Aleria Fadeleaf
10-12-2009, 03:45 PM
(Transcript of the spoken testimony of Ms. Aleria Fadeleaf, given to interested parties in the sectors of trade, martial interest, and emissaries of the crown earlier this morning, the twelfth day of the tenth month.)
Ms. Fadeleaf: Good Morning. I suppose I should be happy that I am not speaking to you today in front of a court, but I feel the need to explain last night's events in a greater detail than reports would have mentioned. As I am just learning this morning, the alarm bells were not sounded after the discovery of a thief, or a rogue assassin... I offer my deepest condolences to you, my friends and neighbors in the wake of this trajedy.
Last night the Wandering Tavern operated as usual, offering a venue for returning soldiers, and civillians trying to sort out what had happened. Toward the end of the night, two people, identified by the Stormwind Royal Cavalry as Sin'dorei, peacefully attended, drawing the ire of many local groups. That night, an accusation of treason was lodged against me for upholding my policies of neutrality. Thankfully, however, the charge was rebuked.
My policies of neutrality have puzzled a good number of my customers. Many of them come to me in desperation, telling me of all of the reasons why I should allow them to shoot that Blood Elf who had come in for a drink. Many of you are staring at me, wondering how I could ever stand by this... I intend to put this matter to rest today.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with my background, I once served as an ambassador, representing Lord Frederick Narrius. While "the Narrius delegation" was a controversial matter at the time, and still under contention, I advocated for peace, often to people who didn't want to hear what I had to say, and were not hesitant to let me, and the people who cared for me afterward, know that in no uncertain terms. Regardless of this experience, and everything that has been done, I still believe cooperation with the Horde is possible... although, I will say that the time has come for the Horde, not the Alliance, to come to the table, and prove that they will cooperate, instead of using one arm to fight the Lich King, and the other to sabotage our efforts to do the same. Put simply, I have strong personal reasons to run my business on a neutral basis. I believe that peace and cooperation are both possible, and that trade is one way to promote that goal.
Secondly, I operate on a neutral basis for the safety of my customers. A little over a year ago, the Golden Tree tavern closed its doors for the last time, something that saddened me greatly. I remembered the Golden Tree almost eight months ago when I started the Wandering Tavern, and among those memories, I remembered that it was a target.
The Golden Tree, operating in a stable location, at a certain time each week, became the unfortunate target of Horde attacks, and in many cases, House Blackstone did not hesitate to retaliate. Their policies were at first neutral, if memory serves, but eventually they changed thier minds, directly favoring the Grand Alliance over the Horde... and so came the attacks. In these attacks, many of his majesty's subjects were injured, and even killed. Economic growth was stunted, and the city had to be prepared for another assault on a tavern...
Pushing for one side or another would do the same to the Wandering Tavern, and establish us as a target, putting many innocent people in harm's way. I do not wish to take that risk, with my employees, with my customers, and with the community, whatever the surrounding community may be.
Finally. The Wandering Tavern advocates neutrality because it makes sense from a business perspective. I had been looking over my ledger, on my way over here, and I noticed that there existed a trend: when members of the Horde were present, I saw a dip in sales. This is of course to be expected, and unfortunately, such is unavoidable. I cannot control whether or not a member of the Horde decides to attend, but I also noticed another trend: profits, and overall revenues were considerably higher when the member of the Horde was not attacked by belligerent customers. I recall the worst week we had ever seen, south of here at the Westbrook Garrison, where the Wandering Tavern lost fifty to sixty gold peices, and if not for a quick restructing of accounts, would have been forced to shut down.
Many of you may be wondering, what do my profits have to do with the Kingdom of Stormwind, 'How do they help me?' Well, consider this. Every copper peice I bring in is used to do one of three things: pay suppliers, pay employees, or to expand. Those payments in turn go to other businesses within the Alliance, who do the same, and create a cycle, a flow of money, just like the necessary flow of blood in a living being. In the midst of that flow, the crown takes taxes, taxes used to create orphanages and schools for our children, taxes for infrastructure, taxes to finance two wars, against the Burning Legion, and the Lich King. Money that saves lives on the battlefield, by giving our soldiers what they need to defeat Arthas. The success of business in this kingdom, therefore, is inexorably tied to the success of the Alliance.
