BY HERESIES DISTRESSED – snippet 12:
February, Year of God 893
.I.
Cherayth,
Kingdom of Chisholm,
Empire of Charis
“Welcome to Cherayth, Your Majesty.”
The man who’d been waiting at the foot of the gangway bowed deeply as Cayleb Ahrmahk, Emperor of Charis, stepped off it onto the stone quay and set foot for the very first time upon the soil of the Kingdom of Chisholm. Cayleb had never met the tall, silver-haired Chisholmian with the deep, strong voice, but he’d been looking forward to making the older man’s acquaintance. Not, unfortunately, without a certain amount of trepidation. Fortunately, the Chisholmian’s greeting seemed sincere, although it was hard to be certain, since just hearing him was more than a bit difficult, under the circumstances. The harbor behind Cayleb was crowded with Charisian warships and Charisian transports packed to the gills with Charisian Marines. Even the enormous waters of Cherry Bay seemed congested and crowded well beyond their maximum capacity, and the defensive waterfront batteries were wreathed in smoke. But the fleet behind Cayleb was no invasion force come to pillage Cherayth, and the gunsmoke drifting away on the biting breeze of a northern winter (whose teeth made Cayleb’s southern blood devoutly grateful for his heavy cloak) was from the twenty-four-gun salute which had just roared its way into silence. And if the guns had fallen silent, the shouting voices of the bundled-up Chisholmians packed black and dense into every vantage point they could find had not.
There was enthusiasm in most of those shouts. Not all — Cayleb hadn’t expected that — but most. Yet however welcome that might be, they still made it hard to hear.
“Thank you, My Lord,” Cayleb replied, raising his own voice against the background tumult, then stepped forward and extended his right hand. Mahrak Sahndyrs, Baron Green Mountain and the first councilor of the Kingdom of Charis, seemed surprised at the gesture. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, then straightened from his bow and clasped forearms with the man who had become his Emperor.
The cheering redoubled, and Cayleb smiled, ever so faintly. He supposed there were rulers who would have felt it was imperative to stand upon their imperial dignity when meeting someone in Green Mountain’s position for the first time. The baron had been the mentor, protector, and, effectively, second father of Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm ever since Sharleyan had ascended to the throne as a mere child, and in many ways, he was every bit as popular with her subjects — her common-born subjects, at least — as she was. Many princes or kings who’d abruptly found themselves in Cayleb’s position would have felt legitimate concern about the ultimate loyalty of a man who’d been all of those things and enjoyed so much support and trust. The mere fact that Sharleyan had become Cayleb’s wife and the Empress of Charis, Cayleb’s coruler, might not have been enough to keep some other Green Mountain from seeking control of Chisholm for himself — especially since Sharleyan had remained behind in Charis, rather than returning with Cayleb — and too much familiarity with a man of such ambitions might all too easily prove fatal.
Yet Cayleb felt no concern about that at all. Mostly because Sharleyan didn’t, and Cayleb trusted her judgment (and her hardheaded realism) implicitly. Almost as importantly, however, Captain Merlin Athrawes shared Sharleyan’s judgment, and Captain Athrawes possessed certain . . . advantages which were not available to other men when it came to evaluating the actions and beliefs of others. If Merlin Athrawes told Cayleb a man was trustworthy, the emperor was quite prepared to take him at his word. A word which had been amply confirmed by Merlin’s reports on how firmly and ably Green Mountain and Queen Mother Alahnah had looked after Sharleyan’s affairs in Chisholm during her absence.
Of course, Green Mountain had no way to know anything of the sort, and just as Cayleb had never met Green Mountain, Green Mountain had never met him. Now Cayleb held the baron’s arm in his clasp for a few moments longer. He looked levelly across at him, letting Green Mountain look into his own eyes, and Sharleyan’s first councilor accepted that invitation as he had accepted the emperor’s proffered hand. He looked deep, and Cayleb met that searching gaze without flinching, his own eyes steady, until something inside Green Mountain’s expression — something no one could actually have seen, or described — seemed to ease somehow.
“Your Majesty, I –”
“A moment, My Lord,” Cayleb interrupted, his voice pitched just a bit lower, to form a sort of private alcove at the heart of the thunderous cheers still rising about them. Green Mountain’s eyebrows arched, and the emperor smiled at him. “There are many things I’d like to say to you at this moment,” Cayleb continued. “Unfortunately, I’m well aware that there are any number of official things we need to be discussing, instead, not to mention all of the public folderol we’re both going to have to put up with. I assure you, I have my public face ready to put on for all of that. But first, the Empress, my wife, charged me most sternly, as my very first duty in Chisholm, to give you and her Queen Mother all of her love.”
