If you like you can look at the (sketchy, incomplete) GM notes as well.

The News

Turn 13

In the Papers

PRIEST'S HOUSE BURNED, CHURCH CONDEMNS INDIVIDUALS WHO TARGET PRIESTS

The Church has CONDEMNED the actions of any who might have started the fire. Another local priest who knew Isenkral said "I don't know why anyone would want to hurt Stephen, he's never done anything to harm anyone. The Church has always remained neutral and avoided politics and gang warfare, merely seeking to help others. The day the Church becomes a target to those it has always served is a very sad day indeed."

Treasury Backs Down to Steam Union

"We have here a situation where the Steam Union has stood up to the Treasury - which, let us recall, ultimately has authority over the management of Central Steam - and won. Let's not downplay the consequences of this. First off, this is going to embolden the Steam Union and their allies in the Horizon People's Party, and I assure you that they will become more and more ambitious, grasping, and greedy in their demands when they next decide to flex their muscle.

"Secondly, it poses difficult questions about the management of Central Steam. With the Treasury callously overruling the people - people they have employed - whose job it is to make sure that this institution is run in an efficient and cost-effective manner for the people of Horizon, one has to ask whether the managers of Central Steam have any power in their own factory. Are they empowered to make any decisions at all, difficult as they may be, to ensure the success of the Service? Or are their masters in the Treasury going to veto any proposal they consider to be a little too harsh on their comrade workers?"

Hess to Support Prosperity

When asked about the prospect of a parallel non-elected advisory council General Hess seemed broadly supportive. "Advice should never be refused as it can always be ignored if foolish and heeded if wise. The elected Goodly Chamber will be changing constantly each election and those in it may not have a grip of the full situation. The Mayor will also need advice from people who have had a chance to study the full picture and see the far reaching impact of what the local representatives of the Goodly chamber want."

Heroic Horse Guards Command Respect of Mob, al-Shiraz Saved From Extremists

Hayes-Morton to Fund Steam Funfair Project

Cardinal of Cardinals Dies

[There follows a lengthy obituary of Lucan XIII].

Toll Booths Set Up at Entrances to Inner Horizon

The new inhabitants of Inner Horizon have expressed disgust at this. Says father-of-four Milton Stokey: "Just when we find a place with no rent, no mob control, and some nice glass windows the taxman tells us that we have to pay a shilling each time we want to go home. It's daylight robbery, is what it is. Me and the family are all settled in our new house now, and apart from the way that the basement turns into a back alley it's dead cushy. Where'll we go now?"

BILKO'S GLAMOUROUS WEDDING

In other news, it seems that Heptarch Michael D’Avenant has also wed his lovely new bride this week.

Graded Alchemy Licences Unveiled

[OOC: First Class licences cost as much as normal alchemical licences, Second Class licences cost a Notable amount per turn, Third Class licences a Minor. Special licences are a matter of negotiation.]

Mystery Thief Makes Donation to Church

"At first I thought it was an abandoned child - all wrapped up in swaddling as it was and in a basket but it was too small and once it was unwrapped... well... bless my eyes, we took it straight to the Cardinal!" said Sister Ruth who came across the artifact as she opened the doors that morning. The Cardinal identified the Chalice from its ornate interlaced gold weaving and the inset rubies along the rim. The Uthelm Chalice is one of the few rare examples of Irgarim metalwork to survive from the middle of the First Age, at the dawn of the Empire. The Chalice is worth thousands of Guilders and had been stolen the night before from a collector in the Noble district. The Cardinal informed the owners of its disappearance and it appears that this was the first they knew about it, having not realised it had gone missing. The Item was immediately returned to the owners and in gratitude they have given a reward to the church for their help and swift action.

Oddly enough a note was reported to have accompanied the bundle stating it was courtesy of "an anonymous supporter".

Horse Guard Arrested Over "Weapon Theft"

Sammy Smith's trial comes up on the 10th of Autumn's Glory.

Enormous Flying Apology "Due to Bees"

The cryptic message was first believed to have been a communication from the Sky apologising for some imminent "inconvenience", and the Horse Guards had to be called in to quell panic in several locations. Now, however, leading occultists and clockworkers have discovered a more mundane source. The letters appear to have consisted of the many clockwork bees recently seen about Horizon, flying in formation - although perhaps the unusual spelling may have been a clue here. Clockworker E. Crake says: "I'd thought it was odd that none of the little buggers had been trying to get into my lab during the whole day. When I checked with my colleagues, it became apparent that nobody had seen hide nor hair of them. Not that the bees have hair, of course."

Interestingly, the bees seem to have since then abandoned their irritating habit of stealing pieces of clockwork. Several scrap metal dealers around the city have, however, reported a curious new activity.

