You roll back your suggestion that Andre involve himself with Juliet for more than a night. He thanks you profusely.
---
You wait in vain a few days for Mateo to materialize (and for Nails to answer your summons to Bride Price) before calling the council together and announcing the changes.
Skill = 3
Result = 1
Bonus for Dealing with Own Subjects: -1
Bonus for Formal Setting: -1
Final Result: -1
You can tell the De'Villes are a bit uncomfortable with you adding a Mahallo to the council, but they are happy with Mathias filling Mateo's spot, with your new acting chancellor noting that he consulted with Mateo often, and should be able to pick up where he left off on the realm's many and totally real diplomatic challenges.
Nails makes a hell of a first impression. He is a few inches shorter than Kane, but aside from that, some greying hair, an impressive facial scar, and a number of gold teeth in his mouth about equal to the number of real ones, you deduce your friend is the spitting image of his father, down to almost the exact same traditional Mahallo tattoos. They are even similar in facial expression, to an extent. You have learned to read Kane and Kaylee's scowls and eye rolls to the point that you know they are about to say or do something mean before it happens; Nail's face seems to rest in the position that would indicate premeditated cruelty in his children, but verbally he is nothing but polite.
After the meeting, Mathias gives Nails a brief private briefing on the current operations of his new office, before your interim spymaster pulls you aside for a one on one discussion.
"My men have been poking around Bride Price for corruption, ever since I caught wind that you may offer me this position." he explains in a soft, dangerous, and matter-o-fact voice, "I already have a list of almost thirty corrupt city guards and middling soldiers in organized crime. I think I sniffed out some of the Bleachedkin Vampires too, but my children tell me they are your allies, so I'll leave that alone. The point is, as soon as you are ready to send a message, we can mount enemies on crosses and crosses on the city walls. Normally I'd advise to pull the trigger on that as soon as possible, but I'm not entirely sure we have enough honest guards in town to stop the criminal element from just storming the Molar and deposing you if you piss them off."
Your spymaster produces a dagger, which he uses to idlely clean underneath his fingernails without even looking as he continues to conversation. "I hear my son invited you out for a hunt. I propose you accept his offer... quietly. Give no indication to anybody you don't trust that you are leaving town. As soon as you are out of their reach, I'll start crucifying. With luck, the scumbags higher up on the criminal ladder will play their hands and expose themselves trying to retaliate against King who isn't even present, and perhaps I can capitalize on a mistake to topple their entire structure."
Then you ask Nails about the state of the investigation of Mateo's disappearance. He offers a sadistic chuckle. "Best we don't look into that one too closely sire. I told Kane when he got back from the desert he had a year to kill his first man if he ever wanted to inherit my position. Elves don't count. But don't worry, I'll put on a good show of trying to solve the case for the De'Villes if Burt wants help. Pretty sure everyone will believe the crocodile story though."
---
Have a conversation with our Marshal in a holy consecrated site about the plausibility of an Orc attack.
Also ask how much time and resources are going to be needed to finally build a proper stone wall for St. Arawn for a plausible full army attack by the Bloodstone Raiders
Finding a proper consecrated holy site for a private discussion is rough. When it was taken from the Orcs, Bride Price had no large temples. Large Imperial worship services are typically held at the riverside amphitheater just outside the city walls, but because the Orcs used to use the venue for terrible rituals of their own, the clergy refuse to officially sanctify the place.
Instead, you find yourself standing in a small wooden gazebo with a statue of a pretty naked woman in the center, dedicated to Aria, one of Agusta's generals and the Patron Saint of disinherited women and army camp prostitutes. The gazebo is one of several such shrines constructed by your great-grandfather's soldiers and clerics following their conquest of the city, and as it sits in the literal shadow of the Mahallo Grand Temple, in a neighborhood were only the Mahallo elite dwell, it is the least frequented of the bunch.
Horton the younger is a bit taken aback by the unusual meeting place, but he obediently gives you the requested briefing nonetheless. "If the Bloodstone Fortress were to fully commit to an attack, and you responded by uniting every clan of Mahallo raiders, we estimate they would only have two thirds of our numbers. If you were to add our forces to theirs, you would get the number of men King Penteram keeps stationed on his southern border specifically to put out fires on the Frontier. Considering this, whenever the fortress goes on the offense against us, their enemy is the calendar, not the human soldier. They can raid our wealth and slaughter our people, often unopposed, but only for a time. Eventually they have to retreat before either we or Penteram organize a force they cannot beat."