“I –” Green Mountain stopped and cleared his throat. “I thank you for that, Your Majesty,” he said after a moment, his own voice just a bit husky. His hand tightened on the emperor’s forearm for a second. Then his nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply.
“And now that you’ve delivered her message, Your Majesty, we really do have those formalities to deal with, I’m afraid.” His head twitched ever so slightly, indicating the gorgeously clad ranks of aristocrats — some of whose expressions seemed just a bit less welcoming than his own — standing behind him at a respectful distance on the jam-packed quay.
“Will you come and meet your Chisholmian subjects?”
* * * * * * * * * *
Welcome heat poured from the vast fireplace to Queen Mother Alahnah Tayt’s left as she sat at the foot of the table, gazing up its length across the glittering silver and polished glass and china at the dark-haired young man sitting at the table’s head. For the past several months, that chair — the one at the table’s head — had been Alahnah’s, and it felt odd to see someone else sitting in it.
Especially this someone else, she thought. It wouldn’t bother me a bit to see Sharley sitting there again!
She watched Emperor Cayleb turn his head, laughing at something Baron Green Mountain had said, and she discovered that her eyes were examining his profile intensely. It was as if by staring at him she could somehow have a glimpse of her daughter once again. Then, without warning, Cayleb stopped laughing at Green Mountain’s comment and looked straight at her, and she found her eyes gazing directly into his.
They were dark in the lamplight, those eyes. Dark and deep and surprisingly warm. Almost . . . gentle.
Odd. “Gentle” was the one adjective it would never have occurred to her to apply to the victor of Rock Point, of Crag Hook and Darcos Sound. And yet it was the only one which really fitted. The young man sitting in her daughter’s chair met her gaze directly, not challengingly, but with understanding. With compassion.
Nice surprise. I’ve been wondering since the wedding in the previous book what’s been going on back here.
At last we’re getting to the approach to Cayleb’s call on Hektor!
Darn July 21,2009 that three months to go.
Given that not everybody in Charis itself is happy about the schism, I can’t help but wonder how much opposition to the new empire is brewing in Emerald and Chisholm. Unless, of course, the Church leaders have managed to inspire similar levels of loathing in those places as well.
More! Too short. =P
Easier, I think for people to accept a new queen / empress by marriage than a new king / emperor by marriage. Isn’t it the reason why Elizabeth I never married? With the sexism of the times, no matter who she married would eventually take over the entire power of the throne. Result, the people of Chisholm probably fear that the same will happen with Cayleb regardless of treaty.
“Mahrak Sahndyrs, Baron Green Mountain and the first councilor of the Kingdom of Charis”
Umm…shouldn’t that be Chisholm?
He should be picking up an army while he’s here, especially since Chisholm’s fleet is largely intact after Darcos Sound.
@6 : It’s Charis now.
@8
If its supposed to be Charis, then shouldn’t it be Empire? I was keying off of the Kingdom statement. Both still hold the crowns of their respective kingdoms.
@8
Follow up. Have they said who the Imperial First Advisor is yet?
E, I’m wondering about that myself. A 50,000 man army isn’t exactly tiny but if the marines are already packed in like sardines I have to wonder where the extra troops are going to go? Chisholm didn’t exactly have NO merchant fleet but they didn’t have a huge one either. They weren’t in Charis’ league at any rate, Corisande was their closest rival by all appearances in textev. On the other hand, if they didn’t need to pick up something then one has to wonder if there is any true need to stop off there first. Of course there was that bit about a “forward base” in Zebediah vs. Chisholm which suggests they might be leaving something there instead of picking stuff up (or perhaps a mix of both). Plus just getting to meet your new subjects/allies/whatever is a good idea.
My guestimate is that they are planning on giving their troops a month to recover from the sea journey and to train the existing Chisholmian army in rifle tactics. Then they’ll probably pick up a few extra merchant ships and ship out most or all of the Charis troops (perhaps minus a very small number of training cadres and/or a few experts who will continue to help improve Chisholmian foundaries and rifle-production) and a good chunk of the Chisholmian army. I’m further going to guess that they built at least a partial surplus of rifles in Charis before they left so they have something to equip their new buddies with, and probably that they are still building yet more and shipping them forward as quickly as they can. All told something like 75,000 troops will be ready to invade in another month, and then we get to the *real* action instead of the fits and starts we’ve had so far.
