I think the cover art should represent something present in every playthrough. The Harrower is tempting but I too am not sure how it would be drawn. Another option that occurs to me is when the MC as a child first sees a Plektos and its Theurge. The MC at that time is young enough that gender need not be obvious in the artwork and the Plektos should look fairly impressive.
I apologize that it took me so long to comment on the latest update. I’ve had a lot happening in real life. Here are my comments and observations in no particular order:
When holding Horion and Linos hostage and sending the ransom note to the Keriatou, Linos complains about the note having been sent to the Alastors.
During the second week of fighting over the summer, the casualties are greater than the remaining number of rangers.
If there are not enough mules for the sick the first time Theurges fly over, then the estimate of the number of mules needed is much higher than the normal estimate you get when talking to the Abler.
A MC that wanted to convince the Band to retreat to the Xaoslands or possibly a skeptical MC would have no reason to conceal Yed Gaverne’s story of people living and farming in the Xaoslands.
During the winter if you intend on raiding both the priests and Alastors for mules while also sending scouts to find the next batch of Hegemony mules, it is necessary to send scouts after more Hegemony mules before raiding the priests and Alastors because the option to send scouts is no longer available after raiding the priests and Alastors that week.
During the winter, the opportunity to take action ends as soon as you run out of free bandits even if the MC or Breden are still free. This means for example that the MC or Breden would need to be assigned to try to get mules before the last free bandits are used up.
I am so happy to be able to recruit Etthena who (by the description) I hope is a CHA 2 replacement for Breden. I honestly don’t think that Breden is a Hegemony spy. This is actually a pity because after how insulting (different insults depending on whether the MC is a noble or a helot), oblivious (Breden complains about feeling insulted by the MC but Breden publicly insults the MC even after everything the MC has done), and arrogant (Breden seems to feel that Breden’s tender feelings are more important than the security of the rebellion and that the only possible reason why a noble MC would reject Breden’s advances is prejudice against Helots as opposed to really disliking Breden) Breden acts towards a MC that rejects Breden’s advances or who quite reasonably suspects Breden, my MC would have relished personally executing Breden if Breden were proven a traitor. Since instead it appears that Breden is merely a coward and/or incompetent as shown if Breden is sent to bring in Horion and Linos, my MC was resigned to tolerating Breden’s presence for the sake of Breden’s skills and using Breden’s skills only when there was no better way.
Even when the MC actively distrusts and is testing Breden, the MC is still stuck with Breden on the trip back from raiding the sheep flock if the MC is using the “trick for avoiding Theurges” and not already romancing anyone. I would prefer the choice to pick who to accompany on the way back. I am very tired of having Breden shoved down our throats. During the end of winter celebration when Breden asks the MC to dance, I resent the implication that every MC would feel something at seeing Breden dancing with Ciels. After Breden’s insults at the end of Chapter 1 if Breden was told that Breden was under suspicion, I think it is quite plausible that a MC that had been that insulted by Breden would feel no attraction to Breden whatsoever. Physical attraction when they first met before they knew each other is one thing, but forcing the MC to still feel attracted to someone who had so gravely insulted the MC is nonsense. My MC would have liked the option to punch or slap Breden immediately after some of those insults.
There appear to be numerous points in the storyline where a romance with Breden can start, but so far as I know there is only one place where a MC attracted to Kalt’s gender can start a romance and one other place where a MC not attracted to Kalt’s gender can start a romance. I cannot comment on Simon/Suzanne because I came to dislike that character and in my opinion the only way to recruit that character anyway was to give less than the utmost effort at beating the Hegemony which is just silly for a rebellion. I think there need to be more places in the storyline to allow a relationship to develop with ROs other than Breden.
I also think that future games should unlock more existing characters as ROs. @Havenstone does such a wonderful job of developing the personalities of many of those characters that it should hardly be surprising that MCs would feel drawn to some of them. I don’t think it is unreasonable to suppose that an INT 2 MC might value intellect above all else in a RO and the current ROs are either COM 2 or CHA 2. I find Yebben fascinating and for storyline reasons Ganelon if still alive would also be an interesting RO. I don’t have the heart to come between Elery and Zvad however. I would also note that a MC wanting a physical relationship with a RO should not rule out romantic moments with the RO as well. There is no reason a relationship cannot be both physical and romantic.
I have not tried dispersing the Band in summer since the latest patch, but prior to the latest patch it tended to result in taking high casualties when attempting to escape the enemy pincer movement. I think it is counter-factual to suppose that a smaller band would have more problems escaping the encirclement than a larger band. It makes sense that a smaller band could not field as many rangers but it should have an easier time escaping encirclement considering that most of the children are away and there are roughly half as many people. While the Band is preparing to send off the children, there is no reason why the ones staying behind cannot train for night movement particularly since the ones staying behind know they will need to evade the Hegemony.
In Chapter 4, if the Band decides its course by moot and Breden’s faction’s has the most support and the MC fails to persuade Breden to change Breden’s mind, then the game talks about the Band implementing the agreed upon course but it is always to evade the Hegemony in the woods not to disperse as Breden advocated.
So far as I can tell, there is not yet any text to describe what a MC does with any remaining phials of Aetherial Blood before entering the Xaoslands.
If you pick Yebben to lead the Band in your absence, he “stares at you with dawning, horrified realization” which might be an appropriate reaction for anyone else you might pick to lead but I am not sure how realistic the staring part is considering Yebben’s blindness.