Eawan on adversaries
Jun. 23rd, 2003 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drydemA Treatise on Balance in Fae Society
The delusions of the modern world run thick. With the Seelie court run amok and the Unseelie court perverted we stand in an unbalanced reality.
On one side, you have the dragon, fierce monster threatening to destroy the village. On the other, you have the knight, proud warrior prepared to protect the village. In a basic understanding, one may think that these two oppose each other, that they are on the basic level, incompatible. But that is untrue. That is the fallacy of opposition. Opposition is not an incompatibility but the truest compatibility. Examine it this way. Without the dragon, the knight would have no purpose, he would sit at home and grow old and fat. Without the knight, the dragon would have no purpose. He would devour the town and without the villagers to fear him, he would be no monster. Only together can the two thrive. The knight must fight the dragon and the dragon must fight the knight and the cycle must continue.
So it is with the Courts. Before the shattering all kingdoms of the fae practiced the old ways. There was a time of exchange of rulership in which balance was maintained. The knight fought the dragon year in and year out and all was well. These old ways were good, the world was maintained and things progressed well. But upon the return from Arcadia things went awry and balance was lost. The seelie court sought not to drive the dragon from the village but to remove it from the equation. The Unseelie court was plagued by shadows and sought to destroy the possibility of the knight. Let us examine these problems with studies of two individual members of these courts and their espoused philosophies.
Baron Captain Alexander LeBois ap Gwydion is the epitome of all that is the modern seelie court, ruthless in his pursuit of order and control. His actions and words concerning events such as the accordance war and the death of his wife denote an unhealthy need for control over his environment. Unwilling to accept either adversaries or adversity, he used the weapon of the Amorica to attempt to eliminate both, pushing the city of muses out of balance, leaving it open to a rapid swing to the unseelie, which happened after his disappearance. LeBois' insistance was that all dreams must fall in line with his dream, all things must come under the aegis of the seelie court. This denial of the necessity of balance, of challenge, pushed things even further from LeBois' desired order into the realm of chaos.
Equally unbalanced was(or perhaps is) Greynold Quick ap Balor. Where LeBois was control run amok, Quick was destruction run amok. Quick espouses the philosophy of destruction, of the use of cold iron to remove that which does not suit him. Note in this the exact correlation with LeBois' actions(a comparison that I believe both would find highly insulting). However, while LeBois preached order, Quick was a true proponent of chaos. Quick's stated philosophy was that nobody should ever tell anyone what to do, that rulership should be abandoned in favor of anarchy. This philosophy of freedom over all, while semantically intriguing, is equally tyrannical with LeBois' order. Failure to accept the interdependence of order and chaos, of rulership and anarchy, of light and dark, results in an unbalanced state.
These individuals in many ways represent the prevailing philosophies within their courts, though they are in both cases extreme examples. This problem of unbalance is felt strongly within the center of both courts and is thus a problem of the entire system as it now exists. The time has come(hopefully not passed) to remove both courts as they exist from the equation. The Unseelie court seeks now merely to destroy the village and leave a barren wasteland. The Seelie court seeks not just to slay the dragon but to remove the possibility of dragons from the world. A new road is necessary. We must carve our destinies anew, without the tyranny of unbalance.
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The delusions of the modern world run thick. With the Seelie court run amok and the Unseelie court perverted we stand in an unbalanced reality.
On one side, you have the dragon, fierce monster threatening to destroy the village. On the other, you have the knight, proud warrior prepared to protect the village. In a basic understanding, one may think that these two oppose each other, that they are on the basic level, incompatible. But that is untrue. That is the fallacy of opposition. Opposition is not an incompatibility but the truest compatibility. Examine it this way. Without the dragon, the knight would have no purpose, he would sit at home and grow old and fat. Without the knight, the dragon would have no purpose. He would devour the town and without the villagers to fear him, he would be no monster. Only together can the two thrive. The knight must fight the dragon and the dragon must fight the knight and the cycle must continue.
So it is with the Courts. Before the shattering all kingdoms of the fae practiced the old ways. There was a time of exchange of rulership in which balance was maintained. The knight fought the dragon year in and year out and all was well. These old ways were good, the world was maintained and things progressed well. But upon the return from Arcadia things went awry and balance was lost. The seelie court sought not to drive the dragon from the village but to remove it from the equation. The Unseelie court was plagued by shadows and sought to destroy the possibility of the knight. Let us examine these problems with studies of two individual members of these courts and their espoused philosophies.
Baron Captain Alexander LeBois ap Gwydion is the epitome of all that is the modern seelie court, ruthless in his pursuit of order and control. His actions and words concerning events such as the accordance war and the death of his wife denote an unhealthy need for control over his environment. Unwilling to accept either adversaries or adversity, he used the weapon of the Amorica to attempt to eliminate both, pushing the city of muses out of balance, leaving it open to a rapid swing to the unseelie, which happened after his disappearance. LeBois' insistance was that all dreams must fall in line with his dream, all things must come under the aegis of the seelie court. This denial of the necessity of balance, of challenge, pushed things even further from LeBois' desired order into the realm of chaos.
