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Blackwood Gazette #285- Rogue Nor Eastern Spy Reportedly Spotted in the Pyrossi Islands

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By Isairo Palantes, Monteddorian Correspondent

12/12/282-Sources in the Pyrossi Island region have reported that former Nor Eastern Subterfuge Society agent Pixie Sinclaire, thought deceased, has been spotted in the port town of Xev ti Lais. If true, these reports could lead to dire consequences for Nor Easter.

Sinclaire, along with Sir Rigel Rinkenbach, were involved in the destruction of Sarnwainian military interests earlier this year. The incident led to a continent spanning man hunt that ended in the apparent deaths of Sinclaire and Rinkenbach. With the pair seemingly brought to justice, the Sarnwainian Empire seemed placated. If Sinclaire proves to still be drawing breath, however, it could reignite the situation.

Empress Marcelette Bastian was quick to try and dispel the rumors, saying that there are millions of women in Nor Easter and around the world that match Sinclaire’s description (although, reports that the woman in question was meeting with a known information broker and black market salesman doesn’t help matters). She also went on to explain that if Sinclaire is alive, it is not the result of an attempt by the Nor Eastern Empire to dupe Sarnwain.

No statement on the matter has been given by the Sarnwainian Empire. This news, however, comes hot on the heels of a military demonstration of new weaponized vehicles close to the Sarnwainian/Triumvirate border. Military officials state that the weapons test is unlikely to be a response to this report, but the rumors of Sinclaire being alive could exacerbate the situation if not put to rest quickly.

Blackwood Gazette #285- Rogue Nor Eastern Spy Reportedly Spotted in the Pyrossi Islands

Blackwood Gazette #284- Adella Chatelaine Gives Heartfelt Speech in Crowndon at Klankenvroot Memorial, Barely Escapes Arrest

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By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC

11/12/282-For several days now, citizens of Crowndon had gathered at the site of the old Klankenvroot factory, holding a vigil for those who lost their lives. A company of Crowndon city watch stood by, watching them like a hawk.

Despite the high profile situation, former Gazette writer and person of interest in the Gazette sedition trial Adella Chatelaine made an appearance yesterday afternoon, where she gave an impassioned speech memorializing the workers and decrying the way the situation was resolved.

Earlier this year, Chatelaine visited the area of the factory known as the gutter, where she interviewed a pair of orphans, Vertiline and Pigott Torp. It is unknown whether the orphaned twins survived the Klankenvroot purge, and a large portion of Chatelaine’s speech lamented the state of their lives when she met them and the possibility of their death.

Chatelaine’s time on stage was brief; as soon as the watch identified her, they moved in to arrest her. Her speech had caused unrest within the crowd, however, and the throng lashed out. It is believed that Chatelaine was able to slip away, though we’ve received no word as to her fate at the time of publication.

The altercation between the watch and the people gathered was short lived, as the crowd dispersed with the discharge of a single firearm. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. Even still, our sources inside Crowndon tell us that a feeling of unease persists in the capital city of Crowndon. The city watch retains a presence on the factory ground, removing any objects of memorial and running off anyone who approaches to replace them.

Blackwood Gazette #284- Adella Chatelaine Gives Heartfelt Speech in Crowndon at Klankenvroot Memorial, Barely Escapes Arrest

Blackwood Gazette #283- Maurice Merchant Found Guilty of Treason and Sentenced to Death

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By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC

10/12/282-Two days ago, I was able to express hope that Crowndon may be able to heal itself thanks to the actions of its people against those who ordered the murder of 200 of its citizens. Today, however, that hope is a thing far away indeed. So very far away, thanks largely in part to my personal proximity to the issue at hand.

The Imperial Court of Crowndon returned a ruling in the Gazette Sedition case today, and it is a sorrowful turn of events. Maurice Merchant, owner, proprietor, and son of the founder of the Blackwood Gazette, was found guilty on charges of sewing unrest against the Crowndon Empire, and has been sentenced to death by firing squad, to be carried out later this month.

On a slightly less grim note, Mister Merchant’s alleged co-conspirators, most notably Ada Herschel, were sentenced to life in labor camp at an undisclosed location, with possibility of release following rigorous re-education.

