By the teaching of the compassionate Angels, all lives are equal and deserve compassion , the knowledege we learn is Neutral, there is no good and evil about it, it all depends on how we use it…
It is by the will of Xthonos that our blood mages brother and sister learn the Theurge for sustaining life and order in the land, they are misguided by the Thaumatriach which i intend to lighten their way back to the path of righteous 
"DIE FOR THE HERETICS !!! FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE NO MORE HARROWINGS NO MORE BLOOD… NO MORE FIRE NO MORE STORMS…" That’s Mara visualization of the total destruction of Theurges and their tools.
Using a religious crusade against them convert they people to point they ended as Cristianism did They would grab the Theurges and clean up them. Also burn all the available knowledge of the process.
Religion can be wrongly turn against us if we are too zealous with them, similar like the Knight Templar , faithfull servants and high idealistic knights who had been betray by their own church…
So i call for balance and compassion as deem rightous by the Compassionate Angels 
Compassion…? pfff Mara is not going anywhere without achieve The Shayardene revenge… I think she will rewriting a little The Codex with the idea of The blood mates are the spawn of Xaos That should be wiped out from the land. Compassion doesn’t include Agents of Xaos . I will be the Pope not an order like Template the difference is be supreme lord or a mere rich noble.
I mean pacifism is great for reaching the goal… Religion will bring me there but when I get control over The power of a faithful army I will delenda est Hegemony And let helots get all the resources from them and try to prepare for the famine
I’m just curious, how you will prevent people from figuring out they can do therugy since anyone of capable of it?
Not the Pope, that is too “Rigid” , historically i think a King can be a pope as well, King Charles I rules as Monarch of spain and as Charles IV for the pope…
For a more dramatic and adventurous figure, Paul Atreides of Dune is a better example as a supreme Religious Ruler
However, without compassion … we will be constantly longing for a conflict / chaotic reign no matter how much one side think they are the righteous one … Mages will form their own resistance against anyone who try to alienate them, don’t forget the mutants and undeads are here as well…it will be opening a war with multiple fronts but without adequate method to confront them , it won’t end well in the end
@cascat07 only those with Int2 can learn magic so i guess not everyone will understand how to use them
All right, I have a plan for a situation where some traps might be more useful than recruiting would have been. Will report back with head-to-head comparisons.
Compassion has never ever won anything similar to a war in the story of humanity, It is like saying humans have wings and mount unicorns while singing Jon Lenon Imagine.
Gandhi, imagine he were opposing anything that weren’t British. Stalin for instance, would have been killed all them in seconds…
Compassion could remotely have some sense if Weren’t the fact There will be dying of famine anyway less alive is best for the collective. And there are other ruthless empires go there talking of compassion… They will punch it with it in your heart while slaving and sacrifice all your people.
Nonviolent strategies worked against brutal dictatorships in (among other places) Serbia and Myanmar–and the British Raj was a much more brutal dictatorship than some of Gandhi’s detractors remember. Stalin’s empire collapsed under its own contradictions, not because anyone used violence against it. There’s more to nonviolence than the story of Gandhi. “Warm vibes” nonviolence has never worked, but that’s probably an unfair simplification of even John Lennon’s work, let alone the more successful activists.
I would think some of those war may have a merrier ending if the leaders involves had more compassion and willing to accept that there may be diversity within all beliefs , where compromise be made… In doing such, not only fewer lives will be lost, but a compassionate leader also win the heart and souls of even his/her enemy
Take an example from Saladin , When he reclaimed Jerusalem, he ordered his men NOT to kill and plunder (in contrast even to the crusaders).
When Richard the Lionhearted was sick with a fever, Saladin sent him a gift of fruit… when Richard’s horse was killed in battle, he sent a steed to be led to his camp?
In his dealings with the Crusaders, he allowed them to “save face” by permitting Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem, even though he controlled the city. In an era when chivalry was just developing in Europe, Saladin won the reputation of being exceptionally “chivalrous.” He and Richard I each became the other’s “favorite” opponent.
I would think such is a great example of how we should be compassionate to even our “opponents” , where perhaps a greater good can be achieved if the leaders involve are compassionate souls
Nope, sorry guys, no dice.
