Embraisch’Nj’s jokes are fairly well-done for, y’know, what they are. I do find it liberating to write as devil’s advocate now and again. And I’m proud of basically improvising his character on the spot, though any subtlety that might exist in his appearance here is immediately spelled out by Gravedust.

One thing I only noticed on this reread is that Emb the eager assimilator is currently identifying as a FORMER wood elf (“I don’t miss being” one). When next we see him, he’ll identify as a wood elf, on and off the stage. This may reflect a bit of social change: at this point, wood elves are still sort of at war with Gastonia and the number of migrants is drastically low, but after hostilities between the two powers cease in Chapter 18, the migrant presence expands to the point where “Gastonian wood elf” no longer seems quite so oxymoronic.