And who are these fellows if you look at them up close?

Also does Valentí count? He's shown up and made no issue of his presence.

Well, at least today he's not on tense and confusing terms with the chair over accidentally almost wresting the position from her. Could be worse. Could also be better, but what couldn't be.

One of them is the guy who just argued on the floor they should outlaw Calistria’s church!

Fuck that guy.

Also this guy, who has been feeling much more sympathy for Calistria than usual. On the floor he was mostly agreeing with Acevedo though.

And this guy, who was invited, and naively assumes that means he won't be voted on.

"So are they to be voted about as a group or one at a time?" Raimon asks Carlota.

"As I understand it, we have to vote individually on them or we can ask the floor to reconstitute the committee and add all the new members. I'd prefer not to do that, but I will if necessary, having already on the floor suggested that they join our committee for it. Can our new potential representatives introduce yourselves and give a brief account of what your experience relevant to this committee is?"

"Felip III, Duke of Fraga. I was previously the captain of a Mendevian mercenary band, and before that a wandering adventurer through Galt and the Broken Lands. Fraga is mostly rural, and I have spent much of the last year on the road, inspecting the duchy and its villages."

"Marquis Vidal Puig de Almenar. Almenar borders the Barrowood - I've spent my life keeping my roads and villages safe from the forest. I fell in battle at the outbreak of the civil war and was returned from Axis by the grace of the Archmage Naima."

"Francisco, Count of Acevedo. I was an adventurer and baron in Taldor, near the Verduran forest, before I abdicated my title and returned to Cheliax. The Acevedo county was never the home of any great cities, but it has lessened under infernal rule and I've been working on righting that - repairing bridges, patrolling roads, protecting the harvest, and ensuring my vassals rule ably and justly."

"I vote against Conde d'Acevedo."

Of course he does, there's a reason Calistrians are incompatible with civilized countries. Fortunately his opinion doesn't matter.

Probably they're going to get nothing done today but a fight over adding people, aren't they.

"I also vote against the Conde. "

Him, Carlota, Aniol, the peasant, and the hellknight left. It's fine if either the hellknight or the peasant votes against, as long as all others vote in favor. If the peasant and the hellknight both vote against, Acevedo is out. If they bring anyone else in first, Acevedo is in, assuming the others are all in this together. But the Calistrian has selected this fight, now, and trying to challenge him on procedure will be very transparent, and the Calistrian will be angry. He's not actually sure whether anything bad happens if they let in the other two and not Acevedo. Reconstituting the committee probably wouldn't make it less reasonable, although it's possible they'll end up with a new chair and in that case almost anything could happen.

Ugh.

"I don't see why we need any extra people at all."

"Since it seems we are voting on the Count de Acevedo first, I am inclined in favor. Unless anyone has a pertinent objection? Count-Regent? Marquis?"

Menador doesn't produce many Hellknights, in Valentí's experience, and fewer of the Chain, but this is because they keep all their good candidates at home. Frequently with titles.

"Are you in the committee? That's not the same voice and not the same armor."

.....that's a different hellknight, isn't it. Abyss.

He supposes the worst possibility is that the committee is reconstituted without him, in which case he won't need to deal with this, but the questions this committee handles are important ones, and he does, in fact, want to see that they are settled reasonably.

"More people with defensive experience will generate a greater number of reasonable ideas, and leave us to take the best of everyone's," he says, more to Arlet than to anyone else. "I think a Mendevian mercenary captain is certainly welcome company, and will, for instance, have very useful things to say about our ongoing discussion of limits on the use of foreign mercenaries. The others likely will as well, though perhaps on different specific topics."

(Actually, a Mendevian is pretty likely to hate him in particular, but it's the kind of hating him in particular that only gets worse if he doesn't do anything. It's dimly possible that he can bring people around by consistently saying reasonable things, though it usually takes him longer than the convention has so far allowed.)

"I believe it's up to the chair to determine what order the votes are called in, and that we've all found her to be extremely fair with everyone's concerns thus far."

"I think a smaller committee's better. If we wanted all the ideas there are to be had we'd just hash everything out in the giant room with everyone in it."

He's not going to be so gauche as to raise an eyebrow at Carlota. Especially not when her committee is doing such a great job of making any point he'd want to for him.

"I am the delegate from the Order of the Chain and have taken on my predecessor's duties. But you are correct, Delegate Séfora. I am Knight Valentí Vallvé, previously stationed in Egorian. The paralictor's considerable skills in investigation and combat were needed elsewhere, and our Lictor judged me a suitable replacement. His reasons for being present on this committee, namely the Chain's experience in law enforcement and particularly in operating the most secure and largest prison in mainland Cheliax, remain in my case."

"As a procedural matter I believe I am treated as a noble dying unrecoverably during the convention and being replaced by their heir would be, though I will allow that this has not yet been tested and so we would be setting a precedent rather than following one."

"The Hellknights are entitled to replace their delegate just as Chelam could replace ours. I am going to call the vote first on the Duke de Fraga.


I want to be clear, Delegate Ginel, that 'this committee remains small' is not going to happen. The work this committee does is important, and so more people are interested in it, and we will either add people or someone will call a floor vote tomorrow to reconstitute the committee with more people. You may veto all of these people if you'd like, but that will lead to the dissolution of the committee, not to the committee remaining in its current form."