Walmington on Sea
07-05-2004, 14:55
For several decades one of Walmington’s most recognisable and controversial figures, far its richest man, and its most eligible bachelor, Sir Henry Chaspot Wayne was, well into his fifties, well and truly back on form. Tamer of Waynesia, Hero of the Second Cape War, many thought that Chaspot’s glory days went out with the (not so, in Walmington) roaring twenties. The old adventurer had spent much of his life since the outbreak of the Second World War milking Iansisle for the novelty of his recognition.
However, since the war’s anti-climactic conclusion Wayne’s trips to North Africa, specifically to Libya, a territory liberated by primarily Walmingtonian forces fighting the fascists, had become more frequent. As Walmington prepares to hand-over sovereignty of likewise liberated Sicily to a local government it is becoming apparent that Sir Henry’s hand has ushered Libya away from its former Italian guardians. Finally some suspicious minds wonder if the long delay in conferring self-rule upon the Mediterranean isle hadn’t something to do with Sir Henry’s search for Italians whose price for Libya was no more than a seat in the new government.
Quite how this extra-governmental entity, this handlebar-moustached port-swilling knight of the Empire had come to apparently wield so much direct political control in not only domestic but also international affairs. He wasn’t even governor of Waynesia, anymore! It didn’t seem to add up, unless of course you believed those conspiracy nuts inclined to suggest that Sir Henry had somehow created the American war as a means to distract the civilian government and to make the military ready to listen and to compromise.
Whatever the underlying truth, the evident fact was that Sir Henry was back, and his business was expanding. No longer were all of his assets collected under the Henry Wayne Cape Company, based in southern Africa; Chaspot Incorporated was born, and the sky was (probably) the limit.
Some wondered if perhaps it wasn’t time for Walmington to establish an effective commission on industrial monopolies. Unfortunately it was often said that in Walmington it’d be impossible to convene a council of learned or informed citizens that didn’t contain at least a few members having fallen already into Sir Henry’s deep pockets.
Anyway, regardless of whose fault was the American war, and regardless of how Sicily perhaps ended up run by less than its population’s first choices, so far as PM Mainwaring was concerned these things called for distractions. The Walmingtonian death toll in the States was set to pass that suffered in the last war in Africa, Sicily, over Dunkerque and on the high seas combined. It was costing more, too.
But Wayne still had money, and with his Libyan wrangling he was set to make more.
The Standard- Chaspot Inc to establish aerospace division; miracles promised
Below the headlines were stories born apparently of Sir Henry’s relentless ambition/eccentric lunacy. In light of 1)The sorry state of Walmingtonian airlines that provided few, slow, uncomfortable flights in small short-range piston engine aircraft, and 2)Wychwood Automation’s on-going and apparently promising high-speed jet-bomber programme, Chaspot Inc promised that it could and would revolutionise Walmingtonian long-distance travel.
Not only would flights be to Britain and Canada, as was largely the case in the past, but to the Cape Colonies, Waynesia, Ceyloba, Australia, Calarca, Iansisle, and elsewhere.
The Walmingtonian public became quite excited as speculation grew over the possibility of perhaps riding in jet planes.
However, since the war’s anti-climactic conclusion Wayne’s trips to North Africa, specifically to Libya, a territory liberated by primarily Walmingtonian forces fighting the fascists, had become more frequent. As Walmington prepares to hand-over sovereignty of likewise liberated Sicily to a local government it is becoming apparent that Sir Henry’s hand has ushered Libya away from its former Italian guardians. Finally some suspicious minds wonder if the long delay in conferring self-rule upon the Mediterranean isle hadn’t something to do with Sir Henry’s search for Italians whose price for Libya was no more than a seat in the new government.
Quite how this extra-governmental entity, this handlebar-moustached port-swilling knight of the Empire had come to apparently wield so much direct political control in not only domestic but also international affairs. He wasn’t even governor of Waynesia, anymore! It didn’t seem to add up, unless of course you believed those conspiracy nuts inclined to suggest that Sir Henry had somehow created the American war as a means to distract the civilian government and to make the military ready to listen and to compromise.
Whatever the underlying truth, the evident fact was that Sir Henry was back, and his business was expanding. No longer were all of his assets collected under the Henry Wayne Cape Company, based in southern Africa; Chaspot Incorporated was born, and the sky was (probably) the limit.
Some wondered if perhaps it wasn’t time for Walmington to establish an effective commission on industrial monopolies. Unfortunately it was often said that in Walmington it’d be impossible to convene a council of learned or informed citizens that didn’t contain at least a few members having fallen already into Sir Henry’s deep pockets.
Anyway, regardless of whose fault was the American war, and regardless of how Sicily perhaps ended up run by less than its population’s first choices, so far as PM Mainwaring was concerned these things called for distractions. The Walmingtonian death toll in the States was set to pass that suffered in the last war in Africa, Sicily, over Dunkerque and on the high seas combined. It was costing more, too.
But Wayne still had money, and with his Libyan wrangling he was set to make more.
The Standard- Chaspot Inc to establish aerospace division; miracles promised
Below the headlines were stories born apparently of Sir Henry’s relentless ambition/eccentric lunacy. In light of 1)The sorry state of Walmingtonian airlines that provided few, slow, uncomfortable flights in small short-range piston engine aircraft, and 2)Wychwood Automation’s on-going and apparently promising high-speed jet-bomber programme, Chaspot Inc promised that it could and would revolutionise Walmingtonian long-distance travel.
Not only would flights be to Britain and Canada, as was largely the case in the past, but to the Cape Colonies, Waynesia, Ceyloba, Australia, Calarca, Iansisle, and elsewhere.
The Walmingtonian public became quite excited as speculation grew over the possibility of perhaps riding in jet planes.