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With the recent booked victories in the Elven campaign in the north, and mixed results in the south, the Kade war host that had been campaigning for several months north in the Ullaren Wastes had come home from the frontline, mostly to re-invigorate before returning to the front. Following numerous communications between the Government and House Kade, the Supreme Chancellor Rodderick Howlester led a small procession to meet with the Kade generals who had little time to come to Regalia before heading back to the front. Seeing as the Regalian capital was buckling under the recent disease outbreak, the Chancellor's personal circle welcomed the short side-step into Anglia, lands which were both fertile and calm this time of year nearing autumn, and more importantly, clear of any plague sightings. Having signed the last papers of the day in effect at the harbor crossing into Dragenthal, the Chancellor was well on his way to meeting the generals in Æchtholdenpoort, a small port village just off the coast of the Veer sea, connecting Kade-held territories with Harhold lands and the rest of North Dragenthal.
Back in Regalia however, things were not so idyllic, and there was little to look forward to since the destruction of Fort Purity. The disease had run rampant, and aside from a simple patch solution, no real cure had been found. This was furthermore supported by a variety of Void field research scholars, who speculated that the nature of the plague was magical, not physical. This would explain why all the valiant efforts of the medical staff and alchemist dispensaries was for naught, no matter how many hours went into experimenting and finding a cure. Old town and the slums had became saturated with the sick, both those sane and hiding from the vigilantes rounding them up, and those driven insane by the more unsavory side effects of the disease. The government had been swift and competent to act, but at every turn they took, the disease seemed to somehow be one step ahead of them, always changing, as if guided by a more sinister hand to some purpose beyond fathoming.
Back on the carriage ride to Anglia, the Chancellor inspected the news reports from the far west. The details of some of the battles were gruesome, thousands of Anglian soldiers had already died on the front, with little to no actual victory in sight. It was a bothersome affair, especially to those in Regalia, because the war had felt so far off. It was taken care of (at least in the north) almost entirely by House Kade who paid both for the supplies as well as the levies. One could wonder if the Chancellor himself questioned whether this was out of selflessness or out of ulterior motivations. It was always a worthwhile consideration why House Kade did not simply take the throne back, or usurp the Empire in the many centuries before the succession act. Then again, perhaps religious considerations were more important than presumed. The Chancellor had not personally been to this part of Dragenthal ever, the less darkwald-like northwest where the mounts and hills of Dragenthal made way for the idyllic creeks and rolling hills of Anglia. Before long, the dark gray and green of the pine forests of Dragenthal made way for the red and orange vibrant hues of autumn leaves in south Anglia. The border between these lands had always strictly been maintained though a banner pole system, a huge wall of thin wooden poles set in the ground with blue ribbons strung between them. It seemed perhaps a tad excessive to the Chancellor, but this border had always been a major point of contention between Anglia and Dragenthal, and many military conflicts had been waged over it. The not so old Anahera Dictatorship had still left its mark on the land. An abandoned canon sat idle by the side of the dirt road. Grass had regrown around it, some locals had strung a wreath of flowers from the opening, a very Anglian stance post-conflict. Yet, the signs of war were still visible upon closer inspection. As the carriage slowed down, the Chancellor could just about make out the white bone matter sticking out of the ground.
Thoughts of the disease seemed far away in Anglia, basking in sunlight, some two hundred miles east in Regalia, dark skies brought omens of bad things to come. Not for those who walked (or crawled) the stones of the city roads, but rather those basked in the bright sun-golden wheatfields and red autumn hues. Without warning and with no reprieve, a happening struck those infected with the disease, now numbering into the tens of thousands. As if pulled from the ground like a marionette, their eyes rolled back to show merely the eye whites while their whole bodies seemed to be pulled from the ground. Their chest lifted up while their arms and legs and head hung loose as if a string was attached to their chest and pulled skyward. Once roughly a feet off the ground with their feet, their bodies just hung in a suspended state all around the city. In homes, churches, offices, streets and even the tavern, those who were sick showcased this strange behavior. The city drew quiet, there was no great panic or outcry from the guards, merely dumbfounded confusion. A child could be heard crying, trying to pull at its mother's arm to draw her back down, but no matter how many guards or strong men tried, the suspended individuals could not be pulled down. Then after being suspended like that for a minute, their mouths opened agape, before suddenly collapsing and dropping back to the ground unconscious. Those who were affected would remain unconscious for several hours, before waking in the arms of a carer, a hospital, or in their home bed, or perhaps for those unlucky: On the floor in their home, alone. This would obviously only add to the confusion, though one thing was absolutely clear: All those who had been infected or showed signs of the disease that had recently began manifesting among the Regalian population, had suddenly been cured. It appeared as if all people had suddenly and miraculously cured, and some cautious celebration was sure to follow, even if no clear explanation had been given for the miraculous curing.
