21 KiB
[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil: Book 4: Chapter 49: Wrangle
-
Author: u/Mystrl *
-
URL: https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/08/29/chapter-49-wrangle/
-
Score: 61
-
Created: 2018-08-29T04:10:29
Post:
Comments:
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+13] Father of Learning (6 minutes later)
When you put it like that Masego seems like kind of a dick.
u/Iwasahipsterbefore [+26] (23 minutes later)
He's an individual on the spectrum, who really hasn't been in a position where it showed in the story plotwise until now. That entire conversation was absolutely in character, and brilliant writing to boot.
u/None [+20] (an hour later)
[deleted]
u/Iwasahipsterbefore [+19] (2 hours later)
A lot of that character progression happened during the time skip. Masego let a lot of himself turn into Hierophant. Notably, only spending time with other people when Indrani literally smacked him until he stopped ignoring her. He had mild obsessions and fantasies with miracles when he was first introduced, and being constantly in contact with them really brought it out.
u/Frommerman [+6] (9 hours later)
When he was making sex jokes it was without the implication that he would be participating. He views sex as a waste of time, and he knows arguing with Indrani to make her stop is as well. She literally wants to fuck everything that moves, and he cannot dissuade her. Therefore, he utterly ignores her advances, as doing so wastes none of his time.
u/CoronaPollentia [+1] (a day later)
I think it's definitely the former. The author spent a lot of time drawing out what the constant investigation of miracles and work in the Observatory was doing to them, to the point that Cat had to make sure he wasn't starving himself.
u/panchoadrenalina [+11] (39 minutes later)
Yea, i have friends within the spectrum and they can be so blunt that they can be cruel. Having them as friends is an interesting experience and an exercise in patience.
Anyway i hope that the "me first" upbringing bites masego in the ass. I bet that he will be imprisoned out of love by his parents and cat will need to rescue him. That will also serve as a excuse for cat to learn more "winter magic"
u/signspace13 [+6] (an hour later)
As someone on the spectrum, thank you for your patience.
u/HeWhoBringsDust [+1] (13 hours later)
I have a vague feeling Masego might have to choose between saving Cat or saving his father and he ends up choosing Cat, if only because she doesn’t keep him in a gilded cage and allowed him to truly Witness creation. I mean, he would have never become Hierophant if Cat hadn’t met him.
EDIT: Masego making the choice is also the only way he’d grow as a character and also the only way for and Cat to remain friends. If she murders his father, that bridge is burned
u/Agnoman [+22] (3 hours later)
I mean all of the Woe are fairly terrible people if you take a step back and look at them. We just get to see them making jokes amongst each other and justifying their actions. But none of them are people you'd really want to have near you.
Same with the Calamities - people like Black, for instance, because he's cool and funny and is putting himself against the world with nothing but his wit and his will. But he's still a guy who's butchered and oppressed many thousands of people. (Although people seem to like him and the rest of the Calamities less, naturally, the more he opposes Cat).
Really it's the same with most of the Evil side. I guess that's why they're evil?
u/M3mentoMori [+23] (8 minutes later)
Huh, that ending seemed rather abrupt.
u/earnestadmission [+14] Singular "they" user (24 minutes later)
Many of the chapters this book have felt a little shorter than they needed to be.
I'm not sure what the update schedule was like in previous books, but I'd gladly take 2 updates a week at anything from 1.25x to 1.75x the current average chapter length.
u/aerocarbon [+10] NERV (3 hours later)
How long has Catherine been gone? Won't/haven't her subjects gotten a little bit antsy, waiting for their Queen in Black to return? I can't imagine not being present for current events would reflect kindly on her.
Also, I wonder what Warlock could possibly need his son for, so badly? Have we heard anything about Thalassina up until this point? Could it have to do with the Witch of the Woods, perhaps? (I would imagine so - their fight was the most recent thing of import that happened to Warlock, so short of something out of left field, it would have to be about the Witch.)
Also, the next update is gonna be an Extra Chapter (or would that be the update on the 3rd?). I'd love to read about Ratface and co. getting offscreened, but EE has said that the second Cordelia interlude is to follow.
u/CrystalShadow [+10] (38 minutes later)
I’m not really sure what Malicia’s plan is here. I get that she wants to keep Cat on her back foot so she doesn’t strike back, but I thought she was also trying to be “practical” and allow for a fruitful alliance eventually as well. Even though Cat no longer trusts her a bit, she would be content to leave the place alone if she could be assured Callow got a bit of breathing room, and she doesnt have the same limitations as the first prince there.
