Foreign Concerns Gazette/Year 453 - 453.5

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***IT'S WAR!***

**Stoicism, Zeal, Opportunism, Ambivalence From Cosmic Powers As Millions Die Months Into Imperial Space Conflict.**

**Economic News:**

* "The Bonds of Trade, Severed" *Alusian-Shantine War Leads Fialta Imperium to End Trade With Bishant. Thalranese Blockade of Del'Mar blocks Imperium-Alusian Trade Link, Forcing Imperium To Route Alusian Trade Through Aeldrum.*
	+ "Selective Enforcement?" *Serene Duchy of Aeldrum Maintains Trade With All Factions As Imperium Alleges Shantine War of Aggression Invokes Treaty of Sevalne To End Trade. Imperium Allegation Does Not Appear to Extend to Bishant's Thalranese Allies, Whose Trade Remains Welcome in Imperium.*
* "Gains From Others' Losses" *Aeldman Arms Industry Poised to Reap Enormous Windfall From Arms Sales. Serene Doge Pledges Armed Neutrality With Sales To All Parties In War.*
	+ "Giving It All We've Got" *As Warring Powers Turn To Outsiders For Materiel, Aeldman Arms Production Capabilities Could See Fullest Proportion of Utilization Since First Coalition War.*
	+ "Getting In On The Game?" *With Del'Mar Blockaded, Imperial Materiel Support to Alusia Will Depend Either on Translane Transportation or Aeldman Pass-Through Rights. Translane Transportation Offers Safety Valve, but Volume Expected to be Highly Constrained.*
* "Demand Crash" *Alusian F1 Receipts Fall Precipitously With Loss Of Shantine Demand. Aeldman-Shantine F1 Options Likely To Go Unexercised.*
* "Fiscal Squeeze" *Sermayean Stock Market Plummets as Speculation on Easy Money From Low Aeldman Interest Rates Fails.*
* "Rescue Investment" *Bank of Valdos, Sermayean Government Reach Agreement For Fiscal Injection: Sermayean Economy Expected to Stabilize Rapidly. Sermayean Council President:* "We Are Optimistic That This Year Will Close Out As Our Seventh Straight Year Of Growth Above the Historic Average."
* "Total Economic Mobilization" *Signs In Alusia, Bishant of Total Economic Overhaul For War. Mass Mobilization Expected to Cause Labor Shortages. Pressure on Domestic Industry May Be Alleviated By Foreign Support.*
* "On Track For A Fiscal Surplus" *Serene Doge Emiir Touts Imminent Fiscal Surplus, but Experts Raise Doubts.* "If Emiir Can Do It, It's a Political Windfall For His Model, but this Economic Leadership Has Not Shown Anything Approaching Fiscal Discipline in a Decade."
* "A Regime For Intellectual Property" *Talks Rumored Among Aeldrum, Sermaye, Saldan and Bank of Valdos to Establish International IP Protection Regime. Proposed Intellectual Property Board Could Have Backing of Leading Technological and Economic Powers.*
* "Moneypit" *Critics Deride Aeldman Intervention in LoSR:* "We've Destroyed Their Economy, and Now We're Paying to Keep It On Life Support."
* "Can't Fight Forever" *Observers Speculate That Thalranese Forces, Though Bolstered By Union Gains, May Need to Resort to Plunder or Debt to Pay Soldiers If Conflict Extends Too Long.*
* "Currencies Wobble" *Anticipating Enormous Trade Deficits for Military Mobilization, International Markets Edge Down on Shantine, Alusian Drachmas, Up On Aeldman Ducat and Imperial Crown.*