Inverting the situation, and forcing the orc-kin to defend, would be a poor idea. "If you were to draw a map of the world, and replace everything but the Titanlands with ocean, the Bloodstone Plateau would be an island. The same logic defying geography, The same magically hardened stone, and the same history of being impenetrable," your Marshal explains.
"An army of humans would only be able to assault that fortress head on if they had either artifact siege weapons from the age of the God Empress, or several dozen heretic casters specializing in destructive magic." Horton scratches his nose, "Similar forts have been starved out by prolonged siege, or compromised by traitors from within. The residents believe, and if my grandfather were to have his way believe correctly, that if their fortress were to fall they would be subjected to genocide, so finding potential traitors may be tough. As for starving them out, by examining the rations of raiders we have killed, I have reached the conclusion that they likely have some sort of subterranean mushroom grow-op going on. I couldn't begin to guess how long their stores could withstand a siege, but there is a reasonable chance the answer is 'indefinitely'."
Next you ask about the walls of St. Arawn, and get an annoyed laugh out of your marshal. "Gramps insists on using only imported Titanlands stone in the walls. I highly doubt they will be finished within our lifetimes, sire. The good news is he should have a standing army tough enough to handle raiders far sooner than that. Next cool season he is sending agents out on desert routes to bypass the blockade. The idea is to purchase the gear he needs to establish a standing army large enough to repel the raiders. It will take a few years, and I'll be quite nervous in the meantime, but St. Arawn should be reasonably defended reasonably soon."
---
Anders summons you to his chambers, a decent sized and dusty room at the center of the Molar, lit only by candle. The walls are lined with bookshelves, and the floor haphazardly covered with bins containing literature that will not fit on the walls.
"I wasn't going to bring this up to you quite yet," your half-brother begins. "I'm still studying and practicing the magic involved. I'm not yet positive I can perform the rituals required safely or discretely enough for our purposes, but I believe it is possible I can cure what ails our brother Alan."
Anders rises from his seat and begins to pace the floor. "The details are a bit unpleasant. I'm not entirely sure I could sell you on the process, much less mother or Phillip. But the thing is... I hear you might be going on a hunt to the Outer Savannah soon. Although I need to work on both my methodology and my sales pitch before I can begin, one thing I would need is the skull of a powerful magical being. A Brush Daemon would suffice."
You consider the implications. Like their larger, more elusive, and more dangerous cousins from the Great Desert, no two Brush Daemons are alike. They are usually the size of an elephant, the shape of a hyena or predatory feline, and possess some form of dangerous breath weapon. Conventional wisdom states you need at least two dozen men and a few casters to face reasonable odds of bringing one down. Although their corpse would not trigger a nationwide boom in magic item production like a Sand Daemon's would, you could still likely get a cool trinket or two out of the remains, perhaps more if you decided you don't like whatever Anders ritual to cure Alan might be and use the skull for other things.
The problem is, Kane was planning on keeping the hunt down to a small handful of people. You probably could siphon enough extra hunters from the raider clans or wedding guests from Penteram's court, but in doing so would spread the word that you are leaving for a hunt, and defeat the plan Nails came up with to bait the city's criminals into exposing themselves by attacking an absent king.
How do you want to handle the hunt?---
Everybody who is anybody in Bride Price, St. Arawn, or the distant court of The Titan Canyons has gathered at the riverside amphitheater. Most of the guests are quite tired; Today's festivities take place at the crack of dawn to protect Marion's sensitive skin. You have never actually witnessed a royal wedding in the Imperial Tradition before, but have simulated a few under the tutelage of Matriarch Mire, and know how they go.
As the landed partner in the marriage, you depart the amphitheater and hide behind a nearby pillar after getting a good look around; You are not allowed to be present for the first part. You hear applause, which turns to gasps, catcalls, and louder applause. You imagine Marion on stage, disrobing to only her undergarments to be inspected by your family, and giving final confirmation to the assembled clergy that she is willing to go through with the union. The clergy then quickly brief her on the duties of a Queen Consort, and she gives confirmation that she is willing to take on those duties as well.
