"The new members will have heard the first twenty items of my minutes on the floor - if they were not drowned out - but there are another seventeen, should they desire the context."

"Personally, I liked the suggestion of voting to amend or approve minutes--yours did rather have a perspective--but I don't object to hearing the whole thing first."

“I would appreciate a reading of the minutes.” 

Voshrelka has no problem being caught up on what happened for the day she wasn't here. Also, she probably needs the minutes re-read because she was kind of busy during the arguing earlier.

"Could I request a full reading, including what you've already gone over?" Because he was absolutely drowned out, and Voshrelka was not paying enough attention.

"Fair warning, they're deeply biased," Liushna murmurs to her. 

Coeliaris glances at him. "Seems wise to have them read. Perhaps we could for the next meeting have them copied and distributed beforehand?"

Most things are deeply biased, but she appreciates the warning and gives Liushna a subtle nod.

"If Delegate Liushna could specify perhaps that would become a productive observation."

"The minutes are—as far as I can tell—accurate. If anyone wishes to amend them, please mention specifics after we read them."

Permira is here. Permira is not happy.

"Thank you, Delegate Vivas.

1. Following some remarks in an unspecified language between Delegates Permira, Alonso, and Millet, Delegate Barro moved that business be conducted in Chelish Taldane, seconded by Delegate Vivas.

2. Following an ostensible translation of these remarks into questions about the then-chair Delegate Moles's personal property situation, discussion devolved into personal attacks. I moved that inquiries into the personal business of any member be grounds for expulsion. Delegate Permira attempted to put it to a vote on her own recognizance. After several mixed votes were issued I noted that if I were to depart the committee would lack representation from the religious delegation and therefore plausibly be invalidated.

3. Delegate Moles remarked that he had hoped that the first order of business could be to overturn the new regime's law permitting the existence of free halflings but that it might be impossible with the committee composed as it was, and speculated about removing the halflings from the committee.

4. I announced that I expected that a committee changing composition midstream in such a way would likely attract attention from the President.

5. Delegates Vivas and Ramirez expressed that this approach would be ineffective and reduce the perceived validity of the committee.

6. A detour into the question of whether slavery is, per se, Asmodean.

7. This detour was punctuated by Delegate Permira observing that the chair was appointed without vote. She nominated Delegate Vivas. Delegate Barro nominated myself. I indicated support for Delegate Ramirez but agreed that I would serve if called upon. Predictable vote distribution is available in the sidebar. Delegate Vivas won the seat.

8. Delegate Vivas said, I quote, “I do not think we can continue with anything resembling the current situation, but it is not as simple as saying 'no more slavery' and being done with it. If we free the slaves, what will their legal status become? What will we do about existing slave owners—should there be any compensation for their expected losses? If anyone has specific proposals for new policies, I would be interested in hearing them.”

9. Delegate Permira proposed that all slaves be emancipated without regard to species and compensated with a division of their master’s land, and that the penalty for failure to comply should be death.

10. I expressed a concern for the economic consequences of this plan and my belief that it would be an offense unto Abadar.

11. Delegate Liushna moved that it be impermissible to refer to people as property.

12. A digression into Delegate Liushna’s preferred form of address and linguistic accomplishments.

13. An enumeration by myself at Delegate Vivas’s request of the types of unfree labor, chattel slavery being the only one in which anyone is held as specifically property, contrasted with indenture, conscription, minor children, convicts, and other less commonplace situations.

14. Delegate Ramirez volunteered his services as a translator into Draconic.

15. Delegate Liushna expressed a perceived tension between people being referred to as property and also understood to be people. A detour onto this topic ensued.

16. At Delegate Vivas’s request I gave a defense of the notion of compensating expropriated slaveowners on the grounds that doing otherwise would create an economic catastrophe particularly in our already fragile financial state. Delegate Permira had two followup questions; I elaborated in response to the first but the chair did not ask that I go on in reply to the second.

17. Delegate Vivas inquires about minimum economic reimbursement to keep the economy afloat, such as compensating emancipated slaves themselves. I recommend against this on the grounds that it is more urgent than usual to grant money in exchange for activities which build up wealth, but allow that it is not per se blasphemous against Abadar to distribute gifts.

18. Delegate Liushna questions whether the will of Abadar is relevant. I alluded to the expropriation of the banks in Razmiran, prompting a mass exodus of Abadarans from its territory, even without provoking the god Himself, which Cheliax can ill afford.

