Guided by four soldiers, the party went on a tour of the various farms in the area. The people here did not seem any less happy than people did elsewhere, despite the crazy stories the party heard. They learned that roughly 20% of the whole population actively participated in the military to some degree, but that many of their duties involved assisting with other work when necessary. For example, planting and harvest time both made heavy use of military personnel.
Jeb asked to see a demonstration of their weaponry, and made a big show of how much more impressive his laser was in an attempt to demonstrate how vulnerable the Lords of Light were, hinting he could help them advance their tech. (Though not quite to the level of his laser).
The party then discussed politics and religion with their guides. They learned that there are 32 Lords of Light who are all nominally equal, but have different spheres of influence and an unofficial heirarchy among them. They also learned that there are 12 major religions practiced among the lords, and that many of those religions had been repressed in other areas. It was also revealed that many people DID want to leave the Lords of Light territory, but would not be allowed to do so until the freshly annexed territory had been stabilized.
At this point Jeb called the Highlander and argued that there was no reason he couldn’t come to some kind of accommodation with the Lords of Light to ease tensions between the two territories. He agreed, and the party rigged one of their phones so it could ONLY call The Highlander, then they manged to arrange a meeting with a number of the Lords of Light, including the one regarded to be chief among them all.
The party suggested the chief Lord may want to speak with them privately, but he refused to do anything apart from the other lords who’d come. (Six in total, including him, Taka, and four others). The party got the Lords of Light talking to the Highlander, hopefully leading to better relations between the two. They earned 400 experience points for their efforts, since they haven’t yet yielded fruit. More may result if things go well.