Literature
Irene: The reason Sittas is concerned enough to hire me — and my services don't come cheaply — is because there's skullduggery in Constantinople.
Antonina: Please Irene! Saying there's skullduggery in Constantinople is like saying there's shit in a pigsty.
Irene: True. Perhaps I should say: there's a lot more skullduggery then usual...
Antonina: Please Irene! Saying there's skullduggery in Constantinople is like saying there's shit in a pigsty.
Irene: True. Perhaps I should say: there's a lot more skullduggery then usual...
"That was the problem with being Vor. You ended up related to all sorts of people you'd rather not be."
Black: Praesi nobility has a regrettable propensity for stabbing.
Captain: And poisoning. And blood magic. Calling the Tower a snake pit is doing a disservice to snakes; they don't usually bite unless provoked. Some of the fuckers up there will have you killed for wearing robes that look too much like theirs.
Captain: And poisoning. And blood magic. Calling the Tower a snake pit is doing a disservice to snakes; they don't usually bite unless provoked. Some of the fuckers up there will have you killed for wearing robes that look too much like theirs.
"The closest equivalent I've found to the Imperial court is the act of shoving your hand in a bag that could be full of jewels but is, most of the time, full of razor blades."
— Memoirs of Dread Empress Maleficent II, A Practical Guide to Evil
There was wild work in Paris then. The poor king, Charles the Sixth, now sane, now mad, now a monarch, now an abject slave, was the very mockery of humanity. The queen, the dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, alternately friends and foes, now meeting in prodigal feasts, now shedding blood in rivalry, were blind to the miserable state of their country and the dangers that impended over it, and gave themselves wholly up to dissolute enjoyment or savage strife.
— Transformation, by Mary Shelley
Live-Action TV
"On my world, we have learned that an inauguration is simply a signal to assassins that a new target has been set up on the firing range."
— Londo, Babylon 5
"In all my travelling throughout the universe, I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core! Power-mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen - they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power! That's what it takes to be really corrupt!"
— The Doctor, Doctor Who, "Trial of a Timelord"
"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die."
— Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones
Music
The ties were black, the lies were white
Shades of grey in candlelight
Shades of grey in candlelight
— Taylor Swift, "Getaway Car"
Tabletop Games
The court accepts all kinds of folk, from the power-brokers who stand behind the king to the servitors who kneel in his shadow. You are one of those favored few, spending your days in conference and luxury and your nights in bed-hopping and intrigue. Grace, wit and raw charisma are helpful here, but any courtier worth the name understands art, politics and human nature too.
Glamorous as it seems, your life is perilous. A nest of snakes has nothing on the average court, and if you live in a city such as Rome, Madrid, Prague or Byzantium, the games can be lethal indeed. The price of misstep can range from embarrassment to disgrace to wedlock (or lack of it) to a horrible death. Magick gives you an advantage in this arena, but it can turn into a noose if you're not careful. Keep your alliances open, your affairs discreet, and your ear to the nearest keyhole. Turns of fortune are common in your line of work, but one bad turn can be your last.
— The Courtier, Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade - Companion
Video Games
"The Courtyard and gardens surrounding the manor were once a point of pride for the diligent custodians I employed. Great banquets and lavish social affairs were hosted here under the stars. Despite the expectation of propriety normally ascribed to those of our position, we mocked the stoic melancholy of the moss-covered fountains and cherubic statues, our salacious trysts half-hidden in the hedgerows, our morality slipping ever deeper into the mud..."
— The Ancestor, Darkest Dungeon
Sebastian: This isn't Antiva. Not all nobles are targets for assassination.
Hawke: Are you supposed to be proof of that theory?
Sebastian: Point.
Hawke: Are you supposed to be proof of that theory?
Sebastian: Point.
— Dragon Age II Mark of the Assassin
"'Nobility' is just another word for 'a lot of rich people trying to kill you.'"
— Varric Tethras, Dragon Age II
"Sneer at The Grand Game all you like, but we Orlesians play to the death."
— Leiliana, Dragon Age: Inquisition
"Secure in Orzammar's impregnable construction, the dwarven noble families continue their centuries-old power struggles. Assassination and blackmail are commonplace, but the appearance of honor is paramount."
— Dragon Age: Origins, Dwarf Noble Origin intro
PRO: Be the 1%.
CON: We've all seen Game of Thrones. We know how this works.
CON: We've all seen Game of Thrones. We know how this works.
— A fan's description
of the Human Noble origin in Dragon Age: Origins
of the Human Noble origin in Dragon Age: OriginsWebcomics
Thief: You can't go around saying things like that. The treacherous viziers record everything.
White Mage: Your viziers are treacherous?
Thief: It's an elven court. They're all viziers, and they're all assholes.
White Mage: Your viziers are treacherous?
Thief: It's an elven court. They're all viziers, and they're all assholes.
"Truth at court was treated as if it were a precious commodity. It was hoarded, coveted, bartered for. Certainly this analogy applied to lies; his courtiers accepted his lies as currency of the realm. He handed them lies in large denominations, and they returned him his change in small ones.
Oh, but truth was something different. Something alive and immortal. By light of day it was only a little butterfly: pretty, elusive, easily crushed and utterly unable to defend itself. Most nights, too, it slept harmlessly. One could wave it away for a very long time.
But on the nights it did not sleep, neither did the King."
Oh, but truth was something different. Something alive and immortal. By light of day it was only a little butterfly: pretty, elusive, easily crushed and utterly unable to defend itself. Most nights, too, it slept harmlessly. One could wave it away for a very long time.
But on the nights it did not sleep, neither did the King."
— Erfworld
Real Life
"I trust to God that my life may be spared for nine months longer ... I should then have the satisfaction of leaving the exercise of the Royal authority to the personal authority of that young lady, heiress presumptive to the Crown, and not in the hands of a person now near me, who is surrounded by evil advisers and is herself incompetent to act with propriety in the situation in which she would be placed."
— King William IVnote
"Kremlin political intrigues are comparable to a bulldog fight under a rug. An outsider only hears the growling, and when he sees the bones fly out from beneath it is obvious who won."
