#Erthani

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Abheski Cultural Primer

In entering the service of the Company, any Abheski possessed of the virtues we exalt above others – these being leadership, initiative, clarity of thought, and financial acumen – may become successful and the very envy of their fellows. Further, with proper training and discipline these virtues may be cultivated and promoted; so that in the training of cadets, the Companies do their utmost for the benefit of these young officers, and thereby the benefit of the Abheski nation.

To truly benefit the nation, we must first understand who we Abheski are; a nation of diverse parts, no doubt, but possessed of a common history.

We came to these lands from abroad – it is not known where exactly from. Some believe that one of the distant lands of Ycairn is the place of our origin, but most agree that we came from another world. Traditional belief across much of the continent holds that we came from the Sun itself, but others believe our origin is from Fasaath, or Kombyeny, or another point within the night sky.

We Abheski are an industrious, creative, and innovative people. Having tamed patches of the wild expanse of the lands, building towns and farms and trading posts, the most successful and prosperous of our ancestors founded the five great cities – Zhikav, Vilv, Otvev, Mirsvr, and Lansk.

Though we live alongside other peoples, we hold ourselves apart. The Abheski have distinguished ourselves twice by mastery over the skies – first, in building the mighty towers that soar over our cities. Some of these towers are centuries old, and stand strong to this day, the least of them stretching higher than fifty people. In the last few generations, our supremacy over the air was proven again in being the first nation to recreate the science of powered flight; our ships, lifted by mighty dvint, broke us free from the shackles of the land.

Trade is the blood of the Abheski culture. Spread across this harsh and hostile continent, ever taming the ancient forests and defending against the great beasts, our trade is what makes the Abheski prosper above all other people; and the Companies are the pinnacle of Abheski trade. Not restricted to one province, we can deal in goods from across the known world. Not bound to the paths of the rivers and coastlines, we can go anywhere our airships can carry us. Abheski goods are prized from the tents of the Anshessi to the outposts of Hoitan, and if an Ebwari baron wants to exchange letters or goods with a Nalmyan chief, it is most probable that an Abheski vessel will carry their intercourse.

There are other practices that mark us as a peculiar peoples among our neighbours. All nations have their own calendar of celebrations and holidays, and the most important of ours is The Yearsrise festival. Though we differ on which precise day this takes places, Abheski always celebrate the end and beginning of the year around the time of winter solstice. Other peoples reckon the year differently: the Erthani begin at the spring equinox, and the Ebwari count from the height of summer. Other nations practice more curious calendars yet.

Our other important festivals are the First Feast, which in ancestral times celebrated the first hunt after each winter; and the late summer Meetday, where the harvest traditionally begins and the year's differences and disagreements are put aside.

Each city and town observe their Founding Dates. These may variously remember the day the first settlers began to build their new homes, or the day the first Spire was finally completed, but always are celebrated with great revels and public entertainments.

Though we are all Abheski, we may have slight differences in our speech. The rapid speech of a city-dweller may sound different to the calmer pace of a settler from the deep forest; the clipped vowels of Otvev are readily distinguished from the rounder syllables of Zhikav; the plain words of the groundsfolk contrast with the florid oratory of the wealthy classes. All these however are still Abheski, and can readily talk to one another; just try to understand the harsh Hoitani or the singing cadences of the Ebwari to hear how truly different language can sound.

Extract from A Child's Primer and History of the Abheski, published by the Temar Company Press

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Early Edition

READERS; you will by now have heard the joyous news that the insurrection in Lansk has been quelled. With order restored against the current of anarchy and agitation, all honest Abheski will doubtless celebrate this victory. However it is our unfortunate duty to advise your joy be tempered, as solemn news and shocking details of the affair become known to the world outside the rebels' barricades.

The action to liberate the occupied district was undertaken at night, to minimise the harm inflicted upon the innocent citizenry imprisoned beneath the cruel yoke of the agitators' violence. A joined force of Municipal Bailiffs and Marines detached from the Temar and Eltjin companies struck at several points on the district's perimeter. Upon gaining this foothold, they quickly sought out the ringleaders of the self-styled Lansk Popular Executive, based on intelligence given by loyal and lawful citizens within the barricades, who at great personal risk passed this information to the outside world.

Some among the agitators were quick to flee at the first sign of trouble, retreating to vessels docked on the river and casting off under the aegis of Erthani ensigns. Those who remained behind did not give up their gains easily – in fierce fighting along the riverside docks, Chief Bailiff Baurin te Eintov was slain alongside several of his most loyal men. Seeing their tyranny crumble before them, many agitators burned large parts of the district, caring not for the cruelty it would inflict on the population. Several streets of apartments and workshops were reduced to rubble and ash, killing many unfortunate citizens and leaving others without home or workplace. Even the batteries held by the rebels were turned against the district, inflicting particularly grave damage to the historic Old Tower.

Fleeing citizens, finally able to escape the barricades, were welcomed by Bailiffs and municipal aid in the surrounding districts. Many of these souls have been directed to new temporary lodgings in the Temar Company Depot, where the resources of that enterprise have been generously set aside for their care.