19. Delegate Liushna impugns Abadar’s alignment.

20. Delegate Permira impugns my personal integrity."

"It's Asmodean. It's not a lie, it's just Asmodean, the way they all say things so that they barely aren't lying. Points nineteen and twenty are me and Liushna saying that what he was saying was wicked and so either his god was bad or his god didn't support him saying that."

Jaume grew up in an urbanized area in Cheliax with the widsom score necessary to be a cleric and the alignment to be Asmodeus's and he still isn't.

This information would be wasted on this creature.

Are minutes supposed to be funny? Because these are. She doesn't laugh, but she can't keep the amusement out of her expression.

"21. I clarify in response to a summary remark from Delegate Vivas that compensating slaveowners for the expropriation of their slaves will not enrich them, merely ameliorate the damage.

22. Delegate Permira puts forth the respectably formed argument that current slaveholders are betting their fortunes on slavery and that this should be punished; that we should compensate owners who willingly free their slaves; reiterates that she wants to divide the lands of masters among their slaves; and asserts that one works harder for oneself than for a master with a whip.

23. I pointed out that many halfling slaves have been sold, mostly overseas, and that not all slaveowners own land.

24. Delegate Ramirez asks for clarification about why it would be desirable to compensate slaveowners as opposed to other possible uses of Crown funds. I explain the limitations of insurance as it has been historically available and suggest that an interim measure of less destructive potential might be to restrict the sale of slaves to purchases other than the Crown or manumission-inclined churches, as an intended compromise with hypothetical consistent abolitionists interested in allaying the sale of halflings overseas.

25. Delegate Ramirez questions whether slave mothers are compensated, which I explain is not the premise on which any of those slaves were invested in.

26. Delegate Barro points out that if someone heard tell of a law that their slaves and lands would be taken so that the former could receive the latter they would be incentivized to put their slaves to death. Delegate Permira opines that this should be construed as murder and carry a death penalty. Delegate Barro replies with a definition of a retroactive sentence.

27. Delegate Vivas calls for votes on vaguely worded preliminary proposals:
Should chattel slavery in Cheliax be abolished?
Should former slaveowners be compensated?
Should former slaves be compensated?

28. Delegates Liushna and Permira make some statements to the effect that slavery itself is in some way theft, that it is unAbadaran, that it is Abadaran and that this is an error of Abadar’s.

29. Emancipation vote is predictable apart from a detour into the distinction between emancipation and abolition.

30. Abolition vote is predictable apart from a protest against its legitimacy by Delegate Moles.

31. Vote for compensation of former slaveowners is predictable.

32. Vote for compensation of former slaves ensues predictably. Delegate Vivas says he will vote in favor if the proposal is sent to the floor separately from the others.

33. Delegate Moles begins and Delegate Ramirez continues a detour into personal insult.

34. Delegate Permira says, and I quote, “I propose that all found to keep, own or refuse to release slaves after this law takes effect be put to death.” This is put to a vote. I point out that it does not have to be but the chair invites voting nonetheless. Delegate Ramirez says, and I quote, “You cannot possibly expect men to divine that the law has changed before anyone has managed to tell them, and to punish them for breaking a new law that nobody told them was law is - Asmodean.” The vote is otherwise predictable, with Delegate Vivas expressing that he would prefer to see it voted down rather than refused by chair fiat. Delegate Moles departs in protest of this eventuality. Delegate Barro follows, stating for the record, ‘the slips are murderous thieves and it should never have been legal to free them’.

35. Delegate Liushna asks Delegate Vivas for an explanation of why he thinks Delegate Permira’s proposal is a poor idea. He explains that it will instantiate a cycle of violence and that it will not pass the floor.

36. A detour to explain the concept of arrest to Delegate Liushna. Proposals incorporating this notion are workshopped between Delegates Vivas and Permira.

37. Delegate Ramirez proposes adjourning for the day."

"Does anyone actually want me to go over these on a point-by-point basis explaining the bias." 

"Not particularly, it's fairly obvious to me. Delegate Agramunt, you do know it's less words to just say what the votes end up as instead of 'is predictable,'" says Voshrelka. "We can put the predictions together, but really, why."

"I have those noted in a sidebar if their enumeration is desirable."

"Honor the noble tree that made the necessary sacrifice for your paper, and just cut to the chase," snorts Voshrelka. "Save us all time."

"This is rag paper."

"Noted."

If no one stops him he will go ahead and read aloud all of his sidebars on the votes with each delegate named separately.

Of course he is. This man is a parody of himself.

"Fuck it. How about I write the minutes this time."

