That we were treating under the conventions of Guest Rights was the only thing that kept Liotonis from attacking in fury when she heard my demands. I had known it would be a hard sell. The reason most Sidhe had migrated to the neutral territories was to escape Oaths of fealty.
Liotonis was not only old, she was ancient. In the hundreds of thousands of years, she had survived; she had never bent the knee and sworn an Oath as Vassal. Even the Morrigu, the Unseelie monarchs that were descended from the Tuatha de Danaan Gods of War and Death were not able to coerce or force her to join their House.
The sea was hers to command, the denizens; fish, monster, and Sidhe that swam in those waters did so by her leave. I would have never been so bold as to proffer this as a condition of ransom if she hadn't agreed to Guest Right restrictions, and if our bargaining was taking place anywhere but within my Sithern. Here, in this pocket dimension, she was bereft of her domain; her link to the sea restricted.
"Perhaps you place too great a price on my affection for Lord Hugo," Liotonis finally responded.
"You mistake my intentions, Liotonis," I responded having anticipated her answer, although stunned her words had not been filled with vitriol and swearing. This response? This was reasoned and calm, something Liotonis was not well known for.
"I do not need you as a Vassal. I want you to become a member of my Court. One of the ruling Houses that will join with me to govern. The Court system I have envisioned is more a structure of checks and balances. Twelve Houses to rule, with House Teigh having the right to veto and break ties.
"My intention is to mitigate the creep of corruption that has permeated the Courts of Seelie and Unseelie. I would have the ugly side of government, the graft and the corruption that begins to pervade what is done with good intentions, from despoiling the Kingdom I have claimed," I explained.
"Your Majesty," Duchess Wynne objected. "You reward her attack with position? What kind of precedence does that set? You will have every two-bit potentate attacking. Why wouldn't they? In the off chance they succeed, they gain a Kingdom. If they fail, they gain a position in your Court.
"It would do more damage to long-term stability than allowing the creep of corruption to blossom and spread unchecked."
"I want strong Powers. People that are willing to speak their mind, fight for their ideals, and protect the denizens of the lands that they will be entrusted with. I want a person capable of rule and compassion," I responded.
"Say what you will about Princess Liotonis, but weak and subservient would not be included in any description you might offer.
"I have heard the tales. I know the whispers that follow her name. But those stories don't conform to the woman that would try to save a Lord, they do coincide with the judgment and qualities of a woman that would allow Coinchenn Lords to be slaughtered as an object lesson," I explained.
"Exactly my point, Your Majesty," Wynne rebutted, "if she would treat those who serve her House so shabbily, how will she treat others under her control, those that you will entrust as part of her Court?"
"I concede I would have Lord Hugo returned," Liotonis interjected, ignoring completely Wynn's objection, "but I won't exchange his freedom for mine. There are more where he came from, it shouldn't be that hard to replace him."
"I might believe that, if your actions, your attack hadn't proven otherwise. Either you have a fondness and affection for him that contradicts the persona you are reported to be, or against all reason you would attempt to save this person, who should be expendable based on his demonstrated idiocy, for some hidden reason."
"Still. This offer makes no sense," Liotonis said ignoring the bait I'd cast, only responding after careful reflection. "How is my attack any different from his? You will confine him and present him to the Unseelie Monarchs as a gift, but for me, I am offered a position in your Court. Why the drastic difference in treatment?"
"Intent is the simplest answer," I explained. "He attacked me intending to kill me for the sole purpose of Ranking up and Leveling. I was nothing more to him than walking experience. You attacked, regardless of my Rank and what it would mean if you succeeded. Your actions were foolish, but at least you provoked and attacked for selfless reasons.
"You demonstrated affection in that attack. That you were monitoring him closely enough to act to save or rescue him? There is something about Lord Hugo that proves that the legend of Liotonis is based, in truth, on that woman who was betrayed by those she loved," I explained. "Yet, even after that betrayal you still have the capacity to care and protect.
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"You are ruthless. The stories that have been told about you have their roots in truth. Ruthless compassion. That is the kind of Ranked I would have you join me in creating a society where the balance of power is protected and shared.
"System has conditioned the Sidhe to kill each other, it is the fastest way of leveling, but we cannot afford to continue down this path. Not when other worlds and Gods have been infringing on Talahm and the Summerlands. They have co-opted our Ranked and have introduced a System cheat to forward their agenda," I continued furiously.