The disturbing details of life within the district are now coming to light as these sorry refugees can freely tell of the horrors that agitation inflicts. The alleged aid provided by the Erthani was seized at once by the cabal of anarchists leading the rebellion, while the common citizen starved. Children forced to pick for morsels among refuse-piles, which gathered at every corner and spilled out of every gutter. One mother told us how, lacking any other means to feed her family, she caught and cooked rats, who, emboldened by the deplorable filth of the district, would elsewise have preyed upon her infants. Violent gangs enforcing no law other than their own petty caprice and venal urges not only ruled the night, but made a terror of the daytime. Failure to obey the dictates of the Popular Executive resulted in reprisals, including public executions of horrific brutality, that decency will not permit us to reprint in these sheets.

Though we rejoice that the misrule of the agitators has come to an end, it is nonetheless a sad end to a sad tale. The true extent of the damage inflicted upon the people of Lansk can not yet be accounted. Those agitators who escaped justice shall be sure to strike again, and all lawful Abheski must ever be watchful for the storm front of anarchy.

Mirsvr Pump Broadsheet – pre-print manuscript prepared ahead of the operation to crush the LPE insurrection.

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An Account of Captivity

This is a prison. The Bailiffs and Companies are lying.

When they broke the barricades, they rounded up the population of the district. We were gathered by marines and bailiffs, and taken away to the Depot where they are holding us still. Those who resisted or tried to escape were beaten. I saw some killed.

We were interrogated for hours. I was beaten before a crowd of other prisoners – for prisoners is what we are – until those who assisted the agitators confessed. I confessed my own collaboration, hoping to spare others from the humiliation I received. Our captors threw me aside and picked another to attend to.

For the crime of having swept the streets, for unloading food at the docks, I have been beaten and detained and I feel sure I will not step outside these walls again.

***

We have seen the broadsheets printed on the outside, and they are lying. We in these camps are not being rehoused. We have not been attended to by physicians. We have been beaten and subjected to all indignity. They write that the agitators and their collaborators are being turned to the Bailiffs for trial, but none have left and every day new bodies arrive. They say these arrests are ringleaders, firebrands, cut-throats; but I know them as peaceful people. One who swept the roads as I did, another who baked bread, another who was of an Erthani father.

***

To call our lodgings a tent would be too grand. It is a sheet held aloft, open on one side facing the guard post. We are chained together, five of us, and all of us to a stake set in the centre of the tent. We spend the day digging – I know not what – and we sleep uneasily at night, for the noise and the lights of the depot keep us awake.

Today I saw a guard kill a prisoner. He was not trying to escape. He did not raise his fists. He —

Written on diverse scraps and materials, recovered from inmate in tent 6-B during security sweep. Inmate has been recommended for punitive labour.

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Trouble in the Brewery

Okarev,

We're down to our last sacks of grain, and I must ask you one last time to please allow us some supply from the next shipment the barges bring in. You have sway on the Supply Committee and I know you can help. Without a fresh stock, the brewery will shut down for the first time in generations, and there will be no more beer in the district.

Do not dismiss this as a trivial affair! The Pivan Brewery has produced ales for the city for a near-century, and our name and product both are well loved. Morale behind these barricades will not thrive in a population thirsting for beer. Our bellies are far from full, I know as truly as anyone, but we do not live on food alone. Without ale to share over a meal or to reward the labourer at the end of the shift, we would be so much poorer in spirit, a poverty we can ill afford to court in the present crisis.

The brandy liberated from the towers won't stretch forever, and the Erthani don't have the means to supply us. We have made several adaptations to our methods to cope with the current paucity of ingredients, and I can certainly do more, if I only have the supply to do so. My grandfather would beat me soundly if he tasted the current batches, adulterated with water as they are. I could stand proudly and tell him damn the dilution, I brew for the District and to keep the brewery running – if I but have my grains, Okarev!

As ever, I will happily turn over all produce to the Supply Committee to see that it is distributed fairly and equitably. I can perhaps even find uses for surplus supplies not fit for distribution – the larders of the wealthy hoarded many a peculiar ingredient that may not be palatable in a dish but can be turned to brewing.

Lastly, my boys did not steal the wheat from Halev's bakery, whatever that sour scoundrel may claim. You are welcome to come and do a full audit of my stock; all our grain is accounted for. It shall not take you more than a few minutes, bare as it lies.

Not just for myself, but for the health of the district, I look forward to hearing your reply.

Yours,

Myed Pivan

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Behind the Barricades

Mother,

I have written to you before now, but it was said it could not be certain that any letter would reach you, and less certain by far that any letter in return would reach me; forgive me if I repeat myself from previous letters, but if, as I fear, you have not received my previous messages, I must give an account of what has occurred here in Lansk these past months. I am, as you no doubt feared, behind the barricades.

Life has not been so bad, despite what you may have heard. I was at work when the assault transpired, and thus avoided being caught up in any of the violence. When we knew what was occurring outside the yard, the greater part of the uprising was already over. The barricades were in place by the end of the day, and for the most part those of us with our homes and our workplaces situated within the neighbourhood continued as normal. I have maintained my boarding from before; the other tenants too remain, save for Kastin who was a staunch opponent of all agitation and mutiny. He, to the extent any of us know, stole away on the second night of the barricade and has not been heard from since, and has not been sorely missed, for though his company was generally agreeable we know it should have become unbearable in the current affair. We have given his bed to a young Otvevi – his accent suggests Otvev, but his name and his appearance suggest an admixture of other blood in his veins. This fellow, Ahaethe, is a dock worker, who had lodgings on the other side of the city and was unable to return home across the barricades, but he has made himself comfortable here and is a happy addition to our band.

