Shattered Eagle: Fall of an Empire (WIP) [489k words | Chapter VI Update 06/01/2025]

[Speakeasy]

@Azan

In such an Empire, the foederati will be the pillar holding up the Empress’ rule.

And not the legions? I understand their importance in the case we ally with them to fight the Senate. I can see how they would demand better treaties and land, even power over provincial governance. But those things are not so fundamental as the phrase “shift power out of Kyro” implies. Honestly, the Foederati seems to have outsized influence in Iudian politics, going toe-to-toe with the matricians, the ruling class of Iudia.

@Azan

They could adopt a definition of citizenship that might change the fabric of the Empire

Good to know Anton can be made to listen to reason. Will be interesting to see how people with such differing values integrate.

Another question: How do Iudians feel about the fact that every other society around them is patriarchal? Despite much of the game being concerned with patriarchal barbarians, this almost never comes up. I feel like this should be way more prominent in Iudian ideology: we’re beset on all sides by enemies diametrically opposed to our ways, a hideous perversion of the natural order. They’re rapists and monsters, treating their women as slaves, and they aim to inflict the same indignities on us proud Iudian women. Consentia and Ceto doesn’t seem worried enough that a (as they see it) barbarian man has wriggled his way to the highest echelon of government.

[Azan]

@Speakeasy

And not the legions?

In the conflict brewing now, the legions are contested between the Augustan and Victorian factions. The foederati are not, a loyal bedrock whom Augusta and the MC must rely on in order to achieve victory. By no means are the legions not a powerful player, greater when you encompass the entire Empire’s armed forces, but those are spread across the provinces. I was referring more to the fact that they will be the primary interest group backing the MC in this scenario.

@Speakeasy

Another question: How do Iudians feel about the fact that every other society around them is patriarchal? Despite much of the game being concerned with patriarchal barbarians, this almost never comes up. I feel like this should be way more prominent in Iudian ideology: we’re beset on all sides by enemies diametrically opposed to our ways, a hideous perversion of the natural order. They’re rapists and monsters, treating their women as slaves, and they aim to inflict the same indignities on us proud Iudian women. Consentia and Ceto doesn’t seem worried enough that a (as they see it) barbarian man has wriggled his way to the highest echelon of government.

Rule by men and barbarism are wrapped in one, it’s what they may often refer to when they disdain barbarians many times over. Of course, Iudia is not a total matriarchy, as men such as the Legate and potentially the MC achieve power and high office, but everyone knows who ultimately holds the cards and what the Church dictates. Even religious traditionalists acknowledge the role of men in the military, though their participation in the officer class is made more difficult. As I describe in Chapter II, there are compromises made, and Iudia was not always this way.

Not to mention Gruthungian gender is more complicated than simple patriarchy, but many Iudians do not care for such nuances. In their worldview, barbarians are brutish, uncouth, dull and quick to anger. These are the same negative qualities often stereotyped with men in Iudia.

[Iello]

@Azan

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.

Perfect – that’s exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for. I had no idea Victoria adopts that title in the reverse scenario, that’s fascinating. But yes – I’d be very happy to take Augusta in that First Citizen direction.

@Azan

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.

Oooh, this is such a fasinating dichotomy. This suits my Kyro-based, capital based MC’s politics perfectly, haha.

@Speakeasy

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.

This is me fainting in shock, haha. But I love how many different approaches we all have to this.

[Oreven]

@Iello

But I love how many different approaches we all have to this.

Mass executions are just tooooo cliché. How about some proscriptions? Sulla would approve.

[Aeternitas]

@Bryce_Kaldwin

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.

Alright, I see you, Constantine. I don’t know what benefit moving the capital would serve, though. It’s not like it materially increases the readiness of the Empire for conflict.

@Azan

All I can say is in that scene, that is what the MC is seeing and hearing. It’s not in their head.

Interesting. Now I’m really struggling for a purely technological explanation. A sensory deprivation chamber, maybe?

@Azan

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.

So they too, want control over Iudia to benefit their people. I suppose this is just par for the course as every group wants power for themselves, but this is making me want to try a Senate-aligned run. I suppose I favor the more assimilationist option for the foederati. I certainly don’t want them carving chunks out of the Empire.

I hope we’ll be able to push the foederati a bit via negotiation and reduce some of their maximalist demands. Ultimately, I want a strong, centralized, Iudian Empire with power vested in Augusta, and both the Senate’s dreams of another Principate and the foederati’s visions of independent or client kingdoms don’t serve that goal fully. Having to rely on them to beat Victoria makes me nervous.

