Foreign Concerns Gazette/Year 536 - 537

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Category:Session Summaries
A Wonder of the Cosmos – Alusia Unveils Artificial Planet
Casualty Report: 
*Leandran Inquisition: 250,000 dead in Bishant, over 2 million detained
*Plague of Silence: 70,000 dead
**Shantine Empire: 15,000 dead, mostly Leandran
**Alusian Empire: 2,000 dead
**Fialta Imperium: 20,000 dead, mostly Valdosian or Dalthadi
**Aeldrum: 3,000 dead, mostly Valdosian or Dalthadi
**Other powers: 30,000 dead
*Celestial Pacification: 50,000 dead
**GCC: 500 dead
**Brass Cities-Occupied Limei: 40,000 dead
**Aksai-Occupied Kolong: 10,000 dead
*Occupation of the Dominions: 600,000 dead
**Shantine Quarter: 500 Shantine, 30,000 Nipponese dead
**Alusian Quarter: No Casualties Reported
**Aeldman Quarter: 200 Aeldmen, 5,000 Nipponese dead
**Fialta Quarter: 1000 Fialta, 20,000 Nipponese dead
**Brass Cities Quarter: No drone statistics, 500,000 Nipponese dead [cumulative over last two years]
Economic Report: 
*Plague of Silence slows economic growth as states keep borders open, but curfews and public anxiety keep consumers home and place added constraints on commerce. Greatest public reaction to Silences is within Fialta Imperium and Valdosian Free State.
International News:
*"Sermaye is the Dealmaker" Sermaye Continues Leading Role as Cosmic Broker, Bringing Unique Combination of Free Market Principles with Valdosian Contractual Rectitude.
*
*"A Brass Curtain Falls Over Limei" Brass Cities Forces Complete Occupation of Limei, As Hundreds of Thousands Flee in Overcrowded Vessels to GCC Territory to Escape "Fate of Nippon."
**"Government in Exile" Prince of Limei Refuses to Recognize Brass Cities "Protective Occupation," Fortifies Compound at Tarim.
**"For The Security of All Peoples" Thousands Die in Etheric Accidents Attempt to Flee Limei, Thousands More Slain in BCC Police Actions on- and off-Planet.
*"Welcome Guests?" Prince of Kolong Welcomes Liberation of Worlds from GCC Occupation, Signs Treaties of Friendship and Mutual Defense with Aksai. 
**"We Are Pacifying the Planet" Aksai Forces Carry Kolong Banners Over Middle Kingdom Border to "Disarm" Recalcitrant Duke.
**"Respecting the Border" King of Aksai Vows That Aksai Forces Will Not Take Any Worlds for His Kingdom, Emphasizes "Sovereign Rights" of Middle Kingdom Duchies.
*"Keshig is the Bellwether" Prince of Keshig's Marriage Ties to Fialta Imperium Bring Outsized Attention to Principality's Policy on Aksai and Brass Cities Intervention – Prince of Keshig Remains Silent, Keeps Forces Within Status Quo Ante Territorial Boundaries.
*"How Long Can Cooperation Last?" Observers Question Stability of Aksai-Brass Cities Combination Without Outside Pressure from Veiled Dominions or GCC. Anonymous Celestial Diplomat Remarks, "The Brass Cities Seem to Have the Confidence of the Imperial Powers, and Aksai Lends an Inner-Celestial Legitimacy to Their Policy, But It Seems Likely that One or the Other Will Find Cause to Defect Soon."
Military and Disaster News:
*"Root Them Out" Investigations within GCC Overturn Rampant Veiled Influence, Violent Cross-Fire of Accusations from Dignitaries and Civil Functionaries Confuses Public Opinion. Aeldman Garrison Commander at Tarim, Montaignard Dulac, Promises Conditional Nonintervention: "Let 'em sort it out. Best policy. Unless the Doge says otherwise."
