Could he even properly articulate the many fine threads of power and capital, and the grease of politics that both hold the Venetian state together, kept it operating smoothly, and constantly threatened to collapse it under its own bloated weight? Probably not. And that's not even touching on the intricate web of class and position that affected everyone's day-to-day lives, down to the meanest servant. People knew their place, they knew how to behave. And once you understood that, that everyone was just performing steps in a dance, you could learn to trip people where they stood or lead them where you wanted them to go. People like skekSa may talk of the complicated lives of those at the top in power but when you live smack in the middle, life is infinitely more difficult.

Best stick to the basics. "There are many esteemed generals in my land. They serve at the pleasure of the Duke who himself is ministered by many a noble lord, general, wise scholar and saintly padre of the church. We are now at war with our Saracen enemy whose great empire oft threatens to outreach our own."

He shrugs, "I know not for what great end we spill so much heathen blood, but I am well-practiced at the doing of it."