Aurelian Persecution

The Aurelian Persecution is the campaign arc that begins with the Aurelian Occupation of Eldwythe in session 14 and continues through the party’s flight south on the skiff at the end of session 16. From the moment wanted posters of all five PCs appeared on the Eldwythe gate notice boards charging “unlawful possession and obstruction of divine inquiry” ^[1], the party is no longer at-large adventurers but named targets of the Aurelian state. The persecution sits on top of the existing Risa’s Sister Conspiracy thread, fuses the campaign’s smaller-scale Umbrafall mysteries with the principal-antagonist Pure Light faction, and shapes every party decision from session 14 onward.

Overview

The Aurelian Persecution names the on-screen arc that began the moment the party returned to Eldwythe at nightfall on the last day of session 14 and found their faces on wanted posters at the gate. Before session 14 the Aurelians were a distant ideological antagonist — Cholmondeley’s pre-campaign affiliation, the off-screen empire across the map. From session 14 onward they are an active, named, persistent threat that:

• Occupies Eldwythe in less than a day and is still occupying it at end of session 16
• Searches every cart and shutter for the named PCs
• Charges the party with “unlawful possession and obstruction of divine inquiry” — wording that points the persecution at The Egg and the party’s arcane workings
• Steals The Egg off Caelumn’s back during the s15 smoke-flight via an Aurelian chain-master ^[2]
• Posts patrols with dogs in the woods around Eldwythe (s15)
• Forces the party underground (the Eldwythe Sewers crawl spans sessions 15-16) and onto a small skiff sailing south toward the White Lantern Shrine at end of session 16

The DM’s session-end telepathic line from Sevryn — “Everything is happening the way it’s supposed to” ^[3] — explicitly folds the persecution into the campaign’s larger intended plot rather than treating it as a setback.

Where this comes up

• Named as the second campaign arc on the session 15 and session 16 recap frontmatter (“Aurelian persecution arc”).
• Listed as an active situation in the session 16 open-threads block.
• The geographic and tactical premise of every choice the party has made from session 14 onward (avoid Eldwythe, sewer escape, skiff south to White Lantern Shrine, plan to enter Aurelia via Hett Varn’s safe house).
• Cross-referenced from 05_locations/eldwife.md as the arc that began in Eldwythe.

References

1. ^ Session 14, line 1556-1561 — Wanted posters of all five PCs at Eldwythe; "unlawful possession and obstruction of divine inquiry".
2. ^ Session 15, line 500-504 — Inline citation.
3. ^ Session 16, line 1753 — Inline citation.