Dear readers, surely you heard of the events of last week's banquet? How, in the midst of the doubtlessly sordid activities; Nickolas Lancaster- the Foreman of Lancaster Foundries was abducted by a trio of mask wearing miscreants? In the time since, his capture has all but been confirmed to have been carried out by the Infamous Crystal Pirates.

Eyewitnesses report a brief exchange of fire between Titans guild guardsmen and a masked trio carrying a large mahogany trunk. My sources tell me that the guardsmen had been forced to retreat to avoid a sinister beam of molten energy- surely these Crystal Pirates are also Magicians of the darkest caliber.

And what of the Al'suuds, Xire's beloved ruling family? That's right, dear readers. The Plumed Cobra sigil was noticeably absent from the festivities. I find this questionable, since Xire considers itself to be Berusa’s equal and greatest ally within the AUF. Why wouldn't the Al'suuds be present, when many of the Oasis Nation's other powerful families had been, including the Araj- the family of Sovereign Uriel II's own wife.

What's even more intriguing is that despite there being no official information concerning the Crystal Pirates- the one thing many witnesses' stories have in common is that they are mostly if not all Dhass- that is being of the dark skinned ethnic group of the southern continent... possibly Xire. What if the Crystal Pirates are in actuality agents of the Al’suud household tasked with destabilizing the Berusian economy and causing chaos which could result in increased Titan's Guild presence...

[Editor's note: For the love of the Gods... We swear that Mr. Pruett's views do NOT represent the views of Il Lun. We once again remind you that this is an open source periodical. We know that being of the Dhass ethnicity does not always mean you are a citizen of Xire or any of the nations of Dhassarata- not that there's anything wrong with that. Many of our esteemed native Berusian citizens hail from Dhass ancestry, and they are wonderful.]

As always, Dear readers- stay vigilant and trust no one-

Lance Pruett- freelance writer and truthspeaker for the Berusian people.