Upper Councilors,

The Lower Council has come to a decision concerning our list of requests and demands if Sanctuary is to be united once again. They are reasonable and fair given past experiences and we trust they will be reviewed dutifully.

1.) A Full Investigation of the Spellguard shall be made into their past and current business by a man of our choosing. He shall choose three men to join him of various skills whom will be allowed to search the Tower with our man unhindered, though our selection will be the only man to make any sort of official decisions. He will take his evidence and findings to the Council and Public for them to vote upon a best course of action.

Our selection is Julian Fryar, whom will pick three men to join him.

1a.) A budget cut from the Spellguard of Five(5) to Ten(10) percent which shall then go towards Lower Sanctuary to see to the many qualities of life that are without a doubt questionable and have been for several decades, as well as the formation of a Lower Watch.

1b.) The removal of the Spellguard's abilities to arrest in Lower Dunwarren (Sanctuary) if not all of Sanctuary, the further removal of their ability to conduct official business with-in. The ability to arrest completely and other duties will be determined best by the investigater after the conclusion of his searches and investigations.

2.)The establishment of an Office who's sole duty shall be to root out corruption within the Council and Civil Defense Forces. He shall be elected for life to avoid any bias or corruption that comes with the elected process and politics and will remain in office unless a 7 to 9 vote by the Council removes him under extreme circumstances. The same number of votes shall also place the Inquisitor in office. This office will have the ability to investigate unhindered and unquestioned into issues of corruption and will present his findings to the Council to be acted upon.

3.) The Establishment of a Lower-Watch which shall be composed mostly of Footmen and Lower Citizens and led by a Lower Friendly Watch Officer of our choosing. The Lower-Officer will report to Sheriff Ronus in almost all affairs, and the Lower-Watch shall become a branch of the Watch to be outfitted and treated similiarily.

4.) Defense and Law Treaty: - The Lower-Watch will police Lower Sanctuary and cooperate with the Upper Watch, while at times even being aided directly by the Upper Watch in times of unrest and criminal action through patrols and pursuit. - The Lower-Watch will be nothing more but a branch of the Upper Watch for the sake of simplicity, except for the fact of a Lower-Friendly Lieutenant whom will command the Lower Watch in the Sheriff's stead and reports directly to the Sheriff Ronus - In times of invasion and siege the Spellguard will be allowed into Lower Sanctuary to defend the gates, and upon the end of the attack expected to return in reasonable time to Upper Sanctuary unless they wish to investigate further, in which case they may scout outside the gates while the Watch investigates inside. - The Laws of Upper Shall become the Laws of Lower with exception of the Spellguard, with fair trial granted to all citizens by the Council, the Lower-Watch enforcing the peace, and a quality of life is expected which shall be similiar to that of Upper. ---

These are only but a start to a functioning and fair Sanctuary, though these are the requests of the Lower Council if Sanctuary is to be unified once more. Once unity is acheived we may focus on the more serious problems within and without our Government that will take more time.

Written by, Christon Noye.

Behalf of the Lower Council of Lower Sanctuary

Lower Councillor Christon Noye,

We have read and considered your proposal, and respond in kind with alterations of our own. A few of your demands are things that we shall not meet, instead I offer compromises instead. I understand that you are in support of reunification of Sanctuary, favorable to Lower. As it stands however, and I beg of you do not take this comment as an offense or a threat; We in Upper Sanctuary hold the chips here. Our military is funded, equipped, and trained. We have more people, more money, and more strength. It is in the interest of avoiding bloodshed and further weakening Sanctuary as a whole that we are seeking a peaceful resolution, and because of this that we have agreed to many of your demands. In any case, I submit this counter-proposal for your approval, and to display to the others of your Council for their approval as well.

The changes I have made are emphasized, for the ease of your reading. There was one clause among it that I by necessity struck out, as it was not something that a law passed by the Council could truly do anything about. It is my understanding and belief that Lower Sanctuary's lifestyle is one brought on by the lack of law over the period of several decades, leading to a decline in economic strength, and an increase in criminal activity. If a better standard of living is achieved for Lower, it will not be directly achieved in this bill, instead it should be persued by its people in the future, with the aid and occasional funding of the Council, as it happened for Upper.

Modified Proposal 1a.) The Watch's budget shall be split in unequal portions favoring the portion of Sanctuary (Upper/Lower) that holds the greater number of registered Citizens and therefore the greater need for protection by the law, to be divided as those in charge of the individual organizations sees fit.

