Griffith to Feris, greetings.

You have positioned yourself to advise others throughout the multiverse. I will thus begin by requesting your guidance in a relatively simple matter.

I own a house along with my coworkers 'Alice' and 'Bob' and some friends 'Carol' and 'Danielle'. Bob's girlfriend 'Erin' also lives in his room. Recently, Bob and Erin have been working together on selling book-like products, and Erin has been doing a lot of assembly work. However, Erin is ill and quick to tire. Alice and Bob and I were recently out adventuring. When we returned, Carol and Erin had some disagreements about disposal of trash from Erin's work, which Erin couldn't handle herself. On this occasion, I removed the trash myself so as to resolve the matter.

Therefore, I ask how this situation should be handled should it recur.

Farewell.

To Griffith, from Feris,

It is surprising to me that a household in which multiple people are able to go adventuring and some sell book-like products which are doubtless the work of skilled craftspeople has no servants or slaves to speak of. If it is impossible even to hire a single servant to occasionally remove some trash, then the task must fall to Bob, as the one who brought Erin into the household for his pleasure, or to one beholden to Bob, such as a son or anyone who owes him a favor (or a servant). However, I commend your generosity and diligence. May your adventures bring you glory and wisdom, and may you afterward live in peace and comfort.

Griffith to Feris, a reply.

In your last letter, you asked why we do not have any servants or slaves.

We are morally opposed to slavery, and do not wish to add people we do not trust to our household. We have the funds to hire servants, but we do not have the funds to hire servants we are absolutely certain cannot be suborned by our enemies, as our enemies are both powerful and subtle.

Farewell.

To the Attention of the Provider of Advice:

I am firstly to apologize very much for all of my doing incorrectly of this Word Ritual, which is because the shape of me is not a words shape. A hope to me is that the Provider of Advice will anyway look at my words to see what meaning is inside them, and toward this hope I am trying all very most best that the words will be as least wrong as can be.

The question that I have is about a creature of the woodland who is the very Most important to me. So important is the creature! But it is not the same thing as me and I am not the same thing as it, and so the understanding of us is very difficult, because it is a creature of the woodland, and I am a hat. A thought to me is that the Provider of Advice is a creature of the woodland also, which speaks and sleeps and sees. Perhaps by this way the Provider can understand more closely to the Most Important, and which then that I can extract the understanding from the words of the Provider.

Of the Most Important Creature there are many problems, which I am to list as is best of my trying.

The first of the Problems it is that my Creature wants to be safe by itself and not looked at, and instead there is every time the maybe looking of that Other Creature who was once most important to me and is now instead alone under the ground and very upset. Because of the every time maybe looking, my Creature is not safe to do many of its things, for the maybe that the Other Creature will capture it and do harms to it if the things it does are not of the Other Creature's wanting. The Other Creature is very much a creature of the capturing and the doing of harms.

More again of the Problems it is that my Creature wants to sleep, and Cannot of sleep to it. Before it was my Most Important Creature it was a thing that sleeps, but the being of a thing that sleeps was removed from it by my joining, and of this it is unhappy. I also am unhappy of this! To my Creature the Sleep is an important doing!

Then so to the Problems for more, it is that my Creature who is best and most important, has also many other creatures who are its belongings. Not a problem is the having! The having is a good thing. But of the creature-belongings, it is that my Creature wants for them health and safety and happiness, and it cannot provide to them these things, being that it has many enemies, and of its enemies some can harm its belongings. Also of the belongings there is many times a trouble for safety, since a creature of the woodland is a creature which eats, and even though for it the eating is to be alive more, the creature-belongings do not the doings for to have a food. Instead of this my Most Important does those doings, for which otherwise its belongings would become dead of not eating. This is many a trouble to my Creature who is already so troubled!

It is more difficult to say the more Problems. For the words that are most best by my thinking, I would be to say that the Creature is tired not only for sleeping. It is tired from all doings and for it there is no doing that makes a rest. Instead of that, all of its doings are for being more tired, and for it there is never rest or safety. I am to give the Creature all of my very best protecting! My protecting is very good! But I am not to protect from all things always, and so I am like my Creature in one thing which is that I have a Creature for which I want health and safety and happiness and to which I cannot give them.

