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[Glass]

[Given permission to sell the telescope, Erin follows through with the request sent to him.]

[Ghazkull]

 Lacie shook her head and continued to smile beneath her mask Nothing like that I assure you. I am his spymaster, I'm a good judge of character so he sent me to survey the situation as it were.

Gudrun leaned back in her chair, a simple affair made of spruce.

And what do you make so far of the situation?

The Spymistress looked around the room once more.

So far I think we have much to offer each other.

You mean, i have much to offer you? An army, a legitimate claim to the Wold, a wife, a base of operations and connections. But what does Argas has to offer to me, except for attractive mysterious spymistresses?

Lacie looked down at her bread.

We have fertile fields that can feed many people, you also benefit from our land and connections as well.

Connections and Benefits from your land? And what might those be?

One of the main benefits would be the fact that we overlook the sea. A navy can add a lot to a nation's strength and allows for maneuvers that would be impossible otherwise. The floodlands would also be a great benefit as they are one of the reasons our agriculture is so prosperous. As for connections we are a great trading hub, that alone gives us allies.

But it still leaves one core issue, the continuation of my dynasty. I am the last of my line if we ignore all these pretending bastards, and if i marry your king, my line ends.

I am sure we can arrange something to fit your needs in that area

Indeed we can.  Are you allowed to negotiate on behalf of your king?

I can talk about solutions, I cannot guarantee anything though. The king will of course need to make the final decision and it is likely his other advisors will wish to talk to him of it as well.

Then tell your king he can have the marriage and the alliance on these terms: Succession Law is to be changed so that the firstborn regardless of gender inherits. All daughters born of this marriage are of the House of den Wold, all boys of the House of Saleon. Regular deliveries of foodstuffs to feed the Wold until the Civil War is over and the final fates of all claimants to the Woldthrone are mine to decide.

Lacie paused, then smiled. Personally I like the offer. I can imagine some of the court might be upset though about the chance of the possibility of passing on the line to another house, but I will convey your terms.

Gudrun smiled back before raising her voice so the entire hall could hear it.

And now that the horse trading is done, let the festivities begin!

The room broke out in chants of "Red!" "Argr!" before turning into a cacophony of feasting and drinking.
Lowering her voice again Gudrun returned her attentions to Lacie. I hope you will lend me your company for the evening? Otherwise rooms have been prepared for your delegation.

Lacie studied Gudrun for a moment, I would gratefully accept your company.

____________________________

Summer of 1192

As the Late Spring Rains abate and Summer approaches Risfurt becomes more bustling than usual. With the Diet called by the King, every noble and person of importance in the entirety of Argas assembles in the Trade Capital of the Kingdom.
Besides the three Dukes, the King, his Spymistress and various other people of importance, the counts of the Kingdom have also joined the proceeding. Numbering fifteen, the Diet has grown considerably. Various representatives of the Churches and Cults in Argas have also decided to join the Diet and to some surprise a Delegation from the North beyond the Mountains out of Far Moss has decided to make an appearance.

_______________________________

Erin Quill

As you begin work on the requested telescope you quickly find yourself with a problem. A lack of materials at your house. You need to aquire glass and of course metal or wood for the tube. Then there is also the question if you just want to make things appear larger by a factor of 2. After all you could add more lenses, more finely ground ones and so forth.

It is now Early Summer
The Diet has begun!
Lacie and the other delegations have returned from the Warlords of the Wold
A Delegation from Far Moss has arrived at the Diet!
The Counts have decided to join the Diet
Representatives of the Cults, Temples and Faiths have appeared at the Diet

[Glass]

I was given some money to work with; I'll use that to buy the materials I need.

[Kansa]

Lacie reports to the king to announce her findings.

[sprinkled chariot]

Doomsday book of Argas

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

H're in this booketh thee fine sir may findeth all imp'rtant p'rsons of argas

King of Argas : King Tristan Saleon. Recently inherited the throne due to previous king death.

High Nobility
Three dukes of Argas
Duke Laranth of Yshuis - duke of Yshuis, harsh land in northern part of Argas, Yshuis is constantly troubled by barbarians.  May all the gods abandon those uncivilized mountain living raiding thugs daring to trouble Argas.

