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[Hiro]

Well, Swordwraith has got me interested in who is Supreme Archon Matthew Gaul. What do we know about him?

People who've read Gaia vol. 1, please share what you know.

How did he gain his position? Did he inherit it? Whats his goal? Does he just want conquest for greeds sake or does he believe in some greater cause?

And how on earth did he think he could convince Lucanor to join him? As if the last Giovanni going to take orders from or share power with anyone. I'd really love to read a transcription of that conversation. Two Adrian Veidts (watchmen) talking to each other, it would be an intresting conversation.

[Swordwraith]

Well, Swordwraith has got me interested in who is Supreme Archon Matthew Gaul. What do we know about him?

People who've read Gaia vol. 1, please share what you know.

How did he gain his position? Did he inherit it? Whats his goal? Does he just want conquest for greeds sake or does he believe in some greater cause?

And how on earth did he think he could convince Lucanor to join him? As if the last Giovanni going to take orders from or share power with anyone. I'd really love to read a transcription of that conversation. Two Adrian Veidts (watchmen) talking to each other, it would be an intresting conversation.

In bullet form:

-Gaul had an abusive childhood, and ran away from home at an early age.

-He joined the army at fourteen.

-He rose in rank rapidly, and at one point along the way, assassinated the Imperial Arbiter Gainum and stole his identity. Gaul turned out to be a lot better at Gainum's job then Gainum himself.

-Gaul later replaced one of the older Lords of War at the age of 21. Gaul revealed his identity after this (Arbiters true identities are never made public), but not before killing off everyone who used to know him. Including his family.

-Gaul desires power over all else, but he genuinely believes he is the best person to guide the world's destiny.

-Despite being utterly ruthless, Gaul has tremendous personal charisma, and there is just something about him that attracts followers and admirers.

-He wanted to convince Lucanor to join the Azur Alliance. Having the last Giovanni on his (even though the Giovanni name means nothing anymore) would earn him tremendous popular support, particularly of those who want the Empire to revert to the way it used to be. Gaul is probably either banking on that Lucanor is power-hungry like he is, or that Lucanor simply doesn't care about the Empire and would be willing to throw in for some other advantage. Lucanor has no desire to take the throne himself, obviously, nor would Gaul want him to. It'd be an alliance of convenience.

[Hiro]

So in other words, Lucanor has 3 choices right now:

1) Marry the child-empress and gain the resources of abdel. He would still need to hide Wissenschaft and would need the empress help with that if got back on the throne. If only he could get the empress to join Wissenschaft......Its probably why he tried to kidnap her. To personally "educate" her. 

2) Make a deal with the devil, Supreme Archon Matthew Gaul. Of course, Matthew Gaul wants a war of conquest which would be bad for hiding Wissenschaft. I imagine the chaos of war would make it difficult for Wissenschaft to operate in secret and move their agents around.

3) The choice Lucanor is apparently using. Let the tension between Abdel and Azur occupy their intelligence forces so that they can't spare the resources to investigate these rumors of an "organization with highly advance tech".

[Sable]

The problem with those asumptions is that we really don't know what does Lucanor want: we are more or less sure that he wants to destroy the Powers in the Shadow, but that's only one of his objetives... without knowing that, we don't know what he would do.

[Folken]

Gaul is the direct and the last descendant of the Salomon's emperor Andromalius. Cause of that he have the most powerful "Ancient's blood". And the his weapon (the one of the picture) is a lost loggia.

[Swordwraith]

So in other words, Lucanor has 3 choices right now:

1) Marry the child-empress and gain the resources of abdel. He would still need to hide Wissenschaft and would need the empress help with that if got back on the throne. If only he could get the empress to join Wissenschaft......Its probably why he tried to kidnap her. To personally "educate" her. 

Lucanor's still banned from the throne, technically, since he committed patricide/regicide, and I don't think Eli is one to be easily manipulated. If anything, I'm betting his kidnapping attempt was a way to get her away from Eljared and co. when they were there.

[/quote=Wissenschaft]2) Make a deal with the devil, Supreme Archon Matthew Gaul. Of course, Matthew Gaul wants a war of conquest which would be bad for hiding Wissenschaft. I imagine the chaos of war would make it difficult for Wissenschaft to operate in secret and move their agents around.[/quote]

Are you kidding? War is fantastic for espionage! Gaul doesn't have anything Lucanor seems to want, though. Except maybe some Lost Logias?

Insert Quote
Gaul is the direct and the last descendant of the Salomon's emperor Andromalius. Cause of that he have the most powerful "Ancient's blood". And the his weapon (the one of the picture) is a lost loggia.

