Two groups of very important individuals are meeting in Sharn to determine the fate of the Mournland. The Barons of the Great Houses offers the party few inroads, with barely a friend or acquaintance among them, and many differing, selfish interests. The Kings and Queens of the Four Nations, on the other hand, are quite solidly in your camp.

The Four (or Five, or Six) Nations

The traditional Four Nations are represented by:

Then, of course, there is Prince Oargev, the aspirational heir to the throne of Cyre. Despite killing his mother (not really), you did him a solid by making his realm habitable again. His greatest dream has come true, and he's probably pretty happy about that. Whether or not he is invited to the table is basically up to you.

And is there yet a new Great Nation of Khorvaire? Droaam was already going to demand recognition in the peace talks, but why wait? Selina has a bully pulpit from which to lead the Four-Six Nations' response to this opportunity.

All this to say nothing of the fact that your party is directly responsible for the Mournland reopening, and in the eyes of most, you deserve to have a say in its fate.

Aundair

Notwithstanding any leverage or intrigue, Aurala is interested in preventing Cyre from being land-grabbed, especially by Karrnath and Thrane. What wealth could be gained by colonizing the empty land is not worth the risk of conflict, even a minor one, let alone a successor to the Last War. She would rather Cyre be reclaimed by Cyrans or Reforged, but neither is likely. She would not be particularly upset if the Valenari, Talentans, and Darguunites warred over it for a while, as none of them are relevant threats to Aundair.

On the subject of Reforged, she remains skeptical of constructs as sentient beings. Her stance has softened considerably since the Treaty of Thronehold, both on account of the clear truth that warforged cannot be seized by House Cannith as unquestioning slave soldiers (a widespread fear back then), and of the proven track record of warforged behaving just as peacefully and civilly as any other race. Still, the idea of a race that can reproduce much, much faster than humans, and possibly outlive them, does suggest existential threats in the long term. She would prefer the overall ban on warforged creation remain in place in the Galifar successor states, and in Droaam (if she can swing it), but would consider relenting on the Reforged continuing to produce their own kind in the Machine City (especially if they can agree to ban importing warforged husks from outside the nation).

She wouldn't begrudge the Cyran refugees from reclaiming their homes in principal, but she is worried about Prince Oargev in particular. She would remind the assembled monarchs that it was the Cyran Queen's ascension that sparked the Last War, and restoring the Cyran royal line would conjure the spirit of that dreadful calamity.

She is extremely wary of the Great Houses, who are always looking for ways to rise above the rightful authority of the kings and queens of the realms, and of Cannith in particular. The resettling of the Mournland creates the possibility for the reunification of House Cannith. That, in conjunction with lifting the ban on warforged creation, would make Cannith far more powerful than they are today, and more powerful than any Great House, possibly all of them put together. Implicitly, that makes them more powerful than any of the Five Nations, and they without any obligation to anyone but their own pocketbooks.

If House Cannith is destined to reunify, she'd rather it be under Jorlanna, an existing ally, but in truth, she would prefer Tyburn. She knows Jorlanna is ambitious, but not bright enough to reach the heights she worries about--but her descendants might be. Tyburn, on the other hand, has proven moral character, and will likely live long and impart his values on his descendants. He could change the character of the House, and lead the Great Houses toward more ethical interactions with the Five Nations and their subjects.

She is very much willing to commit forces to the Mournland, in the context of a unified, peacekeeping force. She expects many Karrnish warlords to disobey commands from their king, knowing that if they capture enough of the Mournland, they could become kings in their own right. These would be the greatest threat, with an initial onslaught of Talentans dying down quickly once Metrol can be fortified. Vagabonds and thieves would be the least of the worries, as the Valenari incursion would be challenging to put down; but admittedly, a combined force of Aundairan air power, Brelish ground vehicles, and Karrnish death knights would easily outclass any amassed force of Valenari. Likewise, Darguunite holds could be easily besieged by air and land vehicles; Darguun is in a bygone era of warfare, barely capable of mechanized infantry, let alone contesting Aundairan and Lyrandar air superiority.

