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THE STRANGE NEW WORLD ON BERENY’S BORDER

Dateline: 23-4-516

By Editor-in-Chief Rebekah Seyke

Most Berenians will know that a sea is a large body of water. Many will have heard of the Sea of the Underworld, which exists far beneath our feet. But not that many know that recently a new sea has appeared which lies right on the borders of the Kingdom itself.

This new sea has come into existence thanks to a slight warming of the climate in the Southern Glaciers, leading to increased melting of the glaciers. But the sea is not simply some extra-large pool of glacial meltwater. Experts believe that this sea has always existed somewhere beyond the Glaciers, but that it has until now been prevented from flooding the low-lying lands just to the north by being blocked by ice. But the retreat of the glaciers has allowed the waters beyond to burst through and inundate these lands, with dramatic consequences.

Words alone cannot express what it is like to stand on the edge of a body of water that stretches away to the horizon, and to know that unlike even the largest of Bereny's lakes, this body of water may have no far shore, but may be endless. It is a thing of wonder, of beauty, and of terror.

If proof were needed that this Sea is not something which has just come into existence recently, it is that it teems with life. And not just fish, but people. On the Sea's shore I met Ghosti, a member of a sea-living race called the Merfolk. These creatures have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish. Although this may seem very debilitating for movement on land, when they come ashore, the tail of a Merfolk person transforms into a pair of legs.

Ghosti told me that he has only recently arrived in the vicinity of the Berenian border after being carried there by a great surge of water from the original home of his people in the depths of the Sea. He described the new area of sea as a pretty boring place, without any of the Merfolk habitation he had been used to. Although he had met others of his kind since coming here, the Merfolk are pretty thinly spread in the newly flooded regions.

He also cautioned me that the Merfolk were not the only newcomers to the area however, and that some of the other denizens of the Sea might not be as friendly as he. He pointed out another humanoid creature swimming some way off-shore, and warned me that it was a member of a race of marine monsters called Psaurians.

I was not the first Berenian that Ghosti had met since coming here, and he had been accepted as a member of the Walkers on the Edge Guild. He told me that the Merfolk were keen to establish friendly relations with the people of Bereny.

So it would seem that Bereny has a new land on its borders, one more strange and alien than anything that anyone has seen before.

ROYAL ARMY BEGINS ASSAULT ON FALCONE ESTATE

Dateline: 25-4-516

By Bob Woodward, Torlia Correspondant

The rebellion of Uryen d’Agrillac against the Crown has erupted into open fighting between the Royal Army and forces loyal to the self-styled Baron of the Falcone estate. Fortunately the rebel forces seem to have been too busy defending themselves to carry out Baron Uryen’s threat to execute more hostages. Astonishingly however, the Royal Courts have still not issued a sentence of Outlawing against Uryen himself.

Royal Infantry units have advanced up the road from their encampments north of Torlia and engaged rebel forces defending the estate gates, destroying an enormous Earth Elemental that was guarding these. There are further reports of fighting from the vicinity of the nearby mining village of Tinton, where ‘Countess’ Falcone, Baron Uryen’s wife, was responsible for the death of a knight loyal to Baroness Sofia d’Agrillac, the estate Baron recognised by the Crown. In addition. the area just south of the junction between the Widowmaker Trail and the Torlia Road is said to be infested with savage packs of wolfhounds unleashed from the Falcone Estate.

“For the information of forces moving to re-assert Royal Authority over the D'Agrillac Estate and local area, be aware that the I have deployed a number of Adventurers and a Royal Infantry Unit north and north-east from the Hamlet of Tinton, towards the south-western corner of the Estate,” said a statement from the Duchess of Torlia. “Within the next day, these should be able to close in across the Estate, and attack the Castle.” The Duchess herself is not present however, and is rumoured to be in Icehaunt.

The priest Minnanon, who first reported Baron Uryen’s activities to the Crown, has entered the estate and seems to be seeking combat with the Baron himself.