I think my main run will side with Antonius, if only because I find the meeting with Consentia towards the end of Ch. 1 more difficult, since it doesn’t have any Economics IV options. It instead requires Rhetoric IV, which I can’t have that early because I need to be at Economics V by Chapter II to get the best outcome to the triple crises. So to ally with the Consul and still play my dutiful, Empire-first prefect, I need to use the Augusta stat-gain opportunity and basically neglect my daughter for 13 years. Or play a non-father run, which could also be fun.

[Bryce_Kaldwin]

Moving the capital close to the Persians shortens communication lines, also the Eastern Provinces are wealthier and the economy is more stable.

[Iello]

@Aeternitas

So they too, want control over Iudia to benefit their people. I suppose this is just par for the course as every group wants power for themselves, but this is making me want to try a Senate-aligned run. I suppose I favor the more assimilationist option for the foederati. I certainly don’t want them carving chunks out of the Empire.

Yessss join me and the Senate. We have cookies.

@Aeternitas

I think my main run will side with Antonius, if only because I find the meeting with Consentia towards the end of Ch. 1 more difficult, since it doesn’t have any Economics IV options. It instead requires Rhetoric IV, which I can’t have that early because I need to be at Economics V by Chapter II to get the best outcome to the triple crises. So to ally with the Consul and still play my dutiful, Empire-first prefect, I need to use the Augusta stat-gain opportunity and basically neglect my daughter for 13 years.

Yeah, this is why I’ve never managed to do the triple success outcome in chapter 2. I’ve always pumped rhetoric (which suits my character, Senate alliance, and vision for Augusta) but it does mean I don’t get the outcome that leads to the best crisis outcome that pleases all the factions.

Because I’m definitely never using that Augusta stat gain – always going for raising my daughter. But I’m happy enough to have to make the sacrifice in chapter 2. Usually I use the Church option that replenishes whatever resource I spent for the crisis option. It’s not perfect, but it works for my runs.

[Aeternitas]

@Iello

Yessss join me and the Senate. We have cookies

You know, funnily enough, I originally wanted a Senate alliance when I first played through the game. Since my motivation is duty, my first loyalty, above even Julia or Augusta, is to the Empire. The foederati want their own autonomy, and potentially to control the provinces as foreigners, while the Senate merely wants a redistribution of Iudian power. In a real-world scenario, especially raising a Paragon Augusta, the Senate is the natural ally for her and I. As a Treasury Prefect, I even start off with an affinity for the Senate, and the sort of wealthy, cultured, matrician background that entails.

I mean it’s not a perfect match. I do want a peace deal with Gruthungia, unlike those warhawks in the Senate. However, it really is just a coincidence that the foederati are a much more natural ally for an economist than the Senate, and let me preserve the Empire’s stats more than Consentia so far. Plus, if I can persuade them to integrate, they won’t demand as much power from Augusta as the Senate will. However, if there were Economics options for the Senate route, or a career choice that allowed Economics and Rhetoric boosts (maybe a Senatorial aide, even?) I would seriously consider switching for the long haul.

I’m still hoping to use a Paragon Augusta’s willingness to power-share and my potentially 60% favor with the Senate (if I allow council to be held in the Forum and risk a bit more of Julia’s wrath) to come to a good agreement with the Senate to end hostilities, although the comments about divided legions make me think that some war is maybe inevitable.

Speaking of war, @Azan, there’s been a lot of discussion of faction balancing and trying to maximize favor among the different groups. One thing I really enjoyed about the second chapter was the nuanced benefits for choosing to specialize in Economics to various degrees. Econ III let you fix one crisis, Econ IV two, and Econ V gave you a significant reward.

In the same vein, I would like to put forth the suggestion of a similar idea for the coming conflict. I know that this has already been in the works, but allowing different benefits for different levels of favor would be a nice way to recognize significant efforts by players. It takes a lot more effort to get the unselected faction to 60 rather than 40, for example, and that leads to losing out on Imperial favor, empire stats, or both. So making it easier to settle with Antonius or Consentia if you’ve truly gone out of your way to make their entire faction friendly to you, according to the game menu, would be interesting.

[Iello]

@Aeternitas

Since my motivation is duty, my first loyalty, above even Julia or Augusta, is to the Empire. The foederati want their own autonomy, and potentially to control the provinces as foreigners, while the Senate merely wants a redistribution of Iudian power. In a real-world scenario, especially raising a Paragon Augusta, the Senate is the natural ally for her and I. As a Treasury Prefect, I even start off with an affinity for the Senate, and the sort of wealthy, cultured, matrician background that entails.

