"It's like this: there's very little we can grow that would sustain so many people so we have to import from Ebeos and Estene, but of course there are tariffs to be paid and Zimevur has things we need too, and Corundus and Albas. But we would beggar ourselves to pay for them. Our pirates are the army just the same, the Sons are the most respected, I suppose in war they would command all the rest into battle, they are the best defenders we could have. So our royalty has always given letters of marque to the Sons and to other pirates they can vouch for, of course such a thing is disavowed but they have a system of doing it so no one has more taken from them than they can afford and violence is avoided in such things. Our queen's father came from Estene where the great forests are so we get our wood and she married a prince from Corundus for metals and precious gems. We're so far from anyone else and you can't always live from the sea." If there's a frown, it's the mention of Tevinter because enough has been told to her that she's wary of such a nation, more willing to trust in individuals rather than the place as a whole. Equally, she doesn't want her home to sound less than it is, because Zimevur is so fervent in their hatred, their anger still a dangerous thing from the councils she stands guard at.
She loves her home but a moment like this and she realises how different it is, all the balancing acts to keep their position, to be safe and strong.
"We gamble because we know how easily our lives might change with the winds and tides. There are rules we can break with others but there's a loyalty we must have to one another, though the nobility has their own ideas about that; the current queen is setting about reforms to give 'peasants'," her lip curls at the word, it's been spat at her more than once and she continues quickly, "more say in what goes on, to make sure that no one goes to bed hungry, that they have a standard of living. I don't know if I can explain how we see some of our royalty, even people from my world laugh when we say it."
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She loves her home but a moment like this and she realises how different it is, all the balancing acts to keep their position, to be safe and strong.
"We gamble because we know how easily our lives might change with the winds and tides. There are rules we can break with others but there's a loyalty we must have to one another, though the nobility has their own ideas about that; the current queen is setting about reforms to give 'peasants'," her lip curls at the word, it's been spat at her more than once and she continues quickly, "more say in what goes on, to make sure that no one goes to bed hungry, that they have a standard of living. I don't know if I can explain how we see some of our royalty, even people from my world laugh when we say it."