[CLOSED] nevarra gonna give you up

[katabasis]

WHO: Division Heads
WHAT: Deciding which Nevarran relative to visit for Thanksgiving.
WHEN: Nowish, whatever that means.
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Prose, but with the spirit of action spam. Tag order is flexible. Don't overthink it etc.

A chiliagenarian elf, an ex-qunari, two spies, and a pirate walk into a war room.

--Is, some might say tragically so, not the set up to a joke. However, if there is any principle which Riftwatch holds dear, then surely it must be the sentiment 'Work with what you're given' and here the five Division Heads can be found studded about the heavy old war table and emboding that very ideal as Riftwatch turns its attention toward the civil war breaking even now across Nevarra.

(So, yes. There is probably going to be some spirited debate.)

"We'll need to move quickly to see that whichever Nevarran noble houses remain undecided consolidate behind the Van Markhams," says Flint in the tones of a foregone conclusion nearly the moment they're all present and accounted for.

Comments

[saam]

Eshal is happy to turn back to Yseult, if only to keep herself from saying something regrettably vile to him. Not regrettable because it was said to him. Regrettable because it would be a loss of control in front of the remaining colleagues she respects.

"It's war," Eshal agrees. "People are afraid and want stability. Some may have deeply-held political opinions, but generally the promise of safety wins out. That is a fact." Unspoken: The Qun, the Qun, the Qun, I know because of the Qun. She opts not to bring it up, if only because it seems like an answer better left in reserve if anyone questions her.

She's not looking at Flint anymore.

"So our plan must offer safety and stability. Even if it leads to war, the after war promise must be safety and stability, and that you will know what you are doing tomorrow and it won't be war. Starting from there, the Pentaghasts have had Nevarra safe and stable for how long? I can't count that high." She can, but that's not the point. "Now- how do we manage the rest?"

[hassaran]

"Yes," comes with a nod to Eshal, agreement in the space between that is a fact and our plan.

The rest gives her greater pause. "But we can't just concede that there will be a war and focus on the after. If they're warring against each other, they can't fight Corypheus. Tevinter may be content to focus on dismantling Orlais for now but they will look east at some point. Cumberland is nearly as rich a prize as Val Royeaux. And in the meantime, we need their support."

[rowancrowned]

"If we were to," he starts, then takes a moment to iron out the finer details, translate his own speech to Trade. "If we were to prevent the Van Markhams from raising an army at all, deprive them of their generals from the start, then there would be no battles of the sort that would kill the soldiers who will be needed to fight the larger war. That is only what, a handful of their supporting lords and ladies?"

[bouchonne]

Byerly rubs his chin. "Presumably, even Nevarrans won't pursue death with no hope of reward," he says. "So we would not, I fancy, need to sway all those lords and ladies - just sway enough that our pretty young lad and his puppetmasters see that there's no winning this war." A little wave of his fingers at Yseult - "Or spread enough misinformation that the pretty young lad and his puppetmasters think they have less support than they do."