Thea’s on Virtuous Churches and is pretty active in floor sessions.  Jaume might remember truth-spelling her for an anti-diabolism committee meeting.  Her holy symbol of Irori is plainly visible, so she’s also a cleric of a Lawful Neutral God.

"Delegate Iroria, do you have a few minutes?"

“Yes, of course.”

She runs through her memory what she knows of this Abadaran.  He was against ending slavery… but was some of that procedural complaints (which Thea is actually sympathetic to)?  She can’t remember exactly.  Nor can she actually remember any other major stances he has taken in floor speeches.  Still, even if he was on the losing side of one issue she wouldn’t mind working with him on other issues.  And even if they disagree it’s still worth talking.

"If I recall correctly you sit on the Virtuous Churches committee, and I have recently learned that this topic is relevant to the Lastwall practice of objection on the grounds of conscience to military conscription - they'll exempt people who are chosen by a known pacifistic god, or who belong to a pacifistic order, though they also allow refusal on less legible grounds."

That’s surprisingly Good for someone that was in favor of slavery… maybe his complaints were more of procedural nature about how to end slavery than she realized?

“And so you’re looking to establish such practices for clerics and members of pacifistic holy orders here in Cheliax?”

Thea isn’t particularly worried about conscription for herself or her sisters (although maybe with the shortage of clerics she should be).  But she’s always in favor of more privileges for clerics!

“I can bring it up to the committee, do you have a suggested wording or exact proposal or did you want the committee to explore the idea generally and come up with a proposal ourselves?”

"I am hoping to get some advance warning of any objections that may materialize from likely corners and hopefully also have an idea of what committee the proposal could go through before reaching the floor. None of mine are suited so I intend to reach out also to Rights and to the Army committees. I do not have a draft yet."

“An obvious point to research is precedent for pacifistic holy orders and clerics in Taldor and in Arodenite Cheliax, appealing to (or at least neutralizing the complaints of) Taldane nobility and resurrected nobility would help greatly with getting any proposal passed.”

She’s remembered another key fact about Jaume.  He was the religious delegate pick by the conservatives for one of their pre-selected committees, so he should hopefully have an in with them.  In which case, Thea can use his support to smooth out things in advance for Virtuous Churches.

“As a matter of political strategy… my impression from skimming transcripts is that Rights has a lot of potential rights they are considering, some of which may not have as firm precedent in history or neighboring countries and might be harder to get passed and correspondingly influence the floor’s impression of less controversial rights they propose.  I think Virtuous Churches should be non-controversial on the whole and the eventual proposal we’ll have of rights and responsibilities of such churches will have more precedent to justify it with.  We aren’t actually at the stage of specific proposal language yet, so you have some time to write one on conscientious pacifists.  I think it might make sense as an item on a list of at least several rights, provided the support on the floor will be sufficient…”

So… is Thea getting the subtext of ‘rally conservative support for my committee’s proposal and I’ll make sure it includes your idea in it’ across?  Well, if not, she can make the political trades more explicit as they get to an actual proposal.

"I'm not sure it makes sense as an item on a list; I don't mean to make religious order membership the sole grounds to refuse. That's not even how Lastwall does it and they have a much better supply of available orders."

Is he playing hardball or is he more optimistic than her about getting it passed or is he being meticulous about procedural matters like he was with the slavery committee?

“If it’s not at least framed as a matter tied in some way to churches it makes less sense, procedurally, passing it through Virtuous Churches as opposed to Rights?  We could try both a generally written version in Rights and a Church-focused version for Churches?  The versions would need to be written in distinct ways so the failure of one doesn’t hurt the other’s odds of passing through the floor.  Alternatively, if the main objection is going to be matters of military practicality, if you can convince the Army committee to support it, maybe even be the ones to approve it and bring it to the floor, that would greatly help its odds.”

She pauses a moment.

”It might help me to read some specific language once you have it.  I can at least raise the idea with virtuous churches for now, and we can revisit it later with more specifics.”

And she can see if his idea got any traction in Army or a plan to actually get passed coming from Rights and thus how much he needs Virtuous Churches.

"I agree that your committee makes less sense as the vehicle for this particular idea. I just want to hear objections that they may be forestalled in the language of the bill and perhaps accumulate some support from members of Virtuous Churches."

“Well I personally am in favor of your proposal and I will feel out my committee for ideas and objections you can consider in its language.”

And if he does have to settle for a narrower bill Virtuous Churches can leverage him for more general support from the conservatives.

"Thank you. If you wish to find me outside the hours of the convention I am generally at the Trivardum church of Abadar."

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

This wasn’t exactly a success, but Thea does think she’s getting better at politicking. 

Now, who else can he find...

This guy! He's on the Army committee, isn't he?

"Select."

"Fiducia. Can I help you?"

"I am interested in advancing a practice of permitting refusal of military conscription on the grounds of conscience, as is practiced in Lastwall. The Army committee may be an appropriate place to incubate the idea. Are you willing to introduce it there?"

"...how is it implemented in Lastwall? I have their military discipline handbook but nothing about their conscription practices."

"If I understood Ser Saiville correctly, they automatically exempt anyone who is a member of a pacifistic sworn order; they will release any man who is chosen by a god whose church's parameters on just war are more limited than Iomedae's, to potentially rejoin the force in a more negotiated capacity; and they will also seriously consider and often grant exemptions for sincere professions of conscience not backed by such a legible commitment. It is a stigmatized choice, which keeps it rare among people whose real objection is cowardice or convenience, but -

"- perhaps you will understand without my needing to explain, why it might be important to allow someone who cannot reconcile their conscience to service an opportunity to do otherwise."

It hadn't occurred to Blai to wonder much about this man, and now, abruptly, it does. He's older than Blai is. He has to be Chelish, or he wouldn't be sitting in the convention hall, especially not on day one before they folded in the paladins. He's got the Wisdom to be a cleric, the Law to be an Abadaran. They used proxies, lossy ones, to find seminary candidates, but this guy doesn't look like he would have fooled a spotter even if he decided to go to school in a jester's costume. Fiducia Agramunt could just be - what Blai would have been if he'd succeeded at casting Light through a key, when he tried it. Could be. But the way he phrased that...

"Perhaps," says Blai. "- it's an important part of how you want this idea to work out that it also include people who aren't... protected... by a god?"

"The people I wish to protect by this proposal are not only those who are Wise, or who happen to be good fits for any god who presently exists, or whose lives have afforded them a chance to join a pacifist order. There is a sense in which I seek to protect people who are similar to me, but I would not, personally, be damaged, were I obliged to serve in the military, given some prudent policy that limited my involvement to what Abadar would tolerate. It is merely... familiar as a class of problem someone might have."

"Well. I can bring it up in the Army committee."

"I have also approached a member of Virtuous Churches and hope to also speak to someone on Rights. Proposals appear to do better if they are championed from several corners and I wish to present it in a form that will be well received in the hall, without being surprised by an objection."

"I can also bring up that we should talk to you and not bring something to the floor hastily."