Eternal
You don’t think you could bring yourself to kill Ulivik directly or indirectly, besides it’s not likely to help anything. He’d most likely become a martyr and you’d never be done fighting future uprisings in his name.
You then come up with an idea: Exile. If people are really unhappy here they can get the hell out and they can take their chances making it on their own. It has the potential to cause an exodus, but you doubt if it will. Not many with families will be willing to leave and it’s still less harsh than execution. You are giving people a chance to live after all, it’s up to them if they can survive in Rask without the benefit of protection or survive long enough for them to leave it entirely.
Not killing dissidents, it’s a radical idea in it’s own right, but you’re going to gamble on it.
Having made this decision you finally get some sleep, though not exactly restful sleep.
The next day when Ulivik is protesting with his little group in front of the academy you and several soldiers march up to him.
“Okay Ulivik, this ends today.” You say.
“And so it begins, I was wondering when you’d finally let loose and start threatening people for speaking out against you. That’s what you used to do back in your Empire days isn’t it? Well we aren’t going quietly to be executed, as I said, if you want a fight, I’m more than willin to give it to you right here and now!”
“I’m not executing you Ulivik.”
“Well we’re not going to rot in your jails either.”
“Will you shut the fuck up? I’ve heard your complaints outside my window for the past several months, the least you can do is listen to me for a change.”
“Very well, but this better be good.”
“Don’t presume to tell me what is good, because this isn’t a compromise. I’m going to say this once and once only and this is going out to all of you. Any more dissension or acts of stirring up shit for no reason, and you’re gone. And what I mean by gone, I mean exile. And not just you, I’m talking ALL your family, all your friends and even your fucking pets. All of you that don’t like how things are being run in this city, well you can get the fuck out. Let’s see you do better out there. Lots of luck…”
Ulivik is a little surprised by your tactic, but it doesn’t deter him and he gets in your face. You keep your soldiers back.
“You can’t just throw people out of the city! These people have a right, we ALL have a right to live here and voice our concerns when the government is failing to provide a suitable quality of life!” Ulivik exclaims.
“Failing? What the hell are you talking about? We’re protecting everyone from bandits, monsters, eternal dominion hold outs and do I even need to mention the wendigos? Nobody starves, everyone has a job, and all people have to do is follow a few simple fucking rules. I’m not demanding people bring me their virgin daughters! I’m not having people routinely tortured for not believing in some religion! Yeah there have been some sacrifices like food rationing and curfews, but I’ve been pretty damn fair about everything and YOU of all people should know that!”
Ulivik stops for a moment and while it seems like he knows you have a point, he refuses to back down still. Perhaps you taught him too well.
“So basically what you’re saying is we should just be grateful that you’re not Edgar…”
And that’s the last straw, you lose your temper and proving you can still be quick for your age, you punch Ulivik in face. He staggers back and is disoriented enough for your soldiers to get a firm grip on him. He tries to twist free, but you have four soldiers lift him up grabbing one of his limbs each.
“Let me go tyrant! Too cowardly to face me in battle? So much for your eternal bravery!”
“Lucky for you, since you weren’t even fast enough to dodge my punch, open the gates and throw his ass out. And if the rest of you want to join him, you can pack your shit and go too!”
As you and the soldiers escort Ulivik out of the city, the rest of his followers lose their courage. Most of them have families and friends and aren’t willing to risk your wrath anymore. Other citizens look on at the spectacle and just stare in silent awe. The only one making any sort of noise is Ulivik who is cursing you and everyone else who isn’t helping him. You ignore his curses, and just simmer in anger at the situation.
Eventually you reach the gates and with a mighty heave your soldiers throw Ulivik a few feet and face first into the snow. He scrambles to get up and upon turning around; your soldiers draw several muskets on him.
“Goodbye, Ulivik, don’t come back or else I won’t be as merciful next time.” You say from the gate.
“Merciful? You’re throwing me out of my own fucking home you bastard!”
“At least I’m not throwing your mother out as well, and at least you’re still alive.”
“Fuck you. I can’t believe I used to look up to you.”
“And I never told you to, you chose to do that! And you chose this path as well. I’m merely doing what I think is best, just like I did then. (sigh) I’m sorry it has to be this way, but you’ll survive Ulivik…I know I taught you that…close the gates.”
As the gates close you see Ulivik just standing by himself looking very alone. It’s sort of sad. He started out as a disliked “outsider” due to his race in this town when he was growing up and now he has at last been banished from it for good. Not even one of his so called followers or even a bystander pleaded for him or even joined him by leaving. He did a lot for Rask during the war and he was speaking out for their “rights”, but that doesn’t seem to account for shit in the scheme of things to people. While it’s a fortunate situation, it still doesn’t seem right even if he was opposing you.
