This was the list last provided by Havie as of 7/1/2019.
Totally love your explanation; good work!
1- Is the assistance of the drudges/laborers a strict requirement to get this tunnel-digging done on time, or will it be enough for MC to instead ask the Rim Commotion to provide a steady stream of manpower (to serve as excavation crews)?
This could potentially be the biggest payoff of MC following Breden’s G1 Ch 4 advice to “split up and infiltrate”, right? (since that endgame option presumably will (maybe?) yield the largest amount of Rim Commotion recruits)
2- Aside from the obvious option to sever ties with Cerlota (in objection to her “Xaos storm dirty bomb” scheme), I wonder if the other following options are available…
a. High-CHA MC convinces Cerlota that her dirty bomb would ruin all the alliance-building hard work that MC has accomplished in G2 Ch 3 (since most of MC’s Grand Shayard allies maybe(?) have homes/relatives uncomfortably close to the City-Ward, and MC is unsure if he could evacuate those secret allies in time).
MC would also like to make an argument that it would be more efficient (in the long run) to quietly subvert (rather than cripple/terrorize) Grand Shayard, especially since MC has big plans of one day turning Grand Shayard into his future base of operations.
b. Alternatively, maybe a sufficiently Ruthless/pragmatic MC thinks that Cerlota is tipping off her hand too soon, and that it might be a better idea to save the Xaos-storm as a trump card during a future game’s climactic battle (e.g. The Siege of Aekos), where more damage can be inflicted.
Musical mad libs parody time!
Well she sneaks around the world from Aekos to Mlazyc Vale
She’s an Aether-sucking Theurge from Umri down to Laconne
She’ll take you for a ride on a slow boat to Aegre
Tell me where in the world is ̶C̶a̶r̶m̶e̶n̶ Phaedra Sandiego?
But on a separate (and more serious) note, since Phaed is expected to one day rule over (and collaborate with) her subordinate Ennearchs, it makes total sense for Phaed to make tons of field trips getting to know/trust these Ennearchs better.
Speaking of elements, has a comprehensive periodic table been developed yet in the XoR-verse? How close is the Hegemony to discovering or completing said table? (compared to Mendeleev)
Understood, crystal clear. Like I said earlier, I apologize for my suggestion’s implications overshadowing the original intention/envisioned narrative tragedy, and also apologize for not picking up on said implications sooner (before pressing the send button).
Anyways, now that we’ve established “pragmatically trans” as off-limits, I’d like to return to our earlier topics about Shayard and Erezza’s shared “courtly love” coastal culture (and the potential “XoR casting choices for MC’s Lady Jessica, from Dune”).
In the Rim of your youth, the expectation is strict chastity rather than courtly longings; in the coastal culture that extends (with significant variations) from Erezza to Grand Shayard, it’s more common to see variations on the amour courtois ideal.
Is it plausible for Abelard and female de Syrnon claimant (or royal consort) MC (who sees Cerlota as her true “other romantic half”, but still wants to lead the Laconniers, AND platonically likes Abelard as a key political ally) to function as each other’s “Beards”?
(Similar to Margaery and Renly’s marriage (in GoT/ASOIAF): in which Margaery and Renly are publicly married to cement a Stormlands-Reach alliance while Renly’s true love interest is Margaery’s brother, Loras)
(And another “Beard” example that I’d like to cite is Rhaenrya Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon’s marriage (from House of the Dragon): in which Rhaenrya and Laenor agree to keep up public appearances as a monogamous couple, while happily allowing each other to still have lovers on the side)
Alternatively, if MC isn’t a Devout Xthonic worshipper (instead adopting the polygamous views of the Abhuman syncretists and/or Neres), then perhaps the “Beard secrecy” could be dropped altogether (in favor of a publicly known “V relationship” polycule between female MC, Abelard, and Cerlota; female MC would be the “hinge” of this V).
Or would female MC’s paganism/Skepticism be too much of a dealbreaker for both Abelard and Cerlota?
In your current opinion, what would make for a more useful plektoi, a horse or a reindeer?
New suggestion for Game 5 epilogue profession (for a non-empire building MC):
Rehab clinic director (for PTSD-afflicted human Plektoi who have nowhere else to go and are in desperate search for redemption/new purpose)