She would recommend, in that case, installing Prince Oargev as ruler of Metrol, recognizing him as "Crown Prince of Cyre" (not a king), and aiding in the restoration of that city to fortify the eastern border. She would also recommend recognizing the independence of the Machine City, and extending their territory to the Central Plateau, but also negotiating Cannith access (under Tyburn) to the Creation Forge underneath it, with an agreement that the house will guarantee the independence of the Reforged.

She recommends that Tyburn confront the assembled Barons to demand they rule on his excoriation and pronounce him a Cannith heir. They are likely to accede, especially with the assembled monarchs backing his claim. Cannith's three representatives would vote against him, but almost all houses would prefer Tyburn to any of the three of them. This would almost certainly lead to conflict, triggering pre-planned attacks by Merrix and Zorlan. She can keep Jorlanna in line, and trusts Selina to be able to handle Zorlan.

Zorlan is no great threat on his own, but his Black Blood handler, Ethniu, is believed to be more powerful than Etrigan, and was probably her superior in the order. Of course, you've tangled with the Black Blood before, and you've already sworn to take her down. The combined might of the Coven could defeat her, and Elise could take out everyone else in Zorlan's service worth assassinating.

As for Merrix: he is a wildcard. He's been hiding his true power well. Osborn's shenanigans cost him much, but he has something Jorlanna and Zorlan don't: leverage. He will offer to open his factories again, creating thousands of jobs in Sharn, rejuvenating the Undercity and undercutting all of the gangs' revenue sources. He'll use the factories to manufacture all the material needed by the thieves and settlers of the Mournland, raking in phenomenal wealth in short order. He'll export warforged parts to the Machine City, courting their favor and gaining access to the Shard and the Astral Throne.

If the PCs can deal with all that, the threat of the Houses will be blunted, and the Great Nations will determine the future of the Mournland.

Karrnath

The most powerful force surging into the Mournland by far is Karrnath. Even with direct orders to the contrary, the warlords will likely bring tens of thousands of knights and perhaps hundreds of thousands of footmen and undead troops. They may even be able to raise the fallen of Cyre themselves...and there are over a million of them. Well-preserved mummies, the lot.

The Knightly Orders remain faithful to the throne, as well as his personal guard, but the overwhelming majority of Karrnath's forces serve the warlords first, then the king. Ordering them to fight their own countrymen will not go over well. Expect thousands of able knights from the noble orders, and the assistance of (most) of the Tower of the Twelve, but not much else.

Ivy is a wildcard. Even without the revelation of her birthright (which would requiring revealing Kaius' greatest secret, AND that he's dead), she already has a valid claim to the throne. She is also a war hero, long thought dead at home. She could command the loyalty of many Karrns, and could probably defeat any of the warlords if challenged to single combat, granting her the right to take his place. If she were willing to do this, she could single-handedly blunt the warlords' advance. Even so, those men entered the Mournland to plunder and conquer, not to turn heel and go home. If she takes them over, only to lead them home, they likely won't follow. She could steer them toward the Talentans and Valenari, and let them profit at their expense. Hopefully that would give them some satiation.

Siobhan has secured the Emerald Claw, isolating and eliminating most of those who were corrupted by the Black Blood. She has been named a Marshal of her order, making her not its highest-ranking commander, but sufficient to lead an expeditionary force with the blessing of the High Marshal, who is mostly a figurehead. She could bring some 7,000 knights, each worth 5 times their number against the warlords' footmen and moreso their undead troops.

The other loyal orders can muster another 15,000 or so, given time.

Thrane

Thrane has two representatives in this council: Lady May, Countess Avaroth, close confidant to Diana, the Blood Regent, and Belladonna, the Bishop of Xandrar, speaking for the Council of Cardinals.

