Prince Alexander

Yep, he is dead. He goes out in a kind of humiliating way to be sure, but hey, not everyone can go out with a bang looking like a badass.

I wonder if I was able to convey his personality well enough. Alexander has a fame among people who know him as this master tactician who effortlessly brushes aside any resistance when it comes to strategy. In fact, while it's not exactly a facade, he just really works very hard at anything he has an interest in. While some might prefer the more efficient route, Alexander often just works harder at planning things.

That might be why he hates Frederick so much. Oh, better not say too much an end up spoiling things, hehe. In a way, they might be more alike than Alexander might admit, except that Frederick is just better than him at most things. Which is why any victory Alexander ever had over Frederick was short-lived, the start of the complex which eventually led Alexander to join the Great Race.

Following the theme of every candidate representing something, I'd like to think that Alexander speaks to our ability of planning and preparing for the future, even if doesn't always give us the results that we want.

Life in the Empire

Since the story happens under very extraordinary situations, I guess I didn't get much opportunity to present how people live their day-to-day lives in the Empire.

To start, I would consider them pretty tyrannical conditions: Since the space inside city walls are limited and expanding them is a very difficult, costly and dangerous thing to do, almost everything related to economic activities is extremely regulated, which in turn leads to a pretty ossified economy and widespread corruption. Almost every city has some kind of black market. Every successful businessman in the Empire has extensive connections either with local nobility or the Imperial Family.

Although technically, nobles have no privileges, every noble family either controls a city as a dynasty or is somehow attached to one that does. This leads sometimes to cities that might pay lip service to the Emperor, but does not really enact his policies. Although such a situation has rarely escalated into war, there have been quite a few instances of a noble being assassinated.

Although the Empire has extensive communications and a working internet network, the limited psysical connectivity between cities ends up creating a strange paradox where cities might have very particular attitudes or culture.

Art in general is not very encouraged throughout the Empire, with very few exceptions: Byzanta, city of temples has thriving religious art and Ardenne is the heart of art in the Empire. The reason this is so is a belief that sober appearances signify a more powerful state.