The Chronicle

of the month of Jasmarill in the year 150

Torrential storms and record high tides over the Spring festival have flooded many parts of the city. The River Ishtan has reclaimed miles of marshland and continues to flow very fast. Within the city many low lying wards have become waterlogged and the streets are thick with the sticky black silt which is finding its way even into the households on top of the two hills. The bridge and northern causeway remain dangerous and are closed to all but military traffic. Most worryingly, a large crack has appeared in the newly built Portwall section between the bridge and the fishmarket. Elsewhere the Foam Dancer from Zedigal broke loose from its moorings and was swept against the Esprayennan Temple where it remains lodged. Rising tidewaters also found their way into the Snapdragon workshops on north shore, resulting in several colourful explosions. The oldest citizens say they have never seen such a disastrous Springtide, and are muttering dire, dark predictions for the year ahead.

The Witanmoot has come close to crisis twice this month as the various factions have debated and argued about the City finances. The debate over the Portwall cost overrun turned into a highly heated affair which may sour relations in the Witanmoot for some time. Alderman Bottler introduced his motion by once again praising all those who had made the wall project such a success. Alderman Gilbert de Clare then explained the difficulties of cheap labour hire during wartime, which resulted in the increased costs. However Marcus Lambourne in his role as chairman of the Oversight Committee declared himself unconvinced by such "Bottler-babble" and declared his intent to vote against the motion. Alderman Monterey questioned this approach given the lack of any evidence of fraud or illegality. However Cllr Nicholas Bowden responded most vehemently by commending the incredible achievement of Alderman de Claire in creating the wall so quickly and within such a tight budget. He went on to denounce Cllr Lambourne as "a traitor who had always been against the wall and who was now willing to bankrupt an honest man for political gain". In a highly charged vote the Trueman faction and the Independents chose to sit on their hands and the motion scraped through by the 87 votes of Bottler and Monterey to the 82 of the Lambourne faction.

Following on from such a major bust up it seamed unlikely that the factions would come to an amicable agreement over the budget, and indeed a number of varying proposals have been put forward for the amounts to be allocated to the various committees. The final budget proposal from the Treasury was:

Lords’ Household	£670
Sheriff’s Offices	£990
Treasury	£2,510
Law and Order	£2,290
Shipping	£1,140
Welfare and Education	£2,290
Lands and Agriculture	£4,060
Trade	£300

This included extra spending on the City Guard, Welfare & Education and Shipping. Alderman Trueman questioned the level of spend on the Treasury and Sheriffs Office and suggested, to much applause, that perhaps it was time for a tax cut. Cllr Lambourne has proposed that the budget be restored to the original proposal for 149 before it was "slashed" to free up money for the wall. This final suggestion prompted another outburst from Cllr Bowden who demanded that all the wall money be transferred to military funding to help defend the city against the evil of King Edward. The chamber once again descended into chaos and none of the proposed budgets were passed. The Chronicle is interested to see how quickly Princess Selina will unleash her Kerunian auditors if the budget is not sorted out next month. Against this backdrop of growing division one positive move is the announcement by the pro-Selina group that it is throwing its campaign behind Petro Cutario and joining the faction of Alderman Monterey. The announcement sparked rumours that Alderman Cutario would be running for Sheriff are squashed after he declared that he had been very impressed with Jenny Davy's performance as Sheriff and had no intention of standing against her.

Warin Shipping has taken advantage of the chaos caused by the Spring weather to buy out a number of smaller, less stable rivals. These include the Eye of Kith from the Secchi family, the Longmans' Storm Runner and the newly built Zinda's Tale. Funding for this aggressive expansion appears to have come from a number of wealthy Kerunian backers via Trueman's banking operations. Clearly for some, war is proving to be good for business.

Rumours are circulating around both the Citadel and the Witanmoot regarding the reinstatement of City-wide military training. Those citizens who remember Lord Dixon's valiant attempts to get the Linrodeth militia organised will no doubt greet this possibility with amusement. However it appears that the proposal is entirely serious and has the backing of "senior members of the Witanmoot". The Chronicle believes that most people in the city would welcome the city being better able to defend itself, but it remains to be seen if General Olvini will be willing to arm the potentially hostile citizenry.

The City Guard were summoned to the Bards College to take custody of a number of city children. The intrepid youngsters were apparently intent on "rescuing the Masters' treasure cellar" from the effects of the flooding Ishtan, but were quickly stopped by college porters who seemed to be well prepared for their intrusion. Rumour names the ringleader of this intrepid gang as one Peter Bottler. After a night in the cells the youngsters were released with the news that the college declined to press charges. A college spokeswoman noted with amusement that their cellars included "casks of considerable character which were best not manhandled by youngsters".