Probably not, but the ordinary mages wouldn’t exactly be privy to that info, while if my mc ever does use a Xaos storm to deter/repel an invasion he’d ensure as many of the ordinary mages a possible were present to see it happen. Again putting a bit of awe in the faithful and fear in those possibly contemplating treason wouldn’t be too bad.
That is likely to come at a huge (personal) cost if it is possible at all. But, as noted, if it does happen it would just about be the only situation in which my mc couldn’t very well turn down the(figure)head of state position no matter how much he might want to or hate the “duties” and pomp and ceremony of the office. To him personally it would probably be a cruel form of Pyrrhic victory in the hugely unlikely event it were to happen.
Particularly since it seems that any such government is likely to be either a Confederation or Supranational, which might keep the peace and be good for economic integration but is also largely symbolic outside of those areas except for maybe having a small elite military force in peacetime that can be inflated with the armies of its constituent parts in a system akin to the Army of the United States during wartime.
Just in small doses and not all at once, eh? Though more true in your case than in mine as the abolition of the caste system and whatever rudimentary education we can manage to provide is pretty much guaranteed to be implemented by my mc in any liberated areas as they are the core values of the Rebellion.
Other reforms have to be trailed and tested more extensively before more general implementation.
@Havenstone: Does the Codex make a distinction between change and chaos? For example, how does the Codex address ordered changes such as the endless shifting of the seasons? or the transitions from day to night and back to day again?
Sir, I found some bug.
I was a Cha2/Int1/Com0 Noble.
In the chapter 4, I chose for a war with the Archon’s force and the whole band was cheerful to defeat the army.
But again when Breden suggests for penetrating into Rim square.
I suddenly agreed with her and changed my plan from
All out war >>to>> Split up.
Then suddenly Radmar became furious. Lunged for Breden, Elery came in between.
Radmar and Elery both died there but Breden got saved.
But in my stat,
Only Elery was among the martyr and Radmar was still not in the martyr list.
This seems like one of those things, like helots being gay, where theory and practice are likely to diverge a great deal. Since the Hegemony in practice likes to keep everything static and limit change and the possible, resulting upward social mobility. I’m guessing in theory the Codex allows for some change as long as it is done by an Eclect supposedly on the orders of the “blessed angels”. In practice it is probably tantamount to heresy, which is tantamount to treason and gets you slow-harrowed.
1: The barriers to reaching the aether through techne are greater than in our world (the sphere of empyreal fire is a bigger bitch than our radiation belts and there may not be a low earth orbit like we have).
2: If you can reach the empyrean aether, you can make talismans, which allow theurgy without blood (and lots of it; talismans sublimate very slowly), which do reduce the need for an exclusively techne program. If you can reach the aether with a manned mission…well, that’s a big question mark, but if you can survive there and make Changes, you can engage in godlike feats of Theurgy (raising a mountain into the sky? Pfft, that’s amateur-hour stuff).
Is there anybody who can tell me the relation between the no of outlaws we assign for to be taught and the number of literates we finally get after the 9th week?
I can’t figure it out how the numbers work for the final number of literates.
For all we know, the empyrean (sphere of elemental fire) may refer to the Van Allen radiation belt. If you had to attribute being bombarded by high energy particles to one of the four classical elements, fire is probably your best bet. I am somewhat skeptical that the sky would actually burn without oxygen at a high enough altitude. I think it is more likely that it is caused by what is thought of as elemental fire in the same way that the Sun would probably be viewed as a concentration of elemental fire even though combustion is not the dominant reaction there. Alternatively, one might also wonder whether the Elder Scrolls Ayleid view that fire is an impure form of light is actually correct in this world. The fact that Ayleids constructed their magical items from meteors is an interesting parallel and come on, making a mountain float is just asking for it to fall eventually. If my MC ends up eating overgrown insects and mushrooms after the mountain does fall, my MC will not be happy.
On the subject of eventual rebellion capital locations, I don’t know how I missed this earlier but Umri would probably be better than Nyrnakan while still keeping the advantages of being in skeptical territory.
Also, YAY for quoting a locked thread!
Here is the source code for teaching the band to read.
#Teach more of my outlaws their letters and numbers.
*if literacy = 0
*gosub litjust
*comment endif
How many of your
*set d2n_num freefollowers
*gosub d2n
free followers do you want to spend the week practicing their alphabeta?
*input_number students 2 freefollowers
*set litweek +students
*if litweek > 100
Your more experienced students understand enough now to help others get started.
*if litweek <= 100
You find a bit of time early in the week and set exercises for them to practice.
This week,
*set d2n_num students
*gosub d2n
outlaws devote themselves to dogged memorization and shakily scribing letters in dirt and bark.
*if kids > 2
Many of the band's children
*if literacy = 0
are mustered by Pin Thatcher to
*if literacy > 0
also
join them.
