scrape_r_rational/data/cache/8bwduc.md

[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil: Chapter 1: Observatory

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• u/LordGoldenroot:

  >“Evening, Cat,” she grinned. “Congratulations, you’re getting invaded.”
  
  I've definitely missed archer,
  

• u/aerocarbon:

  > “So long as nearly half the coinage in Callow is from the Imperial Mint, the Tower can break the realm’s coffers at will,” Ratface said.
  
  > “All the Empress needs to do is devalue her currency and the south goes up in flames. It’s a knife at our throat, Catherine. I understand the Hellhound is riding you about funding for the army, but another thousand men will make no difference if we can’t pay those soldiers.”
  
  Brilliant! I'm glad to see something as seemingly overlooked as economics in fantasy settings given a fair shake - men and magic are important, but at the end of the day it's *gold* that keeps the world spinning. 
  
  ---
  
  > “You speak so queenly, these days,” Ratface grinned. “I haven’t seen you spit on the ground in months.”
  
  > “Yeah, well, I own all the carpets now,” I muttered.
  
  This got a laugh out of me. EE never fails to disappoint with the wit. It's a shame that Cat's predisposed to avoid exchanging verbal jabs with the people she fights - I'm sure she'd come up with some *fantastic* zingers.
  
  ---
  
  > “Your Majesty,” Fadila said. “I invite you within.”
  
  > [...] 
  
  > I still vividly remembered the searing pain that had followed trying to pass the threshold without explicit permission.
  
  Goddamn, Masego's gone above and beyond with security. I can't help but think that he definitely took a page or two (maybe multiple chapters) out of Akua's book. Though I wouldn't put it past heroes to just deus ex machina their way through the wards. 
  
  ---
  
  > “Evening, Cat,” she grinned. “Congratulations, you’re getting invaded.”
  
  > I considered this, then smiled back.
  
  *Only Catherine.*
  

  • u/panchoadrenalina:

    i think cat smiled because she pushed archer from the tree.
    

  • u/TideofKhatanga:

    The thing with Fadila has little to do with counter-heroic security. Catherine is a Winter Fae of royal rank now, wards and thresholds are hard obstacles for her even when they are designed to let her pass. And considering those specific wards are made to keep out a Winter Fae of formerly-royal rank (namely, Larat), there's only so much that can be done to accomodate Catherine's passage.
    
    Heroes can probably get in easily anyway. I doubt Thief would bother asking for permission and Archer would try to trespass even if explicitly invited to enter.
    

    • u/WalterTFD:

      Or, you know, Fadila will betray the woman who massacred Akua.
      

      • u/Sarkavonsy:

        She's bound by magical oaths not to. And we all know that those never go wrong in any way, shape, or form.
        

        • u/TideofKhatanga:

          Actually, she's not. The magical oaths were unmade after a month or something, because apparently they warp people's personality if left active too long. This is explained the first time we see Fadila in book 3.
          
          Not that I believe Fadila would betray the Woes. She seems to be motivated mostly by SCIENCE, like her master. And loyalty to dead people is a foreign concept in Praes anyway, so she's unlikely to avenge Akua.
          

          • u/Ardvarkeating101:

            Well, not since those very angry undead high lords lost that civil war, anyway
            

          • u/Sarkavonsy:

            Shit, right, I totally forgot about that!
            
            I'm not sure if that increases or decreases the likelihood of her betraying the Woe. Her increased influence and power in Callow does seem like it could be setting up something later down the line, especially if Masego isn't going to be paying enough attention to keep an eye on her.
            

            • u/CouteauBleu:

              I really hope she doesn't betray Catherine. Like, she's been *exceptionally* spared after working for a notable mass-murderer, while her companions were gruesomely killed. She has nowhere to go, her ex-boss is dead, her homeland is in a bloody civil war, and she currently has a cushy job with responsibilities and relatively low odds of dying horribly.
              
              At that point, she's in a better position than anyone else who worked for Akua (hello Gallowborne 2.0), and she knows that Cat doesn't fuck around with Praesi machinations. If she plots against Cat, I'm going to seriously wonder if the story is trying to say that Praesi have a curse stopping them from wanting self-preservation.
              

              • u/Sarkavonsy:

                That's a good point. Though,
                
                > Praesi have a curse stopping them from wanting self-preservation.
                
