March Marginalia

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#C0C0C0" LINK="#FFFF00" VLINK="#808080"> <TABLE WIDTH="400" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <TD> <P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../../images/mhb1.jpg" ALT="Magic Horizons Title Graphic" ALIGN="BOTTOM" WIDTH="398" HEIGHT="162"></P> <H2>Port Mahon Marginalia </H2> <H4>Imperial Proclamation</H4> <P>On this day of March 16, 1097 I.R., his Eminence, the Lord Emperor of the Pragmatic Empire is pleased to announce that by the durability of the folk of Port Mahon, and the strength of those who have gone to colonize and farm those environs, a second colony, Fort Rollins, has been founded. For those of you who have wintered in Port Mahon, our thanks and best wishes. </P> <P>Trajan II,<BR> Emperor of the Pragmatic Empire </P> <P>The new colony of Fort Rollins is north of Port Mahon, six days away by foot, or two by boat. Prior to the founding of Fort Rollins, nothing of significance was known to be to the north of Port Mahon. Port facilities are likely to be primitive to nonexistent until the Imperial Corps of Engineers can construct piers. </P> <P>While Fort Rollins certainly indicates that His Majesty takes interest in the events of a distant spot that isn't even officially part of his empire, it seems that the money spent on Fort Rollins might be better applied to further improvements to Port Mahon. The cost of constructing and garrisoning a new Fort, and the port needed to keep it supplied, would probably go a long way toward building a breakwater for Port Mahon, which would encourage more shipping, which would enable more growth. </P> <P>Once Port Mahon is thriving, other smaller settlements could be founded, with supplies coming the shorter distance from Port Mahon, rather than a thousand miles across the sea from Karnatic Sands, or farther. </P> <HR> <P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT SIZE="+1">Advertise your Goods and Services<BR> in Port Mahon's premier newspaper,</FONT> <BR><FONT SIZE="+3">The Port Mahon Marginalia</FONT> <BR>Single issue, seasonal, or yearly rates</P> <HR> <H4>Imperial Renegade Captured</H4> <P>Last Mad Moon, the Commander Junius Castor hired an expedition to bring in Brand, a hum-orc Guardsman that had been sent out as a military advisor to aid the Severed Head orc tribe against their neighbors. As an advisor he was far too successful, he arranged for a dwarven smith to construct weapons, trained the orcs in their usage and in modern military tactics. As a result, the Severed Heads were becoming the most powerful tribe, even threatening the supremacy of the treaty Great Orcs. Orders sent to Brand to return to Port Mahon to explain his actions were ignored. </P> <P>Lured by the reward posted for Brand's recovery, most of the people in Port Mahon set out for Orc territory. As the Severed Head tribe lived beyond the Great Orc village, safe passage through the lands claimed by the Great Orcs had to be negotiated. Allister of the Black Company was disappointed that their reception at that village was hostile, considering the Black Company acted as the Great Orc Queen's guard during the tourney of the previous Mad Moon.</P> <P>Once they left the Great Orc territory, the adventurers were attacked on sight by orcs armed with metal weapons. Superior numbers and fighting skill eventually prevailed, the Severed Head Orc tribe was decimated and Brand was captured and returned to Port Mahon.</P> <H4>War with Skallavir</H4> <P>By order of His Majesty, Trajan II, Emperor of the Pragmatic Empire: </P> <P>"Be it known that The Pragmatic Empire has Declared War upon the lands known as Skallavir, and in particular those lands and clans held personally by Bjorn Landsen, for piracy and acts of war against the Pragmatic Empire. The 24th Regiment is hereby placed on alert and ordered to address all issues affecting combat readiness." </P> <P>Bjorn Landsen is one of the fortunatly rare Skallavirian leaders that has the intelligence and charisma necessary to unite the Skalls. The Skall clans are individually tough fighters, capable of small raids and minor piracy. When united under a capable leader they have the potential to become an effective land and sea fighting force. Bjorn Landsen has personally lead raiding parties to Noh, far to the south of the usual haunts. Even more disturbing is that his targets all have both military and civilian significance. Rather than concentrate on the rich and easy targets of merchanters, he is willing and capable of attacking war ships. It is widely believed that he is responsible for the burning of two of the Empire's twelve Dreadnoughts with the loss of about 1000 sailors and marines</P> <P>Port Mahon was not designed to withstand raids from the sea, so we can only hope that a tiny settlement on the edge of the world does not attract unwanted attention</P> <H4>Stolen Goods Recovered</H4> <P>As if Port Mahon does not have enough thieves of it's own, an outsider arrived with stolen goods to sell. Unfortunately for her, she had been followed by Commander Thanis of the 99th regiment. Setting the 99th on thievery would seem to be an example of using an arbalest to hunt quail, however, the victim of this theft was His Majesty, and the stolen item was a rare piece of enchantable cloth.</P> <P>Commander Thanis dispatched the thief and tracked down the missing cloth. It had been sold to Rosaleen, and she turned it over to him without difficulty. </P> <HR> <P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT SIZE="+2"></FONT>Tired of selling to Crane's for 50% of worth? <BR>Get 75% from Adam.<BR> Can't get what you want locally? <BR> Get it from Adam. <BR>Items less than 5 ss. at Imperial prices. <BR>Items more than 5 ss. negotiable. <BR> Adam wants to make sure you have what <BR> you need to prosper in Port Mahon</P> <HR> <H4>Margin Notes: an Editorial</H4> <P>A large number of thieves have started operating in Port Mahon. Items have disappeared while their owners backs were turned, only to be seen later in the possession of someone else. There is no civil law in Port Mahon, so there is no constabulary such as can be found in cities and towns of the Imperium. Certain people might think that means there is nothing stopping them from stealing, but they would be wrong. The laws of human decency still exist. <EM>Treat other people as you would wish to be treated.