scrape_r_rational/data/cache2/7jgzbf.md

## [RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil Book 3: Chapter 52: Tensile

* Author: u/Yes_This_Is_God *
* URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/chapter-52-tensile/
* Score: 51

* Created: 2017-12-13T05:03:14

### Post:

[Link to content](https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/chapter-52-tensile/)

### Comments:

> **u/CouteauBleu** [+17]  *We are the Empire.* (21 minutes later)
> 
> For those of you who don't remember, [her name really is Vivienne Dartwick](https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/dues/).

>> **u/ricree** [+12]  (an hour later)
>> 
>> And now Thief has reason to believe that she can get a lie past Squire so long as she remembers to obfuscate true statements every now and again.
>> 
>> I'm sure that won't be relevant ever.

>>> **u/CFCrispyBacon** [+3]  (13 hours later)
>>> 
>>> My suspicion is that Thief and Cat are going to end up running the Empire together, getting the other Good/Evil coalition from across the sea to come hunting after them.  Good fighting Evil keeps both down.  It's when they find a way to resolve their disagreements and work together that is a serious threat.

> **u/haiku_fornification** [+4]  (3 hours later)
> 
> I wonder if the quotes at the beginning are a red hearing or if Cat will actually be defeated. It would be an interesting direction to take, not only for her character but also for the politics of the Empire at large. 
> 
> Would it all be part of Malicia's plan - removing both Cat and Akua at the same time? Would her defeat be a mirror to Black's downfall or if she wins, would it be an example of the 'new way' succeeding while the established order starts to fail?

>> **u/ricree** [+18]  (6 hours later)
>> 
>> I don't think it's *Cat's* defeat were leading to, I think it's Malicia's. It's been something on my mind ever since we first learned her plan. This world runs, at least partly, on story conventions, and there is a who lot of hubris in the idea of allowing your treacherous subject to complete  her terrifying ritual, even going to the point of secretly aiding it's completion. That's exactly the sort of hubris that tends to get punished in stories.
>> 
>> Yes, Black and Malicia have done a wonderful job subverting those, but we have been seeing cracks in that since early in the story. Now, with Black's cold rationality supposedly shattered would be the perfect time for the other half of that pairing to come crashing down.
>> 
>> What I expect here is that Cat will fight her way past the undead into Akuda's stronghold, expecting a final confrontation, only to discover that there is nothing to confront. Diabolist is long gone, the ritual has been used. Not against Callow, as everyone expected, but to bring down the Empress herself.
>> 
>> Whatever high placed enemies she might have earned, Cat has always had the benefit of patronage at the very highest level. It is time, I think, for her to lose that. At the end of the book, I predict that the Empress will be gone, with Diabolist maybe or maybe not taking her place. Regardless, the empire will quickly devolve into factions backing one side or another, a thing muddled by Black's instability, since the legions are mostly loyal to him.
>> 
>> Instead of warning the crusade off, the superweapon will instead incite it. The threat will rally nation's behind Procer's banner, and the instability will make the war seem far more winnable than it ever would had the empire been whole and strong.

>>> **u/None** [+2]  (9 hours later)
>>> 
>>> And where does Hune side in this? With the Empire or with the 15th?

>>>> **u/Ardvarkeating101** [+1]  *Father of Learning* (13 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> If there is no empire, just squabbling factions, then presumably whoever she expects to win.  Black didn't do for the ogres what he did for the Goblins and Orcs, so no real loyalty there.  Malicia had reforms but they didn't touch the ogres.  She doesn't have anyone to be loyal *to*.  I suppose she likes Juniper, but I doubt that would be enough.

>>>>> **u/None** [+1]  (13 hours later)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Yes, but if the orge's territory is under Empress Akuas control, that changes her mental calculus

>>>>>> **u/Ardvarkeating101** [+1]  *Father of Learning* (13 hours later)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> True, but considering Akua is.... Akua that would just make her less likely to join Akua's faction, not necessarily to join Catherine's

>>>>>>> **u/None** [+1]  (14 hours later)
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> There's speculation that Hune is the spy turned after Summerholm.  
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> https://forums.darklordpotter.net/posts/942165/ . 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> This would tie into that. Although, the poster did make a mistake in conflating the war college spy (that was ruled out from being Rat Company) with the Summerholm spy (could be Rat Company).
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Edit: To address your original point, it would make Hune more likely to defect because Akua has leverage via her family/people.

>>>> **u/None** [+1]  (13 hours later)
>>>> 
>>>> it ricree theory comes to happen, Cat would be virtually the empire.

>> **u/GriffinJ** [+3]  (a day later)
>> 
>> We already have foreshadowing of Cat having great success in a Proceran campaign, if you remember the quotes from Juniper's memoirs talking about the "Grave of Princes". So I have to assume her run is taking her through the end of this campaign and at least through the crusade.

>>> **u/haiku_fornification** [+2]  (2 days later)
>>> 
>>> She can still suffer a defeat now and be successful later. The four latest opening quotes were directly applicable to Cat and all of them were about failure.
>>> 
>>> In many narratives, the point of greatest achievement is preceded by the protagonist's greatest defeat. I think it's pretty likely that Cat will lose to Akua before obtaining a new Name and getting her revenge.

> **u/MoralRelativity** [+1]  (a day later)
> 
> I was puzzled by Cat's statement regarding "Black tells me [Procer] have a Named future-teller on their side." I thought The Augur was killed, or am I misremembering?

>> **u/werafdsaew** [+9]  (a day later)
>> 
>> Definitely misremembering

>> **u/None** [+2]  (a day later)
>> 
>> Are you thinking of the Ash Priestess?

>>> **u/MoralRelativity** [+1]  (a day later)
>>> 
>>> Thanks, yes that was my mistake.

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