If his stipend was several times higher, and the convention lasted a solid month… it would be a solid dent in his debt, if not decisive.  His pretty sure demanding more money is neither lawful nor good… maybe it’s Chaotic Good?  He remembers some Cayden pamphlets suggesting that?

Now how to pitch it to appeal to the floor?

'Give the sortitions more money' is a pretty compelling argument to sortitions. Let's see how everyone else reacts to this, though. Also, what, are the committees supposed to just do nothing until this new committee figures out some rules? Hmm...

She notices the blatant bribery, but lawless convention maneuvering actual does bother her…

She needs to simultaneously oppose it but present herself as a suitable religious delegate for membership of it.

Jordi likes being bribed. That’s a political opinion.

”I second the motion.”

s i g h

With what money? She's not a financial genius, but the convention salaries are already nearly enough to pay the wages for an entire brigade, and while it means more money for her she's not about to sell out the country for a few coins.

Dolor gets in line to speak, but hopefully this will get argued down before she even has a chance.

"Far be it from me to prevent the Convention from setting its rules, but I think the President ought to be the chair. He can abstain from votes if he likes, but he is the authority we have on what Forms are permissible for a constitutional convention, as he outlined this morning."

This will give Cotonnet headaches and make him look bad to the proles. Win-win.

The merchant wants to make Cotonnet chair.

If this random play by Lisandro’s delegate, trying to help get founded and then trying to get on a committee for blatant bribery, if this is how he gets in a room with the archmage… 

“I agree there has been irregularities in the convention’s organization.  This morning had a proposal rushed out of a pre-floor committee meeting, a new committee’s membership prefilled by the chair, and another new committee’s membership set by a last minute deal.  I have found the stipend plenty generous… for most purposes, so if this committee is formed for whatever the reason… with whatever the chair… choose me as the religious delegate to this committee to ensure it focuses on orderly Lawful rules for this convention’s organization and operation.”

She tried to give hints towards each potential faction’s interests, she’ll see if she succeeded at appealing to all of them or one of them or none of them.

"I am not opposed to the existence of a committee on forms and rules, but it would seem rather perverse if the convention were permitted to set the delegates' salaries. Besides, even if you do vote yourselves more money, I'm not sure Her Majesty has it to pay you; your stipends are already the third-largest single expense for the entire government of Cheliax after the army and the orphanages. That is, if you don't count the resurrections, which were mostly done for free." By the same archmage that's funding the rest of the government for free.

"I agree with the honored Archduke that the state flatly cannot bear to spend any more on this. Thousands of our countrymen are starving so that we may be well-paid to stand here debating. On the whole I think that forms and rules ought to be conceived, debated, and voted on by the whole body, as much as that can seem frustrating and a waste of time. They are extraordinarily impactful on the dynamics of debate, and while other committees may need in their work to hear testimony, invite specialized expertise, and spend time drafting, the rules of the convention should not be designed in secret from the convention."

Might get him a detente if he seconds Chelam, and he does actually agree. Sure, get in line.

Having failed to realize which side he was expected to take on censorship before it was too late to speak on it, he's not going to miss this opportunity to back up the people whose favor he can't afford to lose, especially when it doesn't even cost him anything. He gets in line.

As a member of Sortitions Trying To Say Sensible Things, Ruben goes to the podium.

"I don't need any more money. One gold crown a day is already generous. I'm going to tell everyone what I'm spending my stipend on. About three silver a day, on food and lodging and services, and that's with an orphan boy who I couldn't stand to leave once I saw him because a gold crown is generous. 'Bout a silver and a half a day on paper and ink and writing supplies. Things I need if I want to actually keep track of the convention. Saving the rest in case it's needed. I could make do with half that. I suspect a lot of you who aren't taking notes or hiring help could too. Where do you think that gold comes from? I'm no Abadaran but I know someone has to be taxed for it. You cannot get blood from a stone. Are we not supposed to be good now? Are we not supposed to reject Asmodeus? What could be more Asmodean than using the levers of power to give yourself wealth at the expense of a hundred people you'll never see, by taxing them and giving more money to ourselves? Or maybe the archmages are paying this out of pocket. Do you really want to badger an archmage for more money?" He clears his throat. "Ahem. My apologies, I'm a bit annoyed with all the thinking up clever reasons to do stupid, evil things."

Shit, the line is getting longer.  Fernando gets in line as well.  He’s figured out a loyal angle to play.  He can encourage the committee to moderation, while not blocking pay increases entirely.  It will put him in the side of Law and fiscal responsibility, while letting him still make a bit more money!  Of course, he needs to get on the committee in the first place to do so, which means appealing to the majority of the floor.

