Feudal Stars

[Steve]

The title of this posting is my working title for an interstellar campaign I am working on, set 10,000+ years into the future. It borrows a bit from the Dune novels, the Deathstalker novels and Warhammer 40K, but I'm trying to steer away from the more grimdark themes. It is basically a galaxy of variant human species. Sentient aliens originating on other planets were never found, but humanity expanded outward, fell into a Dark Age and evolved along different paths on different worlds before the empire reconnected them.

 

The galaxy is organized into an empire of feudal structure, using Western European titles for now: Duke, Baron, etc. One question arises from this. Assuming a feudal empire controlling a large part of the galaxy, possibly most of it, how should I parcel it among Dukedoms, Baronies, etc? Divide it into cubes of a certain number of light-years on a side maybe?

 

Communications between the stars is done via a form of telepathy, and mechanical means are non-existent. I'm thinking I could do this with Mind Link, but I'm wondering if there are other ways. I'd also like to import some of the concepts from Warhammer 40k but don't know if any conversions are around for Astropathy abilities. Telepaths are organized into a guild for this purpose.

 

Hyperspace travel is something like in 40K or Babylon 5, using an ocean-like dimension, but navigation requires a psychic ability instead of Star Wars-style mechanical course plotting. Navigators are thus another guild.

[IndianaJoe3]

The galaxy is organized into an empire of feudal structure, using Western European titles for now: Duke, Baron, etc. One question arises from this. Assuming a feudal empire controlling a large part of the galaxy, possibly most of it, how should I parcel it among Dukedoms, Baronies, etc? Divide it into cubes of a certain number of light-years on a side maybe?

 

Empty space isn't valuable. Noble rank is based on how much firepower they can supply to their liege lord, and that is based on the wealth and population of the systems they control.

[Spence]

Hyperspace travel is something like in 40K or Babylon 5, using an ocean-like dimension, but navigation requires a psychic ability instead of Star Wars-style mechanical course plotting. Navigators are thus another guild.

 

 

Empty space isn't valuable. Noble rank is based on how much firepower they can supply to their liege lord, and that is based on the wealth and population of the systems they control.

 

IndianaJoe3 has a point.  I have never liked the idea in most scifi of the different factions having territories laid out like territories on a planet.  Though I have definitely played games with them like everyone else.    A long time ago I read a book that mentioned that like old world naval actions, space battles would be tied to locations of actual value.    The same could be applied to governance of space faring government entities.

 

Instead of having hyperspace travel be easy, have the hyper-dimension contain powerful reciprocal currents and maelstroms as well as calmer areas.   This could establish the Trades between fortunate systems and give reasons for escorts or pickets to protect the merchantmen. 

 

It would also allow different principalities to be composed of multiple systems that interpenetrate their neighbors in physical space, but are separated by travel distance.

 

Another aspect to think if is communication.   If the only way to communicate is via a courier ship than the realistic area that can be directly controlled will be far less than if they enjoy even a limited FTL comm system.   

 

For titles, are they hereditary or based on power?  There have been real world Duchy's more powerful than Barony's and Barony's more powerful than Duchy's.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Borders and regions are just about as antithetical to feudalism as it is possible to imagine. To be sure, regional lords existed, but they were the guys who tended to escape the constraints and uses of the system. Wardens of the North (or the real world Percies and Nevilles on which Martin's Starks are based) and suchlike are more-or-less acknowledgements that your system isn't working. Real feudal lords practice Kaisernahe-- proximity to the ruler. They are families like the Nassau-Orange, who bought lands in proximity of the ruler's residence city, transitioning in less than fifty years from an upper Rhenish family identified with a lower Rhonish principality into "Dutch" nobility on the strength of their newly-acquired estate of Beda and its Hollander appanages.  

[IndianaJoe3]

Borders and regions are just about as antithetical to feudalism as it is possible to imagine. To be sure, regional lords existed, but they were the guys who tended to escape the constraints and uses of the system.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.  A lord needs to know the boundaries of his fief, because that's where he draws his support from. Everybody knows their place in the hierarchy. If you think you can beat up your lord, you raise an army to force the issue and if you win, you become the lord.

 

I think we may be thinking of two different time periods. I'm talking about 11th/12th-century England, and you're talking about 16th-century Holland.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Sounds like Telepaths would also have their own Guild. Am I correct?

