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Despite the outwards appearance of this journal, the caligraphy one can find within is astonishingly good, deeply cared for, and very well organised. The text looks clean, and it is really pleasant to read, almost like observing a black and white painting. The pages are damaged on the borders, however the interior has been kept perfectly clean. This might be possibly related to the text that is written on the first page right past the cover, under a picture of the owner of the journal:

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To whom it may concern:

The contents of this diary are personal and private. It's intention is to accruately report the chain of events that took place since the release of Hero of the Nation Marcus Queipo-Astray from the Steel Mill Holding Facility, and to provide first hand testimony to the authors, or investigators that wish to learn more of such a distinguished personality to create a biography, memoirs or similar. The reading of this journal, therefore, is strictly forbidden for anyone that is not Marcus Queipo-Astray, or anyone authorised to access this document by the aforementioned, unless he is deceased.

Thank you

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Entry 1 - From prison to prison - such is life

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The beginning of this story is not quite a dignifying one. As we left on Trial Diary #1, it seemed like Ursus wants to move on from the events of Olkgate. The emperor looked for peace, and that implied sidelining my labour, simply providing a purple heart and a medal of distinguished services for saving Ursus from a dishonorable war. I had been released now a week and something ago, as I am writing this from the uncomfortable tent in an agrene mine nearKhasograd, as my back burns from the whippings of these savages. But for learning how such an upstanding Ursine hero such as myself traded a comfortable room in SMHF for this spartanist lodging, one must talk about the last few days:

It all started when I  abandoned my motel room in Kiriskoye - a surprisingly beautiful northern town, just as most towns in our great Ursus however. Here I was informed of the obvious news that the Emperor's approach, which he wrongly chose in his benevolence, had failed - he attempted to appease the rebellious elements when one simply cannot hope for a parlay with the internal elements that want their will over His, therefore war and rebellion became unavoidable.

I met these news with a mixed reaction. Of course it is never a good thing to see the countryside of Ursus ravaged by our own countrymen - however, war is the perfect instrument for toughening a nation, and will in the end provide a strong government with no opposition, opening up the road for further Ursine conquests on the nations of the south.

As the town came into occupation by the eight army, I knew that my presence in the capitol to re-enlist was of essence! Therefore I decided to head towards Khasograd, a grand nomadic city still held by the guard, whom had not pledged allegiance with the rebellious Old Guard. The plan was simple - to arrive and obtain passage towards the capital. Nevertheless, things became convoluted in the end, and I saw myself surrounded by some sort of silent doctor, named Ced, and some Yiite, named something along the lines of Ximbing. That is when the occupying forces declared martial law, and ordered residents to return to their homes.

Seeing as none of us had permanent residence within the city, and all of us intended to head to the city of Khasograd, we ended up banding together, and resolved to head towards the bus station, searching for any last minute departures to the nomadic city, or any vehicles that had been left behind to drive towards a new destiny. However, the bus station turned out to be empty. Nevertheless we accessed it, in the search of anything useful, finding little else than a wrench when a group of soldiers busted through the door. Ced and I managed to take cover, however Xinbing remained exposed and the soldiers began accosting him with his question. In these times of despair however, I did not feel my spirit falter as with a single strike of the wrench I put one of the soldiers unconscious on the ground, easily dispatching the other one with a couple of wrenchings. Oh the rush! I had missed it! To see that even with my body riddled with "medals of service", I am still able to down two privates on their prime fills me with pride!

From their unconscious person, I borrowed a proper weapon, a machete, along with a crossbow. And so we ran into the woods, where I once again saw myself defending this meek foreigner and the doctor from howlbeasts with naught but one hand! Ah the glory of combat! How much I missed it!

Most surprising I must say, was the arrival of a strange foreigner in clad armour, a Knihburgian knight by the name of Waldemar, had it not been for him, I would've been able to most quickly dispatch the howlbeast, however he dragged us down with his outdated foreign fencing practices, endangering himself as he stumbled towards the beasts.