Over the next few months you half expect Ulivik to be attacking soldiers outside the gates of the city and holding some sort of one man vendetta or possibly even gathering a small group of bandits robbing the miners or loggers and such, but that doesn’t happen. He’s gone, but you’re confident he’s not dead. You just hope he’s moved on to better things.
As for you and everyone else life goes on.
Year 75
With age catching up on you every day you sometimes wonder if it’s even worth getting out of bed anymore. You tire of the tedious act of governing, but you have no real successor to take your place. There are a couple of officers you have in mind, which could do a competent job you suppose, and that’s when you make a major decision. You decide to step down from power and hand this mess over to someone else. Since you know whoever you pick is going to have to be a strong leader and nip any potential coups in the bud, you pick the three most charismatic, intelligent and loyal that you can think of and call them into the training area in front of an audience of soldiers.
You then announce that the three men will fight to the death and whoever is left standing gets to be in charge. The three officers look a little surprised and the audience is silent, but it doesn’t take long for one of the men to try to sneak attack on one of the others.
The fight is a good one. As you watch you fight back to the days when you watched your classmates fight each other for Mistress. That was so long ago and as crazy as it seems you’ve actually been missing those days lately, everything much simpler at least. All of them are gone now. Last you heard of Edgar is that he was assassinated four years ago as the Eternal Dominion continued to fragment into petty fiefdoms ruled by equally petty eternal warlords. You don’t know about Warrick or Brenda, but you sometimes like to think they managed to escape the madness and are living satisfying lives. Barring that, you hope they died well in whatever battle that was their last.
Eventually one man is left standing. Bruised, bloody and battered, but victorious. It is at this point you stand up and congratulate him and make another announcement to the crowd.
“Captain Eddings has proved himself worthy of succeeding me. I trust you will serve this man as well as you have served me all these years. Congratulations Eckers, you’ve just been promoted to…uh general I guess.”
“Thank you sir, I will do everything in my power to ensure the safety and prosperity of the city.” Eddings remarks with pride.
“I’m sure you will, I’m sure you will, why don’t you head to the infirmary first though. As for me I’m going back to sleep. You can catch up with me later if you need some explanation on anything, but I left some notes on my desk for you as a general guideline.” You say and head back to your room.
You know you’ll probably still be running things for a while at least and probably be consulted many times, but you still feel as if a weight has been lifted off you. The problem is, you wonder how you’ll spend your free time. You’ll think of something you suppose.
You then come up with an idea: Exile. If people are really unhappy here they can get the hell out and they can take their chances making it on their own. It has the potential to cause an exodus, but you doubt if it will. Not many with families will be willing to leave and it’s still less harsh than execution. You are giving people a chance to live after all, it’s up to them if they can survive in Rask without the benefit of protection or survive long enough for them to leave it entirely.
Not killing dissidents, it’s a radical idea in it’s own right, but you’re going to gamble on it.
Having made this decision you finally get some sleep, though not exactly restful sleep.
The next day when Ulivik is protesting with his little group in front of the academy you and several soldiers march up to him.
“Okay Ulivik, this ends today.” You say.
“And so it begins, I was wondering when you’d finally let loose and start threatening people for speaking out against you. That’s what you used to do back in your Empire days isn’t it? Well we aren’t going quietly to be executed, as I said, if you want a fight, I’m more than willin to give it to you right here and now!”
“I’m not executing you Ulivik.”
“Well we’re not going to rot in your jails either.”
“Will you shut the fuck up? I’ve heard your complaints outside my window for the past several months, the least you can do is listen to me for a change.”
“Very well, but this better be good.”
“Don’t presume to tell me what is good, because this isn’t a compromise. I’m going to say this once and once only and this is going out to all of you. Any more dissension or acts of stirring up shit for no reason, and you’re gone. And what I mean by gone, I mean exile. And not just you, I’m talking ALL your family, all your friends and even your fucking pets. All of you that don’t like how things are being run in this city, well you can get the fuck out. Let’s see you do better out there. Lots of luck…”
Ulivik is a little surprised by your tactic, but it doesn’t deter him and he gets in your face. You keep your soldiers back.
“You can’t just throw people out of the city! These people have a right, we ALL have a right to live here and voice our concerns when the government is failing to provide a suitable quality of life!” Ulivik exclaims.
“Failing? What the hell are you talking about? We’re protecting everyone from bandits, monsters, eternal dominion hold outs and do I even need to mention the wendigos? Nobody starves, everyone has a job, and all people have to do is follow a few simple fucking rules. I’m not demanding people bring me their virgin daughters! I’m not having people routinely tortured for not believing in some religion! Yeah there have been some sacrifices like food rationing and curfews, but I’ve been pretty damn fair about everything and YOU of all people should know that!”
