Fire of Stimpton, 1363

Fire of Stimpton, 1363:

On October 7, 1363, a workman was replacing a window on the Government building when the sun focused onto a leaf, which caught aflame above the hot sand. It caught the wind, and from there, set a house on fire. The fire spread from there, and eventually, most of Stimpton was on fire. People noticed, however, that the Calyur Chapel building was not on fire, and people took refuge inside of it. It got so crowded that some broke into the burial vaults just to get some extra space.

Pigot School was also affected. Thankfully, only the roof of the school building burned.

Meanwhile, the feeble fire prevention system only weakened by the previous king who had only died a few months ago couldn’t do much to save anything. That included the Government building. It was on fire, and the government people were doing their best. A group of people had taken important documents and ran to nearby Frogton-by-Farm and sought refuge there.

One rogue citizen broke into the Skulls of War monument to save the skulls of the unknown soldiers and buried them underground for safety. The monument was rebuilt in 1370 but the skulls remained underground. The rogue citizen survived and was given a medal by the king.

Another group of people had smashed a window to get the priceless historic throne, one dating back to the Pik-Flourtess empire out of there. Miraculously, the group of ten men had carried the very heavy throne out and dragged it onto a barge that would float to Frogton-by-Farm. It had been decided that the government would be run there at the Library of Picketralia for the time being.

Miraculously, the fire ended when a brief rainstorm came through. By then, many citizens had died in the fire, and many others escaped. Some went to Llama Hill, Frogton-by-Farm, while others literally left the country and went to Mordor. The furthest anyone had gone was Templand in Moria.

Once everyone had escaped and taken everything important out of the government building, it was left to smolder into ruins. Eventually, the ground cooled down to where you weren’t just walking over hot charcoal. 

The city was practically gone. It had only taken 4 hours. People gradually came out of hiding to see their homes destroyed. Many called for relatives or friends, to no avail.

Somehow, none of the street cats and dogs had died. Stimpton keeps a registry of all the street cats and dogs and none of them were reported missing. It is now known that an old lady took them all with her to Calyur Chapel. Unfortunately, one cat started gnawing on the dead meat of a previous nobility member, and had to be removed from the burial vaults.

The king called for a complete reconstruction of the city, but he was criticized for taking too long. He got to work, and by February 1364, most of the city was back. Except the government building.

After the fire ended the king issued an edict to the Library of Picketralia, a historic grand library located in Frogton-by-Farm across the River. From then until 1370, the government was headquartered there. The books were shipped to Moria where they would be kept in their library. 

The bookshelves were torn out to make way for open desks, similar to modern cubicles. The government would work here until 1370 when the new government building was reconstructed at a grand opening in December. The government officials were glad, they were sick of working in such tight spaces. Now they each had their own office.

It truly was a shame, though. The previous government building was a masterpiece of architectural design. Completed in 995, it boasted a golden dome, murals, quartz exterior work as well as a marble design, and an expansive basement.