Equally unbalanced was(or perhaps is) Greynold Quick ap Balor. Where LeBois was control run amok, Quick was destruction run amok. Quick espouses the philosophy of destruction, of the use of cold iron to remove that which does not suit him. Note in this the exact correlation with LeBois' actions(a comparison that I believe both would find highly insulting). However, while LeBois preached order, Quick was a true proponent of chaos. Quick's stated philosophy was that nobody should ever tell anyone what to do, that rulership should be abandoned in favor of anarchy. This philosophy of freedom over all, while semantically intriguing, is equally tyrannical with LeBois' order. Failure to accept the interdependence of order and chaos, of rulership and anarchy, of light and dark, results in an unbalanced state.
These individuals in many ways represent the prevailing philosophies within their courts, though they are in both cases extreme examples. This problem of unbalance is felt strongly within the center of both courts and is thus a problem of the entire system as it now exists. The time has come(hopefully not passed) to remove both courts as they exist from the equation. The Unseelie court seeks now merely to destroy the village and leave a barren wasteland. The Seelie court seeks not just to slay the dragon but to remove the possibility of dragons from the world. A new road is necessary. We must carve our destinies anew, without the tyranny of unbalance.
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-23 12:57 pm (UTC)We need to have a very long sitdown. Get out the Go board and the tea set. I'll be over to your school this evening if you are free.
ShogunBaron Ciernan MacKenzieno subject
Date: 2003-06-23 04:01 pm (UTC)Aemilia Issana Ciarda Chandi ap Ailil
no subject
Date: 2003-06-23 05:39 pm (UTC)Not that you'd listen to me, but I'm afraid you might have missed the forest for the trees. Or better yet, as a dear dead friend said to me once: It's easier to repair a crumbling bridge than it is to burn the bridge down and then try to build a new one. Let's heal the sickness, not kill the patient and hope the next one isn't as sick.
Oh, and be careful with dearest Chandi. Though I've never met her outside of the Far East, there she's a real bitch. Takes one to know one. ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-06-23 10:25 pm (UTC)It pleases me greatly to see your interest in balance of the courts, Eawan. For all our disagreements in the past, I am continually surprised at how much we have in common. As Ciernan would tell you, restoring the balance of Unseelie and Seelie courts has become a central concern of mine of late, spurred by visions of Thaddeus the alchemist. Striking a balance between the courts is essential to the survival of Muses—-for not doing so could be our undoing come the end of the year. The City is currently “stuck” in the disharmony of Seelie control; its fear of the dark brings the greater darkness of unbalance. I must disagree with you about Greynald Quick embodying the mentality of the Unseelie; there are those who do not wish for the destruction of the “village,” but would see balance return between the courts. This is what I have talked with Ciernan--how we might strike such a balance. I do not think the answer lies in destroying the courts. To do so in name would be to do little in actuality, since the Unseelie would remain scattered, and the Seelie clustered more or less into a court. Instead, I suggest forming an honest partnership between Courts (which would first require the organization of an Unseelie court). Alternation of governship, as was traditional in the old days (Seelie rule until Samhain, Unseelie rule until Beltane), may not work for us. A shared governing seat with a representative from the Seelie court (Baron Ciernan) and someone else from the Unseelie may be a feasible alternative.
What is certain is that for us to strike a balance and avoid the calamity that awaits us should the City be caught unbalanced at the end of the year, the Seelie will have to give up some control; and the Unseelie will have to have some faith in the Seelie’s intentions. It is only in confronting our individual court downfalls that we might come together to restore this city. I hope we can find a way to work together; I, for one, intend to put my all into it.
Lady Nyx Phosphoresce
no subject
Date: 2003-06-24 06:45 am (UTC)I'd say its up to Drydem. If he wants he should post this wonderful speech on the list and then we could just cut and paste our responses as we wish. Might stir the List up and get some stuff cooking. HOWEVER, I'm not sure its something that Baron Eawan would want to have linked to him in the public eye! This is the problem with Livejournal posts and replies. I would say, without talking to an ST, that they do not count as in-game material...
However, because of my experience with the sockpuppet theatre earlier in the year, I love the idea of roleplaying through Livejournal posts! Just not a good idea for this particular game unless the ST's would like to make a ruling which would only serve to make more work for themselves. Something, I am sure they do not want to do. *grin*
Regardless, *bows to Eawan* I think we should be able to post stuff like this for folks to read OOC. It adds depth and texture to one's perception of another's character. *poses in kung-fu moment*
Coyote Watches/Mythwalker
no subject
Date: 2003-06-24 08:10 am (UTC)THis is not really intended to be a public statement by Eawan. He would never say some of these things in public. It's more a matter of exploring perspective. Exploring the Eiluned balance motif that runs through Eawan.