An Absinthian Ballad (Mini-Update 29.07.18)

Ah, my bad then, could have sworn we had darker hair in there too. :crazy_face:

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Quick question: What exactly is the Providece? I understand its a diety, but how does it manifest itself? Also is there a church-like organisation dedicated to it?

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This reminds me a lot of the game ā€œRegency loveā€ (mainly due to the overall time period and theme), and the game seems really interesting so far (it doesnā€™t help Iā€™m very biased toward games with this setting as well as romance games.) :P.

So far my MC ended up as a very intelligent and reserved girl with a cynic streak and a coloring which would give off an initial impression of her being cold and closed-off. So itā€™s going to be interesting to see, how any courtship with her will be.

Tbh when I first read that section my brain read it as ā€œCount Palpatineā€ and my immediate thought was ā€œwell that doesnā€™t sound like a very nice ROā€. And then I felt kind of silly. ^^

Welp. I guess Iā€™ll just have to continue waiting for that Victorian-era/Star Wars romance game I apparently subconsciously want to play. xD

Btw @locria how old are the ROā€™s compared to the MC besides Oskar? With those titles I would guess older than Oskar, but then again they might not have received/inherited the titles yet when the MC meets them.

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I take it once we get married our husbands can be away quite a bit for many different reasons do we manage their estates? That would be a cool game play aspect we manage their estate theyā€™re off at War or the Courts.

@FitzRoy The short answer is that Providence is pretty much what God is in Christianity. According to the Essenian Principles, the faith of Alayonte, Providence is a wise old man. He is just and fair, but merciless to those who sin and go against the the scriptures, and bestows fortune to the faithful. The institution dedicated to Providence is simply referred to as the ā€˜Bethelā€™. So pretty much Providence = God, Bethel = Institution, before getting down to the nitty-gritty.

@Ventura Iā€™m glad youā€™re enjoying it so far, and I have a very blatant bias toward historical romances as well. Some of the ROs like the cold and reserved girl, so it will be interesting indeed.

So MC is eighteen when the story starts, which I should add, is an adult, and a very typical age for young noble ladies to get married, so they stack up like this:

  • MC 18
  • Oskar 20
  • Edmund (the Duke) 32
  • Lothar (the Count Palatine) 27

Theyā€™ve both had their titles for a long time now, Edmund inherited it as a child, and Lothar was created one when he turned eighteen.

@Rogar Estate management will probably not be in any ROā€™s route, Iā€™m afraid. It is a pretty cool idea, but a bit off of whatā€™s planned for each route.

For the courtship, it will be about eight weeks long, during the social season when everyone is in the capital, and for marriage, because of Lothar and Edmundā€™s close ties with the King and inner court, they mostly reside in the capital. Oskar wonā€™t really have an estate to manage.

At the moment, what Iā€™ve mapped out for each route is:

  • Edmund will have the longest courtship. For him, marriage is the endgame, and good luck persuading him to actually marry and not just have a fling with Alexandra.
  • Lothar will have the shortest courtship. Marriage is where things get interesting. Heā€™s the complete opposite of Edmund and will quite readily propose.
  • Oskar will have equal lengths in courtship and marriage. Both are a bit of a journey with him.
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@locria So is there anyway we can somehow become a powerful person in society? Like the Queen?

And I donā€™t know if I missed it but what happened to the MCā€™s mother?

Also I was playing this again and I just realized Eleonora is the real mvp :sob: sheā€™s probably my favorite.

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Who is the best of the three for the MC to marry?

Itā€™s a very particular title in the holy Roman empire is it inch and title normally connected to incredibly old land with very particular privileges and rights. The oldest being electors. So how did hr come across title?

Hello! Just finished the demo and I am truly intrigue! I look forward to future chapters as well as the full game! =D

Really loved the new scenes with the siblings. Now I can actually remember their names :yum:

But damn that scene with Eleonora leaving killed me. She is my undisputed favorite. Will we ever see her again? Will married life be kind to her? Will we be able to kill her husband if its not?

Can you give us some info about their personalities? Also, will it be possible Alexandra have children either with the husband or perhaps gasp her lover?

@tooweiss If you go for either Lothar or Edmund, you could potentially become very powerful as their wife (e.g. influencing them to make certain decisions, etc). There is no way for you to directly amass power. The King might be going senile, but he has enough clarity to know he has to keep his second wife happy because she is the niece of a foreign emperor.

Alexandraā€™s mother died in childbirth, though it was only mentioned in passing.

@lokidemon007 Depends on what the definition of ā€˜bestā€™ is. In terms of security, wealth, and power, Lothar is the best one since he will be unfailingly faithful toward Alexandra, regardless of how she treats him. In terms of of personal satisfaction, I would say Oskar, since heā€™s a real pain to get close to, but sweet once together. In terms of Alexandraā€™s own sanity, Edmund is the best for her, since his emotional baggage is easier to unpack. I hope I somewhat answered your question ^^

@Rogar This is where artistic licence comes in! Historically, yes, it would be a very old title, but I changed it here. There can only be four count palatines at a time in Alayonte, and those who have the title are decided upon whether or not they are an arcanist, someone who is able to wield magic. Two of the titles are maintained within two noble houses that are able to produce arcanists. The other two are gathered from within all the nobility, and occasionally even from the commoners, should they fail to find any. The arcanists they find are then trained and work for the palace until a title frees up, and they receive it.

Now, for what a count palatine does in Alayonte, they kind of serve as the royal familyā€™s personal servant. They are granted privileges equal to royal princes, and can act as the kingā€™s proxy, should the situation call for it. They deal with everything the royal family canā€™t deal with in the open, such as assassinations, suppressing rebels, and so forth, and often deal with investigations that normal law-enforcement canā€™t. I guess the best way to describe their work is the dirty work nobody wants to do. They have no lands to rule, but are given fancy houses and large sums of money for their work.

@resuri08 @Anathema Iā€™m glad you are enjoying it! As for Eleonora, sheā€™ll be perfectly fine. The Crown Prince and her get along quite well, since they did spend a lot time together in their childhood. And donā€™t worry, youā€™ll see her a few times again in the prologue, and depending on which RO you choose, she could show up quite a bit.

@cookiemonsta Children will probably be in the epilogue scenes, which is probably for the best, since none of the ROs are probably able to deal with them until then. Iā€™m still contemplating the idea of a lover, so Iā€™m not too sure about that part. However, I can definitively answer questions about their personalities!

  • Edmund von Brandt, Duke of Lohenstan | Heā€™s a self-declared libertine. Most people think of him as a useless flirt, but heā€™s actually quite intelligent. Edmund became a duke when he was child, after his father was murdered, and used to be a very stern and serious person. Nobody really understands why he suddenly changed to become a shameless skirt-chaser in his twenties. He doesnā€™t really believe in long-term relationships or love, and flirts endlessly with Alexandra.
  • Oskar von Vogel, Captain | Heā€™s originally a sulky and rebellious child, so his parents sent him to military school when he was fourteen. Something seems to click there, and Oskar thrives, joining the military officially at eighteen. However, his personality has changed to a broodier and colder one, but still maintains his rebellious streak. Despite this shift, he still treats Alexandra rudely, and tends to push her away.
  • Lothar von Metzger, Count Palatine | Heā€™s the perfect gentleman with a pristine reputation. His exact origins are a mystery, but he was taken to the capital to be trained as an arcanist from a young age. He gained his title at eighteen when his mentor died, and has always maintained his humble and flawless reputation. He claims to have fallen in love with Alexandra at first sight, and is never anything but kind and gentle toward her.

Just for fun, all of them have one ā€˜goodā€™ end, and I say that in quotes because itā€™s more bittersweet than anything. Edmund will have about three bad ends, Oskar will have about four or five bad ends, and Lothar has seven bad ends planned. If anyone is familiar with otome games, I wonder if you can guess what type of guy they are.

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Guesses for otome game character archetypes:
Edmund- handsome player, easier to befriend than romance
Oskar- childhood friend, tsundere
Lothar: either a perfect guy (next to impossible to get the good ending), or a yandere

Are these close?

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Edmund is easier to screw than romance.

Problem is, if Iā€™m not mistaken, the PC is socially expected to keep her v-card until marriageā€¦

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So this being essentially a romance game does it mean once the courtship period ends so does the game? Or will we be able to explore the relationship a bit?

@Snowflower Suuuper close!

@Ramidel Well, if you marry whomever you sleep with, nobody will really know if youā€™re still a maiden or not. But yeah, Edmundā€™s here for the thrill, not the commitment. Oskar would be appalled and horrified, while Lothar would seemingly not really care.

