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Romps and Reconstruction in Loka: Steam, Magic, and Mysteries in the Frozen Wasteland.

In year 313 [speculative guess! any better ideas?], on day Y of the month of Z, the most devastating single sapient disaster in Lokan history took place when a former captain of the Royal Guard, Taskaru, razed the town of Escorus.

Time-Line

• 9:00AM - witnesses state an initial explosion was heard. It is generally believed that the house in which Taskaru lived was the first to be destroyed.
• 9:05AM - Taskaru was identified setting homes and public structures ablaze with fire magic and the light techniques. For many, this was the first time knowledge about the light techniques’ existence was known, as the Cela do not teach it.
• 9:08AM - Local mages and soldiers began battle with Taskaru. A great deal of them were quickly slaughtered. Their work served primarily to buy time until Helio could send reinforcements.
• 9:10AM - The sounds of explosions and smoke coming from Escorus far over the horizon causes the King to send a military detachment, primarily consisting of the Royal guard. It is speculated that the King may have chosen the guard to head this detachment because he expected something would have to be very wrong if Taskaru was not able to fix it. More cynical historians think the King may have known that Taskaru was the cause.
• 2:00PM - By this time, the majority of the town had been destroyed, and the detachment from Helio arrived on horseback.
• 2:10PM - After a few guardsmen manage to get Taskaru further away, Kelketek engages him one-on-one while the rest go to get the town rounded up and evacuate.
• 2:15PM - The fight goes back and forth for a full five minutes. Witnesses hear conversation interspersed with fighting, and bright flashes.
• 2:20PM - Witnesses hear a lull in the fight. Some of those who were not in the first wave of evacuation or dead come out to observe what is happening. Witness reports on the actual attack used by Kelketek are vague and vary, however general consensus was that a feeling of time slowing down, bright lights, and the magic abilities of those who had them departed for the duration of the attack.
• 2:25PM - The spell ends and Taskaru was reported to be ‘gone’ by witnesses. Kelketek was seen gravely injured, showing symptoms of severe physical trauma. He was soon taken in a salvaged cart from the ruins and exfiltrated from the scene.
• 8:00PM - Firefighting teams manage to get most of the fires under control. Some who return to the town find that opportunistic raiders and slavers already swept through and took some of the children and possessions in the areas that were evacuated. Searches over the next few months have varying degrees of success.

Theories of the start of the disaster

Theories for Taskaru’s rampage have ranged anywhere from senility to demonic possession to the magic arts unraveling his mind. There is as of yet no consensus on his motives, as he was destroyed before he could speak to anyone other than Kelketek, who has not revealed anything. It was only recently that Kelketek could be asked, after his reappearance. Some believe this is due to orders of the Crown. Others believe the reason was so deeply troubling that he did not wish to repeat it. His official stance has been that he simply doesn’t know.

Disappearance of Kelketek

After the disaster, eyewitnesses stated that Kelketek was found sick on the scene and was carted toward Helio to be cared for by the King’s medical staff. For a long time, the fate of the fox was unknown. Many had begun to question if he had died and the King was trying to keep his death a secret. Others believed he was alive and being held captive. Proponents of this theory suggested that he was a co-conspirator with Taskaru, since Taskaru was his teacher before the guard was handed to his care. Kelketek reappeared publicly after the finished reconstruction of Escorus in Helio, performing a wedding ceremony.

Rebuilding of the town

Escorus had been established as a farmland town before the disaster, only recently gaining some urban attributes. Plots varied in size between a fourth of an acre, usually held by bureaucrats or especially skilled workers in the center of town, and hundreds of acres for the bigger farms. Many of the crops were destroyed in the fires, slowing economic recovery. Grants from the Naraka Corperation assisted in funding the rebuilding of the city— allowing for the installation of coal gas heating and other amenities to allow the city to rebuild with a more modern infrastructure. The reconstruction was completed after 10 years, a memorial built to those who died or were lost in the attack.

Categories: History