 

As for how to carve up the galaxy, I'd suggest limiting the entry/exit points for hyperspace to a few select star systems, and make those the focal points of each fiefdom. They're either the result of a rare natural phenomenon (such as the wormhole junctions in the Honor Harrington series) or they're relics of a vanished civilization, whether human or alien.

[Spence]

Sounds like Telepaths would also have their own Guild. Am I correct?

 

As for how to carve up the galaxy, I'd suggest limiting the entry/exit points for hyperspace to a few select star systems, and make those the focal points of each fiefdom. They're either the result of a rare natural phenomenon (such as the wormhole junctions in the Honor Harrington series) or they're relics of a vanished civilization, whether human or alien.

 

Another possibility that I have always really enjoyed using as a GM is the warp-point system from Starfire (really old wargame from the 80's).  But instead of the Harrington style wormhole, all star travel is via "wormhole".  Starfire called them warp-points.

 

Some general info points:

• Each warp-point connected to a counterpart in a different system.
• Exiting a WP leaves the ships crew and electronics disrupted/disoriented for  period of time. 
• Most WP's exist in the outer system near massive planets/masses. 
• Instead of one type however, there were categories of them, from micro-pinhole to huge ones that can accommodate multimillion ton vessels.
• Not all warp-points are stable, most used WP's are stable, but some are flicker in and out at unpredictable periods, some cycle like clock work.  
• WP's can be unidirectional.
• Travel time through a WP to the destination is completely dependent on the WP.
• Average inhabited systems average 1-3 WP's, though there are warp nexus that can have up to 15 or 16.
• It is possible for a system to not have a WP at all.  Some pre-WP discovery colonies were in systems that do not have any WP's.  
• You do not know where a WP goes until you send a ship through, and it is possible for the ship to be destroyed upon emergence (exit too small) or to not be able to find the WP in order to return.
• The two ends of a WP pair do not necessarily accommodate the same mass limits.
• Detecting the location of a WP takes specialized equipment and time.

All of this was great for the war game, but you may find it useful to mold the flow of your universe.  A Star Kingdom may consist of several interconnected systems with only one terminus connecting to the greater galaxy via a nexus.   Some cul-de-sac worlds could have their single WP fortified.    Known WP's leading to unfriendly systems could have Star Fortresses built to control exiting traffic.  

[Steve]

My current plan is to have interstellar transmissions only being available through psychic abilities rather than mechanical means. This is not to say that Traveller-style couriers don't exist, only that FTL radio doesn't.

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to mix Dune's Spacing Guild with aspects of 40K hyperspace travel. Perhaps short hops can be done Traveller style, but truly long jumps requires a psionic navigator. This would tend to cause clusters of civilization centered around hub systems, I am thinking.

[IndianaJoe3]

Another possibility that I have always really enjoyed using as a GM is the warp-point system from Starfire (really old wargame from the 80's).  But instead of the Harrington style wormhole, all star travel is via "wormhole".  Starfire called them warp-points.

 

Trivia: David Weber also worked on Starfire, writing several expansions for it.

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to mix Dune's Spacing Guild with aspects of 40K hyperspace travel. Perhaps short hops can be done Traveller style, but truly long jumps requires a psionic navigator. This would tend to cause clusters of civilization centered around hub systems, I am thinking.

I've worked on a setting with something similar. "Slow" FTL would take several days to cover a light-year. However, "star-bridges" could be used to teleport almost instantly between fixed endpoints. They were massive, expensive structures that required a wealthy system to justify their expense.

[Xavier Onassiss]

My current plan is to have interstellar transmissions only being available through psychic abilities rather than mechanical means. This is not to say that Traveller-style couriers don't exist, only that FTL radio doesn't.

 

I'm trying to figure out a way to mix Dune's Spacing Guild with aspects of 40K hyperspace travel. Perhaps short hops can be done Traveller style, but truly long jumps requires a psionic navigator. This would tend to cause clusters of civilization centered around hub systems, I am thinking.

 

This is awesome, keep going.

[Steve]

IndianaJoe3 has a point.  I have never liked the idea in most scifi of the different factions having territories laid out like territories on a planet.  Though I have definitely played games with them like everyone else.    A long time ago I read a book that mentioned that like old world naval actions, space battles would be tied to locations of actual value.    The same could be applied to governance of space faring government entities.

