Hawke took a sip of wine, as she studied the maps on the wall.
Kirkwall, was a squat mess of a city, with a thousand back alleys, each section in the lower city being its defacto little corner with its own crime-ridden politics, its own racketeers, and its own internal economy that was connected to the city as a whole.
Yes… As much as she had been flippant with Aveline of remaking the guard, that was only step one.
If she really did want to rein in the city, she needed to do much more.
Her current reforms would probably do the trick for Hightown… But not so with the lower parts of the city.
She needed to break the Carta and other criminal enterprises… But just killing them by the hundreds would not do the trick.
If it could, she would have destroyed the entire criminal underworld years ago.
No… The entire lower city would need to be remade. Thankfully, she had an example to learn from.
She had read up on restructuring in both Denerim and Orzammar after the blight, and both of them had remade themselves so that their law enforcement could root out criminals much, much easier, amongst other things.
Kirkwall was much larger than both, with a population on the larger end of over half a million people, compared to Orzammar's 130 000 and Denerim's 80 000, but there was lots to learn from both.
From Denerim, she had learned that in order for the city's industry and trade to flow the best, you needed to make it so every single building was separated from the others. Roads big and wide, and no narrow spots between buildings, as well as no dead ends.
And from Orzammar, one could learn the extreme importance of the government taking full control over all alternate routes that Criminals could use in their dealings.
The Dwarven Criminal underworld had made use of a hidden network of side passages and tunnels in Dust town, Orzammar's poorest district where the Casteless dwelled.
King Bhelen was a practical man… And his solution to dealing with it had been practical enough.
Rip it all down and remake it over, while making damn sure none of the new buildings came even close to touching the walls, or any of the entrances into the tunnels, while putting the tunnels to use himself.
She wasn't sure she could actually put Darktown, and its network of twisting passages to use for her own government(One of her planned Silverite mines was inside of them, but other than that, the iron mines that had once fed the city were dry as Aveline had been before marrying Donnic), but she did understand just how important it was to deny the criminal underbelly of the city their use.
The first step was obvious.
Rip down every single building that bordered the mountainside.
It was in those buildings that 80% of all the entrances into Dark Town were located.
She needed to eliminate those passageways as a first step.
The second step was to secure control over all the entrances in the rest of the city.
She could probably do that while also remaking the city as a whole.
As for actually expanding the city once she was done with that… She had three options.
She could carve new sections of the city out of the mountainside, creating new, upper layers, continuing the method the Tevinters had used when they created the city to begin with.
The second option was the simplest one, and simply expand the city eastwards along the rocky cliffs that were the eastern road out of the city.
It would require the same method as the first one, but while the result might be a much more narrow expansion, it would also be far cheaper and easier than option number one.
Not as cheap as the third option though.
The third option was simply to expand Hightown along the cliffs.
It did not require carving away massive amounts of rock and stone, but it did have several other shortcomings.
The first was that Darktown ran underneath the entire cliffside.
That wasn't a problem if you wanted to cut into the stone to carve out new layers… But building more on top of it was a different story.
It was very likely that expanding Hightown eastwards would lead to the new weight caving in the enormous number of caves and open rooms beneath it.
Westwards did not have the same problems though…
More likely than not, it would probably end up as a mixture between all 3… But expansion was for many years into the future.
In the now, she needed to clean up the mess Dumar had left her.
Thankfully, he had left her a lot.
His personal trading fleet for one.
It wasn't the largest in Kirkwall… But she still owned more ships now, than all of Ferelden's nobility put together.
He'd also left her a relatively good treasury to work with. Kirkwall's royal coffers were about equal to what she had earned in the Deep Roads.
She had plenty of cash to burn, on top of getting to tax every single ship that passed through Kirkwall.
In the short amount of time she'd walked around with a Crown on her head, she'd probably earned more money on just doing that, than old King Calin had earned in a year.
It had really put into perspective for her, just how wealthy Kirkwall, for all its many, many flaws, actually was compared to her old homeland.
Yes, money wasn't a problem… But she had more plans than just cleaning up Kirkwall's current mess.
She also had plans both economically and Politically.
Economically speaking, she was already beginning to give Kirkwall's local industry a kick in the ass to resurge.
The old city had the most industrious metal working capacity in Thedas. A result of once having some of the most productive Iron mines in the known world.
The mines might be gone now… But the industry those mines had once fueled under Tevinter was still there.
The main difference was that they now imported their metals, rather than procuring them themselves.
She had more plans than just strengthening the metalworking industry though.
Kirkwall had plenty of land. Unfortunately, a large portion of that land had been uncultivated for centuries.
You needed an actual army to defend that kind of stuff from raids, demons, Dragons, and such… And armies were expensive.
Hence why so much of Kirkwall's distant lands had been left to their own devices, and ultimately, ruin.
She was going to change that, through a series of national changes.
The first of course, was a true standing army. Both to defend and to enforce her rule, the same way Cilin had used his own army to remind his nobles that while they had forces of their own, the King's personal army was still twice the size of any of theirs.
The second was a new company she was founding.
She hadn't settled on a name yet… But it would be a massive road-making initiative.
Kirkwall effectively had no roads outside of her actual city.
She would change that.
She would make the greatest road network since the Imperial Highway, connecting Kirkwall city to all corners of the Viscounty.
What she had planned might not be as enormously massive as that old masterwork… But it would be an excellent way of ferrying troops, boosting trade, connecting every little village and farmhold to her new home, and in the end, be the cornerstone that she use to finalize her grand ambitions…
She was still young after all.
And there was plenty of time to become the new Calenhad… No that wasn't a good analogy. The last time someone had tried to do what she was doing, was Andraste, when she had hammered all of southern Thedas many, many barbarian tribes into one entity without having to subjugate any of them by force.
