Or, house badguys are blood purists making them evil, and house good guys are even purer but they don't think much of purity, u could still state it a couple of times and make the blood of the gods run through their veins
No, no, no! How could you forget? House Badguys are all evil EXCEPT for the one beautiful teenage girl who for some reason skipped out on the evil gene so that she could be the protagonist's love interest! ^_^
Thus ensues the love triangle with the whimsical girl from house evilguys, and his faithful childhood friend that has grown up with him in house goodguys his entire life.
Not always. Sometimes the beautiful teenage girl from House Badguys will be evil like the rest of them, but learn how much better it is to not be evil from the House Goodguys protagonist she inevitably falls for ;)
And then inevitably be appointed by the good guy King to be the ruler of house Badguys,despite the Middle ages being a sausage fest and despite her other siblings or uncles or nephews having way more political power and being far more accustomed to the inner house politics for this to stand.She ll be the house's ruler for no other reason that to provide safety and closure to the King and ensure there wont be any future betrayals from that House.
Stormgem Thunder well they do make the Montagues seem better than the Capulets. One of the few times we see Lord and Lady Montague they are expressing fear over the safety of their child and his emotional well being. Then as you pointed out, the Capulets were forcing Juliet to marry Paris and if she didn’t consent they would have thrown her out of their home as well as disowning her. Even comparing Benvolio and Tybalt it shows too, Benvolio was trying to calm everyone so a fight wouldn’t break out in the beginning of the story while Tybalt was egging everyone on which caused a riot in the streets. So I would agree the story seems to have a more favorable view on House Montague than it does House Capulet.
Stormgem Thunder even then it was written to show the parents in the wrong when they were forcing her into a marriage against her will and threatening to throw her out of their home. So even by the standards of when it was written they saw the way Juliet’s parents treated her as terrible.
plucas1 The first ruler of the Abbasid dynasty of the Islamic empires defeated the ruling Umayyads by inviting the Umayyad royal family to a dinner and then killing them all once they arrived. Yeah, it can work out sometimes
Works every time I play a Total War game. "We're not at war, but we don't have a pact of non-aggression, I can trust you to not attack me right?" *Building doomsday war machine of death and rainbows next door* "Uhh, yah!"
"Is the problem on a planet?" "Yes, sir, it is," "Then destroy the entire planet," "But sir, it's our planet," "Indeed. Which is why we can't let our enemies have it. So we destroy the entire planet." "Genius, sir."
Even the Imperium isn't as petty with Exterminatus. Kryptmann is the only example of something like that I can think of, and he did it to try and stop the Tyranids. Also the Imperium is big enough to function after losing hundreds of planets, as long as that planet isn't Terra or Mars.
I'd say that they may be pretty useless, since all the warring is done in distant lands, and they spend their day watching for birds trying to shit on the emperor... But they may be the swiss guard as well! You know, overwhelmed, heroic last stands... all of that. It depends on the setting...
@@DonVigaDeFierro and is a great opportunity for world building. I don't know much about the swiss guard, but lets take both the spartan kings' guard and the praetorian guard as exemples. The spartan kings' guard was carefully selected from the younguest soldiers, regularly rotated and their members were indoctrinated towards loyalty since their birth. They were too young to have conections besides family, too selective to allow their leader to fill their ranks trought nepotism and didn't last forever, so their power would one day simply fade. The praetorian guard was literally just a big ass cohort from the legion octavian trusted most. So yeah... World building can come from everything.
There are a couple of incorrect statements regarding the spartan's kings guard. First, there where two of them, one for each king. Second, they where not selected from birth. Intense training and indoctrination was forced on all Spartan children (including females, though they did not receive weapons training). Third, the royal guard was not made up of young men with no family, indeed it was very much the opposite. In order to be eligible to join the guard you had to: A, be in good physical health. B, be a full citizen. In order to become a citizen you had to complete the mandatory military service, meaning you would be of atleast 30 years of age. C, you would also have had to distinguished yourself in battle. D, you had to have at least one male child to carry on your lineage. And E, shown absolute loyalty to Sparta. If you met those requirements you could be selected by one of the two kings to serve in their personal guard. Also a quick intersesting fact, Spartan kings where elected. Edit: spelling.
Well, there was a reason for disbanding them. I mean, their leaders had a very high chance of becoming Emperors or rich Senators. But that couldn't be related.
It should also be mentioned that the praetorian guard had many Germanic members because they were regarded as capable and loyal. ... Until the Battle of Teutoburg Forest that is.
Replace those with the 2 irrelevant houses in my school that never win anything. If my school doesn't put you in the CreativeNameForBlueHouse (mine!) that always wins the performing arts competition we have and CreativeNameForPinkHouse that always wins the sports competitons, well done for losing.
@afootineachworld Lord Voldemort derived his ideologies, world view, and political ambitions from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, and outright stated that, in his view, he was trying to continue Slytherin's legacy. Salazar believed what he did because he lived in a time where muggles were genocidally massacering wizards and witches, and the inclusion of their children in wizarding society presented a severe military danger, and security risk. Naturally, the ancient and noble houses from which a large number of Slytherins descend would've been directly impacted by centuries of discrimation and genocide followed up by yet more centuries of humiliating hiding and some degree of subservience to the muggle government. Especially after Grindelwald challenged the statue of secrecy, Salazar Slytherins ideas with regard to be extremely wary of muggle born whose allegiances are most likely not with the wizarding world first, and keeping magical strongholds secure as a major advantage in a likely inevitable future war of quality vs quantity, became rather more popular. Fueled by noble families who had spent centuries passing down the stories of mistreatment by muggles, who they developed disgust for as a result, proud traditions, and a desire to live free of imposed hiding as the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore would insist, it's no wonder quite a lot of people in the wizarding world, predominantly Slytherins but also a number of those from other houses, either joined the Death Eaters, worked for them, or actively aligned with them due to ideological sympathy and shared worldview and ambitions (ex. Dolores Umbridge). At the end of the day, in all honesty, and as a Slytherin, I would've sided with the Death Eaters in during the wizarding war. Dumbledore and the Order are complacent, and essentially dooming the wizarding world to eventually be overwhelmed or become extinct. I would not be content with continuing to submit to the forced state of hiding imposed by muggles via the statue of secrecy, and would undoubtedly wish to see that document burned, whether the muggles wish to wage war over that or not. Historical and political context is important, but often overlooked or misread, when it comes to the Potterverse and it's warring factions. In a twist of complete irony on what most people expect, the Death Eaters are fighting for their societies freedom and an end to centuries of oppression enforced upon it, while the Order of the Phoenix is fighting to maintain a broken and outdated status quo that has left their society in a state of fear and anxiety for the better part of a millennia. Yes... If I were in the wizarding world, I think I would've fallen more in line with the Death Eater's than not, despite a few notable differences in opinion with some among them. Death Eaters are far and away better for the wizarding world than the Order💀🐍
House Good Guys are often clean, pretty, white-hatted with long held (traditional) principles because they started with the best land for farming. Staple crops just grow wild like weeds in GoodGuyLand. And while plagues, blights and droughts happen everywhere else, they never quite get as far as GoodGuyLand. It's something in the water. Meanwhile House Bad Guys started with swamplands and solid rock mountains. They lived on bugs for the first few generations until they engineered swamp potatoes and hardy pigs and figured how to mine through granite. If a century goes by without a plague wiping out all the children, everything starts to feel amiss, and the common folk start lynching each other for witchcraft. Oh, also, House Good Guys has within them the blood of kings dated back to the beginning of written history. If Lord Duke Good Guy doesn't dress down for the imperial court, the Emperor starts feeling overshadowed. Prophecies say that when House Good Guy rules once again, the unicorns will return that poop rocket fuel. House Bad Guys had to buy their way into nobility, and then only after the old Emperor died and the new one was coronated. House Bad Guy provides the Emperor an annual fresh batch of expendable black-ops terror troops to throw at whatever warfront. That's the key reason the House Bad Guy is tolerated at all in the imperial court. Also High Lord Baron Bad Guy has to have some awful sexual perversion so that everyone knows he's bad. *Edit:* Typo.
@@shymike1196 Nah it's just pointing out the stupidity of trusting a person/faction who was so quick to stab someone else in the back. What makes them think they wouldn't stab them in the back the first chance they get?
What about House Secretive! You know the house no one knows about, but yet they have a strong economy a massive underground army and only show up once House Goodguys is betrayed or the King dies or something. Also for reasons never specified they also serve as a refuge for the protagonist after House Badguys attack, even when it was clearly stated they have no ties to the other Houses.
A thing to note about noble courts is that all the socializing, intrigue, and status jockeying were done with GOALS in mind. They were a means to an end. For example. Say Countess Alice is trying to curry favor with Baron Bob. There could be any number of reasons and motivations. It might be because she wants him to allow her merchants to pass through the borders of his domain because it's safer and faster than going around through the mountains, and thus she can make more of a profit. Perhaps she needs the aid of his troops to help drive off bandits or raiders. Perhaps she's trying to get him on her side to form a large enough group of nobles to strongarm the emperor into enacting a policy they want. And so forth. Basically, there's all sorts of interesting things to base a plot around beyond just vague "intrigue".
indeed as i have gotten older i have enjoyed the idea of a empty headed Disney princess less and less. but on the flip side the idea that a noble telling another noble good morning every day as they pass each other. as being a political ploy to be vary tiring a thought
I think that 'vague intrigue' is fine, but you should at least prop up a veneer of personal importance to the background and secondary characters when they go intriguing. You don't have to let the reader know that Mistress Lydia of the North Northmen, who is here to work out a trade agreement, is insulting you to make the son of the king, who also hates you, like her more so he puts a good word in for her deal. You just have to show them talking and having a good time, and maybe show the result later (more Northman people or goods later on, showing that she was successful). Or, perhaps she fails, and there's a throwaway bit later where Mistress Lydia is getting angrily shitfaced in a tavern to calm her violent urges towards that scummy noble ass.
Also, this kind of "intrigue" is always depicted as some kind of like... dishonourable thing that only bad people do. Only evil and conniving noble houses engage in intrigue whereas the good and upstanding nobles that we sympathise with do not engage in such underhanded methods to gain power... The reality is, at somewhere like a royal court, nearly every family or individual who wants any kind of power or advancement has to engage in this kind of thing. If you don't, you might lose power, be disgraced, or possibly even be *executed*. Life at court is a profoundly dangerous existence, especially for people who fall out of favour with those currently in power. You have to actually play the game. That's going to involve at least some degree of deal-making and politicking. It will *probably* involve at least some cooperation with morally-grey self-interested noble houses because, guess what, **every** noble house is self-interested.
plot twist: the goatee was the main villain, kills off all the bad guys and assumes an evil rule over the world for 18 years like Palpatine did. sorry wrong comment
Where's the part where daughter of house good guys falls for the rebellious son of house bad guys, who is the only good guy in house bad guys, but the daughter of house good guys is engaged to the middle-aged, not at all creepy balding, suspiciously evil looking guy who dresses in all black and has a goatee guy? How can you have a story about noble houses without ripping of…I mean taking inspiration from Shakespeare?
bold of you to assume it wouldn’t be the hot vampire-esque daughter of Lord Badguys that falls for the ever so generically heroic thinly veiled self-insert from House Goodguys so the author can call it a “subversion” of shakespearean tropes and not have to admit to writing in blatant wish-fulfillment
DEFINITELY ripping off, considering that Paris was a MILLION TIMES BETTER than Romeo and I was actually wishing that I could have been the one to decide.
@@nothankyou4752 Good point, but we still need a love triangle. An innocent maid who was nearly raped would make a good addition, but let's also add in: A foreign diplomat, who can't understand metaphors and assimili despite having studied the language for their whole life The merchant daughter dreaming of wanting more The cutthroat rebel leader who inevitably falls for the MC's charm and good nature, and decides not to overthrow the monarchy, as long as MC becomes the next emperor The bland noble girl from House Background who is bethroted to MC, but will be forgotten through most if not all of the story, depending on whether the author decides to make her and MC get married in the end despite having spent no time together And if the story has magic, the shy, socially awkward mage girl with super powerful magic, who can't control said magic because she "doesn't believe in herself", but thanks to MC she learns to have confidence and becomes the world's most powerful magic user. She will then either completely devote herself to MC or turn to the dark side where she will inevitably die, either by MC's hand, one of the members of his hare- I mean, love triangle, or the bad guys she's working for since killing one of your most loyal and powerful assets makes perfect sense
@@thewanderingmistnull2451 Cmon man, thats a really bad comparison... Early roman republic dictator isnt even close to an emperor. And you know: a dictator is supposed to step down when the crisis is over. 🤔
Which ultimately damns both of them when a Plague is put O' Both of them when the love triangle makes things escalate into a homicide of a member of the royal family.