This process takes a bit longer than you would expect. Perhaps nobody rehearsed this part with Marion, and she was taken aback by the duties of her new office. Or perhaps one of the clerics choose to give a brief sermon directed at your bride. Either way and eventually, your groomsmen Andre, Keanu, and Kane approach to lead you into the amphitheater. The stage is decorated with a pulpit, many flowers, and a single large purple tent, inside of which Marion is now waiting for you. The tent ensures Bride and Groom do not lay eyes on each other until the apointed moment, while allowing the audience to still audibly witness the eventual consummation of the marriage, and the unlanded partner to hear any speeches and sermons that take place beforehand.
Like with any ceremony of the Imperial Faith, any present clergy are permitted to first speak. Unlike any other ceremony you are ever likely to partake in, however, you will be expected to select one of the speakers to lead you into the tent, administer wedding vows, ensure that both Marion and yourself understand the mechanics of the marriage bed, and bear eyewitness to the consummation of your union.
To pick a cleric is to implicitly endorse the views expressed in their speech.Anders is the first to speak. No great orator, your half brother chooses to recite from written transcript the speech your father gave at his second wedding to your mother. As your mother was clearly pregnant with you at the time, the wedding was performed as it would have been for a pair of commoners, with no tent or witnesses required. The speech itself is a fairly dry affair: a brief survey, summary, and explanation of several texts from scripture on the topic of love, concluded by an admittedly well composed love poem, and a prayer for the health and safety of Anne, who fittingly is as pregnant now as she was then. As awkward as it would be to have your brother supervise your marriage bed, you are grateful that he presented you with an apolitical option to endorse if needed.
Penteram's Bishop Jordain is next to speak, and you can tell right away he is trying to get ahead of whatever Jasper and Clarence might say. His is a fire and brimstone sermon, warning how many are lead astray by prophecy and lead to think that they are free to violate the laws of Agusta's church in pursuit of destiny. He then goes on to tell the stories of several men throughout who thought they were marrying or raising the Eclipse Mother, only to be undone by their own hubris. He concludes by thanking you in a way that implies, but does not outright state, that Marion's very existence is a burden and threat to orthodox worship, and that you have done him a great service by removing her from The Titan Canyons.
Marion's guardians speak next, and take the exact opposite tone. Jasper speaks first, citing examples of times that Agusta and her family chose to follow prophecy over the law and were rewarded greatly for their choice. He stresses to you that by marrying Marion, you have ensured that your descendants will someday strike a great victory for humanity, and will enjoy relative freedom from the laws of the church in pursuit of that destiny. Clarence speaks next, focusing his speech on the body of evidence in prophecy that your bride is the genuine Eclipse Mother. He is careful not to directly espouse Jasper's radical ideas, but he does not reject them either. By making himself look reasonable in comparison to his partner, you can't help but note that Clarence has offered you a route to endorse your bride's potential destiny without looking like a complete radical heretic.
Your own Bishop Guthrey speaks last. The elder cleric simply states that he has nothing to add to Anders' opening speech, and that you and Marion are both blessed to have such a wise and learned cleric in the family. He prays that Agusta's clergy will grant you the guidance to navigate prophecy with wisdom over the course of your lives, and again drops Anders' name in that context. Applause breaks out, as the gathered audience understands that the old man has just endorsed Anders to succeed him in the important office of Bishop of New Mahallo. For his part, Anders appears mortified. You know he aspires to become Bishop someday, but that he also cares for his family and might not take kindly to the fact that your wedding was just hijacked for his political gain.
With the last speech over, Clarence and Jasper approach you in their role as Marion's family. They present you with a large bronze dagger, which you will use to cut off Marion's few remaining articles of clothing once you enter the tent. Your family would have given Marion a similar gift to serve the same purpose. Brides and grooms with 'experience' traditionally invite their partner to use their knife to inflict a wound that will scar, offering up other flesh and blood in place of their virginity. Thinking back to your encounter with Halia in the basement of the grand temple, allowing Marion to cut you would be an expression of honesty and piety... Then again, it might be better for several reasons that you don't go advertising your interactions with the double agent druid.
Will you ask Marion to Scar you? If so, do you want it somewhere visible or concealed by clothes?The audience falls silent as you grip the knife.
The moment is now at hand to pick a cleric to lead you into the tent. It would not be inappropriate to give a brief speech explaining your choice, or reupdating a speech you find particularly disagreeable. 
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Topic: (SG) Petty Kingdom of New Mahallo: Reign of King Arawn (Read 20154 times)