Foreign Concerns Gazette/Year 452 - 453

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*Great Celestial War Ends, But Tensions Rise In Imperial Space: Will Disaster Come From Union Crisis?*

**Economic News:**

* "Going International" *With Strong Connections to Alusia's State-Owned Investment Enterprise and Growing Interests Abroad, Bank of Valdos Appears to Pivot Institutional Focus. Chairwoman Filiki Announces Completion of Fialta Imperium Branch of Bank of Valdos, To Be Responsible for Imperial Needs While Existing Bank Capabilities Reform Into* "International Bank of Valdos."
	+ "Decoupling or Renewed Vows?" *Bank-Watchers Anticipate Pivot to International Bank Could Mean Reduced Long-Term Obligations to Fialta Imperial Government. Others Anticipate Continued Close Partnership with Imperium, Church of Dalthad and See Imperial Branch as Commitment Signal.*
* "Consumer Banking" *Bank of Valdos Draws Tens of Thousands of Economic Units In Consumer Deposits. High Flexibility, Bank's Comparative Advantage in Delivering Interest, Make Valdosian Consumer Banking Highly Popular In Alusia, Imperium.*
	+ "Faith Dividend" *Alusian Kirvan Church Offers Competing Deposit and Loan System, Supplemental Insurance.*
* "Growing Partnership" *Republic of Sermaye Signals Increased Ties to Bank of Valdos. BoV Investment Portfolio to Double in Size.*
	+ "Same Deal" *Growing BoV Portfolio Preserves 20% Stake for Sermayean Government. Bank To Double Issuance of Shares in Valdosian International Investment Fund.*
		- "Hot Opportunity" *Valdosian Investment Fund Consistently Posts Above-Market Returns, Attracts High Valuations on Secondhand Market.*
	+ "Setting Up a Branch" *Sermaye Inks Deal for Sermayean Branch of BoV. Sermayean Branch Targets* "Operating Capacity Equivalent to 50% of Fialta Imperium Branch"
* "The Walled Garden Stays Closed" *Celestial Peace Agreement Forbids Imperial Traders from Entering Celestial Space Except Through Nippon Gates, New Celestial Confederation.* "Celestial Trade Concordat" *Ratifies Tariff-Free Commerce Inside Celestial Space, Preserve Tariff Rules for Goods Passing In and Out of Region.*
	+ "Not In the Club" *CTC Establishes Trade Regime For Middle Kingdom, Aksai, Nipponese, Ashgarate, NCC, Yushan, Triad Princes. Mirror Enclaves Do Not Sign, Brass Cities Excluded.*
	+ "The Arms of Consolation" *Serene Duchy of Aeldrum Establishes Military Supply Rules and Guarantees to Bring Defeated Middle Kingdom, Aksai To Suitable Parity With Nippon States. Deal Preserves, Extends Lucrative Aeldman Arms Monopoly.*
	+ "Get Out" *Bank of Valdos Agrees to Liquidate Holdings in Celestial Space, Transfer Proceeds to Nippon States. Aeldrum Provides Partial Reimbursement to Valdosians on Successful Verification of Sales.*
* "New Friends" *Brass Cities Join Imperial Trade Community, Admitted to TOSTA by Vote of Great Powers, All ToSTA Members But Union.*
	+ "End-Run" *Thalranese Marches Refuse to Acknowledge Vote of Shantaran Union Leadership to Admit Brass Cities. Shantine, Aeldmen, Imperium Demand Union Recorded as Abstaining. Shantaran Leadership Lodges Protest, Refuses All Brass Cities Trade.*
	+ "Raw Material Conversion" *Bank of Valdos Records First Imports from Brass Cities Factories Investments. Imperium Raw Materials Shipped To BCs Return As Capital Goods, Join Growing Reform of Imperial War Industry.*
	+ "Getting Our Money's Worth" *Bank of Valdos Places 5% Tariff On All Trade Goods Passing Through Conduit to Brass Cities.*
* "Going Big" *Shantine Empire Achieves Record Annual Mechanization, Receiving Vast Shipments from Alusia*, *Aeldrum of Consumer Good Factories, Textile Equipment, Agricultural Machines. More Than Half of Estimated* "Surplus Farm Labor" *Has Migrated to Industrial Work.*
* "Colonies Back Online" *Bank of Valdos Receives Shipments from Alusia of Specialized "*Micro-F2 Clusters*" To Support Development of Colonial Territories Near Brass Cities.*
	+ "Making Use of Capacity" *Analysts Predict that Cosmic F1 Demand Has Likely Peaked as Major Consumers Either Lock in Long-Term Arrangements or Seek F2 Systems Outright to Satisfy Local Needs. Some Expectations for Alusia to Focus on Domestic Demand for F1s, Pivot to Exporting F2s.*
* "Spending Surge" *Alusian Military Budget Expected to More Than Double, as Empire Raises Numerous New Ships, Ground Regiments. Long-Term Concerns Emerge About Sustainability of Large Forces as F1s, Alusian Signature Exports, Become Commoditized In Increasingly Competitive Market.*
* "Debut" *Aeldrum Ships First F1s, Product of Aeldman Colonial Development Corporation, to Shantine Empire. Aeldrum Projects All Preordered F2 Capacity Online by End of Next Year.*
* "Outsourcing" *Alusian State Hits Record Domestic Sales of Foundry F1s, Targeting Alusian Industries with Low Capital Prices, Guaranteed Contracts Selling into State-Run Supply Chains.*
* "First Graduates" *Alusian Medical Profession Swells with Graduates of Mass Education Program, Bringing Doctors to Underserved Regions of Empire. Educators, Technicians Slated as Targets of Broadening Training Mandate.*
* "A New Future for Aeldman Industry" *Industrial Coordination Board Hold First Meeting In Newly Completed Headquarters on Aeldrum. Inaugural Chairwoman Baroness Nebai Presides.*
* "Next Generation Computing" *Sermaye Etherics Corporation Debuts* "Portable Terminal" *Technology, Offering Peer-to-Peer Connection for Civilian Computing Systems, Without Need for Centralized Mainframe.* "PTs" *Offer Lower Computing Capability, But May Be Deployed Without Need for Intensive Infrastructure.*
* "It Bleeds Quicksilver" *Telranian Mining Company Claims Improved Yields, Better Safety From* "Gossamer Mining" *Using Bio-Engineered Derivatives of Deep Ether Species to Draw Quicksilver From Soil.*
* "Debt Explosion Trends Down, but Not Abated" *Aeldman Debt Grows Another 4,600 Economic Units, Keeping Interest Rates Higher, But Down from Extreme of 11,000 EU of Debt Previous Year. State Receipts Continue to Outpace Interest Growth, But State Debt Grows Faster Than Economy for Fifth Year Running.*
	+ "It's Not About Finishing Projects, It's About Fundamentals" *Parliamentary Critics Say Aeldman Budget Deficit Will Not Close After Major Outlays Such as Industrial Coordination Board Are Off Books. Estimates Show Baseline Maintenance and Credit Programs Exceed Aeldman State Receipts.*

