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Royal Justiciar, Tsachyra Ceþu, jumps ship! - 7.1.17

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Royal Justiciar, Tsachyra Ceþu, jumps ship!



Tsachyra addressing the Treasury Guard Federation Annual Conference in 2015

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In what is a truly shocking opening to the Kouralian 2017 election campaign, Her Majesty's Principal Royal Justiciar for the Kouralian Lands, Tsachyra Byanyche Ceþu, has resigned from her position and officially registered as a member of the Bonyas aþe’Coralyvienas. While it had been known that she had expressed dissatisfaction with the National Royalist Party line over the past few months, it had not been anticipated that she, a senator since 2006 having held assorted roles in the court of justiciars since 2008, would resign from the group which had brought her such to the forefront of Kouralian Politics.

Since 2006, Miss Ceþu has served as the Senator for Trestard South as a member of the National Royalist Party following her retirement from the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant Commander. Her service in the military, meriting two decorations for valour and a companionship of the Order of Honour's Companion, was spent in the Underfleet of the Royal Navy where she received renown for her role in the KNV Cannae incident before swapping sides. While serving as a Republican political officer to the now-infamous guided missile submarine, the Miss Ceþu was instrumental in stopping what was suspected to be the only attempted launch of atomic weapons in the civil war - in the event taking the lives of her commanding officer and her partner to ensure the success of the mutiny against the employment of nuclear arms. This then came back to bite her in 2012 when she was successfully prosecuted for Petty Treason for killing her commanding officer - though it was held not to be murder. However, for the role her actions played in protecting the Kouralian people and the acknowledgement of the legal oversight - that one could be found to have acted lawfully when killing someone, but still be prosecuted for such - the Crown made use of the royal prerogative of mercy to remove the sentence for the conviction without quashing the conviction itself. This left her the only sitting Senator in history with a conviction for treason, and the only Great Officer of State to ever have a conviction for an indictable offence. The former Justiciar of State has also been recognised for her role in promoting equal rights for Lvpan Selenes and other Feivienas in the Royal Navy and in politics.

The National Royalist Party was formed from a confederation of parties in the morass of minor groups in the senate following the Millennial War and reinstatement of the crown in 2001. This largely ended the political deadlock which had brought inefficiency and indecision to Kouralia for the first time since 1963, a price to pay for the loss of the principal freedoms and guidance of the crown which the nation had enjoyed for over a millennia. This party had subsequently won every general election with gradually decreasing majorities, with the 2011 election resulting in a coalition government between the NRP and the Bonyas as junior partners. However following the resignation of Joseph Harper as Captain of Justiciars in 2012, NRP deputy chairman Lord Arthur Travers assumed the Captaincy of Kouralia. Shortly following this he appointed the Justiciar for Justice, Tsachyra Ceþu to the current position as Justiciar for the Kouralian Lands in charge of the mainland office. This was believed by many to be a strange move, appointing someone with not even a decade's political experience to the third-highest cabinet position after himself and the Treasury Justiciar.

In her time as Her Majesty's Principal Royal Justiciar of State for the Kouralian Lands, Miss Ceþu has been responsible for the restructuring of the Intelligence and Security Agency's Office of Irregular Affairs to give greater capability and independence to territorial Special Branches of police when dealing with offences of a fantastical nature. She was also responsible for signing the last civil Death Warrant in 2014 for Vladimir Stervonsky in the aftermath of the Poldakian Terrorist Attacks.

With this decision, the Senate seat for Trestard South is now vacant and the Royal Justiciar of State for National Security, Robert Magnatae is acting Principal Justiciar until the Captain appoints a new senator to the role, anticipated to be tomorrow morning. The Office of the Electors has announced that no by-election will take place, as the General Election is impending in February. Trestard South will likely be contested between Tsachyra for the Bonyas aþe’Coralyvienas and Alan Asbridge for the National Royalist Party, though polls suggest that the former National Royalist will retain her seat.

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Hussars and Highlanders to School Malgravean Militia



Trooper of the Gentlemen of Kurton in D'halbrisir in 2016.

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Today a senior War Office spokeswoman confirmed that a force of some three hundred Kouralian soldiers will be being deployed to the United Kingdom of Malgrave for an as-yet undetermined period of time. The soldiers have been announced to be sourced from the 12th/19th Royal Hussars, also known as the 'Gentlemen of Kurton', the 3rd Highland Peltastaseanas, and a number of other smaller groups of specialist soldiers. This will make it the first Non-Combat Deployment since the end of the 'Operation Fortune' deployment of engineers and transport personnel to support the Freestian colonisation effort in 2013.

