Rigel Rinkenbach

Blackwood Gazette #242- Monteddor City Prepping For Industry and Innovation Conference

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By Hunter O’Leary, Business

9/6/282-Monteddor’s capital is bracing itself this week for the next annual Industry and Innovation Conference, where companies across the Triumvirate come together to reveal their grand schemes for the next year.

This year’s IIC is proving to be the subject of much speculation. The Conference’s driving force and founding member for the last near decade, Rigel Rinkenbach, is not expected to show, due to his recent status as a fugitive and enemy of the state. Without Rinkenbach at the helm, many question whether the show will generate the same spark and excitement it has in years past.

The number of visitors coming into the city the last few days should assuage some of those fears, however. Hotels are booked solid across the capital and surrounding areas, and ticket sales are up 2% over last year. Is this uptake the result of this being the first IIC held in Monteddor? Or is it the result of morbid curiosity of people expecting a train wreck? Only time will tell.

Another indication of the size of this event comes in the form of the increased security presence in the area. Law enforcement officials are on nearly every street corner, assisting visitors and keeping a vigilant watch for any suspicious activity. Reports say that nearly thirty people have already been arrested or evicted from the city; most of these arrests involve spirits.

In addition to Monteddorian police, there are air pickets and military checkpoints along the roads throughout Ballantine territory leading from the ports along the northern coast and the borders along Govanna and Nor Easter. The newly formed alliance of ships belonging to Yolanda De Santana, Seylene Plamondon and Johanna McKilroy are said to be patrolling the skies to the south and over the Barrier Ocean, and it is believed they will have a presence over the skies of Monteddor when the conference begins.

The conference is scheduled to begin in earnest on the morning of the fourteenth, and continue through the evening of the sixteenth. Luminaries such as Michel Pertifour, Anaya Stollette, and even Ivan Klankenvroot are expected to attend.

Blackwood Gazette #242- Monteddor City Prepping For Industry and Innovation Conference

Blackwood Gazette #237- Rinkenbach and Sinclaire Hit Pharassus Military Outpost; Empress Bastian to Activate Society Agents

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by Basilio Mura, Nor Eastern Correspondent

9/5/282-Rogue alchemist Rigel Rinkenbach and Nor Eastern Agent Pixie Sinclaire continued their reign of mayhem in Sarnwain, allegedly infiltrating a Pharassian military outpost last week, incapacitating several soldiers and making off with an unspecified piece of military hardware. Witnesses to the attack say the pair escaped the outpost and headed in the direction of the capital.

In response, the Primarch of Pharassus has placed the capital and surrounding cities under martial law, and mobilized several teams of the vaunted Pharuss Seekers. The Seekers made a name for themselves during the Harjyk Rebellion two hundred years ago for hunting down prominent rebel combatants that had been harrying the Pharassian military for months.

Not to be seen as taking the actions of the Nor Eastern affiliated Rinkenbach and Sinclaire lightly (or perhaps in fear for Rinkenbach’s safety), the Empress has activated several Subterfuge Society agents to locate and apprehend the pair.

“This is not meant to be an affront to the Primarch’s authority,” Her Imperial Grace said. “His agents and mine will work in concert to help reign in Sinclaire and Rigel. It is my hope that the presence of their fellow countrymen will prevent any confrontation from ending in tragedy, should the Primarch’s forces find them alone. Hopefully they can be taken unharmed and an explanation can be had.”

The Society tells us that four agents have been activated, and that one of them is Gerard P. Shanahan, who recently made the news when he defended himself against hecklers at a recent mandolin performance. According to his file, Shanahan and Sinclaire worked closely together in their early years with the Society. It is hope this will aid in quickly finding and subduing the rogues, before more damage is done.

Blackwood Gazette #237- Rinkenbach and Sinclaire Hit Pharassus Military Outpost; Empress Bastian to Activate Society Agents

Blackwood Gazette #235-Empress of Nor Easter Issues Bounty On Rinkenbach and Sinclaire, Expresses Hope They Will Turn Selves In

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By Basilio Mura, Nor Easter Correspondent

22/4/282– In an effort to stem the rising tensions resulting from the recent sabotage of Sarnwainian interests by two Nor Eastern affiliates, Rigel Rinkenbach and Pixie Sinclaire, the Nor Eastern Empress has issued a warrant for their arrest.

