[The Traveler's Complex] Sunberth Sounds Nicer....

by **Kreig Messer** on September 10th, 2014, 7:39 pm

Fall 8th 514 A.V. 13th bell 18th Chime

' This place....its petching shyke' Kreig thought as he looked outside the window and at the courtyard. The rooms were nice and simple, the beds were comfy and the food was great and the view one could get of the city from their rooms was excellent, Kenash looked like a place where one could achieve their dreams just by staying here.......but damn it was too nice! The city looked to expensive, the shyke hole that was home long ago was felt a helluva lot more welcoming.

" I can actually see smoke rising from your head, Kreig. Is everything alright?" Came the voice of Sera Natasha Druva as she raised her eyes from the book she was reading to look at her squire.

Kreig nodded his head and said "Sera.... This place is just...disgusting" Kreig said quietly as he kept looking out the window. They had only been here for a few days, a few days and this city did nothing to make him feel welcome! Only this inn and even then he doubted it was sincere with its friendly visage. The first day where he wandered about the town he noted the stares he would get, those stares ranged from warning to outright disdain and Kreig could gander a guess why. A lot of them had a mark on their hands.... he didn't know what it was, but they knew he didn't hand one and it marked him as an outsider.

When he stopped by a couple of shops, just to stare and nothing more... he could get the feeling they were telling him either to buy something or take his sorry shyke-poor ass out of their establishment. And the slaves, gods he knew he said he was used to them but to see their marks so brazenly tattooed on their face?! Even cattle recieved more dignity and he didn't have to ask what they were.

" I understand greatly how you feel Kreig, if I had the power I'd probably bring an entire regiment to wipe this place out...." She admitted the harsh desire without hesitation “ But Kenash is an important trade partner unfortunately ” She said, emphasizing the word partner almost like she wanted to barf it out. “ And Kenash has no intent to bend to the whims of outsiders….even to the mighty forces of the knights, for all intents and purposes till the negotiations are done, we have to abide by their rules”

Kreig frowned at that, he had been told all this before and during those times he simply nodded. But then and now are two different things and quite honestly the thought that they have to bend to their rules when Syliras had the military might to force them to change made him sick to his stomach.

“Sera.... is there really nothing we can do? I don’t like this place….”

Natasha nodded sadly as she rose up from her chair and approached the squire, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder “ I’ve asked that many times Kreig, and the response was always no unless it affects Syliras. For all intents and purposes we are powerless here Kreig, our only duty is to protect the delegation and follow the laws of Kenash” She said

“ Which sadly means, sooner or later we must mark ourselves as Freeborns”
x

by **Kreig Messer** on September 11th, 2014, 7:12 am

Kreig's eyes furrowed at that "Freeborn Mark, Sera?" Kreig had a pretty healthy suspicion of what the mark was as he recalled the citizenry of the city, remembering the glimpses of the marks on their hands. The one that every free person not of the Dynasties seemed to have.

his patron nodded to him as she continued " Yes, its a mark of citizenship in Kenash, I'm sure you've noticed the mark on their hands?" She waited for Kreig to nod then continued " Yes, that little thing is what will keep us safe in the city, relatively speaking of course. From what I've been told visitors who don't see about recieving one during thge first 30 days here can expect.... a less than warm welcome and we become 'fair game' to Slaver parties."

Kreig cursed at that, not really meaning to do so in front of his patron but she didn't seem to mind "So these bastards would enslave us?!"Kreig asked, outrage creeping into his voice "Would they truly do it?"

Natasha gave a shrug at that " Doubtful, banishment is more likely..... But Kenash has this inflated view of itself as superior and with the Dynasties being the political beasts that they are could certainly come up with a tale to tell our superiors. In amycase if we don'rt get this mark our lives our in Danger and , I quote, Will be taken as an insult by the Dynasties and viewed as unwilling to abide to their laws. In short, it would be a horrid idea not to get one...."

Kreig grinded his teeth at that as he slammed a fist against a wall, he didn't like the idea of getting marked, the name 'Freeborn' sounded especially grating in his head. So to be a free citizen in this city he had to be marked as such? As if the fact he was born free wasn't enough? His rage only grew and thus he slammed his fists again against the wall. ' I don't even want to be a citizen, yet I have to be marked as theirs if I want to stay longer?!' A Sunberthian valued freedom more than anyone else, add to his sense of justice and it truly aggrivated him to know that they had to cow to their wishes.

"So.... what? We get this mark and we're dandy?" Kreig asked, hoping that the mark was the only thing they need do. The look on his Sera's face however seemed to be telling him otherwise.

"We're expected to 'earn' our keep here in Kenash else we risk losing the status as Freeborns" Kreig could only look in furilus disbelief as his jaw dropped " Through technicality we are already doing that by trying to make sure the talks go smoothly. To bring a more prosperous trade relationship between Syliras and Kenash. For the delegation that is a day and night affair, the honor guard however will be rotating shifts frequently and inevitably that means a certain number of days doing nothing"

Kreig knew that these days 'doing nothing' would in fact be spent training but Kenash seemed to have different plans " For how sleazy Kenash is, it has an admirable work ethic....as long as that ethic is for Kenash. So it is possible that to stay in their good graces we would have to volunteer our time helping around the city"

Kreig's face contorted to the ugliest visage that Natasha had ever seen on a person, it actually made her nervous a bit as she never realized her squire could show such passionate hatred. It was like the whole issue was striking him at his very core, from his brain to the very center of his soul.