But then the question still arises, 'why would you trade with the Horde?' Aside from the reasons I have given, there is one more, one that we should all consider:
We need them.
-Ms. Fadeleaf pauses as worried whispers fill the room.-
Ms. Fadeleaf: I ask you today to look at the state of our farmlands, and of our once proud mining industry. What state is it in? Petty thieves, to this day have overtaken the once breadbasket of the Alliance, Westfall. We have two or three farms that I can think of today that are operating at a modest capacity. The McClure Farm, The Stonefield farm, and a small orchard just outside of the city gates. The rest however, are inoperable, crippled by a gang of thieves who have yet to be properly confronted.
The need for food may not be so well outlined at the moment, but consider that many of our outposts, instead of being supplied by our now embattled farmers, must scavenge for food in the local area. The problem is most acute in outposts on Draenor, where soldiers endure stomach problems caused by 'Outland food.'
We are operating at our current capacity, and it still isn't enough. It seems that the Alliance has an easier time wrenching food from the Forsaken, who have invaded Strom, than we can from our own farmlands! In our desperation, many of our merchants have turned to the Steamwheedle Cartel, the Kirin Tor, and different groups in the outland.
The Horde by contrast, is an emerging society, whose nations often have small capital accounts, a situation which trends toward agrarian economies. In addition, they are, for the most part, resource deprived, with depleted mines in Lordaeron, and sparse mineral reserves, and a percieved need to invade another country to satisfy lumber needs. They trade with these groups as well.
In other words, we trade coin, minerals, and sometimes lumber to the Steamwheedle Cartel, and other groups in exchange for coin, food, and various commodities, while the Horde trades with them for resources that they cannot procure on their own, for food that they can provide in exchange.
By now, it should be apparent, we have supplied the Horde with many of the resources they now use to bolster their militaries, and in return, they're feeding us. Even if both sides are not aware of this, they are inexorably tied to one another.
Whether this is good or bad is up to you to decide, but if we are to end this cycle, we must regain our lands, in a time where we are fighting two wars, and at a time where we are marching toward a third. Tactics and military strategy are all well and good, but logistics must also be thoroughly considered by both sides.
In the meantime however, trade is strenghthening both, and while many will disagree with me, I believe in neutrality in trade and business because in the end, we need each other for our respective wants and needs.
Ms. Fadeleaf: Good Morning. I suppose I should be happy that I am not speaking to you today in front of a court, but I feel the need to explain last night's events in a greater detail than reports would have mentioned. As I am just learning this morning, the alarm bells were not sounded after the discovery of a thief, or a rogue assassin... I offer my deepest condolences to you, my friends and neighbors in the wake of this trajedy.
Last night the Wandering Tavern operated as usual, offering a venue for returning soldiers, and civillians trying to sort out what had happened. Toward the end of the night, two people, identified by the Stormwind Royal Cavalry as Sin'dorei, peacefully attended, drawing the ire of many local groups. That night, an accusation of treason was lodged against me for upholding my policies of neutrality. Thankfully, however, the charge was rebuked.
My policies of neutrality have puzzled a good number of my customers. Many of them come to me in desperation, telling me of all of the reasons why I should allow them to shoot that Blood Elf who had come in for a drink. Many of you are staring at me, wondering how I could ever stand by this... I intend to put this matter to rest today.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with my background, I once served as an ambassador, representing Lord Frederick Narrius. While "the Narrius delegation" was a controversial matter at the time, and still under contention, I advocated for peace, often to people who didn't want to hear what I had to say, and were not hesitant to let me, and the people who cared for me afterward, know that in no uncertain terms. Regardless of this experience, and everything that has been done, I still believe cooperation with the Horde is possible... although, I will say that the time has come for the Horde, not the Alliance, to come to the table, and prove that they will cooperate, instead of using one arm to fight the Lich King, and the other to sabotage our efforts to do the same. Put simply, I have strong personal reasons to run my business on a neutral basis. I believe that peace and cooperation are both possible, and that trade is one way to promote that goal.
Secondly, I operate on a neutral basis for the safety of my customers. A little over a year ago, the Golden Tree tavern closed its doors for the last time, something that saddened me greatly. I remembered the Golden Tree almost eight months ago when I started the Wandering Tavern, and among those memories, I remembered that it was a target.
