Serpenteye wrote:
The God-Emperor welcomes the emissary of the Gem Dragons with elaborate ceremony.
The Union of Oerth is wealthier than any other nation in treasure and slaves. Name your price and I'm sure we can come to some mutually beneficial agreement. Keep in mind that you are joining the side of the greatest power, you will be far safer by our side than with lesser nations.
There can be no spoils of victory if no victory is won and we are likelier to win than many others.
ANSWER:
The Gem Dragon considers this:
We appreciate the military might of the Dark Union.
Indeed, we see you crushing your foes.
And yet, foes you do not know of are moving against you as I speak.
The Metallic Dragons (he spits in disgust) whine their way about the feet of that idiot Hazen, and the Chromatic Dragons have forsaken sanity and joined Acererak.
Nevermind the imbecile cousins of ours who have joined Lord Melkor!
You need our help, aye.
However, as you well know from your scrying of our negotiations with others, our help comes at a high price.
O God Emperor, we think our price is reasonable.
For we offer to sacrifice our lives, our blood, in your cause.
THAT is not a thing given lightly, and the reward for such a thing should not be minor.
We request that the Dark Union turn over the region you once called the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdi to us.
That shall forevermore be our domain, and none shall enter or leave it except by our will.
All who currently live in this region shall become ours, forever, and shall live or die as we will it ... if they choose willing slavery, they shall live. If they choose defiance, they shall perish.
In addition to this, we request all the treasure of the Lost Elves.
Their city shall remain in your control, but we shall have all of the treasure and artifacts therein, and this shall be done immediately, and nothing shall be removed before we commence the search or during it.
We appreciate that this is a large request, O God Emperor.
Yet what we offer is a great thing, that we sacrifice ourselves and our blood to fight under your Banner.
(Again, you will lose considerable PL, if you accept this offer.)
- - -
Anabstercorian wrote:
Mine!
Anabstercorian teleports in to give his own offer!
Do not accept the paltry treasures of Iuz, oh great creatures of Will! We have the mineral wealth of an entire mountain range to offer you, and no shortage of slaves to mine it. We will give you the exclusive mineral rights to the entirety of the Godspires, along with (15 PL worth of slave labor) to mine it as you see fit! Additionally, we will give you (20 PL worth of outraged underdark inhabitants going AWOL) of the treasures of our subterranean allies!
But we offer you MORE, more than mere cash. We offer you power! The earth bleeds, oh dragons, and it bleeds pure life! We have the passions and dreams of thousands of dead mixed together with lava to form massive and impenetrable suits of dragon-armor that can protect you from the most lethal of magical or physical assaults! Protected in this arcane suit, your ancient and glorious wrath will once more stand before the armies of mere men and cause them to tremble, their newfound technological mastery useless before your primal might! I understand what it means to win a war, dragons, and I understand what it means to lose one. We desire your aid. We offer yet more!
Our finest scholars and wizards shall create clockwork constructions of great delight for you.
These marvelous constructs will keep your lairs clean forever and shall be able to amuse you to no end. Should they, in a fit of pique, be destroyed by you, they will be replaced."
Indeed, the entirety of the Solistarim organization would be reorganized! With you at our fronthold, we would have no need of an army. We would rebuild our command structure from the ground up so that we existed for the sole purpose of ensuring your complete comfort and convenience.
Anabstercorian bows. His character thinks about rolling a Bluff check, decides to take 10, and gets a total of 92.
Oh marvelous bejeweled wyrms, would this offer be enough to meet your vast approval?
ANSWER:
The Gem Dragon seems amused.
He answers:
Anabstercorian of Toril, you are a most gifted speaker.
Indeed, you would make a far better Prime Minster of the United Commonwealth of Toril than that girl who presumes to think she is an effective ruler.
Which she isn't, as Forrester and his inept leadership proved, to the regret of those who accepted his aid.
But if Forrester is at fault, then the true fault must rest with the true leader of the United Commonwealth, and that girl is the Leader.
