Inner Assembly
The Inner Assembly is the highest governing body in the Ossan Empire. It has power over the military, government, and economy, leading the Assembly in its administration of the empire. They, alongside other elite members of the Assembly, have also control the elite imperial guard called the Cinders. They hold their meetings in the Maerhorn fortress.
The Inner Assembly is made up of five members of the most powerful guild-families: Aelia Dorlani, Gregori Kirkovik, Sammi Stavri, Stutd Vorcien, and Supi Magna. During his political career, Demir believed himself to be the one-day success of Father Vorcien, though it is now a long shattered dream.
STORY
After Adriana Grappo was murdered on the steps of the Assembly by masked assailants, the Inner Assembly officially declare that the Duke of Grent was responsible and order an immediate military invasion of Grent. The members of the Inner Assembly also made a pact to not investigate further into the matter, which Father Vorcien gets around by having his bastard daughter Kissandra Vorcien inform him on the details of her own investigation on behalf of Demir Grappo. Her investigation later reveals that Aelia Dorlani was involved in the murder due to her connections with the Glass Knife.
After General Stavri and his senior officers are murdered, the Inner Assembly is forced to ask Demir to take control of the Ossan Foreign Legion because Hammish Kirkovik and Maj Madoloc are far away in the provinces. However, they are divided about the decision due to personal quarrels with Demir. For example, Supi Magna was snubbed by Demir concerning the Ivory Forest Glassworks, which also burned down after he took part ownership, so he held a personal grudge while Gregori Kirkovik likes Demir because the Grappo have long been family friends of the Kirkoviks. Meanwhile, Sammi Stavri's place on the Inner Assembly is jeopardized by her inability to win the bid for the Kerite's Drakes in their war against Grent.
The Inner Assembly summon Demir to the Maerhorn, and he prepares himself by using skyglass to calm his nerves. At the meeting, they ask him to stop Grent from taking Harbortown and to defend Ossa's unmanned and outdated forts, but they inform him that he only has eight thousand badly battered legionnaires, a few battalions of cavalry, and sixty thousand barely useful national guardsmen. Meanwhile, Grent has twenty thousand troops along with ten thousand Kerite's Drakes mercenaries. He says that they are sending him to fail, but they reassure him that others would do worse, and they need the brilliance of the Lightning Prince. He then declares that he only takes on the task to save the Ossan people, not any of their holdings and investments, and he demands they do not work against him politically, first by overlooking his part in the forgeglass riot earlier that day and giving him access to their spymaster network, a boon several members of the Inner Assembly are reluctant to give him, but Father Vorcien coerces them to oblige.
After several battles, Demir has another meeting with the Inner Assembly, which he misses purposefully when he gets distracted by the news that his friend Capric Vorcien had ordered the sack of Holikan under guise of Demir's command. Demir challenges Capric to a duel, but the Inner Assembly sends the Cinders to arrest them both before they kill each other. The Cinders holds Demir for three days in the Maerhorn's dungeons before the Inner Assembly decide what to do with him as a punishment for his recklessness. The Inner Assembly knows that they cannot strip Demir of his military command since they need him, and Father Vorcien assures them that Demir will be under his control. Since it was his own son that Demir attacked, Father Vorcien convinces the Inner Assembly to force Demir into a marriage alliance with the Vorcien to prevent a guild-family war. Father Vorcien asks Demir to put aside his blood-feud with Capric and marry Kizzie, which Demir reluctantly accepts with full intention of finding a way to break the deal.
As Kizzie goes deeper with her investigation into Aelia's involvement in Adriana's death, she and Baby Montego ambush Aelia's carriage and kidnap her, knowing full well the risk of attacking a member of the Inner Assembly. Kizzie admits she had always wanted to threaten a member of the Inner Assembly, but Aelia declares they would destroy the Grappo if they put her to question under shackleglass. Montego responds that he will simply have to drown her in the river so there are no witnesses. This loosens Aelia's tongue, and she gives up information about Aristanes.
Because of the godglass shortage, the Inner Assembly decrees that high-resonance cureglass only be used for high-ranking officers, glassdancers, and Breachers. Idrian Sepulki argues against this policy when Braileer Holdest is mortally wounded, resulting in him bargaining with Coordinator-Lieutenant Prosotsi to add one more year to his debt service in the Foreign Legion in order to save Braileer's life.
After Demir defeats Devia Kerite on the field of battle, he orders a letter be sent to the Inner Assembly, informing them that the Lightning Prince met the Purnian Dragon on the field of battle and was victorious.
Type
Government, Leadership
Notable Members
