The kingdom is ruled by a Dark lord who Studies Dark magic

Being a PALADIN of JUSTICE and VIRTUE, clearly I rescind my loyalty to an outdated system whose only virtue was having a dedicated class to the protection of the peasantry and join the "Dark" Lord's empire. Seek to steer him towards the path of at least public righteousness to avoid conflict. If not then this is a good solution, if I can somehow find a way to legitimize myself (or my preferred candidate/puppet) in the eyes of the masses.

>Will inevitably lead to corruption and nepotism
As will every system. Enter the paladin, who RIP and TEAR into corruption for GREAT JUSTICE.

>Thousands of people will lose their jobs and be forced to work humiliating factory work, under bad condition.
...Now I'm stuck somewhere between "rise of the proletariat" and "communism doesn't work". Maybe some vague in-betweeny syndicalism works? Fuck I don't know, I'm just a paladin.

>Entire landscapes get depopulated and is now prey to beasts.
RIP AND TEAR
SELL THEIR HIDES
PROFIT (unless syndicalism doesn't allow profit? Fuck I dont know, I'm still just a paladin)

>And yet the new fighting begins.
RIP
AND
TEAR

>meritocracy
literally impossible

Explained

What's wrong

That's not very paladin like

Just let the thread die.

Enquire about the pension plan for soldiers.

Probably join the Dark Lord's new nation.

Hunt down the rebels like my Dark Lord commanded?

Just because people say he's a dark lord and does dark magic doesn't mean he's evil. I gotta ping that shit first.

>Enquire about the pension plan for soldiers.
Depends on what rank you gave user.

This is what a Bernie voter looks like.

I ask my DM to stop self-inserting into campaign.

a) Wait 'til he fucks up control over his dark magic and shit goes tumblin' down to get proper support. It's not called Dark magic for nothing, is it?

b) Research stuff around him, probably he's hiding some vile secrets, reason for suspicion is above.

If he's clean, your dark magic doesn't dark at all

Ranks for the previous or foreign regimes are non transferable.

Dark Lord and his officers do not know you. They do not trust you. You want the good pay then you work your way up the ladder like the rest of the people do. There are no short cuts. Trust is earned, not given.

How?

...

>Ranks for the previous or foreign regimes are non transferable.
>Dark Lord and his officers do not know you. They do not trust you. You want the good pay then you work your way up the ladder like the rest of the people do. There are no short cuts. Trust is earned, not given.

Fuck him. Why Should I, a gifted individual, be force to start at the bottom, like some fodder? He must be dispose for the greater good.

- A) Nobility is a form of nepotism, B) in a world where good is unambiguous anyone can be good.

- Factory work is worse than dealing with shitty animals how?

- Good, space for nature and mankind

Good. He is the only decent voice in american politics

>Picture a party of literal hobos
>Wearing rags, fighting with the rusty sword that they found on whichever NPC they shanked first
>Eventually murder their way to the dark lord
>Ask them why all this destruction, all this pain and death
>"BECAUSE YOU'RE GEVIL :DDDDDDDDDDD"

Another successful campaign for the murderhobos

>Decent
>Wants to implement systems from other countries
>No modifications just larger scale
>No way anything could go wrong

I like alot of his points but his ultimate goals without some tweaks and restrictions would lead for ruin. No refunds

>service base in a medieval meritocracy

I don't need to do anything his own hubris will destroy the nation and bring back the civil wars.

>>service base in a medieval meritocracy
Wasn't there a few real life kingdoms that did this?

Yeah, in fact _____________not really_____________

You are either an idiot or painfully uninformed. Watch his debate against Ted Cruz the geriatric gets blown out on every point and constantly resorts to appeals of emotion because he loses in facts.

The best example of this is that his tax the wealthy plan would also include small business owners who are constantly on the edge of losing money due to the costs of stuff like employee insurance and the failing economy (As a whole the world economies are on an upswing but that's almost entirely in the money sectors like banking and it has 0 effect on purchasing power of people).

