"Oh, thank you, your Excellency. I was hoping someone had something prepared now that we've seen what a disaster it is to have loopholes everywhere."

"I think we must define 'publication', and may wish to establish some initial list of presumptively approved works - holy books, if nothing else, while the virtuous faiths are still establishing themselves in the ruins of Asmodeanism."

"There was hardly a disaster. One pointless pamphlet, at great expense and effort. If she wants to invite every adventurer in Westcrown to focus their attention on her, then a few days of silliness with no realistic chance of causing unrest is a small price to pay for her to be removed promptly."

"The damage caused by a single pamphlet promoting necromancy may have been limited in this case, but the fact that such a pamphlet was legal at all, when its contents are so clearly objectionable, indicates that the current law is inadequate."

"The lich is the only one to have found a loophole with which to make a mockery of the law within the first eight hours of its passage, but it seems suggestive of how easily such loopholes will be found in general. And I think that the mad Badgers may indeed cause unrest; if nothing else they make the city's government look incompetent, foolish, and utterly disinterested in protecting its citizens. And Evil. Only in Geb and Osirion can one advertise necromantic services in pamphlets papered on the walls. They permit it because they countenance Evil; we permit it out of sheer incompetence."

"The law is perfectly adequate. That a determined sixth-circle wizard, if not stronger, can circumvent it, is no flaw at all; such a wizard could get around this new proposal as well, in just as little time. That she is a lich makes it more embarrassing, but also more easily corrected, as I am sure it will be by Sunday. The point of a censorship law was to prevent what happened with Wain's speech being published and garbled from happening again; this has successfully been prevented. To ban further publications which do no harm to the public is pure tyranny and nothing else."

"In my understanding, the lich's wizardry only sped up her ability to circumvent it, making it possible yesterday rather than next week. Couldn't someone without any spells at all have the same pamphlet approved by post to Osirion?"

"A high circle wizard could suborn a local censorship board by enchantment, which may also be what she did in Osirion for all we know," Jaume observes.

"One problem with the whole conceit of exporting important work to foreign countries is that there's no way to check what happened. Maybe it bespelled them, maybe it just threatened them, but we can hardly investigate. Our publications should be overseen by our own people, and then this won't happen."

Elias is going to sit out this argument because the lich, observably, isn't posting radical pamphlets, just stupid ones, and so he's not invested in her. They need law and order, not quibbling about nonsense.

"Fiducia Agramunt has the right of it. I will remind you all that we cannot possibly afford to staff a Censor's board with enough volume to cover a small fraction of the demand. We did not include other trustworthy censorship boards on a whim, in the draft that Rights proposed! Lastwall and Osirion have the capacity to approve works which are not injurious to the public interest; we do not. I'm surprised they were persuadable that this particular pamphlet wasn't injurious, but they have much better judgment than a Censor's board of less than a dozen people all of whom have other more pressing duties they must attend to. Because the judgment that such a small Censor's board can afford is nearly indistinguishable from the judgment of a rock on which has been written 'approve nothing'. If this proposal is passed, the most literate country in the world will ban books. Not just specific books; all of them. Booksellers in every city and town will have their business ruined and reduced to penury. Cities and towns where eight or nine people in every ten can read and read often will be denied the ability to read so much as a cookbook or book of accounts. If we do not enforce it, we will be no better than Taldor, where no one bothers to get approval and everything is published anyway. If we do try to enforce it, which we also cannot afford to do, there will be riots."

"In forty years, it is possible we could pass this and have it be just. But as it is, in the state we actually live in, it is arguably Evil and inarguably foolish. Much like the Badger's pamphlets."

"A wise and interesting perspective, Archduchess." Not a word that comes out of the woman's mouth is worth listening to; she supported Valia Wain.

A publication includes any form of written or pictorial communication that is not kept private, such as broadsheets, flyers, pasquinades, satirical drawings, etc.

This statute initially authorizes the holy books of Iomedae, Abadar, Aroden, Erastil, Irori, and Pharasma, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. It additionally instructs the Royal Censorship Board to give priority consideration to the holy books of other virtuous faiths.

He slides his paper to the Fiducia. "Does this wording seem adequate?"

