At your earliest opportunity, return to these lands. Proceed to my estates near Mirsvr with greatest haste, and I shall join you there to discuss our work.
You may not have heard the most recent news from the eastern quarters. Following a failed attempt to prevent the Valdjini company from succumbing to the pressures of agitation, an insurrection has seized control of an industrial district of Otvev. The blame for this has been placed solely on the Temar Company; though traitors within our ranks contributed to our mission's failure, Valdjini cowardice allowed the cancer of agitation to grow and fester.
In the aftermath of this debacle, Otvev and Vilv have cancelled their municipal contracts with us. Our routes to the East have been dogged by attacks, seemingly from free traders. I suspect the Valdjini and Eltjini may be the originators of these aggressions, either through employing proxies or disguising their own vessels. As well as these cowardly acts unbecoming of civilized trade, many believe the Valdjini and Eltjini Commissions are close to declaring outright open war upon the Company, with the backing of Vilv, Otvev, and many of the smaller companies. Public opinion among the groundsfolk has turned against us in these cities, though our support in Mirsvr and Zhikav remains steadier.
These events have caused significant disruptions to our TransOlyen and Hoitani offices – as well being unable to supply our Depots adequately, investors are beginning to doubt the security of the enterprises carried out in those regions, and their wavering confidence compounds our difficulties in addressing the material causes of their concerns.
Upon your arrival at my estate, I request that you begin to outfit the Fasaathi with whatever you may require for an extended cruise in the TransOlyen region. Supplies have been procured and my staff have been instructed to assist you to their greatest extent. I have arranged a line of credit to purchase any further necessary material from the city. Latest intelligence and reports will be made available to you; begin planning your operations. If I am not present I will join you at my earliest convenience to furnish you with further details and instructions.
Our investment in you was not insignificant, and we expect it will continue to deliver.
In entering the service of the Company, any Abheski possessed of the virtues we exalt above others – these being leadership, initiative, clarity of thought, and financial acumen – may become successful and the very envy of their fellows. Further, with proper training and discipline these virtues may be cultivated and promoted; so that in the training of cadets, the Companies do their utmost for the benefit of these young officers, and thereby the benefit of the Abheski nation.
To truly benefit the nation, we must first understand who we Abheski are; a nation of diverse parts, no doubt, but possessed of a common history.
We came to these lands from abroad – it is not known where exactly from. Some believe that one of the distant lands of Ycairn is the place of our origin, but most agree that we came from another world. Traditional belief across much of the continent holds that we came from the Sun itself, but others believe our origin is from Fasaath, or Kombyeny, or another point within the night sky.
We Abheski are an industrious, creative, and innovative people. Having tamed patches of the wild expanse of the lands, building towns and farms and trading posts, the most successful and prosperous of our ancestors founded the five great cities – Zhikav, Vilv, Otvev, Mirsvr, and Lansk.
Though we live alongside other peoples, we hold ourselves apart. The Abheski have distinguished ourselves twice by mastery over the skies – first, in building the mighty towers that soar over our cities. Some of these towers are centuries old, and stand strong to this day, the least of them stretching higher than fifty people. In the last few generations, our supremacy over the air was proven again in being the first nation to recreate the science of powered flight; our ships, lifted by mighty dvint, broke us free from the shackles of the land.
Trade is the blood of the Abheski culture. Spread across this harsh and hostile continent, ever taming the ancient forests and defending against the great beasts, our trade is what makes the Abheski prosper above all other people; and the Companies are the pinnacle of Abheski trade. Not restricted to one province, we can deal in goods from across the known world. Not bound to the paths of the rivers and coastlines, we can go anywhere our airships can carry us. Abheski goods are prized from the tents of the Anshessi to the outposts of Hoitan, and if an Ebwari baron wants to exchange letters or goods with a Nalmyan chief, it is most probable that an Abheski vessel will carry their intercourse.
