“So, we’re in agreement?”

“WE ARE MOST CERTAINLY NOT.”

So it begins.

Sylvia Reine. Yes, THAT Sylvia Reine. You know the one. The woman who doesn’t know her place. The magnate, the industrialist. "Baroness of the Haver River." That one. That’s me. And I damn well know my place is higher than yours, jackass. Higher than the place of anyone else in the Glashalle there with me that evening, too. Especially Schmitt, that stupid old goat. The venue was nice, the company, not so much. But you get how it is in this damn country.

Let me start from the start, as the workers put it.

It’d been a couple years since the lads had their little boys club meeting. Efferian war went well, business was great. Salvadare opening, nice shock. I was doing business in Tarango – transport business’s gotta move, move, move, and I needed to branch out of the Haver. Salvadare opening gave me a nice opportunity, all that stuff’s gotta go somewhere. Anyways, we were still sending letters back and forth. Limoen calls it the Cadre. Yes, the Cadre of Shaicks of commercialism. Stupid term – he brought it in from Avereche, but I think it means a whole lot of nothing of importance. May as well call us Burghers, since that’s what we are. They’d probably call me a Burgess, though, like that one from Okkole. Stupid, useless distinction.

Anyways, the Old Alaafin finally croaked, so Limoen called his little club meeting. I went, I have to. Watching Walfänger get fatter in realtime is somehow the most disgusting and most hysteric thing I’ve seen in years. Watching Schmitt get his balls kicked in by an ox was the only thing funnier. Attendance was poor this time, though. The New World tycoons were gone “to the new world”, Groshaas was busy in Syd, and many others just failed to show. Food was good, I’ll give Limoen that.

But then the conversation. Mother Glim, conversation was pointless as all hell. All they talked about was Ardrah, but the choice was obvious. I just had to pound it into their thick skulls to listen.

“I’m glad you all could be here on such short notice-“ said Limoen. Blah blah blah. Empty pleasantries. Limoen doesn’t like anyone. He doesn’t even like himself. Yes, I know I’m a hypocrite. I don’t care what you think.

Let’s just skip past the stupidities and the time-wasting. Trust me, there was a lot of it. Walfänger had two steaks in that time.

“The choice is simple, we need to back Ohun. It’ll bring us closer with the rest of the Grand Alliance, and it will reinforce it against Salvadare,” said Timmerhout. For a hunter, he sure was daft. Couldn’t see the obvious around him.

“No, no, no. There is no Grand Alliance or Great Alliance or anything! The threat of Salvadare is lowered. We’re getting them. It’s open. What Paulomo did worked, it’s finally opened. If we properly throw in with Salvadare, which is the clear move here, then we can back Uwaifaikon. It fixes everything: Ardrah is weak for the time being, and Salvadare can clearly overpower Castrisya. By the time Uwaifaikon can challenge us economically, we get Salvadare to go in and our competition is dead.” I said. Why couldn’t they see the sense? It was perfect, flawless, really. Salvadare’s opening solved the problem.

“There is no way that Salvadare would accept Glimmer.” Said Schmitt. Dumb and stubborn as a rock, he didn’t even give any backup to his claim. Just said it was wrong. Arrogant ass.

“Salvadare isn’t Galhapertinikeauya, and they overlook modest warmongering. And our economy is strong enough to assist them. On paper, there really isn’t any reason for them to hate us.” Said Limoen. Yes, that was exactly right! He still looked skeptical. He wouldn’t throw in till he knew the winning side. Just like he did with Boleslaw. Exactly like he did with Boleslaw.

“Salvadare is not some rational nation. They do not have to be. They hate us.” Said the Salvadarean. Fool, what did he know?

“They don’t hate us, and it’s the greatest opportunity in years. Throw in with Uwaifaikon, and we’ll be able to get the fortunes of Ardrah until it’s all over. And even if Salvadare doesn’t like us, we can still help them.”

“And spurn Castrisya? That seems like a terrible idea. With us out in the cold, and even with our new might, we’ll never survive a Salvadarean onslaught. We cannot do it. But perhaps we could support Uwaifaikon, it would be the best in the short term.” Said Kulmann. He was almost immediately rebuffed by Timmerhout.

“The short term? Weakening our side immediately is good for us in the short term. Gentlemen, please, I will not agree to this. We can’t agree to this. Besides, if Uwaifaikon loses, then Ardrah will be strong, closed off, and Salvadare will kill us. If we back Ohun, at the very least we’ve strengthened our position in the alliance.”

“You think Ohun would care if we help him? He might deny the help completely out of hand!” I said.

“If I recall correctly, you were on the side of Ohun at our previous convergence.” Said Limoen.

“Perhaps she changes her mind with the time of the month.” Said Schmitt dryly. I’ll kill that son of a bitch.

“Perhaps you’re a small-minded, idiotic, pending-failure who believes that if he just insults me enough then his argument will win our by default!” I said. A silence hung in the air. Perhaps I should’ve done that, but it felt good.

“Reine. Please calm down.” Limoen said. I should have listened.

“Now then, supporting Uwaifaikon and approaching Salvadare is a gambit that could pay off for us in a large way,” Limoen was completely diplomatic, as the situation I made needed, “however, I do believe Timmerhout has a point. If the Reine gambit fails, it could mean the end of our business. If we back Ohun, we may yet get out with something at the very least.” That traitorous, slimy Auroran! Always going in with the winning side, in every single thing!

“So, we’re in agreement?”

“NO, WE MOST CERTAINLY ARE NOT.”

I should not have stormed out. I should have acted better. This was not the mindset that gave me control of my own business. But I did, I stormed the hell out of the Glashalle, and left the boys alone.

And they agreed. Glimmer will back Ohun. The Ironclads will be stopping to open Bulkhai, probably dragging feet in case the war goes the other way. The rest of the fleet makes for the new world to take it. More ironclads are being built to help Syd.

I shouldn’t have let the lads undercut me. Bastards, all of them. Sexist bastards. But I was furious, and stupid.

And so it begins.

[M] TL;DR:

• Glimmer is backing Ohun in the War of Ardrahn Succession.
• However, we'll be taking our sweet time, stopping on the way to do some good ol' fashioned Colonialism in Bulkhai!
• We're helping Syd.
• We're gonna be going into Colonialism II: The Glimmering* soon.
• Sexism is unfortunately a thing in Glimmer.
• Walfänger is fat

Also, this is all in second person. Sylvia Reine was talking to YOU, the reader! not anyone in universe.