"I was doing up the records," says Aaron Scroggins, "when I saw a whole bunch of coins come floating through the window. At first I'd thought I was going mad, but then I realised they were being carried by the bees. One by one they dropped them on my desk. I picked one up to look at it, and they all dived through the back window and flew off carrying a pair of broken clockwork wings that somebody sold me for a few shillings."

Counting up the coins, Scroggins was startled to discover that the total amount the bees had left was - more or less - equal to the value of the wings.

Clockworkers, too, have reported business dealings with the bees. J. Cummings, a reputed crafter of clockwork wings, claims that a swarm of bees buzzed into his office carrying what he describes as "the most finely-crafted cogs I've seen in my life". As he picked them up to inspect them, the bees swarmed into his till and came out with twenty shillings - just about a tenth below the common market price for the components provided to Cummings.

Have the clockwork bees, formerly a scourge upon our city, finally turned over a new leaf and moved into the realm of honest merchantile craftsmanship? The Times believes so.

New Compact Reached Between Clockers and Makers

BLACKFEST APOCALYPSE: "THE BLACK" FAMILY VANISH

Obviously the explosion and rioting did considerable damage to the Dark Tower and its already questionable reputation, but worse was to come. When your correspondent attended the customary presentation of anti-terrorism and public nusiance orders to WARLOCK of WET ANARCHOLES THE BLACK this morning, there was no-one to be found. Officials prised open his usual HAVEN of DOOM (the cellar), but Anarcholes - along with the entire Black family - was nowhere to be found. At the moment, no-one seems to know where Horizon's longest serving DASTARDLY DICTATOR and his family are. Could it be the FINAL MASTERSTROKE in a plan to SEIZE the CITY at long last? PROBABLY NOT! But only THE HORIZON POST can bring you THE TRUTH!

[OOC: Eristopheles the Black (Sophitia, etc.) has been retired as a PC.]

Presidential Grace

President Rostefan will begin her visit with a tour of some of Horizon's more famous landmarks, escorted by Mayor Wright.

Dracion's Meteoric Rise Sees Two-Leader Situation In Democratic Party

Meanwhile, war hero Michael d'Avenant has also been making sterling efforts on behalf of the Party, encouraging fellow war veterans to stand in the Upper City and in various outlying regions beyond the city itself as well as supporting Dracion's efforts. Recently, d'Avenant has also made his mark as a policymaker - a recent meeting of the Democratic Party executive voted to support various d'Avenant policies - low taxation, deregulation and liberalisation of the economy, and an immediate reversal of the legalisation of human shamanism.

The Democrats' electoral rivals, however, have persistently suggested that there is hidden cracks in the party. It is true that a small number of Party members - including a number of founders - have privately expressed disapproval of the shift of the Democratic Party's focus away from supporting the Mayor's policies. This, however, seems to be a minor inconvenience - with the Mayor's increasingly erratic behaviour drawing more and more comments, it is unsurprising that the pro-Wright faction of the Democratic Party has made little headway.

Of perhaps more concern to the Democratic Party is the apparent clash of personalities at the Party's head. Dracion's rousing public speeches have led him to become, in the eyes of many, the face of the Democratic campaign - however, Michael d'Avenant's campaign literature is clearly focused on making his the name primarily associated with the Democratic cause. Party officials - and Dracion and d'Avenant themselves - deny that there is any rift between the two men. However, it is apparent that there are some Democratic candidates who invoke Dracion's name when they want to win applause, and some who invoke d'Avenant's, and some who invoke neither. Few these days mention the Mayor.

The Party executive has recently elected Dracion the Party Leader and d'Avenant the Party Chairman, in an apparent effort to reach a compromise: the idea is that Dracion, as Party Leader, will co-ordinate the efforts of Democratic Party members in Goodly Chamber debates, whilst d'Avenant as Chairman will chair meetings of the Party executive and various policy-making committees. It remains to be seen how long this arrangement will last.

DRAGON APPEARS IN TRUE LANDS, DESTROYS JURICAN TRIBE

"It came from nowhere, dived from the sky upon us burning all in its path. It seemed to hunt for something or someone but ate all who opposed it with a ravenous hunger. It soon came upon the tent of our mighty leader MUSTAPHA THE SCOURGE whereupon it lifted the tent with ease and blocked our view with it's mighty wings and prevented our approach with a ring of fire! In fear we waited as it stood there before our leader and as it bent its head it appeared to converse with the Scourge. Before long a mighty laugh was heard and it seemed the bones of the earth shook as the dragon quaked. It snapped its head down once, lifted it to the sky and swallowed the Scourge whole! Then with wings like thunder it departed leaving us in our Ruin."