“It is with great reluctance that I serve up my dear Rigel to such dirty business,” The Empress said in a statement. “But in order to assuage the Primarch [of Pharassus] that Nor Easter had no hand in this tragedy, I most put forth a show of faith. As such, I am issuing a two million imperon bounty on both Rigel and agent Sinclaire for their safe delivery into Triumvirate custody.”

The two million imperon bounty might seem small compared to the three million inter imperial scrip bounty placed by the Primarch, however it is important to note that the imperon is the stronger currency.

Despite the issuance of the bounty, the Empress expressed hope that Rinkenbach and Sinclaire would come in on their own.

“I am sure that Rigel has a good explanation for all of this,” the Empress said. “He’s never done anything without good reason…mostly. Regardless, I’d rather have him home, safe, where we can deal with him in a civilized manner. Oh, and agent Sinclaire, as well. Being as I’m told she’s a war hero. They tell me I awarded her a medal, though I have no recollection of the event.

“At any rate, please, Rigel. Come home, so that we may clear all of this up and I can get back to hearing your wonderful tales as we share tea!”

Others in the Triumvirate Authority aren’t so hopeful.

“The Empress, I hate to say it, is delusional,” said High Admiral Jasper Stapleton. “The Authority has no interest in granting amnesty to Rinkenbach and Sinclaire. Their alleged actions have brought us to the brink of a catastrophic and unnecessary war with Sarnwain, when we should be focused on other things. Rinkenbach might be fooled by the Empress’ claims of mercy, but Sinclaire sure as hell won’t be. She’s the brains behind this operation, I’m sure. And I’ve worked with her before. I feel sorry for anyone who manages to back her into a corner.”

Blackwood Gazette #235-Empress of Nor Easter Issues Bounty On Rinkenbach and Sinclaire, Expresses Hope They Will Turn Selves In

Blackwood Gazette #234- Rinkenbach and Sinclaire Become Sarnwain’s Most Wanted After Alleged Sabotage of Djidanni Drilling Operation

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by Basilio Mura, Nor Easter Correspondent

19/4-The Triumvirate is left with numerous unanswered questions this week, after the Empress of Nor Easter received reports that Nor Easter’s favorite ex-power couple, the alchemist and industrialist Rigel Rinkenbach and on again/off again N.E.S.S. Agent Pixie Sinclaire were reportedly seen escaping from a Djidanni oil interest minutes before it exploded.

The explosion occurred in the early morning hours last Friday. Witnesses to the incident report seeing two individuals matching the descriptions of Rinkenbach and Sinclaire fleeing the area before the well erupted into a gout of flame. Given Sinclaire’s record of service as a saboteur during the war with Crowndon, and Rinkenbach’s inextricable connection to Blackwood, it isn’t difficult to establish a motive for the incident and the expertise needed to carry it out.

What is difficult to understand, however, is how these events came to be. When last we heard of Rinkenbach, he’d been absconded with by kidnappers wearing the same blue uniforms as those worn by the Arms Summit attackers. As for Pixie Sinclaire, she was last seen in the colonies, and according to several sources was part of ongoing operations there. Further, none of this takes into account how the two came to be working together, considering their messy personal history, as documented by Nor Easter’s most salacious tabloids.

The incident has sparked a massive manhunt across Sarnwain, regardless of how the pieces do or don’t fit together, and separate three million Inter-Imperial scrip bounties have been placed on Sinclaire and Rinkenbach’s heads. The Primarch of Pharassus is said to be enraged, calling for Nor Easter to explain the actions of its citizens under threat of war.

The Empress, as is to be expected, denied any knowledge on the Empire’s part of this alleged sabotage, citing Rinkenbach’s official status as missing and reminding us all, once again, that the Nor Eastern Subterfuge Society is dormant during peace time.

One can only hope that such ‘official’ responses will be enough to stem the Primarch’s wrath. Regardless, the Triumvirate Authority is said to be preparing its fleets to take action should the need arise.

Blackwood Gazette #234- Rinkenbach and Sinclaire Become Sarnwain’s Most Wanted After Alleged Sabotage of Djidanni Drilling Operation

Ex-Humanor 002- Dead or Alive? Examining the La Pierre Construct

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Have you heard the news, dear reader? That a few weeks ago, the wreckage of the ship belonging to the notorious air pirate Roderick La Pierre was found floating in the Barrier Ocean? You did?!