*set litweek +(kids/10)
*set freefollowers -students
*set literacy week
*goto banditchoices
and
*if (week = 10) and (litweek > 0)
*set literate +round(litweek/10)
*if literate > 2
As you turn your mind to this week's mule train, you're gratified to see that
*if (prevlit > 0) and (literate <= 13)
*if el_here
Elery and
the
*if bandead > 5
surviving
helots you taught the alphabeta back in Rim Square are now comfortably able to read a written message. A winter of practicing what you taught them has served them well.
*if (prevlit = 0) or (literate > 13)
*if el_here
Elery and
the
*if bandead > 5
surviving
outlaws who have been learning their alphabeta are now comfortably able to read a written message. You reckon that thanks to your efforts, about
*set d2n_num literate
*gosub d2n
of your followers have achieved low-level literacy.
*set cred_h +(literate*2)
*set morale +literate
I considered that to be more metaphorical than real, much like already suggested by Norlinde. Having an upper atmosphere that is, somehow, permanently on fire is unlikely to do wonders for the livability of the planet.
That would mean we either learn to harvest the stuff from the vacuum of space or find an asteroid belt in the star system somewhere. We don’t exactly engage in routine trips to the asteroid belt or even Mars today.
I suppose one of the most intriguing god-like uses of Aether might be as FTL starship fuel in some distant future?
You’d still presumably be freezing your butt off over there, which still wouldn’t be a big recommendation to my mc. Avezia still seems like the absolutely best positioned city in the whole Hegemony to me and it is implied to have a nice climate too.
On the other hand if the former Hegemony and the Former Empire of Hallassur do unite in some form we can probably expect either Moncesano or Otsamor to be the (nominal) capital of such a union, or possibly dual capitals.
By the way what are those cities like @Havenstone?
Well, thanks for the post.
Still I am struggling to understand the code.
For some 3-4 weeks I assign around 150-200 outlaws for reading and writing, but I get only around 70-90 literate outlaws.(With Int1)
@Havenstone raided the Architelone by the telone path as well as convinced Bleys to join my band.
In the raid, I trapped Alaine Leybridge.
Also I have successfully smuggled goods from a local merchant(as a test).
I hope there is going to be some trade agreements with Guild master in near future.
So if Alaine Leybridge is executed prior to any trade agreement between my band and the Guild master then,
What might be the consequences?
Shall I be still able to have any agreement with the higher kyklo Guild members/masters?
Will it affect by reputation, my trust worthiness ?
A traitor to my own fences, a back stabbing rebel…
I hope Bleys, the telone, would be much helpful in future trade agreements.
Again, as nobles such as Ismene de Galis also do a whole lot of trading,
So is there any possibility of any trade agreement with nobles as well?
One last question.
If smuggling is like passing a “Whole Caravan” over the Whendward pass,
Then can it be done without the notice of Alastors/ Thurges?
As I know from the experience from chapter 2 that even a few mules can be conspicuous to travel in the wilderness.
*If this post is considered as spoiler and needs to be hidden, then please let me know.
I forgot the other part of the relevant source code.
*if (week = 10) and (litweek > 0)
*set literate +round(litweek/10)
*if literate > 2
As you turn your mind to this week's mule train, you're gratified to see that
*if (prevlit > 0) and (literate <= 13)
*if el_here
Elery and
the
*if bandead > 5
surviving
helots you taught the alphabeta back in Rim Square are now comfortably able to read a written message. A winter of practicing what you taught them has served them well.
*if (prevlit = 0) or (literate > 13)
*if el_here
Elery and
the
*if bandead > 5
surviving
outlaws who have been learning their alphabeta are now comfortably able to read a written message. You reckon that thanks to your efforts, about
*set d2n_num literate
*gosub d2n
of your followers have achieved low-level literacy.
*set cred_h +(literate*2)
*set morale +literate
From the tidbits @Havenstone has previously dropped, it’s fairly clear that the church of Xthonos doesn’t believe that the world started out ordered. I’ve gotten the sense (which may not be entirely on target) that the creation myth goes something like: in the beginning there was only Xaos (aka chaos), and from xaos came (was born?) Will (xthonos) and that divine Will shaped the xaos and brought about order, but xaos did not wish to be ordered and rebelled, and so began an eternal battle between the emanations of xthonos attempting to shape the xaos into an order conducive to life, and the xaos itself which did not wish to be bound, or something along those lines.
Nevertheless the point is that order came from chaos, and the only way that could have occurred was through change. Furthermore all human beings have a small spark of that divine will to shape both themselves and the world around them for either the better (xthonos) or the worse (xaos), and theurges have gained the ability to harness that spark. I can see my character wanting to dig through the actual pre-Karagond Codex for passages that could be reinterpreted in that light. There must be a way to either rediscover a pre-existing or root a new doctrine of change into the existing text of the Codex, because to paraphrase Lao-Tzu, life is change. Without growth there can be no life, and all things must adapt to survive.
