Choice of Rebels: Stormwright (XoR2 WIP)

Choice of Games games CoG Works In Progress
4134 
 #Destroying the priesthood.  I'll never topple the Hegemony otherwise.
      *set phoodgoal 1
      There are plenty of other folk in the realm capable of teaching the alphabeta, keeping records, or managing the grain trade.  Merchants, for example; some of the less @{helot monstrous|compromised} nobles; former Telones, even.  You'll see what allies come to hand as and when you need to build a new order.  But you'll never ally with @{(skepreal > 50) the fools and liars of the priesthood of Xthonos|an institution that has so thoroughly perverted the word of the Angels}. The time you spend with Ulmey may help you find the weaknesses you can exploit to break them down.
      *goto ec1done
    *selectable_if (religion < 20) #Somehow winning the priesthood over to my side, so they can help me build a new order.
      *set phoodgoal 5
      Instead of destroying all the institutions that have held up the Hegemony, you'd rather transform any that are both useful and redeemable.  @{(skepreal > 50) There's much in the Codex that not even a skeptic would object to|Your vision for a better world is in keeping with the heart of the Codex}: compassion, justice, honesty.  @{(skepreal > 50) A priesthood focused on building those things, while letting infidels and heretics be, could be a key part of the new world you hope to build.|} If you could only beget one of those "waves of reform" the Ecclesiast spoke of, ensuring the priests of Xthonos believed in your order rather than the Thaumatarchy's…
      *goto ec1done
    #Building my own version of the priesthood, consistent with my vision of a better world.
      *set phoodgoal 10
      To be a successful rebel, it won't be enough to tear things down.  You'll need pillars to hold up your new order—and while you can't imagine @{(religion > 10) winning over the priesthood of Xthonos to your heresy|using the priesthood of Xthonos in anything like its current form}, you'll need to build some body that plays much the same role.  People need institutions to tell them the ruling order is righteous; rulers need institutions that teach people how to be good @{(democ = 0) subjects|citizens}.

@Havenstone Would it be possible to add another option here, something more ambivalent or bridge-building in tone? Or at least allow #Somehow winning the priesthood over to my side, so they can help me build a new order to be available to kenon MCs, even if it’s ultimately a doomed hope.

Some of my MCs don’t want to destroy the priesthood (or build one of their own), even if they know conversion to kenon makes the old priesthood untenable. They’re not interested in calling all priests “fools and liars,” especially since characters like Ulmey and Olynna are among their favorites. They might disagree with the priesthood’s teachings, but they value the shared search for meaning and respect sincere belief.

I think of my MC’s relationship to the priesthood like Horion’s to Linos: mutually interested in the big questions, able to disagree respectfully. One of my favorite lines in the game is from Erjan:

When one of his followers makes a disparaging comment about you, he replies chidingly, "${sojname} uses different names for the powers of the cosmos, but do you see the vitality it gives ${him}? So ${he} cannot be entirely wrong. Let ${him} share ${his} names, and we will share ours, and Sojourn may bear witness to the fruits.

That vision of pluralism and respect really speaks to me. I think I have far more in common with open-minded, collaborative people of any belief than I do with the dogmatists of any ideology, including the one I subscribe to. I’d love to see an option for MCs who don’t want to be narrow-minded, dismissive, or doctrinaire. They may be reformers or visionaries, but not iconoclasts

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4135

It’s been a few months since I did any snippet-sharing, so…

Here's the bulk of the Stannary sabotage scene.

Over the course of five dark nights around the new moon, you @{gam and ${gamgee} risk your lives|risk your life} alongside Heud, Kelles, and Annick, climbing down narrow cliff trails by starlight. That brings you to the Stannary’s main adits: the handful of drainage tunnels that bring knee-deep streams of water out to the Irdewater gorge.

@{((narran > 7) or (heudboom = 7)) Edging in, you seek out vulnerable wooden timbers and ceiling lathes as close as possible to the river. “Chisel into the rock back here, and even a small powder-mass packed in will bring down twenty yards of roof,”|Working by the light of an oil-lamp left at the very far side of the tunnel, you smear pine-pitch over the driest wooden timbers and lathes used to support the cavern roofs. “They won’t have to burn all the way through—just enough for them to break under the weight of the loose stone above,”} Annick whispers. She’s spent time down here with Whern, putting in new pit props and ceiling wedges where the old ones had nearly rotted away, and has a good sense of where cave-ins are most likely. @{((narran > 7) or (heudboom = 7)) Each of you works by lamplight to cut out a dry little hollow which the mine drudges then pack with powder.|}

*set irde_wealth -2
*set ird_sus +(4-cha)
On the last night,
*if (narran > 7) or (heudboom = 7)
Heud brings out @{gam five|four} reels of cord with miners’ powder rubbed into them. He’s surreptitiously watched Whern prepare fuses for months, and swears he’s done the job as thoroughly as any trained yeoman. Each of you presses one cord-end into the sulfur-smelling powder, packs in the tampion and stemming-clay behind it, and reels the fuse out from timber to timber until you’re as close as you can get to the moonlight.

