Rohirrim Rider: June 1910

[Ithekro]

January 3, 1910

Oyama Sky Horse Smiths opened today in South Mithlond.  Under the Tower Hills a small workshop is being setup under the direction of Tochiro Oyama and his sister Shizuku.  They intend to begin their own talents and thoughts into the craft of building sky horses for the Mark.  It will take time to forge new styles and learn what there is to learn around the air and the way to make a sky horse fly, but using some imported designs as a starting point, the Oyamas hope to make their own mark on the world's skys.

January 9, 1910

The Defenders of Gondor have begun to use some of the fruits of the Mark's Navy.  Using the remaining 1899 model 14" cannons in single mounts Gondor shall defend the canal with massed heavy firepower with that which the Navy could not use.  The installations and the fortifications should be finished before the end of the year.

January 18, 1910

Repairs to Umbar's San Francisco Harbor are progressing well.  The port district and city should finally be recovered after the 1907 earthquake by July.  While the city may be mostly repaired and the docks and piers repaired, the spirits of the Californians will take longer to repair.  It is hoped that they will assimilate into the Mark in time, and that the peace and prosperity they once had will remain with them for the future.

January 29, 1910

The gunnery range at Isengard has begin a project to make shells stronger.  "Like we need shells that can punch through both sides of a warship," commented Narm Underhill, Captain of Theoden, Battleship of the Mark.

February 5, 1910

A minor disturbance along the Missouri River as the winter has again driven some of the Lakota to long distance migration in search of food.  Local forces managed to avoid a repeat of the situation at Fort Pierre again, but the Europeans that have settled their are still learning how to react to the locals.

February 13, 1910

Rockridge Station has become a major stop on the new Southern Rohan-Norman Line.  Sheriff Bart has been stated to been forced to use unusual tactics to keep the lowlife population in check.  However his tactics, while unusual, seem to be working, at least locally.

February 20, 1910

With word that submarines are getting more deadly after the last war, the Mark has decided to invest time and resources to prefecting methods to counter the unseen warships that seem to slap the coventions of war at sea and honor in the face.  "Such ships should never be used by an honorably nation when not in dire need,"  stated Heorl Lithol, Captain of Goldwine, Battleship of the Mark.

March 1, 1910

Theoden and Goldwine, Battleships of the Mark, returned to service today after a year of being rebuilt.  They look a bit different then when they entered the harbor a year ago.  With their second turret's raised, new guns installed, and several new fittings, these two oldest battleships to remain with the Mark are now on par with the rest of the Old Five.  The five pre-Arcadia type battleships in service should be able to last out the decade before needed to be replaced.

March 2, 1910

Six new destroyers were laid down for the Mark today.  These ships will be used to replace all those destroyers and torpedo boats that have been scrapped in the last year.  At least six more are planned to by built within the next year.

March 15, 1910
(The Red Day!)

The annual Ride of the Rohhirim was staged near Mundburg today in the Pelennor Fields. Theocro King personally led the charge today like he does every three years.  It is a glorious sight to see a half Micelhusl of elite cavalry charge three Micelhusl of Infantry, all trained for this day since they were cadets. While the reenactment has been mostly show this last age, the event still carries meaning to the people of Rohan. With the ballons overhead to observe and a single sky horse to mark the arrival of the Witch King, the event was heavily photgraphed this year. The King says that the Nazgul sky horse just very frightening as it should be. "It comes in low and scares the horse, myslef, and it's black cloth seems to show malice. Before we had a ballon or wagon with black wings attached to ride into the battle at the proper time. Aragon King (the Twelveth) was nearly killed by one of those wagons two hundred years ago".  The King has shown excellent health to be personally riding with his men into battle and staring down the black winged sky horse.  His horse did rather well.  bolting only when it was certain the sky horse would not miss them.  The King and his horse dogded the sky horse as is nearly crashed to Earth, but her pilot, a Hillram Angren, managed to get the sky horse under control enough to seemingly skip off the ground the King's horse had been standing and glide over the warriors heads to land just a 100 yards from the edge of the battlefield.  The event paused at this point to make sure the King and pilot were unharmed.  As soon as the King called for a rally of his men, the reenactment continued as men from Pelargir and from inside Mundberg drove the remaining "enemy" forces to the Osgiliath.

