short fiction

Blackwood Gazette 122: Captain Johanna McKilroy Re-Emerges After Battle with La Pierre; Promptly Arrested By Crowndon Authorities

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By Chester Seaton, News

18/5- The reports surrounding Captain Johanna McKilroy’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, it would seem. The notorious pirate hunter, previously believed to have succumbed to injuries sustained in a battle with the pirate Roderick La Pierre several months ago, was seen leaving a hospital in the northern Crowndon port city of Carn Hattey Mills this weekend.

Witnesses to McKilroy’s reappearance have claimed that she sported a patch on her right eye, a brace on her left leg and a mechanical prosthetic on her right arm. Earlier reports stated that she lost the arm when her ship’s guillotine, used to execute pirates, came loose during the battle with La Pierre and took it off below the elbow.

Word traveled quickly through the town, and a contingent of Crowndon infantry rushed to the hospital, arresting the pirate hunter and several of her crew. The charges leveled against her include desertion (likely stemming from her leaving the Air Corps to join La Pierre after his exile), as well as the wanton destruction of several city blocks in Toring and reckless endangerment of Toring’s citizens during a battle with another pirate captain years ago.

The Crowndon military has not released any statements on their apprehension of the pirate hunter, or any details on when a trial might be held. The Gazette will certainly be following this story closely.

***

For a little bonus today, here’s a rough concept idea of Johanna McKilroy. It’s been a long while since I’ve done a Character Profile, so, here goes:

johannamckilroycroppedCaptain Johanna McKilroy: Former second in command aboard the Pernicious Platitude, served alongside Admiral Roderick Beauchamp La Pierre during their early years in the Air Corps. Believed La Pierre’s treatment after the war was undeserved and followed him into piracy. Her service didn’t last long, when she realized just how far La Pierre was willing to go. She left his crew and formed a freelance group of pirate hunters. La Pierre is her white whale, and the two have been playing a game of cat and mouse in the Imperial Skyways for years now. She is not completely unaware of the fact that her pursuit has brought out the same characteristics in herself that she shunned in La Pierre in the first place.

***

On another note, I’m happy to say that I put my nose to the grindstone this weekend and wound up with a plan for the next twenty five installments of the Gazette. Usually, I write and post, but I’m going to try and work up a nice buffer, for insurance against those days when I just stare at the screen for an hour or two and can’t seem to get anything done.

Blackwood Gazette 122: Captain Johanna McKilroy Re-Emerges After Battle with La Pierre; Promptly Arrested By Crowndon Authorities

Blackwood Gazette #121: Strident Whisper Crew Goes Free; Captain Remains in Detention

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By Chester Seaton, News

15/5- A decision has been reached amongst the Six Guild Masters of Libertine’s Roost concerning the fates of the crew of a Crowndonion brig that docked there for repairs earlier this year. All Six agreed to release the crew of the Strident Whisper, but only after the ship’s captain, Armistan Cadbury, offered his freedom in exchange for that of his men. Cadbury will remain in detention to be sentenced at a later date. It is likely he will be put to death.

This decision has caused an uproar amongst the Admiralty, many of whom are calling for a full scale bombardment of the Roost should this sentence be carried out. The loudest voice has been, unsurprisingly, Commodore Lucien Keene.

“This…stipulation, if it can even be called that…is an obscenity,” Keene said. “The Guild Masters are testing our resolve, and if we let them win they’re just going to push harder. It’s bad enough that we already look the other way regarding activities on the Roost. Now we’re expected to put up one of our finest officers as collateral? If we do this, our claim to the title of ‘civilized’ erodes.”

These are strong words from an important man in Crowndon’s military hierarchy, and under normal circumstance would be worth heeding. Unfortunately, the Roost’s unique status within the Triumvirate’s shipping economy and its protective treaties with each member would spark a war between all three should just one decide to make a move against it.

