To His Royal Highness, King Karos V of Griffon's Aerie

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Karras
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To His Royal Highness, King Karos V of Griffon's Aerie

Post by Karras »

(OOC: This letter is a bit tl;dr so feel free to skip if you're not into BDI political stuffs.)

A leather bound satchel containing a rare Aslarian lens and a bottle of wine from the Sresar Vale would be inexplicably found within the fortified royal bedchamber of King Karos V of Griffon’s Aerie. Inspection of the bottle of wine would reveal a loosely fitting label, underneath of which lies a small raveled scroll, addressed to none other than the King himself:

To His Most Sublime Majesty King Karos, The Fifth of His Name, Hereditary King of the Dominions of the winged Griffon Host, Possessor of the Cities of Alamarkand, Randegow and Gaggow, Titular Overlord of the Merchants of Secca; I send greetings.

I beg of Your Majesty’s wisdom and sound mind in finding this letter. Please do not be alarmed, I bear no ill will or intent, despite the surreptitious nature of the contents and the way in which it has been delivered to His Majesty’s person. I am a nobleman and highborn son of a great Griffon family of providence, though I am also a well-educated and resourceful noble who has many contacts and spies in and around the capital at my disposal, of to whom I gave the task of delivering you this missive.

I humbly write to you, Your Most Sublime Majesty, to bring you warnings of mistrust and disinformation that I fear spreads wickedly like a disastrous plague through the infested pit of snakes that is the ruling body of the Royal Council. While I am aware such talk and words are treasonous, Your Majesty, and very well may have my head, as one of your many loyal subjects and vassals, I feel it is my utmost duty to bring upon you my best wisdom and counsel concerning recent developments that have been unfolding under your very throne.

You might be well aware the Honourable Grand Sqaqraa Remos, Provincial Overlord to the Eastern Border and Military Advisor to the Royal Council, has recently written and proposed a charter and royal decree he wishes to express unto your person concerning the nations of Elvendeep, and more importantly, The Kingdom of Arangoth. Poorly titled ‘The Barbarous and Unenlightened Realms of the Eastern Frontier’, Grand Sqaqraa Remos states that he has travelled far within the lands of Arangoth, and has surmised its people, government and culture to a manner he feels befit to be laid upon Your Majesty’s ears.

My own informants have made this report and decree privy to eyes, and I can assure you, Your Most Sublime Majesty, that this work is a nothing but the most vile-worded, baseless, contemptuous pile of rint dung that my Griffon eyes have ever had the misfortune to read. This ‘report’, for lack of a more repulsive term, deserves no credit or heed of any sort. While Grand Sqaqraa Remos’ motives seem dubious at best, I put it to His Majesty that his ambitions are solely that of his own, and he has no interest in serving his duty to the state (as he is bound to do under Lilist law) and only wishes (by reasons I cannot fathom) to bring disorder and possible conflict to our serene and peaceful kingdom.

Within his report, Grand Sqaqraa Remos assures Your Majesty that he has stayed in the city of Drache for over three months, and resided within Arangoth for over two seasons. I put it to Your Majesty, I have resided within Arangoth for almost two years – both on official duties and unofficial duties – and I can assure Your Majesty that the Not-So-Honourable Grand Sqaqraa Remos spent less than two days within Arangoth’s capital, no more, no less. I have it on the highest authority that The Sqaqraa spent the rest of his winters in his lavish manse and private aerie located on the far north western borders at the foot of the Lunit Mountains, where he remained out of public eye until his ‘return’ to Neskegow earlier this year, where he sought audience with the Royal Council and His Majesty.

In his report, The Sqaqraa claims that he was ‘savagely attacked’ by a group of hoodlum and human mages practicing the dark arts. I can assure Your Majesty that nothing of the sort occurred. Grand Sqaqraa Remos actually threatened a number of citizens within Drache’s city walls, and was approached by a few number of Drache’s Royal Guard and asked to desist from his hostile behaviour (a request that I believe was rather reasonable, considering Grand Sqaqraa Remos was merely in the capital on emissary duties). Grand Sqaqraa Remos openly threatened the Royal Guards themselves (I was witness to this event). By my sound use of diplomacy and reasoning, I was able to calm the situation and prevent The Sqaqraa from causing a possible international incident, an act to which he discredits me by naming me a craven to this day.