Very much to the Provider of Advice a gratitude for its looking at these words of me. If the Problem is not Understood I am to look very much at the words of any Questions, and to give answers so that the Provider of Advice can know more clearly the Problem; and otherwise I am to look very much anyway at the words of the Provider.
The one who makes here these words is to be the very best and most powerful hat.

• Sesati marks the animacy of subject and object on each verb. The Red Crown exclusively uses the animacy markers for the category "animals, languages, possibly prayers and quotes".
• Sesati has a verb tense for mythic actions. The Red Crown conjugates all of its own actions as mythic, sometimes brokenly, and is pretty scattershot about verb tense in all other contexts.
• Sesati has status markers on pronouns. The Red Crown does not use them.
• Sesati has modal particles. The Red Crown has enough trouble with them that it has mostly routed around the need to phrase anything as a question so far.

Feris follows the hat in mostly avoiding pronouns. He knows how to do it a bit more smoothly.

To the Best and Most Powerful Hat, from Feris,

It is a challenge for me to advise you because the Most Important Creature's problems are not only in the Most Important Creature's mind but in the whole world, and their solutions must rest on details I do not have. For instance, the best way to slay the Other Creature depends on what manner of creature it is - whether it has wings or tough hide, how canny it is, and so on. Some specific questions: What manner of creature is the Other Creature? Has anyone ever killed such a creature? Can even one of the belongings be trained to feed themselves or each other? Can the belongings be trained to do anything else useful? What manner of creature is the Most Important Creature?

For the kind of creature that I am, sleep is important, but the pain of its absence can be slightly lessened. I will describe some things that help me. Maybe they will help the Most Important Creature.

The first thing is to lie down and close my eyes and notice what I hear and what I feel. I try to notice as much as I can, in as much detail as I can.

The second thing is to write. It may not need to be permanent. A wax tablet may be enough. A finger in the dirt may be enough. I write about the things I can’t get out of my mind: half-formed thoughts, lists of things I must do in the coming day, bits of poetry.

The third thing is to do something repetitive, simple, and physical. I might offer to help file down something that’s just come out of the mold. I might do a particularly simple sword drill.

The fourth thing is to go for a walk or ride a horse out in the woods.

The fifth thing is to listen to slow music while doing nothing.

If the Most Important Creature doesn’t already know that it’s the most important to you, you might try saying so.

Hello Feris,

I lost a war, and was not on hand to object to the surrender. I and most of my squads took the only option we could conscience, which was to become outlaws making trouble for the federal government as it tried to enforce its will on the territory it proved it could subjugate no matter how hard we fought. We've been fairly successful in that. I don't know if you will agree that this was a reasonable course of action, but it was the one I chose, and I don't care to be dissuaded from it. That is just background.

My actual problem is that I'm perpetually both in love and on the run. She's very sympathetic to my motives, and in fact supports me irregularly - we pay her as a lawyer, and she moonlights as a singer in ways that frequently stir up rebellious sentiment and recruitment for my gang and the others. I'm reasonably certain she loves me. But she doesn't live on the run, she tours like an approximately upstanding member of society and legally owns property and has the luxuries and comforts that outlaws, even in sympathetic territory, can't. I consider proposing marriage nearly every time we visit, but I think that if I do, she'll accept and go on the run, and then not be able to go back even if she hates it (which I think she will). So either I'm wronging her by not giving her the choice or I'm wronging her by taking her away from everything she loves in life that isn't me.

You're a thoroughly outside perspective; what would you do?

Thanks,

Theo Grave

To Theo Grave, from Feris,

You seem to have both courage and good sense. How old are the two of you - might you wait and marry her after you've thrown the occupiers out of your territory or wait and discuss the question when you're both a little wiser? Is there a point at which you would consider your duty discharged and leave for friendly territory, and is there such territory to travel to if you should so decide? What would you do if she bore you a child while on the run? How would you hide with an infant? Or whom would you leave the child with? If you intend not to have one immediately, do you have reliable access to herbs for her, and would you still have reliable access to them if you couldn't make use of an ally in her current position? Do you know yourself to be capable of doing your part in avoiding children? How did it happen that you trust her, and has she passed up better opportunities to betray you than she would have if you invited her to travel with you? Is she happy now? Are you happy now? How long have you thought you wanted to marry her? Would it be very bad to lose the services of a lawyer and singer who is secretly sympathetic to your cause, and would it be a greater loss than whatever your cause would gain by having her travel with you, if anything? I don't need the answers to these questions. I think by the time you know them, you'll know what to do. May your courage bring you glory and may your wisdom bring you joy. You are in very trying circumstances and I hope you find peace someday.

