Herein rests a declaration to the authorising office of his Imperial Majesty concerning the events surrounding the life and final death of Dame Arcadia Justinian; as detailed by Phoenix Knight, the Marquis Anton De Havilland Hawkwood.
This account has been submitted in accordance with the due diligence of the Imperial Office and as a witness to the events surrounding the last year of my service to His Imperial Majesty. One copy of this epistle will be sent via the usual securities to The Administration on Byzantium Secundus and one other will be placed into the store of Sir Vim Militas-Djinn Al Malik for release only in the event of my sudden and unexplainable death. The reasoning for that may be more apparent by the end of my report and so I make no apologies for the candour of my words as I need to ensure that the truth is kept somewhere even if it never reaches the intended recipient.
Just before my previous submission to The Order I had decided that it was the right time to make my way from Deepcore 104. Just as I was making that decision Count Innocence's daughter the Lady Chastity Decados made an appearance at Sector 42, the residential barony of Baron Tochiro Matsumoto Justinian. Her reasoning to arrive at that particular barony did not sit well with me and I tried to reason with Baron Tochiro's son (Sir Hemlock) vigorously at the time. As a personality filled with a somewhat awkward sense of duty Hemlock was insistent on maintaining the hospitality of his father's house, something that I feel he may now regret until the end of his days. Having kept Chastity Decados as a guest, it was ironically from her that we first heard more about the reputed “hit list” that we had found on the body of the Ur-Oban, Tonbei. As recalled in an earlier account this list contained many names including Sir Selwyn Justinian, Baron Christopher Hawkwood and Sir Hassimir Fenrig Torenson. Chastity claimed that it had come from her father and that he had ordered the assassinations. My trip to Suryada soon after allowed me to investigate this matter further plus a number of other important events which included The Count's previous movements (and those of his daughter as they seemingly appeared in court sporadically and only comparatively recently too), news concerning the stolen ship of Sir Hassimir Fenrig Torenson (curiously stolen by his employed Muster whilst he was under armed escort by Sir Bedevere Hawkwood, Baron Christopher's brother) plus I was also interested further in the potential motivations of the Baron himself and those of his allies.
As my last report made clear, although the Baron was managing his new estate extremely firmly, his handling and treatment of his people at that moment in time was certainly not the worst I had witnessed to date. What did become increasingly apparent thereafter though was that this treatment was on a downward spiral and that the numbers of well armed and well equipped soldiers from the Planetary Duke's estate was growing in alarming numbers. My experience of the Baron to date had assured me that he was extremely keen to continue to grow in power and authority as quickly as he could. I felt early on that his position within Deepcore 104 would lead to unrest in the city and so had made what little attempts I could to monitor events as closely as a public Imperial Phoenix Knight can. Early on in his reign he had determined to keep Dame Arcadia's younger brother and sister under close household scrutiny and their movements were limited. Lady Stephanie appeared relatively content with this arrangement whilst Sir Tarquin Justinian (it appears) soon started to resent it. By the end, the armed retinue under the Barons control had grown up to three times as large as they were on his arrival to the city.
As a protector of the Midden Barony the Baron's role was to ensure a stable environment and to manage the estate until such time as Tarquin Justinan was of age to inherit his rightful title. Before the end of the whole sorry affair, Tarquin had been branded a traitor and placed under arrest and the Baron had decided to marry Lady Stephanie and thereby secure the estate for himself on a more permanent basis. That permission for marriage had been granted to the Baron by Lady Stephanie's father is of little interest. The message to the Justinian nobility of Deepcore 104 was evidently clear, that power could be seized and justified by force of arms. I make no judgement upon the Baron at this point for the outcome of this sad affair was evident from the incept, that placing such an individual into an estate where a traitor originated and allowing him to build up force of arms and marry the youngest daughter of that estate would always end in bloodshed. When that bloodshed finally came the attack came suddenly and had been well planned.
