While I agree that it was a choice between evils (and a lesser evil is still an evil), I was actually a Brzk fan.
I went through the factions and decided they were all a bit rubbish. Just different factions of the Imperial plutocracy fighting over the pie, or protecting their own bit of it.
This includes Brzk. On the other hand, his "humans and Vargr (and why don't we capitalise "humans"?) are natural allies" is an appeal that can extend to all Imperial subjects: Solomani, Vilani, other humans, Vargr, Aslan, Droyne, Chirper, and all the other various species. Even to the K'kree, if they could refrain from being, well, K'kree.
As a "Democratic Pansophontist" (my nonsense term for the saner wing of the Ine Givar), my sympathies naturally inclined to Brzk, who at least got the "Pansophontist" right, and wasn't actually worse, or more hypocritical, on the "Democratic" side. (Dulinor was an obvious hypocrite, with his "representational" nonsense).
Obviously he was never going to win, but lost causes usually have the best poetry.
There was actually another faction which is rarely mentioned: the Old Expanses nobility. The ones who, realising that the Imperium couldn't support them, swapped their Imperial coronets for their grandparents39; old Solomani Klan hoods. It would have been interesting to see how that worked out for them, as more orthodox (SolSec, and "illegal" Solomani) factions would probably have tried to purge them. I could see them ultimately ending the war on their front, as the Solomani offensive ran out of steam, and SolSec's ability to coerce local leaders diminished. In effect, they (the majority of them) could have evolved into a relatively liberal Solomani faction, more interested in ruling their own turf than in The Cause.
Naturally, I was a fan of the High Passage magazine stuff set in Old Expanses. It had Keiths!
I might rant about my take on the Ine Givar later, if anyone is unwise enough to show interest. (Hint, don't! ;) )
I also had fun with the description of Brzk's ancestor, Admiral Soegz. I naturally pumped up his importance in Arbellatra39;s campaign, to the extent of making him the commander who captured Capital for her. And then his Vargr Huscarles landed and started to arrest the supporters of Gustus.
See the 1527 Sack of Rome for further details, assuming that more of the Germans were Lutherans than was actually the case.
I went through the factions and decided they were all a bit rubbish. Just different factions of the Imperial plutocracy fighting over the pie, or protecting their own bit of it.
This includes Brzk. On the other hand, his "humans and Vargr (and why don't we capitalise "humans"?) are natural allies" is an appeal that can extend to all Imperial subjects: Solomani, Vilani, other humans, Vargr, Aslan, Droyne, Chirper, and all the other various species. Even to the K'kree, if they could refrain from being, well, K'kree.
As a "Democratic Pansophontist" (my nonsense term for the saner wing of the Ine Givar), my sympathies naturally inclined to Brzk, who at least got the "Pansophontist" right, and wasn't actually worse, or more hypocritical, on the "Democratic" side. (Dulinor was an obvious hypocrite, with his "representational" nonsense).
Obviously he was never going to win, but lost causes usually have the best poetry.
There was actually another faction which is rarely mentioned: the Old Expanses nobility. The ones who, realising that the Imperium couldn't support them, swapped their Imperial coronets for their grandparents39; old Solomani Klan hoods. It would have been interesting to see how that worked out for them, as more orthodox (SolSec, and "illegal" Solomani) factions would probably have tried to purge them. I could see them ultimately ending the war on their front, as the Solomani offensive ran out of steam, and SolSec's ability to coerce local leaders diminished. In effect, they (the majority of them) could have evolved into a relatively liberal Solomani faction, more interested in ruling their own turf than in The Cause.
Naturally, I was a fan of the High Passage magazine stuff set in Old Expanses. It had Keiths!
I might rant about my take on the Ine Givar later, if anyone is unwise enough to show interest. (Hint, don't! ;) )
I also had fun with the description of Brzk's ancestor, Admiral Soegz. I naturally pumped up his importance in Arbellatra39;s campaign, to the extent of making him the commander who captured Capital for her. And then his Vargr Huscarles landed and started to arrest the supporters of Gustus.
See the 1527 Sack of Rome for further details, assuming that more of the Germans were Lutherans than was actually the case.