Omake: The Noble Vern's Path to Power
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Orphiex
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Second entry! This one fought me a bit as I got closer to the end, but I think I came up with a good way to close it off. We now see how the high and mighty are responding.
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Omake: The Noble Vern's Path to Power
Grantier Zulkhies
Erylon, capital city of the Fulcrum Dynasty
Minda System, Minda-2
"So. How bad is it?"
Grantier Zulkhies, Minister of the Exchequer for the Fulcrum Dynasty, took a moment to school his features and steel his spine before addressing King Limarkos, his heir the Archduchess, and the assembled Ministers of the Privy Council. Not that the news was all bad - in fact, it was approaching good - but because the decisions made here would shape the Dynasty for centuries to come.
"The Imperial Quota - or Tax, or whatever they wish to call it - is substantial, but… the situation continues to change so rapidly that there is no one clear answer to that question. With your permission, Your Majesty, I would like to give a full overview of the current situation."
King Limarkos gave a brief nod; Grantier took this as permission to continue.
"First, I must emphasize that the Quota is levied upon all of Verndar collectively, not just the Dynasty. In theory, we could get away without contributing to the Quota at all; in practice, were every political entity on Verndar to do this, the Quota would go unpaid and resolution of the issue would fall to the Imperial Navy."
There was a minor flinch throughout the room. While only the Archduchess and her entourage had been present at the original meeting with the Governor, the tale of Mount Zuji's bombardment had made the rounds. Only the most foolish or delusional still thought that the ability of the Imperial Navy to destroy their nation was overstated. With that reminder setting the tone, Grantier forged forwards.
"Fortunately, the Imperials themselves are aware of this; furthermore, the Governor - or his staff - seem to understand that while the various nation-states of Verndar have wildly different levels of productivity, there is no way to apportion the Quota accurately among them. At least, not without some sort of planetary audit that would be far more trouble than it's worth. Which is why they've implemented a 'points' system."
Grantier reached out and tapped a button on the device before him, activating the slide projector that he'd negotiated for with one of the Imperial representatives. He wasn't fluid enough in Basic to use one of their PDAs (yet), but the concept behind the projector was easily grasped by anyone who'd ever seen shadow puppets. The first slide showed a table listing some of the nations of Verndar - with the Dynasty at the top, obviously - and numbers next to them.
"As groups contribute to the Quota, be they tribes or kingdoms, they earn points. Once the Quota is filled, the points can then be used to acquire resources, tools and other assets in addition to those available under the uplift program. Whoever contributes more, or contributes above the minimum threshold of the Quota, can get more, whether that be resources that would be difficult to acquire on the open market, or things like… priority. Deliveries ahead of other countries of Verndar."
There was a susurrus of whispers and shifting around the room. The idea of getting ahead of, say, those militant tossers in the Obsidian Wardenship? It was tempting. Seductive in a way that money alone couldn't quite match. Clearly the Governor knew how to play the incentives game, Grantier thought.
"This is complicated by several factors. Firstly, by just how many groups there are." Grantier flipped to the next slide, this one a much, much longer of all the polities on Verndar. Including all the pokey little jungle tribes, many of which nobody had known or cared about until the Empire dug them up and gave their ultimatum. "All of these groups are not only contributing to the Quota, but many of them are dealing with a… leadership reassignment at the same time as a fundamental worldview shift. And every one of them has at least one PDA with access to the Imperial communications network. Which means that they can talk to each other whenever, wherever, they want. The political ramifications of this… we may end up with a jungle tribes coalition like the Saveeri Alignment." Everyone winced again; the Verdant Horde's invasion centuries ago had broken the back of the Dhloaz Empire, and nobody wanted a repeat. "Or the tribes might dissolve entirely and end up being absorbed into the Volcanic Territories. We just don't know.
"But the second, and far more immediate complication, is the influence of the Imperial Guild of Industry, Commerce and Protection." Grantier flipped to the next slide, this one showing a breakdown of the Guild's basic structure. "For those unaware, the Guild organizes and certifies miners, merchants and mercenaries in the Governor's territory. This includes training and ready access to related equipment. As part of the uplift program, Governor Mola has licensed the Guild to train and educate adults, separately from the childrens' schools operated by the Imperial government."
Grantier flipped to the next slide, this one showing a picture of the Imperial enclave that had subsumed the western slums. The landing fields, transshipment warehouses and Guild complex sprawled across the former slumlands. Grantier knew the King was displeased about ceding any amount of capital land to the outlanders, but property values on that side of the city had definitely gone up.