Anyone capable of seeing the flows of Soul Essence, such as Soul Mages, would perhaps be less re-assured, as this event coincided with a great lightstorm, thousands of torrents of soul essence rising from the streets and into the dark clouds above. Where to, was unknown, though some would speculate that it was definitely related to what was about to occur in Anglia.
The Chancellor had just arrived at the final checkpoint before stepping out of the carriage and walking to the envoys of the generals. Here in Anglia everything was always slightly different. The people just seemed a little bit too happy, not like dreary rainy Gallovia, and the smell of apple pie was always in the air. The soldiers all had richly decorated and painted outfits and it seemed a bit off like this whole encounter was staged. Still, the relevant people were there, the generals came to greet the Chancellor at the road crossing where his four guards, Shirina Davenport, Julius Peirgarten, Joasaie Lloablen and Manus of Bhacstair would remain behind. The Kade guards were particularly rough towards Joasaie, ridiculing them in their native language and making a few lewd hand gestures to the Yanar behind the Chancellor's back. The Chancellor was well on his way down the road, putting some distance between himself and the carriage far behind him, drawing the rest of the Kade entourage in his sight down the path. Far beyond those hills, he could see the construction site of the great Anglian Palisade as the locals had started calling it mockingly. Many workers were hard at work and cranes lifted large crates of bricks to the top in quick succession. Just as the Chancellor came within calling range of the Kades, Cedric Kade stepped out and waved at the Chancellor with a hearty greeting. The sentiment was however disrupted by what occured beyond the wall.
The south of the wall where they were positioned, effectively locked them out of Anglia, which lay beyond. A loud thunderous noise was heard off in the distance, like a great barrage of cannons. The Kade entourage and the generals brought everything to a halt as they all turned around. Before long, some sort of disturbance was visible on top of the wall, but the wall was too far away to really see what exactly was occuring. Everyone immediately knew it was serious however, as all along the wall, rubble started crumbling down, cranes fell down with their materials and people seemed to fall or jump off the wall and disappearing before they hit the ground. Immediately some shouts were heart from the entourage down the road and two guards were quickly instructed to lead the Chancellor back to the carriage and further south. Before the Chancellor had the chance to turn around however, a shimmer of a shadow creeper over the wall in the distance. The shape was gaseous, yet appeared like grasping tendrils worming their way over the wall with the speed of volcanic gasses. It started enveloping the land in a rapid pace as it moved further south, the villagers also taking note. A variety of alarm bells started ringing out in the countryside around them, normally used to warn against Dragenthaler invasion, but this time to herald the building panic.
With this mysterious shape approaching their location, the guards and the Chancellor started running while the Kade entourage actually turned towards it, unsheathing their weapons and mounting their horses, intent to fight whatever was coming. The Kade Dragon even jumped out from the crowd as the Chancellor looked back to what was happening behind him, taking flight with its wide feathered wings and causing large gusts of wind to ripple over the fields around them. It was also the Dragon that was affected first in the area however. As it reached just about sixty feet in the air and racing towards the shape that was approaching, it appeared to be coughing up black smoke, before blood seeped down as it started fluttering through the air. Within several seconds, the Dragon lost flight and started falling, but much like the people on the wall, it seemed to simply disappear in thin air before it even hit the ground. Seconds later the horses and the Kade entourage were affected, the horses whinnied in a loud chorus. At this point the Chancellor had already decided that whatever was happening, he wasn't staying to find out, and kept running without looking back, only accompanied by the two guards who were running with him, the clanking of their armor, and the thudding of horses falling to the ground behind them.
