Choice of Rebels: Uprising — Lead the revolt against a bloodthirsty empire!

Fair enough, but one of the themes of XoR is that you can’t have it all. If you want to keep Breden around as a romance partner, you have to deal with all the problems she brings and her attempts to usurp control of the rebellion (and her being the traitor). If you send her away, you lose a powerful high-CHA recruiter. If you do the event where you drown her at the end of Chapter 2…well you get the best of both worlds.

I keep Breden in the rebellion, though more as a challenge than anything else.

I think I did it. I beat the army, I’ve romanced Brenden, I even got Joana (suspected Kryptast) killed by one of them giant dogs. But I’ve only got like 311 followers left, with half of them being children. Brenden also gave me the Kryptast code.

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@Havenstone

Will we be able to change our players name in any of the next games? I’ve got a good playthrough going but screwed up on my PCs last name.

On the other hand learning the effectively delegate and manage potential future ministers will be of great help during the rebuilding phase particularly in the last game and especially for the high INT playthrough who cannot force everything through by sheer force of charisma.

Yeah, screw Breden! But even without the consensus you can make up for Breden’s demoralising by burning the forest and still come out on top with a secret theurge. I also hope that doing that and getting to a glorious victory will diminish Breden too.

Well as soon as some high Charisma sceptics join up…

My mc really doesn’t care for what Abelard wants, which seems to be a strong Shayardene, Laconnier monarchy. And that Hector is one of his allies would make my mc hate him even more should he find out. But then my mc would make a deal with the devil with Horion, Teren and the leaguers if it looked like the Laconniers were getting too strong.

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Agreed, some builds can fairly easily overcome the problems Breden brings. If you outnumber the enemy fairly substantially (which Low-Anarchy Aristo builds can get without much trouble), you’ll definitely have no trouble. Helot builds that butchered the de Merres will have some more problems.

But Breden will only be one problem among many. I think one of the themes of XoR is that while everyone wants rebellion, a lot of people want to full their own private goals as well. Radmar (and Alless) want vengeance against the nobility, but that’s obviously not something Abelard de Toman wants. Breden differs with you on means to an end, but other people differ on the ends themselves, which is much more dangerous.

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I have the broad arc planned out (including tentative chapter names). In Game 2, Stormwright, the tide of rebellion will sweep across Shayard, and you’ll spend much of the game in the capital. In Game 3, Omphalos, after a brief return to the Rim you’ll begin visiting other provinces (if you choose – alternatively, you might visit other parts of Shayard to consolidate your authority there) and infiltrate the Hegemonic capital of Aekos. Game 4, Downfall, will lead up to the siege of Aekos and the collapse of the Thaumatarchy in its current form.

Game 5, Hegemon, will see you trying to consolidate some sort of post-Thaumatarchic order in relation to up to thirty other factions. The ambition of this plan has been noted. :slight_smile: Your “big bad” by then will vary based on the choices you’ve made to that point.

Probably not, I’m afraid. Any time I do a name change, I have to store the old name, in recognition of the fact that not everyone will switch over to calling you by your new one. But you’ll be able to pick an alias, which many people will call you by. I hope that’s some satisfaction.

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One question we’ve joked about on the Discord, but I’m dying to know: will you eventually be able to Harrow helots to obtain their aetherial blood for your faction?

I have some elitist Ruthless/Cosmopolitan Aristocrat builds that are creating low-anarchy rebellions based in the yeomanry and nobility that would be thrilled to do it.

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How to increase my rep with the nobles???

How are you able to convinced zvad to join you if you tried to fight the phalangites???

The Mandate from the Angels is eternal, when one dynasty falls another must rise to take its place and mine will be better than our predecessors.

Order must always triumph.

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Hi, you should take a look at my guide on Steam, which details how to secure Noble help even if you stop Harrowing and your Charisma is bad.

Other things you can do:

  • Let the Harrowing happen and select “Death without trial…” (this is the biggest Noble cred boost)
  • Select “The first thing to do is to secure the rights the Karagonds…” when raiding the Brecks with Simon.
  • Change a Shayardene surname (“de Eramant”) to a Karagond one (“Eramatou”)

Be 2CHA, have Inner Voice or Eclect, and select “Listen to what the Angels tell you,” then pick the second (dishonest) option.

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Hello, everyone! I’ve been an extremely long-time lurker of the Choice of Rebels threads. I absolutely adore Havenstone’s writing and keep up with the updates posted here in the forum, but only recently has my work/life balance shifted enough for me to participate. Eager to be a part of the community!

@Havenstone
My partner and I are both fans of your work, and they had a few questions about helot elders they wanted me to pass on to you:

Hi Havenstone! I wanted to ask about how the Hegemony views/treats helot elders. I understand that the Hegemony culls older helots, and that’s why starting the game via the Rim Square uprising gives you a bunch of kids to look after. So then why haven’t Joana and the other helot elders you meet throughout the story been Harrowed yet? It seems like there’s a lot of child helots and young adult helots, a couple of old helots, and no middle-aged helots, and I was curious whether there’s an age threshold where, if a helot survives beyond it, they’re no longer likely to be Harrowed.

