Player Handout 2

These passages from the diary of a Mother Church Inquisitor, Gabinus val’Assante’, seem related to the current situation in Nishanpur:

These Disciples of Purification, as they call themselves, have spread across the Empire like maggots upon a wound. They seem to crop up most frequently in the worst slums of the cities. Their words find ready acceptance among the lowliest of citizens. Despite our best efforts at cleansing, they continue to gain support for their vile practices. Chaos is spreading as their foul plagues can strike down even the wealthy and powerful. They favor contaminating wells, and infecting cattle and foodstuffs, such that their vile taint spreads even when they themselves are no longer present.

This passage relates why the cult was finally put down:

Our worst fears have been realized; the beloved mother of the Emperor has succumbed to the plague. There can be no doubt as to its source, for it was most foul and did not respond to any healer or priest’s attempt to cure it. The Emperor is beside himself with grief. Yesterday he appeared before the Senate, with her blood still on his hands, to declare the Disciples of Purification outlaws of the Empire. He said they are not worthy of the title they chose for themselves and renamed them Blight Bearers. All resources of the Empire and the Mother Church are to be turned to exterminating their cult and wiping all evidence of it off the face of Onara.

May Illiir have mercy on us all; the Cleansing Crusade has begun.