"As was raised by the Sower in the Rights Committee, Conde, that still bans the Parables of Erastil. The commentary is different in every copy, and adding your own local parables is considered an important sacrament. If they give priority to approving the Parables, they will be too busy doing so on circuit to ever return to the cities for anything else."

"I think this pushes back the need for definition to 'private'. Further we might not like to provoke the Shelynites on the floor, is there something objectionable about the Melodies?"

Felip arrives a little late, looking forty years older, slightly challenging to recognize as the same person. (Jonatan's servants didn't; that's why he's late.) His hair has all fallen out, but it's clearly the same ducal coronet and other gear. (Well, it's a different silk doublet; the convention hasn't gone on long enough that he has to repeat yet.)

"My apologies; what have I missed?"

"—Are you alright, Your Grace?"

"I spent much of last evening clearing out a lich's lair, with several other delegates from the convention." He looks around, and nods at Vidal. "Speaking of which, I don't see either the Lord Marshal or Archduke Narikopolus; perhaps they're taking a well-earned rest."

"Well, I congratulate you on your service to the people of Westcrown. Speaking of which, we were just working on a proposal to address the gaps in the censorship law exploited by, I presume, said lich." He hands them a copy of the draft, then returns to editing the holy book section.

Aren't most Sowers illiterate peasants anyways? He'd rather protect their holy book if he could, but it's not important enough to be worth necromantic propaganda on the streets. The Shelynites have been awfully radical on the floor, and he certainly wouldn't trust their judgment, but their holy book is probably unobjectionable.

This statute initially authorizes the holy books of Iomedae, Abadar, Aroden, Erastil, Irori, Pharasma, and Shelyn, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. It additionally instructs the Royal Censorship Board to give priority consideration to the holy books of other virtuous faiths not listed in this statute. Nothing in this law shall prohibit empowered clerics of Erastil from privately writing commentaries in their personal copies of the Parables of Erastil, so long as these commentaries do not violate other laws (such as the law against slander), do not promote gravely immoral action, and are not disseminated, published, or sold.

"Congratulations on removing the source of the problem, Your Grace, and thence obviating this committee session entirely. I expected that to take several more days."

"Conde, the entire point of a holy book is to be disseminated. A copy typically exists for the use of a whole village, and even the least educated villages of Cheliax still have around a third of citizens literate; our literacy is the one great strength of Cheliax we have retained, and this proposal continues to ignore it and throw away the one advantage we have while rebuilding. You have not actually improved matters. I've also heard Irori's book is the same, though I can't personally verify it and wouldn't consider it a major priority."

"Thank you, Your Highness, but the Lord Marshal deserves the congratulations far more than I do," he says with real humility. Seeing Cansellarion in action was a privilege.

"I think the lesson we should take is that effective governance of Cheliax is possible, now that those who were once preparing to conquer it are now active in its defense. I do not think we have obviated the Conde's concerns; the lich may have been swifter in exposing the holes in the previous bill than others, but the fact that there are holes remain. We might come to think we owe her thanks, for giving us the opportunity to immediately mend them." 

"It would be unfortunate if the necessity of preserving public order resulted in unnecessary harm to Erastil's faith, and I'm happy to hear suggestions for alternate phrasings that would permit His holy book without inadvertently enabling the publication of immoral or dangerous texts." He is not particularly happy to instead hear complaints about how it's perfectly acceptable if the law allows liches to promote necromancy, but he doesn't really expect the Archduchess to care.

"Are there any other concerns about the wording of the law, or the list of approved holy books? I expect most magistrates are capable of exercising reasonable judgment about what constitutes 'private,' and can avoid convicting people for writing personal letters or other things of that nature. If you think this is a major concern I can add a definition, Fiducia, I just expect it to fail in some circumstances."

Narikopolus is shown in by the Conde's servants, and takes a seat. Apparently the official schedule is no longer relevant, and they're instead to begin competing to arrive as early as possible. "Urgent business?"

"Perhaps something like 'reasonably understood to be private' would suffice to allow the magistrates to exercise such discretion."

"Your Highness, my apologies for summoning you at such an early hour. Given the demonstrated inadequacy of yesterday's proposal on censorship, we're drafting an alternative to bring to the floor."

