Fading like a Flower

Lucia's brow was furrowed in deep concentration. She stood on the rise of the bridge's arc, carefully aiming a stone in a sling. At the other end of the bridge, a cloud overhead drew a veil of mist across the old timbers. Beyond it, a few hundred strides away, she could see the figures clad in darkness. The child stuck out her tongue, tensed, and let fly her sling. The stone arced through the air, far and true, and struck one of them clear on the shoulder. It shuffled backwards, but even as it moved another took its place. At their head, the silent figure in bleach bone robes turned its head towards the child. It wasn't clear if, through the mist, they could make her out.

"Whatcha doing?" Her sibling had come up behind her while she was concentrating on her shot. Azul was a summer or two her elder and they never let her forget it. "I told you, Lucia, slings ain't good for nothing against any foe worth a damn. But that were a good shot though. You oughta take up the bow when you're old enough. Good eye."

This meant a lot coming from Azul, who despite their young years was already highly proficient in such matters. They looked out, following her gaze at the figures beyond. "You scared?"

She shook her head. "I ain't. Mum says they can't walk through the rain, anyways. And they're just..." She made a motion with her hands, scowling with her face. Azul understood her gesture: Hand-Sign - their uncle's first language, which they both had a little of - for dust. "They look like people, but they ain't, so why should I be scared of 'em?"

They both knew why. Uncle Martí hadn't made it out of Madruga when they'd fled their farm. But she had defiance in her voice: defiance of all the misfortunes that had come to them, to their family, to their people.

"I'm scared of them." Azul said this in almost a whisper. "I don't wanna go like that, all..." They shook their head. "They say the rains'll stop, Lucia. Then what? You gonna stand on this bridge and pagga 'em with stones?" She shook her head.

"No. But we'll do summat, no? This ain't - this ain't the end, sib. They keep sayin' it, don't they, the drunks and the - the soldiers who came back from the west, I hear 'em talking when they're travelling through. But it ain't. Don't matter what gets burned or whatever, or gets -" They both thought of what had happened to Uncle Martí. They didn't say it. "I ain't stopping burning, Azul. Flame says I can take my test soon, and swear to the Coast. Says I'm nearly old enough. So..." Her voice was a mess of emotions, grief and anger shot through with that streak of fierce defiance once again.

Azul touched their sister's shoulder. "Just... be careful. An' be ready to move, fast, if the rains stop. I'm going to see about feeding the oxen. Your turn to clean 'em out tonight, yeah?" She nodded. Her sibling left, glancing behind them. They saw their sister bend down, and pick up another stone. Her hands, slightly shaking, fell still as she took her aim.

Inside Blightheart, nothing lives. Beyond its borders, there is still water - for now.

Overview

Madruga is no longer Imperial, the cruel flames of the Grendel raiders and their Asavean allies licking the southern coast. The invasion alone would have been enough to cause this - but as the Winter Solstice closes in, the terrible blight completes its consumption of the Great Grasses causing the region to finally slip from Freeborn control.

This is only the latest development in a threat that has been brewing for a year now, and it seems that a bad situation can always be worse. Early assessments believed the blight could expand to consume the whole of Madruga, but since Summer the situation has changed. And not necessarily for the better...

The Dead Zone

The Great Grasses are no longer under Imperial control
No campaign army can conquer the Great Grasses while they are blighted
Many are now referring to the region as Blightheart

In happier times, the Great Grasses were a seemingly endless sea of green. The nomads of the emerald expanse would bring their herds down the winding tracks, down to the canvas sea of Siroc and its surrounds, to the sapphire surf of the Bay of Catazar beyond. No more. The nomads fled months ago, from the blight at the heart of their lands. Even Siroc is gone, burned by the Grendel and their vengeful allies.

