The ridiculously oversized illustration Ardaic uses here is easy to poke fun at, but it is an interesting product of Gastonian society, so flush that it can use half a tree’s worth of paper on one drawing if the attention of the government justifies it.

Once your extraordinary activities reach a certain level of significance, existing power structures take notice and categorize you as either an asset or a threat. Being an asset of the powerful has its problems, but it sure beats the alternative.

Phil finished the first draft of this page, then stuck in a note to me: “I call upon your powers of condensing to make Ardaic’s dialogue here not crush the page under its weight.”