[The Tabbah Elections]

[Ziya]

Tabbah 11th, IY 7788

The Tabbah Election begins! Legate Balstan Gloamingdaith immediately begins seeking reelection...

Legate Balstan Gloamingdaith

Hrmph, hrmph. Those of the League of Gold, to the Office, aye. Grateful if I may have a word, and yer signature upon my Petition. Yer know me, and have beheld my tenure. Good laws and sensible judgments. Diplomatic entreaties to city-states that were spat on by the Purples.

A synod to see raised our first Hakem. A reasoned hearing and diligent labor for even my political foes. Accountability and public consultations fer many a deeds of mine. An unyielding, unwavering resolve to see us win this war, that I have shied nay from the fields myself.

Ahead yet be my solemn promise - a metropolis of trade and industry, and such wonder it shall be. Up the Gold, aye! Come, come, to the Office of the League of Gold!

Policies are implemented by the two Legates of Gold to help the Souk recover...

Hubert Brickson

The Golden Legates, in their infinite wisdom, have heard our pleas! Sales taxes will be reduced and Ephia's Well will remain supplied and fed! Gold League for a Golden Future!

Legate Argent Argyris

Ahem! An emergency measure, to easy the pain of our Souk-bound friends who were so grievously harmed by the saboteurs who yet lurk among the voiceless throngs. A gift from myself and Balstan Gloamingdaith, to all the merchants and yeomen who are the lifeblood of our Well!

As the Gold League quickly united behind their Legate, the White League complained about added restrictions on the refugees, only to have the Gold League retort in the wake of Wicked Tabbah the Eighth...

Gedwyr Karstcleft

I call upon the legates t'protect our fait Ephia's Well from the insurrectionists! They spoke of being poor and needy while they ransacked the souk and the bleeding hearted whites convinced all to stay their hand. Insisting these poor people only need a fair shake.

Soon after those very same 'poor and needy' folk ransacked our pyramid! We need laws put in place to protect our fair Ephia from these cretins! Laws to prevent these insurrectionists from weaseling their way into the seat of legate!

We can't afford t'make another mistake! Who's to say what form of subversive attack the agents of Iakmas will try next. My guess? Something involvin a white flag and I don't mean the type used t'surrender.

In the meantime, the League of Gold makes an impassionate plea for the making of hard and necessary choices amidst the War against Iakmes...

Legate Balstan Gloamingdaith

We are at war. The Seekers-After-Death had violated our homes in the guise of refugees, stolen their way into our very seat of government, and butchered innocent Scribes after we defied their singular demand to surrender to Iakmes..

It baffles me, then, that the complacency had set in so quickly after. But perhaps it ought nay. After all, the very same who stood by the Seekers-After-Death tae abet their ploy and usher in their men now are the very ones demanding that we keep our gates open and unbarred.

We cannot. This is a harsh war, a war fer our very existence. It will require hard decisions. We have learned that the hard way, and that lesson is not one that I can forget. We must win this war. We will win this war. Our very existence relies on it.

And so, I shall continue tae make the hard decisions, the necessary decisions. Until Ephia's Well is safe, until Iakmes and the Thousand Clans be defeated. Until we are triumphant and free on the other side of this war. So that we may live, and we may drink, Ephians.

[Ziya]

Maribeh 14, IY 7788

And so it begins, a metropolis of trade and industry, promised sennights ere...

Gohari Representative

Legates of the Pyramid. The Director of Gohari Heavy Machinery awaits you at your offices.

Balstan Gloamingdaith

It is DONE, Ephia's Well. Months of labor and painstaking negotiations, culminating in the beginnings of a new era. What we have promised, we deliver. The walls shall be buttressed and expanded. The new district shall be raised.

The walls shall be buttressed and expanded. Tenements shall be raised fer our populace, ever swollen in numbers. By the project's end, nigh a million dinars shall have been spent by our investors from Baz'eel.

This is what we do battle fer, Ephians - a metropolis of trade, of industry, of factories rising and worthy work fer all. Where all of us shall share in the riches and prosperity of an ever wealthier Ephia's Well of boundless opportunities.

We shall defend our home, and our home shall house us. We shall raise our walls, and our walls will shield us. We shall fight, aye, and bleed, and die, if we must, to see that Ephia's Well be the greater at the war's end than ever before. This be my guarantee.

Fer a golden Ephia's Well!

Director Ariette Gildebrand

Gohari Heavy Machinery is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached, and we have purchased the requisite land from the government for 200,000 dinars. We are presently hiring laborers, craftsmen, architects and more.

Please mail by post a resume to 1903 Street of Clinking Coins, Baz'eel. Our teams will review your application and reach out if your skill meets this, or any other of our open positions. Please do not reply to this message.

[Ziya]

Tabbah 17, IY 7788

Balstan Gloamingdaith

Aye, hearken to my words, Ephia's Well. This may be a long speech, but I shall endeavour that t'is be the only I will trouble yer with fer this Tabbah election.

