Characters:
Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
The Wrost Question
Curzo, now Grand Magister after his appointment by election had been finalized that morning, was the last to enter the council chamber, just as Crown Prince Tye of Baronde was leaving to put down the rebellion that had broken out in the north of his kingdom. Those present took their seats around the 8-sided stone table had been raised from the floor, and the imperial council was called to order. Mielikki laid out the earthling position of distributing the power of the Emperor to three lesser co-Emperors, a type of governance that had been proven to work in the Highland Forests over the centuries. Grand Magister Curzo chimed in to point out that this would also offer the provinces much more autonomy, a concession which would hopefully allow everyone to unit against the crises of the Void Beast and looming Demonwar that the Empire now faced.
Dimitri of Wrost began to voice their approval, but was cut off by King Neville Tallfellow of Baronde who claimed that they first had to determine if the new Republic of Wrost would actually be recognized as the rightful rulers of the province, or as usurpers. Unsurprisingly, the monarchy of Lumene didn't want to recognize them, while the city states of the Segretan League were fine with a republic. Uthemar of the elves was able to sway Queen Edelina by advising that it would be best to avoid a lengthy civil war now, before the end times. The King of Baronde was still unswayed, citing the rebellion in his homeland that, according to him, had clearly been incited by the orcs of Wrost, despite their claims of innocence.
The earthlings knew for a fact that Wrost had been fomenting dissent in the College and the Highland Forests all the way across the Empire before they'd caught their spy, so it was extremely unlikely that they'd done nothing in the Kingdom of Baronde, which was on their southern border. Mielikki suggested that Wrost cooperate and raise an army, to be commanded by Baronde, to put down the rebellion. Despite their reservations at putting down a rebellion that was likely very close to them ideologically, Dimitri took the position that it was more important to show they could cooperate with the monarchies in the Empire. King Tallfellow was still unpleased, but seeing that Wrost would be recognized regardless of what actions he took, and with Baronde on the back foot with the Path of Prophecy gone, he ultimately agreed to the plan.
The Tauschun Inheritance
Now that the issue of Wrost had been settled, Pomegranite turned the conversation back to the idea of three Emperors. He got halfway through his idea that they should rotate between groups of three provinces when he was interrupted by Queen Edelina of Lumene, who was much more interested in what was to be done with the province of Tauschun. Though he had been Emperor so long that few remembered it, Emperor Friedrich had also been King of Tauschun, and that title should now have passed on to his daughter, Luana. Instead, it was still being held by Ulrich. He may have been a high noble, but he was so far down the line of succession that there was no way to justify him ruling over the province.
Duccio and Aginor, the Lords of the Segretan League who had fought by Luana's side, voiced their support to crown her Queen. Eremon now chimed in to announce that he had researched the royal line of Tauschun and found some concerning things. Reinhardt von Lohengramm, the next in line, had perished in the battle of Kaskorata at the hands of Luana's Segretan allies. Count Nuland, the third, had been killed by the bands of wandering heathens that now wandered Tauschun. This left Duke Peter, a five year old boy, as the next in line, and after him, Eremon himself.
The chamber fell into shouting matches. None of the monarchies wanted Ulrich in charge, and that included Peter inheriting the throne, as he would likely be Ulrich's puppet. None but Lumene wanted Eremon to inherit, as that would be concentrating far too much power in his hands; he'd already been denied the throne of Lumene due to his role as Archbishop. Lastly, none but the Lords of the League wanted Luana in power, as she had used taboo magic of the Path of Death, and had (allegedly) been controlled by some other power.
With no decision reached, the council was ended for the day. In their chambers, the earthlings discussed what they thought of this. Granmarg was confident that they could trust Ulrich to be a traitorous worm, and it was better to have the demon they knew in power. Thicket opined that Ulrich was "growing on him", and Pomegranite figured that someone else (perhaps someone named after a fruit?) could be the scheming vizier puppetting Peter. Though Mielikki objected, they settled on Duke Peter becoming king, and now just had to win someone over to their side.
Through discussions prior to the next meeting of the council, they determined that the Segretan League, Baronde, and (surprisingly) Lumene were all backing Luana, while Ulrich unsurprisingly wanted Duke Peter. Pomegranite went to Curzo and he agreed to support Peter as well, which left them tied, with the delegations from Wrost and the elves as the ones who could break it. While training in one of the courtyards, Granmarg happened to meet with an elf he'd wanted to see for a long time: the Young Heron, Blademaster and greatest swordsman ever to live.
He wore a ceramic bird mask with no eyeholes and a cloak of feathers, while at his hip was a fine scabbard. Granmarg asked if he'd like to spar, and the Young Heron fell into thought. After several moments, he replied that he would accept, but only on the condition that they not use live steel, as a blade should only be drawn if it is to kill. Granmarg had no issues with this (he used his fists anyway), but was a bit surprised that the elf had felt it necessary to say. It was almost as though his typical training had been to the death. Perhaps that was why there were so few elves?