I cannot believe the situation in Crowndon has devolved to such a point in such a short time frame. Since the attack on the Imperial summit meeting late last year, Crowndon has moved further and further away from the ideals the Triumvirate was striving for. And if we believe that Nor Easter and Monteddor are not complicit in this descent, we are fooling ourselves. We’ve left our sister Empire, and its citizens, to freeze in the cold.

I do not know why I even bother to try again, but I implore the leadership of Nor Easter and Monteddor, Empress Marcelette Bastian and High King Mario Adallantes, and the governing body of the Triumvirate Authority, to intervene before this matter grows worse. Evicting Crowndon from the Triumvirate is not an option: she must be healed, not left to die.

We call ourselves the Imperial Triumvirate. It’s time we remembered how to be that again.

Blackwood Gazette #283- Maurice Merchant Found Guilty of Treason and Sentenced to Death

Blackwood Gazette #282- Leviathan Investors Claim Prison Conditions Will Be Rectified

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By Isairo Palantes, Monteddorian Correspondent

9/12/282-A spokesperson representing the board of investors for the prison ship Leviathan released a statement today concerning the recent developments of alleged abuse of prisoners and deplorable living conditions.

“The investors behind Leviathan are as troubled by these reports as anyone,” the spokesperson said. “Not only are the conditions described, if true, unacceptable, but they reflect poorly on those whose money made the prison possible.”

The spokesperson went on to say that the investors are in the process of negotiating a tour of the ship, accompanied by Triumvirate Authority officials. The announcement comes on the heels of a failed request by the Authority acting on its own, who claim to have no jurisdiction over the ship.

“If the allegations should prove to be true, the investors are willing to make it a priority to replace the current personnel of the ship with people who are more agreeable, following an overhaul of the ship’s structure to help curtail accounts of the ship already falling into disrepair.”

Blackwood Gazette #282- Leviathan Investors Claim Prison Conditions Will Be Rectified

Blackwood Gazette #281- Citizens across Empire Demand Explanation from Crowndon Government in Light of Controversial Pictographs

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By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC

8/12/282- Tensions in Crowndon have reached a fever pitch, as the citizenry have begun taking to the streets in the wake of leaked pictographs depicting what really transpired on the Klankenvroot factory grounds last month.

Despite Crowndon officials’ best efforts, or perhaps because of them, to suppress the circulation of the graphs, the images have spread like wildfire through the lower boroughs of some of Crowndon’s largest cities, including Walsh, Toring, and even the capital itself.

Groups gathered outside of town halls and civic centers, demanding the heads of officials who ordered the flooding of the Klankenvroot dry dock. Even a few of the empire’s more prominent citizens took to these rallies, using their influence to gain audience with Imperial leadership.

What fruit these meetings will bear remains to be seen, but that members of the Oligarchy are willing to meet and discuss the events of the Klankenvroot Purge is a step in the right direction. We can only hope that the actions taken against the former workers living on the factory grounds were ordered by a small portion of corrupt elements, within the Crowndonian oligarchy, elements that can be weeded out in short order.

I wish that the Gazette Nor Easter could take some credit for helping these graphs circulate, but our intervention proved unnecessary, and the outrage expressed by the citizenry of Crowndon is a testament to their integrity and humanity. If Crowndon can fix itself, there might be hope for the Triumvirate as a whole.

Blackwood Gazette #281- Citizens across Empire Demand Explanation from Crowndon Government in Light of Controversial Pictographs

Blackwood Gazette #280- Pharassian Military Unveils New Motorized Vehicles in Blatant Display of Power

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By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC

6/12/282-The average citizen couldn’t be blamed for thinking that the situation between the Nor Eastern and Sarnwainian Empires had cooled down in the wake of the destruction of the ancient fortress of Ma-Droit and the deaths of rogue agents Pixie Sinclaire and Sir Rigel Rinkenbach. Sarnwain had ceased it seemingly ceaseless chest beating and trade between the two Empires had resumed in recent months with little to no trouble.

That lack of chest beating should have been a warning, according to Nor Easter Admiral Alexia Tremonte, who told us that the Pharassian military recently conducted a test of new motorized vehicles in the Tarsian desert, right near the Sarnwain/Triumvirate border.

“That Pharassus would conduct such a test on the opposite end of the Sarnwainian Empire in a completely different province is something we’re taking as a direct threat to the safety of Nor Easter,” the Admiral said. “I implore that the Triumvirate Authority, as well as our Triumvirate sisters in Crowndon and Monteddor, take this threat with the utmost severity.”

