Story: Maj'Dulean Tears

OOC: This series of stories is actually ripped from the quest series that leads up to receiving the title "Hero of Maj'Dul". A number of things within the text are being changed to make it unique from the now generic events, and to sort of preserve the storylines of previous RPers who worked through this quest and bear the same title in character (such as my guild leader).

Much of what transpires within this story arch will be translated into rumors, but if people want to tastefully select more public incidents to have knowledge of, they are quite welcome to it. For example, while they might not know the details of the debate against Suhail, they could know that she beat his ass with a verbal stick.

Not a lot of people work on this quest series anymore, and fewer still of those who do role play. I thought the general population would enjoy seeing the content of the quests, despite the changes made. =)

~Aria's player

The Court of Truth Debate Hall was through a door on the left after entering the foyer of the Court, however only a handful of members could ever enter into the hall itself. It was here that a council of individuals that Caliph Ishara had assigned to make the more menial decisions of the Court and gather information regarding the more important issues met to hear the Court's current troubles via debates and reports.

The high elven woman was dressed smartly in the black and red leathers of a Consul, her fiery red hair pulled back into a more traditional coif at the crown of her head, though a few curling tendrils framed her face. Her lightly tanned skin had been dusted with golden mehendi powder, deeping its colour and giving it a light sheen that caught the light; intricate mehendi designs covered her hands and arms in henna tones with a few small bindi set on the backs of her hands while a smaller design and bindi adorned her brow.

Earlier in the day, a courier arrived at Aria's lavish home in the Gilded Twilight Terrace with a summons to the Court. There was a final practice debate before the judges would take their opinions to Caliph Ishara for approval, however one of the Consuls had suddenly left Maj'dul without any explination, leaving the Court without a second voice in the Debate Hall. The Caliph was all too aware of Aria's gift for politics, having argued many times with the woman since her ascendance in the Court, and had selected her to debate against the great Consul Suhail.

As she entered the hall, the buzz of conversation faded away into silence. The elf straightened her tunic before slowly walking towards the Notary, her movements fluid and confident, her silver eyes filled with a fire they had not held in some time. Within a few steps, the whispers began again, the underlings of the hall gossiping and making small bets over the outcome of the debate.

Notary Maajid nodded and began to ramble in a rather nasal voice,"Welcome, welcome, Preceptor Aria. I am Notary Maajid. I am here to answer any questions you may have about the upcoming proceedings. Feel free to ask me anything and I will do my best to answer you."

"What exactly happens here?" Aria asked quietly, "There are a number of rumors about this place, and I'd like to know the reality of it."

"The Court of Truth uses this place as a forum to conduct debates and trials. All major decisions are hashed out here," Maajid replied, his voice thick with an accent. "Generally, when a topic that requires major action comes up it is sent to the debate court. All of the invested parties are given a forum to argue out the pros and cons and the judges weigh each argument and decide what will best serve the court."

"Interesting," she responded, "I am not yet invested in any decisions on the court's future. What will my function be here?"

"Your goal today is just to prove that you can carry a debate and formulate a strong argument that appeals to our judges," Maajid explained. "It is a skill that all members of the Court of Truth possess, however we typically schedule such far in advance. You, however, have the good fortune to have been summoned early."

"What will the topic of debate be then?" Aria pressed, a number of well known issues among the Court coming to her mind almost immediately.

"The topic will be decided by Consul Suhail. There is a major argument being used for this practice debate, a matter that is quite pressing in the eyes of the Court," Maajid rambled. "You or Suhail will argue for or against an alliance with one of the other courts. Suhail chooses who will argue for and who against in the matter, and provide a brief explination."

The high elf tilted her head in thought, the small jewel on her forehead catching the light. Her eyes drifted to the tall Dervish man in the center of the room, taking in his features and his mannerisms before asking, "Why does Consul Suhail get to chose?"

Maajid made a small tsking sound, quickly showering praises, "Suhail is the greatest arbiter to ever be part of the Court of Truth, he has earned the right to chose the topics and positions in the debates."

"What are the consequences of failure?" she asked, eyes drifting to the judges who she already knew had ties to Ishara.

With an entirely serious face, Maajid intoned, "The judges will smite you down in a fit of righteous wrath, of course!"

The Fury gave him an incredulous look, a thin eyebrow raising in question.

