The Election Campaign of Rhyla Featherdown
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_On the First of Kythorn, cleverly advertised as the "grand opening" of the new Guildhall of the Courtesan's Union to draw crowds without breaking the campaigning freeze, a very extravagant affairs takes off outside the newly erected guildhall.
Masses of dockworkers and sailors, and not a small gathering of merchants, crowd around the steps of the Guild, with close to the entire force of the city's prostitutes quickly mingling through the crowd, decked in eye-catching red and black livery (though livery may be too generous a word for so few clothes), until the doors ahead swing open and the resplendent Rhyla Featherdown steps out onto the steps to address the crowd._
"Thank you for coming, boys and girls! Dwarves and elves! Halflings and Gnomes, and all you humans besides! Welcome to the grand opening of our new Guildhall!"
Raising her arms causing her sheer garment to shift about herself, the adventuress turned harlot successfully incites the crowd into cheering and hooting. After a considerable wait for some quietening down, she continues.
"As you may have heard, I would also like to mention I am running to be elected to your Senate, and I have decided to begin my campaign right here too! The current Senate doesn't understand the Guilds…and thus it cannot understand YOU!
I on the other hand...understand both! And to prove it, my Guild's services will be free for the remainder of the day, and half price for the remainder of the election campaigns! I won't bore you with more talk today, for I am sure we will see much more of each other in the next few weeks…so for now, let us enjoy ourselves!"
Already practically drowned out before leaving the steps, the crowd bustles and jostles in a hurry to avail of the Guild's free services, the lines of men and women not dissipating until the sun sets and the fees come back…though still at a very encouraging half price. Whether Rhyla herself took part in the day's more vigourous events is already a matter of wild boasts, rumours and claims with literally hundreds of citizens claiming to have bedded the candidate, though more cynical observers point out many of the better looking courtesans were probably told to say they were Rhyla.
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Once more back at the steps of her Guildhouse, Rhyla makes a brief speech.
"Friends, citizens…thank you all for the marvellous suport you have given me these last few tendays. In Peltarch's best interests however, I must withdraw from the electoral race and I beseech you to offer your support to the candidate that is best for all of us; Heffa!"
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A new series of posters appear relating to Rhyla.
"A harlot at the Senate table is almost as bad as an Ashald!"
"Half her whores are slaves from Oscura!"
"There is enough filth on the Senate without Rhyla!"
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Adrian listens to the speech and afterwards seems quite intrigued.
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Another rally takes place outside the Market in the Commerce District, the buildings around festooned with posters and banners of Rhyla's. The event seems to be a much more wholesome affairs than her previous one, with many of the city's merchants and their families in attendance. Jesters, clowns and winnsome rogues abound amongst the crowds, entertaining and joshing with the nobility, captivating them with tales of derring-do accomplished by the City's traditional heroes. After a warm introduction by none other than Goil, Rhyla steps up to address those gathered.
"Thank you all for coming! I am Rhyla Featherdown! Unlike many of you, I have not had the fortune to be born into citizenship of this fine City! Like many others before me, I came here seeking a new life, seeking to make something of myself and it is surely under the willful gaze of Tymora and Waukeen that I have like many others, succeeded in doing so!
When I first came to Peltarch I had little save the clothes on my back and scarcely enough coin to escape being guilty of vagrancy! This City has taken what I brought in with me and given me the opportunity to make so much from so little! That is the strength of this City, the strength I seek to preserve through the Senate! The character of this Jewel is such that it gives the gift of a better life to those within.
Outsiders in this City are welcomed upon becomming citizens, the fear and mistrust of strangers and foreigners is far less in this city than in many others I have travelled to. And this is because people hav historically flocked to Peltarch, where they may be free of their past lives, free of their more oppressive homelands, free to trade as they please and quite simply…freer than they have been elsewhere.
Yet Peltarch cannot magically help all its people. Lives are improved by hard work, community and charity. There are still those struggling to feed their families in this City, still those being evicted for not paing their rent, still beggars in the streets. Two hundred gold goes a long way when it comes to people in these dire straits. Thus, I propose the Citizenship Tarrif be repurposed into a Social Cohesion Fund, specifically earmarked for assisting Peltarch's most impoverished citizens!
I also have no doubt that those immigrants to our city, paying the citizenship fund, will be happier knowing their gold is going to a good cause! We have seen the conscience of the Senate when it comes to Oscura, elect me and I will direct this conscience back toward our own people where it belongs!"
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Posters appear in all three districts urging citizens to vote for Miss Featherdown.
"Vote for Rhyla Featherdown, the candidate with a heart of gold…and legs that go on forever!"
"Rhyla for Senate-the people's Senator!"
"Rhyla the Enchantress, not Snydders the Enchanter!"
