La Cause

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 1

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to La Cause, a new periodical dedicated to focusing on the important issues often overlooked by other publications. For most of those who live in this city, life is not parties and balls, cakes and fine coffee, and La Cause will instead focus on the political and social issues that matter to those who struggle to make ends meet.

La Cause does not claim to speak for the people, but it does hope to give all those who seek a better, fairer, more just Republic a voice. It welcomes contributors and its editorial stance is firmly in the tradition of the late, lamented Jacques Varteur.

Editor, M. G. Dupin

Invisible Suffering:

Pet projects dominate at Red Vardo discussion event.

Ideas were exchanged at a recent Red Vardo “think tank”, a discussion event which invited delegates to speak on what the Republic should invest in in the future. The following proposals were put forward:

- A Mlle L. Foucault thought the Republic should invest in studies and means to protect from dangerous arcane weaponry as its most pressing concern.
- A Mlle L. Vouivre thought that the Republic should utilise unemployed residents of the Ouvrier in state run work houses to produce goods cheaply for export.
- A M. L de Benoist thought that the Republic should invest in swivel guns to protect the Republic’s borders. 
- Maitresse J Perigord thought that the Republic should invest in schools of art for all levels of society and in trade routes to distant places like Sourange and Sri Raji.
- A Mme V. Endymion thought that the Republic should fund missions into the Sea of Sorrows to look for resource rich islands to colonise.
- A Doctor V. Sarukina thought that the Republic should open up import of Hazlani raw materials by means of a trade route from the Musarde to the Silent Fields.
- My own proposal, that the Republic invest in funding the social reforms promised after the Revolution and alleviating the hardship in the Ouvrier.

Participants and the audience voted on which proposal should win, and a prize of 5,000 solars was given out by the Red Vardo Lieutenant Almerino Delmar. An additional sum was also given over by the Vicomte de Roissy. The winner was Maitresse Perigord.

Two proposals dealt with defending Dementlieu. While preparation against Falkovnia is admirable, the gleaming eyed excitement when matters of war came up made it clear that many were keen for not just safety. It sometimes sounded like glory seeking sabre rattling. Very real and tangible suffering here in Dementlieu excited much less interest. 

Mlle L. Voivre treated the to a strongly worded diatribe against what she seems to consider the feckless poor, and viewed the poorest in our society to be a resource to be exploited. One might consider it hopelessly out of touch on two grounds. Firstly, that any of those out of work are in that state by choice, rather than infirmity or lack of jobs, or both. Secondly, if she understood how workhouses work, she would not need the state to exploit the poor; the existing businesses in operation are quite able to do that.

Several proposals focused on trade and the extraction of resource. It was not made clear who would benefit most from this, and if the proceeds were intended to go to the State or to the coffers of private merchants. Either way the proposals were silent on whether any of the profits would find their way to alleviating the suffering in the Ouvrier or improve working conditions.There was no promise that these projects would do any more than make rich people richer.

It was notable that of the seven proposals, only two sought to aid the poorest in society at all, one of those being mine and the other being Maitresse Perigord’s. As such, I must cautiously welcome Maitresse Perigord’s success, and hope that she understands that those most in need of schooling are those least likely to reach out to her for it.

I attended this debate to see how those of wealth, noble blood, and means would react to being reminded of the hardships in the Ouvrier. While some expressed sympathy, notably the Baron de Puymeras, several times the wrongdoings of criminals were raised as an obstacle to social change and aid to the needy.

The need for reform is stronger than ever. The need for change stronger than ever.

M. G Dupin.

A Promise is a Promise:

Carrying on Varteur’s Struggle

There follows the proposal I put to the Red Vardo “think tank” discussion event on 23rd  February 778.

“A state prevails when it is happy, healthy and secure.   Unfortunately the Republique is not happy, nor healthy, when one looks at its people as a whole. A huge portion of them labour in poverty with limited rights and painfully hard and short lives. Resources are one of the things that help provide for a state and its people. Dementlieu has a huge untapped resource. That is its people. Yet the greater part of them remain untapped as more than half starved muscle.

What do they lack?  Well let us start with what was promised after the Revolution. 

Eight hour work days, fifth day off. Not enacted. An end to child labour. Not enacted. Greater safety precautions and regulations for workhouses. Not enacted! An end to debt bondage as a practice. Not. Enacted. Universal suffrage. Enacted! Then repealed by the Covenant and the Eastern Nobles.

To this we can add better wages, so the desperation that causes child labour and debt bondage becomes a thing of the past.

Better and cheaper food. Much is made of the Borcan Grain deal but if it is just replacing Falkovnian grain, what will be the effect on the price of bread? Will the nobility allow the cost of food to drop?  All the blood, sweat and tears of the Silent Fields may have no impact upon the lives of the majority unless prices are brought down. 

Safer streets, so those of the Ouvrier and Marchand seeking to live the life of -citizens-, not worker drones, do not risk life and limb when stepping out after dark. Yet instead, when those of the Ouvrier are criminalised, that is when the guillotine breaks.

What would all this achieve? Surely, yes, a better standard of living. Better health, certainly, less deaths from malnutrition and exhaustion and dangerous equipment. It would give more than that though. This republique is supposed to be a shining light of learning and culture, and yet most of its people have little time to be more than just a slave to a wage.

With change all citizens would have time, which would give them the ability to develop art, learning, culture. They could engage politically. Learn to use their new vote in an educated manner. They could contribute to society with more than just labour. 

The way for the Republique to benefit from this untapped resource, this wealth of talent, is to directly heal this blot upon our Republique, this inequality and division, and make it a Republique that serves us all.   

It should be shameful to spend thousands on boasts between peers or following fashions when children starve streets over.

It should be shameful to pay workers so little that everyone over the age of seven has to work just for a family to survive. 

It should be shameful to wear finery while fellow citizens wear rags. 

Why does no one say this? Why does no one ask for, nay demand change? Well they have before. There was a resolute, impassioned, but peaceful voice, who led the Worker’s Congress and stood for election. Jacques Varteur.

And he was murdered. replaced by a successor who sold out those most in need for a noble match and comfortable life. Is this the sign of a healthy republic? 

You may detect antipathy in my voice there. It is not, it is sadness. For that’s the only chance those of the Ouvirer have, to play the game, win a patron, get a pat on the head like a good dog. 

Investment should be in dignity. It should be in the people as a whole.  It should be in funding and protecting a resurgent worker’s congress to give a voice to those who most need it, and in working to finally bring the promised societal reforms." 

For Want of Care:

The Execution of Sacha Frelon

The 20th February saw, after a controversial trial, the execution of Sacha Frelon going ahead. An Ouvrier resident who was convicted of treason and kidnapping, charges he vehemently denied, Sacha Frelon’s execution was marked by civil disturbance that placed the Gendarmerie under distress. Beyond rioters, there was  a failed attempt to frustrate the proceedings by one of Monsieur Frelon’s allies that saw a huge explosion consume the two cannon that had been placed to overlook the proceedings and all those nearby, both Gendarme and criminal.

This paper denounces violent civil disobedience and thus expresses condolences to the families of those who were slain. Likewise, that violence did not spread or draw in blameless bystanders is something which earns the Gendarmerie praise. Yet criticism must be levelled at the execution itself. Whether by poor maintenance or a mistake in operation, the guillotine failed in its purpose to deliver a quick, clean death to Monsieur Frelon, and Lieutenant Dorian de Sauvre had to deliver a finishing blow.

It cannot be denied that the passing of Monsieur Frelon, independent of the civil disturbance, was horrific and deeply disturbing to those who witnessed it. The guillotine is meant to be a civilised means of execution, yet his fate was something we would expect to see from the governments of less developed eastern lands. There, executions are brutal and savage, to cow their populations into silence by terror.

Dementlieu is not such a land, and terror has no place in the relationship between the state and its citizens here. The Republic therefore deserves an explanation for how the guillotine came to be faulty, and Monsieur Frelon came to suffer so much in his final moments. Any fear that this was by design, or that it may happen again through negligence, must be abated by a full, public investigation into this terrible incident by the Department of Trade and Commerce. In this, I join my own clamour to that raised by the contributors to le Phare. Some may question whether Sacha Frelon is owed this. Let none question that the People of Dementlieu are owed this.

This piece has been written taking account of correspondence on this matter from the Gendarmerie. The Department of Trade and Commerce has been asked to comment on the incident but as of the date of publication no response has been received.

M. G Dupin.
Art: Mlle O. Cloutier

An Enemy to Rich and Poor:

The Vaunted Must be Stopped!

Daidriann Vahlstahd, self proclaimed leader of the Vaunted, is an enemy of the people that has followed the veterans of the Silent Fields back here to the city. He has struck fear into the Gentry and painted the blood of the Governer’s Hotel with the great and the good, as well as the Falkovnian Ambassador, yet he has not been sparing in his crimes elsewhere. Falkovnian refugees have learned to fear him, those that remain alive at least, as he has writ a bloody toll among them. Other residents of the Ouvrier are not safe, and the author was an eye witness to and victim of an act of robbery by the greataxe wielding criminal.