Belladonna is an expert diplomat, and presided over Thrane's expedition to Droaam, which aided that nation against Brelish aggression. While largely believed to be politically motivated, it nevertheless shows that the Church wishes to build good will amongst the unaligned nations; likely, this means they would like to do the same to settlers of the Mournland, perhaps even to New Cyre and the Machine City. They generally oppose the other Great Nations gaining power, and would seem amenable to any effort to prevent said nations from colonizing the Mournland.

Lady May speaks for the Regent Queen, who has one priority above all: restoring her rule of Thrane. Any help she offers would be contingent on a quid pro quo to that end. Not that she has much help to offer. Her greatest utility is tying up Thranish forces, limiting their ability to invade the Mournland. But if the Church was willing to join a peacekeeping coalition, that wouldn't actually be all that helpful, but rather a hindrance.

The Church isn't going to demand assistance in their civil war. But they'd really, really appreciate it.

Aurala hates the Church, for being a theocracy, and also for stealing so much of her land in the Last War. She doesn't expect to be able to use this situation for leverage in that conflict, but she does have an understanding with Diana that, should Thrane be restored to the Queen's rule with Aundair's aid, Aundair would be restored their lost land.

Thus, Aurala strongly favors backing Diana, not the Church. Thrane's forces aren't necessary to pacify the Mournland, and if the civil war rages on, Thrane won't be able to interfere with the other nations' plans to any great effect.

The Church's position sounds very compassionate and reasonable, but for one exception: they do not believe the Warforged (or Reforged) have souls, and should be treated as property, not people. They do not believe a city of animate constructs should be allowed to retain control of an artifact as dangerous as the Astral Throne, and they are staunchly opposed to the continued use of the Creation Forge there, nor the reignition of any other forges. However they end up in the Mournland, they are going to prioritize finding and destroying those forges before House Cannith can get a hold of them.

If you ally with the Church, they can provide thousands of paladins and priests, who are exceptionally effective against Karrnish undead troops, even more so than the Death Knights in Kaius' service. They are especially zealous and will be excellent allies against Merrix's efforts to harness his house's fallen power in the Mournland.

If you ally with the Blood Regent, the best she can do is reduce the number of troops Thrane can commit to the Mournland, who would still prioritize opposing Merrix and destroying the forges.

Breland

Boranel has an unimpeachable history of supporting the Cyran refugees, even granting them semi-autonomy, and is as yet the only monarch to recognize Oargev as a Crown Prince (prematurely, but it's appropriate now). He will certainly back New Cyre's claims to the Mournland, especially since it rids him of a potentially dangerous enclave within his borders.

Knowing his inclinations, he would likely agree to a peacekeeping force, even one involving Selina. If nothing else, it would let him keep an eye on the other armies and ensure they were really operating in good faith. His Army of the East is capable of immediate deployment into the western Mournland, and are the foremost experts on the area, thus the best choice to lead the coalition forces. His ground vehicles will be especially useful, as the rail infrastructure of the Mournland is currently inoperable. His army's transport and logistic vehicles are second to none, perfect for spearheading the push toward the eastern front, and keeping it in supply. His air force was recently decimated (by, ahem, someone), but Aundair's is the best in the world, ready to fill in the ranks.

Boranel himself is deeply suspicious of the Great Houses, and only marginally less so of Aurala and "Kaius". His experience of them is very different from the PCs'. He never desired the throne of Galifar, and believes Aurala and Kaius both did (and maybe still do). In his opinion, Aurala is on the back foot, having lost significant territory to Thrane and the Eldeen Reaches, and is in a desperate position, with no strong allies. A major acquisition in the Mournland could turn the tide for her, especially if she can swing this whole opportunity to topple the Church's hold on Thrane, and earn a fierce ally in the Blood Regent. In the worst case, she could divide and conquer the warlords, install a puppet "Prince of Cyre" in Metrol, and encircle her ancient enemy in Karrnath, becoming the unquestionably superior monarch of the north.

And she can't do any of that without borrowing forces from Breland and Karrnath. This "coalition force" could play right into her hands.

