The Grand Sultan

[Anastasia]

The night passes without incident. In the morning all gather again, Barachiel beginning. His presence is like a soothing balm, like the scent of the ocean as you lie back in bed, resting after a long day's work.

"Peace," Barachiel begins, standing before you amid the opulence the efreet demand. "I have spoken of the Sultan's need for this and of the revelation about Eblis. There is one more thing that must be said and spoken of more: According to the Grand Sultan, Shar tried to assassinate him."

[Corwin]

"Shar has made an attack on Yan-C-Bin's proxy that I witnessed in person," Seira muses. "She really does want everyone dead. But it feels she's growing more bold, doesn't it?"

[Nephrite]

Moore nods to Seira. "All Shar's done lately is try and taunt me for some strange reason."

[Anastasia]

"It does," Adalan speaks up here, "I have seen more strikes from Shar. More troubling, cults that seem to form against reason and with efficacy."

Cerulean Joy and Vel Custos stand together at Barachiel's side, "Shar is always a trouble, but yes, recent events support that." Cerulean Joy agrees.

[Corwin]

"She has her twelve shadows, who are apparently these top lieutenants who are all archmages," Seira volunteers. "I recently took care of one that was making Vacuum even more miserable than usually, and Shar's used another on my Prime of origin. Considering the timing, it's not impossible that another of her shadows is here on Fire, plotting against the Grand Sultan."

[Anastasia]

To this Vel Custos nods, "You have everyone's thanks for that gallantry."

"If that is true, that is a consideration to present to the Grand Sultan," Barachiel says, "If he knows it is the truth or can confirm it, then he will need to consider it. But we will present it forthrightly - we need not imply or deceive him with an if."

"Unless we can figure out of one is actually on plane," Jetina speaks up, "...can we?"

[Nephrite]

"They can hide themselves with magic, but sometimes even that isn't enough." Moore says. "I think it might be possible, but... I'm sorry to phrase it this way, but is it something that we should spend resources on?"

[Anastasia]

"Sharrans excel at hiding," Barachiel declares, "With little time finding a well hidden Sharren on a maybe is folly. No. Let us focus on what we can do, rather than what we wish we could produce."

[Nephrite]

Moore nods. "In that case then, may I ask if we need to officially draft a response for this or are we simply going to discuss our terms openly?"

[Corwin]

"It's customary to prepare a counter-proposal," Seira tells Moore. "Of course, it will list far more than our acceptable goals, and serve as the opening for talk same as theirs has done for their positions. Then, we'll engage in talks to find a compromise that achieves our primary goals, while ensuring that the Grand Sultan doesn't lose face and can present tangible successes to his people."

[Nephrite]

Moore nods. "All right, then."

[Anastasia]

"It is customary," Barachiel says, "My friends, I would hear your council. What counter terms should we propose?"

It's here that Vel Custos speaks up, "I like sharing knowledge about Sharran activities."

"It's practical," Cerulean Joy agrees, still at his side. "On that it seems we can all agree."

[Corwin]

"I propose we respond to their straightforward proposal with one of our own," Seira voices. She runs the language down in her head for a few moments, before breathing fire into the air where it forms into orange letters for all to see.

1. Celestia, The Cauldron and the Efreet Empire will cease direct conflicts until the time Shar is deemed adequately checked, defeated or slain. There will be a grace period of 3 years thereafter for all sides to recover and adjust before this agreement dissolves. This includes influencing allies against to cease any such direct conflicts between them and one of the signatories. Minor conflicts amid mortal followers and worshipers are deemed inevitable and understandable, but every effort must be made by those further up the literal or spiritual chain of command to deescalate the situation.
2. The slave trade will be stopped at once, and any subject of the Grand Sultan found in violation of this clause will be put to final death, his belongings seized for the Grand Sultan's treasury. Any resident of Fire engaging in the slave trade and existing outside the purview of the Grand Sultan will not enjoy the throne's protection and may be attacked by the signatories of the treaty with impunity.
3. All slaves held by the subjects of the Grand Sultan must be freed at once, and delivered to a planar location of their choice. The location in question may not be one of the lower planes or a hostile environment unable to sustain life. Failure to adhere to this on the part of the slave owner will mark them as in violation of the treaty, subject to the seizure of all their assets by the Grand Sultan.
4. All sides of this agreement will make a good faith effort to uphold all aspects of this agreement. Previous matters of contentions are agreed by all parties to be tabled until this agreement is dissolved.
5. The Efreet Empire, the Cauldron and Celestia shall share intelligence related to Shar and Sharran activities. A good faith effort by all parties will be made to share information. Information that directly exposes or compromises other interests may be held back, so long as a good faith effort is made to not abuse this. To establish this cooperation, a bureau will be created to facilitate this transform of information, with the details to be resolved at a later date.
6. A joint commission will be established to mediate any conflicts that arise from this bureau or related matters of this agreement. It will be manned by four parties - one to represent the interests of the Cauldron, one for Celestia, one to represent the interests of the Efreet and one neutral party chosen in agreement by all sides of this agreement. In cases of dispute or disagreement, the rulings of this commission will be final. All sides agree that no effort to suborn or magically enchant the members of this commission will be attempted.

"This should be good for a counter-proposal that they will reject," Seira elaborates. "We would need to play it by ear, obviously, but one possible course is conceding on clause three while trying to advance my proposal of having Celestia purchase the slaves en masse, or even a clause allowing the slave owners to only sell their slaves to Celestia's agents. The fifth clause can also be played on; as we have some potentially-valuable intelligence on Shar's movements, we could well allude to that without committing to anything certain. Furthermore, we could volunteer the Cauldron's investigative services for this matter, and I am willing to make tackling Shar's schemes on Fire a priority over her other plots. The first clause as it was had some ambiguous language, so rather than tackling it I decided to see if we could put a different spin on things. At the same time, it allows us to retreat from it to their original version without losing much of what we actually hope to achieve. Incidentally, the edits to clause six are my answer to that original ambiguity, to see how they like it. Naturally, two is what we absolutely must gain. We can weaken our demand for execution, so a compromise there is possible, but the core of emancipation going forward is crucial to the deal. Thoughts?"

[Anastasia]

A pause as everyone reads, but it is Cresiel who speaks first, "The crux of this is if we can get the efreet to agree to that under any pressure. My Lord?"

Barachiel reads, "It may be possible, for Chronias is with us. Also, six may fail, because I believe they chose three to prevent the two of us from banding together and the council becoming deadlocked with ties."'

"A numbers game," Elle murmurs, tapping a finger against her lips, pausing. "Do we have a fallback position if 2 is untenable or is that our bottom line?"

[Nephrite]

"I don't think we can waver at all on the matter of slavery." Moore says. "That's what started all of this, really."