What the public have not been told, however, is that Vahlstahd is a student of dark magics in the vein of Marcel Delacourte, who calls forth the dead to fight for him. Nor have they been told that the villain’s mad plan is to reignite the flames of war so recently stilled in our favour on the Silent Fields, even if it destroys our city and everyone in it. This beast in human form is no friend to anyone in the City of Lights, rich or poor, man or woman, young or old. All of us are expendable pawns on his chessboard, with which he wishes to aggrandise himself and perhaps win the favour of foreign agents in Darkon.

Be safe, fellow citizens, and yield the night to this monster. Yet, should you see him, or happen upon his crimes or his lairs, then don’t be hesitant to share such with the Gendarmerie. While much issue can be taken with the Gendarmerie’s willingness to protect the people of the eastern city, in the capture of this man we all have a joint interest.

If you fear to approach the Gendarmes, then approach this paper at the address below. We will see the information passed on as needed, and see to the safety of our sources at the same time.

I have no doubt the axe of Vahlstahd may come for me, for speaking out against him. I cannot deny the terror which he placed upon me and others in person. Yet, my heart beats for my fellow citizens, even if my blood is red and stained with dirt, not a noble blue. I will not flinch.

M. G Dupin.

Bird Hunting in the Marchand:
A new food initiative by the Councillor for Trade and Commerce?

After leaving a Caberet one night Andrei Palascu, Councillor for Trade and Commerce, was heard firing shots into the night. When asked what was occurring he said he was taking shots at birds. Whether this represents a novel attempt to further alleviate the cities food problems or not can only be speculation on this paper’s part.

One of the shots hit a building at street level, so citizens may well be wise to pay mind to the risk of night time flights of birds at roughly the height of, say, a dark clad assailant.

M. G Dupin

In the Shadow of the City of Lights:
Education and the Commons

Education and learning are things vitally important to the growth of society and one’s prospects within it. Yet, beyond the most basic provision, education is a luxury that the working people of the Republic cannot afford and remains the preserve, largely, of the wealthy.

There are exceptions, some learning from kindly fellow citizens or charitable schools.
Others may be sponsored by patrons to better themselves. Yet for the vast majority, education is out of reach. Work begins in childhood and families rely upon the income from child labour due to low wages. Even were children free of the need to work, the costs of any tutoring itself is prohibitive. Many is the tale of families going hungry to pay for art tuition for their most talented child. By the time many of the well off are considering university, most of those born to the Ouvrier and even the Marchand are years behind in their learning. Even those who have had schooling struggle with the fees charged for matriculation without help from patrons, which can and often does come with obligation.

The amount of talent going wasted in the Republic is staggering.

La Cause will be publishing an ongoing series of articles upon education in the City of Lights, covering the schooling available to the poorest in society, the impact of child labour and low wages on education, the difficulty of students from commoner backgrounds to pay tuition fees or the fees to matriculate at university, and what routes might be available for those with their hearts set on an education.

La Cause is looking to interview people from the following groups:
- Commoners, whatever education they have received.
- Commoners who have pursued education, particularly those from a poor background.
- University students and graduates.
- Teachers.
- University tutors.

Please contact the editor at 11, the Tenements, Ouvrier, should you wish to contribute. For those who are needy, compensation will be paid for lost wages and for your time.

M. G Dupin.

Correspondence to Tenements Room 11, Quartier Ouvrier.
Contributions and offers of collaboration are welcome, although no wage can be offered as of yet.

((placed IG!))

[Kleomenes]

((corrected some typos!))

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 2

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to issue two of La Cause. For those new to this paper, La Cause is not intended to be a social gazette following the catalogue of balls and parties enjoyed in the Publique and Savant, nor is it concerned with the affairs of distant lands or celebrity interest. Instead La Cause intends to focus on important issues often overlooked by other publications and stands as a voice for the common man in the vein of the late, lamented, Jacques Varteur.

This paper has had many offers of sponsorship since the first publication. All of them have been refused, whether from well meaning citizens who wish there to be a voice for the people, or the scions of foreign warlords who want to buy anything and everyone who moves without even an interest in what it represents. This paper is resolved to remain independent as long as it can, and so modest donations will only be accepted in desperation, and even then absolutely without obligations, or indeed expectation of wearing swaddling clothes at Sumo nights.

Finally, an apology for  those who may be hoping to read the first article on Education in the Republique. Unfortunately time constraints have pushed it back to the next issue.

Editor, M. G. Dupin

Editorial: Bred for Dignity, not Bread for Dignity

It should not be a controversial thing to write that each of us, man or woman, rich or poor, is born with a measure of dignity. Life may erode this, but we each deserve our portion of respect from our fellow citizens and a base level of freedom from starvation and violence in our daily lives. Yet the reality of life in the Ouvrier and in the Workhouses of the City is far from dignified. Long hours and low pay, dangerous working conditions, unsafe streets, all resulting from the choices made by the gentry who run the workhouses or the government that they guide.  The indignities of the commoners have all been written on before. The Worker’s Congress often railed against them.

The common answer to complaints of hardship in the Ouvrier is for the gentry, and those who stand in their shadow, to point to the public works undertaken on behalf of the needy, and of how generous it shows the gentry to be. They point to the tenement buildings constructed as affordable housing, and the government food providers, things that don’t exist in other, less civilised, less compassionate realms. 

Yet it does not take long to see the inadequacy of these provisions. The Ouvrier still bears the scars of Foquelaine’s bombardment and those buildings that do stand have rotting, leaky roofs and are at constant risk of collapse. After dark the streets are lethal, and travelling home from work is risking one’s life and limb. The watery gruel provided by way of government rations would never be seen within a hundred feet of a noble’s table, and the meat served with it is more maggot than mutton. For those who must rely upon these horrid handouts, live in these crumbling buildings, walk these unsafe streets, life is a desperate, degrading struggle. It is hard to define the work of the government food providers as anything but a bare minimum, and the state of safety and construction in the Ouvrier is not even that. 

There are those who will recognise the hardship and lack of opportunity in the Ouvrier but point to the many charitable efforts directed at helping those in need. Charity takes many forms. Distributions of food and clothes, scholarships, solars for the needy.  I don’t intend to write about whether all the money donated to charity reaches those it is intended for, as that is a topic in and of itself. Likewise while much charity is  as much about displaying one’s kindness to other gentry, many charitable efforts are born of genuine compassion. This piece does not contest that. However it is important to remember that dignity is a basic entitlement of all those born in Dementlieu, and the need for charity is born from the injustice in society.

When those from outside the Ouvrier sweep in and bestow their kindness on those in our society without means, they risk perpetuating the robbing of our dignity. The mere offering of coin or food, the expression of a desire to uplift us from our mean poverty, without acknowledging that the cause of extreme poverty lies outside the Ouvrier, can be patronising and condescending. Those in need often only want to be able to have the means to pay their way, not rely on intermittent gifts and generosity.

A greater gift than a loaf of bread is the means to earn one’s own.

That is not to say that compassionate works are bad, only that they need to acknowledge the  dignity of those they aid, whether by involving those in need in their own salvation or not laying upon them blame for their suffering, however gently done. There are examples of this. The Halan hospices are a clear example of charitable efforts that maintain the dignity of those in the Ouvrier. Another would be the work of  Lanterne d'Espoir Food Bank that employs people from the Ouvrier to dispense its very edible meats.

So, as was written in the headline of this article, we are all bred for dignity, so can we call ourselves a successful Republique until our poorest do not have to trade their dignity for bread. 

The Price of Grain - The Silent Fields Campaign’s Lasting Impact.

La Cause has been monitoring grain prices at market with a view to tracking the success in resolving the ongoing food crisis faced in Dementlieu, particularly in light of the recent Silent Fields campaign. For those of us close to the border of poverty, even minor fluctuations in the price of food can have a great impact. This article is intended to inform readers on recent trends and, hopefully, forecast how these may develop and continue.

I have observed trends in the price of grain at market, as well as making note of the trading practices of major suppliers and trading companies. I have taken account of the various developments and measures both temporary and longer term. Some discussion of the impact of future proposals is also offered, so that the Ouvrier worker can understand how things may develop.

With so many hungry mouths to feed, grain commands a high price as a staple food. That price is volatile, however, as was observable some months ago when the Bellegarde Consortium and Monsieur Katayama brought back a shipment of rice from abroad, which led to a temporary fall in the value of grain. Much like smaller gifts of charity, however, one off shipments of food into the city have little long term impact and the price was bound to rise again, as it has often in the past in similar circumstances.

The Silent Fields campaign, however, has opened up substantial new sources of grain and this is already starting to have an effect upon the prices paid by the hungry mouths of the Ouvrier. While much of the new land is yet to be brought into production, the price of grain is already beginning to fall consistently each week as grain is seen as less of an investment by those with solars to spare. To make this clear it seems that the price of grain was in part kept high by speculation by the wealthy seeking to make money out of its high value. While the fall has only been modest so far, as the grain deal bears fruit this fall is likely to continue.

It is not all good news, however, as there are those with an interest in keeping the price of grain high. Grain producers among the gentry, such as the infamous Courtenay family, have been stockpiling their produce to restrict the amount of grain available and slow the fall in prices. The Courtenays have been proven as no friend to the Ouvrier in the past, and they are taking a leading role in limiting the benefits of the Silent Fields campaign.

