Situational Clarification (Part 2)
Posted by Pax on 12/04/19
Beyond the whole territory question, the Faith is extremely important to the Compact and its citizens; any oath taken or vow sworn that isn't witnessed by the Faith in some capacity would be viewed as very suspicious, because in theory all vows and oaths are enforced by Limerance. If you don't want the gods involved, there's some implication that you might not plan to hold to the oaths. This is true of marriage vows -- technically the Faith signs off on all marriages -- and it's very definitely true of vows of fealty. Moreover, if Velenosa hasn't willingly released Pravus from their oath of fealty, it would fall to the Faith whether or not this is doable. Alaric has the power to make someone a new vassal of his, but he doesn't have the authority to give them freedom to break their oaths.
It is, however, also the case that a bulk of the NPC Faith is actually likely to support it, if only because conquest of the Saffron Chain provides a new bulwark against the heathen savage Abandoned there, and making Abandoned bend the knee means (in theory) new converts to the Faith. And that part of things, a lot of NPCs -- especially among the Faith -- will probably approve of. After all, "think of the poor Abandoned" is not a refrain that holds a lot of water with the average citizen of the Compact. And expanding the power of the Compact at a time when they've been made to feel a bit smaller on the world stage, what with Cardia and the Empire here? That part of this isn't necessarily going to be unpopular. And if it comes down to Orazio as an NPC making the call, he is thematically likely to fall on the side of the general Faith NPC viewpoint that conquest of the Saffron Chain and bringing the Abandoned into the fold is a Good Thing.
ALL THAT SAID, the only things staff has explicitly mandated are that if Pravus is elevated it doesn't get to take chunks of the mainland with them unless otherwise decided by the Great House over the land in question, and that no one gets to ICly exclude the Faith from being involved in this whole business or break oaths of fealty unilaterally, because that would be Bad (and honestly, probably grounds for excommunication). Otherwise, all we've done is provided thematic information to Alaric.
Now, people building up domains /is/ starting to get to some pretty extreme levels; there's been a lot of elevations lately, and it's likely that some of the NPC peerage will not be thrilled by this. Raising a barony up a tier might earn some grumbling, but it's something people who aren't directly affected can turn a blind eye to. This one, however shakes the foundations of the Compact; there's no way anyone can really ignore it. And much like the backlash that arose against ennobling people into the peerage, there's a very real possibility that the populace is not going to start watching elevations a /lot/ more closely after this, and reacting with somewhat more forceful opinions. If you're a member of the peerage, yes, you probably have Feelings about this whole shift.
Moreover, Pravus did not, so far as I know, reach out any of the existing Great Houses, much less try to get buy-in from them or court them politically; to all appearances, they went straight to Alaric and asked him to basically pull rank and make it happen. Can people be upset about this? Absolutely. Sure, many houses might view it as an opportunity and reach out to Pravus, trying to get a piece of the riches if the Saffron Chain is successfully conquered; there's resources there which are harder to get in Arvum, which means potentially valuable trade! But others -- especially the existing Great Houses -- may well resent how this whole thing went down.
The fact that Pravus has put a lot of effort into mustering a greater military than any other single house in the Compact can field might also make some people very nervous. Sure, they /say/ they're going to use it to take out the Saffron Chain, but...
Further still, I understand that Alaric's presenting this somewhat as fiat accompli, effectively declaring it from on high rather than running it past the peerage. That's within his power and he almost certainly has very good reasons for it, but it still may not be a popular move, especially among the more powerful peers of the realm. Will this cost him some of the popular support he currently enjoys? It very well could; he's spent a lot of political capital to do this without having involved the various Great Houses. It's currency he presently has to spend, but his balance may be awfully low afterwards, at least with swaths of the nobility; it's certainly possible the peerage may use this incident as an inciting factor to demand the Assembly be given more say over things, which could lead to a weakening of crown power and the crown becoming largely ceremonial, as it was before Alarice basically glued the Compact back together and took the reins. On the other hand, if the conquest of the Saffron Chain is successful and brings new wealth and power into the Compact in general rather than solely Pravus, the decision might prove pretty popular in the long run with the general populace; if it ushers in a new age of prosperity, Alaric might end up remembered in history alongside others like his ancestor Alarice.
In short, there's a heck of a lot of things to react to here, and a heck of a lot of ways to react to each of those things!
This is touching off a very interesting time in Arvani history, and we're not going to forbid people from reacting with either IC ire or IC opportunism. We would prefer that any IC ire not take the form of open warfare, for many reasons -- including that the dominion system isn't fleshed out enough to support that readily at this point, and that we will always prefer RP that constructs or builds up something rather than trying to take down/destroy/block another PC's RP -- but the possibility of lasting cold-war type political conflict from this, or the peerage working to strip the Crown of some of its power in reaction, is definitely real.
That said, so are the opportunities for everyone, even for Velenosa. If Pravus' vassals go with them and get new territory elsewhere, it gives Velenosa a brief window where they not only /can/ elevate new Houses with relative impunity but more or less will /have/ to do so in order to ensure domains are still held by someone. (Or to let existing territories swallow up those domains, increasing the power of existing Houses.) And if Pravus' vassals ask Pravus to release them from their oaths so they can stay with the Lyceum, now some existing Lycene house will gain new vassals and thus more power/taxes. It's likely Velenosa will have some incredibly powerful favors they can hand out as a result of this, no matter which way things fall.