"The convention, as it stands, costs 10,000 GP a month. That's enough to pay the wages of an entire brigade, to guard the worldwound or patrol roads for bandits or to drive out the monsters in the woods; doubling it means taking thousands of soldiers who are even now keeping you safe from demons, and telling them that Cheliax doesn't need their services anymore. Doing it to enrich yourself is both anarchic and foolish."

"A great merchant pays his factors more than his laborers, because a factor's failure affects more than a laborers. The work of a factor is worth more. In this case, if we fail, the nation fails. Our worth is limitless. The nation cannot affort more today? Well, we merely wish to know that our loved ones will not starve after, when we're sent home. If we can get nothing else, I would like a pension for LIFE!"

The challenge here is supporting his allies without alienating the peasants, who of course have no reason to turn down additional pay merely because it would hurt Cheliax's finances.

"I agree that such a matter as the rules of procedure for the entire convention are too important to leave to a single backroom committee. Let any rules of procedure be debated openly, where Archmage Cotonnet may clarify any procedural rules we may have misunderstood. Such a matter should not be set by a handful of committee members who may not have the best interests of Cheliax or the convention at heart.

I also remind Honored Delegate Dolça that the rules of order approved last week do not allow for a delegate to nominate themself as chair. If this convention determines such a committee necessary, I nominate His Highness Archduke Blanxart as chair." If Blanxart is chair, he can simply choose reasonable people to staff the committee, assuming (as seems likely) that there's more interest than seats, and he expects most people to vote for an archduke over a whore.

"I would be honored to accept that nomination."

"I wish to Reserve the chairmanship, though not for myself, of course! It seems to me that Delegate Mont would be an excellent chairman!" (she winks at him)

"This may be a surprise to anyone who recalls myself and the Duchess of Chelam practically opening the convention with a dispute between us about the forms of the convention, but on this matter I agree with her. If we have rules get so complex we cannot easily vote on them without assistance, we could establish a committee, but if that happens we have made a mistake in allowing the rules to grow complex. And on the matter of paying delegates further, Mister Delegate Oriol is, I think, precisely correct. I like more money as well as the next man, but the stipend for elected and religious delegates is sufficient and generous."

"However, since we have compelled the sortition delegates to appear and remain, it is my understanding that Abadar's advice would be that we ought pay them more than generously, the freedom to choose your own work based on your own interests being sacred not just to Elysium but also to Aktun. If a narrow proposal along those lines was put forward to the general floor, personally I would support it."

Shit, he had something to say, but between Ruben and Theopho the mood has shifted against increasing delegate stipends.  And he needs to make sure he is showing his Good and Law off.  He’ll have to improvise some.

”uh… The rules have already gotten more complex, I barely followed the shifting compromises and changes this morning to rework the committees.  And somehow, both new committees have ended up with nobles in charge.  So, if we are to have another new committee, I nominate Delegate Ruben Oriol.  He’s aware of the Good and Law of it, so I think he would be a responsible choice.  And uh… he is a sortition delegate himself, so you can trust he’ll consider their due.”

Oh wait he needs to mention himself.

”And I would be honored to serve as an elected delegate in that committee with him.”

"We're doing important work here! If Cheliax is counting on us to make good laws, the least it can do is pay us what our time is worth! Don't listen to the nobles who want keep you poor, and don't listen to the man who wants to turn the elected and religious delegates against us - I second delegate Mont!"

He's not a peasant himself but his business has been struggling a bit lately, he could use some extra cash.

- how much is the state spending on orphanages? Figure that out later. Maybe ask Blanxart; he's on education, and that's what she needs to figure out funds for. More than ten thousand, apparently, but of course it is.

Would she love to never be poor again? Fuck yeah, she would. But she'd love to have a state that isn't contemptible and embarrassing, too.

"I agree with Delegate Oriol and Delegate Rado on the matter of convention stipends. You all know we are well-paid while our countrymen suffer. If picturing that brigade does not stir you, then picture the orphanage whose funds will be ransacked next. Do not picture one; picture enough to cover a city." A small city, anyway; she doesn't have a scratch paper to guess at the math with. "These orphanages are, right now, being funded at near starvation levels, for both staff and children, and children in them are dying right now, for lack of food and care."

"I arrived in Westcrown with no savings, and I am, yes, saving as much of the stipend as I can towards a future that I hope does not include more gnawing hunger. But if we fill our own stomachs by snatching food from children's mouths until they quite literally die, their blood will be on our hands. You will wish you had done otherwise when the Judge takes her accounts."

When did his goal stop being 'get rich'? Was it the Cafe? Damn, it was the Cafe, wasn't it? That's what convinced him everyone else is out to screw little guys over. 

Dangerous stuff, coffee.