These practices are not limited to just greedy nobles, as the trading companies that ship and move grain have done the same, and the Bellegarde Consortium, the Red Vardo Traders, and the Boritsi Trading Company are all doing what they can to profit from the hunger of Port a Lucine by stockpiling grain to limit the fall in prices, with the expanding operations of the Red Vardo Traders being noteworthy to many merchants. They are not the only organisation expanding, with numerous merchants speculating on new plots in the Silent Fields, felling trees to develop agricultural land.

Interestingly, the Bellegarde  Consortium and the Boritsi Trading Company have also both been developing alternative supplies of food. No doubt these will have a good effect in the short term and both companies are making massive profits from these endeavours. However that very profit likely shows why the Bellegarde Consortium and the Boritsi Trading Company are both so keen on importing food currently, as it seems they have both spotted an opportunity for making fast profits before the full impact of the Silent Fields campaign is felt. Should the market stabilise, they will no doubt focus on what makes the most money, and given the fact they are stockpiling grain already, it would be reckless to think they will be happy with a continuing fall in food prices.

Despite the greed of merchants and gentry there is much cause for hope should the impact of the Silent Fields campaign be allowed to take its course. Unfortunately, there are rumours circulating among merchants and traders that the Council of Brilliance is in discussions regarding the fixing of the price of grain, with talk of negotiations with the Red Vardo Traders to privatise the Government Food Providers. It is said that Councillor Palascu and Councillor Drukker are at odds over this issue, and several others.

I have been unable to verify the truth of these rumours but the impact of the fixing of grain price would be clear. The profits of the gentry and the mercantile class would be preserved, but the benefits of the SIlent Fields campaign for the common people would be restricted or even wiped away. This would not just be morally wrong for the suffering it would cause in the Ouvrier for the sake of profit, but also it would be an insult to those who gave their blood and their lives for the Republique in that recent campaign.

M. G. Dupin

Update on the Sacha Frelon Execution

I am happy to be able to provide a short update regarding the horrific nature of the execution of Sacha Frelon. Councillor Andrei Palascu of the Department of Trade and Commerce spoke to me directly regarding the situation. He stated that a full investigation has been undertaken, with the man responsible for the blunt guillotine blade having been laid off. He has stated that La Cause will not have to take his word for that, as I will be granted a meeting with Councillor Dominic d’Honaire to go over the documents pertaining to the investigation so that I can verify its thoroughness.

I will, of course, report further after said appointment.

M. G. Dupin

La Dama di Porcellana - Noble Folly or True Cultural Exchange

It is not the place of this publication to attend the parties and clubs of the gentry, but the opening of la Dama di Porcellana promised something outside the usual run of pageantry and conspicuous consumption. Therefore, I attended to see if it would make good this promise.

Billed as a “cultural space, open to all luciennes and people of goodwill, to promote, appreciate and share the arts, culture, and sciences from Dementlieu to all over the Core”, la Dama di Porcellana is located on the premises of the old Borcan Consulate, and is a partnership of Dame Enora de Courcillon with Cavaliere Romeo Lascaris. It is named after the late Baronessa Roxana Barozzi di Falsonno.

The interior of the venue is fine, with one room set out as a bar and another forming a stage area. While those not of the gentry and well to do were welcomed, there were no drinks available that could be afforded on a modest wage, and I was directed to the free tea and nibbles. It was an unfortunate first impression, to stand sipping water while my betters reddened their cheeks with alcoholic tipples. I have been assured this is an oversight that will be corrected, and while the barcommoners visiting will have reasonably priced drinks available.

The inaugural speeches made much of the venue being a meeting place for high and low, to share cultural ideas from near and far and bring people together. Following this, the attendees were brought through to the stage for a performance by the outlander bard Rory Blake. Her performance was exquisite, although quite exotic by the standards of the gentry. In this I can only write that la Dama di Porcellana was living up to its high minded promise of cultural exchange.

Speaking with the Cavaliere about this new venture, I was struck with how much he genuinely wished la Dama di Porcellana to be a melting pot of ideas. When asked what someone of the commons would gain from attending events there, Cavaliere Romeo was forthright. “A commoner would find themselves the chance to learn…to feed the natural curiosity that makes people, people, and that the everyday life and the toiling routine might suffocate but not extinguish.”

He affirmed that it was his intention, and that of Dame Enora, to put their experience of travel and science at people’s disposal by sharing knowledge at la Dama di Porcellana. How successful they will be remains to be seen, and it is critical that those of the poor who visit la Dama di Porcellana are treated with respect. Yet I cannot help but feel, if the pair mean to stand by their stated goals, that it could be a place that brings the two halves of our society a little bit closer together. 

For this reason I quietly welcome this new venue opening.

M. G. Dupin

The Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund

La Cause is pleased to announce the creation of the Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund (W.I.C.F.). While funds are available, the W.I.C.F. will make awards to workhouse workers, dock workers and sailors who miss work due to injury, covering lost wages during recovery or payments while out of work for longer periods. The W.I.C.F. has been made possible by Mme A. Matisse, who was lucky enough to win a sum at La Palais Rouge and has set aside her winnings for the benefit of those in need.

To apply for an award write to or leave word for M. G. Dupin at the offices of La Cause at Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier. Give details of your employer, your injuries and how you were injured, your wage, the amount of work missed, your family situation and how to contact you for an interview to discuss your case. Priority will be given to the most serious cases and awards will be made while funds are available. Note, no funds are kept on site, nor can they be accessed directly by M. G. Dupin.

M. G. Dupin

Correspondence to the Editor, La Cause, Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier.

Contributions and offers of collaboration are welcome, although no wage can be offered as of yet.

Special Appendix: Missing, Leo Argenti

Monsieur d'Argenti Snr was reported missing on the eighth of January. He is aged fifty five, greying dark brown hair, very strong, built like an ox, hunched back, around five foot tall. A resident of the tenements, Monsieur d’Argenti has an injured leg, and was last seen at the mill he worked in.

Monsieur d’Argenti’s son is the Borcan Cavalieri Raphael d’Argenti, who won his rank during the Silent Fields Campaign for his significant contributions to victory, and thus the lowering price of bread in the city. Aid in locating the Cavalieri’s injured father seems a fit thanks for his service.

If anyone has seen Monsieur d’Argenti Snr, please contact your local Gendarmerie immediately. If you do not feel comfortable in doing so but have information you wish passed on, La Cause can do so on your behalf. Reach us at La Cause, Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier.

M.G.Dupin.

((Placed IG!))

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 3

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to issue three of La Cause.

For those new to this paper, while it does sometimes cover current events, La Cause is not intended to be a social gazette or to give a complete accounting of recent news. Instead La Cause speaks on the issues that impact the common worker, and hopes to provide a voice for those who toil. The Republic that has aspired to high ideals of learning and fairness, and this paper speaks to those ideals, as first espoused by the great Pauline Jenout and since fought for by many noble champions of justice, right through to the late Jaqcues Varteur.

Editor, M. G. Dupin

Editorial: What did we win? An Empty Statue

Those who arrive into Port-à-Lucine from the western gate cannot fail to notice the statue of the People’s Triumph. It depicts the reformer turned revolutionary Pauline Jenout, triumphant and proud, bearing the light for which our city is renowned throughout the core. The statue is a symbol of the victory for ordinary people that was announced by Lady Governor Hélène DuSuis and the restored Council of Brilliance in the March of 770, following the Falkovnian withdrawal. It is a permanent marker of the blood and pain that the nation suffered before and during the rulership of Armand Foquelaine, and in the months after, in the struggle for a more just society. Pauline Jenout did more, and suffered more, than most. Not for nothing does the engraving read “Pauline Jenout, Heroine and Martyr.”

Our Lady Governor was herself a member of the Grand Assembly that rose to power after the fall of Foquelaine. It is no surprise then, that the Council of Brilliance she appointed and led made the promise to see through the rights won by Pauline Jenout’s struggle, and maintained the constitution put in place in 769. An end to child labour, lower working hours, regulations for safer working conditions, better wages, the vote for all rich and poor were all promised. Yet, it was argued, the pace of reform would have to be measured. The ravages of Foquelaine’s tyranny and the Falkovnian Invasion meant that the focus would have to be upon rebuilding, and emergency measures would have to remain in place to maintain the long working hours, poor pay, and child labour that so many had suffered to repeal. Yet even in those circumstances the Council of Brilliance did what it could and granted the vote to all citizens.

The statue still stood during the rebellion of the Maitriser and the Eastern nobles in 772. The so-called Solemn Covenant was victorious and instituted an illegal provisional government in 773, repealing universal suffrage and making no move to hold elections. The emancipation of the common people was the very reason for their revolt. For a time, without elections and lawful rulers, the entire nation, Gentry and Commoner, tasted a lack of political rights at the hands of the eastern clique. This tyranny was not to last, however, as  during the siege of Ameranthe in 775, the Council of Brilliance, the very same which had made the promises of 770, returned to power.

The statue looked on as the people held their breath. Surely now the People’s Triumph would bed in, the seed of hope that the blood of martyrs like Pauline Jenout had watered would grow? Yet no reform came. Universal suffrage was not re-instituted. Emergency working hours remained in place. Workplace regulations still failed to protect vulnerable workers from injury. Children under twelve continued to work. And almost without a word, the constitution of 769 was quietly undone.

