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The Soul Devouring Puppets of the Yrilles
"For my own part, I have always enjoyed the minstrel and peddler shows that would come from time to time to the Duchy and entertain the children, myself once among them. They were silly, full of jokes about flatulence and drunken farmers and, to a young peasant boy like myself, was the pinnacle of the comedic art. Though approved ahead of time by our town's elders, the foreign and sly grinning puppeteers always cajoled the sense that we were watching something our parents would not want us to see.
I even have a begrudging respect for the more sophisticated puppet shows which are played in the wealthy houses. At times there aren't any strings, or really, any wooden cues to tell that the figures who are performing before your eyes are not flesh and blood, save for the fact that when the play ends, so too, do the players. To most of the inhabitants of the Couer'd Ennui these are the tragedies and romances which serve to whet our appetites and move our souls. To the Yrilles who leave beneath these more reasoned folk, these puppet shows are things of horror and schemes, a milieu of the most wicked and vile nature that would imperil, if no destroy, the soul. In my own opinion, I'd rather see real players than ones cast of smoke and mirrors.
I am uncertain when or how this mass-paranoia entered the population of the rats, only that, without a single exception, each assured me in the most honest and desperate terms their agreement in their hatred and fear of the puppets and the puppeteer craft. They all assured me that this was a common fact, one unchallenged and accepted back generations and generations. This might, in our years be as little as twenty or as many as fifty years, I don't think anyone has a proper handle on their breeding habits.
I also was unable to find any possible incident involving puppets which predated the plausible introduction of the pupaphobia into this population. There is no record of any crimes or any tales that I could discover from my interviews with the most prominent of the cities puppetmasters which would link any traumatic event or chance encounter to spur these rumors. Indeed, by and large the large majority of the puppeteering houses had never heard of the myths of the Yrilles concerning their trade, or even of the existence of the Rats in the first place.
Concerning the context of the Yrille's phobia of the puppets themselves, the central theme, often times elaborated with specifics mildly altered, was that puppets were evil incarnations brought into existence to steal the souls of the living. Sometimes it was said that the puppets were 'feeding' on the souls, to maintain their own existence. Others suggested that they were merely collecting them for a greater evil. A number of them expressed disbelief at my queries, wondering why someone like myself, a scholar of Phet S'nar, did not already know of these evils. When I assured them that none of my colleagues had ever heard of these legends until very recently, they, in very colorful and an almost-endearing manner, proceeded to lecture of me of my own ignorance and possible doom.
Some research might wish to be conducted in the future as to the reason for this phobia. I humbly propose some latent fear of experimentation or familiar-enslavement due to their rat-like nature, but have little evidence other than conjecture. I have to admit in full disclosure that I was required to compensate many of the Yrilles for their time in the form of reimbursement consisting of alcohol or food. I do not believe this colored their tales however due to the great consistency between them. To whatever student who might follow this treatise with investigations of their own, I heartily recommend not accepting any offers to talk at the residence of any Yrille. Or, if you do, ensure that you are wearing your cheapest robes. The smell does not ever come out.
So writes Nam Orenson, Supplicant of the Letters, Devoted of the Candle's Flame."
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