Basic Trope: Corrupt nobility abuse their powers for their own selfish ends and entertainment, which leads to court intrigue, backstabbing, bribes, and other dubious actions.
- Straight: King Goodland has a royal court, but several members are prideful, snobbish nobles-by-blood-only who secretly abuse their power... at least, until they get rooted out and exposed by the heroes.
- Exaggerated:
- Every noble in The Empire is an ambitious, selfish, power-abusing Machiavellian Jerkass with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder save for the odd Rebellious Princess or Defector from Decadence.
- Even the Rebellious Princess or Defector from Decadence is revealed to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing or trying to lead the other side on.
- Even the Palace parking attendants are all part of deep and sinister plots.
- The palace parking lot was built as a deep and sinister plot.
- Downplayed:
- The court operates under Black-and-Gray Morality or even Grey-and-Gray Morality: some nobles are self-center jerks, others incompetent hedonists, or even extremists who have some degree of honor. Even decent members of the court can do shady things as well.
- Plotting and scheming are common. But it takes the form of petty tricks of bureaucratic sabotage rather then poison and daggers. Violence is rare and when it occurs, it is in the form of an honest Duel to the Death.
- Most of the aristocrats at court are useless but fairly harmless Upper Class Twits. The worse they do is spend too much on luxury and that probably would have been wasted on useless government projects if they weren't there anyway. Occasionally however one of them will come up with a really evil scheme.
- The courtiers and aristocrats are more or less presented as the past equivalent of Corrupt Corporate Executives lobbying Corrupt Politicians.
- Justified:
- The House that currently holds court has been in power for centuries and has created an aristocracy and court that are by and large isolated from the lower classes, and have been brought up to hold them in contempt.
- The whole court is Royally Screwed Up, so it is difficult for any of them to be honest.
- The court is a result of power being divided many ways, resulting in all sorts of kick backs and arm twisting to get anything but matters of the greatest urgency done. Outright attempts to consolidate power via violence tend to result in everyone turning against them.
- Aristocrats Are Evil, so of course they'd scheme against each other.
- Inverted:
- The nobles are genuinely noble people who put the good of all first.
- Everyone is straight with everyone: any bad nobles will readily admit it.
- The rebel leaders are constantly at each other's throats, backstabbing and betraying each other.
- Democratically elected senators & congressmen are the ones engaging in scheming and betrayal, which is arguably worse because the people VOTED them into power.
- The coordinated efforts of the sensible and highly competent court is the only thing keeping the kingdom from falling into ruin, as the peasants are violent, bloodthirsty and corrupt, and would tear each other apart for the slightest advantage if the nobles didn't keep them in line and playing nice with each other.
- Subverted:
- The nobles do enjoy gossip and intrigue, but in the end, they genuinely have the best interests of the common man in mind.
- The nobles really are a bunch of scheming, manipulative scoundrels. That's how they keep the barbarians from invading the kingdom after all.
- Double Subverted: ...At least, that's the facade they put on in public. Behind closed doors, however...
- Parodied:
- King Goodland seems not to monitor his court; when he hears about extreme incidents of its decadence such as Duke Bloodlust massacring entire towns of civilians in his "hunts" and forcing a taxidermist at sword-point to mount the heads of the blacksmith from the town he just massacred today and stuff some peasant girls for his "collection," he shrugs them off. After all, the nobles do have a divine right to rule, anyway, and therefore why shouldn't they be allowed to do what they want?
- Alternately, the King doesn't really care when presented with evidence. It's about what he's come to expect of the nobles.
- The whole thing is really a reality show.
- The King is incapable of believing his nobles could possibly be up to no good and keeps finding justifications on what they do, no matter how transparent and obvious their evil deeds become.
- Zig Zagged: The nobles' actions and morality vary Depending on the Writer. One day they're ordering entire villages to be burnt down, and the next day they're patiently rebuilding them.
- Averted: The members of court are for the most part just regular people. Some are corrupt, but the majority are simply ignorant or genuinely believe that their actions are for the good of whomever.
- Enforced: "We need it to be clear that you're not supposed to root for the hot nobles. Have them abuse their privileges".
- Lampshaded: "And here comes Duke Bloodlust. He's going to have some commoners fight to the death for his amusement, bet you a silver piece". "No bet".
- Invoked: Duke Bloodlust relies on this trope to get people to accept his over-the-top evil persona.
- Exploited:
- Of course we can manipulate The Empire into serving our noble cause! All it takes is bribery!
- "Here's how it works my princess. I will offer you in marriage to Duke Bloodlust. All the other nobles will kill him lest he become king. Then I will execute them all for Treason, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, and being too stupid to see what I'm planning. While everyone is busy with all this, you can marry the poor but heroic Farm Boy you love so much and no one will notice."
- The King does really care when presented with evidence—because he's hoping the peasants will assassinate Duke Bloodlust. In fact he is trying to arrange for that to happen.
- A foreign kingdom is able to easily invade because all the Courtiers are trying to screw each other over. Said nation, if crafty, may even take advantage of all the competing rivalries.
- Defied:
- King Goodland closely monitors the royal court to ensure there's no double-dealing and double-crossing going on.
- Otherwise, King Goodland had trusted the royal court for a while now, despite Rebellious Princess Alice's warnings. Eventually, he decides to investigate. After seeing how horrible the court has become, he tells her this before staging The Coup.
King Goodland: You were right, Alice. The court has been running such heinous rackets under my nose, and frankly, I'm sick of it.
Princess Alice: And are you going to do something about it?
King Goodland: Yes. Get suited up in armor, grab a sword, a shield, and a few spears while I rally up the Royal Guard. It's about time these royal fools know who they're dealing with...
- Discussed: "Why, Duke Bloodlust! You're a member of the court, right? Oh, then I'll bet you'd love to come watch two of my serfs fight to the death over a single copper!"
- Conversed: "Jeez, they get a lordly title and next thing you know they're bathing in the blood of virgins".
- Deconstructed:
- The Decadent Court hurts the image of all noblity, even the Royals Who Actually Do Something, who find themselves struggling to gain support from cynical and mistrustful villagers far too used to being kicked around by the so-called-high class.
- The lower classes get fed up by the nobility's jerkassery and start a massive rebellion.
- The decadence makes it impossible for the nobles to actually run the kingdom properly, so when The Empire invades, the kingdom quickly falls apart due to the nobles being unable to get their act together.
- Reconstructed: ... which eventually leads to a revolution that the Royals Who Actually Do Something quietly back, deposing the cynical nobles and imposing more just ones in their place. The ones that are left, however, are just that much more devious...
- While the scheming does its fair of damage it is still a vastly better status quo than open war.
- Played For Laughs: The court is packed with Upper Class Twits who are completely incapable of doing anything more than stand around talking about how rich and amazing they are, and the mere suggestion of work makes most of them instantly faint from shock.
- Played For Drama:
- Magnificent Bastard Lord Webspun has the backing of the worst members of the court, though bribery, Blackmail, and mutual manipulation. Naturally, he doesn't have the best interests of King Goodland or his daughter in mind...
- King Goodland is an even more Magnificent Bastard and is waiting for Webspun to outsmart himself.
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