By Chester Seaton, News

21/3/282- Despite the outcry of concern from Crowndon’s military elite, it was revealed this week that several members of Crowndon’s business elite have vowed financial backing for Admrial Alejandro Julianos’ First Armored Air Corps.

So far, only one such backer has revealed their identity. Lord Palatine McCredmond Hauks, founder and CEO of Hauks Financial, issued a statement concerning the matter, pulling no punches as to his reasoning.

“I cannot sit idly by and watch the Triumvirate, and by extension, Crowndon, fall under the stresses placed upon her while the Crown’s Arms do nothing. They sit high on chairs built by traditions rooted in times long since ended. I believe Admiral McTolliver when he says that he believes Crowndon’s military is still the best suited to protect the Imperial skyways, and that is why I am worried.

“He’s an old man, stuck in old ways. Old ways that have never seen the likes of the pressure being put on them by Seylene Plamondon or those who attacked the Arms Summit. And who knows what other horrors lie on the horizon, far to the east in Pharassus and Djidann? Hell, they couldn’t even handle the machinations of that mad man Rinkenbach. We live in new times, with new threats that need to be met with new tools, and new thinking. I don’t like that these tools are held by a man many presume to be a criminal. But Julianos has shown that he can weather the storm, that he can think outside the parameters set by those who would do us harm.”

Admiral Henry McTolliver shot back at Lord Hauks’ statement, making it known that severe penalties will be levied against citizens of Crowndon who makes oaths to Julianos.

“The Lord’s statements are outrageous and akin to treason,” the admiral said. “They are essentially funding an outside military, one that is positioning itself to take the place of our own. Were it not for the treaties and agreements in place that serve as the mortar holding our alliance of empires together, I would have Lord Hauks and his ilk in shackles already. It may still come to that. We are pursuing every avenue possible to charge these financiers to the fullest extent of Crowndon law.”

Admiral McTolliver’s threats may ultimately prove to be hollow, however, as the Triumvirate treaties place the Authority above each empire’s own militaries in the chain of command. In other news, Hauks Financial’s holdings increased a staggering twenty percent after the announcement, suggesting many of Crowndon’s citizens agree with Lord Hauks.