Heiress Camilla Engel-Rakkir ascends to archduchess rank; inquest pending
Dateline: Khazigur Heraldric Offices; 12 Adelis' month, 12090: Lady Camilla Engel-Rakkir, daughter and eldest child of Archduke Bartimus Rakkir, today filed letters of Inheritance by Absence on behalf of the Duchy of Zauzet and the Vassal Duchies of Coldhorn and Adevarul. Though the document does not go into great detail on the circumstances, the timing of this disappearance suggests Mind Flayer involvement, and to a much larger degree than was previously suspected.
The Varangian home guard has issued an official statement that other than the timing, no connection to the mind flayer incursion event has been found, and no hard evidence suggests that the incursion took place as far north as Zauzet. The Post was unable to verify whether or not Archduke Rakkir was in the City during the incursion event which also brought minor injuries to the Governor himself.
At this time no formal memorial or interrment services have been announced, nor has the last known sighting of the Archduke been confirmed, though he did miss a meeting with the Governor two months ago which had been arranged on behalf of Camilla Engel-Rakkir, presumably as an official marriage bid. The initial inquiry into the circumstances of the Orc Offensive last winter in Coldhorn and Adevarul was opened soon after that meeting was missed, and while hard evidence is limited, significant circumstantial evidence suggests that the Archduke and possibly his family and business associates had advance warning of or even a role in orchestrating the attacks.
As the law sets forth, the Archduke has 14 days to respond to the provisional reassignment, either directly by his own presence at court, or if investigations are able to prove or disprove his fitness to continue to rule, as determined by a number of standards which must be met. If no acceptable rebuttal occurs during this period, the title would pass to the eldest full-blooded child in the event such a child exists, or to the surviving spouse if no full-blooded child exists, for a probationary period of 90 days in which additional evidence can be collected and presented to King Carmichael of Naarod for his ruling. However, the assumption that Camilla is a full-blooded child of the archduke is by no means a certainty, and because of her evident Aasimer descent is likely to be contested by the Naarodian Noble Council. However the tests for this are not necessarily rigorous - as the law is written, if a minimum of three other family members will attest to it, then her parentage is established, but if fewer will attest to it then the burden of convincing the council of her eligibility rests with her. Her younger brother Philip would inherit the title if her parentage cannot be verified; his is not likely to be questioned. If somehow the parentage of neither can be established at court, Lady Elena Rakkir will inherit the title as the uncontested and only wife of the former Duke.
Whoever inherits the title is likely to face a major criminal investigation as their first order of business; Rakkir was under paperwork of arrest and his disappearance, if not related to the Mind Flayer incursion, could certainly be connected to this. Of course, the disappearance may be due to some sort of random accident or foul play, all of which will require weeks of additional investigation, likely ensuring that Camilla will at the very least become provisional archduchess in 14 days.
If the circumstances of the vassalage of the two Naarodian lands under the headship of Zauzet prove to have been fraudulent, the King will have several rulings at his disposal; the most likely is that the archduchy of Zauzet will be split up once more into three full Duchies, with the Rakkir treasury bearing the cost of restitution and damages. If it is insufficient to bear the costs, this will turn it into a vassalage itself to either Lady Phillipa of Coldhorn or Lord Varian of Adevarul, whichever can't be paid, or splitting the Duchy down the center and eliminating it entirely as an independent state if neither can be paid.
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