The below articles are translated from Volkenvencht, originally appearing in the Persh 1, 1831 edition of Die Seherin – about three years into the twenty-two-year reign of the Red Death. Regrettably, tables, charts and other figures have not been reproduced due to extensive damage in extant archival copies.
GENTLE READER,
As we contemplate a fourth year of the Red Death, its spread throughout the Vencht Mountains continues unimpeded by the Imperial Hexenbauern. Although it has yet to reach as far west as Schongen Hill, many prominent wythes have withdrawn from the city in expectation of the worst. The widely-anticipated want of labor may prove of equal concern to reduced demand or capital in the course of years. Securities for rolling stock enterprises, even those most parochial and of little note in the Imperial City, have sharply depreciated in value and are expected to continue to do so. In the face of our presently dismal futures, we believe it prudent for reluctant readers to reconsider positions on the Forough Joint-Stock Market, upon the southern coast of Sarigia March. Three years in, Marcher cities have been but lightly visited by the Red Death; it has been well-argued elsewhere that the simple folk are proof against poxes which might more easily afflict souls of finer breeding, the twisted boon of their toxic soils. Not only are the marchfolk hardy, but their means of trade are as well. Securities within the Forough Market look principally to trading companies, traveling to the far-off western continents. Such activity will be little interrupted by the plague.
For the consideration of the reader, tables have been subjoined in illustration of the financial vigor the Forough Market has continued to enjoy since the dawning of the plague. Though the enumerated companies have been altogether quite successful, there is the customary variance among their number. We caution that evaluation should be taken on a basis of calculation over a greater period of time than one or two years alone.
We remind the reader that, notwithstanding the considerable distance to that land, fully-fledged citizens of the Empire are privileged in such matters. Pursuant to the Securities and Stock Acts of 1820, citizens possess full right to invest in colonial enterprises upon preferential terms. Any affairs can be negotiated via courier mail, overland for preference in the light of the new vigor which has settled over the South Sea pirates.
With the Imperial Hexenbauern fearing the plague may last as many as four additional years, an early investment is expected to be quite prudent at best, and of only modest risk at worst. Trading at such distances has its inconveniences, to be certain, but these are tolerable for the stability and safety of the quiet provincial market. Brokerage is reckoned by the transaction and not the sum, and so becomes less burdensome as the balance grows. The Margrave Sarigia and his newly-invented capital city are of little consequence to interests held at a remove.
GENTLE READER,
Last week, officials at the Kanzlei of War announced the surprise capture of the chief conspirators of the self-styled Lilianovich Rebellion, as well as the lightning recapture of the Perepolnenny administrative capital of Bevanosza. While the revolution-at-large continues, this series of events effectively leaves the treason headless and divides the conspirators’ remaining forces, in addition to denying them their central port.
There are no immediate estimates as to when cosmofonic trading to Bevanosza will resume, but the prudent investor would liquidate wealth for investment in treasonous forfeiture with discreet haste. It is well-rumored that the Verwaltung has already begun drafting an act to strip land and title from faithless damelords in the Perepolnennies, and we expect a presentation of the bill to the Redentag within a fortnight.
On other matters of the subsiding discontents, Vice-Admiral Unterreich gave uncharacteristically effusive praise to the forces and ships incorporated from the colonies, which you have no doubt heard attributed to Ohlu March’s so-called Legion of Drake Wardens. To be sure, the Legion has earned its renown as monster hunters, but we caution you to avoid an overreliance on this easy explanation.
Of higher interest are the fanciful ships of the Lanvan Expeditionary Aerie. The defeat of the Lilianovich Rebellion, however welcome, does not necessarily vindicate the Kanzlei of War’s program for adoption of skyships developed by the Kriegstechnologie Department. The sudden turn of fortune follows a brutal half-year for the Imperial Navy’s counter-revolutionary campaign, replete with Senatorial criticism from both the Hoftag and the Redentag. Dense sky-life, heavy tree cover, and the peat bogs of the Perepolnenny Islands have all somehow managed to throw into question the actual utility of vessels which can fly in the sky as easily as any gryphon.
Marcher skyship designs are widely held to be excessive and unreliable, relying on complicated designs and exotic materials procured near-entirely in the Lanvan Wastes. And perhaps most relevant to you, gentle reader, few of their firms are available for public investment. Ventures such as Quality Mechanical are largely run by the local petty nobility or private merchants. Ergo, we do not have immediate recommendations for investment in the technology at this time, neither domestic nor colonial. Continued investment in the Moormarschen Group’s mineral extractions, instead, is advised. Even the Kriegstechnologie’s more conservative skyships yet rely heavily upon alchemical substances found chiefly in the Marches.
However, one element has drawn itself with clarity in the seeing-orb: the Marches’ role in the assurance and continuance of the Imperial project cannot be denied. If the diminutive Sturmströmeburg has a seat in the Hoftag when it is scarce more than a volcano with an army, and if the Perepolnennies have proven themselves unfaithful, how much longer can good sense countenance that full franchise be withheld from the better among the Marches? With the passage of time, we may see discussion on elevation of a few to the Senate from their bucolic little College of Margraves.
Fermata.