BREAKING: In Unprecedented Move, Queen Anna Reforms and Restructures Kingdom’s Knightly Orders

By Mikael, Home Reporter

Goodbye, old orders. Hello, Borealis Corps.

In an unprecedented and overnight move aimed at consolidating extraordinary military power in her search for the elixir of life, Anna has issued an executive decree (a right exercised by all Arendellian monarchs in theory but rarely used) to restructure the kingdom’s knightly establishment into a single elite body.

“The Borealis Corps is a knightly order inspired by the beauty and spirit of Old Arendelle, when the Vikings ruled,” said the queen in a press statement. “However, it is also a thoroughly contemporary and modernized creation. It’ll support our main armed forces, sometimes even leading them into the most critical of battles. It’s a centralized institution that will be nimble and quick to respond to the ever more ambitious needs of Arendelle.”

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Michael’s Musings: The First Christmas After Anna and Elsa’s Reunion

Featured image art “Generations” by Arute (@ast05water)

By Michael, Trade Minister of Arendelle

Things are really busy here in Arendelle! Not only is Queen Anna’s plan finally being put into action to find that mysterious “Elixir of Life” for Prince Yixin, it’s also the Christmas season as well! The Yule bell was brought out once more at Castle Arendelle, and rung to bring in the season of good tidings to all! Everyone, including Elsa, the Fifth Spirit of Northuldra and Ahtohallan, along with Kristoff, Sven and Olaf, Princess Danny, Countess Viola, Hilde, and Tess, along with Selene and General Mattias, came out for the celebration as Queen Anna and Snow Queen Elsa pealed the Yule bell for all to hear.

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Editorial: Arendelle must strike an elegant balance amidst the Shogunate’s tension

By The Arendelle Guardian Editorial Board

As Arendelle’s prestige rises, so do its risks. Among them is the danger of accidentally entering into a conflict in which Arendelle has no stake. There are fewer disasters more catastrophic for a queen, than to find herself mired in a dispute that drains her attention, the kingdom’s resources, and the treasury’s coffers with little reward.

Anna began her reign with a strongly anti-colonial bent, with an instinctive sympathy for the oppressed people of the world. This was informed by her relationship to Northuldra, and her long-term objective of eventually unifying the northern region with Arendelle proper. It was easy to signal one’s anti-imperial philosophy when Arendelle was just one small kingdom among many, despite its already burgeoning geopolitical importance.

As readers of this newspaper know, things are quite different now.

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The Meeting of the Mischievous

Featured image art “Queen of the realm” by hannah.digiart (@HDigiart)

By Skyink

The river waters, roaring, roaring east, wash away the legends bygone.
Success and defeat, and right and wrong, become empty at the turn of a head.
The green mountains still are, under so many crimson evening suns.

The white-haired angler and woodcutter are used to watching the autumn moon and spring wind.
On an isle in the river, they meet happily, over a pot of cloudy alcohol.
So many things past and present, enter the flow of mirthful conversation.*

There comes a hooded one, a rod within his hand,

Under the chariot sun, upon a reeded bank,

Whereby a river runs, east through a foreign land.

There sits upon a rock, waving a tattered fan,

Hair frazzled and frame gaunt, wearing a broken hat,

Chirping a cheery song, an old dishevelled man.

The old one hears the foot, the old one sees the hood.

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Michael’s Musings: Information on Japan and the Fujiwara Clan

FROM: Michael, Trade Minister of Arendelle and loving Uncle to you and your sister, Queen Emerita Elsa, the Fifth Spirit and Snow Queen
TO: Her Majesty and beloved niece Anna
SUBJECT: Brief historical background of Japan and the Fujiwara

On the heels of General Mattias’s cautionary note to you, I did some research for a brief history on Japan and most notably, the Fujiwara Clan.

First, I want to be on record in thanking our newest friend, Selene Severin. Her assistance in gathering the information on file in our library or through the Ravens and others in her network on the ground near or in this mysterious country, has proven invaluable for this report.

Japan has been in existence for tens of thousands of years. “Japan” come from the two Chinese words “Jee-Pan” which means “Land Of The Rising Sun,” since it is a series of volcanic islands that lie east of mainland China.

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ANNA’S DECREE – Searching for the Elixir

Featured image art by PURY (@puryartist)

The inner court had been assembled.

