The Updates

The Imperial Gardens

They were made in the Second Age, by decree of the Emperor; with the city expanding swiftly, he wanted to ensure that every citizen of Horizon had somewhere green and pleasant to spend their weekends and get away from the frenzy and bustle of city life. Their grand opening was in 2517HR, and for almost 800 years since then they were open to all. The Emperor would often visit them and take the time to converse with whoever he happened to come across, whether they were giggling children or wise old sages, poverty-stricken beggars or fabulously rich nobles, criminals just out of the Doghouse or saintly Priests of the Intercessor.

The fact that in eight centuries nobody attempted to assassinate the Emperor is cited by many historians that the Emperor was, broadly speaking, genuinely loved and admired during the Second Age. Certainly, when the madman Walter Levard attacked the Emperor in 3308HR, it was a great surprise for everyone concerned. The Emperor is reported to have knocked out the sword-wielding maniac with one blow, and his bodyguards took Levard into custody, although it's been suggested that the Emperor's fighting prowess was exaggerated for morale purposes. No historian has been able to determine Levard's reasons for attacking the Emperor: he was the son of a comfortably-off middle-class family from the provinces, and had been studying medicine at the Imperial University. He seemed to have no interest in politics, or revolution, and no especial grudge against the Emperor.

The consequence was that the Emperor withdrew from the Imperial Gardens, and never visited them again. Some historians suggest that the Third Age should be dated from the assassination attempt, not the beginning of the Great Storm in Jurica; certainly, it didn't help the Emperor's state of mind. Having lost interest in his garden, the Emperor handed management of the gardens over to a Board of Trustees, funded by the Goodly Chamber and made up of volunteers from the aristocracy. For much of the Third Age the Gardens were for the sole use of the nobility. This was controversial from the start, but was never regarded as a major issue since people could still visit the countryside surrounding Horizon instead, and within a generation or so people regarded it as just another one of those irresolvable injustices.

After the Siege of Horizon, however, the local countryside had been laid waste by the horrors of modern warfare, and what fertile land was left was intensively farmed by the farming villages within Horizon's sphere of influence to provide food for the city. Suddenly, people cared about the Gardens again. They wanted in.

Successive Mayors dodged the issue, despite the significant amount of civil unrest it was causing, because they allowed themselves to be browbeaten, bribed, or befuddled by the Board of Trustees. Eventually, Colonel Zero brokered a deal with them, and the Gardens were opened up for all and sundry.

It's best to dress smart if you're going to be visiting the gardens. Whilst all and sundry are allowed in, the Watchdogs' Garden Patrol keep a close eye on people who look obviously scruffy. Don't get in the way of nobles and their entourages, either - the aristocracy hire people to shove the riff-raff out of the paths in front of them should they feel their progress is being hampered. Strictly speaking, access to the Imperial Gardens is restricted to daylight hours, but sneaking in at night is trivially easy - just find a place where you can climb over the fence, the Watchdogs won't catch you at it unless you have the Obvious flaw.

Features of the Gardens

Reputedly, deep within the forest at the peak of the hill is an interesting standing stone. It is difficult to reach, however - in the deep forest it's surprisingly easy to get lost, and leaving the path and just striking out upslope is often not possible due to the dense undergrowth - and when it is possible, it's not always successful.

The Memorial Pool: A broad lake, dedicated to the memory of all those killed in the Last War. It is always quiet here, and nobody goes boating on the lake; the surface of the water is undisturbed, except by waterfowl, wind and rain.

The Horizon Zoo: Children love the Horizon Zoo. Not only do they enjoy the occupied cages with animals from all over the True Lands: they also enjoy swapping the wild tales about an underground zoo beneath the park, full of empty cages that used to hold creatures from the Treacherous Lands. There are accounts of a dragon being put on display in the public Zoo at one point during the Second Age; this apparently ended in disaster, however, and no more Treacherous creatures were put on public display.

Rumours

Go into the Gardens at midnight, visit the Memorial Lake, and drop in two copper coins at the stroke of midnight. You will see the face of your true love.

The Emperor's treasure is hidden under the standing stone in the middle of the Forest! If we could just find our way there with our shovels, we'll be rich!

I heard a strange noise from the Gardens last night - my brother says that there's a tribe of panthers who escaped the Zoo and went to live in the Forest, perhaps that's it.

I hear that Colonel Zero delivered an ultimatum to the Board of Trustees when he became Mayor: let the people into the Gardens, or he'd send the Mayoral Legions in to convert them to farmland. You have to admit, the old bastard certainly gets things done.