Not only does it get it done, 'every other person is born free' is probably broader than it appears. Best not say that aloud.

"I second the proposal."

Also, message to the Count: Is this intended to also abolish inherited indenture and forms of serfdom for non-halflings, with that first line? I'm in favor, but I think the floor might not be, and they might notice.

Coeliaris holds Tillia's hand. "Hear, hear!"

Message to Theopho: That part of the first line is symbolic—this specific proposal is intended to address halflings only. There was debate in the committee about this but we decided to focus on something concrete and easy to understand first.

Lluïsa doesn't really have a personal opinion. Sure, all sounds fine. Clap clap.

It's not worth fighting for, not when the liberals are being a pest about putting the country to rights, but it's well said. He'll vote in favor, and if it passes all the better.

"Slavery as an institution predates Asmodeus. However, it is Evil, and it became more Evil under Asmodeus, as Hell introduced new cruelties and depredations, and made slavery more widespread. Every part of Asmodean Cheliax, when it freed itself, ended the institution. It is damning the people of Cheliax and it is against the will of all of the Good gods.

Further, the uncertainty about the legal status of halflings has been for the last year very damaging to Cheliax. Neither halflings nor those who own them have been able to make long term plans secure in their future status. It is the duty of this convention to bring this chaotic state of uncertainty to an end as much as to bring this Evil institution to an end. When halflings are free, they will be able to arrive at employment contracts on predictable terms as all subjects of Her Majesty. I know many of you to have worries about the economic implications of the end of slavery. I have researched this also. I believe that the economic damage done by having this matter hovering over our heads unsettled is far greater.

Even if you are not moved by the fact that this vote will be counted in your favor before the Judge, even if you are not moved by the plight of hundreds of thousands of suffering people, ending slavery today, by this vote, will be better for the economy and the rule of law in Cheliax than every plausible alternative."

Enric thinks this really should’t have taken a week, they already voted last time. Maybe it’s because of complicated law reasons, but try telling that to the small ones. He met some while he was hiding outside the city, they were hiding too. Said the boss was trying to put them in a bag and sell them to a wizard, before abolition passed. But now is better than waiting even longer. 

The halflings do the work and the tall folk get all the credit. She'd make a speech but she probably can't do it without sounding like she wants to murder half the room.

Clap clap clap. He'll get in line to make a speech.

"An excellent proposal, and about time we got to it! Our neighbors in Andoran have made many other mistakes, many with their fleet, but before the Judge and Law, they will never have cause to regret abolition, and nor should we!"

Yeah, yeah.

Korva's most immediate feelings about slavery continue to be bitterness that the orc nursemaids were replaced by goats, but given this has already happened, further disruption is whatever.

Obviously this needed to happen. She's glad they finally got around to it.

...The fact that it's only halfling slaves is bad, but she doesn't see a way to get that fixed on the floor without risking killing it and and it's not really something Virtuous Churches can send to the floor. Maybe she can talk to Victoria about getting freedom for every other kind of slave through rights, or something, if there isn't going to be a followup proposal pretty soon. 

Felip takes the podium.

"I think this law has a simple and laudable goal: to establish the legal equality of humans and halflings. To put such a sentence in the constitution would please me.

But these paragraphs? They overreach. They give to halflings rights that humans do not and should not have. Many Chelish humans are serfs who are bound to their lands, and may not leave them without permission, and their children will inherit their status. Shall we upend the whole country for this?

Slavery, as it was practiced under the Thrunes, was Asmodean and none wish for the return of Asmodean slavery. But parenting, as it was practiced under the Thrunes, was Asmodean as well, and it is not our desire to see no more children born in Cheliax. Instead it is to teach proper parenting by word and deed, and surpass the past by restoration of proper relationships, not by calling for parents and children to abandon one another.

Holy Iomedae selected only two clerics in all of Cheliax, and I believe she intended for us to consider deeply her meaning in doing so. Select Blai Artigas was once Asmodeus's, and is now Iomedae's; his existence is proof that repentance and correction are possible. She wishes for us to be patient with the people and institutions of Cheliax, and to see the good that they can become, not the horror they once were.

Abrupt changes to the status of many Chelish farm workers in the middle of summer will be felt at harvesttime. In the aftermath of the war and resulting chaos, the productivity of much of our farmland decreased, and I worry a second such blow will be measured in empty bellies and full graveyards. Converting the unfree halflings outside of the cities to serf will be less damaging to the harvests, even if it will still imperil the finances and loans of some farmers.

The bonds between the people of Cheliax are too few and too shallow. Let us not sever them further."

Blai was WHAT — he's lying, he has to be, he's an Evil noble so he's trying to turn them all against Iomedae—

Enric would like to represent the ‘serfs should also be free, even the human sized ones’ perspective’ here. He’ll get in line. Maybe by the time he gets to the front, he can think of the right way to say it.

What the hell is a 'serf'?

OH WOW THIS IS JUST AS BAD AS HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. DID SAUER GET HIM THE BODYGUARD YET

Yes she went up and asked and came back with a grim Osirian man who has been standing here looking disapproving of everything. 

WHAT IF HIS BODYGUARD IS ANNOYED WITH HIM FOR HOW MUCH HE NEEDS BODYGUARDING

Lluïsa feels, absurdly, like laughing.

She had been in line to give the kind of speech ex-Asmodeans want the chance to give about how she freed her slaves and it went fine (because she indentured them instead which works just as well, but she won't say that part). Instead:

"All our hearts cry out to Iomedae for guidance but if we read too much into who she clerics I am worried we will have to conclude she wants to burn us at least as much as she wants to reform us. Or maybe do both at the same time?"

'Every person born in Cheliax is born free.' It is as pro-Chaos a law as any she has heard proposed. Not that she's against freedom, personally, but the essence of Law is to constrain it.

Halflings don't hatch self-sufficient from the egg. If a child is born free of obligation, does it follow that none have an obligation to the child? Or does the child acquire obligations by being fed and housed and taught, reproducing slavery under yet another name? If a halfling 'serf' gives birth, can the serf-owner refuse use of their property in caring for it? 

