" - that's fair enough. But I would expect the ones who think you're a monarchist are few and far between. You're what they all wanted to grow up to be. What most of them die young along the way to becoming, and it's really not because I don't mind pirates that I didn't rein them in, it's that we needed thousands of hopeful teenage wizards to die for one to eventually be an archmage and free Cheliax. And you're the one who did it. 

That doesn't mean they'll listen to you, but - they listened to me for a while. They are not wholly incapable of it."

"I don't think you needed an archmage to free Cheliax." 

To close the Worldwound, yes; to orchestrate a coup in Hell, certainly. But Cheliax itself? Cyprian could probably do it. If not for the fact that Asmodeus was prepared to fight harder than any of them could reasonably expect, it would be a sure thing. Even now, he thinks it's probably true. Asmodeus needed a nation on the material, but not, strictly, that one. The war would have been horrible – bloody – drawn-out – worse in every concievable way – but – 

"I'm not a humble man. I know what I did, and I know how much worse things would have been if I wasn't there to do it. It's just that I've spent a lot of time thinking about this over the years. We were all very wary of creating archmages in Galt – or powerful adventurers, really, I don't think any of us aimed that high. Too easy for them to become tyrants. Instead we'd have the Army of the Republic, and it would be modern and egalitarian and only kill about two in three conscripts – and then, we got the tyrant anyway. The thing is, I'm not even sure it was the wrong choice. I don't think anyone should want to be me when they grow up. I didn't want to be me! They should be trying to build something that makes  me unnecessary."  

Codwin thinks that in fact they needed an archmage. Possibly not a party of four of them, but he does not think it could have be done with just Morgethai. "Well, unfortunately for you the Eagle Knights will absolutely not listen to you about whether they should be you when they grow up. That is the kind of thing where they don't listen at all."

"It's ridiculous. I've already done things that can only be done by being me. I want the same thing they do, if what they want is liberty for all reasoning beings, and being me is quite visibly not helping me get it." 

"- you aren't approaching the convention how I would have done it but I think it is in fact a meaningful and important exercise of liberty by reasoning beings."

" – I hope it is. Maybe. But if it's succeeding, it's not because I'm an archmage – and now that I am an archmage, I can't help but think how little it matters for any of the real work still left to us." 

"I don't know. I suspect new republics need archmages, as a factual matter. I hope I'm wrong and I don't think they will need it in the long run. But republicanism is very threatening - setting aside the pirates, I don't think the typical noble in Taldor is actually worried about the pirates, they're worried about a social order they're not at the top of. You don't have to run things - you probably shouldn't - but I think it matters a great deal whether anyone thinks they have to follow the rules they're writing down."

"In other words, I'm useful because they fear me. Nobody who loves freedom should want that for themselves." 

"I find that dwelling on the motives of Asmodeans is not useful and is often actively misleading. Yes, even when they are doing all of the right things they are doing them for the wrong reasons. Yes, if they were not afraid - of the law, of damnation, of you - they would be continuing in all their favorite atrocities and in a dozen they don't even like. So what? They'll choose their work, and choose their marriages, and choose how they spend their leisure time. They will complain of their government, and write satires, and flee the country in protest. That is freedom, and it matters to me because I love freedom. We're not mindreading them to learn if they're truly free in their hearts, and I think it is the same error to elevate it in importance when we otherwise manage to detect it."

"I was talking about your Eagle Knights. Well – not your Eagle Knights. But I'll speak to them. And Catherine. And Naima." 

"The Eagle Knights have their own idiosyncratic approach to being powerful and not feared," says Codwin, in the tone of one who has mixed feelings about that approach.

"They're not feared? I think that would surprise a great many people. But then – if their allies don't fear them, maybe they have something to teach me." 

"They're very popular in Andoran, that's half the problem. I would be very interested in what you make of one another."

There's a tavern called the Eyrie, in Augustana; it's built into a cliff face overseeing the water and while there's a service entrance on the ground floor patrons have to get there by flying, or being very good at scaling walls. There's a Teleport Trap up; it has been the site of many assassination attempts. It's hard to convince the bartender to break out the good stuff but the good stuff is very, very good.

"- travel passes have been abolished, though of course the evil nobles are still enforcing it. So you can more or less ignore the checkpoints. I made an official note explaining the legal situation."

"This just says 'travel passes are Asmodean; are you?'"

"Betcha it'll be sufficient."

"I want one of those."

A man walks into a bar. (No one saw him fly up – he could have a way around the teleport trap, or he might just have been invisible and mind blanked). He'd like a glass of brandy, as he's taking no chances on Andorean wine. He's not making any particular effort to disguise himself. 

Wait just one second.

"The brandy's on me."

"Now now, that could be a Cotonnet impersonator."

"Which is all the more reason to get him drunk. The brandy's on me and make it a double."

"That's not even a thing."

"You could whip a hilariously large mug out of your back pocket. I'm sure you have one."