Timestamp:20th of Vhalar, 717
Location: Kura's Office
Kura growled to herself as she looked over her map of Idalos. The two biggest concerns were the two regions they shared the Gates with, Rynmere and Viden. Academically, they were on pretty good terms all told, but she was still wary of both nations. Scalvoris was small and their list of military allies was virtually non-existent, same for their economic allies. In particular, she distrusted Viden, but she was aware that there was family trouble on that front, not to mention baggage from the Immortals War. There was no indication that Yvithia had designs on Scalvoris, and so Kura was pursuing ways to get in contact with the icy city.
Rynmere, however, was a different matter altogether. For all that she found Rynalism somewhat offensive on a personal level, she had to admit that their veneration of their dead ancestors had put them in a rather unique political situation. There was very little Immortal influence on Rynmere, something that was incredibly rare in the world, but perhaps the lack of a concrete higher Power involved in Rynmere was what had made them arrogant.
The nation used a very strict and rigid political structure, with very limited means of advancement beyond whatever caste you were born in. Every time she thought of that, all she could do was shake her head. No matter how big their noble families were, it limited their pool of potential high level officials, to say nothing of the fact that their lower classes were going to produce people that were infinitely more capable than their noble families. Small wonder they had a notable bandit problem or that they'd had a civil war recently.
Though the Rynmere civil war, from what she could gather, was an interesting case. She had a few papers on the matter on her desk. Apparently, the current King of Rynmere wasn't actually a member of any of the noble families in Rynmere, and that had been a big part of the stated cause for the civil war. Granted, attempting to gain support by exploiting pre-existing biases in a culture was just part of the power hungry egomaniac handbook, so she personally doubted that any of the rebel leaders had actually had the best interests of the people at heart. Given the propensity for rebellions to have figurehead leaders, she also wasn't sure if the official leaders, two members of the nobility, had been the actual leaders of the rebellion, or just puppets.
As for the noble houses, Kura was rapidly getting a feeling that it would be both wiser and easier to try dealing with the individual houses instead of trying to deal with King Renault himself. Mostly this came down to the fact that it had been significantly easier for her to learn how to get in touch with them as opposed to the actual national government in Rynmere. She rather had a feeling that King Renault and his advisors felt Scalvoris was beneath their notice, tiny little island that it was.
So it was that she had set about learning what she could about the noble houses themselves. House Andaris seemed to chiefly deal in food and wine, and while importing food could be useful for a variety of reasons, she'd much rather trade with Rharne for alcohol. Strictly speaking, they were both better at it and far more productive. However, House Andaris controlled the main ports for Rynmere itself, so cultivating a friendship with them seemed wise on that alone.
House Burhan was more to her liking, both for their apparent better relationship with their commoners, but also because one of their bigger strengths was their navy, which could give them military allies. However, this also made them more of a concern as well, as a strong navy could potentially blockade the island if the relationship turned sour. In truth, she was more concerned about not making a Burhan an enemy than she was making friends with them, as they didn't have any real strengths besides sailing that she could see.
House Endor, somewhat amusingly, was mostly known for it's political power, which made it both really important to cultivate good relationships with due to their status, but utterly useless for Scalvoris themselves. Try as she might, she could not find a single listing of Endor as a major supplier of food or goods, even internally. She did, however, note the regions fondness for underground dwellings, which was certainly an odd choice if nothing else.
House Gawyne, meanwhile, seemed to be entirely useless to her. Again, she couldn't find any listing of major trade goods, and their main focus seemed to be philosophy and other educational pursuits. While she didn't deny that knowledge was a very valuable thing to have, it wasn't something she could build an alliance around. At this point, she was really beginning to be worried that the information Scalvoris had on Rynmere was woefully inadequate.
She was, however, fond of House Krome for several reasons. The wolf symbolism appealed to her, though the reasoning was just silly as wolves were very much pack animals. In addition, their closer ties to the wild appealed to her own love of the hunt. However, they were reportedly very standoffish and apparently tended to be somewhat underhanded. However, from what she could tell, they produced a lot of food, so she could at least single out a possible export.
Meanwhile, House Venora were apparently producing lots of food, wine, and clothes. Lots of trading opportunities to be found there and she'd be a fool not to reach out to House Venora. She was still largely indifferent to Rynmere wine production, but she supposed there was probably a market for it, not everyone could handle real alcohol after all and wine could at least get you buzzed if you drank enough of it, Food, she had plenty of options for that as well, plus Scalvoris didn't exactly have a famine going on. Finished goods, like clothes, on the other hand, were a much more appealing option for trading.