This pretty much assures that Cat will have to go for her throat eventually, and I don’t think Praes has the same heroic protection against the “Bonfire” plan. If Cat decides to point it there, it will create a lot more mess than just working with her.
u/GeeJo [+13] Custom Flair (4 hours later)
Bonfire was a plan to draw the Crusade's conscripted forces away from the border by applying political pressure. It works because of internal faultlines in the command structure - split loyalties among the leaders who would want to pull their forces back to defend their personal turf.
The Legions of Terror, on the other hand, don't answer to the cities. Its leaders won't much care about civilian deaths behind the lines. Hells, Malicia would likely be happy to see some of her rivals put to the sword without having to lift a finger. Add to that the fact that Praesi cities are forces unto themselves, with their own private army defending much more massive fortifications. And if you break through them, they loose chained horrors. There are no quick, clean sieges letting Cat fade away to the next target.
Bonfire is a strategy for a specific foe, and doesn't work as well applied to the Wasteland.
u/Nimelennar [+14] (7 hours later)
Also, Bonfire was a plan to burn Procer's breadbasket.
Callow is the Wasteland's breadbasket.
u/panchoadrenalina [+12] (45 minutes later)
Malicia's and cat's end game are not compatible eachother.
Cat wants an independent callow free from procer and praes both.
Malicia needs callow beneath her because she needs callow's food to keep her country alive.
This both need to weaken the other for if they are both alive by the end of the crusade and zombie epidemy they can kill the other with impunity. But they can not weaken the other too much or allow herselves to be weakened or the dead king/crusade will kill them piecemeal.
u/CrystalShadow [+12] (an hour later)
I don’t think Cat prioritizes Callow being free. She wants it free of influences that will abuse her people, but Praes has shown they can avoid that for the most part.
A large part of why Cat pursues the highest powers was because of abusive nobles- Malicia has culled them. If she could convince Cat that long term, Callow will be well treated I think Cat would agree. Cat’s biggest issue before would be worrying about Callow after her death, but as a fae immortal she could safeguard it both during and possibly after Malicia’s reign (and ready to swoop in if evil starts getting stupid with her country)
On the other end, prior to the end of book 3 Malicia seemed ok with the idea of a free Callow that gave favorable trading with Praes. This is not as optimal, but so long as Callow has an evil ruler Malicia doesn’t have to worry as much about all the food going to the other countries that refuse to deal with evil.
I’m honestly kind of annoyed with this direction of the story; since it seems counter to many of the earlier principles. I would expect them to not trust each other one bit but be open to these mutually beneficial relationships.
My suspicion (especially given the recent quote) is this is that heroic redemption story in affect forcing the idiot ball on them- that’s the only in universe logic I can think of justifying this, in which case I hope for a reversal soon
u/panchoadrenalina [+18] (an hour later)
"I don’t think Cat prioritizes Callow being free. She wants it free of influences that will abuse her people, but Praes has shown they can avoid that for the most part."
That is exactly the thing that Cat cannot trust, the empress already was the final cause that liesse died (she enabled akua to succeed) and even if the calamities could be trusted not to fuck up callow they are the exception not the rule. They cannot die of old age, but someone will inevitably knife them and they will die. (Or so cat believes) the next emperor will most likely be a loonie, because most are, and because THAT guy is why Cat ultimately fights.
Is almost the same reason real absolute monarquies are out of vogue, the guy right now might be ok but the next guy might not.
And Cat fought with that concept in the previous books. She is always thinking of how to ensure that Callow will be ok after she and the calamities are out of the board.
u/HeWhoBringsDust [+7] (13 hours later)
If there was any chance of Cat and Malicia working together, it was Destroyed the second Cat found out Malicia helped Liesse happen.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+3] Father of Learning (47 minutes later)
Malicia needs callow trading food to the wasteland, which they wouldn’t do before because good doesn’t like evil. Malicia is doing this because she’s losing it and believes Cat is a threat to her for some reason (recent murder attempts aside)
u/werafdsaew [+20] (58 minutes later)
Malicia has a pathological need to be in control, which is why she can't tolerate an independent Callow even if it is willing to trade grain.
u/PotentiallySarcastic [+3] (11 hours later)
I wonder how much of it is the nagging voice in the back of her head that says the Black is the reason she is Empress.
