Jonatan is uncomfortable with slavery. 

This was not, in fact, an opinion he held particularly strongly in his first mortal life. Aroden does not prohibit slavery. There were certainly many slaves in his family's county. In the Age of Glory all men would have peace and prosperity, even the slaves, but they were not in the Age of Glory yet, and even in the Age of Glory no one particularly expected that Aroden would abolish slavery.

But Heaven does not have slavery. Heaven does not even have conscription; if you prefer to spend your whole afterlife diligently avoiding the work of Heaven no one will actually prevent you. It is a near-universal opinion in Heaven that slavery is Evil — perhaps not in every form, but certainly as practiced in Arodenite Cheliax, let alone Asmodean Cheliax.

The problem, of course, is actually implementing this.

You cannot simply declare slavery abolished and expect this to go well. You couldn't have done it in Arodenite Cheliax, and Asmodean Cheliax is worse in this respect in approximately every way imaginable. People will starve, for the lack of those halflings enslaved for growing food. Even those halflings merely growing cash crops or working as domestic slaves are still serving vital economic functions, and the economy is very fragile right now. He'd thought he might declare that henceforth in his lands no one would be born into slavery. But one of the neighboring counts attempted to do that, at which point the slaveholders, being like most of their countrymen utterly deficient in virtue, immediately began turning out every free-born halfling child to die.

Then there's the matter of the slaves themselves. A slave child can be freed, and raised alongside free men, and he will have the nature of a commoner rather than a slave. It was rare in Arodenite Cheliax, but not utterly unheard of. But a man who has spent his whole life as a slave grows accustomed to it, until he has almost none of the nature of a free man and even less of the virtues a free man needs. It is not clear that it is a mercy to free him, any more than it would be a mercy for a farmer to turn his chickens out of the coop and grant them free rein of a fox-filled prairie.

He'd had thoughts on how it could be done gradually and non-disruptively, killing as few of his subjects as possible, with good enforcement of the law and something for the slaves to actually do afterwards. 

Then the slavers managed to behave with such profound incompetence that they forced the convention's hand, the slavery committee to all reports produced a frankly ridiculous proposal for what to do with the newly-freed halflings and then decided the question was too complicated and they'd figure it out later, the Queen decided to close all the ports until the convention could settle the issue, and a commoner decided to express his anger about abolition by murdering free halfling delegates.

Jonatan doesn't, at this point, expect that any of his plans are even slightly relevant to the question of how best to avoid a complete disaster.

"Honored delegates,

There is no slavery in Heaven. 

I do not say this because I believe we should emulate Heaven in all ways. There are many institutions of Heaven that work when every man is Lawful and Good, and would fail completely in the Cheliax of today. But in this matter at least, Heaven has the right of it; to enslave a halfling from birth merely because his parents were themselves slaves is a great Evil, and one that serves Asmodeus.

A week ago I would have told you we should abolish this Evil gradually. But I fear now that it is too late to do it gradually, and we must do it all at once, or not at all.

But I hope that once this proposal has passed, the Slavery Committee will turn to the question of what should be done with those newly-freed men, and that they will approach this question with an understanding of what Asmodean Cheliax has done to the slaves. One of the greatest Evils of slavery is that it robs men of the ability to cultivate virtue, to cultivate good judgment, to cultivate knowledge, to cultivate all those qualities that men require if they are to be free subjects of Cheliax. They are not entirely alone in this, but even in comparison to their fellow countrymen who lived under the Infernal regime, they have had little opportunity to cultivate such traits.

I do not know what the best arrangement is for remedying these ills. But I hope the committee will take them seriously, in considering what ought to be done with the newly-freed halflings. To declare them free and toss them to the winds seems wholly inadequate, akin to releasing a trained dog into the forest and telling it that it is free to run with the wolves. I do not have an easy solution here, but I urge the committee to treat these challenges with the weight they deserve, and to remember that a freed slave left with no guidance is not free at all."

That is to say, for the love of all the Good gods, do not give halflings plots of land taken from their masters and pretend that this solves anything. 

