No I mean this:
What is this referring to?
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It is just a theory. There are only so many ways to have sex that can be summarized in a 2-3 sentences, so Havenstone will probably need to make them more descriptive as the series goes on to make the scenes not be repetitive
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Ah, so violence wasn’t about morality, just utility—effective as freedom fighting when we were the underdogs, and now rebranded as structured enforcement to maintain order. Same tools, shinier boots, and a badge that says, ‘You don’t get to rebel like we did.’ Funny how the cycle turns, isn’t it?
How does horse taste like, FYI? Took me a long while to fall in love with lamb after stubbornly sticking with pork/chicken/beef/bacon for most of my life.
@Havenstone, curious for your take—how cool or plausible would the following dialogue be from Cerlota (romanced, but with female Homelander MC ‘strongly tempted by irredentist dreams’)?
Cerlota (beckoning with a finger, sultry tone): ‘What’s it going to be, MC? Are you going to annex me… or Aveche?’
It feels playful yet pointed, but would it fit her voice and dynamic with an ambitious Homelander MC?
Original Game 1 followers: How could you abandon our revolutionary dream?!
MC (flustered): I wouldn’t say abandon the dream, exactly. Let’s just call it… embracing a refined outlook—a taste for reform. You know, after some very in-depth one-on-one diplomatic negotiations with Phaedra. Through our bodies—er, body language. Strictly strategic, of course.
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I’ve only ever eaten it chilled and raw so I’m not sure how it compares to hamburger for example. As sashimi I suppose it is similar to beef tartare. It is much leaner and chewier but similar tasting. Kind of a bloody cold beef jerky.
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M’Kyar explaining the function of every human body part in Sojourn was a missed oportunity for an innuendo
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Horse meat when cooked and, yes, I have used it as a hamburger substitute once, is generally a bit sweeter than beef. So for me that means adding a spicier sauce and holding the ketchup.
It is theoretically a bit healthier than beef as it is lower in fat and higher in protein and doctors here sometimes still recommend it for non vegetarian patients who need to gain strength back, like myself after I was first diagnosed with celiacs.
Price wise it is between beef and the good chicken, at least over here. It is however more difficult to obtain than either of those two outside of major cities. Ironically I live in a relatively rural area surrounded by cows and horses but if I want the good horse meat I still need to buy it in Amsterdam.
Well, like I said, not precisely where I live, no. I have to get it from the city, which I do once or twice a year. It’s a niche product nowadays, but not really taboo either.
When there were lots more horses around in society up until around WWII or so it was much more available and was generally considered a meat source for the poorer people. It became more scarce and niche when horses themselves became rarer. But like I said it’s still plenty available and a bit more expensive than beef but less so than the premium chicken if you want a healthier meat than beef or pork and live in one of the major cities.
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They sell horse meat where you live? I know some cultures did indeed raise breeds of meat horses. I think Hallasur’s use of it is based on irl Steppe Nomads. Was never sure if it was still done.
Edit: the scene in rebels where horse eating is discussed is interesting because it shows how tied to culture and nationalism what animals are ok to eat. On the one hand, it probably exasperates existing prejudice against the Halasurqs to hear they eat horses but on the other, the taboo probably grew stronger BECAUSE the Halasurqs do it. I heard once that a similar thing happened in the crusades, where most Muslims in the Middle East weren’t keen on pork to begin with but the taboo really amplified when they heard their enemies considered it a staple meat.
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I seem to recall that if you do the helot prologue in game 1, there’s an extra dialogue option during the final battle that refers back to it. When you encounter the plektos. “I’m a child in the woods again, and the terror is suffocating” or something like that.
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There are a couple G1 callbacks like that, absolutely. But there’s a big chunk of Game 2 content that’s only available if you did the helot prologue. Matching that in later games for the Olynna and Carles prologues will be a challenge. 
In a random fact, I just got curious about how many words of the Irduin file are in gosubs, and the answer is 37,000 and counting–about 9% of the overall word count.
