>>5442234You now turned your attention to the upcoming meeting with your vassals. You begin by holding a council with your brother Tyrol and Falkner’s court mage: Edwin Malchus.
“Tyrol remind about the finer points of our relationship with our vassals?”
“Perhaps if you had spent a little more time studying statecraft instead of going on ‘hunting expeditions’ this wouldn’t be necessary.”
“Careful brother, I am the Duke now, you would do well to remember that.”
“Of course, my <span class="mu-i">lord</span>.”
You’re not sure if his tone is sincere enough for your liking.
“We have two vassals to the east: house Kireon and house Rythvane. The crux of our relationship has always been one of protection in exchange for resources. We shield them from the dangers of the ash wastes and stand ready to reinforce them should any kingdoms to the east try to invade.”
[Stonks]: With our army decimated and the shard no longer repelling monsters we’ve just lost our main ‘exports’. This will be a hard sell.
“House Kireon is our main trading partner. Duke Nigel Kireon is our uncle in law. Father always spent the majority of his diplomatic efforts managing our relationship with them, and with good reason. Kireon controls the big trade routes further east. Anything we couldn’t source from the local region we have to source from them.”
“I never liked Nigel Kireon.” Said Malchus “I’m told his father had better character, but the current Duke Kireon is an avaricious craven that thinks wealth buys power. In a way he’s not wrong. He pays us tribute every year to ensure his continued protection. But with our house weakened he might think he can renegotiate better terms. I wouldn’t put it past him to try and trap us in debt under the guise of offering us loans to help him rebuild.”
“And what about Rythvane? I actually don’t recall learning much about them. Father rarely ever went to meet with them.”
“Duke Pallas Rythvane’s domain is small and most of it is covered in thick forests. That house has always been inscrutable. Our deal with them was simple: a defence pact and in return Rythvane would train our people in the ways of magic. Their merchants also buy the body parts from the monsters we slay in the ash wastes.” Said Tyrol.
“I was trained at Rythvane keep. Even when living among them I couldn’t get much of a read on them. They have some kind of repository of magical lore there, and they clearly keep the good stuff for themselves. I’m damn sure there were a lot of things my old master never taught me. The Duke himself is apparently a skilled mage in his own right.”
So many free fantasy map tools out there but none that did what I needed, ugh had to make this from scratch myself.>cont 