-
Captain
Medes commenting to The Vulpine Post
It
took Azraea some time to shake off Samantha, but when she finally played up the
cloak and dagger angle that Lily had pushed, Samantha apologized for being
‘obtuse’ and they parted ways. Eventually, Azraea made enough twists and turns
to actually lose the curious woman,
and feel safe returning to Vidi’s safehouse. Samantha was a sweet girl, and
Azraea didn’t want to judge her for her chosen profession, but after their
conversation about hustling snake-oil, Azraea thought it wise not to invite the
girl into what Ochsner had dubbed “History’s Most Half-Assed Conspiracy”.
To
her surprise, Vinny was waiting for her at the shack when she returned. He was both foul smelling and foul tempered. His irritation over her absence softened
somewhat when she offered him some of the food Lily had given her, and his
anger seemed to completely abate when she started going through the newspaper,
and relating what Samantha had told him on their walk back. Intelligence (both
literal and figurative), seemed the most reliable way to placate Vinny.
It
turned out one of Syliva’s first moves after being appointed Chief Counsel to
the Throne was to shut down the Kingstown Herald, accusing them of “fomenting
dissent that threatened the security of the kingdom and its people” based on
“false information.” She censured the publishers, editors, and distributors for
being complicit in a “reign of terror”, and she outright arrested the writers,
whom she held to be the main perpetrators of what she now called “informational
terror.” This morning’s main news was covering the beginning of the protests
which that had triggered, including a heard-it-here-first story from a Broad Beard contributor who’d somehow managed
to get a story about last night’s riot to the presses about the same time they
happened. Vinny explained what he’d seen when he came into town, but at this
point Azraea couldn’t honestly say she was surprised.
Reinvigorated
and up-to-date, Azraea was well past ready to get to work. Vinny, however,
compared conducting operations in the current environment to trying to build a
house during an earthquake; counterproductive and dangerous. So instead they
stayed put, only sojourning out to gather information as discretely as
possible. In the mean time, Vinny took the opportunity to give Azraea a crash-course in political strategy and media manipulation, with Syliva's actions being the focus of their lessons.
The Vulpine Post and the Broad Beard Press had done Syliva's bidding, and they had done it well. While The Kingstown Herald hadn’t fallen in line, Vinny explained that itself had become a boon for the dragon. Gaining power in a kingdom the size of Caelia would require Syliva winning the favor of at least a portion of the population, and they would have to follow her out of some measure of loyalty beyond what fear or money could ensure - at least for a while. Syliva needed to cast herself as a hero, and that dramatic narrative required an opponent her own papers could paint as a villain. The Herald had unwittingly walked into that role and doing so dragged its supporters with it.
The Vulpine Post and the Broad Beard Press had done Syliva's bidding, and they had done it well. While The Kingstown Herald hadn’t fallen in line, Vinny explained that itself had become a boon for the dragon. Gaining power in a kingdom the size of Caelia would require Syliva winning the favor of at least a portion of the population, and they would have to follow her out of some measure of loyalty beyond what fear or money could ensure - at least for a while. Syliva needed to cast herself as a hero, and that dramatic narrative required an opponent her own papers could paint as a villain. The Herald had unwittingly walked into that role and doing so dragged its supporters with it.
To some degree, Vinny's way of looking at things fascinated Azraea. He never told her anything about her own country she didn't already know, but being better traveled, Vinny saw patterns where she had only seen chaos, and being more ruthless, he saw strategy where she had seen only senseless hatred.
Azraea knew that The Kingstown Herald had always been a fairly neutral business; it was politically moderate if not necessarily apolitical. She also knew that over the past decade a large portion of Caelia had responded to the kingdom's economic hardships by idealizing a bygone era of Caelian history. The world they 'recalled' fondly was white-washed and rose-colored, of course, but many Caelians now desired a restoration of that fantasy world more than anything else. These self-declared 'Nationalists' saw themselves as 'true' Caelians and everyone else as wastrels, parasites, or even traitors. They supported any policies or ideas that were consistent with the 'restoration' of Caelia to the nation they imagined it once was. They vehemently opposed anything else, including any suggestions that the time they 'remembered' was not so great as they imagined.
This was all basic current-events to Azraea, but what she had never consciously realized was that, quite unlike some of the other heralds, The Kingstown Herald had never really supported the Nationalist's nostalgia-fueled revision of history. Not only had it lost many readers to The Vulpine Post as a result, that was the over-arching reason it had been labeled as a 'liberal rag' filled with 'leftist propaganda'.
Vinny suspected that Syliva herself was not especially given to nostalgia - maybe being thousands of years old tempered one's view of history, or maybe she just gave little thought to the past in general - but he imagined that conservative Caelians' antipathy towards the Herald and its supporters had proven to be something she could dig her claws into. The Kingstown Herald had become a tangible opponent that she could spar with, and do so without looking obviously like a power-mad tyrant - at least, not to the dedicated readers of The Vulpine Post or the Broad Beard Press. That conflict - garnished with some speeches and editorials - transformed Syliva into a celebrity among Caelian traditionalists.