These preople seem to be trying to invent the most complex law they can get away with, rather than the simplest one they can follow. What if someone passes a motion saying 'true freedom is the freedom from debts, everyone is born without debt' and then a judge rules halflings can't take out loans? 

Feathler is, separately, very worried they are writing themselves into a corner where they will have to declare everyone they don't like in the future 'not a person' to avoid giving them freedoms and rights. But she has learned the lesson that getting up and saying things from the podium often makes people agree with her less, so she's trying to limit her comments to matters bearing directly on the forests.

Felip did consider what She meant with her other choice but he'll have to get back in line to explain.

Oh no he’s trying to figure out how to explain that halfling serfs and also human serfs should be free, but now the noble who said to make them all serfs is right behind him? 

After all the important people in the room denounced slavery he'd never have dared get up and say the obvious truth, but now they have anonymity from the Archmage, so:

"I'm against this because it's a bunch of lies. Halflings are slaves. We could decide to free them if we wanted but it's not actually true that they are by their nature intrinsically free persons. Lots of people are slaves. It's not about intrinsic nature at all, it's about whether someone owns them or not. Let's not vote for a bunch of nonsense."

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.

“I agree that slavery is an Asmodean Evil.  I earlier heard a defense of slavery and rebuke of the proposal under the discussion comparing slavery with serfdom.  If they are really so comparable, then banning serfdom should be considered by the antislavery committee as well!  Indentures and serfdom are a tool of abuse and domination and tyranny and should not be tolerated in this country!  Perhaps some who have come from Taldor at the Queen’s invitation or ressurected by the archhealer from the Arodenite past misunderstand me, imagining some other more merciful institution.  I’ve seen indenture contracts with absurd terms: decades in duration, additional years tacked on for pregnancy (which, I’ll make clear, they had no recourse to protect themselves from), additional years tacked on by other cruel Asmodean treacherous terms.  I don’t imagine serfdom is any better.  As to the notion that slave owners systematically care for their elderly or sick or orphaned slaves beyond brutal economic pragmatism… it’s absurd.  I won’t claim there aren’t rare examples of slave owners with some trace of mercy that Asmodeanism failed to stamp out, but if so, they can exercise their mercy just as well on freed people.  And if you are currently benefiting from such Evils… you had better watch out.”

His voice is filled with passionate vitriol towards the middle of his speech, but he stutters at the very end as he remembers the example lesson made with Valia Wain as its leading actor.

“To be clear, you had better watch out that our Lawful And Good Queen doesn’t take notice of your Asmodeanism and see fit to carry out lawful, orderly, righteous justice against it.  I am uh, not advocating for mobs or riots or uh lone nongovernmental agents to carry out such justice, except uh by lawfully petitioning the Queen.”

He’s starting to stammer now, so he ends his speech there.

(Feliu thought she was believing people about bad things that didn't actually happen. Maybe the nobleman really was just lying about Delegate Artigas, maybe Iomedae didn't pick one of the Evilest men in Cheliax as her priest, maybe the Worldwound thing was just — she doesn't actually have an explanation for that. But Delegate Artigas isn't getting up in front of everyone to brag about being Evil so she shouldn't assume he is just because a nobleman said so.)

She doesn't really believe it but it lets her pull herself together enough to catch "serfdom is a tool of abuse" and "people who are benefitting from Evil should watch out." Clap clap clap.

Ouch, they're going to try and go after him really hard for that. Good on him to say it anyway.

She gets in line, in the vain hope that there's something she'll be able to help argue against between now and then.

Jaume would actually not have a particular problem with abolishing serfdom. Serfs are owned-ish in a sort of implicit sense but not bought and sold except insofar as they make land more valuable, and making all land in Cheliax less valuable at the same time is obviously a little harmful but it's not a catastrophe, or at least not clearly one.

They should probably abolish serfdom and several exciting varieties of indenture but one thing at a time.

Okay this is going to be hard. And complicated. He would just explain that dividing up the local lord’s land and giving the halflings half shares worked fine. But if the nobles find out about that, they’re going to look into it. Bringing that kind of attention is always a betrayal, and he’s not betraying his home. So he’ll have to argue this just from truths, no examples. 

To Fernando. “You said part of what I was going to say, about how making people serfs and indentures isn’t fair. So thank you. Back during the wizard committee, people said the loans and contracts forced onto people under the Thrunes weren’t fair, and we should start over. Well that isn’t just true for wizards.”

“We should make halflings into free men, not serfs. If I tell a halfling he’s free, but he still has to work for his master and he’s still not allowed to leave, he would tell me that’s just word trickery. If I said that it’s because he’s nothing without a master, he’d call me an asmodean. If we’re going to keep slavery and serfdom until after the harvest, we tell them that. But it’s lying to say all halflings are free, that all people are free, until we actually do it.”

”Now I hear people worried about the harvest. I see that. I’m from the villages. If the harvest doesn’t come in right, we lose friends and neighbors, elders and children. Not just that, it makes people more evil. Winter comes with no harvest, men rob their neighbors and women leave children in the woods. Don’t think I’m expecting the gods to send food from the sky, or sacrificing our food for nice words. I’ve seen what that costs, and by the good gods, if I thought any of this would make us starve, I’d say nothing.”

”But we don’t need slaves or serfs to have a harvest. I don’t know a lot about most of the things we talk about here, but I know how to run a farm. So I’ll tell you this. A free man works better than a slave. A slave makes sure he’s working whenever someone is around to watch him and beat him if he’s lazy. There’s no reason to do anything more. But a free man works as hard as he can, because the fruits of the work go to feed his family. Or, once his family is fed, traded for things in town. Then to the city, and so all of you city types get fed too. Whether he’s a smallholder who keeps all of it, or a renter who gives part of it for rent, a man works harder if working harder actually helps himself and his family.”

He claps, of course. It's very useful to let someone know which side the archdukes are on.

She has mostly calmed down enough to focus. She claps loudly.

There's a solid fellow. Applause.

She'll clap for Enric, too, only half out of Rights Committee solidarity.

