[The Professors voice] Good news, everyone![/end voice]
I had one of my big "blamo" idea rushes this morning, so in the last half hour or so, I actually sketched out some outlines for
9 updates ahead! Pretty cool, huh? Should make posting the next chapter go faster than it would have otherwise!
Also, since we are entering a new chapter, I thought I'd share the new chapter picture with everyone as well.
There'll also be a new regnal banner, but I haven't designed that yet... its been only a day since the last update!
Qorten - I thought so... and an excellent way to show how far Thomas has slid...
FlyingDutchie - Albrecht's idea was for it to be a "promotion" into a place where he can't cause any harm--Istria's too poor to be a threat, far removed from Konstantinopolis, and dangerously close to people who would want Gottfried dead (the Arpad German emperors). Now, if Gottfried were brilliant on the scale of his father, he could possibly make the most out of the situation... if he's not, he's basically been sent to his doom.
Tommy4ever - The Danes are certainly distracted at least. And I'm not so sure this would qualify as suicide... see below.
Nehekara - Albrecht was born in roughly 1196, so by this point he's 62, an old man for sure, but not venerable in the least. Coincidentally, "The Gardener" lived into his 70s before his final demise...
KlavoHunter - 'Haunting' was kind of what I was going for. Thank you.
Vesimir - No, they wouldn't leave him in the cisterns. The luck of the damned says he'd wander his way out, and then cause all sorts of chaos. Better to 'contain' the problem for sure. Nikephoros is still technically emperor, but as we saw with Manuel, as he's not 'Sound of Body' he cannot rule alone. At present, they're co-Emperors, but Nikephoros isn't able to leave the palace, so his power is even more limited...
Hawkeye1489 - Aha! Another once has been seduced by the Byzantine darkness!
Thank you for the kind praise, as I said above, that haunting feeling was what I was going for, and I'm glad it tingled your spine some...
humancalculator - Not consciously, ironically!
I hadn't read
Amontillado since junior high--say, 16 years ago or so? I'd sincerely forgotten the story existed, to the point I had to wiki it when people started talking about it! I don't doubt, however, that some part of it stuck in a dark recess of my mind, and it came out during the writing... maybe influenced by it would be a better term?
Fulcrumvale -
Explaining Thomas' disappearance is rather easy--he's sequestered himself planning some enormous project. His 'nuttiness' is rather well known! Considering how Anastasia and even little Andronikos have noticed how popular Thomas' handing out alms was, it's not unlikely to think Andie could take over the alms-giving...
Siind - This are progressing
amazingly well for Albrecht. But as we saw, when things are progressing smoothly, that usually means something bumpy is hiding just under the current...
von Sachsen - When I first saw that, I confess my eyes saw "armadillo" at first!
Kirsch27 - Becausssseeeeeee.....
Nikolai - Yeah, Tommy ran off happily to death, and I couldn't imagine even as callous a soul as Albrecht not feeling remorse at seeing someone unknowingly embrace the very thing that would kill him. Especially considering Albie has known Thomas since he was nothing more than a little kid who liked building things...
RGB - Is it suicide really if the participant isn't cognitively aware he's going to die?
Oh, I doubt Albie's plan won't prevent them from politicking, and I bet Albie realizes that deep down. It will probably keep them from politicking for a while, however, giving the state a breather...
AlexanderPrimus - Oh no you didaan't!