Enter Alyssa

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa responds with a nod. "For the sake of propriety and ritual, in the Council Chambers, please use our titles. Would you please introduce yourself to the present Regents, give a report on your forces and their state, and what you understand your mission to be, please?"

[Anastasia]

To be clear here, I thought you were still prepping, not in front of the other regents yet?

[Iron Dragoon]

Oh! I thought this guy was the rep I asked for to meet the Regents. Whoops! Ignore that last one.

She turns to face the man fully and nods to him. "Hello. Are you the one meant to serve me directly?"

[Anastasia]

"I am." He comes over and offers his hand out to you - calloused and rough, a deep scar going from just below his middle finger to down his palm and up the underside of his arm. "Jarem Aruwood, servant of the Mistress of Strategy."

[Iron Dragoon]

Takes the hand and gives it a firm squeeze, keeping her gaze level on the man.

"It's good to make your acquaintance. To make sure we both understand each other here, how about you tell me what you think your job here is."

She waves to a chair pushed against the wall, to keep the room open, and pulls it towards the man to sit, doing likewise for herself but with a much plusher chair of wicker and fine linen and cotton, along with a small table of fruits and cooled juice for the both of them.

[Anastasia]

It's strange. The moment you take his hand, you feel...something. Almost like a connection, a thing resonating within your bones like a moment's fantasy.

Jarem has a firm grip, but pauses a moment then finishes it. "Likewise." He takes a bit of fruit and eats it before going on, "First and foremost, seeing as you don't all end up as sacrifices to the Lady of Loss."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa purses her lips. "Yes. That one. She'll be a thorn for sure. What else? What are your specialties, skills, and knowledge bases? What orders were you given?"

[Anastasia]

"I'm warrior priest, first and foremost," Jarem replies, "Both magic and the blade, or virtually any other weapon I can get my hands on."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Hm, that's good. Vaguely similar to my style. We'll have to spar sometime. I'm not as well versed in weapons as you, so I'll be able to learn a bit there. Some of our mages might make use of some education from you as well. I'll admit to you that weapons are somewhat new to me and I don't have the... hardiness... of a trained warrior."

She pauses to give the man a chance to interject while she takes a drink of pineapple juice.

[Anastasia]

"I'm quite hard and hardy," Jarem replies with a drink from his own glass, "It takes effort and time to build that up. If you're serious about it, practice every morning. Grand gestures don't do it, but gallons of sweat and piles of time do."

[Iron Dragoon]

She nods. "Good advice, but I'm unsure how much it would help me. I don't wield weapons by hand. It might help to understand what motions work best, however. Though... It's always wise to build your constitution. Perhaps some regular exercise would help. Perhaps I'll take up swimming again. It's been a long while. I'll consider it; I expect my schedule will be filling rapidly soon."

She shakes her head in exasperation. "For your part, what do you expect of me? Soldiering life is quite different from what I've done. I suspect you have certain expectations for the ones you follow and those whose command you are placed under."

[Anastasia]

Finishing his juice off, "Simply? There's two type of people in an army - people who have their shit together and those who don't. Have your shit together. Learn what you need to learn, do what you need to do and don't pass off things to other people. A common soldier who does that is a drain, but a manageable one. A leader who does that gets people killed."

Your node has been updated for Jarem. Post that you've read it in your next post.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods. "Sensible enough, and similar to what I've found to be true in my leadership of the Order. What have you been told of the situation here, and why the Red Knight has made this arrangement? Other than Shar's involvement, of course."

Node update read.

[Anastasia]

Jarem sits comfortably, but at attention. Not slouching, meeting your gaze. "I'm up to date on everything you should know," he says, "While my underlings should be getting me a briefing soon as well. I'm aware of the offer she made you, as well as the unusual means and gains of your power."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods. "That'll make things faster. My unusual rise to power has put myself and my Order into a spotlight we're underprepared for. We're not a combat force, we're a research co-operative more than anything else. We have people who work on battle magic, of course, but we don't exactly go join wars. We're green, so to speak. That said, we're all intelligent and we learn fast. I've tried to limit the reliance of our people on pure magical solutions to things, but as we're not a military style organization, my ability to enforce that is limited."

She sighs again, "I'll be frank with you. I lack in a lot of places. I'm new to leadership. I'm not a combat mage; I'm a specialist and an explorer. I have some good weapons, but I doubt they're at the level of power needed to combat large threats. The order here isn't built to be a fortress; it's spread out across multiple islands on top of the architecture not being designed for war. This is an island so resupply and reinforcement is strangled. The area we have to work with is limited, which means the number of people we can house is limited. I have ideas for some solutions, and I'd like to go over them with you."

I'm semi-considering doing an Upgrade type system like you did with Aurora, if you're willing/interested in it. This might be a good place to start it, if you're willing.