Vatican city has no barriers Monaco is in a port… Barriers are what people consider so. Esparta hadn’t walls.
In Dune, the neutrality of the guild was Absolute with no army needed. No guild, no commerce, no transport, no empire not noble houses.
And they only real terrain were their ships their centers and their ship yards.
People tend to have a very linear narrow minset about power and defense
this game stopped?
No the author is still working on it unless ive missed something lol
No it is going strong. But the immense size makes the development long
I have a crazy idea that I can’t prove but like it none the less. Breden is a de Syrnon bastard. Would explain their Laconnier knowledge, why they are sent to Laconnier houses, and why they can’t have children. Could also explain their general intelligence and charisma as they could have been tutored.
It also works if you use an alias, or say Radmar
I view this plan as the one that gives up personal control. We aren’t the only group that is hoping to rebel. This plan to spread out is an easy way for Laconniers to pick up rebels. Even if Laconniers aren’t recruiting, other groups could recruit successful rebels. This might serve the rebellion as a whole but you also diminish your power base from which you can direct it to be in line with your vision
My own theory is that Breden is a ROGUE Kryptast who was trying to use their skills at gathering up dissidents for the Alistors to start an actual rebellion. Trouble is that they’re specifically trained in rounding up people so the Alistors can catch them so their setup was easily compromised. That or it was just bad luck.
Now, there’s a couple elements at play here that make me think this.
If you use their Kryptast code and have 2 charisma, you can use their name as your identity. This would imply there IS a Breden Reaper in the local Kryptasts.
The general states with some irritation that she was not informed of any Kryptasts in the area. This implies that either the organization is cagey with this information even when it’s not a good idea, and/or is just bad at communicating these things (common issue with espionage agencies), OR that Breden was written off as rogue and the Kryptasts wanted them to die.
Their plan to evade the invasion and go underground in covert cells to recruit more members and spread descent is textbook spy craft. That’s some CIA/KGB shit. Yet they agree to go with you to the Xaos Lands if asked despite both the risks and the fact that they have no way to report these cells and their movements to her superiors.
So why not mention that Breden specifically has gone rogue? Well, there’s a number of factors. I mentioned counterproductive secrecy being a weakness of spy agencies. Left hand vs right hand an all.
This gets even worse when you remember that this is medieval times where there was no internet nor railways to ship mail or any expedient way to transport information. It’s all horseback couriers and this ain’t Fallout. No fast travel option.
Now remember that information suppression is a common tactic in the Hegemony. No word sent between provinces, no immigration, and even printing presses are only allowed in Karagond proper. Even the local nobles and officials make do with hand-written. Word does NOT travel quickly or accurately.
And even in the modern day, spies operating on their own can go rogue and use their skills and resources towards their own ends (be they government supplied or acquired locally as part of their job) without their governments finding out for quite some time. And since the rebels WERE caught, and only freed because of us, it’s possible that they DON’T KNOW Breden’s rogue and also think they’re trying to sabotage us. They still don’t tell anyone bc hey, they’re a spy, they can just use the code word. Why risk the operation for one agent?
Breden is the judas devil in Evil gandhi religion. she is there somewhere else being an annoying coward helot I kicked out first day of rebelion. Because yes you can even have Breden never being part of your rebelion.
Quite the interesting premise this series has! Now added to my Audible wishlist, FYI.
After further pondering, here are my current tentative predictions on which factions are most likely to become the G5 Big Three:
1- Hegemony Remnant: Led by Kleitos’ heir, Phaedrx, the Remnant has barely survived the Siege of Aekos, and now seeks to rally its remaining loyalists (and potentially unexpected new allies) to restoring Kleitos’ dynasty/reign as Thaumatarchs.
2- The Cult of Vigil: Perhaps Vigil is not just some inanimate Theurgic battery with vaguely defined “negative vibes”; maybe it’s some sort of sentient, crash-landed alien who was responsible for teaching humanity the secrets of Theurgy? (and was then eventually sealed away by Hera after losing an epic duel against her) Perhaps Vigil has been biding his time, licking his wounds, and (privately) gathering his own flock of worshippers across the Hegemony’s centuries of existence? (and will interpret the Xaos-storming of Grand Shayard’s City Ward as the perfect moment to come out of hiding)
As for Vigil’s hypothetical goals: get revenge on Hera by seizing control of the Hegemony’s territories (and by undertaking some elaborate scheme to monopolize control of Theurgy/blood/Aether for itself).
3- New Brauracha: Tripartite alliance between (secretly surviving) Braurachan Theurges, Halassur, and Nyrish “fifth columnists.” If MC ends up antagonizing/alienating all of Nyryal, then the alliance expands to include most/all of Nyryal accordingly.
@Havenstone (Overlapping with past questions about the Hanseatic League and Carthaginian Empire analogies)
For imperialist MCs whose most powerful supporters are the merchant and pirating communities, will it be a viable/sustainable strategy to to deliberately limit their faction’s G5 scope of conquest to (nearly) everybody else’s major trade ports? (Aka the Portuguese imperial approach, which led to Portugal becoming “the spice daddy of Europe”)
And on another note, I aim to avoid repeating Portugal’s mistake of antagonizing/exiling my religious minority allies into becoming my worst economic enemies. (E.g. exiled Portuguese Jews banded together/resettled in Holland to form the Dutch East India Company/VoC).
I like the way you think! 
But I’d like to take that prediction one step further: what if Breden is the “Gryphon claimant with much, much deeper historical roots?”
Your thoughts on the iconic “keep your friends close, and enemies closer” quote? (and why it’s not worth keeping Breden close for the duplicitous purpose of eventually exposing and/or offing them)
I would love to explain but it will not be coherent. But probably my response would make Havie laugh for two hours straight.