As Winter draws in the last blades of green grass die, and the emerald sea is no more. Folks have taken to calling the Great Grasses Blightheart. What is in Blightheart is not a desert - for a desert is a natural thing of the world, with a life of its own. This blight is different. Nothing lives here. The dust of dead plant matter blows across salt hills that once shone like jade. The bodies of sheep, and oxen, left behind months ago as their owners fled, lie where they fell, drained of all moisture and so unable to decay. The region once known as the Great Grasses has gained the blighted quality and it is not yet clear how it can ever truly be restored.

For the past year the rest of Madruga has enjoyed the soft rains of Spring, nurturing new life and healing hearts. Yet the enchantment that brings that blessed relief begins to fade as the Winter Solstice nears. What protection it offered is failing and with Madruga severed from the Imperial regio it's uncertain whether it can be restored.

Blightheart itself saw limited benefits from the Spring magic. The repeated rituals slowed the spread of the curse and kept it contained within the borders of the Blightheart. But now, whatever change it has wrought is complete. The Empire no longer controls the region - indeed, it is not clear that anyone could control it. An army could move through the region, if it had to albeit at the cost of many lives - but it is impossible to hold in any meaningful way while it remains blighted.

The Waste Lands

There have been sightings of Dry Patricians on the border of neighbouring territories
Dry Patricians and Parched are gathering in Blightheart along the borders with Segura and Kahraman
Each cadre centres around a figure in white robes with a rune on their forehead

That is not to say that the blight is truly abandoned. The lords of the blight - the so-called "Dry Patricians" - remain. Evidence suggest that a number of those that died within the blighted lands have completed their transformation. They rose first as Parched Ones and now possess the aspect of the Patricians. This is only one element that suggests a possible connection to Highguard and its history. The di Tutamen, the Freeborn family who seem to have been at the root of the problem have a historical connection with the Highborn in Casinea that has yet to be properly untangled.

There is worse news. At the Summer Solstice, four Dry Patricians made their way to the heart of the blighted land, where a powerful Winter regio has formed. What happened there is unknown. While Imperial heroes got the closest anyone has come to slaying one of the beings, they had to make their retreat before they completed their task. Now, as Winter nears, something new is revealed.

It is on the border with Segura along the edges of the Sobral Grasses that they are first seen, at sunset, by a nomad's daughter who quickly recognises the foe she fled half a year before. An array of Dry Patricians and Parched, several dozen in number, gathering along the border with the blighted grasses. At their head, something not seen before.

The Dry Patricians, in general, get their name from the fact that the first of their number were dressed in clothes reminiscent more of the Highborn than the Freeborn, but bleached of all hue, a mess of monochrome black and ashen grey. Those that have transformed since have also lost any trace of their Freeborn origins, their clothes gaining the same mess of tattered greys. The one that leads the crowd who now wait at Segura's edge is different. Its robes are heavy and bleached-bone-white alone, and on its forehead is inscribed the rune Yoorn. A rune that glitters slightly, with a light of its own.

It is not long before word spreads that a similar crowd has been spotted across the bridge west of Cerevado. This gathering is not quite identical. The bleached-robed figure that leads this crowd has the Rune of Hunger, not the Rune of Ending, inscribed upon its brow.

That's two: a third congregation of the blightbound is seen south of Nestor's Bounty in Kahraman. The same arrangement - a cadre of Patricians and Parched, and at their head a third figure in heavy, bone-pale robes. On its forehead, the Rune of Wisdom.

These three forces of terrible dry terror are still in Madruga, still in the Grasses. The last rains of Spring magic fall like a mist along the Scorrero: a soft wall they seem unable – or unwilling - to pierce.

It does not escape the attention of observers of the blight that four patricians were seen in Summer moving to the heart of the blight - now three have emerged, transformed, transcending their previous state. Which raises questions: where is the fourth? But perhaps more pressingly, what is the nature of these beings, these harbingers?

Bag of Bones

The blight seems near-certain to spread in some form; if not immediately then soon
The impact of the Harbingers walking forth is not clear.

