Choice of Rebels: Stormwright (XoR2 WIP)

[Ramidel]

Hey everyone. Haven’t had time to play the game yet but I’m looking forward to it.

Anyway, per Havie’s request, I’m yoinking a discussion point from the other thread:

@Havenstone

I think the Thaumatarchs have been more insulated than real-world dictators from this problem by the fact that (up to a point) rebellions literally fuel the Hegemonic system. But the Thaumatarchy also has something of the resilience that comes from premodern empire and its rule through local elites: when you delegate a huge amount of day-to-day decision-making to people closer to the ground in exchange for them passing tribute back up the chain, your own bad decisions are less likely to bring the whole system into crisis.

And yet, as we see with China several times, that also means that the center has little ability or interest to clear out corruption in the sub-realms, so when the machinery on the ground throughout the Hegemony starts to seize up, there’s that much less that can be done from the top to correct its course. One of the possible complaints the MC can have in Book 1 is that the Hegemony isn’t willing to ruthlessly enforce its laws against its own agents so long as the blood and treasure flow to Aekos.