IC Scene: The Council Chamber (Provinces / Free City Event)

Varys smiled and started laughing.

"If you honestly believe that the Shadow can be removed that easily, I truly feel sorry for you. Singal has not had any problem with the Snake cult, and it has been a Free City for some while now. I assure you, we have had Snakes try to infiltrate us, and we have taken care of them. Much better care than you have thought, apparently. The Shadow can only influence Singal at the moment because of the unique mix of cultures and people in Singal. Ishkoman and Nal Tar are relatively safe from him. The Cult is bad for the Shadow. He would not risk having someone else take a hold on Singal. He has enough trouble trying to stay in power.

If you still believe the relative proximity of Ishkoman to the Shadow is a problem, then I would be willing to press Nal Tar instead. However, I must wait for Lord Azlanek's judgement on the matter. If our Lord decides to not show, then I will let the decision fall to a joint vote between Celduir and I. I believe this will be satisfactory."

"I stand with my suggestion. Even if he isn't found guilty, Aedin is too big of a threat to let him go. We can't send a message out to the other nobles that his behavior was acceptable. "

In middle of discussion, zekic rushed trough the chambers, in his usual armor with gountlet emblem. To everyones surprised, even angry sights he replied.
"What?! Yes i am late, yesterday had a few drinks to much at tevern! Not for you to judge me tough!"
Zekic took a seat near his grandmaster.

Loud thudding footsteps resounded down the corridor outside of the meeting hall, followed by a muffled voice, answered by the insistent plea by the guards outside

"...in session... disturbed"

This was soon followed by a loud crash of metal against the oaken portal. A moment of silence, then the doors flew open and the large frame of Sir Mastifus, Grandmaster of the Order of the Dragons strode through the opening. Behind him a Silvermist Halbardier was trying to get to his feet, his hand going to the short sword by his side. The Grandmaster turned as the soldier got to his feet, and his hand flew out sending a small object flying which was deftly caught by the startled guard.

"See, if ye Silvermists put as much effort in fightin' as you do in catchin' coins, ye may become worth a piss in a brawl. Go buy yerself an ale boy, and grow some hair on that weedy chest of yers" having said his piece, Mastifus slammed the door shut and stomped over to the table, and ignoring the maps strewn over the surface, he put his hands down and leaned over and glared at all those gathered in the room with his good eye, giving Kamos a broad wink when he saw the Griffin.

"Now, who's tryin to split up me beloved Ravenstern?" he growled, his face becoming serious once more.

Frowning on the interruption, Iskar turned to the Dragon grandmaster.

Welcome, Sir Mastifus. You arrive late to a quasi-royal summons, but that should not cause too much trouble.

He beckoned for one of the scribes in his back without turning around.

Chadwell, do hand the summary protocol to the grandmaster of the Dragon, so we might continue soon.

I advise you to take a seat, Sir Mastifus, we are in the middle of a ballot and once you have had a look at the different proposals, your own vote would be most welcome to clear up the matter. As for the destiny of the northern counties of Pendor, which you still like to call by their old name, we shall discuss this later.

Zekic took his look at man who just arrived, if he was talking about ravenstern, it must have been grandmaster of dragons,zekic liked this guy, he was rather aggressive against silvermists and worth of respect zekic spoke directly to scribes.
"Silvermist! As you may have noticed i am also late should'nt i have been given a protocol to? show some respect!"
However Zekic didint waited for iskar to answer and he approached Sir Mastifus
"My name Zekic Thunion of Laria, mind if we both listen to a summary?"

The Dragon nodded, and walked over to a free seat. He then threw his gauntlets onto the table and sat heavily, holding his hand out of the proffered sheaves of paper as he did.

"Fair enough" he muttered, his focus now on reading. Having glanced over the documents he looked up.

"There may be another way... What about making Valonbray the Free City? Just because ye remove the aristocratic influences, doesn't mean that its nay hereditary any more. Valonbray already stands as the commercial hub of the Fierdsvain mercantile efforts, and sits central to the rest of Pendor letting it act as the central portal for foreign trade. This would nay mean deposing its lord either, Alderman Gundar might like the extra economic autonomy, so long as he gets the deed and keys to the city and keeps his place as a provincial governor. He's already a trusted lord of the realm, and well known to be an good administrator. The Shadow already proves that even a Free City needs a central authority figure, all we are doing is replacing his Ducal title with a Mayoral one, and removing the burden of the State from his shoulders. Ye ken?"

While waiting for the others to respond, he bent his ear to Zekic's words, and gave him a smile at the introduction.

"Mastifus of the Dragons" he said quietly, then handed him the papers he had already read while ignoring Marcus's sarcasm completely and returning his attention to the meeting at hand.