Time seems to be running short. With Madruga out of the dominion of the Empire, Imperial forces would need to find a way to visit a strong Spring regio during the Solstice and cast the ritual once more. No suitable conjunctions have been identified on the Sentinel Gate, and the Freeborn in Madruga have too many problems of their own to be able to find a suitable regio, protect it, and work the ritual themselves.

It was previously thought that, when the rains stopped, the blight would burst forth like a flood. Following the Summer Solstice, the situation seems to have changed. There's no indication the blight is going to spread by itself; rather this gathering of forces along the border seems to strongly suggest that when the gentle rains stop, the Harbingers of the Blight will walk forth - and it seems likely the blight will follow.

While it seems clear that the doom that fell on western Madruga will almost certainly not remain there, it's not clear how to stop it. Prior efforts to send magicians learned in diverse magical traditions into the grasses to gain insight came to nothing. It took time for what began as a minor drought to consume the whole of the Great Grasses - will the same happen if the process begins anew elsewhere? Nobody seems to know.

Authority

There may be ways for the Conclave, Senate, Synod, and Military Council to intervene here.

While there are no immediate solutions to the threat in the south-west, each body of state certainly has options at its disposal.

The Conclave

There are Declarations of Concord that the Conclave could choose to perform in order to intervene.
In particular, the Grandmasters of the Rod and Shield, Celestial Arch, or Unfettered Mind have particular opportunities to request the intercession of their orders.

The Conclave sent the Silver Chalice to observe and assist at the start of the year, and that certainly gave important information how the Dry Patricians might be fought, and the effects of the blight be mitigated. Sadly, this information has proven difficult to put into practice. Lord Rain provided some aid, but since then neither he nor any other eternal has offered any assistance. Fortunately, there are a number of things the Conclave and those appointed by it could still try.

Arch of Hands

One option might be for the Celestial Arch to intervene. That particular order is known to have contacts in many diverse places, and if the Grandmaster raised a Declaration committing their order to seeking allies, and the Conclave concurred, it might be able to find help outside the Empire's borders. The question however is where to seek aid. Some of the Celestial Arch have allies among the eternals who might be approached to offer their aid (and name their price for that aid). Alternatively, they might explicitly seek aid from foreign powers. They would need to be specific about this as well, naming the realms or nations that the Conclave feels it can trust not to take advantage of the situation. One of the Thule Dragons has already unofficially offered aid (apparently) but there may be others in Otkodov who might have advice or assistance. The magicians of the Conclave, Sumaah, Axos, or Faraden might have insights of their own given their different approaches to magic. The magician-princes of Jarm would certainly have something to offer, but they are by no means friendly to the Empire. And again runs the risk of making the Empire look weak.

The Grandmaster can only effectively urge their order to undertake one task at a time; they could specify which eternals they might entreat or which foreign nations they might approach but if they wanted aid from both eternals and foreign magicians they would need to raise the declarations at different summits, should they even be inclined to do so. Such a move might be seen as a blow to the Pride of the Conclave, to admit that they need the assistance of the Realms in this manner. Others say it is a pragmatic application of Wisdom: the Conclave is simply admitting it does not know the answer to the problem before it. To press ahead, lacking this, would be folly. A particularly cynical Autumn master from the Marches suggests that the Grandmaster would need to word its declaration very carefully because "a rumbling stomach pays double for a leg of mutton."

Obviously, the Archmages could be encouraged to seek aid from specific eternals via plenipotentiary. Some eternals are likely to be more helpful on the matter of the blight than others, especially those of Spring or Winter perhaps, but without knowing more about its nature its tricky to be sure which eternals might help. This would have the advantage that a request for aid would avoid the risk of the Conclave looking desperate. Likewise there is nothing to stop the Empire's Ambassadors inquiring discreetly of foreign powers, but this goes through official channels, rather than the informal links of professional friendship that the Celestial Arch can leverage.