Good job! Here is a crumpet!

But hold on…I’m not going to give it to you just yet, dear reader. Did you find the willingness of the Crowndonian military and the Triumvirate Authority to believe this story and write off La Pierre for dead to be a little bit odd? Or did you say to yourself, ‘Good riddance’, and go about your day? You didn’t, and you did, you say? You didn’t question a single line of this news? Hm. I guess I’ll just eat this crumpet myself, because none of you deserve it.

‘But, Mister Oculus, wait!’ you say. ‘They presented evidence!’ you say. Did they now? You’re speaking of, I assume, the ledgers found in the remains of the Captain’s cabin?

‘Why, yes, Mister Oculus! La Pierre’s name was in each and every one!’

No! I protest, as I whack you on the nose with a rolled up, chip stained copy of the Blackwood Gazette. Bad Sheep!

Did you not notice the evidence to the contrary? That the pictures released of the wreck match the profile not of a CAF Frigate 264 class, the same class that the Pernicious Platitude is a modified version of, but of a CAF Frigate 278, introduced into service following La Pierre’s exile because it was believed his loss at the Divide had forever tarnished the legacy of the 264?

And what of the unceremonious discharge of Admiral Winston Johannes, pressed out of the Crowndon Air Fleet for casting doubts on the story? A man whose doubts, given his record, should have been treated with the utmost consideration?

This is all dependent upon whether you actually believe in the idea of Roderick La Pierre as the terror of the Imperial Skyways, of course. I, for one, posit the idea that La Pierre post exile was nothing more than a myth, a piece of propaganda and scapegoat trotted out by the Crown to serve as a flogging post whenever things go wrong. Now, I’m not saying La Pierre never existed…I’m sure he did. I’m also sure he died at the Divide, along with the other four thousand men who fell under the guns of Rinkenbach’s Firefly attack planes. The idea that he was somehow able to escape the carnage when so many others did not and somehow claw himself back to Crowndon a difficult pill to swallow.

The question now, ever as always, is why? Why has Crowndon chosen now to retire their mythical stooge? Perhaps the answers lie in darker corners…darker corners where Men in Blue Coats reside. I entertain the possibility that the La Pierre boogie man wasn’t a Crowndonian construct, but a Cartographer one, a cog in their nefarious plans that had served its purpose after the attack on the Arms Summit. After all, why should they bother to sustain such a farce to cover up their existence when our collective bias towards ignorance allows the Cartographers to exist in secret EVEN AFTER THEY’VE SO BOLDLY WALKED INTO THE LIGHT FOR ALL OF US TO SEE?

I have another crumpet here. It’s yours, if you can tell me one thing. Are you asking questions, now?

Stay Awake, dear readers.

OCULUS.

Ex-Humanor 002- Dead or Alive? Examining the La Pierre Construct

Blackwood Gazette #216- Crowndonian Military Conducts Raid on Mysterious Island Stronghold; Finds Evidence of Sir Rigel Rinkenbach

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By Chester Seaton, News

10/2/282- Triumvirate Authority Officials report that a task force following leads in the Pyrossi Ocean region raided an island stronghold this weekend. While no evidence of the mysterious attackers who raided the Arms Summit last year was found, they did find evidence that Rigel Rinkenbach had been kept there, recently.

“There is an abundance of evidence,” said Captain Michel Dufresne, the lead investigator in charge of the task force. “Including but not limited to discarded lab notes referring to something called BW-19, all of which is encoded in some unbreakable cipher. A tell-tale Rinkenbach trait.

“Also found at the site: 21 discarded bottles of absinthe, a half-starved owlet, and a faded pictograph of a woman believed to be Pixie Sinclaire, stained with tea rings. On the back of the picture was another string of encoded equations none of us have been able to decipher.”

The Captain went on to say that they are attempting to contact Pixie Sinclaire and bring her into the investigation. However, the Nor Eastern government has proven difficult in this regard, saying only that she is occupied with other matters of Imperial importance.

More baffling, however, is the lack of evidence that any of the shadowy Men In Blue were present at the stronghold.