My build for the experiment was
2COM/1CHA Aristocrat
Ruthless/Devout/Cosmopolitan
Eclect
Low Anarchy
I began with a Shayardene name, which I converted to a Karagond one later for more Cosmopolitan points and cred with Nobles. I let the Harrowing happen.
Getting a good rep with the Nobles means Mikal de Rose dupes a Theurge into going off into nowhere. That means a 2COM build fights only 2 Theurges, so you can kill both of them and set fire to the forest.
I followed the winter strategy in my Steam guide, which will easily succeed in Chapter 2 (and get “Lost Not a One”!) and defeat Archon even if you get bad RNG with mules and theurge attacks, so this controls for those variables.
The Recruiter Arm, as the name implies, recruited as much as possible in every run possible. 3 runs with Breden and 2 with Radmar, to avoid Breden ruining the band’s morale.
The Trapper Arm also recruited in every run (3 Breden, 2 Radmar), but in both the last 2 weeks of Winter, it used 50 people to set traps.
I played Acts 3 and 4 exactly the same in both arms.
The Recruiter Arm finished Winter with 113 rebels and defeated Archon in 1 combat round with 131 remaining.
The Trapper Arm finished Winter with 94 rebels and defeated Archon in 1 combat round with 122 remaining.
In this experiment, there are a few things to remember:
2COM/1INT Helot
Compassionate/Devout/Homelander
Eclect
High Anarchy
@Havenstone What is the economic situation of the Hegemony? Is it operating on a deficit? What’s the unemployment rate? How heavy is the fiscal load on the various strata of society? And speaking of economy, will we have the opportunity to make money for our rebellion other than stealing or donations?
Also let me know if this is not the place for me to ask this kind of questions (or if you don’t want this questions asked at all).
For that to work the basic condition is that you’d need to see your opponent as basically still being human. A “privilege” helots do not enjoy in the Hegemony even from “well meaning” upper caste people like Olynna and Horion. Therefore, imho a helot mc doing such things is showing deference to his supposed “betters” and therefore weakness, not chivalry or strength.
If i am not mistaken, you meant a different in culture and beliefs between 2 parties who has a different cultural background right? Where the action of one party may be view as weakness by another’s party belief
Well… in this case, if you had heard of the chinese literacy “Romance of 3 Kingdoms”, during the unification war against tribal barbarians for the Xu Kingdom… Regent ZuGe Liang manage to defeat the Northern Barbarian King 7 times , and capturing him in the process, but each time ZuGe will release the barbarian king in an effort to win the barbarian’s heart and soul… well initially for the barbarian culture such act of compassion was regard as a weakness since they prefer trial by strength where the victor always slay the defeated …
But by applying such pacifist tactic, the barbarian had then regard ZuGe as the only person they truly respect and keep their vows of never betraying the Xu Kingdom even after the passing of ZuGe
But i think the initial discussion was about whether we should exercise compassion to Blood Mages and Xaos mutants , which i think we should
And I think we should burn all them in STAKES Burnnnmnm
But still we are friends you and I 
Lol… yes yes of course, how are we not friend? :-)
We are sworn friends even though our beliefs and actions may be difference :-)
I don’t think the story supports the above conclusion with respect to Olynna. And even with Horion I’d say it’s a slight stretch. Horion is the product of a highly privileged upbringing and has very little respect for helots, but I do think he’d stop short of rejecting their basic humanity.
Disgruntled former lieutenants? Oh no…
After I spent so long working out how to keep my lieutenants alive through the battle, they’ll betray me anyways.
Maybe I’ll have to deliberately get them killed when I have the chance.
Lol… it may never be that way, there should perhaps depend on our previous choices…
Even if they split out, they could still be our allies
So I did one test playthrough where my mc sends Breden away and she says something that got my interest:
“When the dogs don’t find you, Tara? When the bandits of Whendward Pass don’t get attacked by Theurges? That’s when you’ll know you sent away a friend, not a traitor”
What’s that suppose to mean?
Another possible hint she has ties to Hegemony, but turned against them? Or Laconnier spy?