The high and the low alike crawl before the Emperor.

Dorji Koazluria, despite serving faithfully in the government for 10 years, was no exception to this. So when he was summoned to the throne room, he knew exactly what to do - he got on his hands and knees, and crawled. The rule was to crawl from the door to the foot of the stairs, which was a distance of about 60 feet (though of course he thought in yalkiyl rather than feet). The head was to be down at all times, never looking up. Then he was to remain with his forehead pressed to the ground until the Emperor told him to stand up, at which point he could behold the Imperial Presence. It was all quite standard, really.

The carpet was pretty nice. That was expected. This was the Emperor's carpet. He entertained here. The carpet went by quicker than he'd expect, and when he got to the red circle that said it was time to stop, he could only quiver with anticipation.

"Dorji Koazluria Vei Ni Lya. As our loving servant, we bid you stand up."

Whoa. This place was swank. Dorji was a wealthy man, but this was still far beyond his standard of luxury. The hall was supported by veined marble pillars, and high above him was a faux-skylight of translucent insect wings. Set above them were chandeliers, and the light through the wings made the whole room shimmer.

It was a lot nicer than his grandfather's home. Dorji was part of the Supreme Ancestry - 24th cousin 8 times removed from His Divine Majesty, thank you very much - and his family had been in the Inner Ministry for almost a millenium, but they were still far from the gilded halls of power. To whit, they didn't know anybody in the Imperial Household, or even anybody who knew anybody in the Imperial Household. But they knew people who knew people who knew some people, and that wasn't half bad. So he'd seen his share of luxury in his life. He'd been in the good confidence of some people wealthy (and tasteless) enough to get their slaves to contort themselves into serving as temporary furniture. He ate off one at his daughter's wedding 30 years ago. It made the oysters taste bitter.

Anyway, to return to the narrative, he was face to face with the Emperor. By Veloth standards, Dorji was a fit and handsome man, if not exactly an Adonis. The Emperor, on the other hand, was robust and strong, even in his old age - he was in his 90s. Atop his head was the Crown of the Father, which despite its other thaumaturgical and cultural properties weighed about 19 pounds and was made mostly of 18-carat gold. But it didn't bother him in the least, and he freely paced back and forth on the dais in front of the throne as he spoke.

"We recognize that you have been studying the foreign language at our behest. The Empire is grateful for your sacrifice, Dorji Koazluria Vei Ni Lya."

The Veloth Empire, of course, was the Mother of Civilization. What that meant was that their ideas and culture were the best in the world. To learn a foreign language was something that the Veloth Simply Didn't Do - anybody who dealt with non-Veloth learned a second language, an artificial language, just to teach them. The goal of this was to keep the Veloth of a Pure Mind - to keep the corruptive influence of foreign cultures away from them. By learning a foreign language, Dorji had volunteered to put on a radioactive hat. It was all for the Empire, of course, and he was being compensated heartily.

"It is time for you to go abroad and discover the animal-people in their own habitat, so that we may secure their pine timber and steel ingots."

The Empire, despite its great wealth, was very poor in terms of natural resources. The only trees that grew there were orchards, and they only had the metals to make bronze. There was probably more gold in the Empire than iron. They built their houses from mud brick, their important buildings from stone, and all their tools and items from shells, insect carapaces, and bones. The animal-people across the sea, however, had the pine timber and steel ingots in abundance.

"You and your family will be well-compensated for your service, Dorji Koazluria Vei Ni Lya. We give you our sincerest thanks and confidence. We shall give you sundry treasures to trade once you arrive. You must find a source of these materials - be it to buy it or harvest it. Once you have done so, we will dispatch others to continue the work. You will be granted a post as an administrator there and be granted your own family, with further compensation. If you do very well, then we shall grant you the post of Viceroy for the whole region."

His . . . his own family' He had expected to live under the tyranny of his elders for another 40 years. His own name" The office of Viceroy' It was unheard of. The Emperor nodded (no mean feat in that heavy headdress) and a silver tray was brought towards Dorji. On it was a piece of shell, and engraved on that shell was his Imperial Commission.

"All who respect our power will give you aid, Dorji Koazluria Vei Ni Lya. Go to the city called Rhydin. Find the pine timber and iron ingots. Learn all that you can of them. Write of your findings, and we will act on them." The abrupt pause gave Dorji an opportunity to prostrate himself, bringing his hands to his chest and performing a low curtsey.

