Northfort News

[DaveIronside]

NATION CELEBRATE FEAST OF JEKAR

The Feast of Jekar is seen as the 2nd most important festival in the year of the Cult of Helus and today members of the Cult across Mundus celebrated with sword ceremonies, competitions and feasts. The day is dedicated to the God of War and Swords and is used to give thanks to the "Scarred Legionnaire of Helus" who convinced Helus to intervene in the war between humanity and the Underlords. The day is now used to mark a celebration of those who have been loyal to the Code of Canley and also pay tribute to those who have served various good caused through the year. As with most feast days the day began with the King visiting the Temple of the God in Northfort. The King was accompanied by 7 year old Princess Rhiannon and the pair were attired in traditional tunics, Red for the King and Red and White for the Princess. The King took part in the morning ritual which saw the Royal Blacksmith, Maxwell Power, use the Temple's grinding wheel to put a new edge on the sword held by the statue of Jekar and the King's own blade. The Queen meanwhile visited the Sisterhood of Helus' Temple in Northfort where she presented it with its first sword for their own statue of Helus-Jekar which they believe is merely a personification of the "Goddess Helus'" warrior side. Just like the King she had opted to wear traditional red tunic marking the first time since her coronation she has been seen in public wearing the attire.

Following the time in Temple the King and Princess Rhiannon made their way to People's Park next to the Palace where a huge fayre was taking place including charitable stalls, craftsman and oppurtunities to take part in swordsmanship events and practice. Princess Rhiannon joined with school mates to take part in a demonstration of traditional sword fighting techniques before being presented with a ceremonial wooden training sword for being the "Most Improved Under 11" at the Townshend Sword Academy, considered one of the most prestigious places to learn traditional swordsmanship. The Princess has been studying with Sir Charles Townshend, who is the leader of the chivalric order known as the Court of Canley. Princess Rhiannon was watched by her father, step-mother Queen Stasya, aunt Princess Freya and her mother Matilda Osman. The Princess was permitted a brief conversation with the media after the presentation and said, "I like learning with the sword because its important to know. Sometimes though I make mistakes and that hurts a lot but then I know not to do it again. I'd like to say thank you for my new sword and I want to get another next year."

The King, Queen and the rest of the Ironsides then retired to the Palace where it is understood that they hosted a feast and ball for members of the armed forces nominated to attend by their commanding officer because of work they had done to support communities. One person invited was L/Cpl Robert Weathers who was nominated because they had helped set up a homework club for students at a nearby school where the Royal Signalman supported students with science work. L/Cpl Weathers said, "I'm honoured to get an invite to the Palace on a day like today. I've always been proud of serving the military and doing my best to follow the Code of Canley and to celebrate at the heart of the faith is exciting."

Across Mundus there were other celebrations in which the various East Moreland embassies played a key role. In Meybad, Royal Seleucid, the embassy lead an attempt to try and replace swords that had been confiscated during the food crisis of 2019. Blacksmiths across East Moreland had donated new blades that could be distributed, a total of 476 were given out however as Ambassador Edward Stackhouse explained, "We believe well over 2,500 swords were confiscated during this crisis which we know of. Many more family heirlooms were also taken and we believe the number could be as a high as 10,000 today we went a small way to trying and restoring some families honour." Meanwhile in Paracambi the embassy staff had arranged for a Medieval MMA tournament among members of its embassy and the Bakkermayan one with 22 year old East Moreland guardsman Andrew Preston coming out victorious. Following his victory he said, "We wanted to celebrate with the local people and thought putting on a demonstration of the skills Jekar told us we needed was a good way of letting them see some of what we're about. To celebrate the feast of the beach though rather than the hills of my hometown Roberton is odd but fun."

Tomorrow there will be a large military parade through the streets of Ostlake where the King and Queen are expected to take the salute.

