Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Dwarmin]

Averys seemed to be angry at all the writing she was having to do.

"I'd have prefered killing to all this paperwork...

Anyway.

Have you ever done Diplomatic work, Rigos? This House could use an envoy. With my brother out, I want to raise your station-my right hand, so to say. I know little of politics, except for clearly defined times of peace, war and on-aggression.

We lost many Minor Lords lately. I'd like to get some back. Do you think you can handle it for me?"

[Riccto]

Rigos raised his shoulders slightly

On Occasion your Father had me settle conflicts with words rather than firepower, But I may be a bit rusty for the art of diplomacy. But if you need me for that I will gladly be your Diplomat milady. I can make a point of regathering the support of the Lords but you know how petty they may be Averys, I am telling you this now that It will be a slight drain on us.

 Also, would you allow me to keep command of my Regiments or do you want me handing them over Ssalosin's command. To be fair they have become somewhat skilled maintaining the peace along with the security forces you have created. Mayhap a internal guard or something similar.

Also, I would be flattered to work as your right-hand Averys.

[Ghazkull]

((OOC: i don't know who again complained about Malcadors yellow, so i changed it to a grey....i hope this is better now...

As always Malcador had been hearing in. He was informed about every talk about every movement one of the Noble's did. After all it was his duty...

Seemingly from nowhere he appeared next to Aeverys and Rigos.

Lady Averys? May i congratulate you to your new position?

[Dwarmin]

Averys smiles icily, speaking plainly.

"You may, Malcador.

But, speak your next words carefully, bondsman. You are unfortunate perhaps, to be not in my list of favored people. So, my appointment will be difficult to spin your advantage, though I will not begrudge you to try..."

[Ghazkull]

((OOC: Short question by the way, is the speed of progress fine for you guys or too slow? I thought a starting phase of regaining space flight would fit in, similiar to the beginning of EOFS...))

The eyes of the advisor narrowed for a moment before his knowing smile returned.

My dear Lady, i have served your House since the Downfall and have never aspired to "gain" anything from it. all i ever had in my mind was to bring this House back to it's rightful state and beyond. And although it may seem impossible to you my Lady, i really just wanted to congratulate you to your new position and inform you of several matters that need your attention: One being the continuation of your line.

[Dwarmin]

Averys gave an imperious nod.

"You have my attention, bondsman. Continue with your report."

[Ghazkull]

Well, as you already know, you and your brother are the only two remaining family members of House Nova...at least on this world and of which we know of. I don't want to lay fires around the heretic thus is say it outright: you have to marry.

Malcador took a deep breath awaiting the wind he had just sewn to unfold into the mighty storm of Averys rage.

[Dwarmin]

Averys just scowls. Her own thoughts on childbirth were thus-around ten months of being weak, some of it bed ridden and helpless against assassins.

Her voice took a dangerous tone, silky smooth.

"...what man would seek to tame me, Bondsman? Who would dare?

It seems you have a difficult task ahead of you, then. Find me suitors worthy of attention. I will judge them-and you-on a singular basis. Political advantage is to be weighed with...personal traits. I'm sure you'll do a good job.

Or else."

[Ghazkull]

Malcador merely nodded, used to the emotional explosions of the female side of House Nova. Unwilled a memory flushed into his mind, of Averys great-aunt Ivaery, who at some point had him publicy flogged for being honest about her lute playing abilities. She mysteriously died to suffocation and later it was assumed that she commited suicide, due to investigations against him surfacing not a single proof of guilt. Although in the end many wondered why she suffocated herself with her lute...since that time no family member of House Nova had ever dared laying a hand on their otherwise deeply loyal and trustworthy advisor.

Well my Lady, there would still be the possibility to marry someone to your brother and let him do the "hard" work of repopulating the line. Otherwise i was so free and have prepared a small list of suitors...

[Dwarmin]

She waved her hand.

"Out with it, Bondsman-you try my patience with your games. Who are the popular choices?"

