Historical Overview
Founding
The Podspot Herald originated in the early days of the Promenade. Dotted along the coastline were ramshackle towers that were used for spotting pods of
Coastal Whales from the shore. Upon the spotting of a pod of whales, indicated by the whale spouts seen erupting in the water, an alarm of some sort would be sounded. Generally a horn or bell would summon forth the swarm of small fishing boats from the city.
Eventually, as the
the Promenade's whaling industry matured, a herald would announce the day's haul of whales to the city's government, which would then use the numbers for deliberating on tax. These heralds would then be used to announce the taxes on whaling hauls.
As the city grew, and whaling formalized, these rates would simply be posted on signs across the Seaside's neighborhoods. These postings eventually began to include other news, and evolved into the Podspot Herald, a formal organization for writing news postings across the city.
Reporting
"Devastation in the Landside, as criminal elements of the so-called Guild flood Redwaters with their protestations against the march of progress!" - Podspot Herald
While originally the Podspot Herald appealed to the whalers of the Seaside by posting relevant information, it is not much loved in that half of the city. Instead, it mostly serves as the society news of the Landside, reporting upon the most recent fashions worn to balls by the noble daughters of the city.
"The young Lady Pike was seen at the Forwins' Ball with a lovely whalebone broach of the family crest, which reliable sources say fetched a very pretty price in the Boneyards." - Podspot Herald
It also reports on gang activity and poverty across the Landside, however in doing so it rarely chooses to send reporters to the poorer half of the city. Thus in the Seaside, the Podspot Herald is seen as an organ of the upper half. While it still has fans amongst those who seek to be enraged by, or are genuinely interested in, the habits of the wealthy, most ignore it in favor of the numerous, cruder, neighborhood-based news postings.
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