NPC: Megera

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Due to multiple options when speaking, text below may not be in comprehensive order.

*When you enter, you immediately notice a dwarf. Her shoulders are shaking as she dabs at her nose and eyes with something in her hand. As soon as she hears the door close behind you, she apEL-DB.compeared to steel herself for battle. As she turns around, you notice a slight redness around her eyes, but when she sees you, she relaxes slightly.* Greetings, traveler. How may I serve you?

What's wrong?

*She appears startled for a moment, then her shoulders slump.* I suppose I am not handling this as well as I should.

What?

Bear with me, it's quite complicated. It all started several months ago during a private family dinner when Gondric announced his latest idea: free health care for all his subjects. Like all his other ideas, I knew it would fall on me to make this happen, so I asked him point blank how he expected to pay for this because someone always pays and given the vast number of dwarves and gnomes on Seridia, this was not

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going to be cheap. He shrugged and said he would increase the output from the gold mines. Stryker then chimed in and said that when word gets out, more people would be trying to get to the gold before we do and he would need to increase his security ranks and already he has guards who are not dwarves or gnomes. So, he asked Gondric right then and there if his non-dwarven non-gnome guards could be included in this

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health care plan. 'Sure,' said Gondric. 'Megera, you'll see to it?'

You're Megera?

Yes. I am Gondric's cousin and because he knows and trusts me, he has placed me in charge of the treasury. Sometimes, he even listens to me, but his heart is what gets him into trouble.

Is his heart bad?

No, not at all. He's as healthy as a horse and as stubborn as a mule. Where his people and suffering are concerned, he has a great weakness. He takes it upon himself to listen to those who need to say something to expunge their grief or guilt. He feels the pain of those who were wounded or maimed during the Great War.

How?

He too participated in the Great War. When he returned home, the things he saw and did haunted him. They were killing him more slowly and horribly than anything Mortos could come up with. But, Gondric founEL-DB.comd a way to get over all that and ever since he was elected king he's been trying to spread that compassion and understanding to all his subjects. They love him for it, so now he wants to try to make things

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better for everyone by taking responsibility for their health care without considering the how of it.

The how of it?

Hold on to your hat. Here's where it gets quite messy. Word has gotten out somehow and I now have two delegations wanting to be our primary health care providers: magicians represented by Circe and potioners represented by Vaeamo. In support of Circe are the alchemists represented by Ingrid, but they want us to invade the silver mines of Morcraven Marsh to secure a steady supply of the silver ore they need to

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make the essences required for the magicians to use while healing Gondric's people. Stryker and Circe are in favor of this idea, but Stryker says he'll have to hire more guards to protect everyone and hold the silver mine securely. I also have Nolida who has organized all our miners into a union - a safety in numbers way of looking at things. Since they're all in agreement, it gives them quite a bit of power and

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latitude where decisions about mining are concerned. Aelric, an engineer, has been around looking for 'R&D Money' so that he can make a machine to harvest and process the gold faster and more efficiently than miners can. Naturally Nolida is against that idea, but Aelric has been busy because Gerund, who runs and coordinates the manufacturing schools is also asking for money to develop steel-toed boots and miner

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helmets - fine ideas both. Since that would improve the safety and productivity of the miners, Nolida is in favor of this idea. Aelric was also speaking around Gemma, a tailor, and now she would like him to invent a way to make thread out of gold as well as other items she could use. Unfortunately, her needs only partially solve one of my main contentions with this idea: how to turn all that gold into

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money. Nestor, who represents crafting interests, is entirely against this idea since he believes that with a large supply of gold on hand the price for gold will go down and if that happens, the gold jewelry crafters produce will become less expensive and they'll lose out. Naturally Galen and his group of Lucaanite harvesters are entirely against this idea since so many resources will be consumed. He's

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threatened to call down the wratEL-DB.comh of Lucaa if this goes forward.

Where do you stand?

Don't get me wrong. I love my cousin dearly, but as things stand right now, I am entirely against this idea. I believe that the smaller the number of people in government the better a government runs. This health care plan would force me to drastically increase the size of my staff on all fronts. I would have to have people monitoring the mines to collect information about how much gold is being harvested. I

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would have to have people monitoring the markets to collect information about demand and pricing. I would have to have people keeping track of whichever health care provider is selected to manage and maintain inventories. I would have to have people keeping track of how much gold comes in and how much gold goes out. I would also have to have people keeping track of the people who are keeping track of the gold

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quantities. Additionally, I would have to have miners carve out a vast cavern just to store all the paperwork all of this entails. Then I would need even more people to manage the payroll for all these workers. Then, thinking outside my immediate domain, I have to worry about all the political implications this entails. I mean really, invade Morcraven Marsh? We'd have to have treaties with other regions in order

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to move from here to there. And to top it off, being an aggressor into another territory is going to raise tensions all across the continent. Pretty soon our neighbors will find themselves increasing the size of their militia and who could blame them? I certainly wouldn't. Well just listen to me going on and on. I sound just like a gnome. I'm sorry for bending your ear so much.

I understand now.

I thank you for listening to me blubbering and blabbering so much. I feel a little better, but I still have a lot of work to do, more than I think I can possibly imagine right now. And, since each journey begins with a single step, I should probably get started. Farewell, traveler. Until we meet again.

Goodbye

Until we meet again, traveler. Farewell.