Isra - The Free City (Citywide Thread/News)

Riders would be sent out across the city, all bearing a simple message:

"Any experienced mages, adventurers or warriors are requested to join Lord Ildesias and the army of The Free City in defending our homes from the enemy! Gather your wits and your weapons and head for the western fortifications!"

Davous the necromancer/demonologist arrives in a hurry, holding his hat down on his head as his runs. Oh, my. Predictable. Demons.

Welp, he knew how to deal with those.

Holding his hand out, Davous begins to utter strange, guttural words: an incantation meant to snatch up the unfortunate minions and bring them to rest in his Demon-Carrying Pouch.

The two thousand soldiers who had been assigned to protect the city itself would not stand idly by while the demons launched chaos. Archers would take up position on rooftops and in the streets, taking cover wherever possible, and begin to fire arrows and bolts with the aim of bringing the demons down.

Meanwhile, the obviously terrified citizens would keep their doors and windows locked and hope for the best.

The demons turn away from whatever they were doing: eating cats, setting houses on fire, feeding the boss, etc.

"Watch out! The winged one is trying to turn us away from the boss!"

"Be careful!"

"Look out!"

Davous's demon leaps into the sky and tears a couple of the smaller bottle demons in half.

"Kill it! Kill it!"

The bottle demons begin to bombard Davous's buddy with lighting, acid, fireballs, and other bits and pieces. Meanwhile, other demons continue to drop citizens in an attempt to distract the demon or stop Davous from finishing the spell.

The bottle demons whirl around, using their higher speed and maneuverability to pester Davous's buddy like a flock of sparrows driving off a hawk. They continue to carry off food, burning through shutters and flying down chimneys.

"Hehehehe! Food for the boss! People to mess with!"

However, they start to slow down, having to grapple with Davous's own demons. Their superior numbers give them the upper hand, for now. The guards start screaming, their faces torn off by invisible demons.

"They're invisible! They can turn invisible!"

Actually, it's only the white ones that can vanish. And there aren't very many of those, maybe twenty or so. But the guards don't know anything about that.

The demons spit acid right back. And lightning. And fireballs. Davous's minions fight mightily, but are simply outnumbered. As they fight, other demons continue flying the food out to Red. Their numbers to diminish, however. They continue to fall out of the sky one at a time, torn to shreds or simply melted.

The lightning jumps from demon to demon, knocking about four of them out of the air. However, when it hits a blue demon, it stops. The blue demon cackles.

"Hehehehe! Using lightning, Wizard?"

It spits a bolt of lightning right back at Davous.

"Eat that, wizard!"

Suddenly, upon some unheard signal, every demon picks up a large slab of meat or some other food item and flies off, back to the city gates.

Throughout the Free City, papers would be handed out to citizens and criers would stand upon pedestals in the streets of markets and places of public gathering in order to relay the latest message from the Citadel; directly from Ildesias himself. All, no matter their station, would likely hear the contents of this proclamation.

"Citizens of the Free City and valued friends, the growth rate of our dream has been unimaginably exponential. In just a few short years, the population has raised from thousands to hundreds of thousands, to possibly over a million. We are now a huge part of international politics and we retain one of, if not the largest standing population in the known world.

However, with this growth comes challenge. As many may know, a large majority of the plains beyond our city limits are now farmland. Farmers and their families work tirelessly to grow the crops and food we require to feed ourselves, lumberers hack into the forests beyond the river to supply lumber and quarries are dug to provide stone. Our growth rate has, indeed, been so exponential that we must now consider the costs of it. We are pushing the natural resources of our local country to its limits and soon, we will no longer be self sustainable. In addition, sanity problems persist in near-cramped conditions and healers fight against disease.

It is therefore, with great regret, a majority vote has been passed in the Assembly declaring that no more refugees or migrants will be allowed to settle in the city. We can no longer afford our population to grow, but opportunities for such people will arise. As we speak, plans are being formed for smaller, outlying towns to be built on unoccupied land. Here, future inhabitants can settle and still consider themselves part of the dream that is our Free City. We will work for our resources over greater stretches of land, thus easing the burden placed upon any one part of it, and simultaneously allow our multicultural society to grow.

To our allies and friends, I promise that our foreign policy has not changed. We still still remain neutral in all outside matters, and seek friends rather than enemies. We also swear an oath to not expand our borders in the direction of your own homelands, for we do not seek to gain monopoly over your own homes.

And finally, to my fellow citizens, I ask that you continue to work together with your fellow to stay safe and sanitary. Please avoid public places if you are suffering from disease and instead call for your nearest healer. Make sure waste is properly disposed of to avoid the accumulation of dirty conditions and drink only clear, fresh water without trace of murk or infection."

At the bottom of these papers, and at the end of these voiced declarations, a small, extra section would be added.

"Ildesias, Lord of the Free City, is hereby looking for at least one personal steward to aid in matters of governance. Please apply at the Citadel if you believe you have the experience and qualifications to work closely with him at the highest tier of government."

In the hours of the mid-morning, as people are waking up and beginning to get started on whatever it is they do during the day, criers take to the streets in droves, and begin to disseminate information, as they tend to. Their message is such that Lady Naoki has an important message for all of the people of Isra, and that she will be speaking in the Central Plaza around noon, though copies of what she has to say will be distributed, and magical voice amplification will be used so anyone reasonably close will be able to hear.