[HARD RESTART]<br/><br/><strong>Haven<br/>Caer Dorcha</strong><br/><br/>One advantage of being a new House is the lack of traditional and forbidding architecture to call home. There is less a sense of tradition bound up in ancient stones and mortar, as the seat of the House is wherever the Head proclaims it shall be. Caer Dorcha, a somewhat fanciful designation for a recently upgraded and modern compound that seems more of a summer home for a well-to-do merchant than the center of a Noble House, allows for some liberties in design. It does not look like a fortress...much as its head strikes many upon first meeting as a schoolmaster raised far above his station by circumstance.<br/><br/>Gillam Dorcha stands gazing out the long window that encompasses the entire wall of this chamber when you arrive in response to his summons. His saturnine features are set in a thoughtful manner with a hint of sorrow as his eyes linger on the placid mountain lake beyond. At his accustomed place at the table, his consort waits for you with her hands folded placidly on the dark polished wood. Like her husband, twice her age, she schools her face into an impassive mask.<br/><br/>This is unusual, to say the least. What is more unusual, your lord does not turn from his contemplations to address you: when the last of you has taken a seat and the guards have sealed the door, it is the Lady Consort who speaks.<br/><br/><strong>"We have received an unusual message. You recall our <em>dear</em> friends in House Talbot and their persistent attention to our operations over the years."</strong><br/><br/>Ah, yes, the wry, dry cynical humor of a Mentat--not that they are supposed to have a sense of humor at all, but that's your Lady for you. House Talbot are the sworn foes of House Dorcha, a long enmity born from an intolerable snub. Or was it a direct insult? Whatever the actual event, it is all ancient history. Nobody seems to remember the precise details, let alone care. Hardly worth a declaration of vendetta under kanly, but more than enough to weaponize other relations.<br/><br/><strong>"If the message is to be believed, one of their scions is due to pay us a visit with intent to defect. They are expected to arrive as part of the entourage of a Richesse-aligned spice merchant."</strong><br/><br/>Oh. Well, that's different...no wonder your lord is holding back!<br/><br/><strong>"Along with an object which will serve as a gesture of bona fides and less malevolent intent. Let us consider our response to this possibility."</strong><br/><br/>With that, she gives a short, sharp nod, signaling that the discussion is now an open one.