(She didn't for Ibarra, but not because he wasn't right. Terrifying Norgorberite murderers can be right about things.)

Hell - er, Heaven yeah! These guys know what they're talking about.

That's one that'll go in the new extremely circumscribed newspapers that they're hoping to get back up and running tomorrow, along with Tallandria's speech about books. 

Enric! Clap clap. What a great explanation. Down with serfdom.

Vigorous clapping from her seat as well.

Okay it’s over. They’re clapping. No one is accusing him and all his friends of treason yet. So better than last time he said something on the floor. He can breathe.

Forgot to say the part about how stealing halflings and leaving them in cities probably just make them start stealing to survive. It’s better than leaving them as slaves, but it’s even better to find them land to own or just to rent. But now he realizes that, to the Norgorber wizard, stealing people and then making them turn into thieves was probably the point?

Well, that probably would have distracted from the real point. Or gotten him kidnapped by an evil wizard. For now he’ll stand near his friends and hope someone else can make a speech if there’s more arguing about serfs.

Theopho smiles and nods to Enric as he takes the podium. It's a little redundant with his own, but not so much he needs to make big changes. Then he lets up on the part of his mind that is always, always suppressing a simmering well of anger, and starts to talk.

"I think the Count of Cerdanya made a good point, but he understated it. Heaven rejects slavery. So do, obviously, Elysium and the Maelstrom, and more significantly Nirvana. But most importantly, so does Axis. To take away a man's right to choose his work and his home, not even due to his own actions as in an indenture or punishment for a crime but due to those of his fathers, is anathema to all planes that express opinions except the planes of Evil. I do not know if Delegate Ibarra is correct that the Count misunderstands Cheliax's people, but I can vouch for his claim that halfling slaves, once freed, can do very well for themselves; all those I have freed in the last eighteen months are, in skilled professions here in Westcrown."

He started at a measured volume, but as he finishes that thought and starts the next one, he raises his voice further and further.

"The Duke de Fraga, on the other hand, I am quite certain misunderstands Cheliax's people. He speaks of the 'bonds between the people of Cheliax', but if those bonds are those of serfdom and slavery, then to Hell with them, as from Hell they came! There were a dozen flavors of unfreedom, at least, which a man, halfling, orc, or kobold could be held to have under the Asmodeans, and likely more. Slavery, serfdom, indenture, in their many variations, even before we reach the status of Crown subject which was emphatically not free. Many bonds, Your Grace, all of which tied Cheliax together. All of them Hell's will and nothing other."

"I am sure some of these had analogues under Aroden, but even as an unusually well-educated and well-informed subject of the Thrunes, I did not know which, and today, as a citizen of Her Majesty Aspexia, I do not care. I see no difference, nor do my countrymen. Ask a serf how much it matters to him that he is not, technically, a slave! I am sure we have some in this room, freed by the sortition. Ask a man on an indenture worth twenty year's wages with seven percent interest, who will never pay it back no matter how well he does! Ask anyone who was compelled to take a loan to enter wizard's school! They do not care! It is all slavery by degrees, and if we wish the citizens of Cheliax to believe they are truly free of Asmodeus's yoke, they must see we have removed all of it. If a bond connects men which they did not choose, that is a bond of Hell, not one of Axis or Heaven, and we should no more preserve it than we preserved the tormentuous wizard's schools and mandatory public executions."

He pauses a moment, catches his breath, and drops back to a more reasonable volume.

"This proposal is not intended to abolish such things, as I understand it. But it rightly refuses to perpetuate them. I am sure some things will, by the end of the convention, remain permitted. As Cerdanya says, a gradual approach is desirable, at least in cases which are not emergencies, and most things are not. Indenture under fair terms without coercion is permitted virtually everywhere, and this seems fair and just to me. So does bound labor as punishment for a crime, paying back society for damage done. A gradual approach in which new generations are born free while existing ones remain partially bound seems likely to be both wise and fair. But we absolutely must remove all those forms which Infernal Cheliax possessed, if those who survived it are to believe that they are any freer than they were two years ago. Anything less will be seen as a mere change of names, and not even wrongly."

Clap clap clap even though he's a servant of Hell. It's honestly really weird that he's giving a speech like that when he's a servant of Hell but it's a good speech.

It's a shame that such a reasonable fellow is a cleric of an infernal power.

It matters quite a lot to Taís that she isn't a slave, but she's not going to get up in front of everyone and say so.

Bold words, from a worshipper of an infernal power, and devoid of wisdom. Cerdanya already said the problem with assuming that abolishing hereditary slavery would gradually solve the problem.

If seven percent is too much interest, set a maximum allowed rate. But the speakers are arguing against the existence of debt at all, and must be checked accordingly.

Felip stands up, and returns to the line.

It's unreasonable to expect better of these people, but Jonatan is privately getting a bit annoyed at everyone acting like freed slaves being apprenticed off to learn useful trades is a counterargument to his position. Helping freed slaves find useful apprenticeships seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do with them, and he wholly supports it.

It really should be blatantly obvious how Theopho isn’t evil, but Thea doesn’t expect anyone to actually change their minds about that.

What is this guy talking about? Being a serf sucks but that doesn't mean he'd be fine being a slave instead. 

Well, every village has its idiot.

Hm. Possibly she should have coordinated with that fellow before her, as well. Oh well. Even if her point doesn't tidily flow with his, they are of a like mind on this topic. She expects that a few more people down the queue, there will be a similar wave of annoyed slaveowners and nobles refuting these points. The downside of queues. Hopefully they won't be clever enough to, you know. Speak to each other while in the stupid queue. She does, after all, want them to lose, for more than one reason.

Anyway, her turn now.

"I have spoken before of the culling of the druids of the Barrowood, but I have not mentioned how we worked to replenish our numbers. So, let me be clear: most of the potential druid recruits of the Barrowood under Infernal Cheliax were halflings fleeing slavery. So, if famine is your true concern, then as a druid who has watched over these lands for centuries, I recommend that you win their favor by freeing their kin.