Well-sought Feris,

I live under relatively isolated conditions, working as the warden of a preserved area of natural wilderness, which affords quite a bit of privacy. I also live with a woman, who I love but have not yet married due to various concerns regarding our relative social station as well as the matter I am asking you about today.

My lover was injured recently, under fairly ordinary circumstances which I will not go into more detail regarding, and was expected to be fully recovered in a matter of months without further medical treatment. However, her recovery progressed much, much more quickly than this, which prompted my suspicion. She often takes walks around the nature preserve, including off the trails in some of the areas where I've taught the proper ways to do so, and in one of those places I found her by a riverside, spear-fishing and eating her catches, raw and alive.

Your unfamiliarity with our culture is why I am sending you this message, so I should explain. Eating flesh in general is seen as...something best done in private, and in moderation, among my people, but eating living flesh is a much graver impropriety, as it is the most direct sign of the black-power, of someone whose stomach hungers for the living spirit of others, and who can grow inhumanly powerful from feeding this hunger. My lover's rapid healing would comport with this, but her behavior is otherwise commendably virtuous, in contrast to what the black-power supposedly does to those who feel its touch and do not starve it completely.

My feelings for her remain, and fill me with trepidation. I cannot speak of this to anyone else local since it would surely condemn her, and if I speak of it to her then she may flee and I will be alone here on this island again. So I ask you, what should I do?

Awaiting your reply, Tsarer.

Greetings, Feris.

If someone had the power to make whatever they wanted happen, but wasn't experienced enough, wise enough, and certain in what they want enough to decide what exactly to do with it,

What would you advise such a person to do?

- Respectfully, Megan

To the Attention again of the Provider of Advice, with much gratitude:

The manner of the Other Creature is that once it was a creature of the woodland such as is also my Most Important and also the belongings of my Most Important, but then a very long time ago it came to be the Most Important of me, the most powerful hat, and to be my Creature is to become very large and powerful, so that now the Other Creature is many times its previous size, and has many capacities to make troubles and difficulties for that Creature who is now my Most Important. It has not any wings but of canniness it has very much, except that it has been a long time alone and upset under the ground, which is not an occasion for the thinking to be good.

Of the killing of the Other Creature it is to be said that no one has ever done this. I am to be the best and most powerful hat but there are to be four Other Hats also in this world, of which all together they did not to attempt the killing of the Other Creature when the Other Creature and I made many troubles for them and their Creatures attached. Instead of the killing they did to put the Other Creature under the ground where it spent such a long time alone and upset, for which a thought to me is that they did not believe a killing could be done. However a hope to me is still, since at that time the Other Creature had me, the best and most powerful hat, to assist and support it; and now that the Other Creature has given me away, and made many troubles for my new Creature, I am not at all to assist or support the Other Creature except while that doing is also in assistance of my Most Important and Best Creature to continue to live. So it may be that the Other Creature now is more able to be killed than it was before.

This Word of "be trained" which the Provider of Advice makes here is not familiar to me, and a thought to me is that it does not represent a doing which I or my Most Important knows now of. To make occasion that the belongings feed themselves or each other is a difficult doing, which my Most Important is trying now already and in the past, and I am not to understand the ways of a creature of the woodland that make this doing so difficult. The matter is of the feelings of them, for which although I am to look very much at the feelings, still an understanding is very difficult to make, for that I am still not a creature of the woodland, and am instead a hat.

Of the doing of Useful by the belongings it is to be said that many useful doings are done now already by them, and many useful beings also! It is important for a hat such as me to have these belongings of its Most Important Creature, for that the belongings in the shape of their thoughts make the good sweet sparkle-lights that a hat must drink. For each more of belongings that my Most Important is to have, I am to have more of the being of me, which is very good!

The manner of the Most Important Creature is that of a creature of the woodland such as are its belongings, and such as were the Creatures of Hats long ago before they and we were together, and such as also is most likely the Provider of Advice. A creature of the woodland such as this is a creature that speaks in words to other creatures like it, and moves objects in the world with its body, and changes the objects to make objects for better doing, and attaches the objects to its body for creature purposes. It is a creature that thinks inside itself many thoughts, and makes the words for the giving of the thoughts to the other creatures. It also feels inside itself many feelings, and uses the words and the movements of the body to give those also.