Yup yup. The spear actually belonged to Andromalius himself.

Gaul also learned Magic from a Duk'Zarist woman whho he freed from the Inquisition. I believe according to posts on the Spanish forums, he uses mostly Destruction and Darkness magic, and a bunch of metamagic stuff from Secrets of the Supernatural (Which I eagerly await).

[Hiro]

Lucanor didn't like Eljared, hey? But then why on earth did Eljared give him one of the pieces of black metal? Though, I agree that this sounds like  a far more likely reasons to kidnap the empress.

War is fantastic for espionage!

Its also very bad for keeping secret research centers. Remember, most of Wissenschaft is in Lucrecio. If a War broke out its quite possible someone would try to conquer Lucrecio. If Lucanor backs either side hes leaving himself open to attack.

And Lucanor just views Lost Logias as a means to power so he doesn't even want that from Gaul. Its better to use the Lost Logias Wissenschaft finds themselves or the tech they engineer rather then be beholden to Gual for anything.

[Swordwraith]

Lucanor didn't like Eljared. But then why on earth did Eljared give him one of the pieces of black metal? Though, I agree that this sounds like  a far more likely reasons to kidnap the empress.

War is fantastic for espionage!

Its also very bad for keeping secret research centers. Remember, most of Wissenschaft is in Lucrecio. If a War broke out its quite possible someone would try to conquer Lucrecio. If Lucanor backs either side hes leaving himself open to attack.

Gaul definitely would not, from what is implied. He's aware of what Lucanor is capable of, to some degree. And Lucrecio is otherwise very far removed from Abel itself (Not to mention Eli not seeming to be one for needless bloodshed). Lucrecio's place in Gaul's plan involved him uniting the entirety of the southern part of the Continent first.

[Hiro]

Yeah, but Gaul seems the type that if he did conquer most of the old empire, he would turn on Lucanor to eliminate the last remaining threat to his power. Its just what megalomaniacs do. 

And being distant from Azur's lands has not stopped Azur from trying to conquer another province.

Anyway, isn't Lucrecio right next to Azur Alliance? It boarders Bellafonte which means its quite possible for Gaul to send an Invasion force if he deems it necessary.

[Swordwraith]

Yeah, but Gaul seems the type that if he did conquer most of the old empire, he would turn on Lucanor to eliminate the last remaining threat to his power. Its just what megalomaniacs do. 

And being distant from Azur's lands has not stopped Azur from trying to conquer another province.

Anyway, isn't Lucrecio right next to Azur Alliance? It boarders Bellafonte which means its quite possible for Gaul to send an Invasion force if he deems it necessary.

Yeah, its made clear in Gaia that the Azur Alliance's military is vastly stronger than Lucrecio's, and Gaul could easily conquer the Principality... Except for Lucanor. Gaul knows Lucanor is no dummy, and that despite the relative ease of militarily occupying Lucrecio, Lucanor would inevitably cause him more trouble than the victory would be worth. Most of Gaia knows how brilliant Lucanor is, after all.

As for Azur invading Kashmir...Its not so distant. They sent an invasion force across the Interior Sea, mainly because they wanted to acquire its natural resources Kashmir is an easy target: It is divided already by its tribal nature, and so struggles to be able to mount an organized resistance.

[Hiro]

Ah, so Gauls worryied that Lucanor could set of an effective guerrilla campaign.

[Swordwraith]

Ah, so Gauls worryied that Lucanor could set of an effective guerrilla campaign.

Gaul's worried about Lucanor being Lucanor.

I don't think Lucanor would hesitate to allow Lucrecio to be occupied if he knew doing so would lead to a greater victory down the road. He's very 'Whatever it takes'.

[Hiro]

So Gaul is acting like a chess master facing another chess master. A little hesitant to attack with any of his pieces because he can't be sure if it a trap or if his opponent can somehow turn the tables on him with some unexpected counter.

[Ysalaine]

I think that Lucanor is a lot smarter than Gaul (than most of people on Gaia, probably more than everyone on Gaia), and IMO Gaul is aware of it (even if he as a huge self-esteem).

Would you try to beat Kasparov in a chess contest, even if you're good in chess ?

Gaul knows that he can't imagine what Lucanor would do, so he tries to run his war without putting Lucanor and the Lucrecio into the game for now...

Maybe Lucanor won't be good in a guerrila war ? But what else is he able to do ? It could be worst than an army war...

[Hiro]

Ok, so I take it back. Lucanor is the only Adrian Veidt in this world. Smartest man on Gaia, eh? Sounds like he crips even Gual, of all people, out. Whats Lucanor itellegence stat? 14?