My mc is still a Maia voter all the way tho.
That’s probably where the most significant differences are between the Revo’s and the Libs…well aside from Maia being way better on League independence.
1 Like
Ya know, that’s a hella fair point. I keep forgetting about Batsy owning an actual gun, especially considering that one video talking about how Batman had a rainbow suit and thought it was a good idea.
But yea, on topic of Gloria, I don’t actually blame him for poking around with Crete. I think it’d be like finding a bomb in a random desert. It ain’t really your business but it’d be hella irresponsible to just leave it alone. Granted, Gloria is doing the equivalent of sending people to shoot the bomb but whatever floats ya boat
2 Likes
Silver Age comics were wild (and possibly written while high as kites)! Superman has the power of super-baking! Pink kryptonite! Red kryptonite! Blue krypt- actually, you know what, let’s just say it came in every colour.
2 Likes
Isn’t it shocking that being good for your country matters so very little when there’s a being so much stronger than you breathing over your neck? 
3 Likes
I feel like you could honestly make a Patreon, and it’d get a good deal of traffic. Some suggestions:
- It has 1, 2, 10 and 20 dollar tiers
- The 20 dollar tier involves you getting a one-time chance to name and develop a concept for a character in the work you’re currently doing, as well as all other rewards.
- The 10 dollar tier allows you to freely ask questions in a Q&A, and suggest articles for each month.
- The 2 dollar tier allows you to actually vote on the articles.
- 1 dollar gives access to all the articles and other updates on the Patreon.
7 Likes
I was actually thinking about those same sort of rewards! I know other authors offer more explicit stuff, but I’ve never really felt entirely at ease with that kind of writing.
I was thinking about offering world-building/pov articles, earlier (relatively) chapter releases, that kind of thing. I wonder how many questions I’d allow per patreon for the QnA option. I wouldn’t want it to balloon too much, but I know players have a way more vivid and exciting imagination than I do.
I’m not entirely sure if I’ll go through with the Patreon yet, but I’d like to hear suggestions about what kind of stuff people would like. I’m somewhat new to the concept myself, and the goal is always to make supporters and contributors happy. 
9 Likes
Small announcement (and apologies for the bump, always feel bad about doing these when there’s no new content yet T-T), but I am finishing up the final scenes and content for Chapter 5. It’s still a little off, but unless something truly horrible happens (like CoG being sold to Musk and collapsing a week in), it will be released around the first week of December. I’m hoping to also actually have Forlorn’s profile image by then and drop them together, though with the current… uh, situation occurring over at bluebird, that may take a little longer.
For now, have a few snippets of things you’ll see in Chapter 5:
Have… quite a bit of wiki lore that I worked on during the past month or so:
One final article, this one has part of the explanation for why Gloria dislikes Seeker: The Minotaur's Memoirs
Aaaaaaaaand the final warning of the Seer, giving away the important pieces, and listing all the big and necessary players for the story to have a happy ending:
Not Fun Times inc
“You know, of all the dumb, simple-minded, and entirely stupid sayings there are about humanity, there’s one that’s been at the top of the idiotic list for me, ever since my sight awakened.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“The belief that only those who do not learn their history are doomed to repeat it. What foolishly optimistic drivel it is. None other compare.”
“But… it’s true, isn’t it? The more educated you are, and the more you know of the past’s failures, the more likely one is to avoid the same pitfalls. It’s a sound theory.”
“It would be, if not for the supremely vital part that you’re missing.”
“Which is?”
“That we are human, Rook. And there exists no being more sure it is better than the rest of its species than a human. Do you know the first thing a spectator does after watching someone fail? He assigns fault. He seeks something to blame, and proceeds to deride the failure as something that could have been entirely prevented. The one constant in any human discussion of failure is the phrase ‘If it had been me…’.”
“What are you saying?”
