mcroft | Court of the Empress: An RPG Exercise

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mcroft

A Game of Neel Krishnaswami's Court of the Empress. Rules are here.

Let us look upon the Empress's court.

It is a frosty winter's evening on the longest night of the year. The Empress Iphigenia has taken the court to her royal barge, locked in ice until the spring thaws. An orchestra performs quietly in the background and the court has been dancing, for her Imperial Majesty's pleasure, upon the surface of the frozen river. The courtiers can see each other's steamy breath and there are braziers of burning coals for heat and a bit of light. The full moon is low in the sky, behind the Empress's pedestal on her barge. A few honored servants are there with her, but most are a few steps down, on the surface of the wide, frozen river. Her Imperial Majesty is resplendent in a dazzling black gown with a stiff collar behind her. She carries the Scepter and there is a banner with the Imperial Seal behind her throne.

And now let us hear what may be said.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

mcroft.livejournal.com

Benedict,

Your tender concern for your fellow courtiers is noted, as well as your recognition that others are your rivals.

So from you we will have a discussion of ethics. We would ask of you to discourse at length on the ethical implications of cooperation and competition. Is it, for example, ever ethical to provide bad or dangerous advice to rivals in an attempt to eliminate them? If such happens to you, what is an ethical response?

My other courtiers are again to have the opportunity to ask you questions about this, to explore your reasoning.

From:

mrsitouh.livejournal.com

Your Excellency raises an excellent question. The ethics of court have been debated since the first tribal chief sat near the campfire and listened to the complaints of his tribe, but I shall endeavor to provide a fresh vantage point, if nothing else.

I would propose that deliberately bad advice would be unethical in the extreme. Our task is to please you, and bad advice could be the cause of removing one who would otherwise have provided you with much entertainment, novelty, and insight, for the purpose of promoting one's minor cause over your Majesty's welfare.

On the other hand, I find dangerous but not deliberately misleading advice to be ethical, if risky. For while the advice may lead the taker into disaster, thus assisting the giver, the risk may also return great dividends for the taker, for the taker could through his daring win your favor, bringing disaster to the giver. One should be extremely careful in doing so, however, for it is easy to cross the line into deceit, where they risk the wrath of both their Empress and their God.

As to the following of misleading advice, I believe that for whatever advice one receives, the proper attitude is 'Caveat Emptor'. One should consider that whatever advice one receives is coming from one who you know to be a rival, if not directly in what he seeks, than indirectly, for we all seek boons. One should consider carefully before following any advice given, for ultimate responsibility for our actions rests with us.

(deleted comment)

From:

mrsitouh.livejournal.com

I feel that both would be ethical - after all, in a game with stakes as high as this, turnabout is fair play. However, I feel it would be a far better choice to simply ignore the advice, and rise above it, thus demonstrating, if not purity of heart, at least a level of restraint and self-control greater than that of the giver of the proffered advice.

(deleted comment)

From:

mrsitouh.livejournal.com

Ethics would leave me free of compulsion to act, but one may be guided by higher laws than those of ethics. And, as Saint Paul said to the Corinthians, "though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."

That charity would lead me to quietly warn Firdusai of the danger of the advice being proffered to him, that he might succeed or fail in his quest by his own merits. That way, should her Majesty choose to bestow her favor upon my unworthy head, I know that her blessing is obtained in righteousness, and if not, I can go to my Lord with a pure heart and clean hands, knowing that I had done my best, and run the race placed before me to the best of my ability.

From:

libskrat

And if you should observe our Fyodor there without his jet-black cloak and smiling bright, with poison dripping from his every word?

What then? Is evil less so, brightly clothed?

From:

mrsitouh.livejournal.com

If his evil is so obvious, then her Majesty, in her infinite wisdom and grace, would doubtless see to it that his evil would be stopped - if it is apparent to one such as I, surely her wisdom would see through his deceit.