I won’t be able to correct it for a bit, my computer is undergoing some maintenance until tomorrow (not to worry on any progress, I back up my Shattered Eagle files consistently ) but I’ll get into it to clarify when I can.
It will be. It’s part of the Idealism motivation potentially for a reason. Though on the Goddess, well, that might go differently than you’d expect. Hard to find another way to put it, but you’ll see what I mean in the next chapter.
Sorry if this has already been asked, but will a male MC eventually be able to learn magic? I’ve been dumping points into Scholarship in hopes I eventually can.
Yes, and Scholarship will be important, it is the Sorceress primary boosted ability for a reason. How will become very clear in the next chapter.
For the purposes of non-sorceresses, is it vital we pump the primary boosted stat? I picked treasurer but I usually pump rhetoric and only occasionally boost Econ. Should I be switching to Watch or boosting Econ instead?
Not necessarily. Any background can feel free to focus on any stat, I was more referencing that in relation to sorcery, scholarship will be useful. A sorceress who wishes to focus on intrigue would be just as well served to focus on Subterfuge. The boosted stat reflects areas that the MC would have gained a baseline of experience with due to their past.
My Augusta trust value has been locked at 100 (and often higher) since Chapter III or something like that. Yeah, I might have to give her a bit more tough love if I want her to succeed (or maybe not; willfulness and wisdom are not identical) but I just can’t stop hugging my daughter every time the option comes up.
Live footage of me making the choice to hug Augusta when she takes your hand and gives you a sword:
https://images.app.goo.gl/7ERyujV5VJEsxqLJ8
Treasury Prefect with a Rhetoric and Economy focus and motivated to reinvigorate the Empire? Sounds like it.
Absolutely. And @Azan’s musings on a Paragon foederati-aligned Augusta trying to burnish militarist credentials (which both she and I don’t have) does not inspire in me particular confidence. Perhaps she will try to prevent the outbreak of significant protracted conflict in the first place, although that seems to be a fait accompli at this stage.
On the Augusta is our daughter route, there should be a check that our appearance doesn’t match Julia/Titus’s. (I’m trying to post a screenshot of what I mean but it’s not letting me)
My character is fair skin, black hair, and blue eyes. Julia and Titus apparently have fair skin, black hair, and grey/blue eyes respectively. I’m being told that Augusta doesn’t resemble her parents with her fair skin, black hair, and grey eyes.
Interesting factoid on Roman law - legally, the biological father of the child was irrelevant; mater semper certa est; pater est, quem nuptiae demonstrant ("the mother is always certain; the father is he to whom marriage points). Is that legally the case in Iudia, or not?
Have there been any romance flags set with Ceto yet? Like there was a choice for pursuing Consentia at the end of chapter 4 if I remember right
There should be one, can you tell me what page it was on, or copy paste the bugged text+which chapter so I can find out where?
It’s not, no. Inheritance is matrilineal, of course, but the father’s identity does matter and bastardy is a stigma if proven. Specifically regarding Augusta, it is important because Julia’s key argument for legitimacy was that she had married into the imperial line and considering her daughter, her line was the rightful successor of the Empress Isuara’s eldest daughter, while Scilla was a second daughter. It was tenuous claim, but one that provided a fig leaf for her coup and helped reassure many of continuation.
If Augusta is not Titus’, that means she has no connection to the longstanding line of Galerii Empresses, which is a problem, to put it mildly. It’s all why Julia acts the way she does if the truth is publicly revealed, and why Augusta acts the way she does if the MC reveals it privately.
Yes, there should be a romance scene for her in Chapter IV when she’s just about to leave the MC’s office. If it’s not showing as an option, please let me know.
I will replay from the start to check. I thought I was on her route, maybe I missed something
Just went back to my computer and started working on typos and bugs, added some more lines to the final meeting with your ally about hope for Augusta’s rule.
It’s chapter II I think, on the Holy Revelation day where you meet Cato.
All stand in the Grand Cathedral, saluting her. “Hail, Empress!” The voices call out in chorus. It is what is expected, regardless of what they think of the woman.
The Empress gestures to Augusta, who walks to stand beside her opposite to Her Holiness. It does not take a genius to notice that Augusta does not wholly resemble either of her parents. Julia and Titus have fair skin, black hair, and blue eyes, or gray in Julia’s case. She takes after you almost entirely, with fair skin, gray eyes, and black hair.
Your…closeness with the Empress is well-known enough that Augusta’s appearance has long given you pause. Those about court know just as well that you have been far more of a father to Augusta than her mother or father, which has only increased scrutiny. Your secret, if it still is one, will be ever more difficult to keep.
Finished the game last night, heaps of fun and looking forward to next chapter!
So is succession in Iudia more hereditary than the Roman Empire? And if so, how did the Galerii justify their rule? They have ruled for a century; the Empire has lasted for six. There must have been some mechanism by which they came to power.