“That we all repeat history. Those who don’t learn their history do it because they do not know better. Those who learn it repeat it because they think they do. History is littered with examples of it! Guacanagarix allied with his conquerors, and his people today belittle and curse him in equal measure for it. Bose allied with Imperial Japan to fight the British, the Americans backed a dozen dictators in the South for each one the people shot, and leaders world-wide coup and rise in revolt against their governments in the belief they know better, only to end up being the same sort of brutes they once decried. And they all knew what the risks were! But this- this… unavoidable belief continues to worm its way into every single one of their brains: ‘I know where they went wrong. I will not fall to the same thing.’ And then they do!”
“So, what? What are you saying? That there is no point to trying to make things better?”
“No, of course not. But do not come with the misguided idea that you, and you alone, are a hero who will heal all of your people’s ills. Everyone is fallible, and we are all prone to crashing into the same walls. Why, we’re right about to! For the sake of ‘security’, we are at the verge of dooming us all!”
“You mean Crete. And the King.”
“I mean the modern day Cuba! A country that has made its own way in the world, guarded by the finest it could ever be, now made an outcast and armed only with the shield and sword it has crafted for itself. We prepare our carriers and armies, embargo its very blood, turn our faces away even as they beg us to reconsider! The last time we did such a thing, the world almost came to an end, stopped solely by a man who stood his ground as everyone around him demanded the world be set aflame! Only his lightning strikes twice, Rook. There will be no Arkhipov this time! All there will be is a beast whose only concern shall be to protect its home and its two treasures!”
“Then what can we do? Refuse to move out, and see the world turn on us as it has on them?”
“No. No. The world needs you, it needs them both, and it needs to remain whole.”
“Then what?”
“Think! It is impossible to command alone! Only the King and Queen managed it, and they did so only because they had power enough to crack this world. Kali Taona will be the only one to match such, and it’ll last only as long as the rage burns! Unite, call a meeting, succeed where our predecessors failed, follow their steps, and attempt to stop the first war at the table.”
“You just warned us about the dangers of aping the past. Now you want us to try it anyway?”
“They have given you no choice! Force the soldier to become Chamberlain, or see the clown become Vlasov!”
- The Fears of a Seer, a Warning on What’s to Come.
Sorry this is still mostly out of game content, it’s mostly stuff that I write down or set up while on my commutes to and from college (i hate commutes btw, can’t wait to graduate), but the chapter will be at least 35k or so words of fighting scenes and discussions and yelling and “holy shit you let gloria_health get HOW low? The press isn’t gonna like that!” that I hope you will all enjoy.
Also, two hints for Chapter 6 and 7 respectively:
-
You know how Nova has a sister?
-
Who would think that the biggest bomb the Coltellos could drop is actually an emotional one?
18 Likes
I already knew about nova’s situation with his sister when he told me in earlier chapter
Well, let’s just say that ‘situation’ may be getting a lot more dramatic sooner, then!
4 Likes
Relationships-
Forlorn 22% Seems fair, I did sucker punch him that one time and my character is making eyes at Aki, so that makes sense
Seeker- 7%
So the guy who probably amuses himself by fantasizing about dismembering my character likes me three times as much as Seeker. Ouch.
6 Likes
I have to ask! Why is Ignis an RO, but not Forlorn and Seeker? :(( Is it because of the whole mentor/mentee thing?
3 Likes
Summary
Preemptive correction: in third spoiler snippet, the answer should be “I don’t”, not “I’m not.”
Also, is that M+S >=190 even possible? How many training sessions are we getting until that point? Because that requires 95 in each, which, uh. (unless that 190 doesn’t correspond to the values we have in the stats screen).
In the Dragonstorm wiki entry you have “Bosporus” in the third paragraph. I think you meant Bosphorus.
RL interference, be back in a bit.
EDIT: bit over.
Boy oh boy, let me tell you what happens after you graduate and become fully employed!
Is it zero?
@stsword I have 23 Forlorn and 10 Seeker, so I presume that there just aren’t many opportunities to increase Seeker score so far?
1 Like
Less that, and more that those two have much bigger things in their plate.
Forlorn straight up doesn’t want to find love, and sees it as a distraction from what his job is (protecting Aki). The League in its entirety also lacks a certain few things he’d want in a partner, and you’ll learn more about what that is when the final chapters are released.
