Alicia is here! Good at speeches and backing him up.

Wait is he just friends with the radicals now? When did that happen? Was he a radical this whole time? 

I follow the logic but I think this is a bad hand to bet the stakes on. He'll make a speech if he has to.

I do not mean to, and do not ask you to. There are two fights in the next hour more important than this one.

“Do not forget, delegates, that despite Barrister Oriol’s efforts, a magistrate enchanted to consider only the law judged that Valia Wain conspired to incite murder. Who did she conspire with? Delegates Ferrer and Rivera, the two girls who just spoke against fixing the Judiciary Committee. 

Do not trust them to bring us safety, to have Cheliax’s best interests in their hearts, to make wise decisions about the Law to come. Do not trust them at all.” 

He nods.

Voshrelka has remained silent this entire time, and will continue to remain so, but she's keeping track of what's going on. Or, well, trying to. This is... an attempted coup for the committee on forming laws? Because they did not like the results of the current laws and how they let the well spoken but idiotic Iomedean live. Among other things, including a general power grab, it looks like. It's kind of hard to tell, it's all weird backwards civilized nonsense. Still, the lines in the sand are fairly clear from where she sits, and she accordingly begins taking notes on the clans. In goblin, because it has the cursewords she requires to describe this nonsense. The branch of goblin she knows doesn't have its own alphabet, so for maximum amusement to herself in this very boring argument room, she writes it phonetically in elvish. The result is not the most beautiful atrocity she's ever made, but she's rather specialized in them in her years, so that's not saying much. It's the sort of thing that can be countered, especially by archmages, but it'd take at least one spell to manage it, and she rather likes making people work to learn things from her. At least things she doesn't want to tell them, anyway. She doesn't quite know what the clans are aiming for, just yet, but a picture of who is in what is going to help make that apparent, she thinks.

From there, then she can try to figure out if it's for or against her interests. ... Vidal speaking in favor of the coup makes that unlikely, but it's foolish to oppose whatever he supports just on general principle.

"Marquis de Almenar says it correctly. For myself, while I will not take a song-sorceress's word, if Delegate Oriol will swear she has never compacted with fiends and Delegate Ferrer will swear she did nothing illegal on the day and night of the Terrible Third, I will humbly apologize to them for my accusations. If not - the laws should not be written by such people as them."

"I think that the Judiciary committee should be reconstituted with new members, as many among its membership are radical and unlikely to come up with any proposals useful to the wider body. I believe those radicals genuine in their assertions that they did not intend the horrors they unleashed on our country; and I believe them innocent before a court of law, because they were interrogated by one; but this does not improve my opinion any of their character. The young women who worked with Valia Wain on her evil speech are at best too immature and unwise for the work before them.

However, I think that in reconstituting the Judiciary committee it is important to consider who we reconstitute it with. I attended the trial of Valia Wain, not particularly because the fate of Valia Wain was important to me but because it was very important to me indeed, to understand the vision of our wise and noble Queen for how the law should function in Cheliax. I came away with the impression - and I challenge any who attended to disagree - that the Queen has labored greatly over Her Majesty's judiciary, that she perceives it as a very important part of how Cheliax will wind its way free of Asmodeanism. Under Asmodeanism the courts always found what was convenient for the powerful. In this case I think the courts certainly arrived at a very inconvenient result. Under Asmodeanism a person could not be guilty as a matter of fact and innocent as a matter of law. But in Axis, of course, one can. In Lastwall one can. It was plain to me that those are the footsteps in which the Queen intends to follow; and I think it is immoral and in error, to seek to drag her from her course rather than speed her in achieving the peace and order that both of those places achieve. 

I fear that some came this day to this convention hoping, frankly, to override the Queen because they do not like her vision of the judiciary. I know some men ready to introduce, to a reconstituted Judiciary committee, proposals to try Valia Wain for treason, in direct countervention of the will of the Queen. I am nearly certain that there is a signup sheet with eleven names already written, to give Count Bellumar a committee that will obey him in this, and in bringing back torturous executions which he knows the Queen to oppose, and in trying Valia Wain's associates who Her Majesty's prosecutors have already interrogated and cleared of wrongdoing, and perhaps in countermanding Her Majesty's instruction that Her judges rule by the law." All guesswork but the hit rate will be high enough he can't dispute some without implicitly granting the others. 

"It would not, in fact, bother me in the slightest to see Valia Wain die a traitor's death. Many have who intended, and wrought, much less harm than Wain did. But I was appointed by the Queen, and I serve her, and I believe this convention can only diminish itself if it starts to think of itself as a body opposed to its own ruler rather than a body which diligently and obediently preserves her from error and works to execute her vision even where it is not our own.

And let it be understood. This convention cannot hang Valia Wain. She is no longer in the country. I do not think this convention can make Her Majesty burn people at the stake if she, a Lawful Good ruler, prefers not to.  This convention can only choose whether to aid our Queen and correct her errors, or to set ourselves in opposition to her and pass bills countermanding her on those rare occasions where she makes her will perfectly plain. I think that it would be stupid to do the latter. And so I believe that the Judiciary Committee must be reconstituted to exclude both radicals opposed to the nobility and radicals opposed to Her Majesty. Or, if you insist, to have two of each, to add flavor to the committee debates. But I can only oppose Count Bellumar's proposal, presuming it to come with a preselected set of people who will guide the Judiciary Committee into a new and equally unproductive flavor of wide-eyed radicalism. I ask him instead to nominate three men he'd see propose improvements to the Judiciary, and I would ask the Archduke Narikopolus to do the same, and I would ask the Count Cansellarion to do the same, and I would retain Lluisa Oriol as the body's sortition on the grounds that I believe our Queen to approve of her work, and as a matter of political philosophy I believe defense attorneys to serve the Law and not the client. If this body requires her assurance that she has obeyed the laws of our Queen since the amnesty, I suspect we'll have it." Lawyers tend to be very careful about technically obeying the law.

