You might be wondering if the people of Cassinus ever did get rid of the Mogul. I'm glad to say that yes, they did. And best of all, they did it without violence, without bloodshed, without war. They finally stood up to him, demanded a free and fair election - and voted him out. Not that it was easy. He refused to concede, tried all kinds of lawsuits, but in the end he was undone by the very laws that had made him what he was. Because even a wannabe tinpot dictator wasn't above the law. The law stood, and his successor was inaugurated the following January. It was a bad time - they had a pandemic raging by then, made worse than it needed to be by the Mogul's inaction, and the resulting chaos had made a mess of their economy - but they got it under control, developed a vaccine and things got better.
Not that it was easy. None of it was. The people of Cassinus still had a lot of soul-searching and reckoning to do. The Mogul wasn't without his supporters, even in the end. And even his opponents were forced to the realization that they weren't blameless, either, that many of the things the Mogul exploited - racism, sexism, greed, fear - were things they'd tried to deny existed any more in their society. They wanted to believe that things were a whole lot better than they were. It was rough.
It was a lot of work, but guess what? They rose to it. And Cassinus was all the better for it after all was said and done.
It's a really nice place now. It's not perfect - nowhere is. But it's a society of good people who are wise enough to realize that they can be better people. And they're not afraid to admit it anymore.
It wasn't a perfect ending, but yeah, it ended up being a happy one.
