The trout is murder.
Everyone given the sign of the trout is an operative sent out by their fishy spawn overlords.
They infiltrate all the alliances, converting more to their cause. Who has reason to suspect? They don't hide it, "they have nothing to hide."
But that's just scratching the surface of the river.
A few weeks go by when trout-order manufactured spawn are placed around the corners of the Illyrian world. Once hatched, the fry seek out players or alliances, attempting to gain their trust.
By the time they've reached the Parr stage, they've found a player to link to or else have died, ending their menace to society.
Unfortunately there comes a time when they successfully bond... Growing into a Smolt. The afflicted player will and can easily conceal the trout still in this stage, knowingly or unwittingly spreading the Trout's influence.
Finally the parasites become adults, taking on a bronze sheen and using the infected players to spread their children, infect and convert other players and begin the trout domination of the world.
So cruel are the Illyrian trout that no one is safe. Opponents are eliminated, but perhaps more enraging is that those marked by the order of the trout too are doomed to being eaten by a thousand trout fry. The mark of the trout is a death sentence.
There will come a time when they rise, and the only hope we'll have is to flood the oceans and rivers of the world with so much alcohol that the trout are too inebriated to effectively destroy all known life in the world.
How to spot someone infected with trout:
1. They talk too little.
2. They talk too much.
3. They are eager to help people (care-avans are an easy way to conceal hidden spawn).
4. They regularly give "advice" to people (this advice is laden with trout spawn).
5. They seek high concentrations of lords and barons in Illyriad, infecting the few who can fight back when the uprising begins.
6. They seek to live in areas with low concentrations of people (to hide more fish spawn).
7. They seek to spread the word of trout via public forums.