But I was serious, too. I can really see something very much like that being an informal *wink*wink* *nudge*nudge* kind of lesson taught to young nobility in some places for years to come.
I still think that this level of democratic reformation makes very little sense given the context of Viserys' background. So far the extent of his meritocratic tendencies have been limited to making people who prove themselves into nobles.
Viserys has the life experience to get the political implications of all these new powerful merchants and mages, but that doesn't mean he'll approach the problem the same way a true reformist would.
In my opinion at least, he'd go for creating more ways for the exceptional to rise up to the powerful political classes and just enough power to the masses to keep everyone who can't meet the standard content.
The current proposal is designed to slowly kill the social class that Viserys identifies with and draws many political ideas from. His problems to date have always been with the sort of people taking aristocratic roles, not the existence of those positions themselves.
I'm not saying he'd leave them unchecked, but these councils are shaping up to clearly push the kind of political traditions that hastened the fall of monarchies in real life. If there was no choice but this to solve the various political problems he faced sure, but why exactly would a staunch monarchist turned dragon emperor suddenly stumble into the political position of an English burgher from the 1300-1500s?
Edit: To be clear, my problem with this is not based on principle. This is a perfectly good way to slowly advance a society towards democracy, and all things considered it's the best form of government we have so far.
My issue is more that it feels like we have a checklist of things a "modern, advanced" society needs, and are slowly working our way through the social phases required to reach them like a civ tech tree.
It doesn't seem to me that it considers the opinions that people like Viserys and his political contemporaries would actually have, or any routes forward that lead to places other than where we've already decided to go.
I think considering Viserys a classical monarch is a misconception. His entire behavior, bearing and modus operandi are that of a totalitarian demagogue.
He literally invented mass-media to carry his propaganda into every nook and cranny of the world.
Well right now we have basically no intention on curbing the power of our vassals intentionally. Nor really setting up a liberal democratic tradition. Councils are just representative advisers who point out issues as they appear. They can either be used to do some of the heavy lifting for policy or they can be used to sound out policy (is it incredibly divisive in an area specifically? Across the Imperium? What extent can we push the bill?)
No one is really planning to create a more democratic government on any timescale worth mentioning, but I think that as people get more educated and wealthy, without external and constant pressure that encourages strong centralized leadership, and sometimes even with that, it's inevitable for a monarchy to be overthrown pending one too many abuses of their power and enough populist sentiment behind the movement.
We have created a funnel and counterbalance to the power of our feudal vassals, and balance the influence of the former with our aristocracy all while centralizing government.
Does that mean we are going to abolish feudalism soon, or abdicate? Probably not. But we also might be viewed as basically God of the Imperium in all but metaphysical properties, so we also might quite literally not be able to abdicate in the first place.
The ideal end scenario is eventually the Imperium runs itself. Everyone is represented more-or-less fairly if not equally. And we enjoy an influential position with some special emergency powers that we don't really use because if we did than things weren't working as intended and that would be an abject failure of the parliamentary system.
The Basilisk Isles are not the sort of place one would usually choose for a romantic outing. Between the slavers, the strange beasts, and even more insidious fevers that haunt the jungle, most would have to be mad to consider it. Granted Saan's recent conquest has put paid the first, but the latter two have ever been the worst threat. So in a way you might almost count the chance to stand upon this upland glade looking down at the jungle falling down the steps of Mount Her'ne hand in hand with Lya an unexpected prize of battles past.
"I swear if you are thinking about how to build better aqueducts or something of that sort..." Lya cuts off your musings mock-menacingly.
"Of course, not I was just thinking about how wonderful it is to be out here with you," you answer instantly, utter sincerity in your voice. Seeing her blush at the compliment you add teasingly: "Though of course the depths of the Red Wastes would be made beautiful by your presence."
She giggles. "Don't be silly. Sand would get everywhere..."
"We are a few hours off from that part of the outing, aren't we?" you ask archly.
"Don't want to startle the birds and butterflies, do you?"