Once an MC who goes the Elect route establishes (or reestablishes) a Doctrine of Change and connects it to the original understanding of the Doctrine of Compassion, the Church has sufficient grounds to abolish the terrible caste system as a violation of the will of Xthonos and his angels. The rebellion against Karagond creates an inflection point in time where we can justly pin the rigid caste system on Karagond, as a self-serving heresy spread by its false elect and their corrupted ecclesiasts, enabling a reformed church to rise from the ashes.
I first of all think that route is only viable for aristo mc’s which mine is not. In addition my mc has no desire to engage with or debate Xthonic religious doctrine to him it is all a self-serving lie underpinning the sham that is the Karagond caste system.
That then ties into my mc’s conviction that the current organized Church of Xthonos must be torn down and not allowed to reconstitute itself or come anywhere near temporal power again. He can probably live with countless new and powerless denominations headed by former Diakons, but that is about it.
In general any regime he sets up would have the tendency to treat organized religions as an anti-trust and competition law problem on the newly free religious market. If one appears to get too powerful and organized it is probably time to take appropriate measures to ensure the freedom of religion is preserved.
There’s a decent chance this is indeed what the Shayardene Codex might have to say on it, but my mc wouldn’t be exactly eager to embrace its words as gospel truths either, particularly since it is likely to contain its own disturbing elements, one of which seems to be bloodline dynasties, which would be vastly deleterious to gay guys like himself. And I’m sure there are others as well.
I don’t think a helot elect is necessarily any more difficult than a pacifist noble or a cosmopolitan skeptical helot. Your cosmopolitan skeptic helot will be quick to suppress dissent in both the church and the provincial nobility, but vulnerable to entitled elements of the Deep State that he allows to survive in order to maintain unity, including dangerous kryptasts blending in with the rest of the population of “expert professionals”. And he really has no choice but to let them survive after alienating both the church and the nobility if he doesn’t want everything to fall apart into anarchy and mass starvation, because Karagond’s Deep State will be the only remaining source of the educated experts and officials needed to keep the state running.
Understood. That’s why @Havenstone created the skeptic route.
My characters, both aristo and helot, see the church as a valuable but corrupted institution, as well as a potential pillar of their own power, that once reformed can be used not only to champion necessary social change, but also to counter power grabs from both the surviving nobility, and the surviving elements of Karagond’s Deep State bitter over their loss of privilege. Clearly my helot will have to tread more carefully than my aristo, but that’s true of helot’s all around, regardless. Due to Karagond’s rigid caste system, nobody is likely to have much faith in a helot at the top in the beginning, and that includes other helots.
Somehow I doubt that the original Shayardene Codex ascribes any sort of Divine Right to any particular bloodline, Shayardene or otherwise. Otherwise the Thaumatarch Hera would have simply declared herself the heir of that divinely empowered bloodline, instead of, or in addition to, declaring herself Elect.
Divine Right is an amusing concept because it works until it doesn’t. Did Xthonos send the ruler to rule? Or did he send the rebels to topple the ruler? That can be argued both ways until a winner is determined, since the winner gets to write the history books and put their stamp on the lens through which the “holy Canon” is viewed.
Hello all – quick note from a bout of midnight food poisoning – please spoiler protect your discussion of the topics I just loredumped. Thanks! Back to the vomiting.
Oh, please recover from poisoning and just rest people here will behave you just have your meds. In Spain we have a great deal remedy that is camomile flowers in infusion with some drops of lemon juice and honey we called Manzanilla. is so good even you drinm it in hospitals and everywhere really. Sadly is not common everywhere else
Hence the pressing need for my mc to be particularly ruthless when it comes to stomping out the caste system and dealing with Xthonic church and former “nobility” as well as nationalist rebels like the Laconniers.
Maybe not to any particular one but if the Laconniers are any indication it seems to ascribe value to the concept of bloodline or biological lineage, which if true would be a very disadvantageous departure from the family name system that seems to be the current structure of dynasties of any significant value and makes life vastly easier for women and gay men.
I assume he’d be much more open than mine to either being “ennobled” or just declaring himself to be a “noble”, faked documents and all?
Get well soon and do be careful with food from street vendors in developing (and developed for that matter) countries no matter how tasty it looks or how delicious it smells.
Well it seems we did partially retain at least one Spanish influence though we use warm camomile tea with honey and lemon drops as a fairly popular folk remedy for upset stomachs in children.
Is not a fairy tale it is proven that helps a lot. Okay is not hard meds but it has no bad cons like meds have. In fact first thing everyone asks you is do you have a manzanilla? and if not you have one also tastes good
I know it helps at least somewhat because I have always been struggling with my digestion on account of the undiagnosed celiac’s for pretty much all of my youth. You Spanish do seem to be taking it way more serious than we ever did, but I was fed a fair amount of camomile tea in school.
