Plot: Beyond the Wall
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Beyond the Wall
The Chaos Brigade is broken. "Shivering Jenny", slain amidst the ruins of her power. For the first time in a long time, the power of the Old Town gangs - the omnipotence of the Mains - is brought into question. Once untouchable figures made mortal over the course of a single night as a dozen plans and schemes came to a head. Though rumours persist, there is no version of events that places Shivering Jenny yet alive - and the Underworld crawls with loose ends as the extent of the Chaos Brigade's operations begins to meet the light of day. The Underworld crawls, with greedy fingers, slavering over Jenny's once unasailable empire of supply and demand.
Bloodstones. Bleakstones. Forbidden Texts. Dark Artifacts. The list is endless. No one, in fact, knows for true precisely all the needs that the Chaos Brigade catered to for the city's most discerning - and affluent - clients. Somewhere in the depths of Arabel smugglers hasten through damp corridors and ambitious gangs do their best to intercept a now unprotected supply chain. The Sleet Bench remains open for the time being, but it is anyone's guess for how long - or to whom its coffers now empty. Far from the victorious parades such a happening would once have engendered though, the friction between the Purple Dragon regiment posted to Arabel and the Citadel Guard is becoming increasingly palpable.
Although there are a myriad of factors causing various alteractions, perhaps the most likely candidate for what is causing so much strife is the increasing sentiment that the Citadel Guard's unequalled position in Arabel may have a contender. The personal feud between the Lords of House Hardcastle and House Dracohorn spills over from the political arena and begins to manifest itself - intended or not - in the movements and actions of their servants, footmen and broader assets. Where they might have cooperated, the course of events taken has instead lead to a rivalry that threatens Arabel's long since apathetic relationship with Suzail.
None-the-less, a clear shift in power is visible in Old Town. The "rule" of the Mains was criminal, yet all the same shows the first signs of sinking into something approaching Anarchy. All eyes look to the Plebian Court and the enigmatic Citizen, a man who perhaps saw his own doom in Shivering Jenny's fate. Crime Lord or Hero of the People? The distinction is the difference between the ultimate prize and ultimate defeat, it would seem, as more populist movements gather some pace in the Chaos Brigade's wake. The people of Old Town, whether driven by desperation or by hope, are increasingly receptive to the charity of the Ilmaterii, of the Lauthyrite Battle-cry: Fortune Favours the Bold.
The Queen of Chaos is undone.
The Fogman gauges his rival from across the Wall.
Old Town awakens, to blood and song.
Somewhere in the Pit, an old man dies a slow death, a dagger in his chest.It has already begun.