Before Kreig could explode from his anger, his latron added " According to the delegation though, this could be a good thing for Syliras"

Those words seemed to suck out all the anger as Kreig was left with a confused, slack jawed look."Huuuuh?"
x

by **Kreig Messer** on September 11th, 2014, 3:25 pm

Natasha breathed a silent breath of relief as she somehow dodged a bullet, it wasn’t that she couldn’t handle a raging squire, rather it was that she wished to avoid breaking any of the furniture here. As simple as they were, they were of much finer quality than what she was used to and thus that meant they were more expensive. “Um…Sera, what? How is helping these bloodsuckers, for a lack of a better word, help the order?” Kreig asked, small traces of anger still lingering in his voice as he wondered just what was his patron getting at.

She was happy that his attention was focused currently so she spoke quickly but clearly “ I only from I’ve been told by those part of the delegation, Kreig. I’ve no training in politics, you understand? The basics of it are is that Kenash values hard work, as stated previously, especially work that goes to helping the city. In this way we show the city that we understand and respect the rules, even though we’d like nothing more to break the rules” She felt the need to mention the last part before continuing “ Doing this means we gain respect within the city, bringing respect means the negotiations could go smoother and thus the sooner we go home”

Kreig was hooked now, if doing this means going home faster than that would certainly encourage him to work his hind quarters harder than a prostitute being paid three seasons worth of her time ‘ So help out here and go home quicker, got it!’ He made the mental note, but then there was more from his patron.

“ This also means that we gain possible allies within Kenash…..” Now at this Kreig raised a skeptical brow, his patron merely shrugged and resumed “ I know, it sounds unlikely, but nonetheless it could make future dealings with Kenash smoother. But if our acts catch the eyes of some of the Dynasties, even if that person were low on the family hierarchy, then we would have established a political foothold within the city, at least that’s the aim ”

Kreig didn’t quite understand this really, so he ventured to ask “So how would gaining the eyes of these Dynasty members help us? I mean sure I can get that it makes trade easier and all those political doo daas, but you make it sound like getting one member of these dynasties gives us I dunno…. Like some rat in one of Sunberth’s gangs, whats that about?”

Natasha actually chuckled at his analogy, the truth of the comparison in a way hit quite close to the situation “ Yes, from what I’ve learned the families are actually much like gangs….. except there wars are fought with words mostly and frequently enough through cloak and dagger”

‘ Huh….now there is a language I can understand’ And it gave Kreig a natural conclusion about the Dynasties “ So what I’m getting Sera… is that these Dynasties don’t like each other very much?”

She nodded with a grin that bordered on wickidness “ I’d wager to say that some would love a chance to be rid of the others. You see Kreig, The Dynasties aren’t some republic or monarchy….. even their head of Justice, the Magistrate, doesn’t grant total control of the city, if someone were to try and do that they’d be dead in the next morning.” Kreig nodded in understanding, something about the issue definitely reminding him of Gang Politics.

“So these families….” He began as he moved away from the wall with his arms folded “ are they unified in anything?”

His patron nodded “A few things, mainly anything that threatens Kenash’s independence and thus their power will be met with brutal resistance”

“Alright, but that makes me go back to a question I already asked earlier, whats helping them gives us?” Natasha nodded, finding it an astute question that certainly deserved an answer .

“ ‘We scratch their back and they scratch ours’ It means we get ears willing to listen to our requests, it also means we have a counterpoint against any other outside faction that may have the same ideas” She said as she turned towards the table to pour herself a cup of water from the pitcher.

“Other factions? You mean like Rhysol’s cronies?”

“ That is one of the factions that have their eyes on Kenash, you see Kreig….. Kenash, whether it realizes it or not, has recently been to focus of many a city and faction. Sooner or later they will all want a foothold, our job is to make the soil softer to do just that and the quickest way to do it is to befriend the Dynasties…. By simply doing our part in helping out, believe it or nor.” She failed to mention though that befriending one family meant making enmity of others, though Kreig knew she didn’t need to mention it.

‘ Ok, so to break all this petching shyke down….. we help about, meetings could probably go quicker which means going home sooner. But helping out also means making friends with one of those Dynasty families, making friends with pisses the shyke out of other families, risky game. But doing so meant bigger fish won’t knock us out of the city, which means I gotta play be their rules or shykelord god of evil and whoever is an enemy wins. Peeetch this is giving me a migrane’

“Okay Sera, I think I got it.”

“ Good, now would you stop whining and read up on Syliran history? I aim to quiz you about it later ”

Kreig could only groaned as he headed towards the bed and picked up one of the books they had brought with them…. ‘ And ‘ere I thought it was just to pass the time’

x

by **Vice** on October 20th, 2014, 9:58 pm

Kreig Messer :

Comments: Generally, the Traveler's Complex is a much more welcoming, friendlier area in Kenash due to the population primarily consisting of visitors. No right-minded Kenashian citizen would find themselves dead in it.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please send me a PM, and we'll discuss my reasoning behind why the grade given was received. Please make sure to edit any posts in the grading queue to 'graded' and update your CS as soon as possible. Enjoy! ^.^

Solo [The Traveler's Complex] Sunberth Sounds Nicer....