By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC
15/11/282-Reports coming out of Crowndon seem to mark this as one of the darkest days in the Triumvirate’s history, as the Klankenvroot factory situation has been resolved in the most tragic way possible.
The City Watch, under the command of Crowndon Imperial military commanders, have reportedly flooded the dry docks where a large majority of the former factory workers lived. Nearly two hundred people, composed of workers and their families, are said to have lived in those dry docks. We are told that nearly all of them are dead.
There is no word on why the Crown abruptly decided to take such a drastic and tragic course of action, as the workers living in the factory had heretofore not displayed any sort of aggression to the battalion of City Watch and imperial soldiers camped outside the factory grounds.
The Crowndon military recently performed a test of a new aerial automaton equipped with a pictograph, and some have suggested that the images captured by the devices spurred this decision. However, the military has made no statements thus far about what the automatons saw inside the factory.
We have nothing but speculation at the moment as to why this event has occurred. There is this fact, though; Crowndon just murdered 200 of its own citizens, many of them children or infirm. Empress Marcelette Bastian has already condemned the decision, and the words ‘Imperial Duumvirate’ have reportedly been uttered more than once in her court. The Monteddorian High King Mario Adallantes issued a most diplomatic and ultimately toothless statement. The Crowndon Oligarchs have yet to say anything at all, though we believe the Imperial High Command will issue a no doubt polished report on the success of their ‘operation’ in the coming days.
The Triumvirate Authority, likewise, has said nothing, though we are told they are not pleased. Hopefully, they will push for a formal inquisition into the matter. In the meantime, the hopes and prayers of Nor Easter go out to those whose lives have been lost, and those few who survived. It is their tale that I would most like to tell as we proceed to make sense of what has occurred.
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A bit of perspective from someone who lived in the shadow of the Klankenvroot factory:
Blackwood Empire 