<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/50/15b3a41b63432bcd1c3755c910f8be5c.jpg)</div>Umari listened as the others debated, jotting down notes and own thoughts as the conversation flowed.<br/><br/>He nodded to Sanja as she volunteered her people for exploration duty. Should the final decision be for exploring one of the other Manses ... assuming they could even be found ... then they would prove very useful to have along.<br/><br/>"A moment, if you will," he replied to Lynette, raising a hand to forestall her question. "To address each of the raised points," he continued, looking around the table. "While we cannot know with certainty what fate befell the other manses, I do not believe they have been taken into service of the Realm. If they were ... if even one of the mobile ones was ... then doubtless they would have combed the ocean for the rest, seeking them for themselves, or to withhold them from anyone else. We were fortunate in that we had few traitors here. Others may not have been so fortunate, and if they could not capture, they would seek to destroy. At the time, they could not know if their compatriots plans would succeed, so denying these facilities to the loyalist forces would have been their goal. It is likely that most of the other Manses were damaged to a greater or lesser degree, and some may have been destroyed outright. By the time the Realm formed, memory of these facilities would be all but lost."<br/><br/>"In terms of what we need ... well, I suspect we will be able to use everything that we can recover. Anything not immediately useful will likely be kept as a spare, or reworked into something more immediately needed."<br/><br/>"Hearthstones would indeed be useful to have, but I would not count on finding many. It may be easier for us to speak with the local spirit courts and see if we can bargain for some of their services to assist in powering some of our systems."<br/><br/>Turning back to Lynette he gestured for her to continue. "Now, you had another matter you wished to raise?"