</EM></P> <P>A question for the thieves -- Would you like to see the money or pos-sessions you have worked hard or risked much to gain vanish into someone else's pouches?</P> <P>If that is not of concern to you, perhaps you might pause to consider that there is nothing keeping your vic-tim from extracting whatever rude jus-tice he sees fit. The same lawlessness that favors your thievery also favors his vengeance. Perhaps he simply wishes recompense, and a 'fine' for his troubles. You might consider that risk worth the gains. But what if he is from one of the less civilized coun-tries and death is the only satisfactory repayment? If you were expecting protection from the garrison, you made a grave error. The soldiers are here to safeguard the town and the kern pod trade, not the citizens.</P> <P>It is time for a government to form in Port Mahon. We need to stop the lawlessness before it becomes open conflict in the streets.</P> <HR> <H4>Margin Notes, <BR>an Editorial<BR> <EM>Living With The "Neighbors"</EM></H4> <P>Last Mad Moon, monsters -- the same creatures that adventurers spent all last summer trying to annihilate -- came into Port Mahon peacefully. One group, the Goblins, had no money and spent their time trying to beg for food or steal anything not nailed down or guarded. The others, Great Orcs, behaved tolerably well and had money to purchase weapons. </P> <P>The garrison commander is setting the policy for the relations between humans and monsters, and right now his policy is to make treaties, needed or not. (I am using the term human to refer to all civilized peoples. I mean no offense to the elves, hum-orcs, dwarves, and other non-human residents of Port Mahon.) Are monsters "people" with bad skin conditions, or "non-people" who can never be integrated into civilized life? </P> <P>If they are people, they should be treated with all the consideration due to them, and the treaties honored until the advantages granted to the humans become outweighed by the advantages granted to the monsters. In the treaty with the Great Orcs, the humans have gained peace, and the Orcs are gaining metal weapons. We are giving away the advantage of superior weaponry for no benefit, only a delay in the inevitable. </P> <P>If they are non-people, they should be eliminated. There can be no peaceful coexistence between humans and monsters. Entering treaties with them is a dangerous waste of time.</P> <HR> <P ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT SIZE="+2">Darial the Spellbinder</FONT><BR> Enchanter, Papermaker, and Scholar<BR> Will return to Port Mahon later this spring</P> <HR> <H4>Out of Game </H4> <P>Summer game dates: April 19th, May 17th, June 21st, July 19th, August 16th, September 20th, and October 18th. <BR> All games are held at Camp Wowitan, check-in opens at 10:30am. The game starts at noon, and ends at 6:00pm. </P> <P><STRONG>DIRECTIONS TO YMCA CAMP WOWITAN</STRONG>: Take US 45 north from Milwaukee (or come down south from the north, whatever). Exit East Pleasant Valley Road (about 10 miles north of Milwaukee, 3 miles south of West Bend) and go east. At the stop sign (County Hwy P) turn left. Go one mile and turn right on County Highway NN (also known as Hwy 143). Go about 4 miles to Church road, then turn left on Church Road (going north) and stay on Church road until it dead ends. The building at the end of the road is Grede Lodge, where check-in is located. </P> <P>Material for the Marginalia, either in or out of game, is due one week before the game. If you cannot find me during a game and you wish to advertise or have some other information, talk to me out of game. <BR> Janice Hanchar -- (414) 466-3159 or e-mail to <A HREF="mailto:hanchar@mfa.com">hanchar@mfa.com</A><BR> Due date for April Marginalia: <STRONG>April 12th.</STRONG></P> <P ALIGN="CENTER"><A HREF="97_feb.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/prev_g.jpg" ALT="[Previous]" BORDER="0" WIDTH="110" HEIGHT="24"></A><A HREF="97_apr.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/next_g.jpg" ALT="[Next]" BORDER="0" WIDTH="110" HEIGHT="24"></A></P> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <TD><A><IMG SRC="../../images/left_h.jpg" ALT="Left End Of Scroll Bar" WIDTH="32" HEIGHT="116"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../../info/info_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/info_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Logistics]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="45" HEIGHT="116" NAME="info"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../../game/game_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/game_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Game Info]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="60" HEIGHT="116" NAME="game"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../../misc/misc_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/misc_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Miscellaneous Information]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="116" NAME="misc"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../../faq.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/faq_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Frequently Asked Questions]" BORDER="0" WIDTH="58" HEIGHT="116" NAME="faq"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../../new.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/new_h_n.jpg" ALT="[What's New]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="52" HEIGHT="116" NAME="whatsNew"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../../index.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../../images/home_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Magic Horizons Home Page]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="59" HEIGHT="116" NAME="home"></A></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="../../images/right_h.jpg" ALT="Right End Of Scroll Bar" WIDTH="22" HEIGHT="116"></TD></TR></TABLE> <P>Problems with the page? Email <a HREF="mailto:burnside@itis.com">Ken Burnside</a>.</P></TD></TR></TABLE></BODY>