"I shall make it so, Your Divine Majesty. I shall be your eyes and ears in the savage country."

"Thus is my Word," said the Emperor, "and I speak for the Sun." The traditional ending to all decrees. Everyone bowed. "Oh, and Dorji?"

"I am ever at your disposal, Your Divine Majesty."

"Take care to keep a pure mind. They are a strange, seductive people. You will be given a copy of the Book of Rites to take with you, as a reminder of the gravity of your task."

"I shall make it so, Your Divine Majesty." He bowed again. One of the High Ministers began speaking to the Emperor, and Dorji knew it was time to leave.

((As a note, if anyone else wants to get involved in this, I would be ecstatic. Local characters who want in are welcome, but so too are people who want to create Veloth characters. PM me for more info.))

A brief treatise on Veloth names, by Tiyrna Prastentala Yaj, Court Astrologer

When they are born, all sons and daughters of the Sun-Guiding Race may be said to have four names. They have a bestowed name, which is given to them by their patriarch. They have an ancestral name, which is given to them by history. They have a family name, which is given to them by circumstance. And they have an astrological name, which is given to them by the Chardariyas.

The first and most simple of names is the bestowed name, which is chosen on a whim by the patriarch of the family into which the child is born. The ancient custom is to name the child after a star corresponding to a favored virtue - His Divine Majesty Strateiy VI takes his name from the Strateiy star, the the eye of the Bull constellation - a star known in our history to represent clear sight and sound judgement. My own name, Tiyrna, is the front hoof of that same constellation. As it is the constellations as a whole which the 7 planets occupy and not the stars therein, their mythical values are just that - mythical. This is written with one star-character, but may be two or three syllables - a survey records that two is most common.

The second name is the ancient name, which has existed since the time of our slavery under the Seiyareiyans. As we are all descended from those first heroes, one's ancient name does not change, no matter one's status within a family. My father and his father back unto infinity were all named Pra, and thus my name contains the star-character Pra - as will the names of my sons and their sons unto infinity. This is one star-character, though its pronunciation (as it is with all star-names) is prone to drifts in pronunciation from time to time.

The third name is the three syllables of one's patriarch's astronomy. While I myself am the head of my family, my son Talak (for example) retains my name Sen Ta La, as do his sons and his sons for as long as I am alive, as well as their unmarried daughters. When a woman goes from her family's house into the house of her husband, she retains her ancient name but adopts her father's family name, including its ancient name. Thus, my daughter Leita married into the family Tachelnagra (Tach El Na Gra) and became Leita Tachprahelnagra. Her children, of course, took the name Tachelnagra. An astrological name is always three star-characters.

The final name is one's personal astrological name, assigned at birth depending on the date of one's birth. Like one's family name (which is, after all, simply someone else's astrological name) it consists of three syllables. My son Talak, despite presently having the name Prasentala, has the astrological name Dar Zu Qlai. Thus, upon my death, he will become Talak Pradarzuqlai. He will then add 'Yaj' as a final syllable to his name, to signify that he is the patriarch of a family in his own right.

I was born Tiyrna Pra Vak Oa Niyr Sen Ta La. When my great-great-grandfather died, I took on his son's name - I became Tiyrna Pra Jiyr Ya Mau. When my father died 60 years later, I at last used my own name and became Tiyrna Pra Sen Ta La, and recieved the title Yaj.

I urge you at all times to remember the Book of Rites, specifically Chapter 3, Verse 219-223. "There is a time for all things, marked in the courses of the Heavens; for though some stars shine bright and fierce; and others scarce to be seen; they are every one part of the firmament; and the firmament is every one part."

The Treaty of Ki:

WHEREAS the nations of Ki Beskayine and Ki Lergu, as well as the Velothi Empire, are all civilized nations of great material wealth and prosperity;

WHEREAS all civilized nations recognize the benefit of trade, that the strengths of production in one land may be matched by the deficiencies of production in another;

WHEREAS the wealth of Ki Beksayine and Ki Lergu are unmatched in category within the Velothi Empire, and vice-versa;

THEREFORE the nation of Ki Beskayine and the Velothi Empire agree to a treaty in trade of 7,000 kahnas of fine steel ingot a year, at a ratio of 3 kahnas of Velothi osseoa to each vrasha of steel, to be handled by the Royal Production Monopoly of the former nation and the Crown Imperial Properties Bureau of the latter;

THEREFORE the nation of Ki Lergu and the Velothi Empire agree to a treaty in trade of 23,000 yerga of white pine (pinus monticola) a year, at a ratio of 7 vrasha of Velothi osseoa to each yerga of timber, to be handled by the Ministry of Forestry of the former nation and the Crown Imperial Properties Bureau of the latter.

