The contents of the letter were uniform save for differences in name:
Greetings, [Sir Lorin, Sir Carbonneau, or Lord Beauvais]
My name is Matiel Escariot. I am a scholar enrolled at the Bardic College and an apprentice inventor of Notwen from Notwen's Inventions. I hope this letter reaches you at an early time and I duly hope that you have enough time to spare me some attention.
Now, the purpose of this letter is to present to you a matter of both business and craft. My position as an apprentice to places me with the responsibility of a final project before I attain the status of journeyman engineer. Being that my specialty is inclined to the gears of war my final project requires the field of conflict for its birthing. Which is why I hope that you, as a leader of a significant military faction here in the Western Kingdom, may be able to aid me.
Now, my project is a new development of the crossbow as a weapon for integrating foot soldiers into versatile skirmishers. So far my research had led me to several points on which I should dwell on, all of which I hope to achieve. These include faster loading, stronger stopping power, armor piercing, silent firing, longer range, better portability, the removal of the bulky arch, better durability, cheaper manufacturing, and most of all, the option for construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. For my work to succeed I need your permission to speak and interview the veterans of your factions. I need you to allow me the honor of having your faction test the early prototypes of my weapon. And finally, I hope to extend another proposal to you once the weapons has achieved all its goal in birthing.
I wish to negotiate with you sir, exclusive rights to manufacture this weapon. I will not lie to you. I have sent two other letters to your equals as high ranking military men, namely [Lord Beauvais, Sir Lorin, and Sir Carbonneau]. I intend to see my project into fruition and soon establish myself as an accomplished and talented engineer for the greater Glory of both Dominicus and his people. My bare hands ache to accomplish much for the Western Kingdom and I pray you would allow me such an honor.
Respectfully yours,
Matiel Escariot
OOC: To both Guido and Danomel. I do know that Matiel should be still in the process of thinking about his project, but I hope that the ideas I've written here are already a part of that brainstorming.