Although he couldn't for the life of him understand why they'd bothered to throw up those boxy buildings for the rabble to inhabit. What possible worth could they get from housing those wastes of breath, and at their own expense?
"The Guild branch here in the capital - and, presumably, the branches in other countries - have established training and education courses, that are open to all and sundry on a 'first come, first served' basis. As long as someone is not obviously a criminal or a maniac, they can enroll." Advance the slides to a Guild flier printed in the Dynasty's language. "To summarize what this flyer says, if an attendee completes a course of study in their chosen field, including at least one 'specialization'-" Transition to the list of Guild Specializations. "-then the Guild will provide them with equipment relevant to their field and specialization, as a loan. To be repaid in Imperial Credits."
King Limarkos frowned. "These debts. Are they coercive?"
"Not that I can tell, Sire. Some items are more expensive than others, but assuming the prices I have compared are accurate, the Guild seems to be selling at cost, and demanding no interest. However, that the loans must be repaid in Credits means that the graduates must work for pay in credits. Credits paid into a bank account, set up for them by the Guild. And once they're being paid in Credits…"
The rustling this time had different undertones of discomfort. The Dynasty had banks, of course, they were a civilized nation, but… for the powerful. The wealthy. The influential. The idea of the unwashed masses having their own accounts… it rankled somehow, even to Grantier, though he couldn't exactly articulate why.
"This is why many of them promptly start accepting Guild-posted contracts and using Guild-provided services, rather than going to the houses and the mercantile companies for work. Even so, the sheer productivity enabled by Guild-provided tools and training… all of my bureau's economic projections are effectively useless for the foreseeable future."
Grantier switched to another slide, showing a table of the Guild's ranking system. Wonderful things, these graphing tools. "A Scout with a blaster and basic training could go up against a small pack of jungle syzoks and have even odds of victory, and that only escalates as they organize into Conclaves. A Prospector-Cooperative can locate, excavate and sell more ore than a conventional mining group ten times their size. And a Trader-Collective with a dozen hover-pallets can move more than a full caravan. In short, while meeting the Quota would be onerous under past conditions, productivity is only going to keep rising, and there's no telling where it will end."
"And yet, you speak as if this is a problem."
"The problem, Sire, is that the Dynasty's own organizations and institutions cannot keep up." Grantier gestured to the table behind him. "The noble houses, guilds and trading costers have been slow to catch on, but once the first wave of graduates came out of the Guild's programs, almost all of them commoners…" Grantier flipped to another chart. "There are very few independents. Most graduates have formed their own Companies under the Imperial Guild, combining their specializations and equipment to fill as many roles as possible. I suspect that the Guild encouraged and supported them in doing so. The remainder mostly signed on piecemeal with the aforementioned bodies, who soon realized just how badly disadvantaged they now were, and once they figured that out…
"There have been incidents. While the smarter entities are forging contracts with newly-emerging Companies, some of the more stubborn and entitled noble houses are attempting to forcibly break these 'commoner companies' up and compel them into their own service, through means both legal and… not. Others are trying to intimidate the Guild into restricting access to their training courses, or shutting them down altogether. It is going… poorly for them. Even if the Guild didn't have the ability to call in the Imperial military - which it very much does - it's a mercenary guild. Things have not yet escalated to the level of blasterfire, but I suspect that there will be a major incident in the near future if the Dynasty does not step in beforehand."
"So. They are sabotaging us."
Grantier resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck. "Not as such, Your Majesty. To be clear, this is not the product of malice, or even incompetence, but of indifference. Perhaps if I play this recording…?"
———
Three weeks ago
Grantier Zulkhies, Minister of the Exchequer for the Fulcrum Dynasty, towered over Guild Administrator Zavef by a head. Administrator Zavef was doing a remarkably good job, even across the divides of both culture and species, of being visibly unimpressed.
"The Imperial Guild's uplift charter for Verndar is very explicit in the duties and responsibilities of the Guild. The Guild, as per directives from Governor Mola, is to support and enhance the uplift program of Minda-2 by introducing new training and tools to the native inhabitants of the planet, thereby increasing the productivity of the planet, better enabling the local inhabitants to more efficiently meet their Quota duties, and preparing the citizenry for inclusion into the wider galactic economy. It is not the Guild's responsibility to prop up the local satrapy."
"Are you saying that you will do nothing to curtail these disruptive influences upon the Fulcrum Dynasty? That you care nothing for the effects that putting extraterrestrial weapons and equipment in the hands of the masses will cause!?"
