The Aurelian Conspiracy

B-class article · First seen: s07 · Last seen: s23

The Aurelian Conspiracy is the wiki’s name for the pattern in which agents of Aurelia take magically gifted people from other cities and enforce the empire’s ban on arcane magic well beyond its borders. It began in session 7 with a street scuffle over an urn, and grew through a coerced clinic in Umbrafall, the occupation of Eldwythe, the beheading of Ruin and the theft of The Egg into the campaign’s chief antagonist arc. After a patrol executed Mike in session 18 the party set its Aurelian quest aside “for now” [26], and Mira Hale, the first named victim, and the Egg are presumed to remain in Aurelian hands.

Overview

The Aurelian Conspiracy is the wiki’s umbrella name for a pattern the party pieced together from session 7 onwards: agents of Aurelia, the marble-and-gold empire that outlaws arcane magic, take magically gifted people from other cities, and enforce the ban by force wherever they can reach. The pattern runs through a coerced clinic, a paid-off police force, an off-the-books dock, Nullstone-runed plate and patrols that execute detected casters on the spot.

It began as a favour for a stranger. In session 7 Risa begged the party to stop two Nightwatch men taking her sister’s urn, and by session 10 the party knew that Aurelians had taken her sister. The arc then followed the party: an occupied Eldwythe, Ruin killed and The Egg stolen in session 15, and Mike executed in session 18. The party gave up its Aurelian quest “for now” [26]. The purpose of the abductions has never been shown.

Known traits

  • Targets. People with magic or arcane learning. Mira Hale had shown magical capabilities and “they wanted her for some reason” [27]; Nessa’s husband was held on a charge of “unauthorized studies” [28]; the hunters who found Rime went after a silver dragon [29].
  • Cover and means. A coerced clinic, the Dawn Mercy Clinic [30]; a Nightwatch that was “paid off” [31]; and a barrel sent to Dock 13 [32].
  • Gear. Nullstone-runed plate, which gives advantage on saves against arcane spells [33]. The DM said that “even normal fighters have this on” [34].
  • Force. The occupation of Eldwythe [35]; hounds [36]; an elite with a chain [37]; a patrol with a confessor [38]; and a binder [39].
  • Doctrine. “The question is not did you cast a spell. It is, are you using unsanctioned arcane power.” [17]. Enchanted items need a permit [40][41]. How Aurelia detects magic is not explained, though the DM has said it fades with distance [42] and that binders do it better than “the wards in Aurelia” [43].
  • Head. Seraphine is “the leader of Aurelia” [44].

Relationships

  • Risa and Mira Hale. The personal hook. The party told Risa it would “try and investigate for you and see where she might be” once its business in another city was done [45]. She was last seen drinking at the inn [46].
  • The Egg. Taken by an Aurelian in session 15 and now held, the DM said, by a binder [47].
  • Maelis Dirn and the Duskwatch shipping ledger. Most of Maelis’s cargo went out through Dock 13 [48], the same dock Mira Hale was sent to. Whether the two uses are related has not been said.
  • Mharos. The Paladin’s radiant damage burned the demon in Vasquez [49][50]. Vasquez’s player called it “an affinity to be weak to radiant” [51]; the DM did not rule on a weakness.
  • Cholmondeley. The party’s first paladin wore Aurelian crests [52] and had run from “the military” after saving a girl from execution [53].
  • Aurelian forces and Pure Light. The forces are the field arm; the patrol of session 15 acted “by order of the pure light” [54].

Notable named figures

Open questions

  • Why Aurelia takes magical people. Drew named Mira and the act but not the purpose [59].
  • Who holds the Egg. The DM said “he is an Aurelian binder” [47], without saying that he is the s15 chain-master or the s20 binder.
  • The wards. What “the wards in Aurelia” are is not said [43].
  • Reach. Whether binders may pursue people “beyond Aurelian borders” was asked and left open [60], as was whether a changeling’s change of shape counts as magic [61].
  • Other powers. Nothing shown or said links the conspiracy to Hugo’s Project Veilbreak or to The Ascendancy.