(Iomedae is Good, she wouldn't pick a priest of Asmodeus as her priest — priests of Asmodeus aren't like soldiers or even holdover nobles, where in theory there could be someone who chose to be decent, you can't be a decent person when you're torturing people in the name of Asmodeus — he served at the Worldwound, cast spells at the Worldwound, and he's not a wizard and not from another country — is he lying, she feels like she remembers reading something about a lying priest of Asmodeus in a pamphlet, but you'd think someone would notice, he didn't show up as Evil when they checked — how many innocent people did he have killed or tortured or Maledicted just for defying the will of Asmodeus—)

He had gotten in line for some easy Good points denouncing slavery, even if it might be redundant with other people denouncing slavery.  But it looks like a noble is defending slavery by comparison to serfdom (and more nobles are likely thinking along similar lines), so he can demonstrate some more controversial Good by also denouncing serfdom!  He mentally reviews what he knows about serfdom, this should be easy, loads of serfdom contracts^ were for absurd durations or absurd conditions so painting all serfdom as Asmodean should be easy.

^Fernando is conflating serfdom and indentured servitude.

Korva.... does not actually know anything about the plight of serfs. Generalities, obviously, they're horrifically abused by a single master and can't ever leave him, so presumably they are horrifically raped and tortured and humiliated and so on, and then on the other hand she would guess, though not confidently, that they starve less often. She thinks maybe serfs can't be sold?

Porras is in line; he's presumably going to say something against serfdom. It will probably be an insane five unicorns proposal, but whatever she says isn't likely to be better.

The Conde Cerdanya is so refreshingly sensible. Pity Jaume's fellow committee members mostly decided they wanted to steal and the background circumstances of the Queen's rule were such that it may genuinely now be more destructive not to.

Will standing up for this get him tarred as a radical permanently? Quite possibly. Is it worth it? Probably.

Theopho gets in line.

.... no, a slave who is freed, but left with no guidance, is in fact free. The is the whole point of the word. What kind of tautological madness is 'they're not free if they're not being told what to do'? They will certainly not know what to do with their newfound freedom, and certainly, a lot of them might suffer for having the opportunity. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be given it, or that certainty of torment is somehow better. If they find bondage so much more comfortable, what's stopping the newly freed halflings from agreeing to work for the same people for food and boarding? It's an excellent deal for the former masters, just with less ability to force it upon others.

The whole 'waiting in line' business makes making her 'you're stupid and should feel stupid' argument not worth the effort, but she definitely thinks it.

If this convention in fact cared about Iomedae's opinions on all of their policies they could submit the question and get an answer. Communes are scarce right now but not so scarce that 'should Cheliax end halfling slavery' wouldn't be worth squeezing in alongside five other questions the Church is already 95% sure of the answer to. However, Iomedae is plainly far more useful to these people if they can project whatever they want onto Her and not be inconvenienced by any of Her teachings.

Okay, maybe it’s important to do all this arguing over the details and letting the moderates try to compromise at half a slavery. The arguing over the will of Iomedae too, Lawful types seem to like that sort of thing. But Lisandro is impatient for the vote and the aftermath. That’s going to be fun.

Alexandre stalks to the podium with calculated viciousness. He's still wearing his mask (a replica, so he won't blind everyone with arcane sight) but sees very little reason to bother with more. "'A freed slave¹ left with no guidance is not free at all.' Those are fine words, Your Excellency. Well-chosen words, so perfectly suited for the occasion, for it is so rare that a man of your birth and breeding tells us peasants what he really thinks."

"Of course, every man and woman in Cheliax, from the lowest peasant to the highest lord, is a slave² of church and queen, or was a year and a half ago. We - all of us - were hounds of the state, bound to the wishes of the lords of the realm, incapable of disobeying them without power. And - why - that means that no man in this room - excepting, of course, you and your fine, fine brethren, nobles from Heaven and from Taldor, though I'm told few can tell the difference -" that's with broad sarcasm "- deserves the gifts the Queen and Her archmagical allies have given them, because we are such a depraved people that freedom is wasted on us."

He's orating to the crowd now, not to Castell. "A freed slave left with no guidance is not free at all. You mean to say that you and your friends should give us all orders because we need them - for our own goods, poor dears! It's so nice to hear how the rhetoric changes when one gets to lands claimed by Heaven instead of by Hell."