VACCINE PRODUCTION HEADS INTO OVER-DRIVE

With scientists in Fleur having developed a vaccine to tackle the Yellowtongue virus which has been plaguing Ruminant species across the Kingdom for some time. The virus has impacted the deer population in the Northfort Royal Palace parkland as well as various farmers herds around Ostlake and Rockhampton. The new vaccine is said to be around 85-90% effective following scientists in Fleur taking advantage of an OsmanTech mapping of the virus. The company has now switched to mass producing the vaccine as it is estimated that around 400million doses will be required to vaccinate the majority of East Moreland livestock. Olivia Cole, the Kingdom's Science and Techology Minister toured the OsmanTech facility today and said, "It is vital that we now pump this thing out as quickly as possible and get it to our farmers and then see how we can perhaps get it into the wild populations. East Moreland as a nation relies a lot on wild game as a way of life meaning at present lots of traditional hunting has stopped because of the risk of this disease. We are now thankful that our joint co-operation on tackling this with Fleur has lead to them working out a path towards getting things back to normal and now its time to forge ahead and complete the journey we've been on side by side. The co-operation between Fleur and East Moreland has shown just how powerful large scale collaborations such as this can be in tackling problems and I know in the future we will look to build upon this fruitful and successful collaboration of work."

It is expected the first dose will be given next week however no details of how the vaccine will be made avalible has yet been confirmed causing many farmers to complain about the Agricultural Ministries lack of communication.

[DaveIronside]

KING SAYS "FAKE LODJA WILL BE DEALT WITH"

Following what appears to be an attempted coup in Lodja by King Leopold the King of East Moreland has issued a statement giving his support to Queen Klara. On his way to meet with members of the Representative Council the King stopped and briefly spoke with the media saying. "Several years ago I was able to meet a young and driven Queen called Viktoria, she was someone who after 90 years of rule be the previous Queen was committed and desperate to drag Lodja into a brighter future. We worked side by side and I was proud to call her my friend. Together with our friends King Piripi and King Finley we formed the CNN, an alliance not born out of anything that tied us together other than mutual friendship between monarchs all of whom wanted to see their nations prosper. Sadly that bright spark was snatched from the world by someone desperate to obtain and further their own power. Today we have seen history repeat itself. A young Queen, one who has already put in place so many changes for her people. One who has worked hard to ensure her people were on a path towards an ever brighter future. She now has seen her attempts halted through the use of violence again from someone close to her. Just as last time the people of East Moreland will stand side by side with our Lodjain allies and make sure that Leopold is brought to justice. His fake Lodja will be dealth with."

It is understood that several ships are making their way towards Ui Cenneslaig where it is likely a fleet to support Queen Klara will be formed. As of yet no details are known as to what support King Leopold has in Lodja or whether his attempt was supported by groups outside of Lodja. The King was asked about Queen Stasya's reaction however he explained, "The only reaction that is needed is one of supporting our friends. The Queen supports that aim and will not be making a statement on the matter." The Queen is friends and former colleague of Queen Klara's Ladies in Waiting prior to marrying King David and it is not known whether the Queen has been in touch with them.

[DaveIronside]

QUEEN STASYA SPEAKS ON HOMELAND'S HEARTACHE

Following a series of attacks in Gaia that have targetted Queen Klara of Lodja her former Lady in Waiting and current Queen of East Moreland, Stasya Ironside has today visited the Temple of the Sisterhood of Helus. Queen Stasya arrived at the Temple accompanied only by her own small household staff. She was seen meeting with the High Priestess of the Sisterhood, Jinny Denman. The Queen spent several hours inside before addressing the media on her way out.

