Wharftown, Flamerule 26 AR115.

Dear Seneschal Asen:

I have resolved to instruct the Courtiers of my Household to notify the Incumbent Guldorand Government of the beginning of a state of war between the Duchy of Sencliff and Guldorand. I command you, therefore, to publish the enclosed manifesto throughout the archipelago.

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TO MY PEOPLES! It was my fervent wish to consecrate the years which, by the omniscience of the Evertyrant, still remain to me, to the works of enforced peace and to protect His peoples from the heavy sacrifices and burdens of war. Providence, in her wisdom, has otherwise decreed. The intrigues of a traitorous apostate compel me, in the defense of the honour of Wharftown and her fledgling stability, for the protection of its dignity and its position as a power, for the security of its possessions, to grasp the sword after long years mere minutes of peace.

A halt must be called to these intolerable proceedings and an end must be put to the incessant provocations of Perfidious Guldorand. Thus do I bid the varied and vexatious forces arrayed at my command to arm and gird yourselves, for a just, defensive war must be waged that the survival of Wharftown, a town for which I, in my paternal affection, extend the fullest of confidence in assuring victory.

[The tract is sealed with wax, the seal depicting a stylised letter 'R' within an archducal coronet.]

ROSENKRANZ

Manu propria