Not knowing what else to do, I continued to go to the yard and work for a long period after the barricades placed us in isolation. Many of my colleagues did the same, nearly all those who did not flee the ward entirely. Of course, we could not continue forever as there is no one to purchase the completed dvinti or to deliver fresh materials for new constructions, and so the foreman has written us letters acknowledging our continued labours, freeing us from obligation to his yard for the duration of this affair, ensuring us work should it be possible once more, and finally he promised us the sum of our wages for the time worked, as there has been a lack of currency hereabouts. I do not feel aggrieved at the lack of labour nor pay; my last pay-day was shortly before the uprising, and I have saved diligently as you taught me. Really I have no great need for money presently; our landlord has not been present to collect her due, and I have eaten much from communal kitchens and traded labour for meals. There is no great variety of food – much of our supplies come from the Erthani, and the hard biscuit and salty fare they favour grows dull without a relish or a fruit to soften them – and there is no great excess, but there is enough for most of us on most days. We in the lodgings have pooled what little extra we can, and feast together when we there is a sufficiency; there is a general shortage of brandy but Irasha, being unable to attend her work outside the barricades, joined a committee and was assigned to sourcing provisions, where she is betimes able to take home a bottle or two recovered from some wealthy citizen's stores.

With my time so free from the yard I have not been idle. Committees have been established for necessary tasks – while Irasha finds food, I am often assigned monitoring the barricades here, or watching out for company vessels or columns of bailiffs, neither of which I have seen, you will be relieved to hear. On other days I have worked at unloading barges, repairing neglected buildings, or clearing refuse. Of my other fellow lodgers, Alsech is able to work at his trade relatively unconcerned with the whole affair, as shoes must yet be repaired even in the midst of mutiny; Ahaethe likewise is working to unload the barges and maintain the docks; Irasha I have told you; Grigana is entirely unable to attend to her trade and so she has volunteered for a safety committee and spends her days ensuring peaceable conditions in the ward, adjudicating disputes and quelling brawls and directing such energies instead to the protection of the district.

I am well, Mother, and affairs are peaceful enough hereabouts, despite the upheaval. I cannot say when I will see you again – once this affair has been concluded I hope to hear from you and return to visit as soon as work allows it. I have not asked of the family, though I miss you all heartily, as I know you will have no means of transmitting such news; give them all my sincere love and reassure them of my safety.

Your loyal and loving daughter,

Ulne

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A Treaty Breached

Dear Alett,

I will be brief. Two successful operations have been undertaken since my last communication.

Thanks to the intelligence supplied by your scouts, we easily discovered the location of the exchange town selected at our last conference. Destruction of the settlement was achieved as is standard. As far as we could tell, all lives were accounted for, and no materiel was left behind after the engagement. I predict this will weaken Erthani ability to access the Vikol region, as we hoped.

The second operation was the more difficult, having never been attempted previously. Shortly after the destruction of the exchange town, I took the liberty of apprehending an Erthani barge a day's travel away from the ruined settlement. No survivors remain to recount this breach of custom and treaty; understanding the gravity of such a breach becoming widely known, every care was taken at all stages of the operation to ensure secrecy.

Having established that this barge was not in convoy and there were no other vessels in operational range, I deployed a small force of marines on either side of the river, to ambush the vessel. The purpose of this ruse was to draw attention away from the skies and cover the approach of our craft – thinking that they were beset by river-bandits, the Erthani would not be prepared for the deployment of a battery and further marines and aviators to board their vessel from above. Their defense was spirited but nonetheless ineffective, and quickly they surrendered their arms. The Erthani's protestations were not surrendered so readily, accusing the crew of my vessel and myself in particular of every crime and misbehaviour known to humanity. The captain was killed in the fighting before she had time to destroy her barge's logs, thus these were secured for your use.

The Erthani casualties were disposed of overboard, while the surrendered crew were marched overland and executed in a clearing – the site's remoteness should allow exposure to the elements and the beasts of the forest to erase all evidence, and with it any likelihood that we should be connected to the barge's disappearance. The barge itself was towed into rocks and allowed to smash itself upon them, and thence sink; should the wreck be discovered, I expect it will be assumed that the crew deserted the ruined craft and became lost in the hostile surrounding country.

All seized cargo from these expeditions will be dealt with by our usual agent in the Ussin Depot. Should you require it, I can provide an account of this engagement – perhaps couched in speculative language – for inclusion in Company Treatises, or for review of the Commission as they consider how to further pursue this current conflict.

I remain in your debt,

Contract-Captain Yar te Yarllen, Location Withheld

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The Crimes of Yethara

An Account of the Orator Yethara Her Falsehoods and her Crimes

The Orator known as Yethara has preaches across the Abhesk, from Zhikav to her alleged home city of Vilv. In her wake, agitation and strife has bubbled forth to disrupt the peace and prosperity of these great cities. But who is this agitator?

Yethara claims to be from Vilv, yet the authors, possessed of no small familiarity with that great city, have not found any there who knew of her, neither in her youth nor as fellow workers.

