ipanema The Theory of Exodus

[Nymstra 315]

 

The Great Exodus of Ipanema

A Theory of Historical Affairs

 

 

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This is a personal attempt to answer a phenomenon that took place in Ipanema, where no concrete evidence can be found on the subject to erase speculation. It will contain hypotheses, jumps in logic, and conclusions based on limited evidence and interviews of the populous. As of now, there is no certainty as to why this exodus may have happened that the city has since recovered from. This is not to be considered fact.

 

 

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Introducción and antecedentes históricos

(Introduction and Historical Documentation)

 

Dating as early as 10 years ago, a great population change in the Golden State of Ipanema took place. It was one that was either quick and without any warning, or one that was gradual, slow enough to not cause alarm until it was already too late to stop it. This exodus caught my intrigue, and so after becoming Governor of the city, I decided to sift through historical documentation to see if I could find the root cause of this sudden shift in population.

 

 From my efforts, I discovered that documentation of any significance under the Duchy and of the city ceased thirteen years before the writing of this thesis. However, from a broader search of not only Ipaneman records but Horde records, more interesting information can be found. It is around this time frame, thirteen years ago, that the Cleansing of Ipanema occurred which was documented by current Rex Torosh’Mak. For those unaware, the Cleansing of Ipanema took place when a coven of Vampyres was discovered underneath one of the manors inside Ipanema. A sizable force of 1000 Ipanemans, led by the Twin Princes Ulisses and Osiris, purged the building and set it ablaze, cleansing the city of this scourge. The remains of this burnt building can still be seen today.

 

Within the same year as the Cleansing and the last changes to Ipaneman ledgers, a winery was opened and advertised publicly. There is little significance to the opening of this winery in context to the exodus, other than it was the last document with any Ipaneman significance to be written from this time period. Eight years pass between this last mention of Ipanema in records and the Edict of Huntshill & Southspire. This edict formally announced the change of hand of the Golden State from House Alencar to now Duke Simon Peter and Duchess Kyhira. In that time, a majority of the population of Ipanema vanished. A fief once able to muster 1000 to purge darkspawn from their borders was reduced to a town with barely 1000 total, with walls that were crumbling not even 5 years ago.

 

What Happened?

 

 

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Teorías

(Theories)

 

From the discovered documentation, personal interviews with both citizens and travelers alike, and assumptions based on personal experience in the area, theories can be made to try and explain what happened. These theories will be ordered from most plausible, to least plausible, based on the information at hand.

 

Disease

 

It is well known that House Alencar ceded their titles and lands to Duke Simon Peter, as we can directly point to the Edict of Huntshill & Southspire for this. In this edict, the current Duke notes that Beleth’s decision to revoke the lands and titles from House Alencar was due to “Delayed Construction and Dangers of Sickness”. This mention of sickness seems to indicate that the population of Ipanema at large was suffering from a sort of illness, and with the current medical guild building not being properly ran by any resident medics, one can come to the conclusion that the people of Ipanema may not have left, but died due to lack of treatment for their ailments. 

 

Ipanema’s current capabilities do not allow us to properly explore this explanation, since with an almost vacant medical guild, there are no medical records to examine to prove that there was a sickness that wiped out a majority of the population of Ipanema. However, with this disease being mentioned in an official edict from the Belethian Federation, this theory holds the most weight.

 

Disinterest

 

It is very possible that the population of Ipanema began to vacate the city simply due to there not being anything really interesting happening inside the city. The evidence, really, is the lack of evidence itself. With a sickly duke, lack of festivals and family ran activities, lack of active taxation to fund these activities, and the stagnation of construction of critical defenses and other structures inside the feif show that Old Ipanema may not have been offering anything substantial, so its people left for better opportunities. With nothing holding a person in a place, they are going to wander.

 

Fear

 

Darkspawn are a known threat to all descendants across the continent. In the south, darkspawn sightings happen as they do across other nations. We know from the evidence listed above that Ipanema cleansed itself from a known darkspawn hideout, however it may not have been enough to put out the fears that darkspawn were encroaching on the city’s unfinished walls. From personal experience, and the testimonies of other citizens of Ipanema, darkspawn sightings have continued to a lesser extent in the region even after the Cleansing of Ipanema. 

 

With a lack of documentation from House Alencar to the public, it’s possible to surmise that without action from the ducal house, the people began to leave due to fears that darkspawn would re-enter the city and weave themselves into not only the population, but the council and ducal house as well. No written testimony or public request was ever made to solidify this. This theory also makes multiple jumps in logic, ignores the fact that darkspawn are spotted everywhere, and attack other cities as well that do not suffer great losses in their population. With nothing concrete tied to this theory beyond speculation, this is the weakest and most extravagant theory.

 

 

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Conclusión

While some of these proposed explanations as to what happened do offer a logical conclusion, I believe that we will never know what actually happened in the Golden State of Ipanema those ten to thirteen years ago. With limited documentation and the residents themselves not knowing what caused it, it is my professional opinion that the truth will remain inside a cloud of mystery and speculation. If any who read this do happen to have further evidence; whether it be missives from lands outside of the Golden State, letters between people, or eye witness testimonies, feel free to send me a letter.

 

 

Signed,

 

Domingo Pascual de Pelear, 

Alcalde da Ipanema, Patriarch of House de Pelear