Baby-eating has no bearing on competance, however.
Iām making the assumption that the sovereign does not live in a closed system, and therefore must subject themselves to a larger moral system, be it religious or secular.
To be meta: thereās also the fact that the player is (likely) NOT a sovereign, and does not exist independent of a modern, western morality.
Mayhaps āhonourableā would be a better term, instead of āmorally pureā, then.
That would probably be a better choice of words, yes.
I my self kill her off she poseās to big of a problem to me and my kidās better safe then sorry.
Ha! I simply donāt care! I relish and thrive off of chaos! So I always send her away.
I prefer not to have to worry about her my time is better spent runing the king/queendom.
Sadly, I agree with all those who have Juanita killed because:
-
Your character isnāt living in a modern democracy with a strong legal system, but a medieval monarchy where might makes right.
-
It is frightfully easy for a powerful enough death mage to assassinate someone via death magic as you yourself can prove.
-
Juanita, while still young, is clearly a highly talented death mage whose power is growing rapidly.
-
Juanita not only clearly hates you, but your children as well.
-
Juanita has already implicitly threatened the life of your older child who was just an infant.
-
Sheāll have even greater reason to hate your younger child if heās made heir to the throne.
-
Juanitaās ambition for the throne and her hatred for your children will be both encouraged and supported by her powerful kinswoman, the Duchess of Aguilar, who is one of the mightiest nobles in the realm, and is already playing the āgame of thronesā against the realmās monarch.
-
Marrying Juanita off to the ruler of Sahra solves nothing, as it will give an enemy ruler a claim to the throne of Iberia and a pretext to invade once Augustin(a) dies. Juanita will have an army as well as a corps of teleporting mages to help assert her claim.
-
While Juanita may not have the magical power to assassinate your children yet, she soon will.
-
If you allow her to amass sufficient power, she is very likely to strike first, killing you and/or your children to guarantee her own ascension to the throne.
Therefore, for the sake of your characterās very young children, it appears highly prudent to remove the mortal threat to their lives that she poses.
1 Like
I have to agree ā letting her live is compassionate past the point of folly. Ned Stark style.
well, the game is all about choices ^^
thatās the thing, i would like to see an option where it results with releasing her ends up biting me in the ass and another where things get āniceā with her.
saving her when the Queen is about to execute her is not about democracy, its about getting an ally. as you said, she is quite a powerful death mage, she can prove to be useful if we can get on her good side [with a possibility to have her turn against me maybe, depending on choices and how much she likes me maybe?].
and as i said, this game is all about making choices i would just appreciate it if i had the choice ^^
on a different note, i can hardly wait for the new chapter =] is there any thread i can follow to keep in touch with the updates on the games? [iām kind of new here =P ]
Sure, make an fragile alliance with Juanita by love when Juanita can back-stab you at any given opportunity for ownership to be a Queen. Sounds practical enough for fiction.
@P_Tigras
The problem with having Juanita killed is that youāre likely to force a confrontation with House Aguilar sooner, rather than later. Something like that can easily break out into a civil war while you are unprepared, not to mention a relatively unpopular consort.
If you send Juanita to Sahra, sheāll have to ingratiate herself with her new husband and the court. Sheāll have to marshal the resources needed to get āherā throne. In short, sheāll be starting from almost nothing: no popular support, no powerful noble house owing her personal loyalty and no allies save for a husband gained through a political marriage who might be ambivalent towards her at best, especially if their culture, systems of magic (and one would think) religion differed.
On the other hand, you are entrenched in the Iberian court. With a second child capable of inheriting, your position is as secure as its going to get in the monarchās favour. Add to that the fact that you already have the monarchās ear and Mendozaās shiny new invention and I, for one, am pretty confident that you can outmaneuver and outpace Juanita handily.
The point of marrying Juanita off isnāt to āget ridā of the problem. Itās to buy time so you can create an unassailable position from which you can get rid of the problem.
1 Like
@Cataphrak I donāt knowā¦ When you come to deal with Juanita, you can have both the affections and the ear (er, metaphorically speaking) of the Queen, a good relationship with whatās-his-face the advisor, immense magicks yourself, and a few familial lackeys who can help sway court opinion in your favour. Seems to me that youāre not exactly unprepared for an encounter with the faltering House Aguilar.
