Queen Astrid Relents to Monthslong Protests

GAMERIAN GAZETTE - MONTH OF HURRIK, 906

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AFTER MONTHS OF PROTESTS, QUEEN ASTRID AGREES TO REFN REFORMS

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GAMERIA, Gameth - With months of violent protests threatening the stability of the kingdom, Queen Astrid convened an emergency meeting of her royal council to enact a package of bills known as the 'Refn Reforms' to appease the young protesters from the kingdom's

Hakon province.
The reforms promise to transform Gamerian society and restructure the government for the first time since the early 500's. The full effects of the reforms will take years to assess, but among the major changes included:

• Half the seats on the kingdom's royal council must be filled by democratically-elected representatives
• All industrial projects in Hakon must be approved by a committee of Hakonian natives
• The creation of a special council to protect the nation's environment
• A 25-year moratorium on the creation of a railway leading to Oakengaard, after which the citizens of Hakon will be allowed to vote for or against the creation of a railway in the fall of 931.

For years Queen Astrid's government favored a campaign of industrialization, competing with kingdoms like Rakka and the Free State of Thorvald for technological supremacy. Vast metal deposits in the mines of Ravi provided the kingdom with a steady stream of raw materials for industrial projects and little concern for the environmental cost.
The breaking point came early in 905 with the completion of a transcontinental railroad that stretched from Ravi to Gameria and all the way to Garavecchio (the project received significant support and funding by Paoli Piedmonte and the Sardivelian government). Engineers from Ravi began looking north to connect the Hakonian cities of Oakengaard and Oftin to the railway, but Hakonian natives raised concerns over how the railway would harm the region's pristine environment.
What started out as peaceful protests against surveying expeditions and land deals escalated into violent confrontations between Hakonian protesters and Gamerian authorities. A new generation of Hakonians, inspired by environmentalist groups like the The Knights of Yo-Na, ignited months of revolt against Queen Astrid's government demanding environmental protections for Hakon and beyond.
After a riot in Oakengaard left dozens of protesters dead last month, Queen Astrid quickly reversed course and acceded to the protesters' demands. Fearing another civil war in Hakon like the one that had nearly ruined Gameth eighty years before, Queen Astrid put the unity of the kingdom ahead of any short-lived gains from technological advancement. Having spent most of her young adulthood as a priestess of the goddess Erivo in Oakengaard, Queen Astrid proved more sympathetic to Hakonian needs than any other Gamerian ruler in recent memory.
Named in honor of the late Prince Refn Haraldr of Hakon, the Refn Reforms were celebrated throughout the kingdom and promised the democratization of Gameth. The kingdom was still far behind established democracies like Sabha and the Treeleaf Union, but many protesters felt confident about the nation's future for the first time in years.
"My grandfather said he fought in the civil war because he felt voiceless in Gameth," said Dreskell Johanssen, a student at Eldermere University celebrating the Refn Reforms. "Not only did we get Gameria to listen, we got them to change their mind."

OCCULTIST WILBUR WHATELY DECLARED DEAD

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OAKENGAARD, Gameth - The mysterious warlock and Hakon native Wilbur Whately has been declared dead by authorities at Haraldsson Prison in Oakengaard.

In service of a mysterious entity known as the 'Keeper of the Gate', Wilbur was known for performing unethical experiments to further the interests of his patron. After running into trouble with Queen Astrid's regime in Gameth Wilbur fled to the former

Elflands Empire and spent time in the capital city of Kassædeia poring through records at the Imperial Archives. He was briefly involved with The Characters revolutionary movement in the mid-890's, and after the destruction of the empire in 897 by the Sunken God he fled back to Gameth and his hometown of Dunwich.

In the spring of 897 he was apprehended by Roland Fireheart, Catriona Quinn, and a couple of adventurers from the Royal Knights Brigade when his occult practices were deemed a threat to Gameth's security. Wilbur was transferred to Haraldsson Prison in Oakengaard for questioning, but for over a decade authorities were unable to obtain any meaningful intel from the warlock. In one notable interview Wilbur said that the world was overdue for 'a reckoning by the one who unlatches the gate', but he refused to elaborate.

With an incredibly high metabolism, Wilbur aged at a remarkable rate and grew more than ten feet tall in his decade of captivity. Records from Dunwich indicated that he was no older than 27, but by his final weeks in prison Wilbur moved around like an aged and decrepit man. Reports are unclear about the nature of Wilbur's death, but a representative from the prison declared that there was 'nothing left of Wilbur to worry about'.

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MELCHOR'S DROWNING WORLD GREETED WITH TEPID REVIEWS

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GAMERIA, Gameth - Avicennan scholar Tarpin Melchor cemented his reputation as one of the continent's preeminent historians with the publication of The Fairouz Terror more than two decades ago, but his follow-up work has been received with less enthusiasm.

The Drowning World, a chronicle of the Royal Knights Brigade's adventures in the Elflands Empire defeating the Sunken God and his sahuagin horde, has been called an 'incomplete narrative' and an 'amateur's history' by critics in both Liat and Pescat. Having never left the continent of Liat, some have theorized Tarpin had to rely on second-hand accounts for many of the era's major events.

As a reader who was eagerly awaiting Melchor's follow-up work, the record of the Royal Knights Brigade's finest hour does appear incomplete. Scant mention is made to either Amara Fireheart and Cereus Diviciacus Quinn-Malum, both legacy adventurers with big shoes to fill from their parents. If the rumors from Gameria's upper levels are to be believed, Tarpin faced lawsuits from the Fireheart and Quinn-Malum estates if he presented the two adventurers in an unflattering light and was forced to make hundreds of revisions to the final manuscript.

Perhaps one day we'll get the full story. In the meantime Tarpin's next work promises to be a detailed biography on the RKB's new director Helena Lockmere, perhaps with plenty of firsthand interviews and research.