Forlorn’s actually never been in a relationship or anything of the sort, either, since he had to… ‘become an adult’, so to say, back when he was only 12. Aki is more experienced than him, assuming you romance her.
Meanwhile, Seeker is already involved with a few characters. He’s got Victoria, a past lover that he is still head over heels in love with, and he’s got Ignis, who… well, you have played the game, I imagine. 
The reason is basically that neither of them are interested (because of plot) in a romance that the MC could start. Forlorn is far too busy being traumatized (for now) and not liking himself to get into a relationship, and Seeker is basically demiromantic, so it takes a lot for him to be interested in a person (and he’s only been interested in two in his whole life). Quite a few people in-universe will think Ignis some sort of goddess for being involved with Seeker.
Forlorn may become a RO in Book 2, though, so don’t extinguish that torch just yet!
Not quite. The implication I’m trying to make is that Seeker is saying “I am not going to war.”_.
I’ll probably tweak it a little bit (the original idea was to make it an impossible check, so it’d be an easter-egg for code readers and a hint for what’s gonna happen next), but I’ll likely make it 120 or something like that, which should be easier to get.
The idea is very much that the MC noticed something they shouldn’t have been able to, though. Only one person knows about this (remember Forlorn’s convo about who’s stronger than who?), and when a… certain woman (not Victoria) finds out he’s doing this, she is going to be furious.
According to the wikipedia article at least, it can also be written as Bosporus. 
There aren’t, and the few increases are of +1 and +2.
It’s on purpose, fyi. Seeker doesn’t dislike the MC (note he’s always polite), but he doesn’t exactly care either.
Getting his score to around 30% or so by endgame is more or less the best result. Only four people in the world have a relationship stat higher than that with him.
6 Likes
Then it might be better as “I won’t” (as it feeds off “You don’t think we WOULD go to war”).
Oh, so it can. Bosporus seems to be the most direct Ancient Greek translation, too, so it’d make more sense for the Cretans to write it like that.
4 Likes
If there is, I’m just gonna do the opposite and have it go to absolute zero. I don’t mind having a good relationship with the others but not him.
1 Like
I know Crete is a contentious topic to some, but I honestly like the detail you’ve put into it so far, and the fact that it is a major power that isn’t actively expansionist in its aims and goals is pretty cool to me. I’m excited to see how the situation re: Crete and the US plays out, but also dreading it.
That said, if the Broken King sinks Florida, that’s at least one win for the US.
6 Likes
I appreciate hearing that!
In truth, that was more or less the goal. There’s, of course, the Doylist reason for why Crete isn’t some proactive overlord of the Mediterranean, remembering their Minoan past and all, but honestly, I’m kind of sick of how most alt-history nations end up being empires, or evil countries, or basically just the bad guys, but with a different coat of paint.
I just wanted to make a nation that reminded me of the DR was a seemingly peaceful place that treated its people decently, and wasn’t hiding any atrocities beneath the rug. Even its founders are meant to be decent-ish people, as I imagine some of you have picked up. Their big flaws are more legitimate (for Dragon Ball esque characters, anyway) worries and faults that 20 somethings would have.
That’s not to say the nation is perfect, of course. Crete is still a very militarized country with a very isolationist populace which still idolizes a woman that… well, wasn’t perfect either, and every time Crete ends up in a conflict, there’s a non-zero chance of a tectonic plate disappearing, but still, if you put that aside…
Anyway, it’s good to hear Crete is at least to some liking. It was the goal, so I’m glad I managed it, at least with a part of y’all.
That said, though, just because Crete isn’t an awful nation, that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to see awful stuff in this story.
I have certain historical… not inspirations, exactly, but definitely events that I have taken as foundation for certain plot (and character!) developments.
It may take a while, but trust me, we’ll get there.
15 Likes
Those links are making me a tad nervous…
9 Likes
I have so many ways to reply to this worry, but basically all of them can be full of spoilers, so I’ll limit myself to just saying this:
You ever wonder what a mix between Lawrence of Arabia, José de San Martín, and Máximo Goméz would be like?
2 Likes
I swear if Gloria has anything to do with it… let’s just say Ignis’ response to it would be tame to what I’d do.
2 Likes