York Journal/Issue 10
 The York Journal
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| Cost: 1 silver | January 08 | Editor(s): Relkin Sypher |
| The News |
| Norland attacks Mansbridge | By Relkin Sypher | January 28th '08 |
This evening Norland launched an attack on the heavily defended walls of Mansbridge. More than 1,100 Vikings faced nearly 1,200 brave soldiers of Minas Ithil. Some troops charged from the gates as Norland approached and slowed Norland's efforts at setting up the various siege implements they had dragged with them. This proved to be beneficial as it slowed Norland's approach and disrupted their battle lines. Norland did manage to scale the walls but their fate was sealed and they were soon pushed back over the wall. The York Journal estimates that Norland suffered almost 950 wounded or killed against about 440 for Minas Ithil. More Norland troops were seen in the surrounding regions but it is not known why these forces did not participate in the battle. Perhaps some malady in Norland's camps ?
| Changes in York Duchy | By Relkin Sypher | January 28th '08 |
The York Duchy has some new additions. The region of Melmoor ruled by Count Cochrane Fentworth has joined York Duchy. The York Duchy now holds seven regions in addition to the city itself. This makes York Duchy the largest of all the Duchy's of Minas Ithil by far, making up half the kingdom.
Winwich has a new Countess, the Lady Jeanette Devereaux. The Countess was installed in a ceremony held by Lord Dante Raiva, the Royal Treasurer of Minas Ithil and Duke of York. Countess Jeanette Devereaux is a long serving member of Minas Ithil whose hard work has been a benefit to all of Minas Ithil. Congratulations on behalf of the York Journal.
| Cagilan Empire Responds | By Relkin Sypher | January 21st '08 |
The following letter was received by the offices of the York Journal. The unsigned letter contained no indication of who it was from other than the writer identifying themself as a Noble of the Cagilan Empire. The letter has been published as it should be of interest to the nobility of Minas ithil and is published without modification. The writer's opinions are their own and should be no reflection one way or another of the opinion of the York Journal and the people of Minas Ithil.
Greetings, Sir Relkin. I must say that I'm disappointed to see a noble of Minas Ithil to be so sympathetic to his enemy.
"But Suville is not my enemy," I imagine you would say. Make no mistake, Suville has the same dark ambitions and the same ravenous hunger as Abington. The only reason it is not currently a threat to the rest of the continent is because it lacks the strength of its predecessor. And that may someday change, unless we make sure that day never comes.
Suville sits atop the former lands of Abington. The vast majority of her nobles were once under the banner of Abington. Their habits, manners of speech, and culture are all that of Abington. And even after Abington has become nothing more than a putrid corpse, these same nobles continue to poison their peasants' minds with that joke of a "religion", Aristoi Atamarism. Surely you'll agree that the worship of a dead realm should not be considered a true religion in any sense of the word.
Or perhaps I'm mistaken. Perhaps Abington is not dead at all. Sensing that their popularity and strength had sunk to a new low, thanks to Gauihu, perhaps the nobles of Abington realized that changing their banner was not enough to throw off the stench of evil. Perhaps all this was a clever scheme of Abington to re-brand herself, to cast herself into new clothes, so that her enemies will no longer recognize her. If all went according to plan, her enemies will think that she is gone. They will relax and weaken each other with petty squabbles, while she recuperates and plots her revenge.
A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet. An evil realm, by any other name, would not be any less infernal.
Everything went off without a hitch, initially. The nobles of the Cagilan Empire, like those of many other realms, hailed Suville's birth. Perhaps we have too naive a view of the world. We soon made overtures of peace to Suville in private channels. The elders of The Order made repeated attempts to reconcile with the elders of Aristoi Atamarism; they made passionate pleas of mutual tolerance, understanding, and dialog.
Of course, the priests of Aristoi Atamarism had always held that their dead realm was surely superior. Each offer of peace was rebuffed, and they continued to poison their peasants' minds with the damned lie that The Order is evil, that all Cagilans are evil.
Needless to say, the elders of The Order were frustrated, and the nobles of the Cagilan Empire had become suspicious. We slowly realized that we had been deceived, that our ancient enemy had hidden herself from our eyes while we celebrated her demise. In the end, the arrogance of the nobles of Abington-Suville had been the downfall of their own plans.