Admittedly, he can't make heads or tails of Kaius, whose behavior has been out of character recently. He's got enough spies to know the King was canoodling with the Warchief of Droaam--oddly enough--and that he's been very active recently, purging the ranks of the knightly orders and opening strong trade channels with Droaam. He's been much less combative with Aundair, seemingly for no reason. As someone who himself was once imprisoned and replaced by a doppelganger for a spell, Boranel suspects foul play. The most likely explanation is that the King has been ensorcelled by the witches of Droaam, by way of the new Warchief. He plans to test this theory when meeting Kaius in person, with as much subtlety as he can muster.

Like Aurala, he's not a great fan of the Church. He doesn't mind the faith, but the theocracy in Thrane goes against his personal beliefs, which have led him to champion unparalleled progressive reforms in his own country. He doesn't see it as his prerogative to liberate the people of Thrane from the Church's rule, but when presented an opportunity to decrease their influence, without undue harm to the common folk or his own nation, he will take it. To that end, openly backing the Blood Regent was a step too far in the past, but given the extraordinary situation he finds himself in, he's willing to take bold action. Even if it means helping Aurala.

On the matter of warforged, he was opposed to banning their reproduction in the first place, and will gladly speak out in favor of rescinding the ban. He is aware of the true motive of the ban--above all, it was meant to diminish House Cannith--but to him, it isn't worth the moral compromise. He will happily recognize the Reforged and support their claim to independence, but isn't likely to extend their claim over any living Cyran claimants. The Machine City itself is new, and no one from Cyre can claim it as theirs. It ought to remain a Reforged city.

On the Cannith question, he agrees that Merrix is a threat, although he isn't comfortable with the monarchs taking direct action against a Great House. Backing Tyburn is an excellent compromise, as it doesn't exceed his authority. It helps that Tyburn is not a subject of any living king or queen, so there is no inherent conflict of interest. And, as a citizen of Sharn, he wouldn't be inherently less favorable to the southern Cannith clan as Merrix.

Boranel has more intelligence than anyone else at the table with regard to Merrix d'Cannith. His Dark Lanterns have been spying on him for decades. He can confirm, in confidence, that Merrix has his own Creation Forge in Sharn, and he has used it since the ban. That alone is enough offense to try him on the authority of the crown. He was not necessarily behind the atrocities committed by Osborn, but he was complicit, and aided and abetting Osborn's many crimes. He suspects that the one or more of the Undercity crime families has serious compromat on him, because he has gone out of his way not to oppose them, even at his own expense.

New Cyre

Nobody invited Oargev, and it wouldn't have mattered; by now, he is dozens of miles into the Mournland, making haste toward Metrol. He wouldn't leave his expedition behind to attend a mere summit, especially one where he would fully expect to be irrelevant.

His opinions on the Mournland have been made clear--even made into "law", within the semi-legitimate rump state run out of New Cyre. To wit: he claims to be the legitimate heir to Cyre's throne, and though he doesn't claim the title of "King" (promising his followers only to claim it when the realm is restored), he does claim to be the liege to all remaining subjects of Cyre. He claims the entirety of Cyre's territory, matching the claimed territory of his mother on the Day of Mourning, which happens to be the exact boundary of the Mournland. He will oppose any claims from the other Four Nations, and likely will oppose the Reforged's claim to the former site of the City of Making.

He commands a force of a bit less than 20,000, largely ronin and soldiers of Cyre, but a few recruited civilians hardened by their experience since the Mourning. They have not had any significant combat experience since the war ended, but they have drilled extensively, and maintain a high level of organization and discipline. They have a sufficient number of experienced commanders, although, as was the case in the latter days of the war, they cling to traditional tactics and weapons, which had already proven obsolete during the war. They have made efforts to modernize, but they have no combat experience with modern weapons and tactics--unlike the warlords of Karrnath, who have clashed continuously with the Talentans for the last 9 years.