I got this: The Emperor has passed away, leaving two heirs to compete for the throne by gaining the support of the various houses under the empire's rule. And... go
@@@leenaleewitch3731 The Ottoman empire, The Kingdom of Portugal, various Chinese Dynasties, The Roman Empire, Kingdom of England, France, Java, ect...... The list goes on. It is the same all over the world.
@@boeuf-in9oe I didn't want to take all the credit myself when it wasn't all mine, so I had to give you a dedication at the beginning of both versions.
@@jamiekamihachi3135 Louis XVI was actually very Pro Enlightenment. The kingdom of France was an absolute monarchy in theory, a majority of the power lay in the aristocracy and clergy. Louis had been trying to take power away from the church and aristocracy in order to lift up the lower classes. The problem was the powers that be kept stopping him and Louis just gave up in the end.
Dragoninthewest I was mostly talking about after the Tennis Court Oath. I think Louis’s fondness for the enlightenment is up for debate. I think it was like Catherine the Great. She liked it until it actually challenged her royal authority.
@@jamiekamihachi3135 of course after the Tennis Court Oath he won't like the revolutionaries. They were all stripping away his power and turning the government ever more republican.
there's actually a funny "p.s.a" of the trope here that effectively breaks it down into variants and has great jokes. ua-cam.com/video/LF2DzAQYw68/v-deo.html
House Goodguys and House Badguys are both trying to marry into House Noname, because then they can unite their armies and fight the other one with an advantage.
I, Cato Sicarius, ex-Captain of the second Ultramarine company, Master of the Watch, Knight Champion of Macragge, Grand Duke of Talassar, High Suzerain of Ultramar, Primaris Marine, commander of the Primarch Guilliman Victrix Guard, Guilliman student, possible next Chapter Master and possible heir to the title of Lord Regent (the last two are highly heretical speculations done by other people), want you to make a video about unneccesary titles.
@Cooper Ross His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular would like a word with you.
Charles, by the grace of God, Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Germany, King of Italy, King of all Spains, of Castile, Aragon, León, of Hungary, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, Navarra, Grenada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Sevilla, Cordova, Murcia, Jaén, Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, King of Two Sicilies, of Sardinia, Corsica, King of Jerusalem, King of the Western and Eastern Indies, of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Lorraine, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Limburg, Luxembourg, Gelderland, Neopatria, Württemberg, Landgrave of Alsace, Prince of Swabia, Asturia and Catalonia, Count of Flanders, Habsburg, Tyrol, Gorizia, Barcelona, Artois, Burgundy Palatine, Hainaut, Holland, Seeland, Ferrette, Kyburg, Namur, Roussillon, Cerdagne, Drenthe, Zutphen, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Oristano and Gociano, Lord of Frisia, the Wendish March, Pordenone, Biscay, Molin, Salins, Tripoli and Mechelen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor#Titles
He was saying that the Praetorian guard only auction off the throne once. The Praetorian guard did however murder like 12 of the roman emperors or something. XD
No they only literally auctioned off the principate once. They played a significant role in the selection process many times, but their was only ever one auction.
Look up emperor Heliogabal hes Praetorians killed him by drowning him head down in the toilet :) he basically worshipped god of sun Helios and made massive and i mean massive sexual orgies like for 100 plus people in hes palace and he was gay or bisexual but that does not matter :).
As Caligula learned the hard way, don't rape your guard captain's wife in front of him, or was it calling him a faggot? Either way keep them happy, history is fun.
We have house Good Guys. House Bad Guys. And house Background Guys who balance power, but we don't want them between good guys and bad guys. Wow you just described Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff
Prince BadGuys had a fantastic insult there. Just tweak to: "Your blue uniform is exquisite, though I'm afraid it would clash if stained with your blood." Violence gets less subtle, but jokes about lineage and validity get +1.
Prince Goodguys says: "Well, I'm sure clashing colors wouldn't bring as much attention as foul smells. On a related note, maybe your pants could use a more fitting color... like brown."
well until the very last moments in the entire movie franchise when they need something from girl who happens to be in ravenclaw, yeah that's as good as they got. also I like to think that kids from Ravenclaw and hufflepuff don't actually have separate dorms like gryffindor and slytherin, they actually all share the same log cabin hidden away in Hogwarts under a bridge somewhere and guarding. I looked up what their dorm rooms would look like and it just shows a couch in a hallway, I'm joking but it would be funny if it was that.
In defense of HP, the books are all told from Harry's perspective. That's also why the books only portray Slytherin as evil: Harry sees them as evil, so that's all we're shown.
@@bluelightstudios6191 I believe in Deathly Hallows they sneak into the Ravenclaw dorm and the ceiling is a starry sky, but I honestly cannot remember. The fact the author (who no longer exists) didn’t just canonically have the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff kids live under some bridge on campus surprises me enough.
It's weird how Dune manages to play most of these tropes straight (even some of the bad ones) yet manages to create an amazing and well thought out story. Except the ending, that universe is too depressing to have anything like a constitutional monarchy (or at least one that works for more than 5 seconds).
Dune came out in 1965 it originates most of the tropes to be honest and it's the same way LoTR plays tropes straight...when it literally originates them and you have been reading the dime a dozen rip offs you realize just how well thought out the original story was and how flawed the copy cats are.
But it has the very first god-emperor in fiction if I'm not mistaken. The idea of a nearly omniscient ruler actually gives a solid foundation for a world where hereditary power is rooted in a more solid way than in other fiction.
That being said, Dune does subvert quite a few of the tropes here. SPOILER WARNING: take the twist that Paul is, in fact, descended from "House Bad Guy", or that the emperor helped the murdering psychopathic bad guys BECAUSE their unecessary evilness made them too incompetent to be a threat to him (and also perfect pawns on which to blame the murder of the good guys).
See the real secret is to play Crusader Kings II. After a few generations and a few hundred hours of having to navigate feudal intrigue youreself you'll start to see that EVERYONE is house badguy, but as long as you're the worst they'll never be able to stop you! (Save RNGesus betraying you and your entire house getting wiped out by the plague, or Mongols, or Aztecs of all things.)
"Luckily for the Emperor, it never occurs to the Royal Guard that maybe the Emperor is blatantly incompetent since he keeps putting House Bad Guys in charge of important Imperial assets." Obvious Dune reference is obvious.
Not so much. It's clearly stated that House Harkonnen was very good at running Arrakis and everyone made a lot of money. He probably referenced something else.
@@alexanderlicentia5265 Lord Radon Gas has many plots and ploys as it seeks to give us all cancer though! Sure it eventually becomes Lead Weight but New agents of house Radon rise out of the Earth in their quest to decay inside your lungs into poisonous Lead.
I once had a concept for a story about, basically, personified chemical elements, and the noble gases were basically this. And most of them were jerks. Helium defected to the good guys because he hated how stuck-up the other Noble Gases were and Argon was your "noble top enforcer" type, but Oganesson was the big bad and I distinctly remember Radon being a really nasty piece of work.
You forgot the notion that you practically need incestious overtone in house bad guy to show their moral corruptness. Which is appearenty nessesary today. The best books have done it.
@@francisthompson3772 Probably because Cersei and Jaime are treated as characters and not stock creepy incest twins designed only to make the readers uncomfortable.
mahli smith those are easy. There are 2 types. James Bond like. A nearly indestructible Superman who gets all the girls. And parody of James Bond. Villans are easy as well, super rich guy with a vague plan to take over the world. And I am done.
@David Shrapnel and make them have Batman levels of "I have a gadget for this situation!". A character can't be overpowered if it doesn't have magic related powers, right?
Its called stewards in medieval and early modern periods most nobles didn’t manage their land either they resided in the kings court at the capita or on the battlefield campaigning. They delegated power to stewards to manage their manor s and most nobles never even probably set foot in their manors if they were high ranking enough. Not to mention politics was fundamental even in absolute monarchies like France where winning the favor of the king was paramount to social mobility prestige and privileges
I couldn't help but notice your jab at the isekai(another world)-genre. Are you gonna do a video about that? I think it would fit pretty well, considering it is a genre with generally lazily written harem stories and self-insert protagonists.
That tends to happen when genres get popular. There are always mediocre writers ready to jump on something and try to capitalise on it, via writing author wish-fulfillment OP NEET protagonists with massive harems and equally massive plot armour. There are definitely some good ones, though it may require a bit of searching to separate the wheat from the chaff.
@@Enmerkar_of_Uruk Right you are. Granted, I have seen some good ones, like Problem Children or Overlord, but there's just a whole lot of mediocre to bad ones with bland writing and characters (especially the MCs).
Määxorus There are a ton of good ones adapted to mainstream anime. People just love to dig up shit isekai and whine like as if you roll in the mud and whine about mud.
I am always baffled with people who claim to love Medieval Fantasy and yet keep constantly saying that the good guys are going to abolish monarchy and create a Republic at the ending because that is more democratic. (Daenerys weird fans, I'm looking at you) I mean... what?
Where would they get the idea that a republic was a good idea? In the times that those authors are taking inspiration from, most republics were mercantile city-states one or two bad trade deals away from being conquered, hence why most people thought that some form of enlightened monarchy was the best form of govt.
Both Jon Snow and Daenerys fans are... Are something of their own. Honestly. Don't waste your time on those guys, they cannot understand a wit about how politics (and people, specially masses) actually work.
6:47 the protagonist is emperor now and reigns supreme and the surviving peasants who still retain both legs rejoice and dance about in a festive manner until all the rum is gone then the class riots begin leaving the kingdom vulnerable to attack by a completely unknown kingdom that was ignored by both houses and thus subverting the readers expectations by slapping them across the face with a wet fish
Next one should be designing the map of a fantasy world, full of magically-forming rivers and random mountains, and biomes placed haphazardly all over the place with no concept of climate. Make sure to have a gigantic volcano which has been constantly been spewing soot and lava for millennia, yet somehow hasn't caused any visible air pollution or affected the land past the border left by its initial eruption. Every town and city must be placed by throwing darts at the map, with no regard for the geographical features that might compel people to settle somewhere, and they must never question whether or not it's safe to have built their homes on the side of a cliff which sees hourly earthquakes and becomes a wyvern breeding ground every 5 years. Islands don't need to be placed with any semblance of consistency, forgoing both the volcanoes which would have formed them, and any fertile land which might manage to support a nation large enough to crew the powerful navy they built with their magically limitless supply of building materials.
Have people with technological level equal to the early Iron Age be able to cross oceans Caravels and Carracks would have problem to with nothing but Currachs, Galleys and at most Triremes.
I believe a writer can just use the Polynesians as an excuse for naval superpowers. Just have the civs start on a huge forest, be denied expansion through land, say that they have super smart science guys and boom, they just expand to the nearest island. from there they just bring the horses and stones they need and you can make a realistic merchant navy noble house.
Seriously, don't worry about it so much. The great thing about noble house dynastic drama is that as a storytelling motif, it's both timeless and compelling, even when not done the greatest. Put you focus into developing solid characters for each side first and then into worldbuilding, because, truth be told, most of us are actually happy to stick around in worlds that aren't totally fleshed out if we like the characters enough. I think J.P. should take more effort to point out that the tropes and cliches he ridicules aren't necessarily bad, and can actually be quite fun. It's only when they have nothing behind them that they start to fall apart.
@@stephenskinner7207 He did point that out in an earlier video. I believe it was called the Nature of Cliches. It's structured more informatively and without sarcasm because people seemed to misinterpret his advice.
"...and even quite a few science fiction ones" Me: Noble houses in sci-fi? Can't be THAT relevant... Terrible Writing Advice: proceeds to spoil 90% of the plot of Dune
In his honest thoughts post he says that Dune is a good example of how to do it right, because the Houses and their motivations are actually properly fleshed out. It's more a jab at stories that rip off Dune while missing the nuances.
