Yes, the point of giving it a boring name was to set a minimum competence standard to find it and participate in it. The first session was boring and useful. They recorded the old imperial taxes. It is exactly what an economics committee should be.

Message to Permira. "One of you should probably try to get on that committee if it passes, to keep an eye on it if nothing else."

"The good Count of Sanaüja has made an excellent point. We all know the intended purpose of this committee; it is one which Delegate Barro knows full well the body of this Convention would not favor, thus his underhanded trickery in pursuing it. But this matter, in fact, need wait for no committee. I move that the institution of chattel slavery* be henceforth and forever abolished in Cheliax, and that neither the constitution and law of Cheliax nor the business of this Convention henceforth recognize any reasoning being as property."

(*) But not any of the several other forms of unfree labor that currently exist in Cheliax. It's not that he necessarily supports all of these, of course, it's just—one thing at a time.

Oh, shit.

...Korva would really like a formal definition of chattel slavery right now!! Which things count? You can't ask without looking super invested in slavery!

"To clarify for those delegates less well versed in legal matters," he adds, "chattel slavery is the arrangement whereby one person is considered as the property of another, to be bought and sold; this is the current situation of most nonhuman slaves in Cheliax. My motion does not encompass serfdom, voluntary indentures, the corvée, or hard labor as a sentence for a crime."

What the Hell are they thinking. This will just make it harder for more subtle tax dodges to go through. Time to shut up and let the insanity pass.

Too many people wanted to speak and so Feather didn't get to move for Ravounel Forest to pay taxes in leaves and acorns. By the time she gets to the metaphorical head of the line, the crazy humans are talking about something else entirely. This might be even worse than committees! That horrible woman managed to speak in time, what trick is she using?

Now they're talking about slavery again and saying that she's against slavery will presumably cause some of the humans to be for it, so she keeps quiet.

This seems like a good opportunity to establish her anti Asmodean credentials.  The topic shifts back and forth by the time it actually becomes her turn to speak, but her point is still on topic, and in fact she can also work on her goal of distracting the anti-diabolism committee from Theopho.

“Irori opposes that which would abuse and waste people’s potential.  So I support the motion to abolish chattel slavery.  Furthermore many contracts of indentured servitude contain tricky and abusive Asmodean terms, so I propose that-” she takes a moment to check her notes to get the full committee names right “-the Committee on Slavery and the Committee on Excising the Influence of Diabolism and Asmodeanism From Our Country investigate and consider this matter and proposals for addressing it.”

Could that extend to abusive and tricky loan terms?  Could he have his debts owed to the wizard school abolished or annulled or whatever the legal term is for it?  It seems like a blatant test of his lawfulness personally, but maybe it’s a test on goodness more generally?  He could try to join the antislavery committee.  Are the inventions of this grand loyalty test actually going to get treated like real laws?  Well, he’s studied hard so he thinks he knows the Good answer to this, so even if it doesn’t help his debt problems he can pass the test.

"The Committee on Slavery does not yet have a full proposal ready for the floor, but an internal vote for the abolition of chattel slavery passed. The motion has my full support. We have not reviewed indentured servitude yet, but I can add it to our list of priorities." He didn't expect this vote to happen now, but hopefully the support of the Slavery Committee will help it pass.

Oh dear, oh dear, no wonder her daughters chastised her for not paying attention yesterday.

"Could the good Archduke Blanxart define for us a reasoning being?"

He took the phrase from the constitution of Andoran and doesn't actually entirely know. The definition that seems obvious to him, 'an ensouled being having the use of language', will just have the druids arguing that the beasts of the forest ought to count, since they can allegedly speak to animals.

"I defer that question to the President of the Convention, who surely has more experience with the term's use than I."

"I support the motion for abolition; slavery may be practiced beyond Hell's claimed territory but it is the most Asmodean of all civilization's flaws."

He'd like to suggest an amendment that all reasoning beings are born free, not inheriting serfdom or indenture or other forms, but probably better to suggest it to the committee.

"It sounds as though the slavery committee is already working on a proposal. I think we should wait for them to finish that work, which should clarify points like 'what is a reasoning being,' instead of having an impromptu floor vote on a proposal that hasn't had the same amount of time and devoted attention given to its drafting."

All right. All right. This is probably salvageable. He was counting on more time, months of it ideally, for his letters home to get the silver mines to accelerate their plans for switching to convict labor, but this is fine. An archduke proposing the complete abolition of slavery in terms that make it clear that arguing against the proposal will be considered disloyal is -- fine. Just fine.

Should he voice agreement with Delegate Plensa? No, that risks attracting the enmity of the archduke. This is fine.

"The abolition of chattel slavery, while unambiguously Heaven's will, should be done carefully and thoughtfully so as to avoid chaos, violence, failed harvests, and further suffering. The eagerness of this body to demand it speaks well of them but it is not just our duty to get the right answers but the right implementations."

"I also vote for the abolition of slavery!" She says, because the lady is stonewalling it.

"A room full of angry slips is manifestly not capable of coming up with implementation details of any kind. They aren't smart enough, they aren't literate enough, and they aren't Chelish and don't care about our country. That's not to say we shouldn't pursue abolition, but I don't think we can realistically kick it to the Committee Of Furious Slips and expect anything workable."

If the committee is mostly slips and they are all stupid that means there is an opportunity to show leadership and savviness on such a committee by deftly guiding the halflings in writings the ‘laws’.  Fernando is more firm in his resolve to join the slavery committee.  Hopefully it will make up for his mediocre performance in the monarchy committee yesterday.

“I disagree with everything Count Bellumar just said. Halflings in other countries where they aren’t systematically denied opportunities show just as much mental faculty as humans.”

"Well, we don't have any of those on the committee, so I don't think that has much to do with this situation."

Feather would offer to cast Owl's Wisdom on them but she doesn't have nearly enough to cover the whole day.

Is this the kind of thing you ask the archmage President to arrange? ...no, because then he'd probably have to give one to the horrible woman too and Feather does not want a Wiser Eulàlia on top of everything else.

"Many of the halflings that I've met," and led into the woods and recruited, because it was a thousand times better than being enslaved in Infernal Cheliax, and halflings can learn to be druids like anyone else, "in this very country are just as smart as humans. Often smarter, actually, or at least more practical. They have had to be crafty and strong under very adverse conditions. Have you met many free ones, sir, or is all your experience with the ones your country was in the middle of beating into submission?"

He would intercede on this point, but unfortunately he doesn't know the current status of the slavery committee. If they can't find some new (hopefully moderate) members, the halfings might actually push a 'kill all slaveowners' policy to the floor, which would be a disaster. If Delegate Permira and her friends get attached to unworkable policies, voting on abolition now could save it.

"I'm not making any point about halflings in general! There's halflings, and then there's slips. I am saying that the committee is full of angry slips who are not smart, well-read, or Chelish enough to figure out the implementation details."