Most of the military is not actually in Andoran, right now. It's embedded with a hundred different local militias.

If this army tries to retreat back to Cheliax, cut off from resupply by all sides, we can defeat it in battle. The army in Cheliax has already sworn to support Terthule conditional on that still seeming like a good idea after this meeting.

You don't have as much leverage as you're imagining, here.

What does "sworn conditional on that still seeming like a good idea after" mean?

It's questions like that that prove you're not ready to play politics seriously.

And she is?

We're all supporting her, so evidently yes.

Unless we agree to work together, Andoran crushes the army here and we likely don't have enough forces to maintain most of our control of Cheliax. Most of you have, how many soldiers each? If we-

Give me a second to draw a diagram.

Is this going to take more than five more minutes?

... I still think I have enough negotiating leverage to demand the archduchy of Ravounel.

Fine. I'll sign to that.

I was hoping the actual next monarch would sign, too?

I'll offer you an exit clause. If my reign ends within ten years, you can have the contract annulled, come back here, and be killed by the Andorens.

Fine.

... is Rugatonn going to be able to co-sign everything?

Yes, though I expect to be crowned before tomorrow anyway.

At a first glance, I think Cheliax agreeing to a commitment to increase our Worldwound obligations by twenty thousand men for the next fifty years or until the Worldwound is closed would be a reasonable start?

Sounds reasonable. Are you also going to commit not to invade Andoran again, or should I be preparing to do this again next year?

We'd be happy to make the same commitment as after the war of independence. We'll make no further acts of war against Andoran as long as Andoran makes no further acts of war against us. That would mean you'd have to stop attacking our shipping.

We're happy to commit to not attacking ships that aren't being used to carry slaves.

If you're going to consider freeing slaves at sea to be an act of war, Andoran will probably continue being at war with Cheliax until you stop having any.

The actual effect of this policy is that, after we rebuild our navy, we'll still be able to get half of the supply through and we'd both spend a lot of energy fighting eachother, which we mutually agree would've been better spent fighting demons.

Suppose we agreed to a tax on moving slaves on waterways, which would be paid to the worldwound support fund, and in exchange Andoran committed to expend on the Worldwound the forces it would otherwise lose attacking our navy or chasing our army back here, as well.

Yes, she knows what Law is. She was raised by devils.

The people of Andoran are free and I can't make commitments that some number of them will volunteer to fight at the worldwound.

I could make worldwound service an optional alternative punishment for major crimes, and encourage people to volunteer. I can make policies that I expect will produce a certain number of volunteers, if they are generous enough.

He knows what Law is too. He's a paladin. He's supposed to.

Suppose that the Worldwound Fund will pay some set amount per Andoren who signs up, to support them, and if not enough sign up to consume the fund Cheliax can spend the rest supporting it's own Worldwound troops.

That way, your people would have a natural incentive to want to sign up, because Cheliax indirectly has to pay for their equipment if they do, which we're not so upset about because it's still better than having to pay to fight them off our shipping.

And then the cost of Andoren attacks on our shipping will be subtracted from our payment obligations, so that future Andoren governments won't want to attack our ships anyway.

That's starting to sound like something that could work.

I'm going to have to call some Abadaran legal advisors, for the prices and wordings, and I'll want to check it over by Commune before we sign anything.

Negotiating this is just a warmup for negotiating with Asmodeus.

If she can get one over on Iomedae, by sneaking something in the contract even She doesn't notice, it'll mean there's some tiny chance she can stand her own against the Prince of Hell.

She's not going to not try to be clever just because a god is going to be checking her homework.

By morning light they've signed a truce. It doesn't actually stop them from conducting the same war next year, it just imposes costs that both sides hope will be enough that both sides don't want to do it. The soldiers of Cheliax are marching home.

It won't destroy Cheliax like he wanted, but it'll at least impose enough of a cost on their government as to make them much less able to handle insurrection. He wouldn't have thought it a deal worth taking if Iomedae hadn't told him so, but he has faith in Iomedae.

Codwin doesn't get to save the world, he just gets to make it slightly easier for whoever comes next. He's not disappointed. Almost all paladins only manage to make it slightly easier for whoever comes next to save the world.

And she grabs Heart's Edge, from off the Hellknight's body, and they teleport out.