House Warrick, on the other hand, was yet another producer of food and wine. At this point, Kura had begun to picture Rynmere as being populated largely by fat drunkards. She figured she had to be missing something, but she had exhausted the available information about Rynmere, or at least the information available on Scalvoris. She'd even spoken to a few sailors, which is how she'd gotten most of the information she had about the Rynmere Civil War.
In the end, she had a list of Rynmere Houses to contact. Venora and Andaris were at the top of the list, both were very valuable alliances. Warrick and Krome were next, food and wine would sell if nothing else. Burhan and Endor were next, but those wouldn't bring much in the way of trade to Scalvoris and weren't as high a priority. Gawyne was at the bottom of the list, at least until she got her hands on some more in-depth information what these regions produced.
The next step, of course, was who to contact in each of these houses. Part of her research had turned up some surprisingly up to date lineage charts, but those had required double checking with sailors out of Rynmere on some matters. Unfortunately, it sounded like House Venora was a hot mess right now, or at least the main line of succession. There was one notable member of the family that caught her attention. Oliver Venora seemed stable, and while he wasn't the heir, she had at least figured out where to send letters to in order to reach him.
House Andaris was in marginally better shape, but one name caught her eye, Peake Andaris. She remembered the highly uncouth individual she had met when trying to get herself on the council. Hopefully the name was just a coincidence. However, Celeste and Xander Andaris seemed a stable, well positioned couple. They were just about ideal, especially since she knew how to reach them as well.
Burhan, meanwhile, she had no means of contact for, which was a shame. There was, however, a potential contact point for Endor, which was good for her political aspirations. She didn't know much about Nathanial Endor, however, so she was less certain about that one. There was also a potential for House Gawyne, Caius Gawyne, so she figured she'd probably reach out to him as well. Cover her bases, if nothing else. House Krome seemed to be in good shape, and she had a name for them, one Velaine Krome.
By all accounts, House Warrick was exploding, but she had the name of one of the house, Charlotte Warrick, who seemed more stable than the rest of the house, according to Warrick ship captains. They also informed her of where she could get a letter to Charlotte, so she was making headway there. Now all she had to do was figure out what she could offer in return for their goods. Sighing, Kura pushed aside the small mountain of Rynmere paperwork in favor of the large mountain of Scalvoris paperwork she now had to look through.
Location: Kura's Office
Kura growled to herself as she looked over her map of Idalos. The two biggest concerns were the two regions they shared the Gates with, Rynmere and Viden. Academically, they were on pretty good terms all told, but she was still wary of both nations. Scalvoris was small and their list of military allies was virtually non-existent, same for their economic allies. In particular, she distrusted Viden, but she was aware that there was family trouble on that front, not to mention baggage from the Immortals War. There was no indication that Yvithia had designs on Scalvoris, and so Kura was pursuing ways to get in contact with the icy city.
Rynmere, however, was a different matter altogether. For all that she found Rynalism somewhat offensive on a personal level, she had to admit that their veneration of their dead ancestors had put them in a rather unique political situation. There was very little Immortal influence on Rynmere, something that was incredibly rare in the world, but perhaps the lack of a concrete higher Power involved in Rynmere was what had made them arrogant.
The nation used a very strict and rigid political structure, with very limited means of advancement beyond whatever caste you were born in. Every time she thought of that, all she could do was shake her head. No matter how big their noble families were, it limited their pool of potential high level officials, to say nothing of the fact that their lower classes were going to produce people that were infinitely more capable than their noble families. Small wonder they had a notable bandit problem or that they'd had a civil war recently.
Though the Rynmere civil war, from what she could gather, was an interesting case. She had a few papers on the matter on her desk. Apparently, the current King of Rynmere wasn't actually a member of any of the noble families in Rynmere, and that had been a big part of the stated cause for the civil war. Granted, attempting to gain support by exploiting pre-existing biases in a culture was just part of the power hungry egomaniac handbook, so she personally doubted that any of the rebel leaders had actually had the best interests of the people at heart. Given the propensity for rebellions to have figurehead leaders, she also wasn't sure if the official leaders, two members of the nobility, had been the actual leaders of the rebellion, or just puppets.
As for the noble houses, Kura was rapidly getting a feeling that it would be both wiser and easier to try dealing with the individual houses instead of trying to deal with King Renault himself. Mostly this came down to the fact that it had been significantly easier for her to learn how to get in touch with them as opposed to the actual national government in Rynmere. She rather had a feeling that King Renault and his advisors felt Scalvoris was beneath their notice, tiny little island that it was.