**International Relations and Affairs:**

* "Peace in Celestial Space" *Treaty of Volune's Gate Marks End of Great Celestial War, Largely Read as Nipponese Victory. Landmark Document Defines Celestial Space Officially, Excludes Brass Cities from Region. All* "Interior" *Powers Signing Document Agree Not to Trade Outside Region.*
	+ "Commerce Before Land" *No Territorial Concessions in Treaty.*
	+ "Navigation Rights" *Treaty of Volune's Gate Grants Patrol Rights to Nipponese, Aeldmen in Regions Deemed at High Risk of Smuggling or Other Violations of Celestial Trade Concordat.*
	+ "Withdrawal" *Fialta Imperium Appears to Recede from Celestial Forefront as Treaty Terms Dictate Aeldman Hegemony.*
* "Proper Stewards" *Alusian Empire Issues Statement of Support for Shantaran High Priestess Diella Neverin as Leader of Fialta Union. Shantaran Church Claims Mantle of Leadership In Power Vacuum Left By Death of Prince Paloctus.*
* "Denunciation and Recrimination" *Alusia Denounces Marcher Presence In Union Firhbank, Threatens to Capture Entirety of Firhbank if Marches do Not Vacate.*
	+ "We Do Not Recognize Your Puppets" *Marchers Claim Shantaran Union Leadership is Illegitimate Imposition of Alusian State, Nullifies Existence of Union.* "There Is No Union Territory to Violate. Only Alusian Imperialism to Defy."
* "The Bargain Is Undone" *Delegation of A Third of Union Princes Assembles at Dalthadi Cathedral in Union Territory. In Ceremony Overseen by Dalthadi Bakken Alia, Princes Declare Union Illegitimate, Reject Alusian* "Imposition" *of Shantaran Leadership. Dissolving Themselves From Union, Princes Swear Allegiance to Fialta Imperium. Bakken Accepts Oaths of Allegiance on Behalf of Emperor Neptos.*
	+ "Illegitimate and Reckless" *Shantarans Denounce Secessionist Princes, Allege Lack of Quorum Made Any Decision Illegal.*
	+ "Tense Co-Existence" *Imperium Ships Enter Union Space To Secure Newly Sworn Princes, Share Patrol Space with Union Ships.*
		- "No Fly Zones" *Alusia, Imperium Declare No-Fly Zones in Joint Patrol Areas; Alusia Issues No-Fly Warning Around Firhbank. Marchers Reply,* "We Cannot Guarantee the Safety of Any Ship in the Alusian Empire and Following the Logic of the Tyrant Illyana and Her Medalled Lapdogs, Encourage All Neutral Merchants to Avoid Alusia's Benighted Space."
* "Religious Tensions Rise" *Empress-Patriarch Theoboda of Bishant Calls on Patriarch of Aeldrum to Protect Flock Amidst Religious Violence, Receives Tirade of Accusations Relating to Brutal Execution of Patriarch of Korinth and Alleged Conspirators,* "I Will Not Be Lectured by a Mass-Murderer." *Relations Between Shantine Church and Aeldman Church Appear at Historic Low.*

