Editing Age of Dragons: Ambassador-Courtier (section)

=Overview=
==Words cut deeper than claws==

''It had been an interesting month for the Solar Ambassador-Courtier called '''Voice-of-Reason.''' He'd convinced a belligerent Argent Dragon to lend his armies to defend the borders of a neighbouring Pure Dragon, and convinced that same self-righteous Pure Dragon to accept that help. In doing so, he'd had to convince both that they were doing him a personal favour, which he in turn would repay by persuading a visiting Ashen Dragon scholar to share the scrolls of lore that he had researched. Of course, this meant giving the Ashen Dragon what he wanted, which was help in getting a pack of Hunter Dragons to lay off harrying his cities. This would be achieved, of course, when the Hunters saw a mass of Argent War Dragons setting up a wayfort on the edge of their sky tribe's territory. Of course, once the Ascendancy threat was dealt with, the Solar could earn a favour off the Hunters by "arranging" for the Argents to go home.''

''Everyone would benefit, and the only reward for '''Voice-of-Reason''' would be the general goodwill of all parties, and the satisfaction of coordinating the war against the Ascendancy. That, of course, and the small measure of wealth that the Solar could earn by having his merchants supply the moving Argent army, the sale of the fort building materials he'd been assidiously stockpiling and the opportunity to converse formally with the Ashen Dragon, and plant some seeds of ideas there to be used and abused in a decade or two once they had time to germinate.''

''Most importantly, the Argent response would lead to the assured, painful and violent death of '''Hungry-for-Battle''', the Ascendancy general in charge of the assault. That Blood Dragon had duelled with '''Voice of Reason''' no less than one hundred and fifty years ago, and left a nasty claw-scar on the Solar's left cheek. It had taken a lot of work to see the Blood Dragon moved up the list of generals to lead this raid, to assure that the Ascendancy force would be inadequate for the job, to make sure that the Argent had a pathological hatred of Blood Dragons and to position the surrounding factions so that the Ascendancy would be cut off from retreat after this attack. It had been a lot of work, but it had been worth every iota of effort.''

''Negotiation, persuasion and the art of manipulation - these were the tools and weapons of this Ambassador-Courtier, and as '''Hungry-for-Battle''' would soon discover, words could cut far deeper than claws.''
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==The Ambassador-Courtier Lifepath==

Dragons are socially adept creatures, with even the most brutish of dragons able to play games of intrigue and manipulation at a level far beyond those of mortals.

Whereas a human might be pleased to persuade an adversary to adopt a certain course of action for the next year, or to socially outmanoeuvre someone in court, Dragons play out their social conflicts on far greater levels. With words in the right places, a dragon can cause kingdoms to topple or enemies to be ostracised from society. They can smear the most loved hero as a traitor, or bring the most unlikely allies into the fold. Likewise, a Dragon will happily work over much larger timescales to achieve his goals, recognising that a major victory that takes one hundred and fifty years is likely worth a lot more than one hundred and fifty trivial victories that take a year each.
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