She preaches of justice and freedom for the workers and groundsfolk, but what does she know of labour, and working conditions? In all her speeches she never tells what her trade was before she set out to crash Abheski society.

The authors of this pamphlet can reveal that Yethara, far from being a humble Vilvan worker questing for justice for her fellow groundsfolk, is in fact a hypocrite, a subtle infiltrator fomenting agitation to disrupt the trade of the Cities and the great Companies that have made the Abheski a prosperous nation.

Yethara was born indeed to a Vilvan mother, but by an Erthani father. She was raised on a stinking vessel of that nomadic nation, learning from the cradle not of industry and toil and honest trade, but of treachery, mendacious dealings, and jealousy. Having spent the greater portion of her years aboard barges, she donned the guise of an Abheski only well into adulthood, and then only to pursue a plan of sabotage and dissent.

In her tour of preaching her agitations to the groundsfolk, she travels not by airship. The sky, beloved of all Abheski, is not her path. All true Abheski, undeceived by the glamour of dissent, recognise her beliefs as dangerous; understanding this, she sticks to the ground and the waterways, knowing she will not be challenged but instead receive aid from the disaffected and the hostile nations who share in her jealousy. Upon the sovereign decks of Erthani vessels, she is shielded from the bailiffs and constables and marines. In the deep forests, she is hidden from the sight of those vessels that protect our communities .

We wrote of the strife to be found in the wake of this orator. When she spoke in Lansk, she provoked a riot against the bailiffs, wherein dozens were killed. In Mirsvr, a mob stormed the Lesyan Tower and slaughtered another score of innocents. In Otvev, a fire claimed a Company Depot, though the docks and the Erthani fields were spared any such disaster.

It is clear to all that Yethara is not a mere orator, preaching a creed of justice. The inescapable conclusion is that Yethara is a vile conspirator. Whether she is among the leaders of the agitators attempting to bring our nation to ruin, it cannot be said, but she is certainly the most visible figure and the most dangerous.

Don't let this Agitator destroy us!

Protect your family, protect your prosperity: If you know of agitation or conspiracy, tell your bailiffs, and tell your bosses.

Pamphlet anonymously distributed ahead of a labour rally in Mirsvr.

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After the Liberation

Muzhits,

I trust the lapse in our discourse requires no explanation or forgiveness, old friend; we are but recently able to send letters beyond the city once more, after the insurrection that struck my district. I understand Mirsvr has not gone without similar agitation and suffering. I regret this sincerely for your fine city, and I rejoice that the greater terror that held Lansk is yet a stranger to you. I hope to hear gladder news of your affairs than the sad tale I give you today. I won't inflict upon you further accounts of the agitators' occupation; I cannot tell you anything that has not been printed in broadsheets, though I counsel you to doubt the more lurid stories. Since the district's liberation however, our business has not returned to its previous condition.

I was in the unenviable position of providing a necessary product to the citizens of the district, and so I was forced to deal with the Executive and the self-appointed tyrants of the Supply Committe. I had no wish to support or validate their actions, but had less wish for the innocent population to starve! Thus, with no small distaste, I continued to produce bread with grain supplied by the Executive, to be distributed by the Executive, even at times relying on workers assigned by the Executive. Collaboration it was not, Muzhits, as it was performed under duress and only out of necessity.

Regardless, when the bailiffs and the Companies took back the District, I could easily have been accused of treachery, were it not for my bakery being shut down for lack of material. A scarce two days prior, I had a cart of grains stolen from my yard, the very last in the city that I could secure. I could not prove the author of this outrage, though I know it to have been on behalf of Pivan. That scoundrel has not been seen since the night of the battle, when his brewery was destroyed. The loss of that brew is a sore blow to Lansk; the man shall not be mourned so deeply. Nevertheless, this theft proved fortunate, as I had to suspend operation and thus the Company had no basis to accuse me of collaboration with agitators on that first day, a day of brutal reprisal.

I said, however, circumstances have not improved. Supply is still disrupted, as despite the collapse of the barricades, the Erthani no longer trade here and the Companies are struggling to deliver supplies sufficient to our needs. Many of my workers have fled or been arrested – good dependable men and women, who I never suspected of agitation in years of employment, are nowhere to be found. Those who remain are often without homes, or grievously injured, or seeking better employment than the wages I can promise on such meager trade. A new Temari agent has been deployed to distribute capital in aid of reconstruction, but I like her not. It's said she was a Licence-Prospector, and a brute. Whether this is true I cannot confirm, but despite abundant rumours of her rough conduct, she has taken on many clients and partners among my fellow business owners. I hope I will not need to resort to her aid.

You no doubt heard of the slaying of Chief Bailiff te Eintov, your fellow son of Mirsvr. I never thought to ask, did you know him? I can only hope the new appointee Akhirin Sarta will not repeat te Eintov's mistakes. The zeal he has shown in the first days of his office exceeds what is required – raids of businesses and homes are commonplace, carried out upon the least suspicion, and far more brutal than is wise. Though I have not been subjected to Sarta's attentions yet I fear that any day he may come, he and his bailiffs backed by Temari marines.

As you see, Muzhits, my siutation is dire, perhaps as dire as ever it was beneath the agitators. I know not of your situation, owing to our isolation from business matters, but I ask you – any spare capital you may have to lend me, or other assistance you could render, would be a great boon to an old friend in need. A stake in my business is forthcoming, should this be favourable, and my gratitude will be a surer bond still. I await your reply, and hope to hear of your continued success and prosperity.