                Is both hilarious and would explain a *lot* about the history of the Empire.
                

• u/Zayits:

  > “Tell me everything,” I ordered.
  
  I don't like the cliffhangers, generally, but we're spared seeing the aftermath of the mistake of telling Masego to say too much.
  

  • u/CouteauBleu:

    "Everything."
    
    "Now's not the time to grow back a sense of humor, smartass."
    

• u/Ardvarkeating101:

  Ah, the government of a rational villain.  It's everything I'd hoped for!
  

  • u/CouteauBleu:

    ... a regular government?
    

    • u/Halinn:

      No, a *rational* villain.
      

      • u/scruiser:

        A slightly more competent version of a regular government?
        

        • u/Ardvarkeating101:

          All that's missing is the skull architecture
          

  • u/None:

    ...a crumbling mess held together by five or six people desperately quipping their way through a slow-moving economic disaster on the brink of war?
    

    • u/Ardvarkeating101:

      Well that and the Bastard Lord fining people for exactly how much they tried to bribe him so he both humiliates them and gets off scott free with their money
      

• u/haiku_fornification:

  I'm kind of sad we're getting straight into the invasion. 
  
  I was hoping to have more chapters of down time: Cat ruling Callow and dealing with all the politics, economics and armies, resolving disputes etc. It would be awesome to see how all the characters are dealing with their new position or take a moment to reflect on where they're going - what they've gained and what they can lose. 
  
  This chapter does a good job of sketching out the situation but it's not enough. We have enough to get an idea of how peace time looks like but not enough to *feel* it. Without those extra chapters to establish a fun and relaxed tone of peace, the war doesn't have the same impact. 
  
  I liked the chapter, I just think there should be four more of them along a similar vain. Also, if you're reading this EE, the chapter isn't showing up in the Table of Contents.
  

  • u/Zayits:

    > Without those extra chapters to establish a fun and relaxed tone of peace, the war doesn't have the same impact.
    
    Well, it wasn't particularly fun and relaxed for Catherine. Yes, she has actuall allies now, but she has to simultaneously rebuild and remove the ways the Empress can pressure her through. She arguably had it easier running the Ruling Council, despite being less powerful and knowledgeable back then, simply by the amount of things that require her attention and investment.
    
    My point is, it's perfectly fine to timeskip the most of rebuilding and political maneuvering by demonstrating an explained sample of said rebuilding and political maneuvering.
    

    • u/haiku_fornification:

      Sitting in a room making royal decrees sure is a lot more relaxing than sending thousands to die and fighting for your life. Ruling is tiring but I'm sure that's not all Cat does and even if it is, it's still much better than war. The problem is that there's not enough time dedicated to peace to make us feel like it.
      
      Imagine if we have four more chapters of Cat doing her own thing. We see her reflect on how far she's come and how resilient her people are. We see her talking to Baroness Kendall about their plans for Callow, making jokes with the Woe about Hakram being a gossip Queen, sparring (and flirting) with Archer. We see the respect she has for the army assembled by Juniper and in turn, we see their respect of her. It's complicated, messy and she's constantly busy but it's also *nice*. 
      
      Then, when the message comes and the war starts, it would feel like a punch in the gut. Besides, having more focus on Cat ruling would also show that the previous wars were worth it and could serve as a justification for her position.
      

      • u/Zayits:

        > Ruling is tiring but I'm sure that's not all Cat does and even if it is, it's still much better than war.
        
        Cat's not a very peaceful person in the first place, and scrambling for funds for a few months while preparing for a war where she isn't really on either side. Add to that small stressors and reminders like the standoff at the Vales and having to drop everything she was doing once a month to put down heroes, and she had more or less been living with a deadline that was reached in this chapter. Not the best representation for those few months, but a good *conclusion*.
        
        Besides, most of her friends are in the legions preparing for the same war, Masego is scrying himself blind in his room, Thief is wandering around as usual, Archer was said to be sent out on missions like fishing for artifacts in Liesse, and Catherine had essentially exiled Amadeus. Even if she has more actual allies, her contact with them is less regular now.
        

  • u/None:

    I think it makes sense we skip this time as Cat's purely focused on the invasion. She has the same sense of urgency she had in the last few chapters of Book 3 and we're swept up in that urgency.
    

