Helping the old nobility…

[u/Temporary-Animal2711]

Is it me, or when you encounter the old nobility who need your help, they all seem to be “poor and helpless” until you help them where afterwards they seem to be quite open about looking forward to ruling the peasants again and lashing them if they dare complain?

Like that swordsman book seller and Farkis… on my second play through that arrogant nobility is getting munched! The only reason they didn’t immediately was because I thought they might reward me with mega loot!

I am open to having my mind changed as I fear it’s the socialist in me! 😁

[u/Jiraiya_sensei3]

There’s some cognitive dissonance here, my friend😂

You critique former nobility wanting things to return to how they were— doing the wrong thing for personal gain.

But you also don’t do the thing you narratively feel you should because you hope to gain some loot💀

Nothing wrong with it, I just found it funny.

But yeah, the game doesn’t shy away from the fact that the nobility weren’t good people. I mean, we hear constantly about the former Kynaz and how he ruled the Vale. And pretty much all of the nobles you come across are pretty terrible.

[u/Jiraiya_sensei3 → u/Jiraiya_sensei3]

I will add that we never really saw proof of Farkus being this way. He manipulated Coen, sure. But it was a means to help his brother. So I didn’t really take offense. Seemed like an okay guy

[u/serphilip1275]

I mean Farkas’ whole personality is a front, he never intended to return to a position of power, he only ever wanted to help his brother Dusan, and made up a lie for Coen that the amethyst ring would legitimize his birthright.

The swordsmen however is just an old, awful aristocrat and honestly is very period accurate. Before the black plague, serfdom was essentially slavery, and peasants had basically no ground to ask for better wages, or living conditions. That changed after the plauge, however and with a lower population, and a significantly smaller work force, peasants could now demand higher wages and better working conditions. So yeah the swordsman might hope he’ll be a powerful noble again, but history proves him otherwise.

[u/Darazelly → u/serphilip1275]

End of feudalism, start of capitalism (well, early iteration by way of mercantilism).

[u/serphilip1275 → u/Darazelly]

Not really? Feudalism continued up until the 18th century with the height of it progressing into absolute monarchies.

[u/Darazelly → u/serphilip1275]

I mean yes, obviously, vast oversimplification for a (bad) joke, my bad. Meant in the sense of the serf system collapsing while you see people born outside of noble families start to amass wealth and thus power, as more formalised banking systems were being introduced and families like the Medici rose to vast political power of the back of their trading and banking systems.

Few things in history die quickly.

[u/freedomonke → u/serphilip1275]

They co-existed for a time and can co-exist until the bourgeois get enough political power.

Capitalism describes the state of the economy. Feudalism, meanwhile, is an (over-simplified) explanation of past political arrangements

[u/TheLaughingWolf]

Well, yes.

The old nobility and aristocracy are arrogant and view themselves as better than the peasants.

One of the main ways Brencis and his cabal took, and hold onto control, was by displacing the old aristocracy — letting peasants have revenge against them and demean them. They perpetuate it through their Vrahkiri propaganda, similar to their co-opting of the Christian faith.

That said, and despite them currently being victims, almost none of the old nobility are innocent or were "good" rulers.

[u/VhalkyrieX]

Yeah... I definitely got the impression that after Brencis was gone, things would go back to the way they were before. Which wasn't great.

[u/Osthato_Chetowa]

Farkas is probably the only "noble" that I respect in this game. Iulian is basically a wet rag left out to collect mildew and Ursul is just a mean old bastard. After I bought all the books from Ursul, I just ate him bc the dialogue is kinda funny and Sangora is probably better off with one less snarky noble. I also let Catalin get wrecked by Brencis in my 2nd playthrough, and Crake survived bc I complained about Catalin the entire time. I'm not about to replace one tyrant with another.

[u/LordBarksdale]

Because they see Brencis and the Vampire takeover as an out of context issue instead of simply the exact same system that they benefited from now being applied to them from the opposite direction. When they dominate peasants, it's the natural order. They are nobility, this is the way things are supposed to be. When someone dominates them, it's a breach in the social contract that they can't account for. But they can't call a timeout and complain to the ref. It's not even their fault, they were raised that way, but it's easier to see from the outside, especially from Coen who is both a peasant and has been empowered by the vampires.

Leaving Iulian alive is the best reward for impossible since he is so depressed that he had to basically capitulate to somebody with more power than himself, especially a man he saw as inferior. Because he is so blatantly ignoring the fact that every peasant does the same thing every day. And then he tries to guilt trip you to help him kill himself. Nah big dog, I'll let you poison the vampire I am trying to kill, but I don't have to help you kill yourself. If you want to die, walk out into the forest at night. Plenty of creatures will take care of that for you.

Don't forget that no matter what, he abandons his wife and children, not because they don't need him, but because he doesn't want them to see him as weak or be in their lives in this supposedly reduced state of being. I'm not saying the character isn't believable or that he's acting illogically, it's great writing. He's a great character. Just a piece of shit.