Signed,

Jax Olvestes, representative in Rhydin of the Kingdom of Ki Beskayine, in the name of His Majesty Relus VI of Ki Beksayine, Isma Eliyahu, Isma Rabiko, and other assorted territories.

Ekuar Gammaz, representitive in Rhydin of the Kingdom of Ki Lergu, in the name of His Majesty Valenzu III of Ki Lergu, Isma Matecumbei Gara, Isma Matecumbei Pekku, and other assorted territories.

Dorji Koazluria Vei Ni Lya, Imperial Observer and Provisional Protector of the Rhydin Territory, Zelya Province, as representative of His Divine Majesty Strateiy IV Chardariyas, Beloved of Giir Moyai and Guardian of the Planets and the Constellations, Navigator of the Holy Sun, Ruler and Steward of Uram and Vanu and Vayi and Dolna, Lord Protector of Chardariyakouji, King of Kings and Crown of Crowns, Standard-Bearer of the High Lord of Heaven and Sustainer of All Things.

Rajik Prentelrakni Sar Shi Lya sat at his school desk, listening to the wise old teacher talk about the elasticity of demand. It was his 10th day in 6th Degree Money class - the proper name was the Discipline of Commerce, but nobody called it that - and Rajik briefly pondered all the places he'd rather be. Like magic class, which is what he actually wanted to study. Or in his room, taking a nap. Or hanging out with his lunch club. Or at a concert with his wife, married just 4 months ago. Or maybe out on the streets being a hobo, or off in the Colonies, living in the jungle and swinging from vines. Mmm, wouldn't be so bad . . . walk around naked all day, and all the ants you could eat . . .

Every male Veloth knew that there were only two phases of his life that really made a difference - when you were the head of your family, and when you were in school. The skills you acquired here would shape what you did for the rest of your life. Rajik was 20, still at that magical age where he thought he knew everything. At two years a degree, he'd be here until he was 32, at the very least. Then there was another, oh, 110 years or so where he'd have to make that count. The very responsible part of his brain knew this. The rest of it was content to draw obscene doodles in his notebook and think about sports statistics.

After all, he'd been in school his whole life. He started taking classes with a private Vuri tutor when he was 8, ending when he was 14. Which, frankly, sucked a nut - times tables and Low Veloth and High Veloth and 'social studies' and orations from the Book of Rites and memorizing the stupidest poetry he'd ever heard of. If he ever had to hear about the Vast Grasslands again, he'd hang himself. No, not really, of course. But he still hated it. And let's not talk about the unmitigated horror of getting The Talk - the Temple-certified version of it - from someone who wasn't even a Veloth. Attention Vuri Teacher! Do not talk about my genitals when yours aren't even remotely the same! At least he didn't have to hear about it from his parents. No, dad, I do not want to hear about all the action you got when you were my age. You're like 80 and your nut's sagging out. At least it wasn't from his grandfather.

Then you're 14 and you move up a level, provided you passed an entry exam that even a chimpanzee or a Skirra could breeze through. Seriously, 90% of the incoming students got it perfect. So there's the standardized test, the first of very, very many. So then you inch your way a little closer to actual civilization. If you're lucky, you get to kip off from your parent's house and get a little freedom for once. Living in the big city of Ajanuskoji, as Rajak did, he wouldn't be free of his parents making him eat dinner unless he got all the way to the Capital and wanted to go for 18+.

So there he was in the First Set, because your education works in Degrees and the Degrees are grouped in 6s and this was the first set of 6s, and he was still in his family's house. And even then, it was still generalized crap - more High Veloth and more literature and writing ridiculous 'classical essays' that had to be in Anushtupa meter and more of those damn 'social studies' and now we even get 'social biology' because there's nothing Rajak ever, ever wanted to know as much as how Skirra hook up, and then we even have to go take some Engineering and learn how to cut shell but when was he ever going to cut shell, for the Sun's sake" And at least now we have some actual magic but it wasn't until 10th Degree that he actually learned how to do anything. The Library still said what you had to learn, and all you got to choose was what time of day you did it and what teacher you got, but ha-ha it's an empty choice because all the teachers are the same brand of Library dicks from the Capital with their oh-so-smooth know-it-all accents and oh, shut up, stupid kid, I'm just here to get MY certs and you're on your own with yours. So he got his 6th Degree Certification and on to the Second Set.