History in the campaign

Session 7: Maelis Falls, Vasquez Captured

Main article: Session 7

Leaving the Whisper Coil Emporium in Umbrafall, the party saw two Nightwatch men pulling a bundle from a young woman. “It’s the last thing I have of her,” she said [62]. It was an urn, and the watchman called it “City property” [63]. Hugo first meant to stay out of it [64], but a fight followed, a flare summoned reinforcements [65], and Vasquez was taken. Nothing yet tied the urn to Aurelia.

Session 8: Bruise the Cellmate, the Succubus, and the Quarry Ghosts

Main article: Session 8

Risa had followed the party into an alley. Hugo’s Perception caught a smell: the urn “smells unmistakably like lye” [66], not of ash. Risa said the Dawn Mercy Clinic had told her that her sister died and had to be burned, that its log put the burning at ten but a check on her at 10.20 [67], and that her sister had “turned on a candle with her mind” [68]. Hugo’s player suggested they might have aquamated her [69], a theory about the lye, and Terry wondered if they were “kidnapping them” [70].

Session 10: Ruin Joins, the Aurelian Conspiracy, the Plate Armour

Main article: Session 10

Caelumn’s flames and three natural 20s on Intimidation [71] made the clinic orderly Drew talk. The Aurelians “came a few days ago. They had papers.” [58]. They already had Mira Hale’s name, made him burn the records [72], and had the Nightwatch paid off [31]. She had gone by barrel to Dock 13, four days earlier [73][32]. Walking back, the party was ambushed by an Aurelian Paladin and three lighter men [74]. The DM said the Paladin was not using Smite: “he’s just blessed by Aurelia” [75]. His plate was Nullstone [76].

Session 11: Owlbears and the Soulbinder

Main article: Session 11

On the road out of Umbrafall the party helped a farmer mend his cart’s axle [77]. When Ruin’s Fire Bolt then brought down a pigeon for lunch [78], the farmer told the party to keep “the theatrics” down near Aurelian territory: “Or you might go missing.” [79]. He added that “people with magic rarely make it. Unless you’re part of the church, I guess.” [80]. Answering Caelumn, the DM said that Aurelia and Vhal’Zarim together hunted the chromatic dragons “to near extinction” [81], which is why the party’s quest is hard.

Session 12: Eldwythe and the Candy Cottage

Main article: Session 12

At an orchard near Eldwythe Caelumn asked the farmer Thomas Feld whether Aurelian soldiers had passed through in the last few days, perhaps with a carriage with bars on it, coming from Umbrafall and bound for Aurelia [82]. Feld had seen none. The DM, speaking as Feld, said that anyone they were shipping would most likely have gone by sea, along a well-travelled shipping route from Umbrafall to Aurelia [83].

Session 14: The Gummy Mummy and Aurelian Eldwythe

Main article: Session 14

Back from the Candy Cottage, the party found Eldwythe held by soldiers under white-and-gold banners, with notice boards for “unlawful possession and obstruction of divine inquiry” [35]. “There is a description of all five of you,” the DM said [84]. They had been away about two days [85]. In camp he told them that Aurelians “must carry out their divine right of exterminating all arcane users”, that nobody knew how they find them, and that “tieflings are exterminated on sight” [86][87].

Session 15: The Death of Ruin and Althea Joins

Main article: Session 15

A patrol found the camp “by order of the pure light” [54]. When Vasquez took the blame himself, a chain from the patrol’s leader took off Ruin’s head with no roll [88]. Another officer’s whisper dealt Althea 9 radiant damage with no save [89]. Phil Flowerforge’s smoke bomb broke the fight up, and from the smoke a chain pulled Caelumn’s backpack, with the Egg, away [90]. In the sewers Phil named his Aurelian contact, Hett Varn, with a safe house in the Ashward [91].

Session 16: Through the Sewers, Onto the Skiff

Main article: Session 16

Dogs barked behind the sewer door [92], and at the seaward end the Aurelians had “kind of captured the end of the sewer”, so the party slipped past to a skiff [93]. The DM offered Phil’s contact, Velkris, Umbrafall or a retreat [94], and the party chose to sail for the White Lantern Shrine and Aurelia [95]. The session closed on Sevryn’s words, “everything is happening the way it’s supposed to”, in their minds [96].

