Jelbe

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The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


11 June 5048
Jelbe Shaken As Royal Succession Contested By Princes

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate The Khanate has been gripped by unease following the elevation of Grzkai XVII as the successor to the long reigning Seikzsijokai Khan. The nonagenarian (possibly centenarian) Khan died in his sleep three days ago ending a reign of nearly 78 years. His reign saw a sharp increase in royal power following of the Kurultai faction and its leading noble oligarchs.

Upon the Khan's death, his eighth and eldest surviving son, the 65 year old H'ansrmko (Prince) Grzkai, Regent-Atabek for his infirm father for the past decade, produced "the latest royal will" which named him heir to the crown of the steppe. The will was loudly contested by Grzkai's nephews particularly Prince Seikzsijokai, eldest grandson of the late monarch by his first born son, the 46 year old Prince Seikzsijokai ( who died in 5034 and apparently been named heir in an earlier will by his father) who declared the succession "unseemly" and has pressed his own claim. Some have proposed that tradition be followed with an election by the Great Kurultai, an assembly of clan chiefs and notables but the old Khan abolished the body some seven decades ago. Prince Grzkai has so far ignored the disquiet and enthroned him as Grzkai XVII in a ceremony boycotted by several members of the royal family though the various officials he appointed during his regency participated, pledging their loyalty.

Many Jelbeks have expressed concern at this turn of events. It is said that tensions remain high in the Purple Palace with several members of the Grmhiko royal clan aligning with either the new Khan or his upstart nephew who has still refused to swear allegiance to his royal uncle. The reign of the late Khan was a period of great stability with few conflicts since the Kurultai was disposed of it's power.

[Reddy]

The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


11 July 5048
Western Clans Rise Up In Revolt, Demand Kurultai

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate Grzkai XVII's decision to not convene a Great Kurultai to ratify his election. Several Jelbek clans from the country's mountainous west have declared that they will not recognise the new Khan and that they will on fact hold their own Kurultai to choose a new monarch. Led by Bek Merlkai Merlkaisrmko Vrn, patriarch of the single largest Jelbek clan, seventeen clan Beks assembled at his court on Vrnestrap and have scheduled their Kurultai for December 12, inviting all other Jelbek clans and representatives of the cities to Vrnestrap. The clans have also begun mobilising their tribal armies "for defence against tyranny".

[Reddy]

The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


19 December 5048
Khan Imprisons Royal Princes

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate Grzkai XVII Khan has imprisoned several members of the royal clans in the notorious Basement of the Purple Palace. The Khan declared that the Prince, most notably his nephew and challenger Prince Seikzsijokai had organized the western rebellion against the crown. The western clans held their Kurultai and chose Bek Vrn as Regent-Atabek of the Khanate until a new monarch is chosen. The Khan imprisoned all 84 male members of the royal clan and confined most princess to their wing of the Purple Palace excepting his own sisters, daughters and sons.

Only one member of the family, Prince Seikzsijokai's daughter, Princess Temrmai remains out of the Khan's custody - she had been attending a Patriarchal boarding school in Mytohyeon (north central Jelbania) Bek Vrn the western leader has condemned the imprisonment of the Princes as "undiluted act of tyranny", calling on all Jelbeks to rise up and overthrow the "pretended Khan."

[Reddy]

The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


4 March 5049
More Clans Join Rebellion As Khan Executes Potential Royal Rivals

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate The Khan has executed several of his half brothers and half nephews. In a grisly public show at the Purple Palace, some 46 Princes were strangled with silken cords as the entire royal court watched. The move comes after the western clans and a number of central and northern Jelbek clans met outside the city of Amsadomura and held a Kurultai which chose Princess Temrmai Seikzsjokaidrsme Grmhiko as Regent-Atabeki. The 17 year old who manages to flee her school and turned up at the court of Bek Shmil Nohsrmko Salzyr, the most powerful of the northern clan chieftains. There the girl pleaded with the Bek for his support an made contact with the westerners whom she addressed at the Kurultai demanding that they act with honour as "the blood of her father and brothers cries out for justice from below the earth."

The 32 clans who had joined the rebellion against Grzkai XVI Khan are thought to be raising their levies which are not expected to rise about 50,000 men while the Khan seems to have focuses his strength on holding on to the capital reinforcing his defences there. The Great Jelbek Horde has showed reluctance to act against the rebels too strongly, lacking enthusiasm in supporting an obvious usurper and kinslayer.