"I am saying, Minister, that the Guild's initiatives are open to all citizens of Minda-2, including the agents and representatives of the Fulcrum Dynasty and its government. If the Dynasty does not wish to avail itself of those opportunities? That sounds like a you problem."
———
Grantier switched the recording off. King Limarkos's expression was dark, but Grantier had seen him blueing with thunderous rage, and this wasn't that.
Archduchess Limali slowly tapped the table with her manicured digits. "This seems strange to me. Governor Mola stated clearly at our first meeting that he had no desire to overly interfere with the politics of Verndar's nations."
Grantier nodded. "As I said, indifference. I have reviewed the recordings of said meeting that the Governor distributed to the attendees, and while Governor Mola expressed a desire to avoid overruling or forcibly dissolving existing governments, he said nothing about wanting to preserve them. What seems clear from the recordings, especially his… blasé acknowledgement that the Empire could have him executed and replaced for failure, is that in the Empire, one is expected to succeed or fail on their own merits. If the Dynasty cannot succeed?" He let the statement hang in the air for a moment. "Nothing here represents a breach of the uplift accords, while also fulfilling what we believe to be Governor Mola's current objectives."
"What objectives are those?" asked Minister for War Zoriasque, leaning forward.
"Based on the information Minister Delavin has received from our agents," he nodded at the Minister of Information, "Governor Mola's territory seems to be suffering from a severe lack of manpower and trained personnel. Some sort of extremely large project that is important to Governor Mola's superiors in the Empire. Low-skill workers across the region are undergoing similar training and taking on higher-paid work, causing knock-on effects across their supply chains.
"In short, the Guild is trying to train up a new workforce to replace those low-skill workers. Once our people have received enough training and accrued enough experience, my belief is that the various Companies on Minda-3 will start hiring them away to work for them off-world."
King Limarkos frowned. "They mean to entice our people away from the Dynasty? Well, that-" He stopped, a calculative look coming over his face. Grantier smiled internally; he'd known that his monarch would see the potential here.
"That… would allow us to slip our own people into the off-worlders' operations," Archduchess Limali slowly stated, her own features showing deep thought. "Agents who can acquire and funnel resources back into our hands. Materiel, information, even more of the Empire's credits."
"Thus allowing us to gain an understanding of what we truly face, independent from the Empire's obvious propaganda, and improve our own negotiating power at the same time," Limarkos mused. "Delavin, how feasible is this?"
Minister Delavin stood. "Frankly, Sire, we've already made first steps, slipping some of our intelligencers into the Guild's training sessions to see what we're up against. The Guild doesn't seem to do any sort of background checks or investigations, they just run basic tests of whether they're physically and mentally unimpaired before shoving them into classrooms. Of course, once they're in the Imperials' records - and the Imperials are inveterate record-keepers - things probably become more stringent. However, I have confidence in our agents' ability to be discreet. As for acquisitions… Minister Grantier?"
Grantier clicked through a few more slides, arriving at a price-list for products available through Guild-certified merchants. "While the terms of the uplift agreement are quite clear, and the lists of proscribed items and substances under Imperial law are explicitly defined… in practice, we are no more subject to trade restrictions or import tariffs than any other region in the Governor's territory. Anything that an offworlder alien can legally buy, we can legally buy. As long as we have the credits to pay for them, that is.
"Of course, any trade right now is hugely in the offworlders' favor; even if we assume that the figures and market prices available through the Guild are accurate, the offworlders have all the ships, and we are not a credit-using economy yet. The uplift agreements offer us a limited amount of funds, but only for circumscribed, uplift-appropriate uses. We need our own sources of credits before we can acquire market-available materiel without being held hostage to the whims of smugglers.
"And when it comes to skill development, there's a bottleneck. Part of the reason that the Guild refused to open further training for the noble houses is that their training programs are running at capacity; this labor shortage is affecting them as well. They're effectively 'booked up' for the next six months in all tracks, and they're unwilling to remove any existing bookings for anyone, even the Dynasty itself.
"However. Registering a Company through the Guild is… unneccessary; what matters is the ability to extract resources competitively. The courses, too, are not the obstacle they seem. While Guild accreditations are useful and valuable, the tests needed to acquire them can be taken without passing through the training available to the hoi-polloi. We are the Dynasty. We are not without our own means; if the current bottleneck is the availability of Guild trainers, we can afford to hire our own.