“The majority of the Crowndon Admiralty has no interest in sparking a conflict with the Roost, and by extent, Nor Easter and Monteddor,” said Fleet Admiral Winston Johannes. “Leaving Captain Cadbury behind is a shame, but if it means we can bring the rest of those boys home then that is exactly what we will do. Cadbury himself recognized this, which is why he chose to bear responsibility. We will continue to petition for the Captain’s release, but I will not make any promises.”

The Strident Whisper and its crew are set to depart the Roost this weekend. Those involved with the dispute are expected to be reprimanded by military tribunal when they return.

Blackwood Gazette #121: Strident Whisper Crew Goes Free; Captain Remains in Detention

Blackwood Gazette #120: Julianos Announces New Cultural Preservation Initiative

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By Isairo Palantes, Monteddorian Correspondent

14/5-Despite being in the middle of some major political and military moves to reshape the Monteddorian Empire, Alejandro Julianos has found the time for intellectual endeavors, as well. A spokesperson for the Julianos camp announced this week the formation of a council of top Monteddorian academics, in the fields of anthropology, history, and archaeology.

“Julianos recognizes the significance of our history,” the spokesperson said. “For too long, the pillars of Monteddorian society have overlooked the rich stores of knowledge and wisdom hidden in the ancient places of our land. Our civilization is built upon the foundation of one of the oldest known to still remain preserved. This initiative will ensure is stays that way in the face of current turmoil.”

The announcement of the council’s formation comes on the heels of news that several sites of historical importance were damaged or destroyed during the recent military coup, most notably the incident at Tarambor.

The initial stages of the Initiative will include stationing guards at all known Monteddorian archaeological sites. After that, teams from University of Monteddor City will be granted access to sites of their choice, followed soon by joint excavations with the University of Oeil de Fleur.

“This is an exciting moment,” said Professor Juan Nunez, of UMC. “Our knowledge of Ancient Monteddor atrophied under the reign of the Valiente monarchs. Julianos is the first ruler in nearly a hundred years to prioritize giving us the ability to make new discoveries in the field. Through the understanding we glean from new study, I believe the Monteddorian Empire will become stronger than ever.”

Blackwood Gazette #120: Julianos Announces New Cultural Preservation Initiative

Blackwood Gazette #119: One of Two Stolen Dragonfly Aircraft Recovered at Frontier’s Edge

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By Hil Spencer, New Crowndon Correspondent

13/5- Colonial Marshals report that they have recovered one of the stolen Dragonfly aircraft used in the attack against second cavalry forces at Fort Winstone. They say the aircraft was heavily damaged, and likely abandoned.

“It’s good to know one of ours took one of those bastards down,” Field Marshal Ameron Lassiter said. “It’s a real boost to morale. I’ve got three thousand men here, chomping at the bit for a chance to deal some payback to that son of a [expletive removed] Von Grimm.”

Unfortunately for those men, they will have to wait for some time before following. The crippled craft was discovered on the edge of the Colonial Frontier, and it appears that Von Grimm and his gang have fled into the indigenous territories.

“Our treaties with the native peoples prevent us from crossing west of the Plasten Meridian,” said the Commanding General of the Colonial Militia, General Jonathan Hoster. “We’ll have to petition for entry among the various territory leaders. We’re on good standing with most of them at the moment, but things will get more complicated if Von Grimm crosses into Duv-Ayid territory, which isn’t far from the border. If he does, I doubt they will care that he’s a bandit on the run. It could lead to renewed hostilities.”

The petition to cross the Plasten Meridian is said to be in motion, with representatives from Locmina and Tarumansk territories (those closest to the border) already granting their permission, as well as promising aid despite some remaining bad blood with the latter. The other territories are on the fence, but early talks are promising. The Marshals will require an affirmative decision from sixteen of the twenty territories to proceed.