Never should you write about a noble family losing power to merchants and other power bases as an allogory to the consequences of the Black Death in our timeline sounds boring
Graknorke what I’m talking about happened because of the Black Death 1/3 of Europe dies Survivors get angry and demand better wages and conditions Nobles have labor shortages and empty coffers Merchants can afford higher wages Soldiers meant to be keep peasants in line defect to merchants because they pay more And it spirals down from their until nobles basically become play things of the king or parliament depending on the country we are talking about.
@@zimnylech527 DUNE SPOILERS AHEAD: to be fair, dune actually avoids most of the tropes except the "house goodguys vs house badboys". House badboys was kind of forced to be evil artificially just stating how they wanted to have a quick gain of the planets resources.
Ramón López Buggatti Don't forget, they were also extremely physically repulsive, being covered in boils and having little juice boxes that they crushed a small creature in and then drank from.
@@Jacob-pu4zj that was only in the movie, in the Books The Baron Harkonen is dipicted as extremely obies but not with these gigantic pimples he has in the movie.. In the Book he was a Pedofile tho, wich I I think is even more repugnant
okay now that you aknowledge them, you have to make a video about people being transported to another world, such an awesome concept often abused for crappy wish fullfilment
It is especially poorly done when you consider the implications of people being transported in the first place. Nobody ever talks about the inevitable interactions between two different dimensions, when they do it is always just a battle with two sides as if the entire planet is in agreement as to how we deal with the other dimension. Instead we just have protag-kun stuck with no way home, or even an interest in going home.
Usually is interesting because we have a self insertion character. but the best other world story i readed was about from a scientist who wasn't from earth, diying and getting to posses the body of a kid on a magic world that was not earth. so not exactly a self insertion character. for anyone interested: Warlock in the magus world or something like that
Imagine a story where a person gets transported, then decides to use all the crappy wish fulfillment devices to go back and take over the world, setting him up not only as the dark Messiah for his new world but a traitor to his old one. Probably already done but whatever.
I truly don't appreciate these videos. They haven't helped me in effectively executing tropes and/or cliches in my stories at all. And it most certainly did not help me realize that cliches/tropes are mere tools therefore it's all up to how you write them that matters and not what they actually are.
I personally make 2 aspects of my story better after I watch his videos, the "Cosmic horror" give me the inspiration to change some of my characters take from the loftrcraft books and create unique characters . Also the "Evil Empire" give me the idea to not have an evil empire but only an empire (by default all empires are bad but no one try to be evil ).I only needed 2 of these 32 videos for my story but someone needs 3 for his story (I don't write steam punk so I don't need an steam punk video )I think that this is because of my way to approach my story .And also this guy try to be edgy
"This is concerning. Clearly we should carefully consider the situation, identify the core problem, and then destroy the entire planet." LOLOLOLOLOLOL GOLD!!!
1:47 is literally, in order, Blue Lions, Black Eagles and Golden Deer, except they were written much MUCH more better. They are similar to the cliche and yet not and thats so cool
Exactly. It's all morally determinant on how you interpret each houses playthrough, because nothing is totally black and white, and everyone has their reasons and beliefs for doing things, and it's not just for the sake of "I am good", "I am evil" or "I am neutral".
Your vector art is really looking good. Like, the simple shapes you use make it all look effortless, but then you see all the little details and it makes you gaze in awe. The last scene's background and all that lookes really good.
Let's not forget, you should definitely be styling noble houses on an overly-simplistic and generic understanding of ancient cultures without regard for how sensible their political and cultural goals are in light of the setting. It's always better to have generic stand-ins such as "vikings raiders who care only for honor". Remember kids, vikings only raid, fight, and drink!
Just some historical nitpicking, but when the merchants started to get more influence during the late medieval and early modern period, they would often support a stronger position for the monarch, in order to weaken the dominance of the nobility. The nobles on the other hand, were usually the ones who wanted to keep the royal power limited, in order to preserve their own position and privilegies. This would change, when the nobility got more threatened of and eventually replaced by the merchants. During the nineteenth century, the nobles usually defended absolute monarchy, in the hope that the monarch would defend their privilegies.
TheVectorSilver TBH, I don’t actually have as much as of problem with the game as other people did but I can understand why people were dissatisfied with it
I like how the ads at the end of his videos are slowly becoming their own expanded universe that I'm actually excited to see more of. J.P., you magnificent bastard, I read your book!
In the interest of fairness it needs be said that sometimes, the reason all the noble houses aren't fully fleshed out is because that would be way too time consuming of an info dump without contributing much to the story. Even the greatest worldbuilding juggernauts usually have to put all that stuff in their companion "Illustrated Encyclopedia of [Your Fantasy World Here]".
@@MyVanir Sure, it's a lot easier to work in if you have several books to do it. There's a good happy balance to be struck. I think worldbuilding is particularly effective when the writer has the world well figured out, but has ways of showing how that world works without resorting to info dumps. Sometimes it's best when you can you can say a lot with a little, or better yet, say a lot without having to explain it and pointing it out. For example, realistically, a lot of stories won't have time to explain the entire trade history of a noble house for the past several hundred years unless that's the central point of the plot. But suppose you have one character in passing walk by a faded tapestry in one of this house's halls that depicts a banquet where the members of that house are enjoying delicacies that comes from the land of their current rival clan, and the scene looks noticeably more opulent than the houses current state, but none of this specifically pointed out, only mentioned. Sometimes it's effective to just hint without telling the full story, both to keep the pace from getting bogged down and to let the reader do some connecting of the dots on their own.
@@stephenskinner7207 I find one the best ways of showing that there's more going beyond the story being told is by keeping the scale in mind. A feud between two noble houses sounds more like a "smaller conflict" than a full fledged coup of the [insert emperor's name] thrown. Ofcourse just because a story isn't spanning entire nations or continents does not mean it can't be just as interesting.
@NaViLlUs cIrE Trust me, that just makes the reader get confused and throw the book against his wall in irritation, considering he seems to be missing the "why" of the magical, limitless flow of supplies coming from Indieslandia or why out of nowhere this duke of thornsville came in and stabbed everybody and somehow the idea that the duke of thornsville is a stabby guy is a very known fact.
It depends on what you want to tell for a story. I, for instance, am currently plotting out several books (at least three to five. Someone stop me before the number gets into the mythical 2-digit-realm. PLEASE) and at least one of them is going to focus a lot on political drama in a fairly new kingdom (built by 13 noble houses about 200 years ago after it split itself from the empire next to it) and their surroundings. So I WILL be introducing a lot of these houses and a lot of the nobility from my empire (roughly based on the roman empire, but with only one god and religion, to cut it veeery short) because I need it and I hope I'll do it right and not dump too much info in there. It's just... needed, I'm afraid xD
Dont you dare forget house backround extras 2 I mean us hufflepuffs who have the most excitting and itressting carecters who totoly have lots of plot importance
So three houses? Maybe add in a an emblem as well? Maybe, in fact, a fire one! No joke, I permanently felt like no was 5 seconds away from referencing fire emblem throughout this video.
This my major problem with Fire Emblem. If they just made every kingdom have legitimate desires and grievances you could craft and epic and compelling story with all these characters getting involved in grey and murky wars they don't want to be a part of. Drama! Instead we have the pure, perfect kingdom and the unspeakably evil kingdom. Or the leader is evil and his subjects are good or something. It's just extremely stupid and boring. And they do this plotline every damn game. Oh and evil dragon.
Awakening had an interesting concept. A better writer could have written a fascinating look into the never ending cycle of vengeance. Ylisse tried to genocide Plegia for religious differences. If Grima wasn't evil, then things would be a lot less black and white.
2:22 Now I’m thinking of _Romance Of The Three Kingdoms._ ... ...wait, not THAT kind of... romance of three, it’s the name of a... classic literature... thingy... it’s a classic example of three noble houses clashing.
1:20 Now that I'm into GOT this makes so much more sense. Is there any scene where Cersei isn't drinking menancetely vine?:) 3:29 *The Kingslayer* 5:08 Another GOT reference!
Also, it is essential that there’s a secret romance between a member of House Good Guy and House Bad Guy. We need more dramatic tension to add to the story and not just because we are ripping off Shakespeare.
Sarcastic wrighting advises red even called the play a dark comedy who shows the possible consequences of too dramatic teenage relationships. With a high level of subtext sarcastic undertones.
Shakespeare set the whole thing up in motion and besides he is long dead and his ideas and works etc have been used countless times in other works all to pay homage to his works. nothing more nothing less.
I tried it, it’s no that hard if you only have 1…… But George R.R. Martin had to write a dozen or so. Name:House Sangulime, Ruler title: Grand Duke/Duchess, Current ruler: Grand Duke Hacan. Sigil:An albino bat sitting on a chalice ornate chalice, Heraldry:A blood red shield with a gold trim, Motto: “Immortal in our legacy.”, Uniforms: Typically dark cloaks with red and gold accents, Lineage: A long line of vampires originally descended from Grand Duke Nodin and Grand Duchess Lucinda, Hierarchy:1.Grand Duke/Grand Duchess, 2. Marquess/ Marchiones, 3. Earl/Count/Countess, 4.Viscount/Viscountess(vassal houses), 5.Baron/Baroness(vassal houses), 6.Lord/lady(vassal houses), 7. Knight(Vassal houses and House Sangulime), Fiefdom:The Grand Duchy of Tenebris, Wealth:Moderately high thanks to excessive investment into infrastructure and security for trade routes, Relics:Sanguine chalice(A gold chalice adorned with encrusted with blood red rubies that enhances the strength and durability and gifts an unnaturally silver honey to anyone who drinks the blood another person out of it), History:First rose to prominence after the original house that held the land was wiped out in a single night by a “mysterious” undead horde and has since gained popularity amongst the local peasantry by investing in security for trade routes that brought prosperity to the cursed land in which their domain resides, the house also has and long history of manipulation, spying and subterfuge as it slowly subverts the entire kingdom towards its true end goal., Traditions:The blinding is a ritual in which humans turned vampires or vampires from outside the house and blinded temporarily to show their loyalty to the house., Home:Tenebris Manor which is a large gothic manor with many secret underground chambers where the member of House Sangulime can express the parts of their vampiric nature in secret, Vassals:House Whisperwind(A largely human and half-elf house that is unaware of their overlords vampiric nature), House House Noxus(An all human household that is aware of their overlords vampiric nature and plays a critical part in House Sangulimes spy networks), half a dozen other minor houses, Oaths:To uphold trade and continue to tame the magic and environment of the bloodswamps of the Tenebris region(publicly), To subvert the Kingdom of Silveholme to their own ends(secret), Lands: The Tenebris region is a dark region full of monsters both living and undead, focal points of dark and undead magic as well as the notoriously difficult to travel bloodswamps, Martial arts: The Embrace, A Grappling Art for the Night The Embrace is a brutal and efficient grappling style developed by vampires over centuries of honing their combat techniques. It emphasizes control, speed, and exploiting an opponent's vulnerability to a swift, silent kill., Ideology: Vampire supremacy, though not to an extreme degree as the members of House Sangulime do still view their mortal subjects as people with goals, desires, wants and needs, it’s just that they view them as lesser people who’s goals, desires wants and needs are secondary to that vampires, Secrets: Their vampiric nature, the various extensive spy networks they use to gather information on and blackmail other houses, Organization:Very centralized, Logistics:The maintaining of the various trade routes and spy networks throughout their territory and the Kingdom of Silveholm, Allies: Most houses within the kingdom of Silveholm, House Solace(One the other 3 major noble houses in the Kingdom of Silveholm that is closely tied to House Sangulime and has noidea they are vampires), The veiled coven, (a coven of 3 witches found within the bloodswamps who help House sangulime in exchange for exotic potion ingredients, ancient spell times and cursed items, it consists of Nara the Seer, Wields prophetic magic, glimpses the future to nudge rebellions.Elara the Whisperer, A master of shadows, sows discord and paranoia within the enemy court. Morwen the Crone, Commands the earth's creatures, blights crops and sows famine.) Enemies:House Glynwood(Yet another one of the other 3 major houses in Silveholm and the only one to consistently oppose Sangulime and be suspicious of them, they are militarily and economically powerful and are deeply religious), Strengths: Supernatural strength of members, ability to raise undead armies(at focal points of undead magic only), skilled diplomats and manipulators, large influence and sway within local politics of the kingdom, large web of spies, Weaknesses: Economy is only moderately powerful due to terrain and constant investment required to keep trade routes safe, discovery of vampiric nature could lead to serious loss of political power and potentially execution, Short term goals: Increase influence, destroy House Glynwood, Expand territory to help mitigate economic problems, Long term goals: Subvert the kingdom and create a paradise for vampires that is hidden in plane sight, Favorite foods: Elf blood
He meant the aunctioning in particular. After the Praetorians assininated the emperor Pertinax they decided to aunction the postion of the Emperor to the highest bidder, who was Didilus Julianus.
