Ninth House Genocide

"I am exactly two hundred sons and daughters of my House, Griddle—I am the whole generation of the Ninth. I came into this world a necromancer at the expense of Drearburh’s future—because there is no future without me."

The Ninth House Genocide describes the calculated mass murder of an entire generation of Ninth children at the hands of the ruling family of the Ninth House. The synchronized deaths, accomplished via careful administration of nerve gas, allowed the Lord and Lady of Drearburh to harness the resultant bloom of thanergy to ensure that their child would be born a powerful necromancer.

History

Ruler of the Ninth House Pelleamena Novenarius and her husband Priamhark Noniusvianus had attempted for years to conceive a necromantic heir to the Ninth House. As the direct blood relatives* of Anastasia, the founder of the Ninth House and original keeper of the Locked Tomb, Pelleamena and Priamhark held the importance of continuing the necromantic bloodline of their family above all else.

Due to Pelleamena's age and the lack of fetal care technology that was more commonly found in nurseries of the other seven houses, she had suffered multiple miscarriages by the time the idea of the genocide was spawned. The Lady of Drearburh knew she only had one more chance to successfully give birth.

*It is unknown which side of the family Anastasia's bloodline runs through, only that Harrowhark is a direct blood descendant of her.

The Plot

Pelleamena and Priamhark task Sister Lachrimorta and Sister Aisamorta, Harrowhark's great aunts, with releasing a nerve gas through the cooling system of the Ninth House creche. After weeks of calculations and measuring of organophosphate compounds, Lachrimorta and Aisamorta successfully poison the entire generation of Ninth House children. The gas is so toxic that both women are permanently blinded from simple proximity to it. Fifty-four infants, eighty-one children, and sixty-five teenagers, ranging from six weeks to eighteen years old, die nearly simultaneously. The thanergy released from the infants alone is reportedly enough to destroy the entire planet.

Harnessing the massive bloom of necromantic power from the deaths of two hundred children, Palleamena modifies her ovum at a chromosomal level, ensuring that the child born from it is guaranteed to be a necromancer.

Aftermath

"But, Harrowhark—even as the product of two obvious geniuses—you are a walking miracle. A unique theorem. A natural wonder."

Harrowhark Nonagesimus is born an incredibly powerful necromancer at the expense of the Ninth House's future. Her parents and great aunts tell her from an early age the human cost of her existence. This knowledge contributes, in part, to her attempted suicide at the age of ten.

Only two children survive the poisoning. Ortus Nigenad, who was 16 at the time, would have died were it not for the intervention of his mother. Gideon Nav, for reasons unknown, also survives unharmed despite being feet from the vent and inhaling the gas for ten minutes. Gideon's unexplained survival terrifies and disgusts the ruling family of the Ninth, ensuring that she is mistreated by the Ninth House for her entire childhood.

To both the outside world and their own citizens, the leaders of the Ninth House perpetuate a lie that bacteria in the vents of the creche and the schoolroom caused the mass death of the House's children.