Miguel's Death

Miguel Baztan’s death is a strange event that occurred in Deamber **415PR**. The cause of the prominent figures' death is still unknown to today causing many theories to circulate.

## Prelude

Miguel was a very famous general and individual at the time of his death, known for saving the city of Helicules in the Battle of Helicules. Before that, he was known for being a very popular noble amongst the people, often hosting games or festivals for their benefit at a heavy personal cost.

Before his death, he had made many accidental enemies among the elite.

Firstly, Miguel had fired Dario Bacque, a very influential noble, from his position as right-hand of the army. Miguel had done an independent investigation into the man after the battle, when he realised he might have a prolonged war on his hands, and found that Dario was a gambler and had accumulated some debt. The removal from this position was very embarrassing not only to Dario but the Bacque family.

Secondly, was the reigning King, Augustin Fidalgo. The two had argued over the Helicules War situation where they had opposing views. Miguel wanted to gather the army again and go defeat the Ilakans, who were weak after their defeat during the first parts of their invasion. He correctly assumed that since they were invading elsewhere, he could go in, destroy their army which had likely gained no reinforcements and sue for peace. King Augustin had a different decision, rather than antagonise the Ilakans further, he would simply wait for them to come to peace terms. When the King refused, Miguel stated that Augustin would lead to the death of the Kingdom before resigning as general.

Thirdly, Miguel pissed off the head priest of the De Vin religion, Mikel Ovejero. Announcing publicly that he did not agree with many of the church's decisions, which he stated led to the recent sickness running rampant. He capped off the speech by stating that why he was a devout member of the De Vin religion, the head priest and his council have failed to follow 3 of the 4 commandments.

## Day Before

The day before his death Miguel had made a series of public speeches announcing his resignation as a Gonarundun general. The only way he could be called to action again is if the Gonarundun people, not the crown, asked of him.

After the speeches, Miguel visited one of the festivals he created for the people, being welcomed and even hosting some drinking games. During the festival, Miguel had a near-death experience when one of the archers' bow strings snapped as he fired on an arrow, the arrow was instead flung nearby Miguel, leaving a minor cut on his cheek.

Instead of wallowing over the incident, Miguel chose to laugh it off, stating “I am glad that archer is not one of mine.” which got a laugh from the crowd.

Several witnesses then reported that he returned to his estate for the night.

## Discovery of the Body

The next morning, a Tuesday, one of Miguel’s servants opened the doors to his bedroom for the day. This was a usual occurrence, as Miguel was known to sometimes sleep in, never able to will himself out of bed when he naturally awoke.

After he didn’t respond to two of her wake up calls, also not that unusual, she decided to pour a cup of water on his face. To her surprise, he didn’t awake. Since she was a nurse in her previous job, she was able to confirm him as dead.

The servant later called the guards and a physician to the body, both confirming his death.

## Post-Mortem Report

Before the day ended, Miguel’s body was brought to the Ralom High Hospital, containing some of the best physicians and doctors in the nation. There, a post-mortem examination was undertaken, hoping to determine the cause of death.

After two days, the report was released to the public. In it, the doctor, Helena Ruiz, stated that Miguel had died from a heart attack in his sleep.

### Reaction

The noble families, excluding the Torres, all publicly agreed with the report, stating that it was an unfortunate scenario. The King later echoed these sentiments, claiming he was a great man but only god is immortal.

The public reaction was not the same. Angry at their King for not only causing Miguel to resign but likely his death, they rioted. All through the streets of Ralom were common-folk who were angry about the death and treatment of Miguel. This began to overflow into the High District, where most of the noble families were forced to hide in their estates behind the guards. Only when a hard crackdown from the Royal Guards was ordered by the King did the rioting stop.

## Theories on the Reason

Miguel’s Death came as a shock to everyone, being at the height of his career and physical prime. So, after the reaction to the Post-Mortem Report, many people decided to make up their own theories on the reason for Miguel’s Death. Many had to be shut down by the Royal Family for implication that the King was involved.

### Assassination

The more popular and realistic of the theories was assassination. Two of the assassination options were more believed. The hirers of said assassins are believed to be either: King Augustin/The Royal Family, Dario Bacque, Mikel Ovejero, an ex-lover, or even someone from Ilaka.

#### Night Attack

The Night Attack theory came about from the blockade on Miguel’s house. All civilians and even family members of Miguel were barred from entering the house for 2 weeks during the Crown Guard’s investigation of the premise. When people were allowed entrance, the house was completely clean with many valuables taken, enraging the public even more.

Because of his career as a soldier and general, many tales have been told about how Miguel fought off the assassins but only fell because of their overwhelming number.

#### Poison

The poison theory was the less famous of the two options, though is still considered nonetheless. The reason this theory is believed is that Miguel was drinking and eating lots of different things the night before he went to sleep, where a slow-acting poison could’ve been added at any time. Even if he were sick, it was unlike Miguel to leave a party early, so he could’ve chosen to push through and died when he tried to sleep it off.

### Hilan Plague

*See: Hilan Plague*

The Hilan Plague was a magical sickness that had run rampant through Gonarundu and the surrounding civilisations a few decades prior, sprouting up in random small cases after. Since a cure was never discovered, even nobles or the rich could fall ill to it. Being in the military means a high infection rate, catching it through sieges or being close quarters with such a large number of people for so long.

During his time in Helicules, Miguel could’ve possibly caught the disease and hidden it, dying in his sleep.

### Monster Attack

While cities are relatively safe from monsters and monster attacks, one every century is the scholarly accepted statistic, rarely anymore.

So the theory goes that during the night a monster or some type of beast managed to break into his estate and kill Miguel in his sleep. Whether the monster was lured there or simply a random occurrence, it would explain the lie in the report, wanting to avoid city panic.

### Requested from the Heavens

Being such a highly popular, devout and ‘good’ individual, some have believed that Miguel was brought to heaven by angels requiring him for some higher task. Unlike becoming a divine, this required him to die.