The Expeditionary Light Cavalry and specialist mountain warfare infanteers will be travelling to the chilly remoteness of Tillingham to train Territorial Defence Force units near sites related to the concluded counter-terrorist operations. As conscript garrison forces who act often as the first line of defence against insurgent and criminal violence within Malgrave, the Territorial Defence Forces operate in a curious twilight of vaunted, offensive operational forces and conscript mediocrity. As commander of Northern Territorial Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Thomas Henderson had this to say: "I'm looking forward to increased cooperation between the Kouralian Army and the Territorial Defence Force, the training operations at Tillingham will greatly increase our ability to harass the final pockets of terrorist resistance and bring a long chapter of violence to an end." Speaking to the Times of Kurton, the commander of this force of training personnel, Colonel Tiana Afore gave the following comment. "We here at the Kouralian Army are honoured to be given this opportunity to demonstrate Kouralian warfighting techniques and traditional professional soldierly ethos to these brave Malgravean conscripts. The seeds of cooperation we plant today will soon grow into oak trees with roots and boughs as strong as a mountain."

Despite the reported end to widespread hostilities in the area, the War Office would neither confirm nor deny rumours that the training personnel would be travelling with a full fighting order of live munitions.

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Amistad gains Royal Assent



Capoðaine Sir Barynel Cæryn posing for photographs after Royal Assent was given.

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Today marked the first major legislative victory of Sir Barynel Cæryn's new Bonyas aþe’Coralyvienas-led coalition in the Senate and Noble Assembly and will see Kouralia begin to take a more active role in international efforts to combat the enemies of all mankind - slavers and pirates. On Sunday the Captain of Justiciars contacted His Imperial Majesty Alexander Blaken-Kazansky, the Emperor of Greater Prussia and King of Allanea, and indicated his desire to sign the Amistad Declaration. On Monday the 'Bill to Ratify the Amistad Declaration on Slavery and the Rights of Man' was introduced to the Senate and following debate it was passed on Tuesday. It then passed the Noble Assembly later in the week without amendment being suggested before being presented the Queen this morning for Royal Assent, ensuring it would be ratified.

The Amistad Declaration in broad terms criminalises slavery with universal jurisdiction, and calls upon all signatory states to engage in warfare against slavers wherever they may be found. It states that no means is unjust or excessive when used in war against a slaver-state and the ultimate goal of this war must be the total destruction of the state, slave-keeping apparatus, and economy of that peoples, and Amistad states that all signatories will support another in prosecuting such an action. While this international treaty began in 2011, it took until 2013 that the National Royalist Captaincy of the time responded to calls to join it. Instead of signing and ratifying the agreement, Capoðaine Harper stated that the Royal Union would not be ratifying it. The Captain of Justiciars cited the fact that the document enables and condones all forms of war as being a reason not to sign. While it does not place an obligation on the Kouralian military to use 'dishonourable' or illegal means of warfighting, it was seen that signing it would be an implicit nod of support for those techniques by the Royal Union. However critics at the time, Sir Barynel Cæryn included, argued that a refusal to sign the declaration would not shame other nation-states into stopping the practices and would only serve as an embarrassing lack of resolve by the Union in combating human trafficking and indentured servitude. The ratification of this declaration was always an electoral promise of the Bonyas aþe’Coralyvienas, and was something the Red Nationals spoke openly against in debates and on the campaign trail.

The bill - now the Ratification and Enactment of the Amistad Declaration Act 2017 - contains a number of measures meant to ensure that Kouralia is capable of facing the slaver threat competently and effectively. Part 1 of the Act carried out Lord Justice Cher's call to reform the law on slavery, abolishing the common law offence of slavery and replacing it with a number of clearly defined statutory offences - slavery, forced servitude, human trafficking, and the offence of committing any other offence with intent to carry out a Part 1 Offence. Part 2 of the Act enables war against slavers: both by requiring War Office officials or Military officers take primacy alongside Overseas Office diplomats even when diplomatic negotiations are peaceable, and also by allowing the Capoðaine aþe’Gyustycyaras to initiate combat operations against any slaver state or private individual or group for up to three months without informing the Senate, and for up to six months without seeking its approval. While this does not automatically place Kouralia at a legal state of war with all slaver states, some have criticised it for handing too much power to the executive and the crown in being able to fight wars without the people's permission. However supporters of the bill dismissed this, arguing that 'no true Kouralian would ever oppose war with the slaver,' and it is 'no extension of the Captain's authority to bring justice to savages.'

