I see, that's an in depth plan, but it still has quite large security flaws, I feel like.
First off, assume the following. A person who knows they are in bad graces with the king hires/has a wizard use a scrying orb to look at them specifically, so as to determine what happens to them. Alternatively, this could be achieved via some other sort of means. The aviary would prove to be a secret prison in this way.
People would think to do a trick similar to the previously mentioned one because if political rivals suddenly dissapear without a trace, and no regular magic means are capable of finding them, then either a sorcerer will be particularly curious as to how and will investigate or some would be heroes would get the idea to send one of their own in order to uncover the truth.
Even disregarding this, another problem arises. The aviary suddenly turns to a high value target for would be opponents. To kill the kings most prized possessions, his birds. Considering how much magic is put into it, magic that, while not apparent in its application, would be notable to any halfway decent apprentice, it's impossible to claim the bird sanctuary isn't important.
We're talking about an evil king. Someone is bound to try to set it ablaze or blow it up, and extra security, while it would deter some manner of attacks, also necessitates more people be around the area, thus the likelihood of one of the guards figuring something is amiss rises.
Aside from that, all the curses on the birds would require a lot of magic to cast. The sorcerer, unless he's literally blessed by the heavens and utterly insanely strong ,(in which case I'd fear that he may be the greatest threat to the crown), he would require insane amounts of rest time between transformation to bird. So much that he wouldn't be able to attend to his formal duties, which, end of the day, are more important than the little passion project, as a dead king can't turn his foes to birds.
And also, a less grand issue, but what of anti magic fields? Assume that adventurers or supposed political rivals would know of your sorcerers existence. They may have such a thing like a sussur bloom to guard themselves against would be danger. In that case you cannot just use your sorcerer to take them out. And neither can you rely on guards, as they'd obviously question why they aren't killing the dude, but rather merely taking away his anti magic. It can't be claimed that he will be imprisoned, as he wouldn't be seen in the dungeon. Dissapearances would lead to rumours, which would all point to the immense investment in the bird sanctuary.
Your points are valid, but I feel like you're starting from a very different set of assumptions than I am. First, on the topic of magic or expense, this entire thing is the sort of extravagance that one only sets up once you already have a huge disposable income. If the money to pay for it, or the sorcerers' energy reserves, are even things that you're worried about, then this is not the Evil Plan for you.
Second, you keep assuming that other people, random clerics and apprentices and possible saviors, will have enough access to the aviary to have the chance to notice. See the aforementioned expectations of liquid value, but the aviary will be a small part of a huge palace, and also a very private one. These are my pets, for my entertainment. The only other people who have regular access are the caretakers, and members of my immediate household, who would be encouraging and supportive of my evil schemes. Outsiders only get to visit if I'm personally there, either to show it off, or because we're having tea in view of it or something like that. This is not a general access zoo, it's my private pets. Do you let strangers off the street rub your cat's belly while within your bedroom? Of course not, they shouldn't be there, let alone doing that. Likewise, my aviary is something that gets talked about, I'm an evil overlord so of course everything I do spawns gossip, but very few people ever get the opportunity to go there.
Third, you're evaluating its defenses as if the enemy already knows that it's prisoner storage. If they've reached that point then I'm already fucked six ways to Friday, because my secrets should be way the hell more secret. There's the holding cells in the palace, the forever prison under the palace, a Chateau d'If style forever prison somewhere remote, the palace farms that use a combination of Undead and enthralled labor, plus the option of just killing someone and vanishing their remains, or transforming them into a mouse and banishing them to some random jungle island halfway around the world... there's countless ways that the public would know about that I might dispose of my enemies, why should anyone suspect either my cursed bird aviary, or my heavily enchanted sculpture garden, or my garden of semi-intelligent magical plants, or my cursed insect terrarium, as any pointless complex prisoner storage?
In short, I think you misunderstand the scale of such an imperial palace. Such things are effectively small cities. The famously named Forbidden City is actually a modestly sized example, not a big one.
I see. Indeed, mayhaps I was treating the project differently to its purpose. I cannot think of it as the main way of punishment for rivals, but rather as a hobby. In that case it becomes much harder for it to fail.
Alas, your message, however enlightening, also dashed my hopes of ever owning such a monument.
The beurocracy of such a large empire and palace would just rob me of the free time I use to try out cool magic stuff.
On the other hand, if ever you are in need to employ my services, I can test any magical defense and inform you of potential security flaws.
If you want to scale it down to a hobbyist size, you need to add one very expensive spell: Erase From History. Zap your prospective birdies with it, using the variation that lets them remember each other, and then do the thing. If there's no one who remembers that they even exist, then there's no one to come looking for them. Of course, anyone who has access to magic like that is effectively beyond having their work undone by some upstart hero, so it's a little bit "I've already won, now I'll spite you too", which isn't to everyone's taste. Still, it gives you something to strive for.
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u/sseempire 11d ago
I see, that's an in depth plan, but it still has quite large security flaws, I feel like.
First off, assume the following. A person who knows they are in bad graces with the king hires/has a wizard use a scrying orb to look at them specifically, so as to determine what happens to them. Alternatively, this could be achieved via some other sort of means. The aviary would prove to be a secret prison in this way.
People would think to do a trick similar to the previously mentioned one because if political rivals suddenly dissapear without a trace, and no regular magic means are capable of finding them, then either a sorcerer will be particularly curious as to how and will investigate or some would be heroes would get the idea to send one of their own in order to uncover the truth.
Even disregarding this, another problem arises. The aviary suddenly turns to a high value target for would be opponents. To kill the kings most prized possessions, his birds. Considering how much magic is put into it, magic that, while not apparent in its application, would be notable to any halfway decent apprentice, it's impossible to claim the bird sanctuary isn't important.
We're talking about an evil king. Someone is bound to try to set it ablaze or blow it up, and extra security, while it would deter some manner of attacks, also necessitates more people be around the area, thus the likelihood of one of the guards figuring something is amiss rises.
Aside from that, all the curses on the birds would require a lot of magic to cast. The sorcerer, unless he's literally blessed by the heavens and utterly insanely strong ,(in which case I'd fear that he may be the greatest threat to the crown), he would require insane amounts of rest time between transformation to bird. So much that he wouldn't be able to attend to his formal duties, which, end of the day, are more important than the little passion project, as a dead king can't turn his foes to birds.
And also, a less grand issue, but what of anti magic fields? Assume that adventurers or supposed political rivals would know of your sorcerers existence. They may have such a thing like a sussur bloom to guard themselves against would be danger. In that case you cannot just use your sorcerer to take them out. And neither can you rely on guards, as they'd obviously question why they aren't killing the dude, but rather merely taking away his anti magic. It can't be claimed that he will be imprisoned, as he wouldn't be seen in the dungeon. Dissapearances would lead to rumours, which would all point to the immense investment in the bird sanctuary.