Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-97.81.240.58-20130603234626/@comment-24590102-20140328080405

StealthBlade98 wrote: With that being said i can't see how Thalmor could truly rule the world if every race(including a bunch of mer's) can outnumber and outpower the AD. Seems like they're destined to fail just because of the lack of numbers The feudalists and the Greek Tyrants ruled in exactly this way. It starts with the coordinated simultaneous slaughter of any man capable of bearing arms who's not part of the in-group (usually under the white flag or in betrayal of a treaty or alliance which allows the tyrant's troops to intersperse themselves throughout the target population). The remaining population is stripped of all possessions and, if necessary, given only clothing which identifies them as serfs. Subsequently, it becomes law that the serf is a chattel of the land which, in turn, belongs to the lord or some denizen of the polis. Under these conditions, serfs can be "executed" for stumbling over the property boundary or even looking at one of the enforcers in a way he takes a mild dislike to - and rule is so absolute that everyone bar the wealthiest 1% is either: This dynamic worked a treat until liberators such as the Romans came along or the head of a major religion over-rode the feudal rule offering liberation to anyone who took up a combative role in a "crusade". Of course, a good general who could win without shedding blood would be denounced by the head of that religion and, eventually, one of the more psychopathic noble houses would swing by and murder all of his issue at the behest of the head of the aforesaid major religion.
 * 1) a serf (who has less rights and socio-economic benefits than a slave and is forbidden, even, to touch something which could be used as a weapon) or,
 * 2) an enforcer who is more than willing to play the part in return for a few creature comforts and the illusion of rights in the form of stability for himself and his family.

It's all happened before and it works because the minute a tyrant sinks the jackboot in, certain types of people (typically those who deprecate empathy) line up to help the tyrants in the hope of currying favour. The way it unravels without outside help, however, is when isolated colonies take advantage of their isolation to defeat their oppressors in a moment of military weakness. The problem for revolutions in provinces which are not isolated is that, even if they guillotine the entire aristocracy, the surrounding provinces organise replacements and troops to overthrow the revolution and the balance of power swings back and forth like a nightmare ko.