Alone, they will not last against the warlords. If aided by the Coalition, they stand a much better chance. However, they are not waiting for a Coalition to form. Likely, they will cross swords with Karrnathi within weeks, maybe days. The only hope to stop their doomed charge would be to intersept them by air (using a non-sanctioned force; possibly Lyrandar airships, likely adventurers) and talk them down, or possibly Ivy's Avengers could link up with them, and with a lot of luck, she might out-charisma him and convince him to fight more wisely. The ronin would recognize her superior experience; Oargev did fight in the last war, but Ivy was a legend, despite being half his age. She's also without doubt a superior swordsman, which matters a great deal to the samurai class.

New Cyre's forces are too significant to waste in a death march, both for their strength, and their symbolic importance. All of the monarchs agree that the Prince taking and defending Metrol is in everybody's interest, but he can't do that if he and his army are dead.

Droaam

I'll let the Warchief speak for herself.

The other monarchs are expecting her to assert her claim to be a Great Nation now, rather than waiting for the peace conference with Breland. Most expect her to push for the rescinding of the ban on Creation Forges, independence for the Reforged, and a ban on any of the Great Nations claiming territory in the Mournland.

While her armies performed well in the Brelish Invasion of Droaam, the monarchs remain skeptical that she could project their power so far from home. Perhaps, with the aid of magic, she might be able to teleport a small number of elite troops deep into enemy territory--potentially very useful. They plan to ask her if this is a feasible tactical capability.

Even without armies, her personal power is--frankly--terrifying. None of the monarchs are spellcasters, but even their closest magic-using confidants (like the First Warlord of Aundair) wouldn't fancy a one-on-one with her. She has shown a mastery of anti-magic and necromancy, the latter potentially offering tactical options for dealing with the warlords. She activated the Astral Throne to revitalize the Mournland--potentially, she could use it again to dramatically change the coming conflict. Nobody really wants that weapon used ever again, but...it's important to consider all options.

Boranel and the Thranes are eager for an opportunity to ascertain her relationship to Kaius when they all meet in person. The Church's official position is that Kaius is a vampire, and should be considered illegitimate. Dalliances with a necromancer are doing nothing to make them doubt that. The Blood Regent doesn't care about that, and would welcome a strong Droaam-Karrnath alliance if it could work in her favor.

Hypothetically, if they knew every secret about her (Kaius' existence, death, and their engagement; her lineage; her past dealings with Aurala, etc), they would react thus:

Tyburn

Tyburn has never wanted to identify as a Cannith, and certainly never wanted any sort of political position.

But he's also not a coward.

The situation has changed drastically since his youth. Merrix and the others can't be trusted with the combined power of House Cannith, especially having regained all they lost in Cyre, their former powerbase. The words of Aurala still echo in his head, rent-free: "your inventions will come to the world, either on your terms, or someone elses'".

He is willing to stand before the assembly of Great Houses and assert his right to the Cannith name. He's willing to become a deadly enemy of Merrix and Zorlan. He's willing to dedicate himself to the Sisyphean task of cleaning House Cannith's closet of skeletons, and repairing their reputation.

If it matters, his opinion on the current situation is thus:

The Reforged should have the right to reproduce, and should retain ownership of their Creation Forge. However, the Astral Shard is dangerous and should be studied. If need be, another Creation Forge can be made, without any ties to the Shard, to support the Reforged. The Shard should probably be buried in the mountain and forgotten.

House Cannith should bear the stain of Merrix the Elder's terrible invention. It is not morally acceptable to shift moral responsibility for a tool onto its user, if that user could not have done evil without the tool. Dannel chose to use it, Quintus chose to corrupt it, but Merrix chose to build it in the first place. He was so consumed with the question of if he could do it, that he never considered if he should. His failure should be remembered forever by all Canniths and artificers to follow.

