Empire!4 Peace in Our Time

[Aventine]

From behind the empress' group comes a strange, rasping voice. "Such hubris, to brush aside my kin as mere animals hunting their prey." The vocalization was terrible, emphasis sprinkled here and there among the speech like a farmer spreading his seeds. The source of this profaning of the imperial tongue stepped out from behind the imperial delegation, revealing itself as a cloaked form with a large grayed-blue fin protruding from the top. The Pician surprisingly carried no weapons, wielding only a wooden staff from which dangled a Khirusi mask.

He was quick to resume his talk. "Pardon my interruption good Emperors, but I feel that our cause is being heavily misrepresented among your kind. We do not seek to devour the flesh of every human on Emjata, as doomsayers would have you believe. Mlagarblargle, our previous Speaker, was motivated by such pursuits. However, he is dead. The mountain harboring the Azen saw to that. We only seek revenge on those who have wronged our Realm and in doing so thought they could get away with it."

Turning to directly address the Empress, he continued. "Does Hosra ring a bell for you, Empress?" The Pician chuckled. "If only you had just left the rebels to their affairs..."

Tälir gives Purbagle a respectful nod tinged with surprise, and a murmur runs through the D̨vatlan party. Somewhat ironically, N̨amodl seems to be the least shocked at the Pician's appearance, having heard his father's account of the famous corpse at the Trodjan Games. Recovering his composure, Tälir opens his mouth to address Purbagle...

"Perhaps I was unclear. I indeed came here for peace, sëzi. I yet desire an end to the conflict your late brother started..."

Tälir sighed, and supposed he could not blame her for the act considering he agreed to N̨amodl's farce. But he could not help but wonder who she was trying to convince. Or did she believe it? Perhaps she truly was mad, as her challenge suggested, and simply did not see the provocations in the the Empire's actions in Astrand and Perivan.

"...What I did not come here for was to be insulted before we have so much as greeted one another. In Karys, we muzzle hounds that yap too much; from what I knew of your father, he knew much the same. But as you said. On to business. I can, of course, agree to terms before any combat. To do otherwise would be foolish, and it seems odd for you to assume such."

"Your terms are acceptable. However, we shall remain free to retaliate against those who act against us in Inyaka and Regner, kind for kind, just as you shall against those in Estensule. Further, those whose lands you now control, as well as those of [Region 17] shall be treated without prejudice, nor forced by the sword to become acculturated. You shall not provide aid or succor to enemies of the Empire desirous to use the land we would release into your administration as a base from which to assault the Empire, and indeed deny them access to do so wherever possible. I will not see this peace deal become a knife at my daughter's throat. Finally, the Omanush will not be hassled in their passage through the Vratis Strait. Are these terms acceptable to you?"

---

"Perhaps if your kind did not act like mongrels and beasts, we would not consider you such. And if we had left the rebels your kind allowed to rise, the chaos they brought would have spread to our own lands."

The Empress took a step towards him, annoyed at this...thing's insolence, yet her hand gestures, emphasizing her words, were still calm.

"If you desired to keep those lands, perhaps you should have learned to rule properly. Not once did a representative come forth to make demands or present terms. Simply violence and death."

Another step.

"You claim that you no longer act as beasts, consuming all in your wake and spawning like worms of the sea, but in what way have you shown this? What makes your kind so different now that your leader is no longer genocidal, only wrathful? You speak of vengeance for wrongs committed, as you carve a path of carnage for the crime of putting down anarchy brought about by your own gluttonous hungers and vile deeds. Certainly you are more than beasts; not once have I seen a wild animal be so hypocritical."

The Empress scoffed, a harsh sound as her incredulity at the creature rolled off in waves.

"If it took but a single change in...leadership, such as it is for your kind, to change from the goal of death of every last human, to 'mere vengeance', then it would take but a single change for it to turn back. To claim that your kind seeks to bring death, destruction, and woe wherever they tread is not so far from the truth as to require changing."