Your friend,

Khlen Khalev

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The Basking Maw

Laugh all you want, youngsters, but this eye of mine is the last remaining eye in this Company who saw the Basking Maw and lived to tell the tale. They try and tell you it's only a story, something the elder hands use to scare the fresh blood. But those scriveners and scribblers in the towers haven't seen not a hundredth of what us old airmen have seen, and I've seen enough to tell you I've not seen a hundredth of the mysteries that are abroad in these skies.

I was no older than most of you – I say I was good deal younger than many, for in those days they took us in young. This was before the Temar Company ever flew a vessel, I was taken as a junior hand on a freight-runner out of Zhikav. We used to ply all along the Ussin Belt and beyond into the wilds, bring goods to the Abheski and any other folk that would trade with us, places the Erthani or the caravans couldn't reach.

Well, I'd not been on the crew half a year when we got a contract to fly way out West, where few Abheski ever traded, but this one town was hacking out a living in the shadow of a smoking mountain – oh yes, those are real too, even the scribblers in their offices won't tell you otherwise. They were convinced they'd find gold, picking away at the ground like some godless Anshessi beneath this smoking brute of a mountain – it smoked and spewed all year long, a great dirty crag rearing into the air, not like those slumbering hills in TransOlyen that spit once in a lifetime!

We'd flown far beyond the routes any of you have ever taken, and twice as far again, before we found this tired little camp. We spent barely a day there before turning and coming back again. Our navigator, senseless drunk on what must have been all the brandy those poor miners had stored away, led us straight into the smoke plume from the burning mountain and we got turned every way, blind to all compasses and charts. One and all the crew coughed and spluttered and retched the sick atmoshpere, until the lookout recovered enough to sound the alarm – another vessel, her signals bright and guiding us from the smoke. We gathered ourselves enough to fly towards them to safety – and never was a greater mistake made in all the history of flight.

It's just as you've heard it described – if not worse, for no uncle scaring his nephews or master scolding his charges could truly tell the horrific sight of the Basking Maw. A hull as black as night, somehow sucking your eye to it. Though it was full noon, the sky all around was darker for its presence. Bristling with ragged and fierce batteries, gaping holes promising destruction no lesser than the mouth of that smoking mountain. Its dvint leaving an oily wake in the sky, hanging clear behind it as though untouched by current or cloud.

We turned and fled as fast as any vessel I've ever crewed, and I've crewed them all! The Basking Maw hung behind us all the way, never straining though we pushed our vessel for all it was worth. Jettisoning all the cargo, packing in our few batteries, every prayer every aviator could offer, and yet the Basking Maw hung astern, never falling a handsbreadth further behind no matter what speed we set.

Four days and four nights we raced ahead of the evil craft; not a hand among us slept a minute in all that time, and that, at last, was what brought our downfall. The captain ordered us to ride the edge of a storm, hoping we could lose our pursuers, but the exhausted crew could not match the violence of the winds, and we lost control, tossed asunder, pulled into the heart of the storm and finally cast into the valley below.

Those of us who survived huddled in the cabins and the hold, gripping our pikes and axes lest Grey Baurin and his crew descend to snatch us away, the storm raging without all the while.

And Grey Baurin never came. Whether the Basking Maw was finally put away by the storm, or the deaths of half the crew satisfied their thirst for violence, who can ever tell? When the storm blew over in another half a day, the Basking Maw was no longer in our wake.

After burning the captain and the hands, and burying the navigator and damning him as a fool, we picked ourselves up and began the long flight back to Zhikav. Most of the crew never signed on again, and didn't fly another day in their lives. The vessel was scrapped the following year and as for myself, I've never ventured further west than the Lenla since.

And yet, the east, the east has its own share of horrors and wonders. I could tell you about the time I lived among the Urselk of Hoitan for a season... but you'll have to buy me another drink.

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An Offer of Support

Baurin,

Allow me to summarise the current condition of the city.

The occupation of the Old Tower and surrounding district has lasted months now, and the Bailiffs' attempts to reclaim the region from the self-appointed Popular Executive have ground to a halt. The area of the city abandoned to the agitators is no smaller than on the day they struck with violence at Lansk's ancient heart. Not a street nor building was reclaimed without them elsewhere further expanding the reach of their barricades; every victory of the legitimate authorities was swiftly reversed or countered by an agitators' coup. Worse, the greatest reclamation of territory was not at the hands of the bailiffs, but by the actions of a mob. Desperate citizens, no doubt civil in normal circumstances but driven to violence by the occupation's affront to good Abheski sensibilities and business. In a single day they reclaimed a row of houses and compound of yards, more than all the Bailiffs' combined actions have achieved in all these months. This protracted siege has shown no signs of success, and as long as the Erthani are supplying them, and those within are content, this stalemate will continue.

Baurin, do not mistake this letter as an admonishment of your service. You have found yourself in an unenviable position. The popularity of the Bailiffs is at a nadir; even those without agitated sympathies are distrustful after these last few months. Those within the seized district are fed comfortably on Erthani supplies, while many of those without are starving and prevented from attending to their work. Despite the agitators' cynical empty promises of safe passage for the groundsfolk, surely they knew you would have to prevent such traffic, and be reckoned at fault for the ensuing misery of the destitute workers denied their fair wage.