• u/Empiricist_or_not:

  Did anyone else notice this?
  
  >Masego was laying down and looking half-asleep. I could see his pupils moving beneath the black eyecloth, but aside from that Hierophant was eerily still.
  
  Masego's eyes are made of glowing embers from his spectacles of seeing, after being shattered by the sun.  I guess he's refined them some maybe?
  

  • u/Zayits:

    I didn't notice the pupils in the earlier descriptions at all. More to the point, there's this quote from chapter 34:
    
    > He wore a black cloth blindfold over his glass eyes, but sometimes bits of red and yellow light could be glimpsed through it.
    
    I always thought that those were just featurless orbs of glass, though I confess that having pipils but no eyelids is arguably creepier.
    

  • u/CouteauBleu:

    Maybe it's just a shorthand for "I could see the shape of his eyes moving"? I think you can see someone's pupils move even when their eyes are closed, especially when they sleep.
    

• u/CouteauBleu:

  > with Aisha’s network of kinsmen in Praes
  
  I like how nonchalant the narration is with Cat having a network of Praesi spies loyal directly to her lieutenant, but I also hope they get explored more.
  
  What kind of people are these spies? Are they just regular Praesi people who just took "spy" as a nine-to-five job, and happen to be on Aisha's payroll? Are they super unreliable and treacherous and prone to be infiltrated by rival factions like Akua's and the Empress's? Or are they ideologues, people who think "Under Aisha's guidance, we're moving away from a shitty culture and working with the likes of Lord Black and Lady Squire to make a better world!"? Or is it more of a feudal thing, where Aisha has noble families vassal/indebted to hers, and spies working for these families, and the relationship is more like "I've worked for Lord X and his family all my life, and so did my father, and his father before him, etc; we keep serving them and they've been good to us in return"?
  

  • u/Zayits:

    Probably mixture of the last one and a lot of favors traded within the family. Remember, Ratface mentioned that the Bishara tribe was the first one to mix jinn bloog in their line, so even if diluted, they wed a lot of their kin outside the family to the nobles who seek to better their bloodline. She has cousins all over the place, like the one who owned "Sword and Cup", the inn in Ater where the Fifteenth first had an unofficial gathering place.
    

• u/None:

  Gracias
  

• u/sambelulek:

  > “So long as nearly half the coinage in Callow is from the Imperial Mint, the Tower can break the realm’s coffers at will,” Ratface said.  
  
  I actually don't get this part. Do rulers of Guideverse dictate each and every goods' price? Do rulers agree on exchange rate used for trade? I am in understanding of Guidverse use precious metal for currency. People determine price by comparing goods' value against those metal on day to day basis.  
  
  To devalue coinage, ruler must reduce precious metal content. But who can't prevent people to simply discriminate older and newer coins? Or neighbor rulers to re-mint those coins? If Guideverse economy is not dissimilar to Mercantilism, availability of currency is more important than which currency in circulation.
  

  • u/Zayits:

    > But who can't prevent people to simply discriminate older and newer coins?
    
    Malicia can have the new coins exchanged for old ones at fixed rate in the major cities of Wasteland, and so mint most of them anew quickly enough. Add to that the possibility of loaning money in new coin to the nobles who are buying up grain in Callow, and it'll flood the market quickly enough for the fortunes to shake. Remember, the goal wouldn't be the monetary reform itself, but the effect on Callow's trade.
    
    > Or neighbor rulers to re-mint those coins?
    
    The only neighbor ruler who has such an opportunity and an inclination to do so is Catherine' and as a formal citizen to the Empire she's technically still subject to its laws, which likely to have gruesome punishments for those who meddle in the imperial currency. 
    
    The main issue is that one side has reserves of gold and precious gems for a rainy day, while the other is already minting coin at its maximum capacity to overtake the markets. If Empress starts changing the amount of gold in her coinage now, she can shake everyone else something fierce.
    

    • u/sambelulek:

      I was questioning what can a ruler possibly do to her own currency to undermine neighbor's economy. The center of my argument was, you can't change metal content without traders **soon realize it** and adjust price accordingly. 50% to 49% gold/silver content might dupe traders for quite a while, but what that small (?) percentage can possibly do in, say, a year time? During which neighbors can retaliate or naturally adapt.  
      