**Military, Criminal and Disaster News:**

* "Military Drawdown, But Sales Up" *With Peace In Celestial Space, Troop Counts Decrease but Arms Orders from Imperial Space Only Rise. Tens of Thousands of Thalranese Mercenaries Expected to Return Home, Join Their Nation's War With Alusia.*
* "No More Deaths, No More Maiming" *Orcish Directorate Bans Blood Sport, Arrests Top General for Maintaining Illegal Fighting Ring. Fifty Senior Orcish Officers Resign In Protest.*
* "Phony War?" *Thalranese Jeer at Alusia's Deliberate Pace of Mobilization. Returning Mercenaries from Celestial Conflict Stand for Photographs at Firhbank Siege Lines.* "In the Time It's Taking Them to Get Shoes That Fit Their Conscripts, We Went Clear Across the Cosmos, Beat the Celestials and Came Home to Beat Them Too."
	+ "Back to Lead" *Alusian Crown Prince and Royal Consort Returns From Fialta Embassy Role To Command Alusian Forces at Ahlam.*
* "Humanitarian Crisis" *Alusia Airdrops Supplies to Beleaguered Union Capital. Supplies Promptly Seized by Marinia, Distributed to Her Forces.*
* "Brutal Desecration" *Shocking Images, Video of Defiled Corpses Implicate Radical Spiran Sect. Aeldman Media Alleges Spirans Sought Out Fresh Cadavers to Perform Etheric Augury Using Intestines.*
	+ "Outraged Retribution" *Aeldman Secularist Groups Denounce Church of Spires, Commit Acts of Violence Against Spiran Congregations. Baron Jacques Vanel Calls for Abolition of Spiranism.*
	+ "Widening Violence" *Aeldman Anti-Religious Sentiment Inflamed, Leading to Riots, Terror Against Aeldman Religious Communities. Kirvans, Spirans, Others Form Militias. Allegations of Partiality as Aeldman Dragoons, Constabular Forces Accused of Cracking Down Hard on Religious Militias, Largely Containing Rather Than Dispersing Secularist Mobs.*
	+ "Removing a Tangle" *Spiran Radicals Assassinate Jacques Vanel Outside Empire Club, Turn Themselves In, Alleging Noloth Guided Their Action.*
* "A Foolish Attempt" *Shantaran High Priestess Survives Assassination Attempt. Assassin, Apparently Elvish, Cleared Bloody Swathe Through Priestess's Bodyguards. Apparently Slain High Priestess Revealed to be Body Double, as Real Diella Neverin Emerged from Among Guards to Incapacitate Assassin.* "We Will Learn Who Guided This Feeble Hand, and We Will Send Them a Proper Example of the Assassin's Craft."
* "Something Rotten in the Kingdom of Veran" *Rumors of Renegade Perfect Princes Overwhelming Veranian Forces Before Being Turned Back In Decisive Battle. Sources Allege Renegades Deployed Superweapon, Possibly Null Bomb, In Desperate Counterassault. Aeldman Forces, Arms Enter Region to Support Veranian Regime.*
* "One Step Ahead of the Law" *String of Daring Heists on Harwel, Pin Jump, Semal Strike Banks, Art Galleries, Private Collections. No Casualties Reported in Heists, Though Two Suicides Followed Private Thefts.*
* "Consumer Protection" *Aeldman Government Accuses Dalthadi Church of Allow Corrupting, Occult Influence in Birth Control Drugs, Vows Extensive Reforms through Aeldrum Pharmaceutical Consortium to Ensure Drug Safety.*
* "More Reforms" *Shantine Military Continues Reform Program. No Outward Expansion, But Deepening of Officer Roster, Equipment and Drill Modernization. Shantine Navy Estimated to be Mostly Raised to* "New Standard" *Set By Shantine Military Reformer, Lord Ontario.*

