Prologue: The Letters

[Raiko]

I will be posting a copy of each of Starkweather's letters here, after the relevant player has had a chance to read their private message and respond in the IC thread.

This is both to keep all the letters together on the same page, and to allow each player to read their own letter before anyone else does.

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 11th 1933



Dear Mr Amaruq,

Thank you for your letter of application, I am delighted to offer you a place upon our Expedition Team.
The skills of your people in Arctic exploration and survival are well known, and your courage is obvious.
I salute you in your desire to join this illustrious and bold expedition into the cold and unforgiving wastes of the barren South, and I know that I for one will feel safer knowing that we have such a naturally talented team-member helping to ensure our safety.
There will be a Formal Dinner on the 25th of August in the Amherst Hotel, New York, one week before the expedition assembles. I look forward to meeting with you then.
Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 11th 1933




Dear Mr McRaven,

Without hesitation I am delighted to offer you a place on the Starkweather-Moore Expedition team. To find a pilot such as yourself skilled in the operation of aeroplanes within the harsh environment of the Arctic Wastes, is rare enough, but the fact that you are also clearly an outstanding engineer, more than capable of keeping a modern aeroplane, such as our new Boeings, flying is just too good to be true.
Truly our stalwart team of bold explorers will feel safer with you at the controls.
We shall be holding a Formal Dinner in the Amherst Hotel, New York on the 25th of August, one week before the expedition assemble, I would be delighted if you could attend.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 12th 1933



Dear Mr Wilson,

Thank you for your letter of the 8th June, I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to join the Starkweather-Moore expedition to the Antarctic.
I salute your grit and, without hesitation, accept your generous offer to accompany myself and my expedition into the uncharted wastes of Antarctica. Truly we stand at the forefront of human endeavour, and I envy you Sir in your task of reporting the great deeds of this great expedition to the masses.
Surely a Pulitzer must beckon, if Edgar Ansel Mowrer achieved recognition for merely reporting upon the politics of the Hun, then I feel sure that the panel will be awestruck as you report from within the greatest expedition of the twentieth century.
I look forward to meeting you at our Formal Dinner in the Amherst Hotel, New York on the 25th of August, one week before the expedition assembles.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 14th 1933



Dear Miss Knight,

Thank you for your letter of the 12th June, in which you expressed your wish to join my upcoming venture to the icy wastes of the South. Your eloquently written missive displayed all the elegance and modesty that our Creator has blessed the gentle sex with. I am sure that you brave father must be proud as you delicately steer an aeroplane on one of your jounts amongst the foothills of the Himalayas.
I congratulate you, if I may, in having the courage to beg of me the chance to go into this area of such inhospitable and comfortless peril. However this expedition is no sightseeing tour, and the company already assembled I fear would be a little rough for one such as yourself. Do you really fancy changing your linens every day in a room with thirty unwashed men?
Please know that I mean no disrespect. I understand that you are an experienced hill-walker for a lady, more used to wearing sensible shoes than Parisian Courts, and I gather as at home in a pair of dungarees as in a fancy ball gown, but I am afraid that I must most respectfully refuse your request. The South Pole is a hard place for hardy men, and we cannot afford to chaperone.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 13th 1933



Dear Mr Seymour,

I remember fondly our discussions at my fund-raising exhibition in May, and I was absolutely stunned by your generosity when I received your personal check yesterday. The funding that you have provided will help to ensure that this bold expedition departs on schedule, and in good order.
I am of course absolutely delighted to grant you your request of a place upon this venture. To find one such as yourself who is prepared to risk not only his money, but his very life, facing the icy perils of the cold Southern wastes is monumentous, and I salute you!
I shall be holding a Formal Dinner on the 25th of August in the Amherst Hotel, New York, just one week before the expedition officially assemble. I would be truly delighted to have you there as a guest of honour.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 11th 1933



Dear Mr Michaels,

Thank you for your letter of application, I am delighted to offer you a place upon our forthcoming expedition to the Antarctic.
A venture sure as this calls for the most stalwart of men, ready to stare death in the face without faltering. I feel sure that having emerged unscathed from the horrors of the Western front, you will indeed be up to this task.
This will be our greatest hour, and I am convinced that after we have faced whatever trails await us upon the Miskatonic Mountains we shall spoken of in the same breath as Scott and Shackleton themselves.
We shall be holding a Formal Dinner in the Amherst Hotel, New York on the 25th of August, one week before the expedition assemble, I would be delighted if you could attend.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 13th 1933



Dear Mr Eriksson,

It is my great pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted into the Starkweather-Moore Expedition team. I was most mightily impressed by your clear expertise within the fields of mining and surveying. For this expedition we will be making use of a more advanced version of Professor Pabodie’s drilling apparatus used by the original Miskatonic Expedition of 1930.
I am sure that you will be able to operate this advanced equipment with ease, I must confess that I myself would be at a complete loss. I am also quite certain that your surveying skills will prove most useful.
Sir, we stand ready to embark into the very annuls of history, to laugh in the face of death, as we conquer the harsh icy wastes of the frozen South, I salute your courage in joining our historic venture.
There will be a Formal Dinner on the 25th of August in the Amherst Hotel, New York, one week before the expedition assembles. I look forward to meeting with you then.
Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 12th 1933



Dear Professor Graves,

Thank you for your letter of the 8th June, which expressed your desire to accompany myself and my expedition to the South Pole. You point out in your letter your undeniable expertise in the fields of anthropology and evolution, and you propose to study those fossil remains discovered by Professor Lake and search for missing links, and suchlike.
However this is an expedition primarily of discovery and exploration, and we already have a team of expert palaeontologists who are more than capable of cataloguing the fossil remains, without resorting to ‘modern’ nonsense and pseudo-science. To expect stalwart men of physical courage and bold endeavour to chaperone a soft-hearted academic and their fanciful ideas would be to mock the very spirit in which this great quest is being undertaken, and so it is with great regret that I must decline your request.
A man with such delicate sensibilities as yourself would probably find the cold rigours of the South somewhat adverse, but I will be happy to share with you any findings that we make, and you will be most welcome to examine the fossil remains at your leisure in more commodious surroundings, after the hard work has been done.

