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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3098394" data-attributes="member: 3448">Mahler headed to the office of Throckmorton, the outgoing Minister of Trade and one of the few in the Exchequer’s office who would be following the old traditions.  “How could we deal with this rock salt shortage?”“Well… there are several possibilities in the short-run.  There are other sources of rock salt to the North, so we could ship that in by sea and then move it over land into Canberry.”“Any possibility of developing more domestic production?”“No.  Brightspan’s mines just aren’t that large, and even if they can be expanded, that would take time.  If you reach to the north, it might be possible to open trade with one of the Enclaves that maintain salt mines near the mountains.”“If we brought it in by sea, what would the route be?”“There are several options.  We could ship it through Tang in the south, the Confederacy of Eastern Cities, or even directly from Masque, assuming you could find someone sane enough to deal with from year to year.  The question is could you get the Archduke to move on it.”“I think that I could take care of that.  Which of the options seems best?”“Hmm.  Masque makes the most sense, but there are difficulties in dealing with Masque.  You need to find someone with enough brains to handle a deal for more than a year at a time.”“What of Enclaves?  If we had some allies, do you think we could deal with someone there.”“Likely.  Lady Vlatiana Fleetshroud and her husband, or Gavin Skullcrusher Daisytops-- I know, it’s a ridiculous combination, what do you expect when someone converts to Manumist so late in their life….  They’d be our best hopes there.”“Good.  Anything else I should know about them?”“Vlatiana Fleetshroud is the head of the League of Shadows, the most powerful thieves guild in Enclaves.  Her husband, a gnome, is the lord of one of the Enclaves… Cabbageheights, I think.  A strange combination, but there you have it.”“Thank you.  I’ll talk with the Archduke about taking steps on setting up a new salt trade.”“Mahler… you should understand that it’s not just the salt that’s the problem with the tariffs, although that will hurt Canberry the worst directly.  Those poor people in the South are only now starting to get back on their feet.  If we crush those poor folks with tariffs, it’ll be decades before they recover.  And that leads us back to Brightspan.  I hope the Archduke brings him to heal soon…”“What about our share of the tariffs?  Could we remit it back to the merchants?”“Eh.  It might help a little, but… the Archduchy only gets 20 percent of the tariff.  Even without that, the tariff would still be crushingly high.  And there would be nothing to prevent Brightspan from simply raising the tariff even higher and taking that money back to his own pocket.”Mahler nodded and returned to the Council.  As he returned, Dame Brionna was recounting some of her recent intelligence.“After we dealt with Lady Deborah Brightspan, I visited His Eminence the Archbishop.  I think we should move up the date of the coronation.”“That would be awkward, diplomatically,” replied Alistair.“Perhaps, but the efforts to assassinate you before the coronation are not just about the political instability it would cause.  The coronation is an important magical ritual.  It binds the monarch to the land and the land to the monarch.”“What does that mean?” asked Kit.“After coronation, the Archduke will have substantial magical protection, making him harder to injure and substantially more difficult to ensorcel.  Also, a variety of curses and magical effects that could be placed on the land are flatly impossible as long as there is a properly anointed Archduke.”“Oh.  Then maybe we should move up the coronation.”“I’m still worried about the diplomatic implications,” said Alistair.  “Could we have a quick private coronation, and then follow it up with a public one?”“No, your grace.  In order to complete the ritual, you must follow the coronation ritual carefully.  You begin some distance outside the capital, in a sacred grove, and then you participate in a long procession into and through Canberry City, performing specific rites along the way, before the formal coronation ceremony in the Cathedral.  If you do not perform the rituals, you won’t gain any of the magical protection.  And the people watching the procession are part of the ritual-- you can’t do it in secret.”Alistair frowned.   “There are many delegations that haven’t arrived yet.  Most of the temples that are not aligned with evil are sending delegations, and only a few have arrived.”“Not to mention some from temples aligned with evil,” said Dame Brionna, thinking about the Paranswarmian nuncio.“There are also numerous diplomatic delegations from every nation that can send one en route, and many of them will not arrive until shortly before the scheduled coronation,” continued Alistair.  “If any of them haven’t arrived by the time of the rescheduled coronation, they will be horribly offended.”Kit frowned.  “I’m not sure we can afford to offend anyone right now.  I’m all for a plan that gives Alistair magical protection against harm, but…”Mahler nodded.  “If we could do it without offending anyone, it would be an obvious choice. Since we can’t, it may not be as big a deal.”“Not to mention that it’s a show of weakness,” said Alistair.  “We don’t want to admit to anyone that we feel threatened, even though I think we all do.”“But this could give us a chance to eliminate the threat from the assassins,” Dame Brionna continued.“Let’s talk with the Archbishop and find out if there are any ways we can make the coronation safer.  From what you’ve said, we’ll need to work with him to deal with the plague anyway.  But for the time being, we need to keep proceeding on the current schedule.”</blockquote>

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