[What happens when reality-bending suggestion is pushed too far. But this explains how we got Migrants in the first week, despite it being a 2-month voyage across the ocean. They were sent before we got here, completing their trip a few days after we dug out the main base with those mining claws.]
The Dwarf King looked upon his court from his Hydra-bone throne. "You heard correctly, Duke Bomrek nu Lamestun."
"But.. But my ălul, why? Have we not sent enough already? Surely there can be no reason to send anymore?" The Duke looked into the King's eyes. They seemed surprised, but there was also that hint of the... odd look that he'd seen in them for the past 15 years.
Then the look flared to full, the King's eyes staring, madly, dreamily, and almost vacantly ahead. "We must send more. More every season. You will trust the judgement of your ălul."
One of the others, the Duchess Dolil of Aransazir, interjected. She had been talking of this matter with Bomrek. The whole court had, in whispers. "Respectfully, ălul Dakost, I would like to point out the history of the Twelfth Bay. When we started that colony," she paused there. None of them actually remembered how it had got started. Surveys of the area, discussions in the Court, the decision or reason for settling there, all escaped her mind. Perhaps some expedition had just got stranded there and set up shelter? They'd heard of settlements starting like that before. "13 years ago, well, it was a little remote. Near some elf forest, I believe. The subjects began setting off their to make a name for themselves, and shortly, believing the place had some potential, we started sending people to build it up even more. We all heard, however, that those first founders were strange."
Duke Bomrek nodded. "The rumor was that most of them were human, even, and even the dwarves among them were somewhat... odd. We learned these rumors were true in good time." He looked to Dolil, who gave him a look that said plainly that she did not want to be interrupted.
"As you no doubt remember, o ălul, very odd things indeed began to happen at the end of the third year. The colony began to do poorer with the exports, though we made no inquiry about this as by this time the leadership there had made themselves rather... secluded. The decision at the time being that they were a band of wizards, we let them fall behind on the taxes. Then, suddenly, the whole place was gone. Traders reported that all they found was a great, blackened pit where the mountain once stood. Stories spread of debris raining from the sky for a whole week. We didn't hear anything more about it for ten years..."
The king looked in her direction, though not at her. "Yes, and it was just recently that I found them again! The colony recovered, you see, and we must make all our cities mighty!"
She looked down, nervously. "My ălul, even before the... shocking disappearance of an entire settlement, the Twelfth Bay was getting to be rather... counter-productive. What with stories of kobolds fighting necromancers, and extensive dealings with some kind of dragons. We had all been thinking it somewhat of a lost cause. Now, it has reappeared, in an entirely different location that is even more remote. We haven't even heard back from that boatload of settlers that was sent out there yet, so we don't know if there even is a settlement on the other side of the sea. Excuse me, but it seems like a pointless waste of resources and a squandering of the lives of good laborers at this point!"
"Mind your tone, Duchess."
"ălul, King Dakost, your subjects murmur of the Twelfth Bay, they believe that it is an accursed place! It causes them no small unhappiness when they are told the place still exists and has demand for them to be sent there."
"Silence! I will hear no more objections! The Twelfth Bay needs more migrants!"
Duke Bomrek sighed. They had all been discussing it, in secret, fervently hoping that it would not come to this. King Dakost had seemed to be losing his grip as he reached his 11th decade. For years, now, he seemed to grow blind and deaf to the needs of his kingdom, and so the nation had been slipping. Now, though, he knew there was no other choice. The Plan would have to go forward. Regretfully, he reached into the inside of his cave spider silk coat. Seeing this, the rest of the court reached into their garments.
The king seemed not to notice for a moment. Then, he stood up. "What... those are... You've... Urists, urists in my court! What is the meaning of this!?"
Bomrek rose. "The end."
"Why, this is violence!" He looked around the room. Everyone was standing, urists drawn. Even... "You too, Durad?"
General Durad twirled his silver-inlaid blade. "I am sorry, ălul."
The next day, it was announced that King Dakost Castlewaters had abdicated the throne and retreated to a private fortress, believing he had grown too weary to rule. Having no heirs, he appointed Duke Bomrek as his successor, and so King Bomrek was to be crowned that week.
In the court, where the old banners had been taken down, he spoke fervently with the nobles. "Send a bird out to that caravan boat that set sail two days ago. Attach two letters to this bird. The first needs to tell them to deliver the second to the members of the Twelfth Bay, if they're out there. In the second letter, put the news of my succession, and let them know that any further support from the capitol is henceforth terminated. If you ask me, they aren't out there and all died 10 years ago, but it makes absolutely no difference if they somehow survived. In fact, as far as we're concerned, they can be their own damned kingdom."
In a dark room, lit only by the wall of screens, a figure watched proceedings. The forumites would not know of the minor revolution for 2 months yet. It did not matter, though. There would still be migrants. Those who found, one day, the sudden inspiration to leave their boring old life, or felt that there was nothing for them in their ancestral mountain hall. Perhaps not as many from the original kingdom the forumites were attached to, and perhaps not any for a long time, but eventually, from somewhere, they would get more migrants. He couldn't really stop it, though why bother? He could ensure they were alone in the end, as he had before, and in the meantime, migrants made things more interesting.
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Topic: If Bay Forum were a Mountain Hall, continued... FULL DISCLOSURE (Read 266270 times)