 

Instead of having hyperspace travel be easy, have the hyper-dimension contain powerful reciprocal currents and maelstroms as well as calmer areas.   This could establish the Trades between fortunate systems and give reasons for escorts or pickets to protect the merchantmen. 

 

It would also allow different principalities to be composed of multiple systems that interpenetrate their neighbors in physical space, but are separated by travel distance.

 

Another aspect to think if is communication.   If the only way to communicate is via a courier ship than the realistic area that can be directly controlled will be far less than if they enjoy even a limited FTL comm system.   

 

For titles, are they hereditary or based on power?  There have been real world Duchy's more powerful than Barony's and Barony's more powerful than Duchy's.

 

I'm thinking that this universe's version of hyperspace is something akin to the Warp from Warhammer 40K, populated by entities that are unfriendly to ships but not quite to the same level as 40K's Warp.

 

"Shoals" are quieter areas that can be navigated electronically, but the rate is slow, on the order of one or more days per light-year. To get between such shoals requires traveling the deeper realms of hyperspace, and that requires a Navigator, a psychic able to deal with the depths of hyperspace.

 

Titles are hereditary, but I could see some Barons actually being more powerful than Dukes of faltering, older Houses. I have to sit down and think out the hierarchy of the empire.

[IndianaJoe3]

"Shoals" are quieter areas that can be navigated electronically, but the rate is slow, on the order of one or more days per light-year. To get between such shoals requires traveling the deeper realms of hyperspace, and that requires a Navigator, a psychic able to deal with the depths of hyperspace.

Shoals make good natural boundaries, then. It also lets you have some variation between them. 

Titles are hereditary, but I could see some Barons actually being more powerful than Dukes of faltering, older Houses. I have to sit down and think out the hierarchy of the empire.

A small but wealthy shoal might have a duke but few landed vassals, while a shoal that is physically large but lacking in resources might require a number of petty nobles to administrate.

[Steve]

FTL travel makes use of what I am currently calling the "Minovsky Drive" to allow entry into the Sea of Dirac, an immaterial dimension located next to ours. In the Sea of Dirac are deeps and shallows, and many star systems sit on shoals in the Sea. The deeper one goes, the faster one can travel, but it requires a Navigator to go below the uppermost layer (which allows travel at about 1-2 Parsecs per week and can be navigated electronically without too much risk).

 

Going deeper into the Sea multiplies that base speed, but it is frighteningly easy to become lost in its depths and never reemerge back into normal space. A Navigator uses a form of Bump of Direction to know where they are within the Sea of Dirac and can go for up to a week without sleep using special meditative techniques and chemical assistance.

 

My current notion is thst shoals are formed by two or more star systems within a few light-years of each other.

 

The Sea of Dirac is also populated by strange forms of life, but such things stay down in its lower-most depths. There are also whispers in the darkness, even near the surface.

[Lawnmower Boy]

I'm not sure what you mean by this.  A lord needs to know the boundaries of his fief, because that's where he draws his support from. Everybody knows their place in the hierarchy. If you think you can beat up your lord, you raise an army to force the issue and if you win, you become the lord.

 

I think we may be thinking of two different time periods. I'm talking about 11th/12th-century England, and you're talking about 16th-century Holland.

 

This is not actually the case. If you look at a medieval survey like the Doomsday Book, you will see that regions are broken down, ultimately, into the number of functional units they contain, not area. (Which medieval surveyors would have had difficulty measuring, anyway.) For the Domeday book, it is "hides" they contain. A hide began as a unit of land sufficient to support a household and later became a tax unit. In either case, a grant of feudal rights was of a number of hides in a given riding/hundred/wappentake, etc. It then devolved on a household. And guess what? Actual households didn't enjoy property rights over a square of so many meters on a side. Rather, they would have fields up and down (arable dry/arable wet), forest rights, commons rights, gathering rights and so on. In the feudal economic mode, it didn't matter, because the lord was interested in the fees, not the real estate. 

 

Now, one's opinion of the actual value of the "feudal mode" heuristic aside, we have substantial data about how this played out when it came time to turn "feudal" land rights into surveyed map rights during the Early Modern/Enlightenment, and it was a godawful mess. The King of France's Chambre des Reunions claimed vast tracts in western Germany on the basis of maximal interpretations of the map extent of feudal rights.

