Elient 17, 151 Council, Mayor Townhall Regard Sanctuary's Security
Sanctuary's security is at the worst it has been in decades, since the Ubel Rebellion. A number of oversights have occured that must be rectified.
1). The Lower Rebellion must be ended. Recognizing the traitors on the Lower Council was a grave error with wretched ramifications. It has essentially declared that endangering Sanctuary by breaking away from the government that is legally elected is not a crime. Worse, the longer the rebellion continues the weaker security grows.
The sole justification for the rebellion was to remove the Tigereyes. The current rebels still employ the remnants of the Tigereyes; the Golden Mercenaries. Furthermore, once the Tigereyes were gone Sanctuary should have been at peace. Instead, politicians are using the separation as an excuse to attack rival politicians.
A time table must be set. The Lower "Council" should be given until the first of the next month to agree to reunification. Elsewise, it must be acknowledged that the continued existance of a "free" Lower is impinging the security of Upper Sanctuary.
As evidence:
A) 200 to 300 citizens in Lower Sanctuary have died as a result directly or indirectly of the rebellion. The population of Lower prior to the revolt was perhaps 500-1000.
B) The Lower Council still has not replaced their broken gates. Nor posted a sufficient professional guard force. They lack the funds to pay such a force.
C) The Lower Council has turned law enforcement over to the Temple of Hoar and private citizens. This Temple has captured and executed an unknown number of citizens with no oversight from the elected Council. There is little indication they will consent to surrendering this seized authority after reunification.
D) The unguarded routes into Lower Sanctuary provide our enemies the means to enter Upper Sanctuary. Making the entire citizen body a target for threats.
E) The Lower Council has failed to deal with a swelling of the kobold and goblin populations. There are 200-300 kobolds in the city, perhaps half as many goblins. The goblins are lead supposedly by the undead captain Spitfire; a creature who nearly overwhelmed us when last he attacked from outside the gates. The kobolds are lead by a dragon.
We have a limited time to strike against these threats. The longer the Lower Council delays, the worse it gets. The situation is endangering Sanctuary and the Council is proving incapable of understanding security to such an extent that many lose faith in its efforts.
As evidence:
1) The Seekers assault on the Watch House to capture Sheriff Walters resulted in the death of Sergeants Felzkirn and Boris. No official investigation has been conducted.
2) The Council's ban on "slaver races" stripped them of citizen stones and rights. This makes the job of the Watch harder to enforce.
A) Suspects now do not carry citizen stones which were used to identify and monitor their actions. B) Suspects realizing they face greater charges for minor crimes even are far more likely to resist arrest violently and without regard to their lives or the lives of others. C) The law fundamentally ignored the difference between races that are a threat to Sanctuary, segments of races that are a threat to Sanctuary, and segments of races that have historically over 150 years existed peacefully in Sanctuary. Yet it has served to cause all these races to view us hostilely. As evidence: a) I maintained a number of goblin and kobold spies who monitored Captain Spitfire and the Shadow Tribe. Since these laws were passed, these spies have ceased to cooperate. b) Goblins who operated as peaceful merchants and had an economic stake in Sanctuary's security and future have now been pushed into closer relations with Captain Spitfire. c) Races such as the lizardfolk, dreugar, and kobolds who have in past times viewed us either neutrally or as potential allies now recognize us as a danger to their traders and merchants-as well as potential rivals.
These laws at essence were designed to prevent these races from unduly influencing our elections. A far wiser action will be to repeal this law and enact legislation making it :
1) Harder for slaver races to vote. 2) Easier for the Watch to monitor such races within the city.
Furthermore, the law allows common citizens to enforce the killing of these races in Sanctuary. This robs the Watch of its ability to oversee the safety of the citizens and the enforcement of our rules, allows citizens to endanger themselves and others without regard to the city's security, and again makes it far more likely that these races still holed up in Lower Sanctuary decide to actively kill the citizens down there or even attack us in Upper Sanctuary.
The laws on Monstrous and Slaver Races should be redrafted, this time incorporating a view of how they affect the safety of the city.
As for Lower Sanctuary: while the time line for reunification is best-concern for what happens if the time line is not followed must be explored.
The easiest option is to halt construction on the stairs and destroy the lift. Lower Sanctuary is free, it is not working to end the rebellion, and its continued weak defenses endanger all of Sanctuary. The Watch is prepared to evacuate those citizens who will leave the ruins of Lower Sanctuary, and any who remain behind will be required to fend for themselves.
The other option is to declare the "Lower Council" a traitorous branch and order their arrests. The Watch has drafted plans to eliminate the Footmen and capture the Lower Council who will then face trial and execution for endangering Sanctuary on several counts.
There is no time to support alternatives. As I write this, Slaal'teesh gears itself for war against Sanctuary. The Rotting Death Plague was their first assault, and when the Council failed to respond: it became obvious we are too weak to defend ourselves. Their scouts have patrolled our city, their advance forces have eliminated the Blue Mushroom trading post. All that remains between us and they are the druegar clan Grunstubhle--who now view us hostility due to the recent decrees allowing citizens to murder their merchants on our streets without any true consequence. It can not be expected they will lift a finger in our defense-rather they're likely to side with our foes.
At short, the recent decrees have left us devoid of any potential allies. Weakened Sanctuary entirely, and put us in a position of tenuous security.
If it comes to a three pronged attack by the Shadow Tribe, Captain Spitfire, and the Synod-I estimate that 100 to 200 citizens will survive and evacuate the city. However, I have no located a suitable place to send the survivors: it is clear Sanctuary will fall unless precautions are taken immediately:
1) Repeal and redraft the laws on Monstrous and Slaver Races. Modify them to prevent undue influence over our politics, but that should have been their only purpose. Goblins and drow historically caused far less crime in Sanctuary than mere humans. A short review of capital crimes cases in the last year reveals this.
2) Appoint a single leader to oversee the security of Upper Sanctuary, this leader will direct the Watch, Seekers, and Spellguard. As it stands, the Watch has drafted preliminary plans for our defense but such plans are useless since the Seekers and Spellguard have no reason to obey them.
3) Create a time table for the reunificatin of Lower on terms acceptable to Upper's citizens. The sole issue holding back reunification is the desire for certain politicians to see the Spellguard investigated for crimes. Yet the Council itself, while holding this evidence of crimes, has not revealed it to the Watch which should handle all cases of crime. This is unacceptable to the Watch, which itself was forced to consent to investigation by the Seekers who slaughtered two of our lieutenants without consequence and then investigation by the Spellguard. If a crime occured, it must be punished, but the refusal of certain Councilors to share these allegations with those who punish crimes--prefering instead a supposedly neutral investigation of non-trained personelle without law enforcement powers granted by the Sanctuary Charter only reveals the political motivations of this effort and disenchants the already angry citizens of Upper Sanctuary.
4) The Council must limit itself to passing legislation and recognize that it is currently too unwieldy and lacking in consensus to react in a timely manner to security issues. This is why it has not handled the Lower Situation in a timely or wise manner. Security should be turned over to the Sheriff or a single Councilor until the city is again safe.
If the Council can not do these things, I urge the Mayor to refrain from his continued silence and save this city before it collapses. We can not defeat the three armies aligned against us, and we surely can not do it having driven away every potential ally in the Underdark.
The Watch will continue to draft plans of action, but until the Council or Mayor agrees to allow us to act: the city suffers. Many of these situations can be handled in less than 2 weeks once word is given; but at the current rate will fester for months until our foes strike us first.
Filed Sergeant Fawkes