“Other than Rinkenbach’s lab, the only other presence we can find traces of are those of pirates,” Captain Dufresne said. “It is likely this location was used as a hideout for one of the smaller bands, or possibly even a lookout station for Seylene Plamondon herself. In any case, this development is most troubling. It was not pirates that kidnapped Sir Rigel Rinkenbach late last year. Somewhere along the line, custody of our wayward scientist was transferred from one group to another. We have theories, but none of them are worth sharing at this point in time.”

Was any evidence found pointing to Rinkenbach’s current whereabouts?

“None whatsoever. Whoever was here left in a hurry. It’s possible they struck out without a plan. It’s also possible they decided Rinkenbach was too much trouble and dumped his body in the ocean. We have search parties combing the coast line and trawling the nearby shallows.”

Blackwood Gazette #216- Crowndonian Military Conducts Raid on Mysterious Island Stronghold; Finds Evidence of Sir Rigel Rinkenbach

Blackwood Gazette #203-Alejandro Julianos Awarded the Guardian Medal for his Heroic Stand at the Summit Attack

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By Chester Seaton, News

5/1/282- Thousands gathered in Monteddor City yesterday evening as Alejandro Julianos was awarded the Guardian of the Triumvirate Medal. He was awarded the medal for his actions during the attack on the Arms Summit late last year, actions which protected the lives of many key world leaders.

“The Triumvirate owes its continued stability to you, Admiral Julianos,” Empress Marcellete Bastian stated during her presentation of the award. “Without your quick thinking and endless valor, my life, and the lives of so many, would have ceased. You pulled the Empire from the brink of darkness, and in so doing have given us the chance to prepare for whatever challenges lay in wait.”

The Guardian medal has only been awarded twice in the history of the Triumvirate. The award was created shortly after the Triumvirate’s founding, to the Crowndon Admiral Herschel Engelbrugh, who with a fleet of only four ships held off four separate rebel armies long enough for the Triumph Accords to be signed. The second award was given only a few short years ago, to Sir Rigel Rinkenbach, after the end of the Dividing War. Empress Bastian presented that award as well.

Julianos himself accepted the award in silence, offering only words unheard by the masses gathered to the Empress herself. Whatever he said, the Empress is said to have been beside herself.

After the ceremony, Julianos left the festivities without comment. Rumor has it that he is planning a military proposal that stands to change the entire structure of Triumvirate Authority protocols.

Blackwood Gazette #203-Alejandro Julianos Awarded the Guardian Medal for his Heroic Stand at the Summit Attack

The Lelina Horror, Part 13

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PIXIE (V)

20th of 9th Month, 281st Year of the Triumvirate

Another day, another bullet in the shoulder.

It wasn’t long after escaping from the mad woman beneath the pier in Docryville that I found myself in Point Hammond, following up on a lead for another job involving grave robbers in a town called Dundry. It was also where Professor Babin of the Lelina expedition had been found a few months before, thus and the last point of contact for the missing. The lead on the artifacts proved to be a setup by the Cartographers, which I imagined would be the case before hand.

It wasn’t that they got the drop on me. I fully expected the whole meeting to be a set up. I just didn’t expect them to send SO MANY. I suppose I should be flattered.

In any case I met the man who claimed to have more information on why these grave robbers had been targeting specific native-newlander burial sites in the local feed-store. He turned out to be a Cartographer, just as I suspected might happen. That’s when Bianca showed up and started running her mouth, as was to be expected.

What I didn’t expect was the veritable army of Blues who came crashing into the room, all of them with pistols drawn, and all of them pointed straight at me. As I assessed the situation, I considered a sleeping pill might be a solution to throw them off their mark and provide me with an out. That plan was a no-go, however. They were all wearing filtration masks, no doubt at Bianca’s urging.

Time to change tactics.

While I majored in spy-craft, so to speak, I minored in alchemy. I wouldn’t exactly call myself an adept, but I had a good teacher. In addition to giving me the base knowledge needed to create something like my little sleeping bombs, Rigel Rinkenbach taught me a few other formulas, too. I’ve refined a system over the years, taking the most versatile ingredients available to me to create a wide array of agents with an even wider array of effects. Some could induce sleep, some were hallucinogenic. More than a few would increase libido, and even more could explode. There was a new one I wanted to try, and now, standing in the middle of a room with about twenty heaters pointed in my face, I felt it might be a good time for a test.

