two; video

[bloodspeaker]

[Adrasteius stares into the feed silently for a few moments, eyebrows drawn, jaw set.  He's somewhere outside in the city, on a sidewalk, surrounded by an ever-shifting throng of people.  The masses don't seem to bother him, though.  He has the look of someone who was struck by a sudden thought, and then by a subsequently urgent need to voice it.  There's a shakiness to the feed as he talks, which suggests that the hand holding the tablet is quaking--though whether that's from emotion or some physical problem is not clear.]

I've noticed that a number of you claim to be leaders in your worlds.  Princes.  Kings.  Queens.  Nobility of some stripe.  

[Adra pronounces all of those nouns with the same tone another person might use to discuss vermin, and the venom only worsens as he goes on.]

Perhaps you were a general or a lieutenant.  Perhaps a politician.  Or you controlled a gang.  [The tone indicates that he pretty much lumps all of those positions together.]

Whatever you were, it seems clear that a few of you think this entitles you to the same position here.  This is, of course, fucking ridiculous.  But let us entertain, for the sake of argument, that you should retain your privileged status in this place.  I ask: why?  

[His eyes narrow, and he leans low over the tablet, his eyes bright and angry.]

Don't misunderstand me.  I'm not asking for a record of your 'heroic' and 'worthy' exploits.  I don't need to hear about how many battles you've won or organized;  about how many goddamn corpses you've piled up in your past.  I care not one fucking iota about your pathetic, disgusting warmongering.  

Don't fucking tell me about how you can punch through twenty walls with your immense strength, or how your magical prowess is so great that you can conjure thousands of swords from thin air, or stop hearts, or bend minds, or any of that other fucking.  nonsense.  Do you understand me?  I don't care if you can kill any man, woman, child, or other semi-sentient thing you set eyes on, and if you try to brag about it, you will be instantly dismissed as a witless fucking troglodyte.

No.  I'm asking you what you stand for.  What is your philosophy of leadership?  Do you favor fear and violence?  Do you favor control?  Do you claim to speak about cooperation, when what you actually want is doe-eyed agreement from a bunch of teat-suckling yes-men?  Well, goddammit?  What makes you fit to lead?  Fit to serve?  I don't want to know about your muscles, physical or otherwise.  I want to know about your fucking convictions.

Comments

permavideo;

[sithiche]

[ He stares at the feed for a long moment. ]

We're out of milk.

[bloodspeaker]

Why are you telling me about it? You can walk, can't you? The ability to exchange money for goods and services as well, I presume? Maybe I'm overestimating here.

[video]

[vaudevil]

I prefer cooperation than control.

[His answer is short and sweet.]

Control in a place like this? It's a waste of time. I prefer to think my solutions through before I enact anything, though it does send a mixed message to someone that's looking for a more substantial answer.

I would rather seek cooperation than control simply because we are all in the same situation. Leaders and those that claim to be are a dime a dozen. The thinkers, the true masterminds behind the stratagem, are as rare as the sun at this time. I prefer to act than sit on my hands, to come up with solutions to our current problem, and be useful than be used.

[bloodspeaker]

[HE DOUBTS THIS STRANGER instantly, but he listens carefully regardless, and without interruption.]

Useful rather than used, eh? And how do you define usefulness, exactly? How would you characterize your problem-solving approach?

Audio

[gratefuldead]

Cut that rabble and babble down to 'nobility sucks period' and you and I are on the same damn page.

What? They been pissin' in anyone's beer lately?

[bloodspeaker]

[He does have very little time for anyone who reeks of the upperclass, it is true. But he's not so sure about the rest of the population most of the time, either, and that includes this new voice. Squints.]

They do that by existing.

video

[wrexy]

[flatly] Nobility don't make good leaders. And good leaders sure aren't noble.

[bloodspeaker]

[He's certainly never seen anyone of Wrex's kind before, so the image on his feed alone earns a questioning, distrustful stare.]

An interesting way to put it. I tend to agree on the first assertion, but perhaps you'd like to elaborate on the second.

[ video ]

[hostage]

I, uh, favor staying alive. You know, survival?

[bloodspeaker]

Do you really? What an intriguing, and generally assumed, concept. What about beyond that, eh?

[squint. This fella looks a little too disheveled to be any kind of leader, but Exsilium does seem to be a nexus of many worlds ...]

video

[selfloyalty]

[simply:]

I favour stability and doing whatever is right for my country and my people, even when the choices made have to be the more difficult ones.

It is a leader's duty to establish order and quell dissent. Sort out matters with outside alliances and opposing forces. And here? We need such order. With so many leaders being brought in there has been an influx in disorganization, which is what I am assuming is these questions are related to, are they not?

[bloodspeaker]

[He don't want no simple answers. Adrasteius grinds his teeth, as though everything about what Anora just said makes him ridiculously angry.]

