Origin of The Spins
When the Spinning Plague struck Fin-Allan and later the whole of Cymbar, many noted that the plague did not seem to affect the elven population of the city. As the Cymbarite district saw every third house boarded up to contain the plagued, Faldevin was fine. The Hospitallers that responded to the first wave of the outbreak could walk through plague houses without worry.
The plague had appeared out of nowhere, and first in Fin-Allan. Nevertheless, it did not affect the ruling elves. And it was a mere 12 years since the end of the conquest. The thought became that the elf caused the plague, made the plague, and that was why it did not afflict him. Particularly the Order of the Starseers, a branch of the elven hierarchy that was viewed with much superstition and fear, was blamed by the Cymbarites. The theories became more lurid with each telling, starting that the elf had made the plague in a laboratory, and progressing to the idea that the Starseers sacrificed human children to fuel a curse that they had inflicted on the people of Fin-Allan.
Consequently, many of the afflicted refused the help of the Hospitallers, something that likely prolonged and worsened the plague, or at least the prospects of the afflicted themselves. Though the then-king of Cymbar, Clavius Guld, spoke out against the conspiracy theory, it did not entirely quiet such speech. The theory resurfaces every time the disease does, but these days it is not taken nearly as seriously, and even people who entertain it still tend to accept the help of the Hospitallers.
Historical Basis
It is possible the plague originated in the Borderworld, though one might have expected an earlier outbreak had the elves truly inadvertently brought it over. There is no evidence to suggest that the plague was engineered, and indeed the efforts of the Exodite Hospitallers were instrumental in blunting its worst effects on the human population.
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