« Previous Post
Permalink

It takes eight hours - most of the night - and four glasses of wine to wear the girl down about all the actual required particulars of the confession despite having only taken about thirty minutes to get her to think of herself as having confessed in the first place. Canillo really doesn't understand people. She knows full well she'd break, if Her Majesty ever decides Justice ought to be done to her, but - not in that order. 

She sends it to the Queen's office to make sure that they're not stepping on anything complicated or political before they introduce it on a stage in front of thousands of people.

 

I, Valia Wain, hereby certify that this confession is true, that I have read it and acknowledge its every particular. I was not mistreated in the course of my interrogation, but was treated kindly, and am moved to my confession by the desire to repent of my sins in advance of my judgment, and the desire that those who I incited to terrible crimes be dealt with mercifully by a court mindful that I am the party principally responsible for inspiring them to such evils, and the desire that my coconspirators not unfairly be judged guilty for the crimes of which I was the principle architect. 

I have incited violence against the people of Westcrown, through a speech which I intended to have distributed, and which was distributed, which accused many of those present at the convention and in the city of being Evildoers, and claimed that they ought to fear the retribution of the people of Cheliax, and urged the people of Cheliax to stand ready to deliver that retribution.

I named the Delegate Ibarra as a cultist of Norgorber, and said that he had burned children in their homes. I knew and any reasonable man would know that, hearing of such crimes, and hearing that the Archmage Cotonnet had given cover to them, the people of Westcrown would be moved to violence against the man themselves. Many men indeed, on hearing my speech, went to his residence to attempt to slay him, and more than seventy men died in the fire that resulted from their attempt. These men are dead as a consequence of my denunciation of Delegate Ibarra. I spoke so as to stir them to violence, and am wholly guilty of the violence that resulted and of the wrongful deaths of everyone involved.

I spoke also to denounce evil nobles, and to inspire the people of Cheliax to armed rebellion against the nobility. Many of the nobility of Cheliax, here as guests by invitation of Her Majesty, were murdered by mobs that I incited, as were many of their guards, their families, and their servants. I intended that my incitement of violence against the nobility of Cheliax would bear fruit only slowly, but I did intend that eventually mobs would overthrow, and kill, their appointed lords. I understood that I was inspiring these men to treason against their lords. In my culpable foolishness and ignorance I believed I was not inspiring them to treason against our Good and Lawful Queen, but I could easily have learned that I was. A person in my position ought to have understood what constitutes treason against the Queen, and could be reasonably expected to have learned it, and my treason against the Queen is in no way mitigated by the fact I had managed to avoid learning very basic facts about the government I was trusted to play a role in. I am guilty of treason, and of conspiring with my fellow delegates in treason, though I beg the Queen's mercy for them as they were following my example.

I accused men falsely of being unrepentant evildoers. In most cases I did not name the men, but described them in such detail as to make it apparent who I referred to: for example, I spoke of 'evil titled devilspawn' on the convention floor, where only one man could be imagined to be the one I spoke of. A mob came to his home, burned it, and killed his family and his servants. Any person could have guessed this would be the result of publishing such a denunciation. Indeed, I intended that he should eventually die by a mob, if he did not repent, and failed to check whether he had indeed repented when I spoke so as to incite that mob. I am at fault for the actions of this mob, as if I had led it myself, and am guilty of causing the wrongful deaths of every person in it. 

I have sinned against the Queen, against the people of Cheliax, and against Iomedae. None of my Evil deeds are countenanced by the Goddess, and every person I spoke to in Her church counselled me against them. I have spent my time in prison reflecting on my errors, and wish nothing more dearly than that I could undo them; I am grateful to have been permitted the opportunity to renounce them, that others may learn from my example and serve Her Majesty and Iomedae as I have failed to do.

She sends it with the usual oath that she did not torture, or even threaten to torture, the prisoner, that she used only the permitted Charm Person and Detect Thoughts and good old-fashioned 'being much much more experienced than the person you're speaking to' and 'being allowed to keep them up all night and get them drunk', and that she is confident the confession contains no material inaccuracies that will embarrass the Crown.

Total: 1
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

...It is utterly unsurprising that the fairly competent prosecutors that she has retained went and extracted a confession from Wain. That is, after all, their job, and she did not tell them not to do it, nor to do it poorly in this particular case. The problem is that almost nothing in this confession is actually a crime, which wouldn't be a problem in a normal case - Magistrate Puigdemont is one of the ones under a geas to see justice done according only to the law, and is diligent and careful enough that he wouldn't mistakenly convict Wain of non-crimes - but is a problem when the trial is going to be witnessed by a crowd of thousands. Ugh.

(Also, there's the treason confession, which does fit an actual crime, if one that is very nebulous and poorly defined. For that reasons she's asked her prosecutors to be very sparing with the treason charges, and usually they are. That she can fix with a polite note that accidental incitement - not even against her own person - should not be prosecuted as treason, for now.)

She leaves a message for the next time Élie makes contact with the material plane, saying that Valia Wain has confessed to all her crimes and she'd like his input on how to respond to this.

Total: 1
Posts Per Page: