Can I have some details about the thing we've just built? It can theoretically open to any plane, right? And we're going to be opening stations on the other elemental planes eventually?
I've just had an idea and am rewriting the beginning of my speech.
And I've had to rewrite the whole thing because I was writing a rabble-rousing firebrand thing (love those!) and then remembered that we're speaking to bankers
There has to be attuned pillars part of the same network on both ends, but I'm assuming it was built with the intent to easily become a network, yes, rather than just sending/receiving between two fixed points.
In spite of having been born a princess and crowned a queen, Rhaella Targaryen did not truly love power for its own sweet sake. What she most desired was control, predictability. Even when her life had been at its nadir she had tried to carve out some small corner of it that was hers. A queen's power may have been a hollow thing in so many ways, but most at least had to play by the rules of courtesy before her, and so she had learned the ebb and flow of courtly life, she had made a place for herself. In Sorcerer's Deep, however, she was not queen to most, not even the queen mother, and hers was not the face she saw in the mirrors outside of her room. In some ways she embraced the freedom given to her to look upon the world head-on rather than from the deceptive height of a throne.
Tonight, however, she simply did not feel up to the challenge of donning her mask and mingling with the wealthy and the powerful from across half of Essos, some of whom at least must still be nursing bitter resentment towards her son. A conqueror is rarely loved by the conquered, that lesson the changing on the world had not yet overturned. Neither did she feel at ease sitting at her desk, practicing her music, or reading a pleasant book as she had relearned to do over the past half-year, not now with great deeds.
So it was that she found herself before the door of a woman she would have once disdained and pitied in equal measure whom she had come to realize was far more than her past.
"Come in, come in," Lady Alinor Torchwood called through the door. "I always recognize your steps in those shoes," she explained as Rhaella stepped into the study. Golden light washed over a simple oakwood desk, more notable for its size than the discrete abstract patterns carved into it. To her left a pair of bookcases were always over so slightly out of order as Lady Alinor's sense of aesthetics fought an eternal rearguard battle against the necessities of administrating the realm.
The conversation did not linger on the grand opening of the arcane gate for over-long, nor even to the recent conquest of Lys and Myr since royal bureaucracy was only beginning to grow the first timid tendrils towards either city which still found itself under the effective rule of either its old nobility or the the army... strange as it sometimes still was for Rhaella to think of an army as a permanent institution in its own right, able to offer rule and governance at need.
Instead they discussed the far east, the lands beyond Volantis that had been little more than tall tale and traveler's talk to the former queen in her first life. In a way the faint sheen of unreality made the numbers come into sharper focus on the page, since they did not come burdened with the expectation of nearly forty years lived in a much different world.
"Three galleys lost to foul weather on the journey..." she mused. "That seems a significant loss though I am no sailor."
"Those who are count it misfortune, but not beyond the realms of possibility," Lady Alinor replied. "Still, given that sorcery can drive clouds every bit as much as chance, I am wary of it. The sea folk saved as many as they could, but two of the three ships went down with most of the crew, and the third likely would have suffered a worst fate foundering on Ghiscari shores had it not been for their captain having a silver tongue."
"More brimstone than silver I would say, considering most of what he did was threaten his would-be captors into stalling until aid came from Mantarys. A man to look out for..." Rhaella trailed off. A former pirate like as not, but to her surprise the knowledge weighed nothing in her mind. Let him serve loyally and skillfully and he would be as worthy of honors as any lord. The woman sitting opposite her was proof enough that both qualities could be found in the most unlikely of places. "The... er, profits from the endeavor certainly outweigh the loses," she continued.
The younger lady smiled almost impishly: "You can call it plunder. That's what it is, even if it's not the principal reason we are doing this anymore."
"And some of it was not even taken from the living but the dead," Rhaella echoed the smile. Odd how she could still be more at ease with ships raised from their watery graves by sorcery than raiding.
Gained 128,400 IM from raids
Lost 3 Galleys
Gained 7 Galleys (lost 7 Raise from the Deep Scrolls)
Gained 39,000 IM from Sunken treasure
On in matters of policies and the movement of princes, the Ghiscari seemed to have taken their recent defeats quite poorly, with everything from masters wishing to negotiate with Tolos before they would be forced to do so by the 'City Burner' as they had decided to call her son in defiance of all reason, to raising more Unsullied to meet this threat and study the means by which dragons might be killed.
"Why in the world do they call Viserys that?" Rhaella asked angrily. That would be a title more fitting to his father, she thought but did not say. Now was not the time to brood over what Aerys had become.
"It is because he burned 'in his twisted fire' the most sacred and fundamental of laws in the cities he conquered," Lady Alinor rolled her eyes, though beneath the sarcasm there was biting anger. "Three guesses as to what that is."
"I only need the one," Rhaella replied darkly. "Slavery. The 'fire' that burned out that rot comes for them too." Thankfully the two dragons sent east did not clash over their responsibilities, though perhaps their presence had added to the Ghiscari masters' agitation, not to mention what they had been doing. Dragons who speak with a man's voice and wielded sorcery was a thing so strange as to awaken confusion, but when those dragons worked to build an army the peril suddenly gained a very sharp, very prosaic point. Rhaella found she could bear their discomfort quite well, all things considered.
Build Training Center (Tolos) 53/60: Two completed, One at 13/20
Once the tasks of the evening were done Rhaella turned to lighter fare: "You will be taking part in the feast tomorrow to celebrate the conquest, won't you?"