 

Now, you will say that this doesn't change the fact that a lord would have a regional base, often with a castle and everything. And this is true! a castle has to be somewhere. It is just that the more rich and powerful a noble family is, the more widely dispersed around the kingdom will be its property, not least on the basis of a desire to achieve proximity to the royal court.

 

Since you object to the example of Nassau-Orange, which I personally thought was a pretty good fit to the Dune-like atmosphere that Steve was going for and which well illustrated the perils of taking feudal titles as regional administrative blocks, how about the Earls of Arundel? Arundel is a small and important fief, as it is at the pass on the road across the Weald from London to the Sussex ports, convenient for someone sailing for the Seine and Paris. The title of Earl of Arundel might have been created for Roger de Montgomery, better known as the Earl of Shrewsbury, or sometimes Earl of Shropshire. That's a long way from Arundel, but, of course, William wanted both strategically vital Arundel and Sheffield in the fractious north in the hands of a trusted lieutenant.

 

Moving on, the title was recreated for Roger d'Aubigny, Earl of Lincoln and of Arundel. Once again, the same family held a fief in the far north of England and an hour's drive south of London. And notice that Roger himself was born in a castle in Norfolk to an East Anglian peer and the daughter of the Earl of Norfolk. Throw in an appanage on the Welsh frontier, and you'd get the four corners of old England!

 

Nor is this kind of dispersal in any way unique. We all know that the Hohenzollern are the family of the Kings in Prussia, which is today a Russian enclave on the Baltic coast of Poland. but they got that title by leveraging their rights as Electors of Brandenburg (Greater Berlin), and they earned the right to cal themselves "Electors" when they were burg-grafen of  Nuremberg. The one advantage of this stop is that at least a straight line through Berlin to Nuremberg points towards the original Castle Zollern, down in picturesque Swabia, from which the house was raised to greatness by their neighbours, the lords of the Habichtsburg.

 

Etc, etc. I am not trying to scold Steve for having bad fun here. I'm just pointing out that the "feudal model," in which kings are served by powerful lords who draw their revenues from lands granted by the king, is just about the worse system possible for creating localised power blocs similar to modern states and provinces.

[Steve]

In fiction and an RPG, feudal can be made to work on an interstellar level.

 

 

 

Based on my current star travel method of the Minovsky Drive, not every star system will be claimed, so border disputes can exist. I'm contemplating having the Imperium be truly feudal at this point without an overseeing Emperor, so petty lords are sizing each other up as the social order shakes up.

 

I am thinking of borrowing the notion of Dune's personal shield technology, so this will be a galaxy where superior swordsmanship can settle a dispute. Social Combat from the APG will also exist.

[IndianaJoe3]

Based on my current star travel method of the Minovsky Drive, not every star system will be claimed, so border disputes can exist. I'm contemplating having the Imperium be truly feudal at this point without an overseeing Emperor, so petty lords are sizing each other up as the social order shakes up.

 

I can see a (possibly informal) "Council of Nobles" forming to settle disputes, and whoever is the best deal-maker and political strategist winding up as king (in name, at least). It might not be completely stable, but there's a lot of story potential in an unstable situation (look at Shakespeare's history plays).

[Asperion]

the main reason that i have no prob with scifi dividing up light year regions into territories is that planets/systems will want to align itself with a multi-system body similar to the way the colonies gathered together right after the American Revolution.  just like in the major cities on earth, the main places that the defending body would be able to properly defend itself would be on planet or station or during an accidental encounter.  any other place would be like the wilderness regions on earth that received little to no true patrols by anyone other than the locals (if even then).  that is why the natives were able to roam so long and gain such a strong force among thier kind and hold off the u.s. military, despite that the u.s. military was way more equipped and manned.

[Steve]

I can see a (possibly informal) "Council of Nobles" forming to settle disputes, and whoever is the best deal-maker and political strategist winding up as king (in name, at least). It might not be completely stable, but there's a lot of story potential in an unstable situation (look at Shakespeare's history plays).

 

Hmm, that is a possibility. I was thinking a form of social contract existed that prevented outright warfare between the various principalities, duchies, baronies, etc. But having a Council of Nobles acting in the stead of the Emperor is an intriguing option. Perhaps each of the most powerful lords is scheming on how to attain the throne.

