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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3977060" data-attributes="member: 3448">Partly in response to Quartz's bumphammer, I return with <gasp> an actual storyhour post!  Just when you thought it was safe to return to the Storyhour forum or something.I can't promise daily updates, but there should be fairly frequent updates for the foreseeable future.  I'll do my best to keep them daily, but life has an annoying habit of intervening.  And now, less schedule discussion, more storyhour!-----Once Dame Brionna finished up her report, the Council moved on to Kit’s briefing.  Her people had continued watching Debonai, and their assessment is that its army was headed directly through the refugee lands.  That path would not take it, as the Council had expected, to the Spice Lands, but rather to the region northeast of the Spice Lands.Kit followed up on her reports with another mindlink to Lady Breena in Debonai itself to find out more details about the army.<<Ah, yes.  I have been able to determine a fair amount, your ladyship.  Out of the 20,000 soldiers, especially among the chivalry and officers, there are very many younger siblings and, ahem, superfluous children.  I should say that the women I spoke to were very reluctant to give up that information.  The more I learn, the more it looks like a land grab.  The Duke and other high-up nobles in the army have talked about having a destiny, being meant for something greater.>><<Being meant for something greater?>> asked Kit incredulously.  <<Isn’t being a duke great enough?>><<He thinks he is meant to be a king, your ladyship.>><<How significant is the Duke?  Does he have lands for his younger children?  Our dukes are among the most powerful nobles on the continent, and frequently grant fiefs to at least the most promising of their younger children.>><<Yes, of course, but things are not quite the same here.  All the ducal houses are landed in Debonai-- some of the lower nobility have titles but no land to go with it, but none of the dukes.  Traditionally, younger siblings who are not put in the church or otherwise placed become retainers in their older siblings’ courts.  Except for the royal house, there is rarely enough land for a house to divide its territory, even if the younger children were to remain vassals of the older.  You should also remember that for its population, the land of Debonai is not as rich as in many other countries.  So while a duke is a great lord, he is closer in power to the earls, counts, or other second-tier nobles in Canberry than to the lords of your duchies.>><<That would explain why he would view the difference between a king and a duke as huge.>><<Yes, your ladyship.  The other big thing you should know about is the Bishop.  Along with the giant army, there is a bishop without portfolio.  He was sent directly from the Temple of Light on Khamista, and then left immediately with the army after arriving from the Patriarch.>><<Oh, really?>> thought Kit.  <<That is very interesting.  Do you have any information on why the Patriarch sent him?>><<I believe that he was requested to come by Bishop Cano Flavore, one of the diocesan bishops in Debonai.  And the Holy Church is in transition here-- the Archbishop, Ulrich Garand, has only been here for a couple of months.  He was reassigned when the prior archbishop was required to retire.  None too soon, if you ask me-- the old Archbishop had been senile for years, but you know how the Church can be about such things.>><<Of course,>> replied Kit.  Lady Breena did not need to know about her limited knowledge of high church politics.  <<We’ll look into the church angle from our side.  Any success on getting more information about the rioters?>><<Not yet.>>  The frustration in Lady Breena’s mind buzzed against Kit’s.  <><<Keep working at it.  One more question about the army.  If this is meant as a land grab, would you anticipate them attacking an existing realm or simply carving out a new kingdom from the wilderness?>><><<Take?  As in just carrying off?>><<Well, not necessarily by force, but…  If they are seeking to establish a new kingdom with mostly an army of men, they will need to get women from their neighbors somehow.  If that does not involve them attacking, it may well still provoke their neighbors into battle.>><<Right.  Thanks for the report.  We will continue monitoring the army.  Keep me posted if you learn anything new.>>  Kit broke the mindlink and reported the conversation to the Council.With the Archbishop scheduled to come to the palace for a commune that afternoon, the Council spent some time developing a long list of questions, including some follow-up questions depending on the initial answers.  Even with the large number of questions the Archbishop could ask of Glor’diadel, the Council had many more questions left to ask, especially with the new information about the Debonai army.  In particular, Alistair focused on the risk that this might turn into yet another invading army to threaten Canberry.  Still, developing the list of questions also led them to identify other lines of inquiry that were worth pursuing before the commune.</blockquote>

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