Arkady nods. "Very well, let's start with easier. We can offer legal proof that Raven called a court, in front several monarchs, in order to offer the word of two unknown peasants that Preceptor Vanire here, along with some of his men, had murdered his cousin. That was his whole case, no other proof was ever offered."
He grins. "Now is anyone who has ever met Primate Raven going to try to say he would ever do that unless he had what he considered iron clad reason to believe that two peasants no one had ever heard of would be considered more credible than the head of one of the knightly orders? By several kings? One of whom is apparently some sort of relative of Sir Vanire? No, he would not."
More seriously: "Which brings us to the spell cast in that court. There is no doubt that one was cast, and nothing else save an act of God would have made those two credible. So who cast it? Well, the two knights who were in that room can certainly testify that they have no memory of ever seeing Raven's hands before the spell was broken. They can also testify that when the spell was broken, no one in the room was noticeably affected but Raven, who was thunderstruck. Even Sir Ulath will allow that he 'flinched', which no one else did. And they can testify, as trained spell casters themselves, that to cast such a spell one needs to use voice or gestures, or preferably both, unless one is centuries old and practiced in magic. Needless to say, no one in that court room met that test."
He gestures towards Ortzel. "You, your Eminence, may want to point out that this is not enough to condemn Raven in court. But we are not trying him in a court. We are trying to sway the men he bribed. Even if they bridle at the idea that he is a spell caster, they can hardly deny that he tried to discredit the Pandions and libel their Preceptor, in open court, with no proof worth discussing. This is hardly suitable behavior for an Arch-Prelate, and still leaves the question of why he thought he would get away with it unanswered...what non-criminal reason could he have had? None, of course."
He shrugs. "I am thinking this is a story that is needing to spread among the Patriarchs. Any of them who sees nothing wrong with bringing down a knightly order will not care, but the rest may be more thoughtful. Of course, we can also offer proof that he believed Vanire's cousin was dead because he ordered him killed himself; but that requires accepting a bit of Terran machinery as legitimate. Not everyone will be doing that."

Nate closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly, almost as if it pains him.

"There is a way to organize large scale demonstrations without needing to deal with the Church soldiers, but I was very much hoping to avoid using it. Alas, you leave little alternative, Patriarch."

"Dolmant, do you know what the literacy rate is among the general population?"

There's a general nodding at Arkady's suggestion. "Spreading rumours and backing them up with some proof is definitely possible," agrees Dolmant. "We won't know how effective it is until we try it, but I don't think there's anything to lose by trying."



"Fairly reasonable," says Dolmant, "for a city of this size. The Patriarchs are of course almost all literate, as are most of noble birth and scribes. Beyond that, literacy is a good deal less common - but not entirely unknown, and most people can at least find someone to read things for them if necessary. Why do you ask?"

"Ooh, I like that idea," Felix says. "The guards can't stop everyone if they all move as one, and it'll get the word out effectively."

Felix sets about what he needs to do to assemble a printing press.

Arkady looks at Ortzel. "One thing, your Eminence, and forgive me for being blunt. If history from my world teaches anything, it is that this kind of election can take a while and opinions can change. If the only candidate who is not one of Raven's men that can get enough votes to beat him turns out not to be you, will you vote for them?"

"I do not seek glory and rank for the sake of it," says Ortzel. "The election of the ArchPrelate is a matter of selecting who is best for the Church, regardless of other factors. I would vote for any honest Patriarch over this worrisome Primate."

"Honest Patriarch?" asks Talen, looking up from the piece of paper he's sketching on. "I guess that cuts out all the ones who've been taking bribes, then."

Ortzel draws himself up to his full height. "Young lad! You will mind your manners!"

"Oh, did I forget to say 'Your Grace'?" asks Talen, cheekily. "Terribly sorry about that, Your Grace. Won't happen again, Your Grace."

Piper giggles at this comment.

Felix continues to toil away at the printing press.

"Nonono, I want to hear about which Patriarchs are on the take, that's extremely useful information. Honestly, knowing that ahead of time will make the rest of this so much easier, especially if the money is coming from someone who can be made amenable to working for the greater good. Depending on what's left in the seed vaults, we might be able to become one of those players." Sam cocked her head in thought. "I wonder if they actually did give me all the hemp strains I asked for. Father, do you have any moral reservations about becoming the local weed dealers?"

"Yeah, we can include a list of Patriarchs who are suspected of taking bribes in our pamphlets so the populace knows who exactly to rage against."

Felix ponders for a moment.

"I don't know if we have any, but it should be relatively easy to grow without hampering the progress of the colony. Just cut a few trees down in the middle of the forest to provide sunlight and plant them in the resulting clearing."

"I could give you the list," says Dolmant. "Just watch for the ones who vote for every last proposal that Raven puts forward."

Anyone who's looked into the colony's stores will know that there was clearly someone back at Earth who was in favour of throwing in examples of everything. It's almost certain that any seed you can think of was packed at the point of origin. A more pertinent question is whether or not these particular seeds survived the journey. For that, you'll probably need to radio the Ship and ask.

Felix takes the list if presented and heads off to the truck to get the parts for assembling a printing press. He'll burn the midnight oil and work as fast as he can to get it done.

"Please prepare as much blank paper as possible. Go to the market and acquire more if you have to, I'm not gonna stop until I've printed hundreds of the things."

As Sam queries him Arkady shakes his head. "I am suspecting they already know ways to get high, and I am thinking we should be careful about giving them new ones until we know how it will affect them. But it is not really my decision to be making; you would need to take it up with the Captain."

Arkady watches Felix head out. I'll go help him get the plates ready when we're done." He looks at Dolmant. "Can we borrow some of your staff to go acquire paper? We'll be wanting it before morning, I am thinking. And do people post bills or advertising in this city anywhere?"

Yeah we definitely encountered someone on our way back from Rendor who was an enthusiastic user of some kind of narcotic.

"The markets will be closed by now," says Dolmant, "but I have a reasonable amount of paper myself and I can certainly send out for more first thing in the morning. And there's a notice board outside the Basilica that we can put notices on if we want. Is he always like that? So eager to just get out and do things?"

"You get used to it," rumbles Sir Ulath.

"If you really need paper before the market opens," says Talen, looking up from his sketch, "I know a guy who'll know a guy. I also know a guy who'll know how to deliver them to all sorts of people on the quiet."

"Goodness," says Dolmant, "you do seem to know a lot of people. But I don't think I've ever seen you in Chyrellos before?"

Talen shrugs. "I don't think we've got the same kinda social circles, Your Grace."