"Not yet."

"In which case reductions to her power will benefit the aristocracy, that being the institution that currently exists." 

"Yes, I know.

...why were some delegates chosen by lot?"

There is a very large inferential gap here and Élie's going to try to cross it the same way he does everything: with determination and with excessive attention to moral philosophy. 

"I knew we had to have elections. 

I've probably lost your sympathy already, but please be patient with me. I was born and raised in infernal Cheliax. And I've found that people who aren't usually mistake what's fundamentally wrong with the place. The first lesson they teach you in temple school isn't that you should be Evil or cruel or work to further the interests of Asmodeus on the material plane: it's that you are a slave. You're dirt. You're worse than dirt. You're going to go to Hell, not even because you particularly deserve it, but because Asmodeus wants you there and the whole world bends to the inevitable realization of his will. 

This is not a perspective which holds up to thirty seconds of sustained scrutiny, so the better part of Chelish education is making sure nobody ever decides think about anything for a whole thirty seconds. There is no such thing as truth. There is no such thing as choice. Tyranny is the arbitrary, unreasonable exercise of power – that is, the exercise of power without reason, in the absence of which everyone is a slave. 

You can't heal a nation like this by replacing the bad rulers with good ones." Though that hasn't stopped the Iomedeans from trying. "It doesn't work. Nobody is going to wake up and realize that they should love their children and deal fairly with their neighbors and pray for the redemption of all souls. They're going to hear that the new boss wants this incomprehensible set of observances and do that until the day they die. It's better to have wise and just nobility than not, on the whole, but it can't do the thing that matters most. The people of Cheliax cannot be good unless they are free. I know you think people can be free without representative government, and maybe that's true in Lastwall." It's not, but he doesn't need to argue the point. "It is not true here. Lastwallers know what it means to have rights and dignity. They aren't so terrified of doing the wrong thing that it would never occur to them to try to do the right one. In Cheliax – 

Chelish people aren't stupid. They know that their lords have the power of life and death over them, and that barring what might as well be an act of god nothing will stop them from exercising it. They know that how much of the harvest they have to give up and whether the bandits are kept off the road and most every other decision that actually matters will be decided by someone who probably thinks of them as a particularly intelligent species of cattle. If we're going to get anywhere trying to convince them that they are anything other than weak pathetic slaves with no more power over their own lives than an insect in the hands of a God, it has to actually be true. It has to be true in a way they can see. It has to be true in a way they can prove. It has to be true in a way they can test over and over again until they finally believe it. Hence, elections.

...We chose some delegates by lot because the elections won't work. Eventually, yes. But they have to be real to work at all, and the sort of person who's good at gaining power under the old regime is almost certainly not the sort of person we want. You've seen that lot, it's all barons and the richest merchant in whatever backwater county. We – I, really – thought it was important to have people in that room who knew Cheliax and weren't just there to amass power. I probably ruined a fair number of lives that way, and I don't know if it'll be worth it. It's ugly compromises, all of it. But it's better than anything else I could think of, and that will have to be enough." 

"It wasn't a criticism. I'm thinking about other institutions, besides the lords and the crown and the churches. The duchess of Chelam put me on the committee for forms of the monarchy that - if I understand correctly - is going to be drafting most of the actual constitution, or at least the parts of it that are most similar to the constitutions of other nations... I think she expected me to just restore all the old practices from before the death of Aroden, being such a close friend of the queen. I'm not doing that, as you might imagine and - I'm hardly an expert in constitutions, and I know that, but I do have a friend who is and I'd be a fool not to ask for his advice."

"...Who do you know who's an expert in constitutions?"

...

"Oh.  – I'm sorry. I thought you disapproved of me." 

"What? No, of course not! I think we disagree on some things but - you're a good man, and you identified the most important issue on the face of the planet and then did more than any other mortal alive to fix it. And succeeded, more than anyone else ever did. And then the same for the second most important issue, and then - I don't actually know what you and the rest of your companions were doing last Arodus, but Iomedae thought I'd support you with full information, and Ragathiel supported you, and three of the archfiends are dead... I am sure you can't say more, and I don't mean to press you for information about that. But I know it was good. Probably the third most important thing on the planet. How could I ever disapprove?"

