Chapter 82: Champion, Chapter 15: Sit and Dream

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Aidan

The Realms

Thirdday, 1st week of the 9th month, Age of the Chosen 1

Late Morning

The Lord's Chambers, Caer Macht, Mistvale Highlands

The centaurs filed out of Aidan's office, leaving him alone with Sarpedon and Riama. The latter stretched and walked over from where Brighid had set her on the table to Aidan's seat. "You will provide warmth and scratches now," she demanded. He chuckled and lifted her down into his lap, where she curled up into a heavy, purring ball. He stroked her from her head to her tail, earning a <contentment with life> from the oversized housecat.

"So," Aidan said, redirecting his attention to Sarpedon, "what do I need to know about city planning and growth?"

"Once the bare necessities are available, you will need to construct a building to act as the center for administration in your realm. You have a host of options to choose from; each has its benefits and drawbacks. The seat of government will provide bonuses to various aspects of the city, allow you to appoint others to management positions, and unlock one or more core building slots. The choices you make for those will further provide further specialization."

Aidan nodded. "Alright, that all makes sense. What are my options for the government center?"

Sarpedon spread his hands in an expansive gesture. "Anything you can dream of and supply the materials for, Lord Aidan. There are several established categories and styles, however. First, you must consider how to rule your realm. While it may be a single city now, it will grow into a city-state or even an entire nation, with enough time and effort, so keep that in mind as you make your choice. From rulership, we move on to ethos—your government's character or values. Last, there is the architectural style of the building itself."

"That matters?" Aidan asked, surprised.

"Oh my, yes. A palace built from shining white marble capped in gold has a very different effect on the city than one constructed from iron-laced granite. And in the same vein, an open forum will provide different bonuses and penalties than a palace."

"Huh. I hadn't thought of it that way, but that does make sense. Okay, I'm familiar with the concepts you described and could muddle through on my own. That said, I don't suppose you have any recommendations for me?"

"As it happens, I do!" Sarpedon produced a sheaf of parchment from his hip pouch—a pouch that was smaller than the length of the paper, Aidan noted. "I knew you would need to make these decisions sooner or later and prepared ahead of time," he offered in explanation. "I was planning to bring it up to you once the rest of your people arrived. Anyway, as you see here..."

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Aidan

Early Afternoon

After extensive discussions, Aidan narrowed the field down to a handful of choices. As far as ruling the realm, only Absolute Monarchy or High Council offered what Aidan needed at a price he was willing to accept. Democracy was all well and good in concept, but he would lose in a landslide in the first election. As an Absolute Monarch, Aidan could delegate authority as much as he wanted, but no one could revoke his decisions. It was all the power and all the responsibility. High Council still left him in charge overall but allowed him to appoint (or accept appointments to) a group of people who could, in theory, overrule him if enough of them acted in concert.

Aidan could have gone with a less-centralized version of a Council government type, but he was unwilling to relinquish too much control despite the stress he knew it would cause. He wasn't keen on following orders from on high ever again, nor was he willing to abandon the Starchasers after committing so much to them. That left him with the internal debate about how much power he wanted to give his friends over him and how much he trusted his own decisions. Aidan would have a council of advisors regardless of which form his government took; it was a matter of whether he wanted to give them the collective ability to countermand one of his decisions. In the end, he decided that he trusted his friends and vassals enough—and himself just little enough—to go with the High Council.

Where the governmental authority question was a tale of two choices, his realm's ethos was much more involved. He had far more viable options here, and unlike with the Monarch vs. Council decision, he could make three selections. He could have more, but Sarpedon advised against it; diminishing returns kicked in past that point. He narrowed his choices down to Spirituality, Openness, Peace, Equality, Creativity, and Community. They were all things he wanted to promote, things he felt would forge a healthier society in the long term, but he could only select half of them.