She retrieves paper and a pen from her Handy Haversack, and begins taking much better notes than this travesty she's being subjected to.

"I have no objection to there being multiple sets."

Carlota has a servant who follows her around taking notes on her committees. She decides not to call attention to this. It will probably just offend both the Abadaran and the druid.

"Mm," she hums, as she neatly enumerates the reorganization of the committee, the president's statement of wanting to focus on implementation of abolition, and then 'Delegate Agramunt reads technically accurate minutes. Delegate Voshrelka decides to begin recording her own.'

Nuria giggles. 

"Thank you, Fiducia. Now, with the Chair's permission, I would like to present proposals for implementing the goals we agreed upon yesterday, which I hope and expect to meet with the approval both of this committee and the wider convention." He has enough copies to pass around to everyone as he reads aloud, and a few extras because he didn't know how many new committee members they'd be adding.

In defense of the intrinsic dignity of all reasoning beings, and in affirmation of the fact that every person is born free, we hereby declare:

First, that every halfling born in Cheliax, as every other person born in Cheliax, is born free.

Second, that every halfling now held in bondage in Cheliax, or in any of her possessions or territories, or in any other lands held as of this day by Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax in her own person, is henceforth and forevermore a free citizen of the Chelish nation; And, furthermore, that any halfling owned or held in bondage by any Chelish citizen or by any subject of Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax, is likewise free.

Third, that no free halfling in Cheliax or in any of her possessions or territories, nor in any other lands held as of this day by Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax in her own person, may ever be taken into bondage; And that the abduction or false arrest of any such person be punished as fiercely and certainly as the abduction or false arrest of any other citizen of Cheliax.

Fourth, that no citizen of Cheliax, nor any subject of the ruler of Cheliax, may ever again own or hold in bondage any halfling as a slave, nor purchase any enslaved halfling in foreign lands except for the purpose of manumission; Nor may any citizen of Cheliax or subject of the ruler of Cheliax take any part in the foreign trade of slaves except for the purpose of manumission.

Fifth, that any citizen of Cheliax or subject of Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax, who after the due promulgation of this decree keeps or attempts to keep in bondage or slavery any number of halflings, shall be punished as fiercely and certainly as if they had abducted or attempted to abduct any other free human citizens of the same number; And that likewise any person who after due promulgation of this decree keeps or attempts to keep in bondage or slavery any number of halflings within Cheliax, or within any of her possessions or territories, or in any other lands held as of this day by Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax in her own person, be likewise punished as fiercely and certainly as if they had abducted the same number of free humans.

Sixth, that as all halflings are born free and are by their nature intrinsically free persons, that for halflings to be property is impossible; And that therefore no compensation shall be given by the crown or government of Cheliax to any person who falsely claimed ownership of any number of halflings for their liberation.

And a second one,

In affirmation of the right of all persons to pursue prosperity, we hereby declare:

First, that all halfling slaves liberated by decree [on this day, or insert appropriate reference to emancipation proposal if this does not pass on the same day] must be duly compensated for their wrongful slavery.

Second, that such compensation shall be taken from their former masters, as the principal perpetrators of that wrong.

Third, that in addition to the compensation described here, all liberated halflings shall be allowed to keep their clothes, and any articles that were previously reserved for their personal use and upkeep.

Fourth, that for those masters in possession of land, the compensation shall be [one acre, or two acres] of land to each halfling [perhaps add here, unless that should leave the master with fewer than fourteen acres, in which case all land in excess of fourteen acres shall be divided evenly among the halflings, and the halflings shall be additionally compensated in coin as described below, adjusted proportionally for the amount of land which they were granted.]

Fifth, that for those masters in possession of insufficient land for just compensation, the compensation shall be [one, or five, or some number greater still] pounds of silver, or equivalent metal coin; and if any master should have insufficient coin, he shall be obliged to sell what luxuries and treasures he owns until he has sufficient coin, and obliged to sell any of his possessions required to complete that sum, [perhaps add, except for those essential to his livelihood or upkeep,] or to take out fair loans as required to complete that sum.

Sixth, that if any halfling is found to have died suspiciously between the passage of this decree and the completion of its enforcement, or found to have died as a result of the actions of their former masters, compensation shall be given to that halfling's family equal to twice what is decreed here for a single halfling; and that if no surviving family can be found that compensation shall instead be given to the Crown.

