In a smaller hall behind the great Hall of the Southern Chapter, Brother Bart sits comfortably in a small armchair.  Other chairs and low tables are arranged in a circle.

"In light of some oof the questions asked earlier, Lord Henry has asked me to brief you on our knowledge and relationships with various other states and entities.  House leMaistre has contacts in many towns and cities close to us, and well as keeping track of our visitors and their comments."  The last is said with a slight smile.  "So I will do my best to answer your questions, although I cannot promise that the information I give you is complete, or even correct.  But it is the best that we have."

OOC:  One place at a time please, and let others ask their supplementary questions, before pushing for somewhere new :)  And just one character per player  :)  Lets not make it too busy.

OOC:  To help you frame your questions and plan your diplomatic / political missions, I have updated the Noble's Ranking Table on This page ...

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku....rt#ranking_of_nobles

Don't get too hung up on the numbers.  They are relative, rather than absolute.  An individual with a score of 50, is more influential than a house with a score of 35 etc.  Nor are the tables complete, they are other nobles in  the background that you haven't come across yet.

The Mivon page has a brief overview of Influence in that City state - although that is a bit more basic.

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku.php?id=stolen_land:mivon

Cass collects his thoughts and contemplates for a moment before speaking.“I am most interested in learning the inclinations of Houses leMaistre, Lebeda, Lodkova, and Yitis-Aldori.”

Brother Bart stays absolutely deadpan, as he says "I can't speak for the inclinations of the other houses, but in his capacity of Viscount intends to keep developing the trade routes and is considering upgrading more roads to highways.  He also intends tu provide some of the province's troops with better equipment and training.

In a personal capacity, he intends to continue with the development of Newgate and its satellite towns, and is considering expanding further. He is also considering further developments for his chain of Corn Inns.

In Restov, Henry's cousin, Ricard, has limited opportunities for expansion as the family has directed most of his disposable income towards developing the southern section of The Eastern Reach trade route between Brundeston and the Duchy of Stonewall.  The same is true in the north where Henry's sister, Arice, along with her husband, are overseeing that development.  Developments for DELEM in Restov, Brundeston and Sway have reached their permitted limit anyway.

Amelie, Henry's Mother, has been consolidating DELEM's developments in New Steven, but for various reasons House leMaistre find New Stetven a difficult Market."

ONE THING AT A TIME!

OOC Note - MY OOC whinging does not mean we shouldn't keep going in here.  This is the type of thing I enjoy and get pleasure from, and makes me to think about The Game World and how it is panning out  :)  Writing settlement descriptions is just mechanical, and gets boring!.

The 'one thing at a time' comment, it to try and give me (and you guys)  time to think, digest, invent etc.

Brother Bart collects his thoughts before he starts on the other houses suggested by Cass.

“While I am not privy to the plans of House Lebeda, their recent developments in Tusk and Wyvern Bridge tells us that they have started taking an interest in The Southern Region.  We suspect that they are most interested in shipping goods to the South, although trade access to both Tusk and Restov will benefit them as well.

We know that the East Sellen trade route is ‘difficult’, and has become increasingly hard to ship south through Lake Hooktongue and the southern wetlands, so we assume they are looking for a safer, if slower, way of trading down towards the Inner Sea.  Quite what that means for Southern, we aren’t sure.

As for Tusk and Restov, Tusk is a new market that has opened up over the last few years, and we are not surprised that they have decided to move into it.  In fact, we would have been surprised if they had not made the move at some point.  The Restov market is a bit more interesting.  Most trade goods travel to Restov along The Rostland Road trade route, with Black Fir and DELEM being the main trade houses on the route.  However, New Stetven has a stringent tax regime, and makes sure that it takes a healthy cut from any trade that passes through the city.  I suspect that House Lebeda see this as a way around those taxes.

Even that is based on observation, as we don’t have good contacts in Silverhall.”

Again he pauses, and frowns slightly.  “And we have next to nothing on House Lodkova and their plans.  Lodkova are firmly ensconced in northeast Brevoy, and appear to be staying there.  They have limited interests in New Steven although, like all the Great houses, they do have a presence there.”

