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More politics! Yay!
Boo… Hiss…
Yeah, I still don't like politics, and yet here we are. But! Unless something changes, this will be the last chapter focused on the setting, and next week, I'll start working on the characters. Which I'm kind of doing here, anyway, because it's difficult to talk about the factions without discussing the people involved.
Chevalier’s Faction
The faction of princes led by Chevalier. They mainly focus on foreign politics. This faction includes the second prince, Chevalier, the third prince, Clavis, the seventh prince, Nokto, and the eighth prince, Luke.
–Ikémen Prince: Beauty and Her Beast
See? Can’t discuss factions without considering the characters.
Chev's faction is one of the three primary Rhodolitian political factions, and its goals are essentially Chev's goals. He has a big-picture view of Rhodolite's position within a continent of much larger, much more powerful countries, and he wants to maintain his kingdom's stability and independent sovereignty. And he'll do whatever it takes to achieve that.
A sticking point for every other faction is Chev's pro-war attitude and ruthless methods. He's more than willing to purge traitors from the country, which has earned him plenty of enemies. He wants a lasting peace for Rhodolite, and to get that, he has determined he needs to stamp out any hint of treason before it can gain a foothold.
Oh, and borders need to go. Full continent unification. Or at the very least, solid universal peace treaties. Which means war.
But since Rhodolite is so small, he needs Benitoite and Jade on board before that happens, and he needs the full support of Leon's faction, too. To that end, he employs Clavis and Nokto in a secret chess game nobody else knows he's playing, setting everything up behind the scenes so that, when the time comes, there are no viable options other than going along with him.
Clavis and Nokto have their own goals, of which Chev is well aware. As long as neither of them poses a real threat to Rhodolite, Chev doesn't care what they do, and he leaves diplomacy to them unless he feels it's necessary to intervene. For their part, they may not always agree with Chev's methodology, but they agree with his overarching goal of a distant, long-term peace, and they're willing to play his game so long as he doesn't stray from that.
Luke is the newest prince to join the faction, and Clavis lured him in with honey. I'm not kidding. Luke is just as lazy about faction duties as he is about everything else, so he's often little more than an errand boy.
Or is he?
Nobility aligned with Chev's faction include Lord Flandre and Marquis Blois. I think it's safe to assume Chev's grandfather, Marquis de Michel, is also a member, as are those within Chev's inner circle, like Lucien and Cyril.
There's also an unnamed duke with a marigold as his crest who recently joined the ranks, but he's known for his stinginess and underpaying those in his employ, and that will get him into trouble. Perhaps ironically, Chev doesn't tolerate abuse of power from those under his command.
Leon’s Faction
The faction of princes led by Leon. They mainly focus on domestic politics. This faction includes the fourth prince, Leon, the first prince, Jin, the fifth prince, Yves, and the sixth prince, Licht.
–Ikémen Prince: Beauty and Her Beast
Leon’s faction is the second of the three primary factions. While the members of Chev’s faction work independently of each other for the most part, only convening when they need to make a big play, Leon’s faction is close-knit. He and Jin, Yves, and Licht eat together, work together, train together, relax together… You get the picture.
Their main goal is the stability of Rhodolite, too, but they value the individual over the kingdom when at all possible. Leon and Jin want the country to be a place where people can smile. Yves wants to prove himself as a loyal Rhodolitian with the kingdom's best interests at heart. Licht has a strong protective instinct, which fits in well with this group. And none of them are big on titles. They don't view themselves as better than commoners; they'd rather be seen as allies than as rulers.
Leon’s faction isn’t necessarily anti-war, but they view war as a last resort. They always want to talk it out first, which often seems like a waste of time to Chev. He and Leon frequently butt heads over this and many other topics. Leon is willing to compromise, but Chev isn’t, and their loud, sometimes physical arguments usually end in frustration with no real change.
I don’t have any nobility listed in my notes as members of this faction, but I just started my second play-through of Leon’s route, so I’ll probably come across a few in the near future.
Neutral Faction
The third primary faction is the neutral faction. Lord Keith, a member of the neutral faction, has a special interest in the arts, and that makes me think a large proportion of people in the neutral faction are just uninterested in politics. It's also reasonable to assume many are interested, and they just have trouble picking a side.
Anti-War Faction
This faction formed in direct opposition to Chev and a single decision he had to make on Bloodstained Rose Day. The group isn’t technically illegal, but Chev keeps it under close watch via Clavis. Its members have been known to use illegal tactics and form dubious alliances to achieve their goals, and they also send assassins after Chev on a regular basis. Possibly aided by Clavis.
Chev and Clavis' relationship will probably get an entire chapter to itself.
Oh, and guess who’s secretly a member of the anti-war faction? I can tell you, because it isn’t that big of a secret: Lord Flandre.
I just finished reading Chev's dramatic route in the game, and I'll be making major adjustments to Flandre's character in ADT/ABT to remain canon compliant. That's actually a good thing. I've never liked how I handled his character, and reading this alternate version of events gave me a lightbulb moment. I know exactly what I want to do with him now, and I've come up with a new antagonist who will also fix some problems I've encountered while thinking ahead toward AWT/ACT. Because this baddie will feature in both sets of storie.
Yay for parallels! And twin grudges against Chev and Gilbert!
Sorry, Ivetta.
Anti-Monarchy Faction
This faction also formed in response to Bloodstained Rose Day, this time out of a general dissatisfaction with how the royal family as a whole handled Obsidian's invasion. As with the anti-war faction, this group isn't technically illegal, but individual members commit treasonous actions, and they've recently become much more organized. It seems like someone has taken charge as the faction leader and has potentially allied with Obsidian, too. Hm...
A known member is Lord Barrande. Also not that big of a secret, so I don’t feel like I’m spoiling too much by saying that.
Phew. See? Lots going on in Rhodolite. There’s no way for a palace maid to avoid getting dragged into politics in this turbulent time, especially if she happens to be working for Chev.
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