And for a mid-month snippet, here’s what players who choose to spend time with the Ecclesiast and Alastor of Irduin will see:
Summary
On your first visit to the village temple, the balding, lean Ecclesiast Ulmey greets you amiably at the door. “Good${woman} ${alias}, isn’t it? I’ve heard of your work @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) with the de Irdes|since you arrived}, and saw you introduced at the Chesnery the other night.”
The Alastor captain, Korren, appears behind him in the Naos. “Introduced? You saw ${him} practically accused of sedition, before ${he}'d opened ${his} mouth to say a damned thing.” He’s wearing a faint smile, while keeping a thoughtful gaze on you.
Ulmey waves his hands dismissively. “Well, yes, but what some outsider says should scarcely be allowed to count as ${his} welcome to Irduin.”
*fake_choice
#“Before the Telone spoke up, I wouldn’t say I was being all that warmly welcomed,” I say with a quirked eyebrow.
At that, Korren bursts out laughing. “$!{he} has you there, priest. It was the same way with me, when first I arrived from the Westriding. Took months before anyone not wearing the omphalos would talk to me. Even Her Ladyship.”
“You’re an Alastor, man. In a less open-hearted village we’d still not be talking to you.” The Ecclesiast’s eyes glimmer. “The folk of this part of the Southriding are a bit careful, it’s true. We’ve had travelers through here in the past who didn’t appreciate our ways and tried to stir up trouble. But we don’t shut our doors to anyone, unless they’ve done something to earn it.”
#“You’re clearly a community that’s kept the old ways of hospitality to strangers,” I flatter them.
Ecclesiast Ulmey scratches his chin, half-smiling. “Any village with Maurs as innkeep would seem hospitable even if everyone else had a stone for a heart. But I’m glad you feel well-greeted, ${alias}.”
“You do your part, priest,” Korren adds. “Without you prodding them from the pulpit every Helsday, the yeomen wouldn’t bother to speak the same language as outsiders like me—let alone speak to us.”
“Nonsense. If you Westerfolk troubled yourselves to learn proper Shayarin, you’d understand them perfectly well.” The Ecclesiast’s grin turns sly. You wonder what he means, but don’t want to emphasize how much of an outsider you are.
#I shrug. “Fair enough for folk to worry about what an outsider brings with ${him}. Especially from the Rim.”
Alastor Korren nods. “Glad you see it so, ${ird_name}. It was the same way with your fellow Rimsfolk Haldine Attwell and her daughter when they arrived, even though they were already known to the Strabauds. As they could tell you: folk will watch you for a while, and when they see no trouble, you’ll find a warmer welcome.”
Ecclesiast Ulmey gives a rueful shake of his head. “Meanwhile, they’ll do the least the Canon requires for strangers and travelers. Except dear Maurs at the Chesnery, who’ll go beyond anything in the Codex and put the rest of us to shame.”
He beckons you both into the shade and cool of the Naos Xthonos. It’s rather smaller than the Rim Square temple, but mostly familiar: a great hall with arches carved into Angelshape, a basalt sanctuary in the center, the high gilded niche in the apse for priests to stand in as they address the townsfolk. The most obvious difference is the great engraved wooden axons lining the walls of the nave. You rotate them, @{(skepreal < 51) admiring|feigning admiration for} the gilded letters etched on each side: the Heart of the Canon, forty of the earliest laws in the Codex. “My village must have been too small to get these.”
“Lady Alasais’s great-grandmother had them made in her time.” Ulmey beams as he sets another great block spinning on its axle. “Still in fine shape. Crafted in the Reach, I was told, from a forest that sheltered the original prophets. It’s only a fancy, but I’d like to think that at least one of the trees was there when the Law now carved on it was recited aloud for the first time.”
At the edge of the sanctuary you look back to the narthex, and blink in surprise. “There’s no balcony for the nobles?”
The Ecclesiast’s smile only broadens. “The de Irde may have the merle as their family crest, but they don’t perch so high.” He gestures out into the heart of the nave, toward a high-walled pew engraved beautifully with blackbirds. “They and their cousins have always seated themselves down here.”
*fake_choice
#“At the center of their community, rather than hovering above it?”
“Precisely!” Ulmey seems delighted that you’ve made it explicit. “That’s precisely the role the family has sought to play in Irduin, for generations beyond record.”
