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The Grand Council of Gabel has summoned all the contenders to the throne to the Parliamental Place. It is a grand building rivalled only by the Royal Palace, made out of white marble and white jade. The central part of building, the largest room is the council room, a very large dome of 120ft radius. At the north end of the council room is an elevated platform with a semi-circle table, were the council resides. The south end of the room is the main entrance, where nobles and their servants enter from, there are a number of lavish benches making a number semi-circles at the south end, leaving a wide open space before the council.
The council is made up from 5 elders, currently they are: Lady Lamboux (an archwizard), Abalon (head inquisitor), Timtinio de la Garra (head alchemist), Grot (field marchal), Umillo (fleet admiral). All the council members are dressed in long white robes and wearing white featureless masks save for eyeholes. Today only the council and the contenders to the throne are allowed to enter. Outside the mass of nobles are eagerly waiting to hear what has been decreed.
Count Avery Hall comes striding into the council room wearing a beautiful golden silk sherwani. His curly ginger hair is cropped short, in an almost military fashion. Hanging from his earlobes are thick golden rings, set with small pieces of amber. His expression is emotionless and his gaze direct. From shoulder to shoulder drooped across his chest runs a thin golden chain set with rubies at intervals of a few inches. At his waist a red leather sword belt holds a beautiful katana. The scabbard is also red leather, but covered in complex flowing golden filigree. The guard is steel, a thick complexly twining serpent pattern. The hilt is wrapped in leather, and covered in a complexly tied cord grip, ending in a utilitarian steel pommel. He glances quickly about, and sees no one else has arrived yet.
He immediately seeks out a bench that has full view of all the entrances and exits to the room, and is not too close, but not too far from the council. He wants to appear ambitious, without overstepping his place.
Lets see how long it takes the stragglers to arrive.
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The council won't show up until everyone has arrived (they like to be flamboyant on their entrance)
Avery
Sir Seamus of Klanach enters head high, his deep brown eyes quickly checking for foes and allies behind a tight-jawed face. He lets his natural presence be noticed and felt, before advancing. He has strong shoulders and thick black hair and a well-trimmed goatee. His freshly polished shield bears the Brass Dragon Sigel of his fathers Dukedom.
Although he makes his best effort to keep a ridged upright posture, as he advances into the room his left leg appears stiff and pains to follow. His polished breastplate does much to mask his natural stiffness, but the observant would note how heavily he grasps on his short spear. Upon closer inspection one could notice the butt of his short spear is well worn from usage. He remains standing.
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Seamus
Sir Gavin enters the great hall.
Greetings cousins, I was hoping to be the only one that showed. he says with a smile. Looks like we are a little early. Ah Sir Seamus glad to see the old injury not holding you back. Oh and good Count Avery I don't believe we have had the pleasure. He bows..
I am Sir Gavin. They call me the Dancing Blade. It appears I am heir to the throne but not the only one.
Sir Gavin stands a tall 6'4". He has dark black hair and deep blue eyes. He wears lovely royal blue trained jacket with gold buttons and trimmed in white. He has white linen pants and boots to match. He has a white leather belt with beautifully tooled leather sheath for his exquisite blade. There is a glint of silver that can be seen around the neckline, and a slight jingle that you assume is armor.
Knowledge Nobility on the other two.
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Avery
Gavin
”Good morning, Sir Gavin.” Wow! The little prancer grew tall
Tuning towards Avery. I better be extra careful of this one, I can’t acknowledge him, but I should not sleigh him either. “Good morning Count.”
”Well hopefully the council will settle this matter in no time and we will be able to return to our duties to the proper king.”
"Greetings my lords." Avery says inclining his head without quite bowing. He gestures to the other still empty benches in the semi-circle. "It seems we will have to wait a while longer to know what the council intends."
Marius lowly rides through the streets of the city, the route brings him through most wider streets on the way to his destination. Two romlon mercenaries and two orcish warriors act as his guards who also ride close to him, one in every direction to surround him and shield him from possible attackers.
The orcs use small drums to give a monotonic noise to the small "parade" while the disciplined romlon soldiers look grim and neat in their polished armors as they are holding the black raven banners on white and golden background high. As people gather to see what the commotion is about Marius smiles at them and waves now and then. Deciding that there are enough people he plays small tricks with prestidigitation on his way, entertaining commoners wish small light tricks.
Through his way he begins to throw 20 gold worth of silver to the people and smiles as he hears that the calls and cheers now echo on their own. Simple people can easily be swayed, and for someone who has few people knowing and supporting his claim to a throne, popular support of masses can mean everything.
