Good Books

[William M. Fisher]

David Eddings is very good with political-fantasy writings. He looks
at politics from the point of view of warlords, citizens, theives, all
sorts of characters. He has many Ideas that can be adapted to a
Birthright setting easily. Also the Serpentwar Saga (the author's name
escapes me) is good reading, the second book is "Rise of a merchant
prince" and deals with economics and guild tradings wonderfully (a must
for rogue PC's)
-WMFII

[Vestrii@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-05-08 07:00:12 EDT, you write:

> The author's name is Raymond Fiest. And his books are good BR material.
> While the "Serpent War" is great I suggest also looking at the "Riftwar
> Saga"(the first book is called "Magician: Apprentice", and its by the same
> author. Give them a look.

Yes the Riftwar Saga was excellent. IMHO they're as good as Tolkien
and therefore some of the best fantasy in existence. Also a great series
by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts for Politics is the Daughter of the
Empire series (Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, &
Mistress of the Empire). These detail the incredibly violent and complex
politics of the Tsuarani Empire on Kelewan (the second world of the
Riftwar saga). There's also Prince of the Blood & Kings Buccaneer
also by Feist. Prince of the Blood gives a glimpse of the Politics of
Great Kesh and Kings Buccaneer is just a good story. These should
be read after the 4 books of the Riftwar Saga but before the 3 books
of the Serpent War series.

If you read all 12 of these books I feel confident that you will fall in love
with the settings. Personally a pet project of mine is converting these
two worlds over to a Birthright system so I can fight it out! I'll probably
finish sometime in my lifetime so if you want to see it and expect to be
alive for the next 50 or so years drop me a line! :)

Dave

[Goldngrifn@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-05-08 01:39:49 EDT, you write:

>

The author's name that escapes you is Raymond E. Feist, and the Serpentwar
Saga is not his first in that world.

The Golden Griffon

[LrdUnholy@aol.co]

Robert Jordans Wheel of Time books are written very well from a military and
medieval political standpoint. He graduated from the citadel so he knows what
he is writing about.l

[Vestrii@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-05-07 22:56:03 EDT, you write:

> I believe, even though it's been 2 or 3 years since I've read Machiavelli,
> that "The Prince" is more of an example of what *NOT* to do!! (This is
> personal opinion, BTW)

Well I would disagree (my personal opinion). For its time the Prince was
an excellent guide. The methods wouldn't work as well today because
our standards have changed and also for a lot of other reasons.
Machiavelli preached that a ruler had to seperate himself from issues
of morality. He could not worry about niceties. If he wanted to remain
in power he had to be completely ruthless.

Dave

[Caitlanagh@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-05-09 01:24:01 EDT, you write:

>> I believe, even though it's been 2 or 3 years since I've read Machiavelli,
>> that "The Prince" is more of an example of what *NOT* to do!! (This is
>> personal opinion, BTW)
>
>Well I would disagree (my personal opinion). For its time the Prince was
>an excellent guide. The methods wouldn't work as well today because
>our standards have changed and also for a lot of other reasons.
>Machiavelli preached that a ruler had to seperate himself from issues
>of morality. He could not worry about niceties. If he wanted to remain
>in power he had to be completely ruthless.
>
>Dave

My point exactly. If a ruler is completely ruthless, how long do you think
that it'll take before the peasants rebel?

Richard Macri

[Trevor Romkey]

At 08:12 PM 13/05/97 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-05-09 01:24:01 EDT, you write:
>
>>> I believe, even though it's been 2 or 3 years since I've read Machiavelli,
>>> that "The Prince" is more of an example of what *NOT* to do!! (This is
>>> personal opinion, BTW)
>>
>>Well I would disagree (my personal opinion). For its time the Prince was
>>an excellent guide. The methods wouldn't work as well today because
>>our standards have changed and also for a lot of other reasons.
>>Machiavelli preached that a ruler had to seperate himself from issues
>>of morality. He could not worry about niceties. If he wanted to remain
>>in power he had to be completely ruthless.
>>
>>Dave
>
>My point exactly. If a ruler is completely ruthless, how long do you think
>that it'll take before the peasants rebel?
>
>Richard Macri


History would disagree with you...in fact it was generally when a ruler
started to institute change(during the middle ages) that the peasants rebelled.

The Prince was not only a blue print for despots, it was required reading in
almost every household of it's age...

[Vestrii@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-05-14 01:02:19 EDT, you write:

> My point exactly. If a ruler is completely ruthless, how long do you think
> that it'll take before the peasants rebel?
>

Let them :) Seriously though the rulers of the time faced rebellion at every
turn mainly from dissatisfied nobles. A peasant revolt did not have the
same sense of danger as we attribute to them today. Sure it would be
dangerous and inconvienient but they'd just roll out the army and slaughter
them.

Dave

[JOHN RICKARDS]

>
> >> I believe, even though it's been 2 or 3 years since I've read Machiavelli,
> >> that "The Prince" is more of an example of what *NOT* to do!! (This is
> >> personal opinion, BTW)
> >
> >Well I would disagree (my personal opinion). For its time the Prince was
> >an excellent guide. The methods wouldn't work as well today because
> >our standards have changed and also for a lot of other reasons.
> >Machiavelli preached that a ruler had to seperate himself from issues
> >of morality. He could not worry about niceties. If he wanted to remain
> >in power he had to be completely ruthless.
> >
> >Dave
>
> My point exactly. If a ruler is completely ruthless, how long do you think
> that it'll take before the peasants rebel?
>
> Richard Macri

Don't forget that although todays standards are different, as far as
Birthright goes it's still very much the middle ages, when The Prince
is really quite up to date, even allowing for the different
background. As for ruthless rulers - look at Ghoere, Osoerde
(although there's the additional problem of William Moergan there -
the new duke failed to carry out Machiavelli's advice and destroy
anyone who might present a threat right at the start of your reign.
Commit all your atrocities in one go right at the start and people
will forget if you're fair later on). Dragon #220 had an article on
dirty tricks - advice from Sun Tzu, Machiavelli and some other stuff
in it, and it's really pretty good. Although I think having all your
political opponents killed is perhaps a touch extreme. Winning them
over, ah, that's a different kettle of fish.

John Rickards

"He who is looking for something has lost something."
"And he who is not looking?"
"He gets run over."



PS. Dan. Hahahahaha.