Purge of the Death's Head Society
Date: September 723 GY - December 724 GY
Location: College of Arkadius’s Lantern in Prasinos, Vonor; College of the Twin Horizons in Azlet, Kyr
Outcome: Year-long investigation into corruption and improper magic use. A senior professor and other collaborators punished.
The Death’s Head Society is the oldest and most prestigious academic club in the Academy of the Rising Wind. In the interest of academic freedom, and given its historical prestige, the administration has long overlooked the unspoken, but un-secret fact that the Death’s Head Society, in addition to the normal assortment of avid historians and scholars, tends to attract some who are interested in the subject for the wrong reasons. This is usually written off as juvenile flirtation with scandal that many students indulge in, when first encountering such historical narratives.
This changed in September of 723 GY, when a shocking incident at the College of Arkadius’s Lantern in Prasinos resulted in the death of Naboris Parakoros, a third year student and member of the society. According to his roommate and study partner, Thesset Aelo, Naboris had been spending extra time over the past year in society-focused activities and research. He’d mentioned being particularly focused on re-discovering the lost magic by which the Vonori army of the time navigated Kyr’s terrain to attack the lofted Cities of Rucha and Azlet, but that he couldn’t say anything else about it. Thesset also said that Naboris had seemed… not really himself; he’d been losing sleep, and his features had undergone weird changes as well. Like many Vonori, he’d had a fine set of horns, but they’d grown brittle and cracked in the month before the incident. Still, Naboris insisted he was fine.
One evening in September, Thesset and their advisor and Teaching Professor in Arcana, Gildor b'Alfirin'Lycurgus, entered the dormitory to an unusual, nigh unnatural silence, and a strange off-ness in the air. Unsettled, both reached out with their magical senses to determine if someone had perhaps cast a spell that had backlashed, or something. Conferring with each other, they determined that something had been cast, probably something channeling-related… but somehow deeply wrong.
In the next moment, they were attacked by something that, they soon realized, had once been Naboris. He had been somehow changed and had gone fully and violently berserk. They tried to fight him off, screaming and backing for the entry, until help arrived in the form of two priests: Odysseus Malachrinos, a Vow of Ivory Priest doing a tour as a professor, and Tashros Komenion, of the Vow of Heartsblood, who’d given a lecture earlier in the day. Tashros was forced to slay the creature that had been Naboris, after which the Odysseus Malachrinos attempted to speak with his shade. From this, they learned very little, save that Naboris had been doing research into forbidden necromancy for “a Professor,” though he did not give any names. Tashros determined that whatever this transformation was, it had been very recent, and that the reason for the eerie silence was that everyone in the building had been put to sleep, presumably so that the creature Naboris had become could feed upon them. Fortunately, he had been distracted by the untimely entry of his roommate and the advisor, and had not harmed anyone else.
This triggered a year-long investigation into possible corruption and improper magical inquiry at Prasinos, which in 724 GY narrowed into focus on figures in the Death’s Head Society, most specifically an elderly Teaching Professor, Kamerikon Evantius. The following evidence accumulated over the course of the investigation:
In the wake of the incident, a number of students and professors (mostly in Prasinos, but some in Azlet) lodged complaints of all kinds: society members fed up with extreme pro-imperial elements infiltrating their academic club, society members irritated with suspicion falling on the society at all, and non-society members accusing all Death's-head members of being everything from secret forbidden necromancers to secret Reconcilio imperialists. Many of these were interviewed on the subject [any number of PCs associated with the Academy in the College of the Twin Horizons or Arkadius’s Lantern may choose to have been involved]. Kamerikon Evantius’s name came up a few times, among others.
In February 724, [a new channeler inductee to the Society] informed [a trusted professor] that they’d been invited to a still more secret society meeting, in which they heard rumors of new advances in channeling and wizardry, open only to society members. Intrigued, they attended a few meetings, before becoming uncomfortable with the situation, as the “new channeling” seemed to just be overblown theories about channeling more than three elements. A few days after this report, the [new inductee] had no memory of either speaking to [the professor] about it, or of any of the events reported.
In August 724, [an associate librarian - a Graduate Student/Research Professor position] discovered that three sensitive texts related to the Vonori Occupation of Kyr were missing in the Academy Library in Azlet, where all such texts are formally held. The Senior Librarian, Savran b’Sufjan’Miklos, was extremely surprised to find that the documents, not usually available on loan, had not only been checked out, they were checked out under Savran’s name, with their handwriting. Savran had no memory of doing so, and did not have the books in their possession. They immediately reported this discrepancy to the Dean, Oja Dulin, and were directly questioned by investigators.
Finally, in November 724, fragmentary documents obtained during the Expedition to Vigil revealed that two former Death's-head members, Philemon Vespertilio and Elreune b’Iraza’Pem, now going by another name, had both defected to the Gograzhi, and Philemon was engaged in forbidden necromancy. This also revealed that they still had suspect contacts within the Academy, specifically Kamerikon Evantius, called out by name. This was sufficient to have Evantius stripped of his position at the Academy; further investigation of his papers revealed others involved in research into or practice of illegal necromancy, up to and including an elaborate conspiracy plot to restore the ancient Emperor, Armatus, via necromantic animation. This also cleared the names of [other students and faculty in the Society] who had been under investigation due to association with Professor Evantius, but whom the documents made clear were not actually involved in any wrongdoing.
By December, the whole matter came to a head. The most explicit violations were clearly and egregiously against Vonori from first principles, but given the nature of membership and enrollment, the parties implicated were from multiple nations-- mostly Kyr and Vonor, but not only. Thus, a [Von-Orani Koleshem (Judge)] was called in by the Deputy, along with a [Kyr-Orani Koleshem (judge)] representing the Academy’s interests, to assist review all of the documentation, hear the compiled testimony, appeal to the home connections for any Ishui or Raziri accused, and recommend sentences for the guilty. At the end of the deliberation, of the thirty-one implicated, seventeen were decided to have willingly participated in outright evil activity, in particular, active Service to Gograzh, and the use of forbidden necromancy on Naboris Parakoros. Kamerikon Evantius, who had been imprisoned underground since November, was sentenced to the Southern Exile (put on a boat and sent south), along with three others; all seventeen were expelled from the Academy. Ten of these were Vonori (including all so exiled), five from Kyr, one Von-Orani and one Ishu-Orani. The two Orani were expelled from the people of Ora and remanded to the care of the Priests of the Vow of Heartsblood, who also assumed responsibility for the six remaining Vonori. The Kyrie found at fault were sent back to Kyr, where they were subject to “having their wings clipped” – an ancient and arcane punishment where access to the Gift of the Goddess is cut off, leaving them unable to Channel magic.
Of those found not to have been involved in wrongdoing, some pall of suspicion yet lingers. In particular, Savran b’Sufjan’Miklos, who had been a student under Professor Evantius during their time at Arkadius’s Lantern, had been a vocal defender of the professor up until the November revelations. The subsequent investigation proved that Evantius had used his former student’s trust to gain access to the restricted texts, using one of the Kyrie who followed him to forge the librarian’s signature, and disguise the theft. The documents were found in Evantius’s possession, and returned to Azlet, but under the circumstances Savran agreed to accept reassignment to the Vigil expedition, which they were already the Academy’s representative.
PC Roles
Thesset Aelo: Elena S.
Gildor b'Alfirin'Lycurgus: Jeremiah M.
Odysseus Malachrinos: Peter H.