Wielding the Stars to Craft War (Warcraft/Starcraft)

With Alterac’s council of regents worn down by Pelton’s sanctioned harassment, the archmage Krasus found it easy to convince the beleaguered humans to provide for various amenities to resume his student’s education. Kyle and Vasyrgos would have their empty field to further test psionic magic, and Korialstrasz only needed a few wards to avoid any accidental witnesses.

As the experimentation continued, Krasus had Halion discreetly sift through the regents’ paperwork, while Lora played the imposing guard that stopped anyone from snooping or interfering. It was far from an optimal setup, but considering the time constraints, it was about the best Korialstrasz could manage for the moment.

For a moment, he wondered if perhaps he was getting rusty in mortal interference. Admittedly, after elevating his cover Krasus to an archmage, and all the subtle work required to maintain an air of reclusiveness, he hadn’t really needed to dabble so much in the realm of mortal politics (and human politics too, at that). Maybe it’s also the fact that having his queen return had mellowed his attitude somewhat…

Ultimately, this was not too dire an issue. These humans were far from the persistent and ambitious magi who risked discovering Korialstrasz’s identity as they politicked in the shadows of the Kirin Tor, and they’d be far more fools than he’d take them for if they dared to employ assassins and poisons.

Yet it was the same feeble-mindedness that had the draconic archmage concerned. What he’d seen so far through his own eyes and scrying had revealed a war-ravaged realm that had barely taken a step towards recovery. Damned by their former liege, the Alteraci he saw were all to a man shattered in spirit, trudging through their lives under the hostile gazes of the occupiers who were once their neighbors.

As a member of the red dragonflight, whose mandate was to protect and nurture life, Korialstrasz felt some offense at seeing the potential for vibrant life so withered. He felt that especially keenly now, trying to make up for his mistakes in the past when he abandoned his responsibilities in trying to free his queen from the orcs. It was a long road to rectify his callous oversight, but the people of Alterac would be a part of it.

If his instincts were right, Halion would soon be finding ample evidence of the regents’ lack of performance. If they were truly incompetent, there’d be a trail or two of embezzlement as well. There was virtually no way that after months of taking the reins, all the regency council had to show for was just a refurbished road into Alterac City and an increase in the Alliance garrison.

Kyle already had his ideas on improving the land, but no doubt he’d face opposition from the representatives of the four kingdoms whose clashing interests stagnated any real recovery to the land.

Ideally, Halion might soon find the right evidence to give Kyle the leverage he needs to loosen the regents’ hold on decision making. At worst, Korialstrasz would have to retask Pelton in tutoring the young king in the art of persuasion, and some strings would have to be pulled to raise the issue to the Alliance leadership. Regardless, the deadlock between the regents had to be broken.

In the meantime, Kyle would continue his lessons in private, only joining Pelton and Halion during more prominent excursions into the state of Alterac. Which in turn gave Korialstrasz and Vasyrgos time to compile their findings on any progress on Kyle’s psionics.

Unfortunately, the blue dragon had been right that psionics scaled rather lethally on a larger scale. Where arcane magic ran into inefficiency issues that forced its casters into investing precious seconds into channeling and shaping mana to cast fireballs and blizzards, the psionic bolts of comparable power required virtually no downtime. It seemed that so long as Kyle willed it, the energy was available and pliable for immediate use.

And according to Vaysrgos, Kyle was beginning to experiment on other yet-unknown uses for psionics, something about surveying his environment, but as of yet no results had been produced for the dragon to speculate on the nature of it.

“With how he’s constantly sifting through the craters he leaves behind, it could be an equivalent to a scrying or dowsing spell. Or it could be a transmutation one, for all we know.”

It was puzzling and perhaps a bit worrying, but Korialstrasz trusted his cousin’s abilities to keep an eye out for Kyle while he played his role as both mentor of the heir to Alterac as well as the unofficial representative of Dalaran. The humans distrusted his presence far more than they did Kyle’s, so Krasus was required to draw their attention, asking veiled but pointed questions during briefings, or making blunt and not-quite innocuous remarks that detached magi are expected to make.

Korialstrasz had to admit to a guilty pleasure in really immersing in his mortal guise again after so long. Being the mysterious, almost faceless ancient in the Kirin Tor’s shadows was nice, but being right in the midst of the mortals like he was now was invigorating in its own distinct way.

The theatrics bore fruit just after a week of their arrival, after the regents dropped their guard enough from the weary familiarity with the envoys. Admirably, Kyle beat Pelton to the punch during a discussion over Alterac’s expenditure.

“Pardon my ignorance, but does this mean that Alterac’s poverty is purely theoretical, and that the treasury still has a significant amount of funds locked behind stalled proposals?”

