My INT-focused MC thinks that if her followers need to die, they could at least do so in a way that would make them useful afterwards. …did I say that out loud?
The most plausible scenario I can think of is to give Erezza a high degree of autonomy that allows it to maintain de facto independence, and not try too hard to integrate policies, although Shayard may then be harder to convince.
If you don’t have concealment, and you don’t have Theurges yourself…then run, dodge as much as you can, and expect to die.
Yeah
Screw that combat or charisma run
I’m going full intellect to save my poor boys
In any scenario where that was possible – where everything between Sojourn and the Olossar ocean had been broken down so far that Sojourn was the best-placed faction to prevail – the name for the realm would be “Xaos.”
Considering that Herne is making such a dramatic big deal about earnestly building a new order out of Xaos’ chaos, calling his hypothetical expanded realm “Xaos” could potentially represent quite the betrayal of his original goal.
And on another note, compared to archonty Shayard’s regions (and the other ex-Shayardene territory currently stuck with Wiendrj and Erezza), what sort of concessions/benefits would Sojourn (a relatively “new kid on the block”) be looking for to willing seek joining any post-Hegemonic Shayardene state?
After all, I did find it touching that Homelander MC can stoke the flames of Shayardene nationalism in Sojourn’s inhabitants (and that a charismatic Devout Xthonist MC can hinder Erjan from spreading Hallasurq paganism), and am curious to see where it goes from there.
If the Laconniers
Quick question (which I think could also be of interest for @roodcross ): how would the Laconniers, Leaguers, and other Shayardene nationalist factions feel about Homelander MC promoting a French Foreign Legion-style method of granting post-Hegemonic (or perhaps even earlier during the ongoing stages of MC’s rebellion) Shayardene citizenship to MC’s foreign allies? (“you’re granted Shayardene citizenship after you fight for my army for three years, or immediately after you get wounded during a battle fighting on my behalf”)
Theurgic agricultural revolution
Approximately how much blood would have to be spent for flying Theurges to induce cloud seeding?
Could an Eclect be said to rule over the Eclectic States?
Ha! It could be said, but it won’t be in-game. The existing meaning of “Eclectic” in our world would muddy the reader’s connotations in ways I don’t think would be helpful.
Havie, building upon the distant past quoted topic, here’s my latest Caliphate word equivalent for Xthonic theocracy: Xthondom. Thoughts?
In the later games, there will be some opportunities to invest in useful innovations, as one of several things a player can choose to spend state capacity on.
As Phaedrx has found, keeping enough dedicated and high-level Theurges on hand for a serious research program isn’t easy even for the heir to the Thaumatarchy. The current Hegemony isn’t in a place to pull major new discoveries out of a hat.
The topic of potential corporate espionage continues to gnaw at me.
Can Yebben, Cerlota, and other allied rebel theurges of the earlier games (G1-G3) be assigned to work on Phaedra’s research on MC’s behalf? (if MC instructed/advised Yebben and Cerlota that they should “play along with Phaedra’s game” until they found an opportunity to completely steal the fully/mostly-realized fruits of the research for their rebel faction, and then kill off/silence Phaedra at G4’s end before Phaedra gets the G5 chance to publicize/claim credit for the research) I wonder how much “have your cake and eat it too” min-maxing might be possible for a duplicitous MC who wants to acquire the practical benefits of Phaedra’s research (without the damage to reputation that a widely known alliance/allegiance to Phaedra would incur).
Meanwhile, the institution of monarchy has a hefty amount of historical legitimacy in Shayard that it simply lacks in Erezza; convincing the Erezziano that the best way to lead a joint Shayard-Erezza realm is under a Shayard-born monarch wouldn’t be easy.
How’s this for a strategy for de Syrnon Eclect MC:
1- start out the early games getting enough aristo nationalist cred to claim the de Syrnon throne,
2- pivot hard to neutral (or full blown Cosmo) to make a strong religious case for de Syrnon Eclect MC being a legitimate (or at least considered more reasonably palatable compared to Kleitos) ruler for Erezza to embrace in the post-Hegemony era,
3- gradually shift the core of MC’s Homelander power base from the Laconniers of Grand Shayard to the Laconniers of Corlune/Coastal Shayard (who probably would love closer ties (e.g. merging) with Erezza to line their pockets with lucrative trade)
4- successfully purge/repress/bribe any dissenting Laconniers who would dare question de Syrnon claimant MC’s “bold new Erezza-sympathetic direction” (and/or begin questioning/investigating MC’s lineage credentials in more detail)
If you want Erezza to be part of a new Shayardene Kingdom, convincing the locals might not be the best strategy. Forcing them, now…it’s nothing they aren’t used to.
