To the Astronomers of Q'tolip

[Sunburst]

Astronomers of Q'tolip,
Disciples of the Luminous Truth,
Loved by the Unconquered Moon,

It is no secret that I went into this election viewing your institution as core supporters of the Gold League. It had seemed to me that there was a bold, optimistic spirit for what we might achieve together. And I thought it thus my duty to fight for your interests in the term to come.

I had a vision of your wizards and stargazers as my government's most trusted advisors, helping chart the path toward a prosperous future for this city.

I was happy to support every legislative and strategic goal you expressed to me. I volunteered to take on your conflicts as my own. I hoped for us to build ever-closer bonds of confidence.

To put it kindly, my expectations were shaken.

You have allowed Estellise Azimi and her unexplained duplicate to speak for you, without once challenging her or reining her in. Not one of you have stood up to refute even one of her sendings. In this lapse, she has declared total war on my election campaign. She has crossed every line she can. She has publicly moved to disrespect me, defame me, and to demand every one of your votes go instead toward a man who has expertly replaced his spine with a weathervane.

But that is the past! And the future is still to be written, isn't it?

I have been called in by the Gold League officials. After arguing in defense of my plan to reinstate basic human rights for the Voiceless (an argument that I have soundly won), they have admitted that I am winning by an absurd margin. Ahmet's disastrous performance at both debates and general absenteeism have greatly damaged his prospects of victory. Somehow, Marcellus Saenus has received more votes than Ahmet! That is humiliating for him. His insane remarks, his backtracking, and his indecision have alienated him from many of his voters then bled the energy and enthusiasm from the rest.

I have, further, spoken with Sister Selsi. She tells me that you have been heeled by your own anxiety, these past few elections, and that you will wait to vote as the Priory does because you are unwilling to risk defeat.

She tells me that if the Sisters vote White, you are going to follow their lead except for an Apothar or two who want to maintain ties to me (just in case!).

She tells me that if the Sisters vote Gold, you will also follow their lead except for the Azimi twins, who will seek to retain clout in the party (and try to push out the Sisters?).

I do not know if this is true.

I do know that Zenithar Azimi enjoys games! And pleased that I am going to win the election regardless, I thought I'd make these next two days fun for us all.

This game is called the "Prisoner's Dilemma."

• If both groups vote for me, both will receive my favor.
• If one group votes for me, and the other does not, then that group gets a much larger benefit at the expense of the other.
• If neither of you vote for me, you both suffer in my esteem and I owe nothing, but I do not have any incentive to shuffle the status quo in favor of one rival or the other.

I am sure that both organizations trust each other completely and that this will resolve peacefully. Suffice it to say, however, that the resolution of the Dilemma will also decide my approach to Estellise Azimi's stand-off with me; as Legate, I will need arcane counsel, and I am not above humbling myself to make my regime work. It's just a question of who that counsel will be.

DANTE
MORETTI

[cmenden]

Dear Dog Nadiri,

That is not a Prisoners Dilemma.

Your letter provided me with some amusement, however, so I am deciding to favor you with a reply.

I am wholly uncertain how you somehow spent so much time among the Astronomers and in my presence while learning so little about myself or the Priory or my relationship with the Priory.

Additionally, you seem to have forgotten that I can see the future.

The benefits of opposing you at this juncture far outweigh any miniscule aid you could offer the Tower and any harm you could attempt to bring on my order will be curtailed by the Dragon.

I hope you enjoy your time as Legate, but again, I can see the future and I know that you will not.

Regards,
Estellise Azimi

[Random_White_Guy]

A copy of a missive is delivered both to Dante and to the ranking of the Tower

Candidate Moretti,

I am not Voiced so my stakes low in this Election. However given our past friendship and the works your fair Foscari have aided me with I would try and lend some insight. A copy dispatched to both yourself and the ranking of the Tower as of late communique to yourself may be suspicious from one of my meager station.

But three points I would hope to try and lend.