[Reddy]

The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


4 March 5050
Rebels Meet Smoky, Stinky Surprise at Bao River

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate After months of gathering force,the so called "Rebel Horde" led by the teenage Princess Temrmai Seikzsjokaidrsme Grmhiko has met it's first and likely final response from Grzkai XVII Khàn. The 35,000 plus army had camped on the right band of the Bao River, ready to cross it and besiege the capital Baofluz. Still the K han did little except occasional and fitful proclamation that "the fires of the Sky Father will rain upon the enemy in the days to come with thanks to our friends in the south!"

The Rebel Horde observed the massing of a handful of military airplanes and rocket launchers on the left bank of the river. Only a token loyalist force accompanied them. That night as they slept, the rain did come. The planes and launchers fired upon the rebel camp but not with explosives but liquid and gaseous projectiles which burned and caused sickness, dizziness and death upon contact. Tens of thousands of rebels screamed in agony as their bodies broke down before them. The attack continued for at least ten hours and when it ceased, a small force of loyalists entered the camps, mowing down any that remain alive and taking nobler fighters captive.

[Reddy]

[quote="Reddy"]
The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


22 January 5052
Following Victory, Khan Consolidates Power

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate Following his stunning victory over the Rebel Horde on the left bank of the Bao River, the Khan has moved to entrench his position on the throne. He has lavishly rewarded his so called "organiser of victory" Stjepan Zubic a retired Deltarian airman who was ennobled as a Count and also appointed Wrntusrljikai (Premier) Count Zubic's operations on the Bao River have left it so unsafe that a.number of people have been treated for severe burns for merely dipping into the river. The Great western Vrn and northern Salyzr clans along with several others saw their clam militia almost entirely destroyed and the Khan has seen his power great enhanced as administration of the clans has fallen too and he has appointed several cronies to run the clans, refusing to allow the appointment of new chieftains. He has also issued a new Yassa (decree)declaring the royal will to be supreme above "all other considerations".

As for his famous great-niece, Prince Temrmai, the Khan was able to redeem her from her tent and now keeps her confined in a small crow cage which he keeps displayed
to the public at his court. At this point of the 74 Grmhiko princes who survived the old Khan three years ago, only seven remain alive and free, about two thirds are confirmed dead while the fate of the rest remains unknown except for Grzkai XVII's own sons and grandsons who number just six. Dissent is muted with most Jelbeks believing that the Khan is an unmatched wizard who rained down liquid fire on his foes at the Battle of the Bao River and unwilling to question him. The College of Shamans has seemingly confirmed this, after a mass divination, the shamans declared the Khan to be the reincarnation of the fierce 42nd century Khan Genzi II 'Sacker of Cities'who was later declared "God of Destruction and Chaos".

Many observers detect some method in the Khan's seemingly erratic ways. His fondness for foreign mercenaries frees him from reliaance of the clans and their penchant for anarchy and hidebound tradition. Destroying the power of the clans military would allow the Khanate an opportunity to ascend above it's traditionally chaotic state of affairs even if the price would be tyranny.

[Reddy]

[quote="Reddy"]
The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


22 January 5052
Following Victory, Khan Consolidates Power

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate Following his stunning victory over the Rebel Horde on the left bank of the Bao River, the Khan has moved to entrench his position on the throne. He has lavishly rewarded his so called "organiser of victory" Stjepan Zubic a retired Deltarian airman who was ennobled as a Count and also appointed Wrntusrljikai (Premier) Count Zubic's operations on the Bao River have left it so unsafe that a.number of people have been treated for severe burns for merely dipping into the river. The Great western Vrn and northern Salyzr clans along with several others saw their clam militia almost entirely destroyed and the Khan has seen his power great enhanced as administration of the clans has fallen too and he has appointed several cronies to run the clans, refusing to allow the appointment of new chieftains. He has also issued a new Yassa (decree)declaring the royal will to be supreme above "all other considerations".


Grzkai XVII Khan

As for his famous great-niece, Prince Temrmai, the Khan was able to redeem her from her tent and now keeps her confined in a small crow cage which he keeps displayed
to the public at his court. At this point of the 74 Grmhiko princes who survived the old Khan three years ago, only seven remain alive and free, about two thirds are confirmed dead while the fate of the rest remains unknown except for Grzkai XVII's own sons and grandsons who number just six. Dissent is muted with most Jelbeks believing that the Khan is an unmatched wizard who rained down liquid fire on his foes at the Battle of the Bao River and unwilling to question him. The College of Shamans has seemingly confirmed this, after a mass divination, the shamans declared the Khan to be the reincarnation of the fierce 42nd century Khan Genzi II 'Sacker of Cities'who was later declared "God of Destruction and Chaos".