Meanwhile the failure of the Royal Courts to outlaw Uryen, despite the direct orders of the Regent, has attracted some comment. “One can’t help wondering whether there are some within the Crown Bureaucracy who are secretly in sympathy with Uryen,” said Lord Marmaduke Twang of the RGA, holder of the largely honorary Dukedom of Plue. “The d’Agrillacs always have had an undue influence if you ask me.”

CROWNHEART UNVEILS ‘THE FUTURE OF SHOPPING’

Dateline: 17-5-516

After months of delay the City of Crownheart has at last unveiled its long-awaited shopping mall, which it is hoped will revitalise the city’s reputation as the place where anything can be bought or sold.

The new mall is an extensive covered shopping arcade which hosts a wide selection of goods and services which are available nowhere else in Bereny. At least that is according to its backers, the Crownheart Mercentile Guild and Corporation. Designed by renowned architect Norbert Fourex, the building’s ambitious and spectacular design has resulted in spiraling construction costs and lengthy delays.

“People used to say ‘What you cannot find in Crownheart, you cannot find’”, said Aurelius Lucre, President and Grand Enumerator of the CMGC. “But what with these out-of-town retail outlets that the Crown seems to be letting any old adventurer or wandering tinker set up, and that ugly sprawl of suburban development that has sprung up around the city, Crownheart has lost some of its appeal. We hope to put this back with a place where Crownheart’s elite can shop in relaxed and tasteful surroundings, among a selection of unique retail outlets that offer services which are to be found no-where else in the Kingdom. What you are looking at here is truly the future of shopping.”

Prominent at the opening party was well-known Crownheart Attorney-at-Law Snodfer L Puddlethumper Esq, whose legal offices are among the new shopping emporium’s tenants. “Let's be honest with each other ... aren't you long over-due for an assessment of your current legal issues,” he told our reporter. “Inadequate legal planning can lead to family disputes of the most unpleasant kind, you know. If this sounds like you, then you definitely want to stop by our brand new Crownheart offices. But wait, there's more! Given some of our clients' lack of cash to pay their legal bills, we have in stock a number of items that we have taken in barter for legal services. And if you stop by right now during our super grand opening celebration, we are able to offer these to you at very attractive prices!”

Crownheart’s merchants are hoping that the attractions of the mall will draw many visitors into the city and improve their business, although the city’s bar owners are rumoured to fear that their takings may drop significantly now that Mr Puddlethumper has an office and no longer needs to conduct his business from their bars.

WHITE TOWER DESTROYS ‘BRAIN BEAST’

Dateline: 21-5-516

Unconfirmed reports claim that Knights of the White Tower have destroyed a creature they describe as ‘the Brain Beast’ in the a dungeon complex in Swinderlog Swamp. The creature seems to have been the controlling intelligence behind the group of entities known as the Brain Eaters.

Following rumours last year of strange creatures and mysterious disappearances in an area on the northern edge of Swinderlog Swamp, the White Tower decided to investigate. Their Knights penetrated the Lair of the Brain Eaters some months ago, and according to these latest reports they have, after many hard days of fighting, succeeded in penetrating an area they described as the ‘Brain Chamber’. Here they discovered an immense creature called the Brain Beast, which they have now slain.

According to sources in the Regent’s Military Council, mission commander Sir Darrax reported to Baron Ephraim Stryker, the Lord Commander of the White Tower that he believed that the ‘Brain Beast’ was of extra-dimensional origin. “I don't know where this disgusting and repulsive brain creature came from, but it doesn't belong here, in Bereny,” he is quoted as saying.

The Lord Commander’s report to the Military Council agreed. “It seems to me that a lot of such creatures are finding their way into the realms of man these days which have no business being here. This is just the latest aberration to break into Bereny and begin slaking its dark hungers on our people. But I have a feeling its part of a bigger picture. Something larger is going on. Something more serious.”

It has always been suspected that the Brain Eaters originated in some other dimension - a dimension where the power of thought is all-powerful, which some scholars call Dimension Z. Whether the danger from this dimension is now at an end or whether this is just the first such incursion remains to be determined.

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