Turning past the last corner Lord Marius Corvinus arrives before the palace, a gathering of folks also began here as the news spread about a noble throwing away wealth. Marius knew that a simple event like this will not gather him a loyal support base, but it is a start. So he smiled and waved at the crowd, and threw another ten gold worth of silvers to the people, and he was pleased with the resulting cheers and occasional shouts of "The Raven of Romlon for King!".
His guards stopped at the stairs and positioned themselves at its two sides. Even Marius wasn't as paranoid to think he could be attacked inside the building, well not today at least. He himself led his black horse and rode up the stairs, and right through the main entrance. In the hall he got off his steed, and one of his guards rushed after him to take it and lead it outside again. Marius cast a new spell, prestidigitation to make all dirt the horse may have brought with itself into the palace disappear.
He then takes off his raven helmet, allowing his white hair to flow out from under it, and quickly ties it up as a long ponytail. His black dragonhide armor still sparkles with magic as the one hour didn't pass yet, so does his cloak of feathers. His raven cloak has a long cape part of which the top around the neck and shoulders is made of white feathers, while the remaining parts down to the end near his ankles is covered in black raven feathers.
Marius looks around with his deep black eyes in the room now that he arrived in, making final adjustments on his belt and silver gladius hanging from it meanwhile. He also takes his romlon-made Imperial Medallion out from under his shirt, which is reserved for use by romlon nobility. It depicts the Corvinus Coat of Arms, and while Marius doesn't open it, it has a picture of his mother inside. This is one of the small proofs that he is nobility from two realms.
As Marius stands there, some rare cheers and shouts from the outside can still be heard. He smiles at the group in the palace, his romlon cheekbone and nose give no doubt to his ancestry, just as his snow white hair he inherited from Mirabel. He would look quite bashing and charismatic already without such a show he pulled off, but his attention to details as he moves and prepared his clothes to emphasize the name of the "Raven Lord" improve the overall image.
Marius touched the small bag under his cloak attached to his waist. The moment the council comes out in their masks and robes he will take out his own raven mask, and use it together with his cloak to show what he thinks of people who don't show their faces in a conversation. He will stand out as the one black raven among white doves. They can't complain about disrespect or traditions, and this incident will for sure spread as news among the people.
This "council" has to learn its place, and realize once a new King is crowned they lose their temporal power. Marius was also pretty sure atleast one if not more of those who drove his mother out are members of the little whitewashed group.
Showy bird. I shall have to pluck it. Avery nods his head slightly to the newcomer. His lips are curled in a smile but his eyes remain cold as a viper's, sizing up this foreigner.
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Avery
Sir Holden arrives last. As he moves through the crowd gathered by Marius, he silntly curses: An upstart already causing commotion. I'll have to do something about that. Can't have him believing that he will have my throne. The crowd is slow to disperse before him, and an unlucky elder is just to slow which in turn earns him a backhand to the head. He turn angrily but the anger disappears when he sees the noble standing before him and fear replaces it when he recognize the colours.
Striding into the counsel room, Sir Holden doesn't even try to hide his disdain for the illegitimate heirs standing before him. He tilts his neck as a small sign of acknowledging their presence. "Good morning gentlemen, I take it we are all gathered here for the same reason. I am Holden Guillaume, 12th Earl of Dunway, Lord Guillaume will do."
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Holden
Marius looks at the latecomer and nods. "Salve! Greetings!" His words are like a soft breeze while said, but still lingering strong in the air once spoken.
He watched the door opposite to them, awaiting the moment it opens to let the "white doves" in. Marius faintly smiled at the introduction, it is a bad thing if any of the people here are not recognized at once, and one has to introduce himself. At the same time, the latecomer was the only one to actually greet him, so he responded accordingly.
He knew who the person was, but not giving much effort to listen to rumors he was already surprised he recalled a few details about the other two.
Clearly he didn't remember any juicy details about Holden, and he didn't care about that. Right now the main question was what exactly this council wants from them, and how many of them were allies or enemies of Mirabel and him under those white emotionless masks.
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You hear a low gurgling horn blast and the clanging of metal on stone, a panel on the wall slowly turns revealing a secret passage. The passage is surprisingly large as three armoured men walk out, the centre one holding a signal horn, the two on the sides holding banners, the walk to the centre of the room before the man in the middle uses the horn to signal to announce each of the council members, who then appear and take a seat. Finally he gives one final blast and announces the entrance of the Voice of the Council, a position that hasn’t been used for a century. A man walks out clad in golden robes, his face hidden behind a red jade mask, holding a long staff made out of ivory and amber. He walks up in front of the council and gives a bow to them before turning to you all ”Here by is the council meeting started, when you speak you will speak to me and refer to me as The Speaker. You may not speak to each other, nor are you allowed to interrupt at any time” his voice is deep and silky. He looks at each of you individually, ”Do any of you have an opening statement?”
