Rumors (Wermspittle/Winter)

Winter Rumors from the Back-Streets of Wersmpittle

1. A mob of raving madwomen run through the frozen streets of Wermspittle declaring "It doesn't have to be like this." No one is sure what it means that they all have long blonde hair and green eyes. In fact, they all look alike. Exactly alike. In less than an hour there is no trace of their ever having passed this way.
2. A poet, a prophet and a medium have drunk themselves nearly into comas while arguing about how 'It was never intended to be like this.' That much they mostly agree upon, but should anyone interrupt them or ask them what it was supposed to have been like, they will begin to call each other names and then the knives come out. An unwary, inquisitive soul might easily find themselves bled out in an alley behind a sordid tavern after sparking such a heated discussion.
3.  (1d4) Midwives come in from the cold. If you buy them a drink or cross their wrinkled palms with Salt as it is Winter, they will give you some advice and/or gossip. But only if there isn't anyone from the Sewer Militia within spitting distance. According to these Midwives, things used to be better, long ago. Before the Rebellion and that bastard Silas Gromff murdered every other midwife one cold winter's evening in December. He had to silence them, or so they say. As to what they knew that brought about their demise, they are quite close-mouthed. Anyone making a good impression on them might receive the promise of a Katarchic Chart for half price.
4. People don't necessarily need to starve to death in the Winter. Certainly not. If you would all just do as the Lotterists insist, which is the only logical, rational, workable solution and institute a lottery that would fairly and honestly determine who should leave each Autumn, then things would be much more manageable. Of course those overseeing the impartial operation of this lottery would need to be exempt from it in order to ensure its proper functioning and to make sure that no one tampered with it to gain unfair advantage over their rivals.
5. The Congress of the White Gardenia is a suspicious 'student organization' that stages elaborate art-directed protests, extravagant mockeries and 'literary assassinations' across the campus and grounds of the Academy. They are demanding that the poor be fed, the homeless be given shelter and that anyone who applies for it should receive an education to the best of their ability and capacity to benefit from it...as long as they aren't foreigners or refugees. There are a dozen or more popular theories as to who really funds this group and what their true agenda might really be. Only a very few are inclined to whisper even the vaguest hint of a suspicion that they might have ties to the Corruption Trade.
6. Those who live along the Low Streets have a simple solution to just about everything. Let the Butchers run things. Those who don't support the Butchers have a tendency to get more visits from the Butcher Boys. It doesn't take a genius to know which way the wind is blowing. Some of the Refugees are organizing in order to oppose the Butcher's empire-building efforts. As long as they have enough muscle backing them, they might even have a chance. But no one else will bet on it. What about you? Looking for work? The Refugees might not have a lot of money, but they make far better sausage than the Butchers...
7. Several noted and once-respected Scholars have claimed that there are blotted and unlisted, even fragmentary and half-erased records in the some of the libraries and archives that attest to the way things actually used to be...however...any of those records that the scholars mention in any sort of report or article wind up missing and few of those scholars survive for long after publishing their findings.
8. Marcus Durault disappeared three days ago after submitting a paper on the mythical 'glass houses.' What could be so special, or so dangerous about a house made of glass, especially one that doesn't really exist?
9. Conspiracy theories are a form of folklore that becomes especially pungent in the Winter. Perennial favorites include: There used to be plenty to eat in Wermspittle, but the armies took everything, or the long-absent airships are responsible (somehow), or the plague-carriers are behind it all (whatever 'it' might be). A few will drunkenly accuse the Nobles or the Privy Council for the terrible current state of things. Some blame the refugees for any and everything. Or Foreigners. Others claim it is the work of the undead or demons or cultists or atheists. There as many scapegoats as their are rocks to throw or accusations to fling. If blame were bread, no one would ever go hungry in the Winter.
10. Once upon a time there were places where food was available all year round. This was a place of plenty. But so much was lost or destroyed in the course of one invasion after another, one siege or investment or battle that followed atop another and another until more than two-thirds of the place is in ruins and too dangerous, too difficult, too costly to reclaim. Apparently it is cheaper and easier to let people starve, but for whom? Who benefits from the current situation? Beware asking such questions too loudly...people tend to disappear, especially in the Winter. Even within the well-protected and well-provisioned confines of the Academy. Troublesome students who lack the patronage of powerful sponsors or who come from poor families must be cautious. The walls have ears and every group has its snitches. Asking too many of the wrong sorts of questions can get you expelled. In the winter that could well be a death sentence. Or worse.