The Oracle

Third Passage of the Storm Moon

The naval branch of the Aranorian Knights discovered the ship responsible for the kidnapping of the Oracle writers, and managed to trap it in a bay south of Jalpa.

The ship offered enough resistance that the Knights were forced to use shipboard weaponry, and in the ensuing conflict, the ship and all its crew perished.

"We were hoping to take prisoners," said Tasha, who captained the Aranorian warship Brigand, "to help us discover more about the Last of the True Nobles. But their resistance was extreme."

This last action by the Last of the True Nobles has brought a host of troubles for the ‘peaceful’ members of the group, who openly meet in Aranor and claim to have the right to ‘voice their opinions’. It is looking, however, that anyone who uses the name will unfortunately find themselves suspected of kidnapping, thievery, murder, and worse.

"The ‘Last of the True Nobles’ are certainly living up to their name," commented an anonymous commoner. "They’re continuing the legacy of crime and thievery that Queen Lillian attempted to do away with when she took the Old World from the Goddards."

It is indeed a sad state of affairs when anyone who calls themselves ‘noble’ stoops to acts that even a common thief or pirate would consider distasteful.

Tania

The Aranorian guards had to make an unusual call last An Tir, as a trio of young men decided they would sell Erusha openly on the streets.

The Jeddan drink, criticized by some as a dangerous drug and others as the new answer to health and happiness, has a strong following in the city. Most sellers, however, continue to sell it in secret, afraid that the guard will charge them with selling drugs. This is the first time that the drug has been sold openly.

Aranor, which has no official law-books but instead handles each questionable case individually, did not take long to say ‘no’ to the Erusha peddlers.

"Erusha may have many benefits, but it is a pretty strong fact that those using Erusha don’t work, and are a drain on the city as a whole," commented one Aranorian guard.

The three men had their Erusha stores confiscated, and were brought into the guard-house for a ‘talking-to’. They reportedly entered the guardhouse quite belligerent, but left quite cowed.

The Aranorian guard wishes to publish an official statement to citizens of Aranor:

Tirian

Maelmuirian and Rilhaven soldiers have fallen back from their skirmishes with the former borderguards of Rilhaven.

"The battles were too bloody, and no significant progress was being made," said Aradael, a Maelmuirian soldier.

The former borderguard, all seasoned woodsmen and former soldiers, were formerly Rilhaven’s front line against Maelmuirian attack. Now they’ve carved out a place for themselves in the borderlands between Rilhaven and the Maelmuirian peninsula, and have declared it a ‘freeland’ – a place where anyone may, if they possess the mettle, come and homestead.

Rilhaven officials have called the gesture ‘fruitless’, since the borderlands are basically a ‘wasteland’ of dry, sparse forests and hilled, rocky plains. There are almost no women among the borderguard, meaning that they will die out in a generation unless they can entice settlers.

For the moment, at least, a truce has been called, and Maelmuire and Rilhaven will do their trade via sea.

Lord Kieran

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