So, there you have it. We attacked Suville because she is Abington, or, at least, a smaller, weaker version of Abington, flying a different banner and wearing a different name like a cheap disguise. We believe that her hatred for us still yet lives, and, indeed, the humiliation her nobles suffered in recent months could have only further inflamed that hatred.
Suville will become a threat to the people of the Cagilan Empire, to all realms, as soon as her strength returns. We strike at her to prevent that day from coming, or at least to delay it, for as long as possible.
There will be those who disagree with my assessment, of course. At the border of Suville, the signs already read, to paraphrase, "If you're looking for Abington, you're in the wrong place. GO AWAY."
Perhaps Queen Callisto senses that the jig is up.
| Cagilan Empire attacks Suville | By Relkin Sypher | January 18th '08 |
Cagilan Empire has attacked the fledgling realm of Suville. The first attacks came before Cagilan Empire had officially declared war on the realm. In the most recent battle the heavily outnumbered defenders of the City of Narville were successful in repelling the attackers.
To the knowledge of this paper Suville has made no hostile actions towards any other realms or made any threats. The attack and declaration of war appear to be entirely unwarranted.
| Remembering Sir Decimus Gladius | By Dominus Gladius | January 14th '08 |
Decimus Gladius was a young knight taken before his time. He had nothing but bravery in his heart and dedication in his veins. Always an underdog amongst the nobility he never had the funds, ranking, or political presence of his peers. However, he would never back down from a fight. He knew that each battle was a risk against his life, something that most nobles were unwilling to dedicate themselves too. He was a hero, something that should mean much much more in the conflicted world we live in. Though he did not speak as openly as many, I believe that there is a part of every Ithilian that can relate to him and his sense of honor. May he rest easy now in the afterlife, and may his example help lead others to fill their heart with courage.
| Conflict in the North | By Relkin Sypher | January 11th '08 |
The war continues between Norland and Minas Ithil with victories and losses on both sides. Minas Ithil mourns the death of Decimus Gladius who was killed in battle in Shiverwood.
Meanwhile Dictator Sordnaz appears to be trying to find adequate political cover to re-enter the war. He has accused Minas Ithil of allowing foreign priests to preach in Norland. That Norland has failed to protest this is interesting. This paper has thus far been unable to find any evidence of foreign priests traveling to Norland through Minas Ithil. This paper is also of the opinion that Norland fight its own battles.
If Barony of Makar does attack it will be interesting to see which other realms get involved. One section of Falasan's treaty with Eston would appear to be invalid as the war would be no longer 1v1. It could be that the Barony's entry hurts Norland more than helps if more parties become involved in this war.
| Continuing operations | By Relkin Sypher | January 9th '08 |
Minas Ithil has attacked the region of Shiverwood. The initial attack was disrupted by the arrival of some Barony of Makar troops. Only one MI unit pressed the attack, and the BoM unit joined the defending Norlander troops. Seeing the BoM troops attacking their countrymen they launched a second attack and drove the defenders from the field. Rough counts from the second attack show about twice as many wounded and dead among the Barony and Norland troops.
Meanwhile Norland has attacked Mansbridge unsuccessfully once again. Minor damage to the walls was done as well as some minor casualties among the defenders. Norland attacked with 363 men against the nearly 800 defenders. Casualties for Norland were 237 while Minas Ithil had casualties of 71.
| Defense of Mansbridge | By Relkin Sypher | January 5th '08 |
Norland attacked Mansbridge this morning. The attackers were repelled successfully but a large number of siege engines were seen in the battle causing heavy damage to the fortifications.
Norland attacked with 1192 troops, mostly infantry with a few archers and cavalry against the 1326 defenders. At the end of the battle Norland had casualties of 861 men and Minas Ithil had casualties of 332.
A costly battle for Norland, though it was noted that Norland's forces showed an unusual buildup before the attack.
| New Lord of Dunstoke | By Relkin Sypher | January 4th '08 |
Count Raziel III Himoura has been named the new Count of Dunstoke by Duke Dante. The Himoura family has served the realm of Minas Ithil for generations and is known by many throughout Minas Ithil and Atamara.
