Issue CCLXXXI of the Capitolina Gazette, dated the 11th Day of the Quiet Queen in the year 409 TC, captures a moment of high curiosity and quiet unrest in the Tatharian capital.
This broadsheet opens with the grand arrival of Envoy Ormenos of Tsaparang, whose dignified presence and lavish gifts (chief among them a live Roc for the Royal Household) have charmed the court and stirred public imagination. Whispers of his connection to Empress Naram-Sin and the mystery of Tsaparang itself set the tone for a season of diplomatic spectacle.
The second column reports the appearance of floating dragon eggs trailing two peculiar guests within the Imperial Palace. These silent, humming relics of ancient wyrmkind have ignited rumors of secret dragon riders, imperial agents, or celestial omens. The Ministry remains silent, though palace staff are notably alarmed.
Further in, a concerning pattern of unusual behavior in Scholar’s Way is documented, including vanishing professors, obsessive maids, and healers gripped by strange compulsions. Though dismissed by officials, the accounts (each linked by acts of obsessive kindness or care) have unsettled the district’s otherwise scholarly calm.
Lastly, the Gazette investigates the latest antics of the adventuring band known as the B-G’s, who are allegedly traveling with a living dwarf, a claim made dubious by the individual’s suspicious proportions, fondness for playing fetch, and fluency in common profanity. The question of whether the dwarves have truly returned from extinction or if this is another stunt remains, for now, unresolved.
Altogether, Issue CCLXXXI reflects a Capitolina poised between spectacle, rumor, and something stranger stirring beneath the surface.
Table of Contents
Capitolina Gazette: Issue CCLXXXI
Capitolina Gazette: Issue CCLXXXI
11th day of the Quiet Queen
Envoy Ormenos Captivates Capitolina
Yesterday the Imperial Court welcomed Ormenos, the newly appointed foreign ambassador, whose presence has already stirred the city’s imagination. Tall, distinguished, and possessed of a striking poise rarely seen in visiting envoys, Ormenos is spoken of not only for his bearing but for the warmth of his reception by Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Naram-Sin . Witnesses say the Empress greeted him with unusual familiarity, a sign that his stature and purpose have been recognized at the highest levels.
The envoy’s arrival was marked by a presentation of gifts for the Royal Household. Foremost among them was a docile young Roc, a bird of legend seldom seen on the Eoperax mainland, gifted to the Royal Household. Court attendants remarked on the symbolism: the Roc, once revered by the ancient Khazuran city-states, represented vigilance and protection. It is whispered that no gift in recent memory has so dazzled the court.
Public enthusiasm has spread quickly. Along the Processional Way, vendors already sell charms and trinkets said to be “favored by the handsome Ormenos.” Social salons chatter about his noble profile and unhurried, deliberate speech. Comparisons are made to envoys of the Bronze Age, when foreign dignitaries were judged as much by elegance and generosity as by treaties.
Whether Ormenos is merely a man of refinement or represents something more enduring remains a matter of speculation. What is certain is that he requested, and was granted, permission to establish an embassy in Capitolina for the far‑flung Tsaparang : whatever that may be. For now, the city delights in his presence, the court is richer by a Roc, and conversation across Capitolina turns to what lasting role this embassy may play in shaping Tatharia’s future.
Imperial Intrigue or Reptilian Resurgence?
FloatingDragonEggs Spotted Following Palace Guests
The corridors of the Imperial Palace have seen many strange wonders over the centuries, but few as eyebrow-raising as this week’s hovering mysteries.
Multiple sources (including a very flustered archivist and a hall steward with perfect eyesight) have confirmed the appearance of not one but two enormous dragon eggs freely drifting behind two peculiar guests of the Empire.
One is described as a “quiet, slightly muddy girl who speaks to ferns,” and the other as “that one with the doll face and the thousand-yard stare.” The eggs in question do not appear to be leashed, warded, or (somehow) falling over. They simply float. And follow. And hum. Occasionally.
Witnesses report:
- The eggs change temperature based on mood (whatever that means).
- They are seen near the war room. And the gardens. And once, the treasury.
- Neither guest appears concerned about palace security or basic decorum.
It is whispered that these two are “deputized in some secret capacity”, though no one in the Imperial Ministry will confirm their titles. When pressed, one seneschal reportedly replied, “Please go away.”
Speculation Corner:
- Are they Imperial agents?
- Are the eggs a message from the Stars?
- Is this the start of a new Age of Wyrm-Riders?
No one knows for sure, but one thing is clear:
These eggs are not ornamental.
