Heart of Dorkness

Scourge Eight - Politics

I drag one of the seats around so that it’s facing the others a bit better. Felix has opted for leaning against the nearest doorframe while Esme is slumped next to me on the loveseat, her eyes blinking every so often as she tries to stay awake.

Across from us is Bianca, who seems entirely comfortable with being the centre of attention. Then again, there’s only the three of us (and a few little friends) watching her.

“Arlight,” I say. “Where do we start?”

“I suspect from the beginning. How much do you know about the Caselfella Republic?”

“Not too much,” I admit. “I know that it’s relatively young, as far as nations go. And that it’s mostly made up of nobles that were from the Kingdom of Heroé. Culturally, it’s not that different from there.”

Bianca nods. “That’s accurate enough, I suppose. Though it’s not the entire picture. The Republic is, as you said, a young nation. My father was born when the capital was still only a relatively small city, and my great-grandfather was the first member of my family to move here, along with his retinue and some companions.”

“Alright,” I say.

“The first thing you need to know is that Caselfella isn’t a kingdom, it’s a republic. That means that matters of state are determined in a specific order, without a king or monarch at the head to lead the nation. Instead, each of the noble families has a vote which can be cast at the capital. Laws can be proposed by any family, but they must have majority votes to be accepted into the books. And each family rules over a province of the country, though some of these provinces are barely developed at all.”

“Huh,” I say. “So who rules this area?”

“Vizeda and its surroundings are ruled by the Caquero family. They’re one of the first seven, though they are a relatively small family, one that isn’t quite as prosperous as the other six.”

“Wait, so there’s only seven families?” I ask.

“Not quite. There are forty-two families that have a vote in the Republic. The vote is held by the family patriarch, though a lot of families send a delegate to vote in their stead since the votes are held at the capital. Of those forty-two families, there are seven that hold a city. These are the seven original families. The others are often offshoots of those, or noble families from other nations that moved to Caselfella after its founding. There are also a few merchant families that purchased a seat on the council.”

“Alright, so it’s almost like a democracy, only the people can’t vote,” I say. That sounds about right.

Bianca nods. “Essentially, yes.”

Felix shifts her spot against the wall, then makes a little go-on sort of gesture. “What’s any of that got to do with the monsters attacking this city?”

I listen for a moment, trying to pick out any noises from outside of our inn room, but there’s not much to hear. I can’t see any fires from the one window I have facing the city itself, so I figure things haven’t degraded entirely.

“Lady Malvada asked me who I suspected could be responsible for the assault on the city. An understanding of Caselfella’s politics is necessary to properly answer that question.”

“Alright,” Felix says. “But history stuff is usually pretty boring.”

Esme’s head rises up, and she shoots a tired glare over at Felix. “History is great,” she says.

“It’s boring,” Felix rebuts with complete conviction in her own judgement.

I’m on the fence. I prefer fiction to actual history, but I do like some history, just not as much as Esme does. She can devour the most bland book there is just for some nugget of drama that happened a thousand years ago.

“Let’s not argue about this... again,” I say. It wasn’t fun teaching Felix to read when no one could agree which books she should learn with. In the end, Felix had grudgingly found that she enjoys the simpler, most child-friendly stories about knights in shining armour and such.

Everyone at home found her tastes a bit juvenile, but I think we were all so happy that she was reading that we didn’t complain too much. At least, that’s how I figure it happened.

“Continuing,” Bianca says. “The seven families are the Caquero of Vizeda, where we are now. The Bilbao of Guimanho is to the very north, are relatively small for one of the seven families, and are relatively poor. The Sanolaria are the family who control the capital itself. They are quite strong. I don’t suspect that they would be responsible for this monster attack.”

“That’s three,” I say. “You’re suspecting one of the others?”

Bianca nods. “The Orellana are far, far to the south. They run Narin, a decently large ocean-side city. They’re too far to be involved, I suspect. The del Valle family run Mealhanes, the largest agricultural region in the republic. They’re surprisingly apolitical. Mostly the family’s dedicated to Thornton.”

“Are a lot of families tied to different churches?” Esme asks.

“To some degree all of them are. But part of the charter that governs the Republic forbids families from putting religious needs before those of the nation. It will happen regardless, but it’s usually frowned upon. The del Valle are something of an exception. They provide grain and fruit and meats to everyone at competitive prices, so the other families overlook their worship to Thornton.”

“Thornton’s a pretty inoffensive god too,” I say. “Even Mom doesn’t have much issue with him, and she dislikes just about everyone in the Pantheon. All she cares about is farming and planting things.”

“That’s likely a factor as well,” Bianca says. “If the del Valle cared about Rogne or one of the other more troublesome gods, it might be a different story.”

“Alright, that leaves two families, right?”

“It does,” Bianca says. “The Notari of Algecante, and the Malicieux of Nafpakri.”

“Uh,” Esme uhs. “Aren’t you Bianca Malicieux?”

“I am,” Bianca says. “The eldest child of the main branch of the family. Though the fact that I was born a girl precludes me from any real political ability.”

Wow, her voice might be all flat and neutral, but I can feel the anger in her core. To be fair, I’m decently sensitive to that kind of thing, but it still takes a lot of emotion for it to sense-able.

“So, can we rule out your family?” I ask.

“We likely can. My father is the plotting sort. This attack was too crude for him. Which leads me to suspect the Notari. They are a rather envious family, of middling wealth and middling importance. They spent decades trying very hard to expand their domain and their influence but only to moderate success. They are noted as being ready to spend vast sums to ameliorate their situation.”

“How’s that work?” Felix asks.

“Mostly they’ve been trying to attract artisans from other cities and even other nations, they’ve set up multiple temples and churches to curry favour with various gods and goddesses, and they have tried to turn Algecante into an important trade hub. Unfortunately, I think the geography of their territory has complicated things for them, and some of the other families have tried to curb their growth a little.”

“And it would make sense for them to lead monsters to attack Vizeda?” I ask.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they were somehow responsible. It seems like the kind of extreme action they’re fond of.”

I lean back into the couch while I consider things. Esme asks a few more questions, and I listen with half an ear as Bianca answers. She seems pretty knowledgeable about local politics, but if she’s the daughter of a big family I guess that only makes sense.

My big problem is figuring out if any of this stuff actually matters.

I don’t think it does.

Sure, there’s going to be some stuff to take into account, but my mission, and Esme’s, mostly means that we’ll be moving on to the capital first and foremost. Once we’re there, we’ll need to investigate things. Unless this whole kerfuffle makes it so that we can’t move over to the capital, then it really doesn’t matter all that much.

Still, someone’s using monsters for their own ends, and that’s a little concerning.

“Alright,” I say, cutting off the others mid-conversation. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to write a letter to Mom. Tomorrow morning, I’ll send it over. I’ll tell her about the monsters around here, and maybe she’ll know what to do from there. I’m pretty sure she can get a few stronger monsters to navigate over to here.”

“Stronger monsters?” Bianca asks.

“They’ll be older, smarter. A lot harder to trick with something as silly as some food tied onto a few dogs. Anyway, they should keep things steady while we go on with our mission. Esme’s thing is still going to be in the capital, right?”

“Probably,” Esme says.

“Then that’s where we’re going,” I say. I push myself up then stretch my back. “I think I’m going to grab something to eat, then take a quick nap. We can figure out anything more complicated in the morning, I think.”

***