[h2][center][color=Brown]Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People[/color][/center][/h2]

It had taken another day and a bit of rest in order for Raethel to recover enough from the expenditure of the ritual in order to leave the barrow and seek out his people... or at least those Rattus that hadn't left either for the existing outposts or to join in on the rush to claim homes on the opposite side of the river. There was evidence of a great feast that had taken place in the food areas; A celebration of the success of the ritual and the good tidings that it offered them going forward undertaken in the only manner that they currently knew how.  

While normally Raethel would have been enraged by the fact that so much of their stores of food had been used up without his permission, under the circumstances he was willing to let it slide. The occasion was a great one that deserved some kind of event to praise it... and not all of the food for the feast had come from their stores. While it had only been a couple of days since the other bank had been opened to them, already a number of new plants had been discovered that had proven edible and interesting. So far the most numerous and welcomed discovers had been two different kinds of fruit trees and a root vegetable that seemed to grow a strongly odored bulb that was tasty in its own right, but those Rattus who had taken a shine to preparing food theorized that it's true calling might be in enhancing the flavor of other foodstuffs. Other discoveries, like a tall yellow grass that was producing some kind of grain, were promising through exactly to make proper use of it hadn't been figured out just yet.    

If there was one benefit of all this, it was that there had been enough Rattus who had simply been relaxing after gouging themselves on food around that enough of them could just be rolled into the local meeting area so that the matter that Aethel had passed down could be discussed properly... even if there were some complaints about being sleepy or feeling bloated. Said complaints died down fairly quickly once the meeting got underway properly and they actually heard what was going to be discussed... through in the case of the bloated, some belches and passing of gas went a long way to help as well. 

As was expected once the options were presented and the floor was opened for Rattus to speak up and have a say, Rattus started to exercise the right to talk and make their opinions heard. Fairly quickly, three relatively equal groups formed among the body, each supporting a different course of action and championing their respective decision for which of Aethel's great tasks their people should dedicate themselves to performing first. A fourth group was also formed, made up a mixture of Rattus who hadn't made up their mind of which of the three options to choose or believed that resources should be dedicated to all three at once. 

This latter point was the first point of debate among the crowd, through a relatively short one in that the heat of the sky was still in the same half of the sky when a final decision was reached; The final agreement was that while all three quests from Aethel were important to the future of the Rattus as a people, trying to pursue all three at once was simply not viable due to the grand scale of each individual quest. There was simply not enough rat power and resources to perform all three at once in a reasonable time frame. The idea that [i]two[/i] of these quests could be pursued at the same time was floated and was tentatively agreed to be a valid option for them to pursue, but there were clearly some uneasy grumbles about the idea due to it stretching resources to the absolute limit. 

The rest of the first day was carried out under the assumption that only one project was going to be pursued at a given time; An order of priority needed to be worked out so that in the event they did decide to push to pursue two of these quests at once, they would know which two were deemed the more important to the Rattus as a people. Most of this first day wasn't spent discussing the matter itself as it was working out the ground rules for how the discussion would be carried out the next day, allowing for word to get around that the debate was happening to those who weren't present so that even if they couldn't attend themselves, they could still send representatives or messages about what they wanted to happen... as well as messages sent to them with abridged, key point versions of what was being discussed so they could make an informed decision. It also allowed those present a chance to figure out the points they wished to discuss and how to discuss them.

The debates proper began on the second day. Each side would be allowed a number of speakers selected by their own group in order to represent points they wanted made to the best of their abilities since letting hundreds of Rattus speak would not only be highly time consuming, but the same points would almost certainly crop up again and again. It was agreed that counter-arguments would be handled the next day, since it would give time for proper thought about them to be made, through once a speaker was finished talking questions could be asked of them in order to clarify something or express additional information on a subject. While silence was expected while a speaker was talking, a request to interrupt so that a question for clarification or more detailed information could be made to Raethel who didn't [i]have[/i] to allow it but was prone to doing so provided the person in question did so politely. 

The process itself started off rocky but, as the hours passed Raethel found that he needed to step in to correct or sharply remind someone of the rules they had all agreed to less and less as understanding and experience removed some of the awkwardness and simple mistakes. The speakers were proven well chosen from all groups, as by the end of day all of them had made strong cases for each of Aethel's quests being given the priority. The third day carried on much like the second, with each of the speakers making strong cases and matter of which to pick remaining in deadlock.    

However, Raethel had an idea to try and help break the deadlock. Namely, he requested at the end of the third day that each group should select some new speakers to present their arguments for the next day. The hope being that having new speakers would offer new perspectives into the issues at paw and a refocus on the issues rather then the crowd being won over by the personalities of the current speakers. In order to avoid harming the egos of the original speakers, Raethel added for their benefit (and because it was true) that all of them had done an amazing job and had championed their causes wonderfully... the issue being that with [i]all of them[/i] being so passionate about the subject and clearly talented when it came to presenting their points verbally, he could already foresee that the sky would change many times before anything like a victor presented itself. In return for stepping down as speaker, they would be asked to join Raethel to help judge and discuss the matter further as future speakers make their points.   

On the fourth day, with the former speakers joining Raethel as lesser judges while the new speakers stepped forward, the deadlock finally broke. It was a close thing, but in the end the plea to expand Rattus influence over the rest of their homeland managed to win enough support to take the priority. Figuring out how to develop a means of safely sailing upon the greater, salty waters beyond the river fell into second place, since the argument that in the face of the challenges that the great salty water was going to present when it came to the development of their water craft would, by their nature, result in improvements to the designs and construction methods of their current water crafts that were sailing on the river as a whole. The mysteries of the mountains would have to wait for the time being.

With the matter settled, Raethel called the meeting to a close... and planning for how they intended to tame the desert would need to begin.
 
[hider=Summary]
Raethel has recovered from the Ritual and goes out to call as many people together as possible to have a meeting about which of the divine quests to pursue first. During the rest period, the Rattus held a big feast in order to celebrate the successful ritual and the opportunities it provided, since being able to go to the opposite riverbank has already allowed the discovery of dates, grapes and garlic. Wheat has also been discovered, but while deemed edible they hadn't figured out how to properly prepare/cook it yet.  

Once enough Rattus were gathered, the meeting discussing Aethel's quests began. Over the course of several days, a basic rule structure for organized debate on important matters to the Rattus was established to keep things civil and progressing was developed, even as the elected Speakers for each group argued their points. Deciding that all current Speakers were passionate and good at selling their arguements, Raethel made a ruling that new Speakers needed to be elected to 'provide a fresh perspective' while inviting the old Speakers to join him as judges as a sign of respect for just how well they presented their arguments (and so he could replace them without insulting or upsetting them since they were doing a pretty good job and should be respected for such). 

In the end the deadlock is broken, with claiming the land of Deserts and Hidden Rivers for the Rattus winning out, with some resources being dedicated to developing ocean worthy boats and sailing due to the improvements in construction of their boats that line of research has to offer. 
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[hider=Spirit]
Start: 4

+1 for being apart of a post for longer then a line.
+1 for main character
+1 for Medium 


Divine Quest: Claim the Land of Deserts and Hidden Rivers for the Rattus 
Divine Quest: Discover a new land across the sea (Plus discover the ability to sail on the ocean)
Divine Quest: Create safe passage through the Great Dragon Range so Rattus can explore the other side.
 
End: 7
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