Zekic read trough a papers while listening of what Sir Mastifus was talking.
"I am supporting Sir Mastifus here, as it has been noted the the free city, must be a city with huge potential for trade, and such cities are in the east, those of former fierdsvain lands.While taking Aedin Redsword from his post, might reduce his power, red dawn could have gained alots of influence amongst the merchants of javishkholm, and by making javishkolm a free city, we might just end up with council of red dawn supporters, instead of one lord, furthermore it would give more freedom to red down, we just probably gonna end up with another shadow, but this one from red down.Volonbray makes a better choice as it is more loyal to us, and merchants would like to keep the support of the crown by remaining loyal.

Further on red dawn, if what was told here by Knight of dawn is true, red down should be dealt with immideatly, we can not allow peasants to suffer. And it should be dealt this way, that red dawn is never a threat again.

Sir Azrael was looking at the fruits on the table. They were far more interesting than the constant bickering between the knights present. However, his thoughts were cut off by the loud and dramatic arrival of Mastifus. Sir Azrael was partly glad that there were more familiar faces in the room, and partly worried about the new bickering the man's nature was bound to cause. Still he tried to start a small conversation with the familiar grandmaster.

"Ah, it is good to see more familiar faces here. Any news from the north, Grandmaster Mastifus?"

Sir Aranor nodded towards Mastifus as he entered.

"It is good to see you Sir Mastifus. I hope that you and your order have only met success in your stewardship of the north."

"As for the free city, the choice must be one that benefits our realm politically and economically. Economically-wise, yes, the port of Valonbray would benefit from being made a free city. Politically, our kingdom would not. We need strong nobles, not mayors. We need strong, loyal vassals in the aristocratic circles of our kingdom.

As for Javiksholm, we would be getting the benefit of removing one of the more dangerous nobles and reducing him greatly. That is a major political advantage, we can send out a major warning to all enemies of the king.

As for any concerns of the Red Dawn's influence, I can guarantee you that the merchants do not like them. In fact, the Red Dawn are targeting the merchants mostly for their burnings. They burn them and seize their assets for the church. The major Red Dawn supporters are from Aedin and his household. All nobles.

The only 'support' that they would have gotten would be from intimidation and fear. They are doomed to fail. The moment that their head supporter is gone, they will wither and go away. And if they don't go away, my order will make sure they do.

A rogue order, one that pays no homage or respect to our king, one that disrupts the region and kills law-abiding citizens would be uprooted and squashed.
A vassal that has made clear his open contempt of our king and openly threatens his neighbors to bow to his demands would be taken out of power.
A port city would reach its full potential and open a new door to international trade.

A shadow would not rise in Javiksholm. The Merchant princes are independent and competitive, they are not about to allow one of them boss the others around. If one does rise, he would not stay long in power."

"I don't think that red dawns influence can be diminished so easely."

"No offense to you or you'r order Sir Aranor" Zekic quickly added, but it didint felt genuine, then after a pause he continued


"You are right.Red dawns influence comes from fear and intimidation, and those are powerfull tools,as i have learned from my own experience.Even without head supporter, red ones certainly got alots of power, and it will take quite some time to root them out from Javishkholm. If we give Javishkholm a right of free city and it would be controlled by council of members, i believe part of those merchants, would still work with dawn, in fear they might lose alots of money and income, and dont forget merchants are all about income. Loyality, and prosperity of others come second to them when they'r own assests are in danger, you see Sir Aranor, you say you'r order would deal with Red Dawn, but that's what Merchants are afraid of - to be involved in, so called civil war between dawns, they would rather have deals with red dawn, then risk to lose money, while you are busy rooting them out.

I would suggest making Alderman Gundar a lord of Javishkholm, this way we have a loyal lord in control, so he can bring stability to the city, and step by step root out the red dawn.Merchants mostly care for themselves, and we need someone who would care for the whole country, and make sure red dawn pillagings and burnings do not continue.Also it would show to Alderman Gundar, that King Mordred trusts him, possibly making him even more loyal. And as you sayed we need strong and loyal lords.

Volonbray diffrently from javishkolm is complitely stabile, and we can be sure that merchants, while minding they'r own business and profit, will still stay loyal to King Mordred"

"Very well. So we have made our points and the votes have been cast. Constable Iskar, as the chair of this meeting, how would you suggest that we proceed?"

Patience, Saeros, we are still waiting for several votes.

"Greeting's to ye Sir Azrael, have ye created any more wonders like those bloody great siege shields? Me Dragons could have done with a man of yer ken at Javiksholm! We'll have te talk later about recent events, now though we need to see to the problems of the realm, aye?" Mastifus said, acknowledging the Griffin engineer, he then turned to Sir Aranor and Zekic.

"Ye make good arguments Sir's Aranor and Zekic" Mastifus began, giving the Dawn Grandmaster a quick nod while pausing to consider his next move.