Baron Christopher was already dead by the time the first shots had been fired. The murder investigation confirms that he was poisoned by a tea laced with a lethal toxin, a tea that had been handed to a local priest by Count Innocence Decados and passed on to the Baron as a gift. Whether this had been the intention of the Count at the time is not clear, but given what we learned later then this remains entirely possible. Tarquin himself then arrived with a sizeable army of Muster having received backing by the neighbouring Justinian barony. The inevitable clash between the Justinian and Hawkwood forces took place with the loss of many lives. That I had been unable to prevent this clash is highly regrettable. I had made as much of a nuisance of myself as I could, making it evident that I was monitoring both sides and that the Imperial authorities had not missed the conflict. It lead to a brief period of incarceration by the Baron's forces but again I hold absolutely no ill feeling with the Baron on this matter. We were both doing as we felt compelled.
Once the fighting reached its peak I made my way from Deepcore 104 to the capital in haste in order to gain an audience with Earl Kiruda in order to determine what his actions might be next and to inform him of the role of Sir Tarquin Justinian in this coup, to highlight the risk or repercussions for the attack on Hawkwood troops. I had of course visited the troops encampment before leaving the Midden barony and was satisfied that they had been able to make outside contact and secured support. By this point their titular leader was the now Lady Stephanie Midden Justinian Hawkwood, as her marriage had been confirmed at the point of Baron Christophers death. Concerns at this point were whether force of arms on both sides was about to escalate outside of Deepcore to any other areas of Ravenna.
For some time up until this point news had reached me that a pirate claiming to be Dame Arcadia Justinian had been attacking Hawkwood and Guild vessels off-world. After discussing with Earl Kiruda the situation in his estates, post coup, I made my way into space to investigate these reports and to see if the information I had heard concerning the involvement of Count Innocence in the matter was true. The fact that the Count's name had come up in a number of associated plots in Ravenna and now here was not to be ignored and so with a retinue including some of Arcadia's previous attendants I made the attempt to determine whether there had been a plot to create harm to the peoples of our Imperial Majesty. The group included Hassimir Fenrig Torenson and his attendant Virrsu, Hemlock Justinian, and a new fellow traveller; a legitimized Justinian bastard and Eskatonic scholar, Sir Anduin, who appears to be an old student of Hassimir's but with whom I am only beginning to become aquatinted with.
It was Sir Hassimir's stolen ship that was reportedly undertaking a series of these pirate attacks, part of a reason before why he had been interred by Hawkwood forces and tried within Deepcore 104 before the coup. I had learned previously that a Decados knight by the name of Lady Yelizaveta had been responsible for the Muster's contract at the time the ship had been stolen and that she was a servant of Count Innocence. The expectations were of a Decados plot to continue the myth of Arcadia Justinian's traitorous attacks on Hawkwood vessels, to continue to bloody their name even after her death.
The pirate vessel, The Questionable Intent, was attacking Hawkwood ships when I finally overheard an SOS message from the crew of an assieged vessel. Making our way to what may be certain death at the hands of an Al-Malik warship, we were able to parley with the captain of the ship who was indeed Lady Yelizaveta. However once the crew were on-board the true story could finally be revealed.
Lady Yelizaveta did not claim to be herself at all, but the spirit of the genuine Dame Arcadia Midden Justinian who had possessed the psychic Yelizaveta. This seemed very much a ploy up until it became evident that Lady Yelizaveta (or Arcadia) was aware of a host of very personal information that she had only ever been shared been herself and Sir Hemlock. It was then revealed that Chastity Decados was in league with this Arcadia Justinian and that she had always been in dialogue with her and her father. The unbelievable truth appeared to be that the Count had given protection to Dame Arcadia after her failed attempt on the life of the Planetary Duke (with the mercenary Façade) and when she was forced to go on the run to escape immediate suspicion. The account of Lady Chastity and Dame Arcadia was that the Count had fallen in love with the “Young Turk” and dedicated his resources to protecting her in the following years. As absurd as this will sound to those of us who appreciate the Count's fearsome reputation as an cold intellect and political player, Arcadia and Lady Chastity were thoroughly convincing.
