Jukashi
Four Thousand Club
Background
From the pen of Earnest River, Monk of the First Coil,
Upon the investigations of Anathema presence in the Guild.
(Third scroll)
Corona is not her birth name. She's quite free with that information. But that's the only proper name she'll answer to. She was ordered to give her real name, once; she only said, however, that he couldn't give what she didn't have. Apparantly, under her barbarian traditions, a slave has no right to their "free name" and must take a new one until such time as they can reclaim it. The name Corona was given to her by her original master, a Lunar Anathema whom she did not deign to identify to me. The master of the caravan did not deign to say either; no doubt he didn't want me providing our Immaculate seers with any information that could lead the Wyld Hunt to one of his potential customers. Thus, I was forced to put aside that line of inquiry.
Knowing that I was dealing with one of the Decievers, I undertook great caution in speaking to the Solar and the mortals whom she had opportunity to take into her thrall; from what I have seen, however, the tale the guild told to our investigators was true. Certainly from my understanding of the Immaculate texts, no Solar Anathema would willingly place herself under the command of such men and women, and it appears that she is indeed bound to slavery as was claimed. Still, we all know what cunning tricks the Anathema can bring to bear, and so, secured against mental manipulations by the potent artifacts furnished upon me by the Order, I pushed on and delved into her history.
This was not a very pleasant experience, as she was very contemptuous of me, polite and deferential though her words were. As far as I could tell, however, she was like that towards everyone. In fact she seemed even worse to everyone else; I believe she may have been impressed to some small extent by the sparseness of my lifestyle, surrounded as she was by the luxuries of a guild caravan that were so at odds with a barbarian's upbringing. I think anyone would have their compassion for others eroded by life in such a place, and for one already as foul as the Anathema... well, I would hardly expect any kindness from such a person.
Assuming she was speaking some truths, her life before that twisted parody of Exaltation that Anathema go through took place deep in the southeast, on the edges of the Wyld. A tribe of anathema spawn that blended the shapes of men and gazelle, her people lived a nomadic existance in order to avoid the dark creatures that lurk upon the shores of Creation. And she was, or so she said, the quickest footed among them, earning her esteem by being a messenger between their different family groups. It seems, however, that early in her third decade of life, the Wyld to the south advanced, and the aforementioned Lunar Anathema brought their own group of twisted beastmen up into the territory of Corona's people. Not being warriors to the same extent as most such creatures, they feared eradication, for the Lunar was known in that region for being a bloodthirsty and territorial savage, as we would expect. Corona went to the Lunar however, to plead for her people; although I expressed doubt at this part of the tale, I suppose it is possible for even their tainted souls to have the capacity for such concern. But whatever compassion the beastwoman may once have had did not save her from her fate; no doubt sensing her desperation, one of the foul spirits of the Solar Anathema latched onto her in her journey and completed her total corruption.
We may take some satisfaction, however, in what occured next. For Corona did not understand the depth of the dark power which had grasped her, sensing only that the power of the Decievers could imprison others in their words. Mistaking this for some Wyld mutation, she foolishly offered herself to the Lunar in servitude for the lives of her tribe - apparantly a traditional and valid option among the barbarians of that region, no doubt related to the heretical dealings between shamans and rogue spirits - rather than exploring her power and wielding it more insidiously. The Lunar greedily accepted such a potent servant, and Corona used her ability to bind them both; the Lunar to take her people as its own rather than destroy them, and she to be its slave.
A number of years later, the Fair Folk tried to invade the Lunar's new territory. The guild caravan whom I now write from "just happened to be around" and equally "just happened" to have a shipment of First Age weaponry (And those quotes are from Corona herself, I should note, and should be read in a sarcastic tone of voice. This may explain some of her attitude). Given the choice between a potentially powerful slave and a cache of weapons that would turn the Fae away right now, the Lunar chose to take the weapons, trading Corona to the guild in exchange. And she has been with them ever since.
Or, so she says. Her word is not, of course, to be trusted.
Still, with the large number of Anathema flooding Creation, and with so much to occupy our forces at home and abroad, I should say that Corona can probably be left aside for now. Perhaps when greater threats, such as the Bull of the North, have been dealt with, a Wyld Hunt can be spared to find this caravan again and deal appropriately with her. I go now to Hundred Kingdoms, where there is report of Solar Anathema taking whole nations under their tyranny. I shall wait until I return to send this, as the couriers further east are notoriously untrustworthy, and I will by that time have several more scrolls to write. Thus, if you are reading this, I can assume that the expedition eastwards went well, and that
[The scorch marks along the bottom of the scroll obscure the rest of the sentence.]
