Motivations, Reliability Thereof
TITLE: Motivations, Reliability Thereof
FANDOM: Legacy of Kain
CHARACTER: Kain
TABLE: # 7 - Miscellaneous A
PROMPT: 07. Loyalty
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 664
SUMMARY: Kain's thoughts on the loyalty of his lieutenants and its motivation.
Kain, Lord of the vampires and ruler of Nosgoth, demanded loyalty, and loyalty he got. He got it for various reasons, the most common and important one being fear. Who betrayed him got killed. It was that simple. And after the first dozen executions even the slowest of his subjects had gotten the message.
His lieutenants gave him their loyalty because he had given them life, in some cases because they believed in him, and in some cases because he was the stronger one. In the long run, the latter had always proved the more reliable reason.
Watching the five vampires standing before him, he knew that Melchiah would die for him, out of honour, and Rahab out of dependency. Turel never questioned his judgement and Raziel, standing at his side, was too honourable and proud to even consider betrayal, despite making his opinion known more often than the others if it differed from Kain’s. Zephon, however, was yearning for more power and would reach for it if he could. What kept him in check was common sense; he knew that any direct confrontation against his older brethren he would lose. His intrigues, though, were another matter. Kain, despite knowing of them, never got involved but let his sons sort things out among themselves. It kept them from getting bored, and who was not able to see through the plot of a weak but ambitious vampire had no place in these ranks.
So far Zephon had had little success, and Kain was amused by his attempts to hide his bitter frustration. He was no threat to anyone stronger than him, and provided more entertainment than most of his more well-behaved brothers. So far there had been no reason to remove him.
Despite his cruel and selfish nature, Zephon knew better than to move against Kain in any way, shape or form. It was the result of an animal-like instinct Dumah lacked. Kain’s third son was physically the strongest, and his pride of his strength and that of his clan had long since passes the borders to arrogance. Sadly, he lacked somewhat in the intellectual department and could never compete with Raziel’s strategic abilities (which admittedly worked best when combined with Turel’s level-headedness to remind his impulsive firstborn that sometimes it was useful to put some thinking between the motion and the act). To Dumah this frankly didn’t matter - strength was all that counted in his world, and he blissfully ignored that even the strongest vampire could be easily defeated if someone weaker tripped him into a lake.
Kain knew Dumah held little respect for the smaller and physically weaker Raziel, and was just waiting for a chance to defeat him and take the place he thought was rightfully his. He didn’t even make it a secret. To Raziel, who so far had won every fight between them through speed and agility, he was a never ending source of amusement. To Kain, he was someone who had to be watched closely. Dumah might have thought he was subtle in his ambitions, but Kain knew very well that his childe was convinced he could defeat Kain if only he got strong enough, and become ruler of Nosgoth himself. It was a dangerous conviction, because it meant that one das he could actually try. And then Kain would have to kill him and take out one of his strongest clans to prevent any misguided attempts at revenge.
So far Dumah’s usefulness outweighed the trouble he presented, but already Kain could see that eventually his arrogance would be his downfall.
In the end, he couldn’t really blame him for his ambition. Kain himself have stopped at nothing to get where he was. Betrayal came easy to him, and he knew all about its motivations. Still he did not think himself hypocritical for demanding loyalty to him. After all, Kain was loyal only to Kain. It was only fair to demand the same of the rest of the world.
June 16, 2009
FANDOM: Legacy of Kain
CHARACTER: Kain
TABLE: # 7 - Miscellaneous A
PROMPT: 07. Loyalty
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 664
SUMMARY: Kain's thoughts on the loyalty of his lieutenants and its motivation.
Kain, Lord of the vampires and ruler of Nosgoth, demanded loyalty, and loyalty he got. He got it for various reasons, the most common and important one being fear. Who betrayed him got killed. It was that simple. And after the first dozen executions even the slowest of his subjects had gotten the message.
His lieutenants gave him their loyalty because he had given them life, in some cases because they believed in him, and in some cases because he was the stronger one. In the long run, the latter had always proved the more reliable reason.
Watching the five vampires standing before him, he knew that Melchiah would die for him, out of honour, and Rahab out of dependency. Turel never questioned his judgement and Raziel, standing at his side, was too honourable and proud to even consider betrayal, despite making his opinion known more often than the others if it differed from Kain’s. Zephon, however, was yearning for more power and would reach for it if he could. What kept him in check was common sense; he knew that any direct confrontation against his older brethren he would lose. His intrigues, though, were another matter. Kain, despite knowing of them, never got involved but let his sons sort things out among themselves. It kept them from getting bored, and who was not able to see through the plot of a weak but ambitious vampire had no place in these ranks.
So far Zephon had had little success, and Kain was amused by his attempts to hide his bitter frustration. He was no threat to anyone stronger than him, and provided more entertainment than most of his more well-behaved brothers. So far there had been no reason to remove him.
Despite his cruel and selfish nature, Zephon knew better than to move against Kain in any way, shape or form. It was the result of an animal-like instinct Dumah lacked. Kain’s third son was physically the strongest, and his pride of his strength and that of his clan had long since passes the borders to arrogance. Sadly, he lacked somewhat in the intellectual department and could never compete with Raziel’s strategic abilities (which admittedly worked best when combined with Turel’s level-headedness to remind his impulsive firstborn that sometimes it was useful to put some thinking between the motion and the act). To Dumah this frankly didn’t matter - strength was all that counted in his world, and he blissfully ignored that even the strongest vampire could be easily defeated if someone weaker tripped him into a lake.
Kain knew Dumah held little respect for the smaller and physically weaker Raziel, and was just waiting for a chance to defeat him and take the place he thought was rightfully his. He didn’t even make it a secret. To Raziel, who so far had won every fight between them through speed and agility, he was a never ending source of amusement. To Kain, he was someone who had to be watched closely. Dumah might have thought he was subtle in his ambitions, but Kain knew very well that his childe was convinced he could defeat Kain if only he got strong enough, and become ruler of Nosgoth himself. It was a dangerous conviction, because it meant that one das he could actually try. And then Kain would have to kill him and take out one of his strongest clans to prevent any misguided attempts at revenge.
So far Dumah’s usefulness outweighed the trouble he presented, but already Kain could see that eventually his arrogance would be his downfall.
In the end, he couldn’t really blame him for his ambition. Kain himself have stopped at nothing to get where he was. Betrayal came easy to him, and he knew all about its motivations. Still he did not think himself hypocritical for demanding loyalty to him. After all, Kain was loyal only to Kain. It was only fair to demand the same of the rest of the world.
June 16, 2009