The Second Set where he was still, of course, in his parent's town (although now he lived in a barracks). And at least, at last, and finally he got to pick what it is he wanted to do, but he still had to take a whole bunch of junk he didn't want. So you can't just study one thing, oh no, you can't just study magic. You need to walk out of there with 12 total degrees, six in one thing and then either six in another or three in two others or two in three others. Rajak, not really wanting anything to do with these anything except magic, elected to take the third option. And because the older generation seriously thought that six was the magic number and the root of all holiness in the world, there were six things you could study - Classics, Biology, Money, Engineering, Sociology, and Magic.

Classics was all garbage - more damn High Veloth, more poetry and literature - now written in High Veloth! - and now they'll teach you how to play an instrument, but if you want to do that well you had to start as a little kid so now it's just the 'academic study of the arts,' whatever that means, but watch out because now we've got honest-to-goodness Theology, for serious, taught by people not from the library (finally!) but still boring and preachy. You're not telling me anything! I already know I'm totally failing the Liberator and the Lawgiver! Zzz . . .

Biology was one of his three minors, and it was cool at times. Finally they let you cut up dead bodies and sometimes live ones (ha ha! Sucks to be a Fruit-Race!) to figure out what makes them tick, and of course Biology was a big deal because it was the Empire's life. Of course, it didn't help that when you weren't going at something with a scalpel you were learning all about the exciting different ways the Fruit-Races have sex, or learning how THIS is a tibia and THIS is a fibia and THIS is a talus and THIS is a calcenea. Unless you wanted to be a doctor, this was as sleep-inducing as it gets. And Rajak didn't want to be a doctor. Zzzz . . .

He chose Commerce as one of his Lesser 3 because hey, everyone likes money. But holy crap, was this boring. Four days out of five, they were reading cases (which he had to pike on over to the Library and read while his classmates were standing behind him in line telling him to hurry the hell up) and talking about what did they do wrong" What would you have done differently' Which of these weird business principles apply here" What was their Vertical Integration strategy' And then, the last precious day, it was time for charts, kill me now, charts about this curve and that curve and macro and micro and zzzz . . .

Let's not even talk about Engineering. He could already count to 6 and 36 and 216 and 1296 and 7776 and 46,656, and he was pretty sure that there weren't that many things in the whole world. No, of course there were more, but the question was why did he care" Unless you were one of those Artifice kids who was like, 'my papa was a tailor and I'm gonna be one, too!' Or you wanted to be an architect or something. On the off-chance that you didn't learn how to multiply when you were 10, maybe you'd get some use out of this. Or, also, if you wanted to make magic items all day. Making magic items was cool, but he wanted to go all the way! Otherwise, zzzz . . .

Sociology was another one of his lesser 3, because nothing could be more interesting than learning how to boss people around. According to the guys in his lunch club, though, you don't even get to that unless you're going the full six in Sociology. Until then, it's law. Law. Not 'breaking the law,' which might have been fun, but 'in the year 921, Leekar Ruqlerjika and Paran Senlaptauka entered into a lawsuit because Leekar accused Paran of failing to deliver such-and-such goods under contract, and Paran replied that he should be released from their contract due to inclement circumstances,' and this goes on for years and years. And then you get weird psychology, which was all about 'why is your wife going to hate you?' and other miscellaneous questions about Man and Society and it was all conjured out of some old guy's acid-dreams, and the psychology students and the theology students hated each other but there weren't more than 10 each so who cared" And Political Administration was just more legal cases, even when he thought that'd be cool. Zzzz . . .

Finally, FINALLY, he got to Magic, and Magic was awesome. Magic was power. It was simple - the world followed orders. You just had to give them right. Say there was something you wanted to blow up. All you had to do was be like, 'set distance 20.21 from caster, bearing X/27.3 Y/7.61 off Magic North, explosive power 250,' and BAM! Instant explosion. Of course, you had to know the language, and you had to speak the tones correctly, and giving coordinates was a little more difficult, and there was no 'blow up' command and you had to give powers logarithmically, but whatever! So it was complicated! You could still tell something to blow up, and it'd do it! Couldn't fail!