Duke Alexei Riskov of Arnmarch
Arnmarch is southwrstern duchy with great plains and river providing potential for trade. Once great duchy slowly went to decline, and current duke is putting all his wit into making Arnmarch great again.

Duke Kerion of Gynfer - young duke of Gynfer, rich duchie in centre of Argras, fertile land and river trade brings rare for Argas wealth. Also this duchie is famous with Gynfer wine.
Lesser nobility

Count Arwad du Haullen - count of Wexford











Other persons of importance

Erin Quill - court mage and inventor making up curious things like mechanical parody of proper noble knight.

Lacie Illiyaven - spymaster of king Tristan, few is known of her past, except that she was raised to spymaster after working successfully for previous spymaster in interests of the crown.

Avaris Lucelle Varia DuAvigne - holder of biggest grain company in Argas, supplier of bread to capital. Sometimes is called Bloody by lesser people for her methods of " financial concurence " like thuggery and setting houses on fire.

Corvus Magister of knights of raven order.


Penn'd by sir hektur terryn, may the gods beest kind to argas and house terryn 

[NUKE9.13]

The Diet finds Laranth talking to a scribe, who is taking notes of the topics to be discussed- and duly notes down the Duke's suggestions.

-Pledge of fealty to the new King
-Expansion of granaries

[Ardas]

The Diet finds Laranth talking to a scribe, who is taking notes of the topics to be discussed- and duly notes down the Duke's suggestions.

-Pledge of fealty to the new King
-Expansion of granaries

the duke can't help but notice that the scribe has already noted down suggestions of Lord Riskov, who through the royal appointment, is acting as the chancellor of the diet, and who will be announcing the items of the agenda that the king will find to his liking.

- Selection of a fitting candidate for the queen
- Extension of land dues and serf obligations to the freemen
- New weights and measures for the kingdom
- New coinage and monies of the kingdom and foreign coins
- Issue of new tarriffs and passage taxes on trade

[Ghazkull]

Avaris

Grain. Main Export and Main Product of Argas. With summer coming on, it becomes easier to gauge the crop situation across the kingdom. Gynfer being the main producer of grain is doing well as always. In fact it regularly outproduces both the Royal Demesne and the Arnmarch.

And then there is Yshuis. This year crops are scraping by, meaning there is no need to buy up extra food from other regions. Though you have heard of several of the local farmers going for crops which come from further up north beyond the mountains. You always thought nothing was growing there but apparently you were wrong.

As for Foreign buyers there is always the Factors from the Northern Wold Warlords coming in and buying up food, the vast merchant caravans coming up the Argr to sell goods and buy crops to sell in Far Moss and the occassional Trade Ship From Far Moss coming down to trade in Arg Cais.

As for other major grain traders in the Kingdom. There is the Count of Wexford, trading with the Mountain Tribes in Arnmarch. The Count of Loos, who is situated in Gynfer and has the richest Farmlands in the entire Kingdom. Rumors have it that he has an iron grip over all things food related in the Duchy and in Yshuis it seems the matter of Food is mostly consolidated under the Duke himself, since he regularly bails out farmers in the duchy.

Rumourwise there is not much going on, There is talks of an alliance in the South with one of the Wold Warlords, a dragon has been sighted by the mountain tribes in the far west and then there was something about lenghtening nights in Far Moss.

[Ardas]

The hall was filled to the brim. Benches were full of lords and priests, magnates and petty nobles. All of them were arranged equally according to their status in the kingdom, all set up in a hierarchic order of the land made manifest in the single chamber. At the very head of them all, to the front of the gathering, stood the royal throne on a raised dais. Apart from the lords and higher than anyone else in the gathering, the lord of the land would reign over them, as it was his gods-given right.

In the middle of it all, at a wide table bearing heavy tomes and scrolls, stood Lord Riskov. The appointed speaker of this assembly keenly observed the lords and personages that poured into the chamber. He knew that this was a chance for the kingdom to come together and set the tone of the rule. Many a king failed to avoid the pitfalls of tyranny and the lure of absolute rule, forgetting that consent is the most powerful thing one can use against his enemies - after all, if the realm wills it, isn't it simply willing the same as what its embodiment, the king, is already feeling?

