A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Tenth Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC

The sun had already set and the moon is starting to creep over the sky above the pale rim of the Circle of Battle when you and Malarys finally decide upon the last of the four candidates. Selecting both of the immortals for their skills and for their tendency to think of policy and precedent had been the easier choice, though on the matter of who to balance them with you had argued back and forth for long enough that empty tea cups now littered the table like the skulls of some great battle hard fought.

Malarys had wanted the Tyroshi Syrio Coltherys on the reasoning that he would cause less talk and rumblings from east or west so long as his personal life should remain personal, which should be easy enough. You on the other side had argued for the formerly piratical Morwyn of Deepcleft on the reasoning that he would help balance out a court otherwise too cold and impersonal which his own brand of rugged practicality.

"All very well and good for Your Majesty to say that. He should be useful as a counterbalance to such as Javad Rahbar, but the fact of the matter is that they call the latter a hanging judge and not without cause, whereas five years past Morwyn would have been one of the men being hanged by any civilized nation," your friend argues with a faintly displeased twist of his lips. He had not ever shared a table with a pirate, though that might have been an issue once, before he had seen how the realm could put down roots in the most unlikely of soil, but simply having to play peacemaker in the face of beings who have honed their opinions and manner over centuries.

You incline your head an bend your ear to the matter. "Alright then..." you sweep Maekar's file off the table. "Say we get rid of him, you no longer have to watch over his attempts to play lawmaker. Would that make the task more bearable?" You had liked the idea of 'the slave lawyer' on the bench, his story would resonate with a significant portion of the population without being overly controversial.

"Who do you have in mind then, Your Majesty?" he asks, looking over the remaining offers. The faintest glimmer of amusement sparks in his eyes as he looks over the one you had scarce touched. "Not the fey I hope?"

"I'm trying to make your job easier, not drive you to drink," you snort. "Vynar Jokarys, the man should satisfy some of the Westerosi at least, having been long in the service of one of their High Lords even if he hails from Lys..."

"In the service of the Prince of Dorne," he corrects. "There are many in the Sunset Kingdoms who count the descendants of the Rhoynar as foreign as they would me, and they are worried over the influence the Prince wields through his niece."

"Then we can remind them that he is not actually Dornish and we can remind those who are worried over too many Essosi on the bench that he has served long in Westeros." You sweep your hand over the chamber and onto the tall floor length mirror. "What it shows is all about what angle you set it in. By the end of the third month I would wager most of those who actually have to deal with Master Vynar will be more concerned with his manner than his origins regardless, and in discussions he is like to be the voice of moderation you need when you need it against the intransigence of the undying."

"A fair assessment," he nods, and with that the decision is settled sure as a seal laid upon it. The nominations will be announced on the morrow with full fanfare, but it was in this room and in this hour that they were made, and before the night was out another name for another post would be added the Minster of Justice, the one holding not the gavel of a judge but the quill of an administrator.

"Any of the previous candidates bar the priest and the shadow fey could serve I think, but there were two more options looked over by the Inquisition, were there not?" Malarys continues. "There is Lornmar, he is in many ways the perfect organizer for a realm that is stitched together from so many threads and so swiftly, but for his more unusual opinions..."

"You mean the fact that he thinks we are not feeding the trees near enough?" you snort. That is not entirely a fair assessment of Lormar Tyos, you admit inwardly. The man is more than just some fanatic of the Old Gods, he had solid philosophical and ethical reasoning for why all capital offenses should go to the common good by way of blood sacrifice, it is just that he is not all that aware of the optics of his suggestions outside the circles of Sorcerer's Deep's academia. The fact that he is also a proponent of choosing the best for any job, which is often an immortal where and when he can find them, also make his appointment to high office less sure than it otherwise might have been.

