“Unnecessary” cruelty is hard to judge in a system that relies on high levels of systemic violence, especially when facing a rebellion that openly threatens that system. A Shayardene noble doesn’t need to be a sadist to decide that what’s needed in the face of revolt is some salutary brutality; many social currents will nudge them in that direction.
The most cruel thing that Hector and co. do is in essence a crucifixion… And of course one of our own world’s most successful empires took for granted that this was a necessary level of cruelty when it came to putting down slave revolts. The Romans had an impressively horrific arsenal of cruelties, not (I suggest) because they had more sadists than neighboring cultures, but because empire encourages the development of such an arsenal.
From the perspective of the helots, of course, it doesn’t make much difference whether Hector is cruel because he gets off on it or because he’s an angry, fearful young man willing to do whatever he deems necessary to preserve the social order on which his family depends.
We do have more green space around our new place, happily.
@KuriosIasoun: my plan for Game 2 is one (long) chapter in the Xaos-lands, one chapter in rural Shayard, and two chapters in Grand Shayard.