Does anyone else feel that their players kinda fetishize Royalty?

[icefractal]

It seems that while you're running a sandbox, you have a fairly specific narrative arc in mind:
1) The PCs work for a corrupt king and are well-rewarded; it is entirely in their self-interest to continue doing this.
2) They realize how bad the king is and have a "What have we done?!" moment.
3) They turn against the king, either actively becoming rebels or at least no longer serving him.

Because none of the first part has to be true - the king doesn't have to hire them, the king doesn't have to be rewarding or even reasonable to work for, and for that matter the king doesn't have to remain in power - what would happen if other nobles stage a successful coup against the king the PCs were serving and now demand they transfer loyalty (to a group with zero claim to any hereditary connection) or be declared outlaws?

And I do grok that "doing the right thing when it costs you and the wrong thing is easier" is a different beat than "the wrong thing sucked for us as well, so we stopped doing it", but you can't force people to believe / act on the former, and it doesn't seem that your players are inclined to. Or that they even agree what is the right/wrong thing (IC at least).