SUBJECT: Cooperation with Fereldan & Orlesian Intelligence
PARTICIPANTS: Bastien
CLASSIFICATION: Private to Yseult
DATE FILED: August 9:47
STATUS: Complete
SUMMARY: Bastien went and talked to Orlais and Ferelden’s Real Spies ™ about cooperating more often. Also acquired basic intel on the men Queen Anora might plausibly marry.

REPORT:

Yseult,

Our contact in Ferelden is Lady Rede. She has given us a cipher to use when necessary. She is very straightforward, for a spy, and when she said she looked forward to our future cooperation I think I believed her. Of course the Fereldans know about Byerly [ whose name gets some extra large loops and a fancy flourish; Mission: Make Yseult Roll Her Eyes (Without Being So Gauche As to Draw Actual Hearts) ] and know that we know about Byerly, so they will not be getting much out of us that they would not have anyway, and I expect them to moderate their generosity with their information accordingly. But good manners, is the point!

We discussed the Queen's marriage prospects a little, and then I nosed around elsewhere. Options include:

— Duke João Khalid Bakkar of Aveiro, brother of the Queen of Rivain. Cute, charming, but young and not particularly useful for Ferelden.

— Duc Jean-Laurent Libert de Verchiel, cousin of Empress Celene. I met him once. His favorite opera is Odila & Huet, so I say definitely Venatori.

— Lord Aled Penvennan, nephew of the Teryn of Ostwick. A large human-shaped question mark!

— Marco Gonzaga, the second son of Prince Giannozzo Gonzaga in Antiva. He is the religious one, I believe—the father. No idea about the son.

— Lord Taskill Curwen, son of a Bann. He is also fairly young and it sounds as though he is interested in positioning himself as her successor, in the absence of an heir, and marrying her would just be one possible way to do that.

In Orlais we are liaising with Loys Brassard, an assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is very old and a very much a bureaucrat. A funny one. Him I like. But he brought a bard named Sedaina with him, and I know her, and I do not like her. I have never heard of her reneging on a contract, so while the Empress is paying her, we can trust her to act on the Empress' behalf. But if acting on the Empress' behalf gives her a reason to fuck us over, she is the type to enjoy it.

As we discussed, they wanted to know where we have eluvians, and I said no. But in a friendly way, you know.


Bastien

NEXT STEPS:

• Figure out which of Anora’s potential husbands needs to die.
  
• Or figure out just one that for sure doesn’t need to die and make sure he’s the one she picks!
  
• “We got a tip from Ferelden/Orlais” or “Ferelden/Orlais needs us to do this secret spy favor” are now available (or more available, they were always somewhat available) for plot motivation.

NOTES & LINKS: Threads about Ferelden and Orlais.

SUBJECT: Book Burn Pt 2: circulating propaganda
PARTICIPANTS: Loxley
CLASSIFICATION: Public
DATE FILED: August 31
STATUS: Complete
SUMMARY: At John Silver's direction, Loxley secretly dispersed anti-Tevinter pamphlets into newly arrived Antivan cargo.

REPORT:

I am pleased to Report that my allocated Pamphlets of Anti-Imperium Sentiment were distributed into the newly arrived cargo of two warehouses. It is my conviction & belief that my presence was not detected. The rotation of guardsmen included employees of the Trades office that did not take their job very serously at all.

With further monitoring, I noted that cargo was distributed Without delay wherein surely the pamphlets will be dispersed amongst the merchants of Antiva City, and so this mission was a Success.


Loxley

NEXT STEPS: Monitoring the situtation in Antiva as far as public sentiment goes. Loxley volunteers as tribute.

NOTES & LINKS: IC Log, OOC Info