[Copies of this paper are left on street corners throughout the Quartiers Marchand and Ouvrier.]
Truth for the People - ISSUE 3
The Secret Dealings of the Mourning Lily Theatre Troupe
Dear readers, this is a story I have been tracking down for quite some time, and from a great many sources. While I cannot personally verify every detail, I can attest that they have arrived to me from varied sources, many of whom would have no external motivation to harm the reputation of what should be, by all rights, a mere theatre troupe.
No doubt the Gendarmerie would be quite displeased with this publication, and throw about all sorts of accusations of libel, but luckily for us, dear readers, that’s no longer a concern of mine. Unalloyed truth, from the lips of eye witnesses, to my quill, to your eyes.
To begin with, I’ll draw attention to an impromptu performance held at the abandoned Colibri theatre, by several individuals in masks and other disguises that eyewitnesses believe to have had among their number members of the Mourning Lily theatre troupe. According to the reports of those who were there, the performance included a dancer dancing upon shards of broken glass, as well as a woman who conjured a strange creature and had it dance for those watching. Now- Perhaps by itself, this is a relatively victimless, if disturbing performance…
But it begins to paint a picture that the Mourning Lily troupe is more than it cares to portray itself as in public.
Saphirette Monet, one of the Mourning Lily’s stars, is in fact a woman named Margot Monet, a former patient of the Asylum of Port a Lucine. What’s more, by all accounts she has the ability to summon and control some manner of shadowy arcane construct, which eyewitnesses have reported seeing several times in the past few months. Most notably, in the case of the disappearance of Diane Barbeau, a similar construct was reported as attacking individuals following the trail of the missing girl into the sewers.
Now, how does this all connect? There is some belief that Monet may be with the Mourning Lily troupe unwillingly, forced to do their bidding. Indeed, it was while investigating Margot Monet’s exit from the Asylum that Mademoiselle DeMont ran afoul of the asylum, suggesting collusion between the two. The asylum itself has strange ties to the kidnapping of Diane Barbeau as well. The prime suspect in the case was a man named Adagar Calme. He practiced at the asylum for several years before being arrested when it was found out that he was performing unethical experiments on patients, most commonly poor women from the Ouvrier. The asylum naturally hid behind their solicitors when Gendarmes started asking questions, and conveniently enough, the Gendarmes high enough up the ladder to /make/ them answer certainly weren’t going to on behalf of a missing girl and some abused young women from the Ouvrier.
With the Gendarmerie of no help (of course), it was down to private individuals like Alanik Rey to seek the truth- Alanik Rey, and Stella Seifert. Unfortunately, the attack on Mademoiselle DeMont was not the end of attempts to warn off these brave investigators. Mademoiselle Seifert’s father, Dietrich Seifert, was kidnapped by a man believed to have been a member of the Mourning Lily troupe, and used as leverage to try to keep them from looking deeper.
Unfortunately, with such villains, there can be no peace, and they eventually had Dietrich killed in a cruel show for a private audience where he was drowned in a tank of water he was unable to escape, in vicious mockery of his daughter’s line of work.
Readers, I hope your hearts burn with a fraction of the outrage that mine does, when you contemplate such a thing. Contemplate the audacity of such monsters, that they turn their monstrosity into a sick show to be viewed by an audience.
Of course, there is a question I’m sure you’re asking yourselves, dear readers. Why do such villains get away with their crimes? Why are the investigations of the Gendarmerie so half hearted, stopping at the faintest hint of resistance? We need only look at who the Mourning Lily is in bed with.
Dominic D’honaire the Second, /son/ of our very own Councilor of ‘Justice’. The first showing of their play, the Silver Steed was held at the mansion of his father, and part two appeared nowhere else but his own private estate within the Quartier Savant. All the facts put together suggest nothing less than the Mourning Lily satisfying the sick tastes of a man hiding behind the influence of his father to protect his villainous friends.
Readers- This is what the Gendarmerie is, in the end. Just a tool to oppress the weak. Their masters ensure they stay pointed at the petty crime of desperate people in the Ouvrier, and far away from the monsters that walk the Savant and Publique.
Two Worlds of Crime and Punishment
Now, dear readers, you’ll forgive me for quoting the words of a bluecoat in my paper, but I assure you, the bitter taste is a worthy price of admission. As I recall, the /Illustrious/ Sargent Dorian de Sauvre had this to say to my critique that outlanders get off with nary a punishment for crimes that the average citizen is left ruined by on flimsy evidence:
“It is another falsehood to claim we'd let off any outlander with such a volume of goods with a mere slap on the wrist. No outlander has ever been so rash, foolish, or outright criminal enough to be caught so compromisingly (at least in recent memory).”
