Pyralis Eruption of 52 PSSC
| Pyralis Eruption of 52 PSSC | |||||||||
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| Part of Bassaridian War League internal security and spiritual containment operations | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Bassaridia Vaeringheim | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Council of Kings · Commander General of the Bassaridian War League · shrine authorities of Ignis Aeternum | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Ground (joint Manipulus, Alpazkigz Division–Council of Kings Division) 2 × Chrysos Class Commando Rifle squads | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Dozens killed in building collapses and lahars; several hundred injured or displaced | Not applicable | ||||||||
The Pyralis eruption was a moderate but destructive sub-Plinian (VEI 3–4) volcanic event that struck the city of Pyralis on 32/2/52 PSSC. The eruption originated from a reactivated cone on the forested slopes above the city, within the tectonically active caldera that underlies Pyralis and its surrounding hot-spring belt. Long regarded primarily as a centre of spiritual fire and geothermal pilgrimage, Pyralis was suddenly confronted with the violent side of the volcanic system that had shaped its identity for millennia.
Though dwarfed in scale by the ancient paroxysms associated with the Lake Morovia super-caldera, the 52 PSSC eruption produced a sustained ash column estimated at 10–15 km in height, pyroclastic surges along upper ravines, and lahars that swept through peri-urban wards and outlying Alperkin villages, including sections of the Lamian Ward. Under prevailing oceanic conditions (64 °F, easterly winds at 8 mph, heavy rainfall and coastal storms), showers over fresh ash rapidly escalated into flash floods and lahar-choked drainage across the lower valleys. Bathhouse terraces collapsed, sacred groves burned, and geothermal lines ruptured across several districts.
The disaster prompted an immediate joint deployment by the Alpazkigz Division and the Council of Kings Division of the Bassaridian War League, centred on a combined Manipulus configured for volcanic disaster response and supported by littoral patrol craft, an aerial Ptisis, and a missionary Kleisthenes drawn from key Reformed cults. Emergency deployments from the Temple Bank of the Reformed Stripping Path, Temple Aprobelle, and the clinical corps of the Pharmacon Sect followed within hours.
In state doctrine the event is classified not as an isolated natural disaster, but as a combined civil-defence and spiritual-containment operation in the post-Somniant and Leviathan era. Authorities drew explicit parallels to the Odiferian crises of 51 PSSC, framing the eruption as another test of the integrated Military–Temple–Market system that had been honed in the wetlands and exported to campaigns such as the Valley of Keltia Campaign.
Background
Pyralis is a major city in northern Bassaridia Vaeringheim, situated in the northern reaches of the Gloom Forest of Perpetual Autumn and famous for its geothermal activity. The city lies atop a tectonically active zone, likely the caldera of an ancient volcano, with numerous natural hot springs, steam vents, and occasional geysers dotting the surrounding countryside. These features have long been central to the city’s economy and spiritual life, providing the basis for bathhouse complexes, pilgrimage rituals, and the fiery iconography of the local cult Ignis Aeternum, devoted to Pyros, Divine of Fire, Passion, and Creativity.
In the years preceding the eruption, Pyralis had already been subject to intensive scrutiny under Operation Leviathan, which brought targeted crackdowns and ritual audits to cities across the Bassaridian sphere in response to the ideological fallout of Operation Somniant. Leviathan cadres visited Pyralis on several occasions in 51 PSSC to suppress rumour-driven panics and enforce doctrinal discipline amid persistent stories of omens in the hot-spring mist and visions seen during the Azorion and Alev Günü festivals.
While seismic and geothermal monitoring existed in Pyralis, it remained secondary to the city’s ritual and commercial uses of its volcanic setting. Local chronicles mention earlier minor eruptions and ash falls in semi-legendary periods, but no eruption of comparable scale to the 52 PSSC event had been recorded since the formal incorporation of Pyralis into the Bassaridian state.
Precursory activity
The weeks preceding 32/2/52 PSSC were marked by a pattern of disturbances initially treated as routine by local authorities. Low-magnitude tremors were felt across upper wards of the city and in nearby forest villages; bathhouse keepers reported elevated water temperatures, an increasingly acidic tang in some pools, and intermittent discolouration in several of the outer hot springs. Flame-keepers of Ignis Aeternum noted unusually vigorous steam plumes and rising gas flux from vents near the so-called “Flame Cauldron”, a major sacred pool on the forested slopes to the north-west.
Local chapters of Temple Aprobelle and the Pharmacon Sect logged a modest uptick in respiratory and anxiety complaints, which public-health officials initially attributed to seasonal fog inversions and lingering psychological stress from the Somniant–Leviathan campaigns. Under established doctrine, these patterns were monitored as part of the wider system later summarised in Public health and disease in Bassaridia Vaeringheim, but no immediate cause for mass alarm was declared.
