1953: The Cold Wind Assembly and the Madness at Wade Lagoon

The early 1950s saw Cleveland deep in the throes of Cold War tension. McCarthyism and anti-Communist hysteria gripped the nation. Radio broadcasts whispered of infiltrators. Schoolchildren were drilled in duck-and-cover. Dreams of the future were laced with fallout and betrayal.

In the winter of 1953, that tension manifested in Cleveland’s Dreaming as a mass spawning of paranoia nervosa chimera—creatures of fear and suspicion that fed on uncertainty, disinformation, and broken trust. It began with the mirroring of mortal fears among Dreamers: lovers became jealous, parents lashed out, children pointed fingers at those they once adored.

The epicenter was Wade Lagoon, near the Cleveland Museum of Art—normally a reservoir of Glamour due to the dreams inspired by its beauty. But something twisted had entered its waters: Dreamers began seeing their fae friends as Soviet agents, as monsters in disguise, as traitors to their cause. A Kinain violinist threw a Satyr through a stained-glass window. A group of Dreamers tried to bind their Eshu mentor in chains of chalk and red thread.

By the time the nervosa began taking physical form, it was almost too late. Manifesting as mobs of faceless gray figures with typewriter teeth and radio-static voices, the chimera whispered surveillance secrets and false prophecies into the ears of mortals and fae alike.

The Trolls of the Steel Garden Motley—a now-legendary group named for the enchanted greenhouse they called home in the industrial flats—led a coordinated effort to contain the crisis. Working with satirical Boggans, iron-handed Nockers, and even a Prodigal alchemist or two, they convened what became known as the Cold Wind Assembly.

The Assembly developed a lullaby-forged Bunk that would dampen the hallucinations, and a ceremonial “Radio Silence” ritual that caused the nervosa to fracture under the weight of collective scrutiny.

The battle at Wade Lagoon lasted three nights. The trolls—shielded by their Oaths and by the loyalty they inspired in both Kithain and mortals—stood against the tide of confusion.

In the final moments, one Troll named Harrold Brannoch held the last nervosa still with a whispered riddle and a heartbeat drum. It dissolved with the first spring thaw, and he returned to his greenhouse, never speaking of it again.

Legacy

• Since that time, no enchanted mortal has been permitted to enter Wade Lagoon alone.
• The Steel Garden Motley became foundational in shaping Greater Cleveland’s defense against intrusive Banality.
• Every February, the Cold Wind Vigil is held—where Kithain gather to tell jokes, riddles, and iron-clad truths in honor of those who kept fear from devouring the Dreaming.