The statue remained standing throughout the election campaign of 776, when Jacques Varteur, leader of the Miner’s Association and chairman of the Worker’s Congress, stood for the role of culture advisor. He spoke for reform. He spoke for the enacting of Pauline Jenout’s vision, of the promises of 770. He spoke of compromise and mutual respect to avoid the bloodshed of the past. The statue stood vigil over the city when he was murdered, and his successor, Lily Rose-Dupont, married one of the gentry and lost the election.

We stand two years down the road from the election, and the commons still work as if we were in an emergency period of reconstruction and rebuilding. In the council chamber they talk of prosperity allowing a reduction of the tax burden on the gentry, but there is no talk of reform. The statue of the People’s Triumph still stands, lighting the way into the city, and lighting the dark so I may write this article.

Every visitor to Port-à-Lucine can read the engraving at the statue’s feet. Pauline Jenout, Heroine and Martyr. Yet not one of the things she fought and died for has been enacted. All the blood, the suffering  and loss, the scars that still mark the Ouvrier from Foquelaine’s bombardment, all of that, and all that it has brought about is this poor statue.

The reforms promised in 770 are long overdue.

M. G. Dupin

Education in the Republic: the Early Years

Today, in the first of our articles on education in the Republic, we look at the education afforded to the youngest children of our nation. 

Broadly speaking, early education in Dementlieu is far in advance of other nations. All children in the Republic have a basic education available to them. For children of those with means, this will usually be a private tutor of some sort, paid for by parents wanting bespoke tuition for their child. For the poor, who cannot afford such fees for more than, perhaps, a single child, the government has for several generations provided a public education system which teaches basic mathematics and to read and write. While the government provision varies in quality, it is free and available to all, and ensures that the vast majority of citizens are literate. This is a remarkable achievement and is the result of perhaps the most widespread educational program in the core.

That said, the government educational provision is limited in scope. It offers little more than the basics, and those children lucky enough to receive private tuition learn far more for far longer. For the poor a combination of a lack of child labour laws, long hours and low wages mean that children are commonly employed well before the age of ten.

There are some forward thinking employers who provide schooling within their workhouses. One example is the workhouse of Monsieur Antoine Clouseau in the Marchand. There, between shifts at the loom, the young girls employed by Monsieur Clouseau are given schooling to help improve their prospects in the future, once they outgrow their roles at the looms. I spoke with Mademoiselle Amelie Beauregard, the schoolmistress there, in the well appointed classroom she operates. Mademoiselle Beauregard related that while many disparage the practice of child labour, working at Monsieur Clouseau’s workhouse gives the girls an education and decent pay to help their families. She pointed out that many of the girls’ families would starve if not for their wages. Mademoiselle Beauregard was clear with me that she operates a disciplined schoolroom, carrying cane to ‘instil’ in ‘unruly girls’ both  ‘discipline’ and ‘moral fortitude’.

Yet for children not lucky enough to work for as generous an employer as Monsieur Clouseau, their educational prospects are limited except for the odd beneficiary of luck or charity. Tired, overworked and pressured to help provide for their families, without anything but the most basic education provided by the state, they may be the most educated children in the Core, but there still remains a gulf between their meagre learning and what they could achieve. How many talents go unexplored and unutilised? No amount of scholarships to higher learning or studied professions will help children of the Ouvrier, who are taught little more than what is needed for a life of labour.

The common people are an untapped resource for learning, culture and progress, for business and defence. They are rough diamonds, for sure, dug up by the current government provision. Let it go further, however, and reveal the pure gemstones within each Dementlieuse psyche. How can this happen? Charity can only go so far, although charitable schools can do much to show just what can be achieved. Building on charity, though, a systematic extension of the government educational provision to teach for longer, and more deeply, is the clear answer. Yet, unfortunately, how this would work without a change in labour laws and wages, without causing families hardship, remains unclear.

M. G. Dupin

Messages in Art: A Case Study

The Theatre de la Cathedrale premiered Invidian Hearts, a piece by Maitresse Perigord. The theme was that of destructive passions, and focused on a wife straying from her marriage to a controlling husband. A tragedy, all parties ended up dead at the end, the wife by her own hand when both her suitors had breathed their last.

Yet La Cause does not write to review shows and performances on their artistic merits, although readers can rest assured the performances, lyrics, and music arrangements of Invidian Hearts were of the highest standards.

Why then, this article? Something that unites us as Dementlieuse is love of art, and that is one of our greatest virtues. Art has an ability to speak to our souls, and as it does so it can bring messages that we would turn away through more traditional means. Sometimes the messages are clear, other times they are not, and they can even deviate from what the artist intends.

This article thus dissects the meaning of Invidian Hearts from my own perspective, to help illustrate how one might think about art when we enjoy it, or create it, in our own surroundings, much humbler than the Theatre.   

On the face of it, Invidian Hearts is an example of traditionalism in storytelling. It presented a view that displayed the rigorous values of the gentry when it comes to the role of women and their view of love being secondary to duty. But close examination of one of the characters suggests a possibly more radical message from the play.

The play had three characters. The least complex was the lover coming between the married couple, Giovanni. Presented as besotted and wholly believing in love conquering all, and bravely trades blows and barbs with the wronged husband at the climax of the play. He dies stating to his lover he has no regrets, never questioning his passion or her virtue. We are never shown the reasons why Giovanni is so besotted with a woman who literally ceases to be once he has passed on. Giovanni is given little depth, and on a surface examination it makes it easier to judge him as a disruptive element, a destroyer of a marriage and of lives.

Lucilla, the wife, is similarly swept up in a love she herself calls forbidden. Yet she cannot resist it and while she is fearful of what might happen to her lover, she still goes along with his advances. Only at the end of the play does she seem to show any care for her husband, entirely in the context of her having lost both lover and spouse. Her unwillingness to face life without either has her pay the price for her transgression, and also, without critique, presents her life as having little meaning beyond that of her menfolk. No longer capable of being an austere wife, or ardent lover, she is presented as having no purpose, and so must die even if she did not need to be punished. Those of us from communities where men toil and laugh beside women, not just viewing them as simply mothers or wives, may not understand this message as clearly as those of the gentry.

The most interesting character, however, is Adelmo. A seemingly loving husband, we are shown a bitter possessiveness that is sinister and malign in a start change of tone towards the start of the play. It hints that he could be the villain of the piece, for his love is a thing of ownership, as great a lie as Lucilla’s lies to him. When viewed in this light, Adelmo’s fight with Giovanni thus gains a tension as it is hard to see a happy ending for Lucilla should he win, or indeed any true happiness for Lucilla even if Giovanni had never existed. It is how we view Adelmo that can lift the play. He is not a husband, but a jailor of a prison made by society’s expectation upon women. Giovanni then becomes a breaker of chains and liberator, and Lucilla, a victim from the moment she was born a woman.

A play that intimidates those shackled by society into compliance, or a play that has deep sympathy for those who have little choice in life? The audience may decide for themselves.

M. G. Dupin

Beware! Cannibalistic Lunatic Strikes at Night

There have been two attacks in two days on young women, one of which has been fatal. The first occurred on the evening of 17 April, in an alleyway where the Ouvrier gives way to the Marchand. A young Ouvrier woman’s body was found with a wound to the stomach which likely would have proved fatal. Yet she also was pale and had puncture marks in her neck, akin to the string of murders which Esme Courtney, one of the infamous Courtney twins, was convicted of in 775. 

The second victim was Fausta Larksmourn, a personal assistant to Doctor Vesnia Endymion. Luckily Mademoiselle Larksmourn survived the attack and was able to give an account to one of those who rendered her aid, Atossa Iltazyara. Mademoiselle Iltazyara, a scholar of arcane sciences and student of medicine at the University of Dementlieu, related the following. Mademoiselle Larksmourn had been strolling to the west of the city, between the gate and the Vistani caravan stop, when she was attacked by a man dressed in black finery and scented with lavender perfume. He used arcane science and a foul stare to bind her to his will and conducted his lunatic, cannibalistic attack, before striking her down and leaving her for dead. It is fortuitous that Mademoiselle Larksmourn defied death and managed to crawl to the city where she was found and taken to the Halan Hospice for treatment.

We can only speculate about the identity of the killer. The fine clothing and perfume may suggest someone who can move in the circles of the Gentry. This would not be the first member of the gentry to slake their perverse lusts upon the Ouvrier. Beyond Mademoiselle Courtney mentioned above, the women of the ouvrier were the prey of the sadistic Donatien Ayvelles, Baron de Sebastien, an eastern nobleman who was shot by the Quartier Watch. Yet I caution making assumptions based upon simple attire, it is easy for a killer to don fine clothes and perfume, and they may simply be worn to get victims to drop their guard. . The use of magic is of note, as is the insane, perverse nature of the attacks. In particular blooded mages are known to have an unstable mental state if they lose control. Yet without hard evidence it would be foolish to focus on either of those theories.

Both attacks took place at night on lone women, and it is important that people treat the hours between dusk and dawn with respect while this lunatic is on the loose. Be safe! Keep your loved ones safe! Caution saves lives.

Should you learn anything of note, please contact the Gendarmerie so they can bring this madman to justice. If you do not feel comfortable in approaching the Gendarmerie, la Cause is happy to act as a confidential go between for you to pass on key information.