The vehicles tested by the Pharassian army certainly sound terrifying, if the reports given by Society spies are to be believed. They describe high velocity armored vehicles, belching a noxious black smoke, armed with cannon and rapid fire weapons that put even the Crowndon army’s crank driven repeaters to shame.

“That they would so openly display such weapons is what worries me the most,” Admiral Tremonte went on to say. “The Triumvirate just launched the most advanced air ship the world has ever seen, and Pharassus didn’t flinch. They’re either fools, or completely confident in their new weapons.”

Crowndonian officials are betting on the former.

“I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” Admiral Henry McTolliver said. “Sarnwain has been trying to keep up with the Triumvirate for centuries, and so far their efforts have proven impotent. Their reluctance to embrace Blackwood and pursue oil based energy is a fool’s errand. Honestly, I’m more worried about what’s going on inside our own Empire than anything from without.”

Admiral Tremonte disagrees, vehemently. “That’s rich, coming from a Crowndonian Admiral. It wasn’t so long ago that another Crowndonian Admiral made the mistake of hubris, and was taken down by new technology he didn’t see coming. Nor Easter has proven its foresight in the past. If the Society are telling us we should be worried, then we need to listen. To do otherwise could prove disastrous.”

Blackwood Gazette #280- Pharassian Military Unveils New Motorized Vehicles in Blatant Display of Power

Blackwood Gazette# 279- Anonymous Source Leaks Pictorgraphs of Dead Following Klankenvroot Purge

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By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC

4/12/282- Crowndon is in an uproar today, following the release of pictographs depicting the aftermath of the Klankenvroot Purge, as it’s come to be known in the rest of the Triumvirate.

I say the rest of the Triumvirate, because sources claim that nearly 85% of the Crowndon citizenry is under the belief that the Klankenvroot factory squatters were evicted peacefully, a story they were told either through sanitation of the story via the Ministry of Information Distribution, or outright lies. Any paper brave enough to tell the true story did so in the form of short blurbs buried on the inner pages.

Since the release of the photos in the ‘Ex-Humanor’, an underground publication popular throughout the Triumvirate, the Ministry is said to be working overtime to suppress the issue’s distribution. Release of the information has outpaced the propagandist’s arm, however, and people are starting to ask questions.

The biggest hurdle these pictographs face, however, is the question of their authenticity. The venue of their publication certainly doesn’t help matters, but many of the graphs are poorly shot and hard to discern.

As for the source of the graphs, Crowndon authorities are said to be rounding up and interrogating anyone known to be associated with Oculus, the mysterious figure who runs the infamous tabloid. So far, their efforts have turned up nothing but go-betweens or ‘friends of friends who know a guy’.

Meanwhile, we here at the Gazette Nor Easter have employed the services of pictographers and police forensics experts to help validate or debunk the pictographs. Should they prove to be authentic, we will promise to do anything in our power to inform the people of the Crowndon Empire, who seem to be living in the shadow of an increasingly draconian government.

Blackwood Gazette# 279- Anonymous Source Leaks Pictorgraphs of Dead Following Klankenvroot Purge

Blackwood Gazette #277-Triumvirate Authority Say they Have No Jurisdiction Over Leviathan Prison Ship

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By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC

29/11/282-The Triumvirate Authority proved its impotence this week in regards to alleged injustices taking place aboard the prison ship ‘Leviathan’. After recalling the ship for an inspection, the prison ship’s Warden replied with a simple ‘No.’

What will the ‘Authority’s’ response be?

“Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do,” said Captain Thomas Billingsworth, a TA rep who was tasked with performing the inspection. “The prison is a private venture, with investors in high places. As much as I would like to search out the ship, board it, and see for myself what exactly is going on there, my hands are tied.”

This reporter wonders if any of those investors are members of the Authority itself? Any wondering on such corruption is, of course, just speculation on my part.

Meanwhile, the reports of awful conditions and prisoners incarcerated for the smallest of crimes being transferred to such a high security facility with no notification being given to their families has reignited the mystery of several hundred prisoners that went missing around the Triumvirate earlier this year.

The families of said prisoners from all three members of the Triumvirate reportedly swarmed the offices of local lords and governors this weekend, demanding answers. According to sources in each area, the disruption actually impeded government function in several cities.