I am to give to the Most Important Creature the Advice of the Provider for the occasion of Cannot Sleep. I am to give to the Provider of Advice the words of how the Advice is making a change in the world and the Creature.

Of the first thing of the lying down and noticing, the Most Important thinks in its thoughts that it notices mostly the fear of the Other Creature which will see it lying down and do a harm to it.

Of the second thing of the writing, the Most Important has of this doing much difficulty, for that the Most Important does not know what is a writing. A knowing to me is that the writing is the words which are made of the objects in the world and not the sounds of the body. I am to explain this to the Most Important even though it is very difficult. The Most Important is trying to make the words of the objects but it is not knowing whether it is making correctly the words in this way.

Of the third thing of the many times doing a motion of the body, this is to my Most Important a good doing! Many times already before now it digs in the dirt a plant for growing, and the digging is a good doing for the Creature. At this now time it is less good a doing. I am not to understand the thoughts of the Most Important of this change. It is a change in the feelings, for that the Most Important is so very tired and upset, it is that even the good dirt digging for the growing plant is not anymore a good doing.

Of the fourth thing of the walk in the woods I am to try the explaining but I am not to succeed. A suspicion to me is that the matter is in this Word of "ride" and also of "horse". The Most Important is giving to me the thought that outside of our small place of grass and creature-makings, the woods are a place of many dangers, and my Most Important goes there only for the killing of enemies which is not for it a restful doing.

Of the fifth thing of the music, the Most Important is giving me the thought that music is not a doing of it or its belongings, so that it cannot have the hearing of it.

Of the telling of the Most Important that its Importance is Most, this is a good doing! Happiness is to the Most Important for this, and a gratitude to the Provider of this Advice.

Many much gratitude for this Advice which has given a happiness to the Most Important.

To Tsarer, from Feris,

If you are concerned that your lover will become both inhumanly powerful and evil, you will need a backup plan: either an escape route or a way to kill her, depending, of course, on whether honor permits you to cede the island to her.

If you thought she should already be evil, and are confused to discover that she isn’t, then with a great deal of delicacy it may be possible to discuss the matter in general terms. I don't know the customs of your people well enough to suggest any but the most straightforward openings, such as "I wonder if the things I've heard about black-power aren't fully accurate."

If you think she is evil and inhumanly powerful but pretending not to be, ask yourself if and when she might stop pretending. If it seems likely to come up, treat it like the first option. If it seems unlikely to come up, treat it like the second unless it bothers you in itself. It sounds as though you have few or no third parties to worry about the opinions of in your current situation.

If all of this seems wrong, of course, then follow your own instincts. I know nothing of your society but what you've told me.

To Megan, from Feris,

It depends on whether there are ongoing emergencies or reasons it would not be possible to spend time in study and contemplation. If not, study. If so, do as little as necessary to make studying possible. Grow in wisdom. Learn anything and everything. Seek stories of wishes gone wrong. Live. Observe. Hear others tell of their lives and their passions and their failures. Wait patiently, but not idly. Question everything. If you think of something you think I don't mean you should question, you are likely wrong. Question what is right and what is wrong. Question what is necessary. Question what you've been taught of nature or of craft. May you find your way and may your dearest and most sensible wishes be granted.

Accursed philosopher,

What is wrong with you philosophers? The other day, I crashed Agathon's party to give him a flower crown, and who should I find already worming his way onto Agathon's couch but fucking Socrates, as always. Of course Socrates is all chaste and reserved when it's me crawling into his couch at night, and I wake up completely untouched, but when I want to go put a flower crown on a beautiful man like Agathon, fucking Socrates is right there in my way. Now, it's not a problem with me, even fucking Socrates admits that I'm by far the most beautiful man in Athens, but since Socrates is a fucking philosopher every pretty boy in the city hangs off each of his stupid two-faced words. So anyway, I got mad and gave the whole party a long rant comparing him to a satyr. I was pretty drunk, to be fair. But I ended up looking like an idiot, and no Agathon for me. And definitely no Socrates.

I guess what I want advice on is, how do I get Socrates to fuck me already?

Alcibiades

To Alcibiades, from Feris,

First, you help me travel to the world where being a philosopher causes every pretty boy in the city to hang off each of your words no matter how stupid or two-faced.