1b.) The Spellguard will retain their abilities to arrest in Upper Sanctuary, and will retain limited ability to arrest in Lower: That is, they will only be officially permitted to make an arrest in Lower Sanctuary alongside (and with express permission of) a member of the Upper or Lower division of the Watch. Spellguard duties will be redefined to state that arrests on their part shall only be legitimate on the condition that they are on official duty. Official Duty will be further defined as when the agent wears the full uniform (Spellguard Robes, Defender Amulet, etc). Illegitimate arrests will be punished as is normal and appropriate restitution will be made to the illegitimately arrested criminal.

--- Any concern or complaint of foul play may be forwarded to the City Inquisitor, whose duties are outlined in section 2. 2.)The establishment of an Office who's sole duty shall be to root out corruption within the Council and Civil Defense Forces. He shall be elected for life to avoid any bias or corruption that comes with the elected process and politics and will remain in office unless a 7 to 9 vote by the Council removes him under extreme circumstances. The same number of votes shall also place the Inquisitor in office. This office will have the ability to investigate unhindered and unquestioned into issues of corruption and will present his findings to the Council to be acted upon.

3.) The Establishment of a Lower-Watch which shall be composed mostly of Footmen and Lower Citizens and led by a Lower Friendly Watch Officer of mutual choosing and agreement.. The Lower-Officer will report to the Sheriff in almost all affairs. The Lower-Watch shall become a branch of the Watch to be outfitted and treated similiarily.

4.) Defense and Law Treaty: - The Lower-Watch will police Lower Sanctuary and cooperate with the Upper Watch, while at times even being aided directly by the Upper Watch in times of unrest and criminal action through patrols and pursuit. - The Lower-Watch will be nothing more but a branch of the Upper Watch for the sake of simplicity, except for the fact of a Lower-Friendly Lieutenant whom will command the Lower Watch in the Sheriff's stead and reports directly to the Sheriff - In times of invasion and siege the Spellguard will be allowed into Lower Sanctuary to defend the gates, and upon the end of the attack expected to return in reasonable time to Upper Sanctuary unless they wish to investigate further, in which case they may supervise the investigation from the gates while the Watch investigates - The Laws of Upper Shall become the Laws of Lower with exception of the Spellguard, with fair trial granted to all citizens by the Council, the Lower-Watch enforcing the peace[strikethrough], and a quality of life is expected which shall be similiar to that of Upper. [/strikethrough] -Clarification: The Lower Watch will continue to enforce the laws regarding the illegal casting of magic in Sanctuary. Criminals arrested on these charges will be handled by the Watch. -Clarification: All Watchmen (Both Upper and Lower) will be permitted to patrol and enforce law in the streets of both Upper and Lower. -Criminals arrested in a district will be escorted to the nearest Watchhouse to where the initial crime took place. (Example: A thief in Upper flees the Watch to Lower, he will be arrested and returned to the Upper Watch House. However if a theft occurs in Lower Sanctuary, the Watchman instead is to capture the criminal and escort it to whatever is decided to be used as the Lower Watch House -Exception: In the event that a criminal in Lower Sanctuary flees to Upper, the decision of which Watch house the criminal is to be escorted to will be made as follows: If chased by an Upper Watchman only, Upper Watchhouse. If chased by a Lower Watchman only, Upper or Lower Watchhouse. If chased by both an Upper and Lower Watchman, the decision will be made by the Lower Watchman.

-Upon the approval of this proposal, the Lower Council will have one month to make any further changes for the benefit of Lower as they see fit before dissolving themselves. If they feel they need more time to make their changes, an appeal may be made for an extension of time, subject to the approval of a majority vote of the City Council.

I further wish to elaborate on point 1a), that after the fall of the Tigereyes, the Council took their funding. A percentage of it was put into other pursuits, and the rest set aside to be used to fund whatever action is taken in regards to Lower Sanctuary; that is, to fund whatever persuit that would be decided upon to achieve the aims of the Council. What this means is, there is a substantial portion of the city's budget which may be put forth to fund Lower Sanctuary and the Lower Watch.

I would even further like to elaborate that the alterations I have made for this counter proposal are of necessity, for the sake of satisfying as many of both Councils as possible, else it is unlikely unity may be achieved at all. This means that the Spellguard's budget will remain untouched. The others are reluctant even to curtail their law enforcement abilities in the slightest. The spellguard have to have some measure of power in Lower Sanctuary, as they are a greatly important part of the city's law enforcement. My compromise suggests that they may only enforce law when accompanied by men of the Watch, who will ensure the Spellguard do not step out of bounds and act in a way that threatens unity.