Ulivik stops for a moment and while it seems like he knows you have a point, he refuses to back down still. Perhaps you taught him too well.
“So basically what you’re saying is we should just be grateful that you’re not Edgar…”
And that’s the last straw, you lose your temper and proving you can still be quick for your age, you punch Ulivik in face. He staggers back and is disoriented enough for your soldiers to get a firm grip on him. He tries to twist free, but you have four soldiers lift him up grabbing one of his limbs each.
“Let me go tyrant! Too cowardly to face me in battle? So much for your eternal bravery!”
“Lucky for you, since you weren’t even fast enough to dodge my punch, open the gates and throw his ass out. And if the rest of you want to join him, you can pack your shit and go too!”
As you and the soldiers escort Ulivik out of the city, the rest of his followers lose their courage. Most of them have families and friends and aren’t willing to risk your wrath anymore. Other citizens look on at the spectacle and just stare in silent awe. The only one making any sort of noise is Ulivik who is cursing you and everyone else who isn’t helping him. You ignore his curses, and just simmer in anger at the situation.
Eventually you reach the gates and with a mighty heave your soldiers throw Ulivik a few feet and face first into the snow. He scrambles to get up and upon turning around; your soldiers draw several muskets on him.
“Goodbye, Ulivik, don’t come back or else I won’t be as merciful next time.” You say from the gate.
“Merciful? You’re throwing me out of my own fucking home you bastard!”
“At least I’m not throwing your mother out as well, and at least you’re still alive.”
“Fuck you. I can’t believe I used to look up to you.”
“And I never told you to, you chose to do that! And you chose this path as well. I’m merely doing what I think is best, just like I did then. (sigh) I’m sorry it has to be this way, but you’ll survive Ulivik…I know I taught you that…close the gates.”
As the gates close you see Ulivik just standing by himself looking very alone. It’s sort of sad. He started out as a disliked “outsider” due to his race in this town when he was growing up and now he has at last been banished from it for good. Not even one of his so called followers or even a bystander pleaded for him or even joined him by leaving. He did a lot for Rask during the war and he was speaking out for their “rights”, but that doesn’t seem to account for shit in the scheme of things to people. While it’s a fortunate situation, it still doesn’t seem right even if he was opposing you.
Over the next few months you half expect Ulivik to be attacking soldiers outside the gates of the city and holding some sort of one man vendetta or possibly even gathering a small group of bandits robbing the miners or loggers and such, but that doesn’t happen. He’s gone, but you’re confident he’s not dead. You just hope he’s moved on to better things.
As for you and everyone else life goes on.
Year 75
With age catching up on you every day you sometimes wonder if it’s even worth getting out of bed anymore. You tire of the tedious act of governing, but you have no real successor to take your place. There are a couple of officers you have in mind, which could do a competent job you suppose, and that’s when you make a major decision. You decide to step down from power and hand this mess over to someone else. Since you know whoever you pick is going to have to be a strong leader and nip any potential coups in the bud, you pick the three most charismatic, intelligent and loyal that you can think of and call them into the training area in front of an audience of soldiers.
You then announce that the three men will fight to the death and whoever is left standing gets to be in charge. The three officers look a little surprised and the audience is silent, but it doesn’t take long for one of the men to try to sneak attack on one of the others.
The fight is a good one. As you watch you fight back to the days when you watched your classmates fight each other for Mistress. That was so long ago and as crazy as it seems you’ve actually been missing those days lately, everything much simpler at least. All of them are gone now. Last you heard of Edgar is that he was assassinated four years ago as the Eternal Dominion continued to fragment into petty fiefdoms ruled by equally petty eternal warlords. You don’t know about Warrick or Brenda, but you sometimes like to think they managed to escape the madness and are living satisfying lives. Barring that, you hope they died well in whatever battle that was their last.
Eventually one man is left standing. Bruised, bloody and battered, but victorious. It is at this point you stand up and congratulate him and make another announcement to the crowd.
“Captain Eddings has proved himself worthy of succeeding me. I trust you will serve this man as well as you have served me all these years. Congratulations Eckers, you’ve just been promoted to…uh general I guess.”
“Thank you sir, I will do everything in my power to ensure the safety and prosperity of the city.” Eddings remarks with pride.
“I’m sure you will, I’m sure you will, why don’t you head to the infirmary first though. As for me I’m going back to sleep. You can catch up with me later if you need some explanation on anything, but I left some notes on my desk for you as a general guideline.” You say and head back to your room.
You know you’ll probably still be running things for a while at least and probably be consulted many times, but you still feel as if a weight has been lifted off you. The problem is, you wonder how you’ll spend your free time. You’ll think of something you suppose.