Scrolls and Shields

Much of the nature of the blight - its origins, its nature, and so forth - are still unknown. Following the death of Frostbiter Grik during a conjunction visiting the blight, the Empire's magicians have given it a wide berth. There has been some discussion and some theorising, but with the Harbingers on the borders, the time for idle speculation may have passed.

The arcane researchers Barti Dourfen and Merry Songbirds Passing are still keen to learn more about the blight, but with the fate of their orc colleague they are much less enthused about a short, dangerous visit via the Sentinel Gate. But it can't be denied that of all the Conclave orders the Unfettered Mind contains many of the people best positioned to work out what is going on and perhaps present magical solutions. The Grandmaster could make a suitably worded declaration in Conclave, and urge any willing and able to do so to travel to the Brass Coast to explore the borders and perhaps even attempt some careful penetration of the blight.

Unfortunately, the Coast is currently in dire straits. Between the Grendel, the Jotun, and Cold Sun there are threats in every territory. The Unfettered Mind are excellent arcane theorists but their strengths are not in fighting. It may well be dangerous for unworldly scholars to descend on a chaotic warzone, even before the threat of the Dry Patricians themselves are taken into account.

If the Unfettered Minds are theorists, the Rod and Shield are eminently practical in the application of magical power. The Grandmaster of their order could call on their members to help protect and support the Unfettered Mind in an investigation of the blight. They're also, incidentally, the order best placed to explore various ways of combating the Parched and the Dry Patricians directly.

Either - or ideally both - may be urged to visit the Brass Coast. Provided the Conclave agreed, this would lead to opportunities and information at the Spring Equinox (assuming it was done during the Winter Solstice). If only the Unfettered Mind are sent, they're likely to uncover some of the secrets of the blight but risk being killed or overwhelmed by one or more of the threats in the area - potentially meaning their discoveries will be lost. If only the Rod and Shield are sent they'll focus on testing the borders of the blight and seeing if they can find ways to fight the denizens, but are unlikely to find out anything useful about the blight itself. If both orders are asked to intercede, they would enhance each others' strengths and cover each others' weaknesses, leading to wider understanding and more impactful opportunities than if only one is rallied.

The Senate

An appraisal by the Imperial Senate would present opportunities related to the Blight.
Historial Research would put on the public record the details of the history of this situation.

The Imperial Senate has the power to appraise problems and threats to the Empire. The Prognosticator's Office has a number of agents that could be instructed to look into the Blight. Which civil servant was sent would determine what kind of results the appraisal might have.

Graciana i Lòpez i Guerra is Freeborn, known for her unusual techniques and novel approaches to any problem. She is also a skilled night mage who values imagination over industry in those who work for her. Unfortunately, she will be working in the dark – there's just not enough known about the blight. It's likely any plan she comes up with will focus on containment, and unlikely to be very cheap even by her standards.
Naomi of Virtue's Rest – Several groups outside the Brass Coast seem to have interest in or connection to the Blight. The Highborn have some connection to these events, and the Thule have certainly indicated an interest. There might also be merit to communication with the Sarcophan Delves, whose magicians are said to be skilled at dealing with curses of all sorts. Finally Naomi might be in a position to speak to the mortal friends of eternals who might be able to provide insight into the problem. She is likely to focus on a solution to the threat of the spreading blight, first and foremost, rather than addressing the area already blighted. If the Conclave chooses to seek assistance from eternals or foreign powers, she will attempt to to synergise with the efforts of Imperial magicians to act on its instructions: the response to the appraisal and the Conclave's call will be combined.
Lutomysla Niegoslava is an experienced cabalist from Karov who sees magic as the most effective tool to address complex situations. If the Senate instructs Lutomysla to carry out the appraisal she will focus on finding a magical solution to the threat of the blight, and is likely to present these solutions without consideration for costs the Senate might find palatable, or ethical. She has already made some mutterings about the untapped potential of nearby Ghita's Veils to this end.
Eilian Sweetwater of Storm's Run Striding is a former member of the Department of Historical Research. He heads up a small cadre of other former researchers and maintains excellent relations with the remaining researchers at the Department, and with the Imperial Archivist. If he is assigned, his appraisal will focus on exploring the historical roots of the problem, with particular reference to who the Aldea di Tutamen actually were. His efforts are most likely to uncover any historical secrets relating to the issue, but if this turns out this is a truly novel problem then it is possible the answers he provides could be the least useful in practical terms here and now. Still, because it will be an appraisal and not a research affair first and foremost, practical routes of some kind will certainly arise from his investigation.