You try to imagine how different it would have been to have @{helot the Keriatou and the other nobles of Rim Square in your midst on Helsday|the merchants and yeomen at your elbow on Helsdays, and the helots so close at hand in their gallery}. "And
#“They don’t miss any chance to drive the message home, do they?” I say wryly.
Ulmey’s smile falters a little. “They are certainly consistent, and I believe sincere. I’m glad that even a newcomer can see the principles that guide them in the outworking of their responsibilities.”
You nod, not wanting to alienate him too much. "And
*if int > 1
#“Isn’t a balcony supposed to be part of every Naos?” I’m sure I’ve read that there was a theological reason for it.
“Well, there’s no law about it, as such. There’s a longstanding tradition that a Naos built on multiple levels wordlessly teaches the truth that some bits of reality are closer to Xthonos than others. But it shows becoming humility for the aristoi to seat themselves at the same level as all the other non-priests. And this way, my niche doesn’t have to be as high.”
Korren gives an amused snort, as you return Ulmey’s grin. "So
*if (int <= 1)
#“Is that common practice in the Southriding?” One more oddity of the riverlands, perhaps.
“I wouldn’t say it was commonplace,” Ulmey ventures reluctantly.
Captain Korren snorts. “Oh, come, priest. $!{he} asked about the Southriding, not just your Couvis shepherd lords or heathland horse-breeders. What’s commonplace is having a noble balcony only a hairs-breadth below the Ecclesiast’s niche, and a nail-paring below the first Angel in the Naos rafters. An occasional outbreak of humility in the high country doesn’t change that.”
You almost chuckle. "But
#I nod to the low helots’ door on the south wall. “I don’t suppose the de Irde have everyone entering that way?”
Every Naos you’ve ever seen has this kind of side entrance for the helotry, with a lintel only a foot or two above waist height to force them all to bow as they enter. And not bowing toward the sanctuary, either; the helot-way invariably faces the free folk’s benches, including in this case the de Irde pew.
A nervous chuckle bursts out of Ecclesiast Ulmey. “No, no. We keep to tradition on that point.”
“As one would expect.” @{(arrog > 0) You let them hear your genuine relief|You manage to keep your voice emotion-free}. “And
the de Irde mingling so freely with @{(arrog <= 0) us|} commonsfolk…that’s all in keeping with the Canon, then?”
“Nothing in the sacred writings forbids it,” the Ecclesiast insists. “And as I understand the history of Shayard, seasons of noble arrogance have been visited with dissension and violence…while leaders of compassion and humility have brought fruitfulness and prosperity to all.”
*if int > 1
You don’t think that’s at all clear from the chronicles you’ve read, but you’re not about to argue the case with him now.
“History’s all very well, but Captain Korren…not to be overbold, but since you seem a friendly sort…” When he doesn’t frown, you press on: “The de Irde’s ways don’t make it any harder for you to keep order?”
The Alastor responds with a sharp laugh. “I’d say they make it a damned sight easier. I’ve seen plenty of nobles try to win respect by force, and never seen any of them as secure in their demesne as lady Alasais.”
You talk a few minutes more about:
*choice
#Captain Korren’s experience as an enforcer.
*set prchat 1
“I learned how not to be an Alastor from the first captain I served under.” Korren’s short beard does nothing to conceal the curl of his lip. “Old Nuster had charge of sixty of us in the northwestern Serrowy plantations. Ulmey, have I ever told you about the old lame helot?”
“You’ve not.” The Ecclesiast looks like he’s bracing himself for a bite into rotten meat.
"Captain Nuster’d heard rumors of archery going on in the helot camp, so he took us on a hunt for bows and arrows. Out in a muddy bit of the woods we spotted an old helot with a basket over his shoulder that might have been a quiver. On your knees, churl, Nuster yelled at him as we closed in.
“The man just stood there, hands raised above his head, and said as pleasant as you could ask for, My knees went bad years ago, Captain, and these are the only breeches I own. Is there no other way we could go about this?”
“Oh, no.” Ulmey covers his face with his hands.
