And it just so happens that the new Empress Augusta might not be a continuation of that dynasty, depending on player choice. I can see where this is going. I’m sure that it’s just coincidence that right as a dynasty becomes entrenched and the old order is panicking, we can make the successor unrelated to the Galerii line. There is absolutely nothing that revealing this fact could do to assuage the Senate and re-establish adoptive or alternative succession. Very smooth.
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I started a new game and I am getting an error during selecting skin tone : line 1520 non existing variable mismatch , for all skin tones except the pale one
Edit: Seems like that entire section is bugged, getting errors for hair color and eye color as well
There may be opportunities to find a settlement, after all, but they shall be revealed in the fullness of time. It isn’t like Augusta won’t be able to lean on adoptive succession over blood-right dynastic succession even if she aligns herself with the foederati and not the Senate. Now that may also depend in part on whether she is betrothed by the end of the story and to whom if so.
Hopefully this is fixed now, I had to update the startup file.
Should be fixed now.
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I think you have commented sm_init, saves are broken
Oh, this is perfect. Exactly what I was hoping for – I think this is the situation my MC will be working towards with paragon Augusta and the Senate and People alliance. I really hope it’s achieveable.
What sort of more republican titles were being used in this period?
Ha, I was thinking about this the other day. The transition from the senatorial emperors of the principate to the barracks emperors of the dominate was largely on account of the lack of ancestry and legitimacy from the latter emperors, so they instead relied on military might and above all, stories of divine favor (since they didn’t have senatorial ancestors to rest their laurels on). It struck me as interesting that both Julia’s family and the Galerii were matricians – but of course, we learned that Julia’s branch of the family isn’t particularly esteemed and I guess the Galerii didn’t always have the status that they did until this Ursa character.
I’m hoping to get Augusta to see the older adoptive empresses as role models instead of a centralizer! At least on the paragon path.
Ironically, it might actually be helpful to the Senate were it revealed that Augusta’s not a member of the Galerii line at all. That instead her claim to power (at least if one is allied to Consentia) depends on her merits as a ruler and on winning the esteem of the Senate and People. The prefect and Augusta can actually come to an accord with Consentia and tell her that they’re giving the Senate exactly what it wants.
Yes, I can see this very much depending on Augusta’s personality. A tyrant Augusta would take it very hard, and probably develop a sense of grievance against the pride she’s developed. But I have to imagine that a paragon Augusta – especially if she’s been educated on traditional Iudian exemplars – would realize that it’s her own capax imperii and merits that are important, not some relationship to a distant empress whose achievements aren’t her own.
And like, if we think about it – Augusta has a matrician mother and a pleb father in this scenario. She represents in herself the alliance between Senate and People. She can stand as a symbol for all of Iudia’s best principles, and not just blood right. Especially as just like her father, she can make the argument she’s earned her position through merit: truly the first citizen. She can have a lot of deserved confidence from all that. Especially if she’s a high strength, high loyalty paragon Augusta (which is probably key to all this).
Heh Heh. Yes, I happen to think that revealing Augusta is not a Galerian is the exact tactic to take to reassure the Senate that it’s not a hereditary system being fossilized, but a merit-based one. And really a sort of adoptive one, since Augusta is basically an adopted bastard one supposes in this scenario.
Yeah, I’m sure that path won’t be Senate-exclusive – it’s just what I’m personally leaning towards. But that last bit intrigues me… I can imagine the betrothal will indeed have an impact. Betrothal to the Galerius boy seems like it complicates things for a restoration of a more republican form of empressdom… I need to see if I can try the voluntary reveal path and what that looks like. I haven’t attempted it yet.
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An intrusive thought enters my head.
Surely not… and yet… depending on the character it can make perfect sense, the Prefect can be an extremely ambitious guy, killing her kid cousin, her father, her mother, groom her into a puppet, could he just one day decide, why not go all the way?
He would already the most powerful man in the Empire by then, it would be completely unnecessary, he would be Emperor in all but name… but maybe he just really wants to wear the royal purple and actually be called what he truly is.
I think I’ve been playing too much CK3 lately.
Edit: Just to make clear, despite referencing CK3 I’m not saying that option should be available if the Prefect is the biological father, in that hypothetical the Prefect is very much not related.
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Being Imperial Consort is probably as close as a male MC can get to being Emperor for the long term (because a regency only lasts until Augusta’s adulthood), although given that we’re messing with Gaia by the end of Ch. V, could we possibly get Gaia herself to bless our rule and declare us the first Emperor regnant? She can clearly communicate with the Church’s officials and now us, just like she could with Julia, the former Empress. If we convince Gaia that we’re her best chance to achieve her ends, she could certainly send out a mental telegram blessing our rule. With the Church in favor, who would dare oppose it?
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Can someone tell me how to trigger the Ceto romance route? I just can’t seem to get it
“What a nice title you have there, it would be a shame if someone were to just destroy your empire in the meantime.”
I can definitely see it happen. I would certainly not dare to actually do it, but I could 100% see it be a possibility.
