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Post by Caesar Divi Filius Augustus on Apr 23, 2016 0:20:46 GMT
[OOC: Octavius is in the process of establishing his Pax Romana territory in the following areas: The Mess Hall, the Hallways, The Hangar, the Supply Warehouse, and the miscellaneous areas outside specific territories around Chaldea, excluding the Virtual Simulation Room and the Research Division. This will disallow all violent actions within, to prevent infighting among Servants.]
Busy, Busy, Busy...
Octavius had realized a few things shortly after being summoned into Chaldea. One, his reputation had unfortunately preceded him. Which meant he was going to have to work twice, or three times, as hard to ingratiate himself into the position of power he wanted at Chaldea, as he was remembered as a tyrant who destroyed democracy. The Roman preferred to see himself as a liberator, a man who had guided Rome into the most glorious and successful part of it's career as an empire, but it did make his previous approach of consolidating power through democratic means a little more difficult. Two, being a Heroic Spirit came with a number of perks to make that job significantly easier. If one could be useful, one could be important.
Three, a large number of the other servants here were not only untrustworthy, but completely insane.
Saber had not interacted too terribly much with the other heroic spirits so far, but what he'd seen in the meeting to nominate agents for the 'Head Agent' position was remarkably unsettling. It was simply a forum to elect names and it had become rowdy and uncivilized in a manner of minutes. Afterwards he'd taken the chance to look at some of the incident reports around Chaldea, and had found a worrying number of aggressive encounters between servants in the clustered halls. Not all had ended in violence, the ones that had caused quite a bit of property damage, and many of the ones that hadn't had come close. While Octavius was somewhat agitated by this just because he frankly detested the ruffian sort who leap to violence, it did provide him with quite the opportunity he'd been looking for.
And so, with a bit of smooth talking the staff, he'd received approval to put an end to these encounters.
So now the youthful tyrant busied himself walking the halls, moving from one area to the next, taking time only to stop and properly examine the magical properties of an area before moving on to the next. Everywhere he went, he secured so that Pax Romana might follow, a territory that strikes the very concept of intentional violence from possibility inside it's area. Even if Servants, or masters for that matter, wished to come to blows with one another, they would find themselves unable to, disallow by the very world surrounding them. It was quite the convenient skill for a base of operations. Granted, he had not been authorized to establish it in certain areas. Namely private areas dedicated to each agent, such as personal rooms or workshops, or anything the organization itself had quarantined off for it's own use, but it was a beneficial start.
Some might notice Octavius' work as he established it, others might not. Either way, it didn't particularly bother him-- It was only a matter of time before his work was complete now.
Particularly content with that thought, the Emperor hummed to himself as he made his way down the hall, onward toward the Hangar...
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Post by chingshih on Apr 23, 2016 14:59:52 GMT
With a tread like a 6-foot cat, an unlikely soul had taken to watching the would-be tyrant’s work around Chaldea; having spotted him here or there in the past – Casters fussing over their territories was always a worry, but seeing someone known as a Saber working such magic and so aggressively was… curious, if nothing else. Now, admittedly, Ching Shih was not much of a believer in that sort of grand magic… ironic, perhaps, given her circumstances as a Servant; but it was a bastion of sanity that kept her from staying awake all night around all these freakish heroes that ought to hunt her on any other day of the week. But… if there was something underhanded going on here, well – she wanted to have a cut in it.
”Yo ho, Governor… shouldn’t a Saber be out sparring rather than playing with charms if they’re keen on a sharper blade?” mused the blonde, finally deciding to pounce on the man as he headed off once more; ”Or, maybe you oughta be wrapped up in that Head Agent debate business that’s happening? Either way, you’re cutting quite the suspicious figure, kiddo.” she continued, lurking beside her compatriot – for someone so tall and grandly dressed, she could certainly seem like a slimeball when she wanted. Of course, for Ching Shih, it was sort of her natural look…
”But, you wouldn’t be up to anything – suspicious, right?” commented the lady in some gesture of blatantly faked innocence, putting a finger on her lip in thought; ”Chaldea’s big suits would be pretty cross to see that sort of thing out of one of their Servants – and such a handsome one, too. Honestly, it’d be real troublesome… yeah, and with the votes going on too, it’d look awful. Maybe you oughta work on your demeanour if you’re on official work, you know?”