Korren nods with a grimace. “Nuster took his mace to the old fellow’s knees and left him screaming in the mud. No arrows or bow to be found; the man had been gathering mushrooms. Later on, when we were walking back to the garrison, the captain saw my thoughts on my face. Don’t show them any soft-heartedness, boy, he growled at me. Don’t let them think you owe them a damned thing. Else they’ll eat you alive. That one was nothing but Harrower-bait anyway.”
“And you reckoned he was wrong?” You raise your eyebrows at @{helot him, trying to hide the emotion his story has kindled|him}. “His harshness didn’t keep order?”
The Alastor snorts contemptuously. “Nuster’s ways kept hatred and chaos at a boil—just a low enough boil that it didn’t spill over too much. He survived five tries at killing him, though I’d guess the poison still shortened his life by a few years. Meanwhile the Theurges were happy for a steady flow of malcontents and conspirators who needed Harrowing.” He looks over at Ulmey with a bitter-edged grin. “From the village I was raised in, I always reckoned you could have better order if you aimed for less hatred. And it’s been my good fortune to live among other folk who believe that.”
*goto cynintro
#The history of the Southriding and Shayard.
*set prchat 2
There’s a simple question you’ve @{(int > 1) not seen answered in any book|never heard answered before}: “Where’s the name Southriding come from? Wouldn’t riding across it take forever?”
Alastor Korren rubs his beard, considering. “If you took horse here and rode all the way east to the far tip of Bragat-Laconne, I reckon you’d be in the saddle a month or two. The Westriding, you could traverse in rather less time; we’ve better roads up there than you’d find east of Grand Shayard.”
“So they called them ‘ridings’ because…you could ride them in a month?” That hardly seems to make sense. “Why not a Rim Riding, then?”
“The name’s nothing to do with horses, or indeed with riding.” Ulmey chuckles at the irritated furrow this puts in your brow. “It’s a thousand years old, ${ird_name}. Erlstow of the Rivers was the greatest city in the land, back then. And the kings of Erlstow talked about their realm as divided into Thirds—or ‘Thrithings,’ in their tongue.”
Suddenly it’s clear. “Irduin was in the southern third of that old realm?”
“Aye, with all of Erlstow’s other conquests south of the River Aldyer. And there was an East Thrithing between the Rivers Eddern and Fyrne.” Ulmey gestures off vaguely northeastward. "But when the old kingdom collapsed into civil war, its East was carved up by the Princes of Rheges, while the South and West each spent centuries under kings descended from the Erlstow line. So in the South and West Thrithings, the old names stayed, softened into ‘Ridings’ over time.
“The southern Serdre riverlands had never been part of Erlstow’s domains, though, especially once the lords of Shayard City started consolidating their own realm there. When Samena the Conqueror suddenly charged out of that desert backwater and overran the Ridings and Rheges, ‘Shayard’ jumped from being the name of the lower Serdre valley to being the realm-name for half a continent. There was no better-worn name than ‘Southriding’ for the southern part of the new empire, so folk kept using it. Even for a realm no longer divided in thirds…and which had been conquered from beyond its old southern marches.”
“Untidy and strange.” Alastor Korren shrugs. “But history often is, from what His Holiness here has shared with me.”
You incline your head to the priest. “Clearly you’re the man to ask on such matters, hieros.”
Ulmey looks slightly abashed but proud. “My fondness for old books has left me knowing a few things, I suppose.”
*goto cynintro
#Maurs Innkeep and his @{maursvoice claim to hear the Angelic voice|extraordinary hospitality}.
*set prchat 3
When you mention the innkeeper, Ulmey’s face brightens at once. “Ah, dear Maurs. There’s a man who, even more than milady Alasais, sustains all Irduin in a spirit of mutual compassion!”
“Even more than yourself, you mean, hieros.” An affectionate tone softens Alastor Korren’s needling. “Surely he’s filling your shoes more than the lady’s.”
“I don’t deny it! Angels help me, I don’t!” The Ecclesiast laughs, shaking his head. “Of course we’re on hallowed ground here…but he makes the Chesnery more of a sanctuary than ever I’ve managed in the Naos. That’s where folk go to feel themselves united and safe together.”
“And to hear the word of the Angels,” Korren adds. “Don’t forget that small point.”