The Howlester Guards had already taken note of what was occuring. Shirina had hurried onto the carriage driver's seat with the driver to urge him to speed away when they were able to, while Joasaie and Julius tried to run towards the Chancellor. Manus had his weapon drawn and stood next to the carriage, ready to slam the door behind the Chancellor when he should arrive to spirit the head of the government away. Before the Chancellor could reach his guards, the shadowy tendrils enveloped the town, whose bells suddenly fell silent, as did the screaming. The road behind them seemed abandoned all of a sudden, all the soldiers and entourages gone, only idle boxes and war materials abandoned by the side of the road. The Chancellor and the guards had no time to spectate the view however, as the darkness was about to reach the Chancellor. It was just as he was about to reach Julius Peirgarten that he and the Kade guards started coughing up black silky smoke, coming to a halt as they coughed their lungs out and started bleeding from their eyes. Within seconds, they fell to the floor, and Julius Peirgarten was now also struck by the smoke cough. Joasaie panicked for a moment, but rapidly acted when the Kade guards who were some meters behind Rodderick Howlester disappeared as if a drop of ink in water. As Joasaie tried to reach for the Chancellor who was now on the floor, intent on pulling him along, they too started coughing up smoke. It was within this split second moment that Joasoaie grabbed Julius Peirgarten instead who was bleeding from his eyes and yanked him back as hard as he could, in the same moment that Rodderick Howlester seemed to disappear in thin air.
Joasoaie's pull was just firm enough to pull Julius and himself clear from the darkness. As they lay on the ground panting for air, the darkness did not seem to come any further, it had merely halted a few dozen feet before the Anglian-Dragenthal borderwall of ribbons, though the gusts caused by the Dragon's ascent into the sky had blown the ribbons off. Shirina and Manus quickly hurried to Joasoaie and Julius, helping them up. Joasoaie inspected Julius's health as he recovered while Shirina tried to run into the darkness, which had now settled like a dark gray mist in search for Rodderick Howlester. As soon as she stepped into the mist however, she started coughing up the same black smoke and bled from her eyes. Manus was just within reach to grab her, as he started coughing as well, and drag her out of the mist. A number of repeated attempts were made to make it into the mist by the guards, but eventually they understood there was no way to get in there, and there was no point in dying. At the very least they discovered that pulling the living out in time would save them, somehow, they were incredibly lucky to just be on the edge of whatever was happening to come out alive. The carriage rider was a coward and had long driven off, so the four of them made to the nearest north Dragenthal outpost to hurry back to Regalia to break news. Along the way, news spread fast and it reached Regalia within a mere number of hours because of the movement of message birds and signalling stations. At first the signals were confusing, alerting "Invasion" and "Anglia has fallen", before the sign system was corrected and the simple term "Misery" was broadcast from the Anglian border.
It was all along the border between Dragenthal and Anglia that this event had occurred on a local basis. Whole regions in Lokinge, Anglia, but also the Harhold Vlissinghelm lands had been completely enveloped in this dark smoky-tendril-like mist that caused the same symptoms to anyone trying to enter. A few brave Harhold soldiers tried to reach into the mist to save villagers, only to start coughing up smoke, bleed from their eyes, before finally disappearing into nothingness. Fisher ships reported the same thing had occurred around every coastline, and that the smoke had penetrated some parts of Dragenthal, Dorinn, Medway, and had even hugged up to the coastal town of Faltentach in Gallovia, which was now unable to send out any fishing ships lest they be swallowed by the darkness. The shape of the happening seemed to not respect the Anglian borders, but certainly have its epicenter somewhere in Anglia. Not a single living being seemed to leave the place however, no bird, farm animal, or person. There were also no corpses for so far any scout or brave border watch, who remained on the edge, could see with lenses. Abandoned fields, houses and towns, some with fireplaces still lit, were all that was left.
