: Why bother defeating Soulblighter when you're just going
: to proclaim yourself Emperor of a desert? That's what
: the Empire is right? A desert? You would have to think
: that the nobles in the Province and Free Cities of the
: North would say, "Hang on a minute, I think
: Alric's off his nut." I would declare
: independance from the so called Empire and consider
: matters closer to home. Why not even create a
: republic?
If the Leveller can turn a thriving empire into a desert, Alric can probably reverse the process--although of course it'll take a lot longer. According to GURPS, much of the land has already (by 1 year after Soulblighter) been reclaimed for farming and so forth.
And there are other reasons to occupy the Barrier. All the valuable magical and technological artifacts of the Cath Bruig--like Balmung and the Ibis Crown--are still lying out there, waiting to be reclaimed; the Light better get out there and retrieve them before the Dark does. Also, a Light-occupied Barrier would serve as a buffer zone between the Province and dangerous regions like the Untamed Lands and the Blind Steppes--if nothing else, Barrier inhabitants could bring word of invasion that much faster. Finally, it would allow the Western Light regions to connect with Gower in the East, strengthening both states.
Declare independence? Alric is beloved by his citizens, since he governs well and has personally saved their a$$es from ravening undead twice over now; he's also probably feared by them, since he's got enough magical killpower in his little finger to wipe out the entire population of Estonia. So even if a noble could bring himself to oppose Alric, it'd be awfully hard to raise an appreciable army against him. And he'd probably lose anyway.
And very few nobles would support a republic, I imagine. They may not like serving under a king, but it's usually worth it to have control over all the commoners.
--SiliconDream