As a final note, we would really, really love it if whatever reaction people have to this /regardless/ of what it is can be kept OOCly pleasant. Don't gloat at each other OOCly about what you will or won't do, don't get OOCly venomous at each other over things, don't get on the case of various players OOCly for doing something or not doing something or whatever else, and just generally please don't OOCly freak out. Because whatever the story comes of this is, we are going to try to ensure it doesn't destroy anyone's ability to RP, effectively punish anyone for not being around (or not having worked to ruin someone /else's/ RP), or otherwise make people OOCly miserable.
That's a bit lengthy, but hopefully it helps clarify a bit!
It is, however, also the case that a bulk of the NPC Faith is actually likely to support it, if only because conquest of the Saffron Chain provides a new bulwark against the heathen savage Abandoned there, and making Abandoned bend the knee means (in theory) new converts to the Faith. And that part of things, a lot of NPCs -- especially among the Faith -- will probably approve of. After all, "think of the poor Abandoned" is not a refrain that holds a lot of water with the average citizen of the Compact. And expanding the power of the Compact at a time when they've been made to feel a bit smaller on the world stage, what with Cardia and the Empire here? That part of this isn't necessarily going to be unpopular. And if it comes down to Orazio as an NPC making the call, he is thematically likely to fall on the side of the general Faith NPC viewpoint that conquest of the Saffron Chain and bringing the Abandoned into the fold is a Good Thing.
ALL THAT SAID, the only things staff has explicitly mandated are that if Pravus is elevated it doesn't get to take chunks of the mainland with them unless otherwise decided by the Great House over the land in question, and that no one gets to ICly exclude the Faith from being involved in this whole business or break oaths of fealty unilaterally, because that would be Bad (and honestly, probably grounds for excommunication). Otherwise, all we've done is provided thematic information to Alaric.
Now, people building up domains /is/ starting to get to some pretty extreme levels; there's been a lot of elevations lately, and it's likely that some of the NPC peerage will not be thrilled by this. Raising a barony up a tier might earn some grumbling, but it's something people who aren't directly affected can turn a blind eye to. This one, however shakes the foundations of the Compact; there's no way anyone can really ignore it. And much like the backlash that arose against ennobling people into the peerage, there's a very real possibility that the populace is not going to start watching elevations a /lot/ more closely after this, and reacting with somewhat more forceful opinions. If you're a member of the peerage, yes, you probably have Feelings about this whole shift.
Moreover, Pravus did not, so far as I know, reach out any of the existing Great Houses, much less try to get buy-in from them or court them politically; to all appearances, they went straight to Alaric and asked him to basically pull rank and make it happen. Can people be upset about this? Absolutely. Sure, many houses might view it as an opportunity and reach out to Pravus, trying to get a piece of the riches if the Saffron Chain is successfully conquered; there's resources there which are harder to get in Arvum, which means potentially valuable trade! But others -- especially the existing Great Houses -- may well resent how this whole thing went down.
The fact that Pravus has put a lot of effort into mustering a greater military than any other single house in the Compact can field might also make some people very nervous. Sure, they /say/ they're going to use it to take out the Saffron Chain, but...
Further still, I understand that Alaric's presenting this somewhat as fiat accompli, effectively declaring it from on high rather than running it past the peerage. That's within his power and he almost certainly has very good reasons for it, but it still may not be a popular move, especially among the more powerful peers of the realm. Will this cost him some of the popular support he currently enjoys? It very well could; he's spent a lot of political capital to do this without having involved the various Great Houses. It's currency he presently has to spend, but his balance may be awfully low afterwards, at least with swaths of the nobility; it's certainly possible the peerage may use this incident as an inciting factor to demand the Assembly be given more say over things, which could lead to a weakening of crown power and the crown becoming largely ceremonial, as it was before Alarice basically glued the Compact back together and took the reins. On the other hand, if the conquest of the Saffron Chain is successful and brings new wealth and power into the Compact in general rather than solely Pravus, the decision might prove pretty popular in the long run with the general populace; if it ushers in a new age of prosperity, Alaric might end up remembered in history alongside others like his ancestor Alarice.
In short, there's a heck of a lot of things to react to here, and a heck of a lot of ways to react to each of those things!
This is touching off a very interesting time in Arvani history, and we're not going to forbid people from reacting with either IC ire or IC opportunism. We would prefer that any IC ire not take the form of open warfare, for many reasons -- including that the dominion system isn't fleshed out enough to support that readily at this point, and that we will always prefer RP that constructs or builds up something rather than trying to take down/destroy/block another PC's RP -- but the possibility of lasting cold-war type political conflict from this, or the peerage working to strip the Crown of some of its power in reaction, is definitely real.
That said, so are the opportunities for everyone, even for Velenosa. If Pravus' vassals go with them and get new territory elsewhere, it gives Velenosa a brief window where they not only /can/ elevate new Houses with relative impunity but more or less will /have/ to do so in order to ensure domains are still held by someone. (Or to let existing territories swallow up those domains, increasing the power of existing Houses.) And if Pravus' vassals ask Pravus to release them from their oaths so they can stay with the Lyceum, now some existing Lycene house will gain new vassals and thus more power/taxes. It's likely Velenosa will have some incredibly powerful favors they can hand out as a result of this, no matter which way things fall.
As a final note, we would really, really love it if whatever reaction people have to this /regardless/ of what it is can be kept OOCly pleasant. Don't gloat at each other OOCly about what you will or won't do, don't get OOCly venomous at each other over things, don't get on the case of various players OOCly for doing something or not doing something or whatever else, and just generally please don't OOCly freak out. Because whatever the story comes of this is, we are going to try to ensure it doesn't destroy anyone's ability to RP, effectively punish anyone for not being around (or not having worked to ruin someone /else's/ RP), or otherwise make people OOCly miserable.
That's a bit lengthy, but hopefully it helps clarify a bit!