Fever of Discovery¶

Told by Apocasus Menix, a Fyros chronicler:

It was under the authority of the Counsil of Chroniclers, instated by the Emperor Abylus the Learned, that the miners' guild was founded to investigate ruins uncovered in the plain of Coriolis. Despite some opposition in support of the Karavan interdiction, a vote was cast in favor of a motion to allow miners to dig to reveal the truth behind the dragon of the myth, and the secret treasures or evils that Atys was thought to hold in her bowels. The general consensus was to rather brave the truth than live in falsehood, such is the credo of the Fyros people. But the path to the verity is not always a merry paddle down tranquil waters...

A team was digging in the region of Coriolis, encouraged by the discovery of fragments of a strange material, when they hit upon a vein of acid which quickly set fire to the surrounding parched wastelands. Prevalent easterly winds pushed the fire on swiftly before reinforcements could be called in. The fire devoured the town of Coriolis and blazed a trail like a rabid gingo consuming every form of life in its path. Abylus the Learned sent in an army to combat the fire but worst was yet to come.

The fire had spread across to the Matis frontier creating a firewall and preventing Tryker water supplies from getting through. The Matis king, Aniro III, taking advantage of the smoke screen, whipped up an army to scout out water watcher regiments, take over the water route and turned his eyes to the Lake Lands. But as the song goes, "as long as breath shall fill our lungs our hearts shall beat bold and true, and as long as the night shall bring the morrow we shall struggle through and through!" For weeks the fire of Coriolis raged. And then better fortune blew our way and the clouds thickened and broke into heavy rainfall to take care of the fire as if by magic. Not wasting a single moment and though the troops were fatigued, Pyto, the son of the aged Emperor, set out on a heroic campaign to reconconquer our vital link to the lake lands.