Lords of Aswick - Out Now!

I think this first one was to some degree the War of the Roses scenario.

The very next story will be more concentrated on early Renaissance upheavals, the threat of heresies budding up, and the Holy Seat recovering land and prestige from the city states and merchant powers around it. It will also be the story to introduce future colonial ventures. I can’t say anything more specific than that right now.

So do we pick who the mc is since there twins or do we go back and forth? Oooh snap are characters could possibly be a Condottieri of free company maybe even Prince of City State or Bring the Renaissance to Norwall!!

The MC will be the twin joining the clergy and making moves within that hierarchy. There will still be moments to influence things in Aswicdale, but the main meat of intrigue will be happening either outside of Norwall or on a much higher level than just the Norwallian nobility. There will be opportunities to interact with Norwall and influence the spread of Renaissance culture there as well.

Since the Holy Seat is a sovereign state in its own right, there may be some battles the MC can get involved in. Ultimately a Norwallian Archbishop, Cardinal, or maybe even a Holy Father, wield greater power than any Norwallian Prince of a city-state ever could.

Are you working on that now

Cause it sounds awsome

Working on Best of Us right now. I might also work on another project before I return to this world, which is a project I have already started on. I am drafting the core of the sequel, however, and it is high on the to-do list.

I bet that the best of us will be just as good as this one and don’t worry I think anyone who really likes this game will be able to wait for the sequal

Oh and I can’t win while trying to make Stephen King how do you do it

Could you possible hint about the Path of non clergy twin?

Presumably they’ll follow a similar path to the one we did. Being groomed as the heir to the family’s lands, training to be a knight and warrior, and one day taking over his father’s lands and becoming involved in the politics of the realm.

@Misa101

The most important choice is to gather allies when preparing for the war. Also, assuming your wife is from a powerful/wealthy family, request aid from them.

@Misa101 You require good allies - from marriage or otherwise - and the valour to fight through the battles. As usual, I will not give specific amounts required or specific paths as answers, but it has been discussed in this thread before if you’re up for a skim. It is doable, but even if you fail, there’s a path to take in banishment. Don’t skip that just because you want to win.

@Rogar He becomes the Earl of Aswicdale and handles things at home and in the Parliament. He may end up an indirect rival, or an ally.

Is the Six Earl the MC in the Third installment? I am sorry that I ask so much I just love your game!

Hammer of Norwall title is from the… first tournament you can do. If I remember properly, it’s been a while since I played, you have to be extremely good at fighting, and, while I can’t remember the precise wording of the option, I can give you the effect… basically help your team win (or, as I like to think of it, winning on your own) just by using your combat skills. If you can do this extremely extremely well, you get the Hammer of Norwall title.

can you give me a jist of the plot of part 2?.. i read something about the mc not the twin that rules astwick but the one sent to the holy see?.. how can i be the “lord” of astwick if i’m gonna be a priest?.. i literally avoided getting involved in the church and stuff in ck2, got a few excommunications for not joining crusades when i’ve got my hands full thwarting rival lords and vikings and such to bother with them, just a hefty gold payment… whats the consensus of the people/fans here?.. are they ok with it?.. shrug, reminds me of the time mgs2 swapped snake for the girly raiden… :cry:

while i am somewhat interested too see where a story about a priest could go into.
personally i would love too be the 6th lord of astwick and seeing how i can build up my legacy

that said, seeing what one could get up as the second son in the priesthood would be a intresting story for all the ways church and king/lord interacted with one and other in that time.

talking firebrand or not
raving fighting loony or political player
more intrested in church power or spreading the faith.
one could go a lot of ways with this.

Yeah, I’m not thrilled about being a member of the clergy. Papal politics just don’t interest me.

