Rilia Dedralle ~ The Heart of the Matter ~ Election Thread
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Rilia can be seen spending time around the city speaking with the citizenry and in general letting her face be seen. She offers words of hope to those hardest hit by the war. She seems not to fear going into the less savory parts of town and often brings food or clothing when she does.
((campaign speeches and such to follow here))
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*A Grand Party is thrown in the Docks district. Serving folk and entertainers all in red and gold lay out trestle tables for a celebration on the streets and these tables are laden with food of all types, many in the shape of hearts. Pastry hearts filled with sweet red jam and crusty heart shaped bread rolls filled with meats and pickles. Simple fair with a Hanali flair.
Some of the servers, dressed in less than the rest but still red and gold, pass amongst the crowd looking for couples and families, presenting red roses and blue forget-me-nots to those that look like husband and wife or lovers, and also kissing the cheeks of younger adults not yet settled in their love. Nothing more than a kiss and a smile but a merry smile it is.
Games are organised amongst those willing, and those that can be dragged in to play them half against their will. Some games for the children, Blind-man's Buff, Hide and go Seek and huge sprawling games of Tag with small keepsakes for all the players, the kind of simple street games they always play but on a grander scale and with each child having a gift to remember the day by, rag dolls with embroidered hearts on their dresses and wooden spinning tops with painted heart designs in red and gold.
And games for the adults, some of which the children join in on. Lines of willing and cheerful folk set up in alternating gender and passing a heart shaped cushion from one set of knees to the next down the line, no hands allowed. A more grown up version for the young lovers and couples of the docks on a rare break from their hard working lives, in which a playing card, the Queen of Hearts, passed from mouth to mouth with suction, much laughing from players and servers alike if the card drops and an accidental kiss ensues.
And then a great game of Whispers, folk of all ages lined up and whispered messages passed from lips to ear down the line, with raucous laughter at the mangling such a message receives over its travels and at the end of which with laughter in the air the beautiful, if humble, elven woman Rilia, resplendent in red and gold mounts one of the stronger tables and speaks to the masses.
"People of the Docks: Some of you know me and likely many of you do not. For those of you that do not yet, I am Rilia Dedralle. I have lived in this city since shortly before the Eastlander War. I am not here though to tell you about myself. If you wish to know more about me, then approach at any time and ask, I have nothing to hide, but this is an election that should not be decided on personality or popularity but on Ideas. Meaningful, deliverable Ideas to make the lives of you its citizens easier and to bring to you every day some measure of the joy I hope today brings.
For these many years we have toiled under the hardship of war. I have seen Peltarch suffer through three great conflicts and, like you, hope now to see an era of prosperity, peace and happiness. This is not an election of a supreme ruler. Some despot who can deliver anything he promises. You are electing members of a senate who will each bring something of their beliefs and aims to the mixture, and each of whom must work with the others if there is to be the accord that will take Peltarch onwards into this era of peace. I am certain almost every one of you owes thanks in some way to one of the two great trading Guilds of the Docks. The Seafarers and the Wavebreakers, despite their differences, have both done much for this City and especially for you people gathered here. I am sure they will both work with me to help build Trade and to by doing so increase the income of the City and so alleviate some of the hardship these last years have brought you all. I'm not going to try and tell you I'm better than them. I am a simple woman with simple aims and ideas.
I aim to make life better for those of you whose husbands and wives died in the war and who struggle now to make ends meet. I aim to ensure your continued security by supporting the Defenders whose headquarters overlooks all you fine men and women do here, by demonstrating our gratitude and caring for those men and women who helped us free ourselves and gave their lives doing so. I aim to do both these things by increasing the money coming into the City by cutting some of the bureaucracy from the current trading license system. And I aim to make sure that this era of prosperity is felt in this district. I aim above all to listen to what you want from this new shining future.
You have seen in the games we have played that the key to success is co-operation. And that it is easy for the message of the common folk to become garbled and lost as it is passed up the chain to the Senate. I will be your Ear. I will listen directly to you the people and take what you tell me and act on it within the Senate to do what seems best for you, my people.
I stand for the fun, joy, laughter and love I have tried to bring you today. I stand for those whose love has been lost, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters and lovers all. And I will make today a foreshadowing of the leisure and pleasure I intend to make a part of your lives from now on through all these things.
I will be the ear of the working man and woman, and I will do this without recourse to saying bad things about those I know have done well for, and by, you and your hard work. I will do it with your second vote, if you will give me that mandate. Please. Enjoy the rest of this day.