Blackwood Gazette #119: One of Two Stolen Dragonfly Aircraft Recovered at Frontier’s Edge

Blackwood Gazette #118: Waystation Bravo Prepares for Relaunch Nearly One Year After The Disappearance of its Personnel

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By Chester Seaton, News

12/5- Nearly a year has passed since the mystery of what happened aboard Waystation Bravo gripped the Triumvirate. After months of debate concerning what should be done with the derelict station, the Triumvirate Authority has decreed that Waystation Bravo will return to active service at the beginning of next month.

“There were several reservations about re-launching the station after its denizens mysteriously disappeared,” said Admiral Percival Dunbarrow Pillsbury III. “But the extent of the damage, or lack thereof, simply did not mandate the construction of an entirely new station. Bravo has been repaired, and we have installed new fail safes and updated safety specifications to ensure this never happens again. It is, without a doubt, the safest of the four Waystations.”

Despite the assurances of the Imperial Authority, however, enrollment to serve aboard the repaired Station has been low.

“They’re afraid of ghosts,” an enrollment hopeful told us, one of only fifteen others we found in line at the Authority offices in Crowndon on Mursday. “They don’t like the idea of not knowing what happened. And then there was the bodies. People with revolvers. They’re all whisperin’ about Cartographers this and Scarlet Circle that and conspiracies all around. Me, I think it’s a bunch of nonsense. But some people, that’s enough to keep ‘em away from a sure thing.”

As for what really happened aboard the station, the Authority is remaining tight lipped.

“Everything we found is a matter of public record,” Admiral Pillsbury said. “As for those special investigators that showed up, anything they found is being kept under wraps. They only cleared the station for repairs at the beginning of the year, then took off. And our only other lead, that Klaudhopper fellow, well he’s off running around with Von Grimm and his gang in the colonies. The Marshals will probably send him swinging before we ever get ahold of him.”

***

Read more about Waystation Bravo:

#24: The Station Goes Missing

#29: Search for the Station Begins

#33: Waystation Bravo Found!

#36: Bodies Found on Bravo

#40: New Clues Emerge

#51: Salvage Teams Evacuate

#77: Klaudhopper Captured; Promptly Escapes

Novella Excerpt: Klaus Klaudhopper and Arufina Villanova in Mystery of the Missing Waystation

 

Blackwood Gazette #118: Waystation Bravo Prepares for Relaunch Nearly One Year After The Disappearance of its Personnel

Blackwood Gazette #115-Track Construction Begins for Air Races, Despite Setbacks

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By Huxley Pruitt, Sports

7/5-It seems that even the loss of several key members of his proposed air racing league cannot keep Mathis Galland down. Construction on the first course broke ground in the countryside outside of Walsh early this week.

“Many people are calling me crazy,” Galland said. “When Blunderberger [sic] and the others left, they took their sponsors with them. It also cost me a few investors. Luckily, I’m richer than sin and was able to cut costs a little bit by building on my own land.”

Rumors of an anonymous benefactor began swirling shortly after those investors mentioned above stepped away. Galland confirmed it.

“I did indeed receive a sizable donations from a third party. It’s not my place to name names. Just know that it’s all completely legal. The donor just wanted to do me a favor. If he wishes to step forward, he will.”

The Walsh course is said to be a straight forward race course, but Galland promises future courses will be much more complex.

“After we finish in Walsh, we’ll begin construction on a course outside of Des Anges in Nor Easter,” Galland said. “That one will make use of the natural environment for much of its length, with a portion weaving through the rocky spires of the Serpent’s Tongue canyon. After that we’ll build three more for this season, in locations that are tenuous at the moment. But the final course, oh, it’s a doozy, let me assure you. People will lose their minds when it’s announced at the end of the season.”

Preliminary races will be held at the beginning of seventh month, and the season will continue on through Tenth Month. Tickets are expected to go on sale soon in Walsh, Toring, Yves, and the Crowndon Capital.