“They think they can take our boys and girls and shuffle them around and no one will miss them because they were in prison,” said Hattie Buckflower, the sister of the notorious Toring gang leader Howard “The Dogfeeder” Buckflower. “Well, they’re wrong. We’ll show them they’re wrong. We’ll burn this whole [expletive removed] place down to prove that point!”

Miss Buckflower was promptly arrested after her statement. No details were given on where she will end up.

***

Related posts:

Blackwood Gazette #213

Blackwood Gazette #231

Blackwood Gazette #277-Triumvirate Authority Say they Have No Jurisdiction Over Leviathan Prison Ship

Blackwood Gazette #276-Desantana Fleet Involved in Skirmish with Molten Crown Mercenaries

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By Isairo Palantes, Monteddorian Correspondent

22/11/282- Nearly six months ago, the Gazette reported that Yolanda Desantana’s ambitious ‘Triumvirate of the Skies’ (an alliance between Desantana, the Pirate Queen Seylene Plamondon, and the former pirate hunter Johanna McKilroy) was courting a fourth member, the former princess of Quin-Loh, Zan You-Delsha. It would appear, however, that those efforts have proven in vain.

Reports made by Sarnwainian forces patrolling the eastern waters of the Pyros Ocean indicate that a fleet of airships commanded by McKilroy were seen engaging with Molten Crown mercenary ships. It is unclear how the skirmish began, but it is said to have been brief as both forces retreated after sustaining light damage.

“From the sounds of things, both fleets were evenly matched,” said Dante Luna, a retired captain of Monteddor’s air navy and instructor at Monteddor City Military Academy. “It also sounds like there was never an intent at a full engagement. It was more like the two fleets were feeling each other out, trying to get a grasp on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This could either be the first stage of bringing You-Delsha into the fold, or the beginning of a bloody rivalry.”

Luna went on to say that any war between the factions would depend on Desantana and Plamondon’s willingness to back up their compatriot.

“There’s more than a little bad blood between the pirate queen and the huntress. Honestly, I’m surprised the alliance has lasted as long as it has. If Plamondon has Desantana’s favor, they may leave McKilroy to fight You-Delsha on her own, leaving both fleets weakened and ripe for the taking.”

If the alliance holds, however, and the Molten Crown mercenaries are brought into the fold, the captain says Desantana’s already immense fleet would become unstoppable.

“Between the four of them, they would have enough resources and martial experience to challenge the combined forces of the Triumvirate’s individual militaries, as well as the Authority. Add in Desantana’s ties to Alejandro Julianos, and the implications are downright apocalyptic.”

Blackwood Gazette #276-Desantana Fleet Involved in Skirmish with Molten Crown Mercenaries

Blackwood Gazette #275-Leviathan Escapee Tells Story of Horrific Conditions Aboard Prison Ship

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By Jeanne Dupris, Nor Eastern EIC

18/11/282-Hjavern Newstead, the man recovered from a Monteddorian shipping lane late last month, has made a full recovery from his time at sea and released a statement about the conditions aboard the Leviathan prison ship. The picture he paints is a horrific one.

According to Mister Newstead, the ship is already in heavy disrepair, despite having only been in operation for a year.

“When I got there, there was already leaks in the hull,” Newstead said. “Never got many details, being a prisoner and all, but overheard some talk about the weight of the ship stressing the connection welds, or something.”

According to Newstead, guards on the ship were overworked trying to maintain the prison population while constantly making repairs to the ship.

“Despite all the work they did, things only ever got worse. Woke up one morning to find the cell I shared with three other people half flooded. The two cells next to us, they wasn’t so lucky. They had to move us. Another couple of hours and we woulda drowned next.”

In addition to the ship’s state of disrepair, Newstead said that the warden was a complete tyrant.

“We hated him, and the guards hate him, too. I remember plans for mutinies. They almost always involved the guards and us working together. They were always rooted out, though. And it made the warden paranoid. That’s what happened to me. Not sure what I did, but the warden and the small cadre of loyal guards under him took me up top, told me they would make me sorry for causing unrest, and they threw me overboard.”

Newstead’s description of life aboard Leviathan has stirred interest in the matter by the Triumvirate Authority, who says they have begun the process of recalling the ship to investigate the matter. Hjavern Newstead will remain in the Monteddorian hospital until he recovers, at which point he will be turned over to Crowndonian authorities.

Blackwood Gazette #275-Leviathan Escapee Tells Story of Horrific Conditions Aboard Prison Ship