Of the City of Daub, and the Manner of Its Governance

Your Grace will pardon me if I describe what you already govern; I do so not to instruct you in what you know, but because a thing seen from outside is sometimes seen more clearly than from within.

Daub sits next to the river Sut. The old ruins of Himakatupura provided some ground; every subsequent generation added to what the previous one began. Its position and its resources have turned this into one of the fastest-growing cities in the Empire. This gives it an ample supply of labor, ever drawn from the youth of its provinces, who come to the city seeking employment and prospects. The resources and industries of Daub are sound: iron, tin, lead, coal, lumber, wool, grain, cattle, coffee, tea - and beyond these, the proximity of the Waste, which provides the Merchants Guild with rare magical vessels and artefacts; combined, Daub exerts leverage disproportionate to its size.

If there is one obvious flaw, it is perhaps the outer walls of Daub; by general acknowledgment, Your Grace, an army need not fear what a confused flock of sheep could overcome.

Of the Balance of Powers Within Daub

The structure Your Grace maintains is, in my estimation, less rigid than is common for a city of this size. Your own seat, at the summit, is maintained by competence, repeatedly demonstrated: records kept, intelligence maintained, a reputation for fairness, and a practical eye for rule.

This foundation has its strengths and its weaknesses. Its strength lies in your own ability; having ascended to this position, your powers and wit must suffice to outwit enemies. Its weakness is that there are no ties of blood or kin to support Your Grace, and thus you must be ever watchful. Daub is a lucrative prize, and many are those tempted to wait for Your Grace to overcome its most difficult obstacles and snatch the unwrapped present for themselves.

The Charter Knights give Your Grace direct enforcement and act as the most authoritative arm of your justice. The question — and it is always the question — is whether they remain yours, or whether time and circumstance make them someone else’s. A mixed force of reformed militia and imperial infusions serves well in peacetime, when their competing loyalties cancel each other out; however, Your Grace should consider what happens when these balances shift. I say nothing of Your Grace’s own loyal men, but it is worth bearing in mind that resentment, envy, and complaint may arise in any body, and that Your Grace must maintain this blade and not let it rust.

The Merchants Guild of Daub is the most interesting power in the city. Insofar as I can discern they are rather similar to the Singhapura Merchants guild in that hold no formal office. However, though they are mentioned in no bylaw, act or proclamation, their underwriters sit inside every significant transaction; their guards police the roads; their suppliers and wagon trains pass through every district. Political advisors who have treated them as a footnote have been removed.

This power is thus both structurally indispensable and a threat to your position. I do not advise Your Grace to destroy this arrangement; it cannot be done without destroying the city’s commercial vitality; but nor should the Guild be allowed to mistake your accommodation for dependence. The distinction must be made legible occasionally, else Your Grace falls into the position of a tenant ruling over a landlord; she who does not own her house cannot do much with it.

In this Your Grace has a powerful ally; namely, the Tombulov estates, which hold a monopoly on the production of coffee. Their estates are well-defended; their product and their means to distribute it have spread far and wide across the land, from remote villages unto Singhapura itself; and they are, above all else, independent. They are perhaps the finest example I have encountered of Daub using such avenues as the Empire provides — roads, networks for messaging, law and accoutrements — to build a new network of power. I urge Your Grace to examine carefully these operations and to learn from them; furthermore, while I do not fathom the precise relationship between Your Grace and Lady Tombulov, the vast number of coffeehouses spread across the land may serve Your Grace as a powerful means of moving messages to and fro, if the Tombulovs should prove amenable.

The second is the Lesser Theoretical University of Daub. As the only serious rival (and near-equivalent ally) to the Taprobane Imperial University, they are the only people in the city capable of certain classes of problem-solving. Thus access to them is a form of leverage. However, institutions with unique technical capacities tend to develop political confidence to match. Your Grace is well-advised to make use of them and to cultivate this relationship; it will not sustain itself indefinitely without attention.

The battle of faith between the Haugris Church and the Temple of Eighteen is a resource Your Grace is, I suspect, already managing. Two competing faiths exhaust each other’s ambitions on each other, and neither grows powerful enough to threaten the authority above them. The Empire’s preference for maintaining this tension is well-reasoned, and Your Grace’s interest runs parallel. The danger is that one side may win.

The Paladins are, as Your Grace herself notes, the alternative to a Church monopoly on heavy enforcement. However, I must extend caution here: mixed results are often the expected condition of an institution introduced to check another rather than to accomplish a coherent purpose. The current arrangement - Charter Knights, Paladins, and a heavily armed Merchants Guild, each with their own definition of lawful authority - may be stable to those leading everyday lives, but it may also fail Your Grace when least expected.

Your Grace should give thought to which of these bodies would act first in a crisis, and portion tasks and oversight accordingly, so that they may continue their work without interfering with your designs.

Of Daub’s Position Within the Empire

It is my reasoned opinion that Daub is not a significant economic contributor to Singhapura. While trade flourishes, Singhapura is not dependent on Daub, but present-day Daub depends to a great degree on the benevolence of the Sinha Adiraj. Nor can it be said to be significant in a military sense.

And yet the arrangement - tribute, nominal deference, and the Empire’s occasional high-handedness - is, if I may make so bold, a softer noose than expected. It may be that the Emperor intends to let Daub flourish and grow as a fruitful vassal on its north-easternmost border; it may also be that the intent is to let the fruit grow ripe enough for the plucking. Your Grace may be well cautioned to observe the Empire’s strategy in its vassal states of Wattle and Tangowan to determine the breadth of actions that the Empire is capable of.

The Singhapura political theorist Rukarya wrote that Daub, lacking tradition to check its genius, is free and therefore dangerous. He meant this as a caution. Freedom of operation is both a rare advantage and a burden.

Of the Nobility of Daub

Your Grace knows very well of the situation of the nobility of Daub. Such as existed before Your Grace’s time were old lords who, having conquered the ruins of Himkatupura, declared themselves their owners. Your people have displaced them; Jerem of the Redhills, once known as Bloody Jerem; Carfax and Rouster to the north; Wyrmstead and Vacourt to the east, not to mention minor vassals such as the Ashwoods the Pondrawaters.

Yet Your Grace should note that while they answer to you, their legitimacy, and thus their rule, comes from King Allant of Wattle. In there is both danger and providence. The danger is that Your Grace is surrounded by those who, through greed or loyalty, answer to a higher power. In this we see the care and diligence of King Allant, who surrounds even his staunchest allies with his own interests, such that they may not become a threat to his rule. Providence is that said power is still distant, and Your Grace may kindle such ties as to make them wary of biting the hand that feeds them.

Of the City of Daub, and the Manner of Its Governance

Of the Balance of Powers Within Daub

Of Daub’s Position Within the Empire

Of the Nobility of Daub

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