That's so fucking interesting. Peace! How fresh! How new! And what is your philosophy with regard to maintaining peace? How exactly would you quell dissent?

[Voice]

[uncalled_for]

[Snort]

It's a fair question, but what makes you think people will actually be honest with you?

[bloodspeaker]

Not a goddamn thing, girl. But the question merits asking, anyway.

Audio;

[wilder]

[ Man, if Zelos knew what popcorn was he'd want to pop some up and watch this fiasco. ]

[And while he's a noble? He has no intention of speaking up as one. He didn't have any interest in the politics of nobility back home, and he has NO intention of getting among it here]

Wow. Are there really nobles who act like they're in power here?

[bloodspeaker]

There are people [pronounced with the implication of 'worthless fuck'] who seem to think they have the inborn right to an army or a coalition or whatever you want to call it. People who seem to believe that we need leadership, for one fucking reason or another. Some of them were apparently nobility back in their own worlds.

[Audio]

[redheadcarrier]

I'm supposed to defend humanity! And I do it because I'm the best at what I do!

[Hmmph.]

At least I used to be.

[bloodspeaker]

Because you're the best? That's the only reason.

voice

[crownotcrane]

[ oh this is off to a good start. his mood has improved already. anyone who dismisses probably a good chunk of the population as witless troglodytes can only be entertaining.

He notices the venom, the tone, the tremors of the communicator - it's impossible to miss. The man obviously has issues with nobility. Large ones. ]

What an interesting set of questions that is. [ not that he's focusing on them. ] Thought-provoking, certainly.

Though I wonder if I could inquire answers to them from you.

[bloodspeaker]

[Adrasteius has issues with just about anybody you can think of, honestly, including this new voice addressing him. He scowls into the tablet.]

I'm not claiming to be a leader. Nor am I trying to raise my own fucking army. These questions are for those who do, and are.

voice; (private)

[diplomatique]

[ see: exactly why Larsa doesn't want to reveal he's an Emperor.

a child's voice is heard, clear and full of sincerity. ]

I call for peace, and the cease of pointless war caused by the need to expand. Cooperation between kingdoms is the most admirable option.

However, I do not presume that I would have my title here. We all hold the same status in another world; it seems to be the prospect most realistic.

[bloodspeaker]

[SMART MOVE, YOUNG ONE. Though Adrasteius usually gives more of a pass to kids. Larsa's answer is pretty good to his ears, too.]

It's a fine response, but you sound a little young to be making it. Have you brokered peace before?

voice;

[ladyspitfire]

[Well. Elissa's just listening to the other responses here before finally speaking up.]

I would answer, though most of what has been said would apply to me as well. I stand for peace and for the protection of my people. Victory, vigilance, and sacrifice. I would say that I stand for some semblance of equality as well, though that is a naive prospect and one I am in no position to call for.

I do not presume to become a leader here nor to retain any status from my home. It would be foolish to do so.

[bloodspeaker]

Some semblance of equality? What do you mean by that? Does equality lack in your own world?

[Well, of course it does. People are oppressive bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling everywhere. But he does wonder about the specific iterations.]

[chargethesebatteries]

[Wow, and she thought her troops had some issues with authority--this guy takes the cake. He takes the whole danged bakery.]

Leadership is subjective, and as much as I'd like to say people know a good leader when they see one I think we both know that's about as true as an old wives' tale told around a girl scout's campfire. Fact of the matter is the most important thing a leader can do is keep their people safe, and if they can't do that then they need to step down and let someone who knows how to handle whatever's thrown at 'em do just that.

So yeah, I agree: titles don't mean jack, and it's your actions that make you a leader, not how blue your blood is, how many stripes are on your sleeves, or how many diamonds in your tiara.

[Sometimes it's how many heads you knock or how many marines twice your size you can leave suplexed in your wake, but really, that's being a little more specific than is necessary.]

[bloodspeaker]

[HE TAKES THE FRANCHISE, TBH.]

Safe. What does safety mean to you? What would you sacrifice to keep it? What order would you impose to preserve it?

[priad]

[ An armored figure, with blazing red eyes peering from his helm pops onto the screen. He stares Adrasteius down for a moment. ]

I make no claims to lead those in this place, but I can tell you about what I stand for.

My life is dedicated entirely to the service and protection of mankind.

When I led my squad, I led them based on a few principles. Discipline, first and foremost. When called to war, my men did as they were told, not because they feared me, but because we trusted one another. As such, we were able to use our skills to best effect.

The second principle was honor. I did not lie to my brothers, nor did they lie to me, though at least once this brought us to grief, when I found out my brothers had each individually done something very foolish and dangerous.