The House Yitis-Aldori question, almost brings a smile to his face.  “House Yitis have been operating in and around Tusk for a number of years now, mainly providing ferry services around the Tuskwater.  However, they are a branch of the Mivonese family, who operate a larger merchant house and have, to some extent, copied their patent house’s model.  They have a few larger vessels, armed against pirate attack, that ply their trade between Restov and Mivon, via their wharfs in   Tusk.  In the time that she has been here, Sword-Lord Yasmin has been a model citizen, becoming actively involved in Southern’s own Aldori Council and making social contributions to Tusk Council without complaint.  I hear that on occasion, she has been more generous than she has needed to be.

I can’t speak of the parent house in Mivon, that city is a shambles – run by the larger Houses for their own benefit.  It appears that much of the business in the city is controlled by gangs of one sort or another, outside the control of Mivion’s Council.”

OOC:  If some of that is confusing -  these pages might help.

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku....general:trade_routes

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku.php?id=stolen_land:mivon

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku....nd:brevoy:silverhall
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:47, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

Adoven takes the floor. "Does anyone know why Skywatch has closed its doors to the outside world?"

"Not really." brother Bart responds to Adoven.  "It all happened the same night that the Rogavaria and the Dwarf Minehold at Deepdelve disappeared.  That city, and its observatory, was sealed magically, and despite attempts by the Caratan and Ventus families, no one has yet managed to break through that seal.

Lady Varya Rogarvia-Green, wife of the Rogarvarian Count of the region, has taken temporary command of the region, which was recognised, a few years ago, by the Noble Council of Brevoy.  While she insists that she will return title to her husband, should he reappear, she has also named her young son as her heir."  He smiles slightly, "Although there is a lot of speculation whether the son, is a child of her husband ..."

Andalon rose to ask a question about a matter that had been touched on briefly earlier.

"You mentioned that the East Sellen trade route is ‘difficult’, and has become increasingly hard to ship south through Lake Hooktongue and the southern wetlands. I believe it was Captain Simon Lebeda who mentioned Lake Hooktongue never really was an easy passage due to the river pirates, but since Lord Henry has cleaned those out, the boggards and other monsters have grown in strength and Drelev isn't doing much about it.

"Do you have any other information about Fort Drelev and the Baron? Is their attention turned in a different direction instead of focussing on the problems they would be expected to deal with in Lake Hooktongue? Is there an opportunity to offer our assistance there and potentially establish new trade opportunities that way, or would Baron Drelev not be open to that approach?"

Brother Bart nods slowly as he collects his thoughts.  "We don't know all that much about Fort Drelev, although I believe you met the Baron and his wife a few years ago.  To me, he appeared to be quite a stand-offish man, quite the northern noble.  His wife was a large lady, loud, with a somewhat irritating little lapdog.

Fort Drelev does not appear to have attracted many new residents, since it was founded, and some of those are leaving.  Master Tobias, for example, has come here to try his luck, rather than building in Fort Drelev.  I am told ther is a particularly well build fort, as a residence for the Baron and his court, but little else of great interest.  Not even the Great Temple has been properly completed.

The Baron's military strength appears to be turned inwards, from the stories that I have heard, and he has few vessels patrolling the waters of the lake, and even those are kept close to home.  Unlike Henry, he has not recruited an able body of people to explore the land and clear it."

Bart half shrugs apologetically, as if he feels that he should know more about Fort Drelev and its people.

"What can you tell us about the Eastern Association?  Who are the movers and shakers at the various courts? Hargrym asked.

