Requested Transcript, C/O Apothar Mae Stern of Q'tolip's Tower

[Hierophant]

LEAGUE OF WHITE MEETING DATED ILLUL THE 13th, 7788 IY
Transcribed by Berand Hoensbroeck

Author's Note; The highlights are as penned. Discussions deemed of unimport to the meeting itself has been parted with.



Miro Lac-du-Lanse's Bidding of the Candidates (Vesryn Aradan, Peryn Fairdrake, Yiti)

"This is the first trial of your candidacies: If you wish to put yourself forth, first you must impress your fellows in our League. Begin when you wish."



Vesryn's Opening

In brief then. The deep-set rot of the Golden administration must be excised. Like venom from a wound, I mean first to purge the Pyramid of their poisons. Their wrothful experiment in stripping from the Voiceless all right to legal protection shall end. The enormity of Voice-sums to be substantial, reduced more than that.

We must not only tear down their rotten walls but build our own vision. So firstly, I would have the Whites give Voices to the Valorous. Any veteran of a major engagement in the Iakmes war shall be accorded a Voice. Any who voluntarily spill blood in defence of Ephia's Well at the very least deserve some say in its future.

And I do hope those so Voiced by the White League might, in turn, look favourably upon us. I shall also gouge heavily into the gilded vessels which are our Golden princelings. To fund initiatives to the benefit of Ephia's Well and the war refugee, I would propose we of the White insititute measures excessive wealth. For the Golds have spoken much of the needs for the people to sacrifice, to die. To suffer.

In the name of this great conflict. Whilst they themselves have made themselves monstrously rich through war profiteering. We must redress the balance, my friends.

And so. These Golds who cannot prove that their wealth is held for the betterment of the Well shall have that wealth seized. We may come to a consensus on an amount. But that is the vision I do have.

Finally, I do wholeheartedly agree with elements of Elara's proposal (will be published at the end). The idea of open governance. I would mean to institute new norms for our Legates. All their meetings to be open for the public. Advertised by Bellows before they begin. Summarised at their conclusion by the Scribes.

Further, no more rule by dictate. Exiles passed down. Taxes raises and lowered. Property seized. All at a whim, as was! But no more. I will propose to return swuch power to the people. And reinvigorate the Assembly process. Legates shall not decide new laws, but advocate. Public votes at Assembly shall carry the day. The Legates will orate. The people will decide.

My vision, therefore. Voices for the valorous. Rule of the people. And to upturn these gluttenous golds by their Ankles until sufficient wealth has fallen free to make the people comfortable.


Interjections & Commentary

Asherias Myl: You stole dinar from Bashir, took it from the gnome in some deal made, and then it seems decided to fight that Banda Rossan over it all, instead of doing the right thing and returning Bashir's dinar. How can we trust you to do anything if these are the actions I've seen?

Vesryn Aradan: Ah, permit me a moment to set the scene then. It is true. A gnome had fled into the Krak des Roses. Pursued by one of those grudge-dwarves. Violence was afoot. The gnome asked for help. I am not obliged to inaction, so I did try to drag the dwarf off him.

A brief conversation then did ensue. Accusations leveled against the gnome. It sounded, to me, as if the gnome had asked Bashir to give him dinars. Bashir did so, willingly. To my mind, Warad loves the wily. Nevertheless, the dwarf wanted blood. He hired (Bruce) Danebluff.

Giving him 500 ducats and promising him the gnome's purse if he would only deliver his usual brand of justice upon the gnome. I could not stop both Danebluff and the dwarf. So I was left in the heat of the moment to reach a decision. I took the ducats from the gnome's body before Danebluff could seize them for his own.

To my mind, he has already profited much from the misery and death he has inflicted upon the Voiceless. It felt right in the moment. My intention had been to see the ducats towards the gnome's family. Or to hungry mouths beyond our walls. To my mind-

Aurelio d'Lyon: You said it was your intention to give it to the hungry and the poor, but what did you do with the dinar?

Vesryn Aradan: You might ask Horton. Argent's pet Janissary. We entered into a legal dispute over the definition of theft.

Barend Hoemsbroeck (Author): This question and answer have spun from a productive nature, I think. It seems a far more complicated endeavour than we first thought, perhaps we will discuss it after?


Introduction of Candidate Peryn Fairdrake


I came to this Well as a young girl. A refugee alike many others. The same as many of you here. Half my life I've dwelled this Waste where the memory of a more verdant life before grows all the more distant.

I have grown to learn of the strife that grips us all. The clashing of culture and of ideals between us newly arrived and those who have long dwelled. That a home must be chiseled into this sandstone alongside the very ones who sat this sandstone here before us.

The concerns of our league are many and known to all of us, it is true. That the price of a Voice must be lowered. That others may stake their claim here in Ephia's Well and nurture from these sands a future for themselves and their namesake.