The Golden Tree, operating in a stable location, at a certain time each week, became the unfortunate target of Horde attacks, and in many cases, House Blackstone did not hesitate to retaliate. Their policies were at first neutral, if memory serves, but eventually they changed thier minds, directly favoring the Grand Alliance over the Horde... and so came the attacks. In these attacks, many of his majesty's subjects were injured, and even killed. Economic growth was stunted, and the city had to be prepared for another assault on a tavern...
Pushing for one side or another would do the same to the Wandering Tavern, and establish us as a target, putting many innocent people in harm's way. I do not wish to take that risk, with my employees, with my customers, and with the community, whatever the surrounding community may be.
Finally. The Wandering Tavern advocates neutrality because it makes sense from a business perspective. I had been looking over my ledger, on my way over here, and I noticed that there existed a trend: when members of the Horde were present, I saw a dip in sales. This is of course to be expected, and unfortunately, such is unavoidable. I cannot control whether or not a member of the Horde decides to attend, but I also noticed another trend: profits, and overall revenues were considerably higher when the member of the Horde was not attacked by belligerent customers. I recall the worst week we had ever seen, south of here at the Westbrook Garrison, where the Wandering Tavern lost fifty to sixty gold peices, and if not for a quick restructing of accounts, would have been forced to shut down.
Many of you may be wondering, what do my profits have to do with the Kingdom of Stormwind, 'How do they help me?' Well, consider this. Every copper peice I bring in is used to do one of three things: pay suppliers, pay employees, or to expand. Those payments in turn go to other businesses within the Alliance, who do the same, and create a cycle, a flow of money, just like the necessary flow of blood in a living being. In the midst of that flow, the crown takes taxes, taxes used to create orphanages and schools for our children, taxes for infrastructure, taxes to finance two wars, against the Burning Legion, and the Lich King. Money that saves lives on the battlefield, by giving our soldiers what they need to defeat Arthas. The success of business in this kingdom, therefore, is inexorably tied to the success of the Alliance.
But then the question still arises, 'why would you trade with the Horde?' Aside from the reasons I have given, there is one more, one that we should all consider:
We need them.
-Ms. Fadeleaf pauses as worried whispers fill the room.-
Ms. Fadeleaf: I ask you today to look at the state of our farmlands, and of our once proud mining industry. What state is it in? Petty thieves, to this day have overtaken the once breadbasket of the Alliance, Westfall. We have two or three farms that I can think of today that are operating at a modest capacity. The McClure Farm, The Stonefield farm, and a small orchard just outside of the city gates. The rest however, are inoperable, crippled by a gang of thieves who have yet to be properly confronted.
The need for food may not be so well outlined at the moment, but consider that many of our outposts, instead of being supplied by our now embattled farmers, must scavenge for food in the local area. The problem is most acute in outposts on Draenor, where soldiers endure stomach problems caused by 'Outland food.'
We are operating at our current capacity, and it still isn't enough. It seems that the Alliance has an easier time wrenching food from the Forsaken, who have invaded Strom, than we can from our own farmlands! In our desperation, many of our merchants have turned to the Steamwheedle Cartel, the Kirin Tor, and different groups in the outland.
The Horde by contrast, is an emerging society, whose nations often have small capital accounts, a situation which trends toward agrarian economies. In addition, they are, for the most part, resource deprived, with depleted mines in Lordaeron, and sparse mineral reserves, and a percieved need to invade another country to satisfy lumber needs. They trade with these groups as well.
In other words, we trade coin, minerals, and sometimes lumber to the Steamwheedle Cartel, and other groups in exchange for coin, food, and various commodities, while the Horde trades with them for resources that they cannot procure on their own, for food that they can provide in exchange.
By now, it should be apparent, we have supplied the Horde with many of the resources they now use to bolster their militaries, and in return, they're feeding us. Even if both sides are not aware of this, they are inexorably tied to one another.
Whether this is good or bad is up to you to decide, but if we are to end this cycle, we must regain our lands, in a time where we are fighting two wars, and at a time where we are marching toward a third. Tactics and military strategy are all well and good, but logistics must also be thoroughly considered by both sides.
In the meantime however, trade is strenghthening both, and while many will disagree with me, I believe in neutrality in trade and business because in the end, we need each other for our respective wants and needs.