"I have work..." came the automatic reply.
"You always have work, it's the nature of the beast," Rhaella sniffed. "That does not mean you aught to lock yourself in with your books until the end of time." It had taken her some time to realize it, but the girl could be quite shy outside those matters where her writ ran, which was a pity and doing herself a disfavor besides. "Who would I even talk to if you did not come? Lady Inea?"
The younger woman shuddered dramatically at the mention of the Tyroshi matron who had transplanted her whole clan to Sorcerer's Deep in search of royal favor. She had somehow learned enough of Rhaella's presence to know she had some sort of influence with Viserys and proceeded to make herself a nuisance ever since, like some overly colorful mosquito playing at being a butterfly.
"Alright, I suppose I can't leave you to that fate," Alinor replied at last.
OOC: Rhaella has fallen into the role of Viserys' master of ceremony, a position which Alinor gladly dropped from her purview. During the transition they came to be friends in spite of their very different backgrounds.
"Those who are count it misfortune, but not beyond the realms of possibility," Lady Alinor replied. "Still, given that sorcery can drive clouds every bit as much as chance, I am wary of it. The sea folk saved as many as they could, but two of the three ships went down with most of the crew, and the third likely would have suffered a worst fate foundering on Ghiscari shores had it not been for their captain having a silver tongue."
"More brimstone than silver I would say, considering most of what he did was threaten his would be captors into stalling until aid came from Mantarys. A man to look out for..." Rhaella trailed off. A former pirate like as not, but to her surprise the knowledge weighed nothing in her mind. Let him serve loyally and skillfully and he would be as worthy of honors as any lord. The woman sitting opposite her was proof enough that both qualities could be found in the most unlikely of places. "The... er, profits from the endeavor certainly outweigh the loses," she continued.
On in matters of policies and the movement of princes, the Ghiscari seemed to have taken their recent defeats quite poorly, with everything from masters wishing to negotiate with Tolos before they would be forced to do so by the 'City Burner' as they had decided to call her son in defiance of all reason, to raising more Unsullied to meet this threat and study the means by which dragons might be killed.
"Why in the world do they call Viserys that?" Rhaella asked angrily. That would be a title more fitting to his father, she thought but did not say. Now was not the time to brood over what Aerys had become.
"It is because he burned 'in his twisted fire' the most sacred and fundamental of laws in the cities he conquered." Lady Alinor rolled her eyes, though beneath the sarcasm there was biting anger "Three guesses as to what that is."
"You always have work, it's the nature of the beast," Rhaella sniffed. "That does not mean you aught to lock yourself in with your books until the end of time." It had taken her some time to realize it, but the girl could be quite shy outside those matters where her writ ran, which was a pity and doing herself a disfavor besides. "Who would I even talk to if you did not come? Lady Inea?"
The younger woman shuddered dramatically at the mention of the Tyroshi matron who had transplanted her whole clan to Sorcerer's Deep in search of royal favor. She had somehow learned enough in Rhaella's presence to know she had some sort of influence with Viserys and proceeded to make herself a nuisance ever since, like some overly colorful mosquito playing at being a butterfly.
Ah, talking about annoying people, the former (twice former to be exact) Archon's sister in Lys was the one who dared to colour glorious Valyrian hair green.
The one who died in Aedon's coup.
Forgotten to celebrate that victory over bad taste yet.
Ah, talking about annoying people, the former (twice former to be exact) Archon's sister in Lys was the one who dared to colour glorious Valyrian hair green.
The one who died in Aedon's coup.
Forgotten to celebrate that victory over bad taste yet.
On in matters of policies and the movement of princes, the Ghiscari seemed to have taken their recent defeats quite poorly, with everything from masters wishing to negotiate with Tolos before they would be forced to do so by the 'City Burner' as they had decided to call her son in defiance of all reason, to raising more Unsullied to meet this threat and study the means by which dragons might be killed.
Rhaella has an intimidate score that I believe is functionally capable of threatening Viserys in social combat. And a rather good diplomacy score, too. This was, in fact, the point of her skill setup.
On that note, @DragonParadox how is she doing in regards to next level up? She's been doing quite a bit of intrigue and diplomacy in the last few months.
Oh, lots of things. Swords, arrows, spells, dragons are no harder to kill than you or me.
It just takes a very different kind of person to wield these weapons.
Rhaella has an intimidate score that I believe is functionally capable of threatening Viserys in social combat. And a rather good diplomacy score, too. This was, in fact, the point of her skill setup.
On that note, @DragonParadox how is she doing in regards to next level up? She's been doing quite a bit of intrigue and diplomacy in the last few months.
Not remotly.
She's good for a level 5 character, I think better than Viserys was at that point, but she can't keep up with the difference in level or magic, not even remotly.
We have more than twice her Intimidate, can bring it up to almost four times hers with buffs and that's not counting the size modifiers.
Not remotly.
She's good for a level 5 character, I think better than Viserys was at that point, but she can't keep up with the difference in level or magic, not even remotly.
We have more than twice her Intimidate, can bring it up to almost four times hers with buffs and that's not counting the size modifiers.
@DragonParadox, in case you wanted to make a note about this, but the shipyards in SD, Tyrosh and Tolos also finished two small galleons in each city this turn.
@DragonParadox Has Teana reached level 11 yet? Administering the Scholarium, teaching, being in four places at once, and that combat she got into on the last expedition we sent her on a couple months ago, etc., should be getting her pretty close to leveling up, if not beyond, I would hope.