"Furthermore, I would also like to point out that, in the absolute worst case scenario for the newly freed halfling, there's nothing stopping them from taking up the work they'd had before, for food and boarding. Their former masters can afford that much, it's what they paid already. You balk at the mere possibility they'd do something different, not the certainty of it. If they, who have lived their lives for all of it, think that leaving this certainty for the fickle whims of chance is a worthy risk to take, who are you, who has never lived as a slave, to tell them they are foolish? They know the fate that awaits them, should they stay. They are the ones who should choose if it is worth leaving. That is all."

Hah! Excellent point, least-unreasonable druid, have some applause from the path back to his seat.

No, the most reasonable druid is the one who doesn't want to be eaten by devils. (Not that Voshrelka doesn't make more sense than all you humans.)

Yeah, she's just the one that does the talking, Tuimfane is totally reasonable and she'll return to her seat next to him.

Theopho's speech is pretty. She may actually just like the guy.

She's not sure she agrees with the speech, though. Sure, they were all the property of hell, but you can have more or less space to move in. Furthermore, everyone is born with bonds they did not choose. Such is the nature of mortals. Hell, in fact, tried to sever those more than foster them, in favor of reliance on the whole machine.

For the druid... better harvests matter, she supposes, if they can really give them. But you can say a slave can stay, or that it obviously makes sense for them to, and that doesn't in fact mean they will. And it doesn't mean that uninvolved people won't die of the loss.

(Lebanel isn't Evil, it's just fundamentally dangerous, and contrary to common sense, and repellent, to have a cleric of an infernal power just going around! Even when he's agreeing with you! The correct amount of entanglement to have with Hell is 'none at all', and it's one of those principled lines you hold rather than be subject to any negotiation about whether some carefully Hell-crafted edge case qualifies.)

If Tiumfane wants to be considered most reasonable he should be taking more actions about it. A rock that says 'Fix the portal in the Whisperwood' on it merely isn't unreasonable.

Why are we having this fight? The druids are on the other side and everyone likes them now.

He's not trying to have a fight at all, he's trying to say "yes, abolish slavery, please then do something reasonable with the former slaves."

You made your point badly, and everyone is looking for obvious Good points to win in front of a crowd. Or 'You should make nice with druids' points, for this druid in particular.

Iker knows there’s a lot of types. It’s simple for orcs and almost-orcs, though. Slave, then technically-not-slave, then fighting slave, then army, then noble retainer. Then that baron Ramirez guy, but there can only be one of those. There’s a big difference, moving up a type is great and moving down a type is the worst. Which is why he’s staying quiet, saying something that pisses off the boss sends him back down from retainer to army.

"My predecessors to speak have explained to you why this is the correct policy, and why His Grace the Duke de Fraga, Taldane -" the ancient enemy to all those who remember the days when Galt and Andoran were provinces "- born and bred and married to a Taldane wife, supports this, and so do all those of his Taldane faction." Faction: Also a deadly word! "But let us suppose we entertain the idea of taking him at his word, and hearing him say that he wants Cheliax to embrace community, that high virtue of Erastil. Shall we, then, entertain the thought that he wishes for all nobles to be forbidden from spending the money they get from their feudal dues on rich fabrics -" what a well-dressed noble de Fraga is "- and fine jewels and splendid feasts, instead of adventurers and knights to protect or grain-mills and bakeries to feed, his subjects? Shall we assume that he wishes for the abolition of the monopolies that forbid members of the community to grind their own grain and bake their own bread? Do you think he content to yield his own lands to his slaves and his serfs, to make of them free men and full members of the community? I think we will find that he invokes community when it wins him votes, and then when the time comes for the community to ask their fellow of the commune for his own share, he will look down in his silken suit - a new one every day! and say that that rabble should depart his lands, for then the convention will be over and it is he, not his subject, who will have a whip. Is there any man here who thinks that if I were to propose that all nobles' holdings should be divided so that every farmer can have enough land to raise a family, he would say 'what a fine thing to do, Erastil supports it, Desna and Shelyn will say nothing against it, Sarenrae smiles on the forgiveness of debts' - or would he say something that sounds high and noble and virtuous, and means 'get back, you stinking rabble?'"

A pause, for this to sink in.

"Now, our Taldane delegate says that if we free the slaves, the orphanages will fill with halfling children whose owners don't want them any more." He waits a long second, tilting his head in arrogant appreciation of just how stupid a point that is.

"What owners? What we see happen is that slaves desperately try to look after their grandparents and their children, and their owners sell the babies and the grandparents to evil wizards for dark rituals fueled by mortal sacrifice. One assumes that they will find an alternative place to send them, if they are Good, that still turns mortal flesh into coins clinking into the coffer, but that offers some patina of morality over the event. If we free the halflings their parents will raise them. If Fraga wishes them to be provided for he has just as much power to do that for a man he doesn't own as one he does. But since they do as it happens, have the ability to provide for themselves - a claim I was earlier challenged to a duel over - I think our Taldane delegate makes a mountain out of a molehill. He here invents a problem so that he can enjoy the proceeds of not solving it."

She's mad at him for making a bunch of good points while also being an Evil murderer who kills innocent children because he's mad at their parents and laughs about it. Probably Alicia would say that she should be glad about him making good points and not angry at him for the murders but in fact she's still really upset about the murders.

...she claps anyway, but not very enthusiastically.

Down with de Fraga, who Lluïsa somewhat-arbitrarily dislikes! Clap clap!

Well, it's kind of useful to have the option of calling them the Taldane faction in the handy haversack, though she doesn't really want to burn bridges there quite yet.

Wait, is there actually a three (or even more) noble factions? Taldane-reactionary-radical-conservative nobles, other reactionary-radical-conservative nobles (she hasn’t figured out a unifying trait yet), liberal-moderate-radical nobles, and true radical (Jilia falls here, assuming she isn’t a conservative pulling an elaborate false flag, but Dia hasn’t actually figured out what it’s other members are yet).

Also, there are several commoner factions that seemed to be solidifying… Korva and Reuben are common-sense-commoners, the no taxes are the avaricious-commoners, and the anti-diaboloist commoners (now discredited with the riots but maybe worth keeping an eye on as the nobles continue to say stupid Asmodean shit out loud on the floor and the memory of the riots fade).

