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writing_shadows2011-09-08 11:50 pm
lslaw.livejournal.com) wrote in writing_shadows2011-09-08 11:50 pm
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[Mortals] The Servant (Sir James - obliged, tails, handkerchief, for Hatty)
A man can not serve two masters, you know? Demands will, in the end, compete, and when that happens, he will always betray one master or the other, if not both of them. This is the way of the world; so it is, so it has always been and so it always shall be. It is true of the policeman who embraces too much his cover; it was true when Thurg promised to back both his brothers and they ended up fighting one another; it will be true when Alice-143/7 tries to mirror a data packet and deliver the same virtual valuable to her transhuman boss and the AI who runs the system at the same time.
I serve the Queen and her Government; in that capacity my job is to ensure the smooth running of the country. To accomplish my task, I serve Minister after Minister, each one at some kind of loggerheads with the last and at least half of them determined to bring down the monarchy or the government in one way or another. A civil servant must serve many masters.
Thankfully, civil servants are barely human; popular opinion is very firm on that point, and the great British electorate couldn't all be wrong, now could they?
Eh-he.
So, how does it stand that I now serve another master again? To be honest, I do not see it as a great change. Certainly my life contains more in the way of direct Wicca than it used to, and 'high priest' was not an accolade that featured highly on my life plan, but my goal overall is still the same; to see to it that the country is run with as little disruption and upset as possible.
Does the Minister need a paper passed through the House to keep things running smoothly? Will it favour Her Majesty's Government for a certain someone to go missing? Does the King need a handkerchief to wipe her brow so that she looks unflustered at a critical juncture in the debate? It's all much the same to the civil servant.
Some people talk about duty, but it isn't quite that. Civil service is more like an obligation; high priest is much the same. I do the things that I do because I must; because they need to be done and it falls to me to do them. Ministers must be advised and it falls to me to advise them; extraordinary crimes must be investigated, and it falls to me to administer the men and women who do so; monsters must be fought and it is my place to organise it; a King must rise, and I am obliged to ensure that it is the right King.
While I maintained my service to Queen Elizabeth II as a defence against the assaults of the first circle of Kings, in truth the two things are unrelated. Her Majesty is and will remain the titular temporal monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the spiritual head of the Anglican Church. It is a different crown that the four compete to win and I owe it to my Queen to see to it that the best, and the safest, of the four is victorious.
TG Khan? I think not. He was a brute and knowingly so, determined to assail and abuse the royal family in search of power. That would have been a clash of duties right enough. Likewise Ricky Royal, who would have reversed the world on its axis at the turn of a card. Too dangerous, too unpredictable; too uncontrollable. Heads he would win and tails we would lose, and mere anarchy loosed upon the world either way.
Kings are like Ministers; they serve a valuable role, we'd be lost without them, but Lord protect us if they ever start trying to wield power without advice. Sir Alexander is out for the same reason, and because... Well, he is a traitor to Her Majesty, as well as a seeker after power. Do you think that makes me a hypocrite? Not at all. I have never sought power in anyone's service; I am and always have been a servant, to any master who needs my aid and advice.
Arthur, Lord Cadbury is perhaps the worst of the lot. He too is a traitor, and worse, he has dangerous ambitions. He would take power for his unelected, philanthropic elite. It's not the replacement of an elected Parliament that I object to, you understand, but the supplanting of the civil service with an administration of utterly unqualified do-gooders who would bring the country down in a week with their largesse and whimsy.
Which leaves Ms Ashley, my King of Hearts, and a fiery heart she is. The Carnivore rage in her disturbs me; it stands against her principles and threatens to bring her down. This is a game where only a Grand Slam will do, and her hand can not afford to carry a Spade when her trump is Hearts. Neither do I trust her partner to follow her bid; he has too much ambition of his own. Sooner or later we will need to cast him off. That will be harder the closer they are, and should he goad her to force, as I have no doubt he has the art to do, she will be lost.
Is that why the Queen must also be a knight, I wonder? Certainly I feel the need – the obligation – most strongly. Perhaps it is for me to take that part from her, to be the Heart that trumps that Spade.
I fear I am mixing my metaphors terribly.
