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Does anyone else here play Crusader Kings II? I just had a small epiphany: it's basically Bayaz Simulator. Slightly-nicer-than-in-the-books Bayaz but still.
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Nov 22, 2019 08:08
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Imagining my ruler softly crying in his chambers as I force him to pick the scorn your wife option because I need to save the gold for a bribe to the pope
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Nov 22, 2019 10:46
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the reason Gurkhul collapsed is that Bayaz cast a spell to hack game files and make the Emperor convert to Catharism
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Nov 22, 2019 19:08
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Larry Parrish posted:Imagining my ruler softly crying in his chambers as I force him to pick the scorn your wife option because I need to save the gold for a bribe to the pope Huh. Guess I'm sold on the comparison (although i generally try to RP my character in those decisions, no matter how bad the results inevitably are)
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Nov 23, 2019 00:38
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Now I want to read a series about a kingdom puppeteered by an immortal mastermind, but the twist is that the wizard, like me, doesn’t understand the game mechanics and fucks up disastrously for no reason Armies starving and deserting en masse in peacetime because the wizard forgot he had to demobilize them, dynasties obliterated because he doesn’t know what “matrilineal” means, etc
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Nov 23, 2019 00:41
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Does khalul have hair? Because he was the prophet and had a magical voice and the ability to bring countless others to his cause. Not to mention the fact that his eaters are apparently infiltrating the union right now. I don't think he died off screen, I think he's the weaver
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Nov 23, 2019 22:34
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It’d be interesting if their fight continued as the fight between communism and capitalism.
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Nov 23, 2019 22:39
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Affi posted:It’d be interesting if their fight continued as the fight between communism and capitalism. I'd rather it not. The last book was already a bit too on-the-nose in how it copied and pasted bits from our own history.
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Nov 24, 2019 03:53
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I don't care to see any commentary on the industrial revolution unless there's some interesting speculative/magic twist. So far there isn't.
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Nov 24, 2019 05:17
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I kinda like it, and ppl feel clever when they notice the obvious parallels btw history and the books. I kinda know what I’m getting with Abercrombie world wise, and if I want the weirder stuff I’ll go for Mieville.
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Nov 24, 2019 08:05
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Neurosis posted:I'd rather it not. The last book was already a bit too on-the-nose in how it copied and pasted bits from our own history. nah, if oppressed workers had actually hosed-up a whole city in IRL Industrial-age Britain, capital would've had to give up some real concessions instead of just endlessly loving them for the next 250 years. That, plus magic/Union industrialization happening so much more rapidly, opens up some interesting doors.
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Nov 24, 2019 08:45
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https://joeabercrombie.com/the-trouble-with-peace-uk-cover/?fbclid=IwAR0-pTMWPyRUzYpeclgap_ZnMzMTP2xkB1QHaMH2HbPbk0_AwZ7wz98QddI The Trouble With Peace, out September 15th quote:Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation in tatters. But she still has all her ambitions, and no scruple will be permitted to stand in her way.
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May 27, 2020 17:31
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Hoping that our heroes are smart and capable enough to figure out the game is "kill the loving wizard" before it's too late. Before you rightfully tell me that this isn't that kind of story, perhaps Bayez getting got will conclude the Great Game, allowing humans the freedom to ditch relatively small wizard proxy battles in favor for modern total warfare. Getting the thing you want only to find out it's terrible is exactly the kind of story this is.
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May 28, 2020 19:48
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Yeah, I'm not sure what killing Bayaz would accomplish for anyone except other wizards. Given that this new trilogy feels a lot more like a return to the First Law trilogy than the "spinoff" trilogy and had that mirrored moment with Bayaz on the ship, I wonder if it will do the same thing the First Law did of having everyone's character arcs deposit them right back where they started. I'd prefer to see things get seriously shaken up (other than the setting just being industrialised) but Joe's style is more about the plight of the pawn, than about turning the chessboard upside down.
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May 28, 2020 20:07
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VagueRant posted:
I'm guessing that the Breakers might shake things up quite a bit.
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May 28, 2020 21:33
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Vichan posted:I'm guessing that the Breakers might shake things up quite a bit. Breakers are a controlled opposition. We might see a societal change, but whether it'll affect how the hidden power games are conducted, idk. Then again, Khalul is deposed and Bayaz is now fighting with the other Magi, so that's something. There are some supernatural threads dangling that could change things as we know them, too, even if they don't change the kind of game being played. Some of them: (1) magic is declining but the Seed seemed to allow some to leak back in; could it decline to where the magi can't maintain their immortality? If so, what will Bayaz do? (2) Eaters have spread, with us already having seen one who insinuated herself with someone influential. (3) Will we ever find out more about what's going on with Logen and the Bloody Nine? I suppose it wouldn't matter at this point, unless something new comes up that makes Logen's spirit abilities important. (4) Possibly related to (3), what happened to Bedesh? (5) Will Yulwei and Tolemei reappear?
