21 KiB
[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil Book 3: Chapter 60: Opening
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Author: u/Yes_This_Is_God *
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URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/chapter-60-opening/
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Score: 55
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Created: 2018-01-22T05:01:58
Post:
Comments:
u/None [+15] (57 minutes later)
And then it got worse....
Actual analysis comment: Interesting to note how messed up the command structure seems to get with so many high ranking named on hte battlefield. Squire being contradicted by Warlock then by Black. Named don't cooperate well unless there's very clear dominance structures. Right now black is the most powerful, but Warlock is going rogue and Squire has a seperate powerbase with the troops.
Curious to see what an order demon is, i would have assumed that would be a trait of angels. Could be order in the sense of neverchanging status, that can be a malevolent feature
Juniper's quote is excellent:
“I am,” she said calmly, “a general of the Legions of Terror, anointed and sworn under sacred standard. If a Hell wages war upon the Empire, then I will invade that Hell.”
Odd that squire keeps mentioning that her way of speaking is not the same as a Name. Could be ironic foreshadowing. "General" would make a good Name.
u/haiku_fornification [+11] (3 hours later)
I think Juniper is meant to show you don't need a special power to be great. Honestly, I feel it would kinda cheapen her if she got a Name - she's the "badass normal" of the group.
u/None [+8] (4 hours later)
I can see that, but the rules of the setting seem to entail that anyone sufficiently badass acquires a name, anything else seems like they are being left behind.
I agree it would be boring if she just got added on to Cat's growing team. Maybe having her in an antagonistic role, or less directly working together, would be interesting. Maybe if Cat splits with the rest of the Empire Juniper would be on the other side
u/leakycauldron [+3] Imperium of Man (7 hours later)
She can't be Named. She's an Orc filling the role of a Praesian. She's a piece of the puzzle, now intricately linked to the Story.
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (2 hours later)
I'd really like to see Juniper get Named.
u/idannadi [+9] (52 minutes later)
Coping my post from the comments there:
I have thought for a few days about how the Calamties will die. It is obvious that now that the Woe exist, the Calamties are redundant to the setting and with what the Bard started, they have already started to "leave it". This comment is mostly my predictions, I'm at least somewhat placing this out here so I can see where I was wrong/right later.
English is also not my first language so I apologize in advance if things are grammarly incorrect or confusing. This has also turned out to be rather long, I have tried to split it a bit so hopefully it is readable.
Let's start with the death we already observed and diagnose it, The Captain, Sabah. Her death already happened, but I would like to mention a few things notable things in it. First, it was a very thematic death, the Monster brought down by a Hero, a Champion. Second, Captain was killed doing what she does best, all out fighting. I'm bringing both of these points up because they are going to be repeated in the deaths of the rest of the Calamities and to contrast it with the Exiled Prince's death. In his death, he did not die melee fighting or leading, he died "alone". It would be as if Captain was killed by a spell like the Tyrant attempted. No, instead she got to fight all out, 1 against 1 melee combat. Naturally, with this being a story in which the characters know about themes, precedent and lore I fully expect it to be inverted or evaded by at least one of the calamities.
Alright, with that in mind let us go back to the present where I predict (as do others) that Warlock will fall. Now, Warlock is not your typical evil sorcerer. He is not out there to terrorize and take over the world, he does not seem to use demons or devils a lot and as his states himself, he is bored with politics and just wants to do magic. With that in mind, look at what Diabolist has turned out to be basically his exact opposite. She wants to rule the world, terrorize it to submission and she will do whatever warlockly things are required to do this (undeading people, summoning devils, releasing demons).
Now, usually evil sorcerers fall to their own summons/creations/subjects but Warlock does not fit that mold. He instead relies on his skills, knowledge, research and power to get done what a more standard "warlock" like Diabolist will do with sacrifice/demons and blasphemy. I believe he will be defeated and killed by Diabolist in a battle of skill (Malicia claimed she would have been a match for him had he been younger) due to the army of devils she has under her control. His "thing" is also boundaries which Diabolist very much just broke so I believe it will be a very fitting death.
Guessing the other Calamities deaths' is harder because we don't particularly know much about them, but I'm going to start with Ranger. Ranger is a half elf obsessed with hunting those worth hunting, she has also been described as someone unbeatable and has considerable amounts of experience and skill under her belt.
