One Thousand Blooms — (ON HIATUS)

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Okay, after planning and poking around for a bit, I think I have most of the game mechanics worked out.

So… @idonotlikeusernames, how do you feel about tearing the siblings apart in order to get Maetthere for yourself? Like, it’s a process that’s going to take a bit of time (from childhood to adulthood, mostly), and the MC input is very important in how these two end up.

Truth to be told, I have a question for everyone; how do feel about being responsible of how Maetthere and Rhona’s relationship ends up? Like, I plan to make it possible for the player to influence if they are in good term or terrible ones.

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Well doing so would confirm my mc to be almost as selfish, if less bratty and impulsive then Rhona, but yeah, I think he’d do it. After all I already said he only hung out with Rhona and was “nice” to her for the sake of her brother, who also happened to be his only childhood friend.
Then again given how disrespectful Rhona is (not consulting him when, unlike her brother, she is also a minor and one with no means to support herself besides) he may be just about done with being nice to her anyway.

Presuming he doesn’t run away from the society altogether my mc would still need to reproduce however, but ideally that means finding an understanding lesbian, which Rhona doesn’t seem to be, unfortunately.

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Great I want turning against each other to my own gain. Or if i have to marry Stalker cause him eternal suffering

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I want to destroy them both.

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Please put the link back up!

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You can

  • A: ask that in an a bit more polite manner.
    and
  • B: scroll up to the first post, because that’s where the link is.
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@idonotlikeusernames duly noted :blush: Another question; if, only if, your MC married Rhona for some reason, and had the opportunity to have an affair, would he? I’m thinking of all the variables I would/could do, and if they fit together :blush:

@poison_mara @Misa101 hehe, someone doesn’t like the siblings :smiling_imp:

'Kay, what a mess. When I finish another thing I have going on, I’ll start on a really, really serious revamp of this.

I realized that if Datura was disinherited by his parents, that would make the MC unable to become the next head of the Nightshade family. Which would mean that most (if not all) the social cues and rules that they should follow would be… kinda meaningless, because they would make them thorns (without a rank or title).

So… while it’s true that his parents left Datura penniless, it wasn’t… an “official” disinheritance; they did give him an ultimatum, which he didn’t like, so he took off and lived his life. His little sister became then the Nightshade heir because he was deemed unsuitable, but soon after marrying she died, leaving a little kid behind and her husband a dowager (it’s correct to use that for males? :confused: ) . So… since Datura wasn’t officially disinherited, but the MC isn’t the only heir available, the MC has to compete with their cousin in order to became the head of the family, that’s why they have so much pressure to do well.

I probably winged a lot of things, but since this isn’t inspired in the real world, I can do it :innocent: Of course, I’ll explain it in-game so there are no confusions :blush:

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Of course, in a heartbeat, but obviously only with a guy, never with another girl. :wink: And no, he doesn’t want to let his “wife” join in on that either. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
You really didn’t think he’s going to be faithful to a wife he doesn’t like and didn’t want in the first place, did you?
Particularly since straight sex wouldn’t even remotely come close to providing him any satisfaction whatsoever. :unamused:

Why do we need to inherit that title when our father didn’t? Also Rhona and more importantly Maetthere (being a younger brother) didn’t become thorns just because they didn’t or cannot become heads of their respective families, now do they?
Nor did second and third sons of noble families necessarily lose their noble just status because they didn’t inherit (though they did tend to be shoved off into the army or the priesthood of course).
While my in-game mc would consider the army (though not as an officer since having any success in that occupation would mean he’ll never be able to get rid of Rhona) he would never willingly join the/a priesthood.

Why would my mc want anything to do with the estates of his late grandfather who made it very clear he didn’t want anything to do with us (or they’d have helped on our 18th birthday) ?
Particularly since gaining control of them now only means Rhona and the Faerwalds would, it wouldn’t serve any purpose at this point since that marriage to Rhona basically renders the male mc powerless to conduct his own affairs anyway.

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Nope, that’s why I asked :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: It’s just that the idea of having an affair gives a lot of room for drama, and this game is going to have lots of it.

Who inherits is the olderst suitable heir, who is usually the oldest child; Datura was the heir, but pretty much eloped with mother dearest. That didn’t please his parents, who even though didn’t disinherit him (thus making it possible for the MC to be the next Head of the Nightshade) they cut all contact with him.

