Tell that my grandmother or the nuns. It’s something like national pride we drink this and works rest world is weird. first thing my grandma when went to Belgium to work was make everyone drink manzanilla and eat tortilla. It worked fine as all their Belgium friends loved Spanish food and manzanilla.
Another Galicia custom feed people until they are about to explode. It is like a obligation give all food possible to people who cameto your house.
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I’d like to put my two cents in the blood economy discussion.
It seems to me an important part of the equation is being a bit under analyzed: where does the blood go.
We still know little of the big picture dynamics but we do know of at least 3 major expenses:
- growing crops
- wards
and of course - war
In growing crops the problem is that it is a diminishing return game. The challenge will be to modernize the process but it will be hard because while we know about crop rotation, fertilizers, pesticides and all that good stuff, I doubt even Karagond has that knowledge in universe or they would be using it. That said maybe a rudimentary understanding of these topics was present in societies before being replaced by the seemingly much more effective theurgic method so looking at the past could be a solution. Of course this is all not taking into account the fact that this all system provides a net gain only as long as you are willing to periodically slaughter a chunk of the lower segment of your population. Abolishing or curtailing this practice could make the expense worse to the point where we would actually lose blood on the process in spite of all the technological advances we could implement. I’ll discuss a possible if partial solution later on.
Now wards. Again, we know little but I think that at least a few of them could come down. To start, the ones around major cities could go pretty painlessly in a society not so heavily dependent on theurgy and not so ripe for revolt. Than it gets more complicated. I’m speculating, but I suspect that the one that keeps the abhumans out is there mainly because of prejudice because their lack of centralized government makes large scale wars of aggression unlikely. If that proves to be the case, that ward can go. The one that keeps the Xaos storms out is also on the chopping block because, even if our characters cannot learn how to control or end the storms in the next installment, we already know that it’s possible to live with them. While not fun I think anyone would prefer that to harrowings. I’m assuming the ward that keeps out the unquiet dead is there for a good reason and it’s probably wise to keep it there. As far as the one at the border with Halassurq it depends. If we could somehow achieve long-lasting peace with them (what’s one more impossible task?) then it could go down. Although apparently war still happens so the purpose of the ward is unclear. As for the other wards (9 in total I think) unless I missed something, we still don’t know about them but I’d be surprised to learn that they are all indispensable.
As far as war goes it seems to me that a technological alternative to theurgy is a very long way away so at least temporarily that expense is there to stay. Of course the ideal solution would be no more war but the game seems a bit more realistic than that.
On a side note I suspect that the hegemony has a number of… Let’s call them ancillary expenses: shows of power to remind everyone who’s boss. In a more balanced society those would not be necessary and while a part of me would love to rule over the hegemony from a floating palace the fiscal conservative in me shivers at the thought.
A possible solution to curb at least some of these expenses could be a more widespread use if theurgy by self-sacrifice. The way I think would work best is by instructing professionals to use theurgy to aid them in their specific field and nothing else (the limitation could be enforced by religion, a gift of the angels to aid you in the realization of your purpose). This way you would have individuals who could bear the cost amongst themselves e.g. farmers working together to ripe crops. I’m aware of the potential dangers of this solution (having someone potentially able to lift a mountain on the loose is concerning to say the least and I’m proposing to make more of them that you could realistically keep track of) but they could be offset by a thorough vetting process and by keeping a tight grasp on the higher knowledge of theurgy and the supply of refined blood. This is undoubtedly an enormous gamble but one with a big payoff: it helps with the blood expenditure and it could foster progress allowing individual professionals to innovate in their field in ways that more accomplished theurges wouldn’t think of.
I’m sorry if the post is a bit incoherent but I’m writing while on a train home after a ridiculously long shift.
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I just figured out how an MC can fully utilize Breden’s persuasive talents in the band but also ensure enough support to make the majority of the band want to fight the Archons Army.
Ive tested this a few times and its worked so far. By following the steps below you can allow Breden to help in any and every way possible and don’t have to worry about her swaying the band to your side.
You have to do the following:
Make the band’s leadership a dictatorship. What you say goes (This gives an automatic boost in the warvote variable)
Make sure to Raid the Architelone and when you do only bring Radmar with you. You have to make sure your still able to win with only Radmar though. If your Int 2 youll need to use theurgy with a blood phial. Also if your willing to let Radmar lead any raids then you should do so. This increases Radmar’s leadership in the band which increases the warvote.
Have more weapons available than followers. Make sure that by Chapter 4 when the vote happens you have more weapons than you have followers in the band. This can get pretty costly so make sure you also have enough silver to cover the cost. Raiding Alastors is also a good way to acquire a lot of weapons all at once.
If recruit Korzata you’ll need to get his support in the vote. If you recruit Bethune she should already want to fight.
Max out moral as much as possible (The variable for morale needs to be higher than the number of followers you have availabe. So take every opportunity to increase morale, and avoid any decreases) This means avoiding the theurges when they come looking for you. And trying to make sure your mule trains arent attacked. And making sure your band is fully fed.
And finally when the vote happens make sure you let everyone who supports the fighting option speak Radmar, Kalt, Korazata/Bethune. And don let anyone who supports Breden’s decision speak.
If you do all of this then the majority of the band should want to fight the Archon’s army and you’ll have a huge army of your own thanks to Breden. Now Go kill some Phalangites!