That the other leagues, long having enjoyed their victories and their petty political play, must be held accountable. That protections must be afforded to those who seek sanctuary among us. I am reminded of a saying from my home; 'You cannot promise the berry before the blossom.'

And only recently have our works to shelter and house our farflung and desperate brothers and sisters budded.

There can be no more violence that goes unanswered. No more theft that goes unanswered. The future of our Well will not be determined by those who hope to stagnate our future. Water always flows. For when it stagnates it grows murky, brackish and foul.

For us to drink we must be sure that our Water flows. For us to live we must be sure that this is a home. I stand before my people who have come and I have promised to chisel the sandstone beside them. There is no other way.

So I am, Peryn Fairdrake, a candidate for our league's legacy.


Questions & Rebuttals

Lyrist Aubrey Domergue: What are the first three laws you would press Marcellus to enact with you?

Usaamah Khayri: Your words are most flowery and kind, but how will you achieve these things, miss Fairdrake?

Peryn Fairdrake: The first is simple. That even the Voiceless, under asylum or sanctuary, will be afforded our protections. It will no longer be only the Voiced who are granted haven from the cruelty of the wastes, and ourselves.

Aubrey Domergue: What would that entail? Legislatively?

Miro Lac-du-Manse: We are a simple people, Peryn, we seek only concrete measures. We seek only food in vacant bellies, rooves over scorched heads.

Peryn Fairdrake: A refugee, without Voice or accorded station, will be granted the same protections as a Voiced citizen. Yet in the face of criminality, their punishment shall be escalated. They will know the risk of thwarting what so many risk for this Well. The finer details of this, I imagine, would be discussed with the other Legate.

Vesryn Aradan: So you will hold the Voiceless to a higher standard of conduct?

Peryn Fairdrake: Do you believe they cannot meet such?

Miro Lac-du-Lanse: You wish to prosecute the Voiceless more harshly than the Voiced, for the same crime?

Aubrey Domergue: It sounds as if your intention is to revoke the new language regarding citizenship in the laws and enact more stringent punishments for the unvoiced?

Peryn Fairdrake: You speak more closely to what I intend, Lyrist, yes.

Aubrey Domergue: I see. Continue.

Peryn Fairdrake: I too agree that the Voiceless should be granted a Voice of their own. A means of council, where their plight is heard. Where it is considered. A Legate is meant to serve. The future is not for one to bear but for us all.

Back and forth between every member, commenting on the sincerity of Peryn's words.

Vesryn Aradan: I am confident I can see the present situation repealed. To convince Marcellus as to the wisdom of the old status quo. But, we must do more than unmake the monstrous wrongs of the Golds. We must present our own unique vision for the future of the Well. What of your other two laws?

Peryn Fairdrake: That those who serve in the war efforts against the foes of our Well be rewarded, just as Vesryn had stated, with a Voice. And a law of which all may bear witness to the ongoings of governance. That even the Voiceless may watch and play part in the discussions of our day. A Voice is the right to buy property, to lead an institution upon the Stele, to find station in government. It is not a /voice/.


Voiced Yiti Oioni's Floor

Yiti Oioni: Here I go, I shall be swift. Let us be honest. This seat can assuredly belong to me, Yiti. With a closed fist and an open hand. Votes will come in even if we are the underdogs.  (With a raised voice) But you who stand before me may partake. Allow an association to be not just mine but for all of us. I shall now allow Usaamah to speak.


Usaamnah Khayri: Friends, I come to this Well with NOTHING. Yet this man, Ser Yiti, he has risen me up from the depths of the Gutters. He bears nothing but a regal generosity that befits not merely a Legate, but a Sultan. Is it not the way of the White? To take to the poor, the downtrodden, those without say or sway in the Well and raise them up?

Ser Yiti has done this for me, and he does this for all. You may think his words prickly, but I assure you this man takes well care of his own. I would be dead without this man, drowned in a mire of my own poverty and sorrow. Ask any refugee among the camps that cannot even but have a pot to piss in, they will tell you, 'Yiti has given me his pot.'

Look to the Gutters, look to the wormfarms that he has built and see who works among them. It is not the bourgeois, but the low, those in need. You all speak of your intents, but Yiti has ACTED. Yiti has held to his word and the results are plain to see.

Legate Yiti will provide.



Conclusive Commentary


Aubrey Domergue: Grand. Lovely. I will ask you the same question: what three laws would you enact, if made Legate?

Yiti Oioni: You decide them, as my advisers. How dare you ask me, I am no tyrant. I speak for the people. My loves the Priory and the guides.

Aubrey Domergue: What do you believe the People need? What do they desire when they speak to you in these moments of sumptuous generosity that you spill unto them?

Yiti Oioni: Do not ask me about struggle, merely suggest the best course of action.

Aubrey Domergue: The best course of action would be to share your proposals based on the pleas of these refugees and downtrodden you have aided.

Yiti Oioni: Well said, and so it will be done.


Penned by Scribe Berand Hoensbroeck, Illul 13th, 7788 IY