The Chronicle

of the month of Skelern in the year 143

The first day of the new year saw a major breakout of violence within the Floating Market. A large and bloody battle appears to have taken place between the forces of the Toddman and Skillet with both sides appearing to have hired mercenaries. The Witanmoot Guard were quickly on the scene and all accesses to the market were closed. By mid morning the King's Archers had deployed onto the wall and with their arrows raining down, the market was finally calmed around midday. The following day saw many requests from the councillors and citizens of Bridge and Dowgate that the market be put to the flame. Lady Samantha refused all of these requests, and made it quite clear that she saw the Witanmoot's responsibility being to stop the fight spreading. Some citizens attempted to take the matter into their own hands but, with the King's Rangers shooting anything that moved near the market, they were soon dissuaded. At one point a fire did break out, but this appears to have been contained. It is rumoured that during this confusion, Draco, crimelord of the Cursos was killed by a Solistel assassin, although the Chronicle has been unable to confirm this. On Fifthday, with no further incidents having occurred, the King's troops withdrew and this almost immediately precipitated a resurgence in violence, with fights breaking out in the Babel area and a general mobilisation taking place through the rest of the market. However, whilst the Council debated whether or not to request the return of the troops, further action within the market seems to have taken place. At noon on Seventhday the bloody head of Skillet was displayed at the edge of the River Dow. This seams to have had a near instant calming effect on the whole area, with the Toddman regaining control of the entire Athion area. No further incidents have been reported.

This year's committee elections look set to see one of the hardest fought contests for some time with major posts, such as Treasury and Law and Order, having three or four nominations. The only exceptions are Nicolas Bowden's uncontested election to Trade and the embarrassingly widespread support for sending Malcolm Mowbray to Cascorach. The full nominations were as follows:

In between campaigning to have their people elected and making pronouncements on the Floating Market, our councillors have spent much of their time swapping between the various factions in the aftermath of the elections. George Rimon has moved to the Mowbray faction, where we suspect his blunt speaking will be much at home. Meanwhile the increasingly mobile Gibian Horl has switched to the growing Truestaff group; and a major scare was caused when Suzan Faithside, rising star of the Mowbray camp, was seen in deep discussions with Miranda Andrews, who has been carrying out a powerful recruitment campaign on behalf of Larken Drumm.