The other person whom you might name is Kora 'the Kindly', a woman who earned her name early in your military campaigns as a legal attaché to the legions for supposedly being a cruel as the furies whom some would call 'Kindly Ones' so as not to incur their ire. In truth the woman, a trained Braavosi solicitor, is scrupulously fair and an expert in transitions from military to civilian administration. If she could be said to have a flaw it is her ambition and at times her disdain for what she sees as the follies of the old order. Thankfully she has no links to the power structures of Braavos and he speech and manner remind one more of the Deep than the Secret City, so at least you would not be blamed for yet more Braavosi favoritism.

Choose One:

New Options

[] Lormar Tyos
+Skilled Administrator (Good at actually managing the day to day tasks of any bureaucracy)
+Fixer (Has been sent to solve many tangled bureaucratic messes and come out on top)
+Xenophile (Works well with those of other cultures)
-Old Justice (A convert to the Old Gods, he is an outspoken adept of expanding blood sacrifice to all capital offenses)
-Immortal Meritocracy (Has a tendency to hire on long-lived or immoral subordinates whom he sees as more competent and more likely to last in their posts)

[] Kora 'the Kindly'
+Scholar of Military Law
+Transition Expert
+Well Known Impartiality
+/-Socially and Economically Liberal
-Ambitious

Old Options:

[] Maester Petyr
+ Westerosi (one of the few Westerosi who could serve as a Ministert all, naming him would alley the fears of an Essosi dominated High Court)
+ Quick (Marwyn praised his wit, which is praise he rarely gives)
+ Aura of Competence (over the years in the Citadel, he has cultivated the ability to appear knowledgeable and skilled, even when he was not)
- Untested (while he has some theoretical knowledge of litigating, he never did so in practice)
- Reluctant (part of feigning skill is to make sure nobody can ever test you to notice the lack thereof, so he is wary of accepting a position where he can not disappear easily)

[] Syrio Coltherys
+ Experienced (has two decades of experience as a lawyer and worked as a Imperial judge for the past two years in Tyrosh)
+ Unassuming (he is skilled at making himself look uninteresting and harmless, having led to many underestimating him)
+- Ambitious
- Secret Life (in private, he likes the company of whores and the taste of hard spirits, which would greatly harm his reputation if it became public)

[] Thomond Rain
+ Experienced Judge (three decades as a lawyer and one decade as a judge is about as much experience as a mortal man can have)
+ Diplomatic (has been rubbing shoulders with keyholders and the Braavosi elite since he was a boy and will make a good showing for himself on the political floor)
+- Favoring Wealth (he is a firm believer into the idea that amassing wealth is a proof of good character and will nearly always judge in favor of traders and other moneyed elites)
- Whispers of Bribery (while no actual cases of bribery have been found, that will hardly stop people from accusing him of such)

[] Maekar the Mongrel
+ Experienced (has been working as a lawyer for two decades)
+ Uncontroversial (he is still well liked by the former slaves as one of their own, while Magisters consider him non-threatening)
+ Good Orator (has experience in public speaking and served in the in the Council of Voices of the Hegemony of Volantis, making him a good spokesman in the Curia)
+- Socially Conservative
- Overreach (is likely to try to not only interpret, but also to adjust and create laws with his rulings)

[] Parion Dyodrys
+ Experienced (worked two decades as a lawyer and has been acting as the highest judge in Tolos for years)
+ Diplomatic (has played a large part in keeping the peace in Tolos by negotiating with the local nobles and Relath, wich makes it likely that he will prosper in the Curia)
+ Clean Reputation (there have never been any scandals involving him and the background checks imply that this is very unlikely to change, as he lives a rather unremarkable and calm life)
- Stench of Nepotism (he is very much Relath's candidate in the eyes of many, making his appointment seem mostly a favor to the dragon)
- Old Entanglements (he had to make some deals in his role in Tolos, so some Tolosi nobles might try to cash in old favors)

OOC: I also took out Hightower without a mention in the narrative, that is intentional, Malarys did not take him seriously at all.