- The High Zenithar stood before the Sultan himself to offer counsel and tell him he is wrong. With such an example before us how in good conscience can we, his disciples, balk before the threats of a man who has not even yet secured the seat of Co-Legate of Ephia's Well? It seems ill advised and whomever gave you such counsel you may wish to have a frank discussion with.

- Your threat in this letter is...what? That you shall race to the side of Sister Selsi, who has convinced the Dragon and Marcellus and countless other Legates to partake of her drink in exchange for her counsel? That you shall if denied this one portion of one path to power, race to see yourself poisoned and enthralled and your autonomy diminished? Your mind twisted? That is not a threat but a pitiable state to find one's self in.

- Zol Nur Apothar shared with me that you were fired primarily because of insults hurled upon multiple Apothar in disagreement. Now, our mutual friend Manos tells me you attempted to leverage him, or even myself, upon the Apothar? As if that would sway them? You know their views of the Nadiri.

Those said, this all seems a far more elaborate and desperate gambit than merely showing contrition, apologizing to those Apothar you had wronged, and seeking genuine efforts to repair the situation. Especially considering the many difficulties that lay before you, win or lose, in these next few days to come.

I am hopeful though this experience serves as lesson for you whatever the outcome may be. As though my station prohibits my support of you I do believe in time you could indeed make a fair Legate, as you espouse many of the same beliefs that first drew me to the Gold League so many months ago. It is merely a matter of a lapidary nature, so unpolished and rough, that seems to rankle so many. Doubly so given your history with the Tower itself absent of even these political endeavors.

But you are yet young, and ample time to learn. Either from the Throne in victory or in future attempts to seize it, each chance a lesson.

At days end however for us our Hierarchy is clear, and orders have been issued from on high.

Celybuin Hui'nalyw
Nadiri the Second of Isaac Naught

[Sunburst]

A copy of a missive is delivered both to Celybuin and to the ranking of the Tower

Celybuin,

For the love I hold for you, I will make four clarifying remarks.

I am not threatening you. I am telling you that I've received a competing offer that doesn't require me to beg to be called a wretched dog. Now that the Sisters have approached me for a voting contract, I have set out the facts of the situation and offered you one last chance to join my table. If Estellise wants to see me humbled before her, then the Astronomers can bid for it. We'll see how much that bid is worth.

I am beholden to my supporters, not to my opponents. That is what is at stake here. I have no interest in the Drink. The Sisterhood asked for many things, but they have not even once insinuated a desire for me to participate in the cups; they have accomodatingly understood that I've made prior commitments to never partake, on pain of death. They've already seen that this substance is a poor guarantor of friendship, anyway.

If your masters do not respect you enough to heed you, to talk to you, to trust and consider you, after all you have sacrificed for them, they are poor masters.

When the polls close, I'll be looking to the ballots to decide who belongs in my court.

DANTE
MORETTI

[cmenden]

Dear Dog Nadiri,

You should have heeded the rather generous advice offered by Elf Nadiri 3.

What shall you do when your supporters demand of you things that Fiordelise will never accept?

Will you side with your Witch or will you cling desperately to power?

By this point in time, you should know what the Comptrollers desire and you also should be well aware that it will require you to sacrifice a great deal.

You write and you speak like a dog that has found a fully cooked and unattended chicken atop a table. You think this prize is yours for the taking and that it is without strings. Or perhaps, it might be more accurate to say, you believe the strings to be easily snipped by you at a later date.

Such is not the case.

World lines where you become Legate always end in tragedy for you.

Regards,
Apothar Estellise Azimi

[Sunburst]

Estellise,

If you truly can see the future, then you already know what I'll do, tragedy or not.

But if you think I've come into this fight unprepared or unaware, you do not know me at all. I am not, despite all the world trying to make it so, some meek, lowly hound, bowing my head in anticipation of the next boot that wants to use me as a doormat.

Power is a prison. It is also a platform to build something meaningful and enduring. And it is perhaps an opportunity to change the very fate of the world.

My "witch" still believes in that.

I don't expect you to understand what it means to be good to your friends and to those you love, what a heart is willing to sacrifice when family is at stake. Your "worldline" has left you isolated from those connections. It has given you no chance to confront the mortality of a loved one, to suffer bravely at her side, to change her and be changed by her.

