beholdmydemons | twelfth fusion - text (backdated to 4/17)

Far be it from me to turn down a challenge you miserable runt. [....Well, that's...promising.]

Here friends, what do you think of this? There's no such thing as birthright that's recognized by nature, and it's a notion the weak use as a trick to keep themselves in power they didn't earn. To hear a person claiming they're you're better when it's clear they're helpless on their own, that's plain foolishness, isn't it? And yet there's worlds where such ineffectual men are kings and the people are made to believe that it's natural and just for the throne to grant power alone. And they suffer for it because when the king is weak he must resort to underhanded means to ensure nobody's more powerful than him.

But that doesn't have a damn thing to do with this world because it doesn't work like that here. So who else thinks that anyone who crows about their title in this world is only fooling themselves? Pokemon give power where it's earned by effort or skill. Where it's not, the unfit can't rise to where anyone would suffer beneath them. And the rest of us are free to show them their natural place when they think their hollow claims to good breeding make them any better than another. A place in a pool, for example.

[...That should probably offer a clue to what this unabashed craziness is about, if the fact that it goes up about ten minutes after a post from Saionji doesn't give it enough context. I'm...I'm sorry, guys.]

[[ooc:

bertall will be hosting the Totodile/Skorupi/Joltik egg post tonight - thanks, Danny!]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I've never met ineffectual kings before, whether their title came from birth or merit, and I know plenty of them. But a throne, or its closest equivalent in a country without a monarchy, does grant great power, if only the power to make people listen to you before they complain about a change in tax laws. Not that it matters at all in this world, indeed. Here one can see children outbattle high-ranking adults with ease.

But that's just the thing. If the person who holds that power isn't fit as a person to be followed, then the people suffer for it. That someone can hold that kind of power for no good reason is what I'm talking about. It may be that way, but it shouldn't be.

If the king happens to not be fit and cause suffering to his people, he simply needs to replaced. A talented recognized heir is ideal, as those come with pre-existing popular acknowledgement and stability, but a more violent change can do in a pinch.

[He says it so simply only because his own unfit king turned out to be a fake. Makes killing him much easier.]

Exactly. The problem comes when that kind of change is... [...how does he even begin to put this.] ...quashed in the way that keeps it from ever being thought of. You sound like you know a lot about kings, but it's the people who don't know enough who remain suffering.

[Hopefully that makes sense because if there's a word for this Walter couldn't begin to guess at it.]

The best way to counter that lack of knowledge would be to encourage education for all, along with popular interest in the welfare of the country. Which is exactly what an unfit king would want to avoid, but well-educated older generations would counter that. ...Unless a country is afflicted with a series of long-lived bad kings, which would be terrifyingly unlucky.

[Or commonplace in certain worlds, perhaps, but Cecil really doesn't want to know about those.]

...You really do know a lot.

[He's kind of left feeling stupid here, but not in the completely awful way. Because Cecil's got it right, and he's a decent guy.]

So how do you fix it when it's just...not there to begin with?

[One obvious answer pops to mind as soon as he said that, but...maybe there's a way that doesn't involve being hunted down.]

That's only because I've seen plenty of good examples of rulers.

[And he's hoping he's also one.]

You'd need someone coming from a different system to plant a seed, perhaps. But that does leave you dependent on others, which comes with its own share of problems.

[Oh.] What kind of problems?

Help from an outsider could be seen as foreign interference, which always gets strong nationalists up in arms. And you've have to be absolutely certain that the help is altruistic, and not from someone with hidden motives that might not have your country's best interests in mind.

twelfth fusion - text (backdated to 4/17)

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