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| Action Id: 3365 | Crisis: | Participants: Emrys, Bliss, Gesa and Maja | |
| Status: Resolved | Submitted: April 29, 2019, 5:08 p.m. | Public: True | GM: Apostate |
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Social Resources: 1000 Action Points: 100 |
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Action by Emrys
With the death of the Count Threerivers, the conflict between Northlands and Oathlands Houses rests on a knife's edge. Knowing full well what's at risk, both Whisper Emrys and Apprentices Maja and Gesa have been tasked with seeing the latest offer agreed upon by both Acheron and Blackram, to cede the disputed lands to the Faith as per Legate Ailith's proposal, accepted by House Threerivers and its latest Countess. Knowing too that the Countess has recently lost her father and promised to avenge his death, both Whisper and Apprentices are aware they must step carefully. Thus, each will play their role, with Emrys and Gesa traveling to House Threerivers, while Maja works at a distance. They are also supported by Bliss from a distance, who sends word and agents with them.
Emrys will be impressing upon the new Countess the dangers that await should she refuse this last offer, both to herself and her people. His are words meant to smother the fires of hatred and anger with ice water, and make her see that this is her last chance to save not only herself, but her people. His aim is not to crush her spirits, not to break the new Countess, but to lift the veil from the consequences of vengeance and destruction. For this is the only offer she will be getting, and should she refuse it, then she'll have only succeeded in leading more people to their deaths than her father ever did. To warm and comforting suns of the apprentices, he is the cold and empty night that await should the wrong choice be made.
Action by Maja
Good cop, bad cop -- guess which one Maja is? She is the honey to Emrys' vinegar, someone to offer comfort and a more gentle way forward. She begins to exchange letters with the Countess Threerivers, to suss out the best way forward based on the woman's feelings about her father. Does she want to avenge him because he was beloved? Was their relationship fraught and she wanted to prove herself to him? Have things been left unresolved and she feels that avenging him with give those issues closure? Once she figures that out, Maja will tailor her advice to those needs but, ultimately, her position is thus:
Violence begets violence. Going to war with the other Houses, it will not change the fact that her father is gone. What will happen though, no matter who 'wins', is that people will die -- her people, their people, so many of them innocents. Maja speaks from a position as an orphan, how hard it was to grow up without a family to take care of and guide her. This war will create more orphans, more broken homes. Wouldn't her father's memory be better served by stopping the violence? Rather than his death being the touchstone for more strife, it can instead be the foundation of her wise leadership should she opt for a diplomatic route. Being a leader is difficult because it asks you to put the needs of many before the needs of yourself. And this choice will define who she is as a leader: will she be an agent of war or will she be the healer the strife? Which one does her people need her to be? Becoming a great and wise leader, that is the best way to honor her father.
These letters, these exchanges, they are done ahead of Emrys and Gesa's visit and will hopefully have the Countess primed and in a thoughtful headspace to receive the Whispers' guidance.
Action by Bliss
While not personally going to House Threerivers this time, Bliss is going to make a few things very clear - that peaceful negotiations are a thing that Whisper House wants, thta there are immense benefits to cooperating with them, and that the possibility of war should be avoided at every possible opportunity. It's not like Whisper House isn't doing work in favor of Acheron right now, too, so right now there is rather a nice balance and statement of neutrality to be made.
This isn't good cop or bad cop anymore. If this war continues to escalate, there is the very real chance of Whisper House withdrawing all support for both Bellerive and Threerivers, and there are consequences to that sort of thing. Bliss also sends a small contingent of other Whispers along with Emrys and Maja - some of the ones better at sussing out information with clever words and misleading conversation. Whispers Victoria and Andreas (NPCs) should be perfect for that, following some basic guidelines which the Radiant lays out for them.
But the Telmarch invading Threerivers land would be disastrous for the Northlands and Oathlands both. Since they have made that threat - let's make sure that Countess Threerivers knows exactly how close to death she is flirting.
Action by Gesa
A cursory glance into the situation would make one wonder what Gesa is doing at Threerivers at all. Often she doesn't mention the situation to the Countess at all. Instead she attempts to befriend the younger woman. And once she has befriended her? Well, she encourages the young Countess to partake in the finer things in life. They drink and make merry together. She encourages the Countess to pursue harmless liaisons with comely young men or women. Gesa offers the Countess a break from the seriousness of the situation. She tells her bawdy jokes to encourage her to crack a smile in-between the seriousness of the talks. She is a fun friend who offers a respite from it all as well as a taste of the joy that comes from living.
And when the ugly subject does rear it's head? Gesa shakes her head softly, tsks, and says, "It will be a shame when Telmar comes down on you. You won't have a moment for joy." And then she goes back to their merrymaking. However, the message is clear. Refuse peace, and any joy you may have will be taken from you.
Result
The charm offensive launched by Emrys, Bliss, Maja and Gesa is extraordinarily successful, with the Whisper House and all involved gaining a large degree of credit in ending the border war between House Threerivers and House Bellerive. Countess Tresa Threerivers ultimately agrees with their arguments that the war has to come to an end, and setting her need for vengeance aside, and both her and Bellerive leadership agree to the suggestion that the disputed land be set aside for the Faith for mediation and shrines. This... has some interesting side effects, as the faith has long not held land since very old history in the Compact. Mind you, it's a very small amount of land, so it might pass without comment by some, but it could create some precedents for the Faith to own land once more, which will present quite a quandry for Oathlands traditionalists that fervently support a more powerful Faith of the Pantheon, while often rejecting those kinds of changes.