M. G. Dupin

The Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund

The Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund (W.I.C.F.) continues its work. While funds are available, the W.I.C.F. will make awards to workhouse workers, dock workers and sailors who miss work due to injury, covering lost wages during recovery or payments while out of work for longer periods. The W.I.C.F. has been made possible by Mme A. Matisse, who was lucky enough to win a sum at La Palais Rouge and has set aside her winnings for the benefit of those in need.

To apply for an award write to or leave word for M. G. Dupin at the offices of La Cause at Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier. Give details of your employer, your injuries and how you were injured, your wage, the amount of work missed, your family situation and how to contact you for an interview to discuss your case. Priority will be given to the most serious cases and awards will be made while funds are available. Note, no funds are kept on site, nor can they be accessed directly by M. G. Dupin.

Correspondence to the Editor, La Cause, Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier.

Contributions and offers of collaboration are welcome, although no wage can be offered as of yet.

((Placed IG!))

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 4

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to issue four of La Cause.

Many will recall that La Cause is not intended to be a social gazette or to give a complete accounting of recent news. However, once more, this paper is called upon to warn of a threat to the lives of the good people of the Ouvrier. Hardship is no stranger to our part of the city, nor is violent death, yet these aberrant killings leave a scar on the psyche that cannot be left unchecked.

Nevertheless, the promises made to the people in the wake of Pauline Jenout’s struggle and lobbied for by Jacques Varteur cannot be set aside in moments of temporary crisis. Therefore this edition includes a transcription of the speech I gave at the community meeting held at Le Gage d'Amour, on 23rd April 778, with additional commentary.

We also have our first guest submission from a Monsieur R. Laroux on the subject of charity. This article is published unedited beyond formatting and stands as Monsier Laroux’s opinion, not that of the editor. They are well worth a read, however, and are perhaps the star of this issue. Monsieur Laroux did not leave me a return address so let me extend my thanks to him for his submission.

Editor, M. G. Dupin

Editorial: The Value of True Friendship

There are some amongst the gentry that truly have the wellbeing of the commons on their mind, but equally there are those for whom this is a fashionable affectation, or a way to display their generosity. There are others who view the poverty stricken citizens of the Ouvrier as some part of their business endeavours, either as cheap manpower or a captive market.

When people come to the Ouvrier, particularly with money or gifts, professing to solve all our problems, they do so with a naivety of thought that would be inspirational in its innocence if it did not only take a little introspection to dispel.

Poverty in the Ouvrier is not simply a fact of life. It is the result of the systems in place, a result of culture, politics, and privilege. A pledge of solars, such as that made by Samurai Katayama at the Ouvrier Community Meeting, will do a little good for a period of time. Yet such a pledge will do little to change the system. As one attendee said to the noted ally of Councillor Palascu  “You want to know how you can help? I'll tell you how. I want to see you put that pretty boy reputation of yours on the line. I want to see you speak truth to power. Tell your bosses to start fixing their business. Stop their [bad behaviour] that's hurting people here.”

Yet charitable giving without purpose can also be viewed more sinisterly. As another attendee said "By accepting that money, we accept that the responsibility of improvement lies with us.. 'Take this and fix yourselves,' they say.” Yet we know that simple coin will change nothing in the long run.

Similarly, the Marquise de Givrémont pledged to sell an affordable wine and name it after Jacques Varteur. She couched this to me in person in terms of helping the people, yet when challenged to not use the great man’s name as part of her business plans she has withdrawn the concept of the drink entirely.

Yet she was not challenged only on that, just as Samurai Katayama was not. She was asked to use her influence to see change brought about, to show a friendship to the commons that is clearly devoid of self interest, as Samurai Katayama was, given her high rank and the connections of her family to the Council of Brilliance. Such is worth far more than a dragon’s horde. As far as this publication is aware, neither have any plans of doing so.

The Ouvrier needs friends that have loud voices, not just deep pockets.


M. G. Dupin

The “Good Ones”

I want to write something for the gentry. For some of the foreigners that aspire to be gentry, too. I see your charity. I’ve been lucky, and been given more solars than I make in a month by a well meaning silk more than once. Some of them even treat me like an equal, when no one’s looking. That’s all real good of you. I mean that. But there’s this attitude. This idea. That you see how unfair things are. That you care. That you’re one of the good ones, and one day you might change things. That secretly, you’re a good person.

But I want to ask you to reflect. The divide between gentry and the common man remains because we keep buying into it. There isn’t a noble in the Core whose lands aren’t contingent on some level of exploitation of the small folk. Shoot, maybe you think your family (or friends) are all clean. All make sure Leon’s promise was upheld to their people. Okay. Let’s pretend. Even then, the material comforts enjoyed by you in the Publique are contingent on this divide. Your comforts in life, even if you earned every single coin yourself, rest on the backs of the exploited. The Mother knows that good acts do not wash out the bad. They are all part of us. Our choices, and how we live.

I know this is a complex, even difficult, matter to confront. But you aren’t a good person if you’re choosing to participate in high society. Charity, and secret kindness, does not excuse your participation in a cruel system. We, the people, cannot choose to be anything but where we are. We lack the means. But you can. At any time, you may walk away from high society. You may forego its excesses and live only as you need. The balls, the silks, the foods and wines. You could even abandon your title. It is a choice you have the means to act on without it killing you. What would become of our country if you did? If those like you did? I sincerely believe the majority of the gentry are well meaning, but extremely ignorant. Trapped in a system that only promises them the illusion of the means to change things.

You have the choice to walk away from that system without walking away from the people. You have always had that choice. I do not hate you for not having the courage to make it. I don’t know if I would, were I you.

But don’t fool yourself.

Good people don’t participate in cruel systems.

Article by M. R. Laroux

 

The Blood of our Children: Broken Promises

I am Gautier Dupin, editor of La Cause, and allow me to welcome everyone to this first Ouvrier community meeting hosted here at Le Gage d'Amour. Let me begin with thanks to our hosts Mademoiselle Ophelie Escoffier and Monsieur Dominique Corvoisier, without whom today would be impossible.

Few don’t know the name of Pauline Jenout, but some of us were little more than children when she used to walk amongst the community as a voice for change. Something that marked her out, though, was not just that she spoke. She also -listened-. The cares, concerns, worries, tragedies and suffering of the people of the Ouvrier were all her concern, so that when she spoke, she spoke of the suffering of the thousands behind her.

It is with Pauline Jenout in mind that I hoped to organise these meetings. They are a chance not only for me and others to speak, they are also a chance for all of us to listen to each other, particularly me. The publication of La Cause gives me a voice. I want to be able to lend that voice to those who need it, so that this City of Lights can illuminate not just the parties and fashions of the gentry, but also the strains and struggles of life in the Ouvrier. The actual strains and struggles, not just my understanding of them.

I do have a topic that I myself want to speak on. It has nearly been eight years since we were promised reform after the revolution, and they have hardly been an uneventful eight years. A coup by aristocrats and bloody war with Falkovnia have left scars upon the Repubique, but as these heal, we enter a new period of prosperity. It must, surely, now be time to bring about the change we all so need. Surely?

Some outside our community might question why I speak of promises made eight years ago, yet the reality is that the conditions that we live in are no better than they were in seven seventy. We of the Ouvrier still languish without a vote, without proper pay, without so many of the things promised. Yet I ask you not to focus on the young man stood before you, complaining about the promises made to the past generation. Think, instead, of a child of the Ouvrier.

A child born in seven seventy would be nearly eight now. Such a child was born when the promises of reform were made. Yet this child born in seven seventy  would have spent his or her entire life relying on the threadbare meals provided by food their parents, or subsisting on the thin gruel, given out in the Government Food Providers. Imagine this child. [a pause, looking about] Imagine their frail limbs and skinny ribcage. They are -already- marked by the Ouvrier. They will carry that forward into adulthood, as so many of us do. Nothing can change that, due to these wasted years. 

When our imaginary child speaks you may well be able to hear the mark of the Ouvrier, not just in accent but in education. Their learning will have been basic and dependent on the quality of the teaching they have received from the government programme. If our child of Seven Seventy is lucky, they may be beginning tutoring with an art tutor, while the rest of their family tightens their belts to pay for it. Otherwise, their education is most likely done and their working life is beginning. After all, the labour of children is usually cheaper and many of the looms and machines apparently need small hands to properly fix them. Already our child of seven seventy is supporting their family, and is exposed to the hazards of the workplace. How many children have been maimed at work since seven seventy? How many crushed hands and mangled fingers? For every benevolent employer there are several others who think only of coin. What is the suffering of an ouvrier child worth compared to profit? What is the answer the City of Lights currently gives?

Perhaps those of us who are grown can wait and wait and wait. We already suffered, and carry our wounds going forward. Perhaps there is no rush, for us. Perhaps -we- can wait for slow reform, and not spend our time asking those who enjoy the current prosperity for change. Avoid rocking the boat, making a scene.

Yet think of our child of seven seventy. No matter what happens now, those children who were promised change will bear the same scars of childhood that we all carry. -Already- for them the promise of a new world won by Pauline Jenout is ringing hollow. The victory of the people means little when they are still hungry, they are still uneducated, they are still worked to exhaustion and they still bleed or die for the profits of others.

Childhood ends early in the Ouvrier, still. It stands as a shame on our Republique, and if we stay silent, a shame on us as well.