He shows the Archduke the current draft. It reads:

This statute hereby repeals the publication statute of 9 Sarenrith, and replaces it with the following:

There shall be established a Royal Censorship Board for the distribution of published works, to be staffed by men of good character who are approved by and serve at the pleasure of the Queen. The initial makeup of this board shall be established by the convention. The distribution, sale, purchase, or dissemination of any pamphlet, book, or other publication not thereby approved by the Royal Censorship Board is illegal. The Royal Censorship Board shall be tasked with ensuring that all materials published in Cheliax shall comply with the laws of Cheliax; that they shall not promote crime, violence, anarchism, or disorder; that they shall contain nothing obscene; that they shall not contain any grave offenses to morality; that they shall not promote false teachings about the gods nor promote the worship of any power of the Lower Planes, nor any other Evil power; and that they shall be moral, sensible, and prudent to publish. 

A publication includes any form of written or pictorial communication, such as broadsheets, flyers, pasquinades, satirical drawings, etc., except for communications reasonably understood to be private, such as personal letters.

The censor's office shall promulgate a method of marking approved publications; any approved publication distributed without such markings is subject to not less than 7 days in prison and a ban on all further dissemination, publication, or sale for the criminal for 1 year. The dissemination of material not approved by the censors shall be punished by not less 1 year of hard labor 100 crowns in fines, with an extra year of labor for every 10 crowns unpaid, and the criminal may never again publish works. If an illegal publication incites readers to a crime, or is followed by crimes resulting in deaths or property damage in excess of 200 crowns, it is a capital offense. Purchasing or otherwise intentionally obtaining a publication banned under this decree shall be punished by not less than 40 lashes or 7 days in prison, and a fine of 5 silver per page purchased.

The Crown and Convention may ban publications even if they have previously been approved by the censors. Lord Mayors and Nobles may apply additional restrictions to publications in those territories they rule but may not legalize works that are otherwise banned by the crown, convention, or Royal Censorship Bureau. Nothing in this decree shall prohibit the faithful copying of laws of this realm, nor official decrees, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. This decree does not make legal any publications banned under other decrees or statutes.

This statute initially authorizes the holy books of Iomedae, Abadar, Aroden, Erastil, Irori, Pharasma, and Shelyn, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. It additionally instructs the Royal Censorship Board to give priority consideration to the holy books of other virtuous faiths not listed in this statute. Nothing in this law shall prohibit empowered clerics of Erastil from privately writing commentaries in their personal copies of the Parables of Erastil, so long as these commentaries do not violate other laws (such as the law against slander), do not promote gravely immoral action, and are not disseminated, published, or sold.

"'Preserving public order' requires not inciting riots by banning all books. If you don't believe me, find booksellers from the city. Consult them on how to write a censorship law that won't ruin them and drive their peers and customers to riot. And let I remind everyone who didn't live in Infernal Cheliax that not for at least five years and probably ten will we have magistrates who can be trusted with any discretion whatsoever. Ravounel currently has the best magistrate staff in the country and they still couldn't be trusted with this."

They have no idea what they're doing, and they're going to destroy the country on purpose in the name of saving it. At least if she has to take Ravounel separate she'll be able to get skilled immigrants fleeing the trashfire they're going to make of the rest of the country.

"I would not go quite so far as that," even if he has barred half the nobles in his realm from dispensing justice. "But I don't see what's wrong with the existing law. This publication you have here is atrocious, but my first guess is that the now-captured lich obtained the approval of Osirion's censorship board via dominate, which Chelish people are not much less susceptible to. It suggests that we would do well to extend our allies an apology for the inconvenience."

"It seems to me that had the lich not secured the cooperation of Osirion's censorship board, whether by magic or merely by the inadequacy of Osirian laws for our country's needs, she could simply have put up the required bond for a publishing house with the money earned from her admittedly-considerable spellcasting ability. I would certainly support extending our Osiriani allies an apology regardless."

"Perhaps we could bring the ambassador to the convention to issue him a formal apology?"

"That seems polite, especially since it can come with our assurance that she's been executed or otherwise confined and could be handed over to their custody for crimes committed there."

Being a lich is legal in Osirion! Are there any depths to which she won't sink?