With an enforced minimum wage and increased taxes most businesses would bite the bullet and automate basically everything they can because the turnover is so high for minimum wage jobs thanks to over a decade of stagnant wages meaning hard work is basically worthless since even in a managerial position people are only making an extra 50 cents an hour.

I think objectively you have to look at setting and ask some questions...
Did he overthrow a rightful, just, and competent ruler? If so yeah play ball, otherwise it can be more complicated.

Assuming the characters are not native to the kingdom, them taking action could be considered an act of war and have political implications. Of course there could be a kingdom that wants to hire adventures (that they can disown in case of failure) to cause trouble if not slay the 'evil king' outright.

Of course how do the locals feel about this? Not all may agree, the question is how peaceful or oppressive it is for the people. It could look great on the surface but actually be oppressive underneath. Of course you could also be dealing with angry nobility upset they have to work for a living...

Because if you are a gifted individual you should have no problems rising to the top.

Throwing an entitled hissy fit is a good demonstration of why you shouldn't be given a position of authority.

It's a shit mentality

There should always been an aptitude test at the start especially in fantasy settings.

"Oh you can bench press an Ox and hold 10 different tournament trophies in your name, well we don't know you so get started on peeling those potatoes because we aren't sure if you are warrior material"

And before you bring up the betrayal/trust shit then literally just don't put him in a commanding or powerful position and instead place him within a group of other similarly powerful people who you can trust and when they eventually vouch for him he can start getting duties that require trust.

Kill him, he's trying to make the life of the peasant better, and he's phasing out the fat-paying nobles that actually pays for killing dragons and so on.

Is there solid evidence that his tampering with the magic won't end well? Is he actively performing blood sacrifice to fuel his magic or something?

I'm sceptical of the whole scenario. He's generally implementing policies that will benefit both the populace and the kingdom, and all I have to count against him is that he is using 'dark magic'.

>"Oh you can bench press an Ox and hold 10 different tournament trophies in your name, well we don't know you so get started on peeling those potatoes because we aren't sure if you are warrior material"
But their right. How does that translate in wielding a weapon?

>WIll inevitably lead to corruption and nepotism
Implying aristocracies are not corrupt as hell to begin with.
>Thousands of people will lose their jobs and be forced to work humiliating factory work
Factory work>Farm work.

A) NIgga What. Nobility is a form of nepotism and its the luck of the draw if your lord is nice or mean.
B)Even if that is so. How is that any different when they were serfs? Besides from the description, this dark lord might try to implement some workers right.
C)Honestly Inevitable. Its Either nor or later.
D)And you are given the chance to decline and perhaps out of the goodness of your heart warn the Dark lord

Consequence be damned, he's still got the title of Dark Lord. Maybe if he was just a werewolf or a vampire he could slide under the radar, but "Dark Lord"s don't get a free pass.

>he's still got the title of Dark Lord.
Does it matter? Of course it does, such titles allow you to break the world into light and dark, categorize it. Perhaps he is neither, and he hold both as what they are, pieces of a whole. Know that he is a leader to a nation, and that is enough.

>Is there solid evidence that his tampering with the magic won't end well? Is he actively performing blood sacrifice to fuel his magic or something?
What if he's merely studying it?

Then kill him

wait awhile for the paladins to do the most damage they can, then charge in with my horde and kill everyone, it's the only way to secure the throne for myself!

Good plan

By that logic we should outlaw chemotherapy because it's origins are morally dubious.

working your own farm>factory work>working in someone else's farm

Corrected it for you friendo

>turning blind at 16 from chemical burns at the textile mill is preferable to living until a quick death at 48 from being gored by a bull

I don't understand. It's a Dark Lord, his factories are obviously going to be Victorian levels of safety standards at best.

That's making considerable assumptions about how his society is structured.

It's possible that he is more interested in promoting an agrarian society with the industrial needs met by pre-industrial means.

