Perceptions of Power

"You've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with."

'Sup, foos. This is something I've been thinking about lately concerning some characters and I figured I'd make a general thread so folks musing over the same thing can share ideas and discussions.

This thread is for helping to develop characters, usually those in or around positions of power, and get an idea of what their idea of power and how to use it is. Some characters have a very informed and well thought out idea of what it means to be in power, to be a leader, to be in control, whatever you want to think of it as for your purposes. On the flip side, some have very discombobulated ideas, learning and making it up a they go. Regardless it affects how they think, how they talk and react. It affects how they see others and how they treat them. It's a way of fleshing out certain characters for whom this concept is important, from High Kings of fantasy lands to Queen Bees of ordinary high schools. From Grima Wormtongue to Heather McNamara. How that perception begins may change over time, it may be set in stone. That's for you to decide and the group to help with.

Guess I'll go first. I have two characters from vastly different backgrounds who find themselves in the same social circle and immediately start clashing over influence over their peers. They're both from the same interstellar empire, but Aranseur is a noblewoman from a world that puts an emphasis on togetherness with nature. She grew up in a palace that was molded from a giant tree and was encouraged from a young age to tend to animals and her garden. Conserving and appreciating the world around her was a part of her culture.

Her family has a reputation for being subtle kingmakers, as her grandmother's financial support helped one claimant to the imperial throne dominate the rest. Her mother later secretly provided a base of operation for the deposed prince to take back his throne. Aranseur personally makes a point of getting information on anyone she thinks is important so she can use it later.

Then we've got Nini. She's from an urban city known for its fast-talking, busy, and occasionally dangerous nightlife. Her life is filled with tall buildings, dazzling nights and a work hard, party hard way of life. She frequents some of the more dangerous parts of town to work for minor criminal groups.

She's known for being the illegitimate offspring of a nobleman, something others heckle her for, and her mother abandon her long ago to be raised by her grandma. Nini is also known for being a smooth talker who can get people to hand over the shirts on their back before they realize they've been tricked.

The story revolves around Nini faking her way into high society in a way that fools even Aranseur. From then on the two have a frenemy relationship that then devolves into just enemies as they try and put their peers against each other.

So based on the above, how do you guys think these two view power. Power in their hands? Power the other has?

In general, nobility are authoritarians. In this specific case, it sounds like the standard "Natural order of things" thing, where the nobles are "obligated" to care for their people in the analogy of caring for nature.

This particular character, Arensuer, being from a family of import with a reputation for savvy and cunning plays, seems to be trying to live up to that legacy by being savvy and cunning, but in a very flashy way. For her, obviously she'll have authoritarian tendencies, she is hereditary nobility after all, so power is something to be used for whatever, and people should not attempt to rise above their station. Of course, for the Cunning Savvy Genius, Master of Intrigue that she presumably is trying to be, "Your station" has blurry lines. That could manifest in a belief in two worlds, the world of the rightful nobility, who can scheme and plot against each other all they like, and the world of non-nobility, who can scheme and plot against each other all they like, but are not permitted to do such against the nobility.

So, she'd probably believe that there's a non-arbitrary social hierarchy. She is, in a real sense, better than other people, but it's binary. There's only two tiers on it. No noble is better than any other noble, but no peasant is as good as any noble, nor can one ever be as good as one.

As for Nini, she's a grifter. She's grifted her up the social hierarchy and probably sees more rungs on it. She might not be an authoritarian herself, but she certainly interacts with their structures, and probably believes in a much more granular hierarchy, with many layers, and that you can change what layer you're in throughout your life. Of course, a question to ask is whether she believes the social hierarchy shouldn't exist, if she believes it should, and that she's been denied her birthright by being born a bastard, or if the hierarchy is fine, it's just got the wrong people on top or the wrong system deciding who goes where on it.

Arensuer would think Nini a usurper, trying to get above her station. She was not legitimate, therefore she has no place going around with the nobility in the Natural Order Of Things. She might be in principle fine with Nini if Nini stayed among the underclass. As to how she visualizes her own power, probably as something that she was clever enough to get ahold of and others were not.

