Empires of Ashes Reboot

LI: I am no economist,

Justin follows after her

Hakon: "Silver wins wars. It's the way of the world. Kelthro still stands, only because of her silver."

LI: slaves?

Diana descends the steps to the wine cellar, behind the pilfered bar.

Hakon: "Slaves are not all owned by the crown. The silver mines are."

LI: Silver does not win Dracia's wars. If silver was all it took, all soldiers would be mercenaries.

Justin follows after her

Hakon: "What does?"

Diana: "Pretty well pilfered." *she takes a bottle off the shelf.* "Not bad stuff though."

LI: The reasons men fight are more myriad and varied than the nations they fight for.

Justin: had it before?

Hakon: "Young men fight for many reasons. Old men fight for power. And silver is power."

Diana: "Might've... name sounds familiar. Can tell its good though, its corked properly, and has a nice picture on the label."

LI: Silver is a shiny metal. I find it worthless.

Justin: lets give it a shot then

Diana: "We just setting up shop down here? Or... some other place?"

Hakon: "And others will kill and die for it. You are quite the anomaly."

LI: there are others.

Justin: whatever you'd like

Hakon: "Of course. There are more than one clavae... more than one..."

Diana walks back to the hatch down from the bar, and slides the bar across. "that'll do."

LI: The consul. The first spear.

justin smiles softly
"Down here it is"

Hakon: "Trajan wants power."

Diana sits down on a bench set against a wall of barrels and shelves. Setting down the bottle, and taking off her helmet.

LI: he has power.

Justin sits down next to her, likewise removing his helmet

Hakon: "He wants more. Men with power usually do."

She unhooks the veil from her ear, letting it hang from the other. Digging her thumb under the bottle's cork, and pushing it out.

LI: No. Even were he to become more powerful than he is, it would be short lived. He knows that.

Justin rests his helmet on the floor, reaching up and wiping his brow.

Hakon: "Then why is he conquering territory? Not for love of his country. I know that."

She offers him the bottle, after taking a swig.

LI: for the good of the empire. *she draws his bow again after docking an arrow* Selfish leaders in dracia tend to die off. *looses*

Justin takes it, taking a swig of his own

Hakon: "For his vision for the empire." He draws and fires her bow, evidently having more difficulty.

Diana sighs, leaning back and relaxing her shoulders.

LI: He knows better than most.

For the first time since she's seen him, justin visibly relaxes

Hakon: "And he believes that... I do not know if he will give up his consulship easily."

She holds out her hand for the bottle.

LI: it is not his first term. It is his second. *she draws again* he spent three years between those terms not serving as consul.

he offers it back

Hakon: "The stakes were not so high, then."

She takes it, and drinks deeply, eyes closed.

LI: it is the law. If he breaks it, he dies. And that is disregarding the fact he would never do so in the first place. Even were he to seek the office of dictator, it would not last, as are our laws.

Justin:...you okay?

Hakon: "Laws are often remade. Trajan idolises the man who ordered a slaughter of his own people."

Diana pulls the bottle from her lips. "Hmn?" she looks at him. "Okay? yeah?"

LI: you mean his ancestor? He slaughtered no one. He granted the invicti the power to execute the powerful if found to be corrupt. That is all.

Justin: good. *leans back, clearly trying to relax more*

Hakon: "As i heard it, hundreds were butchered in the streets. Without trial or question."

in the following hours, the bottle is passed back and forth, and when it empties, another is fetched and opened.

LI: I heard differently. *she hands him back his bow* You are from a nation that is opposed to mine. It is likely your telling is poisoned with bias.

Surprisingly, justin seems to be holding up, not goin all drunkard yet

Hakon: "I thought it brilliant when i heard of it. I was Thengulli once."

Diana is slouching further as she drinks more, to the point the rigid breastplate of her armour is holding her straight.

LI: I know.

Justin: slow down *chuckles* You want to survive the night right?

Hakon: "Now, i think that it too much power for one man."

Diana: "Nahhh... i just need to get this thing off."

LI: how about your thenguli Jarls and high king? Their power has no term limit.

Justin: what?

Hakon: "Even the high king cannot have a Jarl or Thane dragged into the street and butchered without trial... well, he could... But he would not be hailed a hero for it."

Diana opens the clasps on the side of her breastplate, struggling out of the heavy armour with nothing approaching grace.

LI: you...I think you misunderstand what happened.

Justin: need a hand?

Hakon: "Your Dictator made corruption a crime. And let soldiers drag men from their homes to kill them in the street on mere suspicion."

she tosses the breastplate on the floor. "naahhh..." and slumps against justinian's shoulder. "we good..."

LI: There were proper investigations, and trials. The dictator himself was put under investigation, as were all members of the senate. Corruption was already a crime, but its punishment too lax, too easy for the corrupt, rich and powerful to escape almost unscathed. All the dictator did, was make the punishment death. Our justice system did the rest.

Justin smiles down at her "Alright"
he hasn't taken his segmentata off. infact, she's only seen him without it that time they were in his tent. she can remember full well how uncomfortable it can be.

Hakon: "Hmn... I see... Dishonorable... but not such a crime as i thought."

"Gonna take that clobber off?" With her increasing inebriation, her accent is becoming thicker, more kelthrovi.

LI: our senate was rife wit corruption and failure at every level. The last man to attempt change had been conspired against and killed. The empire was falling around us.

Justin: hm? oh yeah this. If you want me to.

Hakon: "Perhaps that was not a terrible thing..."

Diana: "Your shoulder isnt that comfy." She looks up at him as she speaks, before settling back into him

LI: the reason he is hailed as a hero is that before he did what he did, the empire was on the brink of death. Since then, it has only gotten stronger. *she picks up her own bow again* I do not speak from some second hand account. I was there. I met the man.

Justin: Alright. One moment. *he stands up, unfastening the buckle and unlacing his armour, letting it slam to the floor. From the noise, it sounds heavier than she remembers. Likely his is reinforced due to his rank. Also likely even less comfortable for him.

Hakon freely hands the bow off, taking his own back, and sliding it back into its cover at his hip. "So you said... I have reason to believe you. Clavae seem not to age. Dragon magic, the shaman's told me."

Diana sits up to let him move, watching him take off his armour. "Got fancy kit now huh... Might be thicker than my Ti'Beka."

LI: I...do not know. I do not remember how I was made, at least not entirely.

Justin sits back down
"maybe. Kept me breathing for a while now."
if she rests on him again, she can feel his dozens and dozens of scars through his tunic

Hakon: "I doubt you would tell me in any case."

Diana: "Without silk under it... doesn't it hurt?"

LI: maybe if I knew.

Justin: all the time.

Hakon looks at her sidelong, eyes narrowed through the slits of his helmet "You would trust a man you have just met, with a secret like that?"

"Hold still..." Diana runs her fingers very gently under his tunic's shoulders looking for blisters or rubbed sores.

LI: *Shrugs* Not a secret. I just don't remember.

she finds em, along with more scars, one in particular on his left shoulder. If she remembers what she heard earlier, she'll know this is where a crossbow bolt went right through and out the back.

Hakon: "But if you did know... surely you would not talk of it?"

Diana: "Fuck... You need to take more care..."

LI: I don't know. Depends what it is.

Justin: *chuckles* no can do.

Hakon: "I cannot imagine it is pleasant."

Diana: "You're an idiot... I'll get some silk for you."

LI: It probably was not.

Justin: I'll be fine. Can't expect the men to do something I won't do.