That line of thought puts an end to words for a while. The fragrant grasses really are as comfortable as they appear.
***
Afterwards you lie on your backs looking at the sky, picking out pieces of fruit or cheese from the basket you had prepared. Since neither of you can get hungry there is no particular rush to set the food out properly.
"Have you ever wondered what you would have become if it had not been for learning magic?" Lya asks dreamily.
"I don't have to wonder," you snort. "Lileath showed a fragment of it to me when we first met."
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Lya hugs you around the shoulder.
"I ended up feeding her to Yss. I think it's fair to say I got even," you remind her.
"I'm still sorry it happened to you and that I brought it up... Here, maybe this will distract you..." Feeling a faint tugging of your hair you see that she had bound one of the nearby bell-shaped orchids into it.
"What?" she asks ingenuously. "It matches your eyes." That it did you had to admit. If one ignored the fact that it was a flower in your hair it looks quite fitting there, but then you have known that Lya has a remarkable sense of aesthetics ever since she made her first enchanted object.
You are about to tell her so when an odd warble draws your attention away to a creature so odd as to be remarkable even here. It looks to all the world like some whimsical power had decided to cross the the fearsome painted lizard with a plump pheasant and borrow the stature and temperament rather more from the latter than the former. Deep curious black eyes look up at you as the creature holds up a spider it had just picked out from its web.
From her expression Lya obviously finds it as fascinating as you do. Slowly so as not to startle it, she slips her hand into the basket and and draws out tiny piece of meat pie before tossing it gently out to land at the creature's feet.
After poking it with its head a few times, and getting it tangled in the spiderwebs for good measure, the bird-lizard decides it is a likely enough morsel and daintily snaps it up. After about half-an-hour of being fed by both of you the little thing decides to scamper off, flapping its stubby claw-tipped wings as it runs.
You share a long look with Lya. This is supposed to be your day. Why shouldn't you spend part of it looking for strange creatures in the underbrush just for fun?
It is only once night had well and truly come, the round face of the moon looking down on the clearing, that you realize you had been wandering around for hours with the flower still tied into your hair. Being a good sport you congratulate Lya on a jest well played, to which she answers that she had forgotten about it too.
The laughter that follows probably does startle the butterflies and birds.
OOC: That was really fun to write, being able to concentrate on character interactions without necessarily worrying about the narrative or when the cut-off for the next vote will be. Speaking of votes, though, do you guys want to do something specific with Elia or Rhaenys? Maybe invite them for a visit?
Not sure what it is, but I've been liking the Viserys/Lya pairing less and less since it became official. It's weird, cause I was enthusiastically shipping it for most of the quest. Odd.
The current proposal is designed to slowly kill the social class that Viserys identifies with and draws many political ideas from. His problems to date have always been with the sort of people taking aristocratic roles, not the existence of those positions themselves.
What you're missing is that while Viserys is supposed to identify with Westerosi nobility, he doesn't. He's closer in many ways to the Braavosi ideal of the self-made man, which itself comes with a component of fairness, if only as a contrast to the more stratified Valyrian-descended cities. If you can't hold on in the face of fair competition then you're not worthy.
The idea in-character isn't to kill the nobility as a class, it's to weed out those who are unfit. Lords who meets Viserys' very high standards should be fine.
So it turns out that Plant Symbionts already exist in Pathfinder rules, and they're really neat without being OP. If we learn how to grow them in the Fungal Forge, they would be a ready source of cheap, useful effects and abilities for our people.
Here's an example of one, the Environmental Suit, which provides an Endure Elements effects and breathable air for the wearer. As a CR 2 creature, it would cost us 300 IM to grow in the Fungal Forge.
Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Dec 30, 2019 at 9:31 PM, finished with 72 posts and 11 votes.
[X] Check the Lys' Flesh-forge's Feywild reflection -[X] Call on the Orphne King and the Shrouded Lord to accompany you for this inspection and offer their insights -[X] See if Saenena, Qyburn, and the other Flesh Forgers have the time to visit as well to offer their own perspective on the mechanisms of this forge.
