Valkarian news | Cultists empowered by government inaction
By Vanessa Mendoza, The Ljusstad Post
Friday, 1 November 2019
Ljusstad (The Ljusstad Post) — Ever since Jake Marshall, an alleged cultist leader, was elected to Parliament as a member of The New Right, his influence and the party he is a member of have caused the government to shut down the Office of Cultist Movement Investigations (OCMI), which was the National Police office responsible for investigating alleged cultist groups in Valkara. In the Silesian province of Valkara, groups of people describing themselves as "Valrissi fundamentalists" have been a source of attention from the news media due to reports of kidnapping, torture, and murder. However, Marshall contends that the news media have "distorted and exaggerated" the people of the province who are "exercising their freedom of religion".
However, the situation described by the news media seems to paint a more accurate picture, especially in "The wildlands of Valkara", an investigative news article that
The Ljusstad Post published in May 2019, in which the paper's reporters found members of alleged cultist groups possessing illegal firearms and accounts from residents in the Silesian province. Marshall, who had been campaigning for a seat in Parliament at the time, was the subject of a National Police investigation that had been closed as soon as he had been sworn into office. The closure of the investigation sparked small protests in Ljusstad, accusing the government of "covering up" his alleged crimes. With the closure of the OCMI and the investigation into Marshall, residents in Silesia have warned
The Ljusstad Post that the situation has worsened.
One resident who has refused to be named due to fear of retaliation has told
The Ljusstad Post that cultist groups in the province are threatening non-Valrissi people with violence if they do not convert, "They claim that this land belongs to those who believe in the Valrissi gods and non-adherents are those who belong in Náströnd." For those who are unfamiliar with the Valrissi religion, Náströnd is the part of Hel where Níðhöggr chews on the dead. However, believers of the Valrissi Orthodoxy have also been threatened by the fundamentalists. Valrissi priest David Irisson said that he was confronted by fundamentalists who accused him of "giving aid to the non-believers". Irisson believes that Valkarians should not be forced to convert to the Valrissi religion if they do not want to.
In a few days, the investigation into the disappearance of Police Sergeant Rebecca Hawkins and Junior Officer Craig Lance enter into its second year, who have been missing since 5 November 2018. The two police officers were dispatched to arrest a suspected member of a cultist group before they were reported missing by their colleagues. Friends and acquaintances of the two officers fear that they may be dead, but the National Police still have not concluded their investigation and consider them to be "missing persons". The National Chief of Police, Eric Weston, has said that the National Police has worked "vigorously" to find them, but have "reached a dead end".
In Ljusstad, the United Religions Organisation (URO) has accused the government of "colluding" with cultist groups in the Silesian province. The current bloc in government, the New Conservative Coalition, has the backing of The New Right, a political party that the URO has often accused of "pandering and harbouring" cultists in Silesia. The New Right leader Nicole Chancellor, who serves as the Home Secretary and whose portfolio includes the National Police, has countered the claims of the URO by defending Valrissi fundamentalists, "These people are exercising their freedom of religion and I will not persecute the Valrissi for doing so." The Home Secretary went further to accuse the URO of being an "anti-Valrissi group". The URO's spokesperson, Daniel Fitz, who is an adherent of Messianism, said that the current Valkarian government is "eroding" freedom of religion in the country.