Timeline for How to let a king be lost for a year and return back to his country, to regain his title without any problems?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 22, 2018 at 13:12 | comment | added | Jacob | Politics does require cunning and calculating people, but being cunning and calculating doesn't preclude being emotional as well. A person can be calculating enough to take power and control a nation, but that doesn't mean that they can't do those things for the good of their people and their nation (or at least what they believe that good is). A regent can be cutthroat and vicious in his hold on power, because he wants to give his beloved ruler a strong throne when the time comes. People, even political leaders, aren't natural sociopaths. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 22:37 | comment | added | Sreram | please watch this video:youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs . Ever since I learned that leadership (political) always involved cunning and calculative means to enforce control, I have been searching for evidences to prove it wrong. Unfortunately, I found none. Emotional people will not be fit for leadership, as they would be susceptible to manipulation. Calculative and intelligent people who are good are exceptionally rare. In a way my story also expresses the troubles a truly good person will face being in the position of a king, to which he is a complete misfit. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 22:11 | comment | added | Jared K | Also people really do sometimes stay loyal out of genuine emotional loyalty. You seem to be expecting everyone to act like calculating sociopaths, only faking emotional attachments and personal values because they get some immediate strategic benefit from it. But people are emotional, irrational creatures. People really can love their country. People really can fight for what they think is right if it doesn't benefit them. Your regent could really abstain from trying to seize power because he's fond of the boy, loves his kingdom, feels like having the true heir on the throne is 'right' | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 22:06 | comment | added | Sreram | yes, that argument sounds reasonable! The people and the whole council will go agains't the regent if he simply tries to acquire power. And his power must also be divided and limited. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 21:59 | comment | added | Jared K | "allies remain allies as long as they are directly benefited by being allies" This is not always the case! Allies often remain allies when it doesn't immediately benefit them. Sometimes they are banking on future benefits. If you betray the true heir, you've got a limited claim to the throne, you probably lose public opinion, you've got to murder a 12 year old and any people still loyal to him. If you do your duty and yield when he returns, you get to be a trusted adviser for the rest of his reign, having influence without accountability, and eventually retire peacefully. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 21:25 | comment | added | Sreram | The reason is because, allies remain allies as long as they are directly benefited by being allies. The moment they lose their reason to be the boy's ally, things tend to become unpredictable. And dividing the power among multiple people may sound like a good option, but it actually never works. Because, in a group, there will always be at-lest one person who is slightly more dominant than the rest. If they have a country in their hand, even "slightly more dominant" will be huge and would quickly escalate into an unfair dominance. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 20:03 | comment | added | Jared K | You can't setup a democracy while you rush out the door. Very implausible. You seem to be hesitant to let the boy have any allies stay behind. Why is that? Is there not anyone, if not a loyal follower even just a neutral administrator he could appoint to hold his place for a year? That's the solid and strong system that has worked in the real world. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 19:44 | comment | added | Sreram | If the 12 year old boy and his teacher had no other choice, they would even be willing to give-up the emperor's tile to go to where ever they had to go. But I want to avoid this situation in the story as far as possible. More like a solid (and strong) system, that disallows any kind of coup to happen. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 19:38 | comment | added | Sreram | "You are the king, if people think you are the king". That makes a lot of sense! Still, aren't people easily manipulatable? letting a rumor spread might slowly degrade the emperor's image among the people (though, a good system might keep such rumors in check). I was thinking of something like a "temporary democratic system", which functions with specific rules until the emperor returns. I do understand that leaving the country and disappearing for a year is a dangerous move. But the boy and his teacher will have no choice in this case. | |
| Jun 21, 2018 at 19:21 | history | answered | Jared K | CC BY-SA 4.0 |