Chapter 4.30 - Closed Door Meetings

Another summer had come. Although initially Rupert thought his lakefront resort would be a bust, it was the opposite. Large diving stands, clear water, imported white sand, water slides built into the rock, floating beach houses, and sweet iced cream made this part of the valley the most alien part. Here there was no conflict. No violence. The only competition was a strange game that used weighted bags and a board with a hole. In stark contrast to the rest of the valley, this place was peaceful.

And Serin ensured there was a way for the merchants to enjoy. Each time the merchants arrived, for two days they were permitted to access this park during their stay. Serin had built a separate road that carved a tunnel through the rock ensuring that there was no exposure of the merchants to the non-human members of the town. Other than Seamus, no one in the caravans was aware of the other races. And Serin wanted to keep it that way.

It was sitting outside Rupert's waterside bar that Serin sat with a few of the leaders. Their discussion was on delegation of the town's responsibilities.

"It really is becoming too much for a lot of us. For almost 900 citizens, we only have 19 representatives. While that might suffice for social and cultural issues, it is not enough for the various economic, military, and other domestic issues that plague a small nation."

Serin had heard this. "Alright. Let us have a meeting tonight back at my home tonight and we can discuss. All representatives are required, and since this will most likely have sensitive topics we will keep it closed to the public."

***

That night was the first time Serin had a closed door discussion in his home. Olma and Luna took Nok to the beach resort for the evening.

In the meeting room, 19 people were assembled. Other than emergency meetings and refugee meet and greets, Serin had never met with all of them at once. Ephraim and the other Demis were present, smiling and chatting and discussing the upcoming Demis that would soon join the adults. Bilol and the changelings discussed the newest enemies found within the dungeon that week. Sute and the other planetouched talked about a new tea shop that had opened in the fourth district, which was rumored to make the best mint ginger tea. Shurik was attempting to flirt with another Gole Ahna, while the third Gole Sasha pretended not to listen. The three Masters of the Dhamphir sat quietly and patiently waiting for the meeting to start.

Serin stood and cleared his throat. As they all settled, he began. "Our city has reached the point where the 19 of us are too stretched thin. It is not possible to keep up with our day to day tasks and our administrative tasks as representatives and still maintain a balance in life. I have invited all of you here to discuss. I am open to suggestions or recommendations."

Jericho was the first to speak. "Edel has shown on countless occasions that he is more than capable of leading the changelings in battle, plus he shows the sound mind of a tactician. I suggest that we make him the leader of the protectorate officially. Other than a state of emergency the majority of their tasks are training in the dungeon, keeping the peace in the city, and guarding the gate."

Serin looked around the room, "Does anyone have any objections?" It was then that Bilol raised his hands, "While i do agree that Edel should be in charge of our military forces, i do not think that the subtle arts are within his grasp. So those tasks should fall under a different person."

Serin then nodded, "Military and statecraft are close but different skills. So the pure military of the protectorate will fall under Edel's leadership. Are there any further objections?"

Nothing but nods of approval and Serin continued, "Alright. That solves the issue with our military arm, but we have three hunter seeker teams and another pair that just plated in spring. What are our plans for hiding their workings?"

Dana, the changeling representative that had been handling these matters spoke up. "I think we can handle these things. A separate facility would be helpful for our operations."

Serin shook his head, "I agree that we will be growing the spycraft of our nation, but i don't think we can have a building labelled as a 'house of spies'. So can you think of a building that justifies questioning strangers to our town, deals in credits and materials, and has luxury goods running through it while producing nothing of its own?"

Dana smiled, "of course."

Serin looked at her curiously, "What profession would cover all of that?"

Dana looked Serin in the eyes, "Courtesans of course. A House of Masks."

Allister who had been having a drink nearly had mead come through his nose. Rachel frowned at him.

Serin looked at Dana, "Explain."

Dana then spoke. "Changelings need different races for reproduction. Other than the rare instances of becoming Beholden, changelings are not tied down to any partner. Much like courtesans. Additionally, since we can look like anyone, it won't take a large amount of staff to man the facility."

