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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 1933742" data-attributes="member: 3649">From the first Greatwood handout: Ten years ago, this was the furthest northern exploration of the Heron Empire. A large and well-run state, the Empire spread from the great peaks of the north to a vast shining sea to the south; it was home to hundreds of thousands of people. The great capital city of Herath was hundreds of miles south on the shore of the sea. All that came to ruin in three years. Word of what happened has been confused, because there were very few people that came north to tell the tale and very few who venture south ever return. Divination by the Keepers of the Faith has revealed this to us: The Emperor’s son had become base and decadent, and wished to take a second bride when the first bore him no children. Informed by the Keepers of the Faith that he had a good and loving wife, and so they could not bless a second union, the son took the royal staff of office and struck down the Hierophant, saying that Men ruled in Herath, not the gods. The Hierophant, as he lay dying, said that then it would be so.During the great spring festival of the Daughter, a strange ship came into the harbor of Herath bearing a cargo of dead men and gold. Authorities recognized what happened, but the lure of gold proved too strong for the baseborn. While the ship was being readied for burning, many foreign coins started to appear in the marketplaces. A few days after that, the first deaths began. The Crying Plague could lie dormant fro weeks, then kill in days, causing the person’s blood to erupt from his eyes until he died. As if that was not enough, sometimes then the pale dead would rise and seek blood from the living.People flocked to the temples, crying for the gods to save them. And the gods were silent, for did not Men rule in Herath?People from all over the Empire were in the capitol for the festival and when they fled, they took the plague with them. It bloomed like a vast red flower in the heartland, following the roads and rivers to even the most isolated parts of the Empire. The great cities fell first, then the churches, then the villages began to die. Trade stopped, cities disbanded and all the works of the Heron became as nothing and dust. For three years the plague killed, until the last of the royal line of Heron died. Then the gods relented and held their hand once more over the people.</blockquote>

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