Having cleaned up the city’s messes yet again, the Freeport Four/Four Gulls realized that they and their adopted home town had come to a crossroads. The collective ineptitude, corruption, and gridlock of the Captains’ Council and Sea Lord’s Guard had brought the city to yet another moment of crisis, threatening everyone’s profits, and the Four had grown sick of being the city’s thankless saviors. The group discussed the matter amongst themselves and decided that they would give the city leaders a chance to resolve the city’s outstanding issues before the Four Gulls ships and their capable owners and associates headed for more lucrative, calmer waters. To that end, they set their resident attorney, Sesamin Anders, to assessing the current state and value of the party’s holdings while they created a draft for a new political setup for the city.
Using their knowledge of Freeport’s political and spiritual makeup, the group printed and sent invitations to the city’s most powerful individuals and representatives, including high priests, Council members, guild leaders, and other dignitaries, to a meeting at the Freeport Opera House to discuss important matters regarding the city’s future. In the meantime, the party ordered cookies, beer, and other supplies for the meeting. They also sent word through roundabout channels that Arias Soderheim’s suspected cronies would be well-advised to leave the city if possible, as their political star seemed to be falling rather quickly and further disturbances or upheaval would likely be frowned upon by certain other powerful entities in the city. Two of Soderheim’s remaining three Council allies resigned soon thereafter, but Hector Torian stayed aboard.
On the appointed meeting day, a crowd gathered outside the Opera House to munch on free cookies and gawk at the arriving town dignitaries. Within a couple of hours, most of the invitees had assembled, so the Freeport Four opened the meeting. They described their affection for their adopted city and listed the numerous services they had performed for the city, often at great personal peril and with no reward or thanks offered. The response was mostly positive, but Hector Torian offered backhanded appreciation of the group’s “several months of service” to Freeport, casting the party as a group of troublemaking punk transplants who were messing about with the way the city had been run since its meager beginnings. Torian’s comments seemed to appeal to a small minority of the assembled power brokers, but the party addressed these critics with wit and flair, to the delight of the group’s longtime allies.
With the preliminary sparring out of the way, the Four presented their proposal for a new, more representative Captain’s Council. They suggested that the Council retain its current size, but that the individual seats be elected positions, with a breakdown both by district and by profession. Thus, each district would have an elected representative chosen by the citizens of the district, and the Wizard’s Guild, temples, craft and labor guilds, and ship captains would all elect their own representatives. The details of voting and term limits could be hashed out by district or guild arrangement, preferably before the initial meeting was finished.
With that, the Four departed the stage through the stunned silence and headed into the crowd in front of the Opera House.