As unrest continued, the Alpazkigz Division discreetly forward-staged elements around Pyralis under the cover of “maintenance closures” and routine drills at hillside bathhouses and forest access routes. Three days before the eruption, shallow earthquakes became more frequent and were accompanied by audible rumbling beneath the northern hills. Small phreatic explosions were reported at minor springs above the highland Alperkin quarter, ejecting mud, steam, and sulfurous gas. The municipal council, in consultation with shrine authorities, ordered precautionary closures of a handful of hillside bathhouses and restricted access to some forest trails, but commercial and ritual life in the city continued largely uninterrupted.
Eruptive phase (32/2/52 PSSC)
Eruption sequence
At approximately mid-morning on 32/2/52 PSSC, a powerful explosion occurred at a reactivated vent on the upper slopes above Pyralis, along the contact zone between the forested caldera floor and the rising foothills of the Ismaelean Mountains. The blast produced a rapidly rising ash column that pierced the regional cloud deck and generated visible volcanic lightning, which could be seen across the Gloom Forest of Perpetual Autumn and, in clearer moments, as a distant smear over Lake Morovia. Within minutes, fine ash began to fall over the upper wards of the city and surrounding woodland.
Subsequent pulses of activity over the next several hours generated pyroclastic density currents that funnelled down steep ravines to the south and east. These hot, ash-rich surges incinerated sections of unmanaged forest and overwhelmed several small hamlets situated along stream beds, though the main urban core of Pyralis, located on relatively sheltered terrain, avoided direct impact.
Heavy rainfall, common in the cool, oceanic climate of the Gloom Forest and intensified on the day of the eruption, interacted with fresh ash deposits to trigger lahars that swept along existing drainage channels toward lower clearings and road cuts. These mudflows destroyed bridges, inundated market gardens, and partially buried segments of the Ember Path, the primary overland route linking Pyralis to the Lake Morovia corridor.
Impacts within Pyralis
Within the city, ash fall and secondary hazards proved more damaging than direct lava or pyroclastic impact. Roof collapses occurred in older wooden structures and in some shrine outbuildings where ash accumulation exceeded design load. Portions of the highland port district were temporarily paralysed as dust clogged gutters, choked open courtyards, and rendered streets slick and hazardous. Sections of the Lamian Ward, including terraces used for managed grazing and ritual processions, were heavily damaged or destroyed.
The geothermal infrastructure that underpinned Pyralis’s bathhouse culture suffered selective damage. In some quarters, ruptured conduits produced jets of superheated steam and boiling water that scalded bystanders and forced the rapid evacuation of adjacent blocks. In others, seismic shaking and settlement fractured basins, draining sacred pools and leaving steaming sinkholes in their place.
Visibility in the city centre dropped to a few dozen metres at the height of the ash fall. Improvised cloth masks, incense scarves, and ritual veils became ad hoc protective equipment as residents attempted to navigate streets under a hail of cinders and falling debris. Civic shrines and the great sanctuary of Ignis Aeternum remained open during much of the event, serving both as shelters and as focal points for frantic supplication to Pyros.
Casualty figures compiled after the event attribute the majority of deaths to collapsing roofs, lahars impacting peripheral settlements, and accidents during evacuation. Though precise numbers vary between sources, official War League tallies list “dozens” of confirmed fatalities and several hundred injuries requiring medical attention or prolonged rehabilitation.
Immediate aftermath
War League and Temple response
News of the main eruptive burst reached War League monitors in the Alpazkigz Division within minutes via coastal relays and shrine communications. Standing contingency plans triggered the elevation of Pyralis to a joint emergency under Alpazkigz and Council of Kings Division authority. Drawing on mobilisation protocols refined during Operation Somniant and the Valley of Keltia Campaign, the divisions activated a combined Manipulus configured specifically for volcanic response and attached aerial, naval, and missionary assets.
Forward elements of the joint Manipulus were airlifted to staging fields just outside the ash plume, while heavier engineering and logistics vehicles pushed in along partially cleared segments of the Ember Path. Armoured infantry and urban pacifier vehicles were used to force safe corridors through ash-choked streets, escort medical convoys, and impose cordons around unstable slopes and pyroclastic impact zones. Combat engineering vehicles and recovery platforms laboured to shore up damaged bathhouse substructures, cut diversion ditches for lahars, and remove boulders and fallen trunks from key approaches.
Littoral units, including a Saluria Class Gunboat and fast “Cathartes” patrol craft, were ordered to secure rivers and canals against lahar inflow and to provide ferry capacity for evacuees between flooded wards and improvised lakeshore triage camps. Above the city, unmanned systems such as the Lotos Class Tactical UAV and Aurantius Class Multi-Role UAV mapped ashfall thickness, traced lahar channels, and relayed communications, while a Noctiluna Class Medium Transport Helicopter and Thalassa Class Attack Helicopter provided MEDEVAC, thermal imaging through ash clouds, and illumination for night-time rescue.
