The Chronicle

of the month of Galemir in the year 152

This month’s committee elections have confirmed William Trueman's control of the city. His faction took the important chairmanships of Trade and Law & Order from Petro Cutario’s group, and was instrumental in the selection of all the other chairs. Both the Monterey-Lambourne and Bottler-Cutario groupings lost their coherence. Sporadic voting across all the contests enabled the Trueman block to control the election. The full results were.

Treasury; Romanie (19), Shefford (5)

Trade; Warin (14), Cutario (10)

Law and Order; Hastings (12), Barnet (9), Hubold (3)

Shipping; Osbert (17), Monterey (7) Capel (1)

Welfare and Education; Saunders (14), Spich (7), Cripstead

Lands and Agriculture; Downe

The vote was preceded by heated exchanges in the Witanmoot over the role of outgoing chairman of Law and Order Duncan Barnet. Marcus Lambourne accused Alderman Barnet of abusing his power by using the Witanmoot bodyguards assigned to Cllr Lambourne as spies. Cllr Lambourne, who reiterated that he had been found Not Guilty in his trial, described his one time friend Barnet as having “stabbed him in the back” by having supposed bodyguards report upon everything he did. He went on to call for “the arrest of the guards and the removal from office of Alderman Barnet”. He went on, “I’m sure Colonel Aldridge will agree the Witanmoot Guard should be beyond reproach and I am sorrowed that a few individuals have tarnished their reputation in this way”. The Witanmoot erupted into chaos and it was some minutes before Alderman Barnet was able to speak. Appearing bemused, he commented: “The guards protect my honourable colleague from some of the consequences of being a controversial councillor. Whilst I appreciate his developing sense of paranoia, I don’t believe he is yet paranoid enough. Perhaps Colonel Aldridge would also like to comment”. With permission from Lady Andrews, the Colonel proceed to announce “These men were acting under my orders, because I still suspect that Cllr Lambourne is a traitor. I decided that they would report through the Law & Order Chair to ensure suitable involvement with the Witanmoot. I thank Alderman Barnet for his co-operation”. This damning condemnation from the widely respected colonel clearly stunned the normally unflappable Lambourne and the Witanmoot once again descended into chaos. Lady Andrews had to order a recess before the debate could be brought back under control.

A warm easterly wind brought the beginnings of the spring thaw this month. As predicted, the break-up of the river ice saw a sudden increase in activity around Kingsport shipyard, and many citizens took a day off to go sightseeing there. Much to the surprise of the many onlookers the not-so-secret launch of the new consortium ship, named The Invincible, proved to be a great success. Surprisingly she had been fully kitted out whilst in dock and it was only a few hours before a maiden voyage was attempted. News of the launch had by this time spread to the few souls who didn’t already know it was happening, and most of the city turned out to see if the ship returned. There was a tense hour when neither The Invincible nor her two escorts returned on time, however the final late arrival was explained by The Invincible's stunning capture of a Noord warship. The new design of ship, which many have described as too big to hold together and too tall to stay upright, has proved to be too fast to outrun and too powerful to oppose. The Invincible has been a triumph and the Chronicle congratulates Princess Selina, the Temple of Esprayenna and leading citizens of Linrodeth who have promoted this bold move.

The massed Hearing of the orphans is causing difficulties partly because of jurisdiction disputes over the frozen river, but mostly because widespread calls for clemency, led by Judi Spich, have run into the late King Edmund’s unequivocal edict; “that the most ungodly and riotous sport of football is BANNED, on pain of imprisonment.” Meanwhile the youngsters remain incarcerated, and Gax is very busy researching legal technicalities.

Next month’s Lordship vote looks like being a quiet matter with little political activity apparent. William Trueman’s dominant position in the Witanmoot means that he need only secure the votes of four Alderman to retain the Lordship for Miranda Andrews. Indeed if it had not been for Marcus Lambourne’s last minute nomination of Jenny Davy the election would have passed uncontested. What little activity there is seems concentrated on recruitment, with Cllr Bever Edge moving to Alderman Cutario’s faction, and Cllr Gregory Benton joining Alderman Monterey.

Speculation continues to be rife about last month’s significant discussions between Princess Selina and senior members of the Aldermanic Court. However ”everything seems to have gone terribly quiet” according to one alderman, with faction leaders spending the month avoiding the Citadel. Latest speculation centres around the Witanmoot gaining control of Customs, and Gate taxation, which may improve the Witanmoot’s drive to promote more trade. Despite the apparent boycott of the royal court, Jim Bottler’s motion “That the Aldermanic Court elects trade envoys from the Court of Common Council for attachment to those embassies which Princess Selina creates in foreign cities”, claims to have the princess’ support.

Cripplegate has been plagued by an unusual number of dead beggars discovered thawing in the ice melt. A distinct odour has arisen in the ward and Alderman Bernard Hubold is re-forming a local watch to deal with corpse disposal. A nearby stretch of marshland has been renamed Stiffs Causeway.

Castle Bard is attempting to return to normal now that lectures have been resumed by the college. Students are paying for their unexpected month of freedom with an extra-heavy workload, and the college is proving generous in its payment of claims for compensation. A number of curious Witanmoot councillors have been observed to pay social calls on various masters, but have clearly come away unsatisfied.