Councilman Brydd, the Kul Tiras representative, answered with a nod and a half-shrug. “Well, when you put it that way, yes. Er, your highness.”

Kyle managed a look of bemusement that carried a trace of high noble. “So, the budget that’s been presented before is only in the red because the locked funds have been discounted?”

“Well, of course,” Councilwoman Filia huffed, as if stating the obvious. “Without that, the Alliance’s development projects couldn’t be launched.”

“But it’s still not launched, right?”

The woman rolled her eyes before giving her two colleagues, Lommath from Gilneas and Joren of Stromgarde. “Well, not yet. There are…disagreements about how exactly the development should proceed.”

Lommath nodded, flinging a smirk to his counterpart. “Quite so. If only the honorable representative of Stromgarde partook in common sense like the rest of us, the masons and carpenters would be here already, repairing the city to a respectable state.”

Joren, in turn, scowled at the accusation. “Common sense, eh? You mean common sense to see how you’ve set it up so that only Gilnean workers will be employed in the projects? The common sense to see how you’re prioritizing only the small parts of Alterac that’ll benefit Gilneas’ commerce?”

“Please, you’d simply send in Stromgardian workers to carve up the land and slap your claims on it!” Lommath shouted back, jabbing an accusatory finger.

Kyle stared at the shouting match that ensued, then stared at the other two regents with bemusement that slowly hardened into affront. Filia and Byrdd at least had the decency to offer embarrassed and apologetic looks. The raucous continued on for a few more seconds before Lora literally stepped in and interposed herself between Lommath and Joren before grabbing them not too kindly by their collars.

“Oi! Ye’re in the presence of a king!” she hollered sharply, her armor clanking lightly as she shook the two men angrily. “The feck are yer manners?!” With that, she sent them stumbling as she shoved them away.

The Gilnean and Stromgardian eventually realized the error of their shameful display, staring first at each other before turning to shrink back a little from Kyle and his delegation’s gazes.

Brydd quickly stepped in on behalf of his colleagues. “Sorry. Your highness. The burden of hard decisions has been hard on us.”

“And formulating an acceptable solution is a delicate thing,” Filia added with an aloof sniff.

Kyle’s bemusement did not lift at all. “It seems to me that it’s an issue of your own making. If Stromgarde and Gilneas are at odds, why not hire Lordaeron or even Kul Tiras laborers?”

“The admiralty has all hands on deck to rebuild and expand its fleet to scour the last of the Horde’s navy,” Byrdd explained carefully.

Filia was far less deferential, all but glaring at Kyle as if he was asking the blatantly obvious. “Orcish internment remains the top priority for Lordaeron. We simply cannot spare any manpower when we have camps to raise, and our own ravaged settlements to rebuild.”

Kyle ignored the glare and the underlying accusation in the woman’s voice, and turned back to Lommath and Joren. “And I’m guessing a fifty-fifty division of labor is unacceptable?”

“You can’t trust their work!” both councilors answered almost in unison.

“Gilnean architecture and their penchant for glass and overcosted timber is going to endanger my laborers, and they’ll weasel their way into making us pay for it too!”

“I’m not risking my countrymen to stand underneath Stromgardian’s primitively built walls!”

Korialstrasz exchanged weary glances with his delegation, noting Halion’s utter disgust, Pelton's growing exasperation, and Lora reaching a violent breaking point. Again, Kyle stepped in before any four of them could.

“Councilors, if I may offer a suggestion before you strangle each other?”

The growing hostility was decapitated, and heavy silence followed as the regents all looked at Kyle with surprise. Then the look in their eyes told Korialstrasz that they remembered that he was the heir and all-but confirmed king of Alterac, and the titles came with some measure of power.

Ignoring them for a second, Kyle glanced over his shoulder towards Pelton. “It’s within my rights, right?”

Pelton nodded with some relief as he produced and opened a tome. “Indeed so. More than that, even.” He jabbed a finger onto a particular jungle of text. “As no amendments have been made regarding the responsibilities of your council of regents, by default, as the confirmed inheritor to the throne, you still have the right to make decisions… So long as it gains the approval of your regents. Or, in the case that you feel that their judgment is compromised, your decision may be instead executed by approval of other witnessing members of the Alliance of some rank.”

“Like you?” he asked, turning fully to Pelton, Halion, and Lora.

“Like us,” the gnome confirmed with a barely suppressed grin, whereas his dwarven counterpart didn’t bother hiding her glee and their elven colleague managed to just smile with faint smugness. Korialstrasz himself couldn’t help but feel some…satisfaction at watching the regents’ expression melt into horrible realization.

