Red Star Courier

The Red Star Courier Price: One doughnut "All the muse has seen fit to print" August 2006 Printed in Hamadan
The Red Star Courier would like to thank the Old Rancaguan Press and the Rampant Lion for the layouts of their respective papers, from which we have borrowed rather heavily. Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this paper do not reflect the opinions or views of Yssaria, its leaders, its nobles, or its sheep.
Editor: Aeillien Mandraken
Articles		News in Brief
==== Meet the New King, Same as the Old Queen ==== --by Aeillien Mandraken, August 1st, 2006 Editorial Is Vlad Nosferatus, King of Caligus, who led a rebellion against the former Queen with the stated goal of achieving peace with Yssaria, negotiating in bad faith? While only the man himself, and perhaps his inner council, can know for certain, certain indications suggest that this is in fact the case. Since the rebellion, this reporter has been in touch with the King of Yssaria, Eleran, about the ongoing negotiations with Caligus that started with the aforementioned rebellion. From the beginning of the negotiations, there was trouble. Eleran described to this reporter the process of the negotiations in light of the renewed Yssarian offensive as July rolled by thus: Caligus has declared neutrality, however, they need to realize that the realms they war with need proper concessions or surrenders. I am currently working with Vlad on this, however, nothing seems to be working. His surrender terms are less than favorable and do not seem like surrender terms, they are more like ceasefire terms. Either way, this is all I can divulge right now as they are still hot issues. This paper did not report this at the time in order not to harm the negotiation process, and it, and the war, continued apace in an indecisive lurch fueled with blood. The walls of Domus would resist two more assaults by Yssarian forces before a cease fire would be agreed on late last month, as reported by this paper as well as the Itorunt Informer. Before going any further in describing the anomalies with the current situation, it is worthwhile to stop and consider Caligus’ past history as regards ceasefires. Namely, they seem to have made a habit of violating them, which is part of the intense enmity Yssaria has developed towards that realm, and why our trust for them is so low, on top of the older issues that gave birth to the current war when Yssaria was first founded. The King described one of these incidents aptly in his interview with Fontan’s Fundemental Freelancer: Eleran the Count died in the battle for Winkimus as the late Eagle's Reach, high marshall of Caligus killed him. ……. Caligus interrupted their ceasefire by attacking the evening of my Father's burial. There is also the ceasefire that was declared during the winter holidays, which again was violated by Caligus as it grasped (short lived) victory at the price of their honor. These things were done under the authority of the previous ruler, it is true, but as this paper noted in its article covering the rebellion, Vlad, and many of the other nobles who took part in the rebellion, were in the upper echelons of power in that realm. Recent events suggest, it seems, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And now, to the present. The current ceasefire is based on a timetable and a process for bringing peace between the two realms, and all seemed well at first. As the days went on, Yssaria entered what can only be referred to as an odd dance with Caligus to confirm if they were in the process of going through the peace agreement. First we pretended to move towards Domus, presumably to see if they would withdraw, and then moved into Aestus to see if they would withdraw from that province in preparation for handing the region over. Seeing as two battles occurred there, the ceasefire already had its first drops of bloodshed on its promise of peace. The process whereby this ceasefire was to become peace was not assured by the compliance of Caligus alone, Perdan’s part in the process is central and unavoidable. According to the agreement, Perdan will give Partora and “connecting regions” to Caligus, and Caligus will in turn give Domus to Yssaria. Thus would Perdan cleave the half of their battered realm to save their allied realm. Were it true, it would be generious in the utmost by Perdan. Then, a curious thing happened. The Itorunt Informer reported the ceasefire, and mentioned its doubts as to Perdan doing its part. In an ensuing series of letters among the editors of this paper, the II, and The Rampant Lion, it was determined that the deal was not anywhere close to being as set in stone on Perdan’s end, and that Perdanese nobles had not been informed of this rather significant agreement. What conclusions can we draw from this? The options are not many. Either Clarissa and Vlad are negotiating in good faith, but have kept their agreement quiet (I should note that the specifics of this agreement have not, as of yet, been reported in the Caligan Courier), or Vlad negotiated away what is not his to negotiate without consulting his ally, or one, or both, of the realms are lying. This reporter notified King Eleran about what he had learned, and his response was thus: I have some doubts about the ceasefire ON DOMUS. Clarissa and Vlad are probably buying some time. That is why the rest probably do not know about the ordeal. Oh well, Vlad has eleven days to comply. He won't be able to and we simply go back to war. Because Yssaria is an honorable realm, I know that unless we are outright provoked or the ceasefire breaks down, we will give Vlad the full measure of the time we have given him to prove this paper and the Yssarian nobles who view Caligus with the utmost suspicion wrong. Tomorrow, one week from the inception of the timetable will have passed, and one week will remain. It is but a matter of time to determine if Caligus will, or even can, honor the agreement they bargained for, or if they will demonstrate that though the head of that realm may change, its corruption has spread to its very heart, and Yssaria must continue grimly to attack them until Caligus lies as dust. And do not doubt the outcome. With Itorunt having reached peace with Perdan, and Perdan itself having just had an army crash through its capital, Caligus stands alone, and Yssaria, if it re-engages, will re-engage the conflict with its full force of arms and fury, and with the aid of its allies. The choice for Caligus is clear, some honor in defeat, or total dishonor leading to total destruction. ==== Month in Review ==== --by Aeillien Mandraken, August 1st, 2006 Feature July was a long, busy month. As predicted by this paper in June, it was especially busy for Perdan and her allies. Itorunt marched north along the western coast of the continent and has signed a peace agreement (search for the article dated 8/1/06). Ibladesh continues in its war against Perdan, not being part of the peace agreement with Itorunt, and also experienced some gains at Perdan’s expense during the month. Yssaria experienced the last offensive gain for the month in it's front of the war in Aestus. Shortly after this Caligus experienced a rebellion based around achieving peace. The month saw two unsuccessful assaults on Domus, after the second one an uncertain ceasefire was signed between the two realms. Ubent signed a surrender with the southern federation which is no completed, it is now diminished to a three province realm. The original peace agreement seems to have stipulated that each of the three federated allies would received a province, in the end, Yssaria received one and Ibladesh received two. Perdan experienced a painful assault from Fontan and Sirion, who successfully took over East Continent/Bescanon and several other territories. Perdan recovered some of its loses while the northern allies regrouped, but in a second wave they have successfully attacked Perdan’s capital at Partora. The overthrow of the monarchy in the Kalmar Islands by troop leaders originally from Avamar finally resulted in a conflict between Old Rancagua and the newly minted realm, but the conflict ended in a peace of sorts when the former King Prometheus was elected as its chancellor.		August 1st, 2006 Huge Battle Fought A battle occurs in Partora: Perdan defeats Fontan, Sirion Estimated combat strengths: 16000 CS vs. 12000 CS July 31st, 2006 Huge Battle Fought A battle occurs in Partora: Fontan, Sirion defeat Perdan Estimated combat strengths: 13000 CS vs. 5000 CS Huge Battle Fought A battle occurs in Brive: Perdan defeats Fontan, Sirion Estimated combat strengths: 18000 CS vs. 4000 CS Huge Battle Fought A battle occurs in Partora: Fontan, Sirion vs. Perdan Estimated combat strengths: 25000 CS vs. 17000 CS The battle ends undecisivily.
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