news:turn5 [Terminus]

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======The People’s Truth======
//A pamphlet printed in the people’s Reuplic of Vicus and Viculus, of unclear authorship, and distributed to the rest of the Underground.//

=====The Cost of Religious Persecution=====

And so at last the Director’s campaign of religious persecution bears its ugly fruit.

Who could have guessed? The Enforcers’ unjust campaign of intimidation and violence, a transparent attempt to suppress any dissenting voices, have finally been met with force. Who could blame the Esoteric Order of the Great Rat or the Cult of Darkness for finally standing up for their rights? No, the blood spilled at Cubile this week in on the hands of one person and one person alone: The Director.

When will the Director’s Office learn what is so clear to all of us in the People’s Republic of Vicus and Viculus: that anything short of an ironclad, constitutional commitment to religious pluralism all but guarantees tragedies of the type we have seen this week.

When will the Director finally step down and let the people of the Underground choose to live in peace instead of fight his wars?


=====Squalor and Despair: The Director’s Legacy=====

Shelter. One of the most basic of human needs. One our society should be able to provide. Yet, in the Director’s Underground, hundreds live in squalid refugee camps. They sleep under discarded tarpaulin, huddled around burning chemical drums for warmth. Not in a century has our society seen such absolute deprivation.

And who is to blame? Who is the architect of this displacement? Who now withholds the resources necessary to properly house people?

It is of course The Director. 

And let us not forget, although the current crisis is unprecedented in scale, this is not the first time the Director’s Office has shown their utter contempt for the wellbeing of the people of the Underground. Long have they abandoned Vicus and Viculus to starvation. Frequently they have cut access to consumer goods so severely that essentials such as loo roll became inaccessible. 

The Director lives in luxury inside the Caput. What does zie care for our suffering? Is it not time to rise up? Is it not time to choose a leader who can put our needs first rather than their own? 

Is it not time for real democracy for //all// the Underground?




======Totally Tubular======
*A magazine long circulated by the tunnel engineering crews that has become more popular recently*

=====Exclusion Zone Announcement=====

So, we’re all really excited about PRINCESS, but with the Rats having put a hit on her we’ve decided that we have to lock up tight. So, as of this week I will be declaring an Exclusion Zone around Servus.

Now, when I say Exclusion Zone I don’t mean no one can come in, or go through or anything like that. That’s crazy talk. We’ve just gotta keep track and do some filtering: I don’t have any beef with the Reuplic or the DO, so just make sure you register your presence at the border and you’re good to go. 

May your segments never fault,
Jubilee Line


====== A poster on a noticeboard ======

“Dear Underground,

10 years ago my father, Cicero Wolfe was exiled. I have not heard anything from him since. I did not even think he was still alive. But now I know he's alive. I know he's out there. Please, if you've heard anything, let me see my father again.

Ariel Wolfe”

Beneath the poster, some people have scribbled in graffiti such as: "The murderer is back?", "Is this who killed Carl?", and "Murderer!".

====== Directors Office Logistics Technical Report: 2141_01_14 ======

The lights in the Underground remain on.

{{ :turn4news.drawio.png }}

The Chief Tunnel Engineer, Jubilee Line, is happy to announce the opening of new routes between Tonitruum and Cilbano Interchange and between Acetum and Terra.

The Director's office would like to request that the robots scheduled from Tractum and Operarius be returned to their home bays. The Director's Office would like to remind the relevant logisticians that insufficient access maintenance bays can result in serious cognitive instability in machines.

Ongoing disturbances have resulted in significant unplanned migration. Logisticians should take this into account when scheduling the distribution of Crop Resources.

Unforeseen events have resulted in changes of administration to a significant number of stations. Logisticians are urged in the strongest possible terms to avoid Scheduling move orders that regional authorities may not approve.

====== Tales of Terminus ======

//Early in the week, the following news article is published by Sky, written by Edward Murk://

As the leader of the Blessed Den, I feel the need to address the community in an effort to dispel the proliferation of propaganda and deceit surrounding the Esoteric Order and its actions. 

The Great Rat is utterly and purely possessed of benevolence towards the people. Therefore, as the Faithful, it is our obligation and delight to help the innocents of Terminus defend themselves. This is what we demanded in that fateful march that led to the current conflict: security and supplies for the people, accountability for the government and no more oversteps from the enforcers. Unfortunately, this last is precisely what we encountered that day - unwarranted violence from Fatima's thugs gave us no choice but to defend ourselves. And so the Den of the Blessed Rat was born - a brave effort of the Esoteric Order to create a safe place in which security was ensured for its followers in the face of uncompromising and unpredictable authority.

This - the protection of the Rat's followers - has been the our goal from the outset. We do not seek violence, and despise the harming of innocents. Those who claim that we have unjustly 'seized' the stations of Medicus and Ludere purposefully ignore the fact that we had gained a large number of followers in those areas prior to this. What choice lay open for the Order but to protect them, build them shrines and provide them services? It is our duty to help the Faithful - this despite the continued and unwarranted aggression from the enforcers. Yet this is painted as belligerence and avarice from our end, despite the fact that if other parties would not continually attack the Rat's followers there would be no violence at all! For, as you all must surely see by now, our purpose is entirely innocuous.

Other malicious and unfounded attacks are levelled against us, all of the same ilk. It is not the Rat's fault that train drivers have decided to avoid Its territory, despite my assurances of their safety. In all cases it is I, not anyone else, who extends the branch of parley - for I have repeatedly made clear that I do not seek to harm any innocents, and will not harm anyone unless in self-defence. The Cult of Darkness, too, I have extended the Den's protection to, despite the repeated claims that I have pursued some sort of aggressive policy towards them. Yet my detractors still have the gall to claim that it is I who have caused this compromising of the railways, or that I am the instigator of violence between the cults, or even that the enforcer's attacks on the Rat's territory are justified!

I urge the community to see reason. The Order does not mean harm; we seek only to help our followers. And we are succeeding.

====== Ash Keifer is a plant! ======

Dear denizens of the deep, I have excellent news! In providing a blood sample for the recent survey carried out by Ash B and I (in which it was determined that everyone in the underground has been being poisoned by hallucinogenics emitted from the chasm since it was opened (alongside other things like a potential deadly parasite being carried amongst chasm-goers)), Ash K has revealed themselves to be the first ever official human-plant hybrid.

This is a phenomenal discovery and I urge Ash K to come in for further tests to help discuss what good this can do for the underground. Their blood DNA was nearly 100% consistent with some plant matter found in the underground. If we're able to work out how Ash K became a plant, this could revolutionise the field of plant-human cohabitation that I had abandoned 5 years ago. The potential is limitless!

//The note is signed by Dr Hazel, and next to her signature is a bird's foot print in ink.//