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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2023 12:29:09 GMT
Jacob smiles slightly and nods, "Most excellent, Your Majesty - I've enjoyed a good scrum or two myself in my misspent youth; however, I must apologize for my mumbling tongue, because I asked if you had a favorite spot, not sport. I was curious if there was a particular part of your country that called to your heart more than the others."
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Post by Brian on Dec 27, 2023 13:21:04 GMT
" Likely the background noise" I laugh " The problem is if I pick a particular spot I'm likely to gave some tounges wagging. Unity in the history of Ayalos is new. So if I favor one over the other it could cause troubles. I'll say the temple city of Falias as it's my wifes city....best way to keep her happy. Which no one can begrudge me."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2023 12:27:35 GMT
Jacob gives a half-grin, "I very nearly added the proviso that you could not pick anything associated with your spouse, as that would be too easy, but you beat me to it, Your Majesty."
He cocks his head to one side for a moment, "While I have been to many cities with temples, I cannot say I have ever been to a 'temple city' - is the entire city a temple? Are there several? How does that work?"
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Post by Brian on Dec 28, 2023 14:38:21 GMT
I take a moment to consider how to answer that.
" High kings are selected to solve crisises. The last person who faced the duty punted....he did an incomplete apotheosis and several generations of knowledge of the old faith has been lost. Between the druids and I we've been restoring it. There are 4 temple cities. One for each moon. The temple cans first and the cities were built around them. They are 4 of the 5 major cities on the island. Hybrasil is the hub of the merchants. It rose up during the era of the false god."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2023 0:23:44 GMT
Jacob nodded at the King's answer, but his nods slowed and his blinking picked up speed. "My apologies, Your Majesty, but I may be missing something in the local vernacular. Where I am from, 'apotheosis,' derives from an ancient word - apotheo - meaning 'to deify.' Do you mean to say that your predecessor was in the process of becoming a god?"
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Post by Brian on Dec 31, 2023 1:14:12 GMT
"Well as good an attempt as he could achieve. He sacrificed the souls and magical potential of any magical talent he could find. He had a church and by the time I was put on the stage a third to two score percent of the people worshiped him as one." I shake my head. "But he's been dispatched."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2023 23:33:39 GMT
"So many?" Jacob sipped his whiskey thoughtfully, "I confess to a mild fascination with the ways such...movements take hold of people. It is as if reason is overrun through sheer weight of numbers at times."
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Post by Brian on Jan 1, 2024 1:05:11 GMT
" He convinced people the old ways had abandoned them. That the solution to the crisis was to worship him." I shake my head "The old ways however were more resiliant. With the right person in place to fulfill the duty of being high king they were able to respond to the false god." I tap a shot " However the consequences of the false god have led to me staying in office longer than normal."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2024 21:17:07 GMT
Jacob's eyebrows go up a moment. "Ah, I see - so when you say High Kings are selected to solve crises, you mean only to solve crises, and then their terms are to end. Fascinating. And these merchant groups - they built themselves a city of their own amidst the chaos?"
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Post by Brian on Jan 1, 2024 22:38:07 GMT
"The interregnum allowed them that freedom. And well they became useful. But the God-King left a lot of work to fix. And no one is eager for me to leave. I've had to get into the business of arranged marriages, setting up fosterages, setting up hostage diplomacy, building roads and improving internal navigation, restoring the ancient ways of the Druidic and Bardic orders....." I sigh "It's a lot."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2024 11:48:37 GMT
Jacob gives a wry half-grin, "I would venture so far as to say, judging by your stature and the nature of your companions, that the work of kingdom-building is not a task to which you ascribe much...fondness?"
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Post by Brian on Jan 2, 2024 12:00:16 GMT
I snort "no....thats not fair. I've been made a King by my own hand and I wasn't born to the purple....But trying to rebuild what had been put wrong is a heavier load. I made it a little more complicated by ending the institution of Slavery that had grown up during the reign of the false god. But it makes me happy to see the people restored right? See new lives growing where I fought a war against the folks of the false god's faith.....its rewarding work.But this trip is the closest thing I've had to a vacation in well....." I laugh "Since I was 13."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2024 13:07:00 GMT
Jacob laughs, "So not that long then - you can't be more than thirty."
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Post by Brian on Jan 3, 2024 13:20:32 GMT
I laugh " well...time is relative....imagine how you have to calculate seasons when you have 4 moons. I certainly dont feel more then 30...but I've been about 10 years into the rebuilding, the war of consolidation was around 5...probably another 5 to beat the false god. A year for my honeymoon...." I shake my head. " 13 year old me couldnt imagine any of that"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2024 1:56:05 GMT
Jacob gives a soft, sympathetic laugh as he goes into a pocket of his coat, producing a small pouch and a long-stemmed pipe. Time to risk something - out of curiosity, if nothing else, but the signs are there.
"There's an old saying from the lands of my ancestors - "Only the Prince's Curse could end the War the Prince's Curse began." It doesn't translate incredibly well, because 'Curse' and 'Burden' are homonyms in my ancestors' language, so it's a bit of a wordplay on the burden of rulers to undo mistakes, both their own and those of them who came before."
As he packed the tobacco into the pipe and struck a match to light it, he watched to see if Brian picked up the tangential reference to the Patternfall War, ignited by a curse from Prince Corwin and ended with the Death Curse of Prince Eric.
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