"...I am not really working from a usual position in this system, given how I am - overall less worried about taking risks that might get me killed, since I come back. I do have rivals, in the sense of actors or factions opposed to my current policy decisions; that is mostly going to be complicated and high-context to explain, and also my new goals are going to be very different. I think it makes more sense to - take a step back, and try to describe the overall political system. ...I will guess at what will draw the gods' attention afterward."
Pause.
"- I assume this was covered in the history books we gave you, but it is perhaps even more true in recent decades. The Empire runs very heavily on the fact that everybody in important positions is under multiple mage-compulsions. Under the current regime, the universal top-level compulsion that supercedes the others - at least at high enough levels in the chain of command for personally-loyal mages to be checking - is for loyalty to the Empire as a civilization, not the Emperor as a person. Inconveniently, the interpersonal-level incentives there seem to mean that whenever I am not around for long enough, it reverses, which is much worse for civil wars and such.
"The major power bases here are the army, the nobility, the administration, and, well, the favorites of the Emperor. - There is also a mage-research department, which is currently going very well and allows some space for brilliant researchers with no talent for politics, but I do need to exert ongoing effort to maintain that, and - part of that effort is making sure that they do not try to directly carry out political goals? In terms of the nobility, there is a fairly recent institution that binds them more directly to the Emperor; all noble children are required to attend the Hall of Learning in the capital, which of course leaves many opportunities for both compulsions and - careful education.
"Many of the political challenges happen outside the capital. Military generals need autonomy to work effectively - and the Empire does require that of them, since we are at this point in a pattern of expansion - and generals or nobles very far from the capital are at some risk of figuring out how to break their compulsions, or having loyal subordinates break them for them. And, of course, being a house-mage for a general or a noble in a remote province is safer than being in the capital, for anyone who is not ambitious in seeking power. ...If you do wish to seek power, being sent away from the capital is very dangerous, since it massively reduces your influence there and means that your enemies can scheme against you uninterrupted.
"...There is an overall dynamic here that I would expect recurs in most countries. Anyone seeking political power will be aiming to expand their power base, including by placing their loyal allies in important positions. They will often wish to display evidence that their political enemies are incompetent and treacherous and should be stripped of their positions – and they will, of course, arrange to protect themselves from their rivals doing this to them. Given our current structure as an empire, proving one's loyalty to the Emperor and earning the Emperor's trust is paramount, here."
(Altarrin is, at this point, looking and sounding deeply irritated about everything he's saying.)
"- There is, unsurprisingly, a massive ongoing competition to claim those mages who are visibly both powerful and skilled at fine control, and who can thus modify the compulsions on anyone working for their enemies. At higher levels in the chain of command, the Emperor has mages personally loyal to him who can verify compulsions, but I am at this point quite sure that, in most of the local duchies and baronies, vast quantities of effort are going into stealthily modifying compulsions and placing backdoors. Not even for any immediate goal! Just because it might be useful later on.
"And, of course, anyone in an important position is - incentivized to find ways to increase their own power without violating their own compulsions, even when this requires a concerning degree of skill in deliberately not-thinking about the ramifications of an order."
Sigh.
Does Carissa seem to have questions?