Author Topic: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya  (Read 16291 times)

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Offline RobertAgira

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Re: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya
« Reply #30 on: April 07, 2020, 09:34:36 PM »

LEAD SWORD SWORN IN
Duke of Elwood Delighted



Following a ceremony today at the Temple of Frossaj the nations new Lead-Sword has been sworn in. 52 year old Elliot Larkwood was nominated for the role by Grand Duke Hugo Lascelles and travelled to the Temple by foot from the Temple of Jekar which is 2miles away. Once arriving at the Temple of Frossaj the former Police Chief was greeted by the nominated member of the Ducal Council who was Duke Aiden Wilkinson, the new Lead-Swords Duke as well as distant relative. It was Duke Aiden who officiated the ceremony that saw the new Lead Sword take an oath of loyalty to be the true voice of the Ducal Council when speaking to the Grand Duke while at the same time taking an oath to Grand Duke Hugo Lascelles to be his true voice in the Ducal Council. Once the oaths had been exchanged the former Lead-Sword, Duchess Anna Davidson was presented with her own sword which had been stored in the Temple of Jekar while she had carried the nations sword. This was presented by the Grand Duke to his new post holder who relinquished his sword which was paraded by military escort to the Temple of Jekar.

The new Lead-Sword is expected to make his first trip overseas with the Grand Duke when the pair visit the Commonwealth of the Iwi in the coming days.

Offline RobertAgira

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Re: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya
« Reply #31 on: May 06, 2020, 08:10:40 PM »

"SUPER-SOLDIERS TO VISIT EAST MORELAND
Week long "skirmish" to take place



30 members of the nations military have signed up to be part of the "Super-Soldier" project's latest test. Having previously had the technology company, Zenith Data Systems (ZDS), undertake several tests of what is known as biohacking the company and Ministry of Defence are keen to test the technology in circumstances that are less planned. CEO of ZDS, Peter Simod, explained what they will be doing in the next round of tests. "In previous tests we've always known what was to be expected and the capabilities that would be needed for our soldiers to be considered successful. This time however we need to see what the actual use of the technologies were developing are in real life situations. To date we've tested an implanted GPS system in a soldiers forearm, used injections to improve night vision and built a magnetic implant that makes firearms only usable by those with the implant. Now we're hoping to set all three up together and see how this works in reality."

The 30 soldiers will be flying into East Moreland's Ostlake military facility where they will be set up with the various implants used so far at which point they will be given a week long scenario to play out somewhere in East Moreland with members of the Morelanders Royal Marine Commando's as opposition. The fact that the missions have not been revealed and the soldiers do not know the terrain they will be going into will ensure what the Ministry of Defence hope is a fair test as a spokesman explained. "We will be interviewing the soldiers carefully at the end of the exercise as well as monitoring their biological state during the proceedings. What will also be interesting is speaking with the Morelanders to see what they make of the equipment."

Offline RobertAgira

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Re: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya
« Reply #32 on: May 26, 2020, 06:31:39 PM »

ZDS RETURN TO DRAWING BOARD
Exercise shows some flaws with "Super-soldier" Tech



Following the military exercise run between members of East Morelan'ds Royal Marine Commando's and soldiers from Bakkermaya using ZDS' Biohacking projects the CEO of the company, Peter Simod, has declared that the exercise has shown some short comings with the projects. Simod was in East Moreland during the exercise and said, "The Marine Commando's are tough opposition for any soldier. That was what we wanted this test to be, a chance to see just exactly how this could work in practice. We took three projects with us and to be fair only one showed any real advantage and then that was perhaps negligable. We found the implanted GPS worked brilliantly making navigation for the troops so much easier and the fact that even at night it allowed them to accuratly travel without the need to refer to something using a light source or a traditional map. The night-vision injections for eyes worked great for the first evening, however the effect needs renewing at 12 hours intervals, we taught the team how to administer them in the field but it became too awkward and inconveniant and so therefore we think we are some way off seeing them in full use. The implant that stops a soldiers weapon being utilised by someone else was also seen as pretty un-neccessary. As both sides used the same calibre of ammunition we discovered the Morelanders simply just took the magazines rather than weapons when they captured them. Additionally about 30% of the devices on the rifles failed at some point during the exercise, mainly down to problems of keeping the weapon clean and dry in combat operations. That figure is naturally far too high for us to send men into real combat with them."

Peter Simod did say however that he was hopeful for the future of the project. " We'll go back to the drawing board. We'll look at whether there is some way of turning the eye injections into drops. However perhaps they are something that could be utilised well in a situation where it was known the mission would last a limited amount of time, such as say a hostage rescue or a anti-terror raid. The personal weapon identification system we need to make more robust and perhaps find some way to lock the magazines for use. We have a few other projects in the pipeline but they may now need to be placed on a back burner while we get these up to speed as we want them."