She seems scared of someone like Black who isn't suborned to her by friendship. Because really the only thing stopping Black from being Emperor is him not wanting to be.
u/panchoadrenalina [+4] (57 minutes later)
But cat is a threat. She has confirmed that she needs malicia to die so her Liesse accords can happen (whatever those might be) and besides every power cat gets in callow is power she stole from malicia, even if cat didnt wanted to rebel, having a vassal state about as strong as you is asking for a rebelion in the worst possible moment.
Out of sheer self preservation malicia needs a weak callow and so long cat is there, callow is not weak.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+6] Father of Learning (an hour later)
Malicia doesn’t know about accords and she doesn’t need to die to accept them, she’d apparently just never agree.
Does Malicia care so long as she gets what she wants (IE food for her country and her position sustained?)
u/Frommerman [+1] (9 hours later)
The Accords are meaningless if Praes doesn't sign. They're called the Liesse Accords because they are likely meant to prevent the kind of escalation that happened there. Peace cannot be had on Calernia so long as there is an empire willing and able to build magical superweapons; you can't trust the country with nukes unless you have them yourself. Therefore, Cat needs Praes humbled and weak, its nobility scattered, and the Tower reduced to rubble. Nothing less will bring the Good nations to the table.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+1] Father of Learning (10 hours later)
So she needs Malicia to agree?
u/Frommerman [+1] (12 hours later)
Unless Heirophant has a way to make the accords so magically binding that they change the nature of the position of Dread Emperor forever, Malicia's agreement is worthless. She is going to die someday, and when she does a madman is more likely than not to succeed her. The rest of Calernia doesn't want a piece of paper, they want assurances that Praes cannot continue threatening the continent with weapons of mass destruction.
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+1] Father of Learning (13 hours later)
We’ve literally had statements of both of those things with blood oaths and Malicia‘s last conversation with Tasia
u/Aurum_Corvus [+4] (8 hours later)
I'm not sure about Malicia's inner thoughts, but I'm suspecting she'll be out of her depth by the end of this book, if she's not already. What we're seeing is merely the first steps in her plan (the ones guaranteed for success).
I think Malicia is, sort of, drunk on her victory over the Truebloods, her brilliant planning shattering the Praesi aristocracy that many Emperors/Empresses failed to take down. What she fails to recognize is the fact is that it took the 8 most powerful/skillful villains (9 if we count Scribe) and a good part of the best army in Calernia working together to clean up her loose ends. And she now commands none of them.
She is somehow trying to replicate that same success against Procer, using Black, Dead King, and (I suspect, for north/south symmetry) the Tyrant. However, this is probably going to bite her, because Dead King, Tyrant, or Cat will be coming after her once they're done with Procer. And Malicia lacks the narrative weight or the raw power to deal with any of the three. She's been safe from her own schemes because Black has been clever, but Black will be outmatched by the Dead King or the Tyrant and is vulnerable in narrative to Cat (contingent on if, after all this, he still sides with Malicia/Malicia hasn't betrayed him).
And if the Heroes win? A Hanno who been tempered against the Dead King, Tyrant, Black Knight, and Cat is going to be extremely powerful and have terrifying narrative skill. Malicia will lose.
If this "Warlock" that left a message for Masego is Assassin on Malicia's orders, setting a trap in cooperation with Tyrant (or even if Warlock is clean and Malicia is "just" setting a trap with Tyrant)... Malicia might have shot herself in the foot for when the Woe comes for revenge. With the Woe maturing, the Calamities (who aren't really fans of her in the first place) are either narratively vulnerable to their successors in a mentor-pupil story or will be utterly livid at Malicia (cough, Warlock, cough). It goes without saying that Tyrant will betray her, and he just might be a better schemer than her.
u/Agnoman [+10] (3 hours later)
You need the entire kingdom’s granaries reorganized, you need to get massive amounts of steel to arm all those soldiers the Hellhound is recruiting, you need someone to steady the treasury and rebuild the King’s Council and – Gods, do I need to go on?
So there's more confirmation of the massive issues Callow's facing. Sounds a bit grim, especially with the context around why those issues are so hard to solve (moreso than typical complex socio-economic problems, even). No trade, no allies, the destruction of the second largest city and the surrounding countryside. Riots and rebellions ready to go off at any moment. And those are just some of the internal factors.
