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Noblesse Oblige [Znt/SI]

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PseudoSim said:
I wonder if Henry remembers how to speak his mother tongue.

Also, VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

Edit: Henry: "Oh you think you have it bad? I remember being born. I almost went insane because I couldnt talk for two years- yeah, you got off lucky."
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Révolution dans les rues.
Je vois le chaos en dessous.
La justice est une rivière rouge.
Je te cherche, où es-tu?

Splodge said:
I find it far more likely that the nobles are mages not because they're noble, but because they have the training.
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If that worked, why wouldn't Germania and its egalitarian ideals have conquered the entire continent yet?

They don't care as much about magical nobles, and have a lot of commoners. If you could be trained even into Dot or Line level mages, that's a whole lot of firepower.
 
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As much as Anne's reaction the whole event is to be expected, she must be quite dumb to continue acting so rebelliously when it was already made clear that she has no ally and Henry could kill her any time he wanted. Judging by how she reacted after the knights bitchslapped her, Henry's assessment that she is a spoiled girl who never had been seriously disciplined is most likely correct.

On another note, it would be pretty funny to see Henry lose his cool, sometime in the future, and see him accidentally starting to swear in Italian: "Ti ammazzo, testa di cazzo (I'll kill you, shithead)!"
 
What is with everyone screaming Viva La Revolution? Americans and their fetishization of democracy... The nobility in ZnT have been in power for 6000 years and will continue to be in power for a long time. There is no realistic way for the commoners to ever take power from the mages. To them, all men are not created equal. Their gods specifically say that mages should rule over commoners. If you claimed that all men are equal, you would be laughed at. And rightly so.

Even if all countries in Halkegenia were suddenly made into democracies and everyone was brainwashed into having American values, they wouldn't stay democracies for long. If they did, it would be in name only. Magic is simply such a big advantage that those who have it will inevitably outcompete those who don't and become the elite of whatever society they are part of. They would then make it official and bring back the nobility. Even America itself is not a true democracy. It is an oligarchy masquerading as one. And the elite there don't have magic and millennia of dogma saying that they should rule by divine right.

As for Miss Mallard, whoever her parents are, they have completely failed at their job. She is literally everything I would not want a child of mine to be. Hopefully reality ensues for her soon. Were I in Henry's place, I would not have had his self restraint.
 
As much as I would love to read someone with much more firm head on their shoulders than Ducky, I honestly feel bad for her. She's what? 15-16? We all know that underage consumption of alcohol is against the law, let alone selling alcohol to minor, but we have been there, I'm sure everyone's been to a friendly Vietnamese/Chinese/Japanese/Korean shop where they sold you alcohol under the table... I've been there hah, since I was around 15 too, even gone to clubs but there had to be precise knowledge about which clubs won't demand an ID for entry.

And Ducky is just that, a child, for FoZ standards she should be already a socially functional adult while on Earth she would just be a middle/high schooler that doesn't even know what she wants to do yet, hell she doesn't even probably know what University she's going to attend if at all. She's so scared because she suddenly got plucked from the safety net that are her parents into a place that won't even blink an eye to punish/end her, not even chivalry will save her unless she starts blasting people with magic (which she doesn't know she has yet).

She will adjust, but honestly the moment she fully immerses into her situation will be the most disturbing moment in this story because that's the moment she will have fallen completely to Stockholm syndrome. Henry said it himself she has a "choice" to leave and even get some starting money to be able to open a small shop maybe, but how many teens would be able to pull that off without any prior experience or conditioning, it's basically a non-choice. Being rebellious is literally the last thing she has that even marginally resembles her own agency, even Henry as understanding and patient he is, is just a jailor that is nice to her.
 
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Lost Star said:
Sight can theoretically be fixed, and being blind can be argued to be caused by an illness or some other problem while being born.

You can't 'cripple' a mage to my understanding. Either you have it at birth, or you don't. It's also a significant thing that can be predicted.
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No matter how smart you are there is a 99.9999% chance there is a least one person out there who can honestly consider you a drooling idiot. What's the difference between innate intelligence, being a mage, or any other ability?

Or from the other direction. If being a mage is genetic can't someone be fixed with genetic engineering?
 
So, when is he going to start humming pop music and the French national hythm to mess with her?

When and if she picks one of his books she is bound to notice things....:D
 
But Henry isn't a pedophile. He's like, what, 17(19?) to Isabella's 14(16)?

If Isabella heard her, she would be dead in an instant. "How dare you say I look like a child!"

D:
 
Jack Stargazer said:
If that worked, why wouldn't Germania and its egalitarian ideals have conquered the entire continent yet?

They don't care as much about magical nobles, and have a lot of commoners. If you could be trained even into Dot or Line level mages, that's a whole lot of firepower.
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I guess that's going to be down to how much effort and discipline actually goes into becoming a mage? Assuming genetics isn't the barrier, I'd make it time. Precious few peasants are going to have the time or energy. Are ZnT commoners widely literate? We see a few servants of nobles and a few merchants, do we see anyone who could be considered more representative of commoners in Halkeginia?

Also, let's not forget the church. Germania also follows the Pope, I believe? Nobles are nobles because they have magic, which is the God-given proof of their right to rule. I do NOT see the church condoning any commoner getting any sort of magic training whatsoever - it would threaten to upset the entire order of things. Any commoner who manages it is obviously either a noble's bastard or a heretic consorting with foul powers. They'll either be elevated or crushed.

