Optimist.
5 Likes
Oh, I’m so optimistic I’m even thinking you’ll make your new April deadline for game 1 now that you’re surrounded by all that fresh mountain air, that’s got to be good for the internal muses,no?
1 Like
I’m with you. Certainly, if yeoman farmers were the standard in the past, it seems a bit silly to say that they couldn’t possibly be revived as a standard once again. If anything (and yes, applying real historical developments to fiction and fantastic settings is pretty dubious argumentation, but) the pseudotechnological development we’re talking about is a force against brutal slavery or serfdom, since it widens the space for an important middle class of skilled craftsmen, which of course is much better supplied by a population of free men than by one deliberately kept battered and ignorant.
Plus, the Hegemony has other enemies both internal, in the form of its other subjugated peoples, and external, in the form of…well, the external enemies. There’s certainly room for dramatic actions to cause them to be set upon from all sides.
2 Likes
I’m not so sure about this. Problem being that open rebellion justifies more extreme use of Thuergy and more harrowing. The Thruges power will initially grow at an open rebellion’s first major moves.
I definitely think enticing Halassur to attack or just taking advantage of an attack even if it isn’t coordinated is a good time to strike more openly.
The problem is that there is already a class of people who are technically free and form the excess and underutilised population in the cities who any new regime could potentially draw upon to increase the number skilled workers without touching the Helots, who in the absence of further mechanisation, are needed for farm and factory drudgery as unskilled labour that no free man would want to do anyway, as well as their blood, which more than anything else is needed to keep up the standard of living for the rest of the population.
Nor does the need for “an important middle class” negate the need to still have a lower class, whatever you call them of slaves, serfs, helots or freedmen.
Besides I don’t think my character would ever want to go back to farming.
Let them be “set upon from all sides” and it’s all too easy for our rebellion to end up with nothing. Becoming of slave of Halassur or a serf of new Shayard is not what I have in mind for my MC.
Not if that means losing Errezza to them, since I want Avezia as the new capital.
Besides, it might be possible to win without ever striking openly and just have the whole system collapse in on itself, asymmetry is the key to any good guerrilla movement.
That would be ideal but I’m just not sure we are going to make our blood sausage and get to eat it too without giving some others a nibble.
1 Like
You’re very likely right, still I’m an optimist here. Besides my character needs Erezza if he wants to have his post-rebellion grand canal legacy.
3 Likes
Ah yes: That all the seas may rejoice as one Ocean. (For those just joining us, my response is here).
1 Like
Based on all that is Aekos the economic as well as the political capital or is another city wealthier and more populous?
Also how are authorized Thruges selected and trained? Seems to be the key to accessing the real ruling class of the hegemony.
Aekos is unquestionably the economic capital of the Thaumatarchy… by dint of massive Theurgic effort to transform its unpromising geography, as well as harshly enforced trade quotas on the periphery.
Theurge candidates are selected by specific Third Kyklos Theurges whose job is to be politically savvy. Candidates are only drawn from Houses whose loyalty is unquestioned and who demonstrably have a lot to lose from any loss of Hegemonic influence or favor; the candidates themselves are screened for loyalty to their families. Someone as bright as Horion Leilatou would make a fine Theurge, but would never be chosen because of his lifelong disruptiveness.
So for all intents and purposes there is not a “genetic” component to being able to make a change just suffice willpower and training?
Seems like this would be deduced by a majority of the upper and middle classes by now. Is that the case? The MC’s revelation seems like news to Horion.
Would we be able to play the long-game with regard to sleeper-cells? A prime example is the Assassin infiltration of Saladin’s personal body-guards. If we could pull something like that off, then it would be a game changer.
Yes. 
But not for a while yet.
That’s right. Have I had anyone imply a genetic component? If so, it’s my mistake. The common idea of Theurgy is religious: that it’s a unique Order-preserving vocation granted to a few of the most righteous (=loyal) by the Angels, not an ability passed on from parent to offspring.
You haven’t other than how readily the MC can learn to do it. I thought a high midi-clorian count may have been a factor explaining why it is a secret that virtually anyone is capable of it and it isn’t more widespread.
It has to be someone of above-average intellect who has trained their mind through a particular set of perception-broadening meditative exercises. Plus I’ve added an emphasis on how much you liked the Stoicheia of Hyron in the new Chapter 1 to make it more plausible that you’ve taken to elemental manipulation like a duck to water. (While other things remain a blur.)
And you certainly aren’t the only person to self-teach, as Linos can point out down one conversation path:
“With all respect, ${kuria},
[*if helot
…while you might be the first helot…]
you aren’t the first rebel to discover Theurgy.”
“I’ve come across none other in the histories,” you retort, trying to keep the stung pride from your voice.
Linos sighs. “There’s not been one in three generations, no – though Sarcifer might yet begin to gather rebels about him. But the Hegemony quietly deals with self-taught wonder-workers all the time. Don’t let your admirable achievement blind you, ${kuria}: you aren’t yet a Theurge. You haven’t the training or the depth of experience. You haven’t the secret to making aetherial blood. You haven’t honed your skills in battle against the Magi of Halassur.”
1 Like
So do Thruges work in concert to make huge change like a ward or is it just vast quantities of blood? I have to believe someone has brought up the idea “hey guys, what if we stopped killing all these people and instead trained everyone to make a change in like grade school? Then we could make these huge changes together with our own blood rather than being bastards to everyone. No, dis no good?”
1 Like
I think that half of the battle in a setting like this is controlling the flow of information. The government in Karagond doesn’t need to really share the specifics.
I’d chalk it up to, a “This is how it always has been, so it must be the only way. That’s plausible and effective and oh God wills it.”
If that were the case why not make the dominion more Karagon centric? Our tribe rules all others and all that. Make all the “ferners” the helots.
Vast quantities of blood.
Also: 3000 posts. Thanks, everyone, for coming and talking about my game so much…
7 Likes
Thanks for being an awesome author with a great story to tell!
2 Likes