Content warning for a story told through the eyes of a BBEG ‘but done right.’ Credit to David Verburg’s Practical Guide to Evil for inspiring this story and, strangely enough, Mitsiki, as well as the RPG The Last Sovereign.
TLDR; a comprehensive story of a lowborn (man/woman) whose origins are rooted in mundanity and becoming a tyrannical but competent figure who also fucks.
You’ve heard this one before.
It’s a subversion as old as time; the ‘What was Sauron’s tax policy? What were the infrastructure programs like in Mordor?’ I like those, and, rather than reinventing the wheel, I’d like to add another hitch to it -
The Losing Dogs / The World’s Worst Dating Sim.
In a world threatened by / recovering from a TBD apocalypse, a Fellowship has formed to (save it / aid it) and finds themselves sorely lacking in backing for their plan. They find an unlikely ally in the form of our main character, a new blood (Senator / other elected official) who, apparently sharing their idealism and desire to help others, puts their backing behind these heroes.
Our heroes become the unwitting patsies in a scheme to supplant the democracy of their minor city with dreams that stretch beyond the horizon. The story, as I see it, follows a machiavellian villain who takes advantage of the good naturedness of these heroes and serves as a malicious ‘Quest Giver’ and slowly wraps them around their finger, all the whilst engaging in the politicks of their homeland, attending government conferences, meetings, writing out bills - and between all of this, building an underworld empire and going on silly dates with members of the Fellowship to twist their hearts, filling them with hopes and dreams and feelings of love.
Our ‘Losing Dogs.’ Good people just trying to do good and falling in love with the one person who seems to believe in them.