And back to Castell. "Well, Your Excellency, you are flatly, completely wrong. I have, myself, freed both slaves¹ and slaves² from Cheliax, and I can tell you - under Truthtelling, if the priest wishes to offer it - that while some sat around waiting for me to give them orders, either immediately or until they'd been given a bite to eat and the first night to sleep since their childhoods, a great number fled into the teeming streets of Absalom either immediately or as soon as my back was turned, worked hard, lived on their own, and - assuming they didn't die of the plague - got quite good jobs as independent craftsmen, though admittedly not as good as the ones I chose for my particular patronage. I will freely grant that living in Cheliax has utterly destroyed our trust in the benevolence of any authority we do not pick ourselves, and living in Cheliax has made us skeptical of the willingness of the gods of Good to ever do us any favors, and living in Cheliax has indeed robbed us of our knowledge of facts about the outside world - but as someone who has personally interacted with probably three hundred times as many Chelish people as you have, I can assure you that it has absolutely not damaged our interest in or our willingness to go and make tremendous amounts of money, especially if it means nobody will ever have power over us ever again. We can manage our own lives if you will only let us, Your Excellency, and -" to the crowd again "- I do believe the point of this assembly is to make sure everyone lets us, no?"

(Footenote: slave¹, refers to hereditary sapient chattel; slave² refers to people under the absolute authority of those who can dispose of them as they wish. They are importantly different words in Chelish Taldane, cognate, and practically synonymous in most other languages.)

Jonatan is not inclined to concede very much to Valia Wain, but he has to agree that inviting avowed cultists of Norgorber to the convention, when those very same cultists have apparently decided to take it upon themselves to actively misconstrue his words in order to sabotage his efforts to protect his subjects, seems like a questionable decision.

See! That's why standing in line would have been stupid. Well done, guy who wasn't allowed to duel that guy who deserved it. She'd clap but she finds the whole conceit of oration kind of tiresome. She instead notes that this is the second time she's approved of this guy in particular, and possibly should go talk to him about her ambitions to attain more druid circles.

Why is Aspex the one saying this. Of all the people that could be making this point, why does it have to be him?

He's blatantly, clearly, right.  But he is a Norgorber cultist, so Fernando shouldn't agree with him too much... oh wait, is making lots of money Evil?  Abadar's Lawful Neutral, so Fernando wouldn't have thought so, but maybe the standard for fair non-Evil money making is really high?  Or maybe it's excessive amounts of money that make it Evil?  Newly freed ex-slaves shouldn't have that problem, they'll barely be able to make any money (this is Cheliax, not Absalom... another point in favor of leaving for Absalom), and the terms will be unfair against them, so the ex-slaves' alignment isn't actually in danger.

Whatever, Fernando will avoid mentioning the issue of ex-slave (and serf) income in his own speech, so he doesn't need to worry about it.  (For now at least.)

She is too busy imagining Chosen Artigas flaying a child alive for daring to speak out against Asmodeus to entirely follow most of the speeches but she caught enough of that to be wondering what happened to all the slaves after she killed her lord. She knows they ran off once there was no one forcing them to stay, but she doesn't know what happened to them after that. She's pretty sure the speech is anti-noble but she's not sure if it's anti-Evil-noble or if it's anti-nobles telling him not to murder innocent people, she's not holding onto enough of the words to be sure.

Lisandro knows the King in Irons by reputation, the guy who shows up at the markets with an enterprise of cool adventurers and freed slaves, selling treasures looted from the manors of Chelish nobles. Most wizards retire to sell teleports at 5th circle, this guy escalated. 

He really needs to figure out how to ask for an autograph and offer to collaborate with whatever his secret plan is, in a dignified mysterious wizard way.

"I wholly support this proposal," he says, "not that I think I need to say it. Slavery has been condemned as Asmodean by this body just as it has been all the good gods. Slavery has, moreover, been proved to be unnecessary. Andoran and Galt have problems - oh, righteous gods, do they have problems - but they didn't have vast mobs of unemployed slaves lounging around starving to death, and they didn't have slave revolts rampaging around committing every horrible crime, and it's not as though slaves got elected and had everyone else murdered. All their problems come from the people who weren't slaves, beforehand. Really, at the point where the most powerful cleric of Abadar in Cheliax joins her voice to the clerics of the Good gods in opposition to hereditary slavery, what are we even doing? When the chosen representatives of the God of Trade, Civilization and Prosperity say they're fine with it because it's good for Trade, Civilization and Prosperity the only argument against is that it's immoral, and all the good clerics say it's perfectly moral. Abolishing slavery will clearly show our rejection of Asmodeus and our embrace of the path of Good, and I for one consider the "Aye" I will cast on this bill one of my proudest votes."