He's wary of Prince Oargev and New Cyre, but doesn't consider it his purview to question them. He may or may not have a claim to House Cannith, but he surely does not have one to the Cyran throne. He's not really a fan of monarchy in the first place, and thinks the people of Cyre should decide--but, in New Cyre's case, they clearly have. If anyone's going to retake Metrol, it should be them.

He is very opposed to any foreign invaders pillaging or conquering Cyre, and will deploy himself to its defense with or without a coalition of monarchs. If he finds himself alone, he will link up with Ivy and the Reforged, arming them as best as possible, using his air power to blunt the invasions as much as he can.

He doesn't have a very thought-out opinion of Boranel. He likes his rhetoric and respects his progressive actions, but also has a baseline mistrust of him for being a monarch in the first place. He knows Boranel didn't want the war with Droaam, but his commanders were fooled by foreign interference--but he respects him less for letting that happen on his watch, besmirching Breland's honor. As a citizen of Sharn, Tyburn appreciates Boranel's role in making that a possibility, and further appreciates all the king has done for Cyran refugees. Thus, generally positive, but not deeply trusted.

Before he met Aurala, he believed her to be clever, manipulative, and persuasive, binding people with her words as deftly as any sorceress or psion can do with their art, all to her own ends, and more or less to her nation's benefit. After meeting her, he feels 100% vindicated in this opinion. He was willing to believe Esra might appreciate his invention on its merit, but he didn't trust Aurala with privileged access to it. He understands where she's coming from, and wouldn't necessarily recommend any alternate course of action, but frankly, there isn't a reignign monarch he trusts less than her.

On the matter of Thrane, he finds the whole situation unwinnable. Theocracy sucks, and it can die in a fire (lol), but if the Blood Regent wins, will it be any better? Best case, yeah, after a generation or two of slow, careful restoration. He doesn't really think Diana is well suited for the job. He doesn't think for a moment that Aurala is going to prop up Diana and help her solidify her rule. Rather, she will hollow her out and turn her into a puppet, possibly even unifying their realms with a political marriage and more or less annex Thrane under her family's rule for generations to come. Then again, is that worse for Thrane than remaining subjects to an oppressive theocracy? Ugh.

Karrnath was never his favorite nation. More than any other nation, Karrnath has killed Cyrans, pillaged their towns, and turned their honored dead into dishonorable undead servants, tearing and eating the flesh of their own family and countrymen. At best, the Karrnathi are violent, rapacious ravagers, to be fended off or put down. At worst, they are utterly perverse, actively serving forces of darkness, going out of their way cause pain and misery, even when it isn't to their advantage. He never thought Kaius III was all that impressive a king--his greatest virtue was being too weak to effectively terrorize and pillage innocent people--but learning the truth of Kaius only confirmed his worst fears of Karrnath. Still, his personal experience of Kaius is far from what he expected. He acknowledges that Kaius was clearly a man of deep moral conviction, but to a faith and moral code that Tyburn doesn't understand, and can't be certain is worthy of such adherence. He doesn't doubt Kaius loved Selina, but doesn't see why that would absolve him of responsibility for the atrocities his subjects have committed.

Breland is the realm that took in Cyre when they lost their home. It's the home of the greatest city in the world, his chosen home. Even during the war, they were rarely passionate enemies, and more often allies than anything else. For all that, he doesn't think of Breland all that positively, which admittedly might seem odd. To him, Breland isn't really one entity; it's a vast, diverse, oversized nation, a patchwork of fuedal obligations and heterogenous enclaves with different political and social systems. It's hard to judge all of that as "good" or "bad". In the end, he rates Breland "mostly harmless".