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

The DM opened with a retcon: Vasquez and Althea had split off, been captured by the Aurelians, and been left behind [97][98], and Vasquez’s Hat of Disguise had exploded [99]. The Aurelians had also “sunk the ship that you tried to escape on”, leaving Mike and Steven for dead [100]. Adrift on a damaged boat, Nessa told the party her husband was “taken three nights ago into the road offices” and that officers “called it unauthorized studies” [28]. She made “the sign of Aurelia” [101].

Session 18: The Wyrm Falls, the Catfish Escapes, and Mike Dies on the Road

Main article: Session 18

On the road inland a patrol of three knights in full plate and a “priestly person” stopped the party [38]. The leader gave the gate rules: travelling documents, registration, report “arcane heretics” [102]. When Mike cast Message through the Mizzium Apparatus, the priest raised a finger at him [103]. The knight Glenn dropped him in two swings [104] and took his head on the next round [55]; the patrol took the Apparatus [105]. The DM’s rule: “in Aurelia, the question is not did you cast a spell. It is, are you using unsanctioned arcane power.” [17]. Enchanted items need a sanction, “Kind of like a gun permit in the US.” [40].

Session 19: A Penitent Priest, an Unmade Leash, and the Pixie in the Dark

Main article: Session 19

Asked about the Egg’s taker, the DM said he was the ranking officer and that “None of you know his official title” [106]. Caelumn worked out that “all magical equipment is restricted”, and the DM added: “you need to have a permit to have that” [107]. The party judged itself too weak and set the raid aside [26][108]. The goblin Gristleback, voiced by the DM, named Seraphine, who “destroyed five Archmages by herself” and is “the leader of Aurelia” [109]. Then a guardsman from the patrol that killed Mike came to the camp: Father Thomas [110][57].

Session 20: The Man Who Was Always Here

Main article: Session 20

At night a hound, two archers and a binder, “a elite fighter and magic detector of Aurelia” [39], questioned Father Thomas: “Did you check them for heresy?” [111]. He outranked the priest “by quite a lot” [112]. A light in the sky drew the patrol off with “I’ll deal with you later.” [113]. The party then crossed the Eldwythe Bridge checkpoint as caravan guards, found the Aurelian banner gone from the town [114][115], and left Aurelia [116].

Session 22: The Dragon in the Statue

Main article: Session 22

In the ridge temple north of Greysmere the party met the silver dragon wyrmling Rime, a black bolt under his shoulder [117]. Father Thomas knew it for an Aurelian bolt [118]. Rime said “aurelian hunters found me and tracked me all the way here” [29], and when Thomas came close he cried “wait wait they’re back please stop him” [119]. The DM’s history check said Aurelia and Vhal’Zarim had “hunted down dragons to near extinction” [120].

Session 23: The Changeling in Manacles

Main article: Session 23

No Aurelian appeared, but the DM spoke for them. Arcanthys has been “in open confrontation with Aurelia for quite a while, and now it’s kind of a Cold War, sort of”, and anyone seen practising arcane magic within Aurelian borders is “rapidly executed” [24]. The man who holds the Egg “is an Aurelian binder” [47], and binders “can sense arcane usage even more than the wards in Aurelia” [43], the first mention of wards.

