Courting of the Crick

Courting of the Crick is a fiction novel set during the Marrow War about a tumultuous love affair between a Dwendalian general named Theo and the Kryn assassin who he caught attempting to kill him. The book is described as having some smutty elements, but is otherwise somewhat dry.

The book was banned in the Dwendalian Empire in 820 PD, though some copies were still discreetly available in 835 PD.

Plot synopsis
The story takes place in a seemingly fictionalized version of the Marrow War, with generals and political figures named either being obscure or made up for the story. During the conflict, an assassin of the Kryn Dynasty snuck past the borders and attempted to kill a general named Theo. The assassin however was captured, and in a game of wits, their helmet was removed and revealed to be a female drow. The two vacillate between finding common ground and feeling murderous towards each other, before resolving in a torrid love affair.

The assassin tells Theo about Xhorhas, how it's a savage and cutthroat society and how by falling into her relationship with Theo, she felt saved and brought into the comfort of the Empire. Ultimately however, the assassin is discovered, and she is tried and then killed. The end of the book details Theo's grief, but understanding that the relationship was never meant to be and that it was for the best that it ended this way.

Bias
The book is written from a pro-Empire perspective, demonizing the Kryn Dynasty as savages and depicting the Empire as the more civilized nation. The author of the book seemingly had little real knowledge of Xhorhas, and thus the assassin's relayed description of the land is of dubious accuracy.

History
While visiting Chastity's Nook, a book store in Zadash, Caleb Widogast was able to convince the store owner Iva Deshin to sell the banned book, which was bought by Jester Lavorre for 15 gp and given to Beauregard Lionett. She and Caleb read the book, and found it to be dry and unsatisfying.

When the Mighty Nein broke into the home of High Richter Dayana Prucine, they found a copy of Courting of the Crick hidden underneath her bed.

Courting of the Crick was one of the five books Caleb placed in each of the Mighty Nein's rooms in Widogast's Nascent Nein-Sided Tower.