Emirate of the Infinite Deep

Duttoc, along with his small attachment of four personal guards, made the journey (as they had several times before) from their home in Llorosh to the gate in the deep oceans. The gate was one of the few known more permanent portals that separated the deep ocean of the overworld with the parallel plane of the Emirate of the Infinite Deep. Duttoc and his rather stern looking guards passed through, and in short order were approaching the Emirate proper.

As they approached, one of the guard sounded off, clicking and gurgling loudly in what was essentially the common tongue of the underwater creatures in the overworld;

"Announcing Duttoc Ger! Emissary of Llorosh, Holy City of Aldea!"

Duttoc gave a slight nod of thanks, hiding well his annoyance with having to travel with a guard detail and not his normal staff. For now the emissary and his guard would wait to be addressed by the pertinent officials.

Duttoc and his guard were of course met with the fanfare and lavish delicacies that had, in their minds, become trademark of the Emir. Duttoc took a bit from one of the many platters of food and nibbled politely as his guard watched on. The guard weren't the scholars, heads of state, great explorers, and high-ranking religious officials that had typically made up the Emissary's entourage. They were military; and since they had been assigned to his detail, Duttoc was to assume they were exemplary soldiers, and as such were trained in the art of dispatching enemies of Llorosh with the highest efficiency.. But they were not at all trained for the world of high court.

This became clear as none of the guard were eating or drinking. They were silently watching, their collective heads on a swivel. For what? Duttoc hadn't the slightest. Llorosh and the Emirate of the Infinite Deep were on very good diplomatic terms, and it would have been extremely unlikely that trouble might have followed the detail this far in to the Emir's palace.

Before the doors opened to the inner sanctum where the Emir undoubtedly was waiting, Duttoc turned to his guard.

"Please do not be rude gentlemen. You are representatives of Llorosh, and it is customary to accept the generous hospitality of the Emir and his court - out here." The emissary's words were quiet and measured, and taken at face value would have sounded more like a suggestion than anything else. But of course, it was not a suggestion.

The doors opened, and Duttoc was shown into the presence of the Emir alone. The emissary folded his hands together and placed them flat against the purple and gold of his robes, just above his stomach. He bowed deeply to the Emir.

"Emir Alim al-Rashid of the Infinite Deep. Please allow me to express what an honor it is for you to graciously accept my request for an audience, as well as to further impinge upon your benevolent nature, and ask your pardon for my escort. I come at the behest of the High Seer of Llorosh, with news of our home."

The Emir would of course know the 'High Seer' that Duttoc spoke of to be the highest ranking religious official in Llorosh, and thus the defacto ruler of the city and all of its territories.

Duttoc approached Emir Alim al-Rashid's throne when he was motioned over. As for being not terribly warm, it wasn't particularly expected, at least not by Duttoc. He knew well that two nations being on friendly terms diplomatically did not necessitate the rulers and representatives of those nations behaving as if they were life-long friends; particularly when the length of time between official visits was as long as it was between the Infinite Deep and Llorosh.

"Your eminence, it is with a heavy heart that I execute my appointed duty to inform you that our High Seer, Salnat Bon, has received our Mother, and has passed on from our world. In his place, Vadrigg Xil has been selected to lead us as our new High Seer, after all of the due diligence commensurate with the importance of the decision to Llorosh was complete."

Duttoc's words came easily, and he seemed just about as relaxed as could be expected in the presence of the Emir.

"The new High Seer was selected some months ago, and he specifically asked me to send his apologies for not presenting himself in person, or dispatching a messenger before now. It seemed apposite to allow an appropriate period of mourning to pass before attending to matters of state directly involving our late Seer's passing."

The emissary of Llorosh would pause to allow the Emir to interject, if he in fact chose to do so.

"As I am sure you are fully aware your majesty, Llorosh's grievances with the land dwellers of our world are many, not the least of which is their ostentatious refusal to respect our oceans, and thus our Mother and creator, Aldea. The High Seer himself wishes our ally to know that he intends to take a stance on the blasphemy of the land dwellers far more aggressive than the previous Seer had thought necessary. The land dwellers' cruelty to one-another has spilled into our oceans for ages beyond number, and the High Seer intends to push the scourge back on to the other side of the great divide."

The 'great divide' that Duttoc spoke of was simply merfolk terminology for the separation between dry land and underwater.

"Thank you Emir, for your kind words and for your continued support of Llorosh in this time of transition. I am certain the High Seer would instruct me to accept your generous offer to continue the current agreements between our people." Duttoc said, obviously in response to Emir Alim al-Rashid's assurance that the trade and other diplomatic agreements would continue despite the regime change.

"If you will permit a bit of personal candidness, your majesty, I am not normally part of talks of war or battle strategy, so immediately I seek to bow to your experience on the matter. Nonetheless the situation Llorosh finds itself in may not lend itself well to a normal declaration of war - if such a thing as a 'normal' declaration of war exists. We are not at war with any named collection of the land dwellers, nor am I of the opinion that engaging in war with one conglomeration of the brutes will at all effect the destructive ambitions of the next.

"Llorosh, as I'm sure does your Emirate, has many warriors that would willingly crash like the tide against the seaborne contraptions of our enemy - but the High Seer wisely values each of their lives highly against the barbarians that would fall at their hand. It is for this reason that the Seer has involved me. The holy texts that I maintain and curate speak of ancient beasts; giants and leviathans which in the past have been summoned in times of great need. The High Seer has already ordered the process of waking these protectors to begin, in anticipation of loosing them to do the work of our Mother."

Duttoc tried not to appear as if he was lecturing, but it was difficult given the amount of information he'd been instructed to relay to the Emir; and of course he had his own scholarly penchant for lecturing to begin with.

"No, your eminence, the High Seer did not specifically include the request for aid in my briefing before my escort and I left from Llorosh." The Emir had asked a direct question, to which Duttoc was obligated to offer a direct answer.

"As nearly as I am aware, there could be more than twice as much ocean floor as there is dry land in our realm, and still the number of named collectives occupied by land dwellers far outnumber the proper civilizations found under our ocean's surface. This leaves Llorosh with fewer opportunities for allies, and even fewer with the beneficial economy and military might of the Infinite Deep. The High Seer I am sure, by sending me to request an audience with you, simply intends that relations with one of our strongest allies remain good, and the lines of communication between us open; especially given the state of flux Llorosh currently finds itself in.

"That being said, I have an intimate knowledge of the task set before me by my Seer. The ancient protectors of which the texts speak have not been awakened in recent memory. Powerful runes must be charged and formed, each protector with their own set of runes. The danger of turning these giants loose on their own accord is far too great, so additional magics must be used to direct them; energy must be collected and channeled, and a whole host of other rites in observance of our Mother must be performed before waking even one protector becomes anything but suicide.

"If Llorosh is to complete the task alone, it will take my scholars, all of our suitable wizards, and I, what may be an extraordinary amount of time to safely wake all of the protectors. Emir Alim al-Rashid, the High Seer may not have specifically sent me with orders to request aid for Llorosh, but Llorosh certainly could use it in this. A drop of aid now to start the machine of war turning may be worth a tidal wave of aid to keep it from dying later. If you are of a mind to, and your advisors deem it feasible, I have no doubt aid from the Infinite Deep will be thankfully welcomed in Llorosh."

Duttoc quietly hoped he was not overstepping his bounds, either with the Emir or with the High Seer. He was simply telling the genuine truth as he knew it.