Post

Changing Paradigms
It had taken Xai a week of being referred from one minor official to another slightly less minor, but in the end, he'd finally managed to gain an audience with the Chancellor of Rolais, Enzo Pareneux. The Chancellor was slightly less impressed with the large crystal that Xai had brought along with him than Xai had wished, and Xai realized just how small his home country was. He'd expected to show someone the stone, assure them that they had plenty more, and set up some sort of agreement for trade. But Rolais didn't use gems for currency. They used gold and silver, the metals Chirenai used for decoration. There was a strange feeling in Xai's stomach, and something told him he shouldn't let that fact be made known quite yet.

The next problem was, of course, that Rolais had everything they needed. Chirenai wasn't going to be able to give them anything new or help them advance in any way. The only thing he could do was to purchase ships, he was told. And so, after a long series of negotiations, Xai found himself and Pareneux sitting at a long table usually meant to hold much larger negotiating parties and putting ink to an agreement that would see Rolais selling ships and their maintenance to Chirenai for a set, ongoing supply of silver. There was one other caveat as well. The trade road that connected Rolais to Chirenai was long unkempt and plagued by robbers and brigands. Enzo had made it very clear that if Chirenai wanted to be counted among the nations of the world that they'd have to ensure the safety of not only their own towns, but the trade roads as well. It made sense to Xai. These ships and silver wouldn't be the only thing going in and out of Chirenai now, and if they wanted good trade, they'd have to be able to assure everyone that trade would actually reach its destination.

So it was, that three days after the election, Xai returned with the trade agreement, and Grand Princess Kaeleirai was able to hold a presentation to announce two things at one time. Her first announcement was that she'd appointed her new Ai-Aunatau in accordance with the new law. She made it public that she'd chosen Minister Aedai as a sign of close partnership with all parties and to show sympathy for those who wanted to cling to the old ways. Her second announcement was the new trade agreement with Rolais that supplied Chirenai with new ships in exchange for silver. But there was much work still to do.

Firstly, the ships would not arrive until Chirenai sent payment, so the mines of Saekhuri were reopened, almost to the level of the old days before the Empire crumbled, and silver began to flow out. Eventually, it would travel through the main tunnels to Omphalos, but for now, it was sent above to the ground and readied for transport along the road to the north.

Omphalos was busy too, for if silver was to be delivered to Rolais via ship, they would need infrastructure for it. Workers were amassed to rebuild the old port buildings, making it ready for the incoming ships. Yakhaeda wasn't left out either. So far, law and order had largely been left up to each city, with varying results. But now, with the position of Ai-Aunatau, each city's guard was combined into a national force, and to make sure they were well-equipped, the iron mines increased their output, shipping their extra produce to a nearby enclave where it was worked by the stone druids into steel using gems from Omphalos. The army thusly equipped marched north, along with the payment for the ships.