”…or, maybe you could listen to Madame Ching and get some proper support for your work. If you’re going to put your head on the line, you’d wanna do it with something to fall back on, right? Saving the world’s tricky business, so best to make friends where you can.” lectured Ching Shih good-naturedly, as much of a friendly recruiter as ever – she’d rather play with Masters, but… he looked like easy prey, for a Servant. She never liked nobles, but it wouldn’t be hard to get him listening with such a simple set-up… right? Servants were just people will crazy hats, anyway!
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Post by Caesar Divi Filius Augustus on Apr 23, 2016 20:59:24 GMT
"Suspicious? Why, all I do is perfectly sanctioned."
Perhaps he wasn't carrying himself properly, but Octavius was frankly insulted by the implication. After all, he detested using, what do they call it these days? "Underhanded" methods. No, he much preferred to bend and exploit the rules rather than outright break them. Breaking them often had rather reprehensible consequences, and sullied ones image. But if one merely played the system like a fiddle, then who could blame you for what you gained? Granted, many might say that the way he abused rules and curved their meaning to his own gain still qualified as Underhanded, but Octavius at least thought there was quite the distinction.
Still, just because he didn't like getting up to suspicious behavior didn't mean he wasn't perfectly capable of using others to do it.
"The 'big suits' as you say are as quite sick of all this violent nonsense as I am. They are perfectly aware of my actions, all it took was a little convincing and they happily let me... remedy, their issue."
He did not break stride, continuing on his path as they conversed. The eyes of the roman did however shift to look at her, angling his head in the smallest manner possible while still satisfying the polite courtesy of looking at someone when you spoke to them. After all, he was still quite determined to get to his destination and continue his work, but this woman could prove useful. The first step in gaining notoriety was networking after all, and she seemed of a similar mindset. Given she had probably been here longer than him, it was never good to turn down opportunities to spread his influence.
"However, I've never been one to turn down friendship so freely offered, "Madame Ching", was it?"
Octavius certainly didn't mind her sort. She was tall, and dressed regally, very officially. Far away from the rather ludicrous and uncivil appearances of many other servants he'd encountered, although he'd admit a woman of her height was quite unusual in of itself. But she exuded a certain aura, a particular charisma of greasiness, of "underhandedness" as it were. She reminded him of a number of senators he'd known. Which was good for Octavius-- He preferred those whom worked in their own self interest, it made things easier for everyone. Nothing was worse than an idealist or a sycophant, they were too unpredictable. A selfish person you could always trust to be selfish.
"Besides, I think it is rather obvious the whole "Head Agent" business is a sham anyway. More work, little to no reward or official privileges or power. A joke of an election really."
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Post by chingshih on Apr 25, 2016 8:54:34 GMT
”I’m suuure it is, Governor. But you say that like you need to defend it.” remarked Ching Shih in return for Octavius’ defence, seeming especially entertained by the man’s apparent offence to her claim – she’d seen this before. The nobles of her time were very much of the opinion of words before actions; and ‘me’ before ‘us’. Of course, given the government of the time she couldn’t critique them too much; as they were no better. But why try and bring matters into your own hands so half-heartedly? If you really have a problem with the system; make the system yourself instead!
”Eeh, issues with ‘violent nonsense’? Won’t trying to suppress that stuff make it worse? If the hot-heads we have here can’t fight out their problems, they’ll just explode on missions, won’t they?” mused the blonde as her unlikely compatriot explained himself; frowning at this news. In her fleet there was always scuffling and fighting – in any fleet there was – and while she as quick to stamp it out with her rulings when it got in the way, well… until then, she felt it was for the best they get any contention out while they could. Boys would be boys, after all. Best let them bite each other’s ears off on the docks than cut each other’s arms off in a skirmish. ”I guess you’ll just say the guys upstairs will get what they want, but… seems like a bad move.”