      > Malicia can have the new coins exchanged for old ones at fixed rate in the major cities of Wasteland.  
      
      Won't this raise suspicion? Even then, why would people exchange their old coin to the new one if that means they lose wealth? What ruler can do is buying old coinage while issuing new one. Secretly, if they wish to profit from the process. Ruler can enforce fixed nominal exchange, but that should have political ramification, hurting Wasteland economy, and ultimately defeating the initial purpose of undermining neighbor's economy due to information leak. Loan to nobles is possible avenue to hasten the process, nevertheless, situation described on my first paragraph prevail.   
      
      > The only neighbor ruler who has such an opportunity...   
      
      Indeed, discrimination is easier response. Traders from Callow or Free Cities can just say, "You can buy my goods at ... (Praesi Gold) or ... if you pay with old coins." I suggested re-mint due to convenience. When considerable amount of time has passed and maintaining that discrimination become a hassle, rulers of Free Cities (not Callow, if Callow still under Praes' rule) can melt their old Praesi Gold to issue their own coinage. Callowan ruler can strategically dump those risky coins to Free Cities to avoid problems.  
      
      My thesis: (1) Ruler can devalue their own currency, but people will know and act accordingly to protect their wealth. Damage may be incurred during the process, but damage will be widespread, not localized in just one geographical area. (2) Ruler can devalue their own currency **and** successfully doing so without people knowing due to Creation Law shenanigan, but all that achieved is profit. If everybody don't know, economy isn't affected.
      

      • u/jtolmar:

        > I was questioning what can a ruler possibly do to her own currency to undermine neighbor's economy.
        
        You could do this in a modern economy. You print money, reducing the value of your own currency, but the new money goes directly into your economy so you just have inflation. Meanwhile, your money in the neighbor's country decreases in value the same amount without receiving new money to compensate.
        
        But I agree that this doesn't really work in this setting, since money is made of precious metals. You can't effect the value of the gold in one coin vs the gold in another, and most of the tricks you could pull just mean more work for moneychangers. You could do a bit more by exercising your legal authority (banning certain coins, fixing exchange rates, banning re-minting), but that only actually extends as far as you can enforce.
        

        • u/CouteauBleu:

          Maybe Imperial coins are an ad-hoc currency, worth more than the metal they're made of, and backed by gold stored directly in the Tower?
          
          The chapter does explain that Black specifically worked to make Callow economically dependent on the Tower, and making them use currency the Tower can easily devaluate might be part of that.
          

  • u/Karranor:

    Don't think about it too much, think "magic".
    
    Yes, it wouldn't really work that way as described.
    
    Economic models have some issues even at the best of times because they work with many assumptions that aren't exactly true. Throwing models that work with assumptions that are only reasonably close to reality in modern times at a medieval society is bound to fail.
    
    The believe that money equals goods is one of the foundations why modern economy works, but it's not a lot more than just a believe, an illusion.
    
    If you are starving, an apple is worth more than a mountain of gold. If you are freezing, a few logs of wood to burn are worth more than a handful of diamonds. If you have a hundred thousand people living in your country that are busy farming and building things, more gold will not make them build faster. Money doesn't make apples, money doesn't create buildings. Neither can it create or destroy gold.
    
    As you noticed, there's little that the Empress can do to actually devalue the coins, other than reducing the scarcity that those coins are based on. Would apply equally to coins Callow mints though.
    
    In the end, it doesn't matter that much. It's a story, it uses modern world economics even if it doesn't make that much sense.
    

    • u/vshvsh:

      Diamonds burn okay actually, so not that worse than wood when you're freezing.
      

  • u/vshvsh:

    It may be Praesi money are actually fiat money rather than based on precious metals. Or there is some state-controlled self-destruct mechanism in every coin (wouldn't that be Evil?).
    

    • u/Empiricist_or_not:

      If I remember right Praes is very very rich in gems and precious metals.  It might be as simple as taking a few Ginormous house size bricks of gold minting them all as coin, and devaluing Gold by putting too much in circulation.
      

    • u/CouteauBleu:

      While the "The Empress has a lot of spare gold if she wants to devaluate" explanation is simpler, I really hope the coin do have some sort of Evil magic tied to them. That would be so awesome.
      
      At the very least, maybe they have some kind of tracker that allows the Empress to know who owns how much of her coin at any moment?
      

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