pre-politics

[cellio]

May 26 (Thursday)

Last night Turok and I spent some time talking about statesmanship. I'm really glad he's part of our group; even though his knowledge of how these things work is from a foreign land, he still has more experience than I do. Much more. But he's sure he doesn't want to rule, he said.

He said that if I am to be empress (which seems to have Agondre's support), we must craft an impression of me as the prime force in saving the world. I objected that this isn't true; we were all involved, and many others were too. But truth is irrelevant, he said; we're talking about public opinion, not facts. I have to agree that he's probably right, though I feel pompous for claiming more credit than I'm due. He and Seamus and I will talk about the best way to craft this message. If we do it right, I won't actually claim anything; I'll just show up aglow with Agondre's magic and blessings, and that will be that. At least publicly.

Soon we are going to have to deal with the dukes, each of whom wants to dominate, it seems. Lareth and Leopold will almost certainly play on their personal connections, and then there are the others. But for this to work I feel strongly that no one duke must dominate the others; we must build cooperative relationships. Turok reminded me that "relationships" isn't precisely the right word; I'm going to rule them -- benignly to be sure, but rule nonetheless. So, he said, we must present the dukes with a fait accompli, not call a council to discuss how to proceed.

We will also have to deal with Lord Marius. He's been very generous to us, and I presume he will expect something in return for that. I would value him as an advisor on our council, but it's not clear how that will interact with his obligations to Duke Leopold. The direct approach has served us well with him so far, so that's what we'll do.

The others returned from Oakhame this morning. Turok went out to direct the army units in the city, and Kyle and Viggo went with him. It's comforting but a little bit peculiar to see so many soldiers in the city now. Much as I'd like to join in that cleanup, particularly now that I can fling lightning around so readily, I'm going to wait a few days to establish Turok's clear leadership there in everyone's eyes. He's said he doesn't want to rule but we certainly all want him to stick around and play a major role; if we're going to build a campaign around me, we also need to do something around him.

Liandra spent much of the day with Agondre, as did I. She blessed him and we both played with him. He's bigger than he was yesterday. I wonder how soon he'll be as big as the elder Agondre. Liandra said that tomorrow she will start blessing crops throughout the empire; I suggested we go to Shepford together when we're ready.

I spoke with Olver about resetting the geas trap. Olver had discussed it with Delyan before the ghosts vanished. What we want to do is a little more complicated than I had thought; Olver and I will have to do some research.

May 27 (Friday)

Cleanup in the city continues, and I have set unseen servants to work cleaning up around the palace. We'll need to have this place in good shape before dukes start showing up.

Since most of the dukes are ailing, Turok suggested that we invite them to bring their heirs with them, and then have the heirs stick around after the coronation. This accomplishes two things, he said; it lets us work more closely with the people who will be ruling soon, and it discourages revolts from the present dukes. Sometimes Turok scares me with his strategizing.

I spoke with Zaid via the crystal ball today. The salamanders, too, noticed the effect on the land, and they were eager to hear the tale. And they have news for us -- when the world was put back together a baby oracle was born in the gorge of fire! She, too, is growing quickly. This is exciting! I hope to meet her one day.

May 28 (Saturday)

We've decided to hold the coronation on the summer solstice. That gives us a month to organize things. I hope that's the right amount of time.

I spoke with Nathan today. It appears that while they had a few bumps in the beginning, he and his crew have the ship well under control and pointed toward Aulos. He excitedly described the magic to me and I agree -- it's a fascinating device! I'm looking forward to spending more time with the ship later, after it arrives.

We left Gorrush-Kar in kind of a mess, and I've been wondering what to do about that. I assume that by now their emperor has noticed that his puppet-master is gone; who is filling the void? Or is the emperor actually going to step up to the job? Turok's description of the political landscape there sounds complicated. I'd like to establish contact (and peace), but this might not be the time. Turok rightly pointed out that we have our hands full here right now and that a little chaos over there might be to our advantage later.

Liandra and Viggo have been going from town to town, saying blessings over the land. (Well, Liandra's saying blessings and Viggo is going with her just to make sure there's no trouble. Or that's his claim, anyway; personally, I think they're grabbing what time together they can get away from the hustle and bustle of Cardior.) They've covered the major parts of Tergia and have started on Thoracis and Lescap. In a few more days Liandra will be ready to widen the circle more.

June 1 (Sunday)

Last night a storm rolled in while Hrolf and I were alone in a wing of the palace. He knew the idea I'd gotten even before I vocalized it and he nodded approval. So we went to a door, he hopped on my shoulder, and we flew invisibly above the city looking for monsters. We found a large group near the edge of town and I blasted them with lightning. It was very satisfying, and Hrolf and I both thought we heard Agondre singing in our minds. I think he approves.

Let the others wonder tomorrow. There was a storm, after all.

Comments

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

Oh, for some reason I missed the part about the new oracle.

[cellio]

(Oops. Accidentally posted the reply at top level.)

Ralph said this at the end of the wrap-up session (it's the last thing I wrote down). I've been reassembling the bits from that session into an order that makes sense to me, since we went by theme more than chronology when we played.

(By the way, did Kyle go to Edwest Burrows before the coronation or after? I've been assuming after.)

Of course, Larissa's diary can only cover things Larissa knows about, so if you want the parts of Kyle's story involving the unicorn and Dalia to be here, you're going to have to help out. :-) I love the letters to Dalia you've posted in the past!

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

Kyle probably went a month or two after the coronation when things started to slow down. I'll see what I can do about Kyle's story at some point. He's not likely to share it himself. Dalia might tell parts of it when Kyle's not around though.