Headlines || Archive Index || Letters || Funny Page || Horoscope || Quiz || About the Bugle || Search || Madhouse
CROWN REFUSES TO ACT OVER KYRIAN SLAVERY ALLEGATIONS
Dateline: 7-
The Crown Courts has declined to act over allegations that a Kyrian visitor to the Kingdom has brought an slave with him into the country.
The accusation was made by Dedemona Golightly, a senior member of the Veiled Amazons, an organisation dedicated to the emancipation of women which is now absorbed into the Way of the Five Paths, and are that a Kyrian nobleman named Wirrimir was accompanied in Icehaunt Courtyard by two women whom he referred to as his slave and his concubine.
Although strictly illegal in Bereny, the practise of slavery is widespread in Kyr and it is said to be common for Kyrian nobles to own a concubine as a sort of ‘slave wife’.
“To add insult to injury,” added Dedemona, “whether by accident or design, this evil
slave-
However the Courts have indeed declined to act. “It is illegal for people to be used as slaves in Bereny, yes,” said a Royal Court spokesperson. “But it is not illegal for somebody to call themselves a slave, or appear to be a slave. What people wish to declare themselves as is their own business. Finally, some leeway for the cultures of neighbouring lands is allowed under the law, as long as certain conditions are being met. These laws are presently under consideration for revision.”
This response clearly did not satisfy the Veiled Amazons, although there was also a pointed reminder that under Berenian law a visitor from Kyr enjoys the same protection under the law as a citizen of Bereny, and that violence against Wirrimir would not be tolerated.
This is not the first time that Bereny’s high moral position on the issue of slavery has caused friction with those from other nations. Dwarves and elves are considered slaves within Derwent, yet there has been no official action over the large numbers of dwarves present among the Derwentian refugee camps, despite pressure from the Runeforge Guild. In his recent interview on the subject with the Bereny Bugle the Regent condemned the practise but said that he did not think that freeing them would be in their best interest.
DOES THE GHOST OF DUKE DAVID WALK THE LAND?
Dateline: 21-
Reports have surfaced that the spirit of Duke David Tredach, younger brother of the late King Mark, has been seen on the eastern borders of the Kingdom. The reports were first highlighted by Duchess Kubala Wildfire of Ghorst, who claimed to have heard a rumour that Duke David’s ghost had been seen in Kyr.
The Bereny Bugle has spoken to two traders, Hur Swiftwood and Wagon driver Kat Dervinia, who recently took a wagon into Poldoon Pass to see if they could collect any unusual plants or animals. "We met a party of about a dozen Kyrians coming in the other direction," said Hur. "They had just passed through the lair of the Troll King and were headed towards Stormspire, the volcano. We spent a night camping together. With them was a strange, rather scary looking thing. Like a man but all sort of grey and misty and indistinct. At night it, or rather he, looked solid enough but in day, under the sunlight he looked a bit sort of insubstantial. Although the armour and the hooded robe he was wearing still defined his shape, it was like they were empty. The Kyrians seemed to take it in their stride, but they said he was from Bereny, and his name was David Tredach.”
“The name didn't seem to mean anything to them, but I'd seen the Duke when he visited the pass area a few years back, after the big war against Kyr, and you know it did look like him. “
“So I came straight out and asked him, and he answered sort of in a whisper, like the voice was coming from a long way away, or the bottom of a well. 'Yes, that was my name....but I forget so much now.' He's gone on with the Kyrians towards Stormspire now."
The claims were confirmed by a member of the Walkers on the Edge, Muriel the Vain. “Yes, a shade claiming to be that of Duke David is travelling with our party climbing Stormspire, on the Kyrian border. Of course, I'm not sure how to prove it is him. Twenty questions doesn't seem polite, and he's a bit fuzzy, both literally and metaphorically, so I'm not sure he's in a fit condition to answer them.”
The Duke disappeared shortly after the sudden death of his brother, leading an expedition into the Land of the Dead to rescue the King, and left Dirk Steadfast as Regent until he should return. Although the expedition returned with King Mark, the Duke was lost in the Land of the Dead.
For some this ghostly apparition of the last of the male Tredach line, at a time when Duke Dirk is claiming the throne that should by rights have been his, is a foreboding omen.
But for other it is final proof that the ‘lost prince’ will not be coming back to claim his throne. “It would be rather sad that his grace did not find peace even after death,” said Duchess Kubala, “but if it is confirmed that he is a ghost, that would provide proof, I would think, that he is not ‘among the living’."
NEW DEI ELIGERE HEADS INTO THE ABYSS
Dateline: 7-
Baron Amdrel Gettleman, who has recently been confirmed as the new Dei Eligere of the Dei Vigilare, has announced that he proposes to send an expedition from the Dei Vigilare to the Abyss.
The entrance to this long lost and near-
“The banners of Dei Vigilare are rising before a host of Gods' Vigilant who are mustering to march upon The Abyss,” announced the new Dei Eligere. “In the name of The Gods of Light, all those who practice daemonology, and all writings and instruments which aid them in the heresies of those evil practices, shall perish before the flames and swords which we shall visit upon them!”
‘GIANT METAL MAN’ SEEN NEAR TORLIA
Dateline: 8-
A giant metal figure has appeared on the countryside outside Torlia, not far from the Dwerwentian refugee camps. Although this giant ‘Metal Man’ has not committed any hostile act, its mere presence is causing great disquiet among the people of the city.
Although the figure has remained standing stationary on the horizon a few leagues
from the refugee camps, those who have looked closely at it are in no doubt that
it is animate and active. Its nature remains unknown but it is too much of a co-
There have been reports from elsewhere in the Kingdom of Derwentian knights roaming the countryside on terrifying mechanical horses.
If this is some Derwentian war machine then it signals a new phase in the steady
build-
BORDERTOWN DEFEATS THE MAMMOTH KING
Dateline: 10-
Bordertown, the Berenian settlement in the Frontier, has survived yet another determined attack against it. This time the attacker was King Tor the Mammoth King, an enormous beast with, if reports are to be believed, golden tusks.
The monster managed to penetrate the towns outer defences and was wrecking havoc within the town itself when the White Tower’s Red Codex Frontier Commander, Sir Rufus Delange, arrived on the scene.
After ensuring that as many of the town’s inhabitants as possible had been evacuated to safety, he lead a charge against the beast in an attempt to stop its rampage.
Further reinforcements arrived lead by the Mayor of Bordertown, Lord Gabriel Stryker, and these succeeded in finally bringing the monster down, but not before it had trampled Sir Rufus to death.
“He was a brave and honorable Knight but was ever prone to lead from the front and this time the beast proved too much for him,” said Lord Gabriel of his fellow White Tower knight. A number of native infantry defending the town also lost their lives beneath the massive feet of the Mammoth King.
As previously reported by the Bugle, this is only the latest of a series of attacks which Bordertown has weathered.