>>5327261>17, 15The kobolds chatter excitedly, bowing repeatedly and then bickering (good-naturedly, for the most part) over which elder shall get which bead, and who shall receive credit for this diplomatic ‘victory'.
Ivno watches them go, and finally breathes a sigh of relief. He seems pleased, too. The Bastard, for his part, still looks utterly confused—as he did all through the proceedings.
“You gave them little,” he mutters. “Most of it was theirs, as they saw it prior to our arriving. Yet they are grateful. Why?”
“Kobolds remember what it was to have NOTHING-nothing,” Ivno volunteers. “Generations ago, kobolds were things to own, not people to own things. Dragonborn heard them, listened, and showed with action that kobolds COULD own things... Be people. Worth bargaining with, not just hit-beating, starve-punishing, rob-taking, kill-killing.”
Ivno looks at you a little wonderingly. “BUYING kobold loyalty…”
Key to this, you sense, is your transparency about your own place in the hierarchy relative to them, and the profit you plan to extract. Without this, they would have carried a natural suspicion, drawing dark conclusions about your true intentions.
“Well, it should make running things here in your absence a little easier, Superior One,” the Bastard acknowledges, bowing his head in gratitude.
You leave the consultation, and your two advisors, feeling accomplished. You THINK you’re starting to understand how to really rule like a dragon would… But to your own ends, towards the fundamental truth which the God of Secrets bid you reveal and embrace. A community, centred on you and your ideals.