But, she wasn’t quite so presumptive to assume the Servant himself was all on-board with the move… but with his demeanour he surely wasn’t opposed to this matter. No doubt getting something out of it himself. ”Madame Ching, indeed! I’ll spare you the song and dance of most Servants; beyond my name, I don’t really care for titles. I’m not a god, I’m not a knight, and I’m not a conqueror. But, I guess some folks might have called me hero, so here I am.” Ching Shih seemed really pleased with her introduction, in a whimsical way – it fit her. Meeting all these other Servants was a humbling experience, but in a way she still felt she was a star among them if she was here with a story like hers. Or, maybe she was just lost in the daydreams of an old lady – it was a lot of fun, either way.
Ah, but discussion of the ‘Head Agent’ title… this was something she could certainly mouth off about. ”Bah, but it’s for a position; a title! The heroes around here would do anything for another word to add to their introductions, you see! Even if there’s no actual power, it sounds like there’s something to it. But, I can definitely agree that it’s hardly an election… though I don’t really care for that sort of thing. By family or by force is my type of leadership.”
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Post by Caesar Divi Filius Augustus on May 2, 2016 23:14:02 GMT
"Explode on missions, huh? Funny you should mention that..."
Octavius whistled slightly, shaking his head in an exasperated manner, the mere thought still baffling him. It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Not what Ching had said, that actually had a fair bit of merit too it. People with no outlet eventually just boiled to a breaking point.
"Did you know that 5 Servants went camping in the Virtual Space. And two died. Camping."
It was as genuinely, mindbogglingly stupid as could be imagined. If such an inane situation had happened among his legions, he'd have had everyone involved strung up to set an example. He had half a mind to petition for just that, but it would be useless. The damage was done, and while everyone involved had proven themselves remarkably incompetent, their wasn't much they could do in the way of punishment without perpetuating the unfortunate situation. On the bright side however, it was what Octavius liked to call a "convenient excuse." Almost too convenient actually, it provided Octavius with the perfect excuse for his little proposal, although it honestly had nothing to do with it.
"It's unfortunate, but let's just say I trust some of my fellow servants to "blow off steam" about as well as I can throw them. And I'm not a terribly strong person. Too much power with too little control for some of them, and that puts the entire facility at risk."
His explanation was calm, almost rehearsed, as monotone as the pace of his stride. At this point the Roman could feasibly come up with justifications on the fly and act as if he'd sheltered them for weeks. But this woman was clever, clever enough that she was almost assuredly well aware just how similar the two were, even if Octavius attempted to act very above such things. In a way his downfall was that the whole "Tyrant with Good Publicity" shtick only worked once, and was pretty obvious if examined objectively. And unfortunately for him, his one go at it had already passed, so it was much easier to call him on his crap.
"By family or by force? Crude, but I can't say I disagree in this situation. Democracy gets so tiring after a while, too many politics involved. Especially given our short time schedule, we really have no time for it."
No point pretending when she clearly was on to him. Getting anything done democratically took time, and unfortunately, the one thing Chaldea lacked was exactly that. Having an election for anything was pointless to the Emperor-- It wasted valuable time that could have been spent by the person just appointed to the position. It was terribly inefficient.
"But I've been neglectful and forgotten to introduce myself. I'll spare you the titles, Madame Ching, so you can just call me Octavius."