Grand Sqaqraa Remos goes on to state, in his long and tedious tirade of blinded bigotry, that the people of Drache are uncivilized brutes, with no code of conduct befitting a proper and noble society, that they have no significant culture, military, social or political bodies to speak of, and should possibly be considered a hostile nation to The Aerie and one of which we should maintain no political ties to.

I would firstly like to assure Your Majesty that not one single facet noted in any of these claims is true. While the Arangothians are unaware of The Lil (though there is a small group of Lilists that I can happily say have been practicing their religion in the capital with relative freedom), they maintain a rather complex (if not partially crude) code of ethics, and most of them worship a mysterious deist type figure named by the Arangothian rural folk as ‘Mensh-van’, or more commonly known in Drache as Menxvan. There are also a number of other beliefs (or cults) within the city, but ‘Menx-ism’ is the dominant religion. There is an extensive criminal code and set of laws in Arangoth. While it is not as perfect or expansive as our own, Your Majesty, it is most assuredly present and abided by most citizens, for the most part.

To say that Arangoth does not have a capable military and do not have allies could only be a fool’s erratum. Arangoth has one of the most capable military bodies and resilient people on this continent. Their army is strong, and they have powerful allies, including Elvendeep, Khalar and the Alesian Imperium. While I am of course not strongly knowledgeable on the extent of diplomacy and international ties between these nations, the mere fact that the Alesians have a legion and barracks within Arangoth’s capital is a strong case that Alesia stands where Arangoth stands, and any provocation against the kingdom of Arangoth would be seen as a direct provocation against the Alesian Empire. His Majesty would do well to consider this diplomatic development and approach it with care.

The Arangothian political model, while perhaps not the most efficient or widely popular, seems to function well, and has done so since its inception many years ago. While Arangoth as a kingdom is not as old nor has such an extensive and wondrous history as our great kingdom of Griffon’s Aerie and the previous kingdom of Vallaria, they have many epics and historical figures they worship, some not to far akin from our own traditions surrounding Neskos, though let it be known to his Majesity that I make no such direct comparison to Neskos The Great or a Son of Neskos such as yourself.

I have heard rumours, Your Majesty, of a possible bipartisan treaty to be proposed between Leturia and our own kingdom. Let it be known, Your Majesity, that I feel perhaps it might be prudent to suggest the workings of reopening talks with our Elvendeep neighbours and Arangothian diplomats in our capital concerning a possible non-aggression pact between our two great kingdoms. While The Sqaqraa also takes great lengths to embellish and exaggerate claims concerning the ‘volatile’ nature of the ‘uncivilized’ orcs of Zul Kiras, a claim which has no basis in any known realms of reality, it is the utmost concern of mine that should civil war break out between the clans and the horde revolt and spread through the lands, our kingdom may not be able to stand against such a threat alone.

I would confer more information to Your Majesty, but sadly I have no more room to write. I humbly beseech Your Most Sublime Majesty to take heed to these warnings when hearing what Grand Sqaqraa Remos has to say from his so called ‘report’ and decree to the Royal Council.

I shall be in contact with His Majesty soon to advise him of further developments.

I remain a humble and loyal servant to The Crown, now and always.

-B


(The Royal Ambassadorial Seal of Griffon’s Aerie is affixed here)
Wolfram
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Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 9:27 pm

Re: To His Royal Highness, King Karos V of Griffon's Aerie

Post by Wolfram »

The following morning, the bottle is found emptied, with note and label removed, swinging from the gallows. The note attached to it reads, in an uneven hand

Nikea prefers whites, but we may be convinced to enjoy red.
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