If you see one of these “egg-bearers,” do not approach.
Worry Not: A String of Oddities AlongScholar’s Way
It started, as these things often do, with a whisper. A muttered phrase overheard in the bookstalls outside the Laboratorium . A lingering stare across the cobbled walkways of Scholar’s Way. A few too many candles burning after dark.
In recent weeks, a curious pattern of strange behavior has emerged within the closely knit district of Scholar’s Way , raising eyebrows and questions in equal measure. While city officials have not commented publicly, local chatter has begun stitching threads between a series of unsettling episodes.
One of the earliest and most notable cases was that of Professor Etrian, a respected arcanist of the Laboratorium, who vanished three weeks ago after exhibiting an increasingly erratic obsession with an unidentified relic. According to his former teaching assistant, Linna Travell, Etrian had begun keeping bizarre journals filled with geometric spirals and nonsensical prayers written in multiple languages. “He told me that healing without sacrifice was the greatest heresy of our age,” Travell recalls. “He believed someone had to pay, always.”
Etrian reportedly departed the city claiming he had “a list of names to unmake,” and has not been seen since.
Similarly, Eldea, a long-standing maid in the Antediluvian Palace 's inner sanctum, was quietly released from service after an alarming episode in which she stared for hours at the same spot on the marble floor while whispering the details of her cleaning duties over and over again. A fellow attendant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “She just… wouldn’t stop. For seven straight days she cleaned that same column base, muttering about polished silver and sacred blood.”
Eldea has since returned to her childhood village of Drenwall, a quiet settlement in the Southern Frontiers, known only for its spring-fed baths and modest herbalists. Her family declined to comment.
Other incidents include a local apothecary assistant, Maren Kells, who attempted to dissect a feral cat “to find the wound inside it,” and a retired priestess, Sister Halive, who began reciting funeral rites at the Scholar’s Fountain, despite no death being reported nearby. In each case, neighbors describe these individuals as kind, giving, and well-integrated members of the community prior to their transformation.
“These weren’t drunks or lunatics,” said Berrim Olt, a cobbler whose shop overlooks the Palace’s garden wall. “They were the folks who always showed up with a bandage or a warm pot of stew. Eldea used to fix my boy’s scraped knees. Now my wife flinches when someone knocks at the door after sundown.”
City Watch representatives maintain that the incidents are “under investigation,” but have issued no advisories. A few mutterings among the Silver Circle suggest a possible magical contamination or relic-induced hysteria, though no formal diagnosis has been made.
For now, citizens of Scholar’s Way are left to wonder. Was it coincidence? A shared dream? Or perhaps, as one tavernkeeper put it, “Just a fever in the city’s blood.”
Worry not, they say.
But they light more lamps now, come nightfall.
The B-G’s and Their So-CalledDwarf: Return From Extinction, or Just Extremely Hairy?
Word has reached this humble ink-pusher that the adventuring clique styling themselves the BGG (or the B-G’s, for those too lazy for syllables) may have acquired more than loot and scrapes on their latest expedition. Reports swirl that among their number struts a figure claiming descent from the long-vanished Dwarves, thought to have perished a century and a half ago in that infamous, world-cracking squabble over relics too powerful for anyone’s good.
The supposed specimen was sighted near Northwestgate , hefting a battle axe so gaudy it could double as a temple idol. When pressed by bystanders for an account of his origins, the gruff fellow only muttered that his weapon had “powers we couldn’t imagine” before promptly ignoring the crowd in favor of playing fetch with a beautiful white-furred flying Skaihund . (One can only imagine what the Ancients would think of their mighty heritage being reduced to stick-throwing.)
This reporter, for one, remains skeptical. The individual in question may well be nothing more than a halfling of unusual stature, cursed with excessive hair. His proportions were wrong for the dwarven statuary we still see in broken halls; his mannerisms too lazy for the famously industrious folk. And when his Skaihund missed a catch and dropped its prize directly on his helm, the string of curses he bellowed were impressively guttural, though hardly conclusive. After all, any half-decent dockworker in the Capital can swear in three dialects before breakfast.
Still, the sight of a “living dwarf” has whipped certain circles into a frenzy. Could this be the return of a royal bloodline? A forgotten king in exile? Or simply another case of the B-G’s very creative self-promotion?
Until proven otherwise, readers are advised to treat the claim of a resurrected dwarf race with the same caution as one treats street wine or temple tax collectors: suspiciously, and with coin purse clenched tight.
Type
Text, Newspaper
Medium
Paper
Authoring Date
11th day of the Quiet Queen
Location
Tatharia Capitolina