"No, no, I am only kidding, of course," Maajid said, waving his hand slightly, "All judges attempt to be as impassive and objective as possible, but that can never be guaranteed. Only your arguments will be judged here, not you as a person or your loyalty to our court. You have earned the right to be here through patience and probably some rather tedious work. Being part of the debate court is a privilege given to those we trust, not a test or punishment. Plus this is only practice, my friend."

"what kind of arguments do these judges like?" Aria asked, turning her head to take in the men and women behind the table.

"The best way to judge the moods and preferences of each judge is really trial and error. For example," Maajid explained, "some days Magister Aymelek is the most affable and empathic person you have ever met, other days she is shrewd and aggressive and will only respond to combative arguments. Your best bet is to try the argument you feel best suits the situation and pay close attention to the comments of the judges."

Turning back to the Notary, the elf murmured, "Are the judge's preferences really that fleeting?"

"Well, in my experience, most brilliant people tend to be mercurial in that way... temperaments, preferences and moods always changing," the Notary said with a shrug. "Luckily, they are not so fickle that their moods will change mid-debate. It seems to be more of a day to day thing."

"And how many votes do I need to win then?" she inquired.

"You must win over the majority," Maajid replied, straightnening his black and green robes, "so three votes from any of the five judges."

She turned slightly again, letting her eyes drift over the hall before settling on her opponant. He was calmly shuffling through a few notes, pointedly ignoring his challenger as if to imply that he felt she posed no threat. While women were given a certain veneration within the city, it was still a very specific and narrow minded respect - the city was in the end still ruled by men, and women rarely left their exhalted state to argue with their decisions.

"Tell me about Consul Suhail," Aria finally whispered.

Maajid broke into a worshipping smile as he quickly whispered,"Consul Suhail was raised in our court. His father was once one of our greatest, most-honored judges. Suhail's talent is innate, even as a child he was quite convincing. He is not pompous or arrogant, like one would expect. He lives for the debate. It is his life and his greatest talent. He will not be easy to out argue, few have ever been able to win the judges from him."

Still curious about her opponant, she asked, "What makes him so good?"

"He has the rare talent to disengage his personal feelings from a debate and argue facts, but lace them with emotions that turn the judges," Maajid replied matter-of-factly. "He appears passionate, even if he couldn't care less about the subject he is arguing. It is quite amazing to watch."

Aria watched Suhail for a few more minutes before again straightening her tunic and making her way over to the dark man and the five judges. A silence decended upon the hall, and for the first time since her arrival, Suhail looked up from his notes to take in his new opponant. For several long moments, the Dervin and the barrisharr stared at each other, both calm and passive as they studied their pray.

"Consul Suhail," Aria said, nodding slightly to the dark man.

"Yes, I am," Suhail replied. "Let us get started then. Our topic is an alliance between our court and the Court of the Coin. They have been petitioning an alliance for some time now, and again we have reached their proposal; this time we intend to settle the matter once and for all. I will take the negative position and you will take the positive position. Do you have questions before we begin?"

Shaking her head, the high elf replied,"No, I am ready."

The two turned to the judges and bowed formally, a striking contrast to each other visually. Suhail was much taller than she, with skin so deeply tanned it was nearly blackened, his hair like the skies at midnight when the moon is hidden from the skies with dark brown eyes that seemed to hold the mysteries of the ages in them; she was short and thin, her tanned and dusted skin appearing all too pale beside her opponant, her fiery red hair made brighter by his dark presence.

"Esteemed judges of the Court of Truth, I bring before you today the proposal of an alliance between our court and the Court of Coin. I will start by saying this proposal is preposterous," Suhail began, turning slightly so that he faced the judges and Aria. "Our great court has spent years avoiding the assassins and spies sent by the Court of Coin to undermine us. We have taken great care to be completely independent of the political and economical machinations of this group of petty thugs. Now is not the time to bow down to them."

"Respected judges of the Court of Truth, we have struggled and fought endlessly to attain the level of autonomy that we possess. The Court of Coin's proposal for alliance proves we have been successful," Aria replied, her voice taking on a strange tone, one of strength and femininity, "Allying with the Court of Coin would not undermine our independence in any way. In fact, we could use this alliance to our advantage and soak up everything we can take from the Court of Coin."