**International Relations and Affairs:**

* "Kirvans, The Time Is Now" *Shantine Empress Theoboda Throws Full Moral Weight Into Kirvan Insurgency. Empress Makes Dire Allegations Against Alusian Government, From Kidnapping to Brainwashing to Human Experimentation. Empress's Speech Accompanied by Angelic Summoning, Kirvan Pageantry and Rebroadcast Across Cosmos: Protests and Riots Against Alusian Embassy in Aeldrum, Bishant.*
* "No Backing Out" *As Ahlam Insurgency Simmers, Alusian State Presents Demands to Shantine Empress, Is Rebuffed With Declaration of War of Kirvan Liberation. Kirvan Church Reveals Demands Included Dismantling of Knights of Adarnum and Abolition of Worship of Adarnum.*
* "Ending All Pretense" *Princes Armalos and Cattrel Issue Thalranese Declaration of War Against Alusia, Bringing An End to Long Standoff Over Fialta Union. Cattrel's "*Blood In The Water" *Speech Receives Cheering Acclaim From Hundreds of Thousands of Thalranese Warriors.*
* "Call For Discussion" *Fialta Emperor Calls For Cooler Heads to Prevail,* *Forewarns of Calamity For All Sides In Alusian-Shantine War.*
* "Aeldmen Non-committal" *Aeldrum Pronounces Armed Neutrality, No Change In Trade Relations With Any Powers. Serene Doge Emiir Takes Negative Position On Conflict Overall But Gives No Indication of Support For One Side Or Another.*
* "Alusia Defiant" *Alusian State Calls For International Support Against Excesses of Radical Kirvanism, Religious Intolerance.*
* "Stern Warning" *Aeldrum Issues Stern Warning To League of Sovereign Republics In Connection to Southgate Train Station Bombing At Semal.*
* "Terms Dictated to LoSR" *Count Orvhim Quits Sickbed to Issue Terms to Premier of League of Sovereign Republics, Secures Total Agreement: Aeldrum Will Maintain Navigational Control Over LoSR Space, Installing Checkpoints At All LoSR Gates*. *Aeldrum Pledges Short-Term Funding to Sustain LoSR Agriculture, Long-Term Accrediting Program For* "Secure Shipping." *Aeldrum Promises Security Measures Will End When Terror Threat Is Contained: Dragoons Squads and Aeldman Intelligence Officers To Operate In-Country Jointly with LoSR Security Forces*
* "The Union Is Dead In All But Name" *With Capital Lost And Only Remaining Independent Territory Consisting of the Former Shantaran Free State, The Fialta Union Appears All But Destroyed As Its Government And People Become Synonymous With The Shantaran Church.*