Seventh, that all compensation given to any halfling per this decree cannot be returned to that halfling's former master, by any means or for any reason, including through successful suit or any trade, or in repayment of loans issued to the halflings by the former master, for a period of at least one year. [Perhaps remove this point, as it may be unenforceable and further may make the plight of those freed halflings worse.]

"Now, there are some potential difficulties with these proposals that I'd like to indicate and debate here. First, the emancipation and abolition proposal refers in some places to 'any other lands held by Her Majesty in her own person.' This means, I believe, Isger, though it's possible there are other places that she rules that I'm not aware of. It may be the case that this convention isn't empowered to write laws for Isger, only for Cheliax, in which case we'd regrettably have to drop that part. It's also possible that the particular wording of the sixth point would be overly provocative. We could just say 'No compensation will be given' without the bit about intrinsically free persons, and it would have the same effects, and might be more likely to pass. Third, the prohibitions on the slave trade were not, technically, included among the points we agreed upon yesterday. I think they will have the support of the rest of you and of the convention, but if anyone cares to object, I will acknowledge that I overstepped my mandate slightly here. Fourth, the President of the convention may rule that we do not have the power to pass individual laws here, only a complete constitution, in which case all of this will need to be rewritten later to be incorporated into such a constitution. Also, the proposal for compensation is obviously incomplete in many of the details, which we will have to come to some agreement on."

The compensation proposal is guaranteed to be a nightmare. Not for her, she doesn't own slaves, but if you take a hatchet to a significant fraction of the economy the results are never good, and if you accompany that with a massive new liability it does not get better. Giving them land grants somewhere might be a good idea; this isn't. However she does not really want her first contribution to the slavery committee to be trying to roll back yesterday's feverish haze of abolition proposals; the floor will do that for her.

(She has an additional question but that one can wait until she and the orc baron can speak privately.)

"I approve of additionally barring participation in the slave trade; the committee may not yet have contemplated it but our leanings are fairly obvious and I think it'd be an oversight to exclude it. With respect to compensation, my foremost desire is to avoid the failure of the harvest. I am worried that an acrimonious midyear division of land may lead to a failed harvest and a famine. Possible solutions are to promulgate this law after the harvest, or to declare it to take effect then, or to demand compensation be in coin rather than in land, or be in the form of grants of land not currently farmed due to losses during the war."

"I second the notion that if there are to be land grants, land not currently farmed is the preferable way to go about it."

"I agree that that might be less disruptive, if there is enough of it available. However, in practice this means compensation by the crown rather than by the former masters. I don't know which would be more palatable to the convention." Not that he expects the compensation proposal to pass the floor in any form. The mildest form, perhaps, but he suspects the committee won't accept that.

"...I can't help but notice that this only says 'halflings' everywhere? I would like language that does not allow some future ruler of cheliax to enslave my people on the grounds that we are not halflings." 

...damn it. He was hoping that nobody would notice that, or that anyone who did notice - like the duchess - would not object.

"Ah. I admit, I had given no thought to the strix in this proposal, focused as I was on the existing institution of halfling slavery." And orc slavery. "I am not sure how enslaving strix would...work... would you not simply fly away?"

"Our flight isn't magic. We're as vulnerable to being strategically crippled as anyone."

"Halflings, itarii, and any individuals with the ability to talk, or who would have the ability to talk if not for injuries, or who would grow into someone who can talk. Replace 'halflings' with that. It gets you what you want. Other than that it fits."

"It seems beyond our remit to end the practice of keeping bound outsiders. Or at least if we conclude we ought to do that we ought to do it after deliberation and not by accident."

"Very well, Duchess. Then do you have a way to stop them from enslaving orcs other than by putting 'orcs' and every other species we can think of on the list of people they're not allowed to enslave, and then have them enslave half-orcs?"

"I think there are two approaches. One, as you say, is  to just try to make this definition more precise: I'd try 'living beings of races which when in ordinary health and at maturity can talk without the aid of magic'. This prevents enslaving rare species we might not think to list, which is a virtue; it also commits us very broadly, considering how many kinds of creatures are out there. Some kinds of birds talk, but not very well, and only to repeat what has been said, and I think our state would be in error to punish the keeping of such a bird as slavery. We may decide to do so anyway because every legal boundary is unsatisfactory in some way, but I think we'll ban some things that are fine.

The other, more conservative approach, is to ban those forms of slavery actually present in Cheliax that we know about, and then oblige anyone with an ambiguous case to petition this body or some successor body for clarification. I think both of these approaches have some merit and we could debate their relative merits."

Permira if you think this example is winning you sympathy from Ramirez you could not be more wrong.