"More egalitarian" is not the same as "egalitarian".
 
GiftOfLove said:
But Henry isn't a pedophile. He's like, what, 17(19?) to Isabella's 14(16)?

If Isabella heard her, she would be dead in an instant. "How dare you say I look like a child!"

D:
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Correct, technically Henry is a hebephile. Although Halkeginian years are longer than Earth years, IIRC. At the start of canon, Louise was 16 on Halkeginia, but would be considered close to 18 on Earth. Isabella would be considered closer to 16 by Earth standards. Henry would be in his early twenties. That makes Henry an ephebophile.
 
Splodge said:
I guess that's going to be down to how much effort and discipline actually goes into becoming a mage? Assuming genetics isn't the barrier, I'd make it time. Precious few peasants are going to have the time or energy. Are ZnT commoners widely literate? We see a few servants of nobles and a few merchants, do we see anyone who could be considered more representative of commoners in Halkeginia?
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Magic in FoZ seems to be genetic.
 
GiftOfLove said:
But Henry isn't a pedophile. He's like, what, 17(19?) to Isabella's 14(16)?

If Isabella heard her, she would be dead in an instant. "How dare you say I look like a child!"

D:
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He is not a pedophile regardless of what definition you use. He wouldn't be one even if they had consummated their marriage. Henry and Isabella are not only married but are both above the age of consent in both France and Italy. I find Shade's reluctance to do the deed vexing. The man should play some Crusader Kings 2. That would take care of his ridiculous values damn quick. (He's Italian! I thought only Americans had such ridiculous views towards sex) I'd give him two hours before he starts thinking killing children for looking at you funny to be perfectly reasonable. It took me 15 minutes.
 
Splodge said:
I guess that's going to be down to how much effort and discipline actually goes into becoming a mage? Assuming genetics isn't the barrier, I'd make it time. Precious few peasants are going to have the time or energy. Are ZnT commoners widely literate? We see a few servants of nobles and a few merchants, do we see anyone who could be considered more representative of commoners in Halkeginia?

Also, let's not forget the church. Germania also follows the Pope, I believe? Nobles are nobles because they have magic, which is the God-given proof of their right to rule. I do NOT see the church condoning any commoner getting any sort of magic training whatsoever - it would threaten to upset the entire order of things. Any commoner who manages it is obviously either a noble's bastard or a heretic consorting with foul powers. They'll either be elevated or crushed.

"More egalitarian" is not the same as "egalitarian".
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Honestly, the easiest explanation to why there are next to no commoner mages could be selective purging. The church could be the one going around killing those who have magical potential, because the whole "only nobles can have magic" really doesn't make that much sense and to even consider that for 6000 years there wouldn't be enough commoner bastards who were sired by a noble is simply preposterous. But hell who sane would put something like "Welp we just kill off anyone who would threaten our balance" into a shounen series :D
 
EmpirePlayer said:
You know, this is the first time I read a semi-good guy
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Where do you take the 'semi-good' from? He encouraged Joseph to get a magically compelled slave from his home world. The bullshit about it not being slavery, this 'didn't you want to special speech' - how many teenagers do you know who would answer 'no, I always dreamed to be mediocre.'?
 
Imperius said:
Honestly, the easiest explanation to why there are next to no commoner mages could be selective purging. The church could be the one going around killing those who have magical potential, because the whole "only nobles can have magic" really doesn't make that much sense and to even consider that for 6000 years there wouldn't be enough commoner bastards who were sired by a noble is simply preposterous. But hell who sane would put something like "Welp we just kill off anyone who would threaten our balance" into a shounen series :D
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Or they could train the commoner mages who they might turn into nobility and send them and all the other troublesome mages off to wage their daily dose of genocidal war against the elves. Hell the elves are an effective way of population control and keeps everyone hating the elves with them killing all their friends and family.
 
AZATHOTHoth said:
Or they could train the commoner mages who they might turn into nobility and send them and all the other troublesome mages off to wage their daily dose of genocidal war against the elves. Hell the elves are an effective way of population control and keeps everyone hating the elves with them killing all their friends and family.
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Indoctrination is such a powerful tool
 
shadenight123 said:
I sighed, "And?" I replied, gesturing at the wide gardens in front of us. "Be free then," I said. "Off you go. Go right through those gates, leave and...then what? You see, one thing you are not understanding is that...the spell picks the familiar best suited for their master. Tell me this, at least honestly...do you actually want to go back? Do you have things you truly need back home waiting for you?" I eyed her quite calmly, and she flinched. "You are a lost child, scared, and worrying about what will happen to you. This is not a gilded cage. You are free to take those gates," I pointed at them once more, "And leave, make a life for yourself. You are free to make that choice, and face the consequences of it."
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So smooth I nearly slid off my seat :V
 
Splodge said:
And in six thousand years, it hasn't spilled beyond a relatively small chunk of the population? Especially considering the... liberties often taken by nobles?
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Well first you have to know how willing to kill their bastards they are. Then you have to know how many generations of commoners it would take to water down to nearly nothing. Then they would have to know they even have magic despite being in a commoner family. Then they have to get a wand. Then they have to go through about 4 years worth of training to be a dot Mage. And even then they would have to avoid getting killed by the nobles who would be angry at this upstart commoner and try to kill them.
 
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