This proposal has not been fully accepted by the rest of the Council, but no major opposition was raised against it, and so I submit it to you now, in the interest of expedience in achieving unity.

If you have further problems with the provisions of this proposal, or revisions of your own, send them to me, as my colleagues have often shown slowness in the paperwork portions of the job they willingly took upon (though apparently weren't fully prepared for.)

Councillor Gibbon Meldren

[A copy is forwarded to Julian Fryar as well as posted up for the Lower Council]

Lower Councilor Noye,

The substance of your proposals remain mostly unchanged. What specific issues did you have with Meldren's changes? I believe that he does address some of the realities of the situation - it would be difficult to decrease the Spellguard's funding, and it would severely limit our defensive capabilities.

- Councilor Fryar

Councilor Meldren,

Your counter-proposal does little to change the way things once were in Lower, and I think none whom count themselves true Lower-men would wish to have sacrificed so much, seen so many died, just to settle for the tyranny we once did, if not a repeat of the past.

Most of your counter proposals change little, emphasise further division or are simply unacceptable. To allow the Spellguard to work in Lower as they always have is unacceptable. It might even be taken as an insult that you think to imply that it's acceptable when they've a member of the Watch with them. (If that were the case, why not have the Watch simply make the arrest, why need a tyrant be present?). And you're further saying they may -only- arrest while in their "full" uniform? I would hope they perform their duties in uniform, and I would further hope that an Agent only arrest whilst in uniform in the first place. When have you ever heard otherwise?

In the end, as I've said, all of these "Counter proposals" for the Spellguard do nothing and it looks to be a poor attempt to conceal such by just tacking on further conditions which would nullify any of their actions, conditions that are never broken in the first place.

Your proposals concerning the Lower Watch seem greatly focused on emphasis between the Lower and Upper watch, when in actuality the aim is to slowly make them one, not have two different branches of law enforcement with seperate standards or laws on whom deals with which criminal, which will only slow down the process of law. Furthermore, we've already a man whom will be acting as Watch Liuetenant, though I wll have to insist the decision be left to Lower-folk who will be forced to work with the man, rather than an Upper-selection.

Lastly, Concerning funds; I am willing to admit that much of the funds given to the Spellguard may be put to legitimate use, however, something must be done to curb their careless and tyrant-like actions. It's further insanity that a budget should be decided by whichever half posesses the most citizens, It's quite obvious that Upper may hold the most citizens, but the problems and dangers they face pale in comparison. It's a simplistic decision to determine the funds in such a way as you propose that completely ignores all other variables that should have an important impact on choices as important as these.

I am willing to agree on minor compromise with a few of your points, though I think it's in the best interest of all citizens of Lower that the vast majority remain untouched. It would also further help your case if you didn't start off your counter-proposals in a manner that insulted and demeaned my home, though you claim you sought not to. It is not a matter of being better prepared that I seek unity, for if Lower wished we could easily rebuild ourselves in a manner that might match Upper's. But rather, we are both weakened in this state of division and so Lower seeks unity for the betterment of both of us.

This is -my- response to you.

Lower Councilor Noye

[A copy is again sent to Fryar]

Lower Councillor Noye,

My sincere apologies, as it seems there has been a grave misunderstanding on my part.

The formulation of many of my points, especially regarding the integration of the Watch, were fuelled by the suggestions and ideas of previous Lower Councillors, and so I assumed that you would hold much the same views. The aim of the proposals I made was to clarify the details of the integration, and to create something that would be acceptable to the Lower Council and the people of Lower.

Further, my proposals regarding Spellguard presence were fuelled by the criticism of my peers, Bhast and Archibald, who are devoutly opposed to any measure which will curtail the power of the Spellguard in Law Enforcement. They have made clear that their primary concern is that there are numerous dangerous criminals who may only be stopped with the aid of the Spellguard in Magical pursuit. Furthermore, the complaints of the former Lower Councillors I have spoken with who held the belief that Spellguard agents have in the past assassinated and otherwise sabotaged Lower Sanctuary in covert actions unsanctioned by the Council Proper. Such were the reasons that I proposed a Watchman (of either Upper or Lower divisions) be present during the chase.

However, if you and your colleagues among the Lower Council, and your faithful citizens in Lower Sanctuary - are truly in favor of a complete and total integration of the Watch, and a strong Watch presence in Upper, despite being based in Upper, (which is now what I take away from your written response, perhaps this too is a mistaken view? I shall continue nevertheless.), then I naturally am fully in favor of such. It was my thought, based on the previous Lower Councillors' views, that a vague but very present distinction between the Upper and Lower Watch would be found more pallatable by your Council and your citizens.

