Category talk:The Nightmare Court
I don't think the Court would be a form of government, in any practical sense. DeepShadow 01:51, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
Agreed, they are and informal society at best. -- Gonzoron 04:16, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
I changed the description. Is the category also an issue? The members of the court are "in charge", to the degree anyone is, of both the Nightmare Lands and unmundane nightmares, commanding dreamspawn. I will certainly grant that they don't meet in session to discuss policy. They are rather a collections of lords within a realm who leave each other to their respect business.Cure 05:46, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
If commanding nightmares is government, would vampires be considered government for their command of wolves? What about the Living Brain with his dominated servants? What about Godefroy with his power over ghosts? I think governments should be social constructs, not just the ability to give orders. After all, I'm expecting most people are going to be searching this for governing bodies and law enforcement, especially following links from the Government section of the Domain writeups. DeepShadow 16:51, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
Wolves are animal intelligence creatures with a neutral alignment, the dreamspawn are more intelligent, some far more intelligent, and with a lawful evil alignment. Command of dreamspawn resembles the command of devils by the lords of Hell far more than command of wolves by vampires. Is that a social construct? It can be credibly argued that the difference of ruler-ruled, rather than being the result of social constructing, is in fact the birth of society and social ordres. But what we don't really know is the degree to which there is a society among the dreamspawn of a given rank and between the ranks themselves, from the lowly pale morph right up to the Nightmare Court at the top.
As for the Brain, he is a crimelord. He governs a significant slice of the economy and a non-significant slice of the population, but crime still remains the exception, not the rule, so he is not the government and he is not the leading power.
A further thought is the Dominic may be the puppetmaster of Dementlieu, but he isn't the government either. That would be the Council of Brillance. The government need not hold the actual power of a land and need not be the adminstration either. In Nova Vaasa, the government is council that Omthar Bolshnik has completely sidelined. He himself is the prince and his immediate servants are the administrators.
None of which is to say that the Goverment Category has to stay, only that it is not far-fetched, especially given that we are considering the most alien domain in Ravenloft, which nonetheless has a hierarchy.Cure 08:21, 6 March 2010 (UTC)
