"I must say it grieves me to learn that the sortition delegates were brought here against their will, and it seems their behavior is no better than expected of unfiltered commoners. I must also say that, present company excluded, I have not been particularly impressed with the religious or elected delegates either. The other clerics lack the earned wisdom of long practice, and the theological training of established seminaries. While some of the elected delegates are talented merchants, heroic barons, and true representatives of their community, the bulk of them are simply here to profit themselves at the country's expense, and a shocking number of them seem to have been sent by their communities as a blood sacrifice to the Queen. How should we maintain the benign influence of those delegates set on making a greater Cheliax while clearing the hall of those without helpful influence, or who would use what influence they have for ill?"

"I am not sure that there exists any proposal along these lines, obviously necessary as it is, that the Archmage will not refuse to entertain; but I am inclined to force him to refuse, personally. Let the convention overwhelmingly vote that no subject of the Queen shall be kidnapped and obliged to participate in political activity they don't understand and will ultimately hang for, and let Cotonnet say openly that this is no Republican institution but a game of his whims and that he will ignore us."

Elias nods along with Bellumar's proposal, quietly, along with many others at the table.

Cheese and fruit are at least very suited to being nibbled on in tiny bites as though one is sophisticatedly evaluating their quality and full of pasta.

"I am not sure we should allow those who wish to participate in what they do not understand," Isidonia says mildly. "Perhaps we could go even further."

"Even if he will not allow such a basic measure, we ought at least require all floor speeches to be submitted in advance in writing, and inspected to ensure they contain nothing unlawful. It won't prevent them from sending the country into ruin but it'll at least stop them from inspiring people to anarchy."

"Yes, that's a very good idea. Also any delegate from a Church should be permitted to speak only with the authorization of the Church hierarchy, which is accountable for what they say. If the Church has no hierarchy capable of making such decisions with maturity and wisdom it has no place in the convention."

"I think we will have some difficulty passing these, Your Excellencies," Elias says. "The Church of Erastil is very popular and has yet to establish any formal hierarchy. While we of course must all desire it to do so as quickly as possible, I do not know if the delegates and their supporters will permit expelling it, nor those of its members who happen to be illiterate from speaking. Perhaps it might be simpler to clear the observer's gallery to drive off the pressmen reporting on the speeches, or to... establish an... assistant to the President for the purpose of maintenance of order, to select members to speak based on their ability to contribute to the discussion?"

Felip, who reacts little to most suggestions, nods at the idea of assisting the President.

The problem with this is that any assistant the President is willing to countenance would almost certainly have failed to prevent Wain from speaking, and most certainly would have failed to prevent Conde Cansellarion from speaking up against taxing all major lords. There's no polite way to say that.

Who said the President has to countenance anyone?

“Indeed, I do not think the proposal as it stands would go particularly well. What if another delegate makes a foolish but legal proposal like the complete tax exemption, but this time none of our archdukes are able to make clear the idiocy because they have not had a speech cleared? Or something that seems even more innocuous to them, but would be far more ruinous to Cheliax, like increasing their stipend? Declaring that none can speak without a prepared speech is to cede the floor to any delegate that plans to say something unexpected.”

"Pardon my foolishness, but I believe I must have misunderstood you — I presume you mean to say that increasing the stipend would be more ruinous than merely exempting some commoners from taxation, not that it would be more ruinous than the proposal to exempt nearly every noble of significance?"

The limited proposal would have been ruinous too, eventually, of course; he's trying to give Acevedo a face-saving way to avoid implying that the original taxation proposal could mean anything but the near-complete destruction of the Chelish state.

“Both, though certainly the former was less dangerous in the short term. The stipend costs the crown a warship every two months. If it were to be increased fivefold, the country would go bankrupt before the convention finishes and the rabble would have no further reason to listen to sense. Tax exemptions for the greater nobility, on the other hand, is the same as saying that taxes require the consent of the peerage. It’s certainly going further to imitate Taldor than I would prefer, but had it passed I expect we could have gotten every man of standing to agree to establish a customary voluntary donation as a show of loyalty and the nation would survive.”