She is also technically retired so I'm not quite sure if she still needs to die, but if she does my guess is that she is going to be killed by her opposites: the Elves of the Golden Bloom. She is the diametric opposite of them in quite a few ways, she is a half elf while they "will remain forever unmarred". They think themselves above the affairs of mortals while she does "meddle" (if only for sport). We also know from her chapter that the Emerald Swords occasionally trying to purge her. Overall, they pretty much are the only thing that can actually kill her, it will be a fitting death and because something needs to drag them to the uncivil war (like the rest of the continent) and this seems like a good premise.
Next, Scribe. She is technically not a Calamity but she is affiliated and she must die before Black does so she gets on this list. So what do we know about her? Not much really. She is from the free cities, her name is Eudokia and she is a scribe. We also got a few start of chapter quotes by a "Eudokia, the Oft-Abducted, Basilea of Nicae" which I can only assume is the same person as Scribe and that everyone but me noticed the connection even though I haven't seen it mentioned.
If she is the same person it is very interesting as it means that she is royalty in Nicae while her Name of Scribe is most likely related to the city of Delos, the city with huge bureaucracy where "the will of the Heavens and the will of the asekretis of the Secretariat were considered to be the same thing". This also seems to imply that Scribe is supposed to be an heroic name because Delos is on the side of Good. With the Oft-Abducted part of her name though and her quotes, I can only assume that she experienced a lot of Free Cities politics and was deeply hurt by it.
This, while very interesting, does not give me too much to speculate on, so I can only assume she will die in the Free Cities by the hands of the Hierarch who lived his life as a diplomat and then was abducted by Tyrant. This feels right but is not much as we still don't know enough about her. It is also, like with Ranger and the Elves, a great way to drag the free cities to this mess.
I have pondered quite a bit about Assassin. We know that he has been on screen before but we have no idea who he is. Some have speculated that Scribe and Assassin are the same person while the writer mentioned that some people in story don't believe he even exists but simply think Black has a lot of talented assassins in his use (at least I remember such a comment). We only really know he has an "interesting" sense of humor, a bit mentioned by Black about him being raised in a school of hired killers and whatever can be learned of his appearance in Theif's chapter. We don't know his ethnicity, origins (though he was not mentioned as not Praesi by Warlock so it makes sense that he is Praesi) and even if he is a "he".
As a completely wild speculation I'm going to guess he is actually Ime (Malicia's helper) due to Assassin knowing how Theif was (something Black didn't seem to), being a woman (from what I have seen the author refers to Assassin without gendered pronouns) and because we don't know anything about that her. Anyhow, the only being I could think of which can actually beat this whimsical pile of murder at his own game is the Dead King. I find it to be very fitting but I'm kinda speculating over nothing at all here.
And finally, the one which must be the last Calamity to die, Amadeus, Lord Black himself. About him we know a lot, we know how loyal people (and entire armies) are to him and how loyal he is to them. He is very much a leader and we know he will be the last to go due to all others (except Assassin) saying how they will avenge him. His kit is mostly about leading armies and groups to battle so I will not expect him to fall quietly.
The most obvious way he can die is Catherine stabbing him in the back. However, she has repeatedly shown no wish to do so. Unless he loses it completely, which is a road he somewhat started, I don't expect this to happen. It is merely "too standard" for Black Knights to be killed by their Squires.
Option two: The White Knight kills him. The White Knight could beat him at his army leading game (with a bit more experience and some luck) but his fight is supposed to be killing Catherine not Black.
Option Three and most fun (and very wild prediction): Malicia kills him. admittedly it is a very out there theory but I very much like it. Conflict between Malicia and Black has been "hinted" for a very long while and Malicia has been whispering betrayal for a while and craves control, so what happens when someone starts becoming a loose cannon and losing his perspective? It is very possible that Malicia will not kill him directly but merely orchestrate his death at the hand of someone else.
Option four, which a few people seem to believe in, he simply does not die. To quite a few commenters it seems like Black's death has been hinted too much and that it will simply averted.
