Nevoulas ek Philadelphius has been sitting quietly behind Ioannis Kalemetros. He as ever has been diligently studying parchments and knows the situation in his own house being somewhat in a state of flux he has to be more involved in the next senetorial debating session.

Lifting himself of his bench cautiously he looks at the Basileus somewhat in awe and resolves himself and clears his throat loudly:

I congratulate all on your recent conquests. It is clear our great empire is living and breathing once more.

We must be wary however of overextending ourselves, surely our first priority is to now fortify what we have. I look at our lands and note a couple of issues that i think must be of importance in the coming years.

Firstly on religious matters, I was pleased to see the a much greater piety and education on my return to the mainland, the Orthodox word is clearly easily spreading throughout the homelands. From what i have been told from members of my house and contacts in Anatolia, there have been extraordinary signs of conversion in the western part of this land mass. I hope the good priests that have been employed here can make haste to our northern regions in the area of Sofia, Scopia, Bucherest, Zagreb and Belgrade. These areas from what i have heard are barbaric and need some cleansing. I see the potential for many more priests to be trained and sent in that region to convert to acceptable levels.

Secondly, I note the Order of St. John's successful capture of the city of Antioch. It was an ambitious goal and what went on out there is disturbing to say the least. It remains an isolated outpost that surely must be connected with our holdings in Anatolia. The catch is these settling Turks, who have no real right to be there, and simply must be pushed out. I hope that this will become a priority of the empire in the coming years to go on the offensive in this area and unite our borders properly.

Taking a deep breath Nevoulas who is now beginning to feel more confident about himself continues...

My final concern is the economy of the empire, I believe some of the major settlements we have right now could be reformed into more profitable marketplaces. The Castle at Rhodes for example seems somewhat redundant. Indeed on this parchment here I have noted that currently half of the major settlements that are held by the Byzantine empire. That NINE out of the EIGHTEEN are fortified Castles, which i believe to be somewhat draining. I have been musing with Ioannis about Rhodes and I also wonder about Arta and Sofia and whether the would be better having their military castle like settlements reformed into a more merchantile Town like settlement.

I thank you for listening my fellow noblemen and I ask for your thoughts on what I have raised here for debate as is the nature of this forum.

Nevoulas sits and looks to the ground looking for strength, and then looks up to see if there is any reaction...