YUP. You’ve nailed my MC’s exact thoughts as a Duty-motivated prefect and why I found the Senate as a natural ally for me and Paragon Augusta. The Senate is deeply attached to Iudia’s institutions and the Empire – just not a single family monopoly of it, which is consistent entirely with the Duty motivation too. I actually didn’t realize until now that the treasury starts you off with extra senatorial favor – but it does make a lot of sense now that I think about it. After all, one of the main functions the Roman Senate did keep was control of the public treasury (at least for a time).

@Aeternitas

However, if there were Economics options for the Senate route, or a career choice that allowed Economics and Rhetoric boosts (maybe a Senatorial aide, even?) I would seriously consider switching for the long haul.

Yeah, that’s a good point. Though the treasury is the most affiliated with the Senate in terms of disposition, rhetoric is the skill that is most closely associated with the Senate (which makes a ton of sense, since oratory and high culture is the main thing the matrician class values). But in absence of a career boosting both rhetoric and economics, I guess Treasury is the closest analogue I can think of. After all, the Corruption skill does come quite in handy with the Senate and People.

@Aeternitas

I’m still hoping to use a Paragon Augusta’s willingness to power-share and my potentially 60% favor with the Senate (if I allow council to be held in the Forum and risk a bit more of Julia’s wrath) to come to a good agreement with the Senate to end hostilities,

Yeah, I want to see if I can try the reconciliation path – or at least, ally with the Senate but give some concessions to the foederati to increase their view towards me. But I ALSO want to do a marry Julia run and getting that 90% imperial favor is going to be rough (bc I’m definitely never doing tyrant Augusta).

@Aeternitas

So making it easier to settle with Antonius or Consentia if you’ve truly gone out of your way to make their entire faction friendly to you, according to the game menu, would be interesting.

I almost wonder if that is in the works! When I went to see the first citizen dialogue Azan mentioned (which I didn’t see in my route), I noticed Consentia had different dialogues for whether you had high Senate support or not, and if you did, she thought there might be room for settlement. I assume Antonius is the same way.

[TheDrake]

@Azan The senate gathering in Attika is unlikely to go unnoticed by the spymaster’s eyes, as I doubt every senator involved is subtle enough to avoid suspicion and attention. A spymaster thus could be informed of the coming crisis before its public declaration reach the capital, hence get extra preparations in, right?

[Aeternitas]

@Iello

But I ALSO want to do a marry Julia run and getting that 90% imperial favor is going to be rough (bc I’m definitely never doing tyrant Augusta).

I’ve done a route where I marry Julia with a Paragon Augusta while allied with the foederati. I try to keep Titus around on my main run, because his Galerii connections in Attika could be quite useful later on, but it’s certainly possible to become Imperial Consort and still raise a less harsh Augusta.

Personally, I’ve found imperial favor the easiest of the groups to raise. it’s pretty easy for a dutiful, Julia-romance Prefect to keep Imperial Favor in the nineties, even if you defy Julia on a couple major decisions like allowing your ally free reign of the city to investigate your assassination or moving court to the Forum. Obviously, non-Julia romance Prefects will have a harder time of it.

I also don’t think Tyrant Augusta is that awful. Sure, she’s a little harsh and cynical, but she’s not as bad as her mother. She’s still a 13-year-old girl. And you have more influence on her decision-making than Julia. If you think she needs to be merciful for the good of the Empire at a certain time, you can counsel her towards it.

The route that really breaks my heart is Puppet Augusta. That girl is the worst-off character in the whole game. She doesn’t deserve that.

[Iello]

@Aeternitas

Personally, I’ve found imperial favor the easiest of the groups to raise. it’s pretty easy for a dutiful, Julia-romance Prefect to keep Imperial Favor in the nineties, even if you defy Julia on a couple major decisions like allowing your ally free reign of the city to investigate your assassination or moving court to the Forum.

I’ll have to play around with it. I usually let Augusta handle all three decisions in the beginning so that her strength is high early on (high enough to be disgusted at Titus during the dinner scene, haha) but arresting the senator and then taking the heat for it instead of Augusta does cost me a fair bit of imperial favor. I wonder if moving court to the forum would cost less imperial favor, hmm…

Trying to remember what else cost me imperial favor – definitely siding with Augusta during the whole “burn them all” conversation cost me a fair bit. I was so proud of Augusta for standing up to Julia, but that basically made the marriage impossible.

@Aeternitas

I also don’t think Tyrant Augusta is that awful. Sure, she’s a little harsh and cynical, but she’s not as bad as her mother. She’s still a 13-year-old girl. And you have more influence on her decision-making than Julia. If you think she needs to be merciful for the good of the Empire at a certain time, you can counsel her towards it.

