellefuelle, and the continuation of unlawful operations through the splintered remnants of the Midnight Circus, the vampire known as Harrison Bellefuelle is hereby Black Marked for 2,000cr.

He is to be considered armed, dangerous, and considerably more formidable than his stature might suggest.

Description

Harrison Bellefuelle is approximately 5’3”, of half-Arsa, half-Feytouched blood. He bears shoulder-length red hair, often falling around two half-Arsa ears, both of which are doubly pierced with red earrings. His eyes are a striking, unnatural red, known to catch and faintly glow in darkness. He wears a gold-and-red pendant at his neck.

His complexion is walnut-brown, dotted with freckles, and his build is slender. His teeth are notably sharp. He is often seen dressed in an off-the-shoulder cloak in shades of gold, crimson, and deepened grey, accompanied by a red blouse, black high-waisted trousers, and a red rapier worn at his hip.

Any confirmed sightings, information as to his whereabouts, or proof of his end are to be brought at once to the Stewardship, the Militia, or other proper authorities. Any who knowingly shelter, aid, or conceal him shall be treated as complicit in his crimes.

Signed,

Lady Steward Meriel Noctis
Marshal Umeneri Helara
Constable Raime Escher
Secretariat Sorokin

OOC: Most of this decree, such as the travel restrictions, are background precautions taken for the immersion of the story. You are free to reference these as things your character is subjected to, and are impacting your roleplay. However, it is not something strictly overseen as to not grind to a halt the flow of roleplay. 

For example, it is expected for the prices to go up on meats, as per the fungal outbreak. Or if you live in Albern and wish to visit the Spire, you’d likely be met with a lot of checks ICly, but won’t be forced to actually wait on someone otherwise for it.

It is fundamentally, at the end of the day, just a way to feel as if the world is changing around you! And to complement your roleplay where it fits.