DeepShadow of FoS wrote:"It was always so. Boritsi has never fit me as a name--distant fortunes denied to me, it was a legacy of responsibility with no reward. Eventually that will change, but they will learn that my loyalty doesn't keep on the shelf. I was a Jarenberg the moment I realized my family's kindness was mere economics, while yours were truly generous and compassionate to me."
“The Mountain is mother to her own,” Renhalt says, and smiles. “And if any man has come up out of her womb, surely you are he. Welcome, kinsman.”
Vasili stops suddenly, realizing that he's actually raised his voice quite a bit. He swallows hard, takes a steadying breath. He sets a piece--a sylph--on the sky board, and looks back at Renhalt: "Your move."
“Now you sound like my uncle. Except louder. He’s a great proponent of the dangers of ignorance.” As he speaks, Renhalt moves a warrior forward in middle-earth. “But if you want to play the Great Game as anything more than a pawn, you will have to become accustomed to moving without seeing your opponent’s pieces.”
Vasili moves a warrior himself, and Renhalt brings out the Mage—a red-robed figure wreathed in fire—and sets it in an advantageous position. “You may have wondered—you probably can’t help wondering, if you think about it for very long—how it is that a relatively poor, backward House with little political acumen and only one true ally in the Landsraad has kept its seat for the last nine hundred years. There are several reasons, of course. We have not always been in need of money—the mines were much better five hundred years ago. One true ally is more than many Houses have in the Landsraad. Being hidden at the back of the Balinoks has protected us from many troubles. But over and above all those things there are two more, that are qualities of the House itself.
“The first is that we are very, very determined, and we never duck a fight. Have you ever seen a wolverine over the kill? No? Well, you’ve seen our household pets. We can’t feed them within sight or earshot of each other. Wolverines will kill elk and moose, and they can and will run off a brown bear or even an alzabo from a carcass. Larger and more dangerous animals avoid them, because an angry wolverine will kill or die, but it won’t retreat. And pyracantha, well, you have to dig up the root and burn it to get rid of it. Anything less than that and it grows back--with twice the spines--in a single season.”
Renhalt brings out the Paladin.
“The second is…well, let me tell you a story. Under the Fangtor, soon after the Warrowdine were elevated to the Landsraad, the Warrowdine began a campaign to disgrace the Jarenberg and have them broken out of the Landsraad. House Warrowdine are nothing if not clever, and they and their supporters and friends spent years in this plot, perhaps decades. Very careful, very subtle, very discreet. Then the Warrowdine sprang his trap and demanded the Jarenberg appear beneath the Iron Star to make an accounting for his sins. I don’t remember what they were. Something to do with withholding taxes from the Emperor, I think.
"The Jarenberg came into the Red Hall, saw the Warrowdine standing among his friends and getting their congratulations, walked up to him, and gutted him with a kukri. He threw down the weapon, told the Warrowdine’s friends that if they wanted to make an accusation against him he would be found beneath the Iron Star, and left.
"He spent the next twenty-four hours beneath the Iron Star, waiting for his accusers to appear. No-one came, so he swore the oaths before the judges and left. It was another two generations before House Warrowdine tried again.”
Renhalt half-smiles and shrugs. “Sometimes the direct triumphs over the subtle. Once you know where the opponent’s king is, strike, even if you don’t know the location of every dwarf, sylph and warrior yet.” As he says this, Renhalt’s brow furrows briefly. “Of course, it’s better to have your choice of strategies. But that’s getting a bit far afield, maybe. My uncle was quite interested about what you had to say about the mine. He will call on you again soon, to ask you a few more questions. And other business, I think. If you know what Cattia knows, you may know more about that than I do. She can’t confide in me everything the Jarenberg shares with her.”