It is still fresh in my mind, how difficult it was to convince the comptrollers to allow basic human rights to the Voiceless. I am not so naive as to think that there won't be further and worse battles.

It doesn't matter if I will bleed. Friends and brothers stand up to fight for each other.

That is the foundation of honor.

DANTE
MORETTI

[cmenden]

Dear Dog Nadiri,

Who is even writing these letters?

I know I make a point of telling people that I care little about history, but I hardly am going to forget the first month or two of our interactions. You were an absurd mercenary who believed in nothing except the dinar.

I'm far from the only person to notice that this change is surface-deep, but I am not driven by desperation or apathetic opportunism as the Cinquefoil Rose has always been and continues to be. I will not stand by and gift you a throne.

Allow me to peel back the curtain somewhat in response to your deal.

You came to me with "Fiordelise" crying about how we must unite to defeat the Priory. A foolish person might even have believed your plaintive cries. I decided to put them to the test and I required a specific set of circumstances in place.

You raced immediately to the Priory and begged to make a deal. Such was the expected outcome. The Priory obviously then approached me to confirm that our deal was still in place.

At that point, I knew that I had won.

In 77% of world lines, the Priory betrays me and votes for you. Your crimes become their crimes once more. They have fallen back into the pit that I threw them into and they will never climb out and regain their moral high ground.

As you know, the perception that they hold a moral high ground is extremely difficult for me to overcome. Fortunately, it's a simple matter to maneuver them to destroy it themselves.

I would say my only current obstacle is Narwen, because while the Priory commits to rather blatantly sinister paths, she somehow maintains a sort of Pure Idiot status among the people of Ephia's Well.

The reason for this is twofold. One, Ephia's Well is full of idiots. Two, Ephia's Well is full of apathetic wretches who care for nothing more than their own short-term gain. They will do their board work and watch the spectacle of Kha'eshi Arenas and the Rebirth of Ancient Titans (something that typically occurs in Year 2 not Year 1) and they will drool and clap.

Why do you think Domhnall became the Worm Prophet yet I still remain?

I have been aware of the nature of the people of Ephia's Well from the start and find spinning their fates so easy that my only enemy is boredom.

Fortunately, I do not expect your term to bore me.

Regards,
Apothar Estellise Azimi

[Sunburst]

Estellise,

I'm not aware of any endeavor by Fiordelise to negotiate with you (the only time the three of us have been in the same place, it's when we walk out of our rooms), but that does sound like her. She is far more suspicious of the Sisterhood than I am.

I have never sought the "moral high ground," or called for a coalition against the Priory. I have offered rational, material benefit in every single negotiation, no more, no less. Ahmet may be their mentally diseased pet, but you and I know that they have no loyalty to their groomed candidates; they were always going to abandon him if it became apparent that he was losing. And when they did, they were going to come to me. That is why they voted for Argent Argyris twice, even after he exiled their entire order. They are drawn irresistibly to "winning," and thus to the winning side.

Sister Zoe approached me. Not the other way around. It was her proposal to draft a contract, and she asked me to step aside from pollwatching to write it up with her and Selsi in the Embassy Bar.

It is perfectly possible that they have done all this to betray me at the last moment. If they think they can get away with it, maybe they'll try. But betraying the Gold League government would be so preposterously bad for them that I almost want to see it happen.

As for who I was and who I am...

You might be shocked to learn that a little star came down into my life and convinced me to care about someone other than myself.

I'm sure you felt something like that too, once upon forever.

DANTE
MORETTI

[cmenden]

Dear Dog Nadiri,

It seems your Game is concluded. Sister Jamei's conscience got the better of her, and she met with me in the vestibule. After voting White, she gave me a copy of your hastily drawn-up contract.

The carve-out for Selsi was particularly amusing. I had entirely forgotten about her vow with my Fourth Apprentice.

Regards,
Apothar Estellise Azimi

[Sunburst]

Estellise,

Well done.

DANTE
MORETTI