Fer my first term, I have shown yer my capacity to serve Ephia's Well tirelessly with indefatigable vim and vigor over the sennights. Now, as the campaigning period fer this election draws to a close, I humbly seek yer support once more in having the opportunity tae serve a second.

As yer Legate, I have worked steadfastly. Where I have pledged to see the Wheel honored, we have had our Synods and our Hakem. I have guaranteed that the new District will happen, and so it has happened, and so but a day ere I have moved the final tranche of 200,000 dinars into the funds.

Be it Kardesler or Kha'esh, or the expansion of the Maqbara, I am proud that this Golden administration has only balked at the stagnation and absence that previous administrations oft become mired. Where other Legates had made mirages of promises, we have brought change and betterment.

Where this War makes demands of us, we have nay balked at what must be done. We have acted to secure allies amidst this struggle and to sustain hope amidst these troubled times. Whilst we did nay provoke this confrontation with Evil, we have met it with resolve and determination.

The true measure of our Ephian strength is how we have risen to master this crucible of war when it does arise. Just but a day ere, we achieved a bloody victory over the Thousand Clans. To that, we honor our soldiers and our veterans, our brave Ephians who joined us in meeting the challenge.

The victory, too, paved the way fer a decisive battle to be had against our Enemy, which our Warmaster had just announced. We are reminded, then, each time we think that we have measured our capacity to meet the challenge of this War, our capacity and resolve shall be judged limitless.

It is telling, in the meantime, that my opponents of White and Purple can only dwell in silence and offer nay better. Because, they cannae. They know this, and so do yer. One sold out the Scroll of Domination to Iakmes. One sold out his League, and now half his League won't even support him.

These are the two who think that they can lead yer in this time of war. We know the truth: they cannot.

I am yer Legate of War. Together, we will do what is hard, we will achieve our total victory. We will meet at the war's end triumphant, and toast to absent friends and friends yet there together. We will remind the other civilisations of the strength and potential of Ephia's Well.

I am yer Legate of War. Vote fer me, in this Tabbah election, and by the grace of the Mother and the wisdom of the Magi, we will win this war, together.

Live and drink, Ephians, we shall live, and we shall drink!

[Ziya]

As the Tabbah Elections continue, the Grandmaster of the Cinquefoil Rose herself makes speech!

Grandmaster Elizabetha d'Auvergne

I do not often take to the sendings.

But I shall here and now. And I will speak plainly and truly, and give voice to something that I know to be true.

Balstan Gloamingdaith is the enemy of the people of Ephia's Well.

He has, with his works, forced chains of conscription upon the people of Ephia's Well. He plans even now to march them to death under Rennik Colmes' command.

He has, with his works, permitted the brazen murder and enslavement of the Voiceless, the ones we are charged with protecting.

I know not for whom you should vote. It seems to me all of these candidates are foisted upon us ignobly. But I speak plainly, once more, loudly and resoundingly: Balstan Gloamingdaith is the enemy of Ephia's Well.

For the first time in Ephia's Well's elections, one of the leaders of the Accord Signatories marked a Candidate as an equal, and make for the Bellows to campaign against him.

Nevertheless, protests against the Grandmaster's Bellows immediately resound across Ephia's Well...

Hosan Abtahi

Balstran Gloamingdaith has led us admirably thus far against the threat Orcan Scourge. He has done well by making tough decisions, as every good leader during Wartime must do. The threat posed to our people is immense and cannot be understated.

Yet, Balstran's willingness to heed counsel during Wartime and retract polices pertaining to conscription of the downtrodden is a value we must admire and aspire for in our future leadership.

He has my vote. Warmaster Colmes and the Fourth Legion has my absolute confidence. We shall prove victorious over the Orcan Scourge. This is Voiced Soldier Hosan Abtahi of the Fourth Legion.

Qari Alriyh

A puzzling series of messages from the esteemed Grandmaster. 'We the swift remember unto those whom are dead' - The war council, and the voiced, all agreed that conscription was needed to win the war. For if we lose, where is left for the swift to go when we fall?

Khiva Sootbeard

Vote Gold. Anything less and if your lucky you will end up begging at Baz'eel's gate. Or fertilizing the sands around the well. Balstan is the only one with a plan. Hope, whites keep wingeing about... that ain't a plan.

L

13 Balstan. 8 Marcellus. 5 Arymathras.

The elections of Tabbah IY 7788 continue...

[Ziya]

The Tabbah Elections have concluded, with a triumph of the League of Purple over that of the League of Gold, breaking the Golden Monochromacy!

Sultan's Herald

Let it be known that Marcellus Saenus of the League of Purple has won the elections for the seat of Legate! They are to report to the Chamber of Rule to be officially sworn in.

With the Tabbah Elections concluded, it is rumored that Balstan Gloamingdaith has returned to the Sandstone College, ready to continue the academic pursuits that he had left behind when he first assumed office.

Archivist Ezmur

Live and drink. Legate Gloamingdaith, you are invited to the College at your earliest convenience.

The Wheel turns as the Edutu ebbs and the Edutu flows.