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Post by The Flint on Oct 15, 2008 17:29:43 GMT -5
Lord Justin Hightower sat at his accustomed spot at the Small Council table, and waited for the usual matters to be discussed. When the floor was open he spoked.
"Milords, I bring a proposal to the Small Councils from the Braavosi Lord Tagganaro, the father of our Princess' husband. He has agreed to purchasing out debt from the Sealord Sergyo Delinal. The interest rate would remain unchanged from one creditor to the other, there would be zero financial impact.
"There would however, be a potential political impact, as we would go from having our debts held by the lord of Braavos, to having it held by one of his advisers.
"If we agree to this proposal, we risk the ire of the Sealord. While we continue to owe him money, the Sealord has a vested interest in his grace's continued reign. As long as Rodrick is King, and we continue to pay our interest on time, the Sealord should not wish us ill. This ceases to be the case if Lord Tagganaro is our creditor.
"Alternatively however, Lord Tagganaro would not have the entire muscle of Braavos behind him to enforce the debt, or to force upon us various policy decisions we might otherwise not take were we not in his debt. So that would be the advantage.
"but as I said, these are political, not financial questions, so I raise it to the council."
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Post by Imry Willfyre on Oct 15, 2008 18:22:43 GMT -5
"I say no to this. Unless Lord Delinal's power has dropped in Braavos over the years...which it most certainly has not, we are just complicating our needlessly complex relations with Braavos. There has been no reason raised that is good enough to get on the Sealord's bad side."
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Post by Tytos on Oct 15, 2008 18:34:18 GMT -5
Lord Pieter Tully leaned back in his chair, listening to what Lord Hightower had to say.
"Those are political pros and cons yes, but what are the financial pros and cons? We would be getting rid of a massive debt to the Sealord, and breaking our ties with him, would that not help the Crown?" Pieter turned as Lord Dondarrion made his argument.
"Would the Sealord oppose us for accepting a dear wedding gift?" Pieter asked the Lord Hand.
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Post by The Flint on Oct 15, 2008 18:35:56 GMT -5
"There's no financial benefit one way or the other. We'd simply be making the interest payments we make to Lord Delinal to another lord. I attempted to barter with the man most vigorously, for even half a percentage point interest reduction, which would save us an enormous sum, but he would not hear of it."
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Post by Imry Willfyre on Oct 15, 2008 18:41:25 GMT -5
"Is there any reason to complicate the matter? There's no assured gain."
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Post by The Flint on Oct 15, 2008 18:43:27 GMT -5
"Lord Tagganaro made the argument that having the debt in the hands of "family", his words mind you, would be advantageous in and of itself. Perhaps our Mistress of Whisperers can tell us if there is some conflict between Lords Tagganaro and Lord Sergyo Delinal which may shed light on the subject."
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Post by Tytos on Oct 15, 2008 18:48:11 GMT -5
"I apologize My Lords, I misunderstood the agreement. You are correct, there is no gain to speak of."
Pieter stated, leaning back again. He had less patience and understanding of counting coppers than he did dealing with matters of the law, after all that had been his job for the past decade and a half.
"Well, let us lay out the differences. Continued debt to Sealord, and continued attempts by him to blackmail us into doing what he wants through our debt. Change the debt to Tagganaro, risk the anger of the Sealord, but have out debt in seemingly less blackmail-capable hands." As Justin spoke, Pieter nodded.
"Yes, if we have reason to suspect they are having squabbles I believe it would be a good bet to side with Tagganaro. Anything that can weaken the Sealord, I say."
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Post by The Smith on Oct 15, 2008 18:51:48 GMT -5
Elena shrugged, "Tagganaro runs the Arsenal. Delinal would not allow a man he did not own to run so important a part of the Braavos infrastructure."
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Post by Imry Willfyre on Oct 15, 2008 18:52:17 GMT -5
"I apologize My Lords, I misunderstood the agreement. You are correct, there is no gain to speak of." Pieter stated, leaning back again. He had less patience and understanding of counting coppers than he did dealing with matters of the law, after all that had been his job for the past decade and a half. "Well, let us lay out the differences. Continued debt to Sealord, and continued attempts by him to blackmail us into doing what he wants through our debt. Change the debt to Tagganaro, risk the anger of the Sealord, but have out debt in seemingly less blackmail-capable hands." As Justin spoke, Pieter nodded. "Yes, if we have reason to suspect they are having squabbles I believe it would be a good bet to side with Tagganaro. Anything that can weaken the Sealord, I say." "We would be foolish to side with one Braavosi 'against' the Sealord, of all people. Let us learn more of the situation, first. Hightower said it best--let us ask Lady Plumm for her talk on the issue", Breck said turning his head to the blonde mistress of whisperers. |
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Post by Tytos on Oct 15, 2008 18:59:41 GMT -5
Pieter sighed and scratched the back of his head, moving his hand down to rub his neck.
"So it seems perhaps our new Prince merely wants more money, and more pull with his new wife's family. More reason to listen to him, perhaps?" Pieter stated inquisitively, although more of a statement then anything else.
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Post by The Flint on Oct 15, 2008 19:05:24 GMT -5
"I have a proposal, if my lords would be so good as to hear it." Justin said, clearing his voice quietly, until he gets the room.
"I propose, that each of the Lord Paramounts purchase up a portion of the Crown's debt. Say... of the 4 million," Justin began doing some calculations on his fingers, "Around two and a half, three million, amongst the eight of us. Obviously the wealthier regions might purchase more, while the less well off regions could purchase less. This would mean the Crown would owe the majority of its debts to several of its vassels rather than a single foreigner. We could than transfer the remaining portion of debt to Lord Tagganaro, and the Sealord would have minimal cause for complaint since we are in the process of reorganizing our debts, you see, and its not meant to be anything personal against the Lord of Braavos.
"I can speak for the Far Reach and say we could buy into such a proposal, for the good of the Kingdom if others would be willing to do likewise."
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Post by Imry Willfyre on Oct 15, 2008 19:09:34 GMT -5
Breck nodded, interested in seeing where this would see approval.
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Post by Tytos on Oct 15, 2008 19:13:58 GMT -5
Pieter leaned back again, sighing in thought.
"This would indeed give less reason for the Sealord to be angered. The Riverlands would of course aid the crown in any manner it needs to, although I fear that not all regions would agree." He stated. "Some Lord Paramounts might take offense to being asked to take on someone else's large debts."
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Post by Imry Willfyre on Oct 15, 2008 19:17:02 GMT -5
"It is our duty to serve the realm first. The Stormlands would consent to such an offer", Breck said after considering the deal thoroughly.
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Post by The Flint on Oct 15, 2008 19:18:38 GMT -5
"Well, there would of course be the financial incentive, even if we were to collect only.. say 4% on the loans, we would be relieving the Crown of a mighty burden, assuming it were to consent to such a plan of course."
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Hope you all are well and happy.