Status

As of session 23. Active but out of the party’s reach. The party left Aurelian territory in session 20 [116], and one of its players has said it will not return “until we’re strong enough” [121]. Ruin and Mike were executed [122][123], Vasquez and Althea were left to the Aurelians [98], the Egg is held by a binder [47], and Mira Hale is presumed to be in Aurelia [124]. No session has shown what the conspiracy is for.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 7, line 1207-1216: Risa clutches an urn outside the Whisper Coil Emporium; two Nightwatchmen try to take it.
  2. ^ Session 8, line 118-189: The urn smells of lye; Hugo's aquamation theory; Risa names the Dawn Mercy Clinic and the gap in its log.
  3. ^ Session 10, line 639-696: Drew confesses that Aurelians with papers took Mira Hale; the Nightwatch were paid off; she went by barrel to Dock 13.
  4. ^ Session 10, line 821-836: The Aurelian Paladin's blows add radiant damage that burns Mharos; the DM puts it down to his being "blessed by Aurelia".
  5. ^ Session 10, line 1639-1644: The Paladin's plate is identified as Nullstone armour; the DM rules it gives advantage on saves against arcane spells (L1784).
  6. ^ Session 11, line 837-852: A farmer warns the party off magic near Aurelia; the DM says Aurelia and Vhal'Zarim hunted the chromatic dragons together.
  7. ^ Session 12, line 425-437: Caelumn asks Thomas Feld about Aurelian soldiers with a prison carriage; the DM says there is a well-travelled shipping route from Umbrafall to Aurelia.
  8. ^ Session 14, line 1556-1566: Aurelian forces hold Eldwythe; the wanted notices describe all five party members.
  9. ^ Session 14, line 1616-1619: The DM on Aurelia's "divine right of exterminating all arcane users" and the rule that tieflings are exterminated on sight.
  10. ^ Session 15, line 103-119: A patrol arrives "by order of the pure light"; a chain takes off Ruin's head with no roll.
  11. ^ Session 15, line 496-521: A chain from the smoke pulls Caelumn's backpack, with the Egg, away.
  12. ^ Session 15, line 655-695: Phil names Hett Varn, with a safe house in the Ashward, and gives the party a note for the White Lantern Shrine.
  13. ^ Session 16, line 1603-1626: The Aurelians hold the sewer outfall; the party slips past to a skiff and chooses the White Lantern Shrine.
  14. ^ Session 17, line 130-136: The DM's retcon sends Vasquez and Althea off as captives of the Aurelians; the Hat of Disguise is gone (L785 repeats the capture).
  15. ^ Session 17, line 973-978: Nessa's husband was taken "into the road offices" on a charge of "unauthorized studies".
  16. ^ Session 18, line 1988-2018: A routine patrol of three knights and a confessor gives the gate rules and the reporting protocol.
  17. ^ Session 18, line 2176: Doctrine: in Aurelia the question is whether you are using unsanctioned arcane power; Bladesong counts.
  18. ^ Session 18, line 2272-2287: Glenn beheads Mike; the patrol takes the Mizzium Apparatus from his body.
  19. ^ Session 18, line 2378-2380: Enchanted items need a sanction, "like a gun permit in the US".
  20. ^ Session 19, line 242-244: All magical equipment, healing potions included, needs a permit; the party sets the Egg raid aside.
  21. ^ Session 19, line 654-660: Gristleback (voiced by the DM) names Seraphine as the ruler of Aurelia.
  22. ^ Session 20, line 267-295: A binder's patrol questions Father Thomas and leaves to investigate a light in the sky.
  23. ^ Session 22, line 864-911: Rime carries an Aurelian bolt and says Aurelian hunters tracked him to the ridge temple.
  24. ^ Session 23, line 1299: DM: Arcanthys and Aurelia are in "kind of a Cold War"; arcane casters within Aurelian borders "are rapidly executed".
  25. ^ Session 23, line 1357-1363: DM: the man who holds the Egg "is an Aurelian binder"; binders sense arcane usage better than "the wards in Aurelia"; whether they may pursue beyond the borders is left open.
  26. ^ Session 19, line 229: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 10, line 652: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 17, line 973: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 22, line 904: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 10, line 648-658: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 10, line 662-664: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 10, line 688-694: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 10, line 1784: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 10, line 1687: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 14, line 1556: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 15, line 1338: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 15, line 408: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 18, line 1988: Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 20, line 267: Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 18, line 2380: Inline citation.