Of course, with my track record on guesses, I’m probably something like 85% wrong here… but oh well, it’s fun to guess anyway…
RH
Grr… I mean a 50,000 man army isn’t exactly a HUGE invasion force… even if it hadn’t been done overseas in the entire history of safehold to this point…
RH
#12, actually for the technology a 50,000 man army is huge. As discussed in the first 2 books (and here) Safehold doesn’t have a good road network so without a fleet you cannot have a logistics train. As I read in another book if you can’t feed your troops all you are doing is marching off your people to starve to death somewhere else.
I think when that army comes calling on Corisande it is going to be another nasty surprise for G4. They expect an attack on Corisande, I don’t think they are prepared for the size of the army coming to visit, I mean stay.
Ian
Ian, you’re thinking in terms of bringing all their food from home. I have a really hard time believing that is really that common. It’s not like you’re marching off into the desert somewhere there is no food or water available. Might not make you too popular with your new subjects, but armies have lived off the land they are busy invading quite a bit through the pages of Earth history and I find it real hard to believe that wasn’t reinvented on Safehold.
Think of it this way. Before gunpowder was invented all the typical grunt had to carry was his sword and maybe a sheild. That sword was reusable until he died or the battle was over. But at the same time, unless he’s VERY skilled, one swordsman cannot face 5 others and live. Period. And your average pre-industrial grunt wasn’t. Most such grunts were conscripts, which means they had basic sword skills with maybe a month or so of pre-invasion training and they were sent off with promises of loot and adventure. So if you are planning to invade an enemy how many people do you need?
Lots. Because if they have a population of 200,000 (which is VERY low) then with barely a month’s warning they can probably have 30K to 50K men “ready enough” (or at least sort of ready) to meet your invasion force. They may not be very well trained, but unless there are absolutely no weapons whatsoever available they’ve got plenty of people to put into the ranks. They might have really crappy weapons (much of which may be simple farm implements and clubs) but they’ll be available for use. And in those days EVERYBODY had to know at least the basics of fighting if for no other reason than to defend themselves if attacked by a wild beast (of which there were LOTS around to have to worry about). If you are seriously thinking about trying to WIN the invasion (rather than just use up “excess population”) then you probably need something like 60K to 100K, and when it’s over you’ll be lucky if you have much more than 50K alive and probably less than half that unwounded. And if there is even the slightest chance that you’ll face multiple battles (whether that be conquering multiple cities or defending against other rivals wanting to take your new conquest away from you) then you need even more people.
But as you say, transporting that amount of food with the army would be an insane proposition. But if you can’t win without sending that many people (and in those days you couldn’t) what other option do you have but to live off the land you are invading? I mean, you’re already coming to steal their cities and gold and women and whatever else, but you aren’t going to steal their food? Not very likely.
That’s why the Charisian Marines were so feared even pre-Merlin. They HAD re-invented the concept of a professional military that could fight at 2-1 odds against and win. Nobody else had. But just because they had the concept didn’t mean they had yet come up with the idea of trying to send ALL their supplies from home. At that point they didn’t need to. Now they have no choice but to do so with guns and bullets and gunpowder, because they can’t capture equivalent weaponry from the enemy (although they can capture some that’s not that far inferior). But food is going to be available in the enemy territory and they would be nuts not to take advantage of that.
RH
WHERE’S UNCLE BERTRAHM??? We haven’t seen him since he was sulking below decks when Sharleyan arrived at Tellesberg. I expect him to foment dissent if not worse…
RH,
You make a good point but if Charis starts to prey on the population they will play right into the hands of the Go4 who will use any atrocity to “prove” that Charis has fallen into apostasy. Now, they will possibly double the size of the army from 50K to 100K with the stop in Chisholm but I would be very surprised if they end up living off the land, especially in a land close to home which they know they will have to hold against the Church’s counter-attacks.
Winning against 2-1 odds is the standard ratio for Charisian marines but they are surely also counting on an additional force multiplier from Merlin’s guns and other technological improvements. They are aware of Hector’s weapons program so I anticipate an early strike on the facility to try and knock them out, but I suspect the troop carriers used to ferry the army to Corisande will then be kept busy shuttling supplies until Corisande falls.
