20,000 peldak warriors are facing off against 80,000 tendori troops around the city and palace of Khagasi. Elsewhere in the subcontinent of Tendor, peldaks from the 16^th and 17^th legions are prepared for unrest, and potentially putting down Great Tendor itself should things escalate.

The situation is calm for the moment, the peldaks besieged the city but are not yet cutting off water or trade. The Hetman of the 18^th Legion, Sir Kornel Kiskorski, the Tendori Emperor, Sulabha of the Rajavade Dynasty, and the Prince of Khagasi, Mithi Khagasi, have met in one of the city’s gatehouses with their advisors and translators, intending to settle the matter peacefully.

The conflict may have begun over the unjust murder of a kotlis, but it’s highlighting a deeper issue over sovereignty within the Peldak Protectorate.

The Emperor of Great Tendor represents local sovereignty of a member state in the Protectorate. Great Tendor has different law for the different castes, so the Prince of Khagasi was not obligated under tendori law to report possession of Zumee’s diamond, nor would he even be punished for killing a kotlis in the first place.

The Hetman of the 18^th Legion represents peldak sovereignty as leaders and guarantors of the Protectorate. Kotlis are sapient, semi-sacred creatures with millennia of coexistence with elves. Long considered messengers of God and angels, killing a kotlis is considered in many ways worse that killing a peldak, and the law of retribution is clear. The original law made no distinction between an elven killer and a faebeast (non-sapient monster) killer, so no distinction should be made for an alien killer who happened to be ignorant of the law.

If the Emperor wins, the Protectorate is simply a military alliance.

If the Hetman wins, the Peldak Protectorate is the Peldak Hegemony.