Caligula's Legacy

by CCC

Prologue

Everyone knows that any unit can be an heir. This is not in dispute; pay the schmuckers, designate a unit, and your Side has an heir.

Every unit can speak to every other unit of its type. This is little known, but little disputed among those who do know it; dwagons have a language with which they can speak to other dwagons. Dwagons are not, however, particularly intelligent, and generally have little to say.

While many units do not speak Language, most units can understand it to some degree. And all units can understand orders. This, too, is not in dispute.

Megan Faust, Warlord, reflected again on these facts as she awaited her Ruler's summons. Everybody knew all these things, but few followed these ideas to conclusion. It had been thousands of turns since Emperor Caligula, the former ruler of their side, had, in a fit of pique and anger at the corruption of his Council, designated his steed as his heir. And hundreds of turns had passed since Caligula had fallen in battle, betrayed by the same corruption in his Council.

When she had felt her Ruler die, Megan had thought that it would mean the end of her Side. But there was one thing that was not known about mounts, and that was this; some of them could be frighteningly intelligent. It had taken a number of bluffs, some difficult negotiations with reluctant allies, and the hiring of a Luckamancer from the Magic Kingdom to save the side; but the side was now as safe as any side in Erfworld could be. And it was perhaps the only side in all of Erfworld to have a Ruler who spoke no Language, who communicated with her inherited warlords only in direct Orders. Oh, she understood language, of that there could be no doubt - sometimes, Megan thought, her Ruler understood Language better than she did. But warlords popped under her reign shared in her Signamancy - they were mounts, unable to speak Language but able to communicate perfectly amongst themselves.

And Megan, as the only warlord to still survive from the days of Emperor Caligula, was thus the only unit in the entire side able to negotiate with foreign sides. This gave her a kind of irreplaceable value which kept her off the front lines - much to her dismay, but she could see her tactical value in negotiation.

A silent command came to her, and she turned from her introspection to present herself at Court. Her Ruler gave a lot of leeway when it came to procedure, but was known to appreciate good manners. So Megan walked up the red carpet towards the throne, knelt, and greeted her Ruler by name.

"Princess Celestia. You have need of me?"

Comments

[badninja]

Wait you wrote this over on Erfworld?! Glad to see this story over here!

[Teikan]

It's like in crusader kings