We in the Companies are suffering from similar perceptions. After the regrettable riot whipped up by Yethara, and the demands of the agitators to remove the Companies from municipal affairs, your reluctance to engage us further is understandable; in other circumstances it would even be prudent. Your initial capitulation to the occupiers was necessary, that is undeniable, but the time has come to put an end to their reign of anarchy.

I wish Lansk restored to peace and prosperity, and I urge you to use all means at your disposal to see this feat completed. To this end I would place myself and the assets of the Temar company at your disposal once more. Having consulted with the Eastern Office, I can confirm I am able to offer you the assistance of any power the Bailiffs require. The fee will be merely nominal – the restoration of order to the city and the resumption of trade is more valuable to us than simple currency. We have the troops to occupy reclaimed streets, the supplies and arms for your own Bailiffs, and agents placed in the surrounding districts to provide intelligence. We are equipped to deal with the batteries in the occupied area, and we have means to disrupt the Erthani vessels that supply them.

As a friend, Baurin – if I may be granted the presumption of considering myself your friend – I urge you to heed this advice and accept this offer. I consider you a confidant, Baurin, as trustworthy an acquaintance as I have in this city, and I will not mislead you. From one Mirsvri to another, your position as Chief Bailiff will no longer be tenable should this agitation continue. Lansk can ill afford it; indeed, the Spires as a whole shall be shaken and cast down if this affront is allowed to continue unpunished.

Allow me to place myself at your disposal, for all of our sakes.

I await your reply.

Your ally, Dazhag te Shansha, Commander, Temar Company Lansk Depot

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A Reputation Restored

My Dear Cousin,

I regret sincerely the delay in replying to your most recent letter. I cannot lay the blame on the grim tidings it bore – though I thank you dearly for informing me of the terrible news, despite your own losses. I had already learned through Company channels of the events in Mirsvr, and knew at once, before reports had confirmed it, that the violent lusts and anarchic fervor of the agitators had struck our own families. Though I weep for us both that we must live in a world where such horror and pain can befall us, I thank all fortune and all gods that you, dear dear Cousin, were spared the fate that struck down our fathers, and that you and our mothers and my brother are still safe from the turmoil gripping our city.

I promise you that the weeks elapsed since receipt of your letter have not been spent idly, nor have I allowed my industry to merely service the pursuits of wealth and career that once consumed me so wholly. Nothing of this interests me now – advancement in a Company can gain me nothing, nor can wealth, when the very foundation of our civilization is subsiding below us. My efforts have placed me back in command of a vessel, yes, but not in order to secure promotion or amass a fortune. I have returned to service in order to fight against agitation with the only methods such brutes understand.

All my assets have been leveraged in the outfitting of a new vessel. Being found innocent in the affair of the Nomad, I am not without my supporters, Cousin, many of whom have used their influence and their wealth to assist me in this endeavour. The Fasaathi was outfitted with the greatest dvint and batteries I could afford. We did not lack for numbers to crew the vessel; some of my benefactors worried that my infamy as the victim of mutiny would attract crew seeking to foster further agitation, but every soul was thoroughly vetted and all are staunch opponents of anarchy. I am not strictly under the command of any of the Offices – though I am still within the Company. Having raised the financing for the Fasaathi myself, I am flying as a free agent, answerable to the military commission but not under strict orders. A curious arrangement, you'll agree, but with the backing of my benefactors and the need for extreme measures against this coming storm front of dissent, one that has proved desirable to the Commission.

I am taking the vessel on its maiden flight tomorrow. I have intelligence of a hidden portage route deep in the TransUssin region, oft used by the Erthani. Disrupting this route should frustrate that wicked nation in their ambitions to shake the Spires to the ground. I would dearly love to be in Mirsvr, finding those who burned our households and wrecked our businesses. But I know the Company agents and city bailiffs are better placed to seek that justice, and my skills are better aimed elsewhere.

I have sent a credit note to my representatives in Mirsvr – the remaining portion of my funds not invested in this expedition are at your disposal, dear Cousin, for your use in the care of our remaining family. I will return as soon as it is safe for me to do so, and together we shall mourn, but we shall know it is safe in Abhesk at last.

Yours,

Contract-Captain Yar te Yarllen, Temar Company, location withheld.

[janspar]

The Charter of the Free Vessel Nomad

The following notice was received by several broadsheet-publishers in Mirsvr, Lansk, and Vilv.

Hereby, according to our Rights Ancient and Perfect, we declare the Nomad to be a Free Vessel.

No longer content in our complicity in the crimes of the Temar Company against the Abheski people and foreign nations, we as a crew have overthrown the illegitimate authority of the Company and the Military Commission, as wielded through Lieutenant Yarllen and the officers and Marines aboard. The above entities are engaged in a war against the groundsfolk of Abhesk, the Hoitani, the Erthani, the Ebwari, and diverse other nations, wherever exploitation and violence can be a tool of profit. This is not a war of battery and blade alone; but one also of licence-prospecting, bond servitude, and plain theft. Our mutiny was not an act of aggression but one of resistance and solidarity. We may be labelled agitators; that is a name we embrace, as we agitate for an end to Company oppression.