***

BONUS: Here, have an updated map of the world of Blackwood Empire. Like any creative endeavor, its a work in progress, subject to change. It’s also not to scale, because I’m not a cartographer and also I’m bad with numbers. Still, it should give readers a basic idea of where everything is. It’s also gigantic, so if you’re having a hard time reading it, click on it to get a better view.

0001_Pirate_Lands_Full

Blackwood Gazette #115-Track Construction Begins for Air Races, Despite Setbacks

Blackwood Gazette #112- Von Grimm Gang Decimates Colonial Militia with Stolen Dragonfly Aircraft Before Retreating Into Frontier

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By Chester Seaton, News

1/5- The Colonial Militiamen camped outside of the captured Fort Winstone received a nasty surprise earlier this week, in a horrific turn of events that has militia forces gathering as though they are going to war.

The second colonial cavalry had been waiting for a shipment of Dragonfly aircraft for more than a week. The air craft were an integral part of the cavalry’s plan to retake Fort Winstone, which had been captured by Doctor Argyle Von Grimm last month.

The Dragonflies arrived, but not in a way they had expected or hoped. Militia officials tell us that the train transporting the aircraft to a nearby air field was attacked sixty miles east of its destination by men believed to be part of Von Grimm’s gang. All but two of the air craft were destroyed. The other two were taken, flown off by two bandits who apparently had flight training. One of these pilots matches the description of one Klaus Klaudhopper, who was last believed to be fleeing from Doctor Argyle Von Grimm, as reported by Adella Chatelaine before her disappearance.

The Dragonflies are believed to have arrived at Fort Winstone two hours later, way before any message could hope to arrive. The bandits then proceeded to drop upon the men of the Second Cav the volatile fire jelly they themselves had planned to use on Von Grimm. There are no survivors.

A group of nearby frontier rangers witnessed the aftermath of the massacre, describing the site as a hell-scape of glassed earth and charred flesh, with the bones of men and their horses reaching blackened and smoking into the sky. The rangers then reconnoitered the fort, only to find that Von Grimm and his gang had vacated the structure and retreated into the deep ravines of Sattler Pass to the North West.

Field Marshal Ameron Lassiter claims that this atrocity will be answered in kind.

“The colonial militia is now mustering its full force and plans to march on the frontier,” Lassiter said. “We will flush the Mad Mechanist and his rabble from their holes, even if we have to flatten the northern ravines to do it.”

Blackwood Gazette #112- Von Grimm Gang Decimates Colonial Militia with Stolen Dragonfly Aircraft Before Retreating Into Frontier

Blackwood Gazette #111- Mathis Galland Signs Colonial Woman to his Racing League; Four Others Back Out

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By Huxley Pruitt, Sports

30/4- Mathis Galland’s much anticipated air racing league has hit a snag this week. His decision to sign Marcy Quail, a woman bush pilot from the colonies’ northern territories, has sparked controversy amongst those racers already signed as well as the wider sports world.

“The idea of a woman competing with a man is patently ridiculous,” said Bart Blunderberg, a racer from Rommsbach who formerly served as an officer in the Crowndon Air Corps and announced his resignation from the league upon hearing the news. “It always has been. That’s why we have separate leagues in all other sports, if the women have leagues at all. It’s bad enough we have to race against these backwoods hicks from the Middle of Nowhere with their third rate scrap jobs, but women? From the colonies, on top of that? I’m done.”

Three other racers backed out at the news as well, all of them from the tentatively named Legacy League (a title self-proclaimed by those racers hailing from the military and private service amongst the Triumvirate aristocracy.) Mathis Galland does not seem worried, however.

“If they want to behave like children and stomp out of the room holding their toys, let them,” Galland said. “There is no room in my league for such behavior. And the nature of racing, one of mechanical, rather than physical, prowess and skill render the typical arguments against integrated sports leagues irrelevant in this matter. Not that that would matter, in Miss Quail’s case. She’s six foot four and two hundred pounds of pure muscle. When I went to recruit her, she’d just thrown some poor sod who’d gotten too fresh with her through a wall.