So, I had some questions regarding the legions, and I assume these have already been asked at this point, so I was hoping that I could be directed to where I might find the answers. How exactly are these legions structured? I assume by the name that they're based on the Roman Legions. If so, are they mostly consisting of heavy infantry, with auxiliary units serving in other roles like the Romans had? I've seen some mention of phalanxes also, so I've been a bit confused about what exactly the legions are and how they fight.
So, I had some questions regarding the legions, and I assume these have already been asked at this point, so I was hoping that I could be directed to where I might find the answers. How exactly are these legions structured? I assume by the name that they're based on the Roman Legions. If so, are they mostly consisting of heavy infantry, with auxiliary units serving in other roles like the Romans had? I've seen some mention of phalanxes also, so I've been a bit confused about what exactly the legions are and how they fight.
Oh, one unrelated question. I know you guys have retrieved the Red Orb of Dragonkind, but have you heard anything about the others? Might be worth asking Yss about them, or at least about the Blue Orb, considering you have a Blue Dragon minion now.
Oh, one unrelated question. I know you guys have retrieved the Red Orb of Dragonkind, but have you heard anything about the others? Might be worth asking Yss about them, or at least about the Blue Orb, considering you have a Blue Dragon minion now.
Oh, one unrelated question. I know you guys have retrieved the Red Orb of Dragonkind, but have you heard anything about the others? Might be worth asking Yss about them, or at least about the Blue Orb, considering you have a Blue Dragon minion now.
There haven't been any hints that others exist in the quest, though it's a reasonable assumption to make. I wouldn't be surprised if the Others have the White Orb of Dragonkind.
There haven't been any hints that others exist in the quest, though it's a reasonable assumption to make. I wouldn't be surprised if the Others have the White Orb of Dragonkind.
You think we could ask Yss about them at some point? If they are out there, it definitely seems like something we'd want in our cloak, rather than a ticking time bomb in case some idiot somehow releases the dragon inside, accidentally or otherwise.
You think we could ask Yss about them at some point? If they are out there, it definitely seems like something we'd want in our cloak, rather than a ticking time bomb in case some idiot somehow releases the dragon inside, accidentally or otherwise.
There haven't been any hints that others exist in the quest, though it's a reasonable assumption to make. I wouldn't be surprised if the Others have the White Orb of Dragonkind.
They almost definitely have it, or at least had it at some point.
From what we've seen the Orbs of Dragonkind are capable of being the foci for drastic transformations of the relevant race. Red Dragons nerfed to Valyrian Dragons, or the opposite direction where dumbass White Dragons aree enhanced to become the utterly terrifying Frost Dragons. Can't see that happening without an Orb of Dragonkind at the center of it all.
I just wonder how the fuck the Qartheen ever stole the Red Orb of Dragonkind. You'd think that would be the most guarded artifact in all of Valyria.
They almost definitely have it, or at least had it at some point.
From what we've seen the Orbs of Dragonkind are capable of being the foci for drastic transformations of the relevant race. Red Dragons nerfed to Valyrian Dragons, or the opposite direction where dumbass White Dragons aree enhanced to become the utterly terrifying Frost Dragons. Can't see that happening without an Orb of Dragonkind at the center of it all.
I just wonder how the fuck the Qartheen ever stole the Red Orb of Dragonkind. You'd think that would be the most guarded artifact in all of Valyria.
Hmm. Yeah, we should definitely try to divine the location of the White Orb at least. If the Others somehow lost it like the Valyrians lost the Red Orb, it could be an extremely useful tool for them that we should deny them. Assuming they actually had it in the first place anyway.
Hmm. Yeah, we should definitely try to divine the location of the White Orb at least. If the Others somehow lost it like the Valyrians lost the Red Orb, it could be an extremely useful tool for them that we should deny them. Assuming they actually had it in the first place anyway.