So for your first six years of magic, your Second Set, it was just learning a whole pile of vocabulary, and some basic incantations to keep you interested. And then, once you got your 6 in magic and completed your Second Set, you could go onto either a magic school or straight to the Capital and the Imperial Library to do your Third Set, and you could learn how to write. Writing was . . . hard. He didn't even know how hard, except that it was written in kind of a similar was as High Veloth. (And, like the Magic Language, High Veloth had tones, though a lot more of them. Hmm . . .). When you'd written a magic spell on an object, anybody could activate it provided they knew how (and 'how' was usually limited to 'shaking it,' 'tapping it,' 'rubbing it,' or quite possibly 'saying a single very-specific nonsense word or string of words' if it was extra-special). Of course, first you had to put some magic power in the object, and the only way to do that was with blood sacrifice. Much of the course was spent figuring out the relative value of different sacrifices and the minimum threshholds. If you wanted to make a magic spell with a value of 1,000, you couldn't put any souls on it worth less than 50. And of course that's why the whole Fruit-People industry was there, because sentient life, truly self-aware beings, they were at least the minimum for absolutely everything. So there was writing, and then if you survived that, you could go on to your Fourth Set.

He knew that all the other disciplines had a third set, and they all had special schools. Unlike in Magic, there was no general elaboration - for your first 6 in Sociology, you got smatterings of Law and Political Administration and Psychology, and when you went on for your second 6 you had to pick one of those three to focus on. It was similar everywhere, and then once you finished your Third Set you could even go on to a Fourth Set, but the Fourth Set was all academic and teaching and publishing journals. All his teachers in the First and some in the Second Set were trying for their Fourth Degree.

The Fourth Set, Degrees 12 through 18 of Magic, was where true omnipotence was found. Degrees 1 through 6 of magic were all vocabulary, and degrees 7 through 12 were an application he had no interest in. It was in 12 through 18 - and up and up and up - where he would finally learn how to create grammar, how to actually speak the Magical Language. It was in 12 through 18 that they finally taught you how to actually count.

The Imperial Observers had discovered all kinds of 'natural magic' witchcraft practiced by all kinds of creature throughout the world, but the Magical Language was different from all of them - it wasn't dependent on amplitude. It was dependent on complexity. Take the explosion spell from before. Setting the explosive power to x was just as difficult as setting it to y, provided you knew how to express y. That was all! If he knew how to say large enough numbers, he could take the incantations he learned when he was 15 to start a campfire and use them to boil away an ocean! Even with written magic, the 'size' of a spell was based on how complicated it was - never, ever on how much it actually did!

It wasn't guaranteed that he'd get to Degree 18. The examinations came fast, frequent, and mind-crushingly difficult, and if you wanted to start Degree 12 in Magic you needed to pass an actual political security certification, to make sure that he had the properly Pure Mind. But by the time he reached Degree 18, he would be able to command the natural world however he liked. At Degree 18 you could design spells for the most powerful artifacts. At Degree 18 you could join the army, which was actually easy work because all you did was stay in the club, drink tea, do range-finding, and occasionally tell a person/army/building/city/continent to die/explode/collapse/turn to dust/be sterilized by a flaming cataclysm. Once you had reached the highest attainment, you could speak whole worlds into existence or condemn them to destruction, all without getting more than 30 feet from your free refills.

And, of course, once he got to the Fourth Degree, well, by then he'd have to go to the Capital and be free of his parents! No, mom, I do not want to come to dinner tonight!

"I'm telling you, the Rhydin project needs more support!"

Stratei Zhardariyas, the Divine Emperor of Vani, Chareka, Veqla, and too many other places to mention, took absolutely nothing in life for granted. "My dear descendant," the previous Emperor had written him in his Missive of Succession, "you must accept the fact that the Emperor himself knows how to do very little. If you try to do everything yourself, you will accomplish nothing. Surround yourself with competence and make your business to know them."

So he accepted the fact that his chief ministers, who surrounded him like gibbering apes, must know their own specialties better than he did. They very seldom looked like it. Rhydin was the pet project of Teerna Vrinurkavtal Yaj, the darling of high society and the High Minister of Finance. At 80, Teerna was young, by the standards of the advisors. He'd transcended his uneducated, lower-class background because he was ambitious, persuasive, and took big risks. These were the exact qualities that failed to endear him to his comrades today.

