Basir 24th, 242 AC

For the past three generations, the name Majilisun Kassim “Relentless” Errai had rung through the floating halls of Shal’Azura with the clear resonance of stability and law. As First Chair of the Erudite Triad and Headmaster of the Desert Rose University—vaunted seat of learning and power—he had shaped the city’s ascent from a cloud-wreathed start-up into the most luminous intellectual beacon above the lands of the Southern Continent. His tenure, unbroken for over sixty years despite all manner of political intrigue and challenge, had been marked not only by dazzling diplomatic cunning but by a moral force rarely seen at such heights. His word was mythic currency; his rare smile, a benediction; his enemies, many, but always outpaced and outmaneuvered by his signature blend of tenacity and erudition.

It was precisely because of his unassailable presence that the news, when it came, struck the city with a force akin to a waking nightmare. On the Night of the Storm—when the winds from the western dunes battered the levitating city into a groaning, shivering ship—he was found dead, the work of unknown hands. The date: 24th Basir, 242 AC. The university’s great Majilisun’s Tower, usually a symbol of the Triad’s omnipresent gaze, fell suddenly blind; doors locked, roselight lanterns extinguished, a gaping hole in its side, rumors seeping like black mold through every stratum of society.

The immediate aftermath was chaos. The thunderstorm that night was so severe that for a time, the sky’s shriek drowned out even the city’s own pulse. Many a Windwarden fell battling the cataclysmic force, buying the cities survival with their sacrifice. Yet beneath the noise, a deeper tremor ran: the assassination of Kassim Errai tore a rift across Shal’Azura’s social fabric. Security, once the proud boast of Clouder society, was reduced to mere facade. In the twisting alleys of Eatifat and the shaded canyon of Fajirun, whispers bloomed like night fungus: There had been other deaths; the death of two families, the children missing; a merchant gruesomely killed and dismembered.

By dawn the Triad Plaza, the city’s great place of assembly in Warda, was filled with a trembling, rain-soaked multitude, awaiting word from the Triad’s remaining members. Panic simmered just below the surface, but so did something sharper: a sense of suspended judgment, as though all of Shal’Azura held its breath, waiting to learn if its own future would be written by the hand of justice, or by the unseen force that had ended Kassim Errai’s reign.

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Page 4: Windwardens in jeopardy? After the massive storm on Basir 23rd, the Windwardens face a challenging time as their numbers have dwindled due to injury or even death. More on this on page 4.

 

Page 5: Daggerpalm season starting date announced. All details, exact dates and preliminary contenders on page 5.

 

Page 7: Young students these days. Meet Aaliyah and learn about her likes and dislikes.