If you'd asked him about Droaam a year ago, he might have to think a while to remember where it was. Not really, but it was never at the top of his mind. He'd heard the surface-level bluster about it, and while he knew better than to simply believe it, he also didn't really hear any other dissenting opinion. He did appreciate the demihumans of the Undercity more when the Chronicle humanized them, but didn't necessarily credit Droaam with the virtues of Sharn's demihumans. For one, they aren't even mostly from there, and even if they were, they're the ones that left, not those who remain. But having experienced Droaam in person, his opinion has changed radically. The people are incredibly diverse, but the Witches somehow built a functioning realm from a patchwork of tribes that spent thousands of years clashing in the past. Their society is very unlike those of the other nations...but it works. The vibe in Great Crag was electric, reminding him of the best moments of his career as an artificer: everyone working together, offering what they can, sharing their opinions and expertise, all in order to raise everyone higher. Great Crag might just be his second favorite city...after Sharn, of course.

Sora Katra

Selina didn't ask, but Mother is going to share her opinion regardless.

She foresaw this possibility years ago. She was aware of the Astral Throne, and suspected it could be reversed. To Selina's credit, Katra never expected it could work so quickly, not realizing there was a handy nature goddess to revitalize the land. Still, either way, with the Gray Mist fallen, the realm would suck in opportunists like a vacuum, and almost certainly ignite massive conflict.

Katra is generally much less concerned about the dangers of another Great War as the other monarchs. Droaam was barely involved in the last one, and her other interest, Sharn, was untouched for the whole event. Still, it's never wise to bet on war benefiting anyone; it wasn't her first preference.

Given the current situation, she recommends the following:

Selina should ride the rocket of her rising influence to the stratosphere. She holds Aurala, Kaius' throne, and Boranel's balls in her hand. Now is the time to close her fist. Convincing (or forcing) Aurala and "Kaius" to rescind their so-strongly championed edict banning Creation Forges is a massive coup. Nobody knows how close they all are personally. To them, it looks like a featherweight barged into a heavyweight match and KO'd both of them. Every noblemand and peasant will think Selina moves the moon and stars by herself.

Similarly, as the instrument of Cyre's renewal, Selina should be the arbiter of its future. The Throne responded to her command, and it could again. If Tyburn won't restore it, some other insane artificer will. Plus, he could be made to serve, regardless of his will. Ariadne is a threat, but Tyburn is powerless against Selina. If she can't bring herself to do it, then to hell with Tyburn--recruit Merrix. He wants it so bad, that want is a handle the exact shape of Selina's hand.

Despite being outed as the poison pill that doomed Cyre, nobody is talking about Quintus Travelyan. Katra wouldn't insult her daughter by even bothering to ask if she was tuned in to him--of course she is. Selina wants every form of pain and suffering inflicted on Quintus, and that's a rare gift from the Dark Goddess, the seed of the most powerful black magic. Quintus put a part of himself in the Astral Throne. Use it as a weapon. But also, recruit allies. Every reigning monarch has a personal interest in bringing him to justice. Call them on their failure to do so, and demand their utmost cooperation and contribution to his downfall. Don't wait to have a dramatic series of boss fights as you take out his lieutenants, and finally corner him in his lair and listen to his evil speech. Go for the throat, NOW. You will never have more power at your command.

What else to do with this opportunity? Frankly, Droaam wants none of Breland's land, infested as it is with nasty barbarian tribes. The trade access, recognition, financial compensation--that's all in the bag already. So what more can she gain? Concessions from Aundair? No, she has nothing much to offer.

The real goal is Sharn.

The city is already semi-autonomous. It's an international city, the most diverse in the world, and the center of civilization. It is a sympathetic twin to Droaam, forged of the same cloth. Katra has invested more in Sharn than she has in Droaam for years now.

The time is now. It's a bold demand, a hefty price. But it is the King's to give.

Grant Sharn autonomy. Total independence from Breland. Its citizens sovereign, their government authoritative. Free to interface with other nations on their own terms, without interference from Breland or its nobles. And as for said nobles--they can have Sharn citizenship, they can keep their claims and privileges--in Breland, not Sharn. Sharn has only citizens, no nobles. Foreign titles aren't stripped, but they aren't recognized in any form but voluntary courtesy. Equal law and rights for all citizens.

Boranel was the king who reformed Sharn, and set them on this path toward greatness.

Selina will be the one who liberated them forever.