I always tend to skip any advertisement related parts of any video on youtube, like skillshare, except here. I seriously hope they pay you better than other channels because this is the only channel that made me want to see the commercial willingly. Btw, great video as always...
Damn you Terrible Writing Advice, making me EXCITED about sponsorships! Seriously though your sponsorships are so great XD Please keep doing what you're doing. I think the angle you take on everything is very helpful for gathering advice on writing, and it's hilarious to watch. You've really struck gold.
I've actually been writing a noble court scene my self, and this video gave me some things to think about. Especially family motos, and the noble court as character. I orginally wanted to have the main characters leave the court and neighboring countries on an adventure for one reason or another, but while I was world building I gave them too many reasons to stay. I've also been struggling to find any kind of antagonist so far. Anyway thanks for the writing advice man.
I feel like this is Fire Emblem Three Houses in a nutshell, one house that can be see as the major bad guys, one that tries to stop that house, and a third that kind of just exists unless you focus on it.
This actually helps me a lot. I am currently also "writing" a video game plotline revolving around Noble Houses and a fantasy realm but am currently having a hard time to fleshing out these characters and houses.
@marios gianopolulos That sounds like a shit book. Why not do something more exciting? How about the Elite Royal Guard™ couping the shit out of the emperor and the rest of the story is the main character's royal house struggle to take back the power from the new military dictatorship.
Alternative step one: Have it so that an object the size of the moon will be the most expensive military project in history to the point of its failure completely devastating their government despite having an entire well established, relatively well connected galaxy's resources to work with.
@Jimmie Toyne you could have the governers,senators,etc run all these numerous and distant sectors with their respective star systems with the aid of hyper-fast, hyper-intelligent(but non-sapient) A.I.
I’d like to see that, as a lot of galactic federations in fiction have a nasty habit of being either _generic good-guy/PoV character faction_ or generic bad-guy/villain faction_
Don't forget, the Badguys house always has the best backstory of how the got into power, meanwhile Goodguys house is... well... BLOOD OF ANCIENT KINGS
Or, house badguys are blood purists making them evil, and house good guys are even purer but they don't think much of purity, u could still state it a couple of times and make the blood of the gods run through their veins
Marz Q all the Gryffindor and Slytherin salt
@@Mosababumarzouk That kind of sounds like Harry Potter books
@@Bronek0990 _kind of???_
Holy shit this is literally Game of Thrones house Stark and Lannister lmao
No, no, no! How could you forget? House Badguys are all evil EXCEPT for the one beautiful teenage girl who for some reason skipped out on the evil gene so that she could be the protagonist's love interest! ^_^
Thus ensues the love triangle with the whimsical girl from house evilguys, and his faithful childhood friend that has grown up with him in house goodguys his entire life.
I'm having telltale game of thrones ptsd
Not always. Sometimes the beautiful teenage girl from House Badguys will be evil like the rest of them, but learn how much better it is to not be evil from the House Goodguys protagonist she inevitably falls for ;)
No, Paul Atreides marries a Fremen woman.
And then inevitably be appointed by the good guy King to be the ruler of house Badguys,despite the Middle ages being a sausage fest and despite her other siblings or uncles or nephews having way more political power and being far more accustomed to the inner house politics for this to stand.She ll be the house's ruler for no other reason that to provide safety and closure to the King and ensure there wont be any future betrayals from that House.
You forgot the part where the main character falls in love with the one black sheep completely innocent daughter of the main bad guy
The OG Nicegirl
Stormgem Thunder well they do make the Montagues seem better than the Capulets. One of the few times we see Lord and Lady Montague they are expressing fear over the safety of their child and his emotional well being. Then as you pointed out, the Capulets were forcing Juliet to marry Paris and if she didn’t consent they would have thrown her out of their home as well as disowning her. Even comparing Benvolio and Tybalt it shows too, Benvolio was trying to calm everyone so a fight wouldn’t break out in the beginning of the story while Tybalt was egging everyone on which caused a riot in the streets. So I would agree the story seems to have a more favorable view on House Montague than it does House Capulet.
@@morganyoung3557 "Benvolio" is basically a variation of "benevolent"
Stormgem Thunder even then it was written to show the parents in the wrong when they were forcing her into a marriage against her will and threatening to throw her out of their home. So even by the standards of when it was written they saw the way Juliet’s parents treated her as terrible.
Red queen in a nutshell except the MC is a girl
To be fair though, "rushing in the front door and stabbing everyone" has actually been a fairly successful historical strategy.
True, if they caught the enemy off guard and have enough manpower lol
plucas1 The first ruler of the Abbasid dynasty of the Islamic empires defeated the ruling Umayyads by inviting the Umayyad royal family to a dinner and then killing them all once they arrived.
Yeah, it can work out sometimes
Works every time I play a Total War game.
"We're not at war, but we don't have a pact of non-aggression, I can trust you to not attack me right?"
*Building doomsday war machine of death and rainbows next door*
"Uhh, yah!"
And how many examples can you give?
In Case if you were making Light Novel, Consult the Isekai Transport Company if they should use a Truck.
"Destroy their entire planet"
"But sir, we are in a medieval fantasy setting and there is only one planet, we are also living on it."
I had read medieval fantasy setting whit multiple planets and magical spaceships before
Scifi disguised as medieval fantasy is a thing and can even work, like space western.
"Is the problem on a planet?"
"Yes, sir, it is,"
"Then destroy the entire planet,"
"But sir, it's our planet,"
"Indeed. Which is why we can't let our enemies have it. So we destroy the entire planet."
"Genius, sir."
@@TheOmegagoldfish Oh hey look it's imperium of man at work
Even the Imperium isn't as petty with Exterminatus. Kryptmann is the only example of something like that I can think of, and he did it to try and stop the Tyranids.
Also the Imperium is big enough to function after losing hundreds of planets, as long as that planet isn't Terra or Mars.
Royal guards being only slightly stronger then normal guards have always been my biggest pet peeve in these types of stories
Offense is the best defense, but in 1000 AD
I'd say that they may be pretty useless, since all the warring is done in distant lands, and they spend their day watching for birds trying to shit on the emperor...
But they may be the swiss guard as well! You know, overwhelmed, heroic last stands... all of that.
It depends on the setting...
@@DonVigaDeFierro and is a great opportunity for world building. I don't know much about the swiss guard, but lets take both the spartan kings' guard and the praetorian guard as exemples.
The spartan kings' guard was carefully selected from the younguest soldiers, regularly rotated and their members were indoctrinated towards loyalty since their birth. They were too young to have conections besides family, too selective to allow their leader to fill their ranks trought nepotism and didn't last forever, so their power would one day simply fade.
The praetorian guard was literally just a big ass cohort from the legion octavian trusted most.
So yeah... World building can come from everything.
So... Are Royal Guards actually just glorified security guards that know how to sync their steps?
There are a couple of incorrect statements regarding the spartan's kings guard. First, there where two of them, one for each king. Second, they where not selected from birth. Intense training and indoctrination was forced on all Spartan children (including females, though they did not receive weapons training). Third, the royal guard was not made up of young men with no family, indeed it was very much the opposite. In order to be eligible to join the guard you had to: A, be in good physical health. B, be a full citizen. In order to become a citizen you had to complete the mandatory military service, meaning you would be of atleast 30 years of age. C, you would also have had to distinguished yourself in battle. D, you had to have at least one male child to carry on your lineage. And E, shown absolute loyalty to Sparta. If you met those requirements you could be selected by one of the two kings to serve in their personal guard. Also a quick intersesting fact, Spartan kings where elected. Edit: spelling.
"The Roman praetorian guard actually did this once"
The Roman praetorian guard did that like a dozen times
It was honestly a common theme along with the decadence and war in roman history.
But they only did an auction for the emperor once!
Well, there was a reason for disbanding them. I mean, their leaders had a very high chance of becoming Emperors or rich Senators. But that couldn't be related.
That tradition though kept on during byzantine times.
It should also be mentioned that the praetorian guard had many Germanic members because they were regarded as capable and loyal. ... Until the Battle of Teutoburg Forest that is.
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw should have been renamed Placeholder1 and Placeholder2
At least we fannoned them some fleshing out later on
Replace those with the 2 irrelevant houses in my school that never win anything. If my school doesn't put you in the CreativeNameForBlueHouse (mine!) that always wins the performing arts competition we have and CreativeNameForPinkHouse that always wins the sports competitons, well done for losing.
I am a proud member of placeholder 2
True
@afootineachworld Lord Voldemort derived his ideologies, world view, and political ambitions from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, and outright stated that, in his view, he was trying to continue Slytherin's legacy. Salazar believed what he did because he lived in a time where muggles were genocidally massacering wizards and witches, and the inclusion of their children in wizarding society presented a severe military danger, and security risk. Naturally, the ancient and noble houses from which a large number of Slytherins descend would've been directly impacted by centuries of discrimation and genocide followed up by yet more centuries of humiliating hiding and some degree of subservience to the muggle government. Especially after Grindelwald challenged the statue of secrecy, Salazar Slytherins ideas with regard to be extremely wary of muggle born whose allegiances are most likely not with the wizarding world first, and keeping magical strongholds secure as a major advantage in a likely inevitable future war of quality vs quantity, became rather more popular. Fueled by noble families who had spent centuries passing down the stories of mistreatment by muggles, who they developed disgust for as a result, proud traditions, and a desire to live free of imposed hiding as the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore would insist, it's no wonder quite a lot of people in the wizarding world, predominantly Slytherins but also a number of those from other houses, either joined the Death Eaters, worked for them, or actively aligned with them due to ideological sympathy and shared worldview and ambitions (ex. Dolores Umbridge).
At the end of the day, in all honesty, and as a Slytherin, I would've sided with the Death Eaters in during the wizarding war. Dumbledore and the Order are complacent, and essentially dooming the wizarding world to eventually be overwhelmed or become extinct. I would not be content with continuing to submit to the forced state of hiding imposed by muggles via the statue of secrecy, and would undoubtedly wish to see that document burned, whether the muggles wish to wage war over that or not. Historical and political context is important, but often overlooked or misread, when it comes to the Potterverse and it's warring factions. In a twist of complete irony on what most people expect, the Death Eaters are fighting for their societies freedom and an end to centuries of oppression enforced upon it, while the Order of the Phoenix is fighting to maintain a broken and outdated status quo that has left their society in a state of fear and anxiety for the better part of a millennia. Yes... If I were in the wizarding world, I think I would've fallen more in line with the Death Eater's than not, despite a few notable differences in opinion with some among them. Death Eaters are far and away better for the wizarding world than the Order💀🐍
"King Dragon sends his regards"
"Archibald NO!!"
[Knocks gun out of hand]
@@hugswanted7954 "...Good job I always carry a spare gun. King Dragon sends his regards." *Dramatic gunshot*
"Why are you doing this?!?"
@@bestwind4618 "Cause I was ordered to. King Dragon sends his regards." *Life shattering gun shot*
It'll be okay Denis
House Good Guys are often clean, pretty, white-hatted with long held (traditional) principles because they started with the best land for farming. Staple crops just grow wild like weeds in GoodGuyLand. And while plagues, blights and droughts happen everywhere else, they never quite get as far as GoodGuyLand. It's something in the water.
Meanwhile House Bad Guys started with swamplands and solid rock mountains. They lived on bugs for the first few generations until they engineered swamp potatoes and hardy pigs and figured how to mine through granite. If a century goes by without a plague wiping out all the children, everything starts to feel amiss, and the common folk start lynching each other for witchcraft.
Oh, also, House Good Guys has within them the blood of kings dated back to the beginning of written history. If Lord Duke Good Guy doesn't dress down for the imperial court, the Emperor starts feeling overshadowed. Prophecies say that when House Good Guy rules once again, the unicorns will return that poop rocket fuel.
House Bad Guys had to buy their way into nobility, and then only after the old Emperor died and the new one was coronated. House Bad Guy provides the Emperor an annual fresh batch of expendable black-ops terror troops to throw at whatever warfront. That's the key reason the House Bad Guy is tolerated at all in the imperial court.