@daemonofrazgriz821, @Bob_Rijke, @Bryce_Kaldwin,
The second story will take place during a time where religious institutions are trying to keep a grip on their power, while Kings and Parliaments are trying to distribute those powers to themselves.
The protagonist, your character, will be twin to the heir of Aswick, and because of the way nobility works both twins will be Lords of Aswick in their own right until certain other circumstances. Technically, joining the church would remove the title of Lord, but that doesn’t diminish your position as a noble.
Roughly half of the story will revolve around your position in Norwall. You will be sent to a religious institution, you will learn what the monks and/or priests teach you, you will eventually become an adult and able to enter the church politics. You will be able to wrangle your way to certain church positions and use that power to run your own agenda, whomever that agenda may side with. Perhaps you’ll condemn a rival noble house with your preaching, or perhaps you will gain the favour of those above you by conducting yourself more carefully. You may either solidify your place in the lower tiers of the church, or continue to rise through the hierarchy by playing your cards right.
Ultimately, your path will continue to the Holy Seat, where you find an entrenched set of older, powerful men and their families. The latter half of the story is about managing your way through that set of powerpolitics, which may bring entire nations to odds, and perhaps in the end you can find yourself in an ultimate position of power. Perhaps an Archbishop back home, standing almost equal to the King of Norwall, or as the Holy Father, sitting on a gilded throne and wielding the Word of God against those who would step in your way.

There’s the sales pitch for the second LoA. This series, from the moment I came up with it, revolved around a few select themes that I really wanted to explore in depth. Themes that many people, modes of popular media and history books just don’t delve into.
The first story was about a society of power and what monarchies of the era were really like. You could have a good King, but have those in the court who wanted them out of the picture, have a bad King and have those that would still lick their boots, have a weak King and find those who truly ruled the Kingdom standing behind them. It was about the issue of legitimacy as well, where who rules the country is not about what blood runs in your veins or about the will of a dead King, it’s about having the most supporters and the biggest army, or being able to outsmart your enemies to make yourself the biggest and most powerful.
The second story will be about the position of religion in that same society of power, where Kings and nobility are ruthless in their desire for power, but there still stands this entity above them, an entity that is spread across all Kingdoms, and which holds greater power than Emperors. At some point, the rising ambition of Kings and the church will meet, and that chaos is what the second story is about.
The third one will explore the themes of colonialism and exploitation, a shifting time where merchants became more important in society. As new lands could be conquered and exploited, it brought power, prestige and riches to whomever could bring the most back to the Kings and Emperors. It also deals with the clash of cultures between those living in these new lands and those arriving from the old kingdoms.
The fourth, if I ever get that far, will probably end up being another clash of traditional sects. With the advancement of the enlightenment period, there is an inevitable clash between the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Between those who rule lands in name, and those who rule the land in practice.

Bringing in alternate viewpoints is very important to how these themes are examined. If the viewpoint remains constantly the same, it is far too easy to lull yourself to the belief that everything is an outside threat. The family has earned it’s nobility and it’s land, now those others are trying to threaten that. The stories take place in times when the status quo is being shaken from both sides, and it depends entirely on the viewpoint and the outcome on who was the “bad guy” in all of it.

If that does not interest you, it is your prerogative to not purchase or read the story when it eventually comes out. I will provide tools to fill in the major blanks if you want to skip one.
As the one who spends a fair bit of time to work on these stories, I would hope that you at least give it a go before dismissing it entirely, but I understand that some people don’t find the same things fascinating as I do.

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Wow, that was one hell of a sales pitch. I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t too excited to play as a priest, but it’s easy to forget just how powerful the church is, both in our history and your world, and how much power they possess, power that could eventually be yours.

It will certainly be interesting to see how the politics of religion play out in the next game.

will you be able to be a inquisitor type character or a tolerant and kind man

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will there be an inquisition at least?.. i’d like to burn a few people… haha… i think there was a time that the pope and ruler of HRE were relatives or something, maybe i could help my brother thru the church if i become the pope, i mean holy father (lannister ideals much? evil smile)… i will say this though, i loved your first game, sunk hours on end trying to get my “canon” MC, then made a mod for myself in ck2 (maybe that made me stick to the idea that LOA would be a dynastic realm lord game) , thus i will give this second game a chance, and if i end up not liking it, i would not be mad since by buying said game, i helped a talented author… hey, atleast thru this i could experience in a sense what would it be like to wield that much power… :smile: