Last week's News

News article for the week of 4/12/06.

War of the Roses Update
By, Grey Events

The origins of this gardening skirmish that has stopped just short of becoming a new English Civil War has been all but forgotten by the participants, for all that it has done nothing to slow down the conflict.
The original white and red roses have fallen by the wayside. Forces of the White Roses have been so heavily decimated that they are no longer considered a viable force. What remains has been absorbed into the Rose Alliance command, where their strategists, always their strength, continue to direct their side of the battle.
Indeed the taking of Manchester by Alliance affiliated Pink Roses has been attributed to the behind the scenes efforts of White Rose commanders.
By contrast the Red Roses remain strong, still forming the bulk of the Union of Roses. That being said they have not enjoyed the success of their decimated counterparts. Red Roses have lost Leeds, Liverpool and though the defence of Birmingham continues it is a stalemate that can only continue for so long.
Discontent rumbles through Pink Roses on both sides of the conflict. Those who chose to side with the Red Roses, the minority, have found their own ambitions continually quashed, and though their specialties lie in a strong support network they are consistently used as a special operations force based on their small size.
Those Pink Roses that have sided with the White Roses are no happier. Here they are at least being put to good use keeping the Yellow Roses well supplied through Herculean efforts. With Whites still dominating the leadership these efforts seem under appreciated.
Some Pink Roses agitate for separating, either becoming neutral or opening a second front on the Whites and Reds both.
This latter option could work, despite the relative weakness of Pink forces, at this time they lack numbers and training to be viable in a stand up fight. In their favour is the fact that both Reds and Whites will instinctively pause before harming a Pink for fear of harming an ally.
Unfortunately Pink leadership on the White side is keen to maintain its dominance of York, a key concession that bought the bulk of Pink following to the Whites.
Yellow Roses continue to play the part of foot soldier and seem happy to so. Vengeance against the hated Reds has motivated many a Yellow to take up arms and follow the orders of the “pompous Whites”.
Discontent may be in the offing if the desperate yet brilliant assault on Cardiff, heartland of the Yellow Rose, succeeds. While analysts give it long odds Red Roses have shown an ability to be motivated by this rather than demoralised.
All but forgotten are the minority roses pulled under the Red aegis. Green, Blue, Lavender and Puce all agitate for a bigger slice of Rose glory, only to find their rarity a hindrance. Red had promised great things and they mean to see the Union succeed, possibly going as far as siding with what remains of the more violent elements of the IRA.
As yet the British government maintains that the Rose War does not yet affect enough of the country to warrant military intervention though speculation is strong that a small-scale mobilisation to the East is an option. Finally officials have not taken the defoliant option off the table should the problem escalate any further.