Might as well just save yourself the trouble later and behead the venomous harridan.
@Drazen
I probably should clarify: Juanita is only part of the problem. The other part of the problem is Sahra, who will continue their border raids and likely continue to be a thorn in the kingdomās side for quite some time in the future.
By effectively exiling Juanita, not only do I remove her from her Iberian power base, I also put her in a position where she THINKS she has the resources to take the throne.
In other words, Iāve manipulated Juanita into manipulating the Sahrans into giving me enough of a breather to prepare myself for the inevitable war of conquest that Juanita and the Sahrans will try to launch against me. Of course, by that point, I fully expect my new Iberian tercios to be fully capable of crushing them. Not only do I get a military victory that neutralizes both of my greatest potential threats, Juanita would have also handed me a casus belli big enough to justify marching my armies into Sahra, stealing everything that isnāt nailed down and incinerating anything that is.
1 Like
@Cataphrak Well, Sahra, as you said, will continue their border raids regardless. Their armies will march and you can retaliate, with much plunder to be had by all, irrespective of what happens to Juanita.
The breather you obtain by marrying off the wench is of questionable value at best, and is far dwarfed by the advantages you give to House Aguilar: Their claimant to the throne still lives, only now with the support of foreign armies behind her. I do not think she would have to build herself up from scratch in the Sahran court, so much as stand before the prince and declare āLook! Inheritance! Shiny! Come get!ā - leading to the mobilization of the Sahran armies, this time with some sympathy from certain groups within Iberia itself.
@Drazen
Iām operating under the assumption that border raids are *not* considered a serious enough threat for a major military power to declare a large scale war over. I mean, Iām pretty sure the Iberian nobility provides most of Iberiaās military power at this point, so border raids would not be an excuse to mobilize their valuable human resources and go to war with another country. However, should that country invade Iberia with intent of seizing its capital and likely marching (with all the rape, pillage and arson that implies) through a good number of noble holdings, they may be more inclined towards a war to the knife.
As for the Sahrans, theyāre likely to have the same problem. Policy is decided upon based on a consideration of risk and reward. With Iberia and Sahra relatively even in military might, the risk of trying to take the Iberian throne, even with House Aguilarās support, is extremely high. Juanita will have to convince the Sahran lords who donāt skirmish with Iberian ones on a regular basis to commit to a war which will still leave an Iberian heretic on the throne either way.
Lastly, there is the fact that Iberia and Sahra do not exist in a closed system. Countries that break treaties (especially ones sealed with marriages) right after they sign them do not last long, unless they have an overwhelming preponderance of military might, which Sahra does not.
1 Like
@Cataphrak Then the issue is simply one of aggravating Sahra into attempting a war of conquest, and Iām fairly confident that can be achieved without giving them any legitimacy. Theyāre already belligerent, so adopt a jingoistic policy towards them and they can be goaded into marching - your goals can be accomplished in Iberia now that the nobles have a real threat to deal with, and Juanita is noticeably not causing any problems, having kicked the bucket.
Itās quite possible that the Sahran monarchs are pulling the same trick as the Ottoman Grand Vezir: Keep all the attention focussed on pushing the borders, and political harmony can be maintained at court. Conflict with Iberia could have been so well established that the nobles donāt need to be pressured into supporting the enterprise.
@Drazen
Once again, weāre assuming that we donāt exist in a closed system. I want to cultivate allies and trading partners outside of the Iberian/Sahran system. Foreign powers are more likely to favour the kingdom which was āattacked by a monarch bewitched by the child of a traitorā than one that ābegan provoking its enemies right after a peace was madeā.
1 Like
@Cataphrak Then make harsh the terms of the peace. Sahra will attack, meaning you are now not a Kingdom being āattacked by a contender to the throne with foreign supportā, but a Kingdom āsubject to a perfidious war of aggressionā - the latter strikes me as more likely to garner sympathy from foreign delegates, as the former still bears the semblance of legitimacy.
@Drazen
I wouldnāt call rejecting an uneven peace to be particularly uncivil grounds for continuing a war. Besides, I doubt a harsh peace would compel Sahra to escalate the war. After all, escalation only really benefits one party when it makes the odds more in their favour in the long run.