The following is posted around Crookback. To the Crookback Representative. I would like to begin this letter with a defense of character. Simone Amaya, formerly Playero, is my wife. To the best of my knowledge, she has a clean criminal record. Over the last few weeks in the City, I have noticed how on top of the assumption of criminality projected onto the Daendroque people, I have had the presumption of treachery projected onto me by both the Playero family histories and the Amaya family histories. I insist that my blood does not make me a criminal, and neither does my culture, and neither does my marriage. Since the burning of the Steak Estate, my family has made a true effort to abandon its criminal history. We opened a restaurant and casino, and we started our own mercenary company so that we could defend ourselves from the Daendroque gangs in the Daendroque District when the Violet Order and other mercenary groups refused to do so due to our tarnished reputation. As if people did not really believe in redemption, our restaurant was not only subject to extortion at the hands of El Sindicato in exchange for protection, but it was also absolutely trashed by the Lord Commander and his band of guards. We had committed no crimes, and the Lord Commander was not there to make any arrests. I believe that this was purely a show of force designed to intimidate a family aiming for redemption. Then, to add insult to injury, our efforts to give back to the Regalian poor and encourage other Daendroque youth in the gang-claimed district to avoid crime by providing them with jobs and training was smeared as an indoctrination scheme for a criminal organization we have no membership in. The timing of the warrants for my family’s arrests makes me think that they must be some sort of reaction to the fact that many members of the Violet Order were banned from our restaurant after the Lord Commander trashed and looted it. I ask you, then: how can it be expected of a family to remain morally upstanding when the public is automatically skeptical of its efforts to redeem itself from past crimes, when the Violet Order terrorizes it rather than aim to protect it from crimes done onto them, and when its breadwinners have been threatened by assassination attempts in places as public as the Steak Estate without justice being done? We were on a path towards redemption, but instead we have been reduced to misery following the revocation of our permits without conviction for the second time and the near-total destruction of our products. Of course, we are distrustful of the Violet Order and the Regalian law enforcement system. We have yet to receive word on the results of the investigation into the Lord Commander’s attack on our business, if there shall ever be a result. Even now, we do not know why there is a warrant for our arrest or what evidence there is to justify that warrant. Normally, we would consider turning ourselves in so that we could clear up the situation. However, you can see how even that can put us in danger, with the amount of bias and prejudice against my family that I have described. That is why we have decided to claim political refuge within the Crookback Borough, where the Violet Order’s warrants have no force unless it is through dialogue with you. Clearly, we would prefer that this not be a permanent arrangement, as we have lives to get back to and a journey of redemption to continue on. Therefore, we would happily agree to a peaceful transfer to Violet Order custody if it is arranged by you and we are guaranteed a fair process through which we can defend against the accusations of our guilt. In the meantime, my family and I will be exploring the possibility of reopening El Gustazo within Crookback. If there is one last thing I would like to mention, it is a plight for you to put yourself in my shoes. After everything we have gone through, you wake up to a warrant for your arrest. You don’t know what you did wrong, but you do know that the warrant was approved by the same man who came into your business without cause, trashed it, looted it, and threw you into the sewage-ridden canal of the city. Subjecting ourselves to Violet Order custody until the aforementioned investigation is completed and until a fair process is guaranteed to us is simply a risk we cannot take. For that, I apologize. Sincerely, Florence Amaya
To the wretched Amaya-Playero Family, We do not want you. This letter very easily could have been sent to me directly, rather than posted all around the Undercity. Instead, in some cry for attention and an effort to rally against the Lord Commander, the Violet Order, and the government as a whole, you have posted this all over the place in the Undercity. Instead of simply asking for my assistance personally, you publicise your perceived slights. Instead of simply seeking audience with the Secretary of the Whip or the Lord Chancellor himself, you fling accusations in hopes that, like shit, something will stick to the wall. You have knocked on the wrong door and you will find that I, nor the Militia, will answer. Crookback is a refuge for aberrants. For the Kathar, for the Sanguine and the Werebeasts, for the mutated. It is their home. Not yours. The Undercity is not some place to run and hide, to tuck tail and cower in a corner, but a living and thriving culture of people. People that, by pretending as though you have done nothing wrong, by pretending that the Undercity is a place for you to flee your problems of the surface, you are directly putting in danger. It is with this knowledge that I have alerted the Militia Commander: The Amaya-Playero family are to be apprehended on sight and transferred over to the Violet Order to face punishment in accordance to Regalian Law. The Undercity is not your Political Refuge. We do not want you. Countess Valarosta Ino-Femunn Crookback Representative PS. They did not trash your shop. I was stood right there after you all climbed out of the canal like a bunch of wet mutts. If you are going to lie, at least do it intelligently.
Florence Amaya I don't send letters often, I'll be keeping this brief. Your continued fleeing from Crown Authorities only worsens your case. This plea to the people- your proclamation as a 'victim to the system' only worsens your case. The city and guard-force has no perception of all city residents of Daen decent as criminals- only yourself and those in your family who continue to evade arrest. Deliver yourself and your family to Greygate so this situation may be resolved fairly- failure to do so will only result in a harsher punishment when we do indeed apprehend you. Send word to me personally if you've a wish to inquire more.Ser Cillian Mac Conall Records Officer to The Violet Order
A response would be scribbled at the bottom of this. You stole one of our best bottles of whiskey. I ask that you immediately hand yourself in to House Playero to stand charge for your crimes. Thanks. P.S. We'll be more lenient on your sentencing if you deliver yourself to us instead of evading arrest. -Eloi
Mirabella looked on the paper with a small sneer of distaste, flicking her index digit across the page to send it flying across the room. “Seems my earlier offer was not sufficient enough for them. After all this evidence has been displayed to me, I’ll be withdrawing my support.”
Appended to each notice from Florence Amaya would be a brief and short notice in joining. " Florence Amaya and parties associated, I, Priestess Cazna Teken'rret, declare your presence in the Undercity as an increased threat to our own from the state and mercenary bands. For this purpose, the Vlae'lonae declare you and yours Persona Non-Grata whilst in the Undercity and will take measures to ensure you no longer threaten us. - Cazna Teken'rret "
Most likely written in a drunken manner with sloppy handwriting, Adelaide du Kirsch pinned her response to one of the boards. Playeros never change. You're exactly the same fools who will wind up just like Isidoro. 'I'm sorry that I burned down the steak estate and now the guards are angry at me and I continually piss off all the citizens of crookback I really am!' Is what you're saying right now. What are you, two? Grow a pair.