Joan-Pau wishes that the King-In-Irons would stop constantly and repeatedly burning the commons as a way of landing sick burns on people he hates.

Enric has realized a problem with the radicals. If it’s a faction of everyone who doesn’t want the nobles to do whatever they want to the commoners, that includes evil wizards who make good points but also do evil wizard things and your cleric of Iomedae has to fight them because cleric of Iomedae. But if you try to get rid of the evil wizards, that starts a fight in the streets and then the nobles steal your judiciary committee. Jilia has been a radical for a long time, maybe he can ask her how to deal with this.

It's fascinating how it seems like Theopho would get along fantastically with 'Aspex Ibarra' other than the part where he's a colossal dick. And probably even despite that. Not well enough to actually give him political support, but odds are they'll meet in Absalom someday and it will be an interesting day.

"Slavery is one of the greatest evils of Cheliax. We take people, children, who have done no harm and committed no crime, and force them to spend their lives toiling away in misery for the benefit of a man who happened to be rich enough to purchase them, and then steal their own children to do the same. This, alone, ought to be enough that we be rid of it, and more happily face the judge without it on our conscience. But that is not the only reason we must do it. Just one week ago, the delegates in this chamber voted to condemn slavery as an evil asmodean institution. What, then does it say about us, then, if we vote to keep it legal? That we do not care if something is evil, as long as we think it will benefit us? That we want to be evil, and so will do it anyway? I do not think either is true, not even of most people here whose deeds are so judged. I will be honest with you all - I do not think this bill goes far enough, and leaves much work undone, when it comes to closing the book on slavery. But that does not mean it does not need doing."

Aspex will clap for Alicia and also smirk at her.

Clap clap clap! Much more enthusiastically than for Ibarra!

Sometimes the simplest arguments are the best. Much applause for the Song-nonbird.

She doesn't smile back, but she does meet Alexandre's eyes for a moment. It's not really what she meant when she suggested the evil people in the convention repent, and she rather expects that he doesn't see it that way regardless, but - it doesn't mean she's not glad he's doing something good.

That vote reflects purely and entirely the fact that last week they were all more afraid of being called diabolists than they were of anything else.

His temperature rises while listening, but he is calm once he reaches the podium. The scorn of the wicked is merit to the righteous.

"Delegate Lebanel says that a bond not chosen is of Hell. I suspect he has forgotten the most fundamental bond between people: that between parent and child. No child chooses to be born, and yet are bound to their parents, and their parents to them. Does that mean it is a bond of Hell, as he claims? If so, the Thrunes would not have striven so mightily to destroy it. No; we can reject his claims out of hand, and discover that to be an "unusually well-educated and well-informed subject of the Thrunes" means little in a good and free Cheliax. I remind the convention that he is justly forbidden from proselytization of the power he venerates, and suggest they consider his other words as similarly suspect.

Delegate Voshrelka reminds us that many halflings, in the forests and abroad, look at Cheliax's treatment of halflings with disdain. As I said in my first comment, let us establish in our constitution the equality of humans and halflings, and I suspect that shall be enough. She further asks what fear we have of free choice, and who we are to made decisions for others.

I remind the convention that she is one of the oldest delegates here, and has perhaps forgotten what it was to be a child, or to not have a full day's sustenance readily available by magical means. It is the rare person who can make sound decisions without consultation with wise advisors. Journey across Cheliax and the management of a household both involves dangers whose risks can be lethal; I am sure that many who have never managed a budget before will make it through the winter, and am equally sure that many others will not. It is not Good to focus merely on the successes of this approach, and not the failures as well. I doubt it is the case that every halfling who ran into the woods met druids before they met wolves.

When a serf must ask for permission to travel, it is because he has responsibilities to those around him, and must explain how his actions are in line with those responsibilities. When I first left home, I asked my father's permission to do so, and did not simply assert that it was my right to; I knew I had responsibilities, and wanted to faithfully discharge them.

Delegate Ibarra."

He stops, sighs, and shakes his head.

"Delegate Ibarra distracts the assembly with superfluous points, and misjudges my character. He is likewise banned from proselytization of the powers he venerates, whereas my proselytization to this broken nation is my sacred duty, done with the hope that I may heal it, not with the wish to destroy it. As with Delegate Lebanel, I remind the floor that these confusions are deep and connected.

When I spoke of overflowing orphanages, I spoke of the current evil, wherein slavery remains and uncertainty over its future status causes selfish and short-sighted owners to forego any investment. If your confusions were not so deep, you perhaps would have understood my point. The country will not be healed by you snarling at any outstretched hand like a mistreated dog.

As it happens, I do not own slaves. I take seriously my responsibilities towards my realm and the people that dwell within, and have not ignored cries for help, from slavers or from slaves, from barons or from serfs, from freemen or from archmages. I have devoted the wealth I earned in Mendev to the upkeep of the indigent, and escorted displaced halflings to safer homes for them. I am confident the Judge looks more favorably on my conduct than on Delegate Ibarra's. It is the worries of the people of Fraga that I present to you, and my worries for the rest of the realm, as President Cotonnet has charged us.

As for Delegate Rivera's point, what does it say about us, if we do not pass this specific law? That the committee must write another, which better addresses the convention's concerns, and is less disruptive to the country. It does not mean that  the convention will conclude with slavery as it was under the Thrunes; we have already voted to not do so. If some portion of this law must be passed urgently, let us identify that portion and pass only it. If we wish to halt the depopulation and have no more subjects of Her Majesty be sold abroad, let us simply ban the export of slaves, and only that, and give the convention more time to find a wise policy."

Ban the export of slaves… the Queen closed the ports in preparation of ending slavery….?!  (The idea suddenly clicks, along with the realization the convention matters externally, but it is quickly suppressed beneath rationalizations and existing assumptions.)  Whatever the convention “decides” the Queen will do as she will to see the country through successfully, so no actually they don’t need to dither to get the exact wording right when she can anticipate and adjust wordings or instruct judges or prosecutors in implementing the convention’s “recommendations” (which are basically what she decided on already).

