Spectre over Cormyr

Governance is certainly no easy task. To care for and protect the citizens of an entire country is a heavy burden that any leadership worth their salt would champion proudly. Indeed, the members of the royal family of Cormyr are such people, as they care deeply for the protection of their constituents. However, that desire for protection can also become something more possessive and controlling. The desire to safeguard the nation can just as easily lead to the justification of the suppression of rights in the name of protection, subtle and gross manipulations both championed under the guise of maintaining order, along with severe overreaches into the control of their neighbors alongside their constituents. In the royal families case, this has lead to the creation of Specter. Specter is the crowns royal spy agency headed by Delilah Orbraskyr. A publicly unassuming sibling to the king, she is in fact the rather cunning spy master for the nation. She has on several occasions used her power and influence to curtail and control the media. No doubt she will see this article and call a manhunt on myself for the secrets I am about to reveal, but it is a small price to pay. I believe wholeheartedly that the people, not the ruling leadership, should get to decide what the truth is. To manipulate the flow of information to serve your own ends and maintain political power is an admission that none of your constituents are deserving of thinking for themselves. For all the enlightenment that has come to the nation, with the rise of universities, increased public discourse, and intellectual advancements, we are still not trusted. And if we are not trusted, then the leaders of our time should not be either. Indeed, with what I am about to disclose, there is far more reason to distrust the crown than just informational restrictions.
Specter as an agency is as dubious as they come. I was able to infiltrate the organization to get a handle on the scope of their operations, and the things I discovered were quite alarming. For starters, much of the organizations top brass are comprised of criminal elements harvested from around the continent. Their head researcher and top agent is known as Cribbins, but their far more well known title is Christopher Escabor, the surviving scion of the Escabor crime family from Waterdeep. No stranger to crime himself, he worked under the alias of Christopher Robbins to act as for hire hitman until the great pig roast of waterdeep, in which he was the prime suspect for the massacre. He disappeared amidst the investigation before resurfacing in the nation of Cormyr, where specter provided asylum in exchange for his genius level intellect. He has since played a significant role in the organizations technological innovations, as well as several of their key wetwork operations, such as the attempted assassination of the errant heir to the throne of Mystrenor before it's collapse and ongoing reconstruction into the republic of Dale. His mission was to curtail the heir, as he was being backed at the time by Ahm in a bid to secure the countries supply of Mithril. While certainly a personal a problem given the rise of Ahm's dreams of conquest, this meddeling in conjunction with Larkspur, the crowns warforged nanny, and their adventuring party aiding in the annihilation of the old governments royal line and sennet, has led to the collapse of a thousand year old ally of the kingdom.
Another top agent is codenamed Shrike, also known as ______. Shrike was an agent I worked with closely during my infiltration, and his callous disregard for civilian casualties during his work was alarming to say the least. He would on several occasions recommend slaughtering non-combatants in order to ease infiltration. He also brought up his connection to Rothgar, a beholder crime boss from Baulders Gate, whom he purchased from several doses of poison disguised as royal make up. This information can be backed up by Rothgar himself, as for exchange in protection from his enemies, he was willing to testify to all of his criminal contacts and aid in my investigation. This poison is connected to several unsolved nobleman murders across several kingdoms. While I am unable to confirm which exactly Shrike and Specter were involved in, it is safe to assume that at least some of them are related to Specter activities.
A third example is Sylvester Silva, a sea elf long removed from his homeland of Ahm. Silva was the least egregious of the ones I worked with in my infiltration, but his hands did not come unclean either. He was a primary contact with Rothgar, and aided in his criminal empire. If his dealings were a part of specter activities, then that would place the actions of the organization in quite the negative light. In addition, he has also displayed himself as a pathological manipulator, who would play with the hearts of those mentally addled by old age.
These are just the people under Delilah's employ, but Delilah herself is no saint either. With the aid of Baron Ashe she has housed the remnants of the purple dragon knights, criminals who tried to secretly raise purple dragons under the newly formed republic of Dale, and who nearly ended up destroying what was left of the country in a flood of psionically possessed purple dragons helmed by a mindflayer elder brain. Bad enough that Larkspur, the court warforged who at this point should be considered the true power behind the throne given how every royal leader has now been raised by them to their specifications, and their crew aided in the annihilation of the kingdom's royal line alongside Cribbins; now the kingdom actively harbors the dissidents who would have seen the republic and its people buried just to have a chance to regain their namesake.