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Post by chingshih on May 4, 2016 21:32:05 GMT
Despite how outlandish the Saber’s explanation of the mission seemed, Ching Shih couldn’t help but snigger – it was cruel, cold-hearted, and whatever else; definitely. But, she was a pirate queen! C’mon, she had to have fun, too. And this was just too good to be true for her! She was always kinda worried that she really was crummy compared to all those real heroes… but if they were like this? Sheesh! She couldn’t possibly be the worst. Not even among the bottom three by the sounds of that, heheh… The blonde smirked endlessly despite the discussion, not able to match the stoic nature of her comrade. Not that she ever would…
”Camping’s rough, huh? I’d give kudos to Chaldea for playing towards tough love, but… I get the feeling this wasn’t planned. Or even expected. But… harr harr, it’s kind of impressive.” replied the lady, grinning smugly as she continued to walk alongside her newfound buddy; ”Alright, I’m listening. I don’t wanna think about the assets they could ruin with all their crazy magic anyway. Ceasefire by force might be good for that much. But… I don’t wanna think about how they’re gonna act on a mission after all this.”
Simply listening to the Servant’s reaction to her musings on leadership; Ching Shih’s next motion was just a nod of acknowledgement of her comrade’s introduction – she’d never give anything more, no matter the person. Respect like that was for idiots. ”We should figure out something else while the other Servants fuss over that election guff. I reckon even the Masters will be breathing a sigh of relief if we get a proper chain of command or the like figured out amongst ourselves. Any kind of organisation right now would be a miracle… but so long as there’s people like us around, I think things can get back on track.”
”If we can actually organise a few of us like this, we can definitely take some kind of command, but… even getting a few of us like this seems like it might be a headache. The Masters are all decent folks, but the other Servants… well, they’re not who I’d choose for a crew, I’ll put it that way.” grumbled Rider, giving a heavy sigh. ”We’ve got power on our side, but… without finesse or discipline, it’s a massive waste. Honestly, I’d rather be marching with the humans than the Servants at this point… you can bring as many guns as you want, but if you can’t aim them, what’s the point?”
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Post by Caesar Divi Filius Augustus on May 10, 2016 4:20:27 GMT
"Organise, hm? Not a bad idea..."
Obviously, it was something that had occurred to Augustus a while ago. Clearly some sort of organization was needed among the Servants-- This shambling mess they had now could only breed malcontent and disorganization. But it was refreshing to see that he was not the only one with a brain around. And one of the first things he'd learned in politics was allowing others to take credit for ideas you came up with but would be disadvantageous to put forth yourself. Granted, there wasn't much of a downside to this particular idea, but it was still important to flatter a possible co-conspirator.
"Some direction and discipline would certainly do a few of these servants well. But that issue also points out the challenges of such a task."
The roman held up his hand, three fingers stretched upright as he continued.
"The reason most of these heroic spirits are so rowdy is on account of their egos. Half of them think they're the greatest thing to ever walk the face of the planet, and the other half are fanatics for whatever they believed in life. These are the worst type of ego's for soldiers in an army."
One finger folded down into his fist.
"In addition, to have a chain of command, these must be respect for those above you in it. This could be established any multitude of ways-- Fear of consequence is the easiest and most reliable, but the hardest to implement given the circumstances. Their egos make them unlikely to answer to other servants they dislike, regardless of power. Only the masters have command seals, the absolute weakness of us Servants, which means discipline would have to be managed almost entirely by them. Which means the staff would ultimately be the ones enforcing this chain of command and thus, the ones who would need to be convinced of it. And while we're at it, give the Masters some more of the bloody things."
This part would actually be fairly easily. Octavius had spent a long time crafting his skills as an orator. Not to mention the boons that came with being a servant. While his charismatic and persuasive gifts were only loosely effective on servants on account of their mystery and ego, it was fairly easy to sway most humans and magi to his side of an argument. His current activities were proof enough that he was fairly versed in convincing them to see things his way, and he didn't even have to resort to anything more nefarious than a conversation. His middle finger folded, leaving only one wagging finger in the air between them.
"And lastly, comes the predicament of who's in charge? Outside of the staff of Chaldea obviously, convincing the Servants to take orders from a singular set of people is quite the challenge. You could say that's what this whole "Head Agent" business is about, but in my experience elected officials are always much, much less effective than ones that are not answerable to their subjects. Less popular, but much easier to get things done."
His final raised finger closed into his fist and his hand dropped back to his side, idly continuing onward. If nothing else the pirate would prove useful in brainstorming implementations of such an idea.