@Anathema Depends on which route you go for. Edmundā€™s courtship is pretty much his entire game. If you get him to marry you, the game is done, since his loose ends will be done. Oskarā€™s route is planned to be split evenly between courtship and marriage, the first part dealing with half of his problems, and the second part dealing more with plot and trying to fix his problems. Lotharā€™s courtship is super short, but but his marriage is when everything gets unpacked. Of course, only if the ā€˜goodā€™ ending is achieved.

So I checked my schedule for the rest of this week, and I have no tutorial this Friday, and just my essays left to finish, so Iā€™ll have time to work on this properly! Iā€™ve got about four scenes left, then Iā€™m done with the prologue.

For the rest of the game, Iā€™m thinking of having one or two ā€˜commonā€™ scenes, before giving the choice of which RO to pursue, meaning whomever you pick, you will be locked into his route for now. I might tweak it a bit to add in a point in the game where you can bail out of his route and end up on another. The relationship bar will not be an indicator of what kind of end you will get, since sometimes the best choice for the RO is one they will not like, so I plan on keeping track of that with counters.

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So @locria if itā€™s not too spoilery, how bad are we talking about in the bad endings? And how bitter will the bittersweet ā€œgoodā€ endings be? :worried: (Iā€™m a sucker for happy endings so I hope not too bitter ^^)

Both Edmund and Lothar seems like characters where it will be very hard to actually get to know them. From what youā€™ve told about them they both seem like they have a lot of emotional walls that needs to be torn down to get to know them (and them actually wanting to confide their problems to the MC). Whatever the reason might be, why they act like they do is the most interesting part.

But I do hope that none of them do like a 180degree turn and then suddenly become terrible and treat the MC horrible (at least it seems like Oskars route will do the exact oppositeā€¦hopefully). In that line, itā€™s mainly Lothar Iā€™m worried about. That him being nice is only a facade. :confused: Just because you have a ton of skeletons in the closet and potentially even more issues than that, doesnā€™t mean you canā€™t genuinely be a nice personā€¦althought I do suspect the whole ā€œperfect imageā€ thing is an exaggeration of any potential niceness. :slight_smile:

I also agree fully with @Snowflower about Oskar being the tsundere in this game.

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So I guess my question would be whoā€™s there equivalent of Charlemagne and Otto first. Another vital question is there in Napoleon figure in the background. They could been one of Oskar friends during their Academy days. And is the current Dynasty similar to Habsburg and the Bourbon.

@Ventura Some minor spoilers, but nothing too direct.There are at least four endings where you end up widowed, one where you end up as a doll, one where youā€™re neglected, one where youā€™re trapped forever, just to name a few bad endings. As for good endings, itā€™s mostly that something has to be sacrificed to earn your happiness, whether you make the sacrifice, or your RO. Youā€™ll have to earn your happy ending ^^

None of them exactly change like that. Personally, I hate that in otome games, unless the game is specifically catering to that particular niche. But youā€™ve got Edmund and Lothar right, theyā€™re both very troubled, and youā€™ve got to figure out what makes them tick.

@Rogar There is an equivalent of Otto the Great, but funnily enough, she was a nomadic pagan who united the eastern steppe about 400 years ago. Thereā€™s no real equivalent of Charlemagne or Napoleon that I can think of, though Iā€™m certain they exist somewhere in my notes. However, there is an extremely radical senior officer who Oskar knows, so Iā€™m sure that will lead to some interesting things.

I know I said this country is based off the HRE, but itā€™s not the equivalent. There is another empire that fits the hierarchy much better, and another that follows the religious aspect. Alayonte is only loosely based off of it, and is probably more reminiscent of the German Empire and Prussia. Getting a bit off-topic, the three empires are Trepheliya, Selearn, and Sylvatore. Trepheliya is based off of the Mongol Empire, but at this point in time, is a mix between the Russian Empire and Qing-dynasty China; Selearn has aspects of the HRE, but leans more toward mid-Victorian England; Sylvatore is based most strongly off of the HRE.

If anyone else is interested in the general history of Alayonte and the rest of the continent, I can make a post about it, or leave a link to a document on it ^^

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So a nice range of different bad ends. :stuck_out_tongue: And Iā€™m totally fine with having to fight for/earn my happy ending. As long as a happy ending is achievable then Iā€™m happy. ^^ Also having to fight/sacrifice for your happiness seem like kind of an overall theme about MCā€™s life.

Same, so thatā€™s a relief. :slight_smile:

EDIT:

Count me in, in the ā€œinterestedā€ group. I like world building. :slight_smile:

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