Temple Bank officials declared a localised spiritual emergency, placing Pyralis under a joint War League–Temple command structure similar to that used in Odiferia during the height of Somniant. Cultic representatives from Ignis Aeternum, Temple Aprobelle, and selected allied orders convened in the city to coordinate ritual responses, public messaging, and the allocation of relief stipends. Overwatch teams equipped with precision rifles monitored unstable slopes for fresh rockfall and ignition points, directing ground teams away from zones of imminent collapse.
Immediate priorities included the clearance of primary routes for ambulances, supply vehicles, and evacuation columns; the stabilisation of buildings at risk of further collapse, particularly around major shrines and bathhouse complexes; the identification and cordoning of lahar channels to prevent civilians from re-entering hazardous zones; the mapping of active vents and hotspots along the slopes above the city; and the establishment of ash-safe shelter sites in structurally robust temples, guildhalls, and modern civic buildings.
A Kleisthenes-scale missionary cadre, drawn from Temple of Aprobelle, the Order of the Umbral Oracle, and Sanctum Vitalis, operated unarmed under War League protection. Aprobelle operatives established calm-ritual stations for evacuees and framed public-order messaging; Umbral Oracle delegates quietly audited visionary claims and omens associated with the eruption; and Sanctum Vitalis personnel integrated spiritual reassurance into hydration, feeding, and mortuary protocols, attempting to prevent the crisis from degenerating into either apocalyptic terror or uncontrolled cultic experimentation.
Public health and evacuation
The eruption triggered the first nationwide application of volcanic-specific provisions in Bassaridia’s public-health doctrine. Under guidelines later codified in Public health and disease in Bassaridia Vaeringheim, Temple Aprobelle and the Pharmacon Sect oversaw a triage system that prioritised vulnerable populations for evacuation and respiratory care. Clinics in Pyralis, Symphonara, Vaeringheim, and Aurelia were placed on heightened alert to receive ash-exposed evacuees.
Evacuation proceeded in phases. Residents of the most heavily affected hillside wards and forest villages were relocated first, transported by caravan, military transport trucks, and, where necessary, river craft escorted by littoral patrols to temporary accommodations along the lower Ember Path and lakeshore. From there, evacuees were moved by rail toward the Lake Morovia region via connecting routes to the Trans-Morovian Express. Less affected urban neighbourhoods were instructed to shelter in place once roofs had been cleared and air-filtration measures improvised.
Pharmacon medics distributed makeshift masks, improvised from layered cloth and temple veils, and later more standardised respirators once supply lines stabilised. They treated cases of ash inhalation, eye irritation, burns from steam and hot water, and psychological shock. In keeping with Reformed practice, many treatment regimens combined pharmacological interventions with guided ritual, including controlled exposure to hearth-fires and purification rites before carefully tended flames, in a deliberate effort to reframe fire as protective rather than hostile.
Alongside these clinical measures, the attached missionary cadre maintained a network of calm-ritual and counselling stations at shelter sites and triage camps. Aprobelle specialists focused on crowd-soothing rites and rumour control; Umbral Oracle interpreters advised local authorities on the handling of visionary experiences linked to the eruption; and Sanctum Vitalis clergy supervised emergency burial and cremation rites, seeking to ensure that the dead of Pyralis were integrated into Reformed commemorative practice rather than co-opted into schismatic or Eidolan-aligned narratives.
Reactions across Bassaridia Vaeringheim
News of the eruption spread quickly along the communication channels of the General Port of Lake Morovia and through cultic networks. In Vaeringheim and other major cities, shrines dedicated to Pyros and the wider pantheon held vigils framed as acts of solidarity with the “Ashborn” of Pyralis. State media emphasised the speed and coordination of the War League and Temple response, explicitly contrasting the disciplined management of the eruption with the chaotic early days of Operation Somniant in the Odiferian wetlands.
Within Pyralis itself, the immediate aftermath saw a surge of religious interpretation. Ignis Aeternum proclaimed the eruption a trial of transformation, urging citizens to accept the destruction of old structures as an opportunity for renewal. More sceptical or traumatised residents, mindful of recent Leviathan crackdowns, expressed unease at the fusion of disaster relief with intensified doctrinal oversight, noting that ash-clearing brigades, armoured vehicles, and shrine patrols often operated side by side.
In early assessments circulated to the Council of Kings in the days after 32/2/52 PSSC, the Pyralis eruption was presented as proof that Bassaridia Vaeringheim could extend the integrated Military–Temple–Market model beyond insurgency and metaphysical anomalies to the management of large-scale natural disasters. Even as reconstruction plans were drafted, the event was already being woven into the state’s evolving narrative of resilience: a city literally forged anew in fire, disciplined by the Bassaridian War League, financed by the General Port of Lake Morovia, and ritually stabilised under the Reformed Stripping Path.
