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[thebreakingwave]

Hullo again. With all these different memories from different worlds, I got to thinking. If you wouldn't mind, could you tell me about how your people organize themselves? What's good about it? What don't you like? Is it fair?

[Harry frowns and realizes that even though he'd actually thought about this before making the post, it still doesn't sound how he wants it to.]

I guess, what I want to know most of all, is do you think that it helps your people be good or just or what does it cause?

Comments

[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

How they organize themselves...?

[At first, it sounds like he's asking for clarification, but then he continues.]

Are you talking about the effects of conformity within a group, or how I feel about being in one, or how I feel about others being in one? They're different questions.

[thebreakingwave]

[Harry is quiet for a while, trying to sort out just what he's been asked.]

I don't think that's really what I wanted to know, but I'm not sure how to ask exactly what I'm looking for. So, uh, answer yours and we'll go from there?

[ryuuzaki]

Working in a group isn't ideal for me, simply by inclination.

[This is obvious to anyone who's met him: Ryuuzaki can be vaguely affable on occasion, but like many of the other people who have worked in Comms, he's a bit of a loner.]

In the past, I've typically collaborated with others from a distance when I could. [He's typically been in charge, too, but he leaves that out.] However, we're all in the same situation here, so it's necessary to work in a more coordinated and immediate way.

Group dynamics are another matter. What's your preference?

[thebreakingwave]

I wasn't really thinking about groupwork. More like, back home, we have the Ministry and they run everything and I ...well, they're not very coordinated.

Or honest.

Or much of anything, really, but everyone works for them.

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[indestructigirl]

[Claire frowns slightly in confusion.]

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. Are you asking how people get organized in general, in their personal lives, or how people from different cultures organize their society? Like... [a brief pause to come up with the right words] how their government works?

[She smiles, a little embarrassed.]

I don't want to answer the wrong question.

[thebreakingwave]

Sorry. I know it's worded all wrong, but I wasn't really sure how to ask what I want, but I think that maybe government would be best?

[He mirrors her embarrassment.]

I got to thinking about how the Ministry runs back home and they're as close to a government as we have.

Voice

[adamantcommand]

You'll need to be more specific if you intend to have specific answers, boy. What do you mean? Personal hygiene? Wardrobe? Government, religion, social stratification?

[There is no attempt whatsoever to mask his impatience.]

[thebreakingwave]

The last three.

[He frowns and considered correcting his use of 'boy'.]

My name's Harry.

[adamantcommand]

[He ignores the correction.]

In my world, the three are one in the same. In others I've seen, they may be less entwined. But almost universally, the hierarchy of power is devised by the strongest and the smartest. You only need to convince the world you're god to be god.

Is it fair? Hardly. But it's what is.

[A beat.]

Why do you ask?

[thebreakingwave]

It's this memory thing. I'm used to the way my world runs and that's just sort of the way it is, full stop. But with other people looking in, it seems...

[Harry gestures, frowning and unsure how to describe the vague, half-formed ideas that have been lurking.]

In my world, they're neither strong, nor smart, but they have tradition going for them. Everything they do is design to keep people content and keep themselves in power -- whatever the cost. It's stable, which is a sort of good, but I don't think that's the best sort of good? Maybe?

[He's new at this.]

[adamantcommand]

[Asriel snorts. While dangerous and occasionally clever, the Magisterium as it exists in his time also has neither quality.]

Unfortunately, whether the system is good or bad has nothing to do with the reason it exists, or the reason people decide not to fight the status quo. Safety is a powerful bargaining chip for those in power, and contentment is part of that. No matter where you're from, you will undoubtedly meet those happy to exchange liberty for safety.

Do your people hold free elections?

[thebreakingwave]

I don't think so? My people certainly don't vote for anything, so they can't make us pay for the privilege.

[...that is not what a free election is.]

There's a Minister, but he's appointed. And a high court, and they're appointed too, and crooked. And the paper, and they print what they're told.

[Harry decides to offer a little more information in the hopes that Asriel will both understand and react. He's pretty sure that what happened in the war is both wrong and unusual, but a little confirmation would be reassuring.]

We just came out of a war, but instead of fighting it or trying to stop it, they took us - mostly still children - and just threw us as a stopgap at an enemy they refused to publicly acknowledge.

[adamantcommand]

[It doesn't sound any more or less corrupt than his own Brytain, but having lived and struggled with its rotten and archaic politics hasn't raised his tolerance any.

The feed from his end is only audio, but the distaste in his expression effectively carries through his voice when he responds.]

Then no, 'good' is not a word I'd use. What happened when this war was finished? Did nothing change?

voice

[redhanding]

Organizing? [ A touch of a wry beat. ] It helps, but there are always going to be people who don't make out too well.

Not fair, but better than the alternative.

[thebreakingwave]

I think so, but I also think it depends on the type of organization.

[He frowns, mulling over how much he wants to say.]

The Ministry runs things back home, but I think they're corrupt. Pretty badly too, but I --

[Give him a moment. This isn't easy to come to terms with.]

It's not something I've ever said aloud. Not really. And I know that they're better than the last person who wanted to rule, and they might not've caused him to go mad, but they sure didn't try to stop him.

Sorry, that all just came out.

[It's not treason, but it isn't being very loyal.]

[redhanding]

Mm. So, they didn't try to stop someone who went crazy?

Sounds pretty standard for a government, if you ask me. In my experience, they don't do well on an individual level.

[ She says it a little awkwardly. She doesn't do well with...people who share. ]

[thebreakingwave]

[Angry opinions are easy to share. It's new and dangerous, but it's not personal.]

More than that. He'd gathered followers and started to hunt down people and they refused to accept it. Hoped that he'd go away if they hid or gave him what he wanted.

They send the wrong people to prison and...and worse than prison.

[redhanding]

Huh.

[ Well. That sounds familiars. ]

That sounds pretty ineffective. Expected, but ineffective. Why was he hunting people down?

[thebreakingwave]

The official line was that he was trying to purify blood lines, but I think it was just a lie so he could grab power.

[It's taken him almost a year of slowly thinking about things, but Harry is starting to put the pieces together and form his own ideas.]

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[inafadingcrown]

That is a rather broad question, is it not? [She pauses a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing.] Lothlórien, my home, is quite small and rule falls to a Lord and Lady- my husband and me. Were it larger in area, we might perhaps have vassals; other Elven realms have been governed in this way.

As for its effects, I should say primarily that it provides my people with some form of protection and with someone to whom they may come with their troubles.

[thebreakingwave]

That makes sense. I think it used to be similar to that for my people.

[Harry does his best to recall that long list of kings and queens that he had to memorize in grade school and wonders if he can still do it all in order. (He can.)]

Back home, we've a Queen, but she's a figurehead more than any practical thing.

[inafadingcrown]

And for the more practical matters of governing?

[thebreakingwave]

We've an organization called 'The Ministry of Magic' that runs everything else. Well, they're supposed to run everything else.

[inafadingcrown]

From the way you speak, I assume that it is a lack of success on their part that brings you to your question.

Sorry for the delay!

[thebreakingwave]

Maybe? I'm not really sure how to measure their success.