When you all reemerge and find each other on the riverbank, there’s a long and uneasy stillness. Heud’s hoarse voice finally breaks it, barely audible above the Irdewater. “To it, then. $!{kuria} ${ird_name} has chosen the night’s cadence.” He starts slapping one trembling hand on his thigh, and the rest of you join in, drowning out the jangle of anxious thoughts with your shared rhythm.

Whenever mine drudges need to ensure charges in multiple tunnels are lit at the same moment, you’ve learned, they choose a well-known song with a strong beat. They start it off together and go through an agreed number of stanzas before each touching fire to fuse. That should get everyone running for their lives at roughly the same time.

For tonight, you picked:
*choice
#To Shayard in the @{(natl > 50) Spring, of course. Remind them what they’re fighting for.|Spring. As popular in the Chesnery as it was in Rim Square.}
@{intronat As ever, it brings you back to Iarla Wester’s wineroom, and Carles baiting Alastor Gellard.|Whether helot or free, almost every Shayardene knows the rollicking ballad on the beauties of your homeland.} You start singing in a low voice:

The sky burns cloudless overhead
With every winter-trace now fled
Come play at bonfire on the green
We’ll feast on roasted lamb Veldrine
And drink to Shayard in the spring!
*set powdersong 1
*set irdnatl +5
*goto powdersinging

#The Psalm of Euthymos. A firm, consistent rhythm, everyone knows it from the Naos, and it’s all about justice for the poor.
@{(skepreal > 50) You’d not normally choose a temple-song, but you like that it’s|It’s} framed as an appeal to your fellow-humans, not just to the Angels of Xthonos. You lead the chant in a low voice:

Defend the lowly,
O people, all people;
Uphold their cause
In the day of doom

Defeat the unjust,
O people, all people;
Unmake their power
In the day of doom
*set powdersong 2
*set irdskep -5
*goto powdersinging

#The Hunting of the Bear. A bloody celebration of hounds bringing down far larger predators through merciless joint effort.
It’s @{(ruth > 50) exactly|a perhaps slightly over-ruthless vision of} what your own followers might be, as long as they care more for their cause than they fear death. Annick, Heud, and Kelles have never joined a noble hunt, but their eyes still shine with recognition as they sing.

See every hound at the scent of the beast
Rush in as one to press the attack
Some will fall there, but so will the bear
Here’s to the hunt, and here’s to the pack!
*set powdersong 3
*set irdruth +5
*goto powdersinging

*label powdersinging

When you’ve got the rhythm, you count off, “One!” and walk away, hearing the others’ voices fade as they head to their own adits. You’re only on the thirtieth stanza when you reach your fuse-end; it takes all your self-control to keep from speeding up. At last you reach forty-five and, suddenly dry-throated, touch your lamp to the cord. It instantly starts spitting white sparks as the powder grains catch fire.

Then you’re splashing pell-mell down the tunnel, forcing your legs to top speed despite their burning, the resistance of the water, and the exhaustion of multiple nights with little sleep. You don’t dare to slow down until you’re out of the drain and several yards away from the cliff face.
*set irde_wealth -1

*if (narran <= 7) and (heudboom != 7)
you each carry in dry bundles of brushwood and lash them to the oiled timbers. You’re the third to finish and reemerge, covering your lamp as soon as you’re out in the open air. There’s almost no chance that anyone would be walking above this particular stretch of the Irdewater gorge tonight…but your game would be up if they spotted lights down by the river.

When all @{gam five|four} of you have finished your preparations and returned to the rendezvous point, you pause for a moment, feeling…
*fake_choice
#Exhilarated, as I always do in the moment before the action starts.
#Nervous and reluctant to go back. It’s so easy to imagine this going terribly wrong.
But there’s no turning back now.
#Just impatient for the sabotage to be done at last.
“Does everyone have a flame?” you whisper. “Yes? Very well, let’s go.”

You splash back up your assigned tunnel, to the furthest set of timbers you’d prepared. In the cold dampness, it takes several moments for your little oil lamp to kindle the dry brush. When it finally catches, though, the fire runs quickly from the kindling onto the pitch-soaked beams. The sound of those timbers creaking and popping follows you down the tunnel to the next sabotage point, and you have to force yourself to stop and set the next bundle alight, rather than just fleeing the expected collapse.

By the time you reach the last set of prepared beams, you’re light-headed from the smoke and heat filling the tunnel, and you can hear groans and splashes of drain-props starting to give way behind you. Mercifully, the last timbers catch almost at once. Moments later, you’re outside, coughing out soot and sucking in deep lungfuls of fresh air. @{gamlove It feels like an eternity before ${gamgee} bursts out of ${ghis} nearby cavern mouth and collapses next to you, limp-limbed but fiercely gripping your hand.|} One by one, the others rejoin you.