The immediate consequence to Regalia itself was unclear, but it was obvious that this was going to be quite severe. While the disease was now gone from Regalia, it seemed to somehow be coincidentally be related to this happening, occuring at the exact same time, and somehow swallowing all of Anglia and surrounding lands. Practically the whole Kade family save for those who had remained in Regalia were now gone, the Kade army had been swallowed by the Darkness, as had the Kade fleet. The Imperial Dragon had fallen, and a whole college of Generals was now gone. Furthermore, all of Harhold's lands save for some of the southern marks and northern tips of Medway had disappeared, swallowed by the darkness. The Supreme Chancellor of Regalia, Rodderick Howlester, had also vanished, along with Councilmen Frederique Ivrae who was on visit with the Kades and Alexander Kade who was present in Axford at the time. The State Council, Regalia's technical head body of rule besides the Chancellor who was now gone only had Amelina Peirgarten left, as Wulffram Kehlen had not been seen in the State Council in weeks, while Digmaan Yaotl had seemed absent from the city on his quest to cure the disease, and Hengest Harhold was present on the Isle of Mull to arrange politics there, essentially leaving Amelina Peirgarten as the last executive government official left in the city. The government, including the Kade Council and the main army had essentially been decimated save for a newcomer to the council. And worst of all, Anglia's vast grain storages and winter supplies for Regalia were completely inaccessible.
Immediately following the event, what population was left in Vlissinghelm and north Medway fled from the lands. The North Medwayans fled to Gallovia, but when the remainder of Harhold's citizens tried to flee south into Dragenthal, they were violently repulsed by the local militias. These militias had not forgiven Harhold's citizens for what their Duke had done to the region some months ago. It was thus that the Harhold citizens of the south made a flight to Mull to be with their self proclaimed Petty King, seeing Mull as a haven to escape from the darkness that had swallowed Anglia and the surrounding lands. They were quickly welcomed on Mull with the resources of the Synod, swelling the local population from a mere few dozen to nearly fourteen thousand in a short time span, aiding to the legitimacy of the local Petty King, but utterly wiping out his homelands in the Regalian Archipelago.
This was an outlier of fleeing however, most Regalians just seemed shocked by what had occured. Strange supernatural events weren't out of the ordinary for Regalia, but there was always a clear sign of opposition, a clear foe that the Unionists were to face, or a defined evil to defeat. This time there was simply the ever present silence that came from Anglia, and the building anxiety for what this would mean for the Empire's citizens.
Every day without clear direction would be one step closer to the cliff from which there was no turning back, especially with the Empire's food stores now critically at risk.
OOC Notes:
Back in Regalia however, things were not so idyllic, and there was little to look forward to since the destruction of Fort Purity. The disease had run rampant, and aside from a simple patch solution, no real cure had been found. This was furthermore supported by a variety of Void field research scholars, who speculated that the nature of the plague was magical, not physical. This would explain why all the valiant efforts of the medical staff and alchemist dispensaries was for naught, no matter how many hours went into experimenting and finding a cure. Old town and the slums had became saturated with the sick, both those sane and hiding from the vigilantes rounding them up, and those driven insane by the more unsavory side effects of the disease. The government had been swift and competent to act, but at every turn they took, the disease seemed to somehow be one step ahead of them, always changing, as if guided by a more sinister hand to some purpose beyond fathoming.
Back on the carriage ride to Anglia, the Chancellor inspected the news reports from the far west. The details of some of the battles were gruesome, thousands of Anglian soldiers had already died on the front, with little to no actual victory in sight. It was a bothersome affair, especially to those in Regalia, because the war had felt so far off. It was taken care of (at least in the north) almost entirely by House Kade who paid both for the supplies as well as the levies. One could wonder if the Chancellor himself questioned whether this was out of selflessness or out of ulterior motivations. It was always a worthwhile consideration why House Kade did not simply take the throne back, or usurp the Empire in the many centuries before the succession act. Then again, perhaps religious considerations were more important than presumed. The Chancellor had not personally been to this part of Dragenthal ever, the less darkwald-like northwest where the mounts and hills of Dragenthal made way for the idyllic creeks and rolling hills of Anglia. Before long, the dark gray and green of the pine forests of Dragenthal made way for the red and orange vibrant hues of autumn leaves in south Anglia. The border between these lands had always strictly been maintained though a banner pole system, a huge wall of thin wooden poles set in the ground with blue ribbons strung between them. It seemed perhaps a tad excessive to the Chancellor, but this border had always been a major point of contention between Anglia and Dragenthal, and many military conflicts had been waged over it. The not so old Anahera Dictatorship had still left its mark on the land. An abandoned canon sat idle by the side of the dirt road. Grass had regrown around it, some locals had strung a wreath of flowers from the opening, a very Anglian stance post-conflict. Yet, the signs of war were still visible upon closer inspection. As the carriage slowed down, the Chancellor could just about make out the white bone matter sticking out of the ground.