"Administrator Zavef can cling to her precious charter as much as she wants, but that same adherence means that if the Dynasty decides to recruit our own trainers through the Guild's employment network, she has no legal recourse to obstruct us from doing so. And recruitment of trainers is covered by the terms of the uplift program."
…which meant that the Dynasty government, as the only ones allowed to use those funds, could offer the credits that the other noble houses didn't have, Grantier didn't say. By securing control of the best non-Guild training methods, His Majesty could pick and choose which noble houses got access to those trainers, thus regaining some of the political capital lost by capitulating to the Empire. He knew that the King would pick up on it, and hoped that the Archduchess had seen it.
And of course, Grantier planned to capitalize.
Grantier had lied about nothing. The plethora of market shifts right now had indeed thrown all his old calculations out the window… but his ability to make new ones had only improved. Especially with these new PDAs; he was still working on learning Basic and officially couldn't make use of any of the provided ones, but the Guild had developed complete translation packages in order to train the riffraff. Grantier'd taken one provided as part of the uplift program and gotten it updated at the Guild to display the Dynasty's language, something that it seemed everyone else had forgotten to do (probably just lost in the bureaucratic shuffle), and he had been devouring the economic and mathematical modules. Market fluctuation, projective graphing, inflation and deflation predictors… and the spreadsheets. Ohh, the spreadsheets. What a difference those made to his calculations.
And those projections said… that the only reason the Dynasty still had a functioning economy was because the Empire was deliberately keeping its own companies out of Verndar. That and the lack of credits. A mid-range offworld mercantile concern could flood the local markets with more cheap metal ore in one day than all the mines of the noble houses could generate in a local year, crash the economy in a week, then buy up whatever they wanted for scraps.
He'd have to be careful and explain this over time - nobody in the room wanted to hear that mere merchants could threaten the nation - but the facts were the facts. The Dynasty was outmatched not only militarily, but economically. Uplift was the only chance the Dynasty had to be a player, not a pawn. Now he had to work the King and the Council around to thinking it was all their own idea, and this stage seemed to be going well so far.
And House Zulkhies? Grantier intended to make sure that when the dust settled, the House ended up with enough money and wealth to be kingmakers, not just functionaries. Not to say that he was disloyal, but his loyalties were to his nation more than his King. Jockeying for power was just how the Great Game was played. There'd never be a greater opportunity than this, not when he sat at the perfect confluence of knowledge, influence and connections.
Starting his own corporations, trading favors, manipulating the flow of uplift currency and resources to subtly expand his power base… nothing so gauche as embezzlement, he had his pride, but a vern in his position was almost expected to take advantage of having the inside line on the flow of money, within reason. He'd also figured out how to track the usage records of the PDAs, and nobody was taking advantage of their abilities anywhere near the degree that he was. Maybe they hadn't realized the sheer potential in them, or were being stubborn about not learning Basic; either way, Grantier wasn't planning to hand out hints anytime soon. There was so very much opportunity to be seized, and Grantier Zulkhies was perfectly positioned to do so.
Let the rabble play at building their Companies. Soon enough, Grantier would have control of them all, and then? Well, they used to say the sky's the limit, but not anymore.
———
A/N: Grantier is a smart and canny noble, because you don't get to control the Royal Treasury if you can't cut it, but his prejudices are definitely showing. He's going to do well for himself, but not nearly as well as he expects to: even if the Guild itself wasn't an anti-trust institution, really determined commonfolk with a little education and a leg up are far more capable than the mindless troglodytes he thinks of them as.
He's also misinterpreting Zavef; she's short with him because, like Las, she's got enough paperwork to deal with right now without getting any more involved in the native politics than she needs to, and strict adherence to the charter is her shield. If the local satraps are willing to take some of those uplift responsibilities off her hands? She might just kiss them, even if they are green and stupidly tall.
Building residences for the slum-dwellers might seem like overdoing it, but Las and Darna are smart enough to think in the long-term; it builds goodwill and advertises the benefits of collaboration with the Imperial machine. "Give me your tired, your poor, your hungry" and all that. Besides, they're really just row upon row of cheap pre-fabs; a close analogue would be China's rapid-built COVID quarantine centers. Cheap as chips, and worse than student housing, but to the slum-dwellers of a medieval city? Unimaginable luxury.
TBH, I'm not sure if I'm going to take this any further; I've kinda written what I want to write. Maybe inspiration will strike in the future, where I get an idea that fires me up to write about the effects on Verndari international politics or a bit of Zavef's perspective or how the jungle tribes are reacting, or something. I do actually have one idea for a third entry, so maybe.
