The radical nobility are going to expect at least 255 executions, then. Which is quite a bit more than one in ten.

Huh, that was a close one. The radicals need to get organized, and fast. Might have changed things here.

Thank… the gods. He was getting nervous.

That was dangerously close. In hindsight letting people vote on the proposed amendment was an error of judgment.

Maybe she should have spoken - or have spoken against it but badly - but it feels like the kind of thing she couldn't count on working, she doesn't really understand the nobles well enough for it to be a good strategy into a room of them. It being this close is heartening but it's still a failure.

She voted for the rider and votes against the bill, not that it matters.

Let the rule of the day be politeness, and white paint over all things evil and ugly, be they there or not. She has no illusions that the slander law itself won't pass.

Maybe it will stop the calls for purges. ... probably not, if the purges are conducted by law enforcement, which can still drag out anything it pleases. Probably it means more calls for purges, since there's no way to tell beforehand how many people you're going to have to kill to achieve some standard.

She votes for the amendment, and is surprised by how close it is.  After some hesitation, she votes against the bill, even with the examples, but without the amendment she thinks it leaves too much room open for favorable interpretation by the powerful.  She needs to think later about her odds of reaching third circle and if that is powerful enough to actually benefit on net from laws slanted in favor of the powerful.

He votes for the amendment, he thinks Delegate Thrune's argument was quite logical and Lawful Good.  He is somewhat surprised it doesn't pass... that puts Fernando above the 50th percentile on this loyalty test doesn't it?  He votes for the law, the Queen has geassed the judges to be fair and he can trust the Queen.  If she actually puts this law into action she might adjust it some more as well or add related decrees.

This law doesn't change anything, the nobles will already come after anyone that talks against them, you already need to keep it secret.  Still against and against (why did she have to vote against it twice, she's confused and hungry for lunch), just in case it ever actually matters what the law on paper in the capital says.

Asmodeus is full of lies and deception, so Truth is Good, so yes on the amendment.  He is disappointed when it doesn't pass by such a thin margin.  Still, there are 255 souls considering righteousness, maybe he should try speaking again in the future?  He votes against the Law, it still sounds like an issue of Pride even with the more sympathetic examples.

It is good for people to believe true things. He doesn't think it's particularly good for people to be able to say whatever they want with technical truth as a defense; it isn't actually very difficult to use technical truths to make people more wrong about something, as he believes they have just seen.

Against the rider; for the bill.

Oh thank gods can they go to lunch now?

No no now they're voting on the bill.

Ugh.

In favor, obviously.

Against! There's still nothing wrong with saying that Evil nobles are Evil!

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to think about the other part but this part is easy. In favor.

Abadar likes the truth or he wouldn't give her the special spell for it. That probably means he wants the amendment. And the rest of it.

In favor and in favor.

That was worth trying, at least. This will probably be misused but they do, very legitimately, need slander laws, and the censorship law was written with that in mind.

In favor.

Against, but it's going to pass. Everyone in the room who isn't an archmage will soon be endeavoring to have their enemies or perceived enemies executed. In many ways, it's similar to going back to law school. This is a very bad thing.

Ardiaca claims to have a plan, but it's most likely "be a disposable pawn of my particular conservative faction of the nobility as we have the radicals executed". This means bargaining for nondisposability, and for protections for those other delegates who belong to Lluïsa.

There is no point in putting any hope in the Queen putting a stop to any Galtan Terror; it's not thoroughly impossible, since the Queen is in some ways on Lluïsa's side, but vanishingly unlikely.

Around six in ten, Lluïsa is executed, and it's not unlikely they let her choose Hell over the Final Blade, it's not an entirely Galtan Terror. Three in ten, Lluïsa loses but lives; her effort should go mostly here, towards dragging some others out of the grave as well. One in ten, Lluïsa wins, having the radicals executed. No, less than one in ten, really. Vanishingly unlikely, someone puts a stop to this with only a few executions.

Carlota thinks it should be illegal to spread horrible life-ruining lies about people and that enough people have died of it this week and that announcing this one passed will be the single thing that will reassure her staff the most that she's not, actually, dragged them here to get murdered by mobs.

In favor.

(In Axis this could be a civil tort. But in Axis people have money. In Cheliax the civil tort, if the civil courts were even open, would amount to rounding up random laundry wizards, declaring them indebted by more than they'd earn in a thousand years, and selling them into debt slavery for it, which really does not seem to be a substantive improvement in any way.)

Truth probably should be protection for speech; he always hated having to keep track of things he couldn't say even if they were true.  In favor.

But then, the amendment failed.  The main bill isn't really a choice, a civilized nation can't survive without laws against slander.

In favor.

Passes, 310 - 155.

Élie is still abstaining from comments on any votes in progress, mostly out of principle, but also because he's ungenerously, uncharitably, and utterly unproductively sick of Chelish people. If they want to ruin their own lives with petty, inane pride, so be it. He's not letting them ruin the convention. 

"Now that the vote's done, I don't mind saying that I think you've made a serious mistake. Cheliax will want for nothing more than the courage to speak the truth, in the coming years. It's not my place to interfere with the laws you've passed, but it is my duty to direct the operations of this body. I believe that those of your proposing to outlaw slander acted in good faith, with the true intent of preserving well-earned reputations from malicious lies. Be that as it may: if anyone here tries to use this law as a weapon against your political opponents, I will be extremely irritated. I will not at this time declare that all speech on the convention floor is immune from prosecution, since I still believe you can make that decision for yourselves. Don't try my patience." 

Oh no. Is she going to be in trouble? Does it help at all that she abstained on the first one or does that make it worse?