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The Slave and Her Sovereign
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<blockquote data-quote="darkbard" data-source="post: 9292447" data-attributes="member: 1282"><p><em>When <strong>CHANVATI </strong>and Pa'avu enter the Empress's chambers, Sovelis makes as if to depart with the handful of servants, handmaidens, and slaves. But the Merchant-Prince stays him.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"No, Sovelis, I wish you to bear witness to what I have to say about our Empress's ... so-called curse," he finishes when the named participants are alone. "Your Imperial Majesty, it should come as no surprise to you that as a telepath of my magnitude--to say nothing of my scholarship in history, the Imperial lineage, transformations magical, and a host of related subjects--I have been aware of your ... potential ... for quite some time. Indeed, I positioned myself and Pa'avu for Your Majesty's instruction in anticipation of this very moment!</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"Believe me, having faced horrors natural and alien to this world, from the dizzying peaks of Stoneroot's Perch to the eternal expanse of the Astral Sea itself, I understand your fear, your self-loathing. And though your family's manifestation is rare, the historical record makes clear the devastation wrought when your ancestors--Emperors Yasmine, Amar, Sokhem--lost control of their incarnation and laid waste on the Empire. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"But what is lost to the historical record--though, crucially, not to the akashic memory, accessible by rare Psions such as myself--is that during the Fourth Dynasty Emperor Zalthomet, sometimes called Zalthomet the Cruel, was himself a dragon-made-manifest. Yet Zalthomet was wise and so devised a check on his potential for destruction: the establishment of a Senate, a body of wise and respresentative figures, well versed in the needs and workings of Empire to share rule, in a way, with him, to serve as a team, if you will, and one that could help him develop into the virtuoso that he was and also provide oversight so that the inherent destruction-within would not be made manifest in the world, except upon Hageri's enemies, which were legion at that time, if Your Majesty recalls her history.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"For though there is danger in Your Majesty's manifestation, oh, the glory of it as a blessing when properly unleashed! Your people need never fear the kind of alien incursion which we just fought off! With the simplest display of power, the Legion of Ruth will recognize how far it over-reaches, what folly it pursues in occupying Bantouk 'for safety!' How much safer Bantouk, and all Hageri, with a dragon on the Imperial throne! </em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"But I must offer one word of caution, a reminder that there was a reason Zalthomet's experiment in checking his own power for the good of all His people failed: the church! When you establish a Senate to help contain and nurture your blessing into its full potential, you must avoid Zalthomet's pitfall of ceding power to the Church of Omthala, or any other powerful organization, for that matter. Let a Senate be formed from individual representatives of Hageri's finest; let it be drawn from those who make the Empire thrive, its top merchants, its most knowledgeable tradespeople, its noblest scholars and princes!</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"You see how you have thrived with counselors such as myself and Pa'avu beside you. You have regreted your ill-treatment of the barrister, who once might have steered you away from those false tongues who almost brought ruin upon our Empire! Establish a body that is not subject to whim and vagaries but which can stably help you with the massive undertaking that is ruling an Empire. And help you provide a check on yourself."</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Chanvati pauses, breathless. He looks to the chamberlain for the first time.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>"Sovelis, you see the truth in my words. The Empress Scheherezade can be the greatest of any age should she both harness her potential and contain the destruction-within ... when she establishes a Senate for the good of all Her subjects!"</em></p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p>We know Chanvati is lying here. Zalthomet was no dragon; there is no akashic memory. Zalthomet cowered in fear at The First Flame, and the establishment of a Senate had nothing to do with his nature as dragon (see previous). Nonethless, Chanvati proceeds with this line of persuasion, sure he has found a way to sprinkle in enough half-truths and historical facts with his grand lie to make is seem possible, at the very least. Primary Skill Bluff check, r14+16=30 vs 22 Moderate DC. Success.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="darkbard, post: 9292447, member: 1282"] [I]When [B]CHANVATI [/B]and Pa'avu enter the Empress's chambers, Sovelis makes as if to depart with the handful of servants, handmaidens, and slaves. But the Merchant-Prince stays him. "No, Sovelis, I wish you to bear witness to what I have to say about our Empress's ... so-called curse," he finishes when the named participants are alone. "Your Imperial Majesty, it should come as no surprise to you that as a telepath of my magnitude--to say nothing of my scholarship in history, the Imperial lineage, transformations magical, and a host of related subjects--I have been aware of your ... potential ... for quite some time. Indeed, I positioned myself and Pa'avu for Your Majesty's instruction in anticipation of this very moment! "Believe me, having faced horrors natural and alien to this world, from the dizzying peaks of Stoneroot's Perch to the eternal expanse of the Astral Sea itself, I understand your fear, your self-loathing. And though your family's manifestation is rare, the historical record makes clear the devastation wrought when your ancestors--Emperors Yasmine, Amar, Sokhem--lost control of their incarnation and laid waste on the Empire. "But what is lost to the historical record--though, crucially, not to the akashic memory, accessible by rare Psions such as myself--is that during the Fourth Dynasty Emperor Zalthomet, sometimes called Zalthomet the Cruel, was himself a dragon-made-manifest. Yet Zalthomet was wise and so devised a check on his potential for destruction: the establishment of a Senate, a body of wise and respresentative figures, well versed in the needs and workings of Empire to share rule, in a way, with him, to serve as a team, if you will, and one that could help him develop into the virtuoso that he was and also provide oversight so that the inherent destruction-within would not be made manifest in the world, except upon Hageri's enemies, which were legion at that time, if Your Majesty recalls her history. "For though there is danger in Your Majesty's manifestation, oh, the glory of it as a blessing when properly unleashed! Your people need never fear the kind of alien incursion which we just fought off! With the simplest display of power, the Legion of Ruth will recognize how far it over-reaches, what folly it pursues in occupying Bantouk 'for safety!' How much safer Bantouk, and all Hageri, with a dragon on the Imperial throne! "But I must offer one word of caution, a reminder that there was a reason Zalthomet's experiment in checking his own power for the good of all His people failed: the church! When you establish a Senate to help contain and nurture your blessing into its full potential, you must avoid Zalthomet's pitfall of ceding power to the Church of Omthala, or any other powerful organization, for that matter. Let a Senate be formed from individual representatives of Hageri's finest; let it be drawn from those who make the Empire thrive, its top merchants, its most knowledgeable tradespeople, its noblest scholars and princes! "You see how you have thrived with counselors such as myself and Pa'avu beside you. You have regreted your ill-treatment of the barrister, who once might have steered you away from those false tongues who almost brought ruin upon our Empire! Establish a body that is not subject to whim and vagaries but which can stably help you with the massive undertaking that is ruling an Empire. And help you provide a check on yourself." Chanvati pauses, breathless. He looks to the chamberlain for the first time. "Sovelis, you see the truth in my words. The Empress Scheherezade can be the greatest of any age should she both harness her potential and contain the destruction-within ... when she establishes a Senate for the good of all Her subjects!"[/I] [HR][/HR] We know Chanvati is lying here. Zalthomet was no dragon; there is no akashic memory. Zalthomet cowered in fear at The First Flame, and the establishment of a Senate had nothing to do with his nature as dragon (see previous). Nonethless, Chanvati proceeds with this line of persuasion, sure he has found a way to sprinkle in enough half-truths and historical facts with his grand lie to make is seem possible, at the very least. Primary Skill Bluff check, r14+16=30 vs 22 Moderate DC. Success. [/QUOTE]
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