Dockyard Bloodsports Scene Vibrant

Crisis Again at Central Steam

The catalogue of spiteful actions on behalf of Central Steam management compiled by the Steam Union indicates that almost as soon as the previous deal was reached, the managers began looking for other ways to cut costs, implementing a series of "efficiency drives" dedicated to undermining the workers. The policies in question include:

• A massive reduction in spending on security, since apparently the safety of those who work in Central Steam is not a priority.

• A slow erosion of staff benefits. Reductions in the subsidies in the staff canteen, re-allocating staff smoking rooms to be offices and thus forcing smokers outside on their breaks, and other such policy changes have slowly but surely made Central Steam a less pleasant place to work with.

• The implementation of a time card system which severely docks the pay of workers forlate arrival or long lunch or tea breaks, in the name of efficience, and a policy of encouraging employees to inform on one another to prevent rule-breaking employees will be encouraged, via incentives, to inform on others who break the new rules. Not only does this development show a scandalously low level of trust in the workers of Central Steam, but it also punishes workers who, for example, have to attend family emergencies unexpectedly.

• A slow drift away from utilising permanent staff and towards using contracted labour. In the past twomonth new recruits have tended to be employed on short term contracts. The implications for job security are stark.

• Most significantly a steady reduction in authorised overtime, to the point where all employees are only allowed to work their standard hours. This is a blatant attempt to reduce the wages bill while sticking to the letter of the agreement made between the Steam Union and the Treasury.

With the brightest and best workers being poached by private industry, he Steam Union has accused the Central Steam management of running the service into the ground. "Our nationalised Steam service," says the Union statement, "deserves the very best workers, and yet the management of Central Steam seem intent on treating their staff with contempt. We are going to once again take this issue to our members, and we warn the Treasury that this time we will not be satisfied unless heads roll in the Central Steam management."

Election '22

A regular column discussing the upcoming election.

The Democratic Party has made the most advances this time around; whilst Prosperity has succeeded by and large in preventing it from gaining a foothold in the Upper City, CASA has found itself at a disadvantage campaigning against the Democrats; the people of the Ruins, in particular, where a number of wards had polled strongly for CASA previously, have warmed to the Democratic Party now that it too has come down against shamanism, and Dracion's rallies have won supporters away from both CASA and Prosperity - although Prosperity have made up for it with the support of Mariana Hess winning them support in the Ruins and in the outlying regions of Horizon which saw the worst of the wars. The Horizon People's Party, however, continues to polarise opinions: with the apparent strength of the Steam Union having been demonstrated this twomonth in the Central Steam case, both the HPP's supporters and its detractors have dug their heels in. As a result, the Steam remains split between the HPP and Prosperity. Based on our poll, if an election were held tomorrow the 700 seats of the new Goodly Chamber would be divided thusly:

385 for the Democratic Party
144 for Prosperity
89 for the Horizon People's Party
50 for Colonies and Countryside
30 for CASA
12 for the Circular Voice

predicting an absolute majority for the Democratic party.

An additional poll we conducted of Democratic Party supporters asked which of Dracion and Michael d'Avenant they felt a preference for. The results were intriguing:

40% d'Avenant
33% Dracion
27% neither

with most of the "neither" results coming from the Slums, where Christopher Columna's profile overshadows theirs. Dracion's rapid surge in popularity - especially considering d'Avenant's head start - must be of some concern to the well-known war hero, but only time will tell if they can resolve their differences amicably.

[OOC: The election will take place in this coming turn, the results being announced in the session of 6th week (21st February).]

On the Grapevine

Dracion's Concern

Roberts' Farewell Party

Virros Promoting EasyGirl In Ruins

In the Small Ads

Grey Order Seeking Alchemists to Employ

The Pamphlet Gallery

THE D'AVENANT STORY

...how a young child, wronged by his monstrous brother, was robbed of his inheritance and forced to take to the seas; how he won glory as a privateer, experiencing many amazing adventures, while his brother sank into rank Imperialism at home; how he returned to the city of his birth, having built himself up from nothing; how he saved the Trading District from a crime wave; how he battled Kraelings and bargained with dragons in the Treacherous Lands; how he inherited his brother's estates after the brother, like all vile Imperialists, was eaten by a horrible monster, and yet was generous enough to leave his wealth to our hero to right the old wrong; how our hero used his Heptarchical powers for the good of the common man, voting for the Demagogue; how he fought like a hero against Johnny Vegdarbarran; how he (Yes! It was he! The story can finally be told!) seized the treacherous heads of the Grey Order, who dared to sell weapons to Horizon's enemies; how he embraced the cause of the DPH for the Good of the People; how he single-handedly saved Horizon from military dictatorship; how he became the champion of the Horizon fencing and Extreme Skylarking circles, but gave all the money to charity; how he fell in love, and wooed and won the beautiful Princess Marietta Vatarsha.

It's a hell of a story, and it's available to you for just ten shillings.

News Sources