I have been with this game since the very very first demo presented. And have a very different. beginning I developed an insane hatred of Breden that now is a meme.
Now in the role of Evil Gandhi has never been part of the past iteration of revolution. She called Breden Stupid helots and clubbed her.
Mara did not stop that harrowing either was Breden who framed her.
So for Mara Breden was the stupid helot who caused all her downfall. She was saved by a Fellow Noble. So in Maras’s eyes, Breden is a nuisance liar who has not proven shit and is a dirty peasant.
And there is no reason to keep her close to Mara’s noble views
Well my mc disposes of Breden early on now, mostly due to how much they are into the nightmare religion and my mc does not want them using their charisma to undermine him.
The side benefit of that being that without Breden it becomes far easier to outright fight and win against the Hegemony in the final chapter of book 1.
Breden, charisma? Bah. Helots!
What an interesting/unique experience you’ve got there! Any other demo-only secrets you’re interested in sharing with the rest of the class? (particularly for those of us who were first introduced to the game without even knowing about the early demos)
@Arkuja , another potential clue of Breden’s hypothetical Laconnier allegiance is that if Breden is sent to bring Linos and Horion back to camp, Breden will end up killing them both.
Rather, “Earlund” nationalism might come in handy as a way of consolidating power in an area more manageable than the whole of Shayard – or as a divide-and-rule approach if you want the Laconnier movement to collapse on your path to a continent-wide empire that has smaller provinces than the Hegemony’s archonties.
@Havenstone , as an imperial power, why hasn’t the Hegemony already considered applying this “stoke Earlund nationalism to weaken the Laconniers” idea in their own reign?
You need the seven good years to pull off a Joseph strategy, and those aren’t really going to happen…
@Havenstone An update to the “doomsday grain vault” idea from earlier: in addition to storing surplus grain, what about taking a page out of America’s playbook by proactively manufacturing/storing tons of underground surplus “government cheese”?
And FYI, the medieval monks of Europe were the creative cheese-inventing minds responsible for giving us Parmesan, Roquefort, and Munster! Perhaps this is a potential subplot that our Xthonic priesthood NPCs can help our Devout MC with?
I recommend you using the search function and dive in the dangerous and treacherus waters of the past. I was a item wild back then, lol. Havie was and still is a saint. Any other person would had become angry with me, not my friend for more than a decade.
But to you understand there was only a intro to why you become a rebel, the helot killed one and you had to be a helot loving and be pro rebels and pro Breden,
Can we learn all “specalizations” of magic like the flight, offense, healing, etc if we focus entirely on the magic path. Or do we have to pick one and follow that through the series?
And if Hector already kindly taught us how to heal, does picking to specialize in healing increase our power with that, or should we pick something else since we technically already have that skill?
If Erezza were to accept the truth of the Shayardene Codex then I would hope that some arrangement can be found with the Hallasur to allow the faith to operate unmolested in the annexed territories as well as the new breakway states. However at the end of the day I still haven’t seen much proof that the Laconnier cause can survive with its main supporter cutting it off. Perhaps if later in the game its shown that an Abhuman alliance would be equally workable, I will reconsider my stance.
I should hope we never have to seal any kind of marriage alliance with Hallasur. It simply cannot work from a religious viewpoint as you very well point out and not just in regards to the credibility of an Eclect MC but genuinely, from a theological point of view.
In the demo after picking to specialise in healing, it says IIRC that the mc has a better understanding to gradually heal injuries, using less blood and less likely to exhaust yourself.
I might be wrong but that’s what I remember.
How do you imagine your MC’s dynamic with Cerlota across G2-G5?
I imagine it will be a rather painful, disillusioning moment for Cerlota (who wanted to ally with your MC’s rebellion in good faith, and was also willing to train Theurges/Wisards/Magia on MC’s behalf) to eventually learn that her idealized “partner in crime”/student/leader turned out to be a double-crosser who’s rebuilt Shayard’s future at the expense of Erezza’s.
As an apology/peace offering towards the mentor you’re conspiring to betray, might you consider arguing for Moncesano (Cerlota’s hometown) to remain untouched as one of the new breakaway/independent Erezzan states (or as a part of rump Erezza)?
Or will killing/silencing Cerlota (along with not giving a damn about Moncesano) mark a bloody/tragic end to your partnership?
Abhuman allies/influence would certainly be helpful for reducing Shayard’s dependence on industrial-scale Harrowing (in favor of training more self-sacrifice-only Wisards).
Or would spreading the secrets of Wisardry too far/wide amongst Shayard’s populace ruin your Eclect MC’s plans to consolidate power beneath the combined administration of the Shayardene Xthonic priesthood and de Syrnon monarchy?
A good compromise would be to teach all Shayardene citizens baseline INT 2 Theurgy, while reserving the highest-level Theurgic secrets/techniques for Eclect MC’s loyalists, right?
"We also have older stories that
speak of stregoneria, but I would not be a strega.
@Havenstone
If INT specializing MC eventually sees a reason to view Erezza and/or Cerlotta as their biggest enemies, might there be an option to rename their Theurgic faction to “Strega/Striga”? (Aka “you Erezzans screwed us over/betrayed our trust very badly, so now we shall name ourselves after the most nightmarish elements of your folklore, up until our vengeance and/or irredentist dreams are satisfied”)
And then potential bonus points if MC gets a copy of an Erezzan folklore book, and deliberately changes his/her appearance to be as monstrous/witch-like as possible.
While on the topic, what specialization do you see as most useful for your/a INT 3 MC?
0 voters
M’kyar has an interesting story beat I wanna learn but tbh their abilities are enhancements are mostly physical. Something we avoid being ya know a magic user. Meanwhile our theurge friend has abilities that directly allow us to fight or defend ourselves without being in such a risky position.