*"Dalthadis get it Worst" Field Hospitals Report that Silence Plague Causes Intense Withdrawal Symptoms in Dalthadis, Endangers Contract Integrity for Bonded Valdosians, Causing Panic in Valdosian Free State. Thalranese, Volunites, Idolmarites, Yonthanrists and Kirvans Infected by Disease Report Depression and Severe Existential Dread. 
*"Outliers" Idolmarites Appear to Have Strongest Biological Symptoms, Intense Flu-Like Patterns. Shantarans Experience Extreme Paranoia, Othali Symptoms Vary Wildly – Some Report Severe Mental Fog, Others Claim, "I Can Finally Sleep Without Being Tormented by Questions I Will Never Answer."
*"We Haven't Had It Yet" Large Populations of Followers of Savage Gods Largely Unaffected, But Early Cases Suggest Unusual Symptoms for Worshippers of Dravak – Aphasia Common.
*"Not the Only Silence" Activist Groups such as Chelonian-Based "One Cosmos Foundation" Criticize "Hideous Indifference" of Great Powers to Cosmic Suffering. ""
*"Prove Your Loyalty" Shantine Empress Lapheraz Demands Millions of Adarnans Demonstrate Their Loyalty to Church and State in Wake of Assassination and Attempted Coup. 
**"Deep Cleansing" Tens of Thousands of Knights of Adarnum Surrender Themselves to Knights of Leandra to Undergo Ritualistic Cleansing: In Shocking Departure from Protocol, All Who Begin Procedure Are Burned to Death Rather Than Scarred, All Who Attempt to Flee or Resist Entering Baptismal House Are Gunned Down Or Hacked to Pieces by Knights of Leandra.
***"We Are At War" Surviving KoA Leadership Renounces Imperial Regime, Vows Vengeance Against KoL.
***"Are We Though?" Shantine Navy Remains Largely Inactive as KoL Carries Out Apparent Rogue Mission Without Apparent Comment For or Against from Empress.
*"Null Bombs Anonymous?" Sermaye Unveils Completion of Null Bomb Tracing Program, Funded as Joint Effort of Fialta, Shantine, Alusian and Aeldman Governments Begun Under Leadership of Alexander Wynn. Sermaye-Led Program, Finalized With Data From Joint Null Bomb Efforts to Close Reality-Tear in Conduit Space, Claims to Identify Unique Etheric and Null Signatures from Process Idiosyncrasies in Production of Superweapons Across Countries, Making it Possible to Trace Null Bomb Usage to Specific Powers.
*"Occupation Continues" Casualties Trickle In Across G4 Occupation Zones of Dominions, as Partisans and Occult Threats Claim Lives. Fialta Forces Show Harshest Reprisals, Appear Hardest-Hit By Shadowy Forces In Vicinity of Former Palaces of Veiled Masters.
**"Supply Lines" of G4 Powers, Shantine and Aeldman Have Most Secure Supply Lines, Through Adarnan Dominions and GCC Respectively (Though Anxieties Rise of Adarnan Uprisings Disrupting Shantine Control of Lines to Former Dominions Foreign Quarter) 
*"Garrison Duty" President Hayward of Sermaye Announces Increase in Garrisoning of Outer Sermaye Worlds, Increased Naval Presence.
Economic and Technology News:
*"Fialta Announce Vaccine" Lightning Development effort from Fialta Imperium Claims Vaccine for Silent Plague, Promises Industrial Production within a Year.
*"Bonanza" Telranian King Announces Discovery of "The Well" Seemingly Endless Quicksilver Deposit Running Past Core of Bowl-Shaped Telrion. 
**"Specia Rights" Alusia Buys Right of First Refusal on Market Purchases for Quicksilver, and Direct Ownership of Half of Output from Well. Speculation that Enormous Quicksilver Stores Will Service New Projects on Artificial Alusian World. 
