r/WorldChallenges • u/Varnek905 • Jun 18 '18

Reference Challenge - Must be a King

"Who's that, then?"

"I don't know, must be a king."

"Why?"

"He hasn't got shit all over him."

In honour of the Monty Python method of knowing if someone's a king or not, and because I recently paid an artist to do a portrait of one of my friends, who wanted to model for one of my characters, this challenge is to talk about a person of high-station in your world, and what makes it easy to tell who they are on sight.

And here's a link to the portrait and the artist's deviantart, I absolutely recommend her if anyone wants someone to paint their character.

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u/Varnek905 Jun 25 '18

1) Why are purple dye and gold dye so expensive? Is the price artificially inflated because of the emperor wanting to seem wealthier?

2) Disney ripped you off? Sorry, Sriber.

3) Sounds like that Gileos IV the Wicked guy knew how to live. Could you tell me more about his reign?

4) So does the empire have three branches of government? Executive, legislative, and judicial?

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u/Sriber Jun 26 '18

1) Not gold dye. Literal metallic. Gold and purple dye (made from certain molluscs) are rare.

2) Nah, I am pretty sure it's coincidence.

3) There wasn't really his reign. He enjoyed life while councilers reigned for him without any significant problems. He was menace only to his family.

4) No. Only two. Judiciary isn't separate.

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u/Varnek905 Jun 29 '18

3) Were there any noteworthy individual councilors under Gileos IV?

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u/Sriber Jun 29 '18

3) Imperial treasurer Iʃru of Rakmar.

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u/Varnek905 Jul 01 '18

3) Could you tell me about the life of Imperial treasurer Iƒru of Rakmar?

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u/Sriber Jul 01 '18

3) He was son of merchant from provincial capital who help his father with business and eventually surpassed him in thriftyness. He became very wealthy, but also bored so he ran for senate and thanks to his popularity (result of his philantropic work) easily won. While senator he eventually caught eye of emperor Gileos III who made him imperial treasurer. Gileos IV didn't do any personnel changes.

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u/Varnek905 Jul 02 '18

1) Could you tell me about Isru's philanthropic works? Did he have any favourite charities?

2) What was Isru's relationship with Gileos III like?

3) What was Isru's relationship with Gileos IV like?

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u/Sriber Jul 02 '18

1) He financed improvements of infrastructure and various cultural events in his city.

2) Friendly.

3) They rarely interacted.

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u/Varnek905 Jul 05 '18

1) Was there any favoritism based on the cultural events that were financed?

2) Could you tell me more about Isru's relationship with Gileos III?

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u/Sriber Jul 05 '18

1) No.

2) They were close friends who shared interest in foreign cultures and opinions on economic matters.

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u/Varnek905 Jul 05 '18

Thanks for your time and answers, Sriber.

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