[X] Bend knee to the Gylruv (1.1x)
The Patriarch of Nevien, Haddyth of the Gylruv, was nearly knocked off his throne by the contents of the package sent to him by envoy from the Ymaryn Kingdom. It was a request for a 'strategic alliance of mutual protection' that was, in effect, a request that the Ymaryn be vassalized by him. Oh, the language was as face saving as possible, there were a number of clauses that were no doubt meant to be argued over, and the exact arrangement would undoubtedly leave the Ymaryn the least loyal of subjects in short order, but the overall package amounted to a vassalization. The Patriarch had been considering the Ymaryn issue for some time, getting ready to secure long term peace treaties with his western neighbours so he could focus efforts on securing warm water ports from those southern folk lest his fellow Merchant Princes tear him apart, and before he could even begin contemplation of where on the long border to strike first the crafty merchants there handed him this!
On the one hand, consideration and consultation with his ministers let him know what a naked ploy this was. The merchants and artisans there had let themselves get surrounded, and at some point either the Gylruv or the Black Sheep would take a bite out of them, and then they would be torn apart - quickly or slowly, it mattered not the speed but the inevitability - by the two. It was just that the time had never been right, and the Patriarch and the Black Emperor had put it off for 'tomorrow'. Now though... now the Ymaryn would join up, whole and intact and able to demand the protection of the Patriarch's armies against the Emperor, to demand free access to the markets the Nevien had spilled blood to dominate, and still able to dictate their own internal affairs. There was almost a part of the Patriarch that wanted to reject the offer, but he knew that if he did so they could turn around and suggest a similar deal to the Black Emperor, and then the two of them could probably carve out significant chunks of Gylruv during the inevitable civil war. The Patriarch's subordinates would not accept the rejection of immediately obtaining all the Yllthon Sea ports and access to the Trelli Strait without having to shed a single drop of Gylruv blood. They would not accept the failure to grasp such magnificent prestige as this offer entailed. They would not accept an offer for their sons to be educated in the finest universities cheaply being turned into a barring of those doors.
The Patriarch looked at the offer, and knew that it would be trouble for his grandsons, but for him and his sons? The immediate benefits so far outweighed the potential costs as to make it foolish to reject for fear of what might happen in future generations. At the very least they could claim the title Protector of the Greater Ymaryn People... and that could give them claims in the Stymyar and even in Kielmyr. Maybe not the best claims, but this was the sort of legitimacy coup that attracted succubi to kings and emperors in the night, just to balance the scales of the universe.
In the end, while there was a degree of the expected back and forth on fine details, the Patriarch could do nothing but accept the offer presented.
For the Ymaryn, this was of course a bitter tincture to swallow, but while a great embarrassment, the securing of vital trade routes and military security was deemed worth it. Especially as there was something perversely proud to the logistical achievement of taking timbers from the extreme north of Gylruv, transporting them down their rivers and across the Yllthon, up through the rivers and canals of the core territories, and then down the Great River to the ports on the Monsoon Sea. It was crazy, and expensive in comparison to what others who were closer to the source paid for timber, but then again getting those northern woods was a pain enough in that sea that the People actually made considerably profit selling raw timbers to Syffrynite sailors in need of repairs. Access to the Gylruv also allowed for the easier hiring of Kielmyr expatriates to assist in the modernization of the ports of Redshore and Newport. The People were still behind in naval technology and traditions, but they were able to make major strides to catch up.
The world opened up. Places that were rumours or third hand merchants tales before could now be visited by official expeditions, to see what was actually out there. Whole continents only considered on philosopher's globes could be visited for the first time, and strange new peoples talked to.
The Syffrynites were of course everywhere already, in forms both benign and malicious, but there was opposition to their domination, in places both expected and unexpected. While in Kus, the Lands of Spice and Tea, the Black Sheep were pushing many to join up with Syffrynites in fear, in Hung, the Lands of Tea and Silk, the empire there remained strong despite recent troubles and forced arrogant foreign traders to bow to them, and in the even more distant Nohon the emperor there had embraced firearms to the point that they might even have more than the People! In between the Kus and the Hung there were the island chains and dozens of jungle kingdoms of the Greater Undikus, although the Vortuga had done a number on many of them to secure trade posts around major straits, and the Halvyni had set up colonies to grow spices without having to trade for them. Beyond that in the strange continents undreamed by the People there were lands nearly without people who had not been settled by the Syffrynites, but there remained an empire in the mountains worthy of the name. With the sort of bureaucracy that the People or Hung could appreciate able to mobilize tens of thousands to war and sitting upon an almost literal mountain of silver, the Mapanca had managed to survive plague and foreign invasion to the point where the Syffrynites had been forced to sell their goods for silver rather than simply taking it, allowing the purchase of things that let the people there stay above water.
