The Oracle
Second Passage of the Plowing Moon
New World Weathers Challenges
Rilhaven, the battered capital of the New World, is bracing itself for another difficult summer. I had a chance to speak to Rilhaven’s emissary to Aranor – a man named Kern -- and learned much.
“The haunting of Antara, which was causing so much difficulty, has only increased,” he said. “Kaelick, who founded Highgate, has been compelled to move his docks to the west.”
Kern refers to the small fort built next to Antara which serves as a sort of port-of-trade for Rilhaven. Ships dock there and sell their goods to overland traveling merchants. But due to increases in the hauntings, Highgate at last had to move. Among the difficulties this has posed is the cutting of a new roadway through hazardous terrain. This will make trade with Rilhaven – always an inconvenient matter – even more difficult.
“The kraeven,” Kern went on, “strange diseased creatures that have been attacking Rilhaven’s area villages – have returned as well. Though the winter den-hunts seem to have reduced their numbers, there are still more than we expected. The word is that many of the villages are becoming little more than fortified outposts.”
And add to that the fact that Rilhaven’s Borderguard are reporting numerous sightings of Maelmuirian scouts, far south of their normal territory.
Already weakened from last years’ travails, rumors are spreading that Rilhaven might close its gates, its residents leaving to find new homes. But I was assured by Kern that those rumors have no basis in fact.
“Our ancestors carved a place for ourselves in the wilderness of the New World. We’re not about to give it up.”
We’ll see how many of the citizens feel the same way!
Tirian
Gwynned On Its Own
As promised last year, Queen Lillian has relinquished all sovereign control over the isle of Gwynned.
“We wanted Gwynned to get off to a good start,” said Storm, Regent of Aranor. “Many people felt that we were simply establishing a colony on the isle – an extension of the Old World. But Queen Lillian intended from the first that Gwynned should be under its own rulership.”
Queen Lillian has made it clear to the rulers of Gwynned that she will still consider requests for aid or defense, but that she won’t interfere with Gwynned’s internal affairs. While a few accuse her of performing an ‘experiment’ with peoples’ lives, most are praising her for helping others to establish a homeland without requiring the ‘payback’ of taxes or services.
Gwynned is already well on its way to becoming a respectable province, though it is facing some powerful challenges.
“We’re short handed in some pretty critical areas,” said Queen Genevieve of Shara Brae. “Our guardforce, for instance, is struggling to meet its duties. And similar situations are being encountered throughout the other provinces of Gwynned. The isle has attracted many people intent on taking advantage of the vast opportunities – but we haven’t attracted much of the skilled labor we need, such as builders, guards, and city workers. Word is out that most of the buildings are already constructed, due to Gwynned’s former life, and that because the isle is filled with so many dangers, being a protector is akin to slitting your own throat. But there are many buildings in need of repair, and the problem isn’t that Gwynned is more dangerous than other lands, but simply that we don’t have enough guards to battle the problems we’re having with fae and bandits.”
While populations remain low due to the fact that the isle has attracted mostly opportunists, Gwynned’s leaders are hoping that the spring trade season will swell the island’s numbers.
Lord Kieran
True Nobles Stir Crowds
The group was formerly known as the Last of the True Nobles. This year they’ve officially changed their name to the True Nobles, and they are out on the streets again speaking out against Queen Lillian.
None of them granted me an interview, stating that the Oracle was a ‘tool of the false Queen’, but I managed to witness three of their speeches and talk to people who have been involved with them.
They began as the militant group responsible for the attempted slaying of Queen Verina of Kern, and made a stand claiming that they were the true inheritors of the Old World. This was shortly after the War for Aranor. The original members were slain or imprisoned, but the group continued on with new, less violent members. Using the freedoms granted by Queen Lillian, they have made numerous public appearances where they attempt to defame Queen Lillian and point out inconsistencies and injustices involved in her rule. Their basic claim is that nobility is a title of blood, and that the ‘new nobility’, consisting of ‘individuals wealthy enough to buy into the title under Lillian’s reign’, are naught but ‘commoners disguised in fancy clothes’. All these quotes, incidentally, are from public speeches that I personally witnessed.
Judging by the reaction of the crowds, the True Nobles are an unpopular lot – they make a point of alienating just about all the social classes. Still, they claim that their numbers are up – over two hundred members, now – and they do manage to create a stir when they detail actual cases of citizens’ treatment by members of the guard – treatment that we all know varies on a case-by-case basis. According to their arguments, however, this amounts to unequal application of justice, often based on social class status.
Queen Lillian is a very popular ruler, however, and more than once the True Nobles have been chased from the streets under a barrage of thrown eggs or rotten vegetables. Queen Lillian herself had this to say about their return to Aranor --
“Oh. Them again?”
And perhaps that says it all.
Tania
To the Oracle Collection-- Year Three