Characters

Admiral Daal

Known facts

respected-by-hosts*Respected by the Hosts*, Allik clarifies — meaning a successful warrior. The Consortium sending Daal as ambassador in place of his predecessor is a deliberate signal to Elendel: the five Southern nations have agreed to present a single face northward, and they will not be bullied. His stated goal of returning the Bands of Mourning home is part of the same message — the previous laxness with the Basin will end.MB2:TLM:Ch 18
bribes-onto-select-councilQuietly buys himself a seat on the Governor's Select Council by offering Governor Varlance the loan of his *personal pleasure craft* in full view of the Senate — and Varlance accepts on the spot, framing it as the wisdom of a *battle-hardened admiral*. Steris reads it as an obvious public bribe.MB2:TLM:Ch 31
rehearsed-bands-claimWatching Ambassador Daal take the drained Bands from TenSoon and accuse Elendel of having secretly used them, Steris hears the cadence of prepared words — the practised delivery of a person who has rehearsed for exactly this moment. The most damning implication: Daal came north already knowing the Bands would be empty, here to manufacture a crisis that would force the Elendel government to call for them so he could take them home under a *compromise.* Steris files it away — a Malwish ploy distinct from the Bilming threat, to be solved another day.MB2:TLM:Ch 48

MB2:TLM:Ch 9 Boards Wax aboard the *Blessed Thief* in his metal-inlaid wooden mask; declines to lift it, declines to salute Max back, and uses the airship corridor and a toilet break to deliver his opening complaints about the Bands and the Southern view of the Basin's hospitality.
MB2:TLM:Ch 31 Stands from the observation seats in his red-lined wooden mask and *requests to observe* the select council on internal Basin affairs, offering his personal pleasure craft to Varlance in the same breath.
MB2:TLM:Ch 38 Stands prim and silent against the wall through the Bilming war council, his expression unreadable behind his bloodred Malwish mask; Steris flickers at how little she knows of him and wonders whether the Set reaches into Malwish ranks too.
MB2:TLM:Ch 43 Pulls rank as Malwish ambassador and warns the table that any Basin use of the Bands — whatever the cause — would have to be received as an act of aggression against his people.
MB2:TLM:Ch 48 Negotiates a *compromise* that surrenders the Bands back to the Malwish after the Basin's one attempt to use them; discovers — too tidily — that the Bands are drained; carries them out of the room under his arm, offering a final ride out of Elendel to any senator who wants one.

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