But I do feel the obligation to become a knight, in the most disastrously chivalrous mould, no doubt. My mother would despair, no doubt, but my father would understand; he knows what it is to be a civil servant.
So I study. I become the high priest, the Queen of Hearts, and the King's Knight. With sermon, smile and steel I serve my King, my Queen, my country.
I am the servant of three masters, and I am true as oak.
I serve the Queen and her Government; in that capacity my job is to ensure the smooth running of the country. To accomplish my task, I serve Minister after Minister, each one at some kind of loggerheads with the last and at least half of them determined to bring down the monarchy or the government in one way or another. A civil servant must serve many masters.
Thankfully, civil servants are barely human; popular opinion is very firm on that point, and the great British electorate couldn't all be wrong, now could they?
Eh-he.
So, how does it stand that I now serve another master again? To be honest, I do not see it as a great change. Certainly my life contains more in the way of direct Wicca than it used to, and 'high priest' was not an accolade that featured highly on my life plan, but my goal overall is still the same; to see to it that the country is run with as little disruption and upset as possible.
Does the Minister need a paper passed through the House to keep things running smoothly? Will it favour Her Majesty's Government for a certain someone to go missing? Does the King need a handkerchief to wipe her brow so that she looks unflustered at a critical juncture in the debate? It's all much the same to the civil servant.
Some people talk about duty, but it isn't quite that. Civil service is more like an obligation; high priest is much the same. I do the things that I do because I must; because they need to be done and it falls to me to do them. Ministers must be advised and it falls to me to advise them; extraordinary crimes must be investigated, and it falls to me to administer the men and women who do so; monsters must be fought and it is my place to organise it; a King must rise, and I am obliged to ensure that it is the right King.
While I maintained my service to Queen Elizabeth II as a defence against the assaults of the first circle of Kings, in truth the two things are unrelated. Her Majesty is and will remain the titular temporal monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the spiritual head of the Anglican Church. It is a different crown that the four compete to win and I owe it to my Queen to see to it that the best, and the safest, of the four is victorious.
TG Khan? I think not. He was a brute and knowingly so, determined to assail and abuse the royal family in search of power. That would have been a clash of duties right enough. Likewise Ricky Royal, who would have reversed the world on its axis at the turn of a card. Too dangerous, too unpredictable; too uncontrollable. Heads he would win and tails we would lose, and mere anarchy loosed upon the world either way.
Kings are like Ministers; they serve a valuable role, we'd be lost without them, but Lord protect us if they ever start trying to wield power without advice. Sir Alexander is out for the same reason, and because... Well, he is a traitor to Her Majesty, as well as a seeker after power. Do you think that makes me a hypocrite? Not at all. I have never sought power in anyone's service; I am and always have been a servant, to any master who needs my aid and advice.
Arthur, Lord Cadbury is perhaps the worst of the lot. He too is a traitor, and worse, he has dangerous ambitions. He would take power for his unelected, philanthropic elite. It's not the replacement of an elected Parliament that I object to, you understand, but the supplanting of the civil service with an administration of utterly unqualified do-gooders who would bring the country down in a week with their largesse and whimsy.
Which leaves Ms Ashley, my King of Hearts, and a fiery heart she is. The Carnivore rage in her disturbs me; it stands against her principles and threatens to bring her down. This is a game where only a Grand Slam will do, and her hand can not afford to carry a Spade when her trump is Hearts. Neither do I trust her partner to follow her bid; he has too much ambition of his own. Sooner or later we will need to cast him off. That will be harder the closer they are, and should he goad her to force, as I have no doubt he has the art to do, she will be lost.
Is that why the Queen must also be a knight, I wonder? Certainly I feel the need – the obligation – most strongly. Perhaps it is for me to take that part from her, to be the Heart that trumps that Spade.
I fear I am mixing my metaphors terribly.
But I do feel the obligation to become a knight, in the most disastrously chivalrous mould, no doubt. My mother would despair, no doubt, but my father would understand; he knows what it is to be a civil servant.
So I study. I become the high priest, the Queen of Hearts, and the King's Knight. With sermon, smile and steel I serve my King, my Queen, my country.
I am the servant of three masters, and I am true as oak.
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