King of Swords 10-172
Yem Yeddo was astonished, and a great terror overwhelmed him. He was a quick and cowardly man, and fled. The people rejoiced and the granaries were broken open. The bodies of the tyrannical lord’s men were burned without rites and stomped upon. Flour was dragged forth by the sackful, the well Intra dug was quickly filled with fresh water and reinforced with stone, and soon many loaves of bread were emerging, steaming, from his oven. A goat was slaughtered and a great feast was had.
“Thankyou for the hospitality,” said Intra, when the night had grown long. “I will not impose upon you any longer.”
The populace were desperate for him to stay. “Lord Intra,” said they, “Yem Yeddo may yet return, with more men!”
“That is true,” said Intra, “And that I cannot help with you. But remember, men like him have forgotten their mothers. Their feet do not touch the earth, and they grasp at feeble things. They are like a mangy dog fighting over a fetid corpse. They have forgotten that with their brothers, working together, they could bring down a magnificent ox.”
He reached down and picked a goodly sized rock from the floor of the valley.
“This valley is broad and beautiful. It may have one Yem Yeddo, but it contains many more stones.”
– The Song of Maybe
Oooh I wish it was that simple…
At this point I believe in such vast and expansive world as this one pure democracy (how I understand what is being proposed here) will not work. Too many different species, believes, morals, standards… Total chaos and probably stagnation almost guaranteed. You need a strong leadership. An iron will of one or preferably a number of people,, that won’t allow this “country” to tear itself apart.
But it’s gotta be said, Solomon needs to delegate some power, losen the gripp and don’t center everything on himself. This way the country will be more ready to move on after/if he steps down.
I reeeeeaaaaally hope he thinks it over and not just blindly steps down.
How would you even organize it? Solomon David’s Empire encompsses 111,111 UNIVERSES! He’s basically kept it together through just rule, a cult of personality and by recruiting the most badass fighters of all the universes as his subordinates. Peace and prosperity as the carrott, a quick and inescapable beat down as the stick. Imagine trying to organize elections across so many worlds. Imagine the number of competing parties!
Any organization he set up would just be a continuation of what he has been doing, taking care of his children “Your own vision is insufficient, here let me take care of you.” People must provide their own vision and are capable of doing so. The children are grown. They must be allowed to live their life. Let them go.
I suspect that it would have to be “hand over the empire to the peoples”, plural, making each universe independent. I can’t see 111,111,111 worlds agreeing on enough to be a working federation.
At which point most worlds will panic. Roll D6 to pick a new demiurge protector.
Bruh. Is that a typo, or have ya failed to read the comic? It’s 111,111 worlds. And they have Allison and Friends Right There. Not to mention, even if our Little Godslayers move right along, Mammon is already (sorta) on their side, Incubus is sucking up to Allison, Meti (Incubus’ leash-holder) is watching and approving in her way, Mottom is *fucked* and Solomon is seriously considering abdication. At this point, the only two that would be problematic are Gog and Jagganoth, and Gog isn’t nearly as much of a threat to a well-run empire as many of the Monarchists (I’m not calling you one, you just sound like one. The others in these comments, though…. half of what they say is just code for “I wanna live in a fascist country as first-class citizen”) in these comments want to believe. Gog has nothing to offer a happy woman, and many of the dissatisfactions in the Celestial Empire come from Solomon’s Sons using the legislature of the Empire as weapons against each other. Even if he was still the god of the empire, it would be much better run if he stopped being Emperor.
Yes, 111,111,111 worlds is a typo and 111,111 is the correct number; still to many for a working federation — could you imagine the USA, or the EU or even the UN with that many members?.
Is “Meti” also a typo? I though she died some time ago, at Incubus’ hand. Perhaps you mean Maya?
If you are correct about the low threat to the ex-Imperial worlds (I’m not convinced yet, but we’ll find out soon, presumably), it doesn’t mean that they won’t make hasty, bad alliances. Whether or not they do so, and whether they look to Allison as protector, might depend on how they receive the information from Rayuba. I’m assuming here that there is not real-time TV coverage between worlds. Allison is right there only on one world.
Fair enough and… it mever works perfectly. The EU doesn’t really count. It would be like if Canada, Mexico, and The United States of the Trail of Tesrs tried to extend NAFTA into a miniature UN. But, to answer your question more straightforwardly, while it’ll have a bunch of jankiness even on good days, what governance doesn’t? England, just england, still has fractious shit despite basically having more representatives than counties. The Imperium is working fairly well under its feudal model, despite the best thing that usually comes from the High Lords noticing your world is overtaxation. The federation of Planets works fairly well in Star Trek, the main difference being that they basically have godlike minds enforcing just rule, rather than godlike powers enforcing their rule. And uh, Star Wars? Granted, they went through nearly as many revolutions as the French, but they gave good effort, and half the time if you weren’t in a combat zone, it wasn’t that bad regardless. Unless you’re a nonhuman during the empire. Which makes sense, given the deliberate and explicit fascist parallels.