There will be battles, Hakram, and there’s only so many Callowans of fighting fit. Only so many we can afford to lose. We need someone to share the casualties with, or it won’t matter that we have good farmland: there won’t be enough people left to till it.
And population issues are also a concern. I figure there's also the issue that if they can't afford to lose people, then recruiting them is also a problem - whether they're dead or enlisted, there's one less person farming.
Maybe they can pull manpower from those refugees? Although I don't think Malicia would just lob them a softball like that. She's got too much experience with destabilising foreign powers to accidentally just up and give them a solution to their problems.
Procer would be occupied with the Dead King for the foreseeable future, but there was no guarantee part of the crusader host would not try Callowan borders again if it saw weakness. The Dominion still had two armies on the field, and the League’s intentions were opaque to me. My instinct had been that the Tyrant of Helike and his madman of a Hierarch would be taking a swing at the Principate, but that’d been while it was still the dominant force on the board. With Keter on the march, the League might be feeling adventurous enough to aim for other territories. And that was without even considering Malicia, who sure as Hells wouldn’t let me bind the wounds of Callow in peace.
Yep, and everything outside of Callow is exploding. That doesn't strike me as good.
I've got to say, Thief and Hakram have their work cut out for them. Thief with outmanoeuvring Malica, who's maybe the best person at these shadow games on the continent and has decades of experience, and Hakram with everything else. Callow's been on the brink for a book or two now, and sooner or later I think something has to give.
Meanwhile, Cat and Archer are off to do diplomacy with the Drow, with the Diabolist as their foreign policy expert. That can only end well.
I figure things are going to get very interesting for Callow from here on out.
u/CouteauBleu [+5] We are the Empire. (7 hours later)
You need the entire kingdom’s granaries reorganized
I'm guessing that means "Emptying the granaries in the north and Daoine to fill the ones in the south"? I'm really interested in the logistics at hand here, because as people have pointed out before, Callow should really not have enough food for its entire population right now, unless Hakram somehow pulls off a miracle.
u/swaskowi [+6] (36 minutes later)
I was hoping the drow was a scry feint. With the dead king engaged in the north, distracting procer , shouldn’t the immediate threat of the crusade, and hence the immediate need for an army, be gone?
u/None [+8] (54 minutes later)
[deleted]
u/swaskowi [+3] (9 hours later)
Maybe but there's clear shoring up Cat can be doing at home that has much clearer benefits (kicking out Klaus, stabilizing the cities/bureaucracy, rooting out spies, monitoring what Black is doing etc). Going into an unknown players land, with unknown benefits and unknown motives, and a very real chance of getting killed, seems really desperate, and it seems to me like she should no longer be that desperate. It's not like we've been given any reason to suppose the drow would be predisposed to help her, there's no obvious alignment of incentives. Cat has what to bargain with? and even if she did have something substantial , what would the drow want?
u/BaggyOz [+5] (an hour later)
This chapter explained the reasoning pretty clearly. Callow can't afford to keep bleeding.
u/CouteauBleu [+11] We are the Empire. (7 hours later)
I kind of hope the drow negotiations don't last too long. I'm interested in seeing what drow society looks like in Calernia (D&D drow society is bullshit), but I don't really want Cat to have dedicated adventures there; she's been away from Callow for a while now, and that's where the interesting stuff happens.
u/zombieking26 [+5] (18 hours later)
I disagree, after 3 books in a row of almost exclusively Callow I have found this book in paticular much more exciting
u/TaltosDreamer [+3] (4 hours later)
I don't know why she can't go with Masego, help resolve things faster, and then both head to the Elves.
u/None [+3] (6 hours later)
[deleted]
u/TaltosDreamer [+3] (8 hours later)
Sorry, I thought the Drow are also elves? It was just an assumption on my part. The point I was trying to make is that I don't think she should let Masego go alone.
As plans go, I am feeling like her best bet is still messing with the story via trying to make herself appear Good. The outsized reaction from the church appeared to me like it hit a nerve.
If she made another move like that towards Malicia, she might be able to play the heavens against the hells and ride the wave.
u/RiOrius [+3] (14 hours later)
I doubt she'd help resolve things faster. She has little to offer in what's presumably a sorcery-based situation, while the tension and conflict between her and Warlock would likely slow things down.