King of Swords 1-3
Chapter: 1
“Across the desert of Khul Kharim,
There stands an ancient and mighty temple, worn with age,
Its two hundred monks drenched with sweat and bent with the labor of its maintenance.
There, enshrined, the graven image of a god;
Mighty, imperious, carved masterfully, his eyes thrust to the horizon, his lips curled in a smile of mastery;
All burnished with the worn hands of monks and the labor-marks of slaves.
Its grip upon the land about is absolute. It has stood for two thousand years.
So long that, indeed,
Cracks have begun to form.”
-Unknown
Will a sausage join the crew of the Yamga, or does it’s kitchen serve only fish tacos?
The poem is really interesting. It reminds me of “Oxymandas”, if the poem was set during the last days of his empire, instead of ages later.
Great is the Paternum! No where is beyond his control! No one can appose him! Nothing can harm him!
But woe is he for the new heir is a no one from no where important to these gods and she wields nothing in her empty palms…
Family gatherings are always awkward.
Dude has had a *lot* of sex.
Like his namesake, I suppose.
Tasteful though his palace is — and numerous his advisors — his power and rule is still founded on being able to beat the shit out of anyone and everyone.
Typical, I say.
It is difficult to notice the absence of something, but often critical to do so.
What of his daughters?
Reach heaven through violence.
Oooh, that’s why they are old and wrinkly. Now to find out why all of them are dudes…
Eh. I guess no self-respecting woman would ever serve as a sounding board for her own dad/grandpa/thousands-upon-thousands-years-of-boning.
Twenty percent off general attendance tickets, my lovelies. As Pantokrator Jagganoth is wont to comment, Everything Must Go.
Ahaha, yes he does say that a lot doesn’t he.
Dang that realy takes some massive sack. He is basically begging them to attack him. I wonder if we really find out just how this war got started. Also i wonder if there are more angels like if there could be an angel contest like the demon contest…just saying. Love the work though just got caught up after leaving off at the end of book 2 for a couple years
…we *witnessed* the start of the war. We *know* how it started. Allison started it by killing Mottom’s husband and invading Ynamon.
Wow, him being Solomon’s son completely changed the reasoning of why he asked about inheritance. Here I just thought he was a concerned councillor. Might just be a greedy/ambitious boy trapped in an old man’s body.
That one guy looks like he’s gonna snap from having an existential crisis of some sort.
I wonder if they have any kids, or grandkids of their own? I mean, it must really suck on the dating scene for them.
“Hey babe! How’s it goin’? The name’s Bob, I’m on the council you know…”
“Ah, yes, I heard about you from my son Charlie. He’s on the council as well! I’m so proud of him!”
“Yes, all of Paternum’s favorite sons get to be on the council. (adds the one, carries the two), you’ve, uh, “met” my father, I take it? (looks at the family resemblance of all the other men in the room) Yes, yes… Of course you have… I need to… I need to go lay down, excuse me…”
Paternum seems to have managed to create his very own race of people…
So… I just thought of a weird loop-hole in his challenge. Not sure if Solomon-David would appreciate it though.
Like, in the comic above, he says both, draw a drop of his blood to win the tournament. He also says, they share his blood, so technically they could draw their own.
Also, a theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr1IwU3yfys
Found the rules lawyer! Yer hired!
There actually goes a story among the bog-hog-riders that a philosopher queen declared, similarly to Solomon, that whoever could enter the ring with her and draw royal blood would win the keys to her famous library.
Her sister, envious of the sibling’s power, entered the ring taking only a needle as her weapon. She pricked her own finger, and spilled her own blood, which was indeed royal.
Duly, she received the keys, and was then formally executed because nobody likes a clever-dick.
Cunning. You would make a fine devil.
I like this guy.
This god has a mighty forehead
In a world where it is all too easy to lose face, you need a god whose face doesn’t stop at the hairline, but continues on, ad infinitum, into the hairless space beyond…
I am extremely jealous of the good king’s ability to speak in purple.
“average person fucks every week” factoid actualy (sic) just statistical error. Solomon Georg, who lives forever & fucks over 10,000 times each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
Meh. I mean, he’s kind of a neat shounen antagonist, but Reach Heaven Through Violence aside, the skills involved in leading have very little with the skills involved in conquering (or fighting in general, for that matter.)
As a philosophy, as a statement that the world owes you nothing and if you would see it different you must pave the way yourself, it is valid. But taken absolutely literally, it’s a rather poor way to choose a successor, I have to say.
… of course, these power-hungry squabblers aren’t likely to be all that good at the other skills, so perhaps it’s merely that he’s yet to see someone who *does* have those other skills…
I… can’t find much fault in his reasoning, really. If he goes down it will mean some really, really nasty tomfoolery has gone down. Anyone who isn’t already at the level where they at least have to be NOTICED is going to be a dead man walking starting the second they take his throne. Inherited power or no.
This may not outright determine the nature of the successor, but it at least improves the chances of an orderly transition of power. And there is nothing that says he can’t put in a little extra effort in brutally murdering the other guy if they deserve his disdain.
It even removes powerful idiots from the field before they can contribute to a succession crisis. If you have more ambition than brains and less than the amount of monstrous power necessary to counterbalance that… you are just another corpse.
Ooh a tournament!
Strike first, Alison, and strike hard. No mercy.
The cat has not been returned to our shelter by the adopting demon in the agreed time, and last seen the cat’s guardianship, environment, and safety were good. The Throne Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals asserts the well-being of the adopted cat, and will henceforth cease monitoring unless alerted.
It occurs to me that a couple of the other councilors at the table are looking at the one who spoke up with either masked ire or open contempt.
I wonder, indeed…
“If you want to create a lasting, stable social order, only one person can ever be immortal.”
–The High Consul of Laconia
“Come get some.”