[Ghazkull]

Oh there are currently 4 suitors for you and several more for you brother, but i let you decide my lady:

The first one would be the Archon himself. Yes, i am not joking: Garth the Archon of Si'kar. Although the Orthodoxy and the High-Archon do everything but frown upon such a thing Archon Garth has offered you a marriage. The upsides are clear: The whole power of the Church on this planet at our disposal, the support from most of the minor Noble Houses and those, they don't deserve the term King, Warlords will be yours, who would dare to oppose the church after all?

 But the problem is that we would be bound very closely to the church, not only that but apart that the Archon could not hope to produce any offspring with you lest he be decreed a heretic and the Orthodoxy would not look kindly on such a bound in general, not to mention the hardliners among the different Ecclesia's. While we have the favour of the Ecclesia Custodes, especially the Ecclesia Iudicatos will oppose us. For the merest hint of a sin we would swim in inquisitors tearing apart our House.

The Second one would be Warlord, i mean King, Roin Scaleskinner. He was impressed by your Crusade and the Use of the Xenos as Slaves. He is a brutish man and lacks manners but is a a great warrior, commander and tactician. His troops are fiercely loyal and he commands the biggest kingdom on Si'kar. You would with one stroke gain control over a third of the planet. His kingdom is massive and his armies even more so. He however lacks a heir and once he dies it will be sure that his kingdom will fall into war and rebellion once he dies. The smaller kingdoms and the other Minor Noble Houses would certainly frown upon this marriage, maybe even ally with each other and form an alliance against us.

The Third Suitor is no other than Xarnos of the House of Cr'tok. You might recall that house Cr'tok had ruled this system before the Fall and was the leader in Genetical Engineering and Biological Warfare in the whole Empire. Xarnos is the last of his line, together with his 3 brothers and it was decreed that the one who first managed to marry a women of a Noble House might take the Leadership of Cr'tok. So far no other Minor Noble has dared marrying the Cr'toks, mainly due to their disagreements with the church, which led most houses to think that if they aligned themselves with the Cr'toks they would be marked as heretics and exterminated. This is not completely true. While the Church has a grudge against them, it has no proof of their heresy. And if a friend of the Church like us would marry with them, the situation would change. While we would certainly lose many of our supporters in the Church, it would help House Cr'tok rise from their decline. In exchange we could await massive help on our technological sector: Farming,Medicine, Bio-Weapons etcetera. It all would be open to us. This would present a great chance to raise this planet from this pathethic Neo-Dark Age.

The Fourth and Last one is Trade Prince Mervin laGrombe. A descendant from a CEO of Trade Si'kar and Beyond, he has established his own little Merchant Empire and the connections to allow us to trade at enormous profits. But not only could he provide us with a cash cow, but also with good relations to the other kingdoms and minor Noble Houses and thus a possible chance for an alliance. However he is the bitter enemy of Roin Scaleskinner, which means we would find ourselves in yet another war and this time without Church support. Roin is a good friend of the Archon and thus we had to face him with Mervin LaGrombe alone, except we could establish some kind of Alliance with the many small Kingdoms and Noble Houses.



Malcador takes a deep breath after this speech.

[color= grey] But there would still be a fifth choice. Letting your brother marry, although i must confess that for him there are at least 3 dozen wishes for marriages and i still have to sort out the more promising.[/color]

[Dwarmin]

Averys dismissed Malcador and everyone else while she made her decision.

Garth the Archon would tie the house into the Church-irrevocably and forever. In fact, there would barely be a House left at all, in the shadow of the Church. No guarantee of an Heir, either. She had to wonder why Garth wanted to marry her-surely, the rumors of 'sin' would swarm them both till the day they died, either of age or flameguns. Averys had never understood that particular notion, of chastity in eyes of the Pancreator. Surely, there were worse sins to hunt than what people did in the privacy of their bedrooms...she was more curious than anything. She wanted to meet him.