"... but ye have nay convinced me. To ye, the Free City is a punishment, I dinnae see it that way. Its an opportunity, a chance to grow the economic well being of a region, nay the realm. To use it to oust such b-" he continued, ending with a shrug and an apologetic glance at Isabel.

"If ye use the Free City status to strip a noble of his rank ye risk making more enemies than ye could imagine as all the lairds get nervous about their positions, and lairds in the future will mistrust all economic reforms for fear of their powers being lost, even if then its done with a wee bit more subtlety. Scared lords are nay but bad news, if only because they will then question every decision made by the King in the future" with this the Grandmaster sat forward more eagerly, his good eye blazing as he looked around the table.

"Nay. Progress must be embraced, and those loyal to the crown rewarded with beneficial titles. Fer too long Pendor has been negative and worried only about disloyalty, its time to look forward to a new, and more prosperous future where friends of the realm are thanked and its enemies are given a proper boot up the arse, and not just sent poisoned words!" he continued, finishing with a jab at the air with a finger.

"The Dragons say Valonbray" he concluded, reaching out for the notes of the meeting and returning to their study.

"While I prefer and appreciate your views, Sir Mastifus, I must express caution again at this policy."

Isabel took a moment to pour a cup of wine for the Dragon Grandmaster herself, and pushed it towards him.

"To make a Free City as a punishment will cause His Majesty many headaches, and cause every Order that speaks in favor of it grief. If this path is to be pursued, the Lord of the city must be compensated as best we can. That is to say, the Duke must be given new lands where they can be found, and a pension from the city to maintain his dignity. The condition that the Constable has proposed is admirable, but is as dangerous as pronouncing a man guilty of a crime before the King has ever heard the charges.

"I await the other votes, my Lords."

Upon Mastifus' entry he couldn't help but smirk and rub his face thoughtfully at the... Memorable imprint the Grandmaster had left upon him.
As the proceeding continued he frowned for a moment before speaking as soon as he saw his chance.

I believe my stance on Marleons is misunderstood. For now I propose that it would be an, temporarily, Independent Duchy. Declaring it a free city would agitate an already seemingly irate Lord. In time the Duchy would come to be integrated into the Crown Province or the Provincial area of Laria should the Duke be willing to aid efforts there. Furthermore this draws a great deal of focus to the area by the aristocracy and may pressure him into becoming more mailable.

Beyond that I support merely the expansion of the Free City of Singal to include a port. In a show of unity as the Legion suggests perhaps it would be wise to show greater support to the Lords and Order of the former Empire. I would be well in favor of a unified effort to aid against the Snake Cult. They are hardly a friend to any and we must act as one.

Otherwise I support no other status to a Free City. I don't feel we can set precedent for removal of Duchy status, these sorts of things must be achieved more naturally lest the alienation of the aristocracy take place. Furthermore I see even less reason to remove the Duchy status from cities of the former D'Shar for any reason.

Zekic looked at Isabel with pleasant smile.
"I complitely agree with this elegant lady right here, but it's not her charms are working, but a truth comes from her lips"
He switched his focus to others.
"Free city should not be treated as a punishment, our majesty got other ways to deal with disloyal lords, concept of a free city, is to bring a huge profit to the city, and as much as my order dismisses money, wealth is very important part of the kingdom. Surroundings of rich city will flourish, peasants will thrive, volonbray, i will repeat myself, is a stabile city in which merchants are loyal to the crown, this city is allready improving in right direction, if we accelerate the improving of it, it will do wonders for a city and surrounding lands.

The military of the city could stay in lords hands, however would be entirely supported by merchants, this way merchants pay for theyr own safety.And with Order of want being in the city, surroundings soon would be safe for peasants, and fisherman alike."

Iskar listened closely to what had been said while absent-mindedly playing with the quill in his hand. Finally he rose to speak.

Some valid points have been made. Sir Mastifus is right, that the deed of a free city should enhance the commercial opportunities and the economic wellbeing of the respective region if not the realm as a whole. However, as we have seen before, there is no proper way to compensate for the loss of a duchy. Certainly not by minor lands and some money, and neither by changing their title. What would the other nobles say if his majesty deprived his own father-in-law of his birthright as duke to give him the hollow title of mayor, that in case of doubt has to bow to the authority of the city council - unless of course, you want to thwart the idea of a free city by just renaming the ducal title without stripping it of its power. No, these are obviously no viable options.

Therefore, another free city inevitably implies the punishment of a traitorous noble - or the disbandment of a duchy whose ruler has died with a rightful heir.
In any case, we currently have no sufficient information to be sure of either.

