The Chronicle

of the month of Heliora in the year 147

The City is still nervous after the near imposition of martial law by Sir Salverian Dedrini. Lord Dixon and both Sheriffs were summoned to attend upon the Knight Marshal after a group of knights were attacked by muggers whilst returning from the Hahnite Temple. The Chronicle has learnt that Sir Salverian had already ordered the mobilisation of all forces at the Citadel and was preparing to take over the City when the Lord and Sheriffs arrived. Fortunately for the City, one of the captured attackers confessed to being a paid assassin from a foreign power, and confirmed that the Witanmoot Guard tabards used by the attackers were fake. A somewhat conciliatory Sir Salverian is reported to have told the Sheriffs that in future he intends to hold them personally responsible should any more of the King's officers be attacked in the city.

Despite Sir Salverian's warning, nominations for the post of Sheriff have rolled in. First off the mark was Lord Dixon himself who nominated long term ally Aralan Derwent. Alan Monterey predictably nominated both the current incumbents and William Trueman nominated Olivia Warin. The Perignon/Avery alliance surprised everyone with Avery nominating Olivia Warin and Aralan Derwent, whilst Perignon nominated Ann Tasker. With the factions split the votes of independent Hywel Duthon it seems may prove critical. However it would seem that just for once our political leaders are supporting the people they think would be best for the job – but there is still a month for them to stitch up a grubby deal. The Chronicle looks forward to the voting with interest.

Lord Dixon has indulged in another decree this month: "Henceforth the Marching Watch will, as it was in the past, be called to training on every Midsummer's Day. The first Ward to complete its assembly once the Witanmoot Bell is tolled on that day will be treated to a round of Drinks by the Lord of the City. The Watch which, in the opinion of the judges, makes the best impression during the day of training will also be treated to a round of drinks by the Lord of the City."

The civic ball which Lord Dixon threw to celebrate the establishment of a new Cascorach embassy proved to be a great success. The predictable point scoring between the great and the good was particularly in evidence. Aralan Derwent, Alan Monterey and William Trueman spend the entire evening producing an entertaining satirical commentary of the proceedings. This finally became too much for Lord Dixon who was less than Lordly in his order that they desist and behave. Meanwhile the Avery and Perignon groups were doing their best to look as if they ran the city, and were thoroughly respectable. The only frustration for their ambitions turned out to be Cllr Hywel Duthon, who obviously had the ear of envoy Amber Toubert. Meanwhile, the reason for Richenda Sylvarnus' apparent lack of interest in politics became apparent when she and Samuel Rucche when 'very' public on their obviously well developed relationship. Even Aralan was rumoured to have blushed.

The City's budget provided a brief, and probably much needed, moment of boredom for our councillors. The committee accounts were passed with only a few quibbles and the main budget voted through with no organised dissent. Only Richard Saunders spoke out, accusing Lord Dixon and his Levestone cronies of "engineering the crisis with the Citadel in order to suppress protests against these outrageous tax increases." Cllr Samuel Rucche, who showed up slightly late for the morning debate, was stunned to discover that the business had moved on and he couldn't give the impassioned speech he has obviously spent the night writing. In the amused atmosphere which followed this, Cllr William Trueman proposed that the City pay the expenses of its best competitors who wished to travel to show their prowess at the Dragonfeast. This apparently simple amendment started a flurry of activity. Nearly every faction waded in with its own version of the amendment, many of them claiming to have had the idea first. Citizens in the public gallery were not impressed to see the same people who had sat stoically through the largest tax hike the city has ever done making such a mess of something so trivial. Lord Dixon eventually had to order the gallery cleared of hecklers.

The Witanmoot Guard has been much in evidence this month maintaining order and responding rapidly to any gathering of more half a dozen people. Comments about what happened to the Cripplegate Free Trade movement have soon broke up any potential protests. Although this example seems to have been ill chosen; rumours persist that the leader of the free trade movement has come out of hiding and is preparing to "lead the armed struggle to free the people from their Guild oppressors" One potential hotbed of protest seems to be the Newgate refugee camp. Although the residents are fortunate enough not to pay taxes they have been outraged by the Witanmoot Guards' pursuit of the Sisters of Mercy in an apparent attempt to close down food charity. The Sisters had obviously been pre-warned and had already gone into hiding when the Guards staged a dawn raid on their soup kitchen. The Guard were perhaps fortunate that the news of their raid was met with disbelief and they were long gone before any potential riot could materialise. However, tensions remain high and there have been a number of separate incidents where the Guard have ended up in fights with small groups of the refugees within the bounds of the city.

One positive piece of news this week has been Alan Monterey's resounding support for the continuance of the Orphanage project. Susan Faithside has been much in evidence at the development site and in guild meetings explaining how "The orphanage is a key part of Alan's ongoing reforms to the structure of the city. He has been very active behind the scenes in defending its funding, and we can expect work to begin almost immediately after the Welfare and Education budget is passed". Asked about Alderman Monterey's rumoured falling out with Sheriff Tasker, Susan replied, "Ann is a highly valued member of our team. I think her comments last week simply show that she would be deeply unhappy in one of the more self-serving factions. Her true home is with Alan and she knows it"

The surprise retirement of Brandy Bejar has caused a major upset amongst regulars at Hunters Club. Many people were turned away at the door and expressed frustration at the number of people from the Citadel who appear to have received advanced notice and tickets. A number of notables from the Witanmoot were also spotted also amongst the people who did gain entry. Ms Bejar, who has delighted visitors for many years, is expected to retire to her country estate.

The Torian Temple has been exercising a high degree of security over the last month with all visitors being checked and large numbers of Knights Hospitallers in evidence. The reason for the heightened security seems to have been the brief visit of the Order's Principal, who called into the Linrodeth temple on his way through to the Dragonfeast. However, other people have suggested that it may be connected to the uncompromising speech made by the Abbot last Tenthday in which he described people who take and supply drugs as, "an evil canker which should be cut from the body of the city". Greg Martingale of the Apothecaries guild described the speech as a disgraceful attack on a legal business, and called upon the King to revoke the temple's right to maintain its own troops.