Pretty sure that one isn't happening. Maybe they shared, past tense, but now even the locals who join them are relying partly on plants the newcomers can't eat.

And they're working impossibly hard? And locals are still joining them? My cousin must be really exerting himself. Or Macalaure has a mind-control song. 

They had some join, I don't think many.

Some mind control is actually happening, but it's voluntary and if they have a more sinister kind then naturally no one mentioned it.

Oh?

Oaths. They swear—I think it happens often, but it's not systematized or anything—that they'll find their job interesting and energizing. Intensely creepy but also kind of a good idea.

Eru.

Well, I suppose my cousins have already staked their souls on this war, nothing left to put on the table. You're really not supposed to use oaths like that.

Yes, a large margin of error around anything genuinely dangerous is a very good idea. 

But this in particular isn't genuinely dangerous even if it does fit under the rule normally.

If they're swearing to be highly motivated to build walls, no. If they're swearing to be highly motivated to follow orders...

Only the first version as far as I know. They haven't lost track of why it's dangerous.

Well, I'm in no position to stop them.

You'd want to? If they're doing it safely—which I don't trust they always are, but of the ones who do—what's the harm?

Blurs the lines. Swearing to be very attentive to your shift, fine, Swearing to do it exceptionally well - I'm not certain what happens if your orders then are changed partway through the shift, or if they are attacked...

I'd think that comes under swearing safely.

Doing it routinely, if it's not identical every time, might increase the risk of an unsafe oath at some point. But that's not true of all possible ways to do this.

Fair enough. I'll grant it can be done safely. In a host that size it won't always be done safely.

Yeah. It varies. They could have standardized it on a form like "I swear to be attentive for the length of a shift," but they didn't.

One oath they did all take was not to swear anything because of torture. In case of capture by the Enemy. I'm sure you'll agree with the reasoning on that one.

Yes, that's probably wise. I will raise it with the King. 

Probably add not giving information, too, not just oaths. Also maybe it should be no oaths under coercion instead of torture. That way it can include orders.

We'll discuss wording. The problem with swearing not to give oaths under coercion is - well, imagine that the Enemy manages to orchestrate something that looks like a hostile attack on them by us, and they come over here with weapons drawn and say 'swear you didn't do this or bring it about'...

Good point. There is probably a way around that but I can see how complicating it might not be worth it.

The ideal would be not to give information or oaths to the Enemy, and not to give oaths under coercion unless they're time-limited to a year or less, and not to give oaths while under the influence of a mind-altering one.

Why a year? Coerced oaths can do damage in a year.

Also that phrasing raises the possibility of them showing up with swords asking for an oath and people here saying no, can't swear, come back in three hours when the attentiveness oath wears off. Even if that's unlikely to come up for multiple reasons.

You are the only reason I am inclined to call it unlikely they'd show up here with swords asking for oaths.  And a year because 'coerced' is broad enough it might cover even necessary things but there's no excuse for not finding a non-coerced way of managing things eventually - could say 'only coerced oath as to the truth of claims', so it can still be used to verify non-involvement in any kind of trouble... we should really sit down and negotiate this with them, so both sides know what they can expect from the other, but I can't see that being a civil negotiating table and anyway, once people sit down to talk Maitimo's won.

If you settle on a wording you can just tell them what to expect.

I think we'll do that. Anything else of interest from the visit?

I think that's everything.

I was really hoping for something more useful on the diplomacy, but can't be helped.