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Omake: The Noble Vern's Path to Power
Grantier Zulkhies
Erylon, capital city of the Fulcrum Dynasty
Minda System, Minda-2
"So. How bad is it?"
Grantier Zulkhies, Minister of the Exchequer for the Fulcrum Dynasty, took a moment to school his features and steel his spine before addressing King Limarkos, his heir the Archduchess, and the assembled Ministers of the Privy Council. Not that the news was all bad - in fact, it was approaching good - but because the decisions made here would shape the Dynasty for centuries to come.
"The Imperial Quota - or Tax, or whatever they wish to call it - is substantial, but… the situation continues to change so rapidly that there is no one clear answer to that question. With your permission, Your Majesty, I would like to give a full overview of the current situation."
King Limarkos gave a brief nod; Grantier took this as permission to continue.
"First, I must emphasize that the Quota is levied upon all of Verndar collectively, not just the Dynasty. In theory, we could get away without contributing to the Quota at all; in practice, were every political entity on Verndar to do this, the Quota would go unpaid and resolution of the issue would fall to the Imperial Navy."
There was a minor flinch throughout the room. While only the Archduchess and her entourage had been present at the original meeting with the Governor, the tale of Mount Zuji's bombardment had made the rounds. Only the most foolish or delusional still thought that the ability of the Imperial Navy to destroy their nation was overstated. With that reminder setting the tone, Grantier forged forwards.
"Fortunately, the Imperials themselves are aware of this; furthermore, the Governor - or his staff - seem to understand that while the various nation-states of Verndar have wildly different levels of productivity, there is no way to apportion the Quota accurately among them. At least, not without some sort of planetary audit that would be far more trouble than it's worth. Which is why they've implemented a 'points' system."
Grantier reached out and tapped a button on the device before him, activating the slide projector that he'd negotiated for with one of the Imperial representatives. He wasn't fluid enough in Basic to use one of their PDAs (yet), but the concept behind the projector was easily grasped by anyone who'd ever seen shadow puppets. The first slide showed a table listing some of the nations of Verndar - with the Dynasty at the top, obviously - and numbers next to them.
"As groups contribute to the Quota, be they tribes or kingdoms, they earn points. Once the Quota is filled, the points can then be used to acquire resources, tools and other assets in addition to those available under the uplift program. Whoever contributes more, or contributes above the minimum threshold of the Quota, can get more, whether that be resources that would be difficult to acquire on the open market, or things like… priority. Deliveries ahead of other countries of Verndar."
There was a susurrus of whispers and shifting around the room. The idea of getting ahead of, say, those militant tossers in the Obsidian Wardenship? It was tempting. Seductive in a way that money alone couldn't quite match. Clearly the Governor knew how to play the incentives game, Grantier thought.
"This is complicated by several factors. Firstly, by just how many groups there are." Grantier flipped to the next slide, this one a much, much longer of all the polities on Verndar. Including all the pokey little jungle tribes, many of which nobody had known or cared about until the Empire dug them up and gave their ultimatum. "All of these groups are not only contributing to the Quota, but many of them are dealing with a… leadership reassignment at the same time as a fundamental worldview shift. And every one of them has at least one PDA with access to the Imperial communications network. Which means that they can talk to each other whenever, wherever, they want. The political ramifications of this… we may end up with a jungle tribes coalition like the Saveeri Alignment." Everyone winced again; the Verdant Horde's invasion centuries ago had broken the back of the Dhloaz Empire, and nobody wanted a repeat. "Or the tribes might dissolve entirely and end up being absorbed into the Volcanic Territories. We just don't know.
"But the second, and far more immediate complication, is the influence of the Imperial Guild of Industry, Commerce and Protection." Grantier flipped to the next slide, this one showing a breakdown of the Guild's basic structure. "For those unaware, the Guild organizes and certifies miners, merchants and mercenaries in the Governor's territory. This includes training and ready access to related equipment. As part of the uplift program, Governor Mola has licensed the Guild to train and educate adults, separately from the childrens' schools operated by the Imperial government."
Grantier flipped to the next slide, this one showing a picture of the Imperial enclave that had subsumed the western slums. The landing fields, transshipment warehouses and Guild complex sprawled across the former slumlands. Grantier knew the King was displeased about ceding any amount of capital land to the outlanders, but property values on that side of the city had definitely gone up.