The third principle was to lead with thought, and not simply with force. While my brothers and I were physically very powerful, there were times when we faced enemies as mighty as we, and far more numerous, victory came from finding solutions that were indirect to problems of direct conflict. Manipulating an enemy's psychology to direct them to the planets of an even older foe was far more effective than clinging to a battle that would have brought only bitterness and urns full of the ashes of dead heroes back to Ithaka.

[bloodspeaker]

[Azeroth teems with armored figures just like this, so he STARES RIGHT BACK.]

I really don't fucking care to hear your worthless war stories. Or was that not clear enough?

[video]

[futurarex]

And why should we answer to you?

[bloodspeaker]

Belligerence! An excellent quality in any true leader.

video;

[vampirique]

I could give very little about leadership, helpful as that is.

Are you trying to rile them up? Is this fun for you?

[bloodspeaker]

[Might be a little fun. Maybe.] I'm trying to get some answers. You know, for a collection of people that are constantly hand-wringing about organization and cooperation and the need to unify, you lot are astonishingly bad at everything those things require.

And if you're one of those who just likes to sit on the sidelines and run your mouth, I have less than no time for you.

video;

[arlathansgrace]

[ANOTHER ELF.

Clearly this one must also receive an offer for frolicking.]

Aneth ara, lethallin! [Merrill gives a cheerful wave.] I'm glad to find more of us here. The People. Except not my people, but still an elf. Did you know there are a lot of us? My roommate, he's one. He has ears like yours, all long and thin. But there are others, too, they have smaller ears than mine. They're very nice.

Oh, can I-- [She pauses, thinking for a minute.] Is there a reason you want to be the one to weigh people's convictions? I suppose everyone does this all the time, but you seem very interested. Is your conviction to test other people's convictions? That seems like it would be tiring. And hard. And lonely. Are you lonely?

[bloodspeaker]

[The fuck kind of crazy moonspeak is that? Adrasteius squints so hard at Merrill, at least at first. As the flow of her talk goes on, his eyes widen slightly, and for once he feels just a little bit caught off-guard.]

Well, girl, someone has to do it.

video

[allsongs]

[elllllf. angry elfman. this is interesting.

here, she'll try an elvish tongue she knows well, see if she's got someone from her realm at last:]

What rulers have wronged you that you speak so sharply?

[bloodspeaker]

[GIBBERISH.]

Try again.

video

[ino]

[just chinhanding so hard at this post]

Wow, I think I like you.

[bloodspeaker]

[He doesn't actually know the first thing to do with a compliment, so he just kind of stares uneasily back at this human child.]

You're in the minority.

video;

[ima_something]

If you swear a couple more times, you might sound particularly convincing and commanding of people's attentions, they'll be so much more amicable that way. Really. [eye roll.]

As for the rest of it -- I'm a Duchess, not that I've ever done anything with it. I don't even use the title. [she in the end had a greater demands than just how different species ruled themselves.] My father spent a lot of time running around, mostly to the end of diplomacy. Though a Duke is just a grander name really, for a war general. Not that my father ever went to war. I think he believed in talking to people really, and there being better solutions than just flat out killing. [which he'd done more of, seen more than any body ever really would of.]

[bloodspeaker]

I talk the way I talk, lady. Take it or [pause. wait for it. WAIT.] fucking leave it.

[ugh. NOBILITY.] I'm well aware of what noble titles mean. War general. Tax collector. Oppressor of the people. So on and so forth.

permavideo;

[crystalia]

What makes you think you'd understand, if they were to explain?

It sounds to me like you've made your mind up already.

[bloodspeaker]

You mistake emotion for a lack of reason. I'm always open to being proven wrong. I love it, in fact. [he narrows his eyes.] It just doesn't happen that often.

[bratworth]

If people have experiences in leadership, then they should be able to use the skills they learned in their roles back home in a similar role here, depending, of course, on whether they are able to prove their talents. Certainly, this should be done without senseless violence.

[ A pause. ]

Where I'm from, nobility itself is becoming an outdated concept.

[bloodspeaker]

If that's so, I envy your world. Blood should never determine who has the right to lead--in any capacity.

Text;

[musclebeast]

D --> This implies conviction is necessary to properly place royalty and e%press the nobility of those in such positions
D --> My race's culture doesn't e%ercise such puerile and mutinous views

[bloodspeaker]

[snarls.]

Then your culture is a fucking waste.

[a_million_blossoms]

Chaos must be fought and order restored, or the world, this world, will run to its own destruction.

And a Division Captain might be a leader, but he or she is first and foremost responsible for the lives of all that are below him. Even one death in the ranks is one death too many, no matter how glorious or necessary.

permavideo.

[promisor]

[ Well, he WAS a Tyrant and he's the leader of the Hades Party so he figures he can answer this. ]

Fear and violence is how all demons operate. However, when it comes to leadership, I much prefer building it on trust and camaraderie. I find it quite effective.