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HISTORY

Early History: In RY 672, the Scarlet Empress sent the 46th Legion north past Cherek to fight a Fair Folk incursion. Led by General Sesus Ujiro, the 46th marched northwards, gathering the usual array of camp followers while still in relatively stable terrain. Over the next two weeks, they battled raiders, barbarians, and minor fair folk parties, before finally encountering the main host. After a vicious battle, Ujiro proved victorious, and he took his legion and prepared to return home.

Unfortunately for Ujiro, one of the tribes that his forces had slain had been favoured by a Lunar savant named Gray Wing. Gray Wing had not been present when his children had died, and he was furious. Using his magics, he twisted the world around Ujiro, tricking the entire legion into marching deeper into the Wyld instead of out of its fringes.

By the time the army realized they were going the wrong way, it was far too late. Without any recourse but to try and find safety, the army relied on their sorcerers and savants to try and guide their path. Matters only grew worse when a Fair Folk lord, Kizen Thrice-Masked, grew intrigued by the mortals crossing his domain and began toying with them. For a time, it seemed that the expedition was doomed – and then a miracle occurred.

By accident or design, Sesus Ujiro stumbled across a small area still protected by one of the old Reality Engines of the First Age. The region, eternally as warm as a northern summer, was protected from the Fair Folk – although their behemoths and minions could still reach nearly to the doors of the engine itself. Deciding that they had no better options, Ujiro began building fortifications, and Scarlet Haven was founded – over three thousand soldiers and a thousand camp followers, along with the few Dragon-Blooded that had survived Kizen’s depradations (nine in total).

Over the next hundred years, Scarlet Haven grew, but slowly, and it soon reached its maximum population possible given the area. Ujiro was careful to write down all the knowledge that any of his men had, in case too much time passed for it to be easily remembered, and encouraged his Dragon-Blooded officers to breed as frequently and as widely as possible – he combined bonuses for the direct descendant of a Dragon-Blood who had children with strict limits on the child growth of the rest of the town. The result is that, after only four generations, the town boasts a full twenty-seven Dragon-Blooded, and over 4,000 of the 10,000 people can claim direct descent from Ujiro or one of his eight officers. Within two more generations, Ujiro expected to have the entire population capable of potentially Exalting. Occasionally, Ujiro would send scouting parties into the Wyld to try and find a path back to Creation and the Realm, but few returned, and none were successful. Wyld mutations were uncommon, with Ujiro allowing those who became mutated to remain but not allowing them to have children, and the city soon settled into some semblance of normal life – crops were farmed, thaumaturges helped them grow, fair folk raided and were pushed back, and life went on. While a calender was kept, it was accepted that the shifting tides of Time in the Wyld made it useless; 98 years may have passed within the town, but there was no telling how much time had passed in true Creation – one year or a thousand could have gone by.

However, one year ago, a bizarre twist of fate changed everything. Massive chaos quakes rippled through the Wyld around the town, and many of the most outlying fields were destroyed as the reality engine powering the area buckled under the stress of the attack. Worst of all, four of the six surviving officers from the first generation of Dragon-Blooded fell sick and died over the span of a week, including Ujiro himself. The quakes were obviously violent, and the people fell back from the borders of Scarlet Haven towards the safer centre. It took half a year for the effects of the quakes to subside, and as they did, the Wyld faded with them. For the first time since their foundation, the seething tides that surrounded the town have faded to cover only the northern border, and even then far more faintly than ever before. Hopeful, but worried that this might be some bizarre trap, the town is gathering some of its precious Dragon-Blooded to explore outwards and learn what has transpired...