The Gladius Estate Travesty

Preface

The Gladius family was a well-known and respected influential power amongst all of Veritas and Southern Auferetu. They often stood as a protective force against greedy companies who wanted to exploit the natural and sacred resources of Middle Ground, this, of course, led them to create many enemies as well as allies. While many threats, both anonymous and not, had previously been made upon the family and their network none were carried out.

The Event

On the 17th night of the 9th month, mere hours after the events of Grateful a brutal tragedy would fall upon the Gladius family. As the triplets celebrated their fourth birthday surrounded by family and friends, an unknown force would make swift work of it.
Small recollections and demonstrations made by survivors had it begin with a knock at the door. One of the Gladius Sisters, Sabinus, had expected an important guest to attend the celebration and left the Celebration Hall to welcome them. After a few moments of silence another family member, one who had traveled a great distance for the celebration, pointed out the lack of noise from the foyer ad requested the company of a few others to check it out.
Meditrina, the youngest of the Gladius Sisters and one of few survivors lamented from her cell in a high-security penitentiary.

The kids were requested songs to play on instruments within the room when I noticed some of ours [the family members] leave the room. I made contact with a few others who watched them leave and, while we did not speak a word to each other, it was obvious we agreed. And sure enough, after a few moments, the soft impact of padded clothes on the ground in the hall shook the room and everyone within to their cores.
The silence was deafening, to say the least; I can't remember much of what followed after other than blurred chaos.
The more I think back on it, the more I've come to realize that had it not been for that little noise, so quiet and easy to ignore, we all would've died. Our own [family] took a chance to protect others even if the possibility of there being a real threat was very minimal. With those few precious seconds, we were able to move the kids and non-relative guests through the entrance to the gardens.
Never forget that our blood was the first to be shed that night.

The party, now exposed and vulnerable outside, made way for a side building reserved as a guest house. As it dawned that someone who was confident enough to attack their land would not stop after only a few were killed, they strategized. Their time was limited, that was evident, but it was time nonetheless.
At this point, many of the survivors go quiet, either refusing to describe the next few scenes or outright blacked the memories out entirely. Aggression, discomfort, silence, and tears accompanied this portion of the interviews. Even with no outright explanation by the survivors, the original reports of the incident still describe a major theory in how the scene played out.

Remains of walls, floors, and bodies show signs of an extreme struggle; it is presumed a makeshift barricade was put in place of any entrances. Wounds suggest weapon of choice was a combination of blunt objects and assassin blades, with the residue of poison native to the Auferetu Coasts left.
Imprints and footsteps show movement from the front-most rooms to the center hall, greater damage underneath tables and stairs indicate that the children were made to hide. Aside from the fire, blunt and blade wounds, no other hints at a break-in were found. Broken glass revealed the blood of Meditrina Gladius and Sebastian Faust, two survivors of the incident. When asked for a statement, Meditrina revealed she "could not open the window," and "needed to get the kids away from that violence."

No one outside of the Estate was alerted of the events that had unfolded until late the next day. When Mr. Livius of the Eastern Veritas Coast arrived early the following morning he was shocked to find the Estate burning, and while up close the smoke and ash was hard to miss, he noted that from afar there were no such signs.
Greeted with tired and shaken survivors, the day was spent treating wounds, cleaning the children, finding something for them to eat and in general keeping them calm. It wasn't until a neighbor who attended the beginning of the celebration stopped by for a greeting that the thought of contacting others had crossed his mind.
Since Veritas was a more naturalistic way of healing, and the wounds of the survivors were quite severe, they were transported to Auferetu for treatment. This helped news spread quickly, and the 'Massacre of the Gladius' became a travesty to talk about for years to come.

Perception

When Lady Faust, a survivor and close friend to the family, spoke of her memories and emotions during and after the situation, she expressed resentment.

In these years since, I have received letters, stopped by strangers in public, and even confronted and ridiculed countless times. People would always have something to say, 'Why didn't you just do this? Could you not fight back? How could you let this happen? It should've been you. Those kids didn't deserve this. Why were you friends with a family like that?'
All too often it is easy to find better decisions, safer decisions, in the aftermath of a traumatic experience than it is when you are living it out. So when accusations circulated that Meditrina, the one who tried the hardest to protect everyone and fight back, was somehow responsible for the ordeal, of course, I was outraged.
Here stands a woman, who has just lost almost all of her friends and family, desperate to put the whole thing in the past and move on for the kids, and the public wants her head for it. I could not just sit there and let it happen, they wanted her dead, without a thought about those kids or that family's wellbeing.
They put her on trial, with no physical evidence, and only hearsay as their argument. What does that say when we as a collective let that justify life in exclusion? Everything that has surrounded this, from the reports, the accusations, the trial, has been nothing but injustice. Instead of looking into what happened, instead of going through the estate and examining with methods we know are factual, nothing can be found.
The person who organized this, who has killed my friends, those who I was so close to I called them family, walks away unharmed while an innocent victim is punished.