Azraea had found the relationship between Syliva and her emerging supporters to be strange; it seemed to her that Syliva embodied everything the conservatives claimed they were opposed to - or more accurately, she embodied everything everyone was opposed to - but Vinny argued there was a wide gulf between what a person said they opposed and what they actually hated. Vinny claimed that Caelian traditionalists had trustingly jumped on the stories and rhetoric that claimed to discredit The Kingstown Herald simply because it was consistent with the narrative they had already embraced. Now that they saw Syliva as an unfortunate victim of the Herald's 'slanderous' headlines, they would reject any aspersions to her character or factual observations of her actions that would compromise that perception.
Ironically, as Azraea and Vinny discussed this, on the opposite end of Kingstown, Syliva was contemplating many of the same things. The dragon knew that, ultimately, nothing could have guaranteed she would have support better than the emergence of opposition. If someone hated her, then anyone who hated them must also love her. Humans were strange like that – somehow unable to hate everyone equally.
Azraea knew that The Kingstown Herald had always been a fairly neutral business; it was politically moderate if not necessarily apolitical. She also knew that over the past decade a large portion of Caelia had responded to the kingdom's economic hardships by idealizing a bygone era of Caelian history. The world they 'recalled' fondly was white-washed and rose-colored, of course, but many Caelians now desired a restoration of that fantasy world more than anything else. These self-declared 'Nationalists' saw themselves as 'true' Caelians and everyone else as wastrels, parasites, or even traitors. They supported any policies or ideas that were consistent with the 'restoration' of Caelia to the nation they imagined it once was. They vehemently opposed anything else, including any suggestions that the time they 'remembered' was not so great as they imagined.
This was all basic current-events to Azraea, but what she had never consciously realized was that, quite unlike some of the other heralds, The Kingstown Herald had never really supported the Nationalist's nostalgia-fueled revision of history. Not only had it lost many readers to The Vulpine Post as a result, that was the over-arching reason it had been labeled as a 'liberal rag' filled with 'leftist propaganda'.
Vinny suspected that Syliva herself was not especially given to nostalgia - maybe being thousands of years old tempered one's view of history, or maybe she just gave little thought to the past in general - but he imagined that conservative Caelians' antipathy towards the Herald and its supporters had proven to be something she could dig her claws into. The Kingstown Herald had become a tangible opponent that she could spar with, and do so without looking obviously like a power-mad tyrant - at least, not to the dedicated readers of The Vulpine Post or the Broad Beard Press. That conflict - garnished with some speeches and editorials - transformed Syliva into a celebrity among Caelian traditionalists.
Azraea had found the relationship between Syliva and her emerging supporters to be strange; it seemed to her that Syliva embodied everything the conservatives claimed they were opposed to - or more accurately, she embodied everything everyone was opposed to - but Vinny argued there was a wide gulf between what a person said they opposed and what they actually hated. Vinny claimed that Caelian traditionalists had trustingly jumped on the stories and rhetoric that claimed to discredit The Kingstown Herald simply because it was consistent with the narrative they had already embraced. Now that they saw Syliva as an unfortunate victim of the Herald's 'slanderous' headlines, they would reject any aspersions to her character or factual observations of her actions that would compromise that perception.
Ironically, as Azraea and Vinny discussed this, on the opposite end of Kingstown, Syliva was contemplating many of the same things. The dragon knew that, ultimately, nothing could have guaranteed she would have support better than the emergence of opposition. If someone hated her, then anyone who hated them must also love her. Humans were strange like that – somehow unable to hate everyone equally.
Syliva's new devotees had given the dragon a measure of ‘legitimacy’ that no heralds ever
could, and the devotion they had begun to express was sweet indeed. Syliva had thought
that to be loved would be a weak draught, but knowing that they loved her
despite the fact that she had exploited them at every possible opportunity made it
sweet. In fact, Syliva became less and less subtle about what she was and what she did. It
seemed as if these pitiful people had committed to supporting her as the cruel,
greedy, vain creature that she was, and because they had committed to that, the
worse she behaved, the more they loved her. Even Syliva thought it was demented
– in a beautiful sort of way.
Syliva had supporters in the media, she had supporters in the streets, and now after a
little pressure on Hylas she’d gained an official title: “Chief Counsel to the King.”
It
was insulting.