The biggest challanege with that is having enough silver to increase morale and buy the weapons. Obviously selling mules works really well to gain silver as well as raiding noble estates.
Well… honestly that wasn’t that hard for a CHA2 character 
I didn’t do any raid at all, just begging for mules and money every week , and of course hunting bears 
most importantly , becomes an Angel Eklect …in the end , not much trouble convincing everyone to engage in guerrilla warfare , as Angel Eklect … my devoted followers simply rush to any hounds or enemy whenever i need their assistant
My concern (right now anyway) isn’t so much the post-Hegemony world as the post-hill bandit phase of our rebellion. We have already transitioned from potential blood windfall to minor irritation, which has graduated our rebellion from heady hill folk victory to running for our lives into the unthinkable alternative of the xoas lands. Once we can secure a major urban center, I feel like the Hegemony’s temptation to simply wipe it off the map will be overwhelming, unless such a blood expense could be considered to not have the desired effect of cowing the population. Getting from here to there seems like a very tall order.
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Well, I would assume that by the time a rebellion could take over a major urban center, it would either have its own (or Halassur would be supplying them) anti-air defenses, and the power of the centralized Karagon state would be so diminished that they could not bring forth a campaign to wipe you out.
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All good advice. In general, you want to avoid overusing Breden as a recruiter in the winter. You can use her on a couple runs, and a couple more if you’re going Eclect (as opposed to Inner Voice), but overusing Breden is the fastest way to lead to disaster, even if you’re a 2INT Eclect.
How do you use an “air defense” to stop the Thaumatarchy from transporting a mountain over the first major urban center you take (probably Grand Shayard) and then dropping that mountain on your shiny new city? It’s hard for me to imagine an air defense that would suffice. The key I think would be somehow detecting and then stopping them from positioning the mountain over your city in the first place. The latter has the words ‘mission’ and ‘assault team’ written all over it I suspect.
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By which we mean killing the theurges involved in the project, thus causing the mountain to drop prematurely.
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Yep. The transport spell would need to be disrupted somehow, and killing the theurges involved would likely accomplish that, although it’s also possible that it could be a matter of destroying (or if it’s easily portable, stealing) a magical artifact.
I’m reminded of the rebel mission to destroy the shield generator on Endor’s moon in the bid to stop the Death Star in Return of the Jedi. Except instead of a shield generator the target would be the transport spell.
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Wasn’t it mentioned transporting mountain would take lot of blood? I’m not sure if Hegemony currently has capability to use that much blood since it means they will come out of it with less blood (i think it was mentioned in the final battle if you chose fight that one of the reasons Theurges didn’t just burn you all up or drop mountain was cause it would mean they’d use too much blood and return with less.)
They already tried using army to kill mc and rebels in 4th chapter. I think using more subtle options like Kryptast in the Grand Shayard might be wiser…
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I don’t doubt that the Hegemony will send kryptasts first. But once the rebellion takes over a large territory the Thaumatarchy which rules through terror will be forced to make an example of the rebellion’s greatest and/or capital city in order to dissuade the rest of the conquered provinces that it still controls from breaking away. This is most likely to occur in game 3 or 4.
It certainly would cost an astronomical amount of blood, but i’m certain the Thaumatarch has a sufficient stockpile of blood stored up for emergencies to do this at least once, and perhaps even more than once. He needs to have a large reserve just to keep his capital safely in the air. There’s also the possibility that the wards may be allowed to fall in order to direct more blood to the war effort.
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The thing that worries me is how much blood they need right now.
This whole thing feels to me like the end of a Ponzi scheme where they are getting more redemption checks than they have the cash to pay them. Once you kick the ball of the hill, all you can do is try to prevent it from rolling you and your friends over.
In the words of some classic New York wisdom. When it comes to my butt or yours, I’ll prefer to cover my butt. Something is rotten in the state of the Hegemony and it just isn’t the political system. Something has clearly gone wrong and they are at their wits end trying to fix it.
It feels like, “I need to pay 2 billion and I only have 320 million.” Something has gone horribly wrong and I think it’s passed the point that they can feasibly stop it.
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The ‘fix’ was to encourage regular revolutions so that large numbers of revolutionaries could be harrowed en-masse to provide sufficient blood to cover its costs coughBredencough. They bit off more than they could easily chew with the MC however…
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The thing is, this whole thing is literally if a nation operated like a Ponzi scheme. You take blood from people to go and give to others and as long as you have enough blood everything is fantastic for people. The problem is when you start using too much and can’t cover your ass. Next thing you know the whole thing is unraveling and you’re done. We’re not yet at the point where we are at terminal velocity. But the ball has started to edge towards the cliff.
I say it’s time we kicked it over.
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I will let the ball go away and destroy blood economy once and for all. Even if means the starvation of all karagon and most of provinces
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Agreed on all counts.
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The MC’s rebellion, to me, seems like it’s going to be the straw the breaks the back of the great Karagond camel. Sure, the theurges could, with enough blood, bring a mountain to drop on the rebel stronghold, but their ability to do that is going to be curtailed by subsequent uprisings across the Hegemony. The MC’s rebellion isn’t going to be Karagond’s only problem, and depending on how we play it, not even its most significant one.
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The whole system of the Hegemony is able to be destroyed simply by putting enough stress on its institutions that they will buckle under their own weight.
The trick is making sure when it collapses it doesn’t collapse on you.
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