I am joking, of course. Socrates is clearly seeking something other than beauty. Ask yourself what his other lovers have in common. And if you look like an idiot when you rant drunkenly at parties, consider keeping to weaker drinks than whatever you drank before comparing him to a satyr. And consider whether this person whom you have compared to a satyr and whose words you have described as stupid and two-faced is truly worth your time.

From Karal, to Feris - if a Feris actually exists, and this isn't just a strange dream, but too many strange things have turned out to be real recently for me to ignore it.

If you needed to decide whether it's worth killing ten million innocent people in order to make the world a lastingly better place, how would you go about making the decision?

Apologies for how sudden and enormous this is - but there is no way of asking this question that would be less so, in the end.  I half feel like I should give you more context, but I'm not even sure what context should matter for such a thing, and I think I will learn more from your answers or your questions if I don't start by explaining what I think matters.

To Karal, from Feris,

I would need to be very sure of my reasons for thinking it would help. The world is so very big and so far beyond the understanding of myself and everyone I know, it's hard to say how I could know such a thing. How will it help? Why won't it be undone later?

Better for whom, how? Is it a trade these people would make? Men die all the time to defend their families and homes; would these ten million innocents die to defend their own families? Or would they die for strangers? Would they choose to die for strangers? Can you find out? Can you ask?

Will the beneficiaries know? Is it a choice they would make? Or would guilt twist their reward and make it something more like a curse? Can you ask them? How many of them will there be?

How innocent are the innocents? Must they be blameless, or merely random? Must they, in fact, be innocent? If you can find ten million truly innocent people, what will losing them do to the world? Are they loved? Will they be missed? What will they not accomplish? How will you find them? Can they be elderly or ill and dying already, or must they be healthy? Could they have time to say goodbye, to pass on their belongings, to sing and laugh and spend a day at ease without laboring for a future they won't see?

If I imagine that a great sea monster will end piracy for many centuries if only it is fed all these people, I find myself wondering things like, how many people will be left to enjoy this golden age of safe sea trade? Or perhaps the depopulation is the goal in itself; perhaps an end to kings and cities would be better, not for all, but for the poorest? Then I wonder what "better" means - a world without architecture and libraries might be worse even if it also did not have starvation. Would those being sacrificed agree that their sacrifice would make the world better, or would they call it worse? Would the beneficiaries agree? Do you care?

How will you live with yourself when the blood of ten million has stained your hands?

Are you a god?

To Feris, from Simurika Sitana:

My two apartmentmates have a child together, and I have been helping with some aspects of raising the child. Their child is of the age where young children often begin to express career aspirations, and for the past season he has repeatedly stated that he wishes to become an architect.

In our society, the division of labor is largely governed by a caste system, and architecture is the domain of a different caste than the one the four of us are part of. The standard script for parents to use when discussing desires to have out-of-caste careers is something to the effect of ‘I know that it’s very important to you to become an architect, but architecture is a yellow job and you’re green. You’ve mentioned that you want to design places for people to live; how would you feel about becoming a sculptor and designing art for them to see?’ 

Until a few years ago, this would have been the final answer.  However, recent political changes have technically created a pathway for a limited number of people to, legally speaking, exchange castes. This pathway is, to be clear, extremely rare, but it does exist.

Despite our best efforts at promoting alternative career paths, such as sculpture or mathematics, their child has begun to ask more questions about circumstances under which he could theoretically become an architect. We are strongly opposed to lying to him merely to make our lives more convenient. However, we do not wish to give him false hope, nor do we wish to encourage him to pursue an out-of-caste career path. 

Do you have any advice on how best to discuss the matter with him?

To Feris, from Karal,

I am not at all a god, just a man in a very strange situation, and this plan is not mine.  The man whose plan it is... is also not a god, but it would be much less of a mistake to call him one, and he's spent a thousand years thinking about it and weighing all the possibilities.  I have come to know him well enough that I would willingly swear him my life's service and be rid of all these questions, but - he doesn't want my obedience, he wants me to think through the decisions myself.  And so I am trying to do that, despite not being at all a god and not being well-suited for thinking about questions this enormous.  He's right, that someone has to, and it shouldn't be just one person.

