[wanda shrugs her shoulder at his question. she doesn't know that much about that, truth be told, but she can imagine how being the only nation without any summoned would put it at a disadvantage.]

Bargaining power? [but then somewhere like nocwich hasn't gone through the trouble of a summoning ritual. perhaps they don't have the resources for it.] All these three nations seem interested in the Singularity in some way. The Badlands seemed a point of interest in the most recent negotiations for all three nations.

[as for why people live there?]

Home could be riddled by conflict and broken by war because of an inept government and leaders, but it's still home. I only ever left my country when it was completely destroyed.

[—some personal input there, but it's not the focus. thorne is thorne, and those who were born there might considering leaving to not even be an option; loyalty, love, or whatever other concept.]

We should focus on finding out more. Gather information—there's a library here, and perhaps in the other settlements. The history of the place, the Old Gods, whatever it is — the more we know, the better prepared we'll be to understand what the Council's goals are.

[because clearly they are being left in the dark to an extent.]