" 'Let none be enslaved who is a free chelish citizen', perhaps, but that is simply handing the matter to whichever committee determines citizenship..."

"'Let none be enslaved who is free' is a tautology, and not a useful one."

And that's why he didn't say that.

"We have a number of members here prepared to testify as to halfling slavery; that it is Evil and that it is amenable to immediate redress. That makes it the most appealing place to start for abolition, and means we can be more confident those laws we have written will have their intended effect. If we intend to also end many other forms of slavery we might be well advised to similarly get some advising from the people subject to those: both about what it's like and about what would be needed to address it adequately."

Yes, and it seems their current expert on orcs is very carefully drafting the law to pass over other orcs, so finding someone else with an opinion on the matter is probably important.

“Agreed. More perspective from those on the other side of bondage is likely to be helpful. As to a wording that could encompass more than just painful specificity of which species we do not currently want to be enslaving - ‘sapient being born of this plane and capable of understanding language’? This avoids fussing about if they can or cannot speak, and sidesteps the outsider issue.”

"I do not know what is meant by 'sapient,' but putting the line at understanding language seems to make the problem the duchess described with the exotic birds worse, as it would include not just rare birds but dogs as well. Perhaps that is your intent."The other druid seemed to think all animals are people. It really would not surprise him if this one did to. "If so, I can draft another proposal to liberate the hounds, but I cannot say that I would vote for it, and I would strongly oppose tying it to the existing proposal. I do not believe the floor any more eager to free the dogs than I am and I would not see hundreds of thousands of smallfolk remain in bondage one day longer because we on this committee overreached."

"She isn't trying to free the dogs, don't be mean." Liushna really hopes Voshrelka isn't trying to free the dogs and she's not putting her foot in it. 

"Perhaps I'm mistaken. Had the suggestion come from the other druid I would be much more sure of my guess."

Eyeroll. “Delegate Liushna is correct, I am not attempting to release all animals from bondage, thank you. The avoidance of that rests in the word ‘sapient’, meaning ability to think, reason, reflect on memories, and generally possessing wisdom and intellect most animals do not have. It’s an old word, I admit, so I understand if its definition escaped you.”

"In another committee I serve on I was reminded that most of the people of Cheliax are accustomed to the laws being complex so that the complexity can deceive them, and that writing in the ordinary register of lawmaking will tend to suggest, to them, some elaborate deception. I'm not delighted at the prospect of trying to write all laws such that a farmer would have trouble misunderstanding them, but I do think for something of great importance and great practical interest we want to use words everyone understands."

"Mm. And I suppose defining it beforehand for the education of everyone wouldn't make it seem any more approachable, if they must digest a dictionary to understand the written law." Sigh. "I think it's still worth it for the flexibility of letting judges say whether or not specific species count as sapient, but your point is taken. Thank you." Stupid humans unable to keep a word definition in their collective memory for more than a couple decades...

“Can we not just say person? Obviously that leaves room to argue about what counts but I don’t know that there’s any phrasing we could use that wouldn’t.”

"I'd expect someone to assume we don't mean halflings, then. Quite seriously, what does the committee think of just starting with full abolition of halflings? Then, based on how that goes, we can see whether we need to modify our approach before we do it for all sapients, or all peoples, or whatever we decide on. And that gives us some time to get some orc slaves and goblin slaves and every other enslaved people in Cheliax and talk to them about how to approach it in their case. I'm confident that immediate Chelish citizenship and land grants is a good idea for halflings because all the halflings here think so," and because other places have done it without disaster and because halflings seem capable of being civilized, but she suspects these reasons would be unsympathetic to this audience. "I don't think we can have the same confidence it's the right approach for every people."

"I agree. There is no reason that once the halflings are freed this committee must immediately dissolve, and any vague or overly-broad language will make it much harder to get this proposal past the floor, especially if Delegate Voshrelka's colleague starts to argue again that 'people' includes animals and we are doing evil if we do not also liberate cattle." And - ugh. He did not want to make this line of argument. He hates this line of argument. "I was born a slave. I have little sympathy for the institution of slavery. But I say it is a mistake to put high-minded idealism about freedom for all people, or protections for people who are already and have always been free, over the good of the hundreds of thousands of people who are at this very moment in chains."

"Has she really? Gods above, the hubris of children..." Voshrelka rubs the bridge of her nose. Feather. "Yes, fine, I'll acquiesce to halflings only as a start. But I do expect with this method that either we or our replacements will be dragged constantly back to debate definitions and which species get the special committee star of approval, until perhaps even Pharasma herself grows bored."