... Is Fraga qualified to be their spokesman? He may be a good speaker but he is terrible at picking his quarrels.

"His Grace, I believe, makes several excellent points. This convention should not be purposefully slow, no, but unseemly haste is not the virtue of Heaven. Just as it is better to spend a week building a good roof that will keep out the rain rather than let in the storms, so too is it better to take the time to make good laws rather than bad ones."

Is the risk famines from slaves not working, or at least being disrupted in their work?  Thea doesn’t really care that much.  She needs to make sure Estella is still tight with her, but a famine would actually drive up the price of their little purify food and drink+restore corpse combo, so a famine would help the abbey’s finances.  And she has her unique spell from Irori to stretch food even without that.  And a famine from ending slavery can’t last that long, the slaves either starve themselves or figure out working in the fields as free people.

Pfff, asking the druid if she understands what it's like to have to survive outside without magical means. Yes, dumbass, she does, she lives in the woods and goes and gets her own food daily. The reliance on Goodberries is because she's spending most of her time at this convention; if left to her own devices she practices proper hunting, with a bow. Anyone that thinks a druid is disconnected with the fundamental realities of how one fights to survive is deluded and furthermore, stupid. Saying this isn't productive, though. The long-winded foreign nobleman speaks of the benefits of bondage to a bunch of people who all just suffered under the weight of the Lawful Evil god of slavery. There really isn't a point to arguing with him; he doesn't seem to understand the land he's found himself in, he's just trying to mold it into something he feels would be proper.

She writes his name down, though, as a note to herself. Fraga, was it? Yeah, gonna avoid that duchy with her Plant Growths...

"Delegate Ibarra worships all the ascended gods," says Delegate Ibarra, "and Ragathiel, and Calistria, and Gorum, and Abadar, and he would be overjoyed to make sermons praising Calistria if he thought this assembly would hear it with any real joy." He folds his arms, leans back as he looks down on the Duke. "But truly I will admit to being a plain-speaking villain and not hide behind the mask of virtue, as His Grace the Duke of Fraga does. I am Evil because I fought Asmodeus with every weapon at my disposal when all the silk-clad nobles from Taldor were keeping their hands clean and Norgorber was a god who helped me do it, and I see no reason to deny it to this room. And yet I despise slavery! Slavery is wicked, yes, slavery will damn the slaveowners, yes, slavery is condemned by all the good gods, yes, yes, yes - none of those are my reason. I personally object to slavery because many of the cleverest and best people I know - best by the standards my lord de Fraga claims he holds, not merely my standards, low and debased by my long life in Cheliax as they no doubt are - were born into slavery or into serfdom, and could never have reached the heights they hold now without the freedom to pursue their own path. Everything I have said this session is to the best of my knowledge true, but I don't want slavery abolished for the sake of all the old halflings regularly sacrificed with whatever excuse is used now that Asmodeus no longer provides one.

"I want it because it is a tragedy -" and here his voice is serious "- whenever any child, human or halfling, grows up poor, dressed in rags, forced to labor for another's benefit, when that child could become - an inventor, an innovator, a daring trader, a sacred bartender of Cayden Cailean, a crusader at the Worldwound - an archmage. I want it for the utterly selfish reason that it is a tragedy a man grows up poor and frightened and weak when he could be someone I could talk to."

"And this is a tragedy the Taldane delegate wishes to make perpetual," he says, fire rising in his voice. "He intends to delay and equivocate and speak words of calm, measured reason, and every day the fine slaves of Fraga will make fortune after fortune for their masters, and he excuses it to us all by claiming he'll have a solution tomorrow. No solution tomorrow. Pass the bill. I call for a vote for cloture!"

Oh, this is going to be good.

She's not going to second and anger Fraga more. That would gain her nothing. Someone else will second.

"I second the vote for cloture." Sorry, Your Grace, but we need time to vote on slander after this, and you're not winning this fight.

Wait is Ibarra not an outright Norgorber cultist?  Is secondary worship of evil Gods tolerated in Good countries?  Fernando isn’t sure… it would at least it mean agreeing with him isn’t quite that bad and explain why the Queen hasn’t removed him?

Thank good, one of the nobles seconded it. Enric really didn’t want to have to officially agree with the evil wizard. He’d do it but then he wouldn’t be able to say anything on the floor again without it having ‘evil wizard’ attached. He’s starting to understand these things.

Apology accepted. He believes no fight is hopeless, but not everyone has his confidence.

Some day a cloture vote will fail but this is not to be the day.

The paladin and the important nobles gave them all the right answer last week. For.

For. 

The Queen is holding the ports hostage. Surely no one will be stupid enough to vote no.

She’s kinda confused about a lot of stuff that was said

But the normal people like Enric seem to be in favor. For.

Conradí doesn't see how banning slavery helps him at all. Plus, if this fails and there's another big fight, maybe the mask guy will come up with more funny insults, those were the best part of this whole thing. Against.

Easiest aspect of the loyalty test continues to be easy.  For.

For, and may the righteous gods guide the Slavery Committee to a reasonable plan for what to do next.

She doesn’t personally care either way, and the anonymity of the vote means appearing loyal doesn’t matter, but Irori probably hates slavery.  For.

If anyone was in doubt of her vote, they were not paying attention. For, obviously.

It's a bill he proposed to the floor, created by members of his committee. For.

At least they're just starting with the halflings. He doesn't care about the halflings, he cares about the mines. But the longer they are bogged down with halflings, the longer the mines have to replace their workforce with convicts and such. Against.

Antoni personally would just as well keep slavery legal, but he expects this will pass either way, and there's always a chance someone will read his mind. For.

Ysabet doesn't really see why she should care either way. Abstain.

Aye. Now, when do we get to banning serfdom like Enric said?

(Lluïsa knows what a serf is... as a legal status. From law books.)

Obvious the King-In-Irons wants to abolish slavery! What else is the point of this nonsense! For.

For. For, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for - 

Jaume has come around to thinking it's in fact bad to own people but you can't just fucking steal them. Against.

For! Let's get this disaster settled and open the ports!

For, duh.

