I had wondered about that - I can sense blood-relatedness, among other things. It's good that you've arranged to have a situation that suits you.

He huffs a laugh, "It would have suited me more to remain a part of my family, among other things, but this is perhaps better than other alternatives. Without Tain's interference I would have been disinherited for bonding an Artefact - rulers and heirs cannot be bonded in Cialin - but I would have remained a Tian." 

He sighs, "What worries me is that King Rael may attempt to control you, should he have the opportunity. Your abilities - those I have seen thus far - are such that I doubt he would succeed - if nothing else I doubt he could keep you somewhere you did not want to be kept. But his expectation of obedience among his people - those fighting for Cialin, especially - means he might easily choose to demand you leave the realm, particularly if Tain recommends - which he would, fearing any influence he imagines I might have over you."

Talking about Rael always makes him tired - he was a better man once, when he was young. But he has changed so much, become harder, colder, more driven to see victory at any cost. The man he was began to die with Jaim's mother, the Queen Ilan-yel, and finally died in truth when Jael died in name.

She goes still again, but more contemplative, this time, without the tension.

He's right to be worried, but not about that.

His mouth twists wryly, "Even if the King were to be taken out of the picture, Gael remains too young to rule without a regent. The regent would be Tain, at this time, or one of his fellows among the Traditionalists, should he also happen to vanish." 

Sith tradition is that we inherit the holdings of those we defeat, as long as we can defend them, unless and until we choose to give them away.

He hums, "I expect you would need to kill a great deal of the nobility to manage that. Likely some of the ptiesthood, as well, which would turn many of the people against you.

"As well, the instability caused would likely allow the Empire a great advantage. Much of the military is loyal to Rael, and would resist in his name." 

She nods. I could make it known that I intend to pass the throne to Gael, assuming I agree that he's a good choice for it. Or I could leave; it would be convenient to have more of the world free of the empire, but it's not my highest priority. Possibly there's an option I haven't noticed, as well.

He looks away for a moment, considering. Then he turns back, "I am not certain the first would work. Gael would seem either weak or in league with you, both of which would see the Traditionalists oppose him. And I agree it would be a shame to lose your aid in this war." He sighs, rubbing his forehead, "We have been planning to demand Rael step down should the war end. He is not an intolerable war King, though his civilian policies leave much to be desired. Most of our funds are spent on the military, arming and armouring and supplying, leaving necessary civilian infrastructure to fall by the wayside. I can't even say he is wrong to do so, given our enemy. What is wrong is the fact that he would love nothing more than to conquer the rest of the world, should we defeat the Empire by some miracle. 

"The presence of the Empire prevents us from acting, and will continue to do so until and unless the King becomes much worse. We simply cannot afford to incite a civil war between the forces loyal to me, and those loyal to Rael, while the war goes on." 

He pauses, and then adds, "Frankly we would rather not incite a civil war at all. If we could arrange Rael to step down and order a Progressive noble take the regency... Well, that would be ideal." But it would never happen. 

She considers this.

Subterfuge, then.

What do the traditionalists want? Are they loyal to the man, or to his policies?

"The Traditionalists are loyal to the way things have been. They believe the nobility are inherently worth more than commoners, that Cialin natives are superior to those from elsewhere, and that those who take same-sex partners are sick, among other things. They are effectively led by Lord Tain, as he has much influence with both the faction and with King Rael. They are made up primarily of the nobility and rich merchants. 

"Rael himself has a following most often referred to as the Loyalist faction. They follow him either because they agree with his policies or because he is King. Most are also in agreement with the Traditionalists, and may effectively belong to both factions, though Rael himself does not believe any but the first of those examples I gave. The Loyalists make up half of the military, and include some nobles and many of the commoners who don't care for politics.

"The Progressives follow myself and Gael, and make up the rest of the military, some few nobles, mostly the youth, and a significant portion of the civilian population. We wish to change Cialin to ensure better rights for the citizens - education, shelter, food - and freedoms - sexuality, religion, culture."

She considers this, too.

Love, bring me the Blade, please, he should be here for this.

    Yes ma'am. DZ goes.

Stormsinger notes her approaching when she enters his sensing field - the particular flavour of the electricity within her form is quite distinctive. Curious, he pokes around for a mana pool to make contact with and, finding none, he waits patiently for Deskyl to make contact. 