Thoughts of the disease seemed far away in Anglia, basking in sunlight, some two hundred miles east in Regalia, dark skies brought omens of bad things to come. Not for those who walked (or crawled) the stones of the city roads, but rather those basked in the bright sun-golden wheatfields and red autumn hues. Without warning and with no reprieve, a happening struck those infected with the disease, now numbering into the tens of thousands. As if pulled from the ground like a marionette, their eyes rolled back to show merely the eye whites while their whole bodies seemed to be pulled from the ground. Their chest lifted up while their arms and legs and head hung loose as if a string was attached to their chest and pulled skyward. Once roughly a feet off the ground with their feet, their bodies just hung in a suspended state all around the city. In homes, churches, offices, streets and even the tavern, those who were sick showcased this strange behavior. The city drew quiet, there was no great panic or outcry from the guards, merely dumbfounded confusion. A child could be heard crying, trying to pull at its mother's arm to draw her back down, but no matter how many guards or strong men tried, the suspended individuals could not be pulled down. Then after being suspended like that for a minute, their mouths opened agape, before suddenly collapsing and dropping back to the ground unconscious. Those who were affected would remain unconscious for several hours, before waking in the arms of a carer, a hospital, or in their home bed, or perhaps for those unlucky: On the floor in their home, alone. This would obviously only add to the confusion, though one thing was absolutely clear: All those who had been infected or showed signs of the disease that had recently began manifesting among the Regalian population, had suddenly been cured. It appeared as if all people had suddenly and miraculously cured, and some cautious celebration was sure to follow, even if no clear explanation had been given for the miraculous curing.
Anyone capable of seeing the flows of Soul Essence, such as Soul Mages, would perhaps be less re-assured, as this event coincided with a great lightstorm, thousands of torrents of soul essence rising from the streets and into the dark clouds above. Where to, was unknown, though some would speculate that it was definitely related to what was about to occur in Anglia.
The Chancellor had just arrived at the final checkpoint before stepping out of the carriage and walking to the envoys of the generals. Here in Anglia everything was always slightly different. The people just seemed a little bit too happy, not like dreary rainy Gallovia, and the smell of apple pie was always in the air. The soldiers all had richly decorated and painted outfits and it seemed a bit off like this whole encounter was staged. Still, the relevant people were there, the generals came to greet the Chancellor at the road crossing where his four guards, Shirina Davenport, Julius Peirgarten, Joasaie Lloablen and Manus of Bhacstair would remain behind. The Kade guards were particularly rough towards Joasaie, ridiculing them in their native language and making a few lewd hand gestures to the Yanar behind the Chancellor's back. The Chancellor was well on his way down the road, putting some distance between himself and the carriage far behind him, drawing the rest of the Kade entourage in his sight down the path. Far beyond those hills, he could see the construction site of the great Anglian Palisade as the locals had started calling it mockingly. Many workers were hard at work and cranes lifted large crates of bricks to the top in quick succession. Just as the Chancellor came within calling range of the Kades, Cedric Kade stepped out and waved at the Chancellor with a hearty greeting. The sentiment was however disrupted by what occured beyond the wall.