"Look at Koazluria's letters! The place is a goldmine. How many samples do we have so far, Leeqar?" He passed to the Chief Academician, hoping he would turn out on his side.

"2,219." Leeqar Ruqlantirva Yaj was the Head of the Imperial Library, and to hear him tell it, everything else was simply a purse for the library to plunder. He was a shuffling, ancient corpse, almost blind with cataracts and most of his teeth fallen out from leaf-chomping. That didn't stop him or even slow him down; his mind was still razor-sharp despite his advanced age. He begrudged the young Finance Minister's point, despite the fact that the two were on opposite sides of this debate.

"Exactly! And this is where all the Beasties come to trade. They bring animals with them. Your Majesty, please listen to me, the Beasties are bringing the samples to us! We need to give the project more support; we need a better crew there!"

"That's where we found the timber and the iron, Majesty. Perhaps the place has promise . . ." That was the Chancellor; the number 2 man. Teerna clawed his way up the ranks; Leeqar clawed his way up the ranks; the other three had been quiet but they got there just the same way. The Chancellor, Bezna Trizkalerji Yaj, was the odd one out. He was just an old friend of the Emperor's, back from when they were young men, and served mainly as his personal confidant. That was traditional, of course, but it didn't change the fact that everybody though he didn't belong.

"The Chancellor is right, Majesty. This is going to be the Empire's biggest discovery since Rezeshi. This is going to be bigger. Rhydin is an access point to other planets, Majesty! Why settle with the few colonies we have now when we can move on to whole new worlds" Resources we've never even heard of. The possibilities are endless." This was Leeqar's cue to interrupt and talk about whatever he felt like talking about.

"We already have that, Majesty, in Azira! The survey crews have found forests, mountains, mines . . . Azira already has everything, and it's right in front of us! Rhydin was a rude awakening, Majesty. There are powerful Animal-Races out there. We need to consolidate what we have before we can dally with them." It was now the Skirra's turn to speak. Her name was Ishiq the Supreme Cloud Flag; she was the only woman in the Inner Circle and the only non-Veloth. She was also 19 years old. The rest of them looked down on her, but always at their peril. She was the only one with an army.

"Well, so what? Qinsharrah is finished, Majesty. 20 Sqisqaqoi legions are at full strength; the rest are rebuilding very quickly. We could have 70 million Skirra ready for transport in a year. Whatever they've got in Rhydin; I seriously doubt it can stand up to us. In Ki Beskayine and Ki Lergu, they had guns. Didn't save them much, did it?" One must not revel in the Imperial Presence, but she let loose a chuckle anyway.

"Don't take that attitude. Qinsharrah almost broke you, Cloud Flag. We cannot underestimate this crop of animal-people. They are transcontinental; they have technology that rivals our magic." That was the Chancellor; he knew it was going to set Ishiq on edge, but the point had to be made. She followed suit.

"Qinsharrah did not 'break' us, Bezna. We were sent in with no information and our magic support wasn't up to par. You can blame Sqola for that. We performed astoundingly well given that we weren't prepared for them to use that much Natural Magic, and lest you forget " we still won. Qinsharrah is ours." Sqola Kuuzilkarjii Yaj was the head of the Department for the Military Application of Divine Composition; aka, the Warmages. He worked for the Emperor, the Academician, and the General simultaneously. He didn't sit in on the meetings.

"Don't blame us for that, Ishiq. We had no idea they were capable of that kind of destruction." That was Leeqar. Qinsharrah, the Holy Continent of the Llanduril Elves, was now a wrecked graveyard, the result of desperate magic and panicked executions. 35 million Skirra lay among 65 million natives. It was more than they anticipated, but not much more.

"Then whose fault is it' Aren't you in charge of reconaissance, Leeqar" Shouldn't you have prepared a Lexicon?" A Lexicon was a set of magical names and keywords; with a prepared Lexicon, the Warmages wouldn't have to resort to clumsy rangefinding and could toss off artillery executions as fast and as accurately as the army needed them.

"Aren't you the one who pushed for an immediate attack once we found their outposts on Azira?" Lexicons took time " a long time " to make. 30 to 50 years was common. Leeqar had only been given 3, and suffice to say it wasn't enough.

