Flame
From London Requiem
The first half of the 17th century saw general stability within kindred society. The population of London had grown to some 200,000, conveniently divided roughly half and half between the Invictus dominated City and the suburbs over which the Lancea Sanctum held most sway. It was also a time of the expansion of London's trade. Some kindred involved themselves more heavily than others in this, and Lucius Ameilianu, an Invictus, became increasingly influential within the City as trade grew exponentially. He became Mayor in 1630, when is seems Aaron Tyndale took himself into torpor. Oddly enough, the civil war in England at this time did not appear to have huge impact on kindred society. London was the capital and chief port for the Parliamentarians against the king, but the kindred did not involve themselves. Indeed, the Invictus seemed happy that London remained of such central importance, and the Lancea Sanctum had promised themselves to stay above mortal politics.
Early in 1666 a young woman kindred, named in separate records as either Mary Rutherford or Mary Rotherhithe, apparently warned a number of people of a forthcoming disaster. The diary of Simon Yeoman, who appears to have been something of a commentator on kindred society during parts of the 17th century, has an entry from March of that year which mentions, ".that crazed woman accosted me once more. I allowed her to ramble for a moment or too, before I could politely extricate myself. Much the same nonsense as she has annoyed no few of us with, flames, death, destruction and so on. Stanescu ordered her from court in the end, to quiet applause from myself."
Yeoman, like all but a handful of kindred, is believed to have perished in the blaze which was started in Pudding Lane on 1 September 1666. The Great Fire of London destroyed 436 acres, raging for three days and moving back and forth as the wind changed. Though the human population was hardly touched - there being only 6 recorded mortal deaths - the kindred population was devastated.
Most particularly harmed were the Invictus and those others who had made their home within the Square Mile, the hardest hit area. Kindred outside the ancient city walls were generally unharmed, though some who had attempted to seek out friends or colleagues during the nights of the blaze did perish and on the 4th and 5th of September fire had spread beyond the walls to the west and north, causing a greater number of kindred to meet their end. Andrew Owenden apparently instructed the remnants of the Lancea Sanctum to search for the so called prophet Mary, but no sign was seen of her and most believe that she also died.
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