Also High Lord Baron Bad Guy has to have some awful sexual perversion so that everyone knows he's bad.
*Edit:* Typo.
Uriel238 Please write a fic about this.
low key actually interested in the house bad guys story
i mean i know its a joke but still
@@KindredKeepsake This fic already exists! It's called Dune by Frank Herbert.
(Don't @ me, I actually love those novels.)
E.S. Rigby I have heard great things about that one, and I should really read it.
“I am shocked that murdering psychopaths make for poor allies!” My sides!
Is that a pun about being stabbed
@@shymike1196 Nah it's just pointing out the stupidity of trusting a person/faction who was so quick to stab someone else in the back. What makes them think they wouldn't stab them in the back the first chance they get?
Me bones
That is why Sith "culture" never worked for me. The backstabbing is practically inbuilt and expected, so why would anyone take an apprentice?
Sarah Andrea Royce that’s the point, they’re basically training the apprentice to be even *more* evil
What about House Secretive!
You know the house no one knows about, but yet they have a strong economy a massive underground army and only show up once House Goodguys is betrayed or the King dies or something. Also for reasons never specified they also serve as a refuge for the protagonist after House Badguys attack, even when it was clearly stated they have no ties to the other Houses.
So again... Dune?
Murmurs of Blaustein basically somewhat the Tyrells
Black panther? Dat u?
District 13 of Panem... is that you?
Aw, crap. I see JP isn't the only person reading my mind!
A thing to note about noble courts is that all the socializing, intrigue, and status jockeying were done with GOALS in mind. They were a means to an end. For example. Say Countess Alice is trying to curry favor with Baron Bob. There could be any number of reasons and motivations. It might be because she wants him to allow her merchants to pass through the borders of his domain because it's safer and faster than going around through the mountains, and thus she can make more of a profit. Perhaps she needs the aid of his troops to help drive off bandits or raiders. Perhaps she's trying to get him on her side to form a large enough group of nobles to strongarm the emperor into enacting a policy they want. And so forth.
Basically, there's all sorts of interesting things to base a plot around beyond just vague "intrigue".
indeed as i have gotten older i have enjoyed the idea of a empty headed Disney princess less and less.
but on the flip side the idea that a noble telling another noble good morning every day as they pass each other. as being a political ploy to be vary tiring a thought
@@alwaysonyourtail2563
It is part of the risk, but excellent word play is rarely a dull thing to read.
That’s the point. This is supposed to be *terrible*
I think that 'vague intrigue' is fine, but you should at least prop up a veneer of personal importance to the background and secondary characters when they go intriguing. You don't have to let the reader know that Mistress Lydia of the North Northmen, who is here to work out a trade agreement, is insulting you to make the son of the king, who also hates you, like her more so he puts a good word in for her deal. You just have to show them talking and having a good time, and maybe show the result later (more Northman people or goods later on, showing that she was successful). Or, perhaps she fails, and there's a throwaway bit later where Mistress Lydia is getting angrily shitfaced in a tavern to calm her violent urges towards that scummy noble ass.
Also, this kind of "intrigue" is always depicted as some kind of like... dishonourable thing that only bad people do. Only evil and conniving noble houses engage in intrigue whereas the good and upstanding nobles that we sympathise with do not engage in such underhanded methods to gain power...
The reality is, at somewhere like a royal court, nearly every family or individual who wants any kind of power or advancement has to engage in this kind of thing. If you don't, you might lose power, be disgraced, or possibly even be *executed*. Life at court is a profoundly dangerous existence, especially for people who fall out of favour with those currently in power. You have to actually play the game. That's going to involve at least some degree of deal-making and politicking. It will *probably* involve at least some cooperation with morally-grey self-interested noble houses because, guess what, **every** noble house is self-interested.
If there's not a noble house hate triangle you're not doing it right
There needs to be a love triangle between a girl from one house, a guy from a rival house and a guy from the girl's house who's jealous
OBVIOUSLY.
You should do a noble house love triangle instead.
@@horricule451 Tigara 12 Why not both?
Bah! What amateur thinking. What one truly needs is the actual homes to be in a love triangle. Brick and wood were always made to be together.
"B-but I thought you hated me the most...!"
“His Goatee told him to do it”
Best. Villain. Backstory. Ever.
*Sentient eyebrows can also be pretty cunning and deceptive when on the right faces*
plot twist: the goatee was the main villain, kills off all the bad guys and
assumes an evil rule over the world for 18 years like Palpatine did.
sorry wrong comment
@@bluelightstudios6191 *or is it?*
How _noble_ of you...
Damn it Kermit
Hi again.
Ba dum tss.
Stoooooop
Wow! Very house
Where's the part where daughter of house good guys falls for the rebellious son of house bad guys, who is the only good guy in house bad guys, but the daughter of house good guys is engaged to the middle-aged, not at all creepy balding, suspiciously evil looking guy who dresses in all black and has a goatee guy? How can you have a story about noble houses without ripping of…I mean taking inspiration from Shakespeare?
good but do not miss to make it a love triangle by having a a maid or a slave(male) nearly raped by a evil noble but getting rescued by the MC
bold of you to assume it wouldn’t be the hot vampire-esque daughter of Lord Badguys that falls for the ever so generically heroic thinly veiled self-insert from House Goodguys so the author can call it a “subversion” of shakespearean tropes and not have to admit to writing in blatant wish-fulfillment
DEFINITELY ripping off, considering that Paris was a MILLION TIMES BETTER than Romeo and I was actually wishing that I could have been the one to decide.
or vice versa
@@nothankyou4752 Good point, but we still need a love triangle. An innocent maid who was nearly raped would make a good addition, but let's also add in:
A foreign diplomat, who can't understand metaphors and assimili despite having studied the language for their whole life
The merchant daughter dreaming of wanting more
The cutthroat rebel leader who inevitably falls for the MC's charm and good nature, and decides not to overthrow the monarchy, as long as MC becomes the next emperor
The bland noble girl from House Background who is bethroted to MC, but will be forgotten through most if not all of the story, depending on whether the author decides to make her and MC get married in the end despite having spent no time together
And if the story has magic, the shy, socially awkward mage girl with super powerful magic, who can't control said magic because she "doesn't believe in herself", but thanks to MC she learns to have confidence and becomes the world's most powerful magic user. She will then either completely devote herself to MC or turn to the dark side where she will inevitably die, either by MC's hand, one of the members of his hare- I mean, love triangle, or the bad guys she's working for since killing one of your most loyal and powerful assets makes perfect sense
3:23
>The Roman Praetorian Guard actually did this once
>once
*laughs in crisis of the third century*
He meant the auctioning part
They usually did it because the dude ultra sucked or they wanted a turn.
Diocletian *rulz* literally. " I have defeated all of my enemies and now im a god more than a mere man. " Only emperor to ever retire by choice. 👍👍👍💎💎
@@ilkkarautio2449 Cincinattus? He was even _more_ powerful by virtue of being dictator and still left by choice.
@@thewanderingmistnull2451 Cmon man, thats a really bad comparison... Early roman republic dictator isnt even close to an emperor. And you know: a dictator is supposed to step down when the crisis is over. 🤔
You forgot the forbidden love triangle between people of rival houses!
i can not believe he forgot about the love triangle, it is even his house motto
Which ultimately damns both of them when a Plague is put O' Both of them when the love triangle makes things escalate into a homicide of a member of the royal family.
THANK YOU
Graymane or Battleborn!?
And then the Graymane woman and the Battleborn guy are in a secret relationship lol XD
Amor Triangulo.
It's all in the heraldry
I got this:
The Emperor has passed away, leaving two heirs to compete for the throne by gaining the support of the various houses under the empire's rule.
And... go
That's literally every war of succession in both fiction and history
@@nicholasnelson8641 exacly its perfect
The Ottoman empire you mean?
@@@leenaleewitch3731 The Ottoman empire, The Kingdom of Portugal, various Chinese Dynasties, The Roman Empire, Kingdom of England, France, Java, ect...... The list goes on. It is the same all over the world.
Heroes of Might and Magic II, the Succession Wars...
... and pretty much a dozen other fantasy games and novels 😁
I’d like to see a story where all of the houses are evil and the protagonist has to escape alive from the politics.
I might use this. I'll inform you about it and give you the credit if I use it.
I will give you the credit.
I have. Here are the links.
Wattpad: www.wattpad.com/myworks/241911717-clues-of-destiny
Booksie: www.booksie.com/636780-clues-of-destiny
@@milicadiy go ahead. IDC
@@boeuf-in9oe I didn't want to take all the credit myself when it wasn't all mine, so I had to give you a dedication at the beginning of both versions.
Don't ya hate it when a random peasant merchant barges in and ruins your good old fashioned monarchy!!!
That's why you should wholesale buyout small buisnesses using your superior wealth and political power!
Louis XVI certainly didn’t like.
@@jamiekamihachi3135 Louis XVI was actually very Pro Enlightenment. The kingdom of France was an absolute monarchy in theory, a majority of the power lay in the aristocracy and clergy. Louis had been trying to take power away from the church and aristocracy in order to lift up the lower classes. The problem was the powers that be kept stopping him and Louis just gave up in the end.
Dragoninthewest I was mostly talking about after the Tennis Court Oath. I think Louis’s fondness for the enlightenment is up for debate. I think it was like Catherine the Great. She liked it until it actually challenged her royal authority.
@@jamiekamihachi3135 of course after the Tennis Court Oath he won't like the revolutionaries. They were all stripping away his power and turning the government ever more republican.
4:15 Ok, now I NEED an episode on "stuck in another world trope".
Yes, I need this!!!
@@ionryful Isekai
there's actually a funny "p.s.a" of the trope here that effectively breaks it down into variants and has great jokes. ua-cam.com/video/LF2DzAQYw68/v-deo.html
@@CrossedLegion all hail anime pope
YES! I'm working on an Isekai LN & badly need someone to points out my mistakes.
Wait three houses? Three... LoVe TRIaangLE In HOUses.
The empire is the Illuminati confirmed!
House Goodguys and House Badguys are both trying to marry into House Noname, because then they can unite their armies and fight the other one with an advantage.
Three Houses you say? Hmmm maybe the need an emblem, like one with flames. A... Fire Emblem?
@@rigistroni I see that you too are a man of culture
@@nocternae of course
I, Cato Sicarius, ex-Captain of the second Ultramarine company, Master of the Watch, Knight Champion of Macragge, Grand Duke of Talassar, High Suzerain of Ultramar, Primaris Marine, commander of the Primarch Guilliman Victrix Guard, Guilliman student, possible next Chapter Master and possible heir to the title of Lord Regent (the last two are highly heretical speculations done by other people), want you to make a video about unneccesary titles.
@Cooper Ross His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular would like a word with you.
Charles, by the grace of God, Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King of Germany, King of Italy, King of all Spains, of Castile, Aragon, León, of Hungary, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, Navarra, Grenada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Sevilla, Cordova, Murcia, Jaén, Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, King of Two Sicilies, of Sardinia, Corsica, King of Jerusalem, King of the Western and Eastern Indies, of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Lorraine, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Limburg, Luxembourg, Gelderland, Neopatria, Württemberg, Landgrave of Alsace, Prince of Swabia, Asturia and Catalonia, Count of Flanders, Habsburg, Tyrol, Gorizia, Barcelona, Artois, Burgundy Palatine, Hainaut, Holland, Seeland, Ferrette, Kyburg, Namur, Roussillon, Cerdagne, Drenthe, Zutphen, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgau, Oristano and Gociano, Lord of Frisia, the Wendish March, Pordenone, Biscay, Molin, Salins, Tripoli and Mechelen.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor#Titles
@@PsychShrew Karl at least deserves his titles. His domain was hella huge
@@deltoroperdedor3166 so was his jaw
@@RedElm747 which is normal for a Megachad
"The Praetorian Guard actually did this once"
Hahahaha, once.
He was saying that the Praetorian guard only auction off the throne once. The Praetorian guard did however murder like 12 of the roman emperors or something. XD
Historically it got so bad that one Roman Emperor had to bring in his own legions to disarm them. So yeah. They were terrible.
No they only literally auctioned off the principate once. They played a significant role in the selection process many times, but their was only ever one auction.
Look up emperor Heliogabal hes Praetorians killed him by drowning him head down in the toilet :) he basically worshipped god of sun Helios and made massive and i mean massive sexual orgies like for 100 plus people in hes palace and he was gay or bisexual but that does not matter :).