So it was that she had set about learning what she could about the noble houses themselves. House Andaris seemed to chiefly deal in food and wine, and while importing food could be useful for a variety of reasons, she'd much rather trade with Rharne for alcohol. Strictly speaking, they were both better at it and far more productive. However, House Andaris controlled the main ports for Rynmere itself, so cultivating a friendship with them seemed wise on that alone.
House Burhan was more to her liking, both for their apparent better relationship with their commoners, but also because one of their bigger strengths was their navy, which could give them military allies. However, this also made them more of a concern as well, as a strong navy could potentially blockade the island if the relationship turned sour. In truth, she was more concerned about not making a Burhan an enemy than she was making friends with them, as they didn't have any real strengths besides sailing that she could see.
House Endor, somewhat amusingly, was mostly known for it's political power, which made it both really important to cultivate good relationships with due to their status, but utterly useless for Scalvoris themselves. Try as she might, she could not find a single listing of Endor as a major supplier of food or goods, even internally. She did, however, note the regions fondness for underground dwellings, which was certainly an odd choice if nothing else.
House Gawyne, meanwhile, seemed to be entirely useless to her. Again, she couldn't find any listing of major trade goods, and their main focus seemed to be philosophy and other educational pursuits. While she didn't deny that knowledge was a very valuable thing to have, it wasn't something she could build an alliance around. At this point, she was really beginning to be worried that the information Scalvoris had on Rynmere was woefully inadequate.
She was, however, fond of House Krome for several reasons. The wolf symbolism appealed to her, though the reasoning was just silly as wolves were very much pack animals. In addition, their closer ties to the wild appealed to her own love of the hunt. However, they were reportedly very standoffish and apparently tended to be somewhat underhanded. However, from what she could tell, they produced a lot of food, so she could at least single out a possible export.
Meanwhile, House Venora were apparently producing lots of food, wine, and clothes. Lots of trading opportunities to be found there and she'd be a fool not to reach out to House Venora. She was still largely indifferent to Rynmere wine production, but she supposed there was probably a market for it, not everyone could handle real alcohol after all and wine could at least get you buzzed if you drank enough of it, Food, she had plenty of options for that as well, plus Scalvoris didn't exactly have a famine going on. Finished goods, like clothes, on the other hand, were a much more appealing option for trading.
House Warrick, on the other hand, was yet another producer of food and wine. At this point, Kura had begun to picture Rynmere as being populated largely by fat drunkards. She figured she had to be missing something, but she had exhausted the available information about Rynmere, or at least the information available on Scalvoris. She'd even spoken to a few sailors, which is how she'd gotten most of the information she had about the Rynmere Civil War.
In the end, she had a list of Rynmere Houses to contact. Venora and Andaris were at the top of the list, both were very valuable alliances. Warrick and Krome were next, food and wine would sell if nothing else. Burhan and Endor were next, but those wouldn't bring much in the way of trade to Scalvoris and weren't as high a priority. Gawyne was at the bottom of the list, at least until she got her hands on some more in-depth information what these regions produced.
The next step, of course, was who to contact in each of these houses. Part of her research had turned up some surprisingly up to date lineage charts, but those had required double checking with sailors out of Rynmere on some matters. Unfortunately, it sounded like House Venora was a hot mess right now, or at least the main line of succession. There was one notable member of the family that caught her attention. Oliver Venora seemed stable, and while he wasn't the heir, she had at least figured out where to send letters to in order to reach him.
House Andaris was in marginally better shape, but one name caught her eye, Peake Andaris. She remembered the highly uncouth individual she had met when trying to get herself on the council. Hopefully the name was just a coincidence. However, Celeste and Xander Andaris seemed a stable, well positioned couple. They were just about ideal, especially since she knew how to reach them as well.
Burhan, meanwhile, she had no means of contact for, which was a shame. There was, however, a potential contact point for Endor, which was good for her political aspirations. She didn't know much about Nathanial Endor, however, so she was less certain about that one. There was also a potential for House Gawyne, Caius Gawyne, so she figured she'd probably reach out to him as well. Cover her bases, if nothing else. House Krome seemed to be in good shape, and she had a name for them, one Velaine Krome.
By all accounts, House Warrick was exploding, but she had the name of one of the house, Charlotte Warrick, who seemed more stable than the rest of the house, according to Warrick ship captains. They also informed her of where she could get a letter to Charlotte, so she was making headway there. Now all she had to do was figure out what she could offer in return for their goods. Sighing, Kura pushed aside the small mountain of Rynmere paperwork in favor of the large mountain of Scalvoris paperwork she now had to look through.
