Senate Floor

"The chair recognizes the delegate from Awak."

The Gnome rose, straightening his suit subconsciously.  "With respect, I believe I agree with the delegate from Masius.  With the situation currently realized as is, we cannot condone violent actions that will further foster the spread of conflict!"

"Force has always been our last resort," came a retort from a Lugian at another seat in the amphitheater.  "We are not seeking to engage in combat, as you well know.  Do not put words into our mouths."

"Whether you seek combat or not is inconsequential!" the Gnome returned, his tone growing more irate.  "You are talking about political maneuvering on a continental level!  Yes," he breathed, trying to steady himself, "we may be able to produce political pressure by announcing military alliance on one side or another to force both sides to the bargaining table, but you do realize that is still a gamble, yes?  What if neither side backs down, or is willing to talk?  Do we break our word?  Do we go to war?"

Throughout the entire session that word had yet to be uttered.  Even as the delegate breathed it, in a moment of fear and anger, a murmur shivered through the assembly.  Life was certainly not a peaceful one of leisure amongst the Osteth, a fact even the Mites and Gnomes understood well.  Roaming too far outside of the cities meant taking your life into your hands, and the roads and tunnels were heavily patrolled for good reason.  But all of that was considered acceptable, normal even.  While fellows always helped one another, it was always understood that you had to pull your own weight. 

As a consequence, within the Osteth Republic 'military service' was mandatory... but meant something different than the other nations.  No fighting against bandits or criminals, no internal peacekeeping; the military's job was protecting their lives and livelihoods on a day to day business from beasts, monsters, and worse that roam the Linvak Range.  Such a position, by definition, meant serving the people.  The very idea of turning that inverse, perverting it into a way to harm other people, was unconscionable.

Kresovus of Platecarver's head was lowered, idly fingering the paper in his hands.  To-date no session of the Osteth Republic's Senate had failed to reach 100% consensus on an issue, with only one exception.  Long-standing tradition and unwritten rules required full consensus to pass anything into nation-wide law, and while it meant for exceptionally long sessions in some cases, the system had worked well until this day. 

After the Gotrok incident, which Kresovus had been present for as a lesser representative, he'd been relieved to see the exception had been just that.  Each session since retained consensus, re-affirming his faith in the Republic's system.  But today there was nothing even approaching consensus.  Almost 13 days they'd been in session debating this issue, seemingly endlessly, as the world shifted around them.   And now this.

The paper crumpled a bit more in his massive fist.  Kresovus was large, even by Lugian's standards.  For the first several days of session he'd worn the ceremonial armament of the Taitus, but he'd realized this situation wasn't resolving quickly and decided to take a quick sojourn to return in more comfortable clothing.  In turn, this gave the other delegates the opportunity to follow suit without losing face.  A small gesture, but one he made for his people, as he did with all such things.

The Battle of Iyab Plains had been indicative of the entire situation.  Rushed, brutal, bloody, with no one knowing what they were doing and in some cases not knowing why either.  Rumors were abounding everywhere, but his own sources were quite clear; the death-toll was close to 13,000 on both sides.  Even though Naverre 'won', it was such a costly victory that ultimately both fronts were now disintegrated. 

And then there was this superweapon business.  Even less factual information was present on that; a huge swath of Aluvian land razed down to the subsoil, utterly annihilating all life within the blast radius, and Aluvian military struggling to react.  That was about all the information the report listed as 'factual', with another 4 paragraphs in the 'rumor' column.  Kresovus himself had no idea what to make of the situation, but could not bring himself to believe someone would be capable of creating a weapon that could devastate life so utterly, on such a scale.

For now the reports of the Battle of Iyab Plains remained out of public hands at least, though Kresovus knew eventually they would reach the Senate's ears, if nothing else then through the military branch via their official connections in Aluvia.  And that would just make the debate even worse.  How could they ever side with any people willing to kill sentient life so brashly?

The giant Lugian shifted in his chair, long practice hiding the scowl he felt.  Fortunately the Taitus did have some powers exclusive to him, powers Kresovus had already exercised as a safety measure.  If the Senate found out they might call for a vote of no confidence, but that would be a price he'd gladly pay simply for the peace of mind of knowing that the prototype fleet was patrolling Osteth skies, keeping the Republic safe.  The mere fact that the military delegate had not brought up this fact comforted Kresovus; at least one other leader agreed with his reasoning.

Throughout the Senate amphitheater the debate continued onwards, showing no signs of slowing nor stopping.

Politicians gonna politic.

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