An Absinthian Ballad (Mini-Update 29.07.18)

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Finally sat down and had time to work on this properly!

Updates

  • The alley scene is finished. I am not too happy with it, but it is needed for later on, and will be explained in one of the bad endings.
  • Added the meeting scene with Friedrich, who is actually a super important character. Well, important if you want to know about one mystery.
  • Added in Oskar’s leaving scene. Again, I’m not super thrilled with how it turned out, but I think that will blow over soon enough.

With that, I have three scenes left in the prologue. Next update I will try to have Lothar’s scene up, and if I’m feeling really productive, Edmund’s too. Please, please tell me if the stat checks are working properly (i.e. are some too difficult to get, etc). It’s hard for me to check stuff like this.

Now, this story is already deviating from my original plan, but that’s okay. I’ve decided to move the reason for Burkhard’s aloofness to another story branch for now, because they work really well together, and I’ve decided to add in a branch for not entering any courtship, or entering a courtship and not being able to get married. This branch will probably happen around a quarter through each courtship, and will address the more fantastical side of this world and contain more backstory.

@kairu You will not be able to enter politics because you are not part of the military nor do you have a title through your own right. Though uncommon, there have been women who entered politics, but they all inherited their own titles.

Again, all feedback is welcome and much appreciated ^^

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Love all of the new stuff!

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I’m sobbing. Also who exactly is B? Are they our brother?

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Ohh this is getting interesting. The man from the alley, was he the one whimpering or was it one of his victims? Also I assume that was our first brush with magic in this world, since the MC forgets the whole thing. I wonder if the man did something to us beside wiping our memories. I wonder if he was even the killer.

Friedrick seems fun! His introduction was probably the best so far. He obviously knows far more than he lets on and I have a feeling his whole cheerfulness is merely a facade. Definitely want to know more about him.

And the goodbye scene with Oskar was endearing. He’s starting to grow on me, it’s kinda of a shame the military will change him so much. I don’t know if I’ll like the new older Oskar but childhood Oskar turned out to be a sweety.

All in all I enjoyed the update and I’m looking forward to meeting Edmund and Lothar.

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A surprise update today. Procrastinated on my paper to do this, and I think that was time well-spent lol.

Updates

  • Lothar’s scene is done. I might go back to add some more writing in because it seems a bit bare to me, but that is pretty much how it goes down.
  • First half of Edmund’s scene is done. Second half has more branching so I left it out for now. Finishing this scene will be my goal this week.

The prologue is almost done now, I’d say maybe by the end of next week it will be done.

@lokidemon007 Thanks!

@Umbreonpanda :upside_down_face::upside_down_face::upside_down_face::upside_down_face: Who knows? Could be anyone, really. Maybe it’s stepmother? Maybe it’s someone you haven’t met you?

@Anathema Yes, it was magic. Who knows what the man did? Magic does weird stuff to people and people do weird stuff for magic. I’m glad you liked Friedrich! He is such a joy to write.

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oh no the cliffhanger!
Looking forward for next week x3

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It seems like people being able to wield magic is rather rare, but how do the they find out they can use magic in the first place? Is magic hereditary in your game-universe?

…nooo, I don’t want my MC to learn about magic or anything…why would you ever think that. :wink:
(but seriously while it would be cool, I doubt the MC can wield magic, but learning about magic theory would interest my intelligence/booksmart focused MC a lot.) ^^

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groans at cliff hanger

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@locria

Dukes are stylized “Your Grace”.

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I know, right? I have but one thing to say to @locria:

…

You…

…

:crazy_face:

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I may or may not have a crush on the Count already…

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I really love Oskar as the moment. xD

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Even Stanze and Liane…please forgive them and remember that their your family.

Should be they’re.

That’s all I really caught, but that was fun. Really fun, considering how bare-bones it is.

…emotional baggage. Oooooh, this is going to be so fun~

I wish I could say I hate to weeb this up, but that just makes me thing of Kuroshitsuji. So much. In the best ways.

Gonna be honest, I skimmed through the thread. But I stopped every time I saw talk about yandere characters, and a particular bad end. Firstly, yandere characters.