"It's a good idea, but it would require a fair bit of convincing all around."
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Post by chingshih on May 14, 2016 10:28:01 GMT
As Octavius explained his views on the matter, Ching Shih frowned further to herself – she was used to leading, certainly; but he was right that when it came to Servants it really was messy. She was used to organising kids, really; the youngsters who couldn’t make their way in any path of life but piracy, or the ones whom simply lusted after such thrills. She’d certainly worked with some of her first husband’s veterans too, but she’d really had the position of power with that. And even that got messy in the end… but most of all, she really lacked the raw power to make her claim clear – even by her own admission, she wasn’t the toughest Servant about.
”…While I hate to say it, I don’t think trying to rule by force or charisma is going to work out. I’ve seen Masters struggling with either of those plans as it is… it might work for some, but it’s definitely not going to do the trick for all. And as we’ve already discussed… there’s some Servants who are already liabilities.” replied Ching Shih reluctantly; seeming perturbed by the admission; ”It’s probably best if any kind of leadership worked from behind the scenes instead of taking on all this up-front. Masters have the neutral ground, as you said; but they definitely don’t have the force to back it up… so it might be best if there was a chain of command centred around them; but where the actual power was… more subtly involved.”
”I’ve always been more of a fan of the upfront approach, but with people like this… it’s probably for the best if the thinkers are left behind the black; so to speak.” explained the lady with an irritated sigh – she was never fan of doing things so subversively; she preferred to be by the book. But, she had a second chance at life, so best try something new rather than what she did the first time around, right? No use sulking about it; not many people got the chance! ”The Head Agent can do what they like, but with the right… advisory committee, I think it could work out a lot better than expected. But, that really does come down to who ends up elected… and whether anyone even listens to them in the first place.”
But, it seemed with that the pirate cheered up a bit, a little smirk coming to her face. ”A fair bit of convincing is alright once in a while, I suppose. I’d rather do it with a sword rather than just words, but… something new sounds like fun, too. For now, though… it’s probably best to see how the ‘election’ goes, and get a feel for the top dogs. Or at least the loudest dogs…”
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Post by Caesar Divi Filius Augustus on Jun 7, 2016 1:29:30 GMT
"Advisory committee? Hah, sounds too much like a Senate for my liking..."
A group of leaders was almost always a bad idea. If power was divided equally very little got done, but that's a subject you've probably heard enough of the emperors thoughts on. Moving directly along, the roman let out an exhausted sigh as she continued. She had several good points, but all of this discussion was based off the assumption that power, real power, was attainable in the confines of Chaldea. And so far, he had found the aptitude for that lacking. It had all been so simple in Rome-- Control the Rich, control the people, control the country. Here it was just such a mess. Servants ran around with little regard for anyone else besides themselves. Masters could only control them on missions, and even then it was debatable. The staff seemed entirely unconcerned with their behavior-- And why should they? Short of destroying the facility, Chaldea cared more about their research and their "mission" than resolving petty infighting.
It was understandable, but frustrating for someone who'd was used to having some law and order around himself.
"You're quite right. Positions of power will only lead to conflict. Large ego's only press against those above them, until one or the other bursts. Any attempt to reign above others would be laughed off at best, violently contested at worst. Best to stick to the background."
Octavian sneered a bit, as if finding the idea distasteful. A bit of acting, but the best lies were built on some truth. It was somewhat disdainful to work from the background, but only in that it made him humble, which was a rather tiring mask to wear. I mean really, having to play the part of an equal with some people was just ever so tiring.
"Influence may not be a substitute for authority, but it's a nice start."
Octavian's pace ended as they reached his next destination, the Hangar. Immediately he set to work, securing the room and spreading his influence throughout it. Which really just amounted to walk around and letting prana flow out his feet as he did so. He didn't make any special note of what he was doing to Ching Shih, she already seemed largely aware of it anyway. Instead he just continued talking, a welcome distraction from the tedium of his task.
"Which is why it's ever so important to have a lot of friends, no?"
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