That kinda left him with just the… honorary title of “Lord” (because all the others went to his little sister), thus leaving none (real) for the MC, so if they don’t make a move, they risk becoming thorns. Which ain’t nice.

It’s different than with the MC; Maetthere and Rhona are both kids of Caelan (Lord/Duke Faerwald), but the MC is the child of Datura, who wasn’t the current holder of the position of heir/Head of the family (thus making him “second in line” to inherit). If something happened to the Faerwald heir, Maynard, Maetthere would 100% become the heir then, but in MC’s case, even if their cousin died that doesn’t guarantee that they would take their position, because they would still carry Datura’s stigma.

Since I’m making this world different than the real world, I’m changing a lot of things; the oldest kid doesn’t get all of their parents’ titles; in case they have two or more kiddies, they distribute them (if they have enough; if they don’t, the other children are named Lords/Ladies/Lieges).

Following this explanation, in the Faerwalds’ case, Maynard would get the title of Duke, whereas Maetthere would get Marquess, and Rhona a Countess. Since Coriander is the daughter of a previous relationship of the current Lady Faerwald, she won’t get any titles. What a messsss, I swear I will make it understandable in the game.

The MC’s grandparents didn’t keep in contact with their oldest son, so they missed a lot. They attended his funeral and knew of the MC’s existence, but weren’t very aware of Aquilegia’s horrible management. They expected the MC to get their Efflorescence like everyone else, but surprise! They didn’t. So they helped when they were 21 (that’s from where I’m getting the money, 'cause mother dearest is terrible when it comes to money).

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But if we do actual control of everything just goes to Rhona and the Faerwalds, the mc seemingly remains Rhona’s trophy husband no matter what. :unamused:
Besides weren’t you basically already going to allow us to become Thorns by enlisting in the army as simple, regular privates?

I thought mom got the money for that of off Rhona and the Faerwalds, it certainly seemed to be that way ( or they deliberately made it seem that way)?
Whatever the case my poor mc is still three years late and stuck with a “wife” he really can’t stand now.
Since I now get the feeling that remaining “respectable” in our grandparent’s eyes means being (seen as) a faithful “husband” to Rhona, why would my mc want to do that?
He’d remain a powerless trophy no matter what. :cry:

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Well, if you play your cards right, you can call off the whole thing. It won’t be easy, though. You will have to either convince your mother (which isn’t easy), or get enough power to reject a Countess (the title she will inherit). You can also elope, or just marry and make her life as miserable as yours.

For a lot of reasons (personal and plot related), Rhona will be very keen on marrying the MC :imp:

Nope, I wasn’t going to let the MC become a Thorn; I was going to let them get positions usually only occupied by Thorns ('cause most of the nobles don’t want them).

I don’t think so? In the terrible demo I made for the CSComp, it was quite vague how Aquilegia got the money. I guess that it was kinda implied that after the betrothal of the MC to one’s of the Faerwald, they would helpt their fiancee…

Mmmm… the MC will think of them as an anonymous benefactor, and they will have to discover the truth, then :wink:

Nah, most likely they don’t want the MC’s cousin as the Head of the family 'cause they are not very suitable for it. The MC only has to show they are better, and if they manage to outrank Rhona, they can get free of that scam of a marriage :wink:

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We likely won’t get to do that by taking positions normally occupied by Thorns though, which means my mc will have to become a rotten officer after all (and face the horrible abuse of those who should really be his “brother” officers in the process). I’m just afraid it’s going to take years to disentangle ourselves from that marriage and by that time Maetthere may have a wife and children of his own and then who is left for the mc?
At least mine wouldn’t want to rob the cradle and get some eighteen year old brat then.

Possibly seems like eloping is still the best solution or else my poor mc might up miserably married to Rhona or a miserable old single guy.

You do realize that if my mc thinks his rotten grandparents wouldn’t help him out when it mattered (when he was 18) he’s not inclined to have anything to do with now.