However victory against the monsters was grand, and moments later we carried the pack leader's carcass into a nearby village, with whom the yiite, whom appears to be an artist of some sorts, made me a glorious pelt as a reminder of my victory! We ended up staying for the night in the house of a kind soul, along with another traveler, with no particular interest to the story.

Next day we departed, however we were witness to a grand battle happening above our heads, as a grand airship was struck down from the sky and had to perform an emergency landing near us! Of course, as a noble Hero of Ursus, I felt in the obligation to save any survivors that might have befallen from the plane, and so I did, as we retrieved two loyalist soldiers from the cockpit, whom managed to find their way to safety. However, it seemed that the explosion had been noticed for a much darker foe, the Patrols, as we were soon in pursuit from the fiends.

This is when Ced and Waldemar split from our group, as we intended to make our pursuit harder for the patrolsmen. And so, I ran with the meek yiite, Xinbing, as fast as I could, but dreadfully the young foreigner was captured by the patrolsmen. Motivated by the protective spirit belonging all those worthy of be called Ursine, I resolved to rescue the Yiite as I followed his tracks to a nearby village. There, I  attemtped a daring rescue as I faced a full convoy of patrolsmen head first who began to open fire upon the village, once more bringing forth the question of the moral justification for their continued existence. Nevertheless, and despite almost being completely succesful, my spirit faltered in the last minutes as I passed out in the middle of the forest being on the edge of my personal capacity, and collapsing on the snow. The next thing I remember is waking up in this camp, along with the Yiite.

May the Emperor have mercy with these monsters, for when I am out of here, I certainly will not.

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Entry 2 - My new prison life, and the daring escape

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Oh benign luck! It appears that after traversing the tundra, gravely injured, I have managed to come across a group of medics, and we are finally heading to Khasograd! Glorious! But before I do start with all of this, allow me to explain how from the bottom of the abyss I found a deeper level, and how through blood, toil, and a bit of ingenuity, I pulled myself out of it:

Continuing from where we left it on our last entry the first day in the mines was a tough one. Not due to the circumstances of the work - heavens no, the sport was a thing to be grateful for - but for the low amount of food provided and the decrepit situation of the equipment, as the first pickage I used broke with the first hit. Albeit that could also have been due to my great strength. Ah well, maybe it was my bad. Tougher, however, was having to see Xiuying's (editor's note, the name of the yiite is apparently Xiuying and not Ximbing, correct first entry)  poor attempts at breaching the stone. I guess that the "Great" part of Yi must exclusively be the arts. 

Either way, after the first day I couldn't but notice a group of Khazians attempting to smuggle some prime agrene into the tents, not being daring enough, however, to bring the agrene to the tents. In an attempt to aid them in their mission, I bravely stayed in the mines at night, as I attempted to break open the doors to the tent area. However, the noise drew attention from the guards, as I attempted to confuse them by retreating to the inner mines. Nevertheless they found me, and whilst I was ready for a combat, they begged for a simpler solution - my surrender. Considering my state, still hampered by the encounter with my captors the days before, I decided to surrender, hoping for a honorable capture. 

Of course however, we are talking about the guard and they did their very vest to strip me of my dignity by whipping me until I passed out in front of the other prisoners, a shameless display  from rats that aspire to have a shard of the honor of a common slum vagabond.

For my selfless sacrifice however, I was moved to solitary confinement, in where I spent a week and a half, as I slowly carved on the walls a mural depicting our final victory over Exfrul, back in the good times. However, I had to face criticism from a particularly rude snowman on top of my usual ordeals.

Eventually however, I was able to escape with the help of a shoelace and a bar from the water drain of the prison - incredible, I am aware. Anyhow, once I did this, it appeared that a full blown prison riot had blown out in the prison. Exiting my cell I rescued an Ursuian man and attempted to rescue a third prisoner, however I was ultimately unable to.