The last thing the new Empire of Charis needs is a popular insurgency in lands they need to hold so I would be very surprised to see them living off the land as a standard policy. That’s not to say nasty things aren’t going to happen but I think they are going to bend over backwards to show they are the “good guys” especially to the general population in Corisande whose support they will need if the entire army isn’t going to pinned down for garrison duty for the rest of the war.
One of the nasty bits could well be taken from Napoleon’s invasion of Russia when French officers would “pay” for requisitioned supplies with a button torn from their uniform. I think the invasion forces will pay a “fair price” for everything they take and will make sure they don’t leave starving future rebels behind them. Now what is “fair” will also lead to problems but in general I think the invasion is going to be as careful as they possibly can be with the civilian population.
Ian
Excellent point Maggie. He knows Sharlayan so well I suspect he is going to be causing a lot of pain once he gets in touch with the Temple Loyalists.
14, the side comments about the “feared Siddarmarkian pikemen” would imply that Charis isn’t the only ones with a professional military capable of beating 2-1 odds. Only that Charis’ professionals operate on the sea, and Siddarmark’s operates primarily on land.
For that matter, rereading BSRA and Hektor’s thoughts on his own army, it’s pretty clear that Hektor’s army also falls into the “professional” category in that the army is paid and works directly for him. And they’re upgrading their arms too.
“Mahrak Sahndyrs, Baron Green Mountain and the first councilor of the Kingdom of Charis” should have been “first councilor of the Kingdom of Chisholm”. This snippet is from an unedited version and likely that’ll be corrected before it sees print.
Karina, IIRC Queen Elizabeth I of England never married because her husband would have been the ruler instead of her. You are likely correct that many in Chisholm are worried about Cayleb.
True, evilauthor… now. I was trying to point out that the idea of living off the destination land had to have developed, and that it would have started with the non-professional armies of history. Now at least some (probably most) countries have at least some sort of standing army. Whether it can handle 2-1 odds, however, well that’s a whole ‘nother HUGE can of worms…
That said, Ian, the church’s reaction is not going to be a determinant of tactics. The church is going to lie and accuse Charis of anything and everything, with no concern whatsoever for whether its true or not. Cayleb will recognize this and refuse to worry about it. Now avoiding creating “starving future rebels”, however, would be a issue of great concern. But note again the numbers I used for “then” vs. the numbers we have “now”. Once the idea of standing armies becomes common and conscripts go the way of the dodo bird (save for extreme emergencies, perhaps), the ratios of population to army sizes fall fast. They also start falling fast as effete civilians who no longer live next door to wild animals that outnumber them 6-to-1 become more “civilized” in their growing cities. Now Charis is invading a country of probably a million people or more with only 50,000 troops (so far at least) and has a strong expectation of victory. Sure their weapons are a force multiplier but they aren’t exactly carrying automatic weapons to go up against pitchforks. But they also aren’t expecting a huge fraction of the civilian population to rise up against them. So as a result they may end up killing (or at least wounding/defeating) 100K-200K enemy soldiers (likely counting at least some emergency conscripts) and damaging a lot of fortress walls and such, but in the end they will actually raise the population very little (if any at all) so whatever food they end up using won’t cause a major disruption in the remote supply chain.
In the past you could live off the land and not worry about the effects because you knew after the battle populations would be reduced so greatly it wouldn’t matter. Now you can live off the land because the number of people coming in are enough of a minor blip that they won’t cause a major disruption in the ability to feed your new subjects.
Last but by no means least, Ian, you do raise a very good point about paying for things. I have very little doubt you are exactly correct here and I never meant to imply otherwise. By living off the land I don’t mean just stealing food stores from cities you conquer or marching by a wheat field and everybody grabs lunch before you march on. I expect that Cayleb will pay for whatever stores he requisitions quite fairly. He probably won’t give them any choice on whether they sell or not, but he will offer them a fair or maybe even generous price.
RH
Most armies are leery of relying on the local area for supplies for one primary reason. It’s not reliable. What if the people burn down grain warehouses? What if the do sell it to you but poison it? Will there be enough in the new area that you will be campaigning in next week? Armies win wars when the have the 3 B’s, Beans, boots, bullets. Or to put is simply “Amateurs talk strategy and tactics, Professionals talk logistics”. So most generals with their head on straight may supplement their supplies and logistics from local sources but they will rely on their own supply lines.