With a smile and a flourish she motions to the servers who now pass amongst the adults passing out red and gold silk handkerchiefs, unadorned but a small piece of luxury to the hardworking and poor of the district
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Many in the crowd cheer vigourously as Rilia speaks about the sacrifices and bravery of the Defenders, and there are several cries of agreement when she proposes they not be forgotten in what for them is likely a grim time indeed.
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Symone nods approvingly and watches the gathering of people for reactions or comments
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Wearing her red, black and silver sisterhood robes, the svelte elven woman stands before the assembled people and smiles. ((Charisma mod +8 )) Her hair the golden color of ripe wheat pulled back into a sensible knot held in place with two simple wooden sticks.
To my fellow citizens of Peltarch: Some of you know me and likely many of you do not. For those of you that do not yet, I am Rilia Dedralle. I have lived in this city since shortly after the Eastlander War. I am not here though to tell you about myself. If you wish to know more about me, then approach at any time and ask, I have nothing to hide, but this is an election that should not be decided on personality or popularity but on Ideas. Meaningful, deliverable Ideas to take Peltarch into it's shining future.
It is also not an election of a supreme ruler. Some despot who can deliver anything he promises. You are electing members of a senate who will each bring something of their beliefs and aims to the mixture, and each of whom must work with the others if there is to be the accord that will take Peltarch onwards.
For these many years we have toiled under the hardship of war. I have seen Peltarch suffer through three great conflicts and, like you, hope now to see an era of prosperity, peace and happiness. To this end there are Ideas that I will use your mandate to champion at Senatorial level.
The first step on the road to the future I believe we all deserve is to deal with the problems the past has left us. There is nothing I can tell you, no words I can use, which will build the love you hold for the fine Defenders of this City any higher than it is, and it is no more than they deserve. They have paid for our freedom with the lives of their brother warriors. Paid with their blood and pain. Paid with sweat and hardship, as we too have paid. In the balance though they have been the steel wall around our precious city and they have paid more in their grief than any other group, have been a shining example to us all. In this time of peace they continue though, to pay. They pay with joy and respect it is true, the fund with their coin and because of their love, to feed and clothe and care for those left widowed and orphaned by the war. I salute them for it, but I also ask, is it fair that they suffer this burden alone? I propose that the City should also, in this time of peace, help those fine men and women to bear the financial burden that they now bear from their own, unaided pay. Not because the Defenders cannot support their comrades families. They can. They have through three wars in my time here. But because we owe the dead and their bereaved a debt of such immense gratitude, and the living our undying respect and aid, in any way they will accept it.
With a warm smile she looks over the traders, merchants, farmers and general citizenry
As you can see, I've started, in a time of hardship, by naming another financial burden upon the City. A City cannot spend money it doesn't have, and Trade is the lifeblood of the Jewel. That Trade is already picking up but it needs nurturing at the highest level. The Senate is that level, and with your approval and a seat upon it, I intend to work hard to make that trade easier and more prosperous for all. In past years there has been something of a chokehold on trade in the city. Through no particular fault trade licenses have been ludicrously time consuming to get hold of. To the point that many small traders have given up and gone elsewhere to trade their goods. Adventurers have approached the City to purchase the right to sell their hard won goods to our merchants, goods won at the expense of the Orcs outside our walls and other enemies of our people, and been unable to attain a license due to the upheaval and bureaucracy. I submit that by streamlining the process and by moderately reducing the cost of such trade licenses, the volume of trade in the City can be greatly increased. With greater influx of goods, their can be greater exports of goods. Trade can be increased, in real terms, by such a simple solution. And the revenue from the sale of licenses can be used to make this City flourish, whilst the adventurers who form part of that revenue, reduce the threat to our people without threat to our own Defenders. Trade routes to the City will become safer. We all win.
As trade begins to grow, as the people become safer due to an unburdened defence force, then can the true work of prosperity begin. Cities prosperity is measured by its leisure, by its art and by its fashion. This City will once again be the Jewel it has always been, when lovers can walk, in the newest fashions, through the well kept parks. When they can listen to a concert at the Festhall and see a play at the Theatre. Eat fine foods in our Inns. All funded by an abundance of trade and all defended by a well supported army, the one we already love and respect.
I am sure you have heard enough for you to be going on with. I am a simple woman, I believe in working hard to deliver simple Ideas. If there is anything you wish to know, ask. I look forward to working for you if you will have me.
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Lacey and the Temple of Sune have officially come out in support of Rilia.
