wingfield wrote:Leaving aside the logistics (and the politics) of resettling the MEN of the MH anywhere, there remains the near certainty that their families will not be allowed to join them.
These women and children remain untainted by any perceived heretical stain. Who among them would receive letters from their illiterate menfolk or an other form of news? Their value as serfs in a totally unreformed North Harchong polity would dictate strongly that they be kept in situ.
Now I wonder just what pressures are going to build in the management of the MH, wherever it may be from day to day and in the longer term, while its rank and file increasingly want to rejoin their loved ones.
I see two things working in the direction of moving to the EoC.
1- Promising that the families will join them will be a good inducement for the MH to relocate.
2- If a suitable bribe were offered to the bureaucrats, they would find a way to let those dependents join the MH in Silverlode.
Why should the EoC effectively buy 5-7 million people? As an investment in the economic growth of their nation, those people will generate an incremental annual return in increased GDP. Morally, these people will be given MUCH better living conditions as Charisian citizens. Geopolitically, Charis bolsters its image following the spirit of the Writ and provides a subtle economic poison to Harchong.
Poison, you ask? Yes, poison. By reducing the working labor force and increasing the money in circulation, Charis will increase the inflationary forces upon Harchong. That will expedite the stresses which will lead to unrest in Harchong. If Cayleb continues to encourage Charisians to bribe Harchong bureaucrats to free Harchongese serfs, the stresses get worse and the incentives for the bureaucrats get higher to continue. I am sure that family members already in Charis will pool money to bring more people over. Since inflation will rise quickly in Harchong, the aristos and bureaucrats will likely buy from Charisian suppliers. South Harchong will see inflation hit them a bit too, so Charisian goods will likely remain significantly cheaper than even they can produce.
I am not seeing too many downsides to this.