It's impossible to predict what an appraisal might provide, but it will surely deliver something.

Another option, as highlighted by Elian Sweetwater, is that the Senate or the Minister of Historical Research could investigate the history of the Tutamen, and their links to Highguard, and to Syrene's Wisdom which rumour suggests has something to do with the whole affair. This is unlikely to present any proposals to solve the problem but might help to provide information about what is causing it.

A patrician walks Casinea, and the "Endless Thirst" lives within him. The danger without has come to the heart of the Empire to sink its teeth in and drain us of our life. This will not happen. Our vigilant citizens will offer the patrician no shelter, no food, no water. Out vigilant citizens will watch over their siblings for signs of the endless thirst. I do not urge our citizens to do this. I inform the Synod that with the guidance of our Vigilant priests, that they will because they must remember Ravadi Founders' Dance!

Ira, Assembly of Vigilance,, Autumn Equinox 385YE, Vote: Greater Majority 170-0

The Synod

The Synod could increase the volume of its pronouncements on the matter.

During the Summer Solstice a band of Imperial heroes brought a survivor back from the blight. At the Autumn Equinox the Vigilance Assembly warned that this survivor represented a Dry Patrician loose in Casinea. The good news is that this does not actually appear to be the case. While there is an individual in Casinea around which unsavoury rumours have spread, everyone agrees that he appears to be wholly human - albeit afflicted with some manner of curse. However, everyone who has died outside the Blight, even if afflicted with the Thirst of the Patricians, has remained dead. Whatever threat this individual might pose, they do not seem to be bringing the curse of the Blight with them. Indeed, the presence of the survivor appears to have galvanized interest in Highguard - more of that in a moment.

If the Synod is concerned with the Blight there is a clear option available to it through the Assembly of Nine. The Silent Bell could be dispatched to investigate the situation. They would obviously investigate the Blightheart itself, but have the resources to look further afield as well, perhaps learning more about the connection between the Tutamen family of the Brass Coast and the history of Highguard.

Another possibility might be to warn people to stay away from the Blightheart, and flee the area should it be clear the threat is beginning to spread. Some have observed that the problem in the Great Grasses got worse because people remained in the area even after it was clear there was a serious problem - leaving more living souls to be claimed by the horror. A suitably worded Statement of Principle by the Freeborn Assembly, the Assembly of Vigilance, or the General Assembly, making clear that citizens should not, in their view, remain in areas affected by the blight under any circumstances, could save lives and maybe slow any advance - but at the risk of causing further disruption in Madruga, Kahraman, and Segura.

The Military Council

The Military Council could send an army to keep a harbinger at bay.

Of course, there is another body of state who has an option. The Dry Patricians and the Parched do not exist in the numbers required to provide serious opposition to a military force. While it is unlikely that they would be stopped for good - after all, killing them is still a wholly theoretical prospect - they can certainly be cut down. An army spending a season performing a defensive action in a territory under the attention of the Harbingers, where they specifically name the region they are protecting in their orders, could prevent the Dry Patricians expanding into that area. The army would be unable to resupply, and would take some casualties - to say nothing of the fact that they are likely to have to split their attention between the region they guard and the other hostile forces in the territory. It would keep the Harbingers at bay, however, and, hopefully, with them, the blight.