@{((narran > 7) or (heudboom = 7)) The explosions you’ve set, aimed only at destroying a few stretches of timbers, are small enough that you can barely hear them over the river. The real noise comes a long minute later: a|Heud and Annick are the last to arrive, leaning on each other and wheezing audibly from their run down the deepest drains. You all collapse next to each other, ears pressed to the ground. Just when you’re about to ask if your plan has failed, you hear the} shuddering crrrrmmmpph as the first adit collapses.

“That’ll just be the start,” Heud breathes triumphantly. “It’ll send more water to the others, and that’ll speed their collapse. By morning, the deep runs should be underwater…and half the mine will be flooded out before they manage to get the drains safely open again.”
*if helsed = 3

Adding to the night’s triumph, Snip and Narran are waiting for you on the edge of Irduin. You’ve kept them far from the Stannary this past week, not wanting too much suspicion to fall on them when the adits come down. The two boys have gone to the Chesnery instead, stayed late, and swayed back to sleep around the fire in a longhouse.

But on this last night, you let them sneak out after midnight to one of the orchards. At this time of year, the grove-keepers often set low, smoky fires around the trees to reduce pests, fungus, and cold humors. Snip and Narran coax several of them into a full blaze.

“We left one of the de Irde’s finest lemon orchards in flames, then crept off with no trace,” Narran declares in a whisper. “They’ll rue tonight for years.”
*set irde_wealth -1
*page_break
The next day you keep a deliberate distance from anyone involved in the Stannary works, and so don’t hear about your sabotage until that evening in the Chesnery. Farrec Strabaud arrives looking wild-eyed, but doesn’t speak except to Maurs at the cask. He’s downed at least three beakers of canewine before a weary-looking Captain Korren trudges in.

Then the merchant makes straight for him. “What have you found, man?”

“Nothing to find, goodman Farrec.” Korren pulls off his mud-crusted boots with a grimace of distaste. “At least, not without crawling further into a collapsing drain. But I doubt there was much to find, even if we had.”

“What, you think it some sort of accident? An earthquake no one felt, but brought down every single drain tunnel in one night?” The shrill note in the guildsman’s voice falls somewhere between mockery and panic.

“Of course not. And nor does her ladyship.” The Alastor captain casts a quick, grim look about the room. You make sure your eyes stay focused on the yeoman to whom you’re supposedly listening. “But whoever did it, their handiwork is buried under a thousand tons of rock.”

“The lady needs to bring in a mage. They might be able to find out more. And only Theurgy can clear out those tunnels before the whole damned Stannary is flooded!”

Korren takes a long, deliberate swig from his own beaker. “A Theurge’s services cost a damned lot of silver. And blood.”

“And?” Farrec demands, eyes bulging slightly. “Angels, man. If milady’s not ready to bring in Theurges to quell the sedition now, all Irduin will catch fire before you can bring it back under control. Let this kind of sabotage go unanswered, and next time the bastards will strike for blood.”

“Give me more than a day to catch them, guildsman.” The Alastor’s voice is bleakly confident.
*fake_choice
#It sends a chill down my spine. What might he have pieced together?
#No. He’s bluffing to calm Farrec down. He can’t know anything of what we’ve been doing.
#All I’m thinking about is the prospect of a Theurge being called in soon.

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July 2025 Writers' Support Thread
4136

Excellent snippet, happy to see these return. Glad to see a light shone on the sabotage path as well, a path the guerillero par excellence himself would recommend.

For those who haven’t read it, Guevara’s “Guerilla Warfare” might prove an interesting manual for the would be violent rebels out there:

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All of these are useful tips we can already see the guerilla MC effecting on their most successful routes in game. Replace bombs and planes with theurgy and theurges and you’re cooking with gas. Of note is that he explicitly disavows the sort of petty terrorism that one might see in assassinating the de Irde or Korren, while endorsing strikes against folk like the de Merre.

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4137

…Maybe I should be teaching the Yeomen to read, instead of to fight.

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4138

Is there a reason you can’t do both?

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4139

Game mechanics, and I assume it’s too time consuming.

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4140

@Havenstone I know it’s hard to answer such an abstract question, but I’ll ask it anyway: What do you plan to do with the role of democracy in the game? And what kind of advances can MC implement in that regard?

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4141

We can already reuse moot/apella system in our band management, potentially setting it up as a framework of our future state. In Irduin we can also try to use the Laconnier Monarch myth to spread democratic way of thought - as if every yeoman could be of the true monarch descent then they should self-rule themselves.

Edit: Plus, as someone on discord pointed, you can also utilise Inner Voice religious path in order to potentially strengthen democratic thought even further.

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4142

Whew, has it already been almost two years since we had our long discussion that touched on this? I’d really hoped to be done with G2 by now. :frowning:

I’m afraid I don’t have a lot more to share yet that what I shared here on the kinds of governance reform that I expect to be feasible. @Sowe is right to point out that both Inner Voice and traditional Shayardene nationalism can be used to shore up your experiments in participatory democracy.

On a totally obscure side note: I read that AO3 was encouraging people to post old fanworks, so I’ve gone ahead and put up the parody of Atlas Shrugged that I wrote when I was still a regular on a Robert Jordan fan newsgroup almost 30 years ago.