The Blademaster lived up to his title, and was clearly greater than even Tharivol, with Granmarg barely able to land a blow. Afterword, Granmarg brought up Luana's usage of the Path of Death, which was clearly unnatural and made her an unfit ruler. The Young Heron agreed that one who had been corrupted by the Forbidden Paths could not rule, and when the next Council was joined, the elves would side with Duke Peter. Rather than prolong things further and risking making themselves a target, Wrost also ended up supporting the crowning of Peter, Child King of Tauschun. All present knew that this would make Ulrich King in all but name.
Elections in a New Empire
Next was the matter of how elections would proceed. Aginor and Duccio got into a prolonged argument, where the former asked for electors to be reassessed. The example he gave was that one of the League's elector seats was granted to "the Bishop of Lapnes", but the city of Lapnes had been razed in a war two generations ago and had no inhabitants other than a rural monastery where the bishop and a handful of monks resided. Duccio officially opposed any such assessment on the grounds that it would be too time consuming when they needed things to be settled immediately, and unofficially because the status quo favoured him.
He even argued that rather than the current system of electors forming factions to send to councils such as this, that they could have a single hereditary elector to keep things simple. This continued on for days, derailing all meaningful discussions of broader issues, and soon those present were beyond caring what actually came of it. After all, how a province chose its electors was an internal problem. Finally, this came to a stop one morning when the two Lords arrived to the council chambers having reached some sort of agreement the night before. Neither was happy, which the triumvirate took as a sign that it had been a good compromise.
The Returning Gods
When it seemed like all the political restructuring had been carried out and the provinces had been brought to agreement, Edelina derailed things once more. She mentioned that they should take the opportunity presented by Minerva's return to establish a concrete religious dogma that all the provinces could follow. After all, who better to settle their religious differences than a god? The existence of Minerva (which Mielikki constantly corrected to "Terra" whenever she was mentioned) had not been announced to the other provinces, which resulted in some shock.
Ulrich and the College were the only ones who should have been informed (excluding the absent dwarves, and elves who somehow knew anyway) after the messengers the earthlings had sent in winter. Lumene shouldn't have known, but Eremon settled down the questions from the other electors by explaining the situation before revealing that they'd been in communication with High Priest Friedrich Quarry after their meeting the year prior.
Thanks to some quick thinking from Thicket, the earthlings were able to stonewall this. Surely, the Demonwar and Void Beast took priority over this? The leaders of the provinces could all go talk to Terra when they had more time, but for now, they would have to contend themselves with sending a handful of priests. Besides, according to Terra, the rest of the gods would be returning soon, and presumably most of them would be in other provinces, so they could speak with them without violating the sovereignty of the Highland Forests and lending more political strength to a possible demon in the future.
The Triumvirate Empire
At long last, the details of the Three Emperors were written down. The provinces would be split up based on longevity, with one Emperor being drawn from the provinces held by the longest-lived or immortal peoples (Elves, Dwarves, Earthlings), one from the shorter lived (Wrost, Baronde, and the College), and the last from the human-dominated provinces (Lumene, Tauschun, and the Segretan League). These Emperors would be appointed internally by their own province in whatever way they saw fit, and would serve a term of 20 years.
In the event that an Emperor was killed or otherwise rendered incapable of ruling, a replacement would be appointed by their province. Overall military command among these Emperors would be determined annually by a ceremony where a variety of omens (augury, haruspexy, etc) related to the various Paths of Magic would be observed and corroborated by priests from each of the provinces. They would lead the Imperial Army, which would be provided by the other provinces as before.
To a New Empire!
While not everyone was pleased with how the Council had gone, all were glad it was finally coming to an end. Wrost and Baronde had to ready their armies to put down the rebellion, Lumene had to spy on Terra, and the triumvirate had to rig prepare for the Games that were happening next year. All that was left was to decide who the first Emperors would be. The triumvirate approached the elves to pitch them on why an earthling would be best, but they preferred the dwarves, given the coming Demonwar. Not to mention that the Highland Forests would likely soon be embroiled in a civil war over Terra.
Granmarg asked them if they had any ideas on how to kill a god, but was interrupted by deafening trumpeting that filled the air but seemed to come from nowhere. After thirty seconds, it finally subsided, and Uthemar informed them that this was the sound of reality being torn asunder. The Demonwar had begun. Pomegranite rolled his eyes. Demonwar, yeah right. Sounds like another dwarf trick!
Notes:
Granmarg keeps lamenting that they didn't kill Luana when they had the chance. Mielikki also complained that they couldn't "assassinate their way out of this one" regarding both Tauschun, Friedrich Quarry, and Cliffside.
I'm sure Duccio and Aginor coming to an agreement out of nowhere without PC involvement is just because they settled their differences, and not due to another province scheming something.
Canonically, Pomegranite kept suggesting that they just hold the Games to determine everything in the Empire. Coupled with his anti-dwarf paranoia, the other delegates at the Council are all pretty sick of him.
Looks like Cliffside gets to be Supreme Commander of the Demonwar after all, much to Mielikki's chagrin.
The leading candidate for earthling Emperor is: Pomegranite! You can trust the spymaster, right? Not that it matters, mind you. The dwarves won't vote for him and the elves seem to not want an earthling either.
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