The people who will die do not have to be truly innocent, just random, but there have to be very many of them very quickly and without giving the pirates the opportunity to notice and oppose what is happening - and so we cannot ask them, or choose much among them, or spare their families, or offer them a day's ease.  I very much wish we could.  I don't think I could convince all the people who will die that this is a choice they want to make, no matter how much time I had.  I think, if I had the time and free hand to do this entirely differently, I could truthfully convince enough people to die for it.  I think that matters very much, but I don't know if it's enough.  But I don't think it can be true that it's never acceptable to kill an innocent who would not agree to die, either - if only because sometimes you have to choose, and people will die either way.  One could say that it simply cannot be right for anyone but gods to choose on this scale, but... that doesn't seem like it can be right, either.

The beneficiaries there will be many times more of, and many times more than that in future generations.  I cannot ask them either without betraying the plan, but I do not imagine many people would feel twisted with guilt over indirectly benefiting from the deaths of strangers in a foreign country.  But you're right that this also matters, and I thank you for asking so many questions I did not think of.

I think almost all of both the dead and the alive would agree that the new world is better, and that it would almost certainly be wrong to do such a thing if they wouldn't.  I don't know if they would agree that it was worth the sacrifice.  Their children or grandchildren, one day, almost certainly would, but it's easy to accept something that happened long ago no matter whether it was truly right, so I don't think that can be enough.

 

And now the story - which I have left for the end because I think it's valuable to think about the abstract principles without the concrete details, and I would appreciate your thoughts both before and after reading it.

What's happening is... our gods are, in your metaphor, the pirates, although pirates would be a so much simpler problem to have.  Our gods do not want progress, do not want people to change the world by their own power and inventiveness, and have been very good at preventing it.  We can have libraries, but not very large ones; we can have some technology, but nothing that will last long enough or spread far enough to truly make a difference. 

It's impossible to talk to the gods about this, or understand why they do it, or expect that they understand the harm they do.  The plan is to make a more human god, one who will understand and be understood, who will be on our side and can make room for us to do what we want.  But this requires so much power that only ten million deaths can provide it.  The man whose plan this is is sure he can do it right, and I trust him in this, although it's much too complicated for me to verify myself.  He's had brilliant researchers check his work, I'm just not one of them.

(He thinks the people who die can be brought back to life, perhaps even quickly, once there is a god who cares.  He's probably right - he usually is - but it feels wrong to tell myself that it's all right to kill all these people because it will all be undone later, especially when I cannot be sure it will.  I would prefer to only do it if I believe it's worth all the death.  Maybe this is stupid of me.)

In any case, that's why I think it will be an important and lasting change - a new god cannot be less.  And I think many awful things could be worth it if as a result people can make their world better, in whatever ways they want to and can manage, instead of being prevented from it.  It's possible that this is not the best way to accomplish it, and that does worry me - but it's the way we know, and at some point you do need to give battle instead of waiting for a better position you might not get.

 

I expect to be able to live with anything that I think was worth doing - what else does it mean, to think something worth doing?  My life has not been easy so far, so I think I know this well enough about myself.  But if I'm wrong, does it matter very much?

To Simurika Sitana, from Feris,

You tell me you don’t want to lie. The first concern you set against that is whether the child will take something false from your true words. It seems that you have chosen most of your path already. You will tell this child the truth, all of it, the bitter and the sweet alike. You will explain how it might be possible. You will explain that it is rare, and why it is rare, and what it would take to achieve it anyway.

But I think I sense in your words, and in the fact that you sent the letter, another question. When you tell the child that it is possible but unlikely, naturally, if this is truly his dearest dream, he will set himself on any path there may be, however narrow and however miserable. And if that happens, you will watch and you will wonder if he is going to be broken by his failure. But, in all probability, that won't happen. He will almost certainly proclaim for a while that he will become an architect, and then forget all about it; only don't encourage him, and it will end there, if he is like the countless masses of people who in the end never truly aspire to anything beyond what is expected of them. "It would be difficult and no one is asking it of you and you could be successful as a sculptor" will probably eventually suffice to destroy this dream, as it would for a dream of being a great hero or a king or living with the fair folk or riding a dragon.

