THE WELL IN PERIL [Pamphlet]

[Erudiche]

THE WELL IN PERIL

A Reign of Death and a Grim Warning

Ephians!

When Sol Auk granted free license to the blood-stained thug, Hrothgar Childkiller, did you forget my portent? That the streets should run red with the blood of the innocent? Oh, but how I wish that I had been wrong, that this grim prophecy had not come to pass. A Legate dead, another vanished, the gutters stilled with the coagulated blood of Brookers and their prey - alas, alack, things fall apart and the center cannot hold! Bashmu-kar preach openly their destructive ideals, an Orentid army marches from the desert, priestesses are traded as slaves, the Sibilant rise resurgent beneath the demon-Legate, the treasury is empty, and all is madness! It remains: everything under heaven is in chaos.

We are in a time of crisis unparalleled in the Well's present history. Such a mortal threat is a deathly struggle which transcends class, race, League, or section. When the foul Djinn gnaws on the entrails of the living, the necromancers raise their rotting thralls, and the Sibilant take our people as slaves for their pleasure, all other considerations must give way. Our present government is entirely unequipped, in its present state, to take the DECISIVE ACTION required. We must move at a blinding pace to secure public order in the city. To this end, in my exile I have prepared a brief analysis of the situation within the Well.

The Enemy Within

The greatest peril to the Well is internal enemies, as it has always been. Kypros, Diakos, Fritz von Volkrin, Theodine Bone, Marl Marlson, all holders of the blade of intrigue and the slime of conspiracy. All menaces to peace and order. All dealers in Djinn and black magics. And all operated unknown, at all levels of society and acclaim and regard. Paladins, Legates, prostitutes, chefs, all agents of darkness. Know that when you see this filth, what you have seen is the most overt and theatrical expression of a deep infestation, of a corruption of the Well. There are more, this I swear to you, many more. Even now, as you read this pamphlet, one such menace might be peering over your shoulder, taking your measurements for their fell rituals.

The cabal of Brookers has been emboldened to open insurrection and murder along with their Bashmu-kar fifth columnists and crypto-Orentid traitors. I shall now levy to you, the good people, a theory, as to our present disaster: this cabal has, until the immediate present, controlled the city, and now struggles to reassert itself by terror and blood. The Brooker Marl Marlson, for instance. On the surface, but a simple chef. Yet the Bountiful Belly was a major undertaking, one with financial investment from much of high society, including our very own former Legate Sol Auk. Sol Auk, who boosted Marlson's profile by granting him an unearned victory against the brave culinary paragon Mro Po. But wait, you may say, but our fair Sol Auk has vanished! How do you know that this is not also the workings of the cabal, and that the stonefolk does not rot in some bleak ritual cavern in Qadira? A fair, wise question indeed. Yet did not Theodine Bone attempt to sacrifice his co-conspirator, the cacophonous Fritz von Volkrin? The games of power played by this depraved elite are no less vicious than our own, and Sol Auk may have fallen to the interests of his allies. Let it be known that von Volkrin was a vocal supporter of Legate Auk, of the Gold League, and was outspokenly in favor of massacring the Tonsured pilgrims so that they might be left as food for the Sibilants.

As soon as Sol Auk left office, we can see that Brookers began to fall on their swords as one by one their ilk were dragged before court, their dealings exposed beneath Aldebaran's grim light. It was as though a great force, which had hitherto defended them, had vanished. I contend that Sol Auk was, knowingly or not, in league with this coterie and was their chief defender and companion for his time as Legate. I also contend that as Legate Zaniah Almirah, flawed as she was, pursued their prosecution in accordance with the law and decency, the Brooker elite, hereafter referred to as the Conspiracy, put their full efforts to her destruction, a matter in which they, regrettably, succeeded.

To further reinforce our theories, let us make a few matters clear regarding Sol Auk. He did, either with total certainty or with great likelihood: order the murder of Ordrem Klard, pardon Klard's killer, threaten the life of Lieutenant Rennick Colmes, announce his desire to see a group of refugees killed by the Banda Rossa and the remainder sold into slavery to Qadiran Brookers, sell a Priestess as a slave via auction while denying her trial, associate with known Brookers and mingle his financial assets with theirs, sabotage faith in government by instituting government by ransom, eliminate vital taxes on the eve of crisis to encourage speculation by moneyed parties, and so on. This is a pattern of conduct which speaks to a deeply sick, reprehensible, and evil individual. It is a pattern which speaks to a supreme self-interest and to a coordinated campaign of wrecking and destruction of the Well's institutions. It is not beyond the pale to believe that Sol Auk did act as an agent of this Conspiracy, knowingly or otherwise. If this is true, then the Conspiracy possesses such a terrible grip on the institutions of the Well that the situation is dire.

The Council of Action

What is needed now is simple. We must extirpate the Brookers from our city and tear up the Conspiracy piece by piece. To do this, I propose a Council of Action, a four or five member committee appointed by the Legates, vested with the power of law to detain, investigate, prosecute, and otherwise levy all the necessary measures to remove the Brookers. This body must be able to preemptively examine, detain, and prosecute Brookers and their associates, so that we might begin to levy proactive strikes against the Conspiracy. This body will also be vested with the power to expropriate the assets of Brookers, their agents, and their allies for the state use. I propose that this council consist of at minimum: a representative of the Legate, perhaps a Magistrate or some special office; a representative of the Wheel; a representative of the Janissaries; and a representative of the Astronomers, in recognition of their superb work at suppressing Djinn. This tribunal would be tasked with uprooting Brookers, Pra'rajites, Bashmu-kar radicals, Orentids, and other matters of critical peril to the state during our present crisis. When such threats have been safely terminated, the Council is to be dissolved. With such a blissful exercise of reason, and terror upon the enemies of reason, the current struggle will be ameliorated. The Well will be saved, and the people might breathe easy.