Devotion. Who doesn’t want to be with someone that is truly, genuinely devoted to them? Yanderes fulfill this desire when they actually fit into the archetype of ‘Yandere’. There is nothing they wouldn’t do for their beloved, other than giving them up. Their beloved is everything, while mostly everything else means nothing.
Crazy. For some people, they really love the crazies. There’s just something so fascinating about a Yandere! What drove them to this state? Why are they so madly in love with their dearest one? Sometimes, we even get to wonder how far it is they’d go for their darling?
Security. I mostly mean that in real life. The people that fall under this trope are incredibly dangerous. In real life, they’re criminals and can go so far as to be criminally insane. But, they doesn’t stop them from being interesting. Their existence in dating sims allows us to experience and explore them at a safe distance.

Regarding that bad ending. I’ll put it under a cut because I can’t use emphasis when things are blurred. That, and I’ll be talking about some dark stuff.

Bad Ending

I saw the words turned into a “doll” and immediately thought of my beloved Sano Kojima. Now, you likely haven’t heard of him because he comes from a genuinely dark, and twisted dating sim called Boyfriend to Death.
If you’re curious, do not take any of the warnings you see lightly. The game is advertised as horror porn. It gets seriously dark, and completionists that play this game end their guides with “Happy death collecting!” Because more often than not, there’s only one ending wherein your character survives.
Ok, but back on topic! I immediately thought of him, because one of his good endings has that exact fate. He turns you into a doll with magic, after dismembering you.
Yes, you read that right. One of the good endings of that games ends with you being dismembered and turned into a doll via magic.

The ROs all sound very interesting in their own, unique ways and I’m excited to see how this goes. I’ve yet to play a game of this format that makes almost every choice affect your stats. I like it.

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Thank you for being considerate to those in the community that don’t enjoy such discussion. It allows us all to enjoy the discussion in the thread.

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You know it’s funny that everyone thinks Lothar is a yandere. Have you guys ever thought he could just be haraguro, a schemer instead? Some of you think that might be the same a yandere but I don’t think all haraguro are violent. :joy: But yes, they can be two-faced. So I think it would be fun to get to know the real him. I honestly can’t believe he fell in love at first sight with the heroine.

I guess Edmund is the type of guy who think’s he’s not important despite his title. That’s why he flirts so shamelessly. I thought of this one character named Enishi from Ken ga Kimi. Here’s a super detailed review of his route if you’re interested Ken ga Kimi – Enishi | Love-colored Sky
He’s a tragic character…

I agree with everyone that Oskar is a tsundere, or kuudere. Kind of wonder why he decides to be cold after graduating from the military academy though.

I like the scenes with the family. It’s a shame that there isn’t more screen time with Constanze and Juliana unless we’ll see them again once courtship starts.
I also wonder if we do get to find out why Burkhard is so cold with Alexandra?

That’s all I have to say for now besides I like what I’ve seen so far and look forward to more.

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I think I have figured out whose bad ending belong to who x3

I also disliked Oskar but after the goodbye scene I started to like him noo :sob: Military can change someone a lot, soldiers kinda learn to be disciplined (or cold) to be ready to fight so I guess its his parents fault. Also how distant a relative he is? I believe from 4rth cousins and onwards it’s not considered incest

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Agreed. And he’s definitely hiding something. The fact that you gain the most relationship increase with him when you say you aren’t sure if he’s handsome/charming suggest at least some of it is a facade.

Also @cookiemonsta I’m pretty sure Oskar is the MC’s first cousin. Who you can also completely legally marry some places today. So I guess it differs a lot from person to person, what would count as incest, when it’s further away from the immediate family. :confused:

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Yeah, I don’t believe he fell in love with the MC at first sight either. There must be a reason he claims so however. And that’s the strange thing. We are an unimportant daughter who won’t inherit any lands or wealth. We hold no political power, he gains nothing from marrying us.

So why would he?

To fend off unwanted suitors perhaps? :joy:

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Lol I left the cliffhanger at that because I didn’t have time to finish the choices.

