Only six months. 
And on this thread, it would be fine anyway.
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For me there are lies of much greater consequence inherent to being a theurge of the Hegemony. The true nature of aether and the manipulation of religion are two of the most cynical that come to mind. The great offense that causes Cerlota to break with everything she knows, was trained for, and at such great personal risk is simply the Hegemony being itself (particularly for an insider like her) beggars belief. She might just be a hypocrite, but I think that makes her less compelling as a character especially when there are more interesting explanations available.
Additionally, she chose to reject the entire Hegemony as a system rather than seek revenge against the Ennearch at fault. I feel like the latter is somewhat acceptable within the system. Hera herself was assassinated.
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That’s probably part of it since that’s a requirement for any Theurge, certainly one that’s gone beyond the first circle.
The security of her homeland does seem to be something that matters a lot to her from both what we’ve seen in the story and what Havenstone has shown outside it, so that’s a significant portion at least.
Being able to do mad science on her own could be another motive.
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That’s what I’m thinking. People can (and often do) have complex motivations. Perhaps glass ceiling above her scientific inquiry has always been inconvenient, the war has always been mismanaged and too bloody for her taste and the massacre was the final straw.
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Quick question regarding the first game: is there any incentive to damaging the Archon’s army but still losing the fight as opposed to losing while causing their soldiers no harm? For example, if you chose to melt away to the helot camps in 2 play throughs, 1 where you did nothing (and are “scattered” at the end) and 1 where you placed traps over the winter killing almost 500 soldiers (and still get “scattered”.) I would ask this on the other forum, but that looks like it finally met its end. Love your work by the way.
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@Havenstone will have to give you the definitive answer, but I think it is that the number of soldiers killed is not significant. Ultimately the defeat weakens the Achron’s position visa-via the Hegemony’s central authority and her Shayard based rivals. The magnitude of the defeat will probably not be significant, and @Havenstone has intimated in the past it is more the narrative and prestige cost of the loss, rather than the material loss that is consequential.
The Hegemony has many thousands times more soldiers and theurges available than what was committed to the battle and it will ultimately be regarded as a minor skirmish in the broader civil war. A Lexington and Concord in a US Revolutionary War analogy.
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Quick question
With the melt away to the helot camps and getting captured route, if you use the kryptast code, kill your captors and rescue your allies, is that considered as the “scattered” ending?
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On the topic of the kryptast code, I noticed that after Breden tells you it you can pick the option “What am I supposed to do with that, Breden?” to which xhe reacts badly and says “if you can’t trust me, we best stop pretending to be lovers.” Only problem with this is that it doesn’t actually affect the relationship and Breden still treats you as their love interest in later scenes as if nothing ever happened. It would be understandable if this bug never gets fixed though, as Game 2 progress is much more important.
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Well, that’s exciting.
Now to finish writing the damn thing.
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It’s a kick doing the screenshots and the bulletlist of features from just the part of it that you’ve written, isn’t it? It locks you in. “Here’s everything I know about the first 2/3 of this game.”
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My mc will likely choose the bottom option if possible or the third one but only if it turns out to be absolutely necessary to preserve his survival.
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And what assurances/gestures/concessions would you give to the other nations, in order to assure them that Eclect-influenced Shayard would not rise to become the next Hegemony (to replace the current Karagond regime)?
@poison_mara Which endgame CHA/INT distribution did you have in mind? (and do you skew more towards CHA, or towards INT, or a near-perfect balance?)
@Havenstone @Ramidel Does anybody have screenshots/links describing the game interface’s “power level descriptions” of increasing INT/CHA stats?
I vaguely remember that INT 5 was the equivalent of an Ennearch, and that INT 6 “speaks as if they embodied the voice of the Angels.”
To quote Havie from the previous Uprising thread: “There will definitely be the option for very close ties to the Abhuman Federation, including potentially some form of union with it as and when the southern Wards fall.”
