By Jeanne Dupris, Editor in Chief

30/12/282- While the victory over Sarnwain has given Nor Easter a reason to celebrate, I am unable to share in the same jubilation. Word has come in that Maurice Merchant, owner and proprietor of the Blackwood Gazette, has been executed by firing squad in Crowndon.

Maurice Merchant was a close friend and colleague, and to many of us in the field, he is now a martyr. We tried our hardest to have Mister Merchant spared, even resorting to measures we aren’t ready to talk about, but in the end, it was for naught.

In the wake of Mister Merchant’s execution, the Crowndon Ministry of Information Distribution announced that the Blackwood Gazette in Crowndon is no more, as the name is now considered tainted within the Crowndon Empire. Its staff (most notably that spineless lap dog, Chester Seaton, whom it was revealed testified against Mister Merchant, the son of his best friend and former mentor), will be rolled into the Ministry.

The Nor Eastern Branch of the Gazette (which I suppose is now the main branch of the Gazette) will proudly carry the name forward. I only hope we can continue to live up to the name.

Maurice Merchant was forty two years old. He leaves behind two children, both of age and living abroad. The Gazette faced bankruptcy when he took over. Thanks to years of efforts, he re-established the paper as the premier source of information in the Triumvirate, expanding into Nor Easter shortly after the Dividing War despite protests from Crowndon’s oligarchs.