Dana smiled, "It will also give us the opportunity to ensure additional population growth." Serin looked at Dana, "But there are only four changelings skilled in these arts. It won't be long before they are all pregnant."

Dana laughed, "The one that gets pregnant doesn't have to be the spy."

This time Rachel coughed up her drink. Allister smiled at Rachel, and she proceeded to playfully hit his stomach.

Serin looked around the room, "What does the rest of the table think?"

The rest of the table was quiet. Master Restin of the Dhamphir spoke, "Although our people abhor violence, we understand its necessity in this world. Our people are currently attempting to repopulate, however we heard about the mass reproduction that happened a while back. Might I suggest, in an effort to keep everyone in groupings of the same age, we hold a festival each fall. By making the aphrodisiac the traditional drink offered, it will ensure that we have steady waves of reproduction. To hide this celebration for what it is and to follow the roles of nature, we can hold a fighting tournament in the spring in line with the competing males in nature, as well as a formal dance in the summer to follow the normal courtship, and of course a family celebration in the winter."

Serin nodded, "Before there was an issue with not enough childcare for the influx of children. Are you volunteering your people to ensure optimal childcare?"

Master Restin spoke, "Of course. The Dhamphir are experts in childcare. And with adequate protections we are able to spend time outside in the full sun. As a docile people, we are more than willing to take care of young children. And to be honest, this task is much preferred to the thought of open conflict with other sentients."

At first Serin was worried that the Dhamphir's personality was a front for a hidden malicious nature. With time he had found this to be wholly untrue. They only fought the violent beasts of their home, and outside protecting their home they only killed to survive. Serin had never seen peaceful docile carnivores in nature. But it was proven to be so with these kind souls.

Serin nodded, "Are there any objections to the stated plan? If not, I will elect Master Restin in charge of early child care. As for The scheduling of Holidays, I will leave that to Elder Merrin."

Nods and approvals were seen. Although everyone wanted to repeat the festival, as Serin heard almost once a week, they did not want a repeat of last year's spring. It was entirely too much stress for the city as a whole. But with the volunteering of the Dhamphir to ensure adequate child care.

Serin then spoke, "There needs to be an appointed government representative for ensuring that the merchants of our town do not accidentally sell state secrets. Also someone to manage all of the town's imports and exports. We have many valuable materials in excess, and ensuring that these are traded for things the town needs will ensure we will always be adequately supplied with materials."

Ephraim raised his hand. "I already have enough apprentices and skilled laborers in our network to take over what operations I was running. I can shift my work to a more managerial position."

Serin smiled, "I want to be sure that your new position is to solely act as an intermediary between the travelling merchants and those in town that wish to sell their goods, specifically to ensure export control on state secrets. Does your shop earn enough for you to take on this additional burden?"

Ephraim smiled, "Yes. I could have stopped working and spent the rest of my days at Rupert's lakeside resort. But I work to uncover the technical marvels that my craft can breathe to life."

Serin smiled, "The coffers of our nation are to be made available to help assist in setting up the various groups needed, but they should be self sufficient. For instance, a majority of the profits from the various business fronts set up to house our spies in foreign nations will go towards supporting the House of Masks. And I am sure that Edel's protectorate already makes quite the profit with as much as they earn doing dungeon runs."

Serin saw nods of approval as he continued. "What I don't want is for groups that are capable of being self sufficient to depend on the nation's funds. At this time, the majority of our city's spending is on childcare and on the academy. These two sources are the majority drain. But that is ok. We cannot have children working in the dungeon as a regular occurrence."

Serin continued, "So to recap, we have organized the protectorate under Edel which will handle the work of manning the wall, patrolling the town, scouting the surroundings, and guarding the dungeon entrance. We have the House of Masks that will be under Dana and will manage our spy network as well as courtesans. Early childcare will be headed up by Master Restin while the Academy stays under Lady Eris. Event planning will be under Elder Merrin and will organize the 4 Solstice plating ceremonies as well as the 4 new holidays to follow the natural cycle. And of course Ephraim will manage export control and ensure our state secrets stay secret. What else do we need to discuss?"