“Well, then,” I said, putting my hands up. “Alright, Bianca. I can’t really argue with these numbers. You’ve got me.”

I put my hands behind my head. Concealed in a leather brace on my left arm was a tube containing two liquids that, when mixed together, created a highly corrosive gas, undetectable by sight or smell. I discovered the effect quite by accident while trying to create a flameless light source a couple years back. It didn’t affect flesh or wood, but it played hell with anything made of iron or steel.

I reached into the brace and broke the tube. The liquid ran down my arm. It burned a little bit, but the substances by themselves were harmless. Now all I had to do was wait.

“You’re damn right, I got you!” Bianca said. “The great Pixie Sinclaire. More than two hundred successful covert missions behind Crowndon lines, and even more that no one knows about. You’ve put up a hell of a chase but it didn’t matter in the end, did it? I got you!”

“Geez, Bianca,” I said. “Act like you’ve done this before.”

“Enough,” said the man I’d come to meet. “She’s trying to piss you off, Bianca. Stop falling for it. And you, Miss Sinclaire, please. The odds are clearly against you. We don’t want to hurt you. Our Prime simply wants to discuss some things. Something big is about to happen…”

“Um,” I heard someone on the second story landing say. “Sir?”

“Something that will change the course of our society…”

“Sir?”

“For the Man’s sake, what is it?”

“I think there’s something wrong with my gun.”

“What do you mean?”

“Uh, well, the, uh…the hammer just fell off.”

I heard a thump from the other side of the landing. I looked over and saw a man with a puzzled look on his face who held nothing but a pistol grip. The entire top half of the gun had fallen off.

Holy crap! It was actually working!

One of the men behind Bianca fell over, holding his knee and screaming.

“What’s wrong with you, now?” Bianca asked.

“There’s a rod in my leg,” he said through clenched teeth. “Got it during the war. Something’s wrong with it.”

Bianca looked at me.

“It’s her! She’s done something!” Bianca raised her gun at me and tried to pull the trigger, but the trigger crumbled under the pressure. With a frustrated howl, she threw the gun at me. I shielded my face with my arms and the gun hit. It exploded into a powder and the wooden grips fell to the floor. Still hurt, though.

The scene repeated itself as the others in the room pulled their triggers, only to have their weapons fall apart. Well, except for one guy, who’d been hiding out in the back of the room.

His weapon actually fired, and the bullet struck the wall behind me. Deciding that the odds had been sufficiently evened out, I turned tail and ran…right into a street lined with Blues and their fully functional revolvers.

“Shit.”

They opened fire from the side streets and the roof tops, mud and horse crap and a whole slew of other nastiness spraying up around me. I turned west and started running. I’d cased the town earlier, and knew of an alley that led out of town and into the woods.

I’d nearly made it when a bullet hit my shoulder. I stumbled forward, cursing. Just when my last set of bullet holes had healed up, too.

I ducked into the nearest alley, across the street from the local saloon. One of the Blues was inside the alley, taking a leak against the wall. He went for his gun. I lunged forward and grabbed his arm. The weapon went off next to my ear, and for the next few moments it was like the whole world was ringing bells in my head. I wrenched his arm and threw him out of the alley. He landed in the muck at the feet of about four of his comrades. I aimed and fired, taking a couple of them in the leg. The others scattered and I took cover behind a barrel.
I peeked out and saw a woman standing on a balcony on the second story of the saloon, watching the whole affair. Above her, on the roof, was another woman. Not an employee. She was tall, even crouched on one knee, wearing a duster. Long black hair blew out behind her. She held a rifle.

The mad woman from beneath the pier.

Her again! Had she been the one to shoot me? No…the saloon had been in front of me, and the shot that hit me came from behind. And judging from the rifle she held, a shot from that likely would have left my arm hanging by a thread.

More than that, she didn’t appear focused on me. She had her rifle sighted down the street, and was firing at the Cartographers. Perhaps she didn’t know I was there?

She whipped the rifle toward me and took a shot. I pulled back behind the barrel, just in time. The bullet struck a chicken in a cage behind me. It exploded in a puff of feathers and blood. That might have been my head.

