#at a time when band competitiveness and incredibly scarce resources were at an all time high

[yeonban]

i'M VIBRATING ON MY SEAT. This is EXACTLY the topic of a meta I wanted to write about on how Soma's upbringing severely affected how dear the Date became to him after his family's deaths and sudden reign to power

#muse: date soma. #There's so much here. His upbringing as a military man above a person. Him being SPECIAL and revered as such. #Him having lost all the members of his family in one fell swoop during the war. Him having SEEN his brother's disfigured body. #Him having been thrust into THE position of power while having no guidance on how to make sure his clan will survive the famine #And also a twist I liked: him having to betray Tatsuomi SPECIFICALLY in order to take care of the Date & keep his own people alive #at a time when band competitiveness and incredibly scarce resources were at an all time high #I can't get Soma's pained face out of my mind. LOOK AT HIM WHEN HE SAYS HE'LL KILL EVEN TATSUOMI IF IT'LL SAVE THE DATE #And also the thing is? The end goal of everything the 4 primary bands do is to crown an emperor. They ARE all in competition for that #so whether they want to or not; if they want to maintain the tradition (which I already mentioned is insanely important to Soma) #they'd eventually have to kiII each other or merge their clans for there to be one leader over all bands anyway.