Marius smiled, and took out his black mask, the face of the Raven Lord fit perfectly on him as he released the fine mask with his hand, and soon thereafter he raised the hood of his cloak. His snow white hair disappeared under the hood and his somewhat pale skin made a contrast with his still sparkling black cape and dragonhide armor.
While his smile can't be seen anymore Marius still does so, the fact that the council members don't wish to speak may be due to the presence of him and a fear of being punished for siding against his mother once, or their ego grew so big that they don't deem it necessary to speak for themselves.
Whatever the cause, Marius lost all traces of doubt if he should use the mask or not. He will be just as faceless as the council, just as much distance keeping as they are, and just as judgmental as they are, once the time has come.
"The Raven is watching." The person covered in raven feathers and masked as one of the black birds softly said this sentence as a statement of undeniable importance as his black eyes focused on the so called "Voice".
He stood there, now silently, as some sort of dark messenger of Fate. The carnival of intrigue has begun.
It might have been real or just an imagination, but a flock of birds seemed to fly above the dome flapping with their little wings.
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Klanach
Avery glances down at his own gold and red accoutrements before looking back to the Voice. At least he has good fashion sense. He stands at attention in front of his bench, yet his posture is relaxed. He clasps his own forearms behind his back and simply waits for more instructions. In the meantime, he makes a careful study of the masked counselors to see if he can determine which is which.
When looked upon, Seamus steps forward, head high, shield straight.
Yes I do Speaker.
Pauses briefly for confirmation.
I am Baron Seamus of Klanach, envoy to my father, ruler of the Brass Dragon Duchy and heir to the Kingdom of Gabel. Looks at Grot. While under the care of my father, the arms of the Brass Dragon have protected the realm, the fields of the Duchy have fed the realm, and the Duchy’s trade has provided the state coffers. If my grandfather had not heard the higher calling… looking at head inquisitor Abalon, my father would be king today. He not only deserves the crown by right but would also rule justly and wisely. While I await your edict Speaker, I remain at the service of the council. He finishes his looks on Lady Lamboux.
Marius almost chuckled under his mask. Sir Seamus spoke a lot about his father and grandfather, but in the end the only thing he would say about himself and his goals was to continue to serve the council. Was this man already a lackey of theirs, or just ignorant about how these things work?
He believed to be the most lacking in knowledge about court politics, but Marius might have been wrong, or this man was a better actor than he thought.
Well, either way, according to Marius, Seamus managed to make himself seem the least dangerous to the council if the opinion is based only on the appearance here today. This had both advantages and disadvantages to the Baron, and to all other claimants.
Greetings unto thee and the council. I am Sir Gavin. Heir to the throne of Gabel. I submit myself to the test of the council and seek the crown through right of arms and by blood.
Gavin leaps and flourishes forward off the bench making a grand gesture and ending in a kneel before the speaker as he proclaims his intent.
"You all know who I am. Please, continue Speaker." Avery says
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"Very well, now as you can see you are all contenders to the throne, yet it is the believe of the council that none of you have yet proven yourselves to be wise enough to lead a nation, humble enough to listen to its people or strong enough to defend it. Worse still choosing any one of you could lead to a civil war on behalf of those not chosen. Thus it is the will of the council for you all to be tested, to prove yourselves before your subjects as rightful ruler of this land" he pauses and looks the the council who nod at him, "The council will is for you to find a project to improve the community, this will be first test, prove yourselves"
I propose a festival with grand games. The festival should be in celebration of our great kings life, and a yearly occurrence to remember him. Festivals can bring a great deal of commerce to the community as well as pride in ones kingdom. The festival games will be open to all. We will hold contest in the fields of poetry, dance, song, food, brewing, artistry, archery, running, boxing, the sword, the lance, horsemanship. Sword and Lance will be limited to those with training for safety. At the end there will be a grand parade of champions for the city to admire. The winners will also receive a prize of notoriety that they may posses for the year only to bring back and defend for the next year. The festival should be a week long. I will also ask the artisan's to open their doors and teach. Classes will be offered for those that wish to learn a new skill and possibly obtain an apprenticeship. Noble Council if you give me your support I will start the machine and put this into works.
This proclamation is given with great zeal and passion.
Diplomacy
He means coin
Marius spoke up with his soft but strong voice. "I believe the Speaker meant that all claimants decide on their own projects, and the results will be judged upon on how much it improved the realm." He took a moment of silence to allow the others notice and understand his comment. "As for me, I have a good idea on what I can do, but if my assumption was right about all of us having a different project, I won't be as stupid to say my plan for everyone to hear, and allow them to try to sabotage it."
