I don't think anyone doubts that plenty of bad stuff goes on it Kralorela on a local (individual to village/clan) scale - tongs, huan to, demented sorcerers, villainous martial artist bandits, various perverse religious groups (of which the POIM are merely the most notorious), plus politics, debauchery, fornication, etc. Everyone seems to agree that Kralorela has no shortage of underworld figures, rogues, heretics, etc.
It also seems that on a macro scale, its a fairly peaceful place. The major question is how much happens at the in between level -are there warlords private armies running around, how strict is law and order (are things like the ogre kings conquering cities horrible aberrations only possible due to God Learner foolishness, or is this a more common danger), is there peace between the provinces or simmering tensions, do the political powers compete through subterfuge and merit or through violence against each other.
>Lack of nasty neighbours I definitely plead not guilty to
Indeed. The KOI to the north, and quite a few other troublemakers - the Zabdamar and pirates to the east, nomads to the west, and various (elves, hsunchen, amazons) to the south and elsewhere. Its only Ignorance and the Pentans who have actually run succesful invasions, though. Trouble with Ignorance looks likely to be a HW theme.
Anyway, my preference would be there to be more trouble rather than less, at least at the outer edges of the Empire. What we really need is an explanation why, if there is an Emperor who has been able to hold on to power for centuries, a strong central army, plenty of magical resources, and so on, there is still potential for serious trouble (warlords, rebellion, etc), at least until some real trouble starts later in the HW timeline.
One answer may well be 'oh, the inner empire is quiet, but the frontiers are exciting', but that does seem a bit of a cop out.
Peter
>I expect the Exarchs to be a lot less constant
>than Godunya purportedly is.
Yes, I agree. I suspect that while the Emperor is constant, the Exarchs do have some fairly serious succession issues, and quite different policies from province to province.
>>At least, let there be a War Lord or two?
>
>Like the ArchExarch of War, you mean?
You really need the two Warlords. And on different sides.
(and arguably the ArchExarch is not a warlord - the term implies some civil authority as well as military command, not all warleaders/military commanders are warlords - certainly the connotations of the term warlord are that the authority of the warlord is directly connected to an army in close proximty, rather than from central government authority)
BTW - very much in agreement with what Peter said about the Red Emperor. The strict interpretation of a singular Emperor really seems at odds with the way the Lunars and Dara Happans talk about parts of the Emperor, both in things said about the specific masks in FS and in general.
Regards David ------------------------------
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