Also, I got the sense that helot elders provide informal governance/leadership/guidance for the helots as a whole. They definitely seem like community leaders, at the very least. Have I interpreted their role correctly and, if so, does the Hegemony know that they perform this social role and/or tolerate it? I can definitely imagine that the Hegemony might want young helots to emulate the probable traits of long-surviving elder helots (i.e. compliance, subservience), but I thought I’d ask to be sure.

Thank you!

I also had a question as well. I know you’re currently working on Stormwright, but I was curious whether you’re still accepting bug reports/feedback/suggestions on the original game. I noticed some wonky parts during a few recent playthroughs which I should be able to reproduce, but I don’t know the best way to send you that information. I’ve seen people occasionally post bugs in this thread, but I wanted to check just in case. I also don’t know the etiquette for non-bug-related feedback on finished games–is it okay to offer suggestions even though the game’s already published?

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Sorry to have missed a few questions over the past couple weeks!

Yes–by the late games you should be able to have utterly betrayed your initial allies and reestablished a brutal replica of the current Hegemony.

Welcome, Silas and partner! :slight_smile: Glad you enjoyed the game.

To get Harrowed before the age of 30, a helot pretty much has to do/say something threatening to the social order; even if they’re not breeders, there is a lot of hard labor the Hegemony can get at that age. A mouthy, angry helot like Kala or Breden would be considered likely to be Harrowed in their 20s. Most helots get Harrowed in their late 30s or 40s, whenever they’re considered to be getting toward the end of their healthy breeding age.

A few are allowed to live into their 50s, like Old Joana. To make that cut, an elder needs to be reported by the overseers to be respected by the other helots, and to have used that respect to keep order and ensure good work. Regardless, you’ll almost never find a helot older than 60; at a certain point, the risk of them dying naturally before they can be Harrowed outweighs their remaining value to the system of social control.

As community leaders, elders have a fine line to walk. If they collaborate too much with the masters’ oppression or are seen as outright spies, they are likely to lose the respect of their peers, and thus their value. To avoid a vicious cycle, the elders need to be able to win a reasonable measure of both concessions from the masters and compliance from their fellow helots.

Game 2 Chapter 2 will take place in a situation where the helot elders and local nobles had maintained that balance for a long time, before it was destabilized by word of your rebellion. You can engage with that and see how you feel about it.

Oh, absolutely. Still fixing bugs and wonky bits of continuity whenever I find them. Please do let me know whatever you can replicate/diagnose!

I’m also still happy to hear suggestions for improvements to Game 1, though I’d offer a warning note that I’m unlikely to implement them, however good they are–my priority right now needs to be Game 2. :slight_smile: But if that’s not unduly discouraging, please feel free to give me your feedback. I certainly won’t be annoyed or put off.

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Hello everyone, I hope you’ve all been keeping well and happy.

@Havenstone As ever, thanks for your hard work and talent. Might I ask if we’ll have chances to name our fledgling states as they arise from the ashes of the rebellion?

I’d quite like to become the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Shayard - are customised / player-selected leadership titles and state / country names something that’s been tabled for the future?

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Now they are. :slight_smile: But that’s a loooooooong way off yet.

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Amazing! Thank you very much indeed.

Is there a chance to romance Ellery or Allira?

Elery is a potential romance. Alira is not–gotta draw a line somewhere!

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Hello, I’ve been following your work ever since its release on Google Play :slightly_smiling_face:
I’ve got a few questions for you if you don’t mind:

  1. Will it be possible to promote some of the more renowned helot/yeoman followers into nobility, or will they be having none of that? Not to mention, have the social classes become very close-knitted for it to able to occur without strong repercussion much like in the High Middle Ages?

  2. Do Karagonds from the lower classes within their home province enjoy higher privileges and/or are seen more favorably when they’re in other provinces?

  3. While my MC has yet to get himself involved with the Laconniers, he has a reminiscient view of the pre-hegemony history and will probably find himself sympathizing with the faction in later games. He has been starting to develop an ambition in taking the throne for himself since the rebellion started, however. Will that lead to an inevitable conflict between them in the future?

  4. Considering how my MC has endlessly defended Breden even when the crowd was overwhelmingly against her, I would say he’s been relatively open-minded enough to give her another chance even when the evidence was pointing at her in Chapter 4. Will that be enough for Elery’s anger to subside in future installments, or will she still hold it against him? I don’t want to be on the receiving end of both pro/anti-breden factions :frowning_face:

  5. How far-reaching was the influence of pre-hegemony aristo MC’s family in Rim Square? I’m guessing it didn’t reach to a great degree asides from being slightly more noteworthy.

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If we don’t learn healing Theurgy in Uprising will we have the opportunity to learn it in game 2?

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