(She can swear under Truthtelling that she wasn't part of the riots, she can swear she didn't hurt anyone, she can swear that they arrested her and the Queen let her go because she didn't do anything wrong. She cannot actually swear she didn't break the law, and if she tries to swear to something else instead it's probably going to look a lot more suspicious than it'll look if she just doesn't go back to stand in line for the next several minutes.)

That...might be tolerable? Not what they wanted, but three he picks and three Narikopolus picks is six for law and order, probably, and paladins are only sometimes going to be precious about things. But why would she have suggested it, if it was going to be tolerable? She's been offering Narikopolus staff and lodging but surely an archduke is not that cheaply purchased.

Is... the Duchess of Chelam on her side? Her mind boggles; she hasn't forgotten who accused her of diabolism first, but... the grudge doesn't really stand up to this.

What a bizarre Convention.

That noblewoman is nice and helpful, explaining the more Lawful Good solution (and thus more loyal answer).  It could be a trick or another layer of test, but her logic and reasoning is sound.  So when it finally comes to vote he knows what he will support.

He's not sure he's going to like anything that comes out of this fight. Certainly not out of the Law and Order committee. But actually the most surprising thing is to hear that Oriol is sortition, not elected. Is she actually from Westcrown? That suggests... several assumptions he ought to flip on their heads. Maybe she's not so bad and the appearances at trial were accurate.

Hey wait a second!

Felip steps back up.

"The convention exists to represent the will of the Chelish people, not to simply enact the will of the Queen. As her loyal servant, I wish she had simply decreed the Constitution for us, as was her right.

She did not.

She instead charged us with its creation, with the best of our judgment, not with our best guess of her will. When we disagree with her is the most important time to raise our voices, and demonstrate that President Cotonnet's hope for us as representatives can be made manifest.

Wain did not commit high treason, nor mean to do so, and with our queen's legendary abilities, it would be risible to claim there was any meaningful way that she could. But the charge of treason is broader, and exists to protect the Queen's many servants, and the innocent bystanders who are caught in the crossfire of disorder. The peace of the state is the peace of the many that live under its just rule.

I will remind the floor that my proposal was for a committee chaired by Count Bellumar, but with open signups. There is a different procedure for creating a fully formed committee, which I am not taking, and I have no objection to Delegate Oriol's presence on the committee." 

Wait, did someone just say they’re trying to have the convention execute Valia for treason? Even after they had a whole trial that, at least according to what he’s heard, said she was innocent and just wrong because there aren’t actually diabolist nobles to riot against. 

That is bad. But the good gods are with the convention, and they already brought back Lluisa to defend her. And Aroden seems generally against letting the convention kill delegates. 

And the archduchess who took over the floor on the first day took over again and seems to have some compromise. Which takes him off, but Lluisa is still there, and that’s the important part. They’re still fighting, but Enric is pretty sure this part will turn out okay. 

Wait, is the test one of Chaotic Good (the Archmage’s convention) vs. Lawful Good (the Queen’s will)?  He’s going for Lawful Good, so he’ll vote as the Duchess suggested.

"Honored Duke, by the rules of the convention if there are more than eleven signups the chair chooses them. We all just witnessed that there were more than eleven signups for the new committee on cities, giving the chair the right to choose precisely the composition of his committee that he had planned in advance. If you wish to oppose Her Majesty and pursue your own vision of radical Republican politics in which this body is a check on the Queen, that is your right, but then you are replacing one radical body with a different radical body. I am asking instead for moderation. Pick three men who share your perspective on the Judiciary. Allow the Archduke Narikopolus to do the same, or any Archduke you care to name; only the Archduchess Jilia would be unacceptable to me, as we are trying to reduce radicalism, here. And allow the Lord Marshal Cansellarion, whose paladins have been performing nearly all the work of the judiciary in Cheliax, to pick three. Through balanced perspectives we can find wise and just laws."

"'Traitors should hang' is not a radical position and any country where it is considered one is doomed."

In what sense is "Pezzack should have just stayed Asmodean" radical???

This floor discussion is really helpful to Dia!  She’s just about figured out the basics of the noble factions!  She isn’t sure what to call them though, they both seen determined to label each other radical.  And they are both willing to distance themselves from or claim identification with members of their own faction on an ad hoc basis.

"I consider the Duchess's proposal a fair and balanced one," Joan-Pau says. "The archdukes have been dealing justice in their own lands and any can find three righteous men to speak to the cases they have seen; Lord Marshal Cansellarion's own chosen to tell us what Right is should we falter, Count Bellumar and three more righteous of old Cheliax to speak for the traditions of old, and one lawyer who can tell us what the laws of Cheliax were, so that we can know what they must become. What could be more fair? What could be more just?"

Everyone's calling everyone else radical. Lluïsa thought 'radical' was when Galtans marched everyone to the Final Blade.

In fairness it does sound like this faction would love to march everyone to the Final Blade.

She supposes she's solidly anti-radical, then.

"On your assurance that the signups will be handled in this manner, Duke, if there are more than eleven of them, I will gladly support the necessary reconstitution of the committee."

"The path of wisdom is not always moderation. But I agree that it is important to staff committees in a way that reflects the interests of the floor. Perhaps we should introduce a new style of committee, whose members are appointed by delegates as you describe, and the number of delegates they can appoint determined by floor vote, rather than a deal between dukes. Let us vote to dissolve the old committee, and then vote whether the chair of the new committee be Count Bellumar or Delegate Oriol, and then vote on which of myself, Archduke Narikopolus, and Lord Marshal Cansellarion they wish to appoint delegates for them, and distribute the seats according to that vote."