Roin Scaleskinner seemed a Warrior king fit for a Warrior Queen, if a brutish one. Rebellion she did not mind-alliances against them? More fodder for war making. He was immediately a popular choice to her-though she was worried he would relegate her to a lesser position once he had control. Then again, she reminded herself, if Roin was to march into her lands today, they would die to the man and not be able to stop him. It seemed a choice of chains, than-she only hoped he was bearable to be around...she chuckled-if they're position were reversed...

Xarnos...she had heard of him. The merger of the Houses would save them both, she supposed-but she understood the Churches concern, about the evils of biological tampering. She knew the Church had declared many lines of technology 'odious to Humanity'-some of it was right, to keep certain horrible technologies from ever surfacing. Some of it was meant to merely keep the people from advancing. She had seen the war brewing the two other suitors-this would leave them neutral...and able to choose a side, when the time came. He was her second strongest choice.

Mervin laGrombe was the probably the worst choice, in her own eyes. While the credits and economic benefits would be sound...she already saw him raising an army of lesser lords to combat Ronin for control of the planet-it would a classic match. Ronins legions of skilled, disciplined and extremely well trained soldiers Vs LaGrombes hordes of well paid, better equipped and supplied soldiers. In her own estimation, people like Ronin usually lost in these matchups, if only because laGrombe could afford to replace his armies and afford to lose battles, and Roin could not afford to lose once.

And yet, it would be a glorious battle, she mused.

Averys called Malcador back in.

"Arrange meetings with all four, Bondsman. We'll start with Roin, then Xarnos, then Garth and finally laGrombe. I want to look them in the eyes and see if they are worthy."

((OOC: @Ghaz: I think we can do all four meetings at the same time
Save post space. ))

[Ghazkull]

((OOC: i actually hoped that someone would use this opportunity to enter as one of the four suitors but it seems nobody is really interested....))

two weeks later

Malcador had prepared everything. The stage had been set, now he had only to wait for the players.


First Meeting: The Big
As expected Roin arrived with a modest retinue as befitted a man of his position but no more than he needed. All 30 were handpicked trusted personal friends of the "King". Each of them wore the scars of battle, each of them had been on the battelfield many times and that in the first row. And although clothed in furpelts and chainmail, unshaved unkempt beards and long dirty hair covering much of their faces, they wore wireblades...Although the men in his retinue each stood at least 2 meters, Roi even overtowered them. He looked like one of the depictions of the Grey Guard from pre downfall times. His right eye was blinded through the infection caused by a wound in battle but his left eye shone with a icy blue. His blonde hair was cut short and the reddish/blondish beard was well kempt and truncated...

_________________________________________

Second Meeting: The Alien

Xarnos Cr'tok was the second to arrive. His retinue merely composing of 3 men. 2 of them were his bodyguards, relics from the Prefall times: nearly 3 meter high hulking giants in power armor, their heavy bolter guns carried easily in one hand, moving with a nimbleness that you would have not trusted those mountains of ceramic and titanium. The third one was rather unremarkable, a smallish man, the size of Malcador, with similiar robes but weighing nearly double as much as the Advisor of Nova. More so he seemed at least 30 years younger. Xarnos himself proved to be...different. He stood about 1,85m, large but not to large, with a slender built, but not too slender, his short brown hair and undefinable eye colour made him a person you would forget at first glance. But only until you looked directly into his eyes or if he laughed or smiled. It had something enticing and yet definetly something cold and alien to it. His mouth seemed to be to wide for a human, but on the other hand it seemed...attractive.

__________________________________________

the third meeting: The Priest
((OOC: i leave it to you dwarmin how you would like Garth to look and behave, as you earlier wrote that he was a friend of Aeverys.(or at least i red that somewhere)))

The Archon arrived with a retinue befitting him, flanked by templars, an inquisitor, servants, and several priests...

