First Passage of the Harvest Moon

You’ve no doubt seen the postings on the message board. Sixteen cats are coming to Aranor, to be displayed in two shows – the first occurring next An Meja at the eastern edge of Silver Park, and the second the following An Sel in the Theater of Aranor.

Ajaita and Roan, a husband and wife team, take their troupe of actors and cats throughout the Known Lands, ‘giving people the chance to see the wondrous cats of the world’. Ajaita, a Jeddan-born woman, does most of the cat training, while her husband, Roan, of Tirané descent, is in charge of captures.

"We have sixteen cats right now," Roan told us, "which is more than we’ve ever displayed. They’ve been trained exquisitely, and the crowd will be in for some real surprises."

There will also be time for people to walk through and view the caged cats, and even to pet a few of the very well-trained ones. Among the more exotic cats to be present are a Jeddan Murla, a lithe, silvery-grey cat never seen in daylight, a Shavay Moon Tiger, which is a black-and-white striped variety, and an Inidorian Kolv, which is a thickly built, shaggy cat with snowy white fur and a black mane.

Part of their reason for coming to the Old World is to launch an expedition to capture a Great Forest Cat, native to our woodlands, which is regarded by experts as the largest cat in the world.

Tania

Speaking of postings on message boards, the last passage has brewed a mystery that almost everyone in Aranor is talking about. The first postings were found in the River District, where a large-print sign was tacked to the wood. It read –

Tall Grass,

Just a strange poem? It wasn’t until a similar message was found last An Aran that someone figured out that the first letters seemed to contain a message. "The ED’, or perhaps ‘The Eastern Dock’, which is the message board on which the second message appeared. This one read –

Blade of elf

It was quickly divined that this one held a code in its last letters – FARN, or ‘Far North’, which is the name of another message board in the Peasant’s District.

People are watching this board carefully to see if and when another message is posted. No one yet has a good suggestion for what the messages might mean. If the story continues and proves interesting, we’ll keep you updated!

Tirian

A string of assassinations which left six of the Emperor’s high-ranking officials dead in Jedda Felsuin brought forth a retaliation in which the Emperor sent sixty Shai-kan Warriors to capture and occupy the town of Gita. This small town of six hundred residents, which lies on the shore within the Emperor’s lands, serves as one of the main trade distribution centers for the Empress. It is well known that Gita favors the Empress, and many people there derive their livelihood from the Empress’s exports which the residents then sell to other cities in the Emperor’s lands. In turn, the Empress depends on Gita as one of her main channels of local import and export.

Although the occupation was reported to be bloodless, it is suggested that the Shai-kan are being ‘rather abusive’ of the Gita residents.

Both actions have caused strife in the Jeddan District of Aranor, where a clash of loyalists resulted in a house being lit afire. The guard quickly put a stop to the violence and the fire was put out with only minimal damages, but the possibility of more conflict is looming in everyone’s mind.

Lord Kieran