She is an incompetent bungler.
You are not.
We are very impressed by you.
However, we are not very impressed by your offer.
Let us tell you what would impress us.
You shall bequeath unto us the entire race of Star Dwarves.
We will have them all.
And we shall have all of the Nibelungen Dwarves as well.
ALL of their treasure, all of their lore and learning, every book and trove they possess, everything.
They shall be marched out of your mountains, in chains, and given unto us, and they shall be ours, forever.
Also, you shall teach us the secrets of Psionics, and that shall be begun at once.
We shall spend at least one month learning the deepest of your psionic secrets, before we will lift claw or tail to aid you.
That is our offer. What say you, Anabstercorian of Toril?
(Again, you will lose significant PL if you accept.)
- - -
Mr. Draco wrote:
TO EVERYBODY:
An official notice is sent throughout Oerth, it reads thus: The faction known as the 'Dark Union of Oerth' shall henceforth be known as naught but the 'Union of Oerth.' This is one of our many efforts to strive for neutrality after our many bloody mistakes in the past.
ANSWER:
The Gem Dragon casually comments that words do not undo actions.
When one's hands are stained with blood, dipping them into the ocean does not clean them, but instead soils the ocean.
To the Gem Dragons:
Kas appears before them with a large entaurage of planars, warriors, and constructs. He speaks,
Great representatives of Dragonkind, I stand before you with an offer of alliance. I am the one known as Kas the Terrible, slayer of Vecna and Tharizdun. Perchance you have heard of me through tales of times long ago, times known as the Arcane Age now. I serve as the co-leader of the Union of Oerth. Should you of great wisdom choose to ally yourselves with us you would stand to gain much. Firstly you would have the land of the Crystalmists, Hellfurnaces, our newly conquered land that was known as the Tilvanot Peninsula, the Lordship of the Isles, and the Iron Hills to call your own. Additionally, you will be supplied with a large amount of workers, while not slaves, their utter devotion to the God-Emperor means that also unlike slaves, they will be willing, no, eager to do what work you ask of them, and thus will be much more efficient than slaves while still following your will to the letter. Also, as you undoubtedly know in your infinite wisdom, the Union of Oerth is one of the largest factions existing on the planet. From our extensive mines and our undersea holdings in the Shauhagin Empire, we can supply you with rare metals and treasure from the depths of the earth and ocean. Not only this, but we will allow you first access to new technology we discover, as we discover it. On a final note, you certaintly have heard of the great power of the magic from the arcane age. We of the Union of Oerth, should you choose to ally yourselves with us, pledge to you the secrets of 10th level magic as soon as we acquire them, and we will research quickly.
Great dragons, the choice is yours. I ask that you remember thus when choosing though: I, along with millions from across the lands of the Union of Oerth, would be honored to fight alongside you in battle, and to be allied with you in peace.
ANSWER:
The Gem Dragon's eyes glint.
He speaks:
The secrets of 10th level magic, eh?
So, you would give US that secret?!
And all we wanted was the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdi!
That would be a minor boon compared to the secrets of 10th level magic.
(his eyes narrow)
Know this, Kas the Terrible of the Arcane Age.
We are the DRAGONS.
If you indeed share this great secret with us, we shall comprehend it immediately, and no research will be required of us!
And we will be powerful. Powerful beyond compare.
Does that prospect make you tremble? Does that prospect bring fear to your warrior's heart?
It should, mighty Kas, for we are the dragons, and with 10th level magic we could rule the world.
We accept ... (end of sentence cut off)
(The dragons WILL join the Dark Union, if the 10th level magic is delivered to them - they will not fight until after the secrets of the magic are delivered FIRST.
They are not fools, and will not take the offer on faith.
When they have 10th level magic in their claws, they will fight for the Dark Union.
Although this offer tops all the other ones prior to this, I have cut off the sentence because someone may make a yet greater offer to the Gem Dragons, and I wish to allow everyone a fair chance to make their offers.)
