Nuall looks at the faces around the room and sighs. "Very well, allow me to explain my reasoning."
"First, Sadie arrived in Rebma for the first time as was appointed queen...yesterday, correct? She has had no time to meet the people, especially most of the powerful and influential ones, and establish any form of working relationship. Everyone is Rebma will currently see her as an outside and usurper that they have to tolerate because Dworkin has declared it so. The only support she has is Solten, who they will see as another outsider as he is not even of the same court, this aid of her's...Priscilla is it?...and Dworkin himself. But this document effective says that Dworkin's will has no weight in Rebma, so she is effectively discarding her greatest political strength. All she will have left is her own, and Solten's, physical strength and whatever powers of persuasion they may have."
"Second, from what I've seen in this document it will take time to implement all of her plans. The problem is, once the nobles and others with power see this it puts them on notice that sooner or later they will be stripped of their power and influence. They will be the social equals of any of the dock workers. Do any of you suppose that they will accept that loss of power and status easily? Whatever timetable Sadie may have for implementation, once this document becomes public it is tantamount to a declaration of war on the existing power structure. We can expect them to take...drastic...steps while they still have power and before Sadie can establish a power base. Those steps will likely include open rebellion and will most certainly include assassination attempts."
"A third point to consider: it is my understanding that a significant part of Rebma is underwater and that water-breathing inhabitants live there. She will have a difficult time enforcing her writ there. Those that dwell there can largely ignore her will unless she has the means to visit sufficient force upon them to force them to capitulate. Her opponents will know that and will have a reasonably secure stronghold to marshal their forces from at need."
"The next point to consider is the diversity of the population itself. I have yet to meet most of the different types that live there, and I sincerely doubt that Sadie has either. I do not claim to understand them well enough to predict how they will all respond, but I believe it to be safe enough to accept that those who are as powerful as humans will respond mostly as humans would. But what of those more powerful, like that dragon last night? Will he...it was a he, was it not?...take kindly to being told that he is now the equal of the scullery maids in the kitchen? I suspect that some of those who can travel to other shadows will do so instead to carve out a stronghold of their own. The others are likely to fight to protect their status and power...and I suspect in most cases that is how they normally behave. In a pack of dogs, they males will fight to determine who is the alpha. The same is true of most creatures, including we humans. I believe we can expect at least a few of them to directly attack Sadie as well."
"Social change can come slowly or violently, but it will always be at least one of the two. Sadie is planning to move very quickly to bring about major social changes. There will be violence, and she will have to answer it with violence. There is a grave danger that she could become the very tyrant she is trying to protect the people against. That would be a truly tragic fate for her and I would spare her that if we can."
"My parents sought to teach of military, social and governmental matters. I tried to avoid such learning, but it would seem that they were more effective in their endeavors than I was. Also, I am a gambler and I have been told that I have a good grasp of...what was that phrase Dennis used? ah yes...game theory. This leads me to conclude that if Sadie were to just send out criers to post this document right now, then by far the most likely outcome would be a full scale rebellion. I would expect at least one to plan to put Reuben on the throne instead as he is a known quantity to then, whether he was aware of the plot himself or not. I would predict there to be 3-5 assassination attempts...those numbers assuming of course that none succeed. The next most likely result would be the wide scale civil unrest that I spoke of earlier. The odds of this going successfully are so small as to be unworthy of notice."
"Now if she were to take time to get to know the people, establish a power base, and win some of the key players over to her cause she could most likely bring about most of the changes she is seeking here without too much distress. That will take a considerable amount of time, but it does seem quite possible. If she is not willing to spend the time to do it properly, she will do to us what we have been discussing doing to Chaos. We need to make her see reason on this point. Can I count on you to support me in this?"
(OCC: When I come back after an absence I don't sneak back in quietly, do I?
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