The beautiful Countess Vi, no longer regent but now having returned to her usual post of prime minister, stood alongside Commander Hilde on one side of the queen’s hall, at the right hand of the throne. Seated on it was Anna, who surveyed, with modest solemnity as well as a winning smile, the assembled women and men on her left side, who were facing Vi and Hilde: Elsa, Kristoff, Mattias, and Honeymaren.

“I’ve briefed trade minister Michael and Sir Alan about my next move, and now we’re ready,” declared the queen. “In liaison with Peony Sinclair and Queen Colisa of Chatho, the other members of my new Exalted organization, I wish to launch my search for the fragments of the elixir of life.”

The inner court exchanged nervous and terse glances with each other. The air was electric. At last, it had begun, and no less at a make-or-break time of diplomacy with Japan.

Anna was making good on her promise to Lord Yixin for being catapulted to international prominence.

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CONFIDENTIAL: Murmurs among the Masters of the Sword

FROM: General Destin Mattias

TO: HM Queen Anna

RE: WATCH OUT.

Hi Anna,

You might raise your eyebrow at the tone of my memo, but you need to be careful around Lady Fujiwara. More accurately, you must keep an eye on her circle of retainers.

Lady Fujiwara is everything that she presents herself to be. Our spies, the Ravens, have compiled a detailed dossier on her and the background of the Fujiwara clan. It all checks out. I’m glad to see that you, Elsa, and the rest of the inner court get on well with her. However, have you sensed the tension between her and the samurai around her?

I don’t know about you or Elsa, but she has little patience for them, and they even less for her.

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Anna Regnant: The Queen of Arendelle’s Unrelenting Political Rise

Featured image “Commander” by PURY (@puryartist)

By Ymir, World Affairs Editor

“How does she do it?” This is the unuttered question on the lips of heads of state, diplomats, and journalists across Europe as Arendelle becomes the new place of pilgrimage for great and small powers alike.

Even during Elsa’s reign, no one could have predicted the meteoric rise to global prominence the small Nordic kingdom would enjoy.

While Anna’s predecessor managed significant relationships with mighty realms like the Russian Empire and the Qing Dynasty, it’s Anna who has radically transformed Arendelle’s relationship with almost every great power – and set an example for middle and even smaller states to emulate.

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Japano-Arendellian Relations: A New Era

Featured image art “Heir to the Fujiwara” by Arute (@ast05water)

Arendelle Castle throne room

Anna had never sat in such an uncomfortable position in her life. Knees pressing the ground, she felt like she was basically kneeling, but with her hands rigidly on her lap, staring across to the young woman from across the seas, who was very delicately and elegantly serving the queen of Arendelle her very first green tea.

“This is called seiza, Lady Fujiwara?” asked Anna. She let out a nervous laugh. “Can’t we just… you know, sit on chairs? I’ve got a few right over there.”

Takako smiled, her deep purple irises glimmering. “This is a traditional tea ceremony that I wish to present to Your Majesty as a small gift. A glimpse of our honour and our values, and the greatness of the Shogunate.”

She finished pouring the tea in the cup she’d given Anna as a gift: an exquisite, perfectly hewn stone cup on a tray of bamboo. “Please. Enjoy.”

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Press Release: Welcoming the Shogun’s emissary to Arendelle

Featured image art “Heir to the Fujiwara” by Arute (@ast05water)

Palace

PRESS EMBARGO TO BE LIFTED AT 08:00, MONDAY

OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

Her Majesty Queen Anna extends a warm welcome to the official representative of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Fujiwara Takako.

Queen Anna recognizes the exceptional personage of Lady Fujiwara, who represents not only the bakufu, the seat of government of the shogun, but centuries of prestige and responsibility as the unmarried woman of the Fujiwara household. While the Fujiwara clan no longer holds sway over the Japanese government as it did in ancient times due to the elevation of the shogun as the executive arm of the emperor, the weight of the Fujiwara clan remains lofty and revered. As a leader that seeks friendship and is absent of hostility, Queen Anna affirms that she holds Lady Fujiwara’s heritage with the same esteem as that of her beloved Japanese people.

Lady Fujiwara will be the beneficiary of Her Majesty’s hospitality for as long as the bakufu requires. She is expected to stay in Arendelle for the next few weeks, before taking the arduous journey back to her homeland.

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