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April 31, 1420 1:00 AM Over Time Unknown location Atsil could not sleep, her mind was racing with concern over the innocent lives at risk from the conflict. She thought of her siblings and her nieces and nephews, worried about how they are handling the situation. CGZ did end up getting her a phone as promised and indeed it was better than her previous one and thankfully none of the things she had saved on her previous phone was lost. In the time since CGZ took her here, her siblings have been asking if she’s safe or if she is actually in league with the monarchists. She has been afraid to respond fearing that she would be putting their lives at risk. She decided to go and get something to drink from the kitchen and left the room. As she descended down the stairs she heard what sounded like surprised movement in the direction of the living room. As she reached the bottom, she saw CGZ wearing a ski mask and sunglasses, jeans, and a white long sleeve shirt. “What are you doing up so early in the morning?” he asked, “What are *yawn* you doing up so early in the morning?” she asked back. He let out a slight chuckle before saying, “Keeping my eye on the movements of the different factions. For the past hour something terrible has been happening in Zoradia.” These words made Atsil worry, “What do you mean? What happened?” CGZ sighed before asking, “Do you really want to know?” As simple as those words were it made Atsil’s hair stand up on the back of her neck. She found herself hesitating before answering, “Yes, what happened?” CGZ tapped the right side of his sunglasses and said, “Jeeves, turn on family room TV.” The flat screen TV behind him came to life and showed a horrific scene. Zoranian multirole fighter jets bombing the capital city of Zoradia. Missiles collided into the skyscrapers and the jets fired HEI-T-SD rounds into buildings to slowly bring them crumbling down. Soldiers from different factions were scrambling to get out of the city and she saw some get crushed under a piece of concrete. Atsil stood there silently watching it all unfold with shock. Her skin turned pale and her eyes began to water as her body began to tremble. How could a government do this! Innocent lives are at risk! This act is unnecessary and a waste of resources! All the people who must be living in fear at what is occurring...it fills my heart with sorrow. Her legs soon gave out and she began to cry, lamenting the suffering of the people. She didn’t hear CGZ tell Jeeves to turn off the TV or his approaching footsteps. CGZ knelt down and helped Atsil to her feet and walked her over to the couch. He offered her comfort while she lamented over the suffering of the people. CGZ felt bad for Atsil, she did not ask to be part of any of this. All factions are looking for her all because she is the new head of the Ani’-Wah’ family. Atsil was young and while CGZ wasn’t much older than her, she has been experiencing so much change in such a short amount of time. I do not envy her, no one should have to deal with all of this. There is so little that I can do to help her, but by providing her refuge she will at le- “I need to go out there.” she finally said after a few minutes of crying. “What? Are you insane!?” “People are suffering, I need to do something to help them!” “Atsil, you have a large target on your back! The corporates want you dead, the theocrats want you dead, even the GDC wants you dead! By going out there you are going to get killed!” “Hiding away while people are suffering is dishonorable! I need to go out there and do something to help! Even if it is by leading the monarchist faction, I have to do something for them!” “You don’t even know if the monarchist leadership is only riding on the popularity of your father! They could seek to use you as a puppet for their goals!” “Well to me they are the lesser of four evils! If they want to use me as a puppet then it will be their fault for underestimating me! I may not want to be queen but I have to do something to help the country and its people.” CGZ got up from the couch and stormed away into one of the many mysterious rooms in this place. After a few minutes CGZ came back with a thick file in his hand and handed it to Atsil. The folder had the logo of the SIC on it and below it said “Training Manual”. “Read up on this. You aren’t going to be able to master it today but you may need some skills from this if you want to do what you plan on doing.” Atsil took the file and looked at it with surprise, “How did you even? Nevermind, I shouldn’t be surprised. But if you are so against me going out there then why give me this?” “Because if you want to go out there I can’t stop you. If you are going to do this then I don’t want to see you get killed out there. So, to me, the best way to help you is to give you access to the skills created by your family so you have a chance of surviving.” He began walking away when he said, “Let me know when you are ready to leave so I can take you to the monarchist headquarters.” CGZ then left the family room and Atsil was left on the couch with the training manual in her hand. What an odd man. He went from being frustrated to helpful and reluctantly supportive. Well I don’t intend on looking a gift horse in the mouth so I better get to reading this immediately. Atsil went to her guest room with the file to begin reading the SIC manual. Meanwhile, CGZ took the sunglasses and the ski mask off and sat at his desk and looked at the monitors of his computer. He pulled up the information he had on the different factions and their allies. So let’s see here. Seems the GDC has recognition from Giovanniland and support from the Fujansk, Artzotskia, and Marble Mallorca. For the monarchists it seems that they might have support from Saint Mark and Larxia. It appears that the theocrats might have support from Varanius and the corporates have made it clear that they are doing business with Dalimbar. This is going to be an interesting war. He then turned his attention to the pile of calling cards on his desk and as he looked at the symbol on it Atsil’s words echoed in his head, Hiding away while people are suffering is dishonorable! He recalled his family history, how his ancestors performed daring heists and escapes in the past just for the thrill of the steal. But what always stood out to him was how they gave half of what they stole to the people in need. If it was an item like a crown or a valuable piece of art they would take half the value of that item from their own funds and give it to the people without selling the item. His ancestors never turned away from the people and CGZ began to feel the weight of that legacy because of Atsil’s words. He put his head in his hands and pulled at his hair, Those were different times! I can’t afford to be as bold as my ancestors! Security has evolved and so has criminal investigation! Hiding in the shadows and remaining in the shadows is the way forward! He let out a growl in frustration and quickly turned to his computer and pulled up some funny cat videos to distract him from his family’s legacy that weighed down on him.

Hello again, fine friends in the West! The 6th issue of The Boiling Pot, "Technocratic Musings," has been released. This issue contains an opinion piece about technocracy, a response to last month's P&C article, a shotgun interview, and a retrospective look at the past month in the STU. You can find it here: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1488914

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