Ah. Choice of pebbles 
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One thing I’ve been wondering about:
Will the story eventually give us a chance to meet—or even ally with—the keepers/guardians of whichever version of the Shayardene text is generally considered the closest thing to the “original” (or at least the interpretation that’s most associated with compassion)?
On the flip side, if we’re playing a more ruthless MC, could we end up with a more pragmatic relationship instead? Something along the lines of:
“Your ideals only survive because people like us create the stability (e.g. strong post-Hegemonic state with credible deterrence, e.g. unified Shayard) that lets you practice them in the first place.”
I remember earlier forum discussions mentioning that the narrative was meant to support interesting “pacifists and violent guys” pairings depending on player choice. That got me wondering how many other ‘flank movement’ alliance playthrough permutations there might eventually be beyond the ones we already know (or merely speculate) about—Kala/Kalt with a pacifist MC, or Tamran with a more violent one.
Or is the whole premise off-base? Is Shayardene doctrine so regionally fragmented—with competing nationalist and religious traditions—that every major faction sincerely believes its version is the authentic one, making the search for an “original” interpretation largely meaningless in-universe?
P.S. And if the theological debates go nowhere… I suppose there’s always the classic “whoever holds the sword decides who holds the pen” solution: back whichever coalition’s edition of the Shayardene Codex just so happens to align with the MC’s preferred ideals and political agenda. 
That makes me wonder what kind of state an MC could eventually build if they deliberately centered their ruling coalition around literate helots (especially those taught Theurgy) together with Diakons.
If those two groups became the backbone of a new political order, what direction do you think they’d naturally evolve toward?
A. Something like Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic or Warcraft’s Kirin Tor? A bureaucratic magocracy where educated Theurges administer law, infrastructure, and magical regulation. The emphasis wouldn’t be “Theurges should rule everything,” but rather “someone has to ensure nobody starts Harrowing people again.” Ideally, they’d also spend a great deal of effort policing one another so no individual Theurge—or small clique—could become the next Thaumatarch(s) or Ennearch(s).
B. Or something else entirely? I’m curious whether there’s a historical or fictional analogy that better captures where you imagine such a coalition ending up.
One other thought: my less imperial-minded (alternate playthrough) MC would probably dismantle the existing Shayard–Karagon–Erezza–Nyryal–Wiendrj provincial structure in favor of a much more decentralized network of dozens (or even hundreds) of city-states. The obvious tradeoff is that no one polity could monopolize Theurgic violence across half the continent—but by the same token, it’d also be much harder for another empire to emerge.
The goal would then be to bind those city-states together through a continent-wide framework instead: politically and culturally autonomous, but economically interconnected and loosely coordinated against common threats. Think shared infrastructure, trade, famine relief, and a collective commitment to preventing another Harrowing regime.
For that sort of playthrough, the guiding principle of Theurgy would be: no Harrowing, only the blood in your own body, and quicksilver wherever nature already provides it. In other words, turning Theurgy from an engine of conquest into something more like a tightly regulated public utility.
I’m mostly wondering whether that sort of endgame is somewhere within the setting’s design space, or whether the political and magical realities of the world would naturally push such a coalition toward a very different equilibrium.
P.S. One possible obstacle I keep coming back to is the incentive structure itself.
Suppose this coalition actually succeeds. The old Karagond Theurgic elite are gone, literacy is widespread, and enough people understand Theurgy that no tiny caste can monopolize it anymore.
Does the setting naturally settle into a stable equilibrium… or is the temptation to defect simply too strong? A neighboring state willing to embrace Harrowing would presumably enjoy obvious military and administrative advantages, creating pressure for everyone else to follow.
In other words, is an anti-Harrowing order actually self-sustaining, or does the world inevitably drift toward a Nash equilibrium where sooner or later one state defects, embraces Harrowing, and becomes the next hegemonic threat?
Looking at the map, I found myself wondering whether Corlune or Umri has the stronger long-term “City of London” potential—not necessarily the largest city, but the place whose geography naturally encourages it to become the continent’s principal commercial, financial, and institutional hub over the centuries.
Or is there another city (perhaps Grand Shayard or somewhere else entirely) that you’d expect to fill that post-Hegemonic role if MC-guided history takes a (relatively, give or take some awkward compromises and intrigue finicking here and there) peaceful course?
Continuing from my above mentioned “City of London” thought experiment:
Your years-ago earlier reply helped me realize that the limiting factor isn’t really financial innovation—it’s institutional trust.
If the MC somehow succeeds in establishing a relatively stable postwar order, what’s the first institution you’d expect to emerge that fundamentally changes the economy? Commercial courts? Stronger property rights? Merchant leagues? More independent guilds? Something else entirely?
In other words, what’s the first domino that has to fall before debt gradually stops being viewed primarily as a mechanism of domination and starts becoming a tool for productive investment instead?
