The Chronicle

of the month of Arvinoth in the year 149

The death of Queen Kybele has been announced by King Edward's court. According to the herald the Queen was murdered by Prince Kieran's envoys when she attended a diplomatic meeting under truce. King Edward is reported to be enraged by the attack on the Queen, who was still frail after the birth of their first child. He has vowed vengeance upon the knights responsible. According to several reports these are the same assassin knights who murdered King Edmund. Cllr Ralf Seagrim has called upon the Witanmoot to denounce Prince Kieran. Tabling an emergency motion he denounced the prince as "an evil murder and oath breaker against whom we must actively wage war". Credence has been given to the murder accusations by reports that the Queen did indeed leave Cascorach with a small escort a few days before she went missing. So far the Citadel has remained silent on the matter, however Colonel Aldridge has caused uproar by announcing that he intended to hold a party in celebration. The Colonel told the Chronicle "This is the evil woman who we know was behind the Little Sisters of Sedition. Her death is good news for Linrodeth and I intend to celebrate it"

The royal reception to formally welcome Prince Edwin to the city was a colourful and lively affair. The entertainment provided by the Bards College was magnificent and highly entertaining. Despite the obviously dilapidated state of the Citadel the main hall was beautifully arranged and the Princesses cooks provided a magnificent banquet. Few of the councillors and other prominent citizens invited can have experienced anything similar and many were clearly overwhelmed by the opulence of the Citadel surroundings. That so many citizens were invited shows a welcome change at the Citadel and augers well for future relations between the city and it rulers. Indeed the new commercial nature of Linrodeth's rulers was evidenced by the fact that most of the discussion at the gathering focused on the massive contracts for the rebuilding of the Citadel rather than on politics. Hopes that Prince Edwin would use the event to declare for one side in the civil war were not fulfilled, and it is now clear that the court intends to steer a delicate course between the warring factions.

Colonel Aldridge has provided the Witanmoot with details of the new watch arrangements. The City Guard now consists of a regiment of infantry, a regiment of archers and one company of cavalry. The Witanmoot Guard has been re-established as a unit within the new City Guard. In addition to the normal military staff, the City Guard has its own armoury and support staff making it able to operate completely independently of the main army. In all the Guard has an armed strength of nearly a thousand men, dwarfing any force previously deployed by the city. The Guard has total responsibility for law and order within the city and for the manning of the city gates and walls. The force has spent the month demonstrating its presence with what is hopefully an unsustainable show of activity. The cavalry in particular have been noticeable and the mounted patrols have already been seen, and more unfortunately heard, thundering through the streets practising their response to summons.

William Trueman has managed to stun the Witanmoot and gain himself the thanks of the City due to his strenuous efforts to uncover fraud. Storming into the Council chamber last week he announced that he had solved the funding crisis and whilst the rest of the council was still wondering what was going on, two City Guards men marched up to Olivia Warin and poured nearly three thousand pounds in gold coins at her feet. Alderman Trueman announced that this was stolen money from a fraud perpetrated upon the City by ex Alderman Emily Martel. Alderman Trueman told the council that he had noticed discrepancies in the funds received from the roof tax and after months of work tracked down the perpetrator. Amid a standing ovation he went on to explain that when Alderman Martel was killed in the invasion the money disappeared and perhaps would have been lost forever if he had not tracked it down to behind a false stone wall in her fireplace.

Rumours are circulating that Matthew Dixon has returned to the city to sell fast food in the ward of Welland. Quite why he should break the terms of surrender in order to support the Pastriers profits is not explained. However, Dixon fever appears to have gripped the city and judging from the rumours, he has transformed himself into a master spy and has also developed an ability be in more than one place at once.

Campaigning for the Midwinter elections has started early this year with a flurry of activity in a number of wards. Tilly Falgar in particular has been active and has launched a major bid to take the Aldermanship of Welland from Gillian Howe. Her fast start has clearly caught Alderman Howe, unprepared and it may be that she has already built up an unstoppable momentum. In what may be a panic move Cllr Howe has declared her support for Jim Bottler's faction within the Witanmoot.

Controversy is waging over plans to extend the docks outside of the city walls. Alan Monterey has been heavily occupied with the planning, and has found himself the centre of a veritable storm as Linrodeth's shipping family protest at the inadequate provision for their ships. The problem has been emphasised by Princess Selina's decision to build a private dock for the use of her ships.

The Guild membership crisis rumbles on with councillors lining up to make speeches in support of their guilds rights. Alan Monterey has been most prominent in attempting to move the debate beyond gesturing and took the time to make a major speech on the subject from the Witanmoot. In the speech Monterey warned of the dangers of making a "disastrous decisions, based on misinformation and muddy thinking" he described the plans to rescind the guild charters as likely to lead to impoverishment for everyone. Turning to the needs of the newcomers he made a major play of the financial loss which the guilds would suffer if these people were allowed to become members and in what is seen as a challenge to Princess Selina he demanded that significant payments be made to the guild for by each new member. He went on to assure everyone that "all of the possibilities are being investigated in order to ensure the future prosperity of Linrodeth". In reality however most Councillors do not see resolving the problem as a high priority. A view which they may need to change rapidly following the news that Cllr Bever Edge, and Gax the Heretic have held a private meeting with Princess Selina.

Major military movements have occurred around Linrodeth in the past two weeks. Lady Perignon appears to have joined forces with the army of Plenipotentiary Jasmine. The combined force has made a major push to the south and seems to be establishing a buffer zone (or perhaps a private kingdom) between Linrodeth and Salvoyn. In addition to all this activity to the south a large force of professional troops, including a regiment of Rangers, is reported to have arrived at Fenny Bridges. The news can not have been received well at the Citadel, where last months decision to send many mercenaries to Kingsport prior to sailing home now seems dangerously optimistic.