“Er, your highness, there is much underlying context to consider,” Lommath ventured, his once cocksure tone almost devolved into a stammer.

Kyle nodded with faux magnanimity. “I’m sure there are. That’s why I’m going to seek out a second opinion.” He beamed a vapid smile at his regents. “From Khaz Modan and Gnomeregan.”

Lora was snickering as she gave the boy a thumbs up, while Pelton’s eyes went wide for a fraction of a second before he broke into a full, toothy grin.

“Considering how uninvolved they are, I’m sure their impartiality would be very welcome?”

“Most…assuredly,” Filia answered for the council, her deflated tone conveying anything but pleasure at the sudden turn of events.

“Don’t worry, your highness,” Lora cheerily said, “I know the right dwarves from the guilds who’d be willing to go over the whole thing. I betcha with solid dwarven practices we can probably save ye some costs on construction without cutting corners, too!”

Both Lommath and Joren paled at her words as the funds that were supposed to flow to either man’s kingdom threatened to be diverted, and they paled further as Pelton chipped in with a polite cough.

“I have…acquaintances who have converted some of the excess war machines for civilian use. . Perfectly safe too, not like the goblin scrap. If you’d allow me, I could work out a deal for them to demonstrate the machines’ worth in exchange for a subsidized price.”

Kyle still managed to not share in the malicious glee that was blooming from the envoys, and instead gave a serious nod. “Those sound like good plans. ”

“Indeed so,” Halion agreed, directing a smirk at the regents. His silken voice took on a haughty tone that made Filia flinch. “The young king-to-be has offered a sound alternative to break what seems to be frankly a petty and disappointing deadlock. Would there be any protests towards his decision to be noted?”

For a moment, the regents froze up like deer caught under a dragon’s hungry gaze.

“If I may,” Krasus interrupted, drawing looks of surprise from everyone. “Perhaps some concern could be raised that having dwarven and gnomish workers might assert some undue costs to Alterac,” he offered, pretending as if the same wouldn’t have happened if Gilneas or Stromgarde took charge of the rebuilding. “Perhaps a compromise could be found?”

Kyle finally grinned as he bowed gratefully at the archmage. “Thank you for pointing out my mistake, Master Krasus. Would it be better if specialists were hired from Khaz Modan and Gnomeregan to instruct the local Alteraci workforce?”

Lora snorted, waving the question off. “Eh, so long as they can follow instructions and don’t skimp on work, I’ve got clansmen that’ll take human wages to serve as supervisors. You’re looking to build a human kingdom after all, so we can loosen some standards.”

“Oh, I’m sure the engineers would like a chance to prove their machines’ ease of use,” Pelton happily added. “Training human operators from scratch would serve as an excellent demonstration of the machinery’s capabilities.”

“And I’m sure that it’d be beneficial for the local populace if they received some work to slowly raise them out of their sorry states,” Halion finished, and then fixed his gaze on the councilors again. “Unless, of course…there are any objections?”

Not wanting to risk their reputations, the humans remained quiet.

“Excellent. Then, as an observer of Quel’Thalas, I approve of heir Kyle Daelam’s proposal of seeking expertise from the Alliance kingdoms of Khaz Modan and Gnomeregan.”

“Seconded.”

“Aye, same here.”

Wielding his influence as a ranking archmage of Dalaran, Krasus provided his assent as well.

Kyle clapped his hands once and beamed a smile. “Well, that worked out rather well. Can we go over the other issues that have been held up? Oh, right. There’s the mining issue, right? If I hired dwarven prospectors instead, and charged a sort of tax to lease the mine to them, would that work?”

Lora rubbed at her chin as she seriously pondered the sudden proposal. “Hm… Might need to clarify the terms there, yer highness. But it sounds good.”

“Payment should involve a portion of the mined wealth, as to ensure that Alterac is not bled dry,” Halion suggested.

As Kyle brainstormed with the envoys, Korialstrasz watched his regents fall into a sort of despair as their perceived control over the kingdom and any wealth they thought to leech away to their own kingdoms was now about to be snatched away.

Forced between ceding all development rights to Khaz Modan, Gnomeregan and even Quel’Thalas, the regency council finally agreed to compromise on their greedy demands as they tried to outbid Kyle’s suggestions and sought to salvage something.

Archmage Krasus only had to voice his own suggestion once, instigating a false bidding war between Khaz Modan and Quel’Thalas to force the Lordaeron representative to completely abandon her plans for minting Alteraci currency in her own kingdom.

All in all, for all the pettiness that ensued, it was a surprisingly delightful use of the disguised dragon’s time. Maybe he really should go out and be a little bit more direct in his dealing with mortals after this…