It’s kinda funny, yeah. I wonder what Hector’s gonna do when he ends up with seven mules that are the hottest contraband in the Rim.
“Ah, hey. Kuria Xedia? We just…kinda…found a bunch of your lost mules when we were raiding the Whendward Xaos-cult. Here they are. Oh Xthonos, show me mercy!”
As I recall the story early on mentioned that all the deer were gone this winter but that’s unusual so the need for mules the year we play is exceptional
My MC I think will not see the need for a state as the purpose of a revolutionary state is to protect the revolution from counter revolutionary forces but with (I don’t know the population size) conservatively tens of thousands of freed slaves who all have access to magic powers trying to reinstate a caste system over them would be a suicidal endeavor
That does trigger an interesting thought in my brain. How is it that Karagon managed to keep their own original helot population in check when theurgy was first discovered? We know at this point there is nothing particularly special about the technology from the wielder’s perspective. Is it only that they have managed to keep it a state secret this entire time, or does refined aetherial blood provide such a massive boost that it flat outclasses the sacrificial version? I suspect it is mostly the latter. We know for example that the sacrificial use preceded the Hegemony with wisards in Shayard.
Maybe the educational requirements for theurgy are high enough that there just weren’t many sacrificial theurges beforehand especially as the methods and even the fact it was possible would likely have been kept secret from the masses. We teach teenagers geometry after all but it took Archimedes years to learn it on his own
The logistics of enslaving a population that can all unleash magic any time they wish even at a cost are infeasible
Also as the abhumans all use sacrificial theurgy exclusively and have held back the hegemony mass adoption of wizardry is unlikely for old Shayard
The Hegemony have some ability to suppress sacrificial use. We see that when the MC is captured after the final battle. It might not be practical to keep theurges enslaved, but it would be practical to convert anyone capable of it into aetherial blood and keep the rest enslaved. I have to think there is more to the current Hegemony than excellent operational security. The MC is self-taught, and it didn’t seem particularly onerous. A higher than average IQ (or concentration) really for the helot variant.
The MC found a primer they are self taught in the manner of someone who found a book on calculus rather than in the manner of Isaac Newton.
There have been other self taught theurges among the helotry before but the hegemony seems to mobilise fast to quash them also I’ve no doubt that religious notions of goetry discourage self study and most importantly sharing of information. (I wonder if it will later be possible to get the church to decry the hegemony as the goets and the sacrificial method as true and their religious teachings about helot blood being ordained for theurgic use to encourage adoption)
Anyone know how to permanently change how much food you have by save edits? I keep changing foodstores and saved foodstores to a higher number but it doesn’t seem to have any effect for more than a page
Done! And it’s 20,000 words. 
Not quite the “tax collector raid” as side plots go, but a satisfyingly meaty little side quest with various lore and relationship bonuses for people who read Game 1.
You’ll see when I post it!
We’ll see if and when I write it, but it could easily be the final factor that pushes de Firiac to go join a rival faction – especially if they’re already grumpy at you for being some combination of dishonorable and brutal.
Yikes. That’s a match made in hell. As you suspected, based on how Simon feels about dishonorable and ruthlessly brutal people.
Maybe!
They’d certainly appreciate the irony of getting a helot on the throne, though it would be warring with their “no thrones no masters” instinct.
Kalt/Kala will certainly have the chance to grow out of impulsive violence–though even their G1 violence is not as unconsidered as it might seem–but they’re highly unlikely to be persuaded that intrigue and politics are more effective than violence in bringing about the kind of revolutionary change that’s needed. I like Wolf Hall too, but I don’t think that’s where the character is going.
In his mid-fifties.
In a system of discrimination as deeply entrenched as the Karagond one, most people won’t go for a subaltern leader with questionable credentials unless they’ve got an incentive like “without him, the masses will clearly have our heads on spikes.”
Both wide and awkward. She’s not interested. Same for Korszata, Bjel, or Zvad. I’m sorry to pour cold water on so many of your ideas for alliance-building through matrimony, but I’ve got quite enough ROs in the pipeline already.
It doesn’t, but a really successful merchant family can often find a hard-up noble house to marry into and get a name for themselves.
Right – marriage alliances will be possible between a number of factions, not just Laconniers.
The Blacklist sounds like a fun show, but I’ve got no plans at present to have the MC build up connections with the underworld only to sell them out to the authorities. There’s zero chance of the MC being given immunity from Harrowing, no matter who they turn in.
Possibly? I don’t think it would happen through murder mystery stardom, though, and in general the questionable bit is the MC’s ability to determine Jac’s successor. Even if you managed to have Jac killed without your hand in the murder being evident, you’d need a lot of nationalist yeoman clout to be confident in your ability to choose the next Cabelite leader.
Not very. I’m not planning for mule management to be a big part of future games.
Refined blood lets you (a) use other people’s blood, not your own, and (b) get a much higher aether concentration than you can get from your own body without irreversible damage. Those provide an enormous boost on what was otherwise possible. The wisards of Shayard and other practitioners before the Theurgic Revolution used their own blood, not other people’s; their skills were also much more poorly understood, and @NotMyRealName is right than education was a barrier to wider uptake. (Not so much with Theurgic trance as with being able to do much of anything once you’re in trance. The MC did a lot of work to wrap their brain around the Stoicheia of Hyron before the game starts, and that’s what gave you the insights that set you off as a budding elementalist.)
To be clear, the pre-Hera helot krypteia wasn’t sacrificing them for Theurgic purposes (any more than it was with the Spartans in our world).
I think you’d have to rewrite a LOT of code for that not to happen. Foodstores get reset regularly based on your actions.
That’s exciting! Can’t wait to read it.
I actually prefer kalt as a person to manage than simon as while they’re stubborn they’re also consistent whereas Simon constantly seems to be trying to do their own thing but kalt is a handy stick to beat nobles with (although not nearly enough of a pragmatist to ever be put in a major decision making role without oversight)
Whelp! Time to just steal a shitload of grain and mod the anarchy/reputation stats instead XD
I just remembered they existed but will our relatives that got adopted into the large Westriding families become relevant or mentioned for the Aristo MC?
Huh I don’t remember that happening lol
Dad’s siblings right?
Dad’s aunt and uncle, as he says to Horion in G1 Ch3: “My mother’s sister and brother desperately sought adoption into larger Westriding Houses—and when they succeeded, forsook every connection to the Rim.”
It’s a thread I might or might not pick up, depending on scope creep. If they’re relevant, I don’t expect it to be until G3, when you visit the Westriding.
I got an entire program, and I still cant get rid of those damn kids. How in God’s name did you code this man ;~;
Either way gotta say its fun to play in protagonist mode for a bit. Fun to have a light novel protagonist option instead of just constant 24/7 pain. Now I can roleplay a rebel commander who can have good brains and brawn XD
A. Without “enabling god mode” in mind – so there are lots of variables that can’t just be yanked out and maxxed
B. With the intent of obscuring a couple things that might otherwise give away plot points
C. Pick your metaphor: xkcd: Code Quality
A That’s fair, I’m just glad you didn’t go out of your way to block it. Some people do that and I just don’t get it XD
B Ya know I can respect that, fair enough.
C Lol, I’m sure it looks fine. Better than my attempt that had more “if blank” then an emergency guide
That’s totally not me. I’m fine with people doing whatever they want with a game they’ve bought. The code isn’t written with the intent of being either mod-unfriendly or mod-friendly.