**Culture and General Interest:**

* "A Moment of Reckoning" *Church of Spires Bands Closer Together Against Outside Violence. Theological Dissensions Deepen as Mainstream Church Blames Splinter Groups for Inciting Religious Hatred, But Within Established Hierarchy and Communities, Signs of Deep Union.*
* "Defining an Alusian Kirvanism" *Patriarch Antim of Ahlam Gives Series of Sermons On* "Uniquely Alusian Religious Virtues."
* "Blame to Go Around" *Denunciations of Baron Vanel Extended to Celestial Immigrants,* "Undue Influence" *of Nipponese Diplomats in Government of Serene Doge Emiir.*
* "Growing Roster" *Alusian Television and Film Offerings Expand, Spearheaded by Enthusiastic Alusian State Department. Rumors of Alusian Funding Plans for Large Scale Media Ministry Dedicated to Producing Alusian Entertainment Programming.*
* "You Can Never Go Home Again" *Cultural Tensions in Druz as Expatriates Find Returning to Guild-Life in Kingdom Challenging.*
	+ "...But Home Is Where You Find It" *Druz, Other Dwarven Communities, Draw Together for Common Opportunity in Aeldrum, Alusia, Sermaye. Dwarven* "Joint Clans" *Become Common, Cultural Crossovers Between Long-Separated Groups Proliferate.*
* "Religious Schism?" *Opinions of Empress-Patriarch Polarize Heavily Outside Shantine Empire, as Supporters Deepen Reverence, Detractors Become More Brazen. Assembly of Aeldman Clergy Submits Petition to End Recognition of Shantine Church to Patriarch of Aeldrum.*
	+ "One Church, One Tithe" *In Counterprotest to Criticisms of Empress-Patriarch, Junior Clergy and Kirvan Laity Across Cosmos Declare They Will Pay Tithes To Bishant, Not Local Hierarchy.*
* "I Know What They Were" *Spiran Silk-Thread Al'Hazred Claims to Decipher Meaning of Mass-Visions of* "Closing Door." *Promises Answers at Mass Gathering of Spiran Faithful Before Aeldrum Spire.*
* "Fialta Nationalism Resurgent?" *Thalranese and Union Prince Criticism of Alusian Interventions in Union Governance, Imperium Acceptance of Princely Fealty Suggest Unusual Intersection of Fialta Powers Around Cultural Self-Determination. Familial Language Underscores* "Fialta Identity" *Back In Play After Era of Often Acrimonious Inter-Cultural Disputes.*
* "Songs of the Pantheon War" *Brass Cities Dispatch* "Drone Orchestra" *To Tour Imperial Space, Perform Ancient Music of Baradun.*
* "An Administration in Crisis" *Amidst Religious Violence, Growing Calls for Resignation of Serene Doge Guillarme du Montreal. Political Alliance with Doge Luvelath, Count Orvhim Collapses as Pair Enter Motion for Impeachment.*
	+ "Defending the Wrong Things" *Guillarme Receives Nationwide Backlash For Speech Attempting to Calm Religious Sentiments. Aeldman Reactionary Movements in Media and Culture Paint Image of a Serene Doge Bent By Foreign Influence and Spiritualism.*
	+ "Compromise" *After Baron Emiir Gives Speech of Support for Defiant Guillarme, Orvhim Proposes Emiir as Judicious Successor. Guillarme Agrees to Resign if Simple Majority Carries for Emiir's Candidacy. Emiir Wins Election by Narrowest Margin, Apparently on Strength of Economic Policy, Religious Neutrality.*
	+ "Cabinet Reshuffle" *Newly Elected Serene Doge Emiir Returns Count Guillarme to Ministry of War. Count Solaire Retains Position as Head of National Intelligence, With Expanded Powers of Arrest and Coordination with Religious Protection Council and Minister for Secular Affairs. Count Orvhim Becomes Secretary of State. Tissa Bachelier Assumes Anticipated Role as Finance Minister, Old Emiir and Guillarme Ally Chella Nebai Heads Industrial Cooperative Board, While Guillarme and Nebai Partner Lunesh Elath (Founder of Aeldrum Mechatronics Corporation) Heads National Science Foundation.* *Emiir Dismisses Luvelath from Government, Leaves Open Slots For Colonial Ministry, Secular Affairs.*