» Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:19 pm
The Princes have a number of neutral grounds where we can meet and the implication is that we leave our conflicts and intrigues at the gates of said realm. This is only superficially true. The intrigues and traps and politics simply go deeper under the surface. It was actually an offhand comment made by Mephala at one of these meetings that led me to the strategy I used during the Oblivion Crisis. I later hosted a gathering on my own of some Princes I knew would be amenable to the idea of throwing support for me. They would primarily act to keep the Princes who did not appreciate my idea from undermining my efforts.
I'm rambling, sorry I sometimes get lost. We're immortals and no matter how many distractions and intrigues we may have going, sometimes you simply want the company of someone familiar. And when your underlings are more concerned with your favor, the only being you can turn to reliably is a fellow Prince. Even if they're trying to undermine your efforts by turning the others against you. Great conversationalist Clavicus Vile is, by the way. You however quickly learn with them to separate ideology, sport, and recreation. Never mixing business with pleasure, if you will. Depending on who's in grace and who's in disgrace at the time, one of us tends to regularly host a get-together in our realm. I'd hardly call it a party, but for your sensibilities I will. Most of us are invited. Some don't get invited depending on the host. For instance, Meridia and Molag Bal have had an enmity against each other that predates the founding of the Second Empire. And so they don't invite each other to their parties. Malacath, being the fan of not-being-a-Daedric-Prince that he is only really gets invited when he's the favored soul or when he's the one hosting the party (and sometimes not even then), hence Sheoth's comment. Anyways, we always tend to try out-do each other with these, as even these are about trying to put disfavor on someone or strengthen your own base, but you may think our parties are a bit strange. Only a few of us like wine, for instance, and we either have already heard each other's jokes and stories or we know what they've been up to and it's not like we're worshiping our god or some tradition based around harvesting plants. So the traditional avenues of celebration aren't open to us Daedra. Sometimes the parties are a vehicle for showcasing the fruits of one of our latest intrigues. Most of the time, though, they are a string of entertainments. Mortals willing or forced (or both) into amusing positions, humorous retellings of events in the past or pleasures you wouldn't even begin to comprehend (ever had ten souls steeped into Aetherial power and then raked across your skin as they scream laments of their regrets in life? A pleasure only an immortal could experience, I assure you).
By the way, contrary to what you may think, Sanguine isn't the preferred party-maker. His sensibilities are so rooted in mortal indulgences that they inevitably end up in a wild mortal-killing drunken orgy and after 70 wild mortal-killing drunken orgies or so, you tend to get tired of them. Peryite usually throws the best parties. The timing on his entertainments and pleasures are always impeccable and impressive. Actually, funny story, there was this Sload who'd been brought in to one of his parties once to describe the latest thrashing they received from the Altmeri navy (done only in six-and-a-half verse) followed by a demonstration of Peryite's latest, erm, creation. Apparently, the Sload stole one of the corpses with him back to Mundus and later, after affixing the disease to some rats, unleashed it on Tamriel. I believe they called it the Knhaten Flu. I'm pretty certain this was Peryite's intention, because it made for one amazingly entertaining event for us (and slightly shifted all of our relationships in his favor, naturally).