The Ghost Ship Message Board: Headlines: Public Execution in Venway, Troops in Galen Thal

Public Execution in Venway City

For the first senior-ranking Warlock Order officer captured on the run after the official end to hostilities in Galen Thal a little over one year ago, death is the only escape he will be given. Sergei Montrovitch, a Thalian national and Colonel in the Dragon Legion arm of the Warlock Order - the group most responsible for genocide and enslavement in occupied Eastern lands during the recent war, was convicted today in a short trial held in Venway City on charges of genocide, enslavement, and being in the Venway Confederation illegally for purposes of murdering citizens of the said Venway Confederation. His sentence? Death by firing squad in Venway City's Black Square tommorrow morning at 10:00 AM. The execution will be carried out by the Mutiny Alliance. All citizens of the Confederation are invited to watch this dangerous murderer meet his end!

Montrovitch was captured this October in the controversial raid by the M.A.F. and M.A. special forces on the Ghost Ship, which lead to a bloody skirmish with Iron Nation terrorists that opened fire on the civilian vessel, killing several noncombatants, to ensure the escape of Montrovitch's accomplice - Armand Eastlock.

Eastlock, the primary target of the raid, is ranked number one upon the Mutiny Alliance's dreaded Black List, and is the former Minister of Intelligence for the Confederation before defecting to the Warlock Order camp shortly before hostilities three years ago. During the recent war, Eastlock operated out of Galen Thal - and was one of the infamous Baron Doriztenz' right hand men during the Provincial Governor's bloody campaign of stalemate against Archos Godslayer.

With the fall of Hagalz, and, with it, the lower half of Galen Thal, Eastlock fled Northward to Tipherfet - the capitol of New Camelot. With him came a futile wave of suicidal counter-attacks against the M.A. forces lead by Cypress and Ethan Dreadslay, as Armand prepared his escape from the city under a curtain of his followers' blood.

Never the less, news of the public execution has already inspired controversial responses in different parts of the Eastern world. People in many Middlelands cities have taken to the streets to support the Mutiny Alliance's decisive action - logical, of course, as they were the ones brutalized by Montrovitch's battalions. However, Thalian protesters are calling this "unnecessarily barbaric."

"The fundamental bottom line is that there is no possible way Sergei Montrovitch could have received a fair trial in Venway City. If the Confederation itself wanted to hold him accountable for his actions, that would be acceptable, in a Thalian court of law. However, the Mutiny Alliance is taking liberties with our freedom in deeming itself capable of being the judge, jury, and executioner of all those accused of committing crimes against the Confederation." says Ferdinand Lindenburgh, the Prime Minister of Galen Thal.

"This is an outrage. Public executions in Venway City - of Thalian captives? The stench of tyranny is in the air today!" says Karl Mondel, head of the Thalian Socialist Party.

"I agree with my colleague, Mr. Lindenburgh," says Venway Socialist leader Parliamentary representative Ozkar Veiko, "Though most in Venway seem supportive of the execution, I call on the people not to be manipulated by the Nationalist politicians and their M.A. pit bulls. This is unjust treatment of a man who should have been tried by his own government for these crimes."

Then there is the other side of the argument. The Nationalists, as could be expected, are very supportive of the court's decision. In fact, joining them are many moderates from the Confederation Parliament and neutral statesmen from across the East. Again, the Middlelands Parliament has issued an official letter of support for the M.A.'s decision, and speakers from the Winterlands are generally supportive of the sentence.

In closing, a statement from Venway's Prime Minister, Matthew Van Dresden.

"The Warlock Order still exists, in every satellite state they use to place a thorn in our side, and in every cell of murderous saboteurs found in the cities and countryside of the Confederation. I believe that the Mutiny Alliance has the right idea. A public execution of one of their most evil ringleaders will show them, for one, not to come to Venway, and two, that they are not safe from punishment - anywhere. Let us not forget that this is not a prisoner of war or a foreign leader we are executing tommorrow - this is a mass-murdering sociopath who ordered massacres of women and children, enslavement of entire villages of noncombatants, and the execution of any Middlelands resistance fighter or M.A. soldier who fell into Dragon Legion hands. It's time for Mr. Montrovitch to pay the piper."

Mutiny Alliance Forces enter Galen Thal at Midnight

The town of Niev, in Northern Thal, was siezed without warning last night at 12:00 AM. Local Thalian army personel were ordered, in the name of the Confederation, to withdraw from the town of 40,000 people and allow the Mutiny Alliance to begin operations there to subvert possible Warlock Order saboteur-agents operating in the region. Thus far, 13 Thalian citizens have been detained as possible suspects. Earlier this morning, Prime Minister Lindenburgh, after meeting with a diplomat from Venway City, ordered the Thalian army to assist the M.A. in every way possible. His chief opponent in the coming local elections, Socialist Karl Mondel, has condemned both the Mutiny Alliance's "unlawful intrusion of Thalian towns" and "the prime minister's impotence when dealing with Venway."