The Rurikid Theatre
A Review by Critics of the Arts
We writers were most intrigued by your most recent performances. We will examine these, act by act, in an honest review of your work.
ACT I. The Warhawk
Godric, cutting down a man he’s hanged because he forgot he was on his side.
Here, we find your character in a strange predicament. Aligned against the Uruks for some time, you and the Lord Protector stood side by side. Yet not long after his death, relations with Peter III turned sour. You accused Haensemen of killing a merchant, when it was in fact not a man of Morsgrad at all, and nor was he killed. Many of us had seen this play before. You were playing the part of the warhawk, finding whatever reason you could to kill Haensemen for the deep-seated grudge you and the dragonsblood you align with have.
From Why We Fight, 1744
You claim in this document that the people of Oren aggressed, but not once did they march into your land, or the land of any other. Capturing a few Lorrainians in an empty city does not constitute full scale invasion. You have thrown away all narrative cohesion. You pretended that calling Haense to fight in a field to the death was reasonable and right, and refused to quit the field when the Emperor wished for reason and trial in place of senseless bloodshed. This is a prime example of attempting to appear strong and decisive, when in truth you were hunting for blood to spill.
A noble man, a reasonable man, would have been written to have the rationale of something more than a cucumber. This character has, instead, rallied folk across the planet to a false cause by citing grievances which do not constitute the total war you (where women and children are killed and no single person has freedom to walk the roads unmolested) have embarked on. Instead, it constitutes nothing more than a proper conversation between leaders of people, who seek the best for their fellow man. In this, we find your character to not be particularly believable.
ACT II. The Nobleman
Godric, attempting to cure a victim of Morsgradie Mould.
You have duly managed to, without batting an eye, wear the mask of one who cares for others and their health and sovereignty. You will be acclaimed critically, no doubt, for acting as though you did not murder the Governor-General, Ester Devereaux, in cold blood. And to think, only some years ago you issued an edict banning all Curonians from your land to spite them, and then you invite them to meet with you. A worse actor would have failed at this endeavor. Even so, you have managed to convince your legion of bandits and psychotic murderers that you are genuine in your ask for peace. Surely only such a brilliant liar would be capable of producing such crocodile tears.
There was a massive error in the continuity of your play, however, when you claimed to give the Kingdom of Curon Ester’s body for the last rites.
And also, this passage,
From Concerning a Rose, 1745
You can’t try and make a brutal and heinous character but then have him pretend to be honorable, noble and sympathetic when it suits the author. First, you claim you delivered her body to be properly laid to rest, and then you put on the mask of the honorable man who allows his enemy to grieve. You do this because it benefits you, because you did not know the Curonian Prince would see straight through it. Once your character discovered he was indeed not going to sugar the Prince into submission, you returned to your ways.
From A Request for Godric, 1746.
How can a man who cared for last rites ransom the head of a woman he claims to respect back to her family? Is this honor, or goodness? I think not.
ACT III. The Bandit King
Godric, telling his men, ‘You idiots, if you keep killing everyone on the road I’ll have to pretend you’re not my friends!”
Our most recent installment is a short act thus far. You will, and have done everything you can to ensure you have as many allies as you can possibly have. You have galvanized a world seeped in anarchy to destroy civilization, and no better example is there than your bandit allies.
In the promulgation of this conflict, we have seen two contributing members of the Alliance of Independent States commit heinous acts against both their allies and the neutral dwed. The characters here interact in an almost unbelievable way. How could this happen? Why?
First, let us examine the nature of this Alliance. It was created in order to fight the Empire, and it's only goal was to gather as many different people as possible. This is strange behavior from a character, the Duke, which seeks to do the righteous good of all sovereign people. Include even bandits and vagabonds from a righteous crusade for justice.
The Bandits of Ruswick are the first of those who crawled into the AIS knowing it would protect them so they could freely practice banditry and killing. This Saint’s Week, they captured and killed a dwed in good standing with the Underking, forcing the dwedmer to issue demands that everyone break off their alliance with the Ruswickian vagabonds.
Now, the Bandits of Lorraine. Their part in this is not surprising, it’s a scene we’ve seen before. They have captured, ransomed and perhaps even killed children, both human and high elven. They have no regard for rule of law or the favor for the goodness of GOD and our fellow men.
If the Morsgradi alliance had not been threatened by the dwed, they would not have expelled Ruswick from their alliance. They care not for the morality or honor of the thing, they care only if it affects their ability to cause havoc and win fights. They will use anyone, even bandits and murderers, to achieve their anarchy. This does not align with the traditional ideals of honor and justice that the characters in this act seem to wish to display.
These characters did not say to themselves ‘Oh, there are bandits in my alliance, I must do something about that!’.
They said, ‘Drat, those bandits I have in my alliance are starting to cause trouble. I better throw them away so the dwed don’t tip the scales in my enemy’s favor.’
I wonder what vagabonds will next reveal themselves from within the ranks of this Bandit King. What nation will make demands of Duke Godric after one of his comrades kills a child or a member of a neutral party. If we’re following the story correctly, and I think we are, the recurring themes are doomed to return.
IN SUMMARY
Godric is peaceful, but hunts for reasons to launch full scale invasions and end countless lives.
Godric is honorable, but kills women he claims that he honors in cold blood and drops their headless bodies as a warning.
Godric is just, but hires bandits to do his bidding until they cause too much trouble for him to handle.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
Published by the Syndicated Press.