Reform -must- come. For all the progress our Republic has made, our children deserve better.

Thankyou for listening to me speak.Perhaps some of you have questions for me, but better still, perhaps some of you have concerns of your own, or you have tales to tell of your own struggle. I will listen to each one and every one, and I hope you all will too, for all of us are people whose lives and whose suffering matter.

 I’d like to open up the floor now. Please raise your hand to speak so we can try and give everyone some time to do so.

Above as the text of the speech as given. Mlle. A. Matisse raised a pertinent oversight in the speech with regards to the lack of oversight of private orphanages, which can be hotbeds of abuse and neglect, along with the overall lack of provision for waifs and orphans without family. If any deserve special support it is they.

Mlle. L. Vouivre felt that people should rely on their own resources, although it appears she meant that to be private charitable efforts for waifs, not waifs using their own resources.

M. G. Dupin

Spiders of Remarkable Size and Nature - a Warning

With the Throatripper, a copycat of Esme Courtney, on the loose, one would be forgiven for thinking that perverted men are the greatest threats on the streets currently.

Alas, and I never thought I would have to write this, but magical spiders also prowl our streets, many of them larger than one’s hand, and one of which is as large as a small horse. Red in hue, it has attacked and killed people in and near the city, seemingly uncaring as to its victims. Those who are killed are drained of all fluids, leaving a dried husk.

The most remarkable thing about this spider is it is able to manifest a glamour, much akin to the camouflage that some carnivores enjoy when hunting their prey. In this case, however, it assumes the form of a human woman of remarkable beauty to lure its prey. Such a breed is rare and is not native to Dementlieu. Whether this ability is a manifestation of the Legion warned of by the Church of Ezra, some unnatural illusion born of the Shadow Rift, or simply a remarkable quirk of nature, strange beauties on the streets at night should not be assumed to be mere damsels in distress.

It should be noted that as spiders often lay their eggs with ready access to food, so does this large spider, laying eggs in a victim. A fate much worse than the agonising death serving as food for the creature.

Until the Gendarmerie or some of the Gentry fancying themselves hunters catch or kill this beast, watch carefully the alleys and shadows. A spider this size remains a spider, and may spring from any angle, including the one you just saw the girl of your dreams beckon from.

M.G.Dupin     

The Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund

The Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund (W.I.C.F.) continues its work. While funds are available, the W.I.C.F. will make awards to workhouse workers, dock workers and sailors who miss work due to injury, covering lost wages during recovery or payments while out of work for longer periods. The W.I.C.F. has been made possible by Mme A. Matisse, who was lucky enough to win a sum at La Palais Rouge and has set aside her winnings for the benefit of those in need.

To apply for an award write to or leave word for M. G. Dupin at the offices of La Cause at Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier. Give details of your employer, your injuries and how you were injured, your wage, the amount of work missed, your family situation and how to contact you for an interview to discuss your case. Priority will be given to the most serious cases and awards will be made while funds are available. Note, no funds are kept on site, nor can they be accessed directly by M. G. Dupin.   

Correspondence to the Editor, La Cause, Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier.

Contributions and offers of collaboration are welcome, although no wage can be offered as of yet.

((Placed IG!))

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 5 - SPECIAL ISSUE

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to issue five of La Cause.

It comes hard and fast after the previous issue and was not planned. The contents of the single article will surprise many and chill the hearts of all. It could be said by some that I follow the wishes of a mad woman by publishing this special issue, and it is true that the article below carries the terror laced message of a diseased mind.

Yet, even were this edition not a public necessity after consultation with the Gendarmerie, it is incumbent upon this publication to speak the truth and not shy from those that are awkward, inconvenient, or even dangerous. La Flambeuse wants us all, including me, to feel fear. It is natural for us to do so when faced with this threat. Yet we of the Ouvrier are often told we are not capable of rationality, or worthy of responsibility. We have a responsibility now, when this killer of children seeks to force violence by means of violence, to reject her demands and defy her attempt to make us servants.

Stay strong, people of the Ouvrier. Keep calm and united. Do not let rational thoughts give way to fear. By all means stay vigilant, and if you see or hear anything that may lead to the capture of La Flambeuse, bring it to the Gendarmerie, or La Cause if you do not trust them. But remember as well that this bomber seeks to put a yoke around our neck and drive us like oxen, using the lash to move us in her direction. That direction is violence and anarchy.

Defy that. Stay brave and strong. Stay free, in this one decision we get to make, so that we may win the right to make more with clean hands.

Editor, M. G. Dupin

Bombings in the Ouvrier: La Flambeuse

Two explosions rocked the Ouvrier recently. Yet as much as the thunderous din of the exploding powder reminded many of the barrage aimed at the Ouvrier by Armand Foquelaine, the only similarity to that atrocities was in the madness of the perpetrators and their willingness to kill innocent women and children in the pursuit of their goals.

The first explosion was in the small hours of 11 May 778, when a government food provider was bombed, scattering its contents into the street. The second was at dawn of the same day, when another provider was targeted. This blast, so close to opening, killed a young mother and her two daughters who had arrived early with their ration coupons. Their bodies lay in the street, placed amidst the debris by uncaring government employees, until covered and given dignity by the beggars that live nearby.

What twisted mind would kill mothers and children while they sought to obtain the meagre rations granted by the state is, unfortunately, no longer a mystery, as La Cause received correspondence from a twisted individual calling herself La Flambeuse. The letter was both damp and scorched, and the tiny, crushed writing clearly the product of a diseased mind. It took hours to decipher the message and when I managed to do so I was shocked, and disgusted, as I had in my possession a manifesto more befitting an inmate at the asylum than a daughter of the Republique.

After consultation with the Gendarmerie, I reproduce the text, as best as I was able to decipher it, below:

dear monsieur dupin

im a really big fan of la cause

i wanted to share with you my manifesto to free workers

for too long have the workers been supine and accepted hand outs from a government that would rather see them live on their knees than die on their feet

like poppy addicts they have come to accept their lot, unwilling to shake themselves from their slumber

no more, i call to action

i will kill the youngest member of any family that [accepts?] charity from a government provider, a food bank, or any other source

i will kill the oldest member of any family that accepts employment from outlanders or aristos

if your beautiful words cannot stir the workers to action then perhaps they shall when they come to fear me more than they fear the gendarmes

kill the aristos - we have nothing to lose but our chains

a fan,

la flambeuse

p.s. if you don't publish me, remember, i know where you live

Whoever this madwoman is, and whatever lair she hides in that shares both flame and damp, she is clearly technically skilled enough to construct and plant bombs of of lethal strength, and seems willing to carry out her threats.

Yet, for once, the machinery of state is taking decisive action. Sieur Basile Corbeau, Caporal in the Gendarmerie and one of those who bled on the Silent Fields, had the following statement to make:

I, Sieur Basile Corbeau of the Gendarmerie de la Nationale do so announce that any acts of arson or murder upon the people of the City of Lights will be met with armed force. I do not tolerate terrorists. Rest assured, I will personally ensure that justice is done in this case and that people of all walks of life will swiftly be able to rest easy once more. Please notify the Gendarmerie of anything of relevance to the case.

Regular readers of La Cause will know this paper is a regular critic of conditions in the Ouvrier and of the Gendarmerie. It is perhaps remarkable, then, that the author echoes this appeal for people to cooperate with the Gendarmerie in catching La Flambeuse. Yet, when one examines La Flambeuse’s methods and manifesto, one can see that she is neither friend to the people nor something the Ouvrier has not seen before.

The comparison to Foquelaine’s bombardment at the start of this article was not idle. La Flambeuse does not sit as a descendant of the ideas of Pauline Jenout, or the other heroes of the Grand Assembly. She does not stand as a champion of the people like Felix Toure and his ilk. No, her bedfellow, her ancestor, her twisted father is none other than Armand Foquelaine himself. Both convinced of the rightness of their cause, both willing to deploy impersonal means of mass death, both willing to shed the blood of innocents to make their point. And both utterly mad.

La Flambeuse will meet her fate, as Foquelaine did before her, by righteous hand or state-guillotine (hopefully, sharpened this time). Yet until that time, see her for what she is, an enemy of the people just as the tyrant who came before her.

Let those of us who call the Ouvrier our home, of all political stances and alignments, rally together, and reject this would be tyrant of our consciences. Reject her demands. Reject her fear. And stand united to bring her to justice.

M. G. Dupin

Correspondence to the Editor, La Cause, Le Gage d'Amour, Basement, Tenements, Quartier Ouvrier.

Contributions and offers of collaboration are welcome, and temporarily a stipend of 500 solars for each article can be paid.

(((Placed IG!)))

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 6

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to issue six of La Cause.

This latest issue has been much more difficult piling this issue has been more difficult than the last. Events, as will be related in the coming articles, have made my company hazardous to others and so I have kept a low profile. Increased care, however, does not mandate inaction. As much as there are those who would silence the voice of La Cause, another edition is hereby published, without fear and without hesitation, so that the ideals of justice and change espoused by Jenout, Varteur, and others who struggled for the people can be brought forth.


Editor, M. G. Dupin

Black Heart, Black Deeds - La Flambeuse’s Campaign Continues

It is with heavy heart that I report yet more acts of violent terror at the hands of La Flambeuse.  A heavy heart, yet one that sees the nature of this mad creature more clearly. 

