The Chronicle

of the month of Jasmarill in the year 151

Princess Selina is due to give birth within the month. A stunned City has greeted the news with surprise and amazement that the secret has been kept so long. Supporters of the Princess are elated and pronounce the pregnancy to be a strong sign of the Princess' commitment to the City. The news explains the Princess' absence from public events over the last few months.

Sheriff Jenny Davy has proposed an emergency motion that "In the light of the ongoing emergency it is against the interests of the City of Linrodeth to have a single Sheriff until the traditional Midsummer election. The Witanmoot instructs that these elections be brought forward, with Nominations closing at the end of Secondweek Heliora and elections taking place of Firstday, Firstweek Menderal". The motion achieved strong support across the Witanmoot and was passed unanimously. Sheriff Davy's choice of Alison Shefford as the person to second her motion has caused much debate and some anger in the Witanmoot. It certainly upset Nicholas Bowden who appears to be the Bottler/ Trueman candidate for the post.

The City's recovering finances are causing more dissension in the Witanmoot than the previous year's cuts. Richard Saunders is clearly very proud of his proposed improvements to the Welfare and Education Budget, which include increased spending in nearly all areas with funding restored to pre crisis levels, the introduction of a fostering scheme for orphans and even funding for that old chestnut the Sweetwater Project. Petro Cutario has launched a strong attack on these proposals suggesting instead that it would be wiser to spend the money defending the City rather than preparing to fund the consequences of loosing the war. He has suggested that the W&E budget be increased by only 10% with the rest of the funds going to the military via General Olvini. When the full import of this suggestion with its implications for all the budgets sank in their was uproar in the Witanmoot, however Lady Andrews stifled the arguments. She announced that she felt that the idea of creating Linrodeth regiments had significant merit. She pointed out that the £10,000 would create and support half a dozen regiments of Linrodeth regulars. Lady Andrews accepted Alderman Cutario's proposal and stated that a motion that "All budgets be held at last years levels, except for Welfare and Education which will be increased to £2100. All surplus fund being used for the defence of the City" would be voted on next month before the main budget debate.

News from the North is slight, however it appears that the army has fought a number of minor battles and is advancing, virtually unopposed, deep into Noordic territory. Petro Cutario has made radical proposals for the formation of a Merchant Navy. His suggestion is that the City fund the creation of a fleet of armed ships which would be rented to merchants in times of peace and deployed to defend the city should it be attacked. The proposal has gained strong support from the Mercers Guild, the Carpenters and many prominent citizens as well as the Esprayennans. Indeed the Esprayennans have agreed to use their £500 donation from the City for this scheme as well as making contributions of staff across the shipping budget. However Bert Belcher described it as "yet another stupid and overcomplicated Kerunian scheme backed up by a bunch of ship mad fanatics".

Marcus Lambourne has established himself as a serious thorn in the side of the new Lord Miranda Andrews. His whole faction appears to be concentrating on tracking and harrying the new Lord, whom Cllr Lambourne clearly intends to have a short tenure in office. He has been particularly persistent over the issue of the Reshites, demanding on a number of occasions to know what action Lady Andrews intends to take regarding them.

Not content with throwing the budget debate and Shipping committee into chaos, Petro Cutario has further baffled the council with proposals for the trade committee which suggest that he intends people to bid for the jobs. This might seem sensible for the bridge repairs but Alderman Cutario has caused much consternation with his suggestion that people should pay for the right to scavenge the streets and the Market Provost is said to be furious at having to put together a bid to do his own job.