Realistically, the Military Council already faces a dire situation, with enemies across the Empire, and this is not - yet - a situation that demands strategic-level forces. However, the armies of the Empire have the power to act with speed in a way few other parts of the Empire's state capacity do.

Hearts in Madruga

It is, of course, not just the bodies of state who are taking an interest in these matters. There are others coming to Anvil this summit who may have light to shed on the situation.

Wizard and Glass

Some hakima are arriving to discuss matters at midday Saturday.

The hakima of the Coast are talking to each other more than ever before. Those who previously met at Quzar, under the auspices and hospitality of the Hakima of Salt and Sand, have been forced to flee - or been captured - by the Grendel invasion. But was it not for such times, when the Coast must hold together, tight to the strength of its traditions and passions, that the hakima were founded? Neither Grendel nor Patrician can keep the burning hearts of the Three Sisters down! Ishala i Erigo, the hakima who proposed the building of the Parador of Salt and Sand in the first place, is leading a delegation to Anvil.

There she hopes to meet with the inheritor of her dream, Bakar i Riqueza, the Hakima of Salt and Sand himself, and, she hopes, with his assistance hold council at Anvil. She has asked Bakar to provide a suitable venue and to facilitate and chair the discussions; she will pay for both these services. She would prefer to avoid the involvement of family magicians, she makes this plain, but at such times, all help is ultimately welcome (though what better time for them to embrace their loyalties to their tribe, first and foremost, and join the hakima proper!) She will be arriving at TBC.

Of course, the Brass Coast is beset by much hardship - Rahab still squatting in Feroz, the otherworldly forces of the Cold Sun contending in Segura, and the Lasambrian Jotun invading Kahraman. She also expects the discussion to turn to that. That is fine - welcome, even. While the blight will be the starting point of her discussions, because it is obviously a magical threat, she welcomes wider discussions of the ways that the hakima can help the rest of the Coast at this time. She has also made a request to the Civil Service that they send along one of their number trained in flexible matters of state problem-solving - possibly one of the Speakers of the Senate - as they might be able to judge in principle what ideas could have merit.

Four Past Midnight

Some magisters are arriving to discuss matters at midnight Friday.

The hakima are not the only Imperial magical tradition taking an interest in the situation. The magisters of the Wintergard chapter sent some of their number to Anvil previously, investigating suspicious events that had occurred in the wake of the flood at Syrene's Wisdom. They intend to send some of their number to visit Anvil during the Winter Solstice.

They would like to meet in the Highguard chapel in Anvil, at midnight on the Friday evening, to discuss the blight with responsible magisters of Highguard. They are interested to learn what their peers have uncovered regarding the connection of the blight to Syrene's Wisdom - particularly what they might have learnt from the individual saved from the blight in the summer - and to share with them what they know in turn. It is time to unveil, and share what secrets of Syrene they have; but only to people who can be trusted to do the right thing. As such they ask that only magisters attend this meeting. It is a matter of magic and spirit, not just spirit alone.

They have asked Escon to sort things out so that those that attend are suitably responsible and discreet; this will be a time for hoods to be very firmly up.

The Outsider

A certain individual is returning to Anvil at 11:00 on Saturday.

On the subject of that individual the magisters refer to obliquely... exactly who they were is not well common knowledge. What is known is that a figure wearing tattered robes fled from Anvil last Summer, into the darkness. This was, it seems, the source of some rumours that one of the Dry Patricians had escaped - but of course, they cannot survive outside the blight.

Whoever this person is, rumours of them have spread across Casinea in the last six months, of an increasingly desperate figure begging for water, food, and mana crystals, in equal measure. Thanks to the warnings of the Assembly of Vigilance, they have received little assistance, though it seems some compassionate souls have aided them here and there all the same. There are dark rumours that this individual may have attacked people on the road, thirsting for their blood, but magistrates have turned up no evidence that such a crime has occurred.

