Choice of Rebels Part 1 WIP thread

Which stats are your MC’s highest? My aristo is very cosmopolitan and reasonably devout. I was skeptical about making a religious character, but decided to do one since I didn’t want my character to be just me. My helot lady has high compassion and medium nationalism.

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I apologize first if your question was directed at someone specifically, but I am taking it as a sort ‘generic question to anyone looking at the thread’.

If I go with what I consider my canon “MC”, then I focus on Int 2 with an emphasis to be a subtle Theurge. She is also skeptical and cosmopolitan.

If I’m doing a min/max build especially if I want to beat phalangites directly in combat, then Cosmopolitan and Devout are the way to go.

And I certainly trust @Havenstone to make both paths (skeptical or devout) rewarding and difficult in their own way (nationalist and cosmopolitan as well)

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Oh, no, please don’t apologize! It was a question for everyone.

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Been about half a year or so. What have I missed?

Who are Abelard and the prince? I’ve never met them before. Also what are the benefits from going to the Rim? I thought you will fight there but in the end you get encircled and have to run away (and a lot die on the way since you are not prepared ) so the running in the woods strategy was always better since it prevents any casualties from running.

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“Prince Nippletwister” is the Thaumatarch’s heir. Despite the title, their gender is random I think. They haven’t showed up yet, but I think we’ll begin to hear a bit more about them as the rbeellion starts expanding and getting closer to Aekos.

Did I miss something what is this “Prince” people have been speaking of and how did he get such an unfortunate nickname

The Thaumatarch’s heir. Now, now, they’ll probably be complex, layered people despite having a nickname that originates from a very amusing comment.

Well then… Ya I got nothing which is weird

Minor bug/correction needed. Playing as a Helot, Oakfell as the last name, and de Firiac comes to join…this is what appears:

Original:
“You’d be the only aristo in the Whendward band. Not to put too fine a point on it, milady de Firiac: what makes you think you’re welcome here?”

Oakfell. And Suzane shrugs. "I hoped any rebellion would welcome a blademaster, even one of only the first Kyklos.

Correction: In the second paragraph, it looks like it only has the helot’s last name. Then it goes to “And Suzane shrugs” (or Simon).

I think the first part of the sentence is where de Firiac comments on the noble MC’s name…which doesn’t work for the helot.

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Considering they mostly don’t even see helots as truly, fully human I would think them only being available to “noble” mc’s would honestly be the default, unless they’re aristo’s from Hallassur or the abhuman lands. I honestly thought the fact that Calea and the Thaumatarch’s heir are nominally “open” to “romancing” helots served more as an indication of how depraved they are. In any case I’m not expecting their romances to be anything approaching open, loving and equal partnerships, as I was under the impression both of them would view the helot mc as an amusing sex-toy at best.

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If you manage to get enough people out to the Rim, your remaining party will be small enough to slip through the woods without being detected. You can also imagine that it is advantageous to be early with getting your rebels out among the population, to spread the word before the approaching army notices that most of you are no longer in the woods anymore. It also gives your rebels a strategy before you leave them to fend for themselves, in case you do not trust whoever you leave in charge to spread the rebellion (Looking at you, Zvad).

For some MCs Breden and her faction will just be too powerful, and trying to oppose the Rim strategy will be impossible without severe repercussions.

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In Calea’s case, the taboo-nature of the relationship would definitely be a factor. Without really knowing much of the Thaumatarch’s heir, is a bit tougher to say.

I also think it, especially with Calea, they would also be romancing an MC helot to stay in power…or gain more power depending on the NPC. It stands to reason that most nobles would view a helot leader as a threat to the power structure, and Calea would do whatever it takes to ensure her position.

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Or you know they just resume being good little helots, getting away from the helot camps has been the rebellion’s only major accomplishment thus far, going back to them feels like a defeat and let’s not forget the kryptast spies among us who could provide the masters with easy lists to kill most of our followers once they’ve gone back and “infiltrated” the camps. At the same time engaging the Hegemony and particularly its overwhelming force of theurges in open combat is a non-starter as well. Therefore for my mc the rebellion needs to do what it has done best thus far, fight asymmetrically, throw them off our tails and survive to fight another day.

I think all the three options are pretty viable. I doubt our rebels will just forget about all those weeks when they were properly fed and armed the moment they are back among the Helot camps. Nor will they forget about the Eclect/Kenon/voices in their heads, which is a massive hit to the legitimacy of the oppressors. Nor do I think the Kryptasts will have an easy time trying to track down pairs of Helots, it will just be too much of a hassle and by the time the Helots have heard the news it will already be too late.

Trying to openly fight the Hegemony like an army is obviously suicide, but it still seems viable to pick our battles and destroy garrisons, weaker forces, defend our forest, and so on. The Theurges are expensive, and as the demand for blood increases, so will the brutality of the Hegemony. One day they will have to cross some lines and then people will rise up, just like we saw in the fourth Harrowing.

And then you can just try to just hide in the woods and survive, growing in numbers and strength, and hope that something happens one day that will allow your rebellion to explode in size. I like burning temples and smuggling dye just as much as the next guy, but this seems like the safe but unambitious choice.

Also, I am pretty sure that the Kryptast threat is exaggerated. The Hegemony just wants us to think that they are all-powerful and all-knowing, to scare us into submission or caution. If we were really infiltrated by any proper Kryptasts, we should have died a long time ago.

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Has Havenstone given a reason as to why Calea is a helot only romance while Hector is available to Aristos as well?

She is the Aristo’s cousin, maybe Haven is trying to avoid too much incest? :stuck_out_tongue:

But Hector is also the Aristo MC’s cousin. And, from an earlier post, their blood ties come from their great-granduncle marrying the MC’s great-grandmother. But I think it’s more of a personal choice than anything else, maybe it’s easier to write, or makes better sense among the characters.

Yeah, @Havenstone seems fond of just giving us the characters and letting us read between the lines to engage in baseless speculation let us figure them out for ourselves.

See, now those are the high Cha character’s options, my mc hasn’t done any of that stuff, he obviously hasn’t got any use for and indeed is actively opposed to the whole “eclect” nonsense, but on the other hand he hasn’t got the sheer charisma needed to teach the band Kenon.

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While you may not be able to get the Kenon going without a Charismatic PC, if your Skepticism is still high enough (75 I think), you can still get the Disbelievers showing up to assist you…as long as you laugh or something similar when Linos mentions the Eclect stuff.

So for my noble MC, I figure that would be good enough…at least other people believe similarly to her, and if they are charismatic, use them to shape her message.