SEAFORTH NEWS NETWORK
Special Report
“Hello and good evening. After close to two years, the Seaforth News Network has finally returned to the broadcasting world. In our first airing I, Gavin Neil, will be discussing with Senior Anchor Tara McLeod what exactly happened. How did Seaforth fall so far?”
Gavin turns slightly to his left“Welcome to the show, Tara.”
“Thank you Gavin.”
“So to get right down to it...what happened?”
“Well Gavin, it was too much too fast. The betrayal of the Seaforth Catholic Church and the subsequent Eugenics War caused millions of deaths and massive destruction to our nation. On top of that, when the depth of the betrayal was discovered, it damaged the social structure of our nation beyond repair. Our then-King Joshua Rhodes then pulled off a brilliant military campaign in putting down the Church and thier militias, with key aid from our steadfast allies East Moreland, Achkaerin and Dijel.”
“Indeed. I believe Joshua’s final armoured maneuver is still being taught in most military schools.”
“I have heard that.”
“So how did that victory turn to ashes?”
“A good shepard he was not. It was known that diplomacy was not always his strength, but he was worse at administering the nation. He needed to rebuild and reinforce our social structure and chose to do so by creating the awful clan system. Seaforth has always been traditional minded and instead of relying on that he attempted to try something totally new. The clans were already coming apart when....it happened.”
“The second wave?”
“Correct. A second outbreak of Lassa IV. Millions more dead. Even then, Joshua was still holding the nation together by force of will alone.”
“Indeed. He was conducting observation when his helicopter went missing.”
“Thats right. During the second wave Joshua was flying in a Cyclone helicopter, observing the ongoing humanitarian efforts when the Cyclone disappeared off radar in the coastal mountains.”
“And?”
“And the light just went out. Everything spiraled from there. With the loss of Joshua, people fled. It was too much. They crossed borders in droves. Somerset, East Moreland, Troyes...they went wherever they could, to whoever would take them. The list of nations accepting our refugees is as long as my arm. For those that remained, it was anarchy. Total social collapse. Then of course, the lights started going out, things stopped working, people stopped working. You have seen it before.”
“The military? Leadership?”
“Evacuated. To be fair, it was all they could do to keep it all together. They retreated to Illumic East, Somerset, Gibraltar and Troyes. To be fair, they recovered first in spite of several key officers succumbing to Lassa IV and are responsible for beginning the restoration. Its slow work, but they did get the SNN back up in our currently limited fashion. As to leadership, well, look at Somerset. Joshua may have been the soldier, but Evanthe is clearly a world class governor.”
“So what does the future hold? Are we to be Somersetan now?”
“I dont know Gavin. Somerset, which is actually an Autonomous Zone held by what was called House Rhodes has preserved the active remains of Seaforth. Today it functions as a rump state almost. Will it remain as such, I dont know. I do have it from several highly placed sources in the military that they will not abandon Seaforth and the return of the SNN is just the first step.”
“A first step that took two years.”
Tara scowls at Gavin’s comment“I’m sure they are aware of the time frame and like it less than you.”
Gavin stammers slightly“Uh..ah...yes, of course. Thank you Tara, for joining us on our first return broadcast.”
Tara smiles brightly, appearing pleased at the stammer“Your welcome Gavin, any time.”