A Cold End

Due to the high profile of the victims, the location of the massacre, and the tension it created between Auferetu and Veritas very few individuals even tried to follow through with the case. Even when Lady Faust offered substantial rewards, hired high-end detectives, and made bargains with influential powers nothing came out of it.
'The possibilities were too endless', is what they all said shortly before leaving the scene mere days later. The poison and wounds left by blades were too common to narrow the search, despite the fact that both originated from Auferetu it could not be pursued. The blunt objects were never found, and are thought to be items stolen from the Estate itself and nothing something brought it. While this means if an item that belonged to the Gladius Family was found, one of the perps would surely be close by, no such items came up.
In modern times the massacre and mystery are brought up regularly amongst Auferetu as a way to train young individuals interested in criminal activity and cold cases. In Veritas it is still treated as a travesty, many residents of Infusio and along Middle Ground would travel to the Estate on the anniversaries and mourn. While normally one in Veritas would do so by entering the home and place offerings to the dead, the Estate is closed off and has been since the incident, and the only one who can open it up is a member of the Family. So these offerings are left around the edge of the Estate, the small road to lead to it filled with gorgeous flowers, fruit trees, statues, and various trinkets for the young triplets to play with.

Time: Year 5698, 17th night of the 9th month
Location: Gladius Estate
Victims:

Deceased:
• Ammitt Gladius
• Sabinus Gladius
• Vita Gladius
• Servius Gladius
• Ten Unknown Gladius Family Members
• Lord Faust Sr
• Lord Faust
• Mrs. Caro

Survivors:
• Meditrina Gladius
• Cantionis Gladius
• Lady Faust
• Sebastian Faust
• The entire Lux Family
• Clarence Lux

Suspects:

Key:
• Varius Fitzroy
• Julius Delacroix (Now Julius Lucubratio)
• Auferetu's Faulkner's

People of Interest:
• Self-Appointed Enemies of the Family

The Aftermath

Trifecta

Following any traumatic event is a silent struggle to acceptance and peace. PTSD often sets in, for kids, this is considerably difficult, the ability to process and understand such actions are difficult and they often shut off mentally. Such would be the case of the kids who attended the party, and more than anyone the young Cantionis who had lost her siblings. The other kids, Sebastian and Clarence, had already become close friends to her and her siblings so it was only natural they wished to stay close and help her. This would create a solid foundation relationship, and the new trio would call themselves 'Trifecta'. Trifecta often times traveled with each other as they grew up, only to depart when Cantionis was sent to the Temple of Ruins Monastery.

Meditrina

While the search for the culprit crawled at an agonizing pace, anonymous people circulated a rumor that Meditrina herself was to blame. A tale spun her as cold-hearted and envious of her sisters, who sought to destroy the family and take over what was left. It wasn't long until a trial took place, but it was held in Auferetu where the survivors were kept and treated, rather than Veritas where the incident happened in the first place. The trial itself ended after only a few days, something all of Veritas indicated as a glorified witch hunt with no evidence or reason grounded in reality. The original sentence of execution was persuaded to a minor level of solitary confinement after months of negotiations at the hands of Lady Faust. To this day she is still living out the sentence and rarely accepts questions or guests.

The Faust and Lux Families

After the loss of close friends with her husband and first sin, Lady Faust took over the business management and called in favors to protect the other families as well as her own. The Faust Family moved back to their homeland, but keep strong ties with members of Veritas including many traders in Infusio who often catered to the Gladius Family. The Lux Family had luck and grace on their side, with no personal loss within the family their grief focused on the tragedy of the whole experience and the terror the kids experienced. So when Clarence mentioned Cantionis wanted to leave the island at such a young age, they insisted on emergency contact situations, personal defense methods, and all the funds one could need to make it on their own. They supported the decision of the children, for they did not know any other way to help with the grief and aftermath a child would experience at such an age. The family themselves also moved to their homeland, the only connection they kept was with the Faust's and tabs on surviving Gladius members.

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