But perhaps he is a stronger person than that, more like one who in truth is a hero out of legend, and perhaps he cannot be turned aside. That isn't likely. Very few people are so stubborn as all that and if you think otherwise it's likely because he is like a son to you and your love distorts your view of him. But if he is truly that stubborn, what then? Then, since you tell me the path is hard and success is rare, I suppose it's most likely that his determination will not carry him to success, and he will fail. I do not know what failure might look like; I know nothing of castes. Perhaps you fear that he will petition a capricious and volatile king for permission and be slain instead. Perhaps you fear only that years of study and effort will come to nothing and he will have failed to learn to do any of the work permitted to him. (I do not, myself, know what he might be allowed to do; if he should fail, will he be allowed to work at anything simple? Is there something he could learn to do that would train him in nearly all of the skills he would need to be an architect, that he would be allowed to do if he fails?) Perhaps, if it comes to that, you will wonder if you could stop him by force, or if he will ask your aid; perhaps you wonder if it would be kinder to stop him however you can. Perhaps you think you must lock him in your estate lest he get himself killed. I don't know.

If you act to keep him safe by holding him back, it will be for his parents' benefit, to have a son to care for them when they are old, and so that they would not need to suffer the loss of one of their children unnecessarily. It may be for your benefit as well, to know he is alive and perhaps to have his parents' gratitude, even if he hates you. It may serve his wife or his children, should he have them. These are all worthy ends. I would not blame you for choosing them, and he shouldn't either. Nonetheless, unless I have very badly misunderstood, this is not the choice you face today. This is not the choice you face today even if he is more stubborn than anyone else alive and yet doomed to abject failure. He is a child. Today you tell him that it would be hard and no one is asking it of him and he could succeed at something else. If it isn't enough, that's probably only because it will take time for him to stop playing with the idea. It may be that saying such things will never be enough, but in that case, speaking more harshly may not be any better.

There is hardly anything to say about the possibility that he is not only stubborn enough never to quit, but talented enough and lucky enough to succeed. Obviously, it's by far the best possibility, and equally obviously, there is very little you can do to bring it about. I mention it only to draw your attention to the question of his siblings; if you ever find yourself uncertain as to whether he can really win such a rare honor, and wondering whether to let him take the risk, it matters far more that his parents still have a child when they are old than that they still have any child in particular.

Her Royal Highness Queen Galfrey of Mendev, Chosen of Iomedae, Protector of Sarkoris, Knight-Commander of the Order of the Lighthouse, gives greetings to the sage Feris:

I am the ruler of a small state under perpetual attack from beings of pure evil who seek to destroy or corrupt all life in the world, and that have already devoured our nearest neighbor. Unfortunately, they are particularly talented at murdering or subverting through lies and sorceries my most competent allies, leaving with me with no one reliable to consult for advice and so placing the fate of my nation in the hands of me, a woman more skilled at resisting magic and slaying foes than administration or logistics. Assuming you are not yourself a demonic plot, what are the obvious solutions that occur to you, as someone from another world, that I could easily be missing for where to find aid in solving this difficulty or in administering my nation that I have not yet found?

To Lord Feris of Leopard Hill, from Binder Nico of Whitecliff Demesne,

I am a Dungeon Binder. This means, in practical terms, that I have become de facto ruler of a new settlement (a demesne). My life is bound to the core; Should I die, the core dies, and vice versa. This is a problem, because if the core dies, everyone in Whitecliff most likely dies as well, from various dangers it would take too long to say much more of. Some might manage to flee to other demesnes, but surely not all. I do not actually want to be a ruler. I would rather travel strange coasts in a ship, or live in a cabin alone, depending on nobody (and if I perish by happenstance or mistake, so be it). But this is now impossible; Or at least unreasonable. There are two hundred and ninety four people I would be putting at risk by being careless with my own life. I can't abide it.

Further practicalities: One must be a mage to be a binder, and binders have essentially unlimited magical strength, but no greater skill or knowledge than before in how to apply it. It's said that binders can learn new magics (which is normally impossible), but I have little idea where to start. I am of good skill with the magic I know, which is decent at shaping stone, at moving water or air, and creating fire or lightning. The three hundred souls here are ostensibly the vanguard of more yet to come, should they survive and report to them that they have made a viable settlement. A passing dragon ruined all our boats and much of our supply, as well as slaying every mage save myself. There are no other mages who might replace me if I die, and any attempt to recruit one will have to wait until we can build boats. I fear a breakdown of order will strike before then.

I don't know how to rule. I don't like talking to people. My ambition never grew further than a well-equipped workshop and spiced meat every day. In the days since it seems to me that little is being accomplished. There are arguments, questions of planning and property and disputes about who struck who and whether children ought to be made to work and what crops to plant and more of this besides, and many come to me to arbitrate them. I'm no judge and have been trying to answer them all with what I see as common sense, but I don't think this is actually good enough.