**Military, Criminal and Disaster News:**

* "Delays Expected" *Terrorist Organization* "Free Cosmos" *Destroys Part of Southgate Train Station At Semal, Apparently In Bid To Encourage Colonialist Uprising In Aeldman Territories. Aeldman Security Agencies Link FC to League of Sovereign Republics.*
* "Mass uprisings" *Millions of Kirvans and Anti-Regime Protestors Rise Up In Alusian Empire Against Alleged Crimes of the State. Protests Are Concentrated in Ahlam and Lechtus Theaters. Planet of Ahlam Is Site of Militant Uprising, Evidently Aided By Knights of Adarnum, Shantine Regulars and Zanevuela Radicals.*
* "Gunned Down Before The Cosmos" *Patriarch Antim of Ahlam Shown Gunned Down, Apparently By Alusian Forces, While Knights of Adarnum Inbound To Patriarch's Sector.* *Millions Across Cosmos Mourn A Celebrated Force For Tolerant Kirvanism. Succession Unclear Without Vote of Bishops, But Bishop Mirtha of Kirvan Church Was Ahlam's Preferred Successor and Takes Hard Line On Death of Patriarch.*
* "Missing In Action" *Alusian Economic Minister and Prominent Kirvan Marina Nueva Named By Shantine As Leader For Uprising, Is Not Seen For Months. Presumption From Most Sources Is That Marina Was Slain By Alusian State Forces, as Recorded Speeches Go Out from the Alusian Minister First Decrying Arren Kane of KoA then Decrying Alusian State and Illyana Regime.*
* "Struck From Within" *Armed Shantine Officers Appear To Open Fire On Arren Kane and Bodyguard. Kane's Seraphim Dispatch Assailants, But Not Before Assassin's Bullet Strikes Kane.*
	+ "Rumors of the Unwholesome" *Grievously Wounded Kane Reportedly Kept Alive By Fell Biomancy of Knights of Adarnum, With Limited Time Before His Body Fails Entirely.*
* "Making An End" *Arren Kane Takes Command of KoA Warship* "Woe to Tyrants," *Leads Deep Strike Into Alusian Territory, Crashes Ship Into Ahlam Gate Facing Bishant. Thousands of KoA Zealots Perish, Apparently Summoning Angel of Kirva, Reported to be* "Lapheraz" *or* "She Who Remained." *Angel Uses Brief Moment In Reality To Trace Arc of Fire Across Sky, Obliterate Ahlam Palace of State And Surrounding Area.*
	+ "Robust Government" *Empress-Consort Peter and Key Alusian Commanders Slain in Strike, But Alusian Empress and Major Advisors, Most of Brass Remain Alive, Reportedly Offworld.*
* "Swept Up, Swept Aside" *Thalranese Translane Fleet Pounces on Alusian Blockade at Firhbank, Clearing Way for Vast Thalranese Conventional Fleet. Thalranese Break Alusian Forces At Firhbank, Seize Union Territory.*
	+ "Boundaries" *Thalranese Land and Conquer Union Worlds but Steer Clear of Imperium Patrols Around Worlds of Defector-Princes. Though Unprotected by Alusian or Other Forces, Thalranese Do Not Enter Etherspace of Shantaran Free-State's Former Worlds.*
	+ "For Thalran!" *Warlord Priestess Marinia Joins* "War of Fialta Liberation" *to Restore Fialta Culture in Union, Alusian Territories, Aligns Herself with Thalranese Marcher Lords*
	+ "Next On the Agenda" *Thalranese Destroy Alusian Fleet At Del'Mar, Impose Blockade. Some on Del'Mar, Formerly a Fialta World, Appear to Cheer Thalranese Move, While Others Sternly Man Understrength Gate.*
* "It Takes More Than That!" *Sevrar Orvhim, Campaigning for Dogeship of Neveth Spire, Survives Assassination Attempt, Apparently from FC in Retaliation for Aeldman Threats to LoSR.*
* "Bombs for Bombs" *Shantine, Alusian Fleets Meet In Ahlam Theater: Reports Indicate Both Sides Detonated Two Null Bombs Over Course Of Brutal Engagement. Alusians Staged Highly Effective Fighting Retreat In First Phase Of Battle, Destroying Bulk of Inexperienced Shantine Raiders, But Alusian Communications and Morale Failed In Critical Moment, Giving Shantine Elite Ships Opportunity To Sow Confusion And Precipitate Rout: Shantine Control Ahlam Etheric Space After Grievous Casualties On Both Sides*
	+ "Horrific Scale" *Over Seven Million Deaths Reported From Multiple-Null Bomb Engagement, as Fleets Crewed By Millions Annihilate Each Other. Experts Anticipate Tens of Millions May Be Raised for War Effort By End of Year, Many To Die In Their First Engagement.*
* "Shooting Fish In A Barrel" *Aeldman Navy Annihilates LoSR Elite Raider Fleet with Minimal Casualties, Captures Freshly Raised Fleet, Imposes Total Blockade On All Internal and International Trade. Economic Chaos Reported, Famine Expected. Aeldman Deaths From Engagement Hit 3,000: Estimated LoSR Deaths Exceed 50,000*