Parodying Rand’s style – e.g. a man’s face described as “an assembly of hard, angular planes, like the cover of a high school geometry textbook” – was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in writing.

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4143

Hmm, I’d like to brainstorm again about national capabilities and governance in this game. What topic should we start with?

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4144

Like I’ve said in the past, I think election by lottery could be a very successful form of democracy in the Hegemony. It solves a lot of the logistical issues carrying out a vote on a national scale would entail, and would protect against local elites rigging elections in their favor. Also sortition is in large part how Athenian democracy selected government officials so it’s very thematic with the whole Ancient Greece vibe

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4145

A very dystopic ancient Greece was the gameworld’'s history the “vibe“ to me is more horrifying version of byzantium in some ways apparently on the cusp of industrial revolution, as opposed to ancient Greece. But vibe is as personal as it gets.

Lottery is extremely open to manipulation it only sorta worked for Athens because its citizen pool was relatively small and slaves did, needless to say, not participate. Even should my mc learn of the Karagond equivalent of Athens, if indeed there was ever one, he would not find it particularly inspiring. Marginally better than the polity of terror and horror Hera came from and was head of but hardly an example worth emulating in the present, especially since it would also have practiced slavery liberally. Overall the concept of demarchy is not very appealing to my mc as it relies on “chosen ones“ and growing up under the Hegemony’s caste system with its supposedly “chosen“ eclects on top he abhors the idea of chosen ones.

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4146

Would you be open to explaining how? I’m honestly not super familiar with the specifics of an appointment-by-lottery system, but superficially it doesn’t seem like being open to manipulation would be one of its weaknesses.

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4147

On the broad question of what social change is going to be feasible in the gameworld, I was recently reading some research from my old day job (in the only-sporadically-successful social-change-triggering industry) that provided further evidence for and a nutshell summary of my perspective:

In other news, it’s snippet time, and I’m going to go against my normal instinct and share a big advance spoiler about something some readers really care about…

where the Auche/Earith elopement is going

When you tell Auche to be ready to leave at your word, he’s consumed by a frenetic restlessness: constantly pacing, drumming on things with his fingers, rattling off long, repetitive stories of childhood to his huntsmen and stable hands. After you warn him about drawing attention, he retreats so utterly into himself that you barely hear a word from him for days.

You’re beginning to worry the boy will give the game away—and then at last you hear that a pair of traders have arrived from the Hethe, their mules laden with caryds and pistakios. Even from a safe distance, it speeds your pulse to recognize Alless and Hucel under the Chesnery Oak. After selling some sacks of nuts to Maurs, they amiably refuse his hospitality, saying they’ll make camp closer to the bridge on their way to Gelley.

As planned, that’s where you meet them with Auche and Earith after midnight. Hucel is on watch, and shakes Alless awake before hurrying up to you. She looks almost giddy with excitement at being chosen for a mission that brings her in close proximity to you. “$!{addressu}: always an honor to serve. How long do we think we’ll have before the hunt is on for our new friends?”

At your questioning glance, Auche leans down from the saddle to clasp Alless‘s wrist in greeting. “I left a letter for my mother, saying that I’d be riding out toward the Rim for a few days’ hunt.” There’s a noticeable tremor to both his hand and his voice. “She’ll be angry that I didn’t take a retainer, and she’ll send them after me…but it should be some days before they seriously question where I’ve gone. And they won’t look south, not at first.”

“For my part…” Earith shifts in front of him, clearly uneasy both on horseback and in the stolen clothes she’s wearing. She won’t have worn dyed cloth before in her life. “Around sunset I told my father I was feeling unwell and would go out to find some herbs. Tomorrow they’ll look for me, and worry that I’ve hurt myself out on the moors. Hopefully it’ll be a day or two before they ask the kuria for help.”

“So. A little time, but we shouldn’t press our luck.” Alless 's tone is brisk, matter-of-fact. Only someone who knew her well would both sense and take seriously what that briskness hides: an utter determination to protect this runaway as she was once protected. “It’s a bright night, and this road isn’t bad. We should make the most of the hours before moonset. The two of you will need to wait till we’ve reached safety in the Rim to have anything like a proper wedding night.”

The young lovers just nod, wordless and wide-eyed. While Hucel readies the mules, you take Alless aside for a quick word.
*fake_choice
#“Be gentle with them. They’re terrified.”
Alless gives a sympathetic bob of the head.
#“They’re a stronger-willed pair than they look right now. Get them as far from here as you can, and they’ll find their balance.”
Alless grins and nods.
*if (earcomm < 3) and (aucomm < 3)
#“Don’t tell them they’ve joined the Commotion until you’re safe in the Rim. @{((earcomm = 1) or (aucomm = 1)) I’ve denied it, and we don’t want them panicking.|They’ve likely guessed, but…}”
Alless nods at once.
*if (earcomm = 3) or (aucomm = 3)
#“They already know we’re rebels…but don’t make too much of that until you’re safe in the Rim. Don’t want them panicking.”
Alless gives a wry grin.
#I keep my voice just above a breath. “If you run into trouble…save yourself and Hucel first.”
You can hardly hear Alless’s somber reply:
“Aye, ${addressu}.” The four of them head off moments later, with Auche and Earith still too deeply disconcerted to thank you properly, or say more than a fleeting word of farewell.

