Reydem Archive — Manuscript No. 6388324 (Victor's Letter to Amarantha)
Manuscript No. 6388324
Channel: Encrypted
Classification: Level II Information
Sender: Victor
Destination: Amarantha
Manuscript No. 6388324
Amarantha,
?With your entry into the Garden of the Sovereigns confirmed, we will proceed with the adjustment of the operational phase.
From now on we will reduce direct contact with collaborators. Not out of distrust, but because the closer you get to the core of power, the more dangerous any recognizable pattern becomes.
?You need to understand Rousth not just as a city, but as a system that decides who remains… and who disappears.
?I will put you in context about the different zones of Rousth so that you can better understand the functioning of the channeling, filtering and updating of information.
?The periphery is the first face of Rousth, and also the most honest.
Here the Direcrim (the Direction of Rousth) does not exist. Justice does not exist. Only survival.
The air is heavy with dust, smoke and smoked meat. Foreign merchants, travelers without a destination and displaced people mingle in a constant transit.
?There is a wide road where the carriages of the aristocracy and official supplies circulate. Everything that moves away from that path becomes a labyrinth without patrolling or reliable witnesses.
We have collaborators in that area, but do not look for them more than necessary.
While you remain inside the Palace, your main channeling points will remain internal. The periphery should be considered only as a contingency resource.
?If for any reason you need to get there, you must do so exclusively through the collaborators we have defined in the last communications. They will be in charge of receiving the information and redirecting it without compromising your coverage.
?Beyond the walls, Rousth changes shape.
?The lower zone is a world compressed upon itself. Tall buildings, damp streets and oil lamps that barely sustain the light.
In the main avenues, what is permitted is traded. In the alleys, what is not named is negotiated: information, favors and lives.
?The cavalry patrols, yes, but only where it is convenient. There are sectors that they deliberately ignore, places where vice and misery manage themselves.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
We have collaborators there, but you must be clear: a cloth maid moving through those areas attracts attention. If you need to enter, do it in a way that you are not associated with any memory. Not by your face, nor by your path.
?Continuing further in, the middle zone appears.
?Here everything seems orderly. Cobblestone streets, lamps lit during the night, plazas where people simulate normalcy.
It is the district where the middle class and the lesser aristocracy build the facade of stability that Rousth needs to show.
?Do not trust that appearance.
Within the middle zone itself, groups operate that present themselves as respectable merchants, benefactors or exemplary citizens, but behind closed doors commit atrocious acts. They do not need to come down from the Palace to get their hands dirty: the rot already lives here.
?Some of them maintain direct links with mafia bosses who hire mercenaries and assassins.
Later I will provide you with names.
Objectives that, if possible, must be eliminated in both the middle zone and the lower zone, as they are directly related to attacks against Reydem.
When the time comes, you will know exactly who to look for… and why.
?We have a collaborator in this zone, linked to personnel who work for the Sovereigns.
He has given us key information and will continue to update us on the departure and arrival times of carriages that connect different points of the Garden, while we continue gathering data on secondary routes and indirect accesses to the Palace.
In this district, take more care than in any other. The vigilance is not open: it is constant and silent.
?Further up is the Garden.?No need to describe it in detail. You already know that place.
An inner wall separates it from the rest of Rousth as if it were another world. Upon crossing it, the noise and misery disappear. Only the opulence remains… and absolute vigilance.
?Controlled gardens, artificial lagoons, avenues for luxury carriages, private theaters and amphitheaters where the Sovereigns exercise their power under the appearance of leisure.
We do not have direct collaborators inside the Garden.
Every movement must be based solely on the previously studied routes and your operational discipline.?And finally, the Palace.
?That is your main environment.
There the Sovereigns concentrate to deal with economic, political and military matters that will never be public. It is also where agreements are closed that leave no record and decisions are taken that affect entire regions without anyone answering for them.
It is, also, the place where different types of atrocities and whims are carried out that will never be recognized.
?Your priority is to observe, memorize and transmit only what is verifiable.
Any information about plans, movements or decisions that you hear and consider relevant must be channeled.
Your role as a cloth maid grants you access to key meetings where the Sovereigns discuss business, strategies and political matters.
?Remember the agreed protocol.
You have thirty days to send some report, even if you do not have relevant information. It is the only way to confirm operational continuity.
?And also… to know that you are still alive.
?I wish you success, Amarantha.
May this mission bring us closer to a more favorable position in a war that admits no mistakes.
?We will be in contact.
?Víctor
P.S.:
This letter has been drafted under Level II cryptography.
Only Reydem personnel with the rank of Captain, Lieutenant, Commander, or operational leadership possess the full key for its reading.
For anyone outside that circle, these words are nothing more than meaningless symbols.