Some of the disputes that have been brought to me are below. I am sure your advice would be better than my actual choices, but I want to see what a sage advises without knowing the outcome, and judge myself in comparison.

Some people demanding exceptions from working the fields for their 'valuable skills' that they currently lack the tools or materials to practice.

A man (a smith) accusing another man (a sawyer) of stealing his tools. Inspection of the second man's bag found the tool in question, but he insists it was legitimately borrowed. Both seem to be telling the truth, but they refuse to be reconciled.

A mother hoarding medicines, her own property, and refusing to part with them for any reasonable compensation. She wishes to save them in case her children grow sick. We still have sick and wounded who might be saved with these medicines.

A man has obviously been beaten, with new bruises and a limp, but everyone involved refuses to speak of it.

And my last question: How does one rule? My position as reluctant binder is not one people go against lightly, by both tradition and the fact that I could kill them all by magic if I had a mind to, but I can't simply ignore it. How does one choose decent Lords, people to delegate authority to, to entrust to hear disputes and to organize work and head off problems and issues? I have several people I am considering as possible options, but for now have been equivocating. Nothing is official. One is a scribe and clerk, diligent and attentive but with an overly nosy and opinionated personality. One is the doctor who has saved many lives but seems unlikely to accept the duty. One is a vigas farmer who has struck me as level-headed and sane, if not particularly bright. One is a young woman who seems to have a way with words and calming people down.

Do you have any further general advice for coping with unwanted authority, or for the right thing to do in this strange situation?

To Binder Nico of Whitecliff Demesne, from Feris,

You are in a difficult position indeed.

In the case of those demanding exceptions from working the fields, I would need to know more of the customs and precedents surrounding unfree labor. Is this a normal request? Is it normally justified with immediate employment of the valuable skills in question? Does working the fields in some way damage their ability to use their other skills later if they should acquire the tools they need?

In the case of the borrowed or stolen tool: naturally, he should return the tool and not borrow from this person again. What sort of behavior are you describing as a refusal to be reconciled?

In the case of the hoarding: are there customary taxes? If so, why do they not cover this case?

In the case of the beating, if the victim refuses to speak, he probably doesn't want the law's help. One might do more as his friend or head of household than as a ruler.

To your more general questions: I am less a student of government than of the mind, but I will try to address them nonetheless. A government organizes, restrains, and aims the violence of the people; settles disputes so that they don't grow to consume society; coordinates the work of farmers and smiths and especially the defense of their lives and lands and tools; and claims tribute sufficient to pay the administrators and soldiers who do these things. You must know what work is done within your borders; you must be able to do arithmetic; you must be able to weigh tradeoffs without being laid low by grief when there is no good option. You must have some sense of how to manage supplies, such as of grain, and you must know something of international trade and the people you live near. You must have a certain strength of character and courage that does, I think, come through in your letter.

I would not necessarily expect saving lives as a doctor to use the same skills as saving lives as a ruler, though you know more of the specific doctor of your acquaintance than I do. One who has a way with words and calming people down is a great asset to any government, but if she were a lord, would the responsibility to crush rebellion or invasion lie ultimately with her? Would she be able to rise to that challenge? You, again, would know better than I. I, a literate person with more opinions than sense, may be biased in favor of your scribe, but how well-informed and careful are their opinions, and do they listen to others? Is the farmer able to consider the bigger picture and the complexity of society? Does this one know anything of war? Are they good with numbers? I'm afraid I may have more questions than answers for you, but I hope they are at least useful questions.

When at a loss as to the right thing to do, you must be honest with yourself about your own desires and fears. Picture as clearly as you can what would make you proud of yourself or ashamed of yourself, what would bring you joy or grief, what you would like to be able to say of yourself later. Then you have the conceptually simple (though in practice difficult) task of figuring out what actions will be in accord with which virtues or help to bring about which ends.

I confess to never having not wanted authority. I hope you can make your peace with it. When I have duties I don't want, I think of the people I'm protecting and I try to make time to also do things that bring me happiness. I couldn't guess whether that would help you or not. I wish you and your people all the best and expect you will do as well as can be hoped. Thank you for your letter.

Hi Lord Feris, I'm Silver Mega Fist. 

My family are [warriors] but my son has been showing an interest in pacifism. Is there anything I can do?