As you’d expected, when you @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) head up to the estate the next morning, you hear about lady Alasais’s anger at her son for going off hunting on a whim. As another retainer mutters, “With all that trouble in the Rim, the young kurios should have known better than to try his usual japes.” But there’s no sign of panic, just Visier Huntmaster sent off to find and return Auche to the manor.|wander down to the helot camp the next morning, Brasque looks more worried than usual. But when you ask if anything’s the matter, he forces a smile and shakes his head. Of course he’d not want rumors starting that Earith might have turned fugitive. Whoever he’s got out searching for her, they’ll all be discreet for now.}

Another night passes, and a second tense day, then a third. You spend the whole time feeling like you’re holding your breath, waiting for the general hunt to be called out for one or both of the missing youth. By the fourth day, murmurs are spreading rapidly @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) around the estate, and from elder Brasque’s worried look you think he’s almost given up on finding Earith|through the helot camp, and in the Chesnery you hear the first comment about young kurios Auche’s foolish hunting trip going awry}.

It won’t be long before people start drawing the obvious conclusion—especially if Auche’s horse Bayard reappears. You’d agreed that he’d let the beast go free somewhere on Ueron Lemouratou’s lowland estate, since keeping a fine mount on the road would occasion too many questions, and leave a stronger trail of memories for pursuers to follow. If Bayard wanders back to the de Irde stable, or is brought back by some lowlander, that should throw the village into pandemonium. Not much longer…tomorrow, perhaps…
*page_break
In the middle of the night, you’re awakened by a gentle tapping at the door of your enclosure in the stable loft. “Good${woman} ${ird_name}?” The whisper that comes through is strained, but it’s unmistakably Auche de Irde.

You don’t remember getting up or moving to the door. Clapping your hand over the boy’s mouth and pulling him inside feels like an instantaneous reaction. Mouth pressed to his ear, you breathe, “What went wrong? Where are the others?”

When you lift your palm enough for him to speak, Auche just inhales and exhales raggedly for several long moments. He looks like he hasn’t slept since you parted. “I…I’ve made a dreadful mistake, good${woman}. I’m sorry. I can’t…I can’t go through with it.”

“You what?”

“I left them on the highway. Your friend Alless chased after me. Went back after a half-hour when it was clear I wasn’t…” Tears are streaming. “They’ll be safer without me. She’ll be safer without me.”
*label coldfeetch
*choice
*hide_reuse #“What by ${oath} are you…?” I have to fight to keep my voice low. “You said you loved her. You said you’d give up anything for her.”
*set coldfeettick +1
“I do love her, Angels forgive me. I meant it all!” Auche’s face contorts. “But…the canal, the road, the low country. The crowds, the filth, the noise, the Alastors . I’d seen it from far off before. But being afoot and helpless in the middle of it all…being part of it…?” His lips twist further, from despair toward disgust. “Angels, I’d be no help to her there. I can’t even look out for myself there. I couldn’t make a home for us in, in…well, anywhere but here. But she said we couldn’t return.”

[i]$!{oath}, he’s never truly left Irduin before.[/i] And he’s just barely sixteen.

*fake_choice
#“She was right, boy! There’s no coming back from some decisions.”
“I fear you’re right, good${woman}.” The tears keep spilling from his eyes. “So…I don’t know what to do.”
#“You abandoned Earith because you thought the outside world was @{helot beneath you?” He’s a noble, all right.|[i]ugly[/i]?"}
“I don’t…I’ve never hated anything as much as I hated that place.” There’s vehement horror in Auche’s whisper. “As soon as I stepped into it, I knew I couldn’t make a life there.”
#“I understand, lad.” I take a deep breath to calm myself.
“It wasn’t easy for me either when I left the Rim, Auche. @{(srfeel < 4) I still hate the riverlands myself.|} @{srfeel To look around and see nothing untouched by human hand, anywhere…that’s awful. But|That many people were never meant to live crammed together into the same place. But|The sweat and stink, the constant thirst and only muddy water to quench it…it sickens me. But|The riverlands [i]are[/i] awful at first, but you can get used to it in time. And|But the crowds and filth aren’t the whole story, even down in the riverlands. And} if you’d only stayed with my friends, they’d soon have brought you to better places. Ones more like Irdu…”

He’s shaking his head. “I’d not have survived that long, good${woman}.”

“Ah, ${oath}, boy, don’t be so…”

“You said we needed not to rouse suspicion. And as soon as we were down there, Alless kept ordering me to change my face, saying I looked too much like a noble who’d smelt soured wine for the first time.” Auche spreads his hands helplessly. “I couldn’t do it. I’d have got us all questioned and killed.”
*goto coldfeetch
*hide_reuse #“You [i]can not[/i] return to your family, @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) Auche|kurios}. You burned that bridge when you ran away.”
*set coldfeettick +2
“I can’t go back to…her, either!” It’s all Auche can do to keep his sobs hushed. “Never. Not after…breaking faith with her like this. Not after she wouldn’t come back, and I still walked away.”

