Council of Nikaea

I noticed in the archives that this got some discussion.  In particular, people were wondering about my author's intent, so let me clarify.

Gaspard Lumey should not be seen as seeking justice, let alone Justice, at the Council.  He walks in prepared to support the Vardhana's reasonable proposal for a bit more care and oversight when it comes to the Immaterium.  The Voidwatcher provokes him (either as part of a gambit or simply because of their mutual animosity) and Gaspard decides that personal vendettas are more important than principles.

It's a bad moment for him and a bad moment for the Imperium.

Thematically, this gets over the God-Like Man-Children aspect of the Primarchs and helps to distance Gaspard Lumey from Big Papa Smurf by showing that Gaspard is all too fallible.  Emperor II he is not.  It also helps to set up the somewhat unlikely coalition between Arelex and Gaspard (which is important later on) while distancing the Vardhana and Gaspard.  That's very important with the Heresy looming, because if Shakya thought Gaspard was solid then he might have acted more decisively.

I think this works quite well.

I know the argument's gone round and round beyond imagination, but I'm still not quite sold on why Alex sides with full anti-psyker, it seems like that would be a bad move for him, as well as a little arbitrary to just side with Lumey. Alex, if you read this, I know your reasoning behind things, I just think it needs a little more than "to get in with Lumey." I think you need to either go fully reasonable or fully emotional.

That being said, Merrill sends a delegate, and doesn't really concern himself with the Council itself much. It's more of an "I don't care about either of these things, why bother listening to people drone on?" stance than anything else.

Lumey wrote:It also helps to set up the somewhat unlikely coalition between Arelex and Gaspard (which is important later on) while distancing the Vardhana and Gaspard. That's very important with the Heresy looming, because if Shakya thought Gaspard was solid then he might have acted more decisively.

I like that

Rogerius Merrill wrote:That being said, Merrill sends a delegate, and doesn't really concern himself with the Council itself much. It's more of an "I don't care about either of these things, why bother listening to people drone on?" stance than anything else.

That works, but I'd suggest considering have Merrill not even bother sending a delegate - he seems to irreverent to bother with formalities and appearance, and I can certainly see him (in light of that feeling of disrespect/dislike you talked of in the past) feeling his vote would be pointless anyway.

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I think Uriel would just have a delegate present to observe more than participate. Although they'd have limited authority to act on their initiative on his behalf where necessary, they would mainly be facilitating an "eyes and ears" role for Uriel.

Delegates would probably include the Chief Librarian, unless the Legion really wants to declare that Nikaea doesn't matter to them. Might be a good starting point for adding/fleshing out characters?

Merrill might not care, but he's smart enough to at least send a delegate under the pretense of having a stake. He would know by now not to piss the Emperor off.

Perhaps I never got a chance to fully lay out my plans, but it would be anything but arbitrary. I didn't want to take center stage before, but now the Silver Cataphracts present a significant chunk of the universe thanks to all of the Legions being cut. Going down from 25 to 18 opens up some liebestraum for both creativity and necessary involvement.

Everything I can think up for the Cataphracts and Alexandri's involvement point towards their always selfish, agenda-driven, calculated nature. Alexandri betrayed Psykers before, and he'd approach Arelex to establish the fact he was going to take a heel-face turn at the proceedings through his delegate. Alexandri doesn't care about principle, ethics, or what feels right. All he cares about is what's best for the whole, and Voidwatcher and Psykers in general will only fragment the Imperium. So he makes a stance, he picks a side, he makes his choice.

My last note on the matter, will be this might be a good point for character development for Voidwatcher. He's going to be...betrayed. Vardhana took an opposing side against him, Alexandri turns on him. He's quite literally betrayed by the only two people he may have believed understood him and respected him. Sure, the bastard deserved it, but it's what turns him from an asshole into a monster.

Alex, have you already started developing sufficient justification for Alexandri and Vardhana's decisions to betray the Void Watcher? I'd like to see and discuss them if they are still in early development.

Vardhana is turning his back on Voidwatcher because he's a man without boundaries and that's dangerous for all Psykers.

Alexandri doesn't want to be weighed down to deadweight.

Alexandri of Rosskar wrote:Vardhana is turning his back on Voidwatcher because he's a man without boundaries and that's dangerous for all Psykers.

Not really what I had in mind for the Vardhana, and it doesn't fit in with his treatment of the Ten/Nine. To be honest, I think that motivating Shakya beyond his visions of the future is a bit of a waste of time - he's a useful prop, but not a character as such. (Cue someone who has written less on this project to chide me for laziness.)

Lumey wrote:(Cue someone who has written less on this project to chide me for laziness.)

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I think you're actually selling yourself short. Vardhana does not come across like that, he's a complex character with a benevolent personality.

Not sure if Roman would be there, he should probably send a Librarian, though it'd be funny if he didn't because everyone was busy fighting.

I'll just go ahead and say Aubrey is in it for medical applications of sorcery, pointing out it could jump medical science eons, other than that he sees no point in using it for war.

Cromwald would have representatives, and they would be very carefully seeing which way the winds were blowing. His official stance would be shaped by the arguments given, whereas his private stance is that his librarians are damn useful and he probably won't give them up even if he instructed from on high to do so.