"We are, of course. But to surpass them through growing ourselves is very different than to surpass them by grinding their servants into the dirt. There is no glory in winning a race by laming your rival's horse."

On the one hand: PRIMARY SOURCE for 700 YEARS OLD HISTORY. On the other, "One might then ask, why not yield to the clerics of Erastil and have no settlement larger than a village? Villagers across Avistan clamor for no taxes, no lords, no men-at-arms at all - and then, should they get it, are overrun by orcs or eaten by dragons. Asmodeus could conquer one part of Cheliax because it was divided against itself until the hour was too late, but united even a god would have failed - and the greater the unity, the greater the realm, the greater our power to cast down the dark gods themselves. I do not know if we wish to reunite with Andoran, but that is not because of their desires or lack thereof or because unity is not stronger than division, or because I would not plant the flag of Aspex on the stars themselves - it is because there are better ways to solve Inner Seas piracy than to risk a deadly war with a ninth circle wizardess, should she still prefer independence."

On the other, he's wrong.

To Sanaüja—"I don't by any means claim to approve of all Rahadoum's methods. I have no desire to see women die in childbirth, and it's deplorable to let them when help would be so easy. But I don't think Aroden wanted a Cheliax so dependent on him that it collapsed into thirty years of war when he died, either. And every woman that Iomedae saves from dying in childbirth is some fraction of a soul she can't afford to save from Hell. If we could heal people without invoking the gods, that would be better for both us and them."

To Joan-Pau—"There is a certain size of empire at which the inefficiencies of administration begin to eclipse the advantages of unity; Taldor, in my day, was larger than that. In this day, perhaps with the Teleportation Circles and such, the limit is larger. I don't claim to know for sure. Though I will observe, on the subject, that while Cheliax has a vast surplus of wizards compared to what I'm used to, most of the teleporters it has are those foolish enough to have sold their souls to Hell, which seems like it could become a problem."

"Which is why a way to substitute the contractees out is so essential a national priority!"

"Yes, being infernal it was rather leaking its best wizards. It has a few more now." Three archmages and him, say. "- And the world has changed. Teleport Circle. Faster ships. Mass wizard training. Oppara was and is a pit; Westcrown can do better. We are all commanded to surpass our ancestors, and now we can."

"I can't say I see it as in any way a national priority to offer people who have damned themselves any more aid than a Final Blade. They may of course pursue some solution themselves, but it defies comprehension to suggest that they are owed one, rather than themselves owing the Queen eternal gratitude that they are not yet in Hell."

Yeah, Xavier's with her. Nice to know what Aniol's mission here is, though.

(Ah, Joan-Pau. He'd be a cleric if his god wasn't dead. You live in the world you live in, though.)

"Senyor Reixach, are you not aware that damning another to save your own soul is, in fact, Evil, and will leave you no less damned?"

"I'm not that old. And I do think it should be a priority, a national one. Not so much for myself, I suppose replacing a few more nobles might not trouble Her Majesty much as she's already done so much of it and I wouldn't suggest she ought to pay me any personal mind - but the wizards. The archmages aren't going to want to handle every teleport themselves, and our national supply of arcane power is substantially in hock to Hell! A bulk solution would be a tremendous improvement to Chelish sovereignty and security, and as long as there is one certainly I'd like to participate, but that's not my argument."

"Was in hock to Hell," says fourth-circle-at-forty Berenguer-Aspex Riner. "Damn sure many of the ones who got away are coming back now there's someone to come back to."

If they destroyed Nidal and sent all its souls to Hell—no, best leave that line of argument to people actually qualified to make tradeoffs like that, not to ex-Asmodeans.

"Of course it's a security risk," he says instead, "but I don't think there's anything conscionable to be done about it except the mercy of a Final Blade, as the good Duchess said. And we have the infrastructure, now, to have vastly more wizards than any empire in history, and no more reason for them to flee as soon as they can Teleport. We'll replace the ones we lost, eventually."

"If there is anything to be done, I'm sure, the only people alive who could do it are the Archmagi Cotonnet. And I wouldn't put it past them; it's an impossible deed, but it's said that all archmages can do a few of those, and I'm more inclined to believe that these days than I was in my youth. But even were they tomorrow to release all from their contracts, they would still nearly all be damned, in their own right, for collaboration with diabolists and for the deeds done in their service. So were I in such a position I imagine I'd set myself to ceasing to deserve Hell, and then hope that someone else devises a way for that to be sufficient."

"Do you have reliable information to the effect that good deeds done without title to one's soul accrue in the same way as they do for the self-owned?"

"Were the secrets of judgment ever revealed to me I have forgotten them, but if neither gratitude for Her Majesty's mercy nor self-interest nor piety can inspire you to Goodness without an ironclad assurance from Pharasma that She's attending to it then I daresay you're damned at least twice over."

"I'm not going about doing wicked deeds because I might as well, you understand, but if I'm going to give away my fortune I would like to time it to benefit the donor as well as the beneficiary."

"I think it is shortsighted to contemplate only Pharasma's judgment, in that."

"Why? There will be temples and beggars in a year, or in five."

Because the realm's true nobles may be more tolerant of traitors and collaborators in their midst if they at least act abjectly sorry about it and aim at once to demonstrate their loyalty, but if he hasn't picked that up she won't spell it out. She turns her back on him instead. "Conde, you knew my grandfather? I've found myself wishing of late that I could more cheaply consult him for advice."

"I knew him, though as much by reputation as by personal acquaintance." He can tell a little anecdote involving the old Duke, one of Carlota's uncles, a blink dog, and a dire lion. It paints the duke in a reasonably good light, but as stories go its main virtues are that it is both true and one of the few where Alfons-Valentí can provide a firsthand account. "I'm afraid I don't remember any of his sage advice, and if I did it would likely not be applicable to the changed times we find ourselves in today."

Jilia received the invitation late and so arrived late, and sat down while her hostess was absorbed in a conversation. Listening is a good way to orient herself in any case, and she is both under-dressed and under-studied for this company, despite her best efforts. The conversation will drift around again, she's sure, and she will have opportunity to make herself memorable.

Carlota will drift over once there's a gap in the conversation and she can do so courteously. She has a servant Messaging her to put faces to names when new people arrive, not that 'the only Archduchess' requires it. How is the Archduchess finding everything? What evils have been necessary to root out of Ravounel?

Everything is very pleasant and the mansion is of course delightful. Barzilai Thrune was certainly a major problem, but the archmages killed him in a handful of moments and Jilia's soul was soon rescued from his trap, and really other than the problems Ravounel has had since Aspex's day, the evils have not been so bad.

"The Goods, on the other hand, have given me no end of headache. We were fortunate enough to have some resurrected rebels from the time of the Civil War returned to us, and I owe them my freedom from Thrune's soul trap, but they insist Ravounel ought to declare its independence and I cannot persuade them otherwise."

"Oh no. Has word reached Ravounel that the Queen fought the Tarrasque, here?" If they go to war with her they'll lose.

"Yes, but I'm not sure that they believe it. And they suspect sir Archmage Cotonnet will support them in their desires, if it comes down to it, and possibly his wife as well, seeing as she was the one to raise them and must therefore agree... I've had more success on the latter count than the former."

"I will admit that the Archmage Cotonnet is a mystery to me but he hasn't intervened even for Galt, where one would expect him to have stronger feelings. ...I don't envy you. I'd rather root out a hundred diabolists than have to try talking spirited revolutionaries down from treason."