Breaching out of the prison wasn't an easy task, as we were met face to face with two guards, however, thanks to my might, we managed to slaughter them in combat, albeit I had passed out once more during the encounter and the Ursine had to finish the job, carrying me out of the camp while doing so. Next thing I knew, we were walking in the snowy storm as we met a group of doctors that were in the way to Khasograd. They called themselves "Silver Clinic". That was quite some luck!

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Entry 5 - A betrayal, a war, and an evacuation

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Traitors, all of them. Aid the helpless, provide care for those on the very bottom? My ass. Today I find myself abandoning Khasograd, but not with those traitors under Lavrenti. I am abandoning the city with a new group, called the "Scythe". They too say that they fight for those that are the worst off in our society - time will tell if that's true, or their wispy promises are blown away by the wind, just like the clinic.

Everything started to go down, in fact, moments after I wrote my last entry. I was planning the operation with the team around the table when the doors to Lavrenti's office were blown straight open. He rounded all of us up to tell us the worst joke I've ever heard on my life. "We will temporarily work with reunion".

The nerve of that man

He took an entire clinic full of voluntary workers, all of whom had pitched in in order to provide aid to those that were the most uncared for, and in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, they decide to not only bail, but to betray each and every single principle they ever stood by in order to pitch in with a band of genocidal bandits! 

I should've expected it from Lavrenti. Of course, I couldn't help but express my disagreement with the man's choice, very vocally. I abandoned the clinic immediately, and I told him straight that from now on, I shall work to see him hang along his so-called "protectors". Now, the question that deeply afflicted me was seeing how my previous associates - Xiuying, Ced and Waldemar chose to stick with the clinic, along with the rest of the workers. I expected the two foreigners - people that know nothing of our lands and our struggles - to pitch in to the highest bidder like some mercenaries. I highly wonder if Knihburg or "Great" Yi have even developed the concept of a conscience after their chosen allegiance. Ced, however, supposedly a native Ursine, took my by surprise.

But the worst thing about this whole situation is the burden that they will put on me for their choice, for were I ever to return to the service of the emperor, and were I ever to capture both reunionites and clinic, what would be the destiny for them? What would be the destiny of the clinic? Would they be hanged along with their leaders, for their voluntary choice to actively aid those terrorists? Would Xiuying and Waldemar simply be deported? Would that even be justice?

Honestly, I both look forward to and dread the day that they are all captured.The better end might be either for those three to escape or to die in combat, for I really do not wish to see myself being the one to choose their destiny afterwards.

Changing the subject, I met a new group, the Scythe, led by a man called Kheshed Leri, "The Peon". I met him by mere chance as I walked down the streets in south-east Ursus, unknowing my destination. He was muttering something over a warmap of the city where he had laid his plan. Of abysmal quality. His troops were also of abysmal quality, the only strength he held was on the numbers

With some touch and military genious, I managed to fix it into something proper, with the plan now revolving into disabling the enemy artillery, scouring the underground for equipment, and returning home for regrouping and continuing operations. Now everything was going well, and we actually managed to retrieve several crates of equipment. However, as we were returning we were intercepted by a guardsman group, who blew up a couple of our trucks. 

Nevertheless, and once again, with some tactical genius, I managed to route the enemy with an acceptable amount of losses on my side, accounting for the different quality of the equipment and the fact that 7 of them got blown up in the first three seconds. However, that fight left me in an extremely bad condition, and after the northern garrisons faced something that quite literally, melted them (I guess Khazians or Blades) I had to be the one to break the illusion and tell Leri that it was over, we were not going to capture Khasograd, and that I desperately needed a medical evacuation.

And so we left. I am now going east with them, really not being able to go anywhere else in my  state to be honest. I think that once I arrive I will send a letter to Mole, see if the Emperor is willing to take an old junk like me back. I will also make sure to let him know of Lavrenti's betrayal, and maybe get to know more these Scythe guys myself. Seeing how easy friends fly, it's not bad to have some backups after all.