"I would have us turn our attention to our real enemies and stop killing ourselves. Aingeal Geamhraidh will join the ranks of the inter-planetary government. And when we do, killing to level up can be practiced against those that would destroy our species and our Gods."
I thought I'd had her hooked. She seemed interested and listened intently to what I had to say. I was banking on what I believed the motivation behind her actions here today was. She was cast as the villain in every tale I'd heard or read, but she was always a villain with a heart. She reacted to others' actions, seeking vengeance and justice.
The problem in every story was that she was unable to contain and isolate her rage. She was a force of nature, a hurricane or tsunami and like those catastrophic events, their purpose was to just be. They had no emotion. They didn't destroy and kill innocents out of spite; they were simply collateral damage, killed as part of the natural world order.
"I think too often good intentions lead even the most devout to compromise. When they began losing focus and make decisions that they justify as the greater good," Liotonis began. "Do you think you are the first to believe they can build a Utopian society based on merit not connections?"
"The Morrigu did not start out as Queens bent on war and death. They were not doomsayers, destroying any that would oppose them. When they first ascended as Queens, they too wanted to change society. Their role as War-Maidens was to identify the heroic and reward the valiant.
"But over the long years, after an endless progression of one battle after another, they began to change. To compromise their ideals after participating in too much bloodshed. Sidhe killing Sidhe, for no better reason than to level up. Ranked that they trusted betraying them, preferring to create a dynasty instead of a society.
"They killed those who would corrupt their ideals, in the beginning. But Unseelie are as entrenched in Power as the Seelie. Right of conquest became their rallying cry, and slowly they became the very embodiment of the horrors and atrocities that War and Death represented.
"What makes you think you will be any different from the legion of Royals who began their reign with the same good intentions as you? And consider this, what makes your ideals more palpable and acceptable to the Sidhe? Why aren't you the same as the Seelie and Unseelie Monarchs, imposing their will and vision on those they rule?" She asked as she finished her diatribe.
"The structure I plan on forming for my Court will have a system of checks and balances woven into it that mitigate those problems," I answered because she did have a point. I might become as corrupt and disillusioned as the Morrigu. I hope not, silently sending a quick and heartfelt plea to Danu before continuing. "I admit that my plans are a test, a work in progress, that is one of the reasons I am recruiting Powers that have withstood the pressures that the Rank: King and Queen can bring to bear.
"I plan on forming a Court ruled by a Coven, thirteen houses with House Teigh serving as an advisory House. The other twelve Houses will be formed and entrusted with specific areas of responsibility. These Houses will be the co-equal, a gathering of rulers, a collective of States, that together can guide the system of government.
"I will divide the Court equally, three former Seelie faction, three former Unseelie faction, five factions of lesser-fey, and one production House. The Lords, Dukes, and Princes of these Houses will be gifted with a Sithern seed, a kernel from this Capital Sithern seed stock, and allowed to form their own Sitherns. Sitherns that bond with and create unassailable bivouacs in the event of war or invasion for those Houses.
"Each House will be led by no less than a Ranked: Prince. And if that Prince has the ability to ascend to Rank: King or Queen they will be allowed, and I will perform the ritual of investiture to raise them to that level. I will not stifle or repress those that have the talent and ability to grow.
"There are already lesser-fey that have Ranked up to King and Queen and are ignored as insignificant, their Rank disrespected. That will not be the case in my Kingdom. If a Ranked: King or Queen wishes to establish a fiefdom within the lands that I have claimed, then I will enter into negotiations and hammer out a treaty that allows them to do so. Certain Lands will always be designated as Crown possessions, all the territory that I recently claimed that has been ignored or starved for now.
"But the Kingdom I have claimed is vast, with immense regions left untouched. I will use these Lands are bargaining chips, to form a Conclave of Monarchs. Equals. None of the twelve Houses greater than the other.
"Under-Kings and Queens gathered with House Teigh sitting as High-King. Ultimate arbiter only when conflict cannot be resolved." I concluded.
"That is insane," Wynne interjected, "you will have no Kingdom left to rule if you share out power in that matter."
"Aingeal Geamhraidh is only the first step for us, Wynne. You know my plans for Olympus, they closely align with yours. But before I can take that first step to bring the Olympian Pantheon to heel, I will see Sidhe grasp genuine power and freedom.
"I will break the deadlock that has kept the population planet-bound. Talahm will take her place as a Universal power. And the Tuatha de Danaan will wake, returned to Power despite the threads of Fate those interfering Goddesses have spun," I prophesied.