Re: Broyan has enemies...

From: Denethor Hurin <sinherit_at_...>
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2005 23:46:24 -0700 (PDT)


>
> It possible that Broyan could HQ to re-establish his kingship over
> the whole area but it's going to have to be a big one to alter
> the established belief that Ernalda took back the power of
> rulership after the men proved they were unfit to hold it.

Maybe, maybe not. Is it a belief established from the grass roots up or merely from the top down? If the later then you might find that Esrolians believe in "equal opportunity" every bit as much as their Heortling counterparts and don't really care that much just how their rulers are configured below the belt as much as their rulers would like. It also depends established in the grassroots the belief in the Sword and the Helm conferring legitimacy might be.

"I also
> have the idea that Esrolia has a much bigger population than
> either Sartar or Heortland so the Queens have much more community
> support."

Meaningless, since we're talking a question of legitimacy ala Max Weber here rather than one of conquest. If the Matriarchs have been too obnoxious in the way they pushed the doctrine of female superiority and in the way they ruled then we may count on a minimim of 60%-70% of the population having a vested interest in the overthrow of the Queens (If you're oppressed by a tyrant is the fact that she's a girl and you're a girl really going to make it any better? I'd bet on an answer of "no"! Given that Esrolia supports polyandry that might even make it worse). In some regards it only makes it worse since a larger population merely means an increased number of disaffected people that any society has no matter how benign it might be. Also remember that a good portion of Esrolia's population is in a Nochet that is not particularly Esrolian in outlook. Do they like the Queen that obstensibly rules them or do they hate her guts? Does she necessarily want take a chance on finding out? Broyan probably isn't interested but such a larger population probably increases the odds of there being a few people who'd bang the drums on his behalf.   

So the real question is this. How benign have the Queens really been? If they lost power would they have to fear those they ruled or could they afford to say to both Broyan and the populace, "Fine! YOU run things. We're going fishing. Don't forget to call us back when things have gone downhill." That would affect how scared they are. It would also affect just how many Esrolians would start agitating on Broyan's behalf once the word got out. A 2nd question of interest might be, of the main factions in Esrolia are there any who might have a vested interest in pushing Broyan as King in order to satisfy their own goals? (Why should we assume the Queens would necessarily be united on this one either?)


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