The Count had drawn up the hit list as a means of exacting a revenge on those who had offended his love. Each had been dealt with in turn and yet there was one name left standing. At this point Lady Chastity suddenly drew a blade and against the pleading of Sir Hemlock, commenced an attack on Sir Hassimir. The attack was prolonged and fearsome and only ended once Hassimir had been cast down and Chastity assured of his death. At the end of the fraças Anduin had somehow managed to cast out the spirit of Arcadia from the body of Yelizaveta, so that she was finally gone and that Lady Yelizaveta had managed to regain control of her faculties. As far as she was concerned, the matter had been settled in full. Hassimir had been felled by Chastity's blade, the Count was on route to meet them all and Hawkwood vessels had been seized and would be held to ransom.
The retinue were allowed to collect the body of Sir Hassimir and to leave without any further action. Sir Bedevere Windsor Hawkwood (Baron Christopher's brother who had been with Hassimir when the Questionable Intent had been stolen) was a prisoner on board and would be ransomed. I mention him here in the hope that this has now happened and that he is safely returned to his duties. The whole episode is both very sad, and wholly desperate. So much power play has been taking place, lives lost, forces pitted against one another and down to the relationship between a strong willed Justinian and a powerful Decados leader. What a thoroughly dangerous mixture of peoples.
I have no ideas if this note will ever see the light of day, but am compelled to tell the story anyway. By allowing us to leave alive Lady Yelizaveta allows the story of Count Innocence involvement in death and political intrigue in the legacy of Dame Arcadia Justinian to leave with us. Even if we find ourselves unable to prosecute any of this story further, the thought of the Count as just a mere man with normal thoughts and feelings reminds us that the fiercest amongst us are still just men. I have always had a strong respect for the capability of the Count, just as one can admire the power of a force of nature, but I feel this situation may be the end of him. If the Decados know of this situation it is probable that at some point an upstart from within his ranks will perceive weakness and attempt to overthrow him. To be in love with a Justinian and risk the wrath of the Hawkwood's for just that cannot be ignored if known. Such matters are beyond my understanding and so I will wait to hear news of his fate over the coming years.
As for Lady Yelizaveta and Lady Chastity, well their fate depends on the mood of The Count. I dare not consider the possibilities there.
Sir Hemlock Justinian will return to Ravenna for a period but I feel his association with Dame Arcadia and the legacy of her menace, alongside a family rift, will lead him to look for opportunities elsewhere. He is a darkly haunted character and is assuredly likely to want to put the whole sorry episode behind him. There will be Sir Hassimir's funeral to attend to as well and Sir Hemlock will want to have a hand in those plans. In the time I knew him Hassimir fell from one disgrace to another, and yet just as one finds themselves in the company of many kinds of people in a war, I found Hassimir very stimulating company. I am sure the rumour mill of Ravenna will miss him until they can find another poor soul to entertain their dinner conversation.
I will attend to matters concerning my estate and make a decision as to whether to continue to serve in Ravenna or to look to the stars instead. I have done my best to look for the threat of instability and unrest in Ravenna over the last year and was able to see the threads of that distress forming. But it is clear a Phoenix Knight is not the right person to be able to listen to all ears and to know all minds as a man standing alone. That expertise rests elsewhere and with their specific roles and talents. But by being in Deepcore 104 I feel I did remind all parties of the risks of such games on the lives of the peoples and that ultimately when nobles take decisions concerning power then it is the people who will ultimately suffer. Now that Deepcore 104 has had its moment it is up to The Planetary Duke to make a decision as to how to manage this next. I must make visit to the Planetary Duke and see if I may be able to have an audience with him. He will be well advised by his people already of course, but I can only pray for clemency for those took up arms against Justinian and Hawkwood alike. They did not know what they were doing. Fear is a terrible thing to nurture in the hearts of common people.
Anton De Havilland Hawkwood
Phoenix Knight
No comments:
Post a Comment