Immediately, four of the judges nodded at her argument, one of them openly smiling to the new arrival. Their favour did nothing to intimidate a veteran of the debate such as Suhail, and the man merely continued his argument, mehendi'd hands gesturing calmly as he spoke.

"The Court of Coin is not comprised entirely of camel brains. My colleague here is blind to believe they would just let us traipse in and take everything they have worked for. History proves that alliances between the courts will never work," Suhail calmly explained. "Look back at the debacle between the Coin and the Blades when they attempted a trade alliance. The streets of Maj'Dul ran red with blood after that one. We cannot accept this alliance just based on the potential for massive losses. It makes no sense."

With a faint smirk, Aria rebuttled, "The Court of Coin is still suffering from that failed alliance with the Blades. This alliance would be mutually beneficial. They need us and we most certainly can use them to attain our end goals. There is no harm in helping others, by helping ourselves."

Two of the judges shook their heads, frowning at the statement while the other three nodded to her. The judges were clearly torn on their views of the Court of Coin, making the arguments all the more important to the future of the Court of Truth. Aria was not the only one to notice the judges wavering feelings, and Suhail again began to try and pursuade them against the alliance.

"If anyone here thinks the Court of Coin is not dangerous then they are a fool. Yes, we are smarter and more powerful, but they have their strengths too. We cannot underestimate the level of subversion they are willing to stoop to. How can we," he said, motioning to the assemblage, "in good conscience, put ourselves in danger by allying with known enemies? They have made it apparent that they wish to be responsible for our demise."

Without even giving Suhail a chance to finish his thought, Aria lifted a hand as if to scold the other Consul as she replied, "Then we should be smart about it. The Court of Truth has the best information and spy network in all of Maj'Dul. Allying with the Court of Coin expands that even further. Imagine the volumes of information we can attain from them. I do not dispute that they are our enemies, which is even more reason to try to get as close as possible."

Arbiter Kashif, Magister Aymelek, Overseer Numair and Chancellor Jalilah all looked to one another with smug grins and nodded, quite proud of the vast network of contacts the Court held. Marshal Raaghib glared at Aria, clearly unconvinced that the Court of Coin provided any sort of information that they did not already have. Finding that the tide had turned, Suhail decided that he must play off the Marshal's position and let Raaghib convince the others through example.

"The search for more information is of course noble, but at what cost?" he implored, "Is the fall of the Court of Truth worth learning the secrets of the Court of Coin? I say not. Given time we will learn all of their secrets on our own. That is our way."

"Our way is not to sit on our hands when presented with such an easily exploitable situation. The Court of Truth believes in action," Aria replied with conviction, "not waiting around for gold to rain down from the sky. If we take no action now, it limits our options in the future."

All of the judges save the Marshal nodded, three of them openly smiling to Aria while the fourth watched her with intense eyes. Suhail was loosing his once captive audience, which only seemed to redouble the man's efforts to win their hearts and votes.

"Patience is a powerful weapon. Jumping into an alliance without all of the proper information could be disastrous," he intoned. "We must gather as much information as possible on the motives and attitudes in the Court of Coin surrounding this alliance. We must know their real motives."

"Patience is just another word for fear. It is time we seize opportunities as they are handed to us. It is downright irresponsible," the elven woman replied, eyes sliding to look at her opponant, "even traitorous to wait on accepting this alliance. We cannot allow this chance at domination to just slide past us. We cannot sit around bogged down in debate and theorizing. It is time to take action."

Surprisingly, Marshal Raaghib nodded along with the other judges, though his eyes still harshly glared at the Koada'dal - it seemed he begrudginly accepted her arguments, but was not pleased with whom was delivering them. Her opponant found himself in a position he had not been in for years, his words for once not pursuading the judges to his side of the argument but somehow only working against him as she countered each point.

"In conclusion, I am begging of you... do not accept this alliance. It is a setup, it is a sham," he explained emphatically, "and it is designed to bring the Court of Truth to its knees. Accepting this alliance is walking blindly into a trap. We cannot take the chance, the danger outweighs the gain."

"The Court of Truth is strong enough to take grasp of this opportunity and use it to our full advantage," Aria closed her argument, standing calmly facing only the judges as she spoke. "We should accept it and drain every last resource from the Court of Coin. The Court of Truth is superior and it is time we use that."

Arbiter Kashif nodded, "You have the right of it, Preceptor."

