[b][center][h1]STATE OF AFFAIRS [3 of 3 for Turn 1][/h1][/center][/b]

The intricacies of the Euronian continent had been never been so fragile--or so crooked. The turn of the century brought a gust of hesitation, as industry breathed itself to life and coal and steel turned gold into a tertiary sentiment. A similarly sinister wind had taken over as [i]democracy[/i], an institution held at the throat by superstition of reactionary governments all over. The [b]Grand Empire of Zellonia[/b], long bespoke as a "power of land and people, but never of arms" by a Prudian Foreign Minister in the 1870's, suffered such revolutionaries herself--but not in her borders, but beyond them.

While the Zellonian Czar ordered his divisions to the Dongarian border, a move condemned by the [b]Kingdom of Thecia[/b] and the [b]Kingdom of Etelia[/b] ([i]Theodorable[/i]) alike, it was the consequence of the border people's that took hold. In early June, a patrol of Zellonian soldiers was ambushed while walking a well mapped path along the Zello-Dongarian border. Out of sixty plus men, only a handful survived, most by throwing their weapons and fleeing back to less hostile territory. This was not an isolated incident, two days later a pair of men were found with their throats slit only yards from their campsite. During the day, the heat beat down--puncturing the thin leaves of the Zellonian trees that ran in long belts up and down the [i]Kadush Mountains[/i].

[center][img]http://i43.tinypic.com/5ycmdz.jpg[/img]
[i]Artists depiction of the Dongarian Mountain Fighters, 1911[/i][/center]

In the city of Ishtar, in the [b]Emirate of Alijabel Almuqaddas[/b], life went on as was usual. Nicknamed the [i]Stolen Jewel of Serranthia[/i] as an exotic paradise where--for the right price--anything could be purchased that should've been landed in Euronus, and not a despotic and faraway Serranthian hegemony. While moody, the city was comparatively calm in an oddly hot summer. It was the death of Pence Kolovsky that changed [b]everything[/b].

A feathered and silver spooned aristocrat from the Grand Republic of Karlev, Kolovsky often summered in Ishtar where the women and booze were equally cheap. With a penchant for a loud mouth, Kolovsky often dabbled in more underhanded activities and later announced said involvement, attempting to boost his own popularity--for better or worse. A man named Mustafa al-Abukir--for whom even the Emirate had only base information--had found himself in the employ of Kolovsky as a courier of messages between the docks and the seedier districts of the town further along the interior of the desert. 

For reasons known only to the now deceased Mustafa al-Abukir and the Karlevian Alexandr Kolovsky. Mustafa was tied to a chair and shot once through the back of the head, then his corpse tossed into the Akafa River, where it was found 16 hours later by a fisherman on the western bank.

The initial investigation report by the Emirate's internal police bureau insinuated that Kolovsky had al-Abukir at gunpoint, threatening his family if he did not comply in running messages--and sometimes even narcotics and women--for him. One of the lead investigator's reports indicated: "[i]As is expected with dynastic Karlevian personalities, Kolovsky was hardly aware of his inhumane treatment of small minded men such as Mustafa al-Abukir. Previously homeless and without a coin to his loins, al-Abukir was nothing beyond an honest man looking for honest work and he was murdered for being a step too slow[/i]"

Fourteen hours after the report was typed up, Kolovsky's home was swarmed upon by local Ishtarian law enforcement and the man thrown in prison. The papers the next morning in Karlevygrad read: "KOLOVSKY HEIR ACCUSED AND JAILED" The Karlevian government, assuming that a single--albeit well known aristocrat--man being jailed for a crime he had potentially committed, did nothing at first. Then they protested. It remains uncertain whether the Karlevian government will request the admission of their own investigation at the expense of Emirate relations, or whether they will let the issue lie.