 

Offline RobertAgira

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Re: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya
« Reply #33 on: May 30, 2020, 07:06:24 PM »

WELLOW LANDMARK REGISTERED BY CETO
Wellow Coastal Instillation Park gets global boost



The Cultural Exchange Treaty Organisation has confirmed the entry of Wellow Coastal Instillation Park as a site of international significance making it the 6th site to apply and be recognised as such. The park was once an outlying suburb of Wellow that a community of of artists built and attempted to make into a practical settlement but where everything was influenced by their artistic movement. This construction began in the early 20th century and saw around 20 houses built along with roads, plazas, a Temple and various other everyday necessities. Today the park is visited by a great number of Bakkermayans every year who walk around its streets and visit the various museums that now occupy the houses. The Duchess of Wellow, Anna Davison was one of those who nominated the site for inclusion and was on hand today to help unveil a plaque proclaiming the sites new status. "I always enjoyed coming here as a girl and seeing the bright colours and pretty patterns. It was only as I grew older that I began to understand the level of thought that had gone into the constructions here and loved it even more. Wellow is a proud part of Bakkermaya but we also have to embrace our heritage of Lodja and Paracambi. My family on my mothers side is Paracambian and so I think the park embraces that shared background the island has."

It is expected that the new status will draw more attention to the site which will help with attempts to make Wellow more popular with tourists.

Offline RobertAgira

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Re: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya
« Reply #34 on: April 03, 2022, 07:24:55 PM »

ZDS MAKE "WORLDS MOST EXPENSIVE" BULLET-PROOF VEST


Today Zenith Data Systems have unveiled what they say is the worlds most expensive bullet proof vest. Peter Simod, the CEO of the genetic engineering and data handling company showcased the fabric vest made from "Goatsilk" to members of the armed forces. The vest was demonstrated using a weapon firing slow moving .22 caliber rounds. The result was able to stop the round with only four layers. Standard Kevlar armor was used alongside as a base line test and stopped a round fired from the same gun with the same ammunition with 29 layers. The standard Kevlar body armour issued to Bakkermayan forces is comprised of 33 layers. Peter Simod was pleased with the results and said, "The new material is lighter per square meter than Kevlar and we've just shown it is much tougher. This material has a great potential, not just for bullet-proof vests and body armour but for a whole host of different tasks which require strength and lightness. We're excited about where the future can take us."

The material though is highly expensive, the cost of the vest has not been revealed but to go into production Mr.Simod said would cost "eight to ten times as much money per vest." Therefore it is unlikely that the military will be using the vests anytime soon. The main reason for the high cost at present is the unique way that the vest is made. "We've discovered that golden orb-weaving spider has a silk which is  tougher than Kevlar but has the elasticity and lightness of of nylon. When we began looking at large scale "spider farming" we discovered a problem, it took more than a million spiders and 70 human workers working for four years to make a single 11-foot by 4-foot piece of fabric. To make matters worse the spiders were cannibalistic This would have made it even less economically viable. What we discovered is that by DNA engineering we could make goats milk contain the protein responsible for the silk and thus by milking a goat we get about an ounce of the protein per milking session, yielding several thousand yards of a single spider-silk thread. The milk has to be separated and refined several times, then washed, freeze-dried, and turned into a powder. The powder can be spun into a fiber, or transformed into a coating or adhesive. We've now got five or six generations of these goats that have passed on the gene. It is our hope we can begin mass production in the next two years. Our aim isn't yet to equip the military with thousands of vests but the material can be used for things like suters in humans and for things such as replacing the wires used in jaw surgery." ZDS have said that they are also now looking at using things such as silkworms or even bacteria to make the material faster and with less economically expensive processes. 


Offline RobertAgira

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Re: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya
« Reply #35 on: April 27, 2022, 09:52:24 PM »

FEAST OF MELANOR CELEBRATED


The Cult of Helus has today celebrated the Feast of Melanor and across the Dukedoms of Bakkermaya the people have been celebrating with the traditional planting of trees. Lead by Grand Duke Hugo Lascelles in Edwinstowe thousands of trees have been provided to the various temples across the nation and communities spent the day in the outdoors planting them, enjoying picnics and otherwise enjoying the great outdoors. The Feast is dedicated to the Goddess of Life who Cultists believe is responsible for ensuring the growth of new plants and animals that mankind can utilise to sustain our existence.

