Topic of the Month: The Annexation of Minrothad
as told by Hason Bercos to Joshuan Gallidox in
tavern talk during a stop in the port of Ierendi.
"Aye, I still don't believe it. I can't believe it. The guilds,
annexed by the empire. Must be the booze. Can't be nothing else.
Over a dead bozo!
"I mean, first, the Daros [Darokinians in patois. Ed.]. They
accuse the merchant-princes of killin' one of their merchants. They
even dare accuse the guild master. Like, we need to assassinate 'em
to get our business rollin'. Yeah, right. We certainly don't need
that. Aye, we're the best sailors and traders in the world. We are.
I served on several ships, and I travelled as far north as Alpha,
and also east past the Alphatians to Minaea, and south to the ports
of the Davanian city-states, and west to Yavdlom and Slagovich and
beyond. Never met a Daro there. Never saw anyone else go to all
those places either actually. Even the Thyatians, 'cause they won't
go far into the Alphatian Sea. Well, I hear now they do, but I've
yet to witness it myself. Where was I? Oh yeah, the Daros, they
ain't got no merchant fleet to match us. Sure, they have caravans,
and they control a big chunk of the land trade in the Old World,
and I've seen their caravans reach as far as Slagovich. We leave
that to 'em. But on the sea, we're the kings. Only the Thyatians
and Alphatians have anything near a merchant fleet, and that's for
their internal goods transport. We only've a true merchant fleet, I
tell ya. Thus, you see, we don't need to assassinate some Daro
merchant.
"They didn't even bring any evidence. Rumours, wild guesses. That's
how the Daros do it. I'm sure the so-called evidence that convinced
their allies of the league, were set-ups. Can't be otherwise. For
all I know, they may have killed one of their own to frame us an'
steal our trade. I'm convinced they did this to gain market shares
within their league allies, to our detriment. Maybe they didn't
even expect it to grow so out of proportion. I mean, tradesmen
sometimes do not so nice things to gain an edge. Shady things are
fair enough, sometimes, ya know. But it remains under the cloak.
Doesn't become political and state affairs.
"Once it became so big an affair, the best thing to do was to do
nothing, of course. Well, deny, and that's all. Even when the Daros
and their puny army threatened us. I said, they ain't got no fleet,
so it's not as if the threat was real. Their league allies, they
dragged 'em into that mess of military build-up too, but they're
not much better off. Only the hin have some amount of a fleet, but
even then it's a pity compared to the might of the
merchant-princes. And, it's not as if they meant it, either. With
the legions of Thyatis and the hordes of Hule at their doors, can
you imagine they'd act upon it? No, 'course not. 'Twas just
threats, no biggie.
"So what happened? I don't understand. The government called the
Thyatians for help. Nonsense! Hmm, that must've been corrupt
government officials, I see no other explanation. Or maybe Thyatian
spies in the government. I dunno. Most stupid thing to do. You'd
think they know you can't trust a Thyatian. The only Thyatian I
trust, is the emperor [the coin. Ed.]. They allowed
Thyatian warships in the guilds. For our protection they said! I
know better! Of course, once you punch a hole, water floods in, and
the ship sinks. The treacherous Thyatians had somethin' else in
mind that our protection, obviously. I don't understand how our
government didn't see it. Crazy! So... so... stupid. I can't
believe it..."