"Archduchess, to return to your earlier point, I think it is either the case that many of the works those booksellers sell can be swiftly approved by a censorship board, and normalcy will resume without riots, or many of those works would not be approved by a censorship board, and we should rectify the situation. Much of what was published under the Thrunes was written to poison the minds of the people and will now best serve the country as kindling. If we could close the ports for a week, we can limit the bookstores to selling virtuous books for a week."

"Your Grace, I worry that there are not enough men of good character and sound judgement to staff a Chelish censorship board. I cannot imagine us outperforming Osirion here, let alone Lastwall.

I don't know if the people will riot over this, and if they do I think that it will be in another city. Westcrown has the Reclamation. I do expect it will result in sentencing several thousand men, women, and children to the mines in quite short order, and would at least hope that you are prepared for that. Unless you mean something else by hard labor; the mines and the galleys are the usual suspects, and at present I hear we're a bit embarrassingly short on galleys."

"If a man is so lawless as to willfully break this law merely because he cannot stand to have his actions even slightly restricted, I expect it would only be a matter of time before he violated it in a far more serious manner. Unless I misunderstand you, Your Highness."

Weren't they just discussing dominating the censor? That's illegal! That's illegal here!

"It is absolutely not the case that it could be done swiftly. There are hundreds of thousands of books. Thousands of distinct ones, at least. It would take months with a well-staffed board of censors, which we cannot afford; years without, long enough they'd be out of business before receiving approval."

She's not going to touch what the Conde just said. It's so grossly Hellish she can't think of a way to refute it that would be convincing.

"I find it challenging to take you seriously on matters of practicality when you yourself said how to achieve the task; ask the booksellers. The censors do not need to read the books themselves, they can be advised by booksellers under some sort of truthspell, and comparing independent lists to see where they agree. They could identify the thousand most tame books in a day, if there even are so many, and then spend later days on cases that require more consideration."

It is dangerously close to an insult; he narrowly stopped himself from claiming that she has not abandoned her war on Cheliax, since that would be a straightforward accusation of treason. But it is perhaps not hard to read his mind, on that point.

"A well-educated man can easily read and consider a book in a day. Even giving full consideration to every book, a board of a mere ten men could approve a thousand books in about three months, or a few thousand distinct books in a year — and the booksellers could sell whichever books are first to be approved even while much of their stock remains uncertain.

I do expect that some booksellers will go out of business, and I think that is unfortunate. But if the alternative is allowing lich necromancers to freely corrupt our country's morals, I think it is an easy choice."

"The general session is about to begin, honored chair. I think we should call a vote," which they'll win because the Archduchess is a deranged radical but still only gets one vote here, "and perhaps on the floor we can address some of these worries by naming some wise men we'll appoint to the censorship board."

"Conde, have you ever interacted with a censorship board? A day is wildly optimistic; a week is more likely, to judge whether a book is potentially dangerous. We discussed this yesterday in Rights, considering what ought to be done for the opera, and concluded that a week per play for a trained censor is the best that can be assumed, and assigned fees to support censors on that basis. A book would be a little shorter, since it has only the text, not a performance, but not by a factor of five or seven."

"If you're going to trust the bookseller's judgment, just use the existing law and let them count as publishing houses. Their judgment won't be useless, but they're as Chelish as anyone, and as wizards usually somewhat moreso; they would certainly not count as 'men of good character', not in numbers. They don't know what the thousand most tame books are, they won't even know what the thousand most popular books are. They know what sold in their town, and what was most obviously Asmodean. That will not make the censor's job significantly easier."

"You are seeking to pass a law that the citizens of Cheliax will be unable to distinguish from Asmodeus's law. The kind they are used to breaking regularly because they will be imprisoned anyway if they ever come to the notice of someone who dislikes them and is higher in the hierarchy, because they have broken many other laws because it was not fundamentally possible to live without breaking Chelish law. People who would never do anything meaningfully criminal will be sent to the mines, as the Archduke said, because you criminalized a normal part of life and they do not know how to live among such laws except by assuming they are already damned."