I suppose it just doesn’t mesh well with my more republican, principate sensibilities. Some of the things she says remind me how senatorial historians would quote emperors like Caligula, Commodus, or Domitian. It just hurts me to read these things coming out of her mouth, especially as a father prefect – it’s very much a “kiddo is going down the wrong path” for him.

I mean, maybe, MAYBE I’ll try it some day just to see the other side of things, especially if I flip my alliances and MC’s career focus too. But this also reminds me about how I say I’ll make different choices when replaying Bioware RPGs and I inevitably make the same choices each time.

@Aeternitas

The route that really breaks my heart is Puppet Augusta. That girl is the worst-off character in the whole game. She doesn’t deserve that.

Now that’s definitely true. It’s a gut punch reading any of those lines – the poor kid is literally in a state of arrested development and it’s awful to see any of it. It reminds me of a horrific story I read about how the Sima regents kept one of the Wei dynasty emperors deliberately undereducated and socialized, so that he would be an adult with the mental capacity of a child. It’s downright torture and abuse doing that to a person.

[Oreven]

@Iello

It’s a gut punch reading any of those lines

Now I am really glad I haven’t touched that path. My poor heart won’t be able to handle the tragedy. I have had my full share of that from reading about the unfortunately many child emperors of China, like Liu Bian. Or Zhao Bing. Poor kids.

Tangetial, but you know something is wrong with a dynasty when you keep getting child emperors.

[Ferry]

Now I want to talk my view of this WIP and ask some questions I have about future paths.
So, this is one of my top 5 wips in CoG. Perfectly written, fantastic story + characters and so on without end.
I had played as a man, a former legionary, who has a empathetic, highly ambitious, skeptical character. He loves Julia and Agusta is his real daughter.
First I wanted to say I wasn’t surprised from the ending because it was obvious to me the hatred and age of Diana is pointing on somethings then when I saved Tristia and saw gaius action looked much like what I did and we knew it is iblin who were trying to kill us I JUST KNEW that woman which was with iblin from that old woman confession IS Vic before actually seeing it.

Now I want to ask… HOW the Hell I can become Emperor Myself (after becoming consort maybe?) without Killing my own daughter?
I was planning to become Emperor then choose Agusta as my successor because I NEED an hier TOO. Who better than my own daughter who her mother was empress herself?
I was teaching her to be good empress for after me she should rule. Now I Think I’M JUST ALOWED To Choose Between Power AND raising her as a puppet OR Forgetting my ambitious and let her Do whatever she wants.
So PLEASE Tell me there will be a path to reach a compromise between these two wants of me.

Also, what will happen if Julia won’t die? Would she herself balance the powers of Emperor and Empress and elevate the position of men in society by Goddess Blessing maybe?
Talking about Goddess, I thought it’s a ruse used by church to influence Empress until I saw the scene we meet them.

[Aeternitas]

@Iello

I’ll have to play around with it. I usually let Augusta handle all three decisions in the beginning so that her strength is high early on (high enough to be disgusted at Titus during the dinner scene, haha

I usually let Augusta compromise on the first two decisions and tell her to reject the Senator on the third. Ironically for you, letting Augusta do what she wants hurts your relationship with the Senate more than the other choices, since she will arrest the Senator. It’s objectively the worst decision from a faction-balancing perspective and really is only useful if you’re roleplaying a tyrant even worse than Julia (because even she thinks you’ve overstepped).

In fact, if you raise Augusta and act in her best interests, even letting her decide one of the three cases (or possibly none; I’ll have to check the math) should leave her strong enough to criticize Titus, so you can get the legions’ or barbarians’ favor as well in the second case.

@Iello

definitely siding with Augusta during the whole “burn them all” conversation cost me a fair bit.

Yeah, my Prefect always tries the ‘stop arguing’ approach. It only costs a -2 penalty from both Augusta and Julia. Also, it’s a perfect fit for my relatively low-key, humble Prefect caught in the middle between two very strong personalities whom he cares for immensely. He might not always agree with Julia’s cruelty, but he’s careful about expressing it, especially in public. He prefers to show alternative courses of actions by example and leave her impressed at the initiative (like the Gruthungian peace deal). He’s very much the servant-leader, quiet follower with a moral core type.

[Azan]

@Aeternitas

I hope we’ll be able to push the foederati a bit via negotiation and reduce some of their maximalist demands.

It will certainly be possible, considering that in the first chapter you can already try to compromise on what your allied faction desires. Of course, losing favor from those you rely upon does bode ill for stability, so keep an eye out.