Isidonia joins in. "Besides, the realm cannot long survive if its nobility is held hostage here in Westcrown, rather than attending to their responsibilities. I would not put it past the lower delegates to delay the end of the convention to continue receiving stipends, even if order collapses totally and monsters run amok."

She attempts to return the conversation from a disagreement to constructive points. 

"Speeches need not be read in the order they are entered. Perhaps the archdukes could be given right of reply to all speeches, either extemporaneously or calling a halt to the proceedings until they are prepared."

Jonatan is not at all confident in Conde Acevedo's calculations, but he's not inclined to press the point given that everyone here is united in agreement that either proposal would be deeply imprudent.

Does anyone see archdukes in this room? "I gravely fear, Your Grace, that this would slow the proceedings down to the scale the convention might take years to complete. A law forbidding the publication of reports of the proceedings of the convention might suffice, once proper order has been restored to the streets?" And all the pamphleteers have been hung?

Also an excellent point, it's all too easy to have a senate that simply does nothing and that's hardly what you need when you're trying to recivilize a country.

"Haste is of the essence," Felip agrees. "But perhaps we should take years to complete our task; a law written in a week is unlikely to be wise enough to last a century. Of course, I do not mean prolonging the convention and holding all of the delegates here, but instead writing the simplest constitution we have, which merely identifies who will flesh it out and guides their hands, perhaps setting the date for the next convention, and adjourning."

That will have serious negative effects on the economy, but comparatively good for Westcrown prices in the near term which is bad in the long-term... it is worth it if they get a good deal out of it but he thinks it's still worth making the comment -

"I quite agree with the spirit that motives this, Your Grace," the spirit of calling another convention with only lords and Lawful clerics of Lawful gods, "but so long as no farmer knows what crops he can plant or who will harvest them and no merchant knows what goods he may sell or to whom he may sell them, trade will not recover." That is, the people fleeing Westcrown from angry mobs will keep running.

Vidal's on his third round of his favorite cheese, constructing a little sandwich with fruit and two crackers. He's not as clever as most of the others here, but having them agree with what he says is very encouraging, so he forges ahead.

"What are the fewest necessary rules to allow trade to recover? What questions must we answer now, at this convention, with its limitations, that will give us time to do the full thing in the right way?"

"Your Lordship, I am afraid it is difficult." He shrugs. "An answer must be known to - which goods are to be illegal. What goods will be taxed, and how much. What the external and internal tariffs are to be. The status of internal passports. The status of slavery. The status of serfdom. Who will maintain the roads, and how. And the system of law, civil or criminal, to be used in settling business disputes."

"Trade is not either alive or dead. Trade is various degrees of ill or well. With a few exceptions of laws and their enforcement to safeguard people's control over their property, almost any rule you can think of will harm it, and right now it is not robust to such harm - but many possible rules do concern people's control over their property, and merely must be implemented in the gentlest effective way."

"And what is gentlest will vary barony by barony, I fear. What sounds like one question in the convention hall is secretly a thousand questions, which require a thousand different answers. I shudder to think of six hundred delegates poring over a map of Cheliax, identifying every road and deciding who will pay for each, or deciding the proper toll for every barony, weighing the difficulty of maintenance and monster hunting. We would not dictate the moves of every merchant here in Westcrown, and neither can we make such dictates for the barons, knowing little of their particular situations. Let the counts keep a watchful eye on their barons, themselves watched by their dukes, their bonds deep with mutual knowledge and earned trust. Are there questions that simply must be decided for all of Cheliax at once, and can we focus the convention on only them?"

"Once we've dealt with the mob? We'll need to handle fixing the army and legal system first, though if we can prevail upon lord Cansellarion the former might be possible to do quickly, and it might be survivable to not fix the tax system if there's no hope of a measured plan from this group but I'd prefer to not leave it unsolved. That and ensuring the next convention has a more sensible makeup cannot wait overlong."