Legend of Ransera

Sentinel Alaurion glanced up from his desk as a veiled Vigil darkened his door and stepped forth to hand him a missive from one of the ongoing interrogations. He began reading whilst it was still floating across his desk, instantly frowning at some of the highlighted touchstones: “Peregrine Vampyre”, “Outspoken associate of Arcas Maledictus Renatus." Both annotations were troublesome, but the latter was more complicating than it would have been quite recently. Mere days ago this would have been a simple death sentence but, despite being firmly middle management, Sentinel Alaurion had been briefed about the revealed presence of the accursed Arcas. The Assessors had confirmed via divine residue in his Aura that this “Dreyfus” had in fact been in contact with the loathed of the Founders and, while Sentinel Phocion was abroad of the city negotiating with the realm’s great rival, it would be poor form to execute an associate of this vexing but very dangerous entity out of hand. Solunarium, he was sure, could hold its own against the Blight of Ailizane, but Arcas could deal great damage if wronged. Frankly this was above his pay grade.

Alaurion rose to his feet and made the rather lengthy trek from his lowly offices in the basement of the Prætorium to those of the Vigilia Magna in the spire high above. He was stopped in the antechamber, not to be announced to High Sentinel Cithæra, but to be handed her written instructions for how to handle this issue about which he hadn’t even yet briefed her. He sighed, a bit disappointed and a bit relieved that he would not have to consult the head of their order directly. He would make the return trip to his offices to sign Cithæra’s writ as director supervisor over the interrogation.

Within half an hour, another veiled figure stepped into the interrogation chamber to relieve those who’d been interviewing Dreyfus thus far. They didn’t identify themselves and it wouldn’t matter if they did, for what was to come would void the relevance of such details. The vampyre would, for one meagre moment, feel something alien creeping into his mind and then it all went black.

Hours later, Dreyfus would wake propped up against a sturdy tree in the jungles of Central Ecith hundreds of miles from the Solunarian capital. He would find a weak and weary Dimitri, unconscious with his head in Dreyfus’ own lap and he would be quite confused and quite famished for his recent temperance. Why was he here? Where had he been prior? He certainly had no memory of visiting the desert to the East. In fact, there was something in his very soul compelling him to avoid that place at all costs. He recalled his time in the Imperium and that a trip took him far East of Gel’Grandal, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where he’d gone after Cathena. First he was at a port, next he was here in this dense jungle with strange eyes peering at him from the shadows. He didn’t recall any time on a ship or any of the details of what transpired in the time between there and here. And, perhaps strangest of all, he wasn’t particularly curious about this gap in his memory. When Dimitri woke, if the hungry beasts of the jungle or his starving master didn't slay him before he stirred, he would be equally ignorant of and incurious about his time in Solunarium.

The pair were alone in a remote stretch of wilderness, and it was up to Dreyfus- weak, hungry and piqued by the scent of Dimitri's blood, to decide where to go from there.

!

Message from: Pharaoh

The consequences of Dreyfus’ major missteps in Solunarium have come in the form of an Arcane Exile. Potent mages from the Solunarian College of Compliance have swept his Aura to the level of Master of any signs of having visited Solunarium and have completely erased his memories of Solunarium and his goals and intentions for having gone there in the first place. They have instilled in him a deep sense of aversion toward visiting Solunarium, though he strangely bears no ill will and in fact has strangely favorable feelings about the realm. This conditioned sense of respect does not translate to a desire to ever interact with the realm or its subjects, but he will henceforth feel an innate sense of obedience toward Solunarian citizens if he meets them abroad of their homeland. Due to his very limited sanguine diet of late and the remoteness of his Ecithian environs, Dreyfus will be compelled to feed on Dimitri. As hungry as he is, it would be very unlikely for him to leave Dimitri alive, but I'll leave it up to you how you choose to write out that struggle if you do want him to survive. As Drey has been stripped of his memories, so is he stripped of the corresponding XP. This is true of both Dreyfus and Dimitri. You are hereby docked all XP pertaining to Dreyfus’ time in Solunarium. If any XP or other relevant skill increases or acquisitions have been logged from threads set in Solunarium, please subtract those from your tallies. Drey and Dimitri have no memory of anything that took place there nor do they retain memories of anyone they may have encountered during their stay. Please adjust your character sheet to reflect these consequences. As you may have inferred from what has already been exposited, Drey and Dimitri are also effectively exiled from Solunarium. As an additional note in direct response to your support forum complaint about this thread: I will remind you how often and how explicitly I have warned you that Solunarium is a high stakes environment. That said: I don’t now and have never wanted you to find yourself blindsided by the consequences that may come from bucking the Solunarian status quo. None of this should have come as a surprise, but based on your reaction it seems that it did. As such, I would ask that you approach someone on the Solu mod team before engaging in future threads with your PCs in this challenging setting. I would prefer you know what you’re getting into beforehand and adjust your plans accordingly, rather than digging into plots that get your PCs into more danger than you’re willing to accept. There are plenty of places on the board you can write without assuming those risks. It would be unfair to the players who choose to accept these dangers and have put in the effort to understand the lore, if I cater consequences to players for OOC reasons as you’ve requested in this instance. Please submit any questions about these instructions and alterations directly to me. Beyond that, happy writing and remember: Consequences in a collaborative writing game aren’t a punishment, they’re an opportunity explore new narrative paths and when visiting Solunarium note the old Vastian proverb: Caveat emptor. Pharaoh