Abadarans are boring and reliable, and that's good. Everyone else has grand exciting visions of the world they want to build, the enemy they want to defeat, the idea they want to propagate, large or small. Abadarans are there for anyone whose signature is worth the ink, to lift all boats in a tide of rising wealth, to make their own boring reliable profits on their boring reliable operations that finance all these grand visions. Boring and reliable as sunshine, as air, as the ability to speak the same language as the people you live among.

And here they are planning a mass theft that will prove Chelish signatures cheap and conditional - at a moment when the coinage and the dollar are already panicking in opposite directions and everyone needs loans to rebuild what was destroyed.

He's warned them. He could warn them again but they've already made up their mind about his stance, and they're barbarians and radicals who don't work with Abadar's servants often, so they don't know that the presumption should be "boring and reliable", let alone "honest and serious". His compromises have fallen on the deafest of ears and if he thought for a moment that the Duchess at least was amenable to reason it no longer looks that way. The halflings want to kill and steal, and everyone else wants to look like a band of folk heroes here to liberate the oppressed. They want this more than they want to stem the tide of slave sales into Katapesh, more than they want there to be interest rates below Mendev's ruinous seventeen percent, more than they want to pass the floor.

He writes his notes. He says nothing. If anyone thinks to ask, 'hey, would this idea impoverish millions of people, by any chance?' he can answer them.

"I think that it's a tenet of Republicanism that ongoing debate is good for the soul," says Carlota in the tone of someone who does not especially believe it, "and good for the nation. And I do think that it seems wiser than trying to strike out definitively and overstepping. Chair, can we do one more reading of Delegate Ramirez's first proposal, for abolition of enslavement of halflings, before the committee votes? In case there are other details of importance in it?"

Voshrelka looks about as enthused about Republicanism as some look when confronted with some kind of gelatinous cube. Actually, she'd prefer the cube, then she could just shoot it with her longbow from range until it died. This is a much harder problem.

Daniel is annoyed about these new proposals, which seem very sensible but delay proper abolition of all slavery to the future. Unfortunately, the halflings won't oppose proposals that abolish halfling slavery, and frankly he doesn't want to oppose freeing slaves either.

"A rereading is probably a good idea. Delegate Ramirez's first proposal, on the abolition of halfling slavery, is as follows:"

In defense of the intrinsic dignity of all reasoning beings, and in affirmation of the fact that every person is born free, we hereby declare:

First, that every halfling born in Cheliax, as every other person born in Cheliax, is born free.

Second, that every halfling now held in bondage in Cheliax, or in any of her possessions or territories, or in any other lands held as of this day by Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax in her own person, is henceforth and forevermore a free citizen of the Chelish nation; And, furthermore, that any halfling owned or held in bondage by any Chelish citizen or by any subject of Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax, is likewise free.

Third, that no free halfling in Cheliax or in any of her possessions or territories, nor in any other lands held as of this day by Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax in her own person, may ever be taken into bondage; And that the abduction or false arrest of any such person be punished as fiercely and certainly as the abduction or false arrest of any other citizen of Cheliax.

Fourth, that no citizen of Cheliax, nor any subject of the ruler of Cheliax, may ever again own or hold in bondage any halfling as a slave, nor purchase any enslaved halfling in foreign lands except for the purpose of manumission; Nor may any citizen of Cheliax or subject of the ruler of Cheliax take any part in the foreign trade of slaves except for the purpose of manumission.

Fifth, that any citizen of Cheliax or subject of Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax, who after the due promulgation of this decree keeps or attempts to keep in bondage or slavery any number of halflings, shall be punished as fiercely and certainly as if they had abducted or attempted to abduct any other free human citizens of the same number; And that likewise any person who after due promulgation of this decree keeps or attempts to keep in bondage or slavery any number of halflings within Cheliax, or within any of her possessions or territories, or in any other lands held as of this day by Her Majesty Aspexia III of Cheliax in her own person, be likewise punished as fiercely and certainly as if they had abducted the same number of free humans.

Sixth, that as all halflings are born free and are by their nature intrinsically free persons, that for halflings to be property is impossible; And that therefore no compensation shall be given by the crown or government of Cheliax to any person who falsely claimed ownership of any number of halflings for their liberation.

Permira is fundamentally opposed to not abolishing all other slavery. But she does realize there's a screaming moral crisis where her people are all slaves.

"In affirmation of the fact that every person is born free and cannot rightfully be enslaved? Not just born free."

