video; un: stargazer

[leicesters]

[Once things have calmed down with the doppelgangers and the vorest forest, there's something else left to be addressed. So, Claude addresses the network.]

Hi friends! Claude here. I haven't met most of you yet, so I suppose this would be a good time to say "nice to meet you", too. Hope your mirror images were nice to you and not... you know.

[Claude's sitting indoors by a sunny window in his treehouse apartment, his small white wyvern familiar snoozing beside him.]

As eager as I am to get to know everyone, what I actually wanted to talk about was the situation with Elphame. Since Arthur dumped the decision on what to do on our shoulders, we'd better figure out how to cast our votes.

For my part, based on past relations between Elphame and Camelot, invading Celliwig is out of the question. Humans and fae have waged wars here in the past, and it's taken a lot of effort to earn the peace they have now. Camelot has even been making strides to learn about fae and coexist peacefully with them. Given Celliwig is our best chance for communication, attacking would be completely counterproductive. Even if we did, there's no guarantee we'd succeed, so why risk it?

That said, direct negotiation hasn't worked either, so our two remaining options are to focus on slowly building up trust via trade links, or deal with matters on Celliwig's terms and accept their trials. Honestly, I'm not clear on the details on that, so if someone who knows more could get the rest of us up to speed, by all means...?

[He trails off with a shrug, then gives a sheepish smile.]

Anyway, I've waffled on for a while now! Long story short, I think our peaceful options are really the best shot we have at this, it's just a matter of deciding which is best. I'm really not interested in letting a violent old history repeat itself. Feel free to pitch in with your own thoughts... Maybe we can even come up with something better than what's already being proposed.

[He gives a lazy wave, before ending the feed.]


[ooc: threadjacking is welcome and encouraged! go wild]

Comments

[dottedline]

The locals or the ones like us? Being welcoming, I mean.

[leicesters]

Both. I can't speak for anyone else, but I certainly feel welcome here.

[dottedline]

Well, we are apparently here to help the locals, so why wouldn't they be nice to us?

[leicesters]

Ah, you'd be surprised at the petty reasons people can come up with to hate outsiders. Even when they're supposed to be on the same side.

In theory, the fae should have a common goal to us, too, just the same as the people of Camelot. That gives me hope that we can still work this out peacefully.

[dottedline]

You've never dealt with fairies, clearly.

[leicesters]

No, I haven't. In that regard, my perspective is very narrow. But it's only going to get narrower if we decide the best way to communicate is through force.

What about you? Do you have much experience with them?

[dottedline]

My school has several fairy students. [And whatever the hell Lilia is.] They're mostly human-like in morals and all that, but you can't just assume that because the humans want something, the fairies want the exact same thing in the exact same way.

[leicesters]

I see. Well, I'd love to hear what the sticking point between Arthur and Elphame was. Maybe you're right, and maybe their difference of opinion was over something as simple as that. Still, Celliwig could help us bridge those differences, so we can't destroy that chance.

Does your school ever have any conflicts between fairies and humans?

[dottedline]

Not recently, thanks to one of the third years. But there's been wars on and off for ages.

[leicesters]

[siiigh] It seems most of our worlds have that much in common.

[dottedline]

So long as there's two sentient, sapient beings on the same planet, there'll be fighting.

[leicesters]

Depends who those two beings are to each other, really.

But that's all just theoretical. Right now, there's definitely more than a couple of lives at stake. With that in mind, have you decided your vote?

[dottedline]

Not war, that's all I've decided on so far.

[War is bad for business, after all.]

[leicesters]

Fair enough. Hopefully most people decide to follow suit. It's hard to inspire loyalty in a king you've just met... or haven't met at all, as the case may be.