Boss Baby: Theurgic Edition
Case in point: a CHA-specializing aristo MC who tries advocating for a “the helots should be treated as our equals” agenda ends up ruining his/her plan to get on Ismene de Galis’ good side (during G1’s Architelone subplot).
Will an anti-imperialist Homelander MC (who wishes to restore Shayard to its original borders or at least maintain the current archonty-era borders) be potentially called out for hypocrisy? (By the Shayardene cities who enjoyed independence prior to being absorbed/conquered into the pre-Hegemony Shayardene Empire)
I’m very curious to find out what dialogue options will be available to those of us who will want to reconcile a “no more empires” message with a “Shayard must stay whole” message. E.g. “the post-Hegemony, Shayardene koinon will give all Shayardenes a voice/seat at the table!”
@Havenstone, I was recently moved/inspired by a “GoT Season 8 fix-it” fanfic named Dreams of Spring (in which Jon and Daenerys found a compromise between the North’s desire for autonomy and Jon/Daenerys’ respective claims to the Iron Throne, thus making meaningful steps towards achieving “Pax Targaryena… the Targaryen peace”).
Without going into too much details/spoilers, I feel as that Jon and Dany’s newly created faction (the High Kingdom) might embody the idealized monarchical koinon I’d like for some of my MCs to eventually create.
Could a monarchical koinon’s power-sharing boundary be established as suggested: “The rest of the koinon’s members will be required/expected to follow (militarily superior) Shayard’s lead in mutual defense/maintaining territorial integrity, but maintain independence with regards to handling their own domestic matters.”
I also think that the following quoted fanfic reader comments (about the component nations of the High Kingdom) may be equally applicable to monarchical koinon MC’s plans on negotiating with the ex-Hegemony archonties:
1- “these “independent” kingdoms would have to pay more for their privileges, likely through additional taxes or services not levied on their other realms.”
2- “A trade-off between political privilege and financial responsibility sounds good. If you wanted to expand on that a little with the hint that some regions might renegotiate their status in the near future then that should be good enough.”
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My goal as Evil gandhi is a max Charisma rest int playthrough with no single point in combat at all. with a weird religious nationalist but open culturaly and economically Vatican-swiss thing with no drop of blood magic no slavery and focus on economy hub and arts and of course the center place as neutral ground between empires and economies.
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I don’t really care about them after Shayard is liberated, I guess something along the lines of a defensive alliance to prevent any one power from dominating the others would do in the style of the post-Napoleonic conference system.
I think letting a rump Karagond exist as a boogeyman might also be appropriate.
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I’m not the O Mighty Oracle, but I can help with this one!
Summary
text_image traits.png center Traits
Charisma:
*if cha < 0
Not yet defined.
*if cha = 0
You’re plain-spoken and struggle to win others over. (0)
*if cha = 1
You are reasonably persuasive and charming. (1)
*if cha = 2
You are inspiring, eloquent, and naturally charming. (2)
*if cha = 3
Your eloquence has an extraordinary power to sway crowds. (3)
*if cha = 4
Your presence alone gives hope to the despairing and certainty to the doubting. (4)
*if cha = 5
People respond to you as if you speak with the Angels’ own voice. (5)
*line_break
Combat:
*if com < 0
Not yet defined.
*if com = 0
You’re unlikely to win a fight or lead others to victory. (0)
*if com = 1
You’ve practiced the ${weapon} and figured out some basic small-group tactics. (1)
*if com = 2
You have an excellent grasp of tactics and fight very well with the ${weapon}. (2)
*if com = 3
You are an extraordinary commander and well on your way to mastery of the ${weapon}. (3)
*if com = 4
You are both a brilliant general and a master of the ${weapon}. (4)
*if com = 5
You are one of the greatest generals and warriors in the Hegemony’s history. (5)
*line_break
Intellect:
*if int < 0
Not yet defined.