I don't know if I have enough information to know how Nini views power. She grifts and had a difficult upbringing, and she works for other people sometimes, but none of those tell me where she believes power should come from. It mostly comes down to how she deals with herself being illegitimate. Is it her birthright being stolen, or is it a sign that birthright is itself wrong, or is it some other reaction entirely?

And to think I just thought it'd be interesting to have the group known for being In Harmony with Nature produce an antagonist. It didn't even occur to me that this would be her mindset, but it's so obvious when you put it like that. This thread paid off in barely two sentences.

You hit the nail on the head when you observed her wanting to live up to the family legacy. It's a source of great pride for her. Which is also interesting because you mentioned she'd most likely believe the power she accumulates within her class is due to her own cleverness despite her family's favored position. The way you described Aranseur's attitude towards the class divide and towards Nini makes it sound like she'd be resentful and offended at her more for the act of trying to rise above her station than for the deceit involved, is that correct?

When I described her interactions with her friends to someone else, they summed her up as a "gaslighter." Nice to see she's still collecting those negative descriptors.

That's an interesting series of questions I had not considered. Right now the most firm aspect I can think of is that, when she was little, being illegitimate was something cool for her. Being half-noble to the other kids meant she was someone regal and important. Things changed as she got older and was instead looked on as a half-noble, an unwanted burden. I'm not sure if it's anger at being denied her birthright, but she resents the nobility and is disdainful of them as a class. Tricking and manipulating them - particularly against Aranseur - makes her happy.

Yes, I'd say so. Deceit and trickery is just how you do things, but using them to Pervert Nature Itself by Rising Above Your Station is something that Simply Cannot be Let Stand. If Nini had stayed in her metaphorical lane and stuck to grifting and cheating non-nobles, Aranseur might even vaguely approve of her, as long as she was sufficiently deferential to those above her in the social hierarchy.

As for Nini's attitude towards the hierarchy itself, it sounds from what's provided like the third option, where in principle she thinks that the nobles aren't just not better than her, but that she's better than them, and therefore the hierarchy is correct to exist, but she isn't high in it, therefore there must be something wrong with how people are arranged in it, rather than that it exists at all.

I might be misreading this a little but I don't really pick-up on these characters having very fundamentally different approaches or perspectives on power. As far as I can tell, Aranseur is concerned with finding the "right person for the job" while Nina is interested in being the "right person for the job". The only real point of contrast that I'm picking-up is that Aranseur believes in being born noble, raised noble and living noble while Nina sees the second step as being optional. But they would both agree on what "noble" means.

So, as I'm reading this, it would seem the point of contention between the two doesn't have much to do with power but rather on how much worth they put on a person's upbringing in effecting how they live or operate as an adult.

Does any of that sound right or am I off the mark?

There's some irony there, considering her family legacy.

As for Nini, so while she's accepting of the social hierarchy, or at least doesn't object to its existence too much, she would feel like she personally deserves to be higher up the ladder? That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

If they're alike in more ways than not, it wouldn't be surprising at all. This whole story started from me speculating what it would be like if a character known for being a power hungry, master manipulator had to fight herself and it grew from there. They've since evolved into their own persons, but that core conflict still remains. That's why I wanted to explore how their different upbringings would effect their internalized thoughts.

In fact, I think they both want "to be the right person." Be the person others turn to, to be respected. Biggest difference is that Aranseur is already in that position while Nini still wants it. Or at least wants it long enough to fleece people before things start getting personal.

It seems that Nini actually doesn't object to the nobility existing, so much as she objects to her not being on top. She's carrying a chip on her shoulder but, while she may have sympathy for her old class, her first priority is to be the one in the position to look down on everyone else.

Music related.

Great, now the thumbnail has me wondering if Nini is similar to W.

on topic. If that is the case, than it seems to me that Nini is of a common type of envious megomaniac. The sort that sees themselves of the god's gift to everyone, the second coming of Jesus, yadda yadda yadda.