[centre][u][h2]Kingdom of Aontas[/h2][/u][/centre]
[centre][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Nordic_Battlegroup_vapen.svg/1000px-Nordic_Battlegroup_vapen.svg.png[/img][/centre]

[centre][u][h2]White Lion Post[/h2][/u][/centre]
[centre][h3][i]Mystery of the Vahterpää Solved: Missing Ship Sunk in Preparation for War![/i][/h3][/centre]

On December 4th, 1816, ninety-eight Marnish sons, husbands and fathers departed from their homes in Nokia on board the Vahterpää. A trade ship transporting iron ore mined in Norstra to be refined in the Continent, the Vahterpää and her crew of nearly a hundred had been tasked with the deliveries as a result of a trade agreement signed between the government of Marnland and the Empire of Vornehm. This arranged was approved against the wishes of King Benedict IV, King of Marnland & Prince of Kalubia, as well as over the objections of his Foreign Minister, Eemil Nestor Setälä. The deal, decried as fundamentally unfair and as fostering Norstran dependence on Vornehm, was both widely opposed by the people of the Marn and strongly condemned by their fellow Norstran nations of Naarden, Svea, and the Kingdom of Aontas.

The Vahterpää had left Nokia to sail towards the Vornehmian city of Weichendorf, the main port of call of the Vornehmian Navy. Iron ore consumption in the continental empire had sky-rocketed since the signing of the agreement with Marnland, as Vornehmian military officials exploited access to Norstran resources to construct new weapons of war. The Vahterpää's failure to arrive in Weichendorf inspired intense concern in the people of Marnland, who feared for their loved ones and were determined to discover the truth of the ship's disappearance. Investigations ensued, with organizations from all across Norstra utilizing every tool available to them to discover the location of the Vahterpää and ascertain the fate of the vessel's sailors. Papers from as far from Marnland as West Folamsiar reported on the story, expressing concern over the ship's mysterious disappearance and sympathy for the families of the missing Marnish crewmen. The Empire of Vornehm was disinterested in the ship's crew, expressing far greater concern over the loss of the Vahterpää's cargo of iron ore than over her crew of Marnish lives.

Despite incessant calls for action from the nations of Norstra, it was not until nearly two weeks after the last sighting of the ship, on December 16th, that Vornehm responded. A delegate was sent from Vorenheim to issue the Vornehmian government's official position: that the Vahterpää had sunk at sea due to the incompetence of her crew. The Empire of Vornehm's position was that the ship's experienced crew of nearly a hundred Marnish sailors had sunk due to "bad navigation", and then frozen to death—as bumbling, delicate Norstrans are oft to do. The Marnish Foreign Office, rejecting the notion that attempts to discover the whereabouts of the ship or her crew were inherently fruitless, retorted that, "Losing a ship in the Smaragd is like losing a pebble in a bucket."

For months since the ship's disappearance, the mystery of the Vahterpää has remained a mystery. Though rejected by all in Norstra, the Empire of Vornehm's position on the ship's disappearance has been allowed to remain as our best excuse for the truth. New revelations, however, have shed light on the Vahterpää's disappearance, and allowed the families of those men of the Marn lost at sea to have closure. It has been revealed by the Vornehmian government that their empire intends to reignite the Cataonianic Wars: to invade the Republic of Civitas using weapons forged from the Marnish iron being delivered by the Vahterpää and vessels like her. These shocking assertions were made by Yannik Schottel, a long-serving member of Vornehm's inner circle, who has called for Civitas to be 'liberated' by the Empire of Vornehm. Yannik said that his empire must, "liberate the people of our faith from those Civitan bastards!"

It is possible that Mr. Schottel's remarks were in reference to the Old Faith, which predominates on the south side of the Smaragd. Given the Empire of Vornehm's history and the context of Mr. Schottel's statements, however, it is equally likely that his comments were in reference to the true faith of Vornehm, the belief that dwells strongest in the hearts of its leaders: that of the superiority of might over right. The self-assuring righteousness of aggression is the 'faith' which Vornehm seeks to impose on Civitas.

It is that same faith that Vornehm's Navy imposed on the Vahterpää's innocent crew, when, as the ship approached the Vornehmian side of the Smaragd Sea, it was mistakenly fired upon in an exercise meant to plan Vornehm's navy for the future war with Civitas. It was the incompetence of the Navy of Vornehm, not of the crew of the Vahterpää, that led to ninety-eight Marnish lives being lost in the Smaragd Sea.

Confirmed by confidential sources in the Vornehmian Navy, these revelations cast as dark a shadow on relations between Marnland and Vornehm as they do on the Empire of Vornehm's hopes in their future aggression against Civitas. A sea force as small and unprepared as Vornehm's is unlikely to fare well against the naval might of Civitas, and it is even more unlikely that the people of the Marn will continue to allow their own labour to continue to feed Emperor Jörg Reiter's blood-lust. Incidents in the Smaragd Sea may well become less common in the future, if only because fewer ships will now fare them.


[hr]
[b]Action 1:[/b] Aggravate Relations between Empire of Vornehm and Kingdom of Marnland. [-2 Vornehm-Marnland Relations]
[b]Action 2:[/b] Aggravate Relations between Empire of Vornehm and Kingdom of Marnland. [-2 Vornehm-Marnland Relations]
[b]Action 3:[/b] Increase Relations with Kingdom of Marnland. [+3 Relations]

[[b]Demobilization[/b]] - [Mobilization]

[u][b]Naval Ship Assignment[/b][/u]

[b]Royal Fleet of Aontas;[/b] 1 First Rate, 5 Second Rates, 4 Sloops, 8 Frigates. [Home Port Kienne (North Eastern Sea)]
[b]Ducal Fleet of Folamisar;[/b] 1 First Rate, 6 Second Rates, 5 Sloops, 7 Frigates. [Home Port Kardal (North Eastern Sea)]

[u][b]Research Priorities[/b][/u]

Army — Low
Navy — Low
Industry — Normal [-2 Economic Rating/Year]
Social Thought — High [-3 Economic Rating/Year]
Economics — Normal [-2 Economic Rating/Year]