Empires of Ashes

"Faith in the good in people, perhaps."

"....good in people...."

"There is some in... almost everyone."

"...If you...say so"

"In any case... I'm glad we talked, Li."

she nods quietly

*he stands up, turns his helmet around, and puts it back on.* "Now... I will be finding Trajan and asking some questions."

"Questions?"

"Why Dracia keeps slaves... And who i should be fighting."

"...." she does not reply

*Li catches a brief glimpse of his eyes behind his helmet as he turns to walk away. The soft almond eyes she saw as he discussed philosophy with her are gone, they're hard set, narrowed.*

Her own eyes...he cannot decipher. There's something there. He just can't quite read it.

*Ket continues on, searching for Trajan.*

Trajan's in his 'command center' talking to his commanders, going over maps n crap

*ket pushes open both doors forcefully, the heavy oak doors swinging wide* "TRAJAN!" *For the first time, trajan hears ket fully entering into rage. The calm and collected southerner, clad in plate steel, marching forwards in unsurpressed anger is truly a sight to fear. In battle the Immortals are quiet, forgoing the battle cries of other forces, choosing to rely on their reputation alone to instil fear in the enemy ranks. This... outburst. Is unheard of.*

The men in the room all pause and turn to look at the newcomer. After a moment the consul glances to his comrades. "Leave us." *the men file out of the room in quick order*

*His hand is clamped around the hilt of his sword* "I have just... been talking to your Clavae." *the sentence is spoken through clenched teeth.*

Trajan, notably, does not even hover his hand near his own weapon. "*sighs* Ket, Whatever this is about, then just say it. Don't bandy around it. You're not an indirect man."

"Slavery, Trajan. Gods be damned slavery, occurring within your legions."

"You want to know the deal with them. And what I know about it, yes? Calm yourself, Ket. Take your hand away from your blade. I will oblige."

*he moves his hand, slowly away from the hilt.* "Talk."

"To be blunt, Ket....I don't know the details about the clavae. No one outside the Mortem Factorum do. All I know is the very basics of their...recruitment. Agents of the factorum find the... lowest rungs of society. The beggars, the lepers, people who if left to their own devices would simply die. Those they find who are with child, they pay a considerable amount, and take the babe off their hands. They rationalise it by saying they are giving the child a better life, and the parent is more likely to survive without having to look after it. I don't know what happens next. All I know is, the child goes in, and years later, a clavae comes out."

"And you trust the morals of an group named the death factory. Hmn? Trajan this is abhorrent. Children, Children! Are taken and made into... into... beasts!"

"You think I don't know that?!"

"And yet you've done nothing about it."

"I can't do anything about it."

"You have eighty thousand men at your beck and call."

"I don't have the authority"

"You have the force."

"I would lose"

"Surely political pressure... the people, if they knew?"

"It's not quite as simple as you seem to think."

"Do Dracian people not care about their nations principles?"

"you really think its that simple?"

"It is only as complicated as you make it."

"You have no idea what Dracian politics are like...."

"Underhanded and corrupt. Is how i would describe it."

"No. They are not that, but they are...complex and difficult"

"It needn't be. The conventional channels of power can be... *thinks for a moment* What is the word... moved outside of."

"What would you expect me to do? March my army into Dracia? Go around preaching to the masses?"

"You are a consul, that is the highest rank available, yes?"

".....not quite"

*waves his hand, swatting the idea away* "Besides a dictator. Consul is the highest, am i correct?"

"Yes."

"You have the power to bring issues to the senate?"

"Yes, but not only would it have to go through a vote, my fellow Consul has veto power"

"Bring me to the senate, Trajan. Have a Kelthrovi denounce slavery, no man who would dare go against it. Be less virtuous than some slaver-son savage? It would mean the loss of their position without doubt."

"It isn't quite that simple. The factorum have served the empire since before the damn shattered wars, almost the entirety of the empire's history. And they do far more for us than just supply us with gigantic soldiers."

"I'm not suggesting they are wiped from existence, just that they are forced to stop doing... whatever ungodly things they're doing to children."

"And if it backfires? If they refuse to serve the empire due to our denoucing of their actions? What happens if they stop providing maintenance for all the infrastructure they have created, that only they understand? The clean running water that the people of the empire rely on, the irrigation systems that keep our grain plentiful even in dry years, what happens if they are so offended they just let those crumble with age? What happens to all the people who need them to survive?"

*kets eyes widen behind his helmet* "I have multiple comments to make. I am unsure which is most pressing."