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Everything.

What's been going on? Here's my set of theories, as pieced together delicately, oh so delicately.

Let's start with Cathak Joris Relway. So, he's been working with the fair folk - this is clear from the wide variety of hints, and also the actual letter, from Cathak Peldan to House Cathak, indicating that he had some proof and that the house was well aware of this whole business already. Given that Relway was working with the fair folk, this means a number of things. First of all, the fair folk have their invasion route - the royal palace is a manse, and as the only royal essence wielder, it is likely under the direct control of Relway. This means that Relway, at any time, could have the manse dismantled and replaced by a freehold within six scenes - an hour and a half. This is easily enough time to do this without causing demense effects or visible damage, and assuming that he has not allowed Peldan or any of the other dragonbloods to attune to the manse, they will never know any better unless the fair folk want them to. The royal palace, therefore, may be assumed to be a freehold. As such, it almost certainly has waypoints connecting it to other parts of the world - likely Sycora, but potentially further areas of the wyld. This is the invasion route for the fair folk to follow when they invade. This collaboration with the fair folk and the state of the palace explains a great deal of his behavior - while we are under the impression that he has been taking slaves to kill for his own alicious fun, it is entirely possible that hehas been sending them to the fair folk instead through the waypoint. Certainly, they could be for the purpose of ravishment by his apparent fair folk ally, lady Jassa Mareil. But I'll get back to that. His unlikely entreaties to the leaders of the rat-people in the city are easily explained now. Given that he is working with the fair folk, he almost certainly has knowledge of the lunar exalt Suka. Given that she is capable of detecting the wyld easily, he needs it to be in her vested interest to not in any way obstruct him - but not to help him either. If he managed to convince her people that he will be mildly helpful to them, then she would stay away and let the politics take its course, never discovering the palace's nature. It is possible that it is supplying the slaves to the fair folk that was the trigger for his murder - if Cynis Lyriel discovered what Relway was really up to, or was told by Peleps Oleana who would have opportunity to discover it, she may have decided to take the matter into her own hads, unable to excuse undermining creation the way she could be forced to overlook more mundane evil. As for Relway's death, his message to the wyld hunt via apparent glamour concerning Peldan and the anathema is a perfect revenge. He manages to potentially name and reveal the circle of solars who had stymied and threatened him, obtaining his revenge there. He manages to incriminate his political and personal enemy, Cathak Peldan, by revealing his association with the anathema. Furthermore, he manages to strike back at his house for forcing him into an arranged marriage that he despised by destroying their only other poltical power in the kingdom with Peldan.

In terms of domestic politics, the two remaining factions are the demon cultists, led by lord Jasper, and another group led by Lord Welland. The demon cultists are very sure of themselves at the moment, Jasper assuring them that he is in control of the situation and that aid was coming - this may refer to promises by Jassa Mareil, likely to his own downfall, or it may refer to the likely impending arrival of the conduit of She Who Lives in Her Name. Lord Welland, if he is to be allied with any supernatural, will almost by default have to be with the Sage.

The fair folk, as mentioned, may have taken the palace as a freehold. Lady Jassa Mareil is likely to be a fair folk noble - she has been recognized as using illusion magic by Amarel, mistress of Fakharu, and has been distributing glamour sorceries. Given these two demonstrated abilities, it seems likely that she is of some power; she is likely to be a fair folk noble, rather than a half-fae or fair folk's servant, although there's always the possiblity of wyld lunar - here's hoping that Friv is not that randomly cruel. Her presence, and her working essence in creation, provides a possible destination for the slaves that Relway was provided with; they may have been destined for her feeding maws. If so, by her switching allegiance from Relway to the demon cult she has pulled off a marvelous trick; distributing mind control sorceries to the members in the guise of protective amulets, she gains complete control of the faction that most strongly opposes her own favoured candidate. As a noble, she would have excellent control over what ould transpire insaide her frehold; this would help to explain why some rather unlikely events would occur, such as Peldan's defeat of three huntsman and three other dragonbloods. Even Peldan, a master of two terrestrial martial arts, should have some trouble dealing with experianced immaculate martial artists and meleeiss, even assuming that he got ther surprise attack; although the capabilities of Cynis Samaris were largely unknown, he hospitalized two capable combatants in Citrios and Andir, and killed two huntsmen who were presumably quite competant fighters. This would be far easier to accomplish if the ambition of Jassa Mareil was to devestate the supply of dragonbloods in the kingdom in internecine squabbling before the true invasion struck, if she intervened to make the story work to his advantage. The fair folk presence in Sycora may have been largely a decoy since the destruction of the freehold and behemoths there, for puroses of distracting Suka and her mentor, as well as the circle of solars and Cathak Peldan. This plan allows the fair folk to completely bypass the defenses of the kingdom ahead of their attack, the only defense remaining being a circle of solars frantically attempting to learn Integrity Protecting Prana. Jassa Mareil may have allowed Relway to be killed in order that the kingdom be sent into chaos ahead of the arrival of the invasion. The suspicious timing may raise questions as to the fae's knowledge of the competition; it is possible that they wish to make a major impact ahead of the competition or even participate, or possibly the storyteller is just mean.

The Sage throughout has proven to be an unfortunately high intelligence character. The affair with the orb of She Who Lives in her Name established him in the eyes of the solars as a less-than-completely evil figure, while giving him complete access to an extremely powerful relic, and a piece of a yozi. His insinuation of Harvester into Ledaal Silver Wren's life has given him complete oversight into everything that happens to that particular item, while potentially giving him access to the conduit of She Who Lives in her Name when it is created - Sivler Wren is researching and attempting to track down the broken-winged crane, and could well discover it, delivering it directly into the Sage's hands. This would allow him to eliminate his regional rival from the competition quickly and painlessly, leaving Zeretan - over and underworld - as his own domain. This strong hold on a large and populated portion of creation would be a major edge over the other deathlords with the exception of the Silver Prince. The Sage has an interest also in the defeat of the fair folk - if their invasion of the kingdom succeeds, his access to creation would be greatly diminished. While the deaths that would occur would no doubt be welcome, the damage to his cause would be quite grand. He therefore provided aid or information to Cynis Lyriel through the Stalking of Severed Shades, causing Relway's death - whether this proved an aid or a hindrance to the fair folk is yet to be seen. Alternately, he may have simply provided for her some cover, seeing the utility in a dynastic ally.