March 27, 1910

A meeting was held in Mordar today about the future relations with the Haven of the Peoples, the Indian Lands, and Rohan.  The once dark land, now filled with trees and life, still is a place some are wary.  The site was chosen to remind the other natives of what Rohan stood against and what needs to remain gone forever.  No word as to what was actaully discussed at the meeting.

April 8, 1910

Araval, Dwarven Battleship of the Mark, and her two sisterships have left for Umbar for there decommissioning in the service of the Mark.  By June, these ships will be transfered to the United Nations of South America for their final fates.  With the removal of these three ships, all of the 11" guns of the Mark will leave service.

April 15, 1910

With reports of heavy activity in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Texas, more ships of the Mark has been set out to patrol these regions near MesoAmerica.  Diplomactic investigations are also pending with the MesoAmerican's socialist government from the Kingdom of Rohan.

April 30, 1910

More expeditions north into the Northern Waste past the Mountains of Angmar and the Grey Mountains continues.  Efforts to reach beyond to the North Pole have been failures, though trade with the Inuit have been forthcoming at times.  With the annexation of the majority of former Eastern Kingdom lands, the Mark has been forces to explore what was once traveled by air.  The airship corps of the Eastern Kingdom no longer remains aside from the civilian held articles and the few the were sold to other powers before the end in 1905.  Rumors that some actually managed to get to Maoria have been unconfirmed and unbelievable due to the distances involved.

May 1, 1910
(Day of the King)

The Day of the King has come again. Today we remember the Kings of old. From Eorl the Young to Arathorn XI we remember them all as best we can. Everyone has their favorate King or Queen. Many remember Eowyn (II) Queen of the Mark and Gondor from just after the Cataclysm. She who lead the people to safty as the ashes of Mt. Doom dropped the lands into a icy slumber. It is she who gathered what Gondorians could be found south of Rohan and unite them under her crown. It was not until nearly 900 years of the Fifith Age had passed that Rohan found the remaining Kingdom of Gondor far to the south in what is today New Beleraind and the surrounding region. Others remember Arathorn (VII) King, who drove the Olmec into the sea and in the year 601 of the Sixth Age, and was proclaimed King of Rohan and Gondor by the Gondorians of New Beleriand once it was discovered that he alone had the strongest trace of the blood of Elendil left in the known world. Some of the more adventurous think back farther to Theoden (I) King, and his nephew Eomer (I) King. They are perhaps the most legendary of kings. However the cerimony of the Rulers of Rohan is for August on Theoden's Day. This day is for all kings...Rohirrim, Gondorian, and those that came before. This day also remembers the King Elessar, who lead with wisdom and justice in the Fourth Age. None know if he truely lived to be 207 years old. Maybe one day when the technology is avalible we can see for sure, as his body still lays in state in Mundburg with two small people that we can only assume to be the hobbits Peregrin and Meriadoc. Who they really are in not know for sure.

May 18, 1910

The Radburg, Experimental Ship of the Mark, has been selected to work on improved methods of mine removal practices.  The other remaining Torpedo Boats of the Mark will also participate in this activity as reports of loose mines from the Pacific War drifting into the shipping currents of the Eastern Pacific.

May 29, 1910

Exploration for Moria have yet to find to legendary mines and halls of the dwarves.  It is speculated that the mountians crushed the old mines and halls in the last several thousand years, or the old maps of the Red Book of Westmarch are incorrect as to exactly were the mine was.  It is known that the western enterance was destroyed during the War of the Ring, and if the legends are true, the bridge from the East enterance was also destroyed, making it nearly impossible for anyone to have entered the mine since the end of the War of the Ring over 8,200 years ago.  Durin's Tower that was suppose to be on the top of Silvertine has also probably been destroyed due to age and thus sealed the only other known enterance to the mines.  While efforts have found usable deposits of precious metals, the mines themselves have eluded the Rohirrim.

June 15, 1910

Today in Umbar, Araval, Arveleg, and Arvedui, Dwarven Battleships of the Mark, left the service of the King and Rohan.  They left port under the watchful eye of Shadowfax, Battleship of the Mark.

June 18, 1910

Work on several capital ships has been stepped up to fill in the gaps created by the selling of all the Dwarven Battleships of the Mark and the Brego-class Battleships of the Mark.  It is expected that another Battlecruiser will be finished before the end of the year and that the two Helm Hammerhand-class Battleships of the Mark will be completed in the first half of 1911.  With the completion of these vessels, any gaps in the defenses of the Mark shall be filled.