My MC would trust Alless Stonehewer and Pin voting over Radmar any day. Pin is not even an adult yet and has already demonstrated bravery, intelligence, trustworthiness, and an ability to lead. My MC’s opinion of Alless Stonehewer shot sky-high when she was pleading for the band not to hurt Yed Gaverne while big tough Radmar was busy being terrified.
There is a difference between what the rebellion’s own propaganda claims and what the Hegemony’s propaganda claims. My MC could not be happier that:
The Ecclesiasts consider you to be Xaos incarnate. All across the Hegemony, prayers are offered hourly for your demise.
The Hegemony itself is giving my MC the equivalent of free hourly letters of recommendation across the entire Hegemony to every potential enemy of the Hegemony. This may be a double-edged-sword for the Hegemony because I suspect the Hegemonic Canon probably claims the “Angels” or their Eclectoi will always come forth to defeat Xaos. This reminds me of the situation in David Weber’s Safehold series. On a side note, I think David Weber is an excellent author and I love that series, but I digress.
The relevant aspect of that series to this game universe is the following: The entire planet Safehold is ruled by a religion that had been murderously and knowingly created as a lie to suppress technology for centuries to hide the remnant of humanity from alien extermination. The protagonist wakes in a robotic body after 1000 years powered down to restore humanity’s knowledge and make ready for the next encounter with the aliens. The fake religion of Safehold claimed that “Angels” would always appear to successfully defeat “demons” should “demons” return. This complicated things for that religion on the matter of whether or not to accuse the protagonist of being a demon for that would raise the awkward question of why “Angels” were either not returning or not succeeding against a “demon”.
My MC believes claiming to be a Goete is as much a lie as the things the Hegemony claims about itself. My MC thinks that these towers of lies will come crashing down sooner or later and would prefer to build on what my MC believes to be the truth instead. The fact that so few people have any knowledge of the word “wisard” means my MC can define the word by my MC’s actions and the novelty of it will be useful for drawing attention in the same way as if the MC uses wisardry openly over the winter during the first temple raid and calls it wisardry to counter the priest’s rhetoric.
I also personally find it funny that out-of-character it seems the beings known as “Angels” do exist in this game, but if they rarely make themselves known to anyone who does not already devoutly believe in them then my MC will probably never believe they exist. My MC is pragmatic enough to reevaluate that if my MC encountered concrete evidence of their existence, but it would not noticeably change my MC’s actions. Even if beings known as “Angels” existed, my MC thinks mere existence would not necessarily mean they are divine or entitled to order around humans no matter how powerful such “Angels” are.
Worrying about competing with fellow revolutionary states is being insufficiently cosmopolitan. There won’t be fellow revolutionary states if my MC’s wishes prevail because what would otherwise have been new states will instead become the second highest level of government under a federal system. There certainly have been multiple historical examples of multi-lingual multi-cultural empires in real world history. As far as long-lasting republics or democracies go, Switzerland has four official languages but forged a national identity via fighting for freedom against seemingly formidable odds. Additionally the rebellion’s army as a national institution could help forge a national identity along the lines of Nigeria with around 400 languages.
On the subject of the eventual size of the MC’s future state, I find it amusing that both Horion and Linos misunderstood both of the answers my MC would be most tempted to give.
“I’ll not stop until we’ve built a new Hegemony over all the lands in Karagon’s thrall.”
Horion and Linos seem to interpret this answer as meaning the entirety of the current Hegemony.
“I’ll free all the lands currently in Karagon’s thrall, and lead as many as will follow me.”
My MC usually states this which I think both Linos and Horion interpret as meaning bigger than Shayard and smaller than the whole Hegemony. My MC never actually claimed to be content with stopping at toppling the Hegemony. My MC currently does not seem to know enough about governments outside of the Hegemony to know which if any could become actual friends, and which are simply today’s ally but tomorrow’s foe.
There is a difference in capability between clerks and front-line field troops. A capital with its military high command is indeed likely bound to have many clerks but field troops are a different matter.
I would contend that the Mongol Empire as the largest contiguous empire in history and the second largest empire overall certainly qualified as a superpower. The Mongol Empire was far less successful at sea than on land. Subutai managed to project power by land at great distances.
@Havenstone I am still hopeful that Yebben will become a RO. If my MC ever gets the chance to give a gift to RO Yebben, I was wondering whether the equivalent of Braille books exist in this game universe. If Braille books do exist, they are just what my MC would think to give to Yebben as a gift.
@Havenstone On the subject of bugs and possible bugs:
I’m just curious, but is there a reason why we cannot assign literacy lessons during week 10 of winter?
I have not seen the scene with Zvad as deputy discussing Elery keeping him company lately. As I think my choices have not changed, I assume the game code has changed but it is hard for me to know whether that is a bug or intended.
If the MC starts a physical romance with Kalt on the sheep raid in Chapter 3, Kalt still asks about starting a romance in Chapter 4 acting as if it had not already happened.
If the MC chooses never to start a romance with Kalt, then in Chapter 4, the following screen appears which I think is missing a page break:
When facing the first Plektos during the summer fight, even a skeptical MC swears by Xthonos instead of Rhupos.
Based on the source code as of the end of the open beta:
[i]Xthonos, this is such a terrible plan.[/i] For an instant, swaying on the edge of the cliff, you see your followers in the grove far below.
I think the problem is the word Xthonos instead of $!{oath}.
After the summer fighting when the MC heads into the Xaos-lands, even a skeptical MC swears by Xthonos instead of Rhupos.
Based on the source code at the end of the open beta:
Just before you pass out of eyeshot, you find yourself pausing; something is absent, something wrong. It takes you several moments to realize that you're braced for a final, caustic word from your father. Xthonos knows he'd have had plenty to say about this mad plan.
I think the problem is again the word Xthonos instead of $!{oath}.