By Maurice Merchant, Editor in Chief

22/7-It was widely believed that the attempt on Governor Berclay Ancroft’s life two weeks ago was the work of Triumvirate Loyalists, but a recent claim by a separate group suggests a much more complex scheme.

While the group that Nor Eastern spy Pixie Sinclaire infiltrated was indeed comprised of Triumvirate loyalists, a letter sent to the Gazette claims that the scheme was concocted by a movement of Territorial sympathizers who fed to loyalists information about where and when Ancroft would be arriving and how to go about carrying the attack.

The group, calling themselves the Advocacy of Original Peoples, list a number of demands in their letter. The chief among these demands is that all Triumvirate assets in the colonies be abandoned. They call for the dismantling of factories and towns, and for all colonial citizens to withdraw within one year. If these demands are not met, they say, then the lands of Orend-auch-Tourna, the Duv Ayid name for the Newland continent, will run red with blood.

Reception of the letter has led the Governor to call for a full investigation into the Territorial Council, to see if any of its members were complicit in the attack and threat. It is the belief of the Marshal’s office, however, that the Council has nothing to do with the plot, nor any person of native heritage.

“These sentiments are not common amongst groups of people from the territories who reside in the colonies, outside of the extreme fringe,” said First Marshal General Job Stoll. “They are, however, sentiments we’ve seen expressed by groups of young colonial adults, mainly in Nor Eastern colonies. It is our belief that these sentiments have grown into a small movement, but nothing we need to fear just yet, as the foiled attempt on Ancroft no doubt came as a bitter blow.

“Still, the circulation of this letter is one we need to watch, lest it take root amongst the disillusioned and the young. Unchecked, I fear it could lead to civil unrest, and possibly even retaliation against those of Territorial heritage within the colonies.”

Using the Marshals’ own arrest records, we reached out to one young man arrested in the colony of Bly for defacing a monument with anti-colonial sentiment.

“Stoll’s arguments are typical of the status quo,” the man, who asked to remain unnamed, said. “He goes on and on about his sympathy for what Triumvirate colonialism has done not only here, but around the world. But when it actually comes to answering for those crimes, he shifts the conversation to ‘looking forward’ and ‘forging ahead, united’. Forging ahead, indeed, as long as your idea of forging aligns with the Triumvirate.”

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Correspondence sent to the Blackwood Gazette upon publication of the above story:

Dear Mister Merchant:

While reading your article about the group demanding that Triumvirate interests in the Newlands abandon their endeavours, I could not help but notice the distinct lack of a native point of view in the piece. Everything I read had to do with the perspective of colonials, be it the Marshals, or the members of the organization calling for withdrawal. Where is the input from those most affected by these happenings in colonial society, the native peoples themselves, whose fate hangs upon the decisions of these two groups? What is their opinion on these matters? I feel it is an important piece of the discussion.

Sincerely,

A concerned citizen of Nor Easter

This correspondence was never published nor answered in any public light.