As Caligula learned the hard way, don't rape your guard captain's wife in front of him, or was it calling him a faggot? Either way keep them happy, history is fun.
These videos are ironically, sparking an interest in writing that I never knew I had. I kind of want to try it
I think that's the point.
I say you go for it. Even if you just do it for fun and not for others to read you might really enjoy it.
Doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoit!!!!!!
march on friend
Hey hope you got a chance to try your hand at writing, how did it go/hows it going?
We have house Good Guys.
House Bad Guys.
And house Background Guys who balance power, but we don't want them between good guys and bad guys.
Wow you just described Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff
For all the affect the had on the story the other two houses may as well have been House Ravenpuff
Esther Evans
Oh my gosh your RIGHT! 🤦♂️
Gryffindors get the book's attention
Hufflepuffs get the fandom's attention
Slytherins get a bit of both
Ravenclaws get NOTHING
uh oh As they SHOULD.
@@themindelectric4542 _i'm a slytherin but NO_
Terrible video. Didn't learn anything about repairing an old mansion (good stuff as always)
Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well.
Nail it...?
Always remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer
@@-_-5470 you remember our venerable house? Opulent and imperial.
Gazing proudly from its stoic perch above the moor.
Prince BadGuys had a fantastic insult there. Just tweak to: "Your blue uniform is exquisite, though I'm afraid it would clash if stained with your blood."
Violence gets less subtle, but jokes about lineage and validity get +1.
“Your blue uniform is exquisite to bad it’s so easy to stain”
Me: Who's Blood?
House Badguys: Listen here you little shit!
"Fortunately for you, your house colors are particularly adept at hiding yours..."
Prince Goodguys says: "Well, I'm sure clashing colors wouldn't bring as much attention as foul smells. On a related note, maybe your pants could use a more fitting color... like brown."
That's a great insult if directed at someone whose legitimacy is in doubt.
Are we going to have an episode on crossovers?
What are some bad advice for crossovers?
Start a demand for this episode
Not explain why or make a really convoluted way like a cardboard box that has a portal to both worlds
Make it canon with no plans of expanding further
Spend dozens of chapters on characters talking about their backstories. Then have nothing happen
@@TheLuckySpades
Then make it not canon and Ethier forget about it or merge the worlds and characters
@@luizfelipevbf5567
Or in comic books explaining things we already know and going nowhere
...I'm getting invested in the story regarding skillshare. The emperor and the dark lord have been outwitted by the grand conspiracy thus far...
I know, I really like this guy's sponsors is hilarious, it actually makes me want to watch and even apply.
@@gandalftheantlion seriously though. 99% of the time I switch off as my brains own ad block kicks in but it's so entertaining!
nicnevin agreed, usually it’s really boring info stuff but this guy knows how to make em entertaining
it's the true plot of the writer following the terrible writing advice
nicnevin But which one is the good guy house? Or are they both the incompetent evil house?
I am a PROUD member of that one blue house from Harry Potter that serves no purpose to the story and is often overlooked by all the characters
I too am a EXTREMELY PROUD member of the Blue house from Harry Potter
I prefer the yellow house
well until the very last moments in the entire movie franchise when they need something
from girl who happens to be in ravenclaw, yeah that's as good as they got.
also I like to think that kids from Ravenclaw and hufflepuff don't actually have separate dorms like gryffindor and slytherin, they actually all share the same log cabin hidden away in Hogwarts under a bridge somewhere and guarding.
I looked up what their dorm rooms would look like and it just shows a couch in a hallway, I'm joking but it would be funny if it was that.
In defense of HP, the books are all told from Harry's perspective. That's also why the books only portray Slytherin as evil: Harry sees them as evil, so that's all we're shown.
@@bluelightstudios6191 I believe in Deathly Hallows they sneak into the Ravenclaw dorm and the ceiling is a starry sky, but I honestly cannot remember. The fact the author (who no longer exists) didn’t just canonically have the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff kids live under some bridge on campus surprises me enough.
It's weird how Dune manages to play most of these tropes straight (even some of the bad ones) yet manages to create an amazing and well thought out story. Except the ending, that universe is too depressing to have anything like a constitutional monarchy (or at least one that works for more than 5 seconds).
Dune came out in 1965 it originates most of the tropes to be honest and it's the same way LoTR plays tropes straight...when it literally originates them and you have been reading the dime a dozen rip offs you realize just how well thought out the original story was and how flawed the copy cats are.
But it has the very first god-emperor in fiction if I'm not mistaken.
The idea of a nearly omniscient ruler actually gives a solid foundation for a world where hereditary power is rooted in a more solid way than in other fiction.
It’s alllll about execution. Tropes aren’t bad, using tropes badly and without depth is bad
@@TheUrizen I have a copy of Dune. I need to bust it open and read it.
That being said, Dune does subvert quite a few of the tropes here. SPOILER WARNING: take the twist that Paul is, in fact, descended from "House Bad Guy", or that the emperor helped the murdering psychopathic bad guys BECAUSE their unecessary evilness made them too incompetent to be a threat to him (and also perfect pawns on which to blame the murder of the good guys).
See the real secret is to play Crusader Kings II. After a few generations and a few hundred hours of having to navigate feudal intrigue youreself you'll start to see that EVERYONE is house badguy, but as long as you're the worst they'll never be able to stop you! (Save RNGesus betraying you and your entire house getting wiped out by the plague, or Mongols, or Aztecs of all things.)
And with all that intrigue going on, it can be hard to find time to breed a dynasty of strong genius inbred horses.
"Would you like to fabricate a claim on th-"
"Yes, also we're going to war to 'retake' our 'rightful' lands."
@Rogue Viper ahhh, CK2 intrigue.
Just stay as a king, swear fealty when mongols and/or aztecs appear, and eat the realm from the inside out
Wait... Aztecs?
"Luckily for the Emperor, it never occurs to the Royal Guard that maybe the Emperor is blatantly incompetent since he keeps putting House Bad Guys in charge of important Imperial assets."
Obvious Dune reference is obvious.
Ding!
Not so much. It's clearly stated that House Harkonnen was very good at running Arrakis and everyone made a lot of money. He probably referenced something else.
How could leave out the most important noble of all? Gases!
They do not trouble themselves with the uncouth atoms of incomplete electron shells.
They’re a minor house though. Since they never react to the evil schemes going on.
@@alexanderlicentia5265 Lord Radon Gas has many plots and ploys as it seeks to give us all cancer though! Sure it eventually becomes Lead Weight but New agents of house Radon rise out of the Earth in their quest to decay inside your lungs into poisonous Lead.
Gases are not that notable, you could say that most of them won't catch your eye.
I once had a concept for a story about, basically, personified chemical elements, and the noble gases were basically this. And most of them were jerks.
Helium defected to the good guys because he hated how stuck-up the other Noble Gases were and Argon was your "noble top enforcer" type, but Oganesson was the big bad and I distinctly remember Radon being a really nasty piece of work.
Terrible Writing Advice, the only UA-cam channel where the ads have plots.
I love it, I actually watch the ads and laughed.
Not exactly.
and sub plots no less
Im hooke to that skillshare ad!
"The Roman Praetorian Guard actually did this once."
*ONCE*
They only auction the office of emperor once. Other than that, they just straight up murder and place a guy they like.
The pay isn't as good as people think and they needed new helmets
He meant the auctioning part
I was looking for this
Try 26 times.
You forgot the notion that you practically need incestious overtone in house bad guy to show their moral corruptness. Which is appearenty nessesary today. The best books have done it.
Ironically enought, Jaime and Cersei share some cute scenes. Until Jaime realizes he's kinda treated like crap by Cersei, at least.
@@francisthompson3772 Probably because Cersei and Jaime are treated as characters and not stock creepy incest twins designed only to make the readers uncomfortable.
@@Rainbowthewindsage not to mention they are morally gray by GOT/SOIAF standards, I mean there is much worse out there
Fire Emblem: ... That's not bad, that's just historticly accurat- dammit Palutena, I'm not your mommy!
Where's our overly sarcastic productions/terrible writing advice collaboration on the love triangle?
P.S. I love these.
That would be amazing, we need to push for that
no it should be a collab on crossovers
I thought about when he said "ugh its just like highschool"
mini2239 No, that's.. Thats way better.
Red, being asexual, said she's really bad at understanding the tropes of love stories.
*HOW TO MAKE A PB AND J SANDWICH!*
*Step 1* : Get some peanut butter.
*Step 2* : Get some jelly.
*Step 3* : Destroy the entire planet.
Why stop off at the planet, DESTROY everything !!!!
Please can we have some terrible writing advice for spy novels
mahli smith those are easy.
There are 2 types.
James Bond like. A nearly indestructible Superman who gets all the girls.
And parody of James Bond.
Villans are easy as well, super rich guy with a vague plan to take over the world.
And I am done.
@@megashark1013 or russian
@@ShortSideSniper17 or vietnamese once in a while
@David Shrapnel and make them have Batman levels of "I have a gadget for this situation!". A character can't be overpowered if it doesn't have magic related powers, right?
Don’t forget to make the protagonists love interest betray him but then join him because his dick is just that amazing.
The only channel that makes sponsorship entertaining.
Try Lindybeige.
TierZoo tho
also the official podcast, who intentionally masturbate their sponsors to the point of ridicule
@@sernoddicusthegallant6986 check out comment etiquette and its video about Nord VPN
Tierzoo?
When you said constitutional monarchies are underrepresented in fiction I really had to think hard on it.
He is absolutely right.
well I mean it makes sense as a con. monarchy is essentially just a crowned republic, sometimes worse than that.
@@thethirdsicily4802 Fair point, but now I'm gonna write a bunch of em.
@@TheParadoxGamer1 DO IT MAN! I want to see it done!
Its called stewards in medieval and early modern periods most nobles didn’t manage their land either they resided in the kings court at the capita or on the battlefield campaigning. They delegated power to stewards to manage their manor s and most nobles never even probably set foot in their manors if they were high ranking enough. Not to mention politics was fundamental even in absolute monarchies like France where winning the favor of the king was paramount to social mobility prestige and privileges
Perhaps as rare as a morally gray kingdom defending itself from a republic or even a democracy ruled by an evil government.
I couldn't help but notice your jab at the isekai(another world)-genre. Are you gonna do a video about that? I think it would fit pretty well, considering it is a genre with generally lazily written harem stories and self-insert protagonists.
That tends to happen when genres get popular. There are always mediocre writers ready to jump on something and try to capitalise on it, via writing author wish-fulfillment OP NEET protagonists with massive harems and equally massive plot armour. There are definitely some good ones, though it may require a bit of searching to separate the wheat from the chaff.
@@Enmerkar_of_Uruk Right you are. Granted, I have seen some good ones, like Problem Children or Overlord, but there's just a whole lot of mediocre to bad ones with bland writing and characters (especially the MCs).
Määxorus There are a ton of good ones adapted to mainstream anime. People just love to dig up shit isekai and whine like as if you roll in the mud and whine about mud.
No, people complain about issekao because there shoved in the anime communities faces.
You already know this, but now we have the video.
I am always baffled with people who claim to love Medieval Fantasy and yet keep constantly saying that the good guys are going to abolish monarchy and create a Republic at the ending because that is more democratic.
(Daenerys weird fans, I'm looking at you)
I mean... what?
Oh yes, they forgot how Daenerys managed to turn Slaver Bay into a anarchic and dysentery ridden region after “liberating the slaves”.
Where would they get the idea that a republic was a good idea? In the times that those authors are taking inspiration from, most republics were mercantile city-states one or two bad trade deals away from being conquered, hence why most people thought that some form of enlightened monarchy was the best form of govt.
Both Jon Snow and Daenerys fans are... Are something of their own.
Honestly. Don't waste your time on those guys, they cannot understand a wit about how politics (and people, specially masses) actually work.
Edison Michael Frankly I prefer that instead of the nonsense of season 8. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD PUT THE THREE EYED RAVEN AS KING?????
*Enlightened Despotism Intensifies*
6:47 the protagonist is emperor now and reigns supreme and the surviving peasants who still retain both legs rejoice and dance about in a festive manner until all the rum is gone then the class riots begin leaving the kingdom vulnerable to attack by a completely unknown kingdom that was ignored by both houses and thus subverting the readers expectations by slapping them across the face with a wet fish
soooo…Hamlet?