La Flambeuse struck directly at a source of hope and reconciliation in the Ouvrier, namely Le Gage d'Amour, and at the offices of this paper therein. Incensed by this paper’s criticism of her vile campaign, she retaliated by assaulting and murdering Mademoiselle Ophelie Escoffier Escoffier, one of the proprietors of Le Gage d’Amour. Yet it was not just a simple assault. La Flambeuse also used foul black magic to defile Mademoiselle Escoffier’s corpse. It is only thanks of the efforts of the Hospice of Hala that she was returned to life.

La Flambeuse’s campaign is very clearly many things. Maddened. Brutal. Ruthless. I have compared her to Armand Foquelaine for her willingness to be indiscriminate in her violence. Now I can add Marcel Delacourte to her teachers, as the vile magic she used echoes that of the nefarious Monsieur Delacourte. This places her among other, magic crazed mass murderers such as the axeman Vahlstahd.

Not content with such crimes, on the same night La Flambeuse tried to set fire to the tenement building within which Le Gage d’Amour is housed. Although the blaze was put out by the swift action of Mademoiselle Mariah Parsons, had La Flambeuse had her way scores of innocents would have died to make her point.

And what point does she have, really? She writes of using violence to champion the people, yet makes them her victims. She attempts to incite others to follow her path of violence against oppression, yet seems to think we will harken to her and ignore the innocents she has slain. In short, her political goals are a veneer, laid over madness and violence for its own sake.

Jenout’s revolution was not anarchy. She did not choose violence, but had it forced on her by a mad despot. La Flambeuse’s campaign leads to change, yes. But only if one counts the change of life, to death, as a change worthy of struggle. I do not.

M. G. Dupin

Freedom to Disagree: a Republican Virtue

The gentry are quick to appeal to the legacy of Leon the Great when they want to fortify the high ground they hold. The proposition is that that Leon’s great work, that which lifted us out of civil war and structural collapse, was completed when he bequeathed rulership upon the best and the brightest among the people. They would form a government of talents to guide the Republic, rather than vesting power in one person. They of course add to this that those worthy of electing and advising this “Council of Brilliance” were and now are composed of the gentry of the day. In this line of thought, the Gentry hold their position by virtue of their superior inherited virtues, along with some few who have gained the status by hard work and merit. And never by politics and intrigue.

Thus is the high ground turned into the moral high ground, but even such aristocratic justifications hold two principles as core. Firstly, that discussion and debate are core to how the Republic is governed, because it is by this means the Council of Brilliance decides amongst itself, and how the gentry advice the Council when they are called to do so. Secondly, that those who are involved in governing the Republic should do so to the best of their ability, without fear of or favour to private interests. While I may disagree with the concept of the Gentry’s right to rule, I cannot speak against those two propositions.

Let us state it clearly then. Debate, disagreement and discourse are all core parts of the way this Republic has ever been run since its foundation. Attempts to restrict freedom of discourse are against our oldest traditions and make moves towards tyranny. One need only look at Armand Foquelaine’s treatment of journalistic dissent for proof of that.

It has become something of a tradition in Port-à-Lucine for the Gentry to engage in public diatribes against each other. No doubt these public missives are lucrative work for the city’s lawyers, both in helping drafting them to avoid libel cases, or in advising on bringing the same. Yet, happily, the threat of court action does not silence these dialogues, as despite how undignified some of them can be. For when ideas that are at the core of our political debates are aired, they are a way that the people can come to consider our fundamental freedoms.

Take, for example, the missives of the Marquise de Givremont. She has enthusiastically taken to this tradition of oratory by letter, raising questions about the political traditions of eastern nobles. Her arguments, which profess to come from a fear of tyranny, do much to remind us all of the Covenant and how its rebellion arose in response to men and women of the commons, like myself, getting the vote. A right that has not yet been returned to us, despite campaigning by the Worker’s Congress. There is much to recommend bringing recent history to the forefront to undo the scars left by the civil war.

To set against that, the Marquise questions the decisions of the Council of Brilliance in sparing the Covenant rebels and in entrusting the Silent Fields campaign to a noble of the east, Badouin Courcillon, now the Baron de Puymeras thanks to his successful leadership. In a less free society, such open criticism of the government would not go unchallenged, yet in Dementlieu challenge and debate are part of how we reach the right decision.

It is a shame then that the Marquise de Givremont also argues for censorship of La Cause, a Foquelainesque approach to articles she did not like, and surprising given her own criticisms of the state’s leadership. A shortsighted author might suggest that the Marquise was simply writing as she liked in public, responding to what she perceives as personal slights with political arguments. I do not believe this is so, but rather the Marquise is doing her best to enter Dementlieu’s political discourse despite her relative brevity as a resident of this country, her marriage relatively recent. Prior to that, the Marquise was a native of Richemulot, and so one must wish her the best in understanding where the line between firm discourse and publication worthy of censorship should belong.
 

M. G. Dupin

Spider Infestation Spreads

A prior issue has reported an unusual spider infestation, and regrettably while the nature of these spiders is up for dispute, their presence can no longer be ignored. I have heard reports of attacks by spiders of various size, and have witnessed the victims of said attacks. Not only this, I have been the victim of two such attacks, one by a spider large enough to kill me were it not for the intervention of Dominique Courvoisier, Vanlow Gascon and his student Tess.

The spiders are not just a problem, however, for the east of the city. One attack by a fist sized spider took place in the publique, incapacitating Dame Enora de Courcillon, the Courcillon retainer Odette Cloutier and two Gendarmes. While some may dismiss the talk of aggressive spiders as fanciful words from superstitious and uneducated commoners like myself, they cannot dismiss an attack in the Publique that took place before a dozen witnesses.

If the Gendarmerie cannot root out these vermin from whatever hidden nest they have made, then let the state offer rewards for their destruction so that hunters can fund the necessary action.   

M. G. Dupin

The Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund

Regrettably, the Worker’s Injury Compensation Fund (W.I.C.F.) will pause its work temporarily while the Editor is unable to conduct business without endangering others. 

La Cause currently is unable to receive correspondence directly. 

(((Placed IG!)))

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 7

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to issue seven of La Cause, a publication that has been in abeyance for a month more than a year.

I apologise for La Cause’s silence while I was in hiding from the many-limbed forces of reaction. It proved impossible to escape the web of danger I found myself in without slipping myself beyond the city’s walls to Chateaufaux. It has been an illumination of the state of things in the country at large, for while Chateaufaux is smaller than Port-à-Lucine, it shares similar problems on a smaller scale. Murderous poverty is a national problem.

The silencing of my voice is a failing I live with, as I was unable to defend myself or those who were dying due to my words. I can assure those who read this journal that La Cause’s politics have not changed, nor has my commitment to them wavered. The campaign for justice for the commons is a long one, and it will continue. Jenout, Varteur and all those martyred by poverty and carelessness by those in power will be vindicated.

Editor, M. G. Dupin

More than a Leaky Roof - Port-à-Lucine’s Housing Problem

The scars of Marshall Foquelaine’s bombardment still mar the Ouvrier, but the buildings that still nestle amidst the rubble and shattered ruins were tottering fire-hazards well before that tyrant unleashed his fury. For generations, buildings in the Ouvrier have been overcrowded and dilapidated. Rat infested, squalid rooms in buildings with leaky roofs and rickety stair-wells. Filthy detritus fills even the better kept tenement blocks and the risk of collapse or fire is a daily worry.

It should be no surprise that an overworked, poorly fed populace struggles with health problems with dwellings such as this. Yet there is a chronic shortage of housing of even this quality, given the number who must cluster in abandoned buildings in an even more dangerous state, or tremble in the night’s cold in makeshift lean-tos.

Recently a kindly man of the commons, Arand Levigne, has been building temporary shelters for those who have no roof over their head, a marked improvement on the makeshift lean-tos and a welcome respite for the most desperate people in society. Monsieur Levigne has made a trade for himself as a carpenter, and has shown great community spirit in paying that fortune back by lending his considerable skills in that regard to the most needy in society. Yet when I spoke to him about his deeds, he spoke as clear as day to me that this fine work was merely a temporary solution.

“The houses in the Ouvrier have needed a proper fix for years” Monsieur Levigne said. He has a vision of fixing up damaged and ruined residences in the Ouvrier, to provide a better standard of living for residents in the long term.  “If we manage to fix the old ruined houses and in general the conditions of the houses in the Ouvrier, people will be able to live in a warmer place, it means less chance to get sick, less coin on blankets and firewood during winter.” There’s much truth in these words.

Yet one has to ask how we have reached a position where landlords and property owners may well receive charity to maintain their properties. The current government regulations clearly fall short, whether this is because of how they are written or how they are enforced. In Leon’s virtuous Republique, one might expect common humanity would mean that laws were not needed to get landlords to consider the safety of their tenants important. Alas, morality does not seem to override greed, no matter the deaths and hardship caused. 

Change, structural change, is needed. Will those who can truly bring it answer?

