Old Ben and Mary Lass

I first heard this rhyme as a young child, it wasn't until I studied it as an adult that I linked it to real events.

— Warden O. B. Davies

Old Ben and Mary Lass is a children's rhyme often taught in the schools of Farrow. There are many rumours surrounding the nature and origins of the rhyme, particularly in its links to real historical figures.
The rhyme traces much of its origins back to the time of Lord Benjamin Koranmoore. At the time of their ruling, it was commonly believed that the Lord had spent many years acting as a steward for the different powerful houses of the Oldfront Empire. There was one tale of Lord Benjamin and the young Lady Mary Helisath. While the exact nature of the events was to occur, the strange features are highly suspect.
The rhyme itself seems to have been written by an unknown author in the early 1600s and itself stems from a longer poem called An Elegy for the Broken. The rhyme itself seems to be taken from a section that highlighted the events that led to the death of Lady Helisath.

Old Ben and Mary Lass

Old Man Ben and Young Mary lass,
Held onto hopes of the recent past,
Yielding to neither hope nor fear,
both lie down, one disappears.

A History of the Poem

The Elegy of the Broken was written in 1596 CY by a miserable poet known as Ellen Araleth. I only note her as miserable due to the events of her life which seemed to be filled with disaster and misery. However, the Elegy of the Broken seems to be her magnum opus as it seems to write about all those who had died through the years of the empire. It eventually, and to this day, is held as a highlight of how terrible the empire was, making sure that people wihle respecting it are aware of its true nature.
The rhyme is born from a section describing the events that killed Lady Mary as outlined within this article, but the biggest draw is that Araleth left the nature of Lady Mary's death as ambigious, while the rhyme seems to indicate some level of responsibility, particularly on the part of Lord Koranmoore. Some have speculated that the rhyme started as a chant among those in the working class as a gripe against the powerful houses that controlled the empire, particularly throwing accusations of a cover up by these nobles for the events that took place. This is highlighted further by the fact that Lady Mary and the rest of the Helisath family made their money through hard work and good fortune.

The Events Referenced

As the story goes, Lord Koranmoore and Lady Helisath were entangled in a relationship outside of not only Koranmoore's marriage, but also outside the arranged wedding of Lady Mary. The affair between the two is a known quantity, but quite why the two travelled all the way to the south of the empire is unclear. Once they travelled there, the two much spent time together with a limited staff so as to not reveal their secret affair.
It was in the evening of the sixth night that the couple were staying there that strange events started to occur. Those who were there wrote tales of phantom voices and strange apparitions, with one even reporting a strange smell filling the halls like sulfur and the forging of steel. The validity of these reports remain dubious, particularly as it could be used to cover up what happened next, rather than highlight the truth of the events.
The rest of the evening's events are unclear, particularly with how it ended. Somehow, Lady Helisath was missing, however there was allegedly a strange ghastly shape that was said to be seen leaving the house. About a week later, the body of Lady Helisath was found in a nearby forest, completely decapitated and flayed. Despite this, a set of strange runes were found carved in a stone circle around her body, as if some ritual was being cast.
While I cannot attest to the actual events, I personally think that Lord Koranmoore attempted to summon a demonic creature and though it took form within Lady Mary. While this is a solid theory and considered by many in Arcanum to be what occured (causing several people to question if the demonic presence is still held within the forest). Meanwhile a few members of Arcanum have theorised that there is some Magikal element that was possessed by those who were in control of the empire, using it as a source of achieving their desires, such as carnal pleasures.
Regardless of what occurred in those walls centuries ago, it is clear that in the end Lady Mary Helisath lost her life at some point in the week from her disappearance to her body being found, something terrible happened to her and lead to her ultimate and untimely death.