She pauses. "Also, everyone who freed slaves willingly should be given money. A quarter of the slave's value before the war, in silver not paper. Enough to make everyone who killed a slave after the amnesty be sorry."

"I agree that some measure like that would prevent further killings of slaves but I don't know where we'd get the silver." And she suspects that some people who freed their slaves immediately indentured them, which she doesn't want to reward but also doesn't want to bring up lest the committee decide to also end all unjust indentures on the spot. "What if everyone who willingly freed their slaves gets....recognition from the Crown and from a coalition of the Good churches opposed to slavery, for their role in bringing about an end to Asmodeus's evils." 

"Selling the property of all the slaveowners who will do some clever trick to keep having slaves, Your Grace. If you catch them you can sell everything they own for silver and then give the silver to the people who freed the slaves. This is Cheliax, there's a lot more of them than there are people willing to free their slaves."

(She is 100% correct that the committee would attempt to end all unjust indentures on the spot if it knew that was the clever trick in question.)

"Recognition is a good idea, Your Grace, but I don't think it will be enough."

"We can't promise silver we don't have in the hopes there'll be enough lawbreakers to eventually get it....I suppose we could sell for coin the right to enforce the anti-slavery laws and fund the rewards that way, but there are few buyers I'd be eager to have going around Cheliax in a position to make a lot of money whenever they spot something they can claim is slavery." Carlota strongly suspects that that extremely reasonable approach to law enforcement is one of those 'works well in Axis, fails catastrophically on the Material due to human nature' things, like stock markets and fiat currency.

"In the hopes that it was merely overlooked when I first brought it up," says Jaume, wearily, boringly, "I would like to reiterate my suggestion that, if the committee is determined to see slavery ended in haste, the first measure should be to ban the sale of halflings to purchasers other than the Crown or manumission-inclined churches. This would have several beneficial effects. It would mean that halflings currently engaged in useful labor remunerative to their owners remained at work for the time being, preventing functional businesses which happen to rely on their labor from going under. But they would gradually shed that workforce, and not into Katapesh. For all the reasons slaves are normally sold and then some they would pass through the possession of the relevant state or church instead. The concerns will continue operating, replacing or reducing their workforce over time, generating products and revenue. The entire business will be gradual. There will be no need to offer to buy a dead slave nor to expend any enforcement resource on preventing such disposal. You might wish to require that young halflings only be accepted for such surrender in conjunction with their mothers or a willing halfling adult of some other description, I am as yet unsure what the general approach to orphanages is likely to be let alone whether it could accommodate them... And then when the slave population is smaller and the monetary system stabler you can set a date with a warning of a year or five after which remaining slaves will be taken without compensation. If it so happens that the participating churches or the Crown find it expedient to issue some of their own money to the former slaves then there is no reason for me to object, though I find it unlikely it will scale."

"With what funds do you propose the Crown and Church purchase all halflings available for sale in Cheliax?"

"I recommend that it set the price very low, so as to not have to do any such thing right away. I can come up with an estimate depending upon the time frame if it is material. A low price will still attract some sellers - old or unmanageable halflings, retiring business owners, persons of conscience who simply cannot make ends meet without some compensatory funding. If it does not free the population quickly enough then interested parties can offer more. If it is too quick for the institutions to afford it they can offer less."

"If what you meant was that the abolition of slavery, in order to be baked into the constitution, wouldn't happen until the constitution was ratified, and the crown issued such an order now, to prevent people from removing slaves from the country to somewhere else they could be enslaved, that would make sense. But extending slavery five more years to protect the interests of people who decided to hold other people captive is insane." 

"Most of the convention delegates are ordinary human beings whose interests are entangled with the economy of other ordinary human beings. I am sure your experience is highly relevant on topics that do not pertain to that. But the economy is my area of study and it is not infinitely flexible. There are free lessons on topics like this at the Church of Abadar if you do not value your ignorance."

Thank you Abadaran for letting her seem moderate while proposing delayed abolition, very helpful. "Under that proposal one imagines it might take decades for every halfling in Cheliax to be free, which is far too long. I think you wrongly discount the great Evil of slavery in your calculation about what is to the country's benefit.

But a delay isn't about protecting the interests of slaveowners, who are generally wealthy and not the people who will starve if the harvest fails. I do think abolition right now will cause chaos that prevents a successful harvest in much of the country, and when prices rise it's always the poorest who suffer most - including many of the newly-free laborers. So there's perhaps a case for the ban on the slave trade now, and then abolition come wintertime."

