Focusing on the wealth of others? Where does that lead over time? In ancient times for certain farming communities at colder latitudes, ability in others, and success due to ability, were praised, for without ability the community would eventually starve and die instead of surviving or even prospering. Of course, this also required goodness to work, not goodness on the surface, but in depth.
Just because your wealthy doesn't mean your life is peachy. You just have a lot different worries to deal with and it seems her family is doing well as can be expected.
Btw: Colleen face looks a little off in the last panel. I hope its just my eyes.
Generally speaking being wealthy makes routine problems disappear and others a lot easioer to handle. Things like peasant revolts because you are taxing them too much or your king having you arrested for treason because you aren't keeping your levies up yet have a larger palace than him are a different story
It makes sense that the Church and the Duke's Mansion would both be imposing structures; they are the physical representations of power in this society (spiritual for the former, secular for the latter) and would be built to make it clear to all where the real power resides.
Without the soldiers of the ruler, who will defend them? And without the clergy and church, who will protect their traditions and way of life? What people or nation, at least one only relying on themselves in their own country, have survived for centuries or millennia without these?
But you can tell Colleen will be a cleric even now. She sees the Cathedral as a wonderful emblem of the High Father, but the Duke's palace as the reason why she's poor, even though they were both paid for by the peasants' tithes and taxes.
that's how a functioning society works...
as for what happens when the people turn against the military, the police, the farmers and all the other non-academics and listen raptly to the mewlings of over-coddled children who think their scant few years on the planet gives them some sort of veto over everyone else's hard work and experience....it looks like we're going to find out..sooner than later
Did peasants not use to have very large families, 8+ children? Have the healing powers of the church or others, or similar, decreased infant and child death rates?
Not everyone is equally fertile. While families were larger in the past, sometimes you'd have couples that couldn't conceive a child (or that could only have a few).
I have to agree with Colleen, the church is a far more aesthetically pleasing edifice than the Duke's palace.
By the way, is the palace modeled after Ashford Castle? It looks vaguely familiar, particularly the hodgepodge blend of styles that make it look like it was added to over the centuries like Ashford. Either way, it's an impressive bit of drawing!
Turned out pretty bad.
I shall improve next time.
Btw: Colleen face looks a little off in the last panel. I hope its just my eyes.
as for what happens when the people turn against the military, the police, the farmers and all the other non-academics and listen raptly to the mewlings of over-coddled children who think their scant few years on the planet gives them some sort of veto over everyone else's hard work and experience....it looks like we're going to find out..sooner than later
By the way, is the palace modeled after Ashford Castle? It looks vaguely familiar, particularly the hodgepodge blend of styles that make it look like it was added to over the centuries like Ashford. Either way, it's an impressive bit of drawing!
(the church is based on a real-life building, too ;) )