RH,
Whether the army is 50K or 100K adding these mouths to a local food supply is going to deplete the inventory very quickly, and with limited road systems the potential for at least a short term famine will result if the army does live off the land. I don’t think Cayleb or Merlin will allow this to happen if they can possibly prevent it, and with control of the seas and with the transports handy after the army is disembarked they will have little excuse if it does happen.
We know the G4 will create facts if Charis doesn’t oblige with real atrocities, but I think the G4 will fall much faster if Charis is able to show that the G4 is flat out lying rather than coming out with justifications after the Church shows the world that Charis is led by a group of heretical mass-murderers.
I’m not saying they won’t purchase some supplies locally as it is always good to have a solid reserve in case things go wrong, but i think they are going to be gentle with the general population in anticipation that these people will stay quietly in their homes until the battle moves past rather than potentially drive them out into the field of battle. Regular troops would massacre them, but they would cause havoc and provide the G4 with the “proof” they need to justify the total war against Charis they are moving toward.
Can’t wait to see how this book pans out in july. Rereading the snippets is a bit like going to a pusher for my fix… ;)
I think that from a book-ish point of view, we already know the formula here. Weber has worked with Baen/Flint/Drake enough that I’m betting we’ll see one graphic example of some officer, probably from some nation or region that “doesn’t really get it,” being summarily court martialed and flogged or hung for doing bad things to the local populace.
Afterwards, we’ll see a few brief references en passant to various improvements that Merlin has introduced to the logistics game, and then there won’t be any problems to speak of, unless we need a problem to justify some set piece. (“Ah, yes, Lieutenant Buckley! You really pulled our chestnuts out of the fire when you rescued this month’s shipment of condoms. Come in, I’ve got a special assignment for you.”)
Realistically, though, we’re talking about a 17th – 19th century war. That specifically includes the biggest, most astonishing wars ever fought using primarily sweat and muscles on the logistical end. The X years wars (30, 20, 100, 15, whatever you like but always a multiple of 5), the Napoleonic stuff, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, and even the Russian wars were mostly (but not all, there at the end) sails, oars, and mules.
Any commentary about how the land, or the peasants, just can’t support troops marching back and forth is going to be unrealistic – go read 1632 for FMTYEWTK about that. And at least one side – the church – doesn’t even have to pretend to care about this stuff. So Weber gets to write in whatever rape, pillage, and burn scenes he wants. And whatever starving terrorists. And so on. But I still say we get one harsh example, and some hand-waving.
Remember: Pillage, THEN burn!
=Austin
IF the people are loyal to Hector, “treating them gently” won’t work. Either they conquer and then set up the old ruler or his family as a puppet (a method pretty much ruled out in this case) or they conquer and smash the existing social structure to bedrock, then rebuild it. Anything in between just creates a guerrilla war, a basic fact of history unknown to professionals who think in terms of tactics and logistics but ignore grand strategy.
Professional military men HATE guerrilla wars because the guerrillas are independent of logistics and such a war can’t be reduced to military tactics, no matter how hard they try or how many local victories they win. Guerrilla war is a political action, not a military one, and politics is messy and uncertain.
If Caleb/Merlin fight a purely conventional war, they can overcome Hector’s military and depose him. If the population just rolls over and plays dead after that, DW is being less realistic then usual. I suspect the critical battle will be between the G4 and Church of Charis for the loyalty and support of the people. A win in that battle is the only thing that can pacify Corisande.
The islands of Corisande will be primarily defensive, since islands tend to grow more mountanous at the centers Corisande will have the advantage of time and terrain. If Merlin has introduced the concept of gravity, and the persistent gravity equations that deal with ballistic trajectories, then there should be an artillery advantage on Merlin’s side. As far as cannon goes, Corisande will likely have the advantage of guns by the time Charis comes in. If a slash and burn policy is instigated on retreat, then Charis might have to deal with an unruly population that also needs to be fed if they seize the coastal cities, which they will. The concept of guerilla warfare is not likely to have come about yet on Safehold because of the relative peace by which all nations have lived since Armageddon. The history of Charis for example indicates a gradual upbringing from piracy to legitimacy established by the reality of who had power in the region. Given the cautiousness that the Church doctrine puts in people, this makes sense. Corisande is not likely to warm up to Charis for a generation or two given the degree to which Cayleb’s name could have been blackened over the months since Darcos sound, and especially the assassination attempt by Emerald. So after the war I anticipate Corisande as being a controlled but seperate nation from the Empire, like what the US would do if we invaded Canada. Merging a hostile nation means giving internal government access to hostile people, and with the motivations of a hostile nation in play they could push through a lot of anti-occupier sentiment and harmful legislation within the government seeking to merge them. Short of a miracle, I can’t really see Corisande as coming out of this war happily in hand with Charis.
