[Domhnall Guivarch]

[Pandip]

Friend,

I was very confused to hear the news this morning that the state paid out the Janissaries a sum of 7,500 to cover the cost of the bounty they paid for Nifkil. I would be exceptionally pleased to hear a logical explanation.

I will note that they used this bounty to coerce the Banda Rossa into betraying the Rose and handing Nifkil's pack over to the Fourth. This afforded the Janissary the stolen Writ of Al-Pesh and ensured that we of the Rose lacked leverage over the Janissary and Astronomers. Leverage that would, if things played out naturally, inevitably allow us to secure the Torchbearers' independence as well as control trips into the undercity.

I do not expect you, now that you have become Legate, to acquiesce to every want and demand of the Rose. But I would at least expect you not to actively harm the efforts of we of the Cinquefoil and the many other allies of ours who helped us get you elected.

If, however, this is a sign that the Janissary will not receive a single dinar in the next allotment, I would be perfectly assuaged. I am old, you see, and sometimes the near-sightedness of my vision makes me think the worst of others.

I would appreciate some clarity on this matter, as I would hate to misunderstand the circumstances.

  -- Aubrey Domergue
              

[Erudiche]

Aubrey Domergue,

I hear your concerns and consider them seriously. I stated for the public record during my campaign my belief that the State should assume the bounty for the Throater, and that it was inappropriate for the Janissary to have to account for such a sum. It is in the public interest to see this man disposed of, and forcing the impoverished Janissary, who'd already lost a war hero of a Sergeant, seemed immoral and unethical. If this was disagreeable to you, I would only have wished you'd deigned to discuss it with me earlier.

I must admit a certain befuddlement at your calculus, my friend, as well. The Banda Rossa accepted the sum from the Janissary of their own accord, not knowing that I intended to pay out the Janissary to even the scale. I witnessed the exchange with my own eyes, and there was no coercion of any sort at play. It was an amicable business dealing and a show of good faith between the normally acrimonious Misfortune and Red Company, which bodes well for the health of the Accord. I fail to see how it is my resonsibility that your own associates in the Rose engaged in a commercial venture. The Janissary would have paid them regardless, I merely wished to see the ethical books balanced.

Nor does it follow that this money is coming out of the Rose's Allotment. We have presently a treasury that is fairly well-stocked. Unless the Rose lays preemptive claim to every dinar held by the State, or more accurately, unless the College preemptively lays claim, then this will harm you none at all.

The Allotment sums have not fully been estimated at this time, for that is an area for myself and dear Marcellus to deliberate upon. Trust that when that time comes, meritorious conduct and public service shall be chief among my considerations.

Please do write again if you have any urgent questions.

YOURS,
DOMHNALL JUDICAEL GUIVARCH
LEGATE OF THE ASSEMBLY
FIRST SEAT

[Pandip]

Domhnall,

You are correct in the sequence of events. It is nonetheless worth pointing out that the Janissary received the pack from the Banda Rossa explicitly because the Fourth Legion was able to pay the bounty where the College of the Lost Hearth was not. If the bounty was always meant to be applied by the state, then it is the state that ought have received the pack and determined what to do with its contents.

I understand that it is a pedantic distinction and that you likely think me a harpy. But on the field of politique, it is an important distinction. Having fumbled this situation, we are left in a position without leverage. You know as well as I do that the Cinquefoil Rose is not joined in cooperation, but circumstance.

Were you to have, for instance, demanded the Writ of Al-Pesh in exchange to paying out the bounty - the same demand that the Janissary made towards the Banda Rossa - we would be in a more advantageous position.

I hope you see the importance of the distinction, that we might strive to better maneuver through the field of Ephia's Well on our next sortie.

  -- Aubrey Domergue