The Lifting Of The Anchors

[Ari Rahikkala]

The buzz in Discontinuity began scant days after the Elwynnese statement. First the COSAC had begun passing it around at breakneck speed through its various bureaucracies, then the representatives of the Pohjanvälke coalition had convened to discuss and pass it all in one go, then even the Admiralty Board of the Mercantile Protection Fleet and several independent sanct governments had joined in. This was not the working of a government attempting to please constituents or avoid conflict, this was a nation of people seeing a chance taking it, the Duchy of Straylight coming the closest to speaking with a single voice that it had for millennia. By the time the statement was officially released there was no-one in the sancts who had not heard it, read it, and had a heated debate about it...

For as long as we have existed as Straylight, we have had a contract with the Imperial government, implicit in all of our dealings with the Crown: That we trade our skill, our talent, our resources, and the shelter we can provide on the high seas, for the protection they can offer us against enemies who would abuse the availability of these resources.

For this contract to be upheld, both sides have to be able to do their duty. It is plainly obvious that Straylight has more than done its part. Yet now, the evidence of centuries, of millennia, has culminated into a horrifying truth about the state of the Imperial Republic: The greatest enemy of Shireroth is Shireroth, and the greatest enemy of a Shirithian is another Shirithian. The secession of the Laqi Free Republic and of the free Elwynnese state are only the latest in a string of conflicts of a long-disintegrating empire.

At the same time, the actions of the Imperial Government of Shireroth are, and have for a far too long time been, as the Elwynnese so eloquently called them out, savage and repressive. The transient whims of the Kaisers have pulled the nation in one direction and another, yet never, it seems, toward the rightful empowerment of local governments, of people being given the choice to rule themselves. The paradox of Shirithian feudalism has permeated through Straylightian history, in the appointment of one unjust dictator after another.

The joint decision of the assembled authorities representing the sancts of Straylight, then, is clear: It is time to swear off the protection of the Imperial Government. Straylight will no longer stand for the Kaiser and the Landsraad. Straylight will choose its own destiny.

And that is not all. In determining the future of Straylight, the simple moral imperative of self-determination is joined, in practice, with sheer practical economic realities: For decades now, Straylightian trade has grown ever more dependent on nations other than Shireroth. Our engineers have participated in the building of the Nelagan meritocracy, our goods have been shipped to Antica, Gralus still looks upon us when they need the best technical talent on Micras. At the same time, trade with Shireroth has languished. The sancts have stayed together as the trade and specialization of one benefits the other - but with the stagnation of commerce on the shores closest to our seas, there is no reason for the place where the sancts are together to be Shireroth anymore.

For these reasons, the decision has been made to tow every major sanct with the exception of Callamen's Eye - which is under the personal watch of the Count of Sunderspray - to the seas around our trusted and faithful allies in the east, Antica and Gralus. Pond Strait, Herrin Bay, Strait of Pearls - these will be the new homes of the Straylightian people, at least for the time being.

The statement went on to discuss the specifics of the moving of the sancts, the hastily put-together welfare - or expulsion - arrangements for the thousands of unlucky ones who commuted to the mainland, and more...

[Ari Rahikkala]

tl;dr: Bye! Straylight is off to Antica!

(Also: ari could probably be a better writer if he actually wrote stories sometimes, but boring kinda-inappropriately-evil-dictatorial decision statements by what is ostensibly a ragtag group of misfit citystate leaders do the job too when push comes to shove)

[Elliot Markham]

If Straylight joins Antica, it won't have any real autonomy.