Much bigger. 
Partly that stems from my decision to wrap up G2 in Irduin; that requires bigger endings than I’d originally planned. Partly it stems from overambition in e.g. splitting the aristo path into multiple arcs, in ways I can avoid in future. But it’s also because as I started to write it, I decided that this was a level of the world that was important to unpack in substantial detail.
My intention with XoR has always been to zoom out to progressively broader levels of the gameworld, so that by the end, you have a sense of how the system operates at every major level. Some of my favorite fiction does something like this – Breaking Bad, The Wire, Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet, Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Problem books, to some extent Stephen King’s Dark Tower. With XoR, where you’re trying to transform the world system, I feel like it’s especially important to have the story take you up through the levels of that system, before you’re finally grappling with the fate of the whole continent (and to some extent the neighboring ones too).
Partly, interactivity will help with that; WoT would have felt less saggy if you could choose either an extensive sequence in Ebou Dar or Cairhien, rather than getting both. My readers won’t see anything close to all the Irduin material on any given playthrough. But I also think one reason WoT sagged was because for several books, it felt like we were spending endless pages at the same level rather than really going deeper into the world.
Irduin is the player’s introduction to how the rural Hegemony generally works. It’s a deeper dive than we ever got in Game 1, both because the Outer Rim is every bit as peripheral as the name suggests, and because G1 is at heart a story about being a bandit in the wilderness. We see a little bit of the rural world through our raids, but not how the system we’re preying on really works. Irduin is where we focus on that level, and as I was writing it, I recognized that I needed to give it more room than I’d originally planned.
Irduin is of course distinctive in the attempted benevolence of its order, and it introduces in Tamran one of the series’ main voices for rebel pacifism. I hope readers are engaged by the question of what stance to take toward a place managed with about as much goodwill as is possible under the Hegemony, short of outright rebellion. But I think Irduin is an important section not primarily because it’s distinctive, but because it’s representative of a lot of broader rural dynamics.
I expect a lot of readers to initially be like, “why should I care about this place? it’s not strategically important,” and in particular, “why are we getting so much about the conflict with the annoying taxman?” Hopefully that will set up a couple of lightbulb moments when it becomes clear: the dilemmas the powers-that-be in Irduin are grappling with are, over and over, ones that you’ll have to face in future if you’re to truly transform the Hegemonic world system. If you win, you’ll be the annoying taxman, especially if you mean to try for a less horrific alternative to Harrowing.
As an example of how those themes will become explicit: here’s what I’ve got at the moment when you return to Irduin after your final visit to the rebels in the Rim.
Summary
As you’re walking past the Chesnery Oak, you catch an unexepctedly strong whiff of urine and look around, nose wrinkled. There’s a great new-hewn basalt disc leaning against the tree, rounded like a millstone but smoother and with no eyehole to hold an axle or rynd-iron. From the smell and spatter in the dust, you’d judge that several dozen people have recently pissed on it.
It’s early afternoon, so almost no one is in the caskroom other than lady Alasais, deep in conversation with Maurs. As the sound of their greeting, Tamran also appears with @{(tam_rel = 0) an unsmiling nod|a grin} and your usual @{irddrink refreshment|cider|wine|ale|canewine}. Taking it, you quirk an eyebrow and ask, “Something wrong with your privy or garden that’s sent so many more than usual to the oak?”
Tamran snorts, shaking her head. “Telone Baldassare ordered a weight-stone for the merchants, to measure out their tin and other goods. It came by mule a few days ago, along with another new medimnos-box for next year’s harvest. That was whisked off right away and locked up in the Naos. Since you can’t burn a stone, they left it for later.” Her lips curve ruefully upward. “And now no one’s in a hurry to carry it up to the Stannary.”
“I’ve told Baldassare that a little anointing won’t hurt anything,” Maurs offers from across the room. “Farrec can wait for the next good rain.”
“Don’t they already have a weighing-stone up there?” @{((ird_focus = 3) or (ird_subfocus = 3)) Of course, you know they do.|you ask. Surely they need it when they trade tin for smelting-coal.}
“The old one might not be exactly the weight specified in the Law of Prices. And the Telone is very keen that everything be done in precise accordance with law.” Tamran’s voice is wry.
“This is the matter your father and I were discussing, lass. The Telones insist on having the will of the Archon and Thaumatarch enforced the same way everywhere, with not the least variation. And the Archon and Thaumatarch make their decisions for the good of the realm, Angels bless them.” Alasais’s deep frustration grows audible through her calm, pleasant veneer. “But the folk of the districts live and thrive off lesser goods, ones below the notice of Grand Shayard or Aekos. If I do not consider the good of my neighbors, who will? And if I can not, how will the order of Irduin persist?”
You don’t share her view of the Archon and Thaumatarch, needless to say—but after the experience of trying to guide Rim rebels from a distance, you recognize there’s a real tension here. Dreaming of a day when the Hegemony has fallen and you’re building a new order, you think:
*choice
#Lady Alasais is right. We need an order where local leaders adapt the far-off ruler’s edicts to local realities.