Sincerely,

Captain James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader


Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 14th 1933



Dear Mr McDonald,
In response to your letter dated 7th June, without hesitation I offer you a place upon our expedition team. Your renowned skills as a mountaineer and an explorer are exactly the assets that we seek for this bold adventure.
I note that you have some time conquering the dizzying peaks of the Himalayas, I too have braved the peaks of this magnificent range, and so I know that you must share my anticipation at the prospect of taming the Miskatonic Range. If the reports are true then even the unconquered heights of Everest and K2 are dwarfed by this mightiest of ranges. To be the first climbers to attempt such a climb would earn us our place in history.
There is Formal Dinner on the 25th of August in the Amherst Hotel, New York, one week before the expedition assembles. I look forward to meeting with you then.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 15th 1933



Dear Miss Knight,

Firstly let me offer my most sincere apologies for the letter that you must have already received from my friend and colleague James Starkweather. I pray that this letter will reach you in the same shipment of post as James’ letter, but I suspect that fate will be unkind.
Although a good man Captain Starkweather is terribly old fashioned, particularly in his views of women. I hope that his views have not turned you against our expedition.
I would like to offer you a place on the Starkweather-Moore Antarctic Team, your skills as a pilot in the harshest conditions imaginable are exactly what we need. It is a considerable bonus that you also know how to handle yourself in dangerously low temperatures, and high altitudes.
If your previous rejection has angered you then I understand, but before rejecting my approach consider: we head for the last great uncharted region of the Earth, a place where few, either man or woman, have ever set foot. We are true pioneers, and this expedition needs your unique skills.
If you accept your post on the team, then please arrange to be at our base - the Amherst Hotel, New York by the 1st of September, when the expedition assemble.
We will also be holding a formal dinner of the venue, one week before we officially assemble. I would be delighted if you can get here in time.


Yours sincerely,

William Moore

Expedition Co-Leader
Smythe Chair of Paleontology
Miskatonic University


Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

Dear Captain Starkweather,

I can well understand your reservations as to my participation on your expedition. I respectfully request you reconsider your decision for the following reasons. Firstly, I believe my surgical ability would be invaluable to your party and my wartime experience has enabled my to carry our delicate medical procedures under the most difficult conditions. Secondly, I already have experience in sub zero blizzard conditions from my time studying the inuit tribes of North America. Thirdly, as a Dr of Pschology as well as medicine I would be able to look after the Party's mental as well as physical well-being.

Please find enclosed my personal cheque for £750, I trust this will more than adequately pay my expences for the journey.
It will be an honour to contribute to the success of your venture.

Yours sincerely,
Charles Graves

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER-MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

July 14th 1933



Dear Mr Turner,

Thank you for your letter of the 8th June, I have great pleasure informing you that you have been accepted into the Starkweather-Moore Expedition team.
Your proposal to document the findings of our illustrious expedition, and to publish them in a book so that the masses may share our experiences of the cold reaches of the South Pole is just what we need.
Why only the other day I was remarking to my fellow Co-Leader Professor Moore, that we needed somebody to do just that, but where to find a published author prepared to forsake the warmth and safety of his study, and face icy death in the cold and forbidding lands of the Antarctic. Well I need not have worried, for enter William Turner, a man prepared to walk where angels fear to tread, in order to write one of the definitive works of our time.

Sir I salute you!

We shall be having a Formal Dinner at the Amherst Hotel, New York on the 25th of August, one week before the expedition assemble, and I eagerly look forward to meeting you there.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader


Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

STARKWEATHER MOORE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1933

27th July 1933



Dear Professor Graves,

Thankyou for your letter of the 20th, I appologise for misjudging you earlier, clearly your valour and endurance are match for your academic prowess. While we already have a skilled doctor in the expedition team, you can never have to much experience when travelling through the desolate wastelands at the ends of the earth.
I fear though that your skills as a Pschologist will not be needed, for these are stalwart men of great endurance, both in the physical and the mental sense, hardly the types to require your expertise. Still your concern is noted, and it must be said that my associate Professor Moore, has invited a delicate young lady along, against my better judgement. I suspect that she may require your help before too long!
If you find the time during our busy expedition, perhaps you will also be able to persue your ideas about missing links and suchlike.
We will be holding a Formal Dinner at the Amherst Hotel in New York on the 25th August, I would be delighted if you could attend. The expedition then officially assembles on the 1st September, at the same hotel.

Sincerely,

James Starkweather
Expedition Co-Leader



Amherst Hotel, New York

[Raiko]

Dear Mr Starkweather,

Thank you for your acknowledgement of the funds and confirmation of the place on the expedition. I will do my upmost to ensure I am in a fit condition for the start.

I look forward to the dinner in New York.

Yours Faithfully

James A seymour