Once the chamber was full, the people seated and the guards posted to keep the assorted rabble away from the chamber, Alexei turned to the throne. It was empty, awaiting the sovereign, without whom the assembly could not start.
When the king arrived, only then did he spoke up.

"Rise for His Majesty!"

The assembly rose and everyone inclined their heads towards the throne. 

"In the name of Tristan, King of Argas and Prince of Arg Cais, I call upon this Diet to deliberate on laws of the land and to swear their oaths to their sovereign. May the Gods bless us all."

Turning to the throne, Alexei spoke in a loud official voice for everyone to hear. "Your Majesty, may it please you that the Diet has been presented with items of deliberation, the list of which has been presented to everyone. As it is custom, may all the realm swear their loyalty to you, and help you in ruling this land of your fathers."

[chubby2man]

King Tristan gazed upon the gathered crowd of noblemen and women. This was the concentrated power of his kingdom, in this room. Through bonds of loyalty and fealty, they were his to command and to lead. He felt a hint of unease at that, though he knew he would have to become adroit at manipulating the reigns of power, for the betterment of the realm.

The King gave a solemn nod in response to Lord Riskov's words. "Thank you for your support, Riskov. It has done you and your house much credit in the eyes of the realm. I will allow you to be first in bringing matters to the attention of the diet this first day."

The King stood from his throne and prepared to receive oaths of loyalty from those who couldn't attend his coronation on such short notice, and some others who wished to pledge their fealty once again.

[Ardas]

Lord Riskov was the first to approach the throne and bow his head in a gesture of a loyal vassal. "My king, I pledge my loyalty to you as my sovereign and the rightful king of all Argas." After this, he allowed others to approach the throne.

Once the oath-giving  was done, Alexei unrolled one of the scrolls and began reading aloud.

"As it was brought to the attention of this assembly, the matter of royal storehouses and grain supply of the kingdom is to be discussed as first. The motion is to approve new and set budget and to increase amount of grain to be stored, to ensure safety of the kingdom and its security in future hard times. The assembly may deliberate and speakers may approach the table."
 

[Ghazkull]

Notably several people had abstained from renewing oaths of loyalty.

Among them, of course, the entirety of the priesthood of the various faiths and cults, but also worldly authorities: Horace, Marcher Lord of Yshuis, in the very northwestern edges of the kingdom. Reynauld, Count of Loos and two of the three Arnmarch Counts. All of them seemed conflicted, unwilling to swear loyalty until their issues were resolved.

Many of them seemed rather stumped that the Duke Alexei would simply ignore this flagrant show of non-confidence and would simply move on to matters of food supply. The first of the group to recover was Count Reynauld.

"My Lords, the matter of increasing the amount of grain to be stored is unacceptable. At least under the old conditions. The Crown regularly underpays for the grain bought, which means those of us especially reliant on the grain trade lose immense amounts of income. Unless the Crown is willing to buy at market price this is a change which will hurt many of us."

At that notably the nobility of Arnmarch Gynfer and the Royal Demesne applauded, the clergy remained impassive, few of them possessing lands in any large quantities anyway and the Lords of Yshuis traditionally reliant on food supply from royal coffers seemed distraught.

[Ardas]

Alexei said nothing, but noted everyone's words, and who said them. He waited to see if there were any other voices to be heard.

[NUKE9.13]

"The Crown buys grain at a fair price. If that is below the market price, that is because the market unjustly profits off of people starving. I suggest you petition to raise the price at which the Crown buys grain, if you can provide documents proving that your costs are not being covered. But to deny starving people their daily bread for your own profits is unacceptable."

[micelus]

Avaris scopes out the room to roughly guess how many patricians and well-to-do non nobles/clergy are present. She checks if she knows them.

Avaris noted how quickly dear Riskov had risen. Int.er.est.ing. And yet, now he seemed quiet. Very int.er.est.ing.

Avaris coughed and stood. "Dear lords, if I may speak, it is clear you have legitimate grievances...and have chosen the most opportune time to air them! Quite intriguing, quite intriguing. You say the crown underpays for grain given. Would you be willing to present the ledgers to the court? Not that the honour of you esteemed gentlemen are in doubt, but if there is an imbalance in finances, then surely it must be known to what degree, yes?"