This is the diary of Azell, Warden of the State and Populace of Greater Azure. May 8th, 3891.

I find myself beset by doubt. As the attacks grow in number and ferocity, the unbreakable sense of justice I once felt in my heart is slipping. When this all started I was so sure of what was right. That cold day in the streets of the city still haunts me. The day when I lost a friend and the will of so many people, all at once. Was I wrong?

It’s too late to go back now. Regardless of my reservations the course is set and while my hand is at the tiller, the momentum of a million angry voices will carry this ship to its destination regardless of how I steer. All I can do is try to save as many lives as I can.

Damn you Vakayr.

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Entry 3, Dec 2, 3887

What a bloody disaster. I knew these kids were green, but I’d hoped their conviction could make up the difference. Four dead, and one boy who’ll never walk again. I need to teach them how not to get themselves killed. Ridiculous. But I can’t allow a train wreck like this to happen again. And to top it all off, Azell knew we would be there. He’s good at his job, but I have to wonder if he‘s *that* good. I really don’t have the time or energy to deal with a potential snitch.

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This is the diary of Azell, Warden of the State and Populace of Greater Azure. May 12th, 3891.

My wife tells me I’m distant now, she says she wants me back. I don’t know what to say, because I don’t know how to come back in the way she wants. Every day I get new casualty reports. Every day I lose trained soldiers, guns and armor. Lord Bryor is pushing harder than ever for us to drop bombs on suspected rebel safehouses. He says that we’re losing too many men trying to clear them out without civilian casualties. The sad truth is that he’s right. But the alternative is too grisly to consider, and as it stands I still have a level of respect among the populace. Many people caught in the middle have yet to defect only because they still trust their Warden. I can’t risk turning my own people against me moreso than they already have.

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Entry 5, Feb 22, 3888

Third time’s the charm I suppose. We finally made an impact. Shutting down that manufacturing plant is the first step toward cutting off their supply of weapons. I wish I didn’t have to explain to Jikky every five minutes why it’s important to go after manufacturing plants instead of trying to hit the dirty lords themselves. We’re not gunna win this and take back our country while even one lord stands and has an infinite supply of drones, guns and tanks at his command. And if we start hitting them now it’s only going to make the bastards bunker down and be harder to get to later. We have to patient and careful about this and wear them down before we go for the jugular.

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This is the diary of Azell, Warden of the State and Populace of Greater Azure. May 17th, 3891.

Vakayr sent another message today. I don’t know why he bothers. The other Lords don’t even watch them anymore, they refuse to bow to any of his demands. But I noticed something that gave me hope: he might be compromising. Up until now he’s made the same demands every time, only ever adding to the list. But today, I noticed one thing missing. He didn’t make a demand for the upper west to have its water supply returned. I don’t know if this is an attempt at compromise on his part, if he simply forgot, or if it’s no longer important. Either way, I can’t respond or the Lords will have a fit. They would love to have an excuse to replace me, but they know that I’m the only reason the middle class people still support us.

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Entry 2, Nov 8 3887

I know what I’m gunna do. It took a while to piece together a plan, I couldn’t get my head straight after what Azell did. But now I feel motivated. I’m angry. I’m ready. I’m looking for those kids that’ve been protesting. Most of them turn away when they find out ~~I’m a cop~~ I was a cop, and even then most of the ones who listen don’t have the guts to fight. But I found four who have some heart and a whole lotta anger. We’re setting up a base of operations, but they’re inexperienced. Every time I turn around I catch them doing some stupid shit that could get us caught or killed. They’ll make fine soldiers one day, but they’re gunna have to go through hell a few times first.

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This is the diary of Azell, Warden of the State and Populace of Greater Azure. May 26th, 3891

I’ve been thinking about the day Vakayr shot me again. The wound is long healed now, but it hurts yet in other ways. We weren’t friends, even though I knew him probably better than I know my wife now. That’s what happens when you partner with someone for eight years. Of course, we had both changed since those days, but even now I can look at his face in those tapes and know what he’s thinking. I just... don’t understand what happened. I fired, then he fired, and it seems like the next thing I knew he was blowing up factories and the Lords were trying to paint me as some kind of hero. It’s all such a damn mess, if the Lords had only been willing to make a few small fucking changes none of this would be happening. For Christ’s sake this started out with university students protesting, no guns, no bombs, no deaths. The part that always gets me is that I completely agreed with what they wanted.

I still do.

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I’m starting this diary because I need to put this on paper. I can’t focus, I can’t think. It’s October, I think the 18th? Or 19th perhaps? Whatever.

I don’t know if I’m writing this for myself or for others to read. I do know that if something happens to me, there needs to be some record of what I saw, and what I did, the other day. And of what my old colleague Azell Wirhart did.

I’ve been a cop for seventeen years now, eight of which I spent partnered with Azell, and the past five of which I’ve been a part of the anti-dissent and domestic terrorism taskforce, though we just call it the ADT. The protests have been going on for years now, and it’s always been the same thing. Less taxes, higher wages, cheaper healthcare, more personal freedoms etc etc. I never had a big personal stake in it, but I guess I agreed with them. It wasn’t until they started protesting against the Lords that I started to really feel it in my bones. The anger. The deep seated rage at these men and women who sit on their golden thrones atop our society, held up by the strength of our backs. I never gave a shit till the day my little Brina got sick. I’m lucky, she survived and she still lives with her mom, safe and sound. But that was the eye opener. They don’t give a rats ass about the rest of us, those big rich fucks. In my time of need I was turned away by everyone, and it was always the same red tape bullshit. Always somebody just following the rules and trying to make their own way in the system. I started to understand what the people were protesting about. And I started to understand that the only reason these reasonable requests weren’t being granted was by the whims of the Lords.

So when I got assigned to escort a Lord through a protest, I wasn’t feeling too happy about it. I was thinking that if anyone throws a rock or two I’d turn a blind eye.

What I was not expecting was for a teenager to step out in front of the car and pull out a toy gun. I recognised it immediately, one of those Nerph guns. I’d bought a similar one for my little girl a few years back. Bright orange and loaded with foam bullets. Couldn’t break wet tissue paper.

So I went to grab this kid and drag him out of the way. Stupid stunt like that could have gotten him killed. But then I heard Azell yell out “HE’S GOT A GUN!”. I turned and shouted but I was too slow, I saw him pull the trigger. In that instant my hands moved faster than my brain, I fired my own shot, aiming for his hand. I don’t know what I was thinking, maybe that I could knock his aim off.

Well, I got him in the forearm. But he put a round right into the kid’s heart. Azell always had been a good shot.

After that, the whole place erupted. The crowd was yelling and screaming and running. The other ADT guys were trying to protect Lord Theltaphore. I remember looking over at Azell gripping his arm in pain. He was looking back at me, his eyes asking me why. I ran.

It was within hours that heavily armed soldiers were on the streets. This was just the excuse the bastards have been waiting for to impose martial law and put the protestors down for good.

I can’t just sit back and watch this happen.

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“This is Sandy Wagner, reporting to you outside the home of Lord Javyll Prews, where he and six other members of the House of Lords have been found dead. While there have still been no official statements released, an anonymous source tells me that police suspect a murder-suicide perpetrated by our very own Warden Wirhart, who was also found dead at the scene. Our source was unable to provide any further information, but we will be back with an update as soon as we know more”