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May 29, 2020 05:29
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I think answering any question regarding Bayaz or having him play a more serious role in further stories would be a mistake. Any resolution (with regards to defeating him) would feel like a letdown.
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Jun 22, 2020 23:15
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It's difficult because Bayaz is still responsible for a ton of the stuff that happens in these books. He arguably orchestrated the Breaker riots, and assassinated Jezal. So by not dealing with him the characters aren't confronting with one of the root problems in their world. But the books have been striking a good balance between showing the conflict between ordinary people and always having Bayaz just out of frame, influencing the grander events. Throwing off his yoke would damage that status quo and also his role as a symbol of immortal institutional power that crushes attempts at reform.
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Jun 23, 2020 14:12
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bayaz is both figuratively and literally capitalism getting rid of him sounds nice but it's never gonna happen you have to be realistic
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Jun 23, 2020 14:58
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Suxpool posted:bayaz is both figuratively and literally capitalism logan ninefingers: champion of the proletariat, breaker of chains, murderer of capitalism 
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Jun 23, 2020 15:37
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Killing Bayaz (or any of the Magi really) wouldn't really fit Joe's style in terms of producing meaningful resolution. At best killing Bayaz would mean Yoru Sulfur takes control and decides to indulge his cannibalism while deciding that Bayaz's mistake was permitting too much independence to the governance of his various nations. Result more misery, less freedom and sometimes your children get taken away and they bring you back the bones covered in teeth marks.
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Jul 3, 2020 22:07
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MrNemo posted:Killing Bayaz (or any of the Magi really) wouldn't really fit Joe's style in terms of producing meaningful resolution. At best killing Bayaz would mean Yoru Sulfur takes control and decides to indulge his cannibalism while deciding that Bayaz's mistake was permitting too much independence to the governance of his various nations. Result more misery, less freedom and sometimes your children get taken away and they bring you back the bones covered in teeth marks. Yoru Sulfur isn't near the threat Bayaz is, though. For example, he backs down from a confrontation with Shenkt.
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Jul 3, 2020 22:38
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I think I've said it before in this thread, but I seem to recall that several years ago (I think at the time Joe was slowing down blogging and picking up twitter), I saw a JA post about how the Magi's feuds are the backdrop for the stories he wants to tell in the First Law world and that they will likely never resolve. That said, I can't find the post now, so maybe it was just a fever dream ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Jul 4, 2020 01:23
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Khizan posted:Yoru Sulfur isn't near the threat Bayaz is, though. For example, he backs down from a confrontation with Shenkt. Bayaz isn’t much of a physical threat though. Yoru is his enforcer because Yoru still has powers because of Eating. Bayaz gets the sweats real bad and nearly faints from using his magic nowadays, his real power is immortality, banking, and secrets.
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Jul 4, 2020 01:42
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Xenix posted:I think I've said it before in this thread, but I seem to recall that several years ago (I think at the time Joe was slowing down blogging and picking up twitter), I saw a JA post about how the Magi's feuds are the backdrop for the stories he wants to tell in the First Law world and that they will likely never resolve. That said, I can't find the post now, so maybe it was just a fever dream ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I recall reading the same thing so you're probably right. The magi and their schemes are a means to an end.
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Jul 4, 2020 12:13
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Ccs posted:Bayaz isn’t much of a physical threat though. Yoru is his enforcer because Yoru still has powers because of Eating. Bayaz gets the sweats real bad and nearly faints from using his magic nowadays, his real power is immortality, banking, and secrets. Pretty sure Bayaz is an eater too and is probably a little hardier magicwise since the end of the first trilogy where after using the seed it was mentioned he seems younger and stronger than ever. But yes, his real power is structural power.
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Jul 5, 2020 09:57
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I agree that if Bayaz dies the result will way worse than if he doesn't.