I'm not sure I buy that, but it does bring me to what seems the most likely to me, option five: he dies and then Catherine necros him up. We have known that her necromancy is different then regular (Masego comments on this somewhere around chapter 40) and her connection with death has been direct with her using necromancy all the time and even dieing herself. I think this is the most likely as patterns can't be beaten but they can be transcended and this will be a very clean transcension of "the Calamities dieing" and will even allow Black his "real" victory/happy ending.
I have seen some comments suggesting that Triumphant (may she never return) is going to pop out of the hell Diabolist has opened. If she does pop out, she will be a very fitting leader to beat Black at his own game. I'm just not very certain she is going to be back, though admittedly it will be very awesome.
TLDR - Warlock dies to diabolist, Ranger to the Elves of the Golden Bloom, Eudokia to Hierarch, Assassin to the Dead King and Black dies but is necroed to life by Catherine.
Thank you for reading.
u/Yes_This_Is_God [+8] (an hour later)
I like the write-up, but I don't think the Calamities need to die at all. They only got suckered into Captain's death through Bard meddling, and I expect all of them to be savvy enough to avoid similar mishaps. They just need to be... out of the picture.
u/leakycauldron [+3] Imperium of Man (7 hours later)
I don't think so. I think 20 years ago, Praes was large enough to support a Party of Villains to counter the Hero Party Callow likely supported, but I don't know that new Praes is large enough to support two.
u/idannadi [+1] (2 hours later)
I understand what you mean but I'm not sure how much they can be taken out of the picture. Ranger is already retired so it is not clear if she needs to be more out of the picture but I have a very hard time seeing Warlock and Scribe leaving Black's side in this war.
For me it is a matter of Pact like precedent setting. Each time a pattern happens it is easier to do then the last time. The Calamities have been handicapped by not having Ranger for a very long time. They did just fine without her, because they are powerful, because they are savvy, because they are clever and yet one could easily see that having Ranger in the Nicae fight could have easily turned the fight in their favor. If Ranger where in that fight she would have been the one to duel the Champion while Captain would have probably been with Black where she fits. Instead Captain let's out the Beast, like she has done many times before, and her luck/skill has run out.
This is due to Bard's interference as you mentioned, but the next time the Calamities are going to try something they are more handicapped. How much can your savviness and experience carry you when every time you lose it becomes that much harder? How long can you keep playing the same game if you keep losing crucial board pieces? The Woe is now coming to reinforce Black on the front lines to help him punch through the defences, this is the exact spot where I expect Captain and Ranger to be of use to him and fight by his side.
Right now he has Warlock's Link giving him the ability to orchestrate battles, we have seen him use it before to control all pieces of the battlefield and maneuver his soldiers but what happens when Warlock dies? Suddenly the game plan doesn't work as well anymore, he can't be on the front leading the fight and still control the battlefield like a general. There are reasons why we see Ranker standing next to her mages, they give her communication and access to information. Suddenly if Black is on the front lines he can no longer simply ask backup, he cannot call out to have a mage line help him like he did before.
Simply put, with every loss the Calamities tactics become harder and harder to do until it all simply crumbles. They have survived decades without Ranger on the roster because they are savvy, because they are clever, because they set the field well but each death causes an easier next death.
u/Yes_This_Is_God [+2] (3 hours later)
Right, but the fact of the matter is that Captain only died because of an even savvier player.
Subversion is the heart of this story. Also, I think a big chunk of what emphasizes a 'story' in this universe is intent. Captain's death blindsided Black because they didn't know about the foreign story and thus they fell into the trap of seeing it through.
It may be difficult to see the Calamities step down without dying, but I think it's certainly possible. Your list of examples is true in the sense that yes, losing teammates makes it hard to fight, but it really doesn't jive with Black as a character. He's not going to commit to the same plan without the same pieces on the board. You can still wage war without the same Names by your side, and in this case he is doing so by using the Woe. It still works.
u/PrettyDecentSort [+2] (13 hours later)
Subversion is the heart of this story.
This is hugely important. Foundling wins not because she is tougher or stronger or smarter but because she is more genre-savvy.
u/haiku_fornification [+5] (3 hours later)
Next, Scribe. She is technically not a Calamity but she is affiliated and she must die before Black does so she gets on this list. So what do we know about her? Not much really. She is from the free cities, her name is Eudokia and she is a scribe. We also got a few start of chapter quotes by a "Eudokia, the Oft-Abducted, Basilea of Nicae" which I can only assume is the same person as Scribe and that everyone but me noticed the connection even though I haven't seen it mentioned.
