LERNA AFTERNOON TELEGRAPHTHE LERNA PROGROMArev Mardik Thugs Smash, Loot and Burn Selucian and High Pontesian Establishments in Lerna40 dead, hundreds woundedShops burning in an Arev Mardik suburb of LernaLERNA - The city of Lerna in Caespasia, ancient capital of the Pontesian nation during its imperial era, when it held counties such as Gaduridos and Talmoria as colonies, has been a diverse and cosmopolitan hub of trade and commerce since the immemorial. Its Seluco-Pontesian inhabitants, numbering not more than 2-3% of its total population, have a history from a thousands of years, mentioned in the annals of the Belknap Empire long before the arrival of Alamar Xarfaxis and his Crusade. Traditionally the "Abuék Pntékai", High Pontesian culture, the Jelbicophile Pntek upper class heavily influenced by Luthorian and more recently Selucian culture, has dominated the city, and it still boasts the magnificent former Imperial Palace of the Belknaps, a popular destination among tourists.
In more recent centuries however, the city has seen a large influx of poorer Arev Mardiks of peasant background, searching for a better life in the city. Living and working conditions have slowly deteriorated, as have wages, due the big labour surplus caused by these migrants. These often live in poorer suburbs outside the centre of the city, were rents for apartments in its marvellous ancient historical buildings border the astronomous.
It is among these suburban Arev Mardiks that the spark of riot was ignited after the Aurora Libertatis Government's unsatisfactory response to the recent natural disaster, whose primary victims were impoverished people of Arev Mardik background. Widespread looting and destruction has been reported in various places in Lerna. As of the time we are writing this article, 40 people have been reported dead, and over hundreds have been wounded. The policing forces - made up private companies hired by the local government - seems to have temporarily retreated to the inner city and the harbours, where daily life and trade has resumed relatively interrupted, though arbitrary arrests of people of Arev Mardik descent have been reported. No place in the city seems to be truly safe however, and not only Selucians or Abuék Pntekai, but also any one said to be "collaborating" with the political system, is a target for the "justice" by the mob. Felinist and Religio Seluciana temples, as well as Auroran Patriarchal Churches, have been desecrated and their employees and worshippers assaulted, raped or even murdered. The situation seems to have deteriorated further after the comments made by Pontesia's interior minister. Some quote how the Pontesian republican system of tying citizenship to land ownership is claimed to heavily favour minorities, wealthy Seluco-Pontesians in particular, over poorer Arev Mardiks.
His Serene Highness Prince Paullus, who professes a belief in Felinism along with Daenism and Religio Seluciana, is reported to be infuriated by reports of cats being mistreated and murdered by Arev Marduk mobs, and has asked the Government to "clarify" capital punishment laws and expand them to animal abusers as well as pedophiles and rapists. A spokesperson for the Princely Press Office confirmed that
'His Serene Highness has the totally apolitical duty of guiding the nation in matters of values' and that
'such legislation would be in accordance with Daenic ethics and principles but also with modern psychology, which confirms that certain individuals are inherently processed by the asuric, or in medical terms - antisocial personalities'.
Rumours inside the August Parliament of the Cedar Throne also report that the Aurora Libertatis may be considering to reinstate the Pontesian tradition of a wholly autonomous (privatised) military. Senator Crixus Magearius Doukas from Caespasia has called for a debate to restore and rearm the Crimson Crusade as a syncretic Pagan-Hosian movement, as well as the Felinist Claws and Paws movement, to protect civilised man from these low life shudras. The creation of gated communities is also being considered, and some have gone so far as to propose autonomous 'homelands' given as fiefs to sympathetic leaders of the Arev Mardik clans. Others have called for dividing the satrapies into cantons, to further cement the Pontesian Dynastic Commonwealth's confederal foundation.
His Serene Highness is said to be outraged about the jacquerie in LernaBut the Government may also wish to stretch out a hand to Jelbic-speaking Pntekai, who have been increasingly marginalised among the indigenous population in the last centuries. In a historically ironic twist of fate, by recognising the historical flag, rebuilding Mederagaard city and re-joining the Union of Jelbic Peoples, the historically Selucian-dominated Aurora Libertatis may be considered to have pursued a more Pntek-friendly domestic agenda in the last century, than any government since the Belknap era.
The noble
Crimson Crusade, founded by the legendary
Dominus Alamar Xarfaxis, were known in the past to utilise innovative and unusual weaponry such as flamethrowers and jet packs to strike fear into the enemies of the nation. While it started out as a fundamentalist and apocalyptic Hosian sect seeking to postpone the advent of Armageddon, they are nowadays thought of as largely a Hosio-Pagan faction of Religio Seluciana, revering Xarfaxis as a prophet and an avatar of Mamors, the Selucian god of war.
Crest of the Crimson Crusade, from the days of Alamar Xarfaxis