"I don't want to negotiate at all." I said. "It is your culture to negotiate."

"Then don't negotiate." Veya said. "You are in the position of strength, simply state your terms."

I do that and then everyone says I'm bad at negotiating. I took a moment to consider that, do I care about other people's opinions? Obviously I do, but should I let it affect my actions... No. They respect strength here. I have a desire to protect people and I even have an official goal that matches that desire. I do not need to negotiate with my vassals, they have nothing to offer except their continuing efforts to improve the fortress.

"Thank you Veya." I said.

She gave me a bow and went back to directing her people. I went into the portal nexus meaning to go to the Forest Keeper city... I had forgotten to move that portal to the portal nexus, it was still sitting in the small room off to the side. I moved it next to the portal to Gerry's shop and stepped through.

"Hello lord C.C.." One of the Forest Keeper guards said. "Prince Mal'Thorn was awaiting your return, we will get him for you now."

I nodded and leaned against the wall to wait as the other guard left. A few minutes later he returned with Mal'Thorn.

"Greetings lord C.C." Mal'Thorn said. "You are ready to negotiate?"

"I don't like negotiating, as you know." I said. "I have been reminded that since I am in the position of strength I can simply state my terms."

"Yes." Mal'Thorn said. "I expected you to do so, and then I would raise any objections I had. You have been exceedingly benevolent in the treaties that you have been a part of, I am sure negotiation won't be necessary."

I led Mal'Thorn back into the portal nexus and opened up a wall in the room, giving us a private place to talk.

"I had a question about treaties." I said. "I've learned that the world magic enforces an individual's actions to be within the bounds of the treaties they are subject to. As an example, when Dael made the argument that my fortress wasn't a safe space if I weren't here to protect it, if the world magic had agreed then I wouldn't have been able to leave, correct?"

"Correct." Mal'Thorn said.

"I would like to test it." I said.

Magic didn't work on me, and if the enforcement of treaties was dependant on magic working on me... I would like to know.

"I don't see the need, but very well." Mal'Thorn said.

I led him back through the wall into the portal nexus, closing it behind us, and then through the portal to the bottom of my fortress. All of the humans had moved up to their new village, so we had the floor to ourselves.

"I would like to make a treaty with you personally that states that I cannot raise my right arm." I said.

Mal'Thorn shook his head. "I accept this treaty." Mal'Thorn said.

He was looking at me patiently, so I raised my right arm. He froze in shock, and then fainted. I caught him and lowered him gently to the ground. Perhaps disproving the mechanism that his whole society was built around wasn't such a good idea, but I had to know. It wouldn't change my actions in the future, I didn't need an external power to enforce the agreements I made.

While I was waiting for Mal'Thorn to recover I started moving portals into their dedicated rooms. Each room was the same dimensions as the portal and then as deep as it was tall. In the back wall I had a presence set up, so I now had six more vision and sound inputs and sound outputs to juggle. I wrote a simple notification system that would get my attention when something of interest happened at any of them.

Mal'Thorn came to and sat up. "You..." He said, trailing off.

"One of my powers makes it so that magic doesn't work on me." I said. "I will still be abiding by the terms of any treaties that I am part of."

"But..." Mal'Thorn said. "The treaty didn't break. The terms were simple, there was no misunderstanding in the intent, yet you contradicted it. And it did not break. It's still active."

"Mal'Thorn, treaties still work." I said. "It is only with me that they require trust. Do you trust me?"

Mal'Thorn took some time to process that. "Champions." He finally said, with a hesitant nod. "Yes, I trust you my lord."

"I apologise for testing the effectiveness of treaty enforcement." I said. "Getting down to it, what do you and your people need, both as a minimum and as an ideal?"

"Can we... Can we void that treaty first?" He asked.

I nodded, then he nodded. And that was it, apparently. It probably looked more impressive if you could see magic.

"We would require, as an ideal, a room enchanted with a sunlight effect with one hundred and twenty meter high ceilings and thirty meter deep soil." Mal'Thorn said. "And then as much horizontal space as possible, though a few hundred meters would be workable to start."

A one hundred and fifty meter tall cavern of undefined size...