Acquired through mutiny as a legitimate prize of war, the Nomad is now a sovereign trading entity. As a free association of willing crew members, we require no authority other than our own and no legitimacy other than that derived from our association. Any crew member wishing to leave has been allowed to do so; placed safely without Company reach but able to return to Abheski settlements. Our association is free and voluntary; any person abiding to our agreements may join and leave as they see fit.

We reject imposed authority; all our officers have been elected by the crew as temporary roles, not as positions of supremacy. Our decisions and trade shall be conducted as a collective, on the consensus of the crew and to the profit of us all.

Though is our purpose to pursue our trade peacefully, we recognise that we exist in a state of war. As such we will act in self-defence against the vessels of the Temar Company, or other Abheski Companies. We will not seek violence but will defend our right to trade and the rights of other free vessels.

[janspar]

Strike Pamphlet

Groundsfolk of Mirsvr;

The Abheski nations of which we are part have carried wealth and industry to all corners of this continent. The reward of this undertaking has brought untold prosperity to the Spires and the Companies – and untold misery to the common folk of these nations and countless others.

We appeal to all groundsfolk of the Abheski to stand with us and with the common people of all nations against the evils of exploitation. Our lives and our labour are the fuel for the furnace of Company trade. Without them, they cannot turn the engine of profit.

When we ask for the merest accomodation of humane conditions, bailiffs are loosed upon us. When we ask for the least alleviation of suffering in the form of increased pay, marines and patrol craft fire upon us. Remember Lansk!

The lives of the groundsfolk are reckoned as naught in the face of Company profits. It is clear we can no longer ask and expect a fair reply; our only recourse is to refuse to fuel them any longer. Join us, groundsfolk and common labourers of all nations, and strike! From Zhikav to Vilv, from Atyen to Hoitan, lay down your tools and say NO MORE.

They will label us agitators; they have provoked us by their injustice!

They will call us ungrateful; they have no gratitude for our work upon which their ships and weapons are built, their commodities are traded, and their wealth comes forth.

Your life and your labour is of value greater than can be accounted by a Company ledger! Stand with us! Stand in solidarity with all groundsfolk – with the Erthani – with the exploited in the Anshess and TransOlyen – with the Ebwari.

STRIKE

[janspar]

Engagement of Erthani Vessels: A Treatise

It is the responsibility of all engaged in Offices of influence and command, whether pursuing martial or monetary ventures, to consider the possible conflicts and challenges that may arise should the circumstances of their ventures change, or be changed. Any Licence-Prospector with acumen is prepared for their labourers to agitate, for trade between nations to be disrupted by conflict or weather, or for the whims of the market to turn and spoil their speculations. Any captain of vessels or troops has contingencies for ambush, for estrangement from command, or for mutiny.

As such, this treatise is not to be considered an invitation to engage in conflict with the Erthani nation. Such action is prohibited by custom, by treaty, political wisdom, and economic convenience. However, as we have shown, preparation for unforeseen circumstances is a necessary ingredient for success, and insights contained herein may prove applicable to diverse situations other than open conflict with Erthani traders.

Tactical concerns:

For commanders of aerial vessels, even the meanest patrol vessel or corvette has a tactical advantage over any Erthani craft, possessing both superior manoeuvrability and force of arms. The typical arrangement of batteries on an Erthani vessel is intended primarily to repel boarding attempts or counterattack against hostile forces on land, and is rarely suited to target airborne aggressors.

Erthani crews prefer to avoid conflict, and thus sources detailing their habits in combat are scarce. They apparently are willing to engage in combat when forced to, and demonstrate respectable valour, but lack the discipline and training found among Company crews or marines. They will typically avoid engagement on solid land where possible, preferring to flee or defend from their vessels. They are likely to employ bandit tactics, using ambushes or rapid engagement and withdrawal.

Strategic Concerns:

Erthani craft are sovereign entities, and any unprovoked assault on a single craft is considered an act of war against the entire nation. Thus, it is forbidden for any Company vessel or officer to initiate the use of force against the Erthani.

The Erthani present many strategic challenges as potential foes. They maintain sophisticated communications, travel according to sophisticated schedules, and typically travel in convoy. When at sea Erthani vessels will remain in view of the shore. In all but the most dire situations they will avoid waters deeper than eight lengths, due to the undetectable dangers presented by deeper seas. This makes it difficult to engage in opportunistic or limited conflict. Attempts at piracy are thus considered inadvisable, as it is unlikely that such an effort, whether successful or not, will escape the notice of the wider Erthani nation.

In the event of an open conflict between the Company and the Erthani, it is advised that ground forces seize Erthani yards and warehouses in Abheski and Company settlements as a first priority. Unfortunately, many groundsfolk view the Erthani as sympathetic, allied, or even as kin, particularly in larger cities where they may share much blood with the Erthani nation. Increasing security at Company sites and seized Erthani properties will be necessary to prevent possible unrest among the groundsfolk. In cities outside Company control, it can be assumed that municipal bailiffs and militia will control any resulting agitation; as always, maintaining positive relations with these authorities is essential for Company business.