Although he couldn't for the life of him understand why they'd bothered to throw up those boxy buildings for the rabble to inhabit. What possible worth could they get from housing those wastes of breath, and at their own expense?
"The Guild branch here in the capital - and, presumably, the branches in other countries - have established training and education courses, that are open to all and sundry on a 'first come, first served' basis. As long as someone is not obviously a criminal or a maniac, they can enroll." Advance the slides to a Guild flier printed in the Dynasty's language. "To summarize what this flyer says, if an attendee completes a course of study in their chosen field, including at least one 'specialization'-" Transition to the list of Guild Specializations. "-then the Guild will provide them with equipment relevant to their field and specialization, as a loan. To be repaid in Imperial Credits."
King Limarkos frowned. "These debts. Are they coercive?"
"Not that I can tell, Sire. Some items are more expensive than others, but assuming the prices I have compared are accurate, the Guild seems to be selling at cost, and demanding no interest. However, that the loans must be repaid in Credits means that the graduates must work for pay in credits. Credits paid into a bank account, set up for them by the Guild. And once they're being paid in Credits…"
The rustling this time had different undertones of discomfort. The Dynasty had banks, of course, they were a civilized nation, but… for the powerful. The wealthy. The influential. The idea of the unwashed masses having their own accounts… it rankled somehow, even to Grantier, though he couldn't exactly articulate why.
"This is why many of them promptly start accepting Guild-posted contracts and using Guild-provided services, rather than going to the houses and the mercantile companies for work. Even so, the sheer productivity enabled by Guild-provided tools and training… all of my bureau's economic projections are effectively useless for the foreseeable future."
Grantier switched to another slide, showing a table of the Guild's ranking system. Wonderful things, these graphing tools. "A Scout with a blaster and basic training could go up against a small pack of jungle syzoks and have even odds of victory, and that only escalates as they organize into Conclaves. A Prospector-Cooperative can locate, excavate and sell more ore than a conventional mining group ten times their size. And a Trader-Collective with a dozen hover-pallets can move more than a full caravan. In short, while meeting the Quota would be onerous under past conditions, productivity is only going to keep rising, and there's no telling where it will end."
"And yet, you speak as if this is a problem."
"The problem, Sire, is that the Dynasty's own organizations and institutions cannot keep up." Grantier gestured to the table behind him. "The noble houses, guilds and trading costers have been slow to catch on, but once the first wave of graduates came out of the Guild's programs, almost all of them commoners…" Grantier flipped to another chart. "There are very few independents. Most graduates have formed their own Companies under the Imperial Guild, combining their specializations and equipment to fill as many roles as possible. I suspect that the Guild encouraged and supported them in doing so. The remainder mostly signed on piecemeal with the aforementioned bodies, who soon realized just how badly disadvantaged they now were, and once they figured that out…
"There have been incidents. While the smarter entities are forging contracts with newly-emerging Companies, some of the more stubborn and entitled noble houses are attempting to forcibly break these 'commoner companies' up and compel them into their own service, through means both legal and… not. Others are trying to intimidate the Guild into restricting access to their training courses, or shutting them down altogether. It is going… poorly for them. Even if the Guild didn't have the ability to call in the Imperial military - which it very much does - it's a mercenary guild. Things have not yet escalated to the level of blasterfire, but I suspect that there will be a major incident in the near future if the Dynasty does not step in beforehand."
"So. They are sabotaging us."
Grantier resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck. "Not as such, Your Majesty. To be clear, this is not the product of malice, or even incompetence, but of indifference. Perhaps if I play this recording…?"
———
Three weeks ago
Grantier Zulkhies, Minister of the Exchequer for the Fulcrum Dynasty, towered over Guild Administrator Zavef by a head. Administrator Zavef was doing a remarkably good job, even across the divides of both culture and species, of being visibly unimpressed.
"The Imperial Guild's uplift charter for Verndar is very explicit in the duties and responsibilities of the Guild. The Guild, as per directives from Governor Mola, is to support and enhance the uplift program of Minda-2 by introducing new training and tools to the native inhabitants of the planet, thereby increasing the productivity of the planet, better enabling the local inhabitants to more efficiently meet their Quota duties, and preparing the citizenry for inclusion into the wider galactic economy. It is not the Guild's responsibility to prop up the local satrapy."
"Are you saying that you will do nothing to curtail these disruptive influences upon the Fulcrum Dynasty? That you care nothing for the effects that putting extraterrestrial weapons and equipment in the hands of the masses will cause!?"