“If someone can maintain and fly their aircraft, I couldn’t give two wet [expletive removed] where they’re from or what their genitals are. It’s also noteworthy that those pilots who dropped out are from Crowndon, and the Crowndon military at that. It’s well known they don’t allow women in combat roles, while we here in Nor Easter do. Now, I don’t want to say that our fighting women are the sole reason we won the war, but…we have fighting women, and we won the war.”

Blackwood Gazette #111- Mathis Galland Signs Colonial Woman to his Racing League; Four Others Back Out

Blackwood Gazette #110- No Further Evidence of Missing Expedition Found; Authorities Call Off Search After Several Parties Go Missing

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By Hil Spencer, New Crowndon Correspondent

29/4- Sad news today for those of us at the Gazette and those closely following the disappearance of the Lelina expedition: the Colonial Marshals have called off their ongoing search for the missing townspeople and the academic team sent to investigate ruins in the area.

The news comes as an exceptionally hard blow after the recent ray of hope in finding Martine Babin, a member of the expedition. After the professor was recovered, search efforts in the area between Lelina and Point Hammond were doubled. However, a rash of disappearances amongst the search parties has caused the efforts to be ceased immediately.

“This decision is deeply regrettable,” said Chief Arnold Murray. “But the price of a continued search outweighs the benefit of finding the missing persons. Since we renewed the search, the number of missing has tripled.”

On top of the news that the search has ended in the wake of these new disappearances, Chief Murray has ordered a mandatory evacuation for the township of Point Hammond, as well as all townships south of the McHammet-Docker line.

“There’s something strange going on in the region,” Murray went on to say. “We have no idea what it is, and I’m not sure we can figure it out without losing a large number of people. Quite frankly, whatever is going on has me scared, and I don’t admit that lightly.”

The evacuation is already underway. Memorial services for the missing will be held early next week. A public ceremony for Gazette reporter Adella Chatelaine will be held at the paper’s Oeil de Fleur office in Nor Easter next Mursday morning.

Blackwood Gazette #110- No Further Evidence of Missing Expedition Found; Authorities Call Off Search After Several Parties Go Missing

Blackwood Gazette #109: Crew of the Strident Whisper Detained on Libertine’s Roost; Triumvirate Authorities Negotiating Release

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By Chester Seaton, News

28/4-The crew of the Strident Whisper, the Crowndonian brig that made landfall on Libertine’s Roost after suffering mechanical failure, has been detained by one of the merchant’s guilds based on the island.

Details are scarce surrounding the reasons for the detainment, but we do know that several of the Whisper’s crew involved themselves in the affairs of the merchant’s guild in question. Due to the complex treaties that exist between the Roost and the Triumvirate and bestow upon the Roost its independent status, recovering the crew will prove to be a challenge.

“We’re lucky the entire crew hasn’t been hanged,” said Commodore Lucien Keene, head of the Toring Second Flotilla, of which the Whisper was a part. “The denizens of the Roost are typically very stern when it comes to punishing those who break their myriad codes and guidelines (I hesitate to use the word ‘laws’). As far as we know, they are still alive, which is promising. I wouldn’t be surprised though if the only reason for that is they’re trying to figure out a way to execute them without angering the Crowndon fleet.”

According to Fleet Command, the crew of the Whisper have been in detention since early this month. When we asked why the news was only being broken now, Commodore Keene was surprisingly candid.

“We’d hoped to keep it under wraps,” he said. “But the families of the crew have begun poking around, and that always accelerates things. We’ve sent envoys to speak to the Guild leaders. Early exchanges have been promising. But we must remember who we’re dealing with; despite the title of ‘Guild’, they’re little more than pirates. If they feel they can enact their primitive notions of justice within the bounds of the treaties, I fear they will.”

Blackwood Gazette #109: Crew of the Strident Whisper Detained on Libertine’s Roost; Triumvirate Authorities Negotiating Release