“You tried to bring her [i]back[/i] with you?” You try not to let your incredulity spill over too audibly. The only thing harder to explain away than a distraught Auche reappearing would have been the two of them returning from their mysterious disappearances at exactly the same time.

“Of course I did.” He wipes tears from his face. “But she said that would just get her killed.”
*fake_choice
#“At least one of you has some damned sense.”
#“Go back to her,” I urge him. “Don’t throw away what you’ve already thrown away everything else for! She’ll understand.”
“She won’t! She shouldn’t.”
#I stay silent. This just confirms what I always suspected: she’s better off without @{aristo his|a noble’s} fickle affections.
After a moment, Auche hangs his head. “I abandoned her. And I couldn’t find them now, even if I turned around and went after them.”

He’s probably right, damn it. Hucel and Alless will be traveling as briskly as they can, wanting to save Earith at least, and keeping their noses low to the ground. Auche couldn’t catch up to them—not unless you gave him some hints that he might use, as you did, to take him directly to ${bandlead}.
*goto coldfeetch
*if (coldfeettick > 1) and (coldfeettick < 10)
*hide_reuse #“You’re @{aristo at the edge of utmost dishonor|about to shame yourself beyond repair}, young kurios. But I’m giving you one more chance. I’ll tell you how to find my friends in the Rim.”
Auche buries his face in his hands. “No. No, ${alias}, I can’t…”

“Stop. You’re stronger than this.” It’s hard @{(cha > 1) even|} for you to say it with conviction, but you do your best. “Damn it, boy, I @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) still believe in you|don’t believe Earith could have been [i]this[/i] wrong about you}. You can make this right—and you will.”

His breath is coming faster now. “Back into…[i]that[/i]? Alone?”

“Don’t go by the river road, if you can’t bear it. Strike out across the moors. Your mother’s hunters should be coming back from searching for you; if you can just avoid them, you’ll reach the Rim Hethe. That’s not so different from your home.” You don’t know what the city of Rimmersford is like—significantly bigger than Mesniel, you fear—but maybe going there through the Rim will ease Auche into the change.

He hovers uneasily in the darkness.

*if aucomm = 3
“You’d still… You still want me for the Commotion?”

*goto yesboyyes
“You’re sending me to join the Commotion.”
*choice
#I admit it to him.
*label yesboyyes
You grip his arm. “Yes, boy, yes. I want
*if arrog > 0
every noble I can get on our side.
*if arrog = 0
anyone on our side who’s ready to look at a helot and see a human. To have that already at sixteen?
That’s more than enough to outweigh one moment’s cowardice.”

*label auchewhich
*if (auchecred < 3)
*label coldfeetlock
After a long hesitation, Auche twists away from you. “Don’t. Don’t tell me anything, ${ird_name}. I can’t go west, and I don’t want to know any more about your friends.”
*set coldfeettick 10
*goto coldfeetch
*label aucheinfo
*set auchearith 15
Whispering is hard with an utterly dry throat; Auche tries several times before he can make himself heard. “I’ll go. If you tell me where I’m going.”

You can’t send him to the Hethe—too much risk both to him and to the folk he’d be trying to find. “The Rimmersford docks. To find the bargeman Dussin.” With the old pass-query and the name Dussin knew you by, that should get him safely connected to ${bandlead}. “Tell them I sent you to remedy your mistake.”

When you’ve told him everything he needs to know, the two of you stare at each other for a long moment more. Then Auche is pulling you into a quick, clumsy hug,
*gosub auchevanish
*goto explainaucheargone

#I deny it.
“Don’t think that, lad. You and your dama aren’t the only ones with compassionate hearts toward the helotry. There are plenty of folk who’d want to help someone like Earith without setting the whole country on fire.” You grip his arm reassuringly. “I’m sending you to friends where you’ll be safe—not to take up any fight.”
*goto auchewhich
#I want to keep it ambiguous.
“I’m sending you to my friends, lad,” you persist. @{(aucomm !=2) "In the Rim, even for those who don’t turn rebel themselves, the Commotion distracts the Hegemony. It’s the best place for you to hide, no matter what you set your hand to.|“The Commotion is the smoke that will hide you, as I told you before.} My friends will know how to keep you safe.”
*goto auchewhich
*if coldfeettick > 2
*hide_reuse #@{(coldfeettick < 10) Of course I’m not going to trust him with that—but he can’t stay here, either.|Then I’ve got to send him away somewhere else.} “If you want Earith to survive, you need to flee.”
“If you can’t stomach the @{(coldfeettick = 10) Rim or|} riverlands…I hear the hills of Couvis, to the east, are more like Irduin. Go there for now. Pretend to be a groom—Angels know you have the knowledge for it. See if you can find a place with some noble House.”