As she thought of those plans, she glanced from a map of her Viscounty to another one.
A political map with the words "Confederacy of the Free Marches" written on top of it in bold, but extremely fancy and detailed writing.
She had had plenty of meetings that day… But there was one that remained.
Mayhaps the most important of the day.
I
Sebastian was not wrong.
His estimate that Isabella would give in and become Hawke's woman was right on.
She was a bit more grumpy about it than he'd estimated, but he suspected that inborn reluctance would fade in time.
As Hawke walked in and closed the door behind her, she seemed her usual, cheery self, as she motioned over for him to join her at a table.
"How's life at the Keep treating you?
"Oh, you know… The usual royal meetings with the Nobles, the Merchant guild, and the council… Sweet Andraste, I never thought I'd come to sympathize with Bhelen getting rid of his own assembly."
She poured herself a cup of wine, from a bottle she'd seemingly conjured out from her cloak but did not offer him any.
That was fine. He preferred water.
"Yes, if it's anything like the councils at Starkhaven, I can understand your pain. You Ferelden's have your own type of Royal Council do you not? The Landsmeet I think it was called?"
"Yes… But I have been to a Landsmeet. As an army captain just there to look dangerous, but still… That was nothing like this! It's so BOOORING… I spent 2 hours getting them to just give my brother a title… And I didn't even have any opposition. Everyone was on board with raising him to the nobility… It was all about ceremony and debating if he should be made a Duke, a Grande Duke, or Archduke! As if that matters at all when he's the ONLY Duke in Kirkwall."
Sebastian found himself smiling far, far more than he probably should have at his friend's indigent reaction.
"You'll get used to it in time my friend… Or you'll reform the council completely. I hear you've been doing a lot of such."
"Oh yes… So far I haven't received much blowback. Probably because everyone is going to be far richer than they were under Dumar. Not that that would have been hard to do. It's astonishing how badly he ran this place. They could have made Merril the new Viscount, and she'd probably have done a much better job at it. But… Enough about that, let's talk Starkhaven."
Her tone, smile, and mannerisms did not change, but there was something in her eyes that switched out as she said the word.
"I'm going to need half a year to raise an effective army. Its first big mission is going to be marching on Starkhaven, and installing its rightful prince."
"That's… Very generous of you… And refreshingly to the point. Most politicians dance around it, or give vague promises."
"We Fereldens are a different breed."
"So I've noticed. It's… An interesting take on Politics compared to Free Marcher politics."
Hawke's smile dimmed a bit.
"Funny you should mention that… Because the much bigger discussion is what happens after we take Starkhaven."
Once more, she reached out into the folds of her cloak and fished out something. This time it was a map.
She unfurled it, revealing an… Interesting sight.
"I'm sure that in the future, as our plans to take Starkhaven begin to manifest, my political enemies will label me as the next Drakon, a brute who unified a land through brute force and aggressive Warhawking… And Damn that's a good pun! Anyway… As your friend, I want to make it clear from the start, that's not what I have in mind."
Sebastian, still looking over the map beneath him, raised an eyebrow at that.
Hawke's finger reached down and tapped the top of the map, where the words, "Confederacy of the Free Marches" was written.
"Tell me, as Free Marcher monarchy, what do these words mean to you?"
"A loose alliance structure… the Free Marches are… A very independent lot of people. We like our independence… And we fight a lot with ourselves. The only times when these words mean something, Hawke… Is when we are threatened by an outside force… or when the Grand Tourney happens I suppose."
"Yeah, that's about what Varric says… And it's how things currently are… But we could be more… We could be a collection of countries with a shared military policy, a massive, interconnected road system linking all of our cities together, and with an intertwined economy. All without having to go through the sort of messy, brutal unification wars that happened under Calenhad when he unified Ferelden."
The map, which showcased the Free Marches, had an astonishing number of extra details. Potential Roads for the most part, but also words on local economy, population numbers, and such things.
"It's a… Bold initiative. I'm not sure I agree completely though… What exactly did you have in mind here?"
"Not an empire if that's what you're worrying about. The Free Marches are technically unified… We are a Confederation after all… But you put it, it doesn't mean much for the most part. What I want is to change that. Make the Free Marches into an actual confederation, with much closer bonds to one another, but with a united front against the world. Orlais, Nevrra, Tevinter, The Qun… All of these have tried to, and still want to annex the Free Marches… That would be much, much harder to do if we always fought as one… Not to mention, it would foster peace with each other much easier if we were one political block that could settle our issues amongst ourselves with words, rather than the sword."
Sebastian was not a fool, as he knew some labeled him.
He could tell from Hawke's speech pattern that she wasn't speaking the way she usually was. She was giving him a pitch, not friendly advice from one friend to another.
Still… He actually did not dislike the idea. Maker knows that the Free Marches could use more internal peace and cooperation.
"Let's say I agreed to this… How would we go about it? I'm guessing Kirkwall would be in some… Higher position in the confederacy?"
"It doesn't have to be. I would like to be some sort of figurehead with a fancy title, I won't deny that… But the entire point of this idea is that the various monarchs would for the most part stand as equals to each other, ruling their own lands as they always have, just being part of something greater."
"I see… It's an… Interesting idea… I will consider it… this hypothetical road network would be quite the boon, and help nobles as well as the common people… But I do have one question about it."
"Sure, fire away."
He tapped a very specific spot where a series of blue lines connected the upper section of Kirkwall's major river, to one of the small lakes at the very end of their territory, to the origin of the river near Wilvervale.
"Oh, that. That is one of my most ambitious projects. A series of Canals that would link Kirkwall's waterways to the great Minanter River, and connect it to the rest of the Free Marches by way of sea trade. It would require a crap ton of water locks, and a decade of men digging it, but imagine the benefits!"