Aliases are alternative forms of a reference. They can include actual aliases for characters, nicknames, plural variations, gendered versions of some [Classes], and even typos.
“Especially if you lose a leg in an accident or…I’m sorry, Ilvriss. I can try, but it’s not in my purview. It might not be impossible, though. Nerul is back. And he has success to report.”
That was when Nerul had arrived. He’d swept into the city, walked into the negotiating room where the angry Council of the city of Dellek was waiting, representatives from the rest of the alliance, and spoken.
“Ladies and gentledrakes, I am Nerul, [Diplomat] of the Gemscale family and officially designated representative of the Walled City of Salazsar in regards to the war between the Trisstral Alliance and Salazsar. Both sides want peace, and an amicable solution if one can be arranged. Let’s work this out.”
The Drakes—and Gnolls—in the room had bristled at first. They expected an arrogant Drake from Salazsar to sweep in and say how it was going to be. But Nerul caught them off guard. He stood there in their first meeting, looked around, and identified the head of Dellek’s Council. He inclined his head to him.
It took Nerul three months. At first, the entire Council and many representatives, including other Councilmembers, even a Watch Captain, sat in on the talks. But they quickly found that what they wanted, they got.
That was unreasonable, and Nerul pointed out that no Drake cities had contracts over two decades—and if they did, they were broken. Salazsar couldn’t justify that length.
They argued for nearly four days—Nerul being polite—on the issue of length. Soon, only designated representatives were hammering out terms with the [Diplomat]. The Council had to do more than sit in.
Obviously they were wary. But Nerul was polite, friendly, and after the grueling negotiations, he made a point of visiting the attractions in the city. He asked the negotiators for tips on places to visit—since he was here for a while.
The thing was, Nerul was representing the Walled Families, Salazsar. He had a lot of sympathy for Trisstral, and there were things he couldn’t agree to—that they would refuse to accept.
That was one noticeable conversation with the Dellek representative, who did have to put her city’s interests with that of the alliance in general. Nerul visited the city of Selmis the next day and spent two weeks there being hosted by the negotiator there, who he had grown friendly with. Which of course made Dellek a bit nervous…
Nerul never promised anything he didn’t mean. Nor did he try to play cities against each other; the negotiators did check. But he was completely willing to take a six-hour-tour with a negotiator, and rack up several thousand gold pieces on the Gemscale family bill with gifts, money spent while drinking or talking with the others…
The trick was that Nerul bent over backwards—did backflips—if he had to. Personal concessions for ones on the actual peace treaty he eventually signed on behalf of Salazsar and had sent to the Walled City to be further signed by all the Walled Families. When he left Trisstral, the negotiators threw him a farewell party.