This is going to lead to a weakened nation compared to it's neighbours who are abandoning cottage industry in favour of factory industry. The "Dark" Magic is making up the difference and therefore demonized by the competing neighbour nations who either feel threatened because of their own insecurities or want to annex the fertile farmland.

His title of Dark Lord is intentional, his increased skill at magic is carefully honed and everything from his spiky armour worn on all state occasions to the design of the royal palace are designed to promote the image of evil incarnate so as to intimidate foreigners into negotiating peace.

>- Factory work is worse than dealing with shitty animals how?
Stick your hand in a machine and you'll lose it in the most horrific crunchy way possible. Also you're 8.
Stick your hand in an animal, and you might, key word might, if you did it wrong, get kicked. This is a bit less horrific but probably still lethal.

We should

People who feel entitled are always shitty picks for higher positions. They never feel like it's good enough. In the situation you proposed, an aptitude test could very well be in place, it just doesn't put you in a place of power immediately. If you've scored high, then you're placed with people in positions of little power but that require high degrees of strength or skill. In time, whether it be short or long, you may prove yourself trustworthy and move up.

You do know you die if kicked by a farm animal

>This is a bit less horrific but probably still lethal.
Nah, I had no idea.

>Rebels will plunge the country into another civil war
>They hire paladingdongs probably because they do it to feel good about themselves, so the rebels won't have to pay them
>They don't want to pay them because they can't pay them, because they are broke-ass rebels
>Paladins, after overthrowing the dark lord, might start looking into other mages who benefited from the loosening of laws concerning magic

It's not that I feel touched by rebels' cause, or appalled by Dark Lord's breaches of natural law, but I never appreciate a witch-hunt, especially a literal one.

Well now you are informed

Is he dare I say /ourguy/

You arbitrarily deciding that a part of the description set out by OP is inaccurate it's an assumption itself. OP said he is a Dark Lord, he is probably a Dark Lord. Plus, OP never said his magic was relevant to the economy.

I'm gonna kill him for being a contrived edgelord

God I hate players

>Guys just trust me on this! He's DEFINITELY a dark lord! We have to kill him!
>Whoa are you seriously asking for evidence to back up my claim?! Are you kidding me?
"""Dark""" Lord did nothing wrong, and if you keep this shit up I'm going to borrow a gyrocopter from the Gnomes and give you a free ride in it.

Sums up every Paladin thread.

Defeat Assad

Is he overthrowing the local religions of Good Dieties in favor of Evil ones, because his relationship and motives related to religion could be the key point in knowing if he is the Anti-Christ.

>if you keep this shit up I'm going to borrow a gyrocopter from the Gnomes and give you a free ride in it.

Chuckled/10

Not that other guy, for real that guy is a retard, but you are making shit up to make your argument "correct".

>This is going to lead to a weakened nation compared to it's neighbours who are abandoning cottage industry in favour of factory industry. The "Dark" Magic is making up the difference and therefore demonized by the competing neighbour nations who either feel threatened because of their own insecurities or want to annex the fertile farmland.
You made this shit up

>It's possible that he is more interested in promoting an agrarian society with the industrial needs met by pre-industrial means.
Pure conjecture

>Be named D'arc
>Everyone calls you Lord Dark because peasants
>Distant paladins hear of a Dark Lord and smite first, ask questions later

Well since O.P said he was studying it. I assume no

I like it.

He's a classical Dark Lord in his Dark Fortress, long time in the Dark Lording Business. In fact there seems to be fewer and fewer Dark Lords around these days. Certainly not big menacing bastards in spiky black armour who would call themselves Dark Lords. Now it's all Arch-Duke this or Serene Empress that or Doge something or another. In fact you haven't had word from another Dark Lord in same time.

