[Amelia] Chapter 10: The Meaning of Faith

[Throndir]

《Chapter 9: The First Week as a Hero

Chapter 11: Economy》

《Chapter 10: The Meaning of Faith》

Location: Ragnar's Study in the Church of the Light Cathedral
Date: Day 10 - 8 AM

Soon enough the meeting of the various church heads of other countries were gathered. It seemed like Ragnar was able to get representatives from most countries. None of them were told that you were here however.

Specify with Ragnar if you want to be introduced, or etc. Keep in mind they all think the hero/future queen is in bed.

The following countries and their churches were represented.

From your kingdom, the Church of Fire, Church of Earth, Church of Air, and Church of the Light was represented.

From the Felencorp United Alliance, a tall human male represented them, from 'Church of Light'.

From the Baolong Dynasty, a representative from the 'Temple of Heaven and Light', was present. His clothing was a lot more colorful than the rest.

From the Bashkassia Federation, was a cat-eared demihuman from the 'Church of The Goddesses'.

From the Hierdsvain Valkyries, a girl wearing armor represented them, their church having no formal name.

From the Isikawa Sovereignty, was a priestess wearing similar clothes to Akari, from the 'Shrine of Light'. Akari seemed to recognize her and continued to stare.

From the Antwarch Dragon Knight Kingdom, was a priest in robes, from the 'Church of Light'.

The last country to represent was from the Xalaster Orthodoxy's 'The Church'.

[Mysticsage]

Would have cleared this with prepped with Ragnar and the others beforehand:
I am going to claim that while the hero is bedridden that she can commune and communicate through her familiar Nyx and that she chose me to be the mouthpiece and be his chauffeur. I would have also raided the royal jewels, and groomed Nyx to make him look particularly regal and mysterious.

I would have told Nyx in private to look intelligently at the people that I talk too while I am talking to them as if he was using me as a mouthpiece.

I will have friends list open so that he and I can talk without talking so that he can act as appropriately as possible to sell the role and to try to add all these people to the list.

As for Amelia, she will use the cover of one of the hero's nursemaids and will be dressed appropriately I will use my real name.

So just to be clear when I enter the room Ragnar will introduce Nyx first and foremost as the familiar of the hero and me as his mouthpiece. Like an interpreter for a foreign dignitary.

As she enters the room her friends flanking at her sides, with the other representatives already there, Amelia holds her breath thinking to Nyx who was sitting on her shoulder. "we're walking into the lions den make sure you puff up your chest and survey the room make everyone make eye contact with you just from your height and body language. Use your natural catness to your advantage. We want these people to be our friends but to respect us first and foremost." Amelia joked, trying to ignore the fact that she could feel sweat rolling down the small of her back. When she took her seat she allowed Nyx to jump down from her shoulder and sit in front of her in pride of place on the table.



She will let Ragnar make any appropriate greetings or introductions as is appropriate for this kind of formal meeting.

[Throndir]

"Fellow priests, clerics, shrine maidens, honor maidens, and monks of the world, I bid you welcome to the city of Mendernich, and to our city's cathedral, our Church of the Light." Ragnar began.

There were a couple of aides in attendance, and you can hear them translate the words that Ragnar spoke to the rest of them. To you it was strange, as you literally heard the translators reiterate the same thing Ragnar had just said, almost word for word.

"We have here as well, a proxy from our own Hero that we summoned just a week ago. The black creature you see here is called a 'cat', and is a familiar of our hero. The girl next to him is named Amelia. She is the hero's 'mouthpiece' so to speak."

There were some murmurings between the priests, and some glances didn't seem convinced at all. Nyx was trying his best to stare down any of the individuals.

[Mysticsage]

Seeing their unconvinced looks Amelia thinks quickly on her feet she places her hand on Nyx and does her best impression of him as she speaks to the entire crowd. "This should get all your attention since you seem to be skeptics. I am no simple beast, her power flows through me and through me into this girl, who my lady has chosen to be her physical representation. She wished to great you all here herself but even back home she was sickly and the shifting took a great deal from her. I am here eyes and this girl her mouth. So In her place, I wish you welcome here and I hope that we all may grow closer together as a result." She hoped that proving that their side needed no interpreter would at least get their attention.

She made a show of bowing deeply to Nyx on the table. pretending to be an awed girl at this beast's power. "Pat me on the head as a show of authority as I bow."

hopefully that sells things a bit more.

[Throndir]

Roll some sort of social skill.

[Mysticsage]

Diplomacy

Rolled 1d20+9 : 2 + 9, total 11

[Mysticsage]

us hero point to reroll

Rolled 1d20+8 : 9 + 8, total 17

[Throndir]

At first, most of the representatives looked completely skeptical. However a notification appeared.

Your wish is granted.

Then as if something had come over them, a number of them started to simply shrug and nod at your words, as if fully accepting it. However, there were still a few who didn't seem convinced. Those were the representatives from the Felencorp United Alliance and the Xalaster Orthodoxy.

The representative from the Felencorp United Alliance spoke, you heard him clearly, but a moment after that, the aid next to him re-said his words for the rest of those in attendance.

"How do you, little girl, speak for the Bürsteig hero? Father Barnabas, I thought this was to be a serious meeting to discuss each of our religions, and potentially come to terms?"

You can speak first if you'd like, otherwise I'll have Barnabas say something.

[Mysticsage]

amelia knows her place and wants to see how Ragnar responds.