"I would like to thank the various nations that have reached out to us and offered us kind words and other support. While nations such as Tytor have offered us use of embassy space and others like Fleur support in returning Morelanders home at this moment in time my husband and his team of advisers feel that this will not be needed. We are thankful to the Ui Cenneslaig embassy, our CNN allies for their support which saw members of their embassy security detail digging our own brave men and women out of the rubble just minutes after the cowardly attack on them. There was once a time when I considered Leopold Hamsik a friend, a man that I thought acted with honour and integrity but following revelations of his bribing judges which lead to him tricking a young 18 year old girl into his bed that respect faded fast. Now I see him for what many in the international community do, a chancer, a coward and someone hungry only for power for their own ends. Leopold Hamsik has shown no care for anyone other than himself. He is currently holding his own son hostage as a puppet in his power-game. I am proud to be a friend of Queen Klara and witnessed first hand the love and care she has for the people she is Queen of. She has made greater strides towards transforming Lodja than anyone who has gone before her and I honestly believe had this incident not happened then within a decade Lodja would have seen so many changes to benefit its people. The world must now work on two fronts. The first is to give support to an amazing Queen who has always put the needs of her people at the front of her thoughts. The second is to bring the human filth of Leopold Hamsik to justice for the vast array of crimes he has committed."

Later in the day Royal Press Secretary Malcolm Tucker was asked if the Queen's sentiments were shared by the King and he responded saying, "The words Queen Stasya spoke were unrehearsed and came from the heart. Her husband shares her sentiments but perhaps not her words. We thank all nations that have been in touch and as the Queen said at the moment we believe our CNN connections are the best route for continuing embassy conditions in Lodja we will take more advice as the situation changes."

It is understood that a Royal Naval fleet will be arriving in Ui Cenneslaig in the next 48 hours and from there proceeding to the Alucard. Mr.Tucker also confirmed that Queen Stasya had requested permission to return to Lodja to comfort Queen Klara however this was not permitted on grounds of "security". So far the location of the renegade HMDS Morelander has yet to be confirmed although several nations had now labelled it a "Pirate" ship.

[DaveIronside]

DRAGON-GHOST DRONE LAUNCHES DRONE

The EMAC Dragon-Ghost Drone which is due to enter service later this year has today completed trials of deploying a 2nd drone from its internal weapons bay. The UAV released a loitering munition drone (LMD) while at a height of 10,000 feet. The LMD weighed around 6kg and was carried within a bay capable of carrying weaponry or equipment to the weight of 150kg. The utilisation of the bay rather than hardpoints allows the Ghost-Drone to have fewer points to enlarge its radar cross section. The design is so unique that it uses engine gases to redirect airflows over its surfaces meaning the drone has no moving control surfaces further reducing points of observation for RADAR. The LMD was released and the Ghost-Drone returned to base with no incident. This follows the loss of one of the four prototypes in September 2020 due to issues that are believed to have stemmed from ineffective ice control. The LMD flew independently of the Ghost-Drone for around 90 minutes before being guided to strike a target boat in the Mhorish. The strike was considered a "great success" by the Admiralty and Air Force both of whom are expected to receive completed drones in time.

Sir Harry Samuelson viewed the tests and the Minister of Defence stated afterwards. "I was impressed, the last time I saw the Ghost-Drone it crashed and so this was always going to be an improvement. To be able to utilise this independent drone mid-flight could be a useful tool and one we will investigate further." It was explained by representatives of EMAC that theoretically a single Ghost-Drone could carry 25 LMD's meaning as Sir Alan Maybury of EMAC said, "Potentially we could fly a Ghost Drone close to the enemies air-space, perhaps even into it utilising the drones stealth credentials, from there we could launch these 25 LMD's, withdraw the Ghost-Drone and two hours later these mini-drones could be used to strike targets. Alternatively they could be used to swarm enemy air defences while a 2nd Ghost-Drone strikes targets with more conventional weapons. Today's test could be a useful tool for our military." One problem however as Sir Alan explains is "We need to look at a system for carrying so many, one issue is launching 25 successfully and the other is the volume of the weapons bay. The LMD is a light weapon all things considered but like anything it takes up room. We need to find a balance between the number carried and doing so without compromising the stealth features. Its a point for down the road."

The Ghost-Drone is expected to attempt carrier landings early next week to evaluate its usefulness for the Navy in addition to the Air-Force. The same weapons test saw the Spearhead Mk.3 missile complete a successful 700km flight meaning it is still some 300km off its final target distance.