*if (maursvoice)
“So I’ve been told.” You lean forward intently, curious to hear what the priest thinks of this audacity. "I’d
*if not(maursvoice)
*set maursvoice true
At your raised eyebrows, he says, “No one’s yet told you? Maurs hears Them.”
You @{((religion >= 13) and (religion <= 15)) do your best to hide your sudden excitement; who knows what word might have reached here about ${fname} ${lname}'s teaching on the Angelic voice?|look to the priest, astonished that he’s still smiling after this audacity.} “But I’d
thought the Angels spoke only to the Eclect and Ecclesiasts, hieros?”
“Then you need to revisit the Codex, my dear ${alias}. It is true that formal revelations are given only to a select few…but there are stories in which They send a more ordinary message or guidance to others.” @{(int > 1) From what you remember of the Codex, that’s an arguable reading of the stories…but Ulmey’s|You’re not sure you’ve ever heard those stories, but Ulmey seems} keen to hurry past the details.
Korren scratches his head. “I suppose there’s also the Theurges. They say the Angels guide them in the Harrowing, choosing who’s to be taken. But then, they’re all lesser Eclect, in a way, aren’t they?”
“In a way, yes.” The Ecclesiast seems disinclined to linger on that example. “In any case: our good innkeep doesn’t pretend to be adding to the Canon or challenging anyone’s authority. He just speaks truths for people’s day-to-day lives.”
You try to imagine how @{(gandhi = 2) |the late} Ecclesiast Zebed from Rim Square would have reacted to layfolk claiming to speak Angelic truth, in any context. “And it’s the Angels’s own truth, hieros? Not just the ordinary wisdom you might expect from an innkeeper?”
“Ask him yourself and see what you think. I say Irduin is blessed to have a holy man—one who knows the Angels’ compassion more intimately than any book-taught priest.” Ulmey indicates himself with a wry, abashed smile. “I do my best to learn from him.”
*goto cynintro
*label cynintro
*page_break
Your conversation is interrupted by the arrival of a tall woman wearing the drab helot kyrtle. Her grace and aplomb are enough to make you look twice, even before you notice the unusual light eyes—green-hued, you see as she comes closer—that speak of a ${nere}ish or perhaps ${erretsin} strain in her @{helot family|breeding}.
Korren’s own eyes take on a different shine when he sees her. @{(auchearith > 0) This must be Earith’s sister, you think, just before he confirms it with:|} “Cynneve! Have the elders sorted out the matter between those two young bucks and the merchants?”
“We’re…they’re ready to suggest a resolution and restitution, aye.” The @{aristo helot|} woman’s gaze rests fondly on him for a moment before flickering warily to you. “Greetings, stranger. I’m elder Brasque’s daughter.”
“And wise as any elder herself, despite her years,” Captain Korren grins. “This is the newcomer ${alias} ${ird_name}, Cynneve—the one @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) the de Irdes are trying out as a new retainer|who’s started plying ${his} trade in the village}.” Before you can say anything on your own behalf, he’s striding past you to her side. “Right, then—let’s bring the Hegemony’s authority to bear.”
The Alastor captain and helot woman walk off with barely an inch between them, fingers brushing as they walk down the gentle slope into the village. When you glance at Ulmey, you find him studying you shrewdly. You wonder if he can sense your @{(auchearith = 0) immediate|} reaction:
*choice
#Approval. I’m glad Korren treats @{helot |the} helots with humane fellow-feeling, including falling in love with @{helot one of us.|one.}
*set korcyn 2
*goto ulmjudge
#Disapproval. There’s an ugliness in the power an Alastor holds over a helot concubine, however kindly he may seem.
*set korcyn 4
*goto ulmjudge
*if (chaste > 0) or ((bred_lover > 24) and (bred_lover < 27))
#Condemnation. They’re surely unwed, which makes it Xaotic behavior.
*set korcyn 5
*goto ulmjudge
#Indifference. It’s no business of mine.
*set korcyn 1
*goto ulmjudge
*if (irdgoal > 3)
#Satisfaction. Illegal relations involving the village’s Alastor captain are an obvious weakness I can exploit.