The People were more than happy to offer the high quality products of their artisans for Mapanca silver, at prices that were wavered on the edge of profitable, just to undercut the Syffrynites in general and the Vortugs in particular.
Elsewhere in the continents of Mahaxia the primitive tribes had not fared as well, being driven out of their lands along the coasts for various Syffrynite colonies. Those colonies seemed fueled by two processes: Syffrynites fleeing the religious gygo stirred up in their homelands, and the importation of slaves and indentured servants. These came from all sorts of lands, but from contacts with the Khemetri it sounded like the Vortuga and Hespranxer were quite interested in buying up the displaced peoples caused by the economic collapses all the silver and gold they shipped over had caused in Greater Khem kingdoms that had relied on gold mines for prosperity. While at first the king and the traders were concerned about this for economic reasons, soon enough stories of the appalling treatment of the slaves in the agricultural colonies of the Mahaxias began to filter back.
And then the priests and scholars stepped up, holding aloft ancient tales.
"'And the Trelli did, in their wickedness, separate men as though they were cattle, setting apart those of dark skin from those of light skin. Those of dark skin they sent north to be strangers in the Lands of Tin so that they might never escape, and those of light skin they sent south to be strangers in the Lands of Gold, so that they might never escape. For this act of desecration of his creations, God stirred forth the wrath of the People against the Trelli, to punish them for their sins, for God had not created men to be cattle'. Brothers and sisters, here me now, we have long known the wickedness and inhospitality of the Vortuga, but never before have we truly known the depths of their sins!"
Such were the sort of speeches that rang out from the town squares, university trained theologians and scholars taking up generations of well sharpened rhetorical tools. While the upper classes tried to tamp down on some of the more radical rhetoric that spread towards the treatment of internal indentured servants and serfs, they had to admit that it serviced them quite well for the People to be furious about the issue of slavery. They had few true slaves within their territory, while it sounded like their foes made much of their wealth in one or another off of forced labour in their colonies, so anything that might hurt their foes on that front was a useful weapon. When the Purple Dye Maker's Guild found out about the Vortuga's production of red dye in their colonies and the great number of Greater Khem slaves they were importing, they outright manumitted any slave they or a member of their guild owned out of apoplectic fury at the threat to their primordial charter.
Meanwhile, while the People had found themselves drawn into the conflicts of their suzerain overlords in the Gylruv, the Nevien Merchant Princes and the Patriarch had found many reasons to establish winter palaces in and around New Blackmouth, noble sons often speaking better Ymaryn than Gylruvian from their university days, and in many places Ymaryn ambassadors found employment as they were considered more 'neutral' and 'trustworthy'. As such, they had access to all sorts of courts in Syffryn and the Khemetri, and had some influence to affect the relations of the Patriarch with his closer neighbours.
Such as, rather than fighting each other, perhaps the Gylruv and the Kielmyr could both agree that the Wyrmyn were annoying and the two kingdoms had more in common kicking in the teeth of the rich farmers than in squabbling over forests that both states already possessed vast quantities of. Or, further afield, they could mention to the Sketch that they had many enemies among the Hespranxer and their most profitable trade routes were with the Black Sheep, Kus, and Hung rather colonies in the Mahaxias, so disruption of the slave trade would inflict considerable hurt upon their rivals. To the Khemetri, they renewed old trade deals and floated over a few loans to help shore up their internal stability, while also pointing out that the devaluation of their gold mines had come from the Vortuga and Hespranxer and supporting them in any way would only bring further pain, so helping out the stability of some of their more distant neighbours in Greater Khem might be in their favour.
In courts, salons, coffeehouses, and universities all across the world the ambassadors and scholars of the People whispered about how slavery could only help their enemies. Perhaps it would not be enough, there were after all many counter arguments by those who figured that if they got in on the game themselves the wealth being earned by their rivals could be theirs, but there were many places where the arguments took root.
Choose two major groups to deepen ties with
[] Gylruv (1.5x)
[] Kielmry Triple Crown (1.2x)
[] Black Sheep (0.9x)
[] Kus Petty Kingdoms (1x)
[] Greater Undikus Kingdoms (1.2x)
[] Khemetri (1.5x)
[] Greater Khem Eastern Kingdoms (1.2x)
[] Greater Khem Western Kingdoms (1x)
[] Hung (1x)
[] Nohon (1x)
[] Mapanca (1.1x)
[] Sketch (0.9x)
[] Halvyni (0.9x)
[] Styrmyr (0.5x)
[] Hespranxer (0.2x)
[] Wyrmyn (0.1x)
[] Vortuga (0.05x)