Tälir sighs again, "Empress! You have already picked one fight today, please content yourself with that." He then takes the opportunity to finally address the Pician, "My pardons, your excellency. As you concede that your previous Speaker was perhaps not entirely inaccurately described by my statements, I hope you will take no offense at them. I fear we have little reliable news from the far south, a situation which has not been improved by our present war." He continues with another respectful nod, "If you will pardon me, again, I must see to the matter of peace."

"Sëzi, you spoke to the Pician of 'chaos' and that it would spread to your lands had you done nothing. These justifications are familiar to my people. We heard them when you seized the cities of the League. And, to be sure, chaos was assuaged for a time. But it returned. And what of Perivan? Your Empire brought nothing but chaos to Perivan. You justify everything by claiming to act to preserve order, and yet you constantly bemoan our war to drive you from Inyaka. You now insist on some assurance that once [Region 17] is in our hands it will not be used as a staging ground against the empire. What assurance did we have that Astrand would not be used as such against us? What confidence could we have that the Empire would not soon turn its greedy gaze upon us? You act as though we D̨vatlans are monsters and you are blameless in all things. I will not begrudge you your propaganda, but you persist here today as well. It grows tiresome. If chaos and misrule is sufficient to justify war, than we are justified: you have brought nothing else to the north since you began your expansion beyond old Siestok. If concern over the threat of nearby neighbors holding a 'knife at [your] throat' is reasonable, then we are reasonable in having sought to drive you from our borders.

"You complain of the insults you have suffered at the hands of my cousin, and yet you seem to give no thought to the ones I have suffered at yours. Perhaps because I am not so petty as to lash out like a rabid dog in response? Tell me, how do you think you appear? What impression do you believe you have made here today? Tough and honorable? For me and mine you look as though you were an insolent child, flailing about because you did not like something that was said.

"Tell me truly. King of Hüpägh? Guardian of Gakhus and Warden of Tipëzvär? Was this planned? Were these what you intended to call me? If so, thank your gods that N̨amodl spoke first and gave you the opportunity to play the offended, yet honorable, lord. I had assumed you spoke knowing what it was you said. A few well chosen barbs to warn me that you did not appreciate my cousin's affectations and understood how to respond. An insult with a purpose, to put us back on even ground before moving on to the business of making peace. But then you challenge him? Did I, perhaps, give you too much credit? Could it be you are so foolish and ignorant as to not understand what it was you said? And yet, I am capable of not making threats in response to your provocation.

"You spoke of honor. You denounced our war as nothing more than conquest for its own sake. What purpose lay in your conquest of the League? What purpose lay in your actions in Perivan? I have no desire to be lectured on honor by an assassin."

He spits out the last word and glowers at the empress for a moment before continuing, "The right to retaliation will be respected, though we warn you not to abuse it to 'retaliate' against whose who 'acted against you'. My people will be treated as I see fit, though if you are so ill-informed and ignorant as to fear that I will subject the people of [Region 17] to bloody tyranny, you may rest easy. We will provide aid and succor to whosoever we wish, but we have no desire for further war with the empire nor desire to provoke such. And I have so little desire to hassle the Omanush that I am awestruck that you would feel it necessary to require me to not do so."

---

Gwitna

Suvlin Cuahuey was standing just behind the Empress, slightly miffed that he'd been forced to leave his symbol of office (a bladed canoe paddle) at the entrance to the hall. He was fundamentally unsure of his position in this situation, but had decided that to appear better to the Gwitna, he should take up his father's agenda on the issue of the straight. The old man was certainly popular enough with the people that some of it had to rub off on him, after all.

Grand Warden Cuahuey also knew his father's position on oafs like Namodl. Ferreth had preferred to keep on terms with them until a good opportunity to put them in their place presented itself. Not that that had worked out quite the way he hoped with Ilrasu Sandor. Cuahuey decided to try a different technique instead: ignoring Namodl completely and addressing the King of Dvatla instead.
"King Talir, what will Dvatla's policy be regarding Gwitna vessels passing through the straights?"

"If you remain vassals to the Empire, then your safe passage is their business. If not, then pay your toll and don't give us reason to regret granting you free passage and I see no reason why we would deny it."