Now that Syliva finally had an official title, it was offensive to be officially number two in the kingdom. She reminded herself, though, that it was part of a process. She hadn’t stolen all of the kingdom’s gold in one day let alone indentured its people so quickly. Likewise, this game could not be played any faster than it was; the wheel was turning, and she needed to give it time to build up momentum. While a measure of popular support had helped Syliva obtain her position, gaining her official title had galvanized her supporters. Her perceived legitimacy gave her supporters a stronger identity, and they were rapidly overtaking the larger group of Nationalists. Every day that went by, the Nationalists became more and more her people. Nevertheless, Baryd had already discovered that he'd lost control over the movement. He could nudge them with deals and bribes targeted at individuals, but the collective group was far too big for him to control with money, and it was becoming too fanatical for him to steer. It would be up to Syliva to tame the growing beast herself.
It was an exciting challenge for Syliva, but it also meant the dragon was almost as surprised as everyone else when the group’s anti-intellectual, anti-minority, xenophobic rhetoric suddenly broadened to include the upper middle and lower-upper classes. Baryd had published an anonymously letter-to-the-editor of the Broad Beard Press that pointed out that material investments like land, tools, livestock, retained their inherent value even as Caelia’s currency became worthless. It argued that the businesses built on those physical assets could raise prices far more easily than workers could negotiate higher wages for themselves, and those near the top could afford to lose a far greater portion of their wealth without seeing any important impact on their life styles. As a result, the upper middle classes seemed to retain their creature comforts while their employees starved and their consumers went bankrupt.
Now that Syliva finally had an official title, it was offensive to be officially number two in the kingdom. She reminded herself, though, that it was part of a process. She hadn’t stolen all of the kingdom’s gold in one day let alone indentured its people so quickly. Likewise, this game could not be played any faster than it was; the wheel was turning, and she needed to give it time to build up momentum. While a measure of popular support had helped Syliva obtain her position, gaining her official title had galvanized her supporters. Her perceived legitimacy gave her supporters a stronger identity, and they were rapidly overtaking the larger group of Nationalists. Every day that went by, the Nationalists became more and more her people. Nevertheless, Baryd had already discovered that he'd lost control over the movement. He could nudge them with deals and bribes targeted at individuals, but the collective group was far too big for him to control with money, and it was becoming too fanatical for him to steer. It would be up to Syliva to tame the growing beast herself.
It was an exciting challenge for Syliva, but it also meant the dragon was almost as surprised as everyone else when the group’s anti-intellectual, anti-minority, xenophobic rhetoric suddenly broadened to include the upper middle and lower-upper classes. Baryd had published an anonymously letter-to-the-editor of the Broad Beard Press that pointed out that material investments like land, tools, livestock, retained their inherent value even as Caelia’s currency became worthless. It argued that the businesses built on those physical assets could raise prices far more easily than workers could negotiate higher wages for themselves, and those near the top could afford to lose a far greater portion of their wealth without seeing any important impact on their life styles. As a result, the upper middle classes seemed to retain their creature comforts while their employees starved and their consumers went bankrupt.
Baryd had published the letter along with many more just to sustain reader engagement, but the arguments it made spread like wildfire through Syliva's Nationalists. Before
long, stories began to circulate about how business owners had orchestrated all
of this, somehow caused inflation by hording or withholding goods to drive up
scarcity. The theories didn’t make much sense, but they spread quickly amongst
the angry Nationalists, even without the Broad
Beard’s support. Shopkeepers and small business owners were threatened,
stores were broken into. That was initially fine with Syliva. All the money
spent to repair and reopen those businesses would flow back into her coffers
and no one could even faintly point to her or to her heralds as the source of
this new violence; their hands were clean for once.
However,
eventually the rabble rousers began trying to push the public against the high
profile business owners, the moneyed individuals whose investments in the city represented
only a portion of their power. Threatened by this, the upper class pushed back against
the Nationalists, but rather than tackle them head on, as Syliva expected, they
used their resources to organize rallies and direct anger away from themselves
and upward at the economic class above them.
That
class included only one individual: Syliva.
The
Nationalists, of course, only became more
devoted to Syliva, whose character was, as Baryd’s writers put it, “under
attack from the corrupt, greedy fat-cats running the kingdom.” The
Nationalists’ opponents, of course, argued that she had more money than any of
the ‘fat-cats’ the Nationalists wanted to get rid of, but that just prompted
her supporters to praise her brilliance and cunning in the business world, as well
as her strength, power, and assertiveness as a dragon.
For Syliva, it was simply amazing to watch; she’d crafted a complex strategy to place her in power, but most of it had become unnecessary – her base was unwavering, sustained not by personal interest or welfare, but simply by the spite they felt for the segments of the population that reviled her. All she had to do to keep them happy was to act like a monster.
For Syliva, it was simply amazing to watch; she’d crafted a complex strategy to place her in power, but most of it had become unnecessary – her base was unwavering, sustained not by personal interest or welfare, but simply by the spite they felt for the segments of the population that reviled her. All she had to do to keep them happy was to act like a monster.
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