The incident widely remembered as the Tannebrew Fire took place during the night after the 34th wave in 91 AS. It completely destroyed the premises where a collaborative team of
Juru and Citizens used to produce
The Jurnal, an alternative newspaper. After being founded in 88 AS, the printery was forced to shut down barely three years later because of the devastating fire.
Incident
It was the first night after the 34th wave in 91 AS when citizens of
Teel where abruptly torn from their sleep, awoken by the storming bells of City Hall. A watchman climbed its tower to point striped banners towards the southwestern part of the Free City – though by this point, most firefighters, as well as a host of volunteers and onlookers, knew full well where to go: Flames soared meters high in the sky and engulfed The Jurnal's headquarters, located in the old Tannebrew brewery.
When helping hands arrived at the scene, little was to be done to safe the offices and the printery. The fire could barely be tamed until the next morning light; yet at the peril of their life, first responders managed to keep the flames from spreading to surrounding buildings. Thanks to their resistance to high temperature and fire's relentless grip, Juru verified that no persons where trapped in the building at the time of its destruction. It burned to the ground completely and flared for another whole day.
Investigation
An investigation of the fire was led by the
Gendarmerie of Teel under Chief Inspector Henry Lovacher, although it did not lead far, as any potential evidence left behind was lost to the flames. A neighbor witnessed „a person running“ in close vicinity of the old Tannebrew building shortly before the fire broke out, but could not come up with a meaningful description, as the mysterious person vanquished under the cover of darkness.
Suspects
Even though the culprit(s) could not be captured to this day, many people believe that their motives must stem from an aversion against Juru culture and its further establishment inside the Free City of Teel. While a majority of Teel's population assumed that a random act of hatred is to blame and quickly moved on with their everyday lifes, others sense(d) even more sinister correlations.
1) Herma, one of the Alchemists, was said to be seriously upset by the growing critique of her „greatest achievement“: Granting Juru with a corresponding wish fertility, while in return harvesting enormous amounts of
Athem. Even though no public recollections of her mentioning her detractors exist, some believe her to be vindictive enough to commission the fire.
2) Mandres takes great pride in his standing, leading The
Library of Teel as well as
The Harkom Herald and effectively monopolizing the printed word in all of Teel. After the Tennebrew Fire, that is: In the three years prior, he felt almost personally insulted by The Jurnals mere existence, fearing it would usher in an age in which everyone could easily make use of what took him decades to establish. Deprecating competition in general, The Jurnals demise will hardly have saddened him.
3) A few waves prior to the rejection of the Juru-affiliated group at The
The Harkom Herald printery, the
Mayor's Office (held by
Rotto Holl at the time) contacted
Tansot Nobble to enquire into the possibility of buying the property of his then freshly emptied brewery. Nobble politely requested a reflection period... before renting out the building to the future editorial staff of
The Jurnal. After it burned down, the mayor's office renewed and improved it's offer despite being slightly offended still; this time, Nobbles accepted.
Today
No editorial staff was harmed during the nightly incident, but distrust and fear of more attacks discouraged the team from continuing their publicist work. Furthermore, the
Tannebrew Fire made Juru-affiliated citizens more circumspect of their fellow humans, sometimes wondering who of them harbours secret (yet potentially violent) thoughts towards Juru culture. After the mayor's office bought the property and disposed of the brewery's ruins, the
Greenhouse was built on the premises.