The short version is yes? While there would be secessions and re-admissions near-constantly, and factions would occasionally pick intra-federation wars, it’s no different from real life or fiction, and external threats would serve to unite. For example, in star wars, the imperial remnant and second republic unute against the yuzhan vong, in 40k basically every faction will unite against the tyranids, etc etc (I apologize, I can’t currently be assed for real life examples, though i can find them tomorrow if you want me to add them in another comment)
Nah, pretty sure Maya is another student of Meti’s, and… noap. Last I checked, Meti ten Ryo still draws breath. She’s just pulling a Diogenes somewhere in the working-class/poorer districts of Throne.
And yeah, they’re gonna do dumb shit, but it’s nkt gonna make them any safer or more endangered than they were doing previously. The Sons of Solomon were already using the bureaucracy to throw shitfits at each other, and the Empure still runs. Gog Agog still weaves her webs of propaganda, and Mottom and Mammon still have footholds for their trade empires. Hell, maybe we’ll be lucky. By the time news reaches the fringes about Solomon’s abdication, Jagganoth might be dead already!
Also, congrats on being one of the few post-Bob commentors who isn’t a fedora-wearer. You seem like you’ve at least glanced at more than the last ten pages of the comic (unlike pompous crypto-racist asshats such as “Illusion of Peace and Justice”), and you try harder than I do to maintain an air of humility. I wish you the best, and may these monarchists fuck off so we can all go back to roleplaying in peace.
it’s not that easy to think about reforming a millennial empire by turning it into a direct democracy when you have angel tits in your face
They shiny objects to distract your attention while the machinations of power shift behind the scenes.
I know this is an extremely sentimental take but if Solomon tells White Chain that she reminds him of one of his daughters I will cry
He does have that misty-eyed look about him.
Solomon David looks truly inscrutable in the last panel. Almost like he’s seriously considering it. Plus, like I said last episode, I think he’s got other things on his mind right now. Like the collapse of the dream world he’s been living in all these years.
SD has the look of someone making the uncomfortable realisation that getting exactly what he wanted may not be exactly what he wants. I suspect that given time he may not be the only one.
Oh, and interestingly, Zaid stands close to Nyaeve, not Allison. They seemed to click when they met. Are we seeing the begining of a ship?;)
that would honestly be so cute!
Also, look at the postural congruence of Cio and Nyave. Both standing by their preferred partners.
Time to knock out the slipway wedges.
He knew this was coming. He was even trying to find a successor.
But he will refuse and expose himself for what he is.
das wot a think
He was looking for a clone of himself, someone ambitious and strong enough to take his own unstoppable force down. Someone who would stay in his place and do exactly as he did before, so he could move on without fear of losing his home again. But just like Allison forced Mottom to face her own fear of mortality, White Chain is forcing Solomon to face his fear of letting others decide for themselves and live on without his protection.
His greates fear seems to be that without him, the people will be subject to the same horrors Rayuba was at the beginning of the Great War. That’s why he’s done all this. And he’s not wrong: the moment he leaves the people in charge, the other Demiurges will see his realm as easy pickings. So far, we haven’t seen normal people put up any effective resistance to the Demiurges. Although Mottom seemed to be afraid of her subjects. Or maybe the nobles that served her.
Well, I think it’s likely they’d try to rip her Key off her brow if she showed how weak she really is (or was, before she got pissed off xD). She’s a victim of her own success too
Place your bets on how fast the kingdom goes to shit.
A Monarchist? In this enlightened Age? Truly the one I am responding to has repeatedly failed to grasp that the biggest threat to a rule of the people is the people who would subvert it to put their king back on the throne. They know of the other Demiurges, dear. Many know how and why to defend against him. This new empire might shrink as it caught its footing, but it will not dissolve.
Don’t be silly. A single demiurge on their lonesome could take on the entirety of the Celestial Empire by themselves. This isn’t like the real world, where you just need 2.5% of a country’s population to rise up in arms for them to succesfully overthrow the government. This is a world where there are literal demigods so ridiculously powerful that even if every single last one of their subjects rose up against them, they would still not stand even the slightest chance of winning.
A democracy, in the K6BD multiverse, could only possible last if it was being protected or defended by a sufficiently powerful entity, or maybe multiple of them. But those entities can’t do that forever. No matter how powerful you are, you’re still mortal. And once they’re gone, all it will take is one demigod waltzing in to completely break apart your democracy. Its a completely hopeless situation.
Yes, some egalitarian-minded commenters here seem to be forgetting the existence of literal demigods, wielding vast power… Real-world notions of democracy are less than valid here.
My poor friend, the entire theme of this comic is personal growth accomplishes more than a DragonBall Z training montage in terms of raw power. Every Demiurge knows this, and further, knows their time is limited. It’s explicitly stated that Mammon only lives because the Priests of The Count protect him. Even Demiurges need consent and backing of their people to last.
Hell, if you want a world that truly does have no better option than a dictatorship, flee to the Imperium of Man. Except for the fact that there are entire glitterworlds running on pure Communism, and are allowed to do so if they pay tithes on time, and the Imperium is very obviously crumbling under the overtight grip of the Adeptus Terra.
