Choice of Rebels: Stormwright (XoR2 WIP)

[antwaun_henry]

Hmm, seems like something big happened

[Vrangel_RIP]

What happened?

[antwaun_henry]

Has a update come out?

[antwaun_henry]

Its been like 3-ish months since I last came here

[Nm6k]

Just the Irduin update

Choice of Rebels: Stormwright (XoR2 WIP)

OK, as I was saying before our historical military interlude… And in that spirit: Happy Xthonosmas! Have another 370K or so words of Rebels. As a decade ago, this isn’t in the shape I’d wanted to have it before I shared it with you all… but I just can’t keep sharing it in dribs and drabs forever. Almost all of the core Irduin exploration is here now, with just a few bits of the last Priest and Inn sections left TBD. I haven’t playtested half of it (and not at all since hack…

[antwaun_henry]

Alright I make sure to play it.

[Vrangel_RIP]

Somone on discord mentioned that the size of the Archon’s army does not affect whether the band leaders support stand and fight. I’m worried that this oversight appears elsewhere.

[idonotlikeusernames]

Well since my mc goes for high anarchy in game one the archon’s army is large too and we still beat it. The opposition to stand and fight is mostly due to Breden, get rid of Breden and empower figures like Kala and Radmar a bit and the mood will lean stand and fight to begin with.

[Havenstone]

@Vrangel_RIP

the size of the Archon’s army does not affect whether the band leaders support stand and fight

That’s correct, and not an oversight. You don’t know (or have any way of knowing) the size of the Archon’s army until much later; by then it’s too late to start preparing. The decision on how to prepare the band has to be taken in ignorance of how big a force is going to be sent after you.

[BlaiseB]

@Havenstone How is creating theurges going to work for a nationalist who isn’t a theurge? At present, most of the obvious choices to train them (like Cerlota, M’kyar, etc.) don’t seem like they’d approve of a pro-Shayardene status quo. Are there planned characters to fill this niche?

[roodcross]

I suspect both will still be ok with helping provided you promise to be friendly and reciprocate to their own nations.

Havie has said Cerlotta wouldn’t have an issue with an MC that wanted an independent Shayard that was allied with an independent Errezia.

[BlaiseB]

Thanks. I guess I’m more curious if there would be someone for a player who tries to go down an “imperialist” route to reconquer lost territory. I can’t imagine Cerlota would be too pleased if Shayard attempted to retake Aveche.

[Ramidel]

By the time you’re able to consider retaking Aveche, you might have your own home-grown third-circlers and not need Cerlota anymore.

[Aznable]

I’ve been thinking, Heracles would be a perfectly legitimate Karagon suckup name in XoR. “Hera’s glory” sounds like the perfect name for a tryhard loyalist.

[Havenstone]

Well, ADAT I let the thread know I’d be moving to Nepal. Doesn’t feel like it’s been ten years, but here we still are! And visa system permitting, I’ll be publishing the next couple of XoR games while here…

[Vrangel_RIP]

Callmeezekiel’s video about Stalin’s diplomacy with the Axis says that their relationship got so bad that when Stalin called a conference with them to give him control of the Danube, a fistifght happened between the Soviet and Italian diplomats. It also says that Germany wanted to sign a “Four-Power Pact” that would divide Afro-Eurasia between Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union (at least until it was no longer distracted). Both of these events feel like they might happen in Hegemon, so I hope that they inspire Havenstone

[Maximilian_Becker]

Will our xaos lands companion come to grand Shayard with us? Or are they going back to the rim?

[Nm6k]

If I recall right Havenstone said he is thinking about putting in a option to switch them out. (Still looking for that post exactly)

Due to how long and branching Irduin has become,Havenstone is rethinking his plans for Grand Shayard mechanics wise

@Havenstone

Given how much more time and work Irduin has been, I’m going to rethink some aspects of G3. Once I’ve got this beast done, I’ll turn my mind more to how I’m going to shape the next one.

[Havenstone]

Wow, has it been almost a month already since my last long response to questions?

@Leoxen

Will there be an option to personally follow Kenon if you fail to introduce it to your rebellion as Int 2? It feels weird to be enamoured with it, fail to get your rebellion to follow it, and then immediately forget about it yourself.

Yes, there will be. When I make a final pass to add religion consistently, that will be part of it.

@apple

Is there any sense of “animal rights”, in the Hegemony? Or at least, extending compassion to all living things, not just humans (I’m talking doctrinally, not just basic empathy)?

It’s a pretty minimal and idiosyncratic current–not wholly absent, but not at all central.