Against. Slaves are less criminal than free humans, to say nothing of free halflings.

Blai is somewhat concerned that if he tries to draw a vote on his ballot he will accidentally produce an incoherent scribble. He Guidances himself and forces himself to focus for a moment and - for.

Oh, against, if it fails it'll be a great success for the conservatives.

For. Narcis doesn't trust slaves, they've got every reason to be sneaky and conniving. If you can turn them into neighbors maybe they'll improve and maybe they won't but that's true of anybody.

Against. She doesn't have any hope of stopping this nonsense, but that doesn't mean she's going to be complicit in it - especially not when this is a clear first strike in a movement that will also ban slaves from mining. How are they supposed to fix the country if the convention keeps making new problems faster than it solves them?

This law hurts fancy nobles who want to invent elaborate justifications for why they should be allowed to hurt people, and helps the sort of people justice will not defend, like Raimon was talking about in his sermon. For.

Opposed. We need more obedience, not more laxity.

For. He's not looking forward to what the radicals will try once they're emboldened by this win here but that doesn't mean it's not his duty to do right by Cheliax.

Obviously for? More halflings going to become properly trained fae is more farms making real food. And it's not like land nobody is working is going to actually go unfarmed. She knows nobles like to give those to other people. They can figure it out.

For, and may all the righteous gods bless Her Majesty for it.

Against. If they get rid of slaves he'll be on the bottom and that's terrible.

Against. It's not as good at currying favor with his duke as it would be if votes were public, but the man's a sorcerer, it's hardly as though he could lie about it to him.

Against! Don't steal his stuff!

Milani, forgive me. Against famine. Hopefully they will swiftly bring a bill he could vote for.

For, not that there was any doubt.

She smiles. For.

For! He can't wait to do the serf bill next, when he comes back a free man with a bag full of gold that'll show everyone who used to look down on him.

More customers. For

Kind of expecting this to be a disaster for the south.

The Iomedans will be for. It... probably increases demand for orc slaves, which personally enriches him. And it's out of Antonio's committee, Antonio hasn't given any sign that he's unhappy with what the committee came up with, and Antonio has put a lot more thought into slavery than he has.

For.

Gemma says this one is really important! For!

They'll replace them all with orcs in ten years.

He's not gonna vote.

That was so much fancy verbiage. Are a lot of halflings even doing farm work? That seems stupid, you need to be strong to plow or reap or wrangle a cow or anything like that. They could pick fruit but they'd have to make so many trips to bring in full tiny halfling sized baskets. Lluc's confused. Abstain.

Against. She's not so heartless that she wants her neighbors who make their living off the slips picking grapes to starve, even though she'd make a ton of money off her not-halfling-based dairy if that happened.

Is food not expensive enough already? Against.

Will this make the Andoren pirates cut it out? For.

Why bother? Anyone who doesn't like being ground to bits by civilization can just leave. The druid even claims they often do, like that's an argument for abolishing just the parts of civilization she doesn't like and not the whole system.

Abstain.

The only person in Ester's area who uses halflings on the farm is a rich prick who mostly grows tobacco, fuck him. For.

All the little guys should be free! For!

Man, fuck slavery. For.

Ramirez seems fine with this? For.

For.

They're trying to be Good now, for.

Halflings are kobold sized and do not seem to like tallfolk too much. If they can do whatever they want, maybe they will want to do stuff with kobolds and that could be neat! For.

Well, the only ones against it are some idiots and Duke Kill One Third Of Men. Oh, and the sensible Abadaran, right? The economic effects are probably really important, and she has no idea what they are. She fucking hates goats and wants the orcs back, but this is not actually related to the bill at all.

....she doesn't, actually, give any particular shits about halflings. They'll do domestic service for less money (for less food), but domestic service work sucks anyway. They're not actually any good at childcare, because the average six-year-old can bully them, so maybe the human maids will be forced to turn to orphanage work, but the orphanages are barely even hiring anyway.

It's not actually going to affect her, personally, at all.

Eh, fuck it. If she can't have slave labor because they're being virtuous now, why should anybody else get to. It's not gonna hit any orphanages still using orcs.

For.

For!

They are going to thoroughly run this country into the ground, with these ridiculous ideals. Every country old enough to marry has slaves. Against. 

In heaven, no one is a slave, anyone who wants to can farm his own plot of summerland. For.

He’s a bit angry about making halflings free before orcs, even though he’s only half orc and never been a slave. What’s next, letting halflings buy orcs? Look how tiny the halflings are, the orcs should be enslaving them. But good is all about the big and strong being slaves to the weak and pathetic. At least his boss is impressive and worth taking orders from. Which means he doesn’t have to care about the others. Abstain. 

Gerard knows Pride and Tyranny are Asmodeus's things; he heard the old priest saying that often enough.  So he guesses they aren't supposed to be proud and tyrannical anymore.  Which means that they really shouldn't be having slaves.

But - Gerard likes slaves.  Not that he has any himself, but he likes looking down his nose at them and telling himself how he's more important than them.  Maybe that's Pride - he never bothered asking the old priest - but he likes it.

And some of the smart important people were saying that slavery isn't all Asmodean, that other countries have it too.  So there must be some other way they can still have slaves.

Against.

These people's Law is hopeless so she might as well vote the Good ticket. For.

The wizard still technically didn’t tell him what political opinion to have on this, but they did talk about it before making their deal. Well, he thinks ending slavery is fine. Doesn’t care about the halflings, or own any, so no personal stake. But he always secretly cheered when the Andorani pirates took down a ship. Because he doesn’t like sailors. Which means he’s for ending slavery. 

The wizard made a face when he explained it like that. Look, not everyone can afford to buy reasons for political opinions from pamphlets. Sometimes you have to make your own.

For.

At the height of the harvest when absolutely everyone is down in the fields, Xavi keeps getting shunted over next to the halflings. If they can't be slaves he's further away from being a slave. For.

He has been watching the debate with some interest, though without speaking. He has a— you might say aesthetic distaste— for slavery, and his own apprenticeship taught him to at least sympathize with the slaves. He knows there are things he doesn’t understand, about what this will mean for society, but enough nobles are in favor its probably fine. 