 

One thing I am considering for this universe is that it is a low-end superhuman setting. The nobility are descendants of superhuman lineages formed long ago.

[BlueCloud2k2]

I would divvy up territory as follows (not sure on proper terms but here goes):

 

Grand Duke - Collection of Solar Systems

Duke - One Solar System

Earl/Count - One Planet or Moon

Baron - Continent or Large Swatch of Land.

[Spence]

How do they communicate between systems? 

 

How long for a message/news to make it between planets in the same system or between different systems?    This will have a direct bearing on the type of government and how much control they have. 

[BlueCloud2k2]

I think he mentioned something about a Telepath's guild or some such.
 
The problem with such a system is that TPs would basically be able to manipulate the Empire to their liking. So if they wanted to start a civil War by turning The Arch Duchess of New Kiev against the Arch Duke of Pandagna, they could very easily manipulate correspondence to the point that a war would erupt.
 
And since both New Kiev and Pandagna would have their allies (and enemies, thus creating allies of opportunity regardless of Maxim 29*) The Empire would rip itself apart.
 
And since FTL is dependent upon other psyches, the Navigator's Guild would control how the war was fought.
 
* Maxim 29 of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates**: The Enemy of my Enemy is my Enemy's Enemy. No more, no less.
 
** http://schlockmercenary.wikia.com/wiki/The_Seventy_Maxims_of_Maximally_Effective_Mercenaries

[NuSoardGraphite]

I would think that how the galaxy would be divided up would depend completely on the method of interstellar travel, how easy it is to get from system to sytem, how easy it is to defend systems, method and efficiency of communication and the average spread between habitable systems.

 

If there are specific warp/jump points that must be utilized for interstellar travel, holding large territory would be easier, as one simply has to defend the jump points near ones territory.

 

How large ones territory can be will depend on both the efficiency of travel between systems and the efficiency of communication between systems. if travel is extremely efficient, then it can also be used as a form of communication (courrier) in which case larger territories could be held, maintained and properly governed.

 

How common are these telepathic communicators used for interstellar conversations? i would imagine, unless they are extremely common, they would only be employed by the government, the military and the biggest economic entities (corporations if those exist in any form in your campaign)

 

With the structure of your setting, it seems to me that you would have several competing cultures that would rise up nearly simultaneously in various parts of the galaxy and eventually encounter each other. i would take the opportunity to have various exotic cultures that are competing for resources (habitable worlds etc) and perhaps searching for the lost technology of the once galaxy spanning empire from 10,000 years past.

 

In my own campaign, i have a democratic republic that spans a good chunk of known space that is surrounded by competing alien cultures (some of which it is allied woth, other neutral and still others hostile) along with several lost human cultures who are independant of the "federation" one of which is a feudal based society which spans about 1/3 of the number of federation worlds but with equivalent military might (they currently have a cold war going on) and another more distant lost human culture that is rapidly growing to rival the federation in size and scope but is socialist in nature.

 

It is my thought that a society where there is neither efficient ftl travel nor efficient ftl communication will go through a lot of political and territorial changes at a fairly rapid pace. there will be constant rebellions, successions, skirmeshes between rival lords and territories, with power continually changing hands and territories growing and shrinking with each lords ability to defend it. an overloard, king or emperor of such an empire would have to have a pretty convenient way of quickly reaching any single territory to maintain control if they wanted any chance whatsoever of holding the whole thing together, unless you gice that leader control of a very prescious resource that everyone wants/needs. dune solved this issue with the mcguffin of the spice. The emperor only maintained control of the galaxy because he controlled the production of the spice and consequently, the gates used for interstellar travel. you fuedal emperor could hold something similar over the heads of the nobility to keep them in check. perhaps the fuel needed for ftl travel can only be found on certain rare worlds, of which all of the known worlds are under the emperor's control. Or maybe all the psychics come from emperor controlled worlds.

[Spence]

What is the overall tech?  Here are three key points.

 

• You have a Feudal  government type.
• Swords are a preferred method of combat.
• No one has developed tech based communication.
• Long Range communication is handles via a Guild of Telepaths.

 

So based on a few assumptions.

 

A feudal type government is very faction oriented with not only the Nobility vying for power, but all the Guilds and Merchant Houses, Trade Guilds and Master Craft Guilds as well.