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That’s fair, but Gaia just adds so many unknowns to the mix. She clearly has the ability to mess with people’s minds (hence our telepathic chat in the formless void of ‘Heaven’. Who knows what exactly she’s capable of.
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Playing chess with Julia with idk…mind waves…
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Tangential, but that applies to the Witch-King too. We might have glossed over him because of the latest mind-shattering plotwists, but he’s actually a pretty big deal, with him being trained in sorcery and whatnot. I’m rather certain he knows a lot about the Goddess and the state of the world so-to-speak, which makes identifying what his objectives are all the more intriguing. Does he truly only want to destroy Iudia? I doubt it. Why was he even trained in the first place? Did Gaia have something to do with it?
With how the narrative goes, I suspect his purpose might be one the last, if not the last, “plotwists” of the story.
She’s going to be like Alexa but even better. “Gaia, how many legions do I need to hold off Pharia while I crush this revolt?”
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First Citizen primarily, it’s the title Victoria adopts in the scenario that she aligns with the Senate. Empress was still employed, but not as primarily nor with the same dynastic, monarchical implications as it possesses in modern Iudia.
No, that won’t be possible. The MC will not be able to betroth themselves to Augusta.
However, this may be possible, in the fullness of time. Of course, if there is a path for the Prefect to take the throne, assume that it will bear a heavy price…
Maybe I ought to fiddle with this if it’s too opaque.
All I can say is in that scene, that is what the MC is seeing and hearing. It’s not in their head.
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Oh no. Oh no no no no. I sure hope it won’t be what I’m thinking about. But if it is, I must say it would also be extremely ironic, considering that Julia did it herself, or at least attempted to.
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I think the problem is that despite her being allied with the Senate it seems to be an alliance of convenience more than anything, so it feels like she should be like Darius and be a romance that both paths could take, so some people expected to romance her even if the Prefect aligns with the Foederati.
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I can see why there would be confusion, though Ceto’s alliance with the Senate is built on both pragmatic (you have the money/institutions, I have the muscle) and ideological grounds. Ceto does express a desire for the reduction of imperial autocracy and the empowerment of Kyro’s people. The latter especially is something the Foederati are opposed to, since they seek to draw the locus of power away from the capital. her vision for a more republican Iudia is quite different from Consentia, as she expresses. At this point in the story, it’s unlikely she would ally with a foederati aligned Prefect.
Still, I think I’ll just bite the bullet and make her romance available to any senate-aligned Prefect rather than gating it behind earning her trust. When I get back to my computer I’ll make the relevant changes.
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Something I think that my Prefect’s coming to terms with is that there needs to be a shift. Kyro can remain the ceremonial capital, but it is clear that in this time of threat and danger, the Empresses need to take a more pre-active stance.
The Capital is where the Empress is and the Iudian Senate, such as it is, should basically just be entrusted to serve as a municipal council of Kyro.
The Empire’s safety can only be secured by its soldiery, not by a bunch of spoiled wealth brats in their mansions.
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Oh, she was playing with the Goddess! I thought she was actually playing against herself, because that’s a real thing.
What will a Foederati allied Empire look like? While Consentia and Ceto make their visions clear, Antonius seems to only be asking for benefits and respect for his people. Will the Foederati truly force such a drastic change to the politics of the Empire?
Also, to balance @Iello’s speculation on playing nice with the Senate, I’d like to ask about atrocities. Will we be able to commit righteous heinous acts like mass execution of political opponents? That matrician money would be sorely needed in our upcoming glorious empire/true plebeian republic.
Still don’t get why the sorceresses trained him. It does seem very silly of them.
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Not saying it a bad thing in general but I thought at first that was just the author showing more of how crazy Julia was 
Of course, what is “respect and proper rewards?” Consentia certainly seeks what she believes is respect for the public and the Senate. Ceto wishes for the people to be respected for their toil. The Legate is no different. Everyone wants to bring home the bacon to their constituents (though Julia and Darius have different motives).
In such an Empire, the foederati will be the pillar holding up the Empress’ rule. It’s a position they can use to shift power out of Kyro, secure more favorable treaties, and acquire better & more land and authority outside the provincial government, perhaps even superseding it, in order to benefit their people in a tumultuous time.
Now, another direction would be seeking integration with Iudia in a fashion that would preserve their cultural and even religious traditions, a big ask in an Empire which has a strict state religion and civic culture. They could adopt a definition of citizenship that might change the fabric of the Empire, but such would also mean giving up their tightly guarded independence.
After all, the Legate is a man torn between his identities as a loyal man of the Empire and a proud Gruthungian leader. Antonius and Amalrik. As much as the primary tension in a Senate alliance might be between Ceto and Consentia’s conflicting ideological visions, the primary tension in a foederati alliance may be the direction the Legate leads in his newfound position of power.
Shattered Eagle can be a brutal world. It certainly isn’t outside the bounds of what the Prefect can be responsible for already.
The truth of the man known as the Witch King will unfold with time. He’s certainly a very intelligent and resourceful individual, and one with motives and goals we may come to explore.
I presented that ambiguity for a reason, it was up to the reader to interpret what their character saw and heard. I like providing the latitude to do that within the text, when not all may be what it seems.
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