Richards takes the floor, no sign remaining of the (somewhat boring) party goer from earlier.
"My fellow towers, we are faced with a multitude of choices. First of all, we cannot end the war here. We have lost many Ragonan lives, and much Ragonan gold, for what? If we end the war here, we will have won nothing, and lost all too much. Ending the war now will not make us friends with the Irlax again, my friends! We are winning easily, and if we continue to fight this war, we can teach the Irlaxi their lesson, and write a reminder to their future generations in blood. We do not need to destroy the Irlaxi government. No, that would be too much effort and loss for little gain. However, we should seize their land, and make sure they do not forget soon the lesson they were taught here. It is my belief that we should not have gotten involved in this war. However, now that we are in the thick of it, we must see our way to the other side."
"Paying those mercenaries such a high cost to fight for us, plus a share of the loot? That is absurd. We can win this war, and we can win it without these mercenaries. These mercenaries will take gold from the people of Ragona, and leave once they are done. We cannot hire those mercenaries, we can't justify the cost, and we don't truly need the extra men."
"However, the people of Helveci are strong, noble warriors. I know the men who were sent to arrange this marriage with the Helveci, and trust me, my friends. The Helveci will not betray us. They will stick with us through hardship, and those blood ties mean more to the Helveci, "barbarians" as you call them, then any amount of gold. If the Helveci were allied with Ragona through this familial alliance, they would never let us down. They are not great trading partners, but they would be strong allies, nearly a third as strong as our own Centuria. The Helveci would help us win the war faster, and they would be great allies in any other conflicts we entered. The Anterrans may be good trading partners, but we would be giving up this great opportunity for a strong alliance in exchange for a mere trade treaty. I implore you, fellow towers, if you care about the security of Ragona, vote to ally with the Helveci. Even without the large dowry, the Helveci would make much better allies."
((back from my camping trip, so I can write up long speeches. remember guys, the helveci are not mercenaries who pay us, or anything like that. this is going to be an actual alliance.))