The Warbler

An interview with Meridy Illuma

By Rosella Maple

₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱𝄞⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚

Meridy Illuma is one of many candidates running for a seat on the Council of Four. Today, on July 4th, I sat down with them to ask him a few questions.

On Military Policy…

Rosella Maple: "How about we start with... The Militia. What are your policies there?"

Meridy Illuma:  "I don't know all that much, to be honest. I'm not much of a fighter. I know they're damn good ones though, and I'll support them how I can."

Rosella Maple: “I see. What does that include?”

Meridy Illuma: "Most of what I want to do is about building community and connection, so I suppose when it really comes down to it, I'd be helping the Milita by making sure they have a home that supports them when they came back. I also am going to try and reach out to make alliances, so hopefully the Milita will be needed minimally."

On Domestic Policy…

Rosella Maple: "I see. Thank you. Let's move on: what are your plans for domestic policy? How will you help the community?"

Meridy Illuma: "Well, I'm already working on the lighthouse rebuilding, and I'm going to continue to do so, obviously. I'm not sure if you were here for the festival that was about a week ago, but I want to put on more things like that, just on a smaller scale so we have them more regularly. Long-term, we'll need to build up our productions sustainably, as well as reach out to more trading partners so we're not so dependent on Valka. Though, uh, I suppose that's foreign policy. My work with the Roots is about building a support network for the community, and I'm going to continue that, with the next step probably being some kind of job and housing board to help people get matched with where they need to be."

Rosella Maple: "I see. You mentioned wanting to build up production. How do you plan to do that?"

Meridy Illuma: "It would be a long-term project, that's for sure. And I'm no expert in economics, certainly. However, we certainly have folks here that are, and I intend to ask for their help. Broadly, what I was thinking was finding a way to sustainably harvest the nature we have around here. I've been on a few foraging trips, and there's a lot out there, but we can't just /take/ without giving back. "

On Foreign Policy…

Rosella Maple: "I see. What about foreign policy? We're a new community, and others seem to be trying to manipulate us."

Meridy Illuma: "You mean the Imperials? Or the Hojos We need to be a strong community in order to show the world that we're not puppets, nor some kind of undeserving peasants. We've made our home here, despite all the shit, and we won't accept someone coming in to try and tell us what to do. Of course, to do that, we'll need allies. Equal ones, who see us as partners. I'm not sure if we're quite big enough to be called a city yet, but I want us to be our own city state, not just another trophy in an empire."

Rosella Maple: "What potential allies have you been eyeing?"

Meridy Illuma: "I know it's not a popular choice, but Rulan holds a pretty strained relationship with the Imperials, and they are some of our closest neighbors. We don't have to be best friends, but we at least need to get along. I also want to reach out to the Stonerunner clans and Fallstone. We have a lot of people from both, and I think we could make good allies if we just get a proper route up there."

Rosella Maple: "What about potential retribution from The Empire and The Hojos?"

 Meridy Illuma: "We'll need to be tactful, for certain. Yeah, our militia's a little terrifying, and I'd like to think we'd be a pain in the ass to occupy, but we'll also be better off avoiding a war."

Closing statements…

Rosella Maple: "I see. Do you have any closing statements?"

Meridy Illuma: "I... I want to help. I'm going to help, regardless of what my role in the Spire is. Being a councilor would give me more information and resources, yes, but I'm still gonna pursue most of these goals regardless of the results."

Rosella: That’s all. Thank you for your time.

~ 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓪 𝓜𝓪𝓹𝓵𝓮