My oh my, dear readers. Perhaps I should give the good Sargent his own column in the Truth? Not even a week out from this scathing riposte, we see an outlander let off for the High Crime of Necromancy with mere banishment. Actual Necromancy that is, rather than ‘Conspiracy to commit’. No doubt the Sargent shall swiftly fire back that poor Atticus (popular actor Atticus, retainer to nobility Atticus, certainly not a rabble rousing citizen of the Republique Atticus), confessed immediately to his crimes and was /very/ sorry about it. You see, readers, it appears that committing the actual crime now gets a lighter punishment than ‘we’re pretty sure you thought about committing the crime’.
Shall I bring up the time I personally witnessed an outlander declare to the then Caporal Dorian de Sauvre that he was carrying a large bag of Opium, when stopped at a checkpoint, and receive no serious punishment? Meanwhile, one may only look at the Gendarmerie’s bounty boards and see wine smugglers given bounties on their heads and brought in dead daily.
But perhaps I am being too harsh on the Gendarmerie’s choices. Hm? Perhaps, as I have heard it said, he used this magic in defense of another’s life, and-
What’s that? Wine smugglers often turn to crime because they’re desperately poor and in need of money? Everyone has a story of some sort that led them to their encounter with the institution of the Gendarmerie? Whether Atticus is a noble hero at heart, or the vilest of fiends, I cannot say. I am not personally familiar with him. What /is/ clear is that the Gendarmerie cannot avoid the fact that there are two sets of laws. The laws for those who are friendly with the nobility and the bluecoats, and the laws for the rest of us, who are just trying to get by.
The justifications of the nobility, and the justifications of the bluecoats are, as ever, laughable. The moment you see one stand up for a ‘principle’ you can be sure that they are undermining it behind closed doors. If not publicly, as in this case.
Though I believe the Gendarmerie’s conduct in the matter was (as ever) laughable, I would be remiss not to mention that there appears to be a broader story on the matter of Atticus’s banishment for necromancy, involving potential murderous assault performed by members of the Red Vardo Traders, connections to the Barovian underworld, and various murdered outlanders abroad. However, as this looks like a rather large story, you shall have to wait until the next issue to learn all the details, dear readers.
I invite Atticus, Diot, the Red Vardo Traders, and any other involved individuals to reach out to me to provide their stories in the meantime as I conduct interviews on the matter. Rest assured, I believe in providing the facts and only the facts, and can suitably anonymize my sources, for those who don’t wish to be publicly known to associate with me.
A More Personal Note
It occurs to me, readers, that to many of you, the ‘me’ behind my quill may be rather opaque. I don’t wish to be distant, or unapproachable- I am a part of the community, and I want to be someone you can feel comfortable reaching out to with your stories. This being the case, I am starting a regular column on my personal life, to allow you to get to know me better. This first column will focus on faith and my own personal philosophy on it, as this is something deeply important to me.
Some of you may know already, but I am a follower of the theological philosophy of the Divinity of Humanity. In simple terms, this is a philosophy that holds that humanity is, in and of itself, divine. That the gods so many worship are mere archetypes in which faith is put, and that the powers of healing deities are said to grant come from the power of the collective human spirit, rather than from any outside force.
I turned to this philosophy, ultimately, out of disappointment with the Ezrites, in particular. I remember quite vividly the words of Verinne van Haute, shortly before her murder at the hands of Ezrite extremists, that she “grew weary of hypocrites and of a faith that not only tolerates them, but sees them given positions of leadership within it”.
The Halans, I respect with my full and sincere heart, but the Halan creation myth speaks of a humanity too awful and prone to cruelty to find their better natures without the aid of a higher power. This, too, does not appeal to me.
And yet… Of late, I’ve found that even my own philosophy leaves me restless. The Divinity of ‘Mankind’. I believe in many of its tenets, especially the ones speaking to our infinite potential, and the innate divinity within all of us. These are beautiful, wonderful ideas. I truly do believe we all have this spark of divinity within us. I can feel it in my soul every time I call upon the collective power of humanity to heal the wounded or cure the ailing. It is wondrous.
Yet…This philosophy still excludes some. It still points to some as lesser, as less worthy. I have justified it to myself in the past, calling it an exalting of humanity, rather than a denigrating of the nonhuman, but as I call out the hypocrisy of the Gendarmerie and the government, my own hypocrisy in this matter has chafed at me. Every mortal soul is divine. Every mortal soul is just as worthy, has just as much infinite potential. I cannot call for the betterment of some, and leave behind a lower class that are less worthy. We /all/ deserve liberation.
I don’t think I have a full answer to the question of a ‘right’ philosophy on spirituality yet, but I know it must start from that point. I shall have more to say in my next entry of this column, no doubt.
Special Thanks for this issue go to my many anonymous friends, without whom I should have much less to write about.
Those interested in contributing to future issues, advertising, or seeking to sponsor this paper are encouraged to write in and request a meeting.
For the Betterment of All
-Arielle de Bellavance, Writer and Editor-in-Chief of Truth for the People
//Copies placed in game
