7.6 KiB
[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil: Hierarchy
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Author: u/Yes_This_Is_God *
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URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/hierarchy/
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Score: 60
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Created: 2018-01-31T05:23:05
Post:
Comments:
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+25] Father of Learning (29 minutes later)
Anaxares is quite possibly my favorite fucking insane character. He's been brainwashed/raised into believing all this servants and fancy living shit is awful, and then he's forced into it and it's driving him even crazier and it's so amazing to watch this train wreck in action.
He kind of reminds of of Worf. Worf was raised on stories of Klingon honor and followed them religiously, when it turned out the entire empire was super corrupt and he ended up being the only honorable one left. Poor Anaxares is the last true scion of Bellerophon.
u/Clipsterman [+6] (12 hours later)
I would argue that he isn't actually insane or brainwashed. He's simply just raised (which you mentioned yourself) to believe that all men are equal, except that belief is carried out fully. He just sticks to his beliefs, even when they are inconvenient, which I think is pretty cool part of his character, although it also helps that the majority of his lines are wonderfully sassy.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+8] Father of Learning (12 hours later)
You can be logically self-consistent and still be insane
u/Clipsterman [+2] (17 hours later)
But then, how do you know when someone is insane, rather than just believing something different from you? You could argue that capitalism, communism, religion or even the concept of freedom is insanity.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+2] Father of Learning (17 hours later)
Yep! Insanity can be based on social values which be their very definition only exist because people agree they do! But I can believe that Jews control the world and logically go to the nearest temple to help my stock portfolio. I'm consistent, not correct.
u/Clipsterman [-1] (a day later)
But "jews control the world" is not a social value, it's a factual (for lack of a better word) statement. It is a statement that is fairly simply true or false. Believing that all men are equal on a moral level is an opinion, and that is by no means the same as a factual statement.
You could look at it this way: If Anaraxes existed in modern society, and started murdering monarchs because of his beliefs (which he probably wouldn't but you get the idea), and explained that he did this because he believes that all men are equal, he would be charged with murder and sent to prison just like any other political murderer. If someone starts murdering jews because he thinks they control the world and he is not ok with that, then it is very possible that he would not be put in prison, but instead be evaluated as insane, and sent off for treatment.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+2] Father of Learning (a day later)
All people are equal is a question of fact. It's not "should they be treated equal", it's "they are equal," which is a factual statement that he won't deal with in a world of kings and demigods.
To put it another way, It's my opinion is that I should kill all the religions save mine. I'm still insane, even if it's just an opinion.
u/paradoxinclination [+22] (an hour later)
I've got to say that I absolutely adore learning more about the history and customs of the Free Cities. That tidbit about Bellerophon leaving an open seat for the Gods Below but giving them only a single vote was just perfect.
Anaxares is also swiftly becoming one of my favorite characters; there's something oddly compelling about his complete abdication of responsibility in the face of his unwanted title, I just can't tell what.
u/idannadi [+18] (5 hours later)
I like how Anaxares perfectly depicts the league of free cities. On the surface he is supposed to lead and coordinate them. To arbitrate their disputes and different ideologies.
But look deeper? At the end of the day, each city does as it wants and acts according to their beliefs. The Secretariats are confused that he does not answer their scrolls? They send a scroll to ask how to send scrolls. The Tyrant has "surrendered" his rule to the Hierarche but he rules nonetheless and the others now this.
The Nicea's wish his support? They give him a damn Palace. Bellerophon sends a diplomat without any power and a delegation of kanenas to follow the Hierarche. Stygia sends a magister to ask if he wishes slaves, the Atalantians go on about their crusade and righteousness and Penthes shows itself to be a rulership mess with many Exarch claimants (which is what Black did to disorganize the city and is also why we have seen so little of them).
And to make everything worse, Anaxares refuses to exert even the bare minimum of control he can. I'm reminded by Anaxares thoughts from the prologue:
Named or not, one could not change the face of the Free Cities.
The League of Free Cities stays free and true even if it "unites" under a ruler.
Edit: Spelling.
u/nick012000 [+13] (55 minutes later)
So, the guy whose Role is to be the neutral arbitrator of the group of cities that aren't able to cooperate does nothing to regulate their behavior and just lets them do whatever they want to. Seems to make sense. I wonder if his character development will further parallel the sociopolitical situation and relationships of said cities.
u/MutantMannequin [+8] (19 hours later)
I can't be the first person to think this, but just about everything going on in the Free Cities feels like ErraticErrata is channeling Sir Terry Pratchett. It all feels very Discworld.
u/TwoxMachina [+5] (8 hours later)
Doesn't Anaxares realize, not deciding IS a decision. By not saying anything, the Tyrant speaks for him.
u/None [+13] (11 hours later)
He definitely knows that. He knows that he's stuck between two impossible choices - either he speaks and shapes the course of history as one man, one Named... or he doesn't, and the Tyrant shapes the course of history as one man, one Named - and that perhaps the greatest choice he could ever make is to stand by and let the Tyrant free. He knows he's been played. He knows that any move is a losing move. So, in the absence of all else, he falls back to his principles.
u/TwoxMachina [+1] (a day later)
IDK, might be just me, but.... if I'm making a choice either way, I'd spite the fella who forced me, but voting opposite him.
If you're damned, might as well murder the guy who damned you.
u/None [+3] (a day later)
Yeah, and that'd make sense for anyone that wasn't raised to venerate Extreme Democracy and truly believes, despite all the horror, that it's the only moral right in a world filled with Named and gods and stories that will flatten mortals beneath their feet.
u/MoralRelativity [+3] (2 hours later)
Shouldn't this be an Interlude?
u/LordGoldenroot [+8] (2 hours later)
It is one of the monthly chapters and not one that is directly in the main story, so it is not an interlude.
u/sharikak54 [+2] (2 hours later)
The extra chapter tricked me too, since it's not a new month yet.
u/TheEngineer923 [+2] (14 hours later)
Oh snap, now we'll never know what the Tyrant's plant was... Was it a rose? Chrysanthemum? Weed? I bet it was weed. Now they can't act recklessly...