__________________________________________

The Fourth Meeting: The Glutton

LeGrombe arrived by far with the largest retinue. Several hundred Hired Sellswords, Handmaidens, Servants, Jesters, Jugglers and so on, flocked to the banner of LeGrombe. He was transported ina palanquin but as he left, unlike his retinue, he wore business clothing, completely contrary to the attire of his retinue. The stick thin man had a serious face and his suit fitted him like a second skin...

[Dwarmin]

Averys met each of them in turn...

First Meeting

Averys didn't say anything, she merely walked toward the giant man and stared up at him with a small smile. She was glad he didn't blink in his remaining eye, but merely stood stoic. She admitted to herself...he was not unattractive. And the eye-he could have replaced it with cybernetics, but he had not-like she did, Roin kept his scars as a reminders.

"King Roin Scalesinner, I presume? Are you the man who would have me tamed-a hand maiden for your bed chamber, perhaps, and no more?"

Without another word, she whipped out her own Wireblade snapping it toward the King, with perfect grace and form, watching the guards react with well honed reflexes...a second too late. Roin made no move to dodge, but Averys was sure he could have. It went slightly to his left, splitting the air. She was glad to see he did not flinch, but merely returned her smile.

"I challenge you then, King-a duel to first blood, to prove your honor. Do you accept?"

Her smile was a confident one.

Wireblade fighting was deadly to everyone-a single flick of the monofilament blade could cut through the strongest power armor, and a normal man it followed, was likely to be mangled beyond belief with a square hit. Since Wireblades could not be parried, slowed or blocked, it relied in the users agility, reflexes and a degree of extrasensory intuition to dodge them-something possessed by most of true Noble Blood. Of course, the fusion battery charge of a wireblade didn't hold for long, making duels something of a race against time-each side trying to strike the other and claim the honorable victory. Averys had three notches on the hilt of her Wireblade, for the three lives she had taken with her own.

For Averys, It was time to see if Roin was worthy of her attention.

Second Meeting

Averys shook her head, licking her lips. There was something...off here. She didn't feel it was a trick or that she was in danger, and yet...something was off. Maybe it was her normal senses seemed to not be working. Normally the guards would have not intimidated her, but the combination of them and Xarnos was somehow more unsettling than it should have been.

"Xarnos Cr'tok. Greeting from House Nova. A pleasure to meet you.

Business...you wanted to speak business with me?"

She blinked a few times. There it was again. A sort of dimness, a shadow in her mind-like...she had felt it before. Then that secret weakness revealed-she licked her lips once more. What game was he playing here?

Third Meeting

((OOC: I'm not quite sure what you mean here, as I don't remember you introducing him before now. We can roll with it though.))

Garth was no giant, but he radiated power all the same-the power of Conviction. He was an honest seeming man, with faded green eyes and somewhat shaggy brown hair. Averys greeted him with at least half as well as she would have a friend, for she had known him well enough over the years. Many times, she had felt...something. Was it something important?

"Archon Garth. You invited me here, did you not? You wish...to be with me.

For the life of me, I cannot imagine why. "

She faced him, palms open at her sides.

"For, some would say our mighty Pancreator looks down upon those who devote their lives to him in full-and love for him, some say, should preclude love for any living being. So, why have you called me here? I have no patience for Church Politics, as you well know. So...let us speak, Garth, as we did before. In privacy, if your illustrious entourage will allow you to. Unless you are afraid I might lead you into temptation."

She smiled, and wondered how Garth would take her well meaning taunts in public. Normally he fired back just as hard.

Fourth Meeting

Averys frowned inwardly at the pageantry, but she was impressed by such things-the degree of planning and the absolute power he held was intriguing in a way. She decided to conceal her true self at this moment, and act as if she was more impressed than she was.

"All this for me? You needn't have, Sir LeGrombe. But it is quite a show...I'm impressed. Shall we go somewhere to discuss our business..." She said, with a smile that implied more than she had said.

[Dwarmin]

Bump for Ghazkull!

Though I feel I may have overreached a bit with the scale of my RP.

It's bound to be a bit overwhelming.