"I am saying, Minister, that the Guild's initiatives are open to all citizens of Minda-2, including the agents and representatives of the Fulcrum Dynasty and its government. If the Dynasty does not wish to avail itself of those opportunities? That sounds like a you problem."
———
Grantier switched the recording off. King Limarkos's expression was dark, but Grantier had seen him blueing with thunderous rage, and this wasn't that.
Archduchess Limali slowly tapped the table with her manicured digits. "This seems strange to me. Governor Mola stated clearly at our first meeting that he had no desire to overly interfere with the politics of Verndar's nations."
Grantier nodded. "As I said, indifference. I have reviewed the recordings of said meeting that the Governor distributed to the attendees, and while Governor Mola expressed a desire to avoid overruling or forcibly dissolving existing governments, he said nothing about wanting to preserve them. What seems clear from the recordings, especially his… blasé acknowledgement that the Empire could have him executed and replaced for failure, is that in the Empire, one is expected to succeed or fail on their own merits. If the Dynasty cannot succeed?" He let the statement hang in the air for a moment. "Nothing here represents a breach of the uplift accords, while also fulfilling what we believe to be Governor Mola's current objectives."
"What objectives are those?" asked Minister for War Zoriasque, leaning forward.
"Based on the information Minister Delavin has received from our agents," he nodded at the Minister of Information, "Governor Mola's territory seems to be suffering from a severe lack of manpower and trained personnel. Some sort of extremely large project that is important to Governor Mola's superiors in the Empire. Low-skill workers across the region are undergoing similar training and taking on higher-paid work, causing knock-on effects across their supply chains.
"In short, the Guild is trying to train up a new workforce to replace those low-skill workers. Once our people have received enough training and accrued enough experience, my belief is that the various Companies on Minda-3 will start hiring them away to work for them off-world."
King Limarkos frowned. "They mean to entice our people away from the Dynasty? Well, that-" He stopped, a calculative look coming over his face. Grantier smiled internally; he'd known that his monarch would see the potential here.
"That… would allow us to slip our own people into the off-worlders' operations," Archduchess Limali slowly stated, her own features showing deep thought. "Agents who can acquire and funnel resources back into our hands. Materiel, information, even more of the Empire's credits."
"Thus allowing us to gain an understanding of what we truly face, independent from the Empire's obvious propaganda, and improve our own negotiating power at the same time," Limarkos mused. "Delavin, how feasible is this?"
Minister Delavin stood. "Frankly, Sire, we've already made first steps, slipping some of our intelligencers into the Guild's training sessions to see what we're up against. The Guild doesn't seem to do any sort of background checks or investigations, they just run basic tests of whether they're physically and mentally unimpaired before shoving them into classrooms. Of course, once they're in the Imperials' records - and the Imperials are inveterate record-keepers - things probably become more stringent. However, I have confidence in our agents' ability to be discreet. As for acquisitions… Minister Grantier?"
Grantier clicked through a few more slides, arriving at a price-list for products available through Guild-certified merchants. "While the terms of the uplift agreement are quite clear, and the lists of proscribed items and substances under Imperial law are explicitly defined… in practice, we are no more subject to trade restrictions or import tariffs than any other region in the Governor's territory. Anything that an offworlder alien can legally buy, we can legally buy. As long as we have the credits to pay for them, that is.
"Of course, any trade right now is hugely in the offworlders' favor; even if we assume that the figures and market prices available through the Guild are accurate, the offworlders have all the ships, and we are not a credit-using economy yet. The uplift agreements offer us a limited amount of funds, but only for circumscribed, uplift-appropriate uses. We need our own sources of credits before we can acquire market-available materiel without being held hostage to the whims of smugglers.
"And when it comes to skill development, there's a bottleneck. Part of the reason that the Guild refused to open further training for the noble houses is that their training programs are running at capacity; this labor shortage is affecting them as well. They're effectively 'booked up' for the next six months in all tracks, and they're unwilling to remove any existing bookings for anyone, even the Dynasty itself.
"However. Registering a Company through the Guild is… unneccessary; what matters is the ability to extract resources competitively. The courses, too, are not the obstacle they seem. While Guild accreditations are useful and valuable, the tests needed to acquire them can be taken without passing through the training available to the hoi-polloi. We are the Dynasty. We are not without our own means; if the current bottleneck is the availability of Guild trainers, we can afford to hire our own.