@apple

They do exist though? Even one or two bonafide Ecclesiastes willing to sign on out the gate would be welcome. Speaking of them and the eventual game three, can you give us an outline of what Olynna content might look like then?

They do! But I’m afraid I’m not going to outline Olynna’s content yet. Focusing on G2 for now.

@apple

Do the Seracca have centaurs?

Not literal Greek horse-people, for sure…the mechanics of centaurs (like growing a second ribcage) would be too implausible for a world where auto-Plektosis requires the accretion of small and survivable changes over time. There will probably be some Seracca who strike outsiders as half-and-half rather than blended, but not a whole Gara’u – just some individuals on their particular journey of Change.

@Aznable

For what the inner voice is, I think suneidésis would be what a Greek-speaker would use.

Syneidesis sounds good to me!

@Aznable

How exactly are the monasteries organised in the Hegemony? Are they segregated by gender, do different monastic rules exist (a la the irl rules of Antony/Benedict)?

Monasteries will generally welcome both male and female monastics, though there will be internal segregation by gender and orientation to reduce the temptation of fornication. There are different “rules,” and I’ve not decided yet how much detail the game will require on that point.

As in our world, monasteries inevitably end up as centers of intellectual activity, which puts them under close monitoring by Kryptasts and Theurges looking for potential self-taught magi. Since the great majority of the intellectual activity is poured into areas other than Theurgy, however, monasteries may be relevant for MCs who hope to reduce blood use by coming up with alternative technologies.

@Aznable

And perhaps on the subject of Olynna, what is the usual sentence for a heretic who has recanted…

A heretic priest who recants (and who isn’t deemed to have done so much damage that they require exemplary execution) is given a probationary sentence, where for years they’ll be given menial responsibilities and watched for signs of lapsing back into their heresies. They may eventually be considered redeemed and allowed to rise a little more in the hierarchy, but rarely to the same level they had previously reached, let alone higher. If you meet Olynna, it’s likely to be an elderly Diakon Olynna.

@Kevrj

I think the Chesnery scene about the Rim Commotion being radicals could benefit from a few natlreal and skepreal checks.

Good call, I’ve thrown in a selectable_if to cover this.

@idonotlikeusernames

The groups don’t map well onto the defaults of Vicky

Or Imperator, and they’re a pretty dodgy fit for EU and CK. (Though I should admit I’m speaking as someone who’s bounced off Paradox games every time I’ve tried them, and knows them primarily through the analyses of Bret Devereaux.)

@Engulfed

The Mordor-to-Bree transition was just a quip

But an AWESOME one.

@Engulfed

My personal preference would be to have as much content accessible as possible in a single playthrough

And I totally get that, and respect it. It’s just not what I want my games to be.

@Engulfed

INT should be mainly theurgy focused

It mostly will be, though it will also come in handy for things like

• helping revise the de Irde estate accounts well enough to fool Telone Baldassare
• knowing enough history/culture to recognize a poor disguise
• mentally calculating gambling odds well enough to pursue bold strategies and still come out ahead

It shouldn’t end up displacing COM or CHA in their respective spheres.

@BlaiseB

How is creating theurges going to work for a nationalist who isn’t a theurge? At present, most of the obvious choices to train them (like Cerlota, M’kyar, etc.) don’t seem like they’d approve of a pro-Shayardene status quo.

Like @roodcross and @Ramidel guessed, the solution if you want to be an imperialist nationalist is to hide your true intentions from your magic-using allies until you can invade them.

@Nm6k

Due to how long and branching Irduin has become,Havenstone is rethinking his plans for Grand Shayard mechanics wise

Yeah, definitely not going to make any commitments right now for how many companion options I’ll give you for Grand Shayard. I’ll probably not finalize that decision until I’ve added the companion paths to G2 and have a clearer sense of just how much authorial misery it would entail to add even one extra option for G3!

[apple]

@Havenstone

Syneidesis sounds good to me!

Is this a name you’d want to backport into Uprising, or something you can see taking off while we’re in Xaos? An option to go “that’s dumb” or “that sounds cool” when we first hear the name would be good in the latter case.

@Havenstone

If you meet Olynna, it’s likely to be an elderly Diakon Olynna.

More proof the Diakons are the future of the Ecclesiarchy.

Speaking of, we don’t really see many in Irduin iirc. Is this intentional, with Ulmey being a more active and involved priest, or more just something that there wasn’t time for?

Also, do either the MC or Olynna recognize that the MC is responsible for saving her, in timelines where she lives? Or is it just something that could only be known by observing multiple timelines?