King of Swords 1-1
Chapter: 1
“The Star Emperor is a man of great stature, with an oiled beard and stern countenance. He does not concern himself, as his kin do, with plotting and scheming against each other, but chiefly with the exercise of ruling. His primary concern is justice. His subjects live fairly, peaceably, and one might say even well, if not for the heavy blade of the law constantly grazing the tender skin of their necks.”
-Payapop Pritram, Chronicles of the Seven
“Is it not written that my might is proportional to the awesomeness of my facial hair?”
Hoo boy lookit those beards.
Solomon David is proud of his nipples and wants you to see them.
Ah…
I’ve been to realms like this before.
Uniformly, they are cold, no matter how many line the halls, avenues and plazas
Uniformly, they are barren, no matter how sumptuous or sprawling the architecture and gardens are.
Uniformly, they are soulless, no matter how high the monuments are built or how loudly the people scream praise to the lords on high.
They are lands and worlds where Justice is forgotten. Tossed aside, to be truly honest, in the name of merciless and inattentive Law. No chaos to them, or anything that the Arbiters do not allow.
People do not live in these realms; they exist. Nothing more…
BAH! I MUST RETURN TO THRONE, AND BE AWAY FROM THIS PATHETIC AUTOCRACY. IT’S STREETS AND ALLEYWAYS AND MARKETS AND TEMPLES AND PALACES ARE DANGEROUS BEYOND COMPARISON, BUT IT LIVES! IT BREATHES! IT HAS SUBSTANCE AND HISTORY TO IT, BEYOND THE GLORIFICATION OF ONE SMUG ASSHOLE’S IDEAS OF PROPRIETY AND AESTHETIC!
HAIL TO SHE, KILL SIX BILLION DEMONS. MAY SHE LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES OF THE SEVEN HEADED BEAST.
If your beard is not at least THIS AWESOME >>U<<, you're not allowed to sit on Solomon David's counsel.
Gonna be honest, this guy is the one I have been most interested in. Visually, he is the healthiest of them, which seems to indicate that his method of life extinction is the most stable. Additionally, a ruler that actually considers how well they rule and how they meet the needs of their subjects as central to their job is the most likely to actually be a good ruler. That said though, that he doesn’t contest with the others raises questions about why he isn’t seeking to bring more under his rule and how he views the nature of leadership and responcibility.
THE KING’S NIPPLES COMMAND JUSTICE!
Stern, in charge, purple…
In a live action movie this character would be played by Samuel L. Jackson.
The greybeards, the beardless, and the Blackbeard. Damn, these guys really know how to party!
the colors remind me of incubus’s pit
He seems like a nice, sensible, decent ruler.
Clearly too good to be true. None of the seven are anywhere near what they seem, and sanity is in short supply at the top.
They’re probably going to bring up some sort of bi-annual culling or something.
People often mistake law for fairness. But it’s inherently tipped in favor of the lawmakers, no matter what voting may take place.
As an aside, I imagine Solomon David with the voice of Ike Amadi, who voices Drek’thar in World of Warcraft and, I think, Tyrael in Diablo.
Interesting that Solomon David’s ambassadors/attendants have circlets for their keys, but they obviously hold none. A subtle hint about his pride, he probably only doles out his power if needed. Must explain his huge crown.
Looks like a very uncomfortable chair. You’d think he could afford some upholstery.
Unless we’re missing something it looks like very person in that room is a guy.
It seems like this arc will take place in the mythical land of Beards and Togas.
One should always be cautious when speaking to a man with such fearsome nipples.
Beginning few & poor, with members taking an oath of poverty, surviving on donations people made to the order, and not the individuals themselves, the order ironically became wide spread & rich because of the oath of poverty the members were required to take.
For the order was an existential concept that bound all of it’s members together, & not a person who could take any oath in it’s own right. And whoever controlled the order, was indeed controlling the order’s wealth of resources in the forms of money, men, weapons, armor, armies, fleets & power, & was indeed wealthy for holding a position of command & influence of such a thing, whether they realized it or not…
And a large debt owed to the order, was a debt owed to all of it’s members.
And powerful entities with the habit of extinguishing debts by extinguishing the lives of those whom they owed something to, instead of making them whole, would have to extinguish the entire order itself to relieve themselves of their debts, a very difficult task indeed, not to say anyone hasn’t ever tried…
His
His nipples are halfway up his pecs
What the hell
Being the living embodiment of 1/7th of god changes a man…
Eh. What a sovereign bore.
Looks to me more like a circus than a Council. I wonder if Solomon ever heard of the Roman Senate. If so, he’s doing a good job imitating them.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
I suspect that is the lesson Solomon is to learn.
10/10, would pledge fealty to this glorious paragon of Lawful Neutral
Old men ruling the world… a new age!