part eight, page thirty-nine

Well, I guess if you can make the dead do your work, you don’t need to replace them very often, which means you don’t need many people to supply the bodies.

Why have a huge population base of peasants when you don’t need it?

Of course, they could also be using conquered populations as supply too.

The story potentially just turned very dark indeed.

Reply

It’s worth noting that this world has a many-thousand year history.

They don’t need to be depopulating their empire or factory farming people. Assuming the Bokans bury rather than burn, they could just be emptying the cemeteries and burial sites.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure there are atrocities happening, because when your weapons are powered by the dead that creates what you’d call a perverse incentive, but the Undying Wizard-King is probably not going all Arthas Menethil on his subjects. Among other things, people would probably know; the Bokans aren’t isolationist and there’s ebb and flow across their borders. Kahal has a lot of Bokan in him, if I recall right, and when they were talking about the Bokan protectorates earlier there was no hint that they’re hellish places where the living exist only to provide more dead bodies.

The way you’ve ramped up the magic has been very Song of Ice and Fire, MGK. I mean that in the sense of how a lot of people read Game of Thrones and were like “well, I mean, there’s almost zero magic and wonder and wizardry in this, it’s basically the War of the Roses with the numbers filed off” and then by the end of the second book you had women giving birth to shadow monsters and a whole lot of necromancy going on and zombie armies. Slow build.

Reply

Among other things, people would probably know; the Bokans aren’t isolationist and there’s ebb and flow across their borders. Kahal has a lot of Bokan in him, if I recall right, and when they were talking about the Bokan protectorates earlier there was no hint that they’re hellish places where the living exist only to provide more dead bodies.

from the characters page for kahal, emphasis mine:

Born NB 796 in Bokan province of Utari to unknown father and Shalina of Ra-Utari. Flees Ra-Utari with his mother NB 799 at height of the Utari Purge, arrives in Al’Rashad NB 801.

Reply