There are other practices that mark us as a peculiar peoples among our neighbours. All nations have their own calendar of celebrations and holidays, and the most important of ours is The Yearsrise festival. Though we differ on which precise day this takes places, Abheski always celebrate the end and beginning of the year around the time of winter solstice. Other peoples reckon the year differently: the Erthani begin at the spring equinox, and the Ebwari count from the height of summer. Other nations practice more curious calendars yet.
Our other important festivals are the First Feast, which in ancestral times celebrated the first hunt after each winter; and the late summer Meetday, where the harvest traditionally begins and the year's differences and disagreements are put aside.
Each city and town observe their Founding Dates. These may variously remember the day the first settlers began to build their new homes, or the day the first Spire was finally completed, but always are celebrated with great revels and public entertainments.
Though we are all Abheski, we may have slight differences in our speech. The rapid speech of a city-dweller may sound different to the calmer pace of a settler from the deep forest; the clipped vowels of Otvev are readily distinguished from the rounder syllables of Zhikav; the plain words of the groundsfolk contrast with the florid oratory of the wealthy classes. All these however are still Abheski, and can readily talk to one another; just try to understand the harsh Hoitani or the singing cadences of the Ebwari to hear how truly different language can sound.
Extract from A Child's Primer and History of the Abheski, published by the Temar Company Press
An Account of the Orator Yethara
Her Falsehoods and her Crimes
The Orator known as Yethara has preaches across the Abhesk, from Zhikav to her alleged home city of Vilv. In her wake, agitation and strife has bubbled forth to disrupt the peace and prosperity of these great cities. But who is this agitator?
Yethara claims to be from Vilv, yet the authors, possessed of no small familiarity with that great city, have not found any there who knew of her, neither in her youth nor as fellow workers.
She preaches of justice and freedom for the workers and groundsfolk, but what does she know of labour, and working conditions? In all her speeches she never tells what her trade was before she set out to crash Abheski society.
The authors of this pamphlet can reveal that Yethara, far from being a humble Vilvan worker questing for justice for her fellow groundsfolk, is in fact a hypocrite, a subtle infiltrator fomenting agitation to disrupt the trade of the Cities and the great Companies that have made the Abheski a prosperous nation.
Yethara was born indeed to a Vilvan mother, but by an Erthani father. She was raised on a stinking vessel of that nomadic nation, learning from the cradle not of industry and toil and honest trade, but of treachery, mendacious dealings, and jealousy. Having spent the greater portion of her years aboard barges, she donned the guise of an Abheski only well into adulthood, and then only to pursue a plan of sabotage and dissent.
In her tour of preaching her agitations to the groundsfolk, she travels not by airship. The sky, beloved of all Abheski, is not her path. All true Abheski, undeceived by the glamour of dissent, recognise her beliefs as dangerous; understanding this, she sticks to the ground and the waterways, knowing she will not be challenged but instead receive aid from the disaffected and the hostile nations who share in her jealousy. Upon the sovereign decks of Erthani vessels, she is shielded from the bailiffs and constables and marines. In the deep forests, she is hidden from the sight of those vessels that protect our communities .
We wrote of the strife to be found in the wake of this orator. When she spoke in Lansk, she provoked a riot against the bailiffs, wherein dozens were killed. In Mirsvr, a mob stormed the Lesyan Tower and slaughtered another score of innocents. In Otvev, a fire claimed a Company Depot, though the docks and the Erthani fields were spared any such disaster.
It is clear to all that Yethara is not a mere orator, preaching a creed of justice. The inescapable conclusion is that Yethara is a vile conspirator. Whether she is among the leaders of the agitators attempting to bring our nation to ruin, it cannot be said, but she is certainly the most visible figure and the most dangerous.
Don't let this Agitator destroy us!
Protect your family, protect your prosperity: If you know of agitation or conspiracy, tell your bailiffs, and tell your bosses.
Pamphlet anonymously distributed ahead of a labour rally in Mirsvr.
