End of Arc One

“Always keep in mind…” Ulal sings quietly completely ripped out of what is happening around him, “All that’s weak mu-“ “Ulal!” A voice pulls him back into reality. “What? Oh sorry, I had this weird dream about this weird blue-haired woman. Song has been stuck in my head ever since.” He apologizes to Tarzana, who looks at him weirdly and shakes her head. "It is a good song!" Absent-minded Ulal scratches his collarbone, the mark there itches a bit. “Where were we again?”

“We were going over your promises to the refugees and the newcomers.” The cult leader says. “Okay, give me the quick briefing.” Tarzana point at Aclysia and Ulal turns to her. “Repeating data is a waste of time. Listen.” The alchemist criticizes Ulal before reaching for a piece of paper in front of her. Not that she would need it but double checking data is always important, even if you happen to never forget something. “We expect a second wave of refugees later today. This is because of the men who went back to inform their friends and families that stayed behind. Estimated are another 300, putting us at 700. Furthermore Tarzana estimates that one cult should arrive every three days. With an average size of 25 members, that puts our growth at 8 to 9 people a day. Statistically speaking.”

“How are the bureaucratic efforts going?” Ulal asks, “Mediocre. Due to the inability of most men to write the few officials we have must fill every field themselves. A lot of men also don’t feel comfortable around them.” No wonder seeing that most of these officials are either Demon worshippers or former pleasure slaves of the searching party. At least they get the kicks out of it whenever they filled a formula they technically obeyed an order after all. Ulal would have actually preferred not to use them but Catherine deemed it necessary in order to not depend on the Cult too much.

“Is it still manageable?” “It is going to get easier when more of my people arrive.” Tarzana says with a smirk. Everyone realizes her intentions and so she makes no effort of hiding them. If more and more of the Cult of Five become the backbone of the cities bureaucracy then her influence in the council would grow. She would become the most equal amongst equals. Well, due to some internal problems in the Cult, she would never be able to overtake Ulal but that is a problem for another day.

“Most of the Cult of Five are schooled in reading and writing. We come from a church after all.” She adds and leans back in her chair with a self-satisfied expression. “How are our efforts to organize the writing classes?” Ulal continues his questions. He expected Tarzana’s smile to become slightly sour at the mention of a plan that could cross hers, as more people schooled in administration meant less involved Cult members, but her smile just stays. Ulal is narrowing his eyes slightly he is missing something and he does not appreciate that.

“Well, we h-have a full list of over twenty volunteer teachers.” Glenn answers after hastily picking up some notes. “Oh? I didn’t expect his many.” Ulal glances at Tarzana’s grin again. “Can you give me a full list of these volunteers?” He asks. A small drop in Tarzana’s smile tells him all he needs to know before he actually gets the list. “How come that out of these twenty people.” He muses after checking the documents. “There are sixteen Cult members. Tarzana, dearest, you wouldn’t happen to have something to do with that, would you?”

Tarzana makes a dismissive gesture, “What can I say, my people are very nice.” “Indeed they are.” Ulal hums a bit, his fingers drumming on the table. “Tell them to keep in mind that this is a lesson in writing though. If people seek out the Cult out of interest I won’t stop them but religious propaganda has no place in the classroom. We are secular after all.” “I will tell them.” Tarzana ensures. They both know that she will only tell them to be very careful about their advertisements. However with this Ulal should have made them careful enough not to outright summon a couple of succubae as ‘assistances’. For a sex-starved population such as this one the full conversion would maybe take three days.

‘Should probably do something about this soon.’ Ulal thinks to himself ‘The people need bread and games. And what is more entertaining than sex?’ “Is that everything?” Ulal asks, “I can only report that no mages have been found yet. Outside the ranks of the Cult of course.” Catherine glares at Tarzana. Ulal had already anticipated that his would come to speech sooner rather than later and it is a perfect opportunity to cull down Tarzana a bit more. “That is true. Tarzana following the design of the city the mages should live in and follow the leader of the District Arcana. That excludes you as a District Leader of course.”

Tarzana’s smile dies completely and she gives him a very sinister look. “You know I cannot comply with that request.” She says, her tone filled with threats. “Yes, this is a bit of a unique situation isn’t it.” Ulal muses. “How about this: We give every mage a choice with three possibilities: A. They go to District Arcana, B. They stay with you in District Anjar or C. They will have a joined leadership.” “What is that supposed to mean?” Catherine asks on behalf of both of the witches. “It means that they will be under Tarzana’s jurisdiction in daily matters but under yours during their jobs, which of course will be training new students or studying depending on their abilities.” “And in the case of conflict?” Tarzana asks, which causes Ulal to cross his arms, “Like anybody but me will have supreme command over the military.” He says. “In that case this is acceptable to me.” Catherine says, after grinding her teeth for a bit Tarzana is forced to agree as well. “Great. Anything else?” “Yes.” Aclysia puts down the papers and looks at Ulal. “Military. Report.”

“The first training session has been successful.” He proudly says. “Based on the results of a series of tests I have put them in different groups of training intensity.” “And how is your military structured?” Glenn asks because he has to answer the questions of people that expressed interest of maybe joining in a second recruitment.

“My military is divided into four entities. First we have the hundred, my core and elite army. They are directly under my orders and no one else’s. Second we have the professional army, these are the people that will permanently remain in training and will gain rank, giving them commando over groups of five to one hundred people of the third group during military operations. They will also get the best equipment and housing in the west wing of my District. In peace they will also bolster the police force. The third entity is the foot soldier. These people went through basic military training and will be conscripted in case of war but are outside of the army otherwise. They will get a yearly bonus to their normal pay as long they remain within the army. Finally, there are the mages. Mages will be organized based on their skills and deployed where they are needed.” Ulal gives the lengthy explanation to the Roundtable. He keeps quiet about the order of assassins he is also building, it is better to have a few aces in your sleeve after all. Especially if these aces happen to have edges so sharp that somebody could die from them.

Glenn raises his hand a bit but then acts like he only did that to clear is throat after remembering he does not have to do that. “Another question. You mentioned a pay but we don’t have an economy yet. Currently we are only handing out food to people that work. It functions but we don’t have such a thing as an Estaran gold coin.” Ulal smiles, “We have been working on that. Aclysia, if you would do the honour.”

Aclysia nods. “Point based monetary system. People get points based on their work and they can buy things with these points. Current name: Du-cathis.” Everyone but Catherine and Aclysia start snickering. “That was actually just a joke suggestion Aclysia.” Ulal says and gives her a thumbs up, “But great job delivering the joke.” Aclysia tilts her head slightly and blinks, “You are welcome?” she asks. “In all seriousness though, the current name for this point currency is ‘Sander’. We will set up a ministry for it in the Zerja including an exchange post. We will speak over the detail another time, economy is hard and deserves its own meeting entirely.” Ulal adds after some further snickering.

“Anything else?” He asks the ritualistic question. Shaking heads. “Most of the internal planning seems to be done. Congratulation ladies and gentlemen we have a functioning government. The next few days will include many bickering sessions about laws and economy but never forget that there is another matter entirely on the horizon.” He raises the glass that each of them has in front of them. The other council members follow his example closely after, all of them are filled with clear water. All of them besides Aclysias who is drinking Mercury. “To the fall of Brikstrat, may it wait until our planning is done.” He drinks on the pledge and after setting the glass back down announces the meeting to be over.