Honestly, I think a deliberate “use nationalism to get the Laconniers on side before pivoting to cosmopolitan” is unlikely to succeed because it’ll take too many books to become the Laconnier heir. It’s also reinventing the wheel. If you want to go cosmopolitan…go cosmopolitan, don’t go de Symon. You shouldn’t be swimming toward a sinking ship.
The Leaguers will be much easier to use and discard.
One possible relationship that occurs to me as potentially analogous IRL is the Kingdom of Jerusalem and France. If Halassar is a religious enemy and Shayard is providing the majority of combat power I could see future where Erezza is a crusader state where Shayard elites and military orders control most of the state.
Considering that Herne is making such a dramatic big deal about earnestly building a new order out of Xaos’ chaos, calling his hypothetical expanded realm “Xaos” could potentially represent quite the betrayal of his original goal.
And on another note, compared to archonty Shayard’s regions (and the other ex-Shayardene territory currently stuck with Wiendrj and Erezza), what sort of concessions/benefits would Sojourn (a relatively “new kid on the block”) be looking for to willing seek joining any post-Hegemonic Shayardene state?
After all, I did find it touching that Homelander MC can stoke the flames of Shayardene nationalism in Sojourn’s inhabitants (and that a charismatic Devout Xthonist MC can hinder Erjan from spreading Hallasurq paganism), and am curious to see where it goes from there.
I think that you should just take some numbers into account to realise why Sojourn as ruler region of other places in Shayard would require Shayard to become a Xaos wasteland itself.
Sojourn population is below two hundred. That is less than Rim Square which is a periphery of a periphery. You would probably need ten thousand of Sojourns to make the population of Sojourners to be equal with Rim alone.
Even if we assume that Herne succeeds in all of his goals in Xaoslands then it still wouldn’t be a full fledged state to be fair, but just a pack of fierce survivalists.
And on another note this makes me think - why should our MC care about Sojourn in a grand scale of things? It was said that in Grand Shayard we may be able to disrupt some punitive expeditions to other rebel factions, like Cabelites and Sojourn, but I don’t find why should you choose to help Sojourners over any other faction, considering their insignificance.
Gotta wonder if Theurgy still goes haywire near Vigil if you’re underground.
Confiscated it. Stilos and Calea aren’t barbarians.
The Keriatou took the only thing valuable in the Noble MC’s house.
Also you said only Stilos and Calea, would that imply Hector would burnt it?
He’s definitely a barbarian.
Hector is a dangerously unbalanced individual who desperately needed to be born in a time with professional mental health services.
He works out the fact that other important families think he’s a joke by being abusive to his social inferiors.
@Havenstone
Will there be a “conservative minority” in this game? This problem is also a major problem in actual social reform movements. Also, if you plan on making an appearance, please don’t portray him as a simplistic villain or ignorant person.
In the later games, there will be some opportunities to invest in useful innovations, as one of several things a player can choose to spend state capacity on. It will be harder for high-anarchy plays, especially when it comes to social innovation; there’s less scope for blue-sky thinking or experiment when the world is falling apart all around you. I’ve not yet developed a comprehensive list of possible innovations, and don’t plan to for another game or two yet.
If you don’t mind, could you create a list and publish it?
Of course, the list will be preliminary based on your writing style, and you will likely add and remove many items later.
With that in mind, I think it’s in both your and the community’s interest to publish such a list early and start a discussion about what should be added or removed early.
p.s. If you would like to publish your list, I would appreciate it if you could host it on Google Docs for convenience.
1: Asking for a google doc is a little much.
2: Not making a list would be better because it lets us wildly speculate. Havie likes wild speculations and ideas.
Bro, no come on. He literally just said he hasn’t developed the list and doesn’t plan to. Why are you asking an author who just said they didn’t plan on making something for a while to instead make it now? You should be very aware that they have far more important things to work on then to write up a list for your critiques about something that isn’t going to be relevant for at least a game or two.
Yes, of course, this is just my personal preference and I have no intention of forcing it on the authors. If Heavenstone ultimately decides not to make the list, I will of course abide by that decision.
It’s great that you won’t force it on him, but like, come on man. He already did decide. You replied to him specifically stating that he wouldn’t do it right now, why he wouldn’t do it, and around the general time he would, and asked him to anyways. A long list like that, especially in a google doc, is not something he can just make. It would take time and work better saved for when it’s relevant, even if he was going to take feedback from the community.
Besides, as I pointed out, Havenstone likes wild speculation and appreciates when we come up with ideas in a vacuum. Maybe unfettered by a list of canonical things to argue over, we’ll come up with an idea or two he decides to use. He’s certainly used our questions as a resource when building Cerlota’s explanation of how theurgy works.
Hmm, I see. But I want to present new ideas based on the results of the discussions so far. (I want to avoid duplicating the same ideas and deepen the details of existing ideas.)
Given the discussion so far, it may be best to create a list myself and make it public (for those who prefer the same style of ideation as me).
I’ll try it when I have some free time.
go for it brother lmao