Ignoring all other considerations of potentially “jinxing” Havie into designing Simon to inevitably betray Alya, does Alya still value Simon highly enough to be the leader of her “Praetorian Guard”/“Queensguard”? (or whatever other name Alya assigns to her bodyguard corps)
And @Havenstone, can an MC (who has a good relationship with de Firiac) encourage de Firiac to pick up Theurgic training to become a Theurgic swordsman hybrid?
(or is de Firiac’s stat growth fully geared towards COM increases, with no room/interest whatsoever for any Theurgic studies on the side, especially after feeling disgusted towards Cerlota’s Game 2 explanation of the truth behind Theurgy and aether)
And if MC gave the Theurge-forged sword (from Game 1’s “Make an Accounting” route) to de Firiac, would that give de Firiac a head start/learning tool for their potential “Theurgic swordsman” studies? (compared to the de Firiacs who didn’t get the sword)
Aside from the obvious “us soft nationalists can sustainably ally with each other!” reasoning, I was wondering if there will also be room for another dialogue option that re-contextualizes Homelander MC’s alliance with Erezzan nationalists in purely interpersonal “loyal to Cerlota, not Erezza” terms (“MC is normally a hardcore nationalist, and he’s only doing this because he’s friends with Cerlota, and owes her a debt of honor/gratitude/loyalty”).
E.g. “Let me be perfectly blunt with you, Erretsin. Under any other circumstances, I would have happily left Erezza to its own devices while limiting my rebellion’s focus towards freeing Shayard, and Shayard alone. But I cannot ignore the fact that segnora Cerlota has earnestly spent time, energy, and resources creating a bright and glorious future for Shayard’s wisards. Thus, honor dictates that we, the true sons and daughters of Shayard, repay segnura Cerlota’s kindness with our own: by liberating and defending her homeland!”
Other e.g. (Assuming that a different Erezzan faction came out on top by G5 (e.g. via Cerlota falling victim to Erretsin intrigue), thus motivating Cerlota and her remaining Erezzan allies to flee and seek asylum in MC’s territory as a government-in-exile)
“My deal was with segnura Cerlota, and Cerlota alone, you swivving, Xaos-loving backstabber! Mark my words: there will be no peace between Shayard and Erezza, not while it’s too dangerous for the segnura to return home, and certainly not while a scoundrel such as yourself still leads Erezza!”
And another idea just occurred to me how to split Avezia away from Erezza without jeopardizing MC’s friendship with Cerlota: what if MC did earnestly fight alongside Cerlota to keep Erezza intact, but lost, and then the two entrenched themselves in Avezia to declare Avezia “the truly legitimate Erezza”? (in a Taiwan-like fashion, while the rest of Erezza re-combined to become the XoR counterpart of “People’s Republic of China”)
Under the above-mentioned hypothetical circumstances, might Avezia be willing to tolerate becoming a Shayardene protectorate? (similar to how the US actively protects Taiwan from being invaded by China)
@Azthyme @Havenstone Could Earlund (after initially splitting from Brimlund) reunite with Brimlund to form “The United Kingdom of Shayard”? (with Earlund being the Scotland of the analogy, if Brimlund retained (or retook) control of Shayard’s agricultural surplus)
I appreciate the enthusiasm, but please do be careful. You have to first win the war before you earn the privilege of getting away with calling the Xthonic religion a cult; after all, history is written by the winners!
“There were still plenty of Nyr marrying in threes and fours before Hera’s conquest forced us to pair off like the rest of you. If you’re looking for your ‘other third’ or ‘other quarter’ or even smaller fractions, there’s less of a sense that you need to choose from just two possible options."
@Azthyme @Havenstone If MC’s Cult of Kenon were to incorporate Nyrish polygamy into its belief system, does this open the door for trans/non-binary MC to romance both (Kenon enthusiast) Elery and Jev in a Nyrish triad?
(especially since it’s already been confirmed that Elery is fine with nb characters.)
And also, will there be enough narrative justification for a gender adjusting MC to likewise change their first name?
(E.g. Maximillian becomes Maxine)
And is INT 2 (and higher) a strict requirement for undergoing gender transition, or can non-INT MC ask to have the service done to them from an allied Theurge that they trust?
Per their (probable) claim as “still the Hegemony, but under new management,” will Phaedra’s faction continue using the omphalos as its flag/emblem? (or might Phaedrx instead pick a different symbol that’s indicative of her current biotech research)