Impromptu Breakfast Meeting

"Well, 'Walna, Thury and I have been discussing it for a while now, but who knows how much influence we'll actually have when everything is said and done," Selgrumel offered with a long-suffering look. "And I know there are people in our community and among our allies with their own ideas. That's only vaguely taking into account what will happen when our nobles come back into any sort of power..."

She shook her head wonderingly.

"Forgive my ignorance, but where are your nobles now?" Aleyn asked. "Maybe we could approach some of them and try to sound them out ahead of time."

"Scattered, mostly, or, like Hewalna, hidden. We've talked to some, but they've been pretty hesitant to gather, or put a lot of faith in what we're doing. They support the idea, and I imagine they'll muster some troops, but its a hard sell."

She shrugged.

"I mean, I get it. If I wasn't in the middle of this thing, it would sound too good to be true to me too, or like a fool's quest. I can't blame people, really, but understanding will be cold comfort out on the battlefield."

"Well - we're the ones who are putting ourselves out there for this. I don't intend to turn my back on it after we take the city, and I don't intend to let us get shut out of the process, either." He sighed. "It's going to take a lot of mediation, and a lot of time, and there is no way to make everyone happy." He frowned a little more deeply. "I was going to say that we'll be in a pretty strong position, as we'll be the ones with the city. But we'll see. We had a visit ...last night, I guess now, from a contact of ours in House Himrall. He's the one who told us about the Geyr Hextor being in Nachtur now. He also told us that there are going to be forces ready to step in if we can't pull this off on our own. It's good to know the backup will be there if we need it. It means the cult has a much lower chance of succeeding, and that's great. But the implications for our long term goals here are not so good. Even more than the people we have assembled right now, those forces are going to be outside of our influence, and they may or may not want any of the same things we do. I guess I'm a little worried because, whether or not we can pull this off ourselves, those forces will still be on alert... There's not really anything we can do about it, either."

Selgrumel threw here head back, sighing heavily. She stayed like that a moment, thinking, before responding.

"Did your contact say anything about what they had available? And, for that matter, why they're holding them back? We may not want the help if its too costly, but I'd kind of like to know what it is before we turn it down."

She growled in frustration.

"I really don't want to have to try to hold a city against other Nerathi, especially if we're also weathering attacks from demons and whatever cultists are left after we're done. I'd also hate to think we'll succeed only to have other people come in and exclude us."

"That's not going to happen," Vedran responded firmly. "But no, he didn't say. I can try and find out... I don't necessarily want to bring them in right now, but I wouldn't mind having them *officially* be in reserve to our operation, if we can manage that. That would be the, well, the relative ideal."

"What do you think you'd have to trade to get him to tell you that, though?" Aleyn said dryly.

"I don't think it really works that way - we're not really bargaining with him. He is trying to help us..."

"He could be a little more forthcoming and a little less annoying, then."

Vedran shrugged resignedly at that. "I just assumed it came with the job."

"I seriously doubt anyone's paying him for this. It's a... a hobby, not a job." Aleyn was grumpy from lack of sleep, even though the coffee was helping a little with that.

"Occupational hazard, then? Drink more coffee, grumpypants, we still need to deal with my Father later."

Selgrumel smiled at the banter, taking a long pull of her coffee.

"So, I'd been meaning to ask something about Lord Jesseryn, but the book seemed like the wrong place. He's really okay with this? Vanilorrans have never really been friends to my people...I can't imagine he's getting a lot of support from the rest of your House."

"I don't think my father has terribly concerned himself about having the support of the rest of our House since he moved to Highmark. He has his own priorities, and they're really not what anyone would consider traditional by Vanilorran standards. He wants Nerath to be strong and accepts that it will be stronger if we can better integrate its peoples. Also... He is willing to support me. I think he'll stay on our side as long as we can do this without causing any irreparable damage to the confederation we already have, if he sees what we are doing as beneficial in the long term."

Selgrumel listened intently, nodding. She seemed to consider the idea, a strange look on her face. It spoke of a weariness, an uncertainty few saw in the hobgoblin warlord.

"That's what worries me. I want to see Nachtur...restored isn't exactly the right word. Resettled, I guess. I just worry that it'll change too many things. I know, even three hundred years in, how fragile Nerath can be. I don't want to see our city reclaimed just to lose our country."

"Well, yes. I think we, at least, are on the same page here. Things are going to change, and in the long term, it will be for the better. But it is going to take work, and I think we need to make sure that we, and other people who share our perspective, are involved if the process of figuring out Nachtur's place to do what we can to keep the peace and not compromise on the important things... If we have plans, ideas to work from, that can give us somewhere to start... This is why I want to know what ideas you have, so we can try and lay in some of the groundwork."

Selgrumel gave a wry smile.