It is said of late this figure has been making their way back to Anvil - well, if they do truly seek people who would freely give mana crystals as easily as water, where better? Scuttlebutt has it that they ought to arrive around 11am on Saturday. What their intent is then is not clear - though... there is one rumour that suggests that they may intend to sell their story to one of the Empire's papers. If so, perhaps one of Anvil's budding journalists can get the scoop! The magistrates don't yet have a reason to take action against the individual, but if anyone brings them evidence of an actual crime he has committed, then they will quickly change their position.

Eyes of the Dragon (Conjunction)

A force of Grendel are moving an unknown number of captives, including Thule observers, towards the ruins of Siroc
The Cuckoo's Egg ritual will be needed to return the Thule to Anvil
The Sentinel Gate will open at 19:15 on Friday to Plains of the Tavin, Siroc Plains
This skirmish is a combat highly likely encounter
The Ambassador to Otkodov is responsible for coordinating the rescue

During the Autumn Equinox, a pair of warlocks from Otkodov spoke to the magicians of the Brass Coast about the blight; one of the Dragons had apparently expressed an interest. On the understanding that they would share whatever they discovered, their visit to Madruga to explore the edges of the Blight was endorsed. Unfortunately, the Grendel invaded Madruga and the matter of a handful of orc magicians exploring Blightheart became the least of anyone's concerns.

It seems that the fortunes of the investigative party have been poor. Ishala i Erigo says that kohan loyal to her coven accompanied the Thule investigators, but while returning from their observation they fell afoul of a band of Grendel raiders. Most of the kohan were killed, as were a number of the Thule but she believes some of them have been captured by the invaders and are being transported to the coast, likely to be thrown onto slave ships. A conjunction of the Sentinel Gate has been identified that offers an opportunity to intercede.

Beyond concern for these "guests" and whatever information they have gathered, the Thule diplomats visiting Anvil for the Imperial coronation have expressed grave concerns. They are confident two of the observers - one of the warlocks who visited Anvil and a quiet-voiced companion - are still alive. The orcs of Otkodov would dearly like to see their two fellows rescued, as a matter of some urgency.

Ishala cautions that if the two Thule are to be recovered, The Cuckoo's Egg ritual will prove essential since they cannot be brought back through the Sentinel Gate without it. They will almost certainly want to rejoin their colleagues immediately, if they can be brought back to Anvil, but Ishala vows that if they are recovered then she will bring them or their knowledge to the hakima's meeting on Saturday.

Desperation

There is one force in Madruga that is definitely in a position to access both a Spring regio powerful enough to lay an enchantment on the territory. They also happen to have access to sufficient magicians versed in Spring lore to carry it out. The Grendel. They are presumably unaware of the danger posed by the Blight, at least at the moment. While the threat of it expanding to cover the territory no longer seems certain, if it does run riot it would permanently damage Madruga, which could be a major problem once the Empire liberate it.

The Grendel have some precedent for cooperation, even during times of war. During the fighting in Spiral, some of the Grendel magicians tried to make contact with their "peers" in the Empire to arrange a way to contain the horror there, or at least to pause the fighting long enough for it to settle down. They were soundly rebuffed, but the situation here is eerily similar in many respects.

This is a wild plan, and would require the cooperation of both the Ambassador to the Grendel and the Imperial Conclave. A Declaration of Dissemination could be used to give a copy of Regrow the Land's Heart to a named Grendel - perhaps Saltbinder Grekodh whose coven operates from the Isle of Osseini in Feroz. There is the small problem that this could be considered treason, so advice from a magistrate might be a good idea.

Then the Ambassador (or someone of similar influence) could make clear the importance of performing the ritual, and hope that a Grendel who could see the need for it would take the initiative.

It's a long shot. But it might work. For a little bit longer at any rate...