And you don't care for any of the rulers of your neighbor realms at all. You always followed a certain code, as befitting any proud Dark Lord. But they don't. Back in the old days war was a wonderful thing. Glorious warriors charging forth with blood in their eyes and foam in their mouths swords and axes swinging everywhere and the strong prospering and accumulating land and women and riches from the weak. Now half starved and fearful conscripts barely old enough to grow their first chin hairs are herded into cannon fire. Where is the glory in that?

And you don't approve of how they treat the underclasses either. Back in the good old days productive and compliant peasants were a valued resource. Sure you might have been a bit intimidating, dished out a few beatings and a rapes like all Dark Lords do but it was never with hate. Why would you be hateful towards your own people? It would be like looting your own fortress. But these new breed of rulers? What the fuck dude? How many die in the mines? How many are maimed and poisoned and mangled in the factories? How many starve and fester in the cities?

Is this the modern world? And these are the people that call you evil.

If this is the modern world it's far darker than any of your old friends ever were. The world has grown darker than ye olde dark lords. The new world stops at your borders. In here the old faiths of ash and blood endures. In here the magic of fire and bone survives. This is the Dark Land.

Are you bad enough dudes to keep out the depravities of the Industrial Revolution?

Sounds about right

Worked fine for nearly 2 centuries when the Janissaries did it.
Only fell apart when they started acting like faux nobility.

You shall be rewarded for your loyalty.

dragon killing could be crowd-funded i guess.

This

Since when did peasants own their own land in the Middle Ages?

They didnt. user is lying

> the Nobility wants you to punish the merchants for siding with the dark lord and for you to turn back the clock.
>the new class of university educated bureaucrats hate you personally for undoing the man who gave them the biggest break in their lifes and will walk off the job en mass if you change ANYTHING. They will leave the country to find work else based on their strong reputation.
> the merchants hate you also and anything other then a very strong policy of appeasement will make then your enemy.
> the professional officer core is the same way.
> the highly religious common folk, of the same religion as you no less, will see your government as foreign because to them the leader IS the government. Does not even matter that much if you are a exiled member of their royal family because to got in control do to outside help. The Nobility tell them as such.
> banned acts like "Dark magic" take on a air of national pride, of rightful power been denied.
> on the plus side this is what they sing when they overthrow you.

youtube.com/watch?v=gMYNfQlf1H8

Transnational officers were very much a thing back in the day. You hired then because they had seen combat, sometimes a lot of it. They were known skilled individuals. If they are coming to a army running on "meritocracy" they see it as code for "we are not letting rich fucks buy rank" and thus view it a a better place to advance. If they do want you are saying they do (and a number of rulers did) they see it as "we do not like foreigners".

What is a Yeoman? There was a lot of people who owned land in fee simple and worked it rather renting it out. A lest in England. In the HRE smallholds were a touch larger so it was common to have payed farm hands rather then doing it yourself or having tenants.

>What is a Yeoman?
A sergeant

Sounds fucking interesting to be honest

How is he a edgelord

>>meritocracy
True Meritocracy has never been tried user.

Remind the dm his party is rallying behind a Russian plant.

Ask the dark lord to pay me more to deal with the rebels

Name your price mercenary

But he's the good guy

Just reading those books

This man is super-dead. Once he's dead, I'm re-instituting the monarchy, with the grateful nobles owing large tithes to the Church and the Order.

We're going to kill his ass.

Studying blood sacrifice?

I mean, I dunno, seems a little suspect if you ask me, but I'm not gonna send in the God Squad because some bloke is interested in some depraved shit.

If I get the scent that he intends to actually perform blood sacrifice then he's getting geeked.

Sounds like a pretty good setup for a traditionalist vs industrial revolutionary setting, where the traditionalists aren't depicted as backwards. I mean, magic usually fills the gap anyway, but it's still interesting.

But why?

What if blood sacrifice just requires blood, not human blood specifically? Get that magic shit hooked up to a slaughter house. Kind of like a really grizzly nuclear power plant i guess.

I like this. Vaguely reminds me of the Overlord videogame.

No

Yes.

Maybe