Auche’s throat works so hard, it’s visible even in the gloom. “I…I don’t know how…”

“You’ve run from the people I brought to guide you. They’re still trying to get the girl you love to safety. But they’re not yet beyond the reach of Alastors on horseback, let alone Theurges.” You grip his kyrtle. “Your mother and Brasque aren’t fools. By now, they’ve begun to guess why the two of you vanished on the same day. If you come back now, they [i]will[/i] get the truth out of you, and they’ll hunt your Earith down.”

He’s shaking his head now. “They wouldn’t kill her. They wouldn’t hurt…”

“And you think they’ll show mercy to my friends? To all of us who’ve tried to help you?” [i]Or do you just not care?[/i] “For our sake, as well as Earith’s freedom, you need to remedy your mistake now. Go to Couvis.” After a moment, you add pleadingly, “It needn’t be forever. In a few months, I can send Hucel or Alless to find you there. We’ll find some safer way to bring you back to your Earith.”

Pressing his hands to his face, Auche rocks back and forth. At last the whisper emerges from him:
*if (auchecred < 0)
“I can’t. I’m sorry, ${alias}, but I just can’t.”
*set coldfeettick 10
*goto coldfeetch

“All right. I’ll go.”

“As far from the road as you can,” you insist. “For all our safety’s sake, as well as your sanity’s. Hide yourself someplace no one’s ever heard the name of de Irde, if you can find it.”

Auche hovers there for an anguished moment longer,
*set auchearith 14
*gosub auchevanish
*goto explainaucheargone
#“We can’t keep talking here. Follow me.” Out to the mineworks, where I can permanently dispose of the feckless young idiot.
*set auscandal 9
@{(ruthreal < 50) The idea is ruthless to a stomach-turning degree; you hope the darkness hides your shaking hands. But it’s also|It’s} the only way to ensure that Alless, Hucel, and Earith survive. When Auche hesitates, you breathe forcefully, “Too many ears nearby,” and he falls in behind you.

At least the boy knows stealth from all his weeks of deerstalking on the moors. He @{(com < 2) leads|follows} you across Irduin without setting a single cottage astir. You speak again when you’re on the road to the Stannary, lit by the wintry light of the stars and a low moon. “Safer out here, young master. No one walks between the mine and village at this hour.”

“If I were coming back from a hunt, it would be from this direction.” The faintest hint of hope is returning to Auche’s voice. “I could convince my mother, ${ird_name}. I’d just need you to…”

You interrupt, wanting to lose him in the knottiest aspect of his problem. “How would you explain Earith vanishing the same day as yourself, kurios? They’ll not readily believe that was coincidence. Who knows what questions they might already have been asking, and what they’ll have put together?”

While the young de Irde wrestles out loud with what his mother might have deduced, you keep most of your attention on your surroundings. When you’re sure you’re in the right place, you abruptly stop and hiss, “Hush, milord—someone’s coming up the road!”

Too exhausted, panicked, and miserable to question your ears, Auche hurries behind you into the brush. He’s completely unprepared for you to seize him and shove him past you as hard as you can. A scream breaks from him as he topples into one of the old open mineshafts that pepper the landscape.

But it’s quickly cut off, and no one but you is anywhere near enough to hear it.
*set ruthreal %+15
*fake_choice
#[i]Fool of a boy. You left me no choice.[/i]
*if helot #Any time I kill an aristo, it makes me feel alive. Do to Them as They’ve done to so many of us.
#I’m overwhelmed by a sick vertigo that almost sends me toppling after him.
#As soon as I’m back on the road, I start running as fast as I can, trying to empty my mind of what I just did.
[…]
#I can’t stop the boy from going home. @{(irdgoal > 3) But I’ll use it to splinter Irduin further.
“You’ll need to explain Earith’s disappearance, then.”|“If your honor means anything, you’ll say nothing of me, or Yare, or Earith. Spare her that at least.”}
*if (irdgoal > 3)

“What? $!{ird_name}, I…” Auche is utterly taken aback. “I hadn’t thought I’d say a thing about it. Surely…”

“That’s impossible, young kurios,” you cut him off. “It’s too obvious, the two of you running off at the same time. Even if you deny it with your tongue, they’ll see it in your face. And then they’ll hunt along your backtrail to try to catch her. They won’t tell you they’re doing it; but they won’t let your Earith alone to risk another scandal.”

“No. That’s not…Dama wouldn’t…”

His protests are feeble, and you press on over them. “The only way to protect her is to tell them a version of the truth. Tell them you took a fancy to Earith, and took her off into the moors for a few nights’ pleasure. Tell them that when you were done, she was trying to insist on being your concubine back in Irduin as well, and you knew it would cause scandal. Tell them you went swimming with her in the Irdewater…and when a current pulled her out of her depth, you let it take her.”