This year the Grand Duke had six different trees sent to the Ironside family of East Moreland where they will be planted on the royal estate of Northfort Palace. The Duchy of Edwinstowe sent an oak tree, Elmwood naturally sent an Elm tree, Cartmel sent a willow tree, Wellow sent a birch tree, Walesby a Laurel tree and Harby a Bearded Fig Tree. each Duchy selected a tree that they believed reflected their own region. Duchess of Walesby,  Rhiannon Farmer said, "As Cultist we see East Moreland as the Holy Land, the place in which the whole of mankind was reborn and flourished following the great war against the Underlords. It is our duty to help ensure the world once more is a fruitful and fertile place and today we've remembered that. To maintain our links with the Holy Land is very important to us and I'm hoping one day to taste a fig from the tree at Northfort Palace."

Across the Six Dukedoms it is estimated close to one million new trees have been planted this Feast day.

Offline RobertAgira

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Re: Sword & Shield - News from Bakkermaya
« Reply #36 on: February 06, 2023, 10:43:43 PM »

NEW LEAD SWORD SELECTED


Each year the Grand Duke appoints a person to be his Lead Sword. The role is a largely ceremonial one but in theory acts as a conduit between the Grand Duke and the Ducal Council or Parliament of Swords This year Sir Kenneth Matthews was selected. The 54 year old is a former member of the elite Horseman of Jekar Regiment and has served for the past five years as a Special Adviser for the Ministry of Defence. Sir Kenneth is a native of Edwinstowe where he resides with his wife Carolina. The couple have two children, 24 year old Adam and 19 year old Sarah.

A short swearing in ceremony took place at the Temple of Frossaj during which Sir Kenneth said, "I'm proud to have been given such a role. While I realise that I have nothing but a symbolic role within the government I am, as ever, proud to serve the Six Dukedoms. I look forward to working with all those working directly for the Grand Duke and those elected onto the Ducal Council and Parliament of Swords." The role of Lead Sword allows Sir Kenneth to be the only person to attend the Grand Duke's Private Council, Parliament of Swords and the various Ducal Councils. One of his symbolic responsibilities will be to convey pieces of legislation between the three bodies as well as escort the Grand Duke to state functions. In the past Lead Swords have also taken on the responsibility for acting as a host to visiting dignitaries.

The previous Lead Sword was Duke Elliot Larkwood who has confirmed that he will be retiring totally from public service and joining the board of directors of Bakkermaya's National Rugby Board.




ANNAT PARTY WIN MAYORSHIP

The town of Bingham on the island of Harby yesterday held elections for the position of Mayor. The role gives the holder control of the local town council and responsibility for some day to day duties such as road maintainance, building permits and licencing of such things as alcohol and gambling. The election saw five political parties stand candidates as well as two independents. The winner of the election was Crispian Darrell who represents the Ancestoral Nationalist Party, abbreviated to ANNAT. Mr.Darrell received 36% of the total vote with a turnout of around 46%. Speaking after the confirmation of the result the 41 year old said, "I am delighted to be the first member of our party to hold any position within the Bakkermayan system of government. We've only existed three years and we've seen growth year on year. It is our ambition to get 5% of the seats in the Parliament of Swords elections in the summer."

The Party was founded in 2020 by Jeanette Arrington, a lecturer in Cultural Studies at Wellow University, with the aim of establishing "ever closer ties to our ancestoral homeland of East Moreland." The Party has a manifesto which calls for the Six Dukedoms to pursue a course of alignment with East Moreland laws and policies after which the nation should seek to make the monarch of East Moreland the Head of State of Bakkermaya with the Grand Duke acting as a more traditional Governor role. A Seventh seat in the Ducal Council would be formed with a representative of East Moreland sitting in it. At the moment Miss Arrington has suggested that seat be filled by Princess Rhiannon when she comes of age. "We have seen how in places like Hozland a small title is given to the heir to the throne as a kind of recognition of what they will one day be. I couldn't imagine being prouder of having the heir to the homelands throne be the Seventh member of the Ducal Council and assume a title in accordance with that." The Party believes that Bakkermaya was founded on the principles of loyalty to the throne of East Moreland and that the strength of the Cult of Helus and its associated faith of Helusan within the Six Dukedoms should be built upon. Miss Arrington has stated, "While the islands are home to those who trace their ancestory to Lodja and Paracambi it is true that the heart of the Six Dukedoms is the mainland. The islands became outposts to help defend that. We have seen how our homeland accepts all religions while honouring Helus above all so can it be here in Bakkermaya. My dream would one day to be able to consider myself not just a citizen of Bakkermaya but the citizen of a wider East Moreland. Northfort is the craddle of our people and every right minded member of the Cult would wish to be part of it." The Party currently has around 92,000 members on its Twitter page and has been growing slowly over the last few months. Polls suggest if elections were run tomorrow the party would gain one seat in the 180 seat Parliament of Swords.