**"Something to Fight About" Kingdom and Republic of Telrion Break off Scheduled Talks as Disputes Over Drainage and Siphoning Rights Escalate Before Any Actual Exploitation of The Well.
*"Prestige Posts" Sermaye BoV Becomes Premiere Prestige Destination for Internships, Early Career Positions in Sermaye Financial World, Trading on Perceptions of Quantitative Rigor and Proximity to State and Economic Functions.
*"The Wonder of the Modern Cosmos" Alusian Regent Unveils National Mega-Poject, Artificial Planet and Pocket Dimension Created in Outer Alusia. 'Kyrashvell' is Larger Than Any Known World, Estimated to Support Up to a Billion Inhabitants at Density Comparable to Bishant.
**"Open and Close" Artificial Pocket Dimension Comes With Perfectly Equilibrated Etheric Gates and Systems to Seal, Even Reorient Gates With Minimal Energy Expenditure.
**"Weather As You Like It" Weather Control Systems, Vast Canal, Quicksilver and Etheric Pump Networks Promise to Give Alusia Fine Control Over Already Benign Planetary Climate – Agricultural Yields May Be "Close to Perfect"
**"Cover the World" Millions of Alusian and Foreign "Pioneers" Invited to Kyrashvell to Receive Land Grants, Populate Planetary Biosphere.
**"A New Capital?" Speculation Mounts that Kyrashvell May Supplant Reilla as Alusian Imperial Capital, Or Could Serve as Regional Capital for Outer Alusia.
*"Extending the Etherrail" Semalese-Sermaye-Deutschreich Etherrail Ventures Add New Partner In Project to Develop Line from Semal to Orcish Directorate Quarter of Pin Jump.
*"The Age of Megaprojects?" Increased State Spending Amidst Economic Crisis Could Spur Competition Over Prestige Infrastructural Projects, Speculate Saldanese Economists.
*"AI Speculation" Venture Capital Spending Surges Toward Investment in Intelligent Machines, Soul Computers, As First Commercial Deployments Show Promise.
*"New Business As Usual" Trade Blockages Slow, Rather Than Halt Commerce As Silent Plague Spreads, But Commercial Ecosystems Show Greater Resilience After Five Years of Chaos, Favoring High-Margin Goods and Placing a Premium on Robust Networks.
Cultural News:
*"We Won't Go Back" Resistance Movements to Contract Corrections Galvanize in Valdosian Free State, Thalranese Marches, As Individuals With Defective Contracts Allege Silence Plague Makes It "Hazardous" To Accept Any Return to Valdosian Contracts.
*"Who Is To Blame?" Demonstrations of Devotion, Self-Flagellation, Violence Toward Religious Minorities Multiply Throughout Shantine Empire as "Leandran Inquisition" Reaches Fever Pitch. Congregations Especially Afflicted by Silence Seek to Restore Leandra and Kirva's Presence Through Mass Burnings and Impaling of Suspected Apostates and Heretics.
**"You're Not Forgotten" Kirvan Religious Frenzy Surges in Occupied Dominions as Local Priests Attempt to Forestall Infection Through Forced Conversion Rituals for Tens of Thousands of Nipponese. 
**"We Need Safe Places" Knights of Adarnum and Leandra Skirmish Over Limited Number of Sacred Sites in Outlying Shantine Territories, Believed to Protect and Restore Against Silent Plague.
*"Muted Response to Silence Plague... Except Bishant" While Deaths Mount and Statements of Solidarity from Churches Multiply, Disease Continues to Gain Ground Without Radical Response Outside of Convulsing Bishant.
*"Calling Him Out" With Hundreds of Thousands Dead Empress Lapheraz Breaks Monthslong Silence, Declares Leandra As Kirva's Chosen Over Adarnum, Links Leandra and Shantine State Inextricably. Sectarian Violence Spikes. KoA Chapter Master on Korinth, Angelos Petrelos, Commits Suicide in Prison Cell on Day of Announcement Apparently Without Any News of Outside Events, Daubs Walls in Mysteriously Burnt Blood: "He Heard You."