(Jaim also waits patiently, after he takes a moment to remember which Artefact she means - the Blade from the ambush.)

I'll need a moment, she signs to Jaim when DZ comes into view again, and closes her eyes to meditate, hands open for DZ to hand the blade to her when she gets there.

Hello again. There's a situation, politically; I expect we'd both rather you have input into how I solve it. May I affix the telepathy?

Of course, he agrees. 

She sends a nod, and then breaks the connection; when it comes back, a moment later, he has access to her senses - not hearing, and her eyes are closed, but touch, smell, her awareness of her body and of the bodies and minds around her, the sense of their biology nearly as detailed as her awareness of herself at close range, a sense of all the body's systems, what they're doing, any inefficiencies or damage, fading out to a simple sense of general health and then merely presence, while her awareness of their minds is limited to a sense of their emotional states, but fades much more slowly, and she can't sense DZ's mind at all.

She gives him a moment to sort through it all, focused on the need to bring him up to speed on the discussion at hand but aware of the importance of waiting, first.

He is very surprised, and more than a little overwhelmed, by the influx of sensations. It has been over one hundred years since he last had a sufficient connection to a wielder to use any of their senses, and he has never been able to sense many of the things she does. He supposes a mage adept enough Life and Mind would be able to sense this when actively doing so, but it is an entirely new experience for him. 

He takes some time to adjust, and then sends her his thanks for her patience, This is the Force, then? He asks, then sends his wry self-recrimination, Not the time for my curiosity on the subject, I suppose. What is this political situation?

The king here is an asshole, too, turns out - he'd be trying to take over the world himself, if the empire didn't have him contained. His people aren't coming out well for it, either - regressive social policies and failure to maintain infrastructure, at minimum. I'm speaking to the disowned ex crown prince, currently a general, right now - she indicates him - and he doesn't want the throne, but agrees that his sire shouldn't have it; there's a plan to put one of his half-brothers on it if we win the war, but it's likely that my presence will interfere with that. The half-brother's grandfather is politically powerful, too, and he and enough of the nobles agree with the king's policies that I'd leave quite a power gap, killing enough of them to solve the problem; I'm looking for a more subtle solution.

He considers all she's told him, An assassination, subtle enough to leave no clues as to the culprit? He suggests, though that would not solve the problem of the politically powerful grandfather.

And then, in the interest of exploring all possibilities, You are able to sense minds. Are you capable of influencing them? Though he clearly finds the idea somewhat distasteful, it is worth considering. 

She's not enthusiastic either, but that doesn't mean it's not an option. I'd have to learn the language first. Or risk damaging him, by the other method, and I don't have much experience at that one.

Let us set that idea aside, then, until you learn the language. He pauses, deep in thought. 

Could you ask him, meaning the general, What could be done to cause the war to end sooner?

I expect if he knows he'd be doing it - he might not have told me if there's some way for me to, though, yet. I'll ask. She pauses before opening her eyes, to give him an opportunity to brace himself, and tries not to look around too much at first.

Thank you for waiting, she signs, keeping her hands out of her line of sight for the moment. We'd like to know if you have any ideas for how to end the war sooner.

He returns the paperwork he'd been reading while she was busy to his satchel, "Hm," he thinks, "There are a few options I have thought of before, all impossible for various reasons, but they could use reevaluation given your appearance.

"First is the Rebellion, I suppose," he begins, "The leader is nephew to the Emperor - by his late sister, though not her husband, which is something they care about in the Empire. Despite that he is the most legitimate heir by their laws, if he were legitimised, and not leading an underground rebellion against his uncle. They have a significant presence all over the Empire, and we have contacts with them - they help us smuggle families out of Imperial territory - but they haven't attempted to take any Imperial territory for fear of attracting the full might of the Imperial army to their relatively small fighting force. If they had the resources to make the attempt, and could be convinced to do so, the additional warfront could eat up enough of the Empire's attention to allow the existing ones to begin pushing back - particularly if they managed to take some amount of the Imperial Heartland." 

Sounds promising, she signs, and then to Stormsinger: I bet I could do that, and then swing back through afterward if need be - the extra legibility should help keep things stable, especially if I let them attack first.

Yes, he agrees, A sound plan. And we can investigate the Empire at the same time, to ensure we are not being misled in some way.

It's hard to lie to a Sith, but I do want to check, yes.

What else? she signs.