"Now? After your convention's publicly decried slavery as Asmodean?" Voshrelka raises her eyebrows. "I understand your concerns with the harvest, and I am planning to personally do my best to avert them, but, really, is waffling after that declaration going to help anything? I think the damage is already done, and your slaveowners will scramble no matter what we decide here. Emancipation to give the halflings a chance to get somewhere they can feed themselves off the land sooner rather than later is more likely to let them save themselves. In fact, some druids might be moved by this if you make it public enough; a fair few of the Barrowood are halflings themselves."

"The slaveowners will work all their slaves to death by the winter if you do this, Your Grace," Permira tells the Duchess. "We have already agreed on the end of slavery and we should end it."

. "The idea," she says tiredly, "is that you pretend you're only ending the slave trade, maybe introducing a buyback program like the Abadaran's, not doing abolition, so you can do abolition swiftly by decree with no one starving. You are probably right that it's too late, though."

"I must protest against pretending to do a buyback program, though I admit I do not normally expect transparent dealing from anyone planning to steal from millions of people."

"Thank you, Your Grace."

"Fiducia, I would like to avoid revisiting the apparently-contentious debates this committee previously indulged in over whether abolition constitues 'stealing' or for that matter whether slavery does or what a stance on this matter can be understood to imply about a person's true character. We have been directed by the convention at large to work out the logistics of ending slavery in Cheliax; if that is a duty you believe you cannot in good conscience assist us in I would never ask a man to go against his deeply felt convictions."

"I protest without further editorializing against pretending to do a buyback program."

Technically she was suggesting genuinely implementing a buyback program in a way that gives people the false impression there's not going to be abolition on its heels in three months with no compensation. This is not an argument worth having. None of these arguments are worth having. Even now there are probably pamphlets being released with some kind of mangled version of this morning's discussion and if they're lucky the headline is 'the convention is freeing all halflings' rather than 'the Church of Iomedae says to kill the evil nobles' but it's still going to cause a lot of panicked people to try selling abroad or something if they don't move fast from there. And there's neither the enthusiasm nor the competence for a staged rollout.

Fine. 

The Abadaran is absolutely misinterpreting Delegate de Chelam, and seems at this point to be throwing a very starchy tantrum. She’s never really liked Abadarans, but of the ones she’s met over the centuries, she thinks she dislikes this one the most.

Probably she should try to mollify the noble, she is on this committee in an attempt to gain allies.

“The sleight of hand economics to lead to later abolition is clever, just. We are past any kind of subterfuge now, I think.” There, see. Your idea was a good one, except for how it’s impossible to implement in the current practical situation.

More discussion probably won't be productive, at this point. "Shall we vote on the proposal for the abolition of halfling slavery, then?"

"In favor."

"Against."

"In favor." She dislikes this version but we need to get something through.

"In favor." He doesn't like it either, but compromises are necessary if they're to get anything done.

"In favor."

No revisions! Great.

"In favor."

"In favor"

Liushna is NOT in favor of, specifically, failing to edit the language. But voting against it wouldn't accomplish anything she wants to accomplish.

"I vote Aye."

The motion passes near-unanimously (the Fiducia continues to disappoint him). But it's progress, if not exactly how he wanted it. At least if the floor loses its mind again, he can probably mollify them with this moderate proposal!

1. Meeting of the committee on slavery and its abolition is called to order.
2. Membership of committee is changed - Barro and Moles are removed, Delegates Tosta, Coeliaris, Voshrelka, and the Duchess de Chelam are added.
3. Delegate Agramunt reads technically accurate minutes. Delegate Voshrelka decides to begin recording her own.
4. Delegate Ramirez offers two proposals to the committee; one for halfling emancipation, and another for compensation with emancipated halflings.
5. Debate ensues over the former, and whether or not it should encompass more than just halflings. (For halflings only: Ramirez, de Chelam For all: Liushna, Permira, Voshrelka. V. is convinced to change sides.)
6. Tentative ruling without official vote: halflings only for now, others later.
7. Debate ensues over speed of implementation. (For immediate: Liushna, Permira, Voshrelka. For delayed: Agramunt, de Chelam. de Chelam is convinced to change sides.)
8. Motion to immediately free halflings only passes. (10 - 1, Agramunt as minority.)
9. Petty bickering ensues until the chair tells everyone to go home and come back with something more solid.
10. Minutes written by Delegate Voshrelka are ratified as accurate, and everyone leaves the argument room for the day.