The group kind of shifted, and Master Tyber spoke. "Although we are not yet ready, I feel it is imperative to discuss the establishment of an expeditionary group. Not only to ensure management of the dungeons, but also to take unclaimed territory. According to the records taken, during your meeting with the divines, they stated that every claimed territory would be granted its own dungeon. At this moment the dungeon is booked 24 hours a day, with multiple groups going down the six known dungeon paths. Eventually we will have more bookings than we can handle in a single day."

Serin shook his head, "I did not realize that the downside of forcing the protectorate to grind for experience in the dungeon would cause this issue. At the time i was more worried about not having enough strong fighters. Now it seems that it has bitten us back."

Serin nodded, "I am apprehensive to announce our town to the world formally, and the moment we expand past our valley, we can have the announcement rites forced upon us. I do agree that we should establish a plan for expansion."

Master Tyber smiled, "I would agree that normally, our expansion would be noticed if we expanded like most textbooks recommend. The river out of our valley meets up with a river down south, and because of our high altitude, permanent settlement requires the river. But what if it didn't?"

Serin smiled, "You mean opening another gate. Like the naturally occurring portal to the elemental plane of water where our river comes from."

Tyber smiled, "Exactly. The entrance to that portal is deep inside the stone. We can mirror this and with enough magic I can create the gate."

There were murmurs of apprehension. "I agree that we should make preparations, but we will not activate exploratory measures outside the valley. We may have survived against a well trained company of 200 high level soldiers, but how would we fare against a standing army of thousands?"

Nods of approval were seen. "I still want to have the expansions planned so we can start that as well as organizing dungeon runs to be more efficient. We noticed that if a floor is cleared and then vacated, it repopulates for the next group. Maybe by creating efficient timing for training and mining we can increase the numbers of teams going down. It would definitely work if the first group could clear the first floor and vacate in less than an hour."

Serin looked at Shurik, and Shurik spoke up. "The Gole wish to propose a separate arm of the Protectorate. We understand that keeping a prepared defense force is important, but so is to ensuring that our future armaments will deter conflict. Also important is ensuring that civil improvements are made to keep pace with our growing society. So for that, I recommend an office of Special Projects. Other than the infrastructure changes we have come to enjoy such as the waterworks and rooftop gardens, there are other projects, such as the offensive cannon being built. The Gole don't have much culture, but what we lack in that we make up for in our understanding of higher conceptual buildings and improvements."

Serin looked at Shurik, "I think this is important and I agree. Is there anyone who has any questions or dissent?"

The first was Ephraim. "I agree, but you are relatively new to this council. Demis understand Merit. Is there anything that you can show us that will earn our support?"

Shurik smiled, "Some of our Lancers have spent time in meditation pulling the following partial schematics from the encoded memories of our previous masters. I believe if we can improve our capabilities by learning to harness our special traits, we could bring these to life. In fact, I believe it was our original purpose."

Shurik passed a stack of drawings and partial schematics around the table. They were met with murmurs. Ephraim's eyes were wide, "These are possible?"

Shurik smiled and pulled out a circular metal disk. "Thanks to a class spell of the Lancer called 'gravity lock', We have worked with Serin for this prototype." With that Shurik took the small metal disk and held it in front of him, and when he let go, it hung in the air. "It only affects the vertical effect of gravity, cancelling up to a certain amount of pull. The best part is that this small disk can hold 5 lbs of weight before it would begin to fall."

The entire group gasped, and the Office of Special projects was created.

In all that day, the following government groups were established, organized, and staffed:

The House of Masks, Cortesans and spies

The Cradle Agency, early childcare for the younglings prior to joining the Academy

Society of Explorers, Managing terrirorial scouting, expansion, and dungeon runs

Office of Holidays and Leisure, planning and preparation of the current (8) and future holidays

Export control office, in charge of ensuring only approved trade goods leave the town

Office of Special Projects, oversees military and civil infrastructure and experimentation

Office of Racial Studies, oversees cataloging the history and racial traits and differences of the town's inhabitants

***