He then turned to the Speaker. "I would like to leave now if my understanding of the first test is correct. I have much to prepare for at the Triad Camp." Marius mentioned the camp where the three clans and the mercenaries are during their stay in Gabel.
He had to keep his disgust at bay as Sir Gavin went on and on planning a fest that would eat up gold and other resources just to praise the dead King he despised so much. Thankfully the raven mask was ideal to hide his expression.
"It will be done." Avery says. "What resources do we have to command sir Speaker?
Avery nods in acknowledgement. "Will that be all Speaker?"
"It will be done speaker." is all that Holden adds, feeling sufficient answers has been asked.
“Speaker, is the hour that dark, that you return to us now? There has be succession strife before, what more is happening? We all want the best for Gabel.”
”Well friends or foe, I suggest we act together as it seems that the council is bent on dragging out this process. I believe a great king would know that to improve the community he might need to work with his enemies. Together we can provide more benefit that divided.”
Marius silently leaves the building, outside his escort gathers again, and rides away with him together.
Seamus turns to those remaining. “My cooperation is there if we can deem it beneficial to our mutual goals? I will be at my father’s section in the western tower.”
Sir Seamus departs and painfully hastens his pace, enroot he asks his squire to gather old Philip and his scribes, spotting colonel Svenson he convenes him and asks him to gather three of his fastest riders at the western tower.
As he finally arrives at the tower hall. There is little time and so much unknown. He dismissed his guard and enters the main hall.
”Philip my old mentor! I am so glad you can come, your legs are quicker than mine.” Seamus reveals the first challenge. We will convene again when Svenson has returned, have him send word to this to my father, by rider and magic. My father will not be able to do much from so far away. Have your scribes solicit an individual meeting for me with each of the council members.
In the quite of his chambers, Seamus sheds the heavy shield. The anger at the responsibilities he was facing makes him throw a warm wine glass in anger. .. I must compose myself.
What is the local community composed of? What are the existing conflicts or ailments? What is the source of these conflicts? What could be done?
Arriving back at the Triad Camp Marius took a moment to enjoy the sight of the various orcish tribes working and training there, the half-orcs were undergoing their Rite of Acceptance, and presented their skills in combat, hunt, or spellcasting to the elders. Romlon mercenaries were either guarding the supplies, or joined the orcs in training. The sound of hammers lingered in the air as new buildings were erected and blacksmiths worked to increase the weapon and armor stock for the soldiers.
Hundreds of warriors, all waiting for his orders, willing to charge in battle whenever he deems so necessary. The families and animals the orcs have also brought with them were also close, but a bit more further away from the military center.
As he stood there, Marius tried to recall what territories the Nobility own, and where these lands are weakest and most plagued by wolves, bandits and outlaws. He also considered what he knew of the nature of these lands, what temperatures reigned, and what vegetation or animals there were.
Marius the Raven Lord had an army, and he intended to use it. He went down to the camp and called the leaders together, he explained his plan to hunt down bandits and outlaws, get rid of dangerous animals, and offer an escort to traders and merchants. His army was strong but it needed to stay active, and well fed. The orcs were fiercely loyal but the mercenaries needed payment. He still had enough for a while but to ensure the future loyalty of theirs he had to take steps to increase his local presence and sign deals. Marius told the leaders how the goods and wealth of outlaws will be confiscated, how the offered assistance and escort will be cheap but not for free, and how any bandit is given a chance to join them instead of death.
Yes, Marius planned to rebuild the Black Banner Army his father once made in Albion, out of outlaws who got a second chance. He also ordered his men to keep their eyes and ears sharp for any signs of witches, especially white haired ones, he wanted to talk with them. He took this test of the Council as an opportunity to improve his own standing and the might of his army, while also addressing issues of supply and demand and getting new allies along the way.
The plan was simple, and it assured the improved support of both nobles from those areas and also commoners who felt the attacks on their own skin.
After he explained the main objectives to the leaders he requested them to decide who the two best fighters and riders are among them. If there will be festivities and battles, he will send a representation of his own to it. The leaders agreed to decide who the two representatives will be with their own little tournament at camp, where the two strongest ones will go under the raven banner to fight for Marius. The result of this quickly prepared event was that a young son of one of the orc Clan Chiefs and a Romlon mercenary Knight will represent the Raven Lord in Sir Gavin's little festivity.
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The local population is about 80% human, and equal parts of the remaining 20% being made up of elves, dwarfs, half-elves, half-orcs, orcs, hobgoblins, kobolds, halflings and gnomes. The community’s overall alignment is lawful neutral.
Seamus
Corvinus
Hall