*if int = 0
You’re
*if helot
illiterate,
uninformed about most
*if helot
topics,
*if aristo
topics
and not very strong at reasoning. (0)
*if int = 1
*if aristo
You have decent reasoning skills and
*if helot
Though you can’t read, your reason and good memory have helped you acquire
basic knowledge on a range of topics. (1)
*if int = 2
You’re
*if helot
not only literate but
widely read on many topics, with an excellent memory and strong reasoning skills. (2)
*if int = 3
Your knowledge is encyclopedic, your memory near-perfect. (3)
*if int = 4
You grasp the philosophical underpinnings of the cosmos on a deeper level than most Theurges. (4)
*if int = 5
Your knowledge and arcane power rival any of the Thaumatarch’s Nine archmages. (5)
Edit: Wait, they’re supposed to go up all the way to 6, right? That seems to be missing from the code.
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I have a feeling that you’ll get along rather beautifully with the Nationalist Lite/Cosmo Leaguers. 
Mara: Kleitos’ reign of terror is over.
Everyone: Yay!!!
Mara: And today begins MY reign of terr…
Everyone: 
Mara: riffic management.
“The Swiss are surrounded by stable and powerful countries, don’t have much in the way of natural resources, are a geographical fortress and have rigged half the country to blow if they’re ever attacked”.
How does Mara feel about likewise rigging half of Shayard to “blow up in case of getting attacked/invaded”?
Doesn’t this policy goal contradict Mara’s “evil Gandhi” plan of eventually returning to the practice of ruthlessly harrowing the helots?
And what exactly will be Mara’s chosen punishment(s) for those who choose to ignore her nation’s neutrality?
Perhaps you could take a page from the playbook of the Continental Hotels (from the John Wick franchise): “The #1 rule in all Continental Hotels is that “business” cannot be conducted on Continental grounds. This means that if any of the occupants have beef with the other occupants, they either behave themselves or they take it outside and settle their scores there. Anyone who violates this rule is immediately excommunicado and then marked for death by the High Table (that is if the owner doesn’t have them killed first).”
In the event that most (if not all) Erezza did accept the Shayardene Codex in good faith, would you be willing to insert several agents provocateurs in Erezza to create the false pretense of Erezzan/Karagond heresy?
(or just drop the charade entirely, and declare Erezza as your enemy from the get-go)
What are your thoughts on mingling the de Syrnon bloodline with Halassur’s Emperor Tevqar’s family?
Is this kind of marriage alliance an acceptable option for deepening the current Laconnier-Halassur alliance? (or would ‘encouraging the royal family to grow too close with heathens’ ruin your Eclect MC’s credibility as the champion of her faith?)
Thank you!
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I am a fan of early Foundation books. And one of the things that it covers, the beginning is what to do when you are a cultural force surrounded by. powers far superior but you have a religious or technical knowledge superior to that.
They use a tripod approach, If X power destroys me You will be annihilated, and most of my religion and culture that has spread in your realm will be a hell of anger that their faith culture capital is done.
Then if you attack the other two big empires will crush you in together. alliance.
The Economic value, all empires need a neutral economic ground. Commerce like blood has to flow, and. every single politician or high priest needs jewels and gowns to show their status. Food, and spices from the other side of the planet.
Everyone needs Banks and loans to pretend and gain importance.
Can the powers that be destroy the Vatican City? or Switzerland or Monaco?
In one day. Will they?
Two WW with them in the middle of the field none suffered a scratch.
Evil Gandhi As Mara hates helots and only cares about her power and legacy and her view of a Nationalist pure economic and culturally dominant Shayard neutral.
Not all nationalism is about to expand, Her nationalism is about influence and money not direct armies ccnflict.
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I wonder what geography is Swiss-like in the Hegemony even in the absence of blood magic? My sense is the interior of Ezzra or Wendry, but obviously both those areas were ultimately conquered by the Hegemony. Shayard definitely doesn’t seem to have much in the way of natural barriers.
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