"If you pass this, that suffering, that Evil, is on all your souls, far more than on the souls of the people who are arrested. Weighing thousands of loyal citizens dead in the mines against less than a day of a necromancer making ridiculous claims no one believes? Yes, the choice is easy, but not in the direction you say."

Bit of a sigh. "Conde, I at least must agree with the Archduchess that I don't think this is a small restriction at all. I think that either it outlaws a daily activity, and will outlaw one of the few remaining ways that the plague of wizards has of legally earning bread, or the censorship board will be staffed with men not morally suited to it, and you will find yourself with more evil material, not less.

If this goes to the floor, in this form, I'm afraid I'll have to speak out against it. I've killed a lot of good men for distributing Iomedan commentaries, and I don't mean to go back to doing so."

"On the point of commentaries, I do not think Erastil's clerics will offend Old Deadeye by passing off unrelated works as his holy book. Let us consider the Parables of Erastil as simple copies if authored by one of his empowered clerics, and make clear the censorship board can issue similar judgments. Also, if I'm not mistaken, our list is missing Sarenrae."

She's not as popular in Avistan, but they need more than just Shelyn to redeem this damned country, and he always thought the Taldan prejudice against her was silly.

"We could simply test which of us is correct when it comes to speed. Create the board, task it with haste, and remove it and write a new law if it is inadequate to the task."

"I'd be fine with an amendment to say that the board should review books swiftly and be staffed with at least twenty men, if this will assuage the very dramatic fears of the Archduchess. And - perhaps the minimum penalty is a little harsh, and should merely be the suggested penalty?" Having two archdukes opposed fares worse than one for their prospects on the floor.

"Molthune has had no problems with a simple, standard censorship board, approved by the Lord Protector," Berenguer-Aspex says. "Her Majesty has seized the treasuries of the Thrune usurpers and their appontees and voided their debts and the realm is at peace; her government can pay the costs of staffing a competent censorship board as part of the restoration of order."

Jonatan has learned his lesson about trusting clerics to be reasonable merely because they are empowered by Lawful Good gods. Still, farming men are probably more reasonable than teenage girls empowered during a revolution, and he trusts the Duke's judgment. He makes a few more edits to the draft.

"Ah, my apologies for losing track of the time, Your Excellency. I call for a vote on the proposal to replace our existing censorship laws with a board of censors, as is the practice of all our Lawful allies."

The proposal now reads:

This statute hereby repeals the publication statute of 9 Sarenrith, and replaces it with the following:

There shall be established a Royal Censorship Board for the distribution of published works, to be staffed by a minimum of twenty men of good character who are approved by and serve at the pleasure of the Queen. The initial makeup of this board shall be established by the convention. The distribution, sale, purchase, or dissemination of any pamphlet, book, or other publication not thereby approved by the Royal Censorship Board is illegal. The Royal Censorship Board shall be tasked with ensuring that all materials published in Cheliax shall comply with the laws of Cheliax; that they shall not promote crime, violence, anarchism, or disorder; that they shall contain nothing obscene; that they shall not contain any grave offenses to morality; that they shall not promote false teachings about the gods nor promote the worship of any power of the Lower Planes, nor any other Evil power; and that they shall be moral, sensible, and prudent to publish. The Board shall also be tasked with carrying out this task with reasonable swiftness, particularly in the initial period after it is established.

A publication includes any form of written or pictorial communication, such as broadsheets, flyers, pasquinades, satirical drawings, etc., except for communications reasonably understood to be private, such as personal letters.

The censor's office shall promulgate a method of marking approved publications; any approved publication distributed without such markings is subject to a suggested penalty of 7 days in prison and a ban on all further dissemination, publication, or sale for the criminal for 1 year. The dissemination of material not approved by the censors shall be punished by a suggested penalty of 1 year of hard labor and 100 crowns in fines, with an extra year of labor for every 10 crowns unpaid, and the criminal may never again publish works. If an illegal publication incites readers to a crime, or is followed by crimes resulting in deaths or property damage in excess of 200 crowns, it is a capital offense. Purchasing or otherwise intentionally obtaining a publication banned under this decree shall be punished by a suggested penalty of 40 lashes or 7 days in prison, and a fine of 5 silver per page purchased.