“[i]What?[/i]”

“Convince them she’s dead, and they’ll stop looking for her.” After a moment, you @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) add, “They talk about you taking everything lightly, as if it’s a joke. They’ll believe you’d take Earith’s affections lightly. Even her life.”|add drily, “All you have to do, kurios, is convince them that you’re no different from a hundred thousand other young nobles across the Hegemony.”}

“Dama will [i]skin[/i] me. Our whole life, she’s told us to value chastity, especially with our lessers.” Auche’s voice is broken. “And Brasque…Brasque will hate me.”

“If your mother lets him know.” @{brasquedeirde And how could she not tell her secret half-brother, desperate to find his daughter?|You wonder if she will, if her ideals would carry her that far.} “Even if he does, isn’t that a price worth paying to ensure Earith’s safe? You always told [i]her[/i] you’d sacrifice your honor for her sake, young milord.”

After a long silence, the boy whispers, “Very well,” and disappears down the stairs.
*set ird_unity -3
*set auchebetray +3
*set auchedidit true
*choice
#Now all I have to do is make sure the rumor reaches the rest of Irduin.
*gosub aureapprum
*set auchebetray +3
The coincidence is obvious enough that asking, “Wasn’t that around the same time young kurios Auche also vanished out onto the moors for a few days?” suffices to set off a cascade of murmurs.

You don’t mention the Irdewater or drowning to anyone but Auche. The rumors that run through the @{((ird_focus = 1) or (ird_subfocus = 1)) house drudges|helot camp} thus tend to accept that Earith died in a fall, but speculate that Auche was immediately behind her, arms outstretched, when she did.

And as far as you can see, elder Brasque isn’t pushing back on the rumors.
*gosub brasquerum
*set ird_unity -5
*goto earithgonerum
#There’s no need to take the risk of spreading it myself. I’m sure Alasais will tell Brasque.
*goto noaurum
#I’ll already have distracteed Alasais, who’ll be focused on trying to amend her son’s reckless callousness. That’s enough.
*label noaurum
*gosub aureapprum

It’s a plausible enough accident, and the de Irdes have a good enough reputation among their helotry that no one (to your knowledge) publicly speculates that Earith’s death might have some connection with Auche’s ill-advised hunting trip.

What elder Brasque himself concludes, you’re not sure.
*gosub brasquerum
*page_break
*goto minesab
*else
“Of course,” Auche breathes, with almost equal earnestness and relief. “Of course I won’t betray any of you. I’ll tell Dama that…that I was thinking about running away, to avoid being sent east to fight Halassur. But that I couldn’t face it in the end, when I saw what the riverlands were like. So I came back.”

It’ll do as an explanation of his shamefacedness and secrecy, you suppose. “And when they ask you about Earith?”

“I don’t know anything about what happened to her.” He forces a shrug. “I’m as surprised as anyone to hear that she’s gone. I hope no mishap has befallen her.”

“Like an accident at a pit or chasm on the moors.” Those happen often enough to be plausible. “Not that you should suggest that—too suspicious. Let them come up with the idea, and then let that be the story that spreads.”

“I will. I… Thank you, ${ird_name}. I’m sorry. But thank you.” Auche sketches a clumsy bow before vanishing down the stable steps.
*set auchebetray -5
*fake_choice
#[i]$!{oath}![/i] With the moment’s crisis past, I’m suddenly so angry at him I can barely breathe. [i]He betrayed her, and all of us![/i]
[i]Faithless, feckless ass of a boy![/i] The last thing he deserves is to be allowed to walk peacefully back to his family after abandoning Earith. But there’s no better outcome you can bring about at this point.
#I pity the boy. Earith’s in good hands now; but he’ll never escape the shame of his weakness this week.
He’ll always live with the memory of his cowardice and promise-breaking to the girl he claimed to love. That’s a heavy burden.
#I’m just worried that his mother and Korren will worm the whole story out of Auche sooner or later.
And it might well be sooner. You’d be a fool to put any confidence in Auche’s strength of character, after tonight.
*goto minesab

Edit: damn the new forum post editing window. Fixing the misfire now. :slight_smile:

And maybe I should note that I edited out a lot of other *set auchebetray and *set auchecred earlier in the text for readability. But the choices you make there will have consequences.

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August 2025 Writer Support Thread
4148

Sorry, the external link seems to be broken.

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4149

Heavy thing to deal with. So many ways this can go.

1 Like
4150

Yknow… how likely is it that an eloping Auche ends up taking the blame for whatever chaos might befall Irduin? The noble blackbirds all fought to the last against this sudden rebel threat… all except one, a boy known as a shirker and known to be soft on the helotry. Clearly he sold Irduin out to the commotion for some grand price (or out of some horribly misguided Compassion, depending on the teller) and left his family to deal with the consequences.

Also, I love bringing Alless in as the one to help these runaways. Cute full circle moment for her, and I hope she and Earith can form some kind of friendship. Also hope she doesn’t immediately murder Auche for being a POS who made a helot run away and then ditched her.

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4151

Thanks for letting me know – should be fixed now!

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4152

However, my concern remains: won’t small-scale technological projects that are acceptable to locals perpetuate social inequalities?

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4153

Along regional lines or along owner vs. proletariat lines?

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