"Administrator Zavef can cling to her precious charter as much as she wants, but that same adherence means that if the Dynasty decides to recruit our own trainers through the Guild's employment network, she has no legal recourse to obstruct us from doing so. And recruitment of trainers is covered by the terms of the uplift program."
…which meant that the Dynasty government, as the only ones allowed to use those funds, could offer the credits that the other noble houses didn't have, Grantier didn't say. By securing control of the best non-Guild training methods, His Majesty could pick and choose which noble houses got access to those trainers, thus regaining some of the political capital lost by capitulating to the Empire. He knew that the King would pick up on it, and hoped that the Archduchess had seen it.
And of course, Grantier planned to capitalize.
Grantier had lied about nothing. The plethora of market shifts right now had indeed thrown all his old calculations out the window… but his ability to make new ones had only improved. Especially with these new PDAs; he was still working on learning Basic and officially couldn't make use of any of the provided ones, but the Guild had developed complete translation packages in order to train the riffraff. Grantier'd taken one provided as part of the uplift program and gotten it updated at the Guild to display the Dynasty's language, something that it seemed everyone else had forgotten to do (probably just lost in the bureaucratic shuffle), and he had been devouring the economic and mathematical modules. Market fluctuation, projective graphing, inflation and deflation predictors… and the spreadsheets. Ohh, the spreadsheets. What a difference those made to his calculations.
And those projections said… that the only reason the Dynasty still had a functioning economy was because the Empire was deliberately keeping its own companies out of Verndar. That and the lack of credits. A mid-range offworld mercantile concern could flood the local markets with more cheap metal ore in one day than all the mines of the noble houses could generate in a local year, crash the economy in a week, then buy up whatever they wanted for scraps.
He'd have to be careful and explain this over time - nobody in the room wanted to hear that mere merchants could threaten the nation - but the facts were the facts. The Dynasty was outmatched not only militarily, but economically. Uplift was the only chance the Dynasty had to be a player, not a pawn. Now he had to work the King and the Council around to thinking it was all their own idea, and this stage seemed to be going well so far.
And House Zulkhies? Grantier intended to make sure that when the dust settled, the House ended up with enough money and wealth to be kingmakers, not just functionaries. Not to say that he was disloyal, but his loyalties were to his nation more than his King. Jockeying for power was just how the Great Game was played. There'd never be a greater opportunity than this, not when he sat at the perfect confluence of knowledge, influence and connections.
Starting his own corporations, trading favors, manipulating the flow of uplift currency and resources to subtly expand his power base… nothing so gauche as embezzlement, he had his pride, but a vern in his position was almost expected to take advantage of having the inside line on the flow of money, within reason. He'd also figured out how to track the usage records of the PDAs, and nobody was taking advantage of their abilities anywhere near the degree that he was. Maybe they hadn't realized the sheer potential in them, or were being stubborn about not learning Basic; either way, Grantier wasn't planning to hand out hints anytime soon. There was so very much opportunity to be seized, and Grantier Zulkhies was perfectly positioned to do so.
Let the rabble play at building their Companies. Soon enough, Grantier would have control of them all, and then? Well, they used to say the sky's the limit, but not anymore.
———
A/N: Grantier is a smart and canny noble, because you don't get to control the Royal Treasury if you can't cut it, but his prejudices are definitely showing. He's going to do well for himself, but not nearly as well as he expects to: even if the Guild itself wasn't an anti-trust institution, really determined commonfolk with a little education and a leg up are far more capable than the mindless troglodytes he thinks of them as.
He's also misinterpreting Zavef; she's short with him because, like Las, she's got enough paperwork to deal with right now without getting any more involved in the native politics than she needs to, and strict adherence to the charter is her shield. If the local satraps are willing to take some of those uplift responsibilities off her hands? She might just kiss them, even if they are green and stupidly tall.
Building residences for the slum-dwellers might seem like overdoing it, but Las and Darna are smart enough to think in the long-term; it builds goodwill and advertises the benefits of collaboration with the Imperial machine. "Give me your tired, your poor, your hungry" and all that. Besides, they're really just row upon row of cheap pre-fabs; a close analogue would be China's rapid-built COVID quarantine centers. Cheap as chips, and worse than student housing, but to the slum-dwellers of a medieval city? Unimaginable luxury.
TBH, I'm not sure if I'm going to take this any further; I've kinda written what I want to write. Maybe inspiration will strike in the future, where I get an idea that fires me up to write about the effects on Verndari international politics or a bit of Zavef's perspective or how the jungle tribes are reacting, or something. I do actually have one idea for a third entry, so maybe.