“Up on the roof!” I heard someone yell. Shots rang out and I peeked out. I saw the woman from the balcony run inside, wood and windows splintering and shattering around her. The woman on the roof ducked down.

With both parties trying to kill me occupied, I turned my attention to the back of the alley. There was a fence blocking this one, but it didn’t look very sturdy. I ran toward it and barreled into it with my un-wounded shoulder…and bounced right off, landing on the wounded one.

Pain racked my body and my head spun, but I got back up and drove out with my foot. One of the boards snapped in the middle. I repeated the process a few more times until I finally had a hole large enough to escape through. I squeezed through, leaving the pops of gunfire behind me, and entered the woods.

***

The events of this story were originally told in Blackwood Gazette #190.

Sorry for the inordinate amount of cross-links to old Gazette entries. I’m not entirely sure how the Pixie Sinclaire side of this story is shaping out…it’s really more of a spy-adventure than a horror story, and I’m not sure how it meshes with the Adella side. The idea was to have Adella visit a place, and then follow up with Pixie following in her footsteps a year later, but it hasn’t quite panned out like that. Perhaps upon revision I’ll separate the two, tell the Adella half first and then the Pixie Sinclaire half.

Anyone who has read this far…what do you think?

***

BONUS: A while back I posted a picture of my friend Kasey Walton (Kwaltonvx.com) in costume as Rigel Rinkenbach. He’s worked on it a bit more, adding a wig and and a frilly shirt (the i-phone is not a part of the ensemble…unless Rigel invented the smart phone? Hmmm…):

RigelLIVESSeeing this gives me great hope that my ultimate dream of making a Blackwood Empire web series will come to fruition!

The Lelina Horror, Part 13

Blackwood Gazette #198- Mysterious Group Absconds with Sir Rigel Rinkenbach in Broad Daylight

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By Basilio Mura, Nor Easter Correspondent

6/10- Sir Rigel Rinkenbach, who has certainly had a difficult year, has apparently been kidnapped, Nor Eastern officials say.

Sir Rinkenbach was leaving the hospital where Empress Marcellette Bastian is making her recovery after being shot during the recent Arms Summit in the Divide. As he stepped out onto the walk, several unmarked motor carriages screeched onto the street in front of the hospital, and a group of unidentified men poured out.

The men, said to be wearing dark blue uniforms similar to those worn by the men who attacked the Summit, as well as the town of Point Hammond, and armed with revolvers, engaged the members of the Royal Guard appointed to protect Rinkenbach. While one of the guardsmen attempted to pull Rinkenbach into the hospital, he was shot in the back. The unidentified men then grabbed Rinkenbach, stuffed him into one of the carriages, and drove off.

The city guard attempted to give pursuit, but their own motor carriages were unable to keep pace with the attackers. This event only further re-enforces evidence that whoever this unidentified group is, they possess technology more advanced than anything currently employed by the governments of the Triumvirate.

Already, rumors and conspiracy theories are running amok through the political and scientific communities. Some have suggested the kidnapping, as well as the attack on the Summit, were orchestrated by Rinkenbach himself as a way of escaping the Nor Eastern government’s constant vigilance.

Others have pointed out that, as reported in the Gazette, the attackers attempted to assassinate Rinkenbach at the summit, while they merely kidnapped him outside the hospital, leading to all sorts of wild speculation. However, we have no way of knowing just what this group’s goals are, or what their methods in bringing those goals to fruition may be.

Nor Eastern officials are working with the Triumvirate authorities, as well as the individual militaries and law enforcement agencies of Crowndon and Monteddor to locate Sir Rigel Rinkenbach and the men responsible for his abduction.

Blackwood Gazette #198- Mysterious Group Absconds with Sir Rigel Rinkenbach in Broad Daylight

Blackwood Gazette #197- Mysterious Message Sent to Arms Summit About Impending Attack; Marcellete Bastian takes a bullet for Rigel Rinkenbach; Attacking Fleet Repelled by Alejandro Julianos and…Captain La Pierre?

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By Chester Seaton, News

2/10- The world went a little…crazy, this weekend. As the leaders of Crowndon, Nor Easter, Monteddor, and Sarnwain gathered at a secluded location in the Divide, a large fleet of unknown vessels gathered in the canyons below. The objective of this fleet remains a mystery, but if their actions are anything to go by, it was to eradicate the current power structure of the Imperial Triumvirate in one fell swoop.