P.S. I will immediately bluntly admit my whole line of questioning may be putting the cart before the horse. If scaling Harrowing down to a tiny fraction of its current level produces enough post-Hegemonic instability, then the immediate challenge probably isn’t “How do we build/reshape the continent’s financial institutions?” but “How do we stop the continent from descending into decades of border wars, famine, and state collapse?” The game’s timeframe may simply end with the MC’s generation laying the groundwork, leaving whatever stable commercial order eventually emerges to later generations. But regardless, I still feel this topic was interesting enough to be worth revisiting and getting off my chest.
Havenstone, here’s another thought experiment for a possible “post-Hegemonic scramble” outcome.
Suppose the entire continent ultimately ends up conquered by the Qasper Zhuj. In this scenario, the MC’s atheist-nationalist Shayardene bloc and the Qasper Zhuj fight side by side to defeat the various post-Hegemonic successor states. Once victory is secured, however, they peacefully settle the inevitable “whose state assimilates whom?” question through one or more honor duel(s) between each faction’s respective top military elites —tightly supervised duel(s) to the death, with both sides agreeing in advance to abide by the result.
If the Qasper Zhuj emerge victorious, could the MC then try to “win the peace” the way many Chinese scholar-officials effectively did under Kublai Khan?
In other words, rather than resisting the new regime outright, the MC and Shayard’s administrative elite would become indispensable to governing it—encouraging the conquerors to adopt Shayardene institutions, bureaucracy, and methods of administration because they’re simply the most effective way to rule a large, settled population.
I’m thinking of the broad historical pattern of the Yuan Dynasty gradually becoming more Sinicized: the conquerors remained politically dominant, but increasingly relied on Chinese administrative traditions and officials because governing an agrarian civilization required institutions the nomadic conquerors didn’t initially possess.
Does that seem like a plausible direction for the Qasper Zhuj if they successfully conquered the continent, or are their culture and political incentives different enough that they’d resist that sort of gradual assimilation?
P.S. Alternatively, I realize I may be overcommitting to the Yuan analogy. From a purely practical standpoint, it might make far more sense for a Zhuj-ruled Shayard to simply retain the Hegemony’s Koine as its administrative and commercial language. I only suggested elevating Shayarin because I was trying to mirror the Mongol–Chinese historical pattern as closely as possible, not because I think it’s necessarily the most plausible outcome for your setting.
I love Havenpebble’s writing style; please send my regards to him! I think he has a bright future on this website! (or whichever platform will best make use of his budding CYOA writing talent)
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Well, I necroed an other thread with this question a few days back (I don’t think it was even the correct one), but this seems like the most active one for the first game. So, my apologies, but;
Could anyone link me to a guide in any thread with general trips and tricks about the winter segment, instead of specific walkthroughs? Things like where are the hard boundries of mule caravan imports, what raids are the most “cost effective” (in terms of either lives, reputations or anarchy), is the tax farming heist worth doing, if getting new followers or arming the current ones is better, how any of the maths actually works etc.
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Best place for this sort of question is the XoR Discord (Choice of Rebels Community). Lots of smart people who can give you advice and help you troubleshoot runs there.
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I really enjoyed reading your son’s Choice of Rebels prologue. That genuinely impressed me. Best wishes for the Havenpebble!
If you don’t mind my asking, I’m curious about your decision not to let him read Choice of Rebels yet. Seeing that excerpt, my first reaction was that he seems quite talented for his age, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether reading a work like Choice of Rebels, perhaps with your guidance and discussions along the way, might actually help nurture that talent even further. Great writing is the best teacher of writing, and, frankly, I consider your Choice of Rebels to be a masterpiece in that respect. I really don’t want the development of his talent to be slowed down…
Of course, I also realize there may be reasons I’m not aware of, and you certainly know your own child better than I do. So, please take this as a good-faith question, not as a criticism.
In any case, thanks for sharing his writing!
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I mentioned last week on the Stormwright thread that I first read Uprising in 2020, but what I didn’t mention is that I was born in 2008. (I wouldn’t normally share that online, but I basically have to in order to share my experience thanks to that earlier post.) So when Havenstone said in 2019
he was right; at least, he would be when I encountered the game and started scrolling this thread with a guest account a year later. And that’s all because I read it at 12! I distinctly remember not grasping the wider details (“Zay-os? What the hell?”) or like, any themes or commentary, but I easily understood the story of a rebel fighting against an evil empire where magic existed and it being set way before modern times. And then I got older and kept replaying and enjoyed it on a deeper level with each passing year.
So not saying you should let your son read it now, but you definitely could! It’s pretty grim, sure, but not overly so, which I appreciate. I believe it’s pretty hard to encounter anything wildly inappropriate/graphic on your first playthrough, depending on your definition of graphic, anyway…
All this to say that I’m sure you’ve been waiting a longgg time to let him read your passion, and even if that time isn’t right now you don’t have to wait much longer!
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