M. G. Dupin

Murder as an Art - Another Deviant Plagues the City

Death is no stranger to the streets of the Ouvrier, yet once again another twisted mind seeks to indulge their appetite for degeneracy in the blood of the commons. La Cause has received a report that this murderer recreates scenes from theatre, arranging his or her victims as if in a scene from a play. They have struck five times or more, with murdered citizens found surrounded by words of theatrical prose. Most of the victims were residents of the Ouvrier, although the killer is rumoured to have struck in the city beyond as well.

Citizens are suggested to avoid travelling at night, and particularly avoid alleyways or abandoned buildings. No doubt the Gendarmerie will be prioritising their efforts to catch the killer but until that time caution and care are advised.

La Cause will update further when it can.

M. G. Dupin

La Cause receives correspondence at Room 12, Tenements. Submissions and letters welcome. 

(((Placed IG)))

[Kleomenes]

The paper is readily available in the Marchand and Ouvrier, but a supply is also made available in the Library. A cheeky copy is left on the Publique Noticeboard.

La Cause, Issue 8

Citizens of the Republic, welcome to issue eight of La Cause, the regular publication by the Commons and for the Commons, that seeks to keep the spirit of Jenout and Varteur alive.

This edition’s editorial is in response to some propositions put to me about corruption, or at least the risk of it, amongst the political classes.

Recently the great and the good have enjoyed the happy union of Auguste Détourné of the Red Vardo Traders and his new wife Doctresse and Caporal Dr. Rosalie Épineux, officer in the Gendarmerie and head of the University's enrollment and administrations. That is quite a diverse range of duties, responsibilities and powers to be merged into one marriage.

I must stress no specific allegations have been made about any abuse of power on the part of this union of foreign mercantile endeavour, law enforcement power and access to this republic’s greatest educational institution. However when musing on good governance and the risk of vested interests, I thought it would be interesting to take this marriage as a case study.

A husband and wife are meant to share a special bond of loyalty and love. It is hard to imagine a healthy marriage, in which children are raised and amity is enjoyed, where husband and wife work against each other’s interests. Yet, theoretically, many situations can arise wherein the duties of the partners of this marriage may not align.

For example how would the Bellegarde feel about the wife of an agent of their main competitors handling their licence applications and other official business? Will conversations over the dinner table ever stray to cases that may impact the Red Vardo’s commercial interests? Or will, perish the thought, an idle slip of the tongue by Monsieur  Détourné expose the Red Vardo to unfair scrutiny from the Gendarmerie of its operations? Will idle chatter about a doctoral thesis during a walk in the Baie end up tipping off the Red Vardo to some new innovation in a way that grants them an unfair advantage over the Dementlieuse Bellegarde?

These are all purely hypothetical questions - I state once more I have no evidence that this conflation of many duties and powers has led to any improper conduct. Yet it is a useful thought exercise for us to ask about power and influence in our Republic and how it is gathered and used. The Gentry live in a world of marriage alliances and favours to jockey for prestige and influence. Surely we should question when that network of patronage and power begins to overlap into our public institutions? Surely it is better that we have regulations so that even the appearance of undue influence can be avoided?

Finally, we welcome for the first time our guest publication, The Salty Stylus, which conducts reviews of the society and culture of the great and the good, translating them in a manner that we, the humble poor commons, can understand.

Editor, M. G. Dupin

WARNING: Laszlo Skogmann: Pervert, Killer, Fugitive

The vile “Playwright” killer is revealed to be none other than Laszlo Skogmann, formerly resident pianist at Fantasies Luciennes and favourite of the elite. While it is understandable that some might mistrust an announcement by the Gendarmerie that absolves anyone in real power from culpability, I can confirm from speaking to reputable sources that Skogmann is indeed guilty of shedding the blood of so many ouvrier residents, as well as attempting to ingratiate himself with women in the same manner as a cold fish. 

He is highly dangerous, and people should still avoid travelling into alleyways or at night until he is apprehended. If you do see any signs of him, I encourage you to bring the information to the Gendarmerie, or to this publication, and I will see the information forwarded on. I am also reliably told that one of this killer’s strange quirks and fetishes, alongside his obsession with the theatre, is an extreme resentment of the aroma of garlic. Carry some, and it may be enough to deter this socially challenged fiend.

La Cause will update further once more is known.

M. G. Dupin

La Cause receives correspondence at the Tenements. 

GUEST PUBLICATION FOLLOWS

The Salty Stylus, Issue 1!

Welcome, dear readers, to this new sister publication to La Cause. With the prominence of cultural missives of platitude, inscrutable artistic periodicals, theatrical displays, informative and repetitive journals, incisively laborious reviews, unchallenged musings of academia and works of blatant propaganda, it is important for the common man to be able to access and understand the silvered epoch within which we now live. Rest assured, the flowery language of this first paragraph is only here so the great and the good understand what’s to follow.

Allow me to start the first segment with a review translation of “the Guilded Quill, Issue 2” for the common man, so that we may all be enlightened by the splendid doings of our betters. The remainder is best read with a copy of the Gilded Quill to hand. I shall leave some copies in the Muse Endiablee for your reading pleasure.

M. G. Dupin

Merci!

The first article is describing what The Gilded Quill is all about. It is a publication on culture and is owned by a group of people called the Velvet Canvas. They don’t want your letters, or to talk to you at all, really. So leave them alone and write to their servants at the Gilded Quill.

On the Spot: Monsieur Laszlo Skogmann

A foreign pianist named Laszlo Skogmann is interviewed at Fantaisies Lucienne. He is also going to act over at the Théâtre de la Cathédrale in a play about love written by a noblewoman. Weighty stuff. He talks about acting in interviews which means maybe nothing he says in the interview is true. But wait, maybe it is! He can play the piano well after all. Unfortunately the article does not actually play the music, despite many Lamordian advances these days, so we must imagine that it is really good. 

The takeaway point is don’t take pianists at face value because while he sounds like a simple bore in the interview he also is a perverted seasoning hating serial killer. Who is also a bore.

Monsieur Skogmann also has a creepy story published below the interview. It is about a cursed mirror that steals reflections. It seemingly kills a nobleman who is obsessed with youth and the investigator who found his body. It is quite imaginative (born straight from his sick murderous mind), and I suppose horror stories are good fun for those who don’t see horror every day where we live.

CUISINE CORNER: Exploring Culinary Delights

A man had a bad meal and he is not happy about it.

Fear not! Someone is going to check if it really was bad!

A New Gem in Quartier Ouvrier: Le Refuge des Brasseurs

A woman is running a tiny restaurant out of a room in the tenements called Le Refuge des Brasseurs. It is in room 2, to be precise. Although some drinks the likes of us would recognise are sold there, it is also selling bottles of wine worth more than a month’s salary right next to where some of the poorest in the city rest between punishing work shifts.

The great and the good are warned of the lack of elegance and “rustic” decor, but the review makes clear that the restaurant is a great place to slum it for a bit without actually having to interact with any real Ouvrier citizens. This is great for us, as our suffering can not only be invisible from the Publique and Savant, but now we can be flippantly ignored in our own tenement blocks. No risk of forgetting our place now!

I literally could not  make this up.

Addendum: I have had the chance to speak with the owner of Refuge des Brasseurs, the well dressed Bijou Fleurette, whose name sounds like a shop in the Savant. Don’t worry, it is probably a false name, as I have been reliably informed that the woman is not who she claims to be.

When I spoke to “Bijou Fleurette” she described herself as a self made woman who wanted to return home to live among her people. She did not seem to know much about how we actually live though, claiming that we commoners needed a place of respite, and that is why she set up her mini tavern. Apparently, the Muse Endiablee is a horrible place to visit? She also claimed to be a journalist, along with being a groundbreaking businesswoman monetising the poverty of the Ouvrier. This was all discussed while this self professed Ouvrier resident was sitting in a ballgown and adopting noble airs in Fantasies Luciennes. 

Now she has begun advertising hosting a ball for the Gentry alongside an elf, still thinking to do this from her Tenement enterprise, where those of us who labour for the Gentry’s wealth huddle in leaky rooms.

The only explanation is that she is pretending to be one of us for some reason, probably to make money and win sympathy from the Gentry, as the only other one is that she’s insane. I expect those not born in the Ouv will fall for it and never expected to meet one of us who would ask her questions?

Again, I literally could not make this up.

A Night of Debate

Don’t worry too much about this one. When the Gentry talk about culture, they don’t mean the songs we sing, the stories we tell, the jokes we laugh at. When we’re not exhausted from work, that is.

On The Art Of The Sword

This isn’t that hard to read and I’d encourage you to do it. Still, to save time, it is not about swords or even wolves. It is an encouragement to speak up and stand up for yourself. Admittedly the author wasn’t thinking of workhouse workers reading it I imagine. I found her amenable to talk to though. Really, she deserves some writing colleagues that actually matter.

Barovian Observation

A man went to gawk at poor people abroad. They live in hovels that pale in comparison to Port-à-Lucine (although I suspect the author means the Port-à-Lucine west of the giant walls that enclose the Ouvrier). They believe in ghosts and are afraid of the night (like citizens and gendarmes in the Ouvrier). They put heads on pikes.     Aren’t they funny? Ho ho ho. And there’s more of this to come, I can hardly wait.

A Strategic Matrimony in Hazlan

Some rich people got engaged in Hazlan. We can all rest easy and ignore our hungry bellies now, knowing that.

Next issue, a report of how a stray cat was rescued from a tree in Mordent!