The Tyrant Philosophers/plum post
In the military and bureaucratic argot of the setting, a "plum post" is a slang designation for a desirable, low-risk foreign posting, applied derisively to any officer or official who holds one. The term's force lies in its implied accusation: the holder enjoys a comfortable exile from the real business of state or military service, having secured their position without earning it through exposure to hardship or genuine duty - Days of Shattered Faith, ch 2. The word thus functions not merely as a description of an assignment but as a moral judgment on the officer who takes it, marking the holder as someone who has opted out of the sacrifices the setting's service culture nominally demands.
Its single recorded appearance falls in the early chapters of Days of Shattered Faith, where it establishes the register of contempt with which officers and officials speak of one another's postings. The term crystallises a value hierarchy: proximity to danger and difficulty confers legitimacy, while distance from them invites derision. A reader encountering the phrase for the first time is placed inside a culture in which safety, abroad and at ease, is not a reward but an indictment.
The Term
Meaning
A "plum post" denotes a foreign posting that is desirable precisely because it is low-risk: the officer or official assigned to it is removed from the theatres of war, the centres of political crisis, and the physical demands of active service. The term carries an unambiguous charge of derision. An outside reader might parse "plum" as a straightforward reference to something sweet or enviable, but in this usage the sweetness is the point of attack - the posting is enviable in comfort and contemptible in meaning, because it substitutes comfort for the hardship through which position is supposedly earned - Days of Shattered Faith, ch 2.
Usage
The term is identified as slang, placing it outside formal address or written dispatch, and is explicitly labelled a term of derision - Days of Shattered Faith, ch 2. Its register is that of one officer or official disparaging another behind the latter's back, or in the loose company of peers who share the contempt. The choice to deploy it rather than a neutral descriptor reveals that the speaker measures service by exposure to risk and difficulty, and regards avoidance of such exposure as a disqualification from professional respect.
History
Days of Shattered Faith
In Days of Shattered Faith, "plum post" is identified as slang for a desirable, low-risk foreign posting - a term of derision implying that the officer or official holding it enjoys comfortable exile from the real business of state or military service rather than earning their position through exposure to hardship or genuine duty - ch 2.
Relationships
The source material records the term's appearance in a single chapter and does not associate it with a named speaker, a named holder of such a posting, or any interpersonal dynamic beyond the general culture of professional contempt it expresses. No further relationships are supported.
Tags
- slang · #military-assignment · #euphemism