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Jul 5, 2020 19:08
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team overhead smash posted:Pretty sure Bayaz is an eater too and is probably a little hardier magicwise since the end of the first trilogy where after using the seed it was mentioned he seems younger and stronger than ever. there's never been any suggestion that bayaz is an eater tho also shout out to my man yulwei who dusted eaters for breakfast and was never worse for wear
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Jul 5, 2020 22:12
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Suxpool posted:there's never been any suggestion that bayaz is an eater tho There absolutely have been. Remember the feast he has at the end of The Heroes, served to him by Yuru in a field of human corpses? There’s room for “is he or isn’t he” but it’s not totally unfounded.
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Jul 5, 2020 22:15
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Ugly In The Morning posted:There absolutely have been. I never got the impression that Bayaz is an Eater from that. More that he was doing it to gently caress with Calder and prove how few fucks he gave. The thing about being an Eater is that once you're an Eater you're an Eater forever, and I can't see Bayaz signing up for that.
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Jul 5, 2020 23:42
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There's something about the way Bayez is going through the motions to swap out Jezal that makes me think he's due for a fall. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that he meddles with some modern force that he doesn't comprehend, and it bites him in the rear end. Like, say, a revolution of workers with nothing to lose but their chains. 
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Jul 5, 2020 23:57
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Ugly In The Morning posted:There absolutely have been. i mean, eaters are compelled to eat human flesh and can never stop and we did spend a really long time travelling to the end of the world and back without seeing bayaz monchin' on any humans but if you gotta believe so be it
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Jul 6, 2020 00:05
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:There's something about the way Bayez is going through the motions to swap out Jezal that makes me think he's due for a fall. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that he meddles with some modern force that he doesn't comprehend, and it bites him in the rear end. Like, say, a revolution of workers with nothing to lose but their chains. The only thing that can defeat Bayaz: anarchist revolutionaries throwing bombs.
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Jul 6, 2020 00:31
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Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:There's something about the way Bayez is going through the motions to swap out Jezal that makes me think he's due for a fall. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that he meddles with some modern force that he doesn't comprehend, and it bites him in the rear end. Like, say, a revolution of workers with nothing to lose but their chains. I agree 100%, he'll definitely lose his grasp on events at least somewhat when he can't simply rule through nobility anymore. A part of me is thinking that Yulwei and Tolomei still have a part to play as well.
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Jul 6, 2020 13:23
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I don't think he's much interested in bringing back those old aspects of the first trilogy. I doubt we'll ever see the inside of the Maker's house again, or those characters. That one character Judge seemed to have the same markings on her leg that Fenris did in the original trilogy, so maybe she was marked by Glustrod, but I also don't think a big bad like that is coming back either. I sorta see Bayaz as the one behind everything. Though writing a whole new trilogy and not changing the status quo at all would be a bit of a waste.
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Jul 6, 2020 14:57
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He's explicitly ahead of the curve and sees the true power in money, rather than nobility
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Jul 6, 2020 17:24
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Harold Fjord posted:He's explicitly ahead of the curve and sees the true power in money, rather than nobility But seriously, I’m gonna  forever if Bayaz meets his end, not in some poetic way, but because he’s stuck in old ways of thinking and neglects the dangers of the printing press. Then he gets a bomb thrown at him by a young Magi Conspiracy Theorist named Gavrilo Princip.Hell, in The Heroes an exploding cannon almost took him out, and his reaction was “hmmm I’m glad I’ve got Yoru” and not “wow, this new tech is pretty dangerous, even to me.”
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Jul 6, 2020 17:31
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Harold Fjord posted:He's explicitly ahead of the curve and sees the true power in money, rather than nobility Yeah, doesn't the last book heavily imply (maybe even outright state) that bayaz is orchestrating the revolutions? Given how long Bayaz has been around and how much of a schemer he is, it seems like he can see that change is coming and wants to be in charge of that, too. It's very possible that the book does not say this and that I'm confusing text with my own predictions, I haven't read it since it came out
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Jul 6, 2020 17:35
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He does it in the first trilogy too, by having Yoru impersonate the head the peasant rebellion. He knows these things happen, he probably wanted to make sure in this instance that he was in control of it from the beginning. If the Weaver isn't Bayaz I'll be pretty surprised.
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Jul 6, 2020 18:03
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Khizan posted:I never got the impression that Bayaz is an Eater from that. More that he was doing it to gently caress with Calder and prove how few fucks he gave. The thing about being an Eater is that once you're an Eater you're an Eater forever, and I can't see Bayaz signing up for that. He's also not one to leave a card unplayed. I'm not convinced he's an eater by the end of that book, but I don't think it's beyond him to become one if that's what it takes to win the conflict du jour he's a part of.
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Jul 6, 2020 18:25
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