Luckily, just a few short moments before the enemy fleet of airships rose up around the desert mesa where the summit was being held, security officials received a mysterious wire said to originate from the colonies. The wire warned of the attack, giving Alejandro Julianos, whose own forces were providing security, time to form a defensive perimeter.

Julianos’ ships engaged the unmarked enemy ships, which are said to have been unlike anything the world has yet seen; kept aloft not by balloons, but by complex rotor systems and armored with metal plating. Julianos did an admirable job of keep the ships at bay, despite being outnumbered, outgunned, and possessing what is, as of this weekend, severely outdated technology.

Perhaps it was this advantage on the side of the attackers that enabled them to put several boots on the ground, who stormed the central chamber of the summit building. Once again, Julianos’ ground forces put up a brave defense, cutting down all but one of the invaders.

The would-be assassin burst into the meeting chamber, where all the delegates save for one threw themselves to the ground. The assassin’s target? Presumably, it was one Rigel Rinkenbach, in attendance with Empress Marcellete Bastian. Seeing that the attacker had Rinkenbach in his sights, the Empress bravely threw herself in front of the shot, taking the bullet meant for Rinkenbach and saving the inventor’s life. The Empress is alive, but in critical condition.

Before the assassin could prepare another shot, Julianos’ soldiers entered the room and incapacitated the man. They tried to take him alive, but the attacker bit into a suicide pill.

Meanwhile, four ships remained in the skies above, the others having been destroyed or rendered inert. The attackers outnumbered Julianos’ flagship, Panther’s Reign, three to one.

The Reign seemed to be on its last legs as one of the aggressors prepared for a killing blow, when a shot from a newly arrived fifth ship struck one of the enemy ship’s rotors. The attack left the rotor-ship listing. Julianos’ crew regained their bearing, loaded up their cannon, and opened fire. As the rotor ship drifted, in flames, to the desert floor, a lookout on Julianos’ ship got a good look at the mysterious third party.

“When the ship went down and the smoke and fire faded out, I couldn’t believe what I saw out there, on the horizon, silhouetted against the setting sun…but none other than the Pernicious Platitude, and at its helm, the pirate captain La Pierre.”

La Pierre began to circle the enemy formation, drawing their fire as the Reign reloaded. The Platitude then joined formation with the Reign, and engaged the remaining attackers. Witnesses on the ground described the situation as “completely bat-shit.”

Once the remaining attackers had gone down, the Reign turned to engage the Platitude. However, we are told that Julianos ordered his gun crews to hold their fire. The Platitude then descended into the canyons below, and has not been seen since.

The Triumvirate leadership owes their survival to the mysterious communique they received just before the attack, though no one seems to know who sent it. It ends simply, “PS”. Why a missive would end with notation of a post-script, yet not actually include one, has baffled many. But Rigel Rinkenbach has a theory.

“It isn’t so very hard to understand,” Rinkenbach told us. “PS doesn’t mean post-script! They’re initials, for Pixie Sinclaire! She must have uncovered the plot and, sensing that I was in danger, sent a message! She does still love me! I knew it!”

The Triumvirate authority has stated that they will launch a full scale investigation into these events, starting of course with the identity of the mysterious attackers, though the working theory is that the enemy force is the fountainhead of all the strange weapons that have been found on battlefields around the globe. It’s hard to say what, if anything, was accomplished by the summit, but many doubt the results will be what was hoped for.

***

Man, that’s pretty much the most insane headline I’ve ever written for the Gazette…

Today’s story marks a fairly important turning point for the Blackwood Empire, and the Gazette. It’s kind of the culmination of everything that’s been going on for the last few months, and sets the stage for what I’m calling “Volume II”.

I’ve decided that, after #200, I’ll be taking a bit of a break from the Gazette for a while to revise what I’ve already written and plan out what comes next. I think it’s also time for me to focus on some more long-form work for awhile.

Thanks for reading!

Blackwood Gazette #197- Mysterious Message Sent to Arms Summit About Impending Attack; Marcellete Bastian takes a bullet for Rigel Rinkenbach; Attacking Fleet Repelled by Alejandro Julianos and…Captain La Pierre?