The Crown and Convention may ban publications even if they have previously been approved by the censors. Lord Mayors and Nobles may apply additional restrictions to publications in those territories they rule but may not legalize works that are otherwise banned by the crown, convention, or Royal Censorship Bureau. Nothing in this decree shall prohibit the faithful copying of laws of this realm, nor official decrees, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. This decree does not make legal any publications banned under other decrees or statutes.

This statute initially authorizes the holy books of Iomedae, Abadar, Aroden, Erastil, Irori, Pharasma, Sarenrae, and Shelyn, so long as they are copied in their entirety with no commentary. It additionally instructs the Royal Censorship Board to give priority consideration to the holy books of other virtuous faiths not listed in this statute. Empowered clerics of Erastil may additionally append additions and commentary to a copy of the Parables of Erastil, and these modified copies shall still be Lawful, so long as these commentaries do not violate other laws (such as the law against slander) or promote gravely immoral action.

"In favor."

"Against. I regret that my further arguments for why will have to happen on the floor."

"I would accept the test, with your sworn words to repeal this when it fails, Duke de Fraga, were it not for the enormous human cost it would entail to enforce it while the test would last. Unfortunately, that cost exists, so I will not. Opposed, and may the Judge have mercy on you."

Berenguer-Aspex is a loyal vassal of the Archduke of Menador and will not vote against his liege-lord, so he'll just stay quiet during the voting and abstain if called on.

"In favor." Neither of them are his archduke.

"In favor." He'll slip the comment in quietly after Solpont. He's not in favor, but he'll vote with his patrons.

"In favor." At least they fed him breakfast as compensation for making sure he got here early.

He does want to hear Narikopolus' arguments, but the ones he brought up so far were not very convincing. Especially not when the alternative is hearing about a new loophole in the existing law tomorrow, and another ten next week. "In favor."

"...Against." It's well written and he doesn't mind being consulted toward that end but it will be abysmal for business.

Six votes in favor is still a majority, but he was hoping for a stronger majority before they take this to the floor. Hopefully they can nudge a couple of the other sortitionates they considered for the committee spot to speak out in favor of it.

"In favor. With six in favor, the vote passes. I declare this committee adjourned until afternoon. ...May the righteous gods watch over our work and bless us with wisdom, that if our course is in error we shall come to realize it." He really doesn't think this is a mistake, but it doesn't cost him much to say.

He catches the Duke of Fraga as the committee is filtering out of the room.

"Your Grace. I was wondering if you would be willing to do me the honor of presenting this bill on the floor; I expect the debate will be closer than we anticipated, and I suspect you will be more persuasive than I, considering your firsthand experience with fighting the lich."

He's walking slowly, and they keep heading towards the general hall as he considers. "I am, of course, willing to stand by my committee vote on the general floor. But in my experience, the primary benefit of presenting the bill is being able to respond to comments as they occur. I voted for the last censorship bill, and will vote for this one, but I am not sure I could adequately parry all arguments against this one. We may be humbled by the demands of this bill as the Archduke de Sirmium was humbled by the laxity of his bill, or considering the Duchess de Chelam's arguments from yesterday, the downsides of this bill may be hidden from us and afflict Cheliax all the same. I would be more confident in giving you the right of reply, and simply being first in line for the podium to support the bill.

Both Archduke de Sirmium, who proposed the law we seek to repeal, and Archduke Narikopolus, who voted against this version in committee, were part of the expedition against the lich, and it was led by our missing member. This experience evidently has not changed Menador's mind on the law, and I do not know the Lord Marshal's. If you wish for credibility, you could do no better than him, and I would feel we had done him a grave disservice if the committee had an extraordinary meeting without him and put forward a bill he did not approve of or had to speak out against on the floor. If he is at the convention today, let us give him a draft of the bill to review and I can coordinate us via Message."

"I am not sure I am any better-suited than you are to assuaging concerns about this bill, but I would of course be happy to do so if you'd prefer me to. As for the Lord-Marshal, I certainly agree that we should seek out his opinion." He Scrivened a couple of spare copies while the committee was concluding; he hands one to the Duke.

They arrive to the main hall midway through a debate on magic-related proposals, which seem to be identical to the proposals remanded to the Committee on Magic yesterday.