Openness was high on Aidan's list; his plans for Ceallach Macht required the local tribes to live and work together. It would encourage them to accept new people and new ideas and share their thoughts and emotions freely. Where Openness would help them get along, Community would change them from separate groups into a united whole. Equality, too, could do its share of work towards Aidan's goal by ensuring that no one thought they were better than anyone else because of their species, wealth, gender, or anything else. There was a niggling thought in the back of Aidan's head that worried about his government undermining that ethos, however. How could he champion equality in his situation? He was a literal Chosen One with a Crown and a Throne.

Spirituality was another one that Aidan was of two minds about. Daniel had been agnostic; he believed in something beyond his ability to understand or define but could not accept any of faith's trappings. Here in the Realms, though, he was an agent of a deity. There was no doubt about that. It wasn't something he had to take on faith. The Brighaid spoke to him three times, and while two of those were while he was sleeping and thus subject to a degree of skepticism, Their appearance following his prayer was not. Neither was the power They granted to him. And Their doctrine and tenets seemed custom-made for him, individually and for what he wanted to foster among his people.

Peace was another tricky one. If circumstances were otherwise, Aidan would have selected it in a heartbeat and never looked back. He hated fighting and arguments to the point that exchanging harsh words would leave him trembling from stress afterward. And, while Aidan wasn't so dedicated a pacifist as Sunnild, he firmly believed that violence's only crop was continued violence. In this world, unlike the one he came from, some forces could only be opposed by strength of arms, Aidan knew that. But short of entities like the Tannath Taig, the only way to break the circle of violence was to stop fighting. Aidan's problem was that he knew a storm was coming—his Patron warned him of it more than once. He knew in his heart that the beginning of the Age of the Chosen wouldn't be known for peace and prosperity.

The final selection he stewed over was Creativity, which was perhaps the broadest in scope among all his choices. It touched on every aspect of what he hoped to accomplish. Creativity would foster an appreciation for art and beauty; it would spur technological and cultural advances; creative people were more willing to accept new ideas from themselves and others; it even had combat implications. Aidan knew a long list of Earth military leaders who won wars via breaking from established concepts.

After thinking things through yet again, Aidan made his choice: Community, Peace, and Creativity would be the values his realm stood for. They would work together towards peace and a brighter future. Aidan was under no illusions about the difficulties and burdens this path would bring. He chose to aim for the ideal future rather than solidifying the present. Maybe that makes me too optimistic or idealistic, but if I don't have a bright future to work toward, what is the point?

His third decision was much more straightforward, to Aidan's relief. He didn't have the luxury of waiting for premier materials, so the government building would be constructed out of stone recovered from the ruins. It had a poetic appeal to Aidan, emphasizing rebirth and regrowth and playing off the Phoenix Pyre that had won the city. That left the building's style, and Aidan narrowed the field down to a handful of choices. To his surprise, the system gave him status screens for each:

"Okay, I didn't expect that, but I should have. I can guess what most of this means, but what does prestige do for me, Sarpedon?"

"Prestige is a measure of how much other realms respect yours, Lord Aidan. The more prestige you have relative to them, the more favorable your interactions will be in general. However, it is not entirely positive, as the higher your stature rises, the greater the effort and expense required to maintain it, and the more dangerous the consequences of failing to do so," the gargoyle explained.

"Ah, I see," Aidan nodded. It was a built-in decadence mechanic that worked as a restraint to keep a large empire from growing without limits. "That makes the choice even harder. I think I'll sit on this for a few days; we aren't ready to start construction anyway, so it won't cause any delays, and this is a decision that will have lasting effects. Thank you, Sarpedon; if I'd had to do this on my own, the results would have been much worse."

"I was delighted to be of assistance in this regard, Lord Aidan. Pray, if you have any further questions, seek me out. There is still the matter of Core Buildings as well, but that can wait until you know how many to plan for." Sarpedon rose and bowed to Aidan, then made his way out of the Lord's office.

Aidan scratched Riama behind her ears. His familiar lifted her head and leaned into his fingers, her soft purr increasing to a loud rumble. He leaned down and rubbed his nose against hers, sending Riama a pulse of <love, companionship, contentment in shared company>. Cradling the oversized cat in his arms, Aidan stood up and left to track Ailis for his day's magic lessons.

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