Double posting to bump. It's been over 18 hours!
An elderly Duke Vlorinth, suffering from a supposedly incurable mental illness, had started giving bizarre orders, tried to have random citizens executed, and had repeatedly ordered the council dissolved for ignoring his orders. The Nedici spearheaded the vote to kick him out of office, and was fully supported by the council.
Three main contenders to become the next Duke were brought forward.
The Nedici candidate was an experienced merchant. Her highly mercantilist views promised to bring great wealth to Xeniice, concentrated in the hands of the few. The council and top gnomes of each faction would know the greatest luxury imaginable.
The Arlenth candidate managed several workshops and had popularist views; he was supported by the citizenry. Xeniice would create its own wealth, supported by her current colonies.
The Azuri candidate was a spirit-speaker. He wished to focus Xeniician resources on learning more about spirits, improve Xeniician mastery over golems, both for defense and improving quality of life, and build more colonies for extracting magical resources.
The Oro, Lozanth, and Kalron candidates were received poorly, and stepped down in short order.
A few of the citizens in the colonies had begun to openly question exactly why they were shipping nearly all of their wealth back to Xeniice. All they received in return was supposed 'defense', but minimal garrisons were deployed to each colony, and word of independent towns was widespread. If they got by without issues, and were able to find the highest bidder for their exports, why shouldn't the gnomish colonies?
Recent use of golems had left a largely insignificant portion of the population jobless. The families, naturally, insured that they had food, basic housing, and a small stipend for personal spending, but many wanted more. They became more bards, and made new creative works. Annual competitions of plays were held, with the winners receiving wealth and great prestige. One such winning play, The Loss of Nations, was a grim prediction about how all colonies across the known world would rebel from their master cities and end known civilization in massive civil wars. The council was alarmed by the prospect, and promised that each colony would have a single vote in for the next duke, while each family would have two. A 50% majority would be sufficient to choose a new duke, regardless of the originally intended rules. The mutterings of colonial unrest were laid to rest - for now.
Another winning play was The Wayward Adventurers. A band of adventurers find an ancient ship, accidentally 'feed' it sky diamonds while resting, and it begins to fly. They then travel across the Xeniician empire and into unknown lands, fighting monsters and generally getting rich. Pure fantasy, of course: Ships cannot fly! Despite this, it captivated the hearts of the masses. The Oro and Nedici realized the implications of being able to use their naval advantage over land. The Azuri and bards were fascinated with an 'impossible' puzzle. If they could solve this, what couldn't they accomplish?
Perhaps because of this play, the Azuri candidate won. Him being the least interested in politics doubtlessly helped, as the council believed he would leave more matters in their hands.
Lorr became the third duke of Xeniice.
Author
Topic: At the Dawn of Time discussion thread (Need a replacement player!) (Read 57756 times)