In regards to the matter of the Spellguard though, it is a situation which I am hesitant to touch upon, because it is the primary cause of dispute between our two Councils now, and has been the primary stumbling block since the beginning.

I will say to you, that there are a few conditions which our Council will not meet. We will do nothing that may weaken the defenses of Sanctuary in any way to appease your demands; and we will take no act that will severely limit the ability of our valuable Law Enforcement officials to capture dangerous criminals.

Currently there is no real evidence that has ever been brought to my, or my fellow councillors' collective attentions, that the Spellguard have ever committed any nefarious act against your people. So there is no ground for cutting their budget: it will not happen.

As I close, I must state that I find your comment dubious - that is, I feel, that if you and Lower truly sought unity for the betterment of Sanctuary as a whole, you would accept any offer we made to you. It might be taken offense that in your economic depression, your insecurity at your gates, the beggar children in the streets, all following a violent upheaval and revolution, you would refuse our offers of both gold, security, and peace in favor of your own demands, which are not only ridiculous, would further harm yourself.

Tentatively now, I offer you this proposal, it is very simple, and might end this debate altogether, and could even secure the future of Sanctuary for ages to come.

Rejoin Sanctuary, accept the authority of the Watch, the Spellguard, and the Council in full. Your citizens will again be members not of Lower Sanctuary, but of Sanctuary in its entirety, and come election, they may run for the Council as all citizens are permitted, and bring about the betterment of their people as it has always been intended for this city ruled by its own people. In exchange, Lower Sanctuary and its citizens will recieve exactly what they are entitled to. Lives that need not be ruled by fear and hate of Upper Sanctuary, the safety, the security, the peace that any society needs to thrive, and the ability of the individual to rise up and better his own life, just as all people everywhere are entitled to do. To better their peers' lives by holding a position on the City Council as they were always intended to do. In essence, a return to the Sanctuary envisioned by its founders, the Bresleys.

Though I suppose I have no reason to expect you or your fellows to agree to an offer such as this.

Councillor Meldren

[All following copies are forwarded to Fryar]

Councilor Meldren,

The Spellguard has long been suspect of countless crimes. Simply because no evidence can be found does not make them innocent, as much as a lack of evidence does not prove their guilt. It likely has much to do with the fact that they own a tower privately, where they may "Arrest" men on a whim and keep them there privately, to do with as they wish. A man, theoretically, could be taken there and never heard from again. As it -has- happened before in the past. Men go missing everyday. Their secretive nature is a breeding ground for corruption and perhaps a better suggestion than removing their arresting rights altogether would be to have them completely operate all lawful procedures within the Watch-House, with no men allowed to be taken into the Tower beyond the Front Desk. Lower Sanctuary will have to insist that they not be allowed in Lower. The people have long disliked them, their presence brews riots, and everytime they enter more allegations of corruption and tyrany often spawn.

If you're denying the suspicious and untrustworthy reputation of the Spellguard entirely, then perhaps a man more in-tune with the true happenings of Sanctuary as of the last 151 years should be negotiating this and not one who seems to be entirely distached from the true happenings and state of Lower, before and after the rebellion.

The reason I do not accept -any- terms is because that is the exact reason the Ubel and now Tigereye Rebellion have happened. The Upper Council ignored Lower Sanctuary's needs until they reached a breaking point. I will not let our sacrifices be in vain, and I will not let history have a -third- repeat of itself. I am further beginning to believe that I am negotiating the future of our city with the wrong man if offers me the simple proposal of, "Join Sanctuary and live under the heel of the Spellguard, Upper Council, Watch and poverty." with the underlining implication of, "Or else".

I think, given the failed negotiations between Upper and Lower as of the last few decades that perhaps it would not be unreasonable to expect some change in a different direction.

I am in favor of a Watch that will slowly be combined into one organisation, though it will have to be done slowly and carefully to gain the trust of both parties.

If you will not cut the budget of the Spellguard, then redirect the budget allocated to the Tigereyes towards Lower Sanctuary fully.

I think it might be for the best that another Councilor speak with me concerning our future, as discussion between us is quickly degrading and is getting little done.

Noye

Lower Councilor Noye,

Both Councils should meet to discuss these issues. Let's arrange a time and place. We should have one day in which we finally sit down and reach a decision.

- Councilor Fryar

Councilor Fryar,

I will be present and I will tell the others, arrange a time and I will be there.

Noye