Meanwhile, Laying The Foundations strikes me as idealistic to the point of being over-ambitious.
All the reaching out to the elves is probably going to leave the King's Men (who apparently form the farming core of the colony) in a foul mood, just as the inspection comes into town.
And, frankly, I don't think that we have the leverage to even get the two sides to sit around the same table, given the implied depth of the feud, much less reach the desired coalition goal. For that matter, an arrangement that puts men of Middle Earth roughly in a position of parity with Numenoreans is likely to go over very poorly with the Numenor of this time period and probably reduces the usefulness of the "call the King" nuke option (a nuclear option that I see as dangerously unpredictable, as mentioned in a previous option).
So while I can see the appeal of an ambitious write-in, I don't think that it can be achieved.
So, to clarify, I did not write the plan with the intent that our "nuclear option" is something we would actually use. (Apologies if that was unclear.) Ultimately, whilst we could probably live with it, a Royal inspection does not solve a lot of problems for us either. (A possible outcome is that we could try to leverage it into getting
ourselves appointed as Warden, as the closest Sea Lord with royal descent, but I didn't want to threaten that because I think it would antagonise Hazrabân more than it would help.) However, the threat still works because Tharbad are clearly petrified that we will call their bluff.
I think it's valuable to take a step back and look at the last update and what they offered us for a moment. Tharbad offered us
half of their domain as a bribe, because they were so worried about us ratting them out. That does not suggest to me that this is a small motivator for them. Even if it's less populated, that's still a staggering offer, which shows how deeply they care about this. They must be quite profoundly desperate to offer something like that.
As much as it is ambitious, I think our proposal in some ways actually asks Tharbad for significantly
less than this. They give up no territory. They can still get payments from the surrounding Middle Men tribes to contribute towards the defence they provide, if less penurious in scope. In addition, we are offering to build their wall, which they really wanted, provide skilled labour, and eventual trade, as well as make financial contributions to the League
ourselves. That's a lot of juicy carrots there, and when you compare it to what they were already offering, I think it looks attractive or at least comparable.
Moreover, whilst this does in some sense mean we are dealing with the Middle Men as equals, it is still clear that the surrounding villages are in a subordinate position, even if they have certain rights. (We are also radicals, and have committed to viewing the Middle Men as fellow brothers and sisters as of the last vote: I think we have to play that out now.) This setup also deliberately plays to Tharbad's image of themselves as a defender and protector, not an oppressor. We are voluntarily offering to form a League in which they, not we, would be the predominant military power on land and the net financial beneficiary of League subsidy, for at least quite some years to come. That's actually quite a flattering offer, not a domineering one.
Lastly, I think there's an additional element here, and perhaps the most important one; the human element. Hazrabân acts proud, but he is a young man with confused feelings about his own heritage and his own legitimacy. In his interactions with Imrazôr and Inzilbeth, you can see how much he
desperately craves the approval and validation of of a real, legitimate Númenórean prince. The fact that Imrazôr was unhappy with his justifications and almost lost his temper in their meeting actually seriously upset and shook Hazrabân, almost as it would a child who had been scolded by an adult role model.
Imrazôr can offer him that approval. Imrazôr is a centuries-old Númenórean Sea Lord, one of the Wise, who can read the minds of lesser men and speaks with a voice of
command which even the earth and air will listen to. We wield a moral and spiritual authority which is essentially unimpeachable, representing a kind of status and legitimacy which Hazrabân has based his entire identity around idolising and trying to live up to, and that is a
powerful asset if we choose to deploy it. I truly believe that just with our words, we can bring peace here, and help the men of Tharbad find their way back into the realm of decency and light.