Jaume read Conde Ardiaca's Archbanker sister's letter-turned-pamphlet only a little after freeing Chimo. It was mostly very well put and would probably have given him great pause if ever Ivey had become pregnant while in his possession (she didn't) but he disagreed with some of the more speculative arguments. "Thus should every slaveowner in all of Cheliax give land for his own slaves out of remorse for the evil he did" is not a policy you can impose from the top. If it is to spring from remorse it cannot be expropriation. The right to sue for injuries incurred would flirt far too baldly with retroactive sentence, a flouting of the amnesty, or both, and cannot be borne. Why is the world such that one cannot just be against stealing and build from there? Politics is a curse.

Felip barely notices the commoner letting him pass ahead of him in line, and takes the podium again.

"To respond to the countess, I will expand on my interpretation of Iomedae. I understand she Selected Wain before the war was won, as a sign of support for resistance to the Thrunes. Valia Wain’s fiery message of freedom at great cost was not right for Cheliax; hence her withdrawal from this convention to leave for Vigil. The broader message is that the time for rebellion has passed; better to learn that with one quickly-suppressed riot, painful as it was, than with a perhaps worse conflict later. Valia lived to explain her mistake, and to demonstrate that the fight against Evil remains a pressing concern, elsewhere.

The third message is subtler. She did not send a third delegate, or a fourth, or a delegation of theologians to set up seminaries in halls where Asmodeus’s foul words once rang out. Why? I tell you: it is because Iomedae is from Cheliax, but Cheliax is not her country. She follows the battle against evil wherever it takes her. This country is ours, and it is first and foremost the work of mortals to restore it to greatness and goodness.

Goodness is not a single end; it is the broad cultivation of many virtues. All life springs from the sun shining upon soil; we must relearn the ways of Erastil. Our country is wounded and our pasts filled with torture; we must seek the healing and redemption of Sarenrae. With tyranny cast down, we can follow our dreams as Desna wills. Our lives can now hold space for joy, love, and art; we must appreciate and participate in the beauty of Shelyn’s peace."

He feels a twinge at the mention of Desna. Even serfdom is not pleasing to her, but Desna did always concern herself with the heavens, and not the world below. Elysium's guidance is only sometimes appropriate for mortals.

Back to the matter at hand. He ignores the anonymous delegate, and had no disagreements with Cerdanya. Ibarra, on the other hand.

"Delegate Ibarra speaks of the interest and willingness of people to profit for themselves, and ignores the question of ability. The experience, both of Count Cerdanya, myself, and likely many of the rural lords who have seen fit to actually investigate their holdings beyond the castle walls, is that so far many slaves released from bondage have been those unable to earn their keep, either by being too old, too young, or having suffered some serious injury. Plantation owners have not prepared their workers for urban life, and I have personally visited a town strained by the abrupt appearance of many former slaves, provided with nothing but their freedom and directions on where to walk. We do not need to turn further towards selfishness.

We instead need to turn towards community. If the Delegate had spoken of his willingness to provide for those unable to provide for themselves, he might have a point, but he did not. It is foul that an owner may take the labor of an adult, but not provide for them in their old age or for their children; let us prevent that. While the orphanages already overflow, let us not fill them with halflings whose parents yet live, because their owners have no interest in them. We must find a new method of organization that encourages fellowship between people, which the old form of slavery manifestly did not, but casting everyone into the wilds alone will not accomplish this.

The greatest sin of the Thrunes is that they misused their authority so totally that Cheliax has forgotten that there even can be such a thing as legitimate and empowering authority. Let us end the uncertainty and destruction, but let us not blindly trust that chaos will end well for us. Our recent example teaches us that it will not."

She's pretty sure the greatest sin of the Thrunes is all the people they sent to Hell, actually.

Enric's in line, what's he going to say? Whatever he says, it'll be right, and Lluïsa will understand why. He is Lluïsa's consultant on rural lands for a reason.

She despise all of these slaveowners (by other names) proclaiming that the reason that they can't at all bear to let the people that prop up their power free is famine. It's wrong on several counts, most of which others are fully capable of arguing.

But there's one that only she knows, and it's in her best interests to make it.

So. Fine. She'll stand in the fucking line.

In line, in line, in line...

... Hm. Well, if they're next to each other in the queue anyway, she might as well quietly coordinate with him.