*set korcyn 3
*goto ulmjudge
*label ulmjudge
Ecclesiast Ulmey @{(korcyn > 3) sighs ruefully at|nods his agreement with} whatever he sees on your face. “No, I pass no judgement on them. Korren’s a devout and good-hearted man. He’s faithful to her, and would wed her if the law allowed.”
*fake_choice
#“That’s easily said when the law doesn’t allow it,” I @{(korcyn < 3) point out mildly|note scornfully}.
“That it is,” Ulmey admits. “But if you come to know Korren better, I think you’ll share my view of his honor.”
*if (korcyn = 5) and (skepreal <= 50)
#“‘The law’—by which you mean the Canon of the Angels?” I say icily. It’s his vocation to see it upheld!
Ulmey’s not smiling any more. “I do indeed, good${woman}. And I don’t take it lightly. You’ll have to take my word as a priest and scholar that there are sound justifications for folk to live in bonds of chaste matrimony, as those two do, even when that matrimony cannot be solemnized before the world.”
#“Do they have children?” And if not, how is a woman of Cynneve’s age escaping the Harrower?
A helot and free man conceiving a child would be especially flagrant lawbreaking…but any noble house in the Rim would have expected Cynneve to have at least a handful of offspring by now. @{(auchearith > 0) Perhaps like Earith, she’s somehow confident she won’t be chosen?|} From Ulmey’s sober expression, you can see he’s just as mindful of the potential consequences. “No children. Neither of them would accept the pretense that there was a different father.”
#“The de Irde don’t object?” I can’t imagine someone of lady Alasais’s keenness failing to notice this.
Ulmey shrugs with a faint smile. “They deign not to see it. However they judge the rights and wrongs of it, a captain like Korren isn’t to be lightly discarded.”
“The captain doesn’t seem too worried about hiding it,” you @{(auchearith > 0) observe, thinking of the contrast with Auche de Irde|observe with some surpise}.
The Ecclesiast shakes his head. “An Alastor keeping order in his patch won’t be brought down by rumors that he’s making free with the helotry. If some outsider saw it and tried to spread tales back in Mesniel, all it would prove is how little the aristarch’s people care about anything in Irduin, other than that it stay quiet!” @{(korcyn > 3) He chuckles, then turns a more pointed glance your way. “For newcomers, it also makes a decent test of who’s worthy of trust.”|}
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Why the nervousness? In any case one more thing that makes the current iteration of Xthonicism not a lawful religion as far as my mc is concerned.
That is not how a harrowing economy and therefore the divine order of the Hegemony of Hera and her successors is supposed to work. That old captain of his is far more typical for the alastors as we can already experience if we try to put them on trial in game 1. Only a single young alastor is let free because he was the only one just following the, admittedly still cruel, orders of his superiors without adding some cruelty or taking extra legal privileges of his own.
Indeed it would, let alone a noble. I figure that is a big part of why Calea eventually disposes of all the handsome helot men she’s been with over the years with helot mc’s pretty boy childhood friend Dann the latest in a long line of her victims. She always seems to dispose of those pretty boys before she has a chance to fall in love with them for real, eh? With the moment of their demise probably being whenever she thinks she might be developing genuine feelings for any of them 
In a very twisted way my mc would now concede that was probably wise of her, even if it is and was still unspeakably cruel and cost my mc another one of his very few true friends, given how much Ganelon has directly and indirectly hurt my mc now and now Gan can survive to possibly cause more trouble and potential heartbreak for my mc later on.
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Something tells me goodman Maurs is about to be a martyr of the Inner Voice.
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Do the rebels know how to build a snowman?
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I think that snow melting was mentioned when springtime came in Uprising, and it was in a forest, so both snow for the head and torso and sticks for the arms were available. However, the rebels would not have brought carrots for the nose to the Whendward Band, since the Outer Rim probably doesn’t have sufficiently fertile soil to grow carrots competitevely (compared to places like the Westriding). However I think that snowfall in the Outer Rim is very rare, since Shayard has a mediterranean climate. I think that there is a significant amount of snow in Uprising because the rebels lived in high altitudes (the Whendward hills). Because of this, they would only have had 14 weeks (They spend 4 weeks in Whendward between chapter 1 and chapter 2, and 10 weeks pass during chapter 2) to come up with the idea of a snowman, and then successfully build one, which is not enough. However, if the rebels survive the Archon’s army and stay in Whendward, then they would have enough time conceive of and make one, which the protagonist should notice when they return to Whendward
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I am back on the forums after a nearly two-year hiatus. How has Stormwright been coming along?