@Ventura Magic can be broken down into different user-types, and those types are determined by one’s soul, so it kinda looks something like this (under cut because it is very long)

Magic
  1. Immortals (Demigods, Magi, Evokers)
  2. Enhanced Mortals (Arcanists, Exoricsts, Enchanters, Sorcerors, Wizards)
  3. Mortals (Spellbinders, Alchemists, Mediums, Diviners)

As to how to determine whether one is a magic-user or not, you can be either born with it, have the soul for it, or be turned into one. Demigods, magi, evokers, enchanters, and exorcists all must be changed. The first three are more of a sacrificial thing, while the last three need to have their abilities ‘unlocked’. Of course, you must have the right soul for it, because your soul is what allows you utilize aether and nether, what makes up magic.

Arcanists are special because they are the only ones who can have their abilities inherited. For magic theory and things like that, it’s almost impossible for a non-magic user, and even for other magic-users to understand magic (except for exorcists and demigods because they come from the same roots). They see and feel the world differently. It would be difficult for say an arcanist to understand the magical theory of an enchanter, and vice-versa.

In the story, there are a few magic-users. There’s a demigod (who is not the child of a god, but rather a person who made a contract with a god to obtain similar powers), and two arcanists (Lothar and one of his colleagues).

@lokidemon007 Dukes are stylized as that, yes, but the title ‘Elector’, in this world, takes precedence over it, thus the style of address changes as well. I adjusted a lot of these styles because it becomes tiresome to always write the same one, and there are some very cool ones used in other monarchies and empires.

@xXOtakuKonekoXx Oh thank you for that! I’ll fix it in the next update, and I’m very flattered that you thought of Black Butler ^^. And yes, I completely forgot about their devotion. It’s a bit morbidly romantic.

About the bad ending

I totally didn’t register the similarities lol. That game was so dark and I’m a bit worried that I enjoyed it so much, and that I liked Strade as much as I did. I think the doll ending with Sano is the only one I haven’t gotten yet since I decided to go in without a guide. Once I’m on winter break I’ll have to get the second game and the marriage one. I’m honesty surprised I enjoyed the game this much though.

@Hazuki I didn’t expect that link to hurt me as much as it did;;

Who’s to say Lothar isn’t both? :upside_down_face::upside_down_face:
Edmund could be that, or just shameless.

At the moment, I have another scene planned with Constanze before the prologue ends, and I’m currently drawing up another one with Juliana and your younger half-brother. The latter will probably be in the next part though. Burkhard’s issues will be explained in one branch at the moment, and I’m currently trying to find a good way to put it into the others. I’m happy you’ve enjoyed it^^

@cookiemonsta They’re first cousins, but a bit more distant because his father and her mother are half-siblings. IIRC they’re relatedness is like the fourth degree.

@Anathema Lothar has a lot of issues. Maybe he wants to burn the system down? Maybe he genuinely did fall in love with her at first sight (stranger things have happened irl)? Maybe he wants an unimportant wife so he can use her in a ritual to gain more power? Maybe he’s just lonely?

Lol unwanted suitors are a bit of a problem for him, but not bad enough to warrant getting a wife just for that. He might be perfect to everyone else, but there are a lot of people who fear him because he’s a count palatine and would not want their daughters wedded to him, despite his influence and wealth.

The next update will probably be up this weekend. I plan to finish Edmund’s meeting and the rest of the ball, which means I’ll have about one more scene left before the prologue is done. I imagine the final word count for the prologue to be about 15 000 to 19 000 words.

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I think really what’s going on is he just trying to make a name for himself. She’s basing on the Holy Roman Empire. So his lineage is provisional noble at best. It’s UAs and it’s the same thing in real life during this time period was civil service Best being with the diplomat Corp. because it pretty much got you equip to dealing with the machine politics of other nations some of the best chancellors in real life are produced for diplomacy Corp. but normally get there in the first place somebody in your family has to have a legging are you married the right woman who has the right father. Then there is the military if you don’t get killed your brave lucky and have a little bit of if not a lot of patronage you can rise high. What’s the other word is taking it seriously because this is his career prospect of making his life better it’s currently he’s only avenue of social economic progression.