What is Wharftown Worth?

5,454,110 gold sovereigns. As of the date of writing, that is the worth of Wharftown, incorporating her bullion, her buildings, her stockpiles, her agglomerated wealth and furnishings, and her citizens in general. This year, a war is being waged which has been ongoing for over a year by now, between the free state of Wharftown and her ally, the Duchy of Sencliff, versus Guldorand and her allies, Cordor, Brogendenstein, and Myon.

If gold alone could cease this war, the many banks of Arelith would have had their holds plundered ninefold to see it come to a rapid close. As it stands, as of the present date, neither side holds the key to victory. No end is in sight. The banks remain safe.

War was declared when a former Wharftown official, on the eve of her being ousted, was believed to have fled to Guldorand with the town's treasury. The fact that she did not do so was not verified by Guldorand for many months, and war was already in full swing. It is evident that the casus belli [cause for war] is an irrelevancy, now. Both sides - the Wharftown-Sencliff Dominion, and the Cordorian Alliance - remain locked in bitter conflict. With the point of the war null and void, for what do they fight?

The right to exist.

"Nonsense," the cry returns, "you fight for territory! you fight for greed, for the fun of it! we know well the deeds of Sencliff and those that willingly associate with her!". It is true that we have attained a certain reputation, that I cannot deny. And yet I think, I feel. I am a rational human being, and not a monster-made-flesh. What mortal truly wishes unceasing war without end? Only the anarchist, the nihilist, and the renouncer would see such, and though we salt the earth, we do so to build foundations anew. The arrayed deities worshiped in our castle are those that seek civilisation, purpose, and the rule of law.

I will not insult Cordor by claiming they are bloodthirsty warmongers, nor the intelligence of the reader by stooping so low. They, too, seek the triumph of their own civilisation, of their own purpose, and of their own rule of law. This is, simply put, the sticking point. Two vastly opposing ideologies are here arrayed against one another. A simple conflict over a disappearing pile of gold has turned into a war of ideas, with a death toll surpassing many wars in living memory. It is a sad fact that the honoured dead of both sides were ill-informed of why, truly, they were fighting.

The means by which Cordor rules are of no concern to Wharftown, but vice-versa is so. Cordor trembles whenever power transfers to anyone not beholden to that southern hegemony, or at least isn'y harmless enough to not be worth bothering with. The moment any with vision - and I speak not aggrandisingly of one's own side, but factually; that is to say any Mayor possessed of vision or drive of purpose beyond "the Waymen are a nice idea this week" - takes power in Wharftown, Cordor stirs. Cordor is unhappy. She snaps at the heels of Wharftown. Only this time, Wharftown declared war on an ally of Cordor first. We have already established that the war was just, based on the facts at the time. It was not until Guldorand had called her allies to arms that the fact the money was never in Guldorand, was discovered. By then, it was too late.

Wharftown has been unfairly painted as an aggressor, and a malevolent neighbour, too close to Cordor for comfort. Zhents run the place, they cry (the Banites of Arelith reject the Zhentilar Communion), Sencliff controls it (Roxite, not a member of that Castle, is adamant the town be an independent, sovereign state without religious interference). What other HARD FACTUAL problems can be produced? The townsfolk are treated fairly. The laws are simple, and common-sense. The only problem that can be brought up is with the personal leadership of the town, and with the overall ideology and philosophies followed by those in power.

Conversely, Cordor's actions under the reprehensible Administrator Provine, in addition to a self-professed desire to see Wharftown come into the Pax Cordoria to ensure the Mayor is favourable to Cordor, is indicative of a disturbing attitude. Cordorian hegemony, bouyed by their alliances with the largely inactive states of Brogendenstein and Myon, and with the recently transferred Guldorand leadership to those rejected from Cordor, is enforced by her foreign policy and the sword. It is evident, now, that the Amnians are perfectly willing to lend themselves to Cordor in this war. The 'heir' business being little but a cover-up.

This conflict is centred around the self-declared 'right' of Cordor to administrate Arelith entire!

Fortifications springing up at the the present borders (and beyond) operate under false names. Docks are built by the Amnians for Guldorand, and so Guldorand is entirely indebted to Cordor and her own puppeteer, Amn.

These are facts. Hard facts that cannot be denied.

You may not like us. You may despise us for who we are, for who we worship, for what we do. But understand this: we are the only thing standing between the Arelith of today, and an island entirely under the banner of Cordor.