I'll just comment on the bits that I think actually need commenting, also I very much love the commentary you offer.
*Note: the following is merely my interpretation and reasoning for some of the things I wrote in my recent Omake and are to be taken with a grain of salt until any individual item is confirmed by Redshirt Army*
Two interesting insights.
1. They still have some measure of mourning their leaders, the lowered flag.
2. Additionally, the kingdom is fine with people slipping through the cracks, but is seeking to enforce its will on humanity as a whole.
Regarding the lowering of the flags, I'm going to change it to the actual phrase, "
Dipping the Flag". It a rather short ceremony which is done early in the morning.
The idea is that Humanity must still be Human, and attempting to actually turn people into emotionless robots is only going to end either with you losing all control over them as you hold them to impossible standards, or you end up with people who are far too much like the Grimm.
They know that so long as people are allowed vent their emotions in private they will avoid doing so in public and thus avoid possibly spreading that emotion to others. A few scattered people being sad/angry/afraid won't call too many Grimm so they are willing to compromise for the sack of viability.
Maintain that policy long enough and the populace learns to avoid emotional expression around others and accepts it as a cultural norm, which does a hilarious amount of explaining why Atlas is the way it is.
I'm starting to see why this was the last King.
The compromises made to what to them should be foundational values, the inability to even keep himself to the doctrine he espouses... this king is the embodiment of a failed system. I am very much reminded of the last years of the Communist Eastern Europe/Russia.
He was very much a poor King of Mantle in terms of the ideal that Mantle's King is supposed to uphold, but that's because he was entirely too Human to fit inside the standard that the previous Kings were able to.
Is it me, or is the King is doing a bit of metaphorical self-flagellation here?
Oh very much so. He views himself as weak and so must do
more to make up for it and remind himself of why he has to do it.
And he happy with that.
But then he realized he was feeling joy, so he resolved to not buy his daughter any presents for her next birthday.
:lol
Hm. I am starting to see how this world-government was formed.
1. Nobody's above the rules.
2. But you can totally break them if you can get away with it.
See above comments on cracks and failing systems.
When the rules must be enforced, they are what they are and no one is above reproach.
If you do break a rule, then you must ensure that your image isn't tarnished nor your reputation harmed. No one can know you broke the rules, lest they think they can do the same.
He knows he broke the rules and so is punishing himself, he just can't let others
know.
After all, the Kingdom must come above all else, and the Crown below only the Kingdom.
Thank you.
So the Queen was the diplomat. Either the king's falling to nostalgia and longing, or that description paints a decidedly emotional woman.
She handled Foreign Affairs, the King handled Domestic for the most part.
And yeah, a
lot of Column A, a little of Column B.
Cruelty, rage? Better tamp those emotions down too, boyo!
Another fun moment where his Humanity is showing, but in the same way that Krom's Humanity shows enough for her to want to kill Humanity.
*record scratch*
Hoo boy. This made the talk 'Cheshire' and Silica had even more iffy. They are some of the last of the old system, lost those precious to them in te fires of revolution.
Silica Fall once ruled Mistral as First Among Equals in the Agora and was one of the four most powerful and influencial people on Remnant.
Now she teaches
children.
Yes she has a lot of influence in terms of politics due to her experience and connections, but Mistral doesn't poll its Hunters on policy like Vale does. She is rather effectively neutered, kept too busy running a school and handling all the things the Mistralan Council is asking of her to interfere in the affairs of actually running Mistral. Her political power dies with her, and who knows what the Mistralan Council will do to the Stone of Summer once she is no longer it's wielder.
Silica Fall is a tragic character to think about because it's what happens when someone has watched the world beat them down, stop, and then just pass them by.
