Talraea stares, visibly stunned. She blinks and snaps her fingers by her ears, as if making sure she’s not dreaming. Then, “I have never heard you talk that much, ever. Put together. Well, at least now I’ve won a bet - a friend of mine was sure you’d been cursed by a witch to always speak in poetry. We should probably chat sometime about that coldest ray, but for now…”
Question: What would be your ideal political system to handle how your home and faction deals with the world?
"I am getting really sick of single, absolute rulers. Whether it’s by chosen succession, or birth, or whatever, it’s becoming painfully obvious that one bad boss can do a lot of damage. Just one bad warchief is doing a lot of damage to the whole world right now. The traitor prince, Kael’thas, said once that there would never be a king of Quel’thalas again. He was still in charge, but I don’t know if he had any plans past that because he obviously got sidetracked, and this whole regency thing is unsustainable.
"Umbric right now leads by unofficial consent. Honestly, it’s all unofficial in Telogrus. He started the group that became the Ren’dorei, and he’s in charge by momentum as much as just being really good at what we do. The Alliance is nominally a group of equal rulers, but the ‘high king’ calls a lot of shots and nobody really questions that.
"So how would I want things to be done? Honestly, after seeing various clans and tribes, far too many monarchies, several hard and soft theocracies, a few oligarchies, the odd anarchist group that lasts more than a week, one gang of Hozen that called themselves a ‘malarkey,’ and a bunch of other small- and large-scale systems across Azeroth, I think what I like best is the Gnome way.
"They call it ‘democracy.’ They come together, every citizen, and cast votes for who should lead their people. It’s a pretty intricate system, like you’d expect from Gnomes, and it probably needs adjusting for races more prone to abuse and seeking power, but at the core of it is the ideal of leaders who govern only by consent of the people. Keeps them accountable and helps ward off tyrants.
“It has its flaws. There’s a lot of arguing involved in even simple decisions, and apparently they have political parties that… need a lot more explaining than I can really give right now, but I think it’s a good idea overall. Maybe something the rest of us should start looking into.”
Question: What do you hope to accomplish in your life? If you had to name one aspiration, above all others, what would it be?