That’s nonsense. Solomon’s rule is held up by literally no one but himself, and this applies to effectively every Demiurge. Mammon is an exception to the rule, primarily because he’s too depressed to actually care. If he “maintained” himself like the other demiurges, he would be just as invincible as they are.
Jagganoth is perhaps the best example of this. Space-time warper that is completely and totally invincible. You could drop Earth’s entire nuclear arsenal on his face and he wouldn’t feel it.
Mottom is another good example of this. You really think there is anyone supporting her rule? If not for the fact that she can literally just slaughter people with nothing more than a glance, every subject she has would betray her in a day.
As for personal growth accomplishing more than Dragonball Z training when it comes to raw power… then why are the Demiurges, who are at the top of the list when it comes to raw power, basically the least personally accomplished people ever? Literally all of them hate their own lives and the state they are in. If what you said was true, then the strongest people around would just be a bunch of happy old people living their own lives away from this multiversal mess, and the Demiurges wouldn’t be any stronger than a normal human.
Also, for the Imperium of Man, the Adeptus Terra very much does not have an overtight grip. The Imperium is a barely held together feudalist confederacy where every world has a different culture and system of government, with their only similarities being that they pay tithe. Like, that’s it. The Imperium isn’t crumbling because its a dictatorship- it may as well not even be a singular entity- its crumbling because its too big and is being grinded down from all sides. There is quite literally nothing they could have done to prevent their state. If the Primarchs and the Emperor were still in charge, that wouldn’t have happened, and hey, looks like we’ve gone back to the “Superpowered demigods > mortal humans” deal.
Yes! Solomon should remain the protector of his worlds against the other demiurges should they brazenly attack… but he must not meddle in the interior affairs of state(s).
That may be more bloody for a while, but a better and stronger world may yet emerge. And once it has, Solomon can retire for good.
Perhaps this could be a mutually beneficial arrangement. While Solomon remained glued to his throne, he could not possibly move an inch on the path to true Royalty. Now that this heavy burden has been transformed into a heavy loss, he has the opportunity to forge a blade of want in the fires of his vengeance.
But will he shattered Diamond truly accept his defeat? This is the real challenge. Surely David Solomon must have realized that a lone tyrant at the pinnacle of perfection is his own worst enemy. Now the time has finally come where he must face himself. That which is broken can be repaired, but only if his pride permits himself to do so.
“The path to a true people’s rule will take many years, and the work of many hands. To oversee it would be a truly staggering task. 82 White Chain Born In Emptiness Returns To Subdue Evil, now free of your chains, blood of my first blood in ten thousand years… I name you my successor. That task falls to you. [beat] You remind me so much of my youngest daughter. Perhaps one day I’ll tell you about her.”
Yo, am I crazy or is everyone in the team manifesting a visible Atum flame?
It’s not exactly clear to me whether that flame belongs to the individual team member, or that this is simply one of WC’s flames taking on the color of a nearby team mate to make them look cool.
I think it’s interesting positioning, with pairings of Alison&Cio, Vigilant Gaze&Princess, and Zaid&Nyaeve, with White Chain standing alone.
This has been the Shipping Forecast. Back to you, Abbadon.
the ride had to end eventually mate, but fuck it, build a new empire if you feel like it. wait a thousand years or some, and no one will be alive to remember the first one.
god like abs, gives me goals.
Yem Yeddo seems to have more in common with Mottom than with Solomon David. This could be a mistake.
Rock on rope.
Goliath, hope
and Antiope
and before you forget:
I know, and yet
Which Antiope, exactly?
Come Solomon. You can be like Intra. You need only choose to be so.
He even has the advantage of already being sober.
The Golden Path. The tyrant must leave his people to chaos now.
No government is permanent. All fall and crumble eventually, to be replaced by another. One headed by an immortal might be especially long-lasting.
But it too falls. The advantages of modern democracies are smooth transitions and mutability. But such a system needs order at its core to work.
White Chain speaks true – the current peace WILL shatter the moment Solomon David leaves. Or abdicates.
Do it, Davey, mate.
REMEMBER THEIR FACES. REMEMBER THEIR NAMES. THINK OF THEM OFTEN, AND GIVE TO THE FLAMES.
TITS OUT FOR DEMOCRACY!!
Great idea, White Chain. Just let us know how to safeguard the newly free people from being conquered by any of the other Demiurges – and we can get this show on the road.
This seven part world is broad and beautiful. It may have seven Demiurges, but it contains many more stones.
I fear Solomon David will be too prideful to let go as he may feel the people cannot prosper without his lead. The most damning attribution to this is he feels he is the only one capable of such a thing. That is how I at least read him.
“Listen, strange monks living in isolation and distributing breath based Kung Fu is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power comes from the mandate of the masses not from some farcical pressure point martial art.
You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some old fart bestowed good punching technique upon you”
-Dennis, the Oppressed.
Good stuff! Not at all what I expected. But so much more interesting for it!