Let's find out! The prize of the contest is of course Tzar: The Burden of the Crown.

Let us assume you have just defeated your enemies and become a Tzar and one of your first task is to choose somebody to become your second-in-command. Yo may choose:
- Holy crusader - he joined you because you were fighting Evil
- Mage - his spells helped you to win many fights
- Peasant - he saved your life when you were young and accompanied you ever since
- One of the nobles - without his gold you wouldn't succeed
- Ranger - he knew everything about terrain: where to prepare an ambush, where to hide...
- Spy - thanks to him you knew a lot about your enemy
There is no correct/incorrect answer here! You may choose whoever you want but you have to properly justify it. You may assume everything except of those few details that I gave you. The most original and convincing person will win the contest!

The contest is finished!

And the winner is... HomerSimpson! I mean... you are a Tzar for what, two days? And you are already plotting to kill a person who assisted you in seizing the power? Wow! Just how sick is that?! That was very, very tzarish indeed ;) Ivan the Terrible would be so proud! I wouldn't like to live with such a ruler so I hope playing the game will give you enough entertainment so that you won't try to become a Tzar in real life. Congratulation!

Damn!.. why am I so bad at this? :/

I would chose one of the nobles. By doing this, I hope to show that I'm willing to reward those nobles who are loyal to me, and support me in troubled times. This will in return hopefully add to the stability of the country, as more nobles will feel like I'm treating them well, and thus they won't have a reason to rise up against me. And if one of them actually gets power hungry and wants to rise up against me, then that person will be alone in doing so.

Crusader Kings 2 might have influenced that line of reasoning.


A holy Crusader might look nice, but his zealous conviction might cause more harm than good at the court. Thus he was out from the get go.
A mage can't be at the court. Magic is for elves, and we don't like those.
A peasant might show that I'm a man of the people, but as we all know, the people are nothing without leadership. And that is what the nobles provide.
A ranger is a handy person to have nearby. I'll let him stay in the castle. His services might be needed, but he is not a leader.
The spy I'll keep close, but a spy is better to have if my enemies don't know that I have him, thus he can't be my second in command.

Just try it! As I said - I don't have any preferences. Any at all! Pick anyone you want, write a nice and convincing justification and you can be a winner :)

The Peasant - hopefully he will keep me grounded and in touch with the people.
+1

The Ranger

Without is knowledge many lives would have been lost if face to face combat, His knowledge of the land made it possible to weaken my opponents forces with few casualties and thus making future confrontations against my enemy weigh in my favor.

Not in as i don't think id like the game.

Okaaay... you asked... you assume the risk, don't complain later.. ;p
just for fun...

I would chose the Holy Crusader, as he joined me when I was frail, hopeless and almost defeated. He restored my faith and together we kicked ass for the Lord!

One of the nobles

Why?
His wealth, and influence will be a help, as most Nobles has a "underground" government setup anyway, They have access to there own spy network, and can help setup/upgrade yours.

But one should never underestimate a Noble, so I'll add a loyal Spy as a Third in Command to keep tabs on the Nobel

I would choose : Peasant
Reason:
Saved my life when I was young and powerless so it goes to show he did not care for status, meaning he cares for others and is not interested in wealth and power.
Having been by my side all this time means we have been through tough times together and trust each other with our lives. Either one of us would gladly give his life to spare the other. That is much more important than any power, magic spell, holy crusade or any of the other abilities/perks others may have/own.

By making that person the second in command you show the world you are a man of valor, a man that appreciates the real values of life and not the things that may come and go anytime.

A spy - Because knowing things about the enemy means you can assassinate their important leaders, which can cause turmoil on the enemy side, if you kill the enemy king/czar , or it can make it easier on the battlefield if you kill a
competent military leader(those were rarer in medieval times than most think, so that would be quite a blow).

In the end, the best way to destroy the enemy is to wipe out the few competent and strong people on the enemy side, and the little people will be easy to deal with.

Thank you for the giveaway. Here's my reasoning and answer:

-The Holy Crusader would likely tend to be quite fanatical. As such he would likely not be a good ruler for the people should he have to stand in for me.
-The Mage is too spiritual / not familiar enough with the daily realities to be of use as second in command. He will get to lead a royal academy for magic instead.
-The Peasant - may be loyal but has no clue of politics and since he probably can't even read it is unlikely that he can acquire the skills necessary for a second-in-command position in a short time.
-The Noble: the obvious choice. Morally it may sound bad to give someone who already has power of his own more power. But he is trained in the matters of politics and without support of his nobles a king in feudal times will have a hard time. So for the stability of the realm a noble as second in command is the best option.
-The Ranger: again, he is not familiar enough with politics which mainly take place in the cities.
-The Spy: works best when he is hidden. His position is not in the limelight, but in the shades behind the scenery.


In for Stooner, if that is allowed.

Spy - because the most common way for leaders to lose power is by betrayal, I need to know who I can trust and who I have to watch carefully. Spymaster has the network of informants in every important organization, and agents who can stop plots before they become problems.

I'll take the noble mage :D

But seriously now, a noble has his advantages, but I'd have a circle of advisors anyway with some of them in it. But my second-in-command should be a reliable strategist and combatant. As a mage he also inspires respect and has an aura of mystery around him.

Now, I can only hope this won't end like the "Vizier wants to get rid of the Sultan" trope, but let's say the mage I choose is not power hungry! :P

Thanks for the giveaway!!

A mage who isn't power hungry? Hm, I suppose there must be one somewhere... :P

I would chose whichever one had the biggest tits.

Feel free to PM me the code whenever is convenient. :D