I'm fairly sure Eudokia the Oft-Abducted was an old ruler of Nicae and not Scribe. Just because they share a name doesn't mean they're the same person.
Here's another quote from her:
Always walk into traps. Evil is clever and patient and never as vulnerable as when it thinks it holds all the cards.
Strikes me as a guide for the good guys rather than something one of the Calamities would say.
u/idannadi [+1] (4 hours later)
Like I stated above, I made the connection a while back but I have seen no one making any mention of it. I completely agree with you, it does not seem to be Scribe and because we are missing so much information about her it is hard to even invalidate my claim.
Pretty much the only thing we really got on her is:
“The Free Cities,” he said. “It was an interesting encounter in many ways."
I'm mostly speculating here but I think Scribe used to be a hero. The Name as I stated above fits the free city of Delos which is supposed to be on the side of Good. I could see a person which had such terrible experiences as Eudokia the Oft-Abducted did ultimately break with the side of good. It could also explain why Black referred to their meeting as an interesting encounter.
Once again though, too much information is missing to validate/invalidate my mad theory which makes it hard to guess things. It would definitely be simpler if they are simply different people.
u/haiku_fornification [+8] (3 hours later)
To me this chapter exemplifies why Black and the rest of Calamities need to die by the end of this book. A crisis occurs and instead of figuring things out Cat and her group are relegated to fulfilling orders. It seems almost like that was the purpose of the chapter: Cat is about to get things moving when Warlock descends from the heavens and orders them around instead.
This isn't to say that I dislike this - within the setting it makes perfect sense for the Woe to listen to their more experienced counterparts - however it takes away too much of their agency for the story to be satisfying. Ultimately, this is Cat's story and having her act out orders would not a good story make.
u/AurelianoTampa [+3] (9 hours later)
So, some random thoughts:
Order demon, huh? Lots of ways to take that name, but the most likely is that it messes with "the natural order" of Creation. Objects in motion stay in motion - except around the demon, a soldier moving forward leaves behind his skin. Objects at rest stay at rest - except around the demon, solid ground becomes like liquid. Time flows only forward - except around the demon, where it resets itself and then replays. Timey-wimey shennanigans! I feel like "Disorder" would have been a better name, but oh well...
Warlock death flag! He's taking the 15th, which is heavily hinted to be compromised by soldiers who ate the tainted stew and can be turned undead with a simple ritual. I really hope Juniper isn't marching off to her death as well...
Do we know where Thief is right now? Is she in Liesse? I forget... but it's interesting that despite her being part of the Woe, it's really only Cat/Archer/Hakram/Masego who get the rhythm. I wonder if Thief isn't a true member, kind of like how Scribe isn't a true Calamity?
What other trump cards do we know Ubua has? The 15th turning, as mentioned... is the Madness Demon the same one she unleashed before? Other than that just her father is a strong member. The gestalt is obviously still in play, but the implication was that she'd need a few days for her soul to be in a state ready to use it again... right?
u/sparkc [+6] (9 hours later)
I put odds on the 15th being turned from the stew at <10%
u/AurelianoTampa [+0] (9 hours later)
So low? It seemed pretty heavily foreshadowed to me... I don't think the whole 15th will be turned, but a small portion that will sow discord among the ranks right as they need unity the most.
Edit: I'm honestly confused as to why people are rating this down o_O
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+2] Father of Learning (a day later)
They love the characters too much to see them go :'(
u/melmonella [+1] Tremble, o ye mighty, for a new age is upon you (9 hours later)
I agree on 3, and as far as 4 goes she keeps using these trump cards too soon in my opinion. Opening a gate after forces fully committed to assaulting the walls would have been a better option. Using demons after either Hierophant was somewhere dealing with something already or in such a way so as to get the most splash damage on the legions would have been better, not to mention how that works with the You Have Just Activated My Trap Card story mechanics.
u/um_m [+1] (17 hours later)
On 4, I think as mentioned in this chapter, it was the chaos demon previously.
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (2 hours later)
What a fabulous set up for the next chapters to come.