249 replies to this topic

[Beazle]

Why do people keep talking about the CC leaders being crazy like it's a BAD thing?

If you were the smallest guy in a Battle Royale, and you've already been beaten down more times than you can count, don't you think some crazy might come in handy?

You can be the sane good guy if you want, but i'm gonna finish my fights by spittin out ears and curbstompin Victors.

[Balls of Steele]

I love that we're demonised so much, the delusion of others merely proves that Capellans are the only sane peoples in the 'verse. So many targets to choose from...

[Howling Mad Murdock]

The whole "Crazy" thing is probably a ruse to trick other Houses into thinking we are Weak and Misguided.....the fools... they couldn't be more wrong.

[IxxxI]

Speaking about "crazy China rulers", lets look at Terra's past, I've found recently one interesting person in China's history. I'm talking about Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908).

First notable (for me) fact is her portrait by Katharine Carl, that's exactly how I've imagined Romano Liao:

Second fact, more relevant to our conversation, is:
"The traditional view of the Empress Dowager Cixi was that of a devious despot who contributed in no small part to China's slide into corruption, anarchy, and revolution." But that view opposes opinions of people knew Empress personally, just check the Historical opinions paragraph if you are interested. Speaking about her ruthless fighting for power, you should always keep in mind historical background: environment, culture, traditions, what was going in the Europe (speaking not about Americas) at that period and what is most important: who is declaring "traditional" view!

P.S. Yeah, I also don't believe Wikipedia completely, but the article has links to external documents and books.

[Balls of Steele]

That would put her in charge during the Opium Wars if I'm not mistaken. Hard not to avoid parallels between British, American and French meddling in Chinese affairs and similar events against House Liao. They both speak of a nation in decline, on the brink almost and of course they both come to rise again. The CC is not simply Space China of course, but I can see Romano's face there right enough.

[Youngblood]

In charge she was, yes. In control, no, she wasn't. Cixi (pronounced Tsih Shee) Tai Hou was certainly very interesting in the domain of the imperial court. She made a lot of rule-breaking and/or tradition-breaking decisions, some inhumane, and some that were actually quite...human, if you looked at her perspective.

[Alaskan Viking]

But the Capellans ARE evil no good communist collectivist scum bags, aren't they?

[Name140704]

Demonizing the capellans is like demonizing a pack of dogs that barks at you. It's just a stupid bunch of animals operating on insinct and ignorantly behaving in a self destructive manner towards more intelligent and better armed individuals. Oh and the dogs bark.

[Victor Morson]

Beazle, on 20 May 2012 - 07:50 AM, said:

Why do people keep talking about the CC leaders being crazy like it's a BAD thing?

If you were the smallest guy in a Battle Royale, and you've already been beaten down more times than you can count, don't you think some crazy might come in handy?

You can be the sane good guy if you want, but i'm gonna finish my fights by spittin out ears and curbstompin Victors.

The problem is the Romano wasn't the good kind of crazy, but the "literally a schizophrenic" kind of crazy. Typically, they are the least dangerous people and delusions of, say, being a Goddess and such are met with people being ignored on the street.

However, she happens to be royal so she has legions of people agreeing with her. This lead her to murder who own people and freak military officers out so bad that "throwing yourself suicidally into the enemy" became the far preferable option to even regrouping for a defensive.

So yeah, she was crazy dangerous but mostly to her own people. It's like if you took Kim Jong with a dash of Stalin then gave them a mental illness that made them buy into their own propaganda and literally believe they were supernatural, then threw in a military that couldn't just be rolled over in a night when they do something terrible.

Edited by Victor Morson, 23 May 2012 - 03:21 PM.

[Daneiel]

Ouch you sound like the other houses are so good and nice , remember that snake Katherine Steiner-Davion or all good deeds of the Draconis Combine at Kentares IV . Nope every house has thorns on their skin.

Edited by daneiel varna, 23 May 2012 - 03:24 PM.

[Ratzap]

I played tabletop as a Liao merc for years. I wasn't into the RP aspect much personally but some at the cons really got into it. Me and my mates played Liao more because there was none of that honour nonsense from the kuris or steiner. Got inferno? No problem 8) Kicking shutdown mechs? No problem...

But yeah, read some of the books and she was depicted as pretty well barking.

Ratzap

[IxxxI]

NARCoMAN, on 23 May 2012 - 03:15 PM, said:

Demonizing the capellans is like demonizing a pack of dogs that barks at you. It's just a stupid bunch of animals operating on insinct and ignorantly behaving in a self destructive manner towards more intelligent and better armed individuals. Oh and the dogs bark.

Very intelligent, it's especially clearly seen from your post.

Edited by IxxxI, 23 May 2012 - 10:36 PM.

[Egomane]

Hey lxxxl, let the poor guy bark (his sig says he is a dog man).
We are capellans... we don't bark, we bite. And if in any way possible, we bite were it hurts the most.
If he believes otherwise, he will have to learn the hard and painfull way.

[Thorn Hallis]

To mis-quote a more or less unknown norwegian musician, that never made it past 25: "I'd don't want to see people respecting me, I want them to hate and fear!"

[Woodstock]

As a Laio player I should be agreeing with the OP ... but I dont think we can blame the Dev's for publishing the 'words' of a character who hates Romano Laio.

She is clearly bat sh*t!

Some more pro-CC stuff would be nice though.

[Alexander Caine]

I can see a lot of people here getting attention from the Maskirovka.

[Beazle]

Alaskan Viking, on 23 May 2012 - 03:06 PM, said:

But the Capellans ARE evil no good communist collectivist scum bags, aren't they?

MMmmmmm Not communist. Putting the state first is different. There is still a market system in place. Tax rates may be high, but that's because the CC is outnumbered, so everybody has to contribute that much more in order to stay competitive.

I can't speak for the entire CC, but i'm an evil scum bag. I'm pretty good at it though, and i'm no commie.

[Stone Profit]

Yes, suicidal attacks against superior forces because youre afraid of what your house leader will do to you for failure is totally a great way to conduct a war and give your nation its best chance, not to mention treat those who give the most to your nation.

[Thorn Hallis]

Stone Profit, on 26 May 2012 - 08:40 PM, said:

Yes, suicidal attacks against superior forces because youre afraid of what your house leader will do to you for failure is totally a great way to conduct a war and give your nation its best chance, not to mention treat those who give the most to your nation.

Not so much fear for the House Leader, but more for the tyranic rule of those leaders representing the superior forces.

[Stone Profit]

Thorn Hallis, on 27 May 2012 - 01:22 AM, said:

Not so much fear for the House Leader, but more for the tyranic rule of those leaders representing the superior forces.

there are multiple times in the novels where the Liao commanders said they would rather die in battle rather than face Romano Liaos punishment for failure, as dying in battle would be much less painful.