I keep seeing people with all faction relationships well over 50%, and am curious at the decisions they’re making. Obviously, it’s a lot easier to boost the legions’ favor as a former legionary, but other than that I can barely maneuver a 53-63-53 split between the Senate, legions, and foederati while keeping a Imperial Favor of 98 and an abysmal 15 for public favor. And that too is while destabilizing Seyet and expending a bit of the Empire’s stats to do so.
Thank you! I feel much better about that exchange now, haha.
See why the Senate is so cranky? Haha – it’s no wonder that Scilla and the later Galerians were so indolent and spoiled.
It’s a shame Augusta’s head is filled with pride at her supposed Galerian ancestors – I suppose those early empresses must’ve accomplished quite a bit for that blood to be considered the mark of legitimacy, but I wish also the prefect was able to instill in her some more republican/principate values as a way to make up for the shocking loss to her sense of self if she learns that she’s illegitimate. That’s how I imagine he raised her (and I imagine the equivalent for those with different alliances).
A sort of “I raised you to be the best candidate for the job, that is why you should be empress – not because of your supposed descent through Titus.”
I’m at a loss myself, you should see how dismal my non-Senate stats are. I think I ended with Imperial Favor 5% (this might be because I stabbed Julia), Senate 92%, Legionary 21%, Barbarian 22%, Public 13%.
…it occurs to me that Augusta might be in for a rough time, looking at those stats. Oops. Sorry dear, father spent too much time in fancy convivia with the consul’s friends…
So are the Galerii the first Imperial dynasty, preceded by five centuries of Senatorial republicanism, in your estimation? I thought that the Imperial era was as old as the Empire, about six centuries, and the last time the Senate had true absolute power was before that date, when Kyro was a small city-state. Obviously, we don’t know for sure yet.
I hope that will happen eventually. However, that sort of thing takes time. Her entire sense of self is wrapped up in her legacy. I am not playing through the Augusta revelations in my main playthrough, so I suppose she’ll find out from someone else eventually and be even more hurt.
Oh, no no – I have no idea about the timeline. I just mean a single family monopolizing the imperial office is making them cranky – especially as they still insist that they’re living in a republic and the empressdom is one office among many. But if a single family has been ruling for over a century – yeah, their illusion that they still live in a republic has got to seem like pure fantasy to everyone else. No wonder Julia finds them annoying. Poor Senate, haha.
Yes, for sure – it’s a huge revelation for her that changes everything she thought was true, and is definitely a huge breach of trust too. It’s more specifically the Galerian descent part of the revelation – she’s really wrapped up in it, regardless of the views of the MC. But I guess also, it makes sense that she would be? It’s just interesting.
And yeah I imagine things will change over time. It’s a big revelation. And it’s not an easy one for her to handle. It’s messy and tricky – such is the price of revealing true parentage to her I suppose. We gotta decide if it’s worth it – for my MC it is, but it’s tough!
Got it, I’ve had enough trouble wrangling this code that I’ve made a new variable just for if Augusta’s appearance mismatches her mother and legal father (eyes, skin color, and/or hair). Hopefully that will address these errors.
It hasn’t always been this way, with the early imperial period (which began ~300 years ago) consisting mainly of Empresses which favored more republican titles and adoption as an inheritance mechanism. It was in the second century of the Empire that a spate of instability and civil war caused a succession of military coups (even praetorian coups) which resulted in the rise of Ursa Galeria, she who named the line, and established a family line which has ruled Iudia for over a century.
The Galerii brought stability and thus became an institution, it took three decades of Scilla’s misrule to cause a rupture in their order for a reason. It’s ironic as while from a prominent matrician family, Ursa was a usurper with no dynastic ties to previous Empresses, but her energetic military campaigns and centralizing reforms established the bedrock for the formation of the first longstanding imperial dynasty. Despite her short period of rule, she saved the Empire from being broken up into warring states at a dire time. This is why Augusta idolizes her and takes so much pride being (supposedly, at least) descended from her.
This is exactly why. The idea of a continuous blood-right imperial dynasty and said dynasty becoming the bedrock of the Empire frightens the Senate and the last vestiges of republican Iudia. If it is allowed to continue, they will firmly land in the dustbin of history, a fact that Consentia is keenly aware of. This is why they have gone to such lengths to arrest the growth of imperial autocracy, even to the extent of siding with Victoria’s rebellion if such efforts are stymied by a Prefect siding with the foederati.
Either through an allied Prefect or Victoria, everyone knows this is what will make or break Iudia’s transformation into a firmly imperial, monarchial system.
Quite possible. She will need to find a way to essentially reform her sense of self somehow. A Paragon Augusta may lean more on finding a way to justify herself to herself (why should she among so many rule?) but a Tyrant Augusta may express much more spite and resentment at the world for the stigma of her personhood instead. A Puppet Augusta will be much more willing to simply cling to her parent for reassurance.