Well, E, except for the extremely minor detail that these countries are not democracies. That does make a slight difference.
/sarc off
RH
Hmm maybe I should give a bit more detail on what I mean. E, the problem is that you seem to be thinking in terms of “fully integrated” territories and “harmful legislation” being pushed by the people of the conquered territory. But these countries are not democracies. Charis and Chisholm do have parliaments with both the Lords and the Commons but the King/Emperor (and Queen/Empress) retains ultimate authority. The MWW was very specific in pointing out where the “true power” lies in the current system. So any “harmful legislation” they wanted to try to push wouldn’t be effective. For one they’d be voted down by the existing parliaments anyway. And two even if they passed Cayleb would just laugh and tell them to go to hell.
OK, so we’ve established that even if we did try to “fully integrate” them as you seemed to initially suggest it wouldn’t be a problem… but I also don’t think they will go that route. Why not? Because there is no constitution either, so there is no requirement that conquered peoples be given representation in the Imperial Parliament. There is a requirement that Chisholm be granted such representation because the treaties involved in Cayleb and Sharleyan’s marriage specifically state them. But there is no such written requirement (that we have been told about at least) for Emerald. In fact, given such phrases as “gives expression for whatever domestic change the Emperor may deem appropriate” (or something very similar) and others like it in the terms Cayleb dictated, I’d be flat out shocked if they did. Emerald is a part of the empire and a territory of it, but I’d bet quite a bit they have no representation in the Imperial Parliament. True, Nahrmahn is the third-ranking noble of the Empire and is treated like a favored vassal, but that doesn’t mean his people have equal representation rights. Far more likely they have their own local parliament that must conform to the Imperial laws/oversight and otherwise has local autonomy.
So I don’t see any reason whatsoever to assume that Corisande will be given Imperial representation at all, especially not right after the conquest. Zebediah might, especially if the “Grand Duke” ends up a loyal vassal and his people cheerfully join in because they’re grateful to be liberated from Corisande, but more likely they’d get a deal much like Emerald with a significant amount of local autonomy subject to compliance with overall Imperial policy.
And if the conquered territories do not have Imperial representation, then I guess they are at least somewhat similar to the “separate but controlled nations” you suggest. But if Emerald and perhaps Zebediah are given that treatment, Corisande is likely to be given even less unless his people really warm up to Cayleb fast (or some sort of deal is worked out between Cayleb and Hektor that none of us can forsee at the moment). Cayleb and Sharleyan talk about finding somebody to rule Corisande who will be a loyal vassal but also knows they will come back and execute him if he even thinks about getting “frisky”. That doesn’t sound to me like the local semi-autonomy given to Emerald so far and likely to be given to Zebediah. At all.
RH
Just a quick point. Everyone seems to be talking about living off the land. Normally shipping supplies would be expensive, but at this point there will be a large number of idle merchant ships. Add to that all the obsolete warships, and a population of merchantmen willing to work cheap to support the cause.
What I have gotten out of the books is that most likely Zebediah will be given control of Corisande is the same fashion as emerald has been given control over itself. From what I understood in the books Zebediah would be perfectly happy to take over Corisande after Charis passivizes the Corisande army. That way the Charis army is not pinned down in Corisande for the rest of the war.
sean c, I think it is unlikely that Zebediah will be given control over all of Corisande. He may get control over his island which was conquered by Hektor of Corisande, but I doubt Cayleb and Sharleyan would trust him with control over all of Hektor’s territory.
IMO it would be safer for the new Empire if the League was broken up. As for what happened with Emerald, remember that Emerald was one princedom before Nahrman surrended to Cayleb. The League was several princedoms conquered by Hektor’s family. Zebediah is only one of Hektor’s subject nobles.
Pastaaaaaa……