"You are well informed, Aria," Magister Aymelek exclaimed.

With a small clap of approval Overseer Numair said, "Consul Aria, I am convinced."

Chancellor Jalilah murmured, "It is good to see you pay attention to more than your work, Preceptor."

Marshal Raaghib remained silent, only nodding slightly to the woman. Suhail glared slightly as his opponant was called Consul, though the emotional expression was fleeting and momentary before returning to the stoic stance the Consul typically used. Despite the insult, he was delighted to have finally been given an actual challenge for the debates, and decided to make sure his former partner didn't return to the city.

"Please give us a moment to deliberate," Arbiter Kashif said as the judges stepped away from the table.

After several minutes of discussion, Raaghib looked almost defeated as the other four judges seemed to chide him. Soon the five returned to their positions at the long table, each looking from Suhail to Aria several times before Arbiter Kashif raised both hands to call attention back to himself.

"Good show, you know your facts," the Arbiter exclaimed, "You have won us all over, Preceptor Aria!"

The high elven woman bowed respectfully to the judges, the small bindi jewels catching the lights of the hall, glittering against her gold-dusted skin. Suhail turned and extended his own decorated hand to her, pressing his lips to the back of her own when she took his, bowing to her slightly with a delighted smirk. Aria returned his smile, nodding to him before he escorted her from the Debat Hall, quietly discussing the possibilities of debating at a later date to brush up on a real challenge.

In the shadows of the Court, several pairs of eyes watched the preceedings with great interest, memorizing every word and action to take back to their masters. Once the Debate Hall had emptied, several Grifters made their way from the Court of Truth, slipping through the dirty streets unnoticed as they made their way back to report to Master B'Dynn within the hidden rooms of the Court of Tears.



The streets surrounding the hall of B'Dynn were filled with shadows, no matter what the hour or what the weather; within those shadows moved many beings, each carrying out whatever duty the Court of Tears saw fit for them.

It was here that many came for orders, unless urgency called for a Hand of Tears to find them - few matters were so important that those who directly served B'Dynn ever had to do such, something the Tears were all well aware of.

A lone elven woman moved unseen through the allyways that lead to the Court, her form obscured in a shroud few could pierce unless they were well trained. She had long ago learned how to call down the Shadows of Luclin, literally drawing down the darkness that surrounded the broken moon, however as she grew more in tune with the world around her, the spell became more potent.

It was not, however, powerful enough to keep her hidden from the other Hands.

"Barrisharr, your timeliness is appreciated," another hidden figure hissed in the Dervish tongue. "I've another assignment for you from B'Dynn."

"As do I, barrisharr," another obscured voice whispered, "We bring them to you, as the Dark One is detained."

"Very well," an airy, lightly accented voice replied. She was not Dervin by any means, however she'd learned their language some time ago.

The three moved deeper into the shadows, rounding the tall sandblasted building they considered their headquarters, moving away from even the other Tears before continuing their conversation.

"Your investigation of Ishara is progressing well, however it has been found that another of the Courts has become corrupted," hissed the first hidden Dervin. "Dukaris' people have crossed the line far too many times for the Dark One's comfort, and he wishes to know if it is their individual decisions, or if Dukaris has put them up to such."

Before she could even acknowledge the first being's statement, the second shrouded Dervin began to speak, "The second matter is one far more delicate, and of even greater importance to the Dark One than Dukaris' investigation."

Motioning for the elf to follow, the three Hands made their way even further from the rest of the Tears, their voices so low they could barely hear each other as they spoke.

"What could be so dire?" she asked, ducking under a fallen board.

The second figure hissed, "A thorn in the side of the Dark One, a thorn known as Solufein Alastrarran - his insolence has been tolerated too long, and as the Dark One begins the final actions of his plan to restore order to Maj'Dul, the thorn must be removed."

In the silence after his words, she nodded. She had heard of this Alastrarran, a wild elf whom many of the citizens venerated as a hero after he lead the battle to stop the Orc invasion that the Peacocks had arranged, saving many a Dervin from a grusome death. Though she wondered what slight he had made against B`Dynn, she did not question the orders - the execution of the current operation would finally free the poor from the grip of the wealthy, and put the Courts back into order.

She would not let anyone stand between the liberation of Maj'Dul from the corrupted rich men, not even another elf.