3 Likes
Havenstone has decided to split off chapter 3 and chapter 4 into an additional game in the series. This is because he has added so much content to what had been the first 2 chapters of Stormwright that the game would be too long otherwise. Now, Chapter 1 will be the section in the Xaos-Lands excluding Sojourn, Chapter 2 will be the Sojourn section, Chapter 3 will be the journey to Irduin + Irduin itself, and Chapter 4 will be just in Irduin. Havenstone is currently wrapping up all the possible endings of Chapter 4, and will probably release all the changes that I have mentioned in January or February. I don’t know whether Sojourn was in the public draft 2 years ago, so this might not have made sense
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Now that’s the overly complex answer that I expect from a nerdy community like this one! 
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What do you all think our favorite rebels would gift each other in general?
My headcanon is that Zvad gave everyone something generic but respectable, like a bottle of wine/whiskey, while Breden thinks Christmas is an aristo tradition meant to keep helots complacent and nice, so they’re not participating.
Elery bought one set of “The Campaign for North Africa” for everyone to “enjoy”, but she ended up the only willing participant.
Joana gifted MC Father a nice coat, which he promptly sent forward to his child.
Calea definitely gave Hector some kind of prank gift. I’ll leave it up to people’s imagination. Hector doesn’t think Santa is real.
Kleitos got 9 “Xtonos’ best Eclect” mugs. The Ennearchs got to live one more year.
6 Likes
I know it’s the 26th in Nepal, but Merry Christmas! Here’s to a year of hopefully fruitful writing, even if Irduin hasn’t quite made it unless…
In honor of the holiday, what are Hegemonic winter festivities like? IIRC you’ve mentioned a Langsnight on the solstice, anything fun happening then?
7 Likes
Belatedly:
No promises.
There are a number of (brief, not especially smutty) sex scenes possible if you visit the nomad camp in the Xaos-lands chapters. Most of them aren’t accessible unless you arrive single, so not all readers will have stumbled across them.
Because he recognizes the inconsistency with the relative egalitarianism he approves in the de Irde, not because he thinks you’re likely to disapprove. But the passage probably works as well if I cut “nervous.”
Absolutely–state terror is a pillar of the Hegemony. That doesn’t mean all the Alastors are enthusiastic about it, or believe it’s the best approach. Alasais looks for the exceptions when she’s picking a Captain for her demesne.
The Wiends would, but there’s almost never snow at the altitudes Rimsfolk live at, let alone other Shayardenes. I think the only mentions of snow in Uprising is in reference to Wiendish peaks and passes.
Cold-water swims and bonfires during the day, followed by an all-nighter feast keeping light alive through the longest dark.
Merry Christmas, all!
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Ah, so he’s very much not a secret rebel or helot sympathiser then? In which case I agree. Best to cut the nervous thing from that passage.
The Harrowing economy seems to require it.
Just most. I think there was one (still) innocent kid, well innocent of anything but carrying out the Hegemony’s cruel orders, if mc puts Rim Square’s Alastors on trial. Which still makes almost all Alastors completely unsuitable for security work in a future state if you want actual reform since they are so completely used to corruption and taking extralegal privileges and advantage of the slave caste by now most are beyond redemption.
I imagine that was an exceedingly difficult search.
Which means most of them don’t know or suspect enough about how the Harrowing economy actually works.
I imagine my mc never was one for big parties particularly once he got older especially since both of the guys he might have wanted to attend with were never available due to circumstances and his station the last couple of years before the rebellion. Dann on account of being snatched up as Calea’s latest boytoy and Gan, who my mc probably actually was in love with and one of the few other boys who shared some of his particular interests, was extremely incompatible due to the Hegemony’s “divinely ordained” caste system of the cursed angels. 
And of course dear old dad was never one to encourage holiday cheer within the family either.
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