Western Warnings

Do you jest? By Viridian's velvety vest, how would I know? Did I whelp them? As they attacked, we had no choice, nor time to inquire. We killed them. We killed them and they died. Verde! - Sibling Toombes, survivor

  No one knows for certain when they came to be, or to which faction they ascribe. They were first noted after the coming of the Light, but they seem averse to brilliance and shudder at the coming of dawn or torchlight. It seems they may have been drawn to it, yet shiver at its approach.   Local vassals of the Great Khanate and the general population began to petition for aid when at first small numbers, then growing swarms of insects began to emerge along the borders nearest the Caer. Though it is common for nuisance pests to attack indiscriminately, particularly in early fall, this assault was different. The fact that both the Eldrin and Secjhen Estates were targeted is peculiar and of great interest, as it suggests that the Light may be building into growing tension between the two factions.   This has led to a lot of speculation, and we petition you for your opinion, and perhaps your assistance, in resolving these issues.  

The Trinkets. The Sellers. The Swarm.

  From all recorded accounts, the attacks have been systematic. First one, then a few trinkets begin to appear in a community. In all but one case, trinkets- gaudy and gem-encrusted, or gilt and intricately worked, yet all in that inexpensive-but-I-want-to-look-fancy way - fall into the hands of the curious, the churlish, and the children.   All of these objects, seemingly innocuous and even marginally magical in nature - one tiny bag, for instance, spat out copper coins every morning! It is only a matter of a day or so before the vendors of the trinkets appear, their wagons covered with the colored patchwork most commonly associated with, and certainly intentionally reminiscent of the Caravanserai of old, the Wagons of the Jubilethans who once traveled - and protected- the byways and highways of the world. Even so, by the end of their first day in the community, it is clear they are no Sons of Jubal. They sell the magical toys, baubles, and jewelry with rapaciousness, clearly choosing to do trade in Dwages and Cups, eschewing the few Kwan they are offered. Within two days, the wagons roll on, and the damage has been done. When in the course of a hextint or so, as there will be a significant number of these items within a community, the attacks begin.   Seemingly drawn by the magical essence of the trinkets, horrifying beings, reminiscent of the Thrin of the eastern coasts of Yarlem appear seemingly out of the very air, and begin to attack or at the very least accost the bearers of the trinkets. In cases where the trinkets are the sole magics that the bearer has, surrendering them ends the attacks, as the beings, described below, then seem to feast on the items, vomiting a green-blue liquid over them, and then proceeding to 'lick" it off with a gratuitous and grotesque tongue-like protrusion from what might be the creature's nose or mouthparts... The crafts are used to make some magical constructs appear next to their holder. Those constructs take the form of gigantic insects, always of the same kind. If it is modeled after an existing species, it has not yet been identified. Nevertheless, they have been noted to bear some similarities with praying manti and locusts. They are almost the length of a tall man and their mandibles are longer than an arm, their heads most resemble the summer locusts, and though articulated somewhat, are not as agile as Thrin are alleged to be, and their form, heavier and more substantial does bear four arms, the second pair kept near to the thorax and ending in sharp, apparently poisonous needle-like claws.   While they are not directly targeting humans, they can be violent once provoked. Their objective seems to be not only the magicles emitted by items, but also tools, raw materials used in the fabrication and maintenance of magical resources - Gravelings, black powder, etc.)In the one outlier case, apparently extreme and perhaps not in the same category as the others, even plants and small animals that emit magicles ( Fireflies, Berrierbush, and even Starbucks) were observed to be consumed for their intrinsic magic. Indeed, eyewitnesses observed that the strident way the attacks proceeded it seemed the creatures either were starving for the material or were feeding an extreme form of addiction to the experience.   Among the natural community, those who intrinsically sense concentrations and resonances of magicles, these human-sized insectoid beings ooze an aura labeled "alien" or more commonly, "wrong". We have invaluable testimony of Her Excellence, Sister-Daughter Evensong, whose own experience fell on the heels of her brother's death fighting two of the more aggressive of the beasts.  

The (creature) felt, against my empathic center as a feeling of wrongness. It was the cloying, scraping of an insect in the back of your neck, the gnat across your ear. My flesh fairly crawled. An instinctive warning rose in my throat, seeming to expell a fly swallowed on the wind. A disease creeping across the back of your mind, infecting the world.  - Ardyn Evensong

 

Conclusion and Conjecture

  The information presented here is conjecture based on my particular study of the subjects and eyewitnesses, and not on direct observation or experimentation.   It seems credibly likely that these beings are creating a justification for attacks that go far beyond just nibbling on nuisance and recovering what might be argued was freely given fodder in the first place. The aggressive attacking animalistic beings seem to be manipulated by the merchants somehow, holding them at bay until they themselves have departed the affected zones. It is known that not all items "eaten" by these beings were trinkets, and not all items that were counted as missing in the aftermath of the attacks could be directly accounted for in the attacks. In at least a half dozen of the biggest assaults, in fact, magical devices owned by the victims that were NOT on the premises or in the vicinity were later proved to be missing. Local authorities, wishing to maintain calm, quickly wrote those losses off to the creatures, but I have a suspicion that thefts coincided with the attacks, which I cannot yet prove.   I further surmise that the course of the advancing troupes of merchants seems to be following the Old Road, headed toward World's Edge. It cannot be a coincidence then that you have not been directly assaulted by this phenomenon; you are situated east of Vafthrendor, the most ancient of the Daean cursed cities. If this menace is connected to that den of evil, it makes sense they are making for the Cascade, to escape perhaps to their origin, or at least to muster beyond that Veiled Place.  If my conjecture is anywhere near correct, we have but a month or so to interdict before they reach the Eyewall, and cross out of the present to whatever historic point the Barrier represents. I petition your assistance and await your response at the earliest convenience. Thank you for your forbearance, and do proffer some support to my servant, who brought you this message on my behalf.   His Eminence,  Kittric of Khosh