New theory: the first time through this event, Stocke said, “Thank Queen Protea. She’s probably been plundering the city’s public works budget because there are no lesser nobles with jurisdiction over the area, so she won’t step on anyone’s toes and risk alienating any of Count Selvan’s bloc in the Assembly. In theory, the mayor could veto her requests to force them to go through the Assembly for review, but she’s probably installed someone in her pocket to the position, and Selvan would ensure it got rubber-stamped if it did reach them.”
Raynie and Marco looked at him like he just grew a second head.
Stocke was very surprised. He had assumed this was common knowledge.
He had to go back and try again because they missed meeting their contact in the city because he ended up spending the next several hours teaching Granorg Civics 101 to Raynie and Marco.
(He thought this was obvious. Several monarchs who were strapped for cash have done or tried to do the same thing. That’s why the mayor has veto power over budgetary changes from the monarch, he said. Raynie and Marco were like, “…Granorg has a mayor?”)
#Stocke definitely had to go through this at once point#If he didn’t I’m calling bullshit#*slams table* (x)
He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of the industries and exports of tiny provinces in rural Granorg and thinks this is normal, and is weirdly informed about the history of ballroom dance trends.
#The hilarious part about it is that no one would question it too deeply simply because he’s stocke #Just another Tuesday for stocke and co
(x)
Raynie and Marco assume he’s just such a good secret agent that he learns everything about everywhere he goes.
Rosch stopped making assumptions years ago when Stocke explained the historical context of and political commentary in a 300-year-old poem to him after Hugo quoted it out of context in a speech.
Hugo: *uses famous quote from famous poet to imply it’s their moral duty and divine mandate to liberate X place from the Foreign Oppressors*
Stocke, when Rosch asks why he’s making that face: “…The work that quote is from is about a nobleman in eastern Granorg who hired Gutral mercenaries in a dispute with a neighboring fief, violating several treaties and disobeying a royal decree. The queen refused to impose any sanctions on him because her mistress owed him money. The statement that the gods will intervene was an allegorical dig at the queen’s inaction, since a prominent religious school at the time held that nobility were divinely appointed to rule. General Hugo obviously hasn’t read the original text, if he’s quoting it like that.”
Rosch: “……”
Stocke: “…What?”
Rosch: “Uh… nothing.”
Published
Plot Designing 