scrape_r_rational/data/cache/9d2ul1.md

[RT][HF] A Practical Guide to Evil: Book 4: Chapter 52: Finesse

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• u/ATRDCI:

  And so Irritant takes a narrow lead over Traitorous for best Dread Emperor by not only scamming the High Lords with a pyramid scheme, but using that scheme to build a pyramid.
  

  • u/Nimelennar:

    Come on.  Irritant has been winning since at least [Book 4, Chapter 6](https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/chapter-6-hedges/).
    

    • u/ATRDCI:

      To each their own. To not only be trusted  with a.name like Traitorous, but to, presumably assassinate and then, impersonate his own Chancellor with nothing but a wig and a pair of cantaloupes well enough to fool the High Lords is damn impressive.  Especially with the awkward question of why the Chancellor and the Emperor were suddenly no longer seen together.
      

      • u/Angelbaka:

        Traitorous was the one who created the flesh-puppets malicia uses, wasn't he? They probably WERE seen together, and more frequently then before.
        

        • u/Zayits:

          Nah, that was Malicia's predecessor Nefarious. Considering that the only other thing he was famous for was becoming a hikkikomori and collecting an extensive harem from all corners of the Empire, I don't think the flesh puppets were initially created for a political purpose. At least if Malicia's remark about how he had discovered early in his "research" that to build the construct with a sensitivity close to natural would be overwhelming for the senses is any indication.
          

• u/CeruleanTresses:

  I'm confused about the gender thing. Ivah denies having a gender because they're no longer Mighty, and they subsequently elaborate that "cattle has no gender." But later on they say that "priestess" is a "cattle-term," and this is supposedly because it's gendered and Mighty aren't gendered. I can't seem to resolve the apparent contradiction between lines that imply "only Mighty are gendered," "cattle are not gendered," "only cattle are gendered," and "Mighty are not gendered."  Did I misunderstand something?
  

  • u/ATRDCI:

    None of the drow, Mighty or not, are gendered.  You have 3 Tiers- "cattle" aka humans/orcs/goblins/etc. are gendered.  Then above them you have the low level of Drow, which isn't gendered. Then abive them you have the Mighty, which seem to be the Drow equivalent of Named, which also are not gendered
    

    • u/CeruleanTresses:

      OK, I see what you're saying--I mistook "cattle" to be synonymous with "meat," when it actually refers to non-drow. So when they said "cattle has no gender," they meant "humans/etc have no gender, so it doesn't make sense to ask me what gender I'd be if I were human." That clears up that line, but still leaves me with questions:
      
      1. If Mighty have no gender, isn't "I am no longer Mighty" a non sequitur response to "what's your gender"?
      
      2. Why are gendered terms "cattle-terms?" They acknowledge that humans use gendered terms but not that they have genders? 
      
      3. If drow never have gender, why say "cattle has no gender" as if that sets non-drow apart? If anything, shouldn't humans being gendered be part of what others them/makes them "non-people" from the drows' perspective? 
      
      Also, Ivah implies there is another tier of drow between "meat" and "Mighty." I wonder what that tier's deal is, genderwise.
      

      • u/rabotat:

        My theory:
        
        Drow have two genders, the Mighty and the... Weak, let's say.
        
        The cattle can't be Mighty so they have no gender. The Drow can be one or the other. So the drow prisoner's gender is Weak.
        
        Priestess is a cattle term, but not a gendered one in their eyes, since cattle are genderless.
        

    • u/Empiricist_or_not:

      Exactly.  The *quality* ~~quantity~~ of night (harvested from other drow or . . . .) is the sin ne qua non measure of drow power; gender, either is just plumbing, or something night makes mutable enough to be irrelevant (i'm working through the altered carbon audiobooks ATM so I'm thinking gender, to billionaires who re-sleeve with impunity and can buy sleeves and psychosurgery for pocket change).  Big picture night is such a overwhelming factor in Drow politics that sitting or standing to urinate is not a factor.  This raises interesting/squicky questions about their sexual politics, and intimidating one's for Cat's plans to conquer/negotiate with them.
      
      Edit: quality not quanity
      

• u/jaczac:

  Looks like we're getting slavic themes with the drow('Parun'/[Perun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perun)). Cool!
  

  • u/Zayits:

    [Looks like I'll be rereading this glorious copypasta in anticipation for the Friday chapter.](https://old.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/2z089p/drow_visits_the_surface/)
    

• u/CouteauBleu:

  Ah, the old "take me to your world's leaders" gambit. There is no way this is going to go well.
  

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