*set orderview 6
How can someone in Grand Shayard, or even in Vaulens, really understand what’s needed in a far-flung corner of the realm like Irduin? When and if you’re in a place to make the rules, you’ll find local leaders who understand your righteous and orderly principles well enough to work out the details as appropriate on their own little patch.
*goto messyreal
#No. I’ll make laws for the genuine good of the realm, and insist on them being implemented faithfully and exactly.
*set orderview 1
Why should every village be free to set its own weights and measures? @{(religion > 19) Kenon|$!{thankoath}} help me—I’ll need a Baldassare. Someone who’ll not be readily swayed by the appeals of sympathetic locals like Alasais or Maurs to make an exception that benefits their merchants. Someone relentless in enforcing the law…but enforcing your good laws, not the blood-soaked nonsense of the Hegemony.
*goto messyreal
*if (skepreal < 51) #Once I’ve replaced the Thaumatarch’s blasphemies with the Angels’ true word, I won’t want locals to be free to pursue their own heresies.
*set orderview 2
The true law is, by definition, the one that hews closest to the Order of Xthonos and the uncorrupted original revelation of the Blessed Angels—whether we’re talking about the law on murder or weights and measures. If as lawmaker you happen to misunderstand some part of that revelation, you’d want @{(democ < 10) your trusted counselors|people} to explain your error to you, so the law can be fixed for everyone; but you mustn’t leave every petty noble or village elder free to disregard the Angels’ will.
*goto messyreal
#I don’t want a world of vast realms at all. Better to have small ones, whose many rulers can never be too far from the people they rule.
*set orderview 9
If Irduin were ruled from Mesniel, a well-intentioned ruler could actually understand its needs, along with the other demesnes like it. But how can an Archon in Grand Shayard ever aspire to that kind of knowledge—let alone a Hegemonic ruler in distant Aekos? You want a world where laws aren’t made in ignorance of the people and places they’ll govern.
*goto messyreal
*if (democ > 0) and ((ird_focus = 4) or (ird_subfocus = 4))
#Indeed, after my time in Irduin, I can just about imagine rule by ${moot} throughout the world, with each village making its own rules.
*set orderview 10
No moot gets everything right…but its members will have the best understanding of local problems and possible solutions, and when they get something wrong they’ll notice and correct it faster than some distant archon ever could. If sacrifice is needed, better for people to decide among themselves how to bear it, rather than having an answer imposed by an outsider.
*goto messyreal
*label messyreal
For now, you just incline your head with a look of sympathy. “Has anyone tried convincing the Telone that reality is messier than his books?”
“We have; we still do. And in gentler fashion than our neighbors who’ve made a mess of his stone.” Maurs sighs. “Whether he’ll ever believe it, Angels only know.”
*if cerl_here
When you climb back up into the stable loft, Cerlota greets you with a nod and @{(me_lit > 0) Welcome scratched on her tablet. All is well. She’s being over-cautious, as usual; you’ve scanned the whole area and are sure there’s no one in hearing range.|a whisper of, “All is well.” She must know that no one is nearby, to be daring to speak at even a low level.}
You reply with @{cerlover a kiss and|} @{(cerlvamp > 2) strained|relieved} joviality. “I see–or should I say, smell–that the Telone’s efforts to squeeze more tax out of Irduin are yielding different results than he’d imagined.”
She doesn’t smile, just @{(me_lit > 0) writes, Has it occurred to you– After a moment’s pause, she continues, If you ever hoped to ‘tax’ people for blood without Harrowing, you’d face all the resistance we’re seeing here, and worse.|beckons you close enough that she can breathe into your ear: “You realize that if you hoped to ‘tax’ folk for blood without Harrowing them, you would face all the same resistance you’ve seen here, and worse.”}
*choice
#I step back, angry. “Although it would spare millions of lives?” It must be possible to fuel a realm’s ${wisardry} without mass murder.
*set wisgoal 7
Cerlota clicks her tongue. The folk you’d need to tax aren’t the ones whose lives are now at stake.
“But we’d be asking so little of them. Nothing like the tax and tithe. There’s scarce any harm from being bled.”
They would feel themselves harmed. And shamed. They will resist.
*choice
#“Then we’ll break that resistance.”
Cerlota exhales slowly. As Telone and Theurge are trying, here?
“In a better cause. For a vastly more reasonable demand. And backed by millions of helots refusing to return to the old ways.” Your voice is taut with anger. “Otherwise, I suppose, something a bit like Baldassare’s efforts. Yes.”
*set wisgoal 8
*goto darksols
#“We’ll win them over.”
*set wisgoal 9
Cerlota exhales slowly.
*if (religion > 0) and (religion < 6)
There is a limit to what folk will do, even for an Eclect.
*elseif (religion > 8)
It is easier to persuade folk @{(religion > 17) to embrace the idea of kenon|that they can hear Angels} than to bleed themselves for you.
