jamescfm wrote:At the moment, I don't believe we have an in-game equivalent to Niccolò Machiavelli. If other players (particularly those in Istalia, obviously) would be open to the idea, I'd like to make the in-game equivalent a little less direct than has typically been the case for many historical figures. In this respect I was considering having our Machiavelli-equivalent be Aldegarian with a different cultural and historical context but a similar political philosophy. What do others think of this idea?
That could be cool, or alternatively he could be Selucian. I used a lot of Machiavelli's political philosophy, and especially John McCormick's modern adaptation as
Machiavellian Democracy, as an influence for the populist variety of
Selucian republicanism (elaborated
here). But since I didn't directly mention any Machiavelli equivalent, he's up for grabs, and there's no reason why an Aldegarian philosopher wouldn't be popular in Selucia. The only thing though is that Machiavelli was thoroughly republican, so he might not make much sense in a context where monarchy is the default.
On another note, I wrote up an equivalent of The Lion King, calling it
The Lion Republic. The only equivalent character given a name is Cautes, the equivalent of Scar. If these could be added to the index that would be great!