"I can provide that, I think." I said. "There would need to be supporting columns, but the spans can be quite large. The largest I've done so far is fifty meters, but it can probably be longer than that. Do you need water access?"

"We do not." Mal'Thorn said. "We aren't reliant upon rain, we have water mages that fill reservoirs."

"I can't provide the sun enchantment myself, and I have only recently considered trade between my vassals." I said. "Though after a moment of thought, it should be something that I provide. I will trade with the enchanter for their time. Also, as you know from my treaty with the Druids they are responsible for feeding the people of the fortress."

I really should look into what the industry chains are. Cotton to thread to cloth to clothing, that sort of thing. There were obviously carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, and other craftsmen within the people I already had in my fortress.

"In return for a sufficiently large space with soil and sunlight for growing trees you and your people will work for the betterment of the fortress and all of my people." I said.

"I accept this treaty, on behalf of my people." Mal'Thorn said.

The System sent me a notification that my goal progress had updated.

Goal progress Species with which you have a treaty offering sanctuary from the end of the world. Major species 1/4 Forest Keepers Biome Forest Population 0 Minimum Viable Population 200 Minor species 2/5 (2/4) Beastpeople Biome Plains Population 103 Minimum Viable Population 60 Humans Biome Mountain, Forest, or Plains Population 209 Minimum Viable Population 120

John was right, the major species were the Keepers of the world. And their minimum viable population was the highest yet. My goal progress updated when I formed treaties with the various people, so I still had a reason to negotiate them it seems.

"How many Keepers are you bringing with you?" I asked.

"Three hundred to begin with, they will help set up the initial grove." Mal'Thorn said. "We are ready to move across whenever you are ready for us."

That would be the top of my list, then. Although...

"Are the winter priests are still surrounding your city?" I asked.

"They are." Mal'Thorn said. "It isn't affecting us that much though."

"Well, I was threatened with the priests surrounding the fortress setting off a tactical spell." I said. "I assume that is what they are doing with you, too."

"I need to inform the Queen immediately, excuse me my lord." Mal'Thorn said, heading back through the portal.

I followed him through, bringing both the portal to the Forest Keeper city and the top of my fortress into the portal nexus. The human villagers were still moving between the portals from their old and new village.

Mal'Thorn left with a small bow and I went to the top of my fortress. I returned both of the portals to their portal rooms and headed up the stairs to the upper exit. Through the guard room the stairs were still blocked with the stone I had used to seal the fortress when I went to get Chantelle so I moved that up and out.

The ten meter square platform was buried in snow that I cleared by converting it into air. It was still snowing and dark. Around the fortress there were points of light where winter priests were placed on their ice wall, one hundred of them equally spaced apart.

There were two ways to deal with them, the first would be to go down the stairs and talk with whoever they had left in charge. The second was to go on top of the ice wall and remove the priests their directly. On the theory that the priests wouldn't be on the wall without a purpose, and that purpose likely being to enact their tactical spell, I decided to go with the second plan.

The top of their wall was only twelve meters away from my stairs at the closest point, so I simply walked down the stairs and built myself a bridge out of stone pulled from my Pocket Dimension. The nearest priest was a low ranking one and he looked to be meditating, sitting upon the ice with crossed legs. He had a light stone on a stand behind him. I walked up and sat down a meter in front of him.

"Hello." I said.

He opened his eyes slowly and considered me. "Hello." He said. "Who are you?"

"That's my fortress." I said. "I have a problem..."

I looked at him, prompting him for his name. "Sam." He said.

"I have a problem, Sam." I said. "Your last head priest threatened me with a tactical spell that you had prepared here. There are two responses I can have to that, as I see it. I could kill you all and dismantle your ice wall, which I am confident would remove the threat. Or you could leave of your own wills."

I am impressed with how well Sam is taking this, completely calmly.

"I don't have the authority to order our withdrawal." Sam said.

"Of course not." I said. "I am going to collect, or kill, all of you that are on top of the wall and we are going to go see the priest in charge to see if we can get you some new orders. I have a slight preference for collecting you, though killing would be simpler. What will it be?"

He nodded slowly and rose to his feet. "Collected." He said.