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Look upon my works, ye mighty... (my players stay out, please)
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<blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 5117072" data-attributes="member: 15470"><p>I really like the "I decree that none of my subjects shall experience pain and suffering" idea.</p><p></p><p>There are so many hundreds of places that can go, even before getting to the "massive ritual that prevents it" level:</p><p></p><p>1. The Emperor is out for a walk. His minions are tasked with preventing any suffering from occurring in his perception range. The quickest way, of course, involves killing babies lest they cry in the emperor's hearing. And the mothers, who might wail about their lost babies. And, well, anybody else, really. </p><p></p><p>2. The PC's hear of a problem beyond their scope, e.g., baddy-bads killing peasants in the eastern hinterlands, and go to ask the Emperor for help. He won't hear of the problem - in fact, his flunkies consider them heretics or traitors for insinuating that there COULD BE a problem anywhere in the realm!</p><p></p><p>3. Justice is rendered backwards: being the victim of a crime violates the decree, because you have suffered. Therefore, the victim is punished. The PC's arrive to discover that thugs and criminals run rampant in the city, often in official garb, and the cowed populace won't complain ... but of course, mentioning the problem to any authority gets one branded a heretic/traitor.</p><p></p><p>4. Death itself is outlawed. Violators must be punished. Yes, there <strong>is</strong> an undead army rotting in the emperor's prisons.</p><p></p><p>5. Any of the myriad insane projects suggested in this thread <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> is ongoing. The sheer scope of it is causing problems (environmental, magical, deaths of slaves constructing it, and/or displacing peasants), but by the emperor's decree the results are the fault of those whom the problem negatively effects ..</p><p></p><p>And, <em>of course</em> the mad emperor has his mages working to permanently enforce the decree, as described earlier. </p><p></p><p> . . . </p><p></p><p>Beyond that, I think "immortality" is the other obvious pursuit for a mad emperor .. but why limit it to the all-so-human statues and representations of himself?</p><p></p><p>He's got his mages and priests working on making him immortal. Some are pursuing necromantic paths, some are pursuing anti-aging paths, some are pursuing divinity/godhead paths ... and all of them are disrupting the natural order, causing suffering amongst the populace via experiment, sacrifice, etc. </p><p></p><p>It turns out immortality is actually within his grasp, if only he had the MacGuffin or Immortality and sufficient peasants to sacrifice ..</p><p></p><p> . . . </p><p></p><p>So, what would a magical version of the terracotta army be?</p><p></p><p><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Amaroq, post: 5117072, member: 15470"] I really like the "I decree that none of my subjects shall experience pain and suffering" idea. There are so many hundreds of places that can go, even before getting to the "massive ritual that prevents it" level: 1. The Emperor is out for a walk. His minions are tasked with preventing any suffering from occurring in his perception range. The quickest way, of course, involves killing babies lest they cry in the emperor's hearing. And the mothers, who might wail about their lost babies. And, well, anybody else, really. 2. The PC's hear of a problem beyond their scope, e.g., baddy-bads killing peasants in the eastern hinterlands, and go to ask the Emperor for help. He won't hear of the problem - in fact, his flunkies consider them heretics or traitors for insinuating that there COULD BE a problem anywhere in the realm! 3. Justice is rendered backwards: being the victim of a crime violates the decree, because you have suffered. Therefore, the victim is punished. The PC's arrive to discover that thugs and criminals run rampant in the city, often in official garb, and the cowed populace won't complain ... but of course, mentioning the problem to any authority gets one branded a heretic/traitor. 4. Death itself is outlawed. Violators must be punished. Yes, there [b]is[/b] an undead army rotting in the emperor's prisons. 5. Any of the myriad insane projects suggested in this thread ;) is ongoing. The sheer scope of it is causing problems (environmental, magical, deaths of slaves constructing it, and/or displacing peasants), but by the emperor's decree the results are the fault of those whom the problem negatively effects .. And, [i]of course[/i] the mad emperor has his mages working to permanently enforce the decree, as described earlier. . . . Beyond that, I think "immortality" is the other obvious pursuit for a mad emperor .. but why limit it to the all-so-human statues and representations of himself? He's got his mages and priests working on making him immortal. Some are pursuing necromantic paths, some are pursuing anti-aging paths, some are pursuing divinity/godhead paths ... and all of them are disrupting the natural order, causing suffering amongst the populace via experiment, sacrifice, etc. It turns out immortality is actually within his grasp, if only he had the MacGuffin or Immortality and sufficient peasants to sacrifice .. . . . So, what would a magical version of the terracotta army be? :D [/QUOTE]
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