*"Election Month Surprise" Elections in Aeldrum Upended By Revelations of Intelligence Sources Pointing to "Pattern of Intentional Targeting of Civilian Targets" by Rykard Drost Throughout Intelligence Service in Flashpoint Zones Within Aeldman Commonwealth. 
**"We Will Investigate" Aeldman Government Promises Investigation of Claims, Makes No Further Changes.
**"Do We Care?" Aeldman Public, Seemingly Exhausted by Long Years of Crisis, Registers Widespread Apathy to Drost Allegations, Focus on National Security. Polling Expert Galston "Gal" Loppe, "The Alusians Bombed a Million People With WMDs and Nobody Cared. We Bombed a Million Nipponese with Conventionals and Nobody Cared. The Impression From Our Polls Is that the Aeldman Voter Considers It Immaterial Whether Mister Drost Killed Civilians, Given That They Were All Foreigners."
**"And You Work With Thannasids!" Industrialist Parliamentarians Answer Drost Allegations by Claiming SNPs Have Knowingly Worked with Thannasid Agents. 
***"So What?" SNP Party Leader, Governor Hileth Vendrin of Crossways, Proclaims Right of "Free Thinking Secularists" to Associate With Any Sovereign Power, "Regardless of the hysterics of foreign churches" 
**"Long Arm of the Lawe" Accusations Mount that Reagan Lawe Fed Leaked Information on Drost Case to SNPs. Defiant Lawe Answers Critics, "If I did it, that would imply I merely informed the Aeldman people of the [expletive] psycho who was supposedly keeping them safe at night. That would make me a [expletive] hero of democracy, and Volune knows we don't have many of those. You know, if I did it. By the way, I congratulate the Secular Nationalists on their victory. Good job, I knew you could do it. Not in any legally actionable way, though."
*"What About Crispin?" Legacy of Doge Bareth Resurfaces as Topic of National Discussion in Aeldrum, Pushed by Groundswell of Attention to Aeldman Elections in Breakaway States, Concentric Focus on National Leadership In Apparent Vacuum.
*"Two Pitches" After Trading Allegations, Industrialists and Secular Nationalists Make Competing Pitches to Aeldman Public: Industrialists Claim Economic Prosperity In Spite of Crisis, SNPs Demand Aeldrum-First Policy Amidst Cosmic Uncertainty.
*"An Election of Apathy" SNPs Achieve Razor-Thin Parliamentary Margin, As Disenchanted Minority Parties that Keep Faith With Industrialist Coalition See Collapse In Voter Turnout. 
**"Far From Over" Serene Doge LaPaix is Predicted to Stymie SNP Agenda Through Virtually Insurmountable Veto.
**"..If He Can Leave Sickbed" LaPaix's Health, Inaction in Election Played Depressive Role on Industrial Party Performance, MPs Claim. Noted Industrialist, Baron Chartres Nebai, "Impeachment Would Only Lead to a SNP, So He Has To Stay Now... But It Was Irresponsible Not to Resign."
**"What Does It Mean to Be Industrialist?" Election Analysis Published by Emiirates Group Suggests Loss of Industrialist Identity, Cession of Moral Ground to SNPs: "The Industrial Party Must Recover Its Moral High Ground Against Secular Nationalism If It Is To Rebuild the Pluralist Coalition: It Has Made Itself Morally Indifferent, And Allowed the SNPs to Present Themselves as an Ideology Against Competitors Without One."
*"Let My People Go" First Parliamentary Act of New SNP Majority Parliament Lifts Quarantine and Curfew Requirements Within Aeldrum.
*"(Back) To the Promised Land" Rumors of Enclave Evacuation of Faithful Citizens to Unblighted Inner Worlds Spurs Frenzy in Enclave Hinterworlds.