The south of the wall where they were positioned, effectively locked them out of Anglia, which lay beyond. A loud thunderous noise was heard off in the distance, like a great barrage of cannons. The Kade entourage and the generals brought everything to a halt as they all turned around. Before long, some sort of disturbance was visible on top of the wall, but the wall was too far away to really see what exactly was occuring. Everyone immediately knew it was serious however, as all along the wall, rubble started crumbling down, cranes fell down with their materials and people seemed to fall or jump off the wall and disappearing before they hit the ground. Immediately some shouts were heart from the entourage down the road and two guards were quickly instructed to lead the Chancellor back to the carriage and further south. Before the Chancellor had the chance to turn around however, a shimmer of a shadow creeper over the wall in the distance. The shape was gaseous, yet appeared like grasping tendrils worming their way over the wall with the speed of volcanic gasses. It started enveloping the land in a rapid pace as it moved further south, the villagers also taking note. A variety of alarm bells started ringing out in the countryside around them, normally used to warn against Dragenthaler invasion, but this time to herald the building panic.
With this mysterious shape approaching their location, the guards and the Chancellor started running while the Kade entourage actually turned towards it, unsheathing their weapons and mounting their horses, intent to fight whatever was coming. The Kade Dragon even jumped out from the crowd as the Chancellor looked back to what was happening behind him, taking flight with its wide feathered wings and causing large gusts of wind to ripple over the fields around them. It was also the Dragon that was affected first in the area however. As it reached just about sixty feet in the air and racing towards the shape that was approaching, it appeared to be coughing up black smoke, before blood seeped down as it started fluttering through the air. Within several seconds, the Dragon lost flight and started falling, but much like the people on the wall, it seemed to simply disappear in thin air before it even hit the ground. Seconds later the horses and the Kade entourage were affected, the horses whinnied in a loud chorus. At this point the Chancellor had already decided that whatever was happening, he wasn't staying to find out, and kept running without looking back, only accompanied by the two guards who were running with him, the clanking of their armor, and the thudding of horses falling to the ground behind them.
The Howlester Guards had already taken note of what was occuring. Shirina had hurried onto the carriage driver's seat with the driver to urge him to speed away when they were able to, while Joasaie and Julius tried to run towards the Chancellor. Manus had his weapon drawn and stood next to the carriage, ready to slam the door behind the Chancellor when he should arrive to spirit the head of the government away. Before the Chancellor could reach his guards, the shadowy tendrils enveloped the town, whose bells suddenly fell silent, as did the screaming. The road behind them seemed abandoned all of a sudden, all the soldiers and entourages gone, only idle boxes and war materials abandoned by the side of the road. The Chancellor and the guards had no time to spectate the view however, as the darkness was about to reach the Chancellor. It was just as he was about to reach Julius Peirgarten that he and the Kade guards started coughing up black silky smoke, coming to a halt as they coughed their lungs out and started bleeding from their eyes. Within seconds, they fell to the floor, and Julius Peirgarten was now also struck by the smoke cough. Joasaie panicked for a moment, but rapidly acted when the Kade guards who were some meters behind Rodderick Howlester disappeared as if a drop of ink in water. As Joasaie tried to reach for the Chancellor who was now on the floor, intent on pulling him along, they too started coughing up smoke. It was within this split second moment that Joasoaie grabbed Julius Peirgarten instead who was bleeding from his eyes and yanked him back as hard as he could, in the same moment that Rodderick Howlester seemed to disappear in thin air.
Joasoaie's pull was just firm enough to pull Julius and himself clear from the darkness. As they lay on the ground panting for air, the darkness did not seem to come any further, it had merely halted a few dozen feet before the Anglian-Dragenthal borderwall of ribbons, though the gusts caused by the Dragon's ascent into the sky had blown the ribbons off. Shirina and Manus quickly hurried to Joasoaie and Julius, helping them up. Joasoaie inspected Julius's health as he recovered while Shirina tried to run into the darkness, which had now settled like a dark gray mist in search for Rodderick Howlester. As soon as she stepped into the mist however, she started coughing up the same black smoke and bled from her eyes. Manus was just within reach to grab her, as he started coughing as well, and drag her out of the mist. A number of repeated attempts were made to make it into the mist by the guards, but eventually they understood there was no way to get in there, and there was no point in dying. At the very least they discovered that pulling the living out in time would save them, somehow, they were incredibly lucky to just be on the edge of whatever was happening to come out alive. The carriage rider was a coward and had long driven off, so the four of them made to the nearest north Dragenthal outpost to hurry back to Regalia to break news. Along the way, news spread fast and it reached Regalia within a mere number of hours because of the movement of message birds and signalling stations. At first the signals were confusing, alerting "Invasion" and "Anglia has fallen", before the sign system was corrected and the simple term "Misery" was broadcast from the Anglian border.