**Culture and General Interest:**

* "Two Visions" *Alusian-Shantine War Invites International Commentary on Two Models for Cosmic Stability. Ethnic and Religious Separatism Displayed by Shantine, Fialta in Recent Peaceful Transfers Given Violent Expression Against Alusian Model, Which Presents Right to Rule as Independent of Religion, Asserts Tolerance For Rule by Non-Coreligionists.*
* "A Very Special Episode" *Alusian Television Deals With Fear, Uncertainty of War Through Different Lenses. Flagship* "Welcome to the Family" *Focuses On Home Front of Conflict, Importance of Unity, Pitching In to Help, While Other Shows Have Main Characters Drafted To Heroically Defend Alusia.*
* "Political Struggle" *Aeldman Political Scene, Roiled By Fall of Guillarme Administration, May Face a Reckoning in Midterms, As Neoconservatives Appear Poised to Lead Parliamentary and Aristocratic Votes. Industrialists Put Forward Strong Campaigns Dominated by Guillarme Allies, Dark Horse Candidates From Religious Parties Galvanized By Secularist Violence Poll Strongly In Democratic Spires and Populist Districts. Colonialist Coalition Appears Threatened as Doge Luvelath Fights for Spire Dogeship.*
* "Birth Control Is Here" *Aeldman Government Announces Approved Birth Control Drug.*
* "Kirvanism Is Not a Cult of Adarnum" *Aeldman Patriarch Issues Statement of Solidarity with Alusian Kirvans, Decries Shantine Interventionism, Asserts Aeldman Religious Course Independent and* "Unique To Our Great Nation"
* "They. Are. Coming." *Silk Thread of the Church of Spires Al'Hazred Delivers Three Hour Lecture on* "The Long Apocalypse" *and Death of the Gods, Heralded by* "Thannasid God Kings"
* "Spiran Sacrifice or Sinister Scheming?" *Leaked correspondence from the Aeldman Department of Intelligence suggests that the supposed ritual sacrifices in the colonies may have actually been an attempt to slander the Church of the Spires. Ethernet cafes buzz with potential culprits - the late Baron Vanel being at the top of many lists.*
* "A Proud Tradition" *Thalranese Cartoons, Some Signed By Prince Armalos, Skewer Aeldman Nonintervention*
	+ "Behave Yourselves, Children" *Thalranese Political Cartoons Depict Champagne-Swilling Elf on Mountain of Guns Wagging Finger At Brawling Shantine and Alusian Caricatures*
	+ "We're Above It All" *Second Cartoon Series Shows Aeldman Dinner Party Conversation: Short, Tweed Jacketed Emiir Bemoans Needless War, While Tuxedoed Guillarme Hands Goodie Bags Marked* "Ammo" *Out the Window, and Orvhim Moves Toy Soldiers Around Map of LoSR From Wheelchair*
* "Wrangling Over Truth" *Competing Alusian, Shantine Propaganda Seeks to Dominate Narrative of Coup, Unfolding Uprising and War. Alusian Propaganda Focuses on Excesses of Arren Kane and Footage of Pacifist Statements From Theoboda, Shantine Propaganda Attacks Credibility of Alusian State. Excerpts Provided:*
	+ "Recognize Your True Savior! After railing against Marina and spouting increasingly wild conspiracy theories about the Alusian government, Kane continues to self aggrandize stating, "I have done way more for Kirvanism than any monarch!" (expletives omitted) and calls for all Kirvans to join the new Church of Adarnum."
	+ "Listen only to those you trust!" *Empress Theoboda returns to Shantine channels broadcasting into Alusia to warn Kirvans of the false nature of her likeness being shown on Alusian-controlled airwaves.* "You have seen my message before, echoed through the mouths of your faith and community leaders... listen to only those you trust!"
* "Welcoming Our New Brothers In Style" *Marcher Forces Celebrate Victory At Firhbank With Wild Parties. Celebratory Gunfire Rings Throughout Night At Firhbank Gate, Dozens Reported Dead In Drunken Duels. Thalranese Commander Gal'Tiel "Drinking's The Best Diplomacy There Is"*
	+ "Basking In Dres'Fialt's Glow?" *Thousands of Fialta Soldiers Come To Honor Sword of Dres'Fialt. Later Photographs Show Thalranese Infantry Carousing With Marinia's Followers. Recently Pardoned Warrior Priestess Reportedly Breaks Arms Of Multiple Challengers In Exhibition Arm Wrestling Match, To Approving Cheers.*