Bart pauses for a while as he pulls his thoughts together, then starts with an overview of the eastern association.  ”The Eastern Region?  Well it was only really formed after the ‘Almost War’.  At the same time as Tusk became and independent City, restrictions were placed on the expansion of Midmarch and the concept of March-Holds was introduced to Southern Region.   Lady Jamandi arrived at the great meeting, with the backing of the Rostland Aldori, Baron Khavortorov, The Dwarves of Rostland and, of course, the free city of Restov.”  Then, almost as an afterthought he adds, ”  It helped, of course, that she had a large army mustered in the fields and commons of the land that she wished to claim.”  H

”While the king was against it, the great houses were keen to limit his powers, wrote the establishment of East Rostland into The Great Charter, and made Lady Jamandi the Countess of the new state.  Technically, her holdings are larger than the old province of East Rostland, and I believe she has started calling herself Countess Rostland. So Eastern Region consists of Rostland, Restov, the Khavortorov and Brundeston.  It was a good arrangement for all of them,  Khavortorov gained some extra land, while Restov and Brundeston had their independence confirmed and assured.  .”

Bart pauses again, as he considers the separate states.  ”The Khavortorov are straightforward, the Baron keeps a fairly tight control of his holdings, and has the final say in all matters of importance, DELEM even needed his personal permission before they were allowed to build a serai at Sway. He made sure that he got good value for his permission, and set a  number of conditions on the arrangement, that he thought would be to his benefit.

Brundeston, is a bit more complex.  Ralin Golka is Mayor of Brundeston and makes decisions on behalf of the town .  As you probably know Master Hagrym, he is guided by a priest of Torag and the leaders of the more powerful Dwarven Clans.  The majority of the population are Dwarven, although DELEM, Black Fir and House Ragoon have interests in the region.  However, the ‘human’ involvement is restricted to one district, outside the town’s wall, and has little impact on the town’s decision making.

Restov is interesting.  Since Lady Jamandi moved into Rostland, the Aldori influence has weakened.  Senior Sword Lord Aldori-Porter is more conservative than Lady Jamandi and The Lord Mayor has become stronger.   He has consolidated personally, and  his merchant house, Black Fir, has grown.  While the same groups as before, such as the Dwarves of Low Town, still have a voice it is, perhaps, not quite as loud as it was before.

And the establishment of Sirian and Rostland has not been as straightforward as Lady Jamandi might have hoped for either.  As I am sure you are aware  Master Hagrym, the Aldori Swordlords tend to be hot tempered and take insult fairly easily … and just about every small town and village has its own Swordlord, who is prepared to fight, argue and scrap for everything they think they are entitled to. To counter this,  Jamandi has conceded many trade rights to Black Fir and House Alston of Restov, while Lord Henry’s cousin has a farm in the Sirian hinterland and Lord Adoven has a tavern in the town.  Swordlords Aldori-Blain and Aldori-Saltikov are two key players in the Rostland Council, and they are starting to pull Rostland together, although it is an ongoing battle.”

Yet again Bart pauses, ”I think that just about covers it.  However, Eastern Region is as large, and as complex, as our own Southern Region.”

What can you tell us about the points of contention between the great houses of Issia?

Bart looks a bit surprised at the question.  "Well, they don't like each other very much, and they are, traditionally, followers of Gorum.  They are always plenty of Skirmishes along the Great North Road, although that is mainly between the younger members of the houses, trying to prove themselves.  Small-scale raids aren't unusual, either.  The Lake of Mists and Veils still sees conflict between Surtova and Lodkova vessels."

After a few moments of thought, he continues with a history lesson,  "Much of that, I think, stems from the days before Choral and the Rogarvia came, before Brevoy was created.  Surtova, at that time, claimed kingship and extracted tribute from many of the smaller warlords who ruled in traditional Issia.  While the Orolvsky were always a fairly centralized family, most of Issia was ruled by those local warlords.

Many of the Great Houses were only formed once Brevoy was conquered, and Choral demanded compliance from everyone.  The more powerful warlords and leaders rose to prominence by helping the Rogarvia control the regional population."

OOC:  I am writing up the history of Brevoy -  I am sure I have it somewhere already, but I can clarify more things now.  All characters will know the basics -  but only historians have the details  :)  So semi-ooc for most of you.

OOC:  One potted history of Brevoy, according to John  :)

http://rp.baileymail.net/lib/e...oytimeofconquest.gif
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:48, Thu 02 Feb 2023.