In addition she has agreed to starting a false flag war to trick the Zhentarim into a battle with Ahm's trade organizations in order to destabilize the relations between Ahm and baulders gate to force the Gate to ally with Cormyr. She has also begun dealings with the being known as Setniroot, a truly dangerous necromantic warforged who peddles in flesh horrors of unknown origin in order to bolster the military might of the kingdom against Ahm. But while she cavorts with necromancers, she has also failed to adequately protect the citizenry from the completely corrupted church of Pelor, who has at this point been deeply infiltrated by demons working to undermine the country. She keeps their secret even after discovering a slave camp they made of their own followers using enchanted headbands in order to maintain public order. A noble goal in intent as such secrecy is meant to prevent panic and fear from throwing the whole capital into chaos, but one that has left people vulnerable to their machinations and allowed them to create suicide bombers who are actively disrupting the peace of the city as we speak, such as with the recent attempt on her life. The chaos has happened anyway, and the lack of information has simply left them with more enemies then ever.
And indeed, Delilah is no stranger to getting her hands dirty herself. She once nearly killed someone over an offhand remark besmirching her family, and god help you if were the house ______. A house with political aspirations dark and sinister to be sure, but was wiped out overnight by Delilah herself. They were likely attempting to seize the crown, but rather then publicly announcing and trying them for their crimes, she took matters into her own hands and assassinated the lot. For Delilah is not interested in due process, simply what she believes is best for crown and country.
this lack of due process extends to spy's in the street, scanning for any sign of dissidence. It has lead to Informational warfare, controlling what we see and what we know. She would deny Cormyr the right to privacy and knowledge to secure her kingdom. And to an extent I understand this. all that we have talked about have had good intentions. The hiring of criminals gives them a chance for redemption, the control of information to prevent mass panic, and swift response against political opponents is prudent. However, when civil liberties are trampled upon in the name of stability and peace, terrible things can occur, especially down the slippery slope. It is only a matter of time before such an apparatus turns against the best interests of the people, if it has not already. Kidnappings in the night for clandestine interrogations, assassinations carried out to protect the interests of the ruling class, and deliberate misinformation to raise a complacent populace are all in the cards for such an agency.
Even if Delilah herself is able to maintain the narrowest of margins necessary to maintain integrity with such an organization, it is almost guaranteed that the next wielder will not be so fortunate. Even now, despite her seeming control over the organization, its top members have regularly engaged in illicit acts wielding the authority of the state. Cribbins has recently created a bioweapon that was deployed in a college boat race that left everyone exposed blind until magically healed, an action which received no punishment from Delilah or Specter itself, tacitly endorsing such behavior. Specter is already fraying at the edges of control of the crown, and it is quite likely that a hand off to the next generation will result in Specter calling the shots instead of the other way around.
Delilah means well, but she is willing to go to any lengths to protect this country, including sacrificing it's citizenry to protect the national apparatus. It frankly calls into question the legitimacy of the royal family once again. It feels not so long a time ago that another royal abused their power to become a mad despot. And as much as King theron has won the support of the people up to now with his jovial attitude, it is clear he cannot maintain his own house if he is willing to let all of Delilah and her organizations actions slide, or worse be completely clueless of their activities, from which he almost certainly is given my investigation into him.
But then again, is it really the Orbraskyrs in charge? As previously mentioned, all the royals of this age have been raised from one individual, Larkspur the warforged nanny. This warforge has been the guide for centuries of the royal line, molding and shaping them to its liking as the years go by. It is not unsafe to say that this being is the real power behind the throne by this point, as it would be easy to cultivate the royal line into the exact shape that pleases them. This being is itself a master spy as well, and was likely the key mentor that taught Delilah everything about her approach to statecraft, including the amoral nature of specter as a whole. It will be this warforge that raises the next generation of kings as well, and the next, and the next, resulting in the same royals throughout time, all with the same perspectives and the same outlooks. the same ones who make the same despotic mistakes, over and over and over again. It is a state where all growth and change will be reflected in the lens of this one being, with individual outlooks of royals forged through time reset once more through the machinations of this one machine. The fact is while it is the royals calling the shots, the shots they choose will always be informed by this one being. An eternal being that will never have been chosen by the people to begin with, and will maintain power indefinitely through the royal system.
This is not a call to heedlessly riot and turn to violence. It is clear that the best of intentions are in place, but this is a call to resist. The civil liberties of all in the sword coast are in jeopardy, and as a nation Cormyr must band together to fight for what is right, even from itself. For Truth, Liberty, and Justice for all under the countries banner. Specter can not be allowed to continue with clandestine operations and their control over the populace and foreign affairs must be halted. The crown has served their purpose in times past, but with the coming age on enlightenment and the current social climate, it is perhaps time to consider if we are ready for a new form of governance. One where absolute authority can no longer be wielded in the hands of a carefully curated, nepotistic, and insular group of leaders helmed by an unchanging individual. One where the will of the people is directly heard in the halls of government, rather than filtered through the desires of a royal line, and one where objective truth and knowledge is freely accessible to all who seek it, and not contained for the ruling class to play and manipulate with.
This is Pistachio D. Koi, for likely the last time in Cormyr, the wandering journalist, signing off.