If Antiva has a treaty with Tamriel, does it mean the events of the Verdant Isle didn't happen? Or happened differently and the various Talons didn't die because Kortez wasn't a traitor?
It still happened - Caterina holds the meeting because while the Empire is arranging defences, the Crows still need to decide their own strategy. BUT. Obviously things change.
Caterina's relatively pro-Empire thanks to Cesario's influence. Not all the Talons are agreed on that though, and in ELT Lera and Dante are already allying against Caterina canonically. In the BTL-verse that's only going to intensify - there's those in Antiva that think the Empire's subtly taking over, mostly traditionalist Andrastians who do NOT like Leliana's Chantry reforms, but also a few other factions that want to preserve Antivan culture - it's too similar to Cyrodiilic culture in a lot of ways, it's a constant struggle, and the number and amount of Tamrielic tourists mean Tamrielic is starting to supplant Trade as the lingua franca in some parts, Antivan itself is under threat from a slew of Tamrielic loan words (la siara-bella and el BriarWiro and el Briarporto are the worst offenders but there are Many Others), and more people than the traditionalists would like are turning to worshipping the Eight, Talos or even Miraak. And on the pro-Empire side there's also a lot of progressive Antivans who'd like a country not beholden to an assassins' guild and are being influenced by Tamrielic norms and worship of the Eight and want to replace the Crows with proper city guards and an army (some are rumoured to actually want to join the Empire). Quite a few in the Crows are not best pleased by that - Lera and Dante among them. However, what with House Dellamorte having lost so many people to the Velardo, Caterina more than anyone needed recruits, and a lot of Tamrielic criminal types and hired blades were happy to join House Dellamorte. So there's all this background.
Verdant Isle meeting still happens. Except Caterina secretly invites Cesario who is there to investigate the other Talons, work out who's actually loyal and start offing rivals. Up until he finds Lera already dead, and if he'd still been mortal he'd have been caught standing over the body. As it is, he hears people coming and is able to hide. He's not responsible for the servants either. What he does do is appear to Caterina and only her and alert her to the presence of a serial killer who is re-enacting famous Crow assassinations. Absolutely not his style.
"So who do you think it is, amor. Dante was engaged to her. A quarrel? Teia's his ex. Do you think she got jealous?"
"No no, whoever did this is sending a message. To all of you. If they're re-enacting famous Crow murders, they are trying to send a message as to what the Crows were capable of once. To remind the rest of you who you were. This wasn't personal. This is some anti-Empire traditionalist thinking the Empire's weakening Antiva. I doubt it's Teia or even Dante. If he's marrying her for alliance reasons, he's not going to kill her before the wedding. And Teia's got the second highest number of Tamrielic recruits in the Crows."
But Viago the King's bastard might well be acting on orders from his father if said father is secretly not as pro-Empire as believed and regrets the Parliament strong-arming him into signing the Accord. So he's suspect, and Dante's imprisoned as well thanks to Giulia throwing a fit. Teia and Viago don't even know Cesario's there yet so they do their interrogation of Dante after Giulia turns up dead next. Dante gets murdered, and Cesario reveals himself as Teia finds the body, and tells her he was eavesdropping on her interrogation, and knows she walked out when Dante accused Caterina, and is delighted to know he can trust her. And is surprised to find Dante's body here as he left Dante quite dead in his room after Teia left.
Teia's unnerved to realise he was there the whole time and she had no idea. Cesario just smiles, showing too many teeth. He's loyal to his family, the Empress, Divine Victoria and Caterina, not always in that order, and Caterina invited him, suspecting treachery. Reluctantly, Teia decides to trust him. He knows too much about the Dante conversation to not be telling the truth. Then Teia works out Viago might be in danger, and Cesario warps them both through the Fade to get there in time to save Viago from the adder attack. Cesario is a bit of an animal lover and casts Paralyze on it, and Viago the snake-lover acquires a new pet. Anyway, Teia and Viago work out it's Emil, they all go off to brief Caterina, and then it's time to corner him. He admits to having an agreement with the Qunari, claiming the Empire are weakening Antiva from within and the only power left on the planet capable of stopping them are the Qunari. To which Cesario replies "have you lost your bloody mind??? They'll break your little pact as soon as they take over, and then have you straight under the saar-qamek."
"If your Empire is as powerful as it claims, they never will take over," Emil snaps bitterly.
"The true extent of the Empress's power is being played down, I assure you," Cesario tersely informs him, and then it's open season on the traitor. Emil's killed, bodies get disposed of, Cesario cooks everyone dinner, and then the real talks start, with the Black Rose representing the Empire. It becomes very obvious Caterina and Cesario are a couple, with Caterina looking very pleased as she embraces Cesario over Emil's body. And then Cesario cheerfully informs the entire room Teia and Viago are very much into each other as well, much to Viago's embarrassment. That doesn't stop him participating in the talks - turns out his father was quite happy to sign the Accord, as long as he's kept in luxuries and shiny things, he couldn't care less about the dilution of Antivan culture.
Talks happen. An agreement is made. Cesario gets out a siara-bell and sets up a fancy bell-tower and gets Madanach on the call from Cyrodiil and the defence plans swing into action. By the time the Antaam get near Treviso, the city's reinforced, Viago's wrangled the King, the Briar Wall's up, and Caterina, Teia and Viago are all holed up at the more defensible Cantori Diamond. Lia's also in the city by that point, and Illario's faced with two Di Rossos smiling too much and being where they shouldn't be, and starting to become paranoid, and realising this is definitely going to interfere with his own plans to become First Talon and bring the Venatori in, because a strong Imperial presence is the absolute last thing any of the Venatori want. And then this ritual happens, a few calls get made, and Maia the Rook walks in with Neve Gallus to hire a man who should be dead.
But I have seen something. It's so simple. Just a dot and a line and another dot. That's it. That's all. For now. But the inevitable march of technology will not be stemmed.
Wanted to experiment with different styles more and he will never not be on my mind, *so anyway, here's Wonderwall voice*, so anyway, here's Backstory!
anyone currently surprised that Craig Mazin writing an original backstory anthology episode for The Last of Us mid-season made for some incredible television should also check out Mythic Quest asap
