PYRE, 1849—Chaos erupted yesterday as the Soulspire, the towering machine hailed as mankind's boldest leap into the unknown, violently exploded during its first full activation. Designed by the brightest alchemists and scholars to harness energies from the afterlife, the catastrophic failure has torn a glowing rift in the sky. Witnesses describe an ear-splitting roar followed by a blinding light that turned night into day. Moments later, strange, flickering shapes—some claim they resembled figures, others only formless shadows—soared out from the wreckage and dispersed across the city.
Above Pyre, a vast, radiant scar now stretches across the heavens, pulsing with eerie, shifting lights in colours that defy description. This "Soulscar," as onlookers have begun calling it, casts an otherworldly glow over the city at night, drawing both fear and awe from its inhabitants.
Authorities have yet to release an official statement, but whispers of sabotage and divine punishment are already spreading through the Blood Market and beyond. Crowds gather in frightened clusters to watch the sky, unsure of what to believe—or what to expect next.
What was unleashed last night remains a mystery, but Pyre's citizens are united in their fear that the city may never be the same again.
- Excerpt from the 1849 issue of "Pyre Chronicle".
“Unsettling are the days in which everyone is an expert.”
― Criss Jami
Nowadays you can't go a day without some phony prophet trying to peddle their wares to you.
Driven by the increased interest in the supernatural, charlatans from palm readers to televangelists are everywhere. And while the vast majority of witches, psychics, magicians, hypnotists, cures, potions, faith healers, and clairvoyants are complete fakes, they do make a living.
As the saying goes, "it's easier for an actor to make it in alternative medicine than Hollywood."
Most people scoff at these clearly-phony supernatural services, yet those same people often buy into at least one scam.
The most dangerous charlatans are the self-styled monster hunters who carry a mall-ninja arsenal and guns with silver bullets. Most have never encountered anything supernatural and do absolutely nothing besides burn some sage and patrol the area for a night or two. Even so, those who are superstitious, fearful, or desperate enough will hire them to solve the problems they simply don't understand. In some cases with disastrous results.
For Contractors, charlatans are red herrings and obstacles. Clumsy fakes that conjure a smokescreen of misinformation and escalate the situations they're in.