Well. Time to reevaluate much of the past two years??

"Because I'm Chaotic, and I do things for incomprehensible archmage reasons, and I knowingly pushed my country into anarchy and mob rule not once but twice and as far as anyone else is concerned I'm trying to do the same to Cheliax. I'm used to people like you being very – Iomedean about these things. And you'd have more justification than anyon else, since my friends and I keep dragging you off on no notice to fight archdevils for reasons we can't explain while concealing the fact that we're working with your worst enemy."

"If she's my worst enemy that's only because you killed all the rest of them. It would be... maybe not even better, but more convenient for me if instead of doing things for incomprehensible archmage reasons you did them for comprehensible archmage reasons and explained what those reasons were, but - that's hardly cause to disapprove of the things being done. I think pushing Galt out of Hellish rule and into anarchy was a good thing, and - I can see the piece of heaven that you were trying to build, there. It is good that someone tried it. I don't agree, pragmatically, that it will work here on Golarion, but that's just - disagreement. There's very few people that I respect who I don't disagree with on some matters."

"I do try to be open about my motivations, except for the events of last Arodus, and I sincerely hope the circumstances which made that necessary will never happen again. Otherwise – well, I don't think I'm especially confusing. But you can always ask. Any of your people can. I'd certainly prefer it to whatever their orders are now."

"I didn't know you'd had much occasion to interact with my people. They don't have any orders about how to treat you, I imagine they're intimidated and don't want to waste your time."

"It came up a fair bit when we were deciding which of the old nobility to keep and which to kill. I wasn't trying to scare them. I'd assumed they were all doing the Lastwall thing – you know, where they've already decided that if they don't grovel before me I'll abandon the principles I've held for my entire life and hare off and stop helping." 

"...I'm afraid I don't know, exactly."

" – Huh. Well, it's possible I'm imagining it. I have been wrong before. In any case, whatever misapprehensions I have about paladins or them about me is hardly what matters here."

"It's not the most important thing, if it's not getting in the way of working together. It probably matters more than none. I think Lastwall - and I - try to call upon our archmage allies sparingly. We know you have a lot of other priorities besides helping us with our problems, when our problems aren't exactly the same as yours."

He wonders, briefly, this is a courtesy they only extend to archmagi. It certainly didn't stop them asking for bribes before. 

"It would have helped with our present problem if you'd told me you were here with the purpose of restricting Alfirin. We could have talked about alternatives to the monarchy, or had the convseration we're having now before anyone had cause to question your sanity. Or –

I could have told you that if the three of us – that's you and me and Naima – all agree that the nation is stable enough that she can step down, I'll make sure she does."

"Without creating a new mana wastes?"

"The mana wastes were thousands of years of work, and I dont' think any of us want to put in the effort." 

"If you're sure. I just - don't want you to push her to step down on my behalf if that would start a conflict that creates something even worse.

...I shouldn't say even worse. Just worse."

" – we're not Nex and Geb. I've seen what the could do, and the obsession it took to do it, and nothing on the face of Golarion today comes close. If the two of us – and it wouldn't just be the two of us – picked that fight, we'd win, but I really believe we won't have to."

She's fifteen times your combined age and has been an archmage for most of that. She probably has tricks you don't know. "I think you might be overconfident but - I hope you're not. And I hope you're right that it wouldn't come to that."

He'd just go to Drosselmeyer first, he's pretty sure that would work. 

"I am used to working with allies who prefer to keep their own counsel." Mild understatement. "We were able to take on the forces of Hell and win in large part because we chose to trust each other anyway. In the future, I would like it very much if you would trust me."

"I have not kept any secrets from you out of distrust. In the future I will be quicker to come to you with any concerns or mad plans I have.

...Now, while we're here where time is cheap, I really would like your advice on drafting a constitution."