In response to the ratification, the Office of the Prime Minister of Malgrave has released a statement saying "While it is the firm belief of the Malgravean government that one can fight the international slave trade without signing the Amistad agreement, we recognise Kouralia's firm commitment to fighting the international slave trade and we plan to cooperate on anti-slavery operations in the future." Similarly, Allanean Minister of Foreign Affairs Maverick Monningham said "We are happy to see that, many years after its original drafting, the Amistad Declaration is still going strong. We will happily offer cooperation to the government of Kouralia in all matters pertaining the struggle against slavery, as well as interdiction of slave trade and sapient trafficking activities" However when asked for comment, Minister of Ministries Morning Star of the Greater Pony Herd, one of the most ardent opponents of slavery in the Pony Lands region allegedly countered by asking reporters, "Who?"

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Intelligence and Security Agency to Terminate



Director-General of Security, Alexander J. Vygeallia

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Today the Queen gave royal assent to a statute brought forward by Captain of Justiciars, Sir Barynel Caeryn, which is intended to dissolve the Intelligence and Security Agency. Citing its creation as the 'National Intelligence and Security Bureau' during the Republica era as giving it a lamentable heritage of oppression, the Captain of Justiciars further decried the unnecessary centralisation of its roles into a single 'secret police' organisation. Among the criticisms leveled against the organisation have been high profile instances of corruption and self-protecting policies pursued by senior officials, a great lack of judicial oversight, and duplication of tasks already performed by other agencies. It's also been cited as an example of over-generalisation of an organisation's task, with the Agency being formally sub-divided into three Offices, each of which is responsible for a very different mission.

Speaking on the enactment of the 2017 Statute on National Security, Sir Barynel Caeryn had the following to say: "It has become increasingly clear through its actions that the bureaucratic morass known as the Intelligence and Security Agency is not fit for purpose. I do not mean to denigrate the individual contributions of its Agents to serving and securing the nation, but there are clearly factors limiting our enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness, and among those are the bureaucracy inherent in such a system. We pledged to secure the past, present, and future of our great Union when elected, and I can assure the public that there will be no loss of capability In the coming months and years."

The Intelligence and Security Agency will cease to exist on the 27th of August, 2017.

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Frigate Devastated near Malgrave



Aftermath of explosion on RKNV Stonebank

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The Kouralian Navy was today stunned by events in Mystria on Friday when, shortly after leaving port facilities and while within sight of shore, a warship suffered a catastrophic explosion. The RKNV Stonebank, a Legator-class frigate first launched in 1986 had been patrolling in support of Operation SCARECROW 12.
The detonation occurred approximately two and a half miles from shore, and has killed 17 personnel so far. Another 47 are currently being treated at Fleet Hospital Ralsah at Joint Forces Base Progress Hill while all seamen from the vessel were treated on arrival by Naval Medical Service personnel. The Justiciary of War will release the names of casualties once all families have been informed. Based on images of the damaged vessel returning to port, the detonation occurred in the hangar and has physically ripped apart the superstructure of the vessel. It is believed a number of decks were breached, however hull integrity appeared to be intact. Shortly following the explosion, the vessel was swarmed by patrol craft and helicopters from JFB Progress Hill, but made its way back into pilotage under its own power before the hour was out, even as casualties were evacuated from what remained of the flight deck.

The Legator-class Anti-Submarine Warfare escort frigate had recently finished patrolling in support of Operation SCARECROW 12 within the region, and was due to return to Kouralia for decommissioning by the end of the year. Due to the catastrophic damage and short life-span, it is predicted that the vessel will be stripped by engineers at Progress Hill before being subjected to a SINKEX in the region. Displacing 4,800 tonnes, she had a crew of 273 and was being Captained by Commander Eric Perowne at the time. He, executive officer Lieutenant Commander Francis Grimson, and five other members of the Kouralian Navy and civilian personnel have been detained by the Fleet Regulating Branch as a result of inquiries into the incident. The Captain, Executive Officer, and Command Warrant Officer have all been removed from post pending the results of the inquiry by the Fleet Regulating Branch.

With no current posting, and reportedly a number of military intelligence personnel and civilian contractors on board, rumours have circulated about what the object of patrolling such an innocuous and outdated vessel so close to retirement. The Justiciary of War, when reached for comment about the deployment of RKNV Stonebank stated "Deployment of individual warships is a matter for Joint Service Command Leadership to accomplish military strategy set by the Justiciary in line with the national Grand Strategy." Fifth Fleet, the main operating component of Naval Forces Mystria, did not respond to requests for comment, while Naval Forces Mystria only stated "Requests for information relating to the operation of vessels unaligned to this Joint Service Command cannot be processed other than through the Justiciary of War."

No further comment has been forthcoming.