 

While honor and such are great, survival is much better.  Once a civilization reaches a certain point they will invent projectile weapons, guns, and then blades go away as a primary method.  And once a civilization reaches a certain point, then public honor and reality became two different things.  Now add that to a not having tech based communications.   Tech based, as in radio or wireless telegraph, communication is stupid easy to develop for an industrial civilization.   Even if you have Telepaths, once you enter the realm of technology, electrical, electronics, aircraft and so on.  You will develop tech based communications.

 

Unless, you do not have high tech, and your space faring technology was not actually invented by you.   If it is ‘found’ tech from an ancient civilization that is being used by you but not really understood by mankind.   Hull building (atmospheric and spacefaring) and Drive building for them are done by rote by Guilds wielding secret knowledge.  General technology is at the level of the 1860’s.  Except you have reliable aerial and space transportation.   If the distance between star systems is measured in months or at least weeks, and the size/capacity of starfaring ships is small, then the tech level would remain fairly stable and low.  Firearms would remain at the muzzle loading level because many of units dispatched to smaller worlds would have to replenish their own munitions.  Powder and shot is easy, machined casings and such are not.  Hence the popularity of the Sword. 

 

Telepathic communication, even if fairly numerous, would not be easy or freely available.  Even to the ruler.  The Telepathic Guild, keyword Guild, will have established itself with centuries of custom and protocol.  Most likely a Navigator and a Communicator would belong to different Houses within the Guild.  The actual process would be fiercely protected and secret with new telepaths ferreted out and recruited at a very early age and hidden among not gifted Guild members.    Much like a telegraph office the sender would most likely write or dictate a message that is sent to the Guild and then relayed to the intended recipient, who would be passed the message in writing.  How the process actually happens would be a fiercely guarded secret. The Guild representative that speaks to the Lord or Ruler most likely isn't a telepath himself, or if he is, most likely not a 'talker', but maybe able to 'listen in'.

 

From this perspective, it might take days for a raid to be reported to the Lord of a planet, it may take weeks or months for word to reach the Lord of a multi-planet or multi-system domain.   And then how does that Lord respond?  Just how many days to form an expedition, locate suitable transport and then make the voyage?

 

Lousy way to run an Empire, but a fantastic backdrop for a RPG game….

[DShomshak]

I think Steve's originalquestion about evenly-sized duchies may have been an allusion to the tidy rectangular sectors and subsectors of Traveller. The planetary Dukes answer to their subsector Governor, who answers to his sector Viceroy. (Or maybe it's a subsector viceroy and sector governor, I don't remember.)

 

I think it's a fairly absurd setup. And as Lawnmower Boy pointed out, real feudalism never divided up territory in such tidy hierachies.

 

It seems to me that the main political divisions will center on the shoals. Since travel between these nearby star systems can be handled by machines, they will be far more integrated, politically and economically. They will tend to build spheres of influence among the nearer, but less accessible, star systems. (Though many factors can affect the prosperity and power of individual star system communities, and consequently their influence on other societies.)

 

But you won't have hard borders between centers of power.

 

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

The Telepath Guild can be influential because it provides an important service, but it cannot easily manipulate nobles in the way suggested.

 

First, guilds are not hive minds. Suppose there's a ruling Guild Council and it decides to foment war between the grand Duchies of Abecedaria and Zymurgia. (Why? Never mind why. They're mad and evil, that's all.) The command comes down to deliver the proper false messages. Aaaand... Some telepaths in the two Grand Duchies will surely agree, because there's always someone willing to agree to any dumb-ass thing, there will also be telepaths who like living in Abecedaria and Zymurgia and feel some loyalty to the nobles that employ them. Someone goes to the Grand Duke and says, "Hey, boss who pays me extremely well, I just got the screwiest order from guild Central." And the scheme is blown.

 

The second problem is that telepaths are not the only source of information. If Abecedaria and Zymurgia are close enough that they can fight each other, they have trade, diplomacy, and other contacts that involve actual people going back and forth. Including spies. If the telepaths start reporting messages about what's happening in Zymurgia that are too divergent from what the spies and other actual people are saying, the Grand Duke of Abecedaria might get suspicious.

 

It's still possible to manipulate the two Grand Duchies into war. But no evil Guild mastermind can just give a command and have it done.

 

Dean Shomshak