The Chronicle

of the month of Heliora in the year 151

The Citadel has announced the birth of Prince Sikander Edmund Caralingas, born at sunset on Tenthday Firstweek. The son of Princess Selina and Prince Edwin is believed to be healthy and the Princess is also reported to be well. There has been general rejoicing throughout the city and major celebrations are planned for the three day festival which has been created by the Princess' declaration that the day each side of Midsummer will be public holidays this year.

The army has returned from the Northern Campaign having destroyed the Noordic army and driven the invaders back to the gates of Nyskilde. General Olvini, after paying his respects to the Princess at the Citadel, rode his horse onto the wellhouse green and described to the growing and jubilant crowd how the marauders, unable to stand against their cavalry, were defeated at every battle and pushed back completely from the Weald. The enemy were clearly surprised by the early move of city forces and proved unable to bring their forces together. Many small war bands were totally destroyed. In the one major battle fought most of the Noordic lords were killed and the remnants of the Noordic forces have retreated totally defeated. Linrodeth's losses have been comparatively light.

Lady Miranda Andrews has announced that a debate will be held next month on the motion "The Cult of Resh and its adherents have no place in this City. All Worshippers of Resh are prohibited from attempting to enter or residing in the City and Duchy of Linrodeth. The penalty for such shall be imprisonment, forfeiture of all goods and further punishments befitting their evil crimes". Lady Andrews is believed to have secured Princess Selina's backing for the move and, given the sentiment in the Witanmoot, the motion looks likely to be passed. Cllr Maureen Quiller has voiced her opposition the motion describing it as a vile piece of political positioning which would rob the city of its salvation and lead to unavoidable war with King Edward.

The debate over Alderman Cutario's 'force first' motion turned into a long and very heated affair. Alderman Cutario opened the debate by explaining that he felt the city could have only one priority this year and that was its survival. He realised that some felt the expenditure was unnecessary, and if, in a year's time, that turned out to be the case he would unreservedly apologise. However he would much rather be able to make an apology than be dead. The main opposition to the motion came from Marcus Lambourne's faction which saw the proposed decrease in the Welfare and Education budget as callous and unnecessary. Attacking both Cutario and Lady Andrews, they dismissed as impractical and excessive the proposals to "put a uniform on the back of spotty teenagers who don't know which end of a sword is which" and attacked Alderman Cutario for being "disinterested in the people of Linrodeth" because he was not one of them. Bartholomew Hyde then intervened to describe Cllr Lambourne as "a traitor who just wanted to prepare the city to be taken over by Prince Kieran". As the chamber broke into uproar Alderman Monterey attempted to calm things down by proposing an alternative solution. He finally gained enough attention to make his point that whilst raising this level of funding would theoretically be a good idea it was impractical and excessive. He proposed that proposed budgets be slightly modified to enable £300 to be spent on the raising of two regiments of light archers and that £3000 be placed in the Sheriff's budget to fund the support of these units. This proposal gained widespread support, both from those who had clearly been pre warned about it and from those seeking to prevent a split within the Witanmoot, this did not include an increasingly irate Lady Andrews. Alderman Cutario described the amendment as "a typical half hearted fudge which compromises the safety of the city and its people". However the mood of the Witanmoot was set and the Monterey amendment was supported by everyone except apart from Cutario's faction and a number of notable others including Samuel Rucche, Bernard Hubold, Judi Spich, Brunstan Blackbeard, Alison Shefford, Melanie Romanie, David Northropp, Maud Blessop, Jenny Davy and Bever Edge.

Lady Andrews then stunned the Witanmoot by calling a halt to proceedings and decreeing the budget as follows:

Lord's Household

£ 800 0s 0d

Sheriffs' Offices

£ 3,500 0s 0d

Treasury

£ 2,000 0s 0d

Law and Order

£ 2,650 0s 0d

Shipping

£ 1,250 0s 0d

Welfare and Education

£ 2,200 0s 0d

Lands and Agriculture

£ 4,100 0s 0d

Trade

£ 500 0s 0d

Total

£ 17,000 0s 0d

Establishment of two Regiments of City Bow

£ 300 0s 0d

Donation to Princess Selina's Army

£ 5,000 0s 0d

City Reserves

£ 1,247 0s 0d

A clearly furious Lady Andrews declared that "I have not been elected to oversee the death of the city due to the timidity of its councillors. I stood on a platform of defending this city and if the Witanmoot doesn't feel competent to spend the money I will give it to someone who can. The meeting descended into chaos with an apoplectic Richard Saunders having to be escorted at sword point from the chamber.

Alderman Cutario's proposals on the Trade Budget have caused, if possible, even more stress that his 'force first' proposal. Marcus Lambourne described them as a "recipe for corruption" that would create an unacceptable threat to the Guild price controls. Alderman Bottler described them as a "flight of fantasy, wholly without merit". Summing up Alderman Monterey described them as appalling and horrifying and proposed a motion that "no service provided by or on behalf of the Witanmoot shall be bid for or subcontracted in any way, without the explicit permission of the court of common council". A surprised Cutario maintained that the proposals were in no way intended to undermine Guild charters, if anything the opposite. He requested a deferral of the motion by a month in order to explain the principles in more detail. In all this noise the strong support which Cutario's Merchant Navy idea has gained seemed somewhat lost.

The nominations for the Sheriffs have turned out predictably to be Alison Shefford, Jenny Davy and Nicholas Bowden. Sheriff Davy seems secured of her place however the contest between Aldermen Bowden and Shefford appears to be very close. Rumours are circulating within the Witanmoot that one of Linrodeth's most eligible bachelors, the rich and powerful Alderman William Trueman, is seriously involved with Lady Maria Terasio; one of Princess Selina's Ladies-in-Waiting. Lady Terasio is believed to have a military background or perhaps to be from a military family. The couple have been seen at a number of events and are frequent visitors to each other's abodes. Information is surprisingly difficult to obtain with the normally talkative Trueman faction, which is clearly pleased to see their leader so happy, maintaining a smug silence.

News has just reached the city that King Edward has mustered his army and is marching north to Linrodeth. The ship, Paladio's Pride, sailing up from the south reports that a massive force has departed from Salvoyn and started its way up the coast road, being well supplied from the sea. The force is allegedly huge, suggesting that many of the men at arms and nobles from the southern lands have been called upon. Travellers from Eresan and Cascorach also report major preparations in order and it would seem that armies may be converging on Linrodeth from all directions except the recently secured North.