Young Writers Society

@HazelGrace16 - I don't know if Emberly is the type to bother talking to servants, but Sévvy would probably like her (in his "I'd rather not have to kill her and her brother" way). He'd be reserved and polite and servant-y, but he's around if you want her to interact *shrug*

I imagine any interaction between Arryn and Sevvy is going to be interesting, @ChildOfNowhere?

MOST DEFINITELY.

What would Arryn do if Sév "accidentally" met him at the tavern, bought him a drink and just went "I know you're a blood mage."?

Out of curiousity, am I the only one that noticed that if two blood mages were to fight each other it would be a standstill? I mean if one mage tried to boil the second's blood, then the second could just freeze his own blood to equalize it.

Also out of curiosity, how would the castle feel if, say, the dead king was to walk in on the prince's coronation? xD

ETA: It's not something Sévvy would do. Not unless a really bad panic/insanity attack hits just at the right time, at least.

@HazelGrace16

If you're having trouble thinking of ways to connect Emberly to the story, I have a few ideas.
It seems from what you wrote in History that she lives in a rather patriarchal world, and she has no meaningful role in kingdom politics other than diplomatic representative.

But now her brother is running things. And he's pretty cool, he supported her before, I imagine he'll let her do things their parents wouldn't.

So think- what world happenings does Emberly care about, and what can she do about them now?
What things has she always wanted to do, but has never been able to until now?

Guys, let's all just keep in mind that these things take time. The kingdom would need time to recover from the deaths of its rulers, and even more time to adjust to the change on throne. Changing too many things, even if it's objectivelly for the better, might just make it all more complicated if it's done too soon.
Not to mention, a prince succeeding his father and being like "here's all the stuff I've been working on and that make me a way better king!" might come across as kind of shady to certain people :p

I know we can't be extremely realistic and we're gonna make some things faster than they'd realistically happen in this SB, but still I'd like us to keep in mind that this is for a big part about politics and diplomacy, and choices and council meetings and procedures and obligations, and all those things are slow and usually don't react very well to change if it's not done very carefully and at a pace that doesn't make it feel forced. 'cause there must be people in the kingdom (and the city) who agreed and loved the old rulers too, and whom the old laws allowed more freedom and control than the new ones might, and they might not take lightly to their worlds being turned upside down. There's no such thing as better for everyone— there will always be consequences and unhappy people who will blame the throne for their unhappiness.

^ Guess whom Sévvy got his way of thinking from.

@ChildOfNowhere I do agree with you that things have to be changed slowly, which will take time. However, I don't agree with people seeing the prince's actions as suspicious. According to the background of the character, this isn't a sudden thing. The prince has been working on and addressing the issues for several years before the assassination. So him trying to implement the changes that he has been working on won't be seen as suspicious, but expected.

The common people don't know what the prince's been working on. They might know some of the results and they might know that the prince was behind some good things rather than the king, but most of it would be only known to the royal family and maybe some advisors. And the people who'd see themselves harmed by the new reforms wouldn't care about the truth if pretending could get them back to what they want.

I'm not saying it is suspicious— I'm saying there will always be sides and the court would have to deal with that, and it's not realistic that things will go smoothly and as imagined.

(But really, a good strategist would work on stuff for ages anyway, and make sure no one sees him as suspicious anyway. When I think about it, that might be a nice point for someone to make if they wanted to turn the tables against the royal siblings, hm.)

By the way, sorry I haven't said much in the DT. I usually observe the way the SB plays out and then become active.

@ChildOfNowhere, @XxXTheSwordsmanXxX this is exactly what I've been saying and trying to get through to him! I also said there's probably not been much movement on ANY of these things because councils and red tape and these things take forever to process. And especially that part about certain people not liking change. I imagine they'd try to delay them as much as they possibly can, to drag it out. And I imagine it's seriously upsetting the Prince. And I honestly think, no matter how much he tries to change things, there will always be people who hate the mages.

And it's only been about a week since his parents died. They haven't even had the funeral yet. Quint hasn't even had a coronation yet, either! I seriously doubt that anyone is going take him seriously anytime soon, especially while he's not officially crowned.

So all those new laws and regulations and reforms he wants to implement are probably all tied up in a bunch of bullshit and red tape. There's no way he's getting them processed any time soon. He might've had some small ones passed, something seemingly insignificant BUT they're still searching for the assassin. They're probably still cleaning up the royal bedchambers (even after a week). The kingdom is in mourning still. Businesses are probably still running, but I can guarantee you it's a somber atmosphere. For all the old king's failings, most people did love him. He was a good man. Just unreasonable about mages, as his father and his grandfather and so on.

So let's not expect much change yet. That's probably something I imagine Quint will be working on for months, at the least, and years, at the most. This is not an overnight, snap-my-fingers change. It's gradual and it hasn't even started yet. So yeah, the prince has grand ideas, but how long are all the bureaucrats and politicians and whatnot going to take to even consider them?


@Sheyren that's fine. Just as long as you've seen and read the information in here!

@ScarlettFire Depends on the social system. If this were medieval England, the king is law. If he says things will happen, they will be enforced the next day. People won't like it but it will be done. If you move more toward Roman social system then things have to go through the Senate and Congress first.

It's more like the latter.

As far as the mage hating goes. That will be impossible to enforce, even with laws. People will find ways around it especially if the guard arriving also hates mages. That is a social issue that will be impossible to address in even the prince's lifetime.

@LordZeus The prince could introduce laws that punish hate crimes against mages, but the hate itself would stay for a very long time to come.
That means you could have a sad story arc about the futility of the time, or you could have a more inspiring one about making steps toward a better future, because it's the right thing to do, even if you won't get to see that future.


@ScarlettFire, I was looking at the map and wondered- what is this Temple of the Mother?

can you tell me about this religion, and what it is like to be in it, what their beliefs are, and how influential they are in everyday society?