Tribulations of Wrath, part I: Of Sea and Shadow

The third week of Ios saw a flurry of activity in the city of Esterport as Admiral Toilan issued a warrant for a notorious corsair: Tynar Osury, the Emerald Tyrant of a past age, released from the Demon Blade to terrorise the seas once again. His most infamous deeds in the modern age include the grand heist of twenty million gold from Esterport’s coffers some ten years prior during the Hammerhead incident, as well as the commandeering of the naval vessel used in his escape. Though the effects of his freedom were not readily apparent, the Esterporean naval ranks reported an ever-increasing rise in incidents of piracy throughout the intervening decade.

A tip from Saluria swiftly followed, alerting Esterport – and adventurers – to the existence of the Crimson Coast: a smuggler’s haven and pirate den long hidden within a sheltered cove along the southern Itzatl coastline. When the Esterporean warship Minter’s Vigilance cornered the pirates within their cove, wave after wave of bombardment rained down upon their hideout.

Tynar executed a brazen escape on his ship: Initially setting a collision course with the Minter’s Vigilance, he, in a daring club haul manoeuvre, dropped his anchor at the last moment to swing his vessel around the warship in a desperate gamble before surging into open waters. The Minter’s Vigilance quickly gave chase, both ships disappearing over the horizon. Neither would return, as both vessels were ultimately claimed by a wrathful force upon the waves whose identity would soon become clear.

The Grand Library wishes to note that our initial attempt to document these events was regrettably compromised by the amnesia that would soon grip the continent. An early draft erroneously attributed the heist to the coffers of Duiran and misidentified the stolen ship as belonging to Enorian.

Some weeks after these maritime disasters, the Theocracy of Spinesreach advanced its ambitious endeavour to weaponise the memetic entity imprisoned in a past age within the Revenant’s Roost. This shadow-spawned horror, a creation of the deceased Shadow General Saglozol, could spread through cognition and devour memory itself.

Word of Spinesreach’s intentions and grander plans involving this memetic entity was previously leaked to the Council of Duiran by a now-former citizen of the Theocracy, and the Heartwood acted swiftly to intervene and thwart their unchecked ambitions. Unwilling to allow one of their Divine benefactors to remain under Spirean threat, the council’s greatest ritualists gathered to plot and scheme. Inspired by prior interactions with Astral Chaos, they decided to anoint an effigy with Dia’ruian power, intent upon creating a focal point for greater efforts against the dreaded ‘Blade of Amnesia’ they had been informed of.

Dhasan Csethiro devised operational protocols for the extraction, working alongside Regent Legyn and chief scientist Litrix to implement them. When the extraction team arrived at the Revenant’s Roost to prepare the site, the She-Wolf Idol let loose wild howls and screeches to attract the council’s attention, warning them of impending danger far off in another corner of the continent. As Spinesreach commenced the delicate procedure, the idol’s warnings only grew more frantic, and Duirani scouts noticed the conspicuous Spirean gathering. Edhain and Orenthis of the Heartwood acted immediately to disrupt whatever the Theocracy intended, and in the violence that followed, Litrix was slain. The chaos of the brief scuffle and temporary loss of their scientist distracted the Spirean operatives long enough that a portion of the memetic virus slipped free from its prison, immediately infecting those present before the breach in the wall could be resealed. Regent Legyn was among the first afflicted, losing all memory of abort protocols as the catastrophe unfolded. Only Kagura Tsuchimiya managed to focus their will long enough to seal the breach, preventing any more of the entity from escaping, but the worst had already come to pass.

What followed was nothing short of continental disaster. The virus spread across Sapience with terrifying swiftness, transmitted through the haphazard, panicked telepathic communication of adventurers. Factional channels and simple tells alike became vectors for its unstoppable spread. Within days, the entirety of the populace found itself in the grip of an amnesiac nightmare. Travellers forgot their destinations mid-stride, while others lost recognition of familiar faces, and warriors found their hard-won skills slipping through their fingers like mud. Some even regressed entirely to lives lived decades or centuries earlier, assuming old roles and forgotten affiliations as their present selves crumbled.

A fortnight into this addlepated existence, a ship docked at Esterport’s harbour, though few could recall the event with any clarity…

~~~~~

Summary: The Crimson Coast came into greater prominence along Sapience’s southern coastline, a region filled with pirates and smugglers. Esterport’s flagship naval vessel sank alongside a commandeered vessel helmed by Tynar Osury under the force of a Vorostran fleet. Spinesreach tapped into the memetic virus sealed away by the original Revenants, but was interrupted by Duiran’s forces mid-extraction, which allowed part of the entity to slip free and claim the minds of mortals across the continent. The Vorostran fleet arrived at Esterport’s docks, though none could recognise them in their addlepated haze.

Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 9th of Lleian, in the year 15 AC.