Something shattered in the kitchen.

The three men glanced at the kitchen doorway.

“I understand that people in your profession are familiar with the otrokar and the vampires,” George said. “Perhaps we could compare notes?”

The archives of the Arbiters were legendary. He likely knew everything there was humanly possible to know about all three factions participating in the summit. This sounded like another test or maybe lack of sleep was just making me short-tempered. “I’d love to—”

A vicious snarl of a Quillonian in mortal danger cut through my voice. Now what?

“Excuse me.” I got up and walked into the kitchen.

The door of the far cabinet stood wide open. The Quillonian stood by it, all his spikes erect on his back. His hands clenched a plate. A thick wooden tendril clamped the other end of the plate, trying to pull it out of Orro’s hands and back into the cabinet.

“What’s going on?”

“I broke a plate and it refuses to let me have another one!” Orro snarled. “How was I supposed to know the dishes were prehistorically breakable?”

“Let him have the plate, please.”

The tendril let go and Orro stumbled back, the plate in his hands.

“Please help him,” I said to the inn.

The kitchen creaked.

“I know,” I said. “But you have to learn to work with him.”

Orro waved the plate. “I will persevere.”

“I’m sure you will.”

I went back into the living room and sat back in my chair, pushing with my magic. “Terminal, split screen, files on vampire and otrokar, please.”

A wide screen formed in the far wall, the left side showing a vampire and the right an otrokar.

George raised his eyebrows. “Thank you. On the surface the vampires and otrokar seem like similar species. Both evolved from the same predatory humanoid strain. Both have a martial society, centered around the ideas of conquest and land acquisition, valuing it over other forms of material wealth. They are both aggressive and quick to respond with violence. The art and religions of both civilizations show a strong cult of a warrior’s honor. Both cultures show almost no gender gap. That’s where the similarities end.”

A fair point.

“The vampires of Holy Anocracy try to become perfect soldiers,” George said.

“Vampire,” I murmured. The left screen brought a close-up a vampire knight in the battle armor, swinging a black and red battle mace.

“Each knight is a versatile killing machine, a human predator skilled in a variety of martial styles.”

The vampire on the screen clashed with a lizard-like opponent. The purple lizard grasped the vampire’s mace and ripped it out of his hands. The vampire pulled two short swords from the scabbards in his armor and spun, changing his stance.

“If fifty vampires are on the field, one of them will be a leader and two others will serve as sergeants,” George said. “If the leader is killed, one of the sergeants will take his place, and the best of the soldiers under his command will become a sergeant. They go through stages of martial education. Everyone begins as a rank and file soldier and receives the same basic martial training. Those who so choose go on to study and train further, attaining rank of knights and advancing within the knighthood. Specialization does occur, but overall each vampire is quite adaptable. The core of the the Holy Anocracy, the noble Houses, consists of individuals who are hereditary soldiers. They are the warrior elite. The otrokar function differently.”

“Otrokar,” I murmured to the inn. The screen expanded to show an enormous male otrokar. He had to be over seven feet tall and at least three hundred and fifty pounds. Muscles bulged on his frame. The image faded and a new one slid in its place: another otrokar, but this one under six feet tall, lean, spinning two axes impossibly fast.

“You’re probably wondering why there is such discrepancy,” George told me.

“At puberty, the otrokar bodies begin producing a certain hormone,” I said. “The hormone has a great ability to reshape their bodies. If they begin lifting weights, the hormone bulks them up and makes them larger. If they train in gymnastics, it makes them more compact and lean. It’s part of their evolutionary adaptation, designed to let them survive in a wide variety of climates. Children who mature during the times of drought are smaller, children who mature in cold climates are larger.”

Jack grinned. “He occasionally forgets that the rest of us are not idiots.”

George ignored him. “You’re completely correct. The otrokar are highly specialized. The hormone production stops after they reach maturity, and they are locked into the choices they had made in adolescence. They learn to do one profession, but they do it exceedingly well.”

“So if you need someone to blow up a bridge in enemy territory…” Gaston said.

“Vampires would send a team of five,” Jack said. “All five will know how to arm and disarm the bomb.”

“The Otrokar will send a group of twenty,” George continued. “Five will know how to operate the bomb and the rest will keep them alive until they get there. Otrokar have large families and outnumber vampires roughly three to one. Individually vampires are better soldiers, which is why otrokar prefer to conquer in a horde. Vampires are led by hereditary aristocracy, while promotion within otrokar ranks is a meritocracy influenced by a popularity contest. The differences between their ideologies are so vast, the two civilizations have great contempt for each other, not to mention that they are currently engaged in a bloody war. If the members of the two delegations come in direct contact, we can expect fireworks.”