"You're getting off-topic. Qinsharrah is done; all we can do now is learn from it. The question now is Rhydin. I say we need to speed up the project; we need a research facility on-sight." This was Saprot Nizhteltraika Yaj, the Minister of Justice and another long-time rank-climbing bureaucrat. He was a fine judge and even capable of kindness; he was simply a soulless creep.

"Thank you for your support, Minister Nizhteltraika." That was Teerna again. The two men normally had an astoundingly antagonistic relationship, seeing as how often ravenous greed runs afoul of skittish paranoia, but at this point Teerna was looking for help wherever he could.

"I question the advisability of sending so many observers to the Rhydin Territory. We have heard from the Observer's primary wife's reports that their Pure Minds are beginning to debilitate; a larger crew might accelerate this process." This was Aiyaz Qurteltraakar Yaj, the Patriarch of Chardariyaqoji and Supreme of the Priesthood. The Emperor was not sufficiently devout, and most of his ministers were smirkingly heretical. It was all he could do to keep some semblance of piety among the proceedings.

"Perhaps the man himself isn't so competent " only five Veloth even showed up to apply, didn't they?" Chancellor Bezna again. Pro-Rhydin but always anti-Teerna.

"He was the best we had at the time. If it is the Solar Will, I'm not opposed to changing him out." That was Teerna. The Emperor claimed to carry the mandate of Giir Moyai the Liberator, who had later become the Sun. So there was always this sun-imagery to everything the Emperor did. He was the Chosen of the Sun, his decisions were the Solar Will, his advisors were the Inner Corona, and so on.

"Koazluria has practical experience, and that can't easily be replaced. And he helped prepare the Common Language Lexicon; he has more cunning than you give him credit for." Saprot again.

"His Pure Mind is in a state of disintegration; his wife has used the Common Language Tablet." Aiyaz the priest continued to struggle for relevance. Tablets were long, complicated spells that were bound to a placeholder activity. The actual spell to learn Common was 570,000 words long. The Tablet connected the spell to a magical phrase, with all of the same benefits. Tablets were marvels of magical engineering and the most sacred treaures of the Empire.

"I found him a very likable and forthright young man. I think he's been doing a good job." That what Leeqar said. What he hadn't said was, 'because he lets my actual people go about their jobs with no interference.' But Leeqar's priorities were strange to none.

"Majesty, we've been talking for hours. I throw myself before your divine Wisdom and hope that I have pleased you with my considerations." This was Teerna, knowing that the longer this debate went on the more it would spin out of his control. 90 minutes wasn't 'hours,' but the young man could be forgiven his impatience. Koazluria's loyalty hadn't even been on the agenda until Bezna brought it up, and he had no arguments prepared for it.

It was finally the Emperor's turn to rise up and speak. As members of the Inner Corona, the assembled should all be used to seeing him as himself " only Leeqar, Saprot, and Aiyaz remembered him, but the previous Emperor had been fond of taking meetings in the steam room. Stratei, despite being a close friend to the old man, took an entirely different tack. The Emperor was always the Emperor, even alone or in the company of trusted advisors.

Almost everybody in the room expected Stratei to dress down his ersatz financier. Imperial reprimand came very seldom, but it was always vicious. But the Emperor had always found Teerna useful; his sins were personal, but his performance was spectacular. The Empire had recovered from a post-war depression much faster than everybody expected it would, thanks to Teerna's decisive action. And however much of a greedy peacock the man was, there was no hint of treason or disloyalty in him. As long as Teerna was kept fed and praised, he'd never betray his master. In this way, he was a good dog. He could be trusted.

"The Will of the Sun has been decided. The Observation of the Rhydin Territory shall continue; Koazluria shall be retained. We place our trust in Koazluria to decide when investment shall occur in earnest and the next phase of Colonization shall begin. His allowance for requisition shall be doubled." Looks of disappointment began to cloud the faces of the Inner Corona. Aiyaz the priest looked like he was about to start crying. In a characteristic show of mercy, the Emperor decided to appease him.

"He shall be assigned a spiritual advisor, to be chosen by the Patriarch of Chardariyaqoji and maintained at Koazluria's own expense. This is my Word. This is the Word of the Sun." At this point, as was proper, there was nothing more to say except the traditional affirmation.

"The Sun is our Father. We shall obey him. Long live the Empire.? The assembled ministers stood up, bowed low in prostration, and departed. And no matter how hard he tried, Teerna couldn't wipe his grin off his face.