[Throndir]

"It is Father Bentham." He said sternly as he stared at Father Bentham, the Felencorp's bishop, straight in the eye.

"The various worlds that came into being have many mysteries, peoples, and at times, magic, do they not? Plus heroes themselves are varied in their abilities, as high priests of our respective nations, we all should be aware of this fact.  Amelia speaks for the hero with the hero's familiar. I swear by the Goddess of Light that this is true." You noticed that technically Father Barnabas wasn't lying.

The bishop grumbled something under his breath.

"I much prefer the actual hero. Even if she is to attend bound to a wheelchair, or rolled in with a bed... But if the maidservant, Amelia wishes to 'speak' for her, then I suppose she can/ But you will have to pardon me if I take her words seriously."

The cardinal from the Xalaster Orthodoxy nodded their head as well.

[Mysticsage]

"My lady cares for her appearance and did not wish to assault anyone's sensibilities with her weakness. Plus the public seeing her in a wheelchair or bed would have been too much embarrassment for her to bare. So I beg your pardon if the girl she chose specifically for you all was still not up to your standards. It is a failing on my part wholely and alone" She said trying to shift the conversation slightly to get him on his back foot.

"As holy men, you understand how images of weakness can inspire fear in the masses as much as it can empathy. The demons that are born of mortal hearts are long-lived and hard to kill."

"As for the weight of my words, your doubt is expected and planned for by my lady in her wisdom. I have been sent with all representatives of our churches and our head diplomat to prove that the state is acting here not the Hero alone. If you have any questions about my claims Master Fulbert is here to answer them. So you need not be concerned about any deals made here today, the state itself will be our witness." This was only the first move of a long game and she would need to play her cards well. En Gaurd asshole.

[Throndir]

Heroic Action pointed earned

The bishop from the Felencorp United Alliance glared, as the rest of the representatives nodded in agreement with you. The one from the Xalaster Orthodoxy remained neutral however.

The Felencorp bishop spoke.

"Yes... I suppose we can understand the need for keeping up appearances and the morale... Very well. I did say you can speak." The man said irritably.

State the specific things you want to come out of this meeting. Since we have so many NPCs with potential talking, I'll only have dialogue for them if its meaningful enough, otherwise, we can assume dialogue continues for a few hours.

Ragnar has his own agenda as well, which he should have told you earlier. For him it's to attempt to come up with a plan for the different country's churches to share information about their own religions, and see, if any, what the differences are, along with commonalities. He also hopes it would encourage and foster more friendly binds between countries, and make their nations, who have are only allied due to the war against demons, be more eased.

"Thank you Amelia. I am the Grand Diplomat of this country, and can vouch that Amelia, through the hero's familiar, speaks for our country."









During the meeting, you noticed something strange, specifically from the Hierdsvain Valkyrie. In her, you can see something that was like a red glow. You weren't sure what it was, or if it was just your eyes playing a trick on you. Was it mana? But why just her?

[Mysticsage]

My main goals in no particular order.
A) Make Sure that Ragnar's goals are as successful as possible

B) Try to make friends with those that I can to open additional channels of conversation In particular make friends with the demihuman and the Valkyrie. I want to learn about how they view the world and there nations from people who live there.

C) Show that we are committed to open discussion by brokering a deal with the Sovereignty to start a church of water for the goddess of water. The heroes main concern being that the founding sect be the most liberal-leaning possible (Will take their punks and delinquents may apply)

D) try to invite the Valkyrie to a private meeting in the castle for other matters.

E) Mandatory attempt to add people to friends list lol

[Throndir]

Make Sure that Ragnar's goals are as successful as possible

There was limited success on this part. The Xalaster Orthodoxy cardinal was blatantly against the idea of including the other religions into their own fold. Believing that theirs was the true religion of the Goddess of Light. The Felencorp United Alliance bishop, though was open to the sharing of information, was not willing to offer much of anything else. In fact, they took the position that the other churches need to be the ones to do more of the work for the proposed treaty between the churches. This included having the churches pay and setup their own stations in their countries. The Baolong Dynasty declined as well, citing the fact that their religion seemed too different than the rest. He expressed doubts that the Goddess of Light that they worshiped was one and the same as the others.

Try to make friends with those that I can to open additional channels of conversation In particular make friends with the demihuman and the Valkyrie. I want to learn about how they view the world and there nations from people who live there.

Both the Valkyrie cleric and the demihuman monk were more than happy to be on friendly terms with you.

Show that we are committed to open discussion by brokering a deal with the Sovereignty to start a church of water for the goddess of water. The heroes main concern being that the founding sect be the most liberal-leaning possible (Will take their punks and delinquents may apply)

The Isikawan shrine maiden nodded in approval, mentioning that they too have a Goddess of Water, and would be willing to attempt to start the practice of following that Goddess here, in your city.

try to invite the Valkyrie to a private meeting in the castle for other matters.

The Valkyrie accepted, and was more than happy to speak with you.

Mandatory attempt to add people to friends list lol

Adding everyone worked.

[Mysticsage]

Out of curiosity with Baolong' statements I would like to strike up a mini conversation about why and how their goddess is so different. The goal is even if they refuse to take anything at least give information because if they were all brought here by a divine force having something blatantly different is worth studying. She would offer the same explanation to the orthodoxy and knew that the hero specifically asked for unique information to help study the shifting.