Next one should be designing the map of a fantasy world, full of magically-forming rivers and random mountains, and biomes placed haphazardly all over the place with no concept of climate.
Make sure to have a gigantic volcano which has been constantly been spewing soot and lava for millennia, yet somehow hasn't caused any visible air pollution or affected the land past the border left by its initial eruption. Every town and city must be placed by throwing darts at the map, with no regard for the geographical features that might compel people to settle somewhere, and they must never question whether or not it's safe to have built their homes on the side of a cliff which sees hourly earthquakes and becomes a wyvern breeding ground every 5 years. Islands don't need to be placed with any semblance of consistency, forgoing both the volcanoes which would have formed them, and any fertile land which might manage to support a nation large enough to crew the powerful navy they built with their magically limitless supply of building materials.
Have people with technological level equal to the early Iron Age be able to cross oceans Caravels and Carracks would have problem to with nothing but Currachs, Galleys and at most Triremes.
I believe a writer can just use the Polynesians as an excuse for naval superpowers. Just have the civs start on a huge forest, be denied expansion through land, say that they have super smart science guys and boom, they just expand to the nearest island. from there they just bring the horses and stones they need and you can make a realistic merchant navy noble house.
I remember the days when fantasy novels did not need maps. The story was good enough without knowing what was where.
@@sillypuppy5940 Tolkien made the fantasy and he had maps in his books.
Or you can simply take a real world map, switch some places around and then transform the sea into clouds.
Yes there is a story made that way.
Watching only because I'm actually writing about this and I don't want to actually be doing this by accident.
Well, that is the whole point of the channel.
I think you mean doing exactly what is suggested here because it's so much easier! :D
Seriously, don't worry about it so much. The great thing about noble house dynastic drama is that as a storytelling motif, it's both timeless and compelling, even when not done the greatest. Put you focus into developing solid characters for each side first and then into worldbuilding, because, truth be told, most of us are actually happy to stick around in worlds that aren't totally fleshed out if we like the characters enough. I think J.P. should take more effort to point out that the tropes and cliches he ridicules aren't necessarily bad, and can actually be quite fun. It's only when they have nothing behind them that they start to fall apart.
If you'd like an idea on some of the real world dynamics of noble houses, seek out The Tudors on Netflix.
@@stephenskinner7207 He did point that out in an earlier video. I believe it was called the Nature of Cliches.
It's structured more informatively and without sarcasm because people seemed to misinterpret his advice.
"...and even quite a few science fiction ones"
Me: Noble houses in sci-fi? Can't be THAT relevant...
Terrible Writing Advice: proceeds to spoil 90% of the plot of Dune
The whole video was "lazy Dune is garbo"
@@enriquewicks7797 i mean they were the first to do it, and it was a multifaceted conflict between many different groups
In his honest thoughts post he says that Dune is a good example of how to do it right, because the Houses and their motivations are actually properly fleshed out. It's more a jab at stories that rip off Dune while missing the nuances.
The characters are becoming self aware and criticizing him. Someone do something.
but how will we save him?
Never should you write about a noble family losing power to merchants and other power bases as an allogory to the consequences of the Black Death in our timeline sounds boring
Spencer Austin Self the fact that I’ve been watching a lot of libertarian and anarcho cap videos lately makes me want to read that more
@@generalmclovin7104 I'm not even a libertarian and it sounds interesting to me.
Wouldn't it be an allegory to when that actually happened, not the black death?
*cough* Lone Wolf and the Cub, especially impoverished noble’s monetary plots*cough*
Graknorke what I’m talking about happened because of the Black Death
1/3 of Europe dies
Survivors get angry and demand better wages and conditions
Nobles have labor shortages and empty coffers
Merchants can afford higher wages
Soldiers meant to be keep peasants in line defect to merchants because they pay more
And it spirals down from their until nobles basically become play things of the king or parliament depending on the country we are talking about.
Wait a second....YOU ARE JUST RECAPPING THE PLOT OF DUNE!
Thuran came here to say this haha
It's not a trope yet if you're the first one in the genre to do it...
@@zimnylech527 DUNE SPOILERS AHEAD: to be fair, dune actually avoids most of the tropes except the "house goodguys vs house badboys". House badboys was kind of forced to be evil artificially just stating how they wanted to have a quick gain of the planets resources.
Ramón López Buggatti Don't forget, they were also extremely physically repulsive, being covered in boils and having little juice boxes that they crushed a small creature in and then drank from.
@@Jacob-pu4zj that was only in the movie, in the Books The Baron Harkonen is dipicted as extremely obies but not with these gigantic pimples he has in the movie.. In the Book he was a Pedofile tho, wich I I think is even more repugnant
okay now that you aknowledge them, you have to make a video about people being transported to another world, such an awesome concept often abused for crappy wish fullfilment
It is especially poorly done when you consider the implications of people being transported in the first place. Nobody ever talks about the inevitable interactions between two different dimensions, when they do it is always just a battle with two sides as if the entire planet is in agreement as to how we deal with the other dimension.
Instead we just have protag-kun stuck with no way home, or even an interest in going home.
For every _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_ you get a thousand versions of Zelazny's Merlin Cycle.
And never ever use the concept of the main character in contrast to his new environment in an interesting way, or make Mary/Gary Stu a white messiah.
Usually is interesting because we have a self insertion character.
but the best other world story i readed was about from a scientist who wasn't from earth, diying and getting to posses the body of a kid on a magic world that was not earth.
so not exactly a self insertion character.
for anyone interested: Warlock in the magus world
or something like that
Imagine a story where a person gets transported, then decides to use all the crappy wish fulfillment devices to go back and take over the world, setting him up not only as the dark Messiah for his new world but a traitor to his old one.
Probably already done but whatever.
"It's just like high school". = The quote that sums up the entire video.
I love how Edgy Antihero lurks at 4:06. Beautiful picture! Beautiful.
And in the end it turned out that Tywin Lannister did not shit gold
I get it
Song of Ice and Fire is about deconstruction these same tropes, the only thing it really does badly is the dumb king (Robert)
@@florence5400 Not that badly, since there is a whole backstory on how he wasn't always fat and useless.
@@florence5400 "Only a fool fights the Dulthraki on an open field." King Rob was right about that, ay Jaimie?
wdcain1 ya, but he let Varys stay as his advisor
I feel like most people don't even watch these for writing advice, they just love the videos and JP's genius sarcasm.
I do both.
We are house template.
#InsertMottoHere
I'm House Fun Seeker.
I love house template's banners
Lorem ipsum!
We are house Fuck You. We don't have have a motto we don't fucking need one.
Allan please add details.
I truly don't appreciate these videos. They haven't helped me in effectively executing tropes and/or cliches in my stories at all. And it most certainly did not help me realize that cliches/tropes are mere tools therefore it's all up to how you write them that matters and not what they actually are.
(･▽・ )
D Foddy you have awaken me, GOD OF KAWAII FACES
(\O• ∆•O/)
One solution, destroy the planet.
Sharp Design that works
I personally make 2 aspects of my story better after I watch his videos, the "Cosmic horror" give me the inspiration to change some of my characters take from the loftrcraft books and create unique characters . Also the "Evil Empire" give me the idea to not have an evil empire but only an empire (by default all empires are bad but no one try to be evil ).I only needed 2 of these 32 videos for my story but someone needs 3 for his story (I don't write steam punk so I don't need an steam punk video )I think that this is because of my way to approach my story .And also this guy try to be edgy
"This is concerning. Clearly we should carefully consider the situation, identify the core problem, and then destroy the entire planet." LOLOLOLOLOLOL GOLD!!!
1:47 is literally, in order, Blue Lions, Black Eagles and Golden Deer, except they were written much MUCH more better. They are similar to the cliche and yet not and thats so cool
Exactly. It's all morally determinant on how you interpret each houses playthrough, because nothing is totally black and white, and everyone has their reasons and beliefs for doing things, and it's not just for the sake of "I am good", "I am evil" or "I am neutral".
And all the characters are super loveable which makes choices and fighting them tougher.
Ashwati Khanduri - doesn’t sound like it
Now you can choose who is house good guys. No worries about the other two houses, they're background characters anyways so why bother?
Your vector art is really looking good. Like, the simple shapes you use make it all look effortless, but then you see all the little details and it makes you gaze in awe. The last scene's background and all that lookes really good.
My favorite characters are always the evil side characters who start doubting what they're doing is right, so I have to add one of those.
Sophie de Bruijn aah the good old redemption arcs
You just described my OC
"Amor triangulo" is the best bad translation I've seen in a while. Well played.
Let's not forget, you should definitely be styling noble houses on an overly-simplistic and generic understanding of ancient cultures without regard for how sensible their political and cultural goals are in light of the setting. It's always better to have generic stand-ins such as "vikings raiders who care only for honor". Remember kids, vikings only raid, fight, and drink!
you are wrong, vikings also rape and make houses out of ships.
@@diablo.the.cheaterthey also traded and hired themselves out as mercenaries and in later centuries built stave churches and wrote down their sagas.
Games of Throne
@@TriHeldan GOT is basically the opposite, but ok.
Don't forget the helmets with horns, everyone gets one regardless they fight or not
Just some historical nitpicking, but when the merchants started to get more influence during the late medieval and early modern period, they would often support a stronger position for the monarch, in order to weaken the dominance of the nobility. The nobles on the other hand, were usually the ones who wanted to keep the royal power limited, in order to preserve their own position and privilegies.
This would change, when the nobility got more threatened of and eventually replaced by the merchants. During the nineteenth century, the nobles usually defended absolute monarchy, in the hope that the monarch would defend their privilegies.
this feels very inspired by fire emblem Fates...
Jacopo Armini *incrasing discomfort*
This is the legacy fates has left on the series. How unfortunate
Eh the Noble Houses in this episode are two well developed for Fates to have been an inspiration. :P
TheVectorSilver TBH, I don’t actually have as much as of problem with the game as other people did but I can understand why people were dissatisfied with it
I love fates, but God damn it's story is fucking stupid.
The praetorian guard was one of the toughest opponents for any Roman emperor
IRONIC
Caiã Wlodarski that’s why some of the Emperor’s had mercenary bodyguards from Germania.
Lewis Thurston It makes one wonder why some emperor didn’t have the treacherous lot purged and replace them with men known to be loyal.
@@atreides213 Some, like Septimus Servus did, but those soilders eventually retire or die and then we're back to square one.
I like how the ads at the end of his videos are slowly becoming their own expanded universe that I'm actually excited to see more of. J.P., you magnificent bastard, I read your book!
lol, this is the exact story summary of the original Dune book by frank herbert.
Frank Herbert did this trope more intelligently and creatively while other hacks follow this trope in cliche way that TWA shows disdain for..
In the interest of fairness it needs be said that sometimes, the reason all the noble houses aren't fully fleshed out is because that would be way too time consuming of an info dump without contributing much to the story. Even the greatest worldbuilding juggernauts usually have to put all that stuff in their companion "Illustrated Encyclopedia of [Your Fantasy World Here]".
Either that or stretch the info dump across several books as the various houses get their arcs.
@@MyVanir Sure, it's a lot easier to work in if you have several books to do it. There's a good happy balance to be struck. I think worldbuilding is particularly effective when the writer has the world well figured out, but has ways of showing how that world works without resorting to info dumps. Sometimes it's best when you can you can say a lot with a little, or better yet, say a lot without having to explain it and pointing it out. For example, realistically, a lot of stories won't have time to explain the entire trade history of a noble house for the past several hundred years unless that's the central point of the plot. But suppose you have one character in passing walk by a faded tapestry in one of this house's halls that depicts a banquet where the members of that house are enjoying delicacies that comes from the land of their current rival clan, and the scene looks noticeably more opulent than the houses current state, but none of this specifically pointed out, only mentioned. Sometimes it's effective to just hint without telling the full story, both to keep the pace from getting bogged down and to let the reader do some connecting of the dots on their own.
@@stephenskinner7207
I find one the best ways of showing that there's more going beyond the story being told is by keeping the scale in mind. A feud between two noble houses sounds more like a "smaller conflict" than a full fledged coup of the [insert emperor's name] thrown. Ofcourse just because a story isn't spanning entire nations or continents does not mean it can't be just as interesting.
