When I came into the chamber, Prime Minister Esirce was sitting at the head of the table, surrounded by his various sycophants and false friends. "Let me guess," he said when he saw me. "The Calabim again?" I nodded. He said, "they are a necessary evil. Tell me what they did this time." "Well, some of them are beginning to demand a return to the Old Ways..." "yes, yes, yes, fine, whatever. Does that mean following their religion?" It didn't, of course. The only time Lord Esirce could be expected to grow a spine was if religion was involved. "No," I said, "just their... hunting celebration." "We need the Calabim," Esirce said, putting on his Brilliant Overlord tone.
"Yes, of course we do," Minister Alyeris said, smiling her false smile. Anybody with an ounce of sense knew that woman was loyal to either Faeryl Viconia or none but herself. It didn't matter, her effect on the empire was the same. She was presently bedding someone in the Calabim empire, I reckoned. Esirce was the only person on Erebus unaware of Alyeris' many, many questionable lovers. The debacle with the centaur was, of course, merely the most often joked about and satirized, but the list of confirmed partners ran on impressively, and was likely a fraction of the total. "You see," Alyeris continued, "the Calabim have many... unique skills that could serve our needs... wonderfully. As a matter of fact, I was speaking with Lady Tepes..." I grinned at my fellow clerk, Anna. "See," I said to her, "I told you, she likes women to." She silently handed over the coins we'd wagered as Alyeris continued gushing over the wonderful things the Calabim, especially the beautiful Lady Tepes, had to offer. Several other ministers went red, snickered, or showed sudden interest as they figured out the subtext. Esirce was completely blind to it all.
Ragas the Lone interrupted Alyeris' ramblings, to the relief of some and annoyance of others. Doviello were assumed to be big, brutish, and stupid. Ragas was definitely big, but while his methods were brutal, they were also surprisingly creative, and Ragas was far from stupid. He had an incredible animal cunning, and adapted just enough to Grigori culture to be tolerated, while still being seen as a fool. "My pack is interested in these gifts," he said. "Will the People of the Bat offer it to us, if we will provide them with much Prey?" Alyreis considered, but before she could respond, Ragas continued. "To speak of Prey, my assistant read me Words from Front." Another farce; Ragas' broken Grigori and illiteracy were both lies. He'd made mistakes that had revealed both; pass him a document, and he'd sometimes read it over before remembering to ask someone to do it for him, and he sometimes soliloquized in flawless Grigori when discussing his latest schemes with his allies. "People of the Dog," that was the Bannor, "will not kneel. I demand money given that I may make them heel." Esirce nodded. "You! Boy!" That meant me. "My name is Remus," I reminded him quietly. "Yes, yes," he said with a dismissive wave. "Make sure Minister Ragas gets the money he needs." His allies would be drinking well tonight. So be it. I made a note to do it later, and he quickly forgot me.
Esirce then spoke to his fellow ministers. "Now, what shall we do about the economic crisis? My trusted assistant, Lord Wordsworth, has told me he has a solution to our problems. Care to tell the council?" Wordsworth grinned. "I have a proposal that would significantly increase our wealth through wise investing..." Anna was a merchant baron's daughter and heir apparent, and as Wordsworth explained in his double-talk, she translated. "He's proposing they invest in a bank owned by a man who, he failed to mention, is his brother-in-law. The interest rate is..." she quickly calculated, "less than half that offered by the Khazad banking establishments. He'll accuse the dwarves of being gold-hungry subhumans in... five, four, three, two... yep, there he goes. More racist ranting. If you start believing any of this nonsense, please tell me so I can hit you in the... ah, he's done. Now we get all sorts of words that don't have any meaning but sound really good, more, blah blah, yak yak, oh, looks like his bank is invested in only a few industries, none of them especially stable and... yeah, that's a pyramid scheme right there, with him and his political allies on top. And people ask me why I invest so heavily in foreign companies..."
The meeting finally ended. The ministers all shuffled out, while Esirce stayed behind. He beckoned for me and Anna to come. "Ah, Romulus! And your girlfriend!" I didn't even bother correcting him on either. "See, what you saw there was politics at its finest! Did you not see how I played each and every one of my ministers for their strengths, while minimizing their weaknesses! How I kept their various little schemes and ambitions in my pocket, and force them to use their skills for the good of the Grigori empire! Watch me, and you may learn something!" He sounded so certain I almost believed him. Until he added, "I do wish Alyeris would find a husband, though. Why a woman of her beauty remains single is beyond me, especially considering how many excellent bachelors she knows."
Especially seeing as adventurers in your 'ethnic' cities can upgrade to UUs.... 
