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Vilhelm Benkern
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Post by Vilhelm Benkern »

The flames roared and crackled, casting a dark light across Hurrup House's Back Room. 'Innately destructive, here subdued,' murmured Turpentine from his purple leather chair, gazing into the fireplace. Musica was a strange place to live and work: temporary home to sailors and merchants from all around Micras, truly it lacked its own distinctive character, ethnicity, temperament, even morality. It changed day to day, month to month depending on what was selling, who was selling, and who was buying. And yet those itinerant seafarers were by and large temporary. There was another portion of people, rich and poor, who called the city home on a permanent basis, many of whom were able to point to tapestries of pedigree, or verbal litanies of sins committed by forefathers, to prove family presence spanning countless generations. But they changed with the times, adopted new forms of dress, modes of speech, appetites and other tastes besides depending on their surroundings. Perhaps it was to do with Agni's hold on the city - fires still regularly sweep through the city and demolish or weaken all but the most stubborn edifices - that meant accepting transience was a part of permanence here. But there was one thing that was forever: Musica. Or so they had thought.

Like all shifts in power, it was happening before they knew it. The problem with a city of mercantile Machiavels all competing with one another, each capable of drowning zir own children if it meant improving stock prices, is that it is very hard to tell how it is really performing financially. Letting your competitor, let alone any corruptible self-proclaimed uninterested party such as the government, know your income is a cardinal mistake. Compared with the estimated income of the top fifty trading companies based in or around Musica, municipal income and expenditure has traditionally been miniscule, though the foundation of an interstate Federation based in the city did see a small increase in the number of bureaucrats who needed to be paid. The saying goes that there are only three situations when you will get an honest idea of how another merchant is doing in Musica: when zie goes bankrupt, when zie buys you out, or when zie's about to kill you. The first indicator increased drastically in frequency as the opening centuries of the Sixth Era became the middle centuries of the Sixth Era. An old friend or enemy being clapped in irons for failing to pay his debts is usually a time of great celebration among the social circles of the Delta polis, but there comes a time when the benefit of losing a competitor begins to be outweighed by the loss of money you were owed.

This caused a chain reaction of bankruptcies during the election of Kaiser Mo'll, leading to a temporary but severe unemployment problem, which eventually turned into rioting. Fortunately, the Boomist Festival of Fire Which Burns On Things What It Shouldn't, Like Water happened in the midst of a particularly anarchic uprising and that cleared the streets, after which the rioters got so drunk that they forgot their previous activities and went home. However, it was a sharp reveille to many traders, established or upstart but all immensely wealthy but acutely aware of the deficits creeping up in their ledgers. A number formed the League of Independent and Profitable Traders of Musica, which elected a Governing Board, who in turn appointed a number of straw Directive Executors, whose true controllers had now met to discuss the findings of a certain analysis of prior findings on the question, 'Where Is Musican Trade Going When It Doesn't Go To Musica?' The answer was clear: that Musican trade was going to Kildare, and more specifically the Jacian cities.

'Those cities weren't even on my map,' remarked Ariana Christoph bitterly. 'You forget Nigrad's joined their little federation,' snapped Timoth Alexander. Turpentine stopped staring into the fire and looked around the room, and it appeared that the fire had stayed in his eyes as he said: 'We need to do something to stem the tide, ladies and gentlemen. We need to keep Musica competitive. We need to stay on top. We need to stay alive..' He stood up and continued, 'We need political leverage - let's get that pointless Dirigent back in this city to defend it.'
Vilhelm Benkern DEOMI, Member of the Order of the Dragon, Silver Swan, Red Dragon
Dirigent of Musica, Count of Mar Sara
In Aryasht Prapta Vrteti, former Prince of Aryasht; Zaila Vrteti, Norfolknath
In Elwynn Benjamin Sebasokrator Timothy Quentin Kern, Duke of Raikoth
In Khalypsil Representative of the Wisdom

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Kaiser Mo'll I
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Re: Reaction

Post by Kaiser Mo'll I »

At times like this, Musica can take solace in having the most powerful navy in all Shireroth.

(provided you're not too broke to pay the sailors)
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