@NaViLlUs cIrE
Trust me, that just makes the reader get confused and throw the book against his wall in irritation, considering he seems to be missing the "why" of the magical, limitless flow of supplies coming from Indieslandia or why out of nowhere this duke of thornsville came in and stabbed everybody and somehow the idea that the duke of thornsville is a stabby guy is a very known fact.
It depends on what you want to tell for a story. I, for instance, am currently plotting out several books (at least three to five. Someone stop me before the number gets into the mythical 2-digit-realm. PLEASE) and at least one of them is going to focus a lot on political drama in a fairly new kingdom (built by 13 noble houses about 200 years ago after it split itself from the empire next to it) and their surroundings. So I WILL be introducing a lot of these houses and a lot of the nobility from my empire (roughly based on the roman empire, but with only one god and religion, to cut it veeery short) because I need it and I hope I'll do it right and not dump too much info in there. It's just... needed, I'm afraid xD
I am from house Background extras, And I would like to remind you that we have a name.
They call us house Ravenclaw
Same
@@00Raven00 yes! Join me
Dont you dare forget house backround extras 2 I mean us hufflepuffs who have the most excitting and itressting carecters who totoly have lots of plot importance
@@raalkire-eaton2704 in your dreams, you Hufflepuff get all the credit for being background characters, everyone remembers you!
@@lahlybird895 yah but you had luna lovegood you got a much more important side carrecters we got side carecter whos only purpouse is to die uselessly
Let's get to the part about betrayal.
*Video crashes*
Me: "Why you betray me UA-cam, you were supposed to be noble!"
These bits at the end get more and more interesting
How to be author:
Step 1: Have an abreviation in name
@An Alien From Area 51 Fortunately for me if I ever published a book I could be pretentious and do the R.R thing cause my initials are actually R.R.A.
@@jaimelannister1797 wh
@@jaimelannister1797 what
I want to make a story from the perceptive of the so called "Third House" cause I feel like a mediator hero would be cool
So three houses? Maybe add in a an emblem as well? Maybe, in fact, a fire one!
No joke, I permanently felt like no was 5 seconds away from referencing fire emblem throughout this video.
I wonder if it's possible to write a whole story from persoective of a side character, or even better background extra.
@@Karak-_- I mean a good amount of older stories are from the perspective of an observer, ex: Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde
@@annawesometheflameingpikac3688 Oh...
And I even read that book...
Do a video on Zombie Apocalypse stores, historical fiction and writing for animated films.
theres already one on post-apocalyptic, you should check that one out if you haven't already
ChickenPepParm No I am talking about how to handle a zombie story since there are so many.
"The Praetorian Guard did this once"
try several times. not just once
This my major problem with Fire Emblem.
If they just made every kingdom have legitimate desires and grievances you could craft and epic and compelling story with all these characters getting involved in grey and murky wars they don't want to be a part of. Drama!
Instead we have the pure, perfect kingdom and the unspeakably evil kingdom. Or the leader is evil and his subjects are good or something.
It's just extremely stupid and boring. And they do this plotline every damn game.
Oh and evil dragon.
At least Three Houses escapes this, for the most part. Fates though, this video is the plot of Fates.
@@idontcare8002 Did you play it? And if so what did you think?
Ha I know what you mean
Awakening had an interesting concept. A better writer could have written a fascinating look into the never ending cycle of vengeance. Ylisse tried to genocide Plegia for religious differences. If Grima wasn't evil, then things would be a lot less black and white.
@@idontcare8002 they don't really escape it though. The bad guy is literally one house
2:22 Now I’m thinking of _Romance Of The Three Kingdoms._
...
...wait, not THAT kind of... romance of three, it’s the name of a... classic literature... thingy... it’s a classic example of three noble houses clashing.
Come to think of it, in the book we have the good Shu, the bad Wei, and the barely mentioned Wu...
The Love Triangle of Three Kingdoms
Wait, it's a book?
I only ever played the video games.
Didn't know they were based on anything.
Those games are based on an old chinese historical epic written almost five-hundred years ago.
@@ThingsStuffington Huh. Didn't know that. Thanks.
1:20 Now that I'm into GOT this makes so much more sense. Is there any scene where Cersei isn't drinking menancetely vine?:)
3:29 *The Kingslayer*
5:08 Another GOT reference!
Also, it is essential that there’s a secret romance between a member of House Good Guy and House Bad Guy. We need more dramatic tension to add to the story and not just because we are ripping off Shakespeare.
It is too Shakespearean. Make it into a Love-Triangle, just to be safe. I can see it now: Romeo and Juliet and Frank.
Sarcastic wrighting advises red even called the play a dark comedy who shows the possible consequences of too dramatic teenage relationships. With a high level of subtext sarcastic undertones.
I meant overly sarcastics red.
"Ripping off Shakespeare"? But that's based on one of his adaptations, he didn't even make that one up.
Shakespeare set the whole thing up in motion and besides he is long dead and his ideas and works etc have been used countless times in other works all to pay homage to his works. nothing more nothing less.
We need amor triangulo shirts
To expand our house
Give me 3 for me, my girlfriend and my "girlfriend"
*amor
@@escafopodo
Ok once there made
And absolutely not sarcastic remarls like.I will defeat you with the power of love and the triangle.
1:27 this is why George RR Martin takes so long to write books. He does literally all of that for every single house.
I tried it, it’s no that hard if you only have 1……
But George R.R. Martin had to write a dozen or so.
Name:House Sangulime,
Ruler title: Grand Duke/Duchess, Current ruler: Grand Duke Hacan.
Sigil:An albino bat sitting on a chalice ornate chalice,
Heraldry:A blood red shield with a gold trim,
Motto: “Immortal in our legacy.”,
Uniforms: Typically dark cloaks with red and gold accents,
Lineage: A long line of vampires originally descended from Grand Duke Nodin and Grand Duchess Lucinda,
Hierarchy:1.Grand Duke/Grand Duchess, 2. Marquess/ Marchiones, 3. Earl/Count/Countess, 4.Viscount/Viscountess(vassal houses), 5.Baron/Baroness(vassal houses), 6.Lord/lady(vassal houses), 7. Knight(Vassal houses and House Sangulime),
Fiefdom:The Grand Duchy of Tenebris,
Wealth:Moderately high thanks to excessive investment into infrastructure and security for trade routes,
Relics:Sanguine chalice(A gold chalice adorned with encrusted with blood red rubies that enhances the strength and durability and gifts an unnaturally silver honey to anyone who drinks the blood another person out of it),
History:First rose to prominence after the original house that held the land was wiped out in a single night by a “mysterious” undead horde and has since gained popularity amongst the local peasantry by investing in security for trade routes that brought prosperity to the cursed land in which their domain resides, the house also has and long history of manipulation, spying and subterfuge as it slowly subverts the entire kingdom towards its true end goal., Traditions:The blinding is a ritual in which humans turned vampires or vampires from outside the house and blinded temporarily to show their loyalty to the house.,
Home:Tenebris Manor which is a large gothic manor with many secret underground chambers where the member of House Sangulime can express the parts of their vampiric nature in secret,
Vassals:House Whisperwind(A largely human and half-elf house that is unaware of their overlords vampiric nature), House House Noxus(An all human household that is aware of their overlords vampiric nature and plays a critical part in House Sangulimes spy networks), half a dozen other minor houses,
Oaths:To uphold trade and continue to tame the magic and environment of the bloodswamps of the Tenebris region(publicly), To subvert the Kingdom of Silveholme to their own ends(secret),
Lands: The Tenebris region is a dark region full of monsters both living and undead, focal points of dark and undead magic as well as the notoriously difficult to travel bloodswamps,
Martial arts: The Embrace, A Grappling Art for the Night
The Embrace is a brutal and efficient grappling style developed by vampires over centuries of honing their combat techniques. It emphasizes control, speed, and exploiting an opponent's vulnerability to a swift, silent kill.,
Ideology: Vampire supremacy, though not to an extreme degree as the members of House Sangulime do still view their mortal subjects as people with goals, desires, wants and needs, it’s just that they view them as lesser people who’s goals, desires wants and needs are secondary to that vampires, Secrets: Their vampiric nature, the various extensive spy networks they use to gather information on and blackmail other houses,
Organization:Very centralized,
Logistics:The maintaining of the various trade routes and spy networks throughout their territory and the Kingdom of Silveholm,
Allies: Most houses within the kingdom of Silveholm, House Solace(One the other 3 major noble houses in the Kingdom of Silveholm that is closely tied to House Sangulime and has noidea they are vampires), The veiled coven, (a coven of 3 witches found within the bloodswamps who help House sangulime in exchange for exotic potion ingredients, ancient spell times and cursed items, it consists of Nara the Seer, Wields prophetic magic, glimpses the future to nudge rebellions.Elara the Whisperer, A master of shadows, sows discord and paranoia within the enemy court. Morwen the Crone, Commands the earth's creatures, blights crops and sows famine.)
Enemies:House Glynwood(Yet another one of the other 3 major houses in Silveholm and the only one to consistently oppose Sangulime and be suspicious of them, they are militarily and economically powerful and are deeply religious),
Strengths: Supernatural strength of members, ability to raise undead armies(at focal points of undead magic only), skilled diplomats and manipulators, large influence and sway within local politics of the kingdom, large web of spies,
Weaknesses: Economy is only moderately powerful due to terrain and constant investment required to keep trade routes safe, discovery of vampiric nature could lead to serious loss of political power and potentially execution,
Short term goals: Increase influence, destroy House Glynwood, Expand territory to help mitigate economic problems,
Long term goals: Subvert the kingdom and create a paradise for vampires that is hidden in plane sight,
Favorite foods: Elf blood
I just finished a dance with dragons...I had forgotten how terribly you could write noble houses
3:24 what do you mean the Praetorian guard did this ONCE? they did it repeatedly!
He meant the aunctioning in particular. After the Praetorians assininated the emperor Pertinax they decided to aunction the postion of the Emperor to the highest bidder, who was Didilus Julianus.
I always tend to skip any advertisement related parts of any video on youtube, like skillshare, except here. I seriously hope they pay you better than other channels because this is the only channel that made me want to see the commercial willingly. Btw, great video as always...
Damn you Terrible Writing Advice, making me EXCITED about sponsorships! Seriously though your sponsorships are so great XD Please keep doing what you're doing. I think the angle you take on everything is very helpful for gathering advice on writing, and it's hilarious to watch. You've really struck gold.
I've actually been writing a noble court scene my self, and this video gave me some things to think about. Especially family motos, and the noble court as character. I orginally wanted to have the main characters leave the court and neighboring countries on an adventure for one reason or another, but while I was world building I gave them too many reasons to stay. I've also been struggling to find any kind of antagonist so far.
Anyway thanks for the writing advice man.
Hey... something tells me that House BadGuy might be evil.
Pffft!! No way. They are completely trust worthy.
“our tax revenues have been falling, for some reason” 👌 that forking killed me 😂
4:15 "LIGHT NOVELS 75% off being stuck in another dimension"
So, what do you think about this "Isekai" stuff?
I feel like this is Fire Emblem Three Houses in a nutshell, one house that can be see as the major bad guys, one that tries to stop that house, and a third that kind of just exists unless you focus on it.
That opening poem bit was actually pretty good writing, man! You should do more.
This actually helps me a lot. I am currently also "writing" a video game plotline revolving around Noble Houses and a fantasy realm but am currently having a hard time to fleshing out these characters and houses.
3:33 The Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Emperors was made up of Vikings only, to ensure they had no stake in the local politics.
I was reading a novel about a failure from a noble house. It's a interesting coindicence.
which book
Which novel is that?
@marios gianopolulos
That sounds like a shit book. Why not do something more exciting? How about the Elite Royal Guard™ couping the shit out of the emperor and the rest of the story is the main character's royal house struggle to take back the power from the new military dictatorship.
GALACTIC FEDERATIONS - Terrible Writing Advice
Step One: Copy Star Trek if it is a goody two shoes confederation.
Alternative step one: Have it so that an object the size of the moon will be the most expensive military project in history to the point of its failure completely devastating their government despite having an entire well established, relatively well connected galaxy's resources to work with.
X-parasite.
@Jimmie Toyne you could have the governers,senators,etc run all these numerous and distant sectors with their respective star systems with the aid of hyper-fast, hyper-intelligent(but non-sapient) A.I.
I’d like to see that, as a lot of galactic federations in fiction have a nasty habit of being either _generic good-guy/PoV character faction_ or generic bad-guy/villain faction_