In the light of everyone voting only for their own suggestion and since his majesty's offer for a free city will not expire the day this meeting finishes I suggest we leave all dukes in place and keep in mind that once the necessity arises the kingdom still has such a powerful instrument at hand to settle the matters of a traitorous or rulerless duchy.

Do I have your agreement on this matter or do we need to carry on with the discussion?

"The same is the case with the siege plans. Better left for the aftermath of this meeting." Sir Azrael concluded, and returned to his normal silence. Although he was now thinking about all that had passed.

"Must admit, your points have some truth..silvermist. But not to much."
Zekic's eyes flashed as he talked to Iskar
"I think the best option for free city is volonbray, economicly wise, i think it should be made a free city as soon as opportuinty arises. And such opportunity would arise, if king decides to dismiss one of bigger lords, of theyr title, like Aedin Redsword mentioned before, if he is dealt with, we got a pretty much free city, King could give it to his vassal to compensate loss of another mayor fiev. King could give some additional lands, taken from disloyal subjects, if Vassal thinks, excange of mayor fievs wasnt fair to him

In short, what i mean is that status of a free city should be given to stabile city with big economical potential, and not so stabile city should be given to trusted vassal"

Celdiur had remained uncharacteristically quiet for the duration of this meeting. He sat, his right ankle resting upon his left knee, toying with the symbol of Astraea that hung around his neck, paying careful attention to every argument that flew around the room like arrows. He had bided his time until the right moment, and as Iskar attempted to move the discussion away from the matter of the free city, his moment was provided. He moved, rising slowly from his chair.

"Unfortunately, my lord Iskar, the debate over the creation of another free city state is not yet over. We do not have an agreement on this matter"

He turned to Sir Mastifus, a warm smile upon his face, and inclined his head in a nod of respect.

"A warm welcome to you Sir Mastifus, Lord of the Dragons. You honour us with your presence your lordship. Though truly I began to wonder if you were coming at all. If you had even been informed of this most...prestigious council. A curious thought would you not say? Especially as the Silvermist put forward such a strong argument for tearing your homeland and territories apart. I wonder..."

Celdiur drifted off at that before turning his attention to the map table. He scanned it thoughtfully before his finger fell heavily onto its surface, to occupy the city of Nal Tar. He tapped his finger upon the spot a few times, still thinking.

"We have listened eagerly to your proposals, friends, and many a good point has been place upon the table. Now listen to that of the Eventide, short and sweet as it will be as our argument has been made for us already. Of all choices for the creation of a new free city state, the only practical and sensible option in my eyes is Nal Tar. It sits astride the western coast, easily the hub of mercantile sea trade in Pendorian territory, removed from the troubles of the southern oceans and the threat of the Snake Cult raiders. It stands as the closest port of call to the rich merchants of Barclay. Well defended by naturally, rarely troubled by the Vanskerry and bearing one of the most properous ports in all of Pendor with links to the wealthy cities of the Fierdsvain and beyond, Nal Tar stands only to go from strength to strength by granting it free city status. The opportunity that such a free state would have would be incredible"

"And besides which, recent events have left need of Duke Hamid's skills elsewhere. The Veccavian settlers that even now struggle to carve an existence from the harsh and unforgiving Jatu Plains are left in a perilous situation. In a land too arid for farming and with little resources of its own, how in Astraea's name did any of us believe that giving them such a home was in anyway practical? Or a mercy? Come the harsh weather that winter brings those people do not stand a chance. They must have a strong and capable leader to guide them, to teach them how to adapt and live off of the plains. Duke Hamid can provide both of these things in abundance. Yes, having to give up his seat in Nal Tar may be difficult at first, but he is a good and honourable man. Given the choice he will not leave the people of the Plains to such a harsh fate, and in time will build a province to rival that of any in Pendor. By giving Nal Tar the status of free city, we will not only be doing what is wise, but what is right. And by Astraea, that is worth more then any amount wealth that this world could yield to us"

"You have my vote on this matter, honoured friends. I stand with Nal Tar"

With that Celdiur gave the same nod to Iskar as he had given Sir Mastifus and took his place beside Ser Varys once again.

Zekic smiled, this knight was rather arrognat, self confident, it was rather a challenge he could not dissmis
"You talk of ignoring flaws, but you, yourself ignore an advantages, Legionere"

"You see, firstly only few cities got best potential for trade, those would be mostly Eastern coastal cities, as they enjoy a naval trade, and are somewhat secure from threats, our southern cities suffer from, snake cult for example. You are right, city recovery would be long, but the faster the better, and one wealthy city would help others to flourish. Kingdom of Pendor is united, but it still got alots of threats coming from abroad, snake cult is being a prime example, and we have no idea what else could come from unknown lands. Kingdom of Pendor must be ready for any challenge at any time, and dissmissing opportunity to accelerate the recovery of cities is certainly unwise.King got other methods to deal with disloyal vassals."