Temar Company, Military Commission Press

[janspar]

A Letter from the Frontier

Benvin,

Your letter arrived at Depot last night. Should this reply find its way to you in a similar time, I make that an eight-day round trip from your tower in Mirsvr, to my cot on the frontier and back. I thus concede our wager settled, and you may consider payment delivered, awaiting only my presence in the city. I confess I am not sorry to find myself the lesser in this matter, as my joy at our progress outweighs by far the stake I placed against you.

As to professional matters, the state of my honour is less certain.

The progress here has been slower than was hoped, as I cautioned in my reports when this expedition was first planned. The blame does not lie on the scouts, as I know many on the Boards and in the Wardrooms are no doubt speculating – at least, on no scouts other than myself. As the first Company man to observe these lands and the author of the reports upon the intelligence of which the appraisements were calculated, what blame can be assigned for this region's deficiencies thus far must surely be assigned to me and the poor quality of my intelligence or my inability to communicate its significance. I remind you again, nonetheless, of my early and continued pessimism regarding this venture.

The Hoitani are much as I found them twenty years ago. I needn't describe their character again for you. The Company consensus seemed to be that enough material tribute would be sufficient to sway Hoitani chieftains from their position of reserve into acceptance of a closer partnership with the Company. This was never to succeed, as I insisted from the start; the Abheski mind and the Hoitani mind are too dissimilar. This is not to denigrate them, you understand that my respect for their nation is considerable. They simply do not share fundamental concepts of value that are apparent to us, and the benefits of our way of life are perhaps incomprehensible to them. They care not for a letter carried from Mirsvr and back in eight days. The bribery and force that work so well in the Anshess or beyond the Belt simply are not persuasive here.

After the late debacle in that western camp, I fear our progress will be slowed further. The destruction of that settlement was of no benefit to Temar – the Hoitan see little if any distinction between the Companies. The work achieved by our scouts, against the unreasonable expectations of the Boards, was highly promising, now rendered useless. The bumbling of a Valdjin captain has undone our project to an immeasurable degree.

I feel no joy in this vindication. I am galled to see the Erthani – really Benvin, the Erthani! – trade with the Hoitani more successfully than we. Our best course to salvage this region is to allow our scouts continued liberty in managing their own affairs – to an individual they are as disgusted with the Valdjini massacre as I, and are themselves best placed to repair their own contacts among the camps. Failing that, a further deployment of force, while regrettable, will yield the most profitable returns in the least time. I know the Boards grow hungry.

Please communicate all I have disclosed here to the relevant Boards and Members. I will continue to direct our efforts, and update you through the usual channels.

In friendship,

Survit te Ovnjen, Depot-Commander, Hoitan

[janspar]

Raids in Otvev

Servi,

I write to you with urgent news. Your husband and Mapnir are fled from Otvev. I cannot commit to paper where – he said you would know the place of sanctuary and he will await you there.

I do not know how much Enklan has told you of the dire situation here. The bailiffs, their numbers swollen with auxiliaries and bolstered by patrols of Company troops, have been ruthlessly eliminating any hint of protest or discontent among the people. Daily we hear of another raid or reprisal, and the courts swell with groundsfolk accused of sedition or other crimes, to be sold off for servitude in depots or in distant colonies. The broadsheets, when they are circulated, no longer tell us what passes in the other cities – just banal tales of local society and local trade.

I expect and fear the situation to be much the same in Zhikav, and I can only hope that you are safe. Do not trouble yourself to reply – I cannot promise I will remain free to accept your letter, or that communication between the cities shall be possible much longer. Simply do everything in your power to reach Enklan and Mapnir.

I must tell you how they came to flee the city. A brutish raid was carried out upon our district, the evening before the last market day. The bailiffs, backed by a complement of sullen Temari marines, swept through the building, claiming to search for a gang of youths who had daubed slogans in support of the Nomadeers upon the barracks-wall. Such slogans appear daily now; though we have scuffles and brawls we yet have no strikes or mutinies of our own, the chatter upon Otvev's walls foretells it may happen soon. In the course of this raid, Velina, she who lived upon the second floor, was dragged forth from her rooms, as the bailiffs claimed to have discovered a concealed printing-press in her apartments. Enklan, witness to these proceedings, remonstrated with the bailiffs, protesting in cordial terms that Velina was as like to conceal a gun-battery or a tamed arvix in her apartments as a printing-press – where, indeed, could she hide it mean rooms such as ours! The bailiff officer took great offense to this interference in his lawful duties, and attempted to arrest Enklan in turn – gentle, kind Enklan! Never a strikeist nor a mutineer, not even in his idle thoughts, and yet arrested now for speaking on behalf of an innocent neighbour.

Mapnir and I followed them as they took the prisoners out of the building – where the bailiff's party was set upon by a gang of youths, perhaps those they had originally sought. When the bailiff leading Enklan in chains was struck by a cobblestone, he slipped his bonds in the tumult, and escaped back through the building into the yards beyond, taking Mapnir with him. He bade me to gather some possessions from your apartments and meet him below his shop one hour later, where gave me instructions to write you this letter. I know not the means of his escape from the city, nor his destination, but only that he has fled to a place of refuge known to you both.

I fear that we may not meet again; I doubt your return to Otvev will be soon. I wish you only safety and security, Servi, safety and security for all three of you. May these troubled times of ours soon be over.

Your friend and neighbour,

Niruna

Letter intercepted in the possession of known Erthani agent. The author has been arrested and is awaiting secondary interrogation.