It was all along the border between Dragenthal and Anglia that this event had occurred on a local basis. Whole regions in Lokinge, Anglia, but also the Harhold Vlissinghelm lands had been completely enveloped in this dark smoky-tendril-like mist that caused the same symptoms to anyone trying to enter. A few brave Harhold soldiers tried to reach into the mist to save villagers, only to start coughing up smoke, bleed from their eyes, before finally disappearing into nothingness. Fisher ships reported the same thing had occurred around every coastline, and that the smoke had penetrated some parts of Dragenthal, Dorinn, Medway, and had even hugged up to the coastal town of Faltentach in Gallovia, which was now unable to send out any fishing ships lest they be swallowed by the darkness. The shape of the happening seemed to not respect the Anglian borders, but certainly have its epicenter somewhere in Anglia. Not a single living being seemed to leave the place however, no bird, farm animal, or person. There were also no corpses for so far any scout or brave border watch, who remained on the edge, could see with lenses. Abandoned fields, houses and towns, some with fireplaces still lit, were all that was left.
The immediate consequence to Regalia itself was unclear, but it was obvious that this was going to be quite severe. While the disease was now gone from Regalia, it seemed to somehow be coincidentally be related to this happening, occuring at the exact same time, and somehow swallowing all of Anglia and surrounding lands. Practically the whole Kade family save for those who had remained in Regalia were now gone, the Kade army had been swallowed by the Darkness, as had the Kade fleet. The Imperial Dragon had fallen, and a whole college of Generals was now gone. Furthermore, all of Harhold's lands save for some of the southern marks and northern tips of Medway had disappeared, swallowed by the darkness. The Supreme Chancellor of Regalia, Rodderick Howlester, had also vanished, along with Councilmen Frederique Ivrae who was on visit with the Kades and Alexander Kade who was present in Axford at the time. The State Council, Regalia's technical head body of rule besides the Chancellor who was now gone only had Amelina Peirgarten left, as Wulffram Kehlen had not been seen in the State Council in weeks, while Digmaan Yaotl had seemed absent from the city on his quest to cure the disease, and Hengest Harhold was present on the Isle of Mull to arrange politics there, essentially leaving Amelina Peirgarten as the last executive government official left in the city. The government, including the Kade Council and the main army had essentially been decimated save for a newcomer to the council. And worst of all, Anglia's vast grain storages and winter supplies for Regalia were completely inaccessible.
Immediately following the event, what population was left in Vlissinghelm and north Medway fled from the lands. The North Medwayans fled to Gallovia, but when the remainder of Harhold's citizens tried to flee south into Dragenthal, they were violently repulsed by the local militias. These militias had not forgiven Harhold's citizens for what their Duke had done to the region some months ago. It was thus that the Harhold citizens of the south made a flight to Mull to be with their self proclaimed Petty King, seeing Mull as a haven to escape from the darkness that had swallowed Anglia and the surrounding lands. They were quickly welcomed on Mull with the resources of the Synod, swelling the local population from a mere few dozen to nearly fourteen thousand in a short time span, aiding to the legitimacy of the local Petty King, but utterly wiping out his homelands in the Regalian Archipelago.
This was an outlier of fleeing however, most Regalians just seemed shocked by what had occured. Strange supernatural events weren't out of the ordinary for Regalia, but there was always a clear sign of opposition, a clear foe that the Unionists were to face, or a defined evil to defeat. This time there was simply the ever present silence that came from Anglia, and the building anxiety for what this would mean for the Empire's citizens.
Every day without clear direction would be one step closer to the cliff from which there was no turning back, especially with the Empire's food stores now critically at risk.
OOC Notes:
- All information is public.
- All of this is in effect right now.
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