Several nobles nodded with expressions suggesting they understood exactly what "Orion's plan" entailed and had already committed to supporting that particular madness despite their past reservations.
Everyone knew they were burning their last option with this approach that might backfire catastrophically.
But they had no alternative remaining that offered even a slim chance of success. They were already so buried in fines and punishments from failed schemes that their families would collapse in a few years anyway without any dramatic change. Cornered beasts who'd bite at anything offering escape even if that escape was an illusion.
But like addicted gamblers they felt it was better to try something desperate than accept a slow inevitable decline into irrelevance and poverty.
♢♢♢♢