*elseif (cha > 1)
You’re a ${woman} of great charm, but even for you…
*else
Persuading them to rebel will be hard enough without draining them as well.
“We will convince them,” you repeat firmly.
*label notanhege
“I don’t yet know how. But we’ll do it. We won’t be just another damned Hegemony.”
*goto darksols
#I don’t know what we’ll do–but I’m not going to give up on my dream of a realm not built on Harrowing.
“We’ll find a way,” you insist.
*goto notanhege
#“That’s why @{(sarcifidea > 0) Sarcifer was right. A realm that relies on Theurgy will fail. We need to reduce that reliance|we need to reduce our reliance on Theurgy} to almost nothing.” *set wisgoal 10
Without Theurgy? Cerlota shakes her head slowly. Millions would starve, first. Halassur would invade unchecked.
“There’s such waste and war today, and I’ll make sure it dies with the Hegemony. I’ll set you and those like you to finding non-Theurgic ways to save lives.” You jab a finger eastward. “If you had to fight off Halassur without magic, segnura, I know you’d find a way.”
I’d die trying. Her eyes are anything but hopeful.
*goto darksols
#“But Harrowing won’t?” @{(wisgoal > 1) I’m close to reluctantly accepting|I’ve accepted} that we’ll need to keep Harrowing; I just want to hear her case for it.
Her stylus scratches briskly across the slate. Folk are already accustomed to it. Unlike the Telones’ demands; and unlike any attempt at a universal blood tax.
“Never fear, kuria Lotte. I’m not about to abandon the only effective way to arm ourselves against Theurges and magi. We’ll just Harrow differently.”
She raises an eyebrow. How?
*choice
#My lips tighten. “It will be a long, long time before we run out of enemies who deserve the Harrower.”
*set wisgoal 3
“Hegemonic agents and collaborators; anyone who makes war against us; @{aristo criminals of both high and low station|aristos who abused their helotry}…they’ll be the ones who go to the Harrower. The ones who deserve it.”
*gosub cerlmanythoughts
And if you win? If the war is over?
“Then the world will be different. Then anything might be possible.”
If that day ever comes.
*goto darksols
#“I’ll give the helots themselves more choice in which of them is selected.” @{knowhelpick Like in Irduin.|}
*set wisgoal 2
*gosub cerlmanythoughts
This is not the change the helots expect.
@{aristo “Easier to change what they expect than to put new demands on everyone else on the continent. We can improve the lives of the helotry in many other ways.” It’ll|“We’ll make other changes, too–things to make everyone’s lives easier and better. Punishment for abusers. Compensation for bearing the burden of sacrifice.” They’ll call you a traitor, but it’ll} take time to make more radical changes in the system that provides blood for ${wisardry}. You can’t meanwhile afford to starve the rebel mage corps you intend to train.
Let us hope they accept it. Cerlota does not look overly hopeful.
*goto darksols
#“We’ll select the folk to be Harrowed by lot.” That’s the only fair way.
*set wisgoal 4
“All of us get the benefits of the Wards, the harvests, the transport of grain and goods. So all of us should share the cost.”
*gosub cerlmanythoughts
This lottery will extend beyond the helotry?
“The helots would never accept still being the only ones to bear the burden. That’s what they’re rebelling to change.”
The other half of the continent will rebel to keep from being Harrowed. The freer, richer, more powerful half.
She’s probably not wrong, but you refuse to settle for anything less than fairness here. “One way or another, they’ll have no choice but to accept it.”
*goto darksols
#“We’ll blood-tax as many folk as we can, so we can Harrow fewer.”
*set wisgoal 6
*gosub cerlmanythoughts
It will be hard to sustain the unpopular work of the tax, when everyone knows you could exempt hundreds by Harrowing just a few more.
“$!{oath}, ${cername}. We’re talking about being bled for the sake of sparing lives. I think fewer people will resist that than you think.”
Cerlota just inclines her head. I hope you are correct.
*goto darksols
#We’ll Harrow a few children to spare a dozen times as many lives overall–as the Halassurqs do. But all I tell Cerlota is: “More justly.”
*set wisgoal 5
The ${erretsina} mage inclines her head sardonically. I am glad you have a plan.
Not if you knew what it was, segnura. “We’ve enough hurdles to cross today. Leave tomorrow’s for tomorrow.”
*goto darksols
*label cerlmanythoughts
You can tell that Cerlota has many more thoughts on this than she’s willing or able to @{(me_lit > 0) write down. All she writes|whisper now. All she says} is:
*return
Pretty sure we won’t, and that Game 3 will give the space we need to cover Shayard’s urban dynamics. I’m still considering whether I’m inevitably committed to a 6 book structure now or whether I can condense some of what I’ve planned to get back to 5. We’ll see!
stint in the Xaoslands. I’m really invested in the characters and in making sure Irduin doesn’t fall apart, and in the fallout of everything that is happening. I’m also excited to start pulling on the threads being introduced like the 