Many observers detect some method in the Khan's seemingly erratic ways. His fondness for foreign mercenaries frees him from reliaance of the clans and their penchant for anarchy and hidebound tradition. Destroying the power of the clans military would allow the Khanate an opportunity to ascend above it's traditionally chaotic state of affairs even if the price would be tyranny.

[Reddy]

The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


2 January 5055
Small Carrot, Huge Stick As Khan Charms The Commons and Terrorises The "Great Men"

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate The Khan has received tens of thousands of letters of support and gifts from the humblest of his subjects in allreciation of his decision to institute a "Poor Law". The new law will institute a very bare social security system serving the poorest Jelbeks throughout the Khanate. Under the law, the destitute will receive small food packages a month - 5kg of flour, a litre of cooking oil and a kilo of salt from a Khan's Poorhouse. The program will be funded by a new property tax on the landowners. This royal class warfare has endeared the Khan to the poor who view him as "the Little Father", their champion against the hated landowning nobility. Mobs in the rural areas have severely chastised individuals accused of showing disrespect to the Khan. The Khan himself hasmade several symbolic gestures to his people such as requiring that all nobles serve him at court for nine months "to free our beloved commons from their oppression and ingratitude."

The move to introduce the Poor Law is accompanied by a significantly less charitable one - the creation of the Wolfs Claws a private security force under the personal control of the monarch. The Claws are charged with rooting out dissent and largely targeting the country's nobility where remnants of the Khan's opponents remain. 600 Clawsmen demonstrated the new order by eradicating the entire no ility of the Knzkrt clan, a small western clan which resisted the collection of the new property tax. The Clawsmen invaded the clan territory armed with shiny automatic firearms and in the words of their captain,"exterminated all living creatures found in the clan Bek's enclosure as per the lord Khan's wishes."

[Reddy]

The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


27 January 5059
Khan "Confined To His Quarters" In Apparent Ongoing Coup

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate Unconfirmed reports from the Purple Palace state that the Khan has been "confined to his quarters" within the Palace while deliberations on the future governance of the realm are made. It has been rumoured that hundreds of nobles serving at the royal court stormed the Khan's quarters and imprisoned the entire royal family. A declaration supposedly issued from the palace promising the restoration of "ancient rights" and the appointment of new royal advisors. A large mob of poor Baofluziqns have gathered outside the Palace anxiously awaiting news of the fate of their beloved monarch Grzkai XVII who has not been seen in public in the past three days. The present disturbances come just days after the Khan declared his intention to seize a million hectares of idle land from the great nobles and redistribute it to the landless rural poor.

[Reddy]

The Jelbék Purple Stripe is the oldest media outlet in Jelbe. It is written to a foreign and Settled (Jeztaghényr) Jelbék audience.


29 January 5059
Khan Restored By Baofluz Mob and Wolf's Claws

BAOFLUZ, Jelbek Khanate The coup plot against Grzkai XVII has collapsed with the monarch restored to the throne earlier this morning. The Khan had been declared deposed by a group of nobles who occupied the Purple Palace. In what some commentators have called the worst scenes of violence in the capital Baofluz in several centuries, a mob of poor Baofluzians, estimated at anywhere between 5 and 25,000 together with the Khan's private army the Wolf's Claws stormed the Purple Palace demanding the restoration of the "Little Father" and slaughtering all noble personages found within. The Khan was rescued from his quarters. Several hundred people were killed in the counter coup, the great majority of them nobles and their armed retainers.

The Jelbek nobility once the great force in the Khanate's political structure find their influence shary reduced. Many of the great Beks who survived the Battle of the Bao River have seen their authority systemically reduced by Grzkai XVII who has allied himself to the common peoe and protected a class of new nobles who staff his administration and are dependent on his largesse. Following his restoration the Khan has vowed to double his land redistribution targets to 2 million hectares and tax the old nobility ever more harshly. Reprisals against all who were even tangentially involved in the coup plot have already begun with the Khan demanding that each taghe (province) drown at least a thousand traitors each.

The most notable casualty is his great niece Princess Termmmai, once leader of the western rebels, who has been condemned for witchcraft and blamed for the coup "using her well known dark powers to bend the minds of men to her will" presumably from within the cage she remains confined in. The Khan has ordered her trial for witchcraft to be presided over by senior members of the College of Shamans.