"All we have are ideas at this point. Ideally, we'd like to make it so that, in the city at least, there is no such thing as an NPC. If you are a citizen, you have the same rights, privileges, and obligations as anyone else."

"Between 'Walna, Thury and I, we're hoping for a city council much like Highmark has, though maybe not divided by district. Personally, I'd like to see it not get to unwieldy, and hopefully set aside seats for nobles and commoners alike. Like, three noble seats, three commoner seats, and three up for grabs, something like that."

"I think its important to make a place not just for our own nobles, but from all eight cities, if we can manage it. We need their support in domestic affairs in the long run, and we need to make sure that Nachtur is seen as part of Nerath. We just have to make sure they don't set up the exact same power systems here. Its going to be one hell of a balancing act."

"Hopefully, in the long run, we can get our 'marks recognized, and eventually make for a more equal place for our people everywhere."

Vedran nodded. "That all makes sense to me, but I'm inclined to think that having your marks recognizes - or at least legalized - is going to be an important step in having your nobility recognized... and that's going to affect how we want to set up the government. If we can't decide who counts as nobility for holding positions, that could be a problem." He took a sip of coffee, thinking. "I wonder if, in terms of involving other nobles, and promoting integration, if it might be useful to have like...an advisory council of some kind, separate from the city council, on some kind of interrum basis? Let the city council deal with in city issues, and give this other group, which would be a mix of people from Nachtur and elsewhere, more influence when it comes to dealing with maters relating to inter-confederacy affairs? Maybe some kind of some kind of parliamentary appointment..." He shrugged. "I'm just thinking out loud right now, though. It is going to be tricky to balance no matter how we do it."

"I think we might be the advisory council, whether we like it or not," Aleyn said, a bit worriedly. "Not that I especially want to, but I mean, I don't really know who else will be in a good position. Or who else I would trust to do it..."

"This isn't the sort of thing we can just appoint ourselves to and expect to have any authority we claim respected, though of course I'm hoping some of us will be involved. I was imagining this would be a way of giving the other cities a way of feeling assured that their interest are being considered without giving them too much power.... but as I said, it is just an idea. But whatever happens, we're not going to have complete control over who ends up in power - the best we can do is come up with suggestions for structures that aren't oppressive and can be too easily abused. And even then...we can really only suggest." Vedran smiled though. "On the other hand, I do think we can be a pretty convincing lot."

"I'm just saying... making suggestions, coming up with plans for the future... that's what an advisory council does, isn't it? The actual government might or might not listen to us, but that's the role we're giving ourselves here. And we'll be the ones on the ground, the ones who did the hard work - along with many others, obviously, but I think we have to recognize we're going to be the ones who likely get most of the credit, or the blame - we can try to share it, but people already know our names, it's easier for them to attribute it to us." Aleyn shrugged.

Vedran nodded, taking another sip of his drink and tanking all the gods for strong orcish coffee. "I see what you're saying, and yes, that is certainly a role I hope for some of us to play, even if we aren't more directly involved. I also hope we will have a fair amount influence, and yes, they should recognize our role in the operation and take our voices into consideration on that account. But I'm talking about something else. Like Sel said - it will be important to make a place at the table for the nobles from other cities. It isn't that we want them to have power, though. We just want them to think of Nachtur as something that is *part* or Nerath, and to encourage them to see the city's development as being beneficial to them as well. It's about cultivating that attitude, as much as anything. Especially since we want to empower NPCs in the city itself. If we make them part of the project, it will be easier to keep them on our side."

"We'll need every bit of goodwill we can muster. We've got actual commitments from a few Houses, and I think your less official connections can get us more, but, ideally, I'd like us to be able to secure help from at least one family from each of the eight cities. Actual, official help, if not for the operation itself then for the aftermath."

Selgrumel got an odd look on her face, as though surprised by one of her own ideas.

"So, Roscoe says Ioun sent him, and us, on this mission, and the results so far have kind of born that out. Do you think we can use that to swing some Mythragali support?"

"Would getting Roscoe to speak himself about his experience to, well, whoever we think is most likely to be swayed be helpful? His recollections are a bit ... spotty, maybe, but at least it's a first-hand story rather than one of us speaking on his behalf."

"That would be great - we'll probably have the time for it, now, too. Brenn would probably know the best who would be useful to approach, though. Thru is already trying to get support from the church here, but I think we would want one of the Houses, like you said." He nodded to Sel. "We're pretty set in Highmark and Thantopolis... Grimfar is going to be hard, and the Elduar cities.... Well, I think Yondon might be okay. We have a few leads we could chase in Issenvik, but some other complications as well. I guess I'll try and get a hold of out Himrall contact and find out what more he knows. My father might have ideas for Vanilorra, at least.