  41. ^ Session 19, line 243: Inline citation.
  42. ^ Session 19, line 1071: Inline citation.
  43. ^ Session 23, line 1359: Inline citation.
  44. ^ Session 19, line 660: Inline citation.
  45. ^ Session 10, line 1507: Inline citation.
  46. ^ Session 10, line 1477: Inline citation.
  47. ^ Session 23, line 1357: Inline citation.
  48. ^ Session 16, line 280: Inline citation.
  49. ^ Session 10, line 827: Inline citation.
  50. ^ Session 10, line 931: Inline citation.
  51. ^ Session 10, line 832: Inline citation.
  52. ^ Session 2, line 234-240: Inline citation.
  53. ^ Session 2, line 3382: Inline citation.
  54. ^ Session 15, line 103: Inline citation.
  55. ^ Session 18, line 2274: Inline citation.
  56. ^ Session 18, line 2332: Inline citation.
  57. ^ Session 19, line 695: Inline citation.
  58. ^ Session 10, line 648: Inline citation.
  59. ^ Session 10, line 652-656: Inline citation.
  60. ^ Session 23, line 1360-1363: Inline citation.
  61. ^ Session 23, line 1409: Inline citation.
  62. ^ Session 7, line 1208: Inline citation.
  63. ^ Session 7, line 1216: Inline citation.
  64. ^ Session 7, line 1213: Inline citation.
  65. ^ Session 7, line 1375: Inline citation.
  66. ^ Session 8, line 118: Inline citation.
  67. ^ Session 8, line 140-146: Inline citation.
  68. ^ Session 8, line 189: Inline citation.
  69. ^ Session 8, line 163: Inline citation.
  70. ^ Session 8, line 177: Inline citation.
  71. ^ Session 10, line 639-640: Inline citation.
  72. ^ Session 10, line 658: Inline citation.
  73. ^ Session 10, line 666: Inline citation.
  74. ^ Session 10, line 778: Inline citation.
  75. ^ Session 10, line 836: Inline citation.
  76. ^ Session 10, line 1643: Inline citation.
  77. ^ Session 11, line 796-813: Inline citation.
  78. ^ Session 11, line 816-822: Inline citation.
  79. ^ Session 11, line 837-839: Inline citation.
  80. ^ Session 11, line 841: Inline citation.
  81. ^ Session 11, line 852: Inline citation.
  82. ^ Session 12, line 425-431: Inline citation.
  83. ^ Session 12, line 437: Inline citation.
  84. ^ Session 14, line 1561: Inline citation.
  85. ^ Session 14, line 1566: Inline citation.
  86. ^ Session 14, line 1616: Inline citation.
  87. ^ Session 14, line 1619: Inline citation.
  88. ^ Session 15, line 117-119: Inline citation.
  89. ^ Session 15, line 385-390: Inline citation.
  90. ^ Session 15, line 496-501: Inline citation.
  91. ^ Session 15, line 655-660: Inline citation.
  92. ^ Session 16, line 1123: Inline citation.
  93. ^ Session 16, line 1603: Inline citation.
  94. ^ Session 16, line 1626: Inline citation.
  95. ^ Session 16, line 1735-1740: Inline citation.
  96. ^ Session 16, line 1753: Inline citation.
  97. ^ Session 17, line 130: Inline citation.
  98. ^ Session 17, line 785: Inline citation.
  99. ^ Session 17, line 134: Inline citation.
  100. ^ Session 17, line 200: Inline citation.
  101. ^ Session 17, line 978: Inline citation.
  102. ^ Session 18, line 2012: Inline citation.
  103. ^ Session 18, line 2044: Inline citation.
  104. ^ Session 18, line 2094: Inline citation.
  105. ^ Session 18, line 2287: Inline citation.
  106. ^ Session 19, line 181: Inline citation.
  107. ^ Session 19, line 242-243: Inline citation.
  108. ^ Session 19, line 244: Inline citation.
  109. ^ Session 19, line 658-660: Inline citation.
  110. ^ Session 19, line 668: Inline citation.
  111. ^ Session 20, line 273: Inline citation.
  112. ^ Session 20, line 280: Inline citation.
  113. ^ Session 20, line 295: Inline citation.
  114. ^ Session 20, line 417: Inline citation.
  115. ^ Session 20, line 553: Inline citation.
  116. ^ Session 20, line 696: Inline citation.
  117. ^ Session 22, line 864: Inline citation.
  118. ^ Session 22, line 901: Inline citation.
  119. ^ Session 22, line 911: Inline citation.
  120. ^ Session 22, line 909: Inline citation.
  121. ^ Session 23, line 1387: Inline citation.
  122. ^ Session 15, line 119: Inline citation.
  123. ^ Session 18, line 2276: Inline citation.
  124. ^ Session 10, line 666-668: Inline citation.