Imaschiavelli Venedetto

Over the course of his thirty year imprisonment in the Border Principality of Matorea, the Tilean philosopher, Imaschiavelli Venedetto penned his infamous treatise “The Border Prince.” Venedetto’s manuscript functions as a kind of guidebook for young border courtiers to the proper application of power (and guile) over a Border Principality. Venedetto concisely laid out the steps for seizing a Border Principality, and then how a prince should go about maintaining that power once it is seized.

Unlike the many existing treatises on statecraft, Venedetto rejected the Imperial inclination to decide patronage and succession through the bartering of influence and flattery. Smooth talk and deep pockets might well succeed in the perfumed courts of the Empire, but the acquisition of land and title in the volatile Border Kingdoms would require sterner methods.

Assassination, treachery and any kind of scheme to damage the reputation of one’s competitors were all permissible and indeed recommended if they advanced the border courtier’s agenda. Venedetto went on to write that the primary concern of every border courtier should be the preparation for war—war against his competitors, and war against those in his way. Even though an aggressive courtier is likely to gain many enemies on his ruthless ascent, Venedetto argued that it is better to be feared than loved...

The first printing of “The Border Prince” was an immediate sell-out in Remas, where the merchant and patrician classes have always shared an insatiable appetite for any salacious material concerning their spirited eastern neighbours. Before long, subsequent printings of “The Border Prince” were translated and distributed throughout the Old World. Predictably, the ideas contained within Vendetto’s manual were shocking to the cultivated Imperial reader, and “The Border Prince” was quickly banned across the Empire.

Source

 * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Career Compendium
 * : pg. 34

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