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Sorry, but I thought that it fitted, to have limited options :blush: The game is going to be bittersweet in a lot of senses, so in order to achieve something, you’ll have to make sacrifices. The most… dulcet route would be the one where the MC follows every. single. social. rule. and do everything expected of them, which itself leaves a bitter taste, don’t you think? :wink:

Sadly, that’s the most likely scenario. In the demo is badly explained, but since Maynard isn’t suitable to be the next Duke Faerwald, the responsability falls on him. So regardless of what Maetthere wants, he has to marry a proper girl, have children and carry on as the Head of the family. And said girl is Cherry, who is a lot of fun :wink:

You wouldn’t need to go for a youngster, maybe you could try for an old flame, if they feel the same :wink:

That’s why they’ll be anonymous :smile: And even if the MC didn’t want their help, they have little next to no options; at the age of 21 it’s their last chance of becoming a part of The Society, so if the MC rejects the money, they won’t have an Efflorescence. They’ll became Sere (outcasts), worse than Thorns, and there’ll no way of marrying Maetthere that way :wink:

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Yeah, but Maetthere is the only old flame the mc really has and the only one who seems to accept him for who he really is. :cry:
He certainly wouldn’t want to shack up with one of his old bullies from the army at that point, even if they pretend to respect him by then, I think.

In the worst case scenario we could even (somehow) have brats (my mc wouldn’t want or want anything to do with) ourselves with Rhona somehow by that time. :worried:

Well it seems like there’s no way to marry him with a male mc at all at this point.
Also if our goal is to elope and get away from the society to somewhere foreign our status within it won’t really matter (anymore). :wink:

Very bitter indeed. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Wow, all these people talking about future plot point, and I can’t even get past the prologue, it always said that it is the end of the demo after choosing our reaction to the days spent with our father, am I doing something wrong?

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no… it looks like they are refering to the previous version… (you could find it from this thread : CSComp Winners 2016 - #2 by Lordirish)
this one as i know is the new version (which i like more than the previous one coz this one is more polished and i love the childhood scenes :heart_eyes:)
FYI… i’ll include a quote from Author of the story (@Lycoris)

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True but since my mc really doesn’t like having Rhona as a wife I think he’d just date guys more or less openly, provided he finds some other than her brother, that he can actually stand. :wink:

Okay I’m curious now, just what do we need to do to get rid of that “stigma”?
Though keep in mind my mc really isn’t out to please his grandparents in fact I don’t think he can even stand them, after all they didn’t help him when it really mattered.

Presumably we won’t be able to call the whole thing off before we’re actually stuck married to her, so we’ll have to go through the worst day of our lives, aka the whole rotten wedding.

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can’t denied that i myself am agree with @idonotlikeusernames, and my MC doesn’t give a d*mn bout their mother’s financial problem :smiling_imp:

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@Nightgazer when the demo pops the option “play again”, it means it’s the end of the demo :disappointed: A lot of people asked the same over and over :disappointed:

@Curious_Boy I’m glad you like it! :blush:

Oh, sorry, but that was more from a female MC playthrough :smile: In their route, it’s Maetthere the one who wants to marry them, so of course they need the social standing :blush: Though things aren’t so easy, either :disappointed:

:tada: Be successful :tada: Have a good reputation, do things right, don’t make a fool of yourself… that kind of stuff. Grandma and Grandpa Nightshade have learned from their child that if they try to dictate someone’s lovelife/marriage, it will have a terrible end.

Kind of; as for now, the MC themselves can’t, because;

1)It’s a social suicide.
2)Their social standing is lower than Rhona’s. The Society is unfair in a lot of things, 'cause it’s very, very classist; the lower ranks have it much worse and can’t go againts them.

So you can either run away/elope, work very, very hard to become the Nightshade heir, or get someone else interested in them with a title equal/more important than Rhona’s (Countess). They can either (currently) hold it, or have it as a courtesy one (because the current holder is very much alive/ did not step down).

Though for plot reasons, the marriage with Rhona is much harder to call off than with Maetthere’s :imp:

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But that’ll take years and the wedding is in what, weeks, months?

Kind of difficult when that sham of a marriage and the fact that we’re three years late have already made a giant fool out of us and if he needs to go through with it my mc certainly isn’t planning on behaving himself during the worst day of his life (aka that wedding).

I hope that is interested in Rhona not the mc, cause as I understand it the mc can’t gay marry and he isn’t quite interested in another woman, unless it’s a strategic contract with an understanding lesbian.

Drat.

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