(One of her allies can respond to that as well as she can, and avoid the impression this is a squabble between her and de Fraga, which neither of them in fact want it to be.)

"I have the honor of being the Condesa of the great city of Halmyris, and I strongly believe that the Duchess Carlota has the right of it. Two committees will merely reduplicate effort. Likewise, it seems to me unwise to not listen to the foremost legal mind of Cheliax, the Great Lluïsa Oriol i Cornellà. It is her who should be chairman of any committee on law."

Well, foremost legal mind, sure, but should that really be punished with committee chairships?

"The Condesa does me a great Honor that I can but Endeavor to Merit," she remarks.

Oooh, it's a fight. They're pulling something, like the extra economy committee that wanted to ram through slavery legislation. What are they pulling, and who do we like today? Duchess Bossy Pants, or Duke Kill One Third Of Men?

.....neither, really, but Luïsa and the tiefling lord are both against it, which weakly suggests that it's bad. Maybe they just don't want to kill a third of men.

She should have figured the nobles would form factions amongst themselves, even with the 4 estate convention structure giving them common interest.  She can’t figure out the implications of these dividing lines in particular though, hopefully Dia is on it.

So obviously allowing an even partly redundant committee to your own committee causes you to lose power, and chairing a new committee gives you power so the basic motivation here is obvious.

But even Thea could figure out that much, so Dia tries to see further.  The nobles that want a committee focused on cities… which means responding to the riots, and they’re nobles so they probably want crackdowns.  Is Duchess Carlotta against actually against crackdowns?  Or is this just a convenient opportunity to undermine her power she has to push back against, even if she agrees with the nominal cause?  Dia will think about how to tell the difference and any third options... 

"I will be replacing my order's Paralictor Rosa in his seat here and in committee as he was unavoidably recalled to Corentyn." For offending Chelam. "I think the Safe Roads committee has covered the concerns of cities adequately, and other concerns of Law and Order are included in the Justice committee, though if an overlapping committee is formed I would be pleased and honored to sit on it as well."

"I do not believe a separate Committee on Safe Cities is necessary; I trust the committee on Safe Roads to represent all necessary views and ultimately vote in line with those which are sensible. But if this convention deems that it is, given my experience running a city under the most difficult conditions for nearly twenty years with a minimum of disruption, and this week my work assessing what the people of Westcrown fear and require from such a committee immediately after a serious riot, I will of course take a seat on it."

Well if it has Narikopolus and Ravounel on it...they'll be outvoted 9-2 on everything but they'll be positioned to make some very good floor speeches.

"We all appreciate the work done by the committee on safe roads, and would not see it distracted from the important work of organizing the defense of Cheliax against bandits and monster attacks by the obvious work that needs to get done to make Westcrown safe from anarchy. The problem this city faces right now is that the architects of, and participants in, its destruction are still on the loose plotting further harm to it. It is a specific problem and there ought to be a dedicated committee at work on it."

"Where was the safe roads committee last week when the streets were awash with blood? The Duke de Fraga was defending public order. Where was the Duchess of Chelam? Where were the other members of Safe Roads and Safe Villages? They could not keep us safe, let us appoint instead someone who can."

The Count-Regent and Marquis almost certainly killed more rioters than anyone else in the room but it will not be particularly helpful to them to observe this. 

"Insofar as the problem is one specific to Westcrown - and I agree with Count Bellumar that it is, as no other cities have had similar problems since the chaos of the war," Thank you, Archduchess, for enabling him to say that, "It seems as though a committee for safe cities in full generality would have an unnecessarily wide remit, which would bring it into conflict with a number of other committees such as safe roads, judiciary, trade and travel, repairing damaged infrastructure, et cetera. What I believe the Duke of Fraga desires, along with the greater part of this hall, is a committee to address the security of Westcrown in particular. As the commander of the forces that have been maintaining order since it was restored on the fourth, I would be honored to sit on such a committee."

"A Committee for the Security of the Capital seems to be a wholly reasonable proposal," Joan-Pau says, "and I join Count Cansellarion in supporting it." Does he need to mention that he spent the night of the riots burning his spells putting them down? No? Well, probably. "If, however, I may return to what His Grace the Duke de Fraga said earlier, His Grace holds that it would be premature to bring forth proposals until they have been through committee. I laud His Grace's commitment to the constitutional process, but as one who has also worked hard to ensure the peace of Westcrown," it would be gauche to say more, "I would dearly desire to know a general sketch of what measures His Grace believes would be best suited for the maintenance of order in the capital?"

Queue queue queue queue queue. Stand in queue. Stand. Queue.

When's he going to get to speak, huh?

"The Lord Marshal has the right of it. I further amend my proposal to be A Committee on The Security of the Capital, and I would be honored to have him on the committee."

He's not going to elaborate on the committee, yet; he'll let the queued speakers proceed.

There are... other cities... in Cheliax... bank robbers and rioters and arsonists are just actually a different problem than highwaymen and owlbears and swamp ghouls. "Perhaps 'on Urban Order'," he offers.

"Greetings to the convention," she says. She hasn't spoken before, but "- The preservation of law and order is a fundamental priority, and without it, nothing can be done. My brothers as well as my servants were killed during the attack, our home in Westcrown destroyed with the loss of all my property, and while the great archmage Naima has been kind enough to call my brothers back to life there is no one who will save the loyal servants of my family, whose willingness to follow the lords of Vizcaya lead to their deaths - may Axis accept them. The failure of, as Fiducia Agramunt has put it, 'Urban Order' has lead to innocent deaths still uncounted. It should be our first and foremost priority to ensure that it will not lead to more, and so I wholeheartedly support His Grace de Fraga in all measures necessary for the security of Cheliax."

"His Grace the Duke of Fraga speaks gently, as a good gentleman should," says Berenguer-Aspex as he strides to the podium, "and all of us should be with him. But if I am a gentleman I am also a soldier of the armies of Molthune, and as a soldier I say that in no city under Molthuni order would this have happened. Stricter measures are needed and must be enforced than have been carried out, and I say that that the formation of a Committee for the Reestablishment of Law and Order under good, loyal men must be the first objective of the nation. I'll yield to His Grace de Fraga if he wishes to restrict himself to the capital, but I for one think we need the strong hand of a strong man across the entire nation today to secure our country's peace. Let the Safe Roads talk about the ways to deter banditry in ten years' time, and the Committee for Law and Order how to make the Terrible Third not return tomorrow."

“I fully agree. Safe Cities only conflicts with those other committees as much as they also conflict with each other, which was no obstacle so far. The Committee for Safe Roads and Villages has a noble goal and intentions, and I too would be honored to join it and give my perspective. It is not an answer to the anarchy we have just endured. Emergency response and holding the Lord Mayor accountable are both good, but they come after the fact. Neither would have prevented the riots.

We must act to avoid a repetition - here in Westcrown or in any other city. The example we have set so far is abysmal and must be corrected, or we will see the chaos spread. Limiting ourselves to Westcrown is turning a blind eye to the danger. We need a committee with a mandate to restore order and keep our cities safe, and the will to see it done.”

“Hear, hear! Urban order in every city!”

“I traveled here from fair Ostenso, a city defiled by Galtans! Even now, we struggle to stamp out the disorder they brought to our streets.”

”Bring order to the streets of the capital. But do not stop there. Every city visited by the Galtan chaos of revolution must be set right by Chelish Law!”

How many of you live in a city even one month out of the year? You're going to do enormous damage and it won't even work. ...Okay, the Ostenso man might have a clue.

"Let's speak plainly. The freedom of the pen is an evil of the Abyss, inflicted on this country by foreigners over the protestations of all good men. It is a horror unto the Church, unto the people, unto their leaders. There is not a man in this city who can defend it, save the ones in the service of our many enemies, at work employing it to undermine and destroy us. 

The spreading of lies should be banned. The spreading of clever implications meant to spread lies should be banned. Slander should be banned. Language which flirts with incitement should be banned. None of these obvious and necessary policies are within the remit of the Safe Roads committee, much as I too respect its work.

The problem that we face today is very dire. The courts having been instructed to rule very narrowly, the only laws that can save us are those that are extraordinarily broad. In an ordinary country, ordinary laws against slander and malice and incitement function. But since the courts are barred from contemplating precedent and common sense, every single evildoer will escape the noose unless the laws leave no clever loopholes. So writing laws tough enough to put the criminals down falls to this body, and no existing committee is suited to it. There is no time to waste. I was accosted on my very way into this convention with more outrageous and inflammatory lies, with propaganda for the worst powers of the depths, with gleeful exhortions to criminality - this city will burn unless we quench it."

Thea is starting to get worried about what a bunch of (rural?) nobility might have in mind for “establishing order” and “quenching the fire” in cities.  

Well, their committee will need a religious delegate… no wait they’ll have the Abadaran, but probably they’ll want a second religious delegate to prevent the Abadaran from holding them back by threatening to quit.  They could just get a second Abadaran, but Thea will at least look for the chance to pitch herself when it comes time to finalize the committee members.