==== 27th August 2017
==== Unwanted Persons: Wrap UP

OOC Date 27th August 2017
Summary Conclusion of the BYOA: Unwanted Persons plot

The Announcement

Who would have thought it? A corrupt rider. Blue Nebblyth's rider Jo’maren was the secret behind the smuggler’s success. With the help of this rider the smugglers had managed to keep their operations secret. It all came to an end at the clutching party though, when an ill-fated bump into Southern’s Senior Weyrwoman literally sent the marks spilling across the floor and revealed his secret to the world. With the assistance of the golds leaning on Nebblyth the whole story came out.

How old woman Zida had approached him over two turns ago and played on first his good nature and then his greed to help a small group that wished to relocate to Southern. How a disgruntled Smithcrafter wanted to get back at his craft for denying him the rank of Master, and of some disaffected Crom workers who decided to use Southern’s untapped riches for their gain. Together with some unnamed Northern assistance the mine was started deep in a pocket canyon of Southern. People to work the mines were recruited among the Northern poor with promises of land and free holdings offered to anyone who would work two turns in the mines first.

It all spiraled together until a second mine was founded only six months ago. This one was less carefully chosen than the first, and that damn mountain blowing up ruined it all.
Not all of the answers were learned from Jo’maren, but they all implicated Zida and a few others among the original refugees as those who were leading the whole mess. Somehow the old woman managed to escape and ran.

Taking their time to plan things out the weyr descended two days later onto a pocket canyon deep in Southern’s mountains. There they cleared out the smugglers finding both the innocent and the guilty mixed together. Zida was there, and two young men who turned out to be her grandsons, and her attempt at escape again was foiled by Rhuysarr and D’wane.

Leaning on Zida and the betrayed residents of the mine the innocent and the guilty were separated though, of course, there’s always a chance a few slipped through the cracks. Zida, her grandsons, and other ring leaders have been sent to a NEW mine, up north as convicts. Those rescued are given some choices. They could take up residence in one of Southern’s established holds (SBH for the miners, Island Sea Hold, or Black Rock), stay at the weyr to fill in for those spots soon abandoned by candidates, or returned to the North.

True to Southern’s overarching theme of Mysteries some mysteries remain unsolved. When questioned about the death of Southern Barrier Hold’s Steward Zida would allude to nothing but that the man had been a part of their group. The other dead man was given no name nor motive for why he attempted to kill and then cover up the Steward’s death as a suicide.

Another mystery, where did the mine get their supplies from? Clues found at Southern Barrier Hold indicate that SOME moved through the Ice Hold, but surely that wasn’t enough. Jo’maren couldn’t have brought everything either. With the pockets of life in the mountains could there be more people hiding to supply the food to the mines?

Finally, who were those on the Northern side of the equation? When pressed on this Zida shut her mouth and refused to say, indicating that it was worth more than her life to betray the kind of people who left rubies hidden in Kurkar Hold’s waters. Could the smugglers attempt their work again in the South or will they keep their attentions within the confines of the Northern continent now that it’s clear Southern is on watch for this kind of thing?
~*~*~*~*
Thank you EVERYONE who participated in our Unwanted Persons Plot! Since we kicked this off on July 11th we have wracked up 66 scenes with the sw_byoa_up tag on the wiki. There were some truly magical scenes and some moments that helped grow and stretch each of our characters.

This is our last official mail and update on the Unwanted Persons plot, but as stated above, many mysteries still remain. Feel free to RP with them and take them wherever you will!

We love you Southern!

-K’vvan, for Southern Staff