Emperor Decrees Shadow Amnesty

Fastheld - Couriers traveled throughout the realm of Fastheld today, delivering parchments sealed with the legitimate signet of Emperor Zolor Zahir I. The parchments contain a proclamation that reads as follows:

Effective the 16th Day of Shadowreach in the year 626 After the Aegis, His Imperial Majesty Zolor Zahir I renders invalid most bans on Shadow Touched magic that were long enforced by the Church of True Light.

Given discoveries in recent years of the Church's desire to hoard such magic to itself while persecuting the innocent, and given the subsequent collapse of the Church under the weight of its own failings and contradictions, the Crown has seen fit to set aside the automatic assumption that all who bear the touch of the Shadow are of evil intent.

The Crown hereby offers amnesty to all Shadow Touched citizens of Fastheld who register their status with the Crown and agree to accept the mark of the Shadow - a circle half white and half black - as a tattoo on their right cheek.

Anyone discovered to be a practicing Shadow magicry without registering or bearing the mark of the Shadow will be presumed to be acting with ill intent and will be Lessened in accordance with the older doctrines.

Those who register and accept the mark will be considered for assignment in a new legion now under development by the Crown.