For.

She’s already freed all her slaves, hoping to get ahead of any punishment for holding them when the time came. Lastwall doesn’t have slavery, nor does Andoran, so of course the archmages would do the same in Cheliax.

Apparently there won’t be any retroactive punishments, so the only question here is; should she continue to endure a disadvantage other mines don’t?

For, obviously.

For. Slavery the way infernal cheliax did it was horrible and seeing it in action was especially jarring after a century in Axis. Almenar can get by with serfs.

You gotta pay what they’re worth so he votes against. Pretty sure it’s gonna pass though, that’s why he’s buying grain. The mages can teleport supply the cities but when the harvests get all messed up this fall (and they will, even if free men work better in the long run) he’ll make a killing in the towns. It’s an obvious play but it’s still gonna work, no one ever adjusts enough. 

For.  He's already ahead on this one!

Passes, 318-161. 

And that's all the day's really important priorities, aside from preventing things that'll destroy the country from passing, which is of course the obligation that never ends. She closes her eyes to pray. It seems more dignified than cheering.

So there is a question of whether the assembly of the Constitutional Convention has the authority to end slavery. One thing you can do, if you aren't sure if they have that authority, is to give it to them.

They're watching by scry. They're making copies, in Corentyn, in Ostenso, in Remesiana, in Egorian, in Kintargo. 

Let it be the law of the land, in that let it be announced as the law of the land and then it'll be unfathomably awkward if the Queen wants to backtrack on it. Republics cannot always wait around for the monarch to grant them authority; sometimes they must seize it.

Jordi has rehearsed this part. He’s gotten his nerve up to talk on the floor. He actually agrees with his wizard that this is gonna be so cool. But he’s as terrified as he is excited, as he makes his way to the podium. 

“Well then. We just voted to end slavery. Every minute a free citizen spends in bondage is an injustice. So how about we promulgate this right now?”

Did he say promulgate right? Hope so.

”Luckily, my assistant happened to bring a scroll of mage’s decree. Get to it.

Lisandro, hovering in the air for dramatic effect, pulls out a scroll. He pauses a moment so any invisible security wizards or jumpy archmages can see that it isn’t an attack. Then starts to read. 

Oh, she likes... uh, whoever that is.

And across Ostenso! And Corentyn! And Kintargo!

Neither of those people are the Queen, is the President going to stop this?

Ha! Clever. Well done, wizard.

Yeah no that's not happening. Once these people get it into their heads that they can start conducting debates by Mage's Decree, they'll never stop. 

"The Queen is at this moment" – he can confirm via Telepathic Bond – "issuing an immediate decree to the effect of the convention's proposal, but in light of recent events, I should think we could all agree on the inadvisbility of making public declarations from the floor. Delegate Mont, put that scroll away before it's wasted. You're free to announce the law right now if you wish, but go outside." 

message

Jordi gives his wizard a brief look of ’I’m not getting paid enough for this’ and then says, “Understood. One moment, we need to step outside.”

One dimension door, and the two of them can now read a scroll outside.

Aww, that's a shame, don't archmages know how to have fun - oh, the wizard just going outside to do it.

Voshrelka doesn't laugh often, but she laughs here.

Constitutional constitutional crisis averted, the Queen is in the loop.

And you can hear a Mage's Decree in the whole city anyway, so, fine.

Aw, no wizard fight. 

Excellent. He can now add the heroic tale of how he freed all the halflings to his collection of heroic tales.

(Also it's probably good or something?)

After they read Mage's Decrees in all the biggest cities Eagle Knights will start riding through the streets and then out into the countryside handing out copies and reading the decree aloud to any halflings they run across.

Evidently the Andorens can't even avoid provoking crises when we're doing precisely what they wanted us to do which does not make her optimistic they'll cut it out now with the piracy.

We need to reinstitute laws imposing travel passes and institute impose penalties of execution on anyone found trespassing more than thirty times.

Yeah they have travel passes. They’re just sheets of paper with  “travel passes are Asmodean; are you?” written on them.

This is what weapons were invented for.

They actually have those too. Slavers often fight back.

Eagle! Knights! Lisandro is glad he ran into this crew at that tavern in Andoran. He can now say that showing up at the convention was worth it, having helped them pull off a stunt like that. Mostly by teleporting people to cities across Cheliax, the decree scroll at the podium was just symbolic. 

If the Andorani government wishes to invade Cheliax and attempt to conquer it, Cheliax will be overjoyed to return the favor. Otherwise, there are laws, and there are tools to enforce them.

Chill the fuck out. If Andoran wants to donate some wildly overqualified personnel to the royal post today and today only, that's allowed.

Yes, Your Majesty.

They're genuinely not breaking any laws! There aren't very many laws and none of them actually authorize anyone to demand a travel pass from anyone!!! This may be news to many of the tollhouses they are overtaking on very fast horses but if your horse is fast enough you don't actually even need to persuade the tollhouse of your correct legal perspective.

He gets the news the same time as everyone else in Westcrown; it finds him taking an early lunch in his office. It's the best time for it; the day's Teleports have all happened, but he hasn't yet started buying in preparation for tomorrow, and so his losses are entirely hypothetical. He'll have to get a copy of the full decree and see if there's anything else to worry about in it, but for now the highest priority is turning some warehouses he no longer needs into housing that he can profitably rent. He likely can't do it himself--his face has been seen a lot around the slave markets recently--but Hèctor Hook-hand has halflings working for him, and probably one of them could be front-man, and find enough renters among the recently released. He's been sketching some designs of how to refit them into tenements. They already had half-height cells, and so there's a little wasted space in hallways that human overseers can fit through, but that might actually be an easy fix.

Probably the first wave should focus on anyone with building experience, he thinks. They can both pay the first month's rent in repairs, and that'll keep them busy from making any competition. He finishes up his lunch and heads back into the city.

It's a relief that it passes, and with such a wide margin. He was worried the anonymous voting might ruin it, but it seems they were convincing enough.

Hopefully they have enough slack remaining for their other priorities.