@Aeternitas

So making it easier to settle with Antonius or Consentia if you’ve truly gone out of your way to make their entire faction friendly to you, according to the game menu, would be interesting.

That will certainly be a factor in any negotiations to end the conflict.

@TheDrake

@Azan The senate gathering in Attika is unlikely to go unnoticed by the spymaster’s eyes, as I doubt every senator involved is subtle enough to avoid suspicion and attention. A spymaster thus could be informed of the coming crisis before its public declaration reach the capital, hence get extra preparations in, right?

It’s certainly an example of the MC getting outfoxed, but I think it would make sense to add a bonus to a spymaster considering their network. I’ll fiddle with it a bit.

@Aeternitas

I also don’t think Tyrant Augusta is that awful. Sure, she’s a little harsh and cynical, but she’s not as bad as her mother. She’s still a 13-year-old girl. And you have more influence on her decision-making than Julia. If you think she needs to be merciful for the good of the Empire at a certain time, you can counsel her towards it.

That is correct. Regardless of Augusta’s personality, she is still young and may need the MC’s advice to reach the wisest decisions in certain situations. Whether she listens to that advice depends on what sort of relationship you’ve cultivated with her. This incident is a good example of that, where Augusta does not always make the “right” decision when presented to her. She has flaws, like any other character in the story.

@Aeternitas

It’s objectively the worst decision from a faction-balancing perspective and really is only useful if you’re roleplaying a tyrant even worse than Julia (because even she thinks you’ve overstepped).

@Ferry

Now I Think I’M JUST ALOWED To Choose Between Power AND raising her as a puppet OR Forgetting my ambitious and let her Do whatever she wants.
So PLEASE Tell me there will be a path to reach a compromise between these two wants of me

The price of power is great, the price of absolute power is even greater. If your MC wishes to achieve the throne itself, they will need to reckon with the cost or pursue another path.

@Ferry

Also, what will happen if Julia won’t die? Would she herself balance the powers of Emperor and Empress and elevate the position of men in society by Goddess Blessing maybe?

I don’t think there’s any way I can answer the first without spoiling. Though I should point out if the MC married Julia on a loving romance route, she does tell them to never to bow to her again in Chapter V.

[Ferry]

@Azan

If your MC wishes to achieve the throne itself, they will need to reckon with the cost or pursue another path.

I can’t think of how we can justify and legitimize us taking throne and kill Agusta. But if the bastardy of her becomes known and we take throne then announcing her as our heir ,when she has Julia’s claim (as being daughter of a former Empress, legitimate or usurper doesn’t change the fact that she was a Empress for a decade) and we are both a consort and father of next Empress. So by taking throne and calling her our heir, In my sense, works fine.
And another question… Can we still take throne without Killing Agusta if she IS a Puppet? We just tell her to relinquish the full power and title to rule to Us till she gets older? I ask because I was thinking if it is possible to rule also by name not just behind scene when she is a puppet.

@Azan

Though I should point out if the MC married Julia on a loving romance route, she does tell them to never to bow to her again in Chapter V.

I saw that. Even I saw that if we can get that much reputation to marry her she will accept our call to negotiate (I loved it here:“Love is a delicate thing. I would be a fool to throw yours away.”) But I wasn’t talking just about in relation to her, I was asking about general in whole Empire, as us ruling officially together and it became typical for all Empress And Emperors after us.

@Azan

need to reckon with the cost

Does this cost should (and will) only be in type of Agusta’s life? Couldn’t it be like… in blood of matriarchs of senate type?

[Azan]

This will all be made more clear in the next chapter and chapters to come. Shattered Eagle, however, is a game about power. I’ve written about the story’s themes before and I think they are illustrative for this particular example, regarding the sacrifices that power demands.

@Azan

To lift the curtain here, the theme of this IF is power. I find writing with themes in mind is important to keeping my story designs straight, regardless of the medium.

Mainly two particular groups of themes, where does power truly lie, who actually has power? Is power a real, tangible thing, or does it only exist in our perception?

The second is how do the demands of power intersect with our human foibles? How do things such as love, pride, hatred, duty affect the desire for power and the sacrifices to gain and maintain it?

[Azan]

Hi all! Small update, I am continuing to work away at Chapter VI, but after having worked on Shattered Eagle for the better part of a year and nearing the halfway point, I’ve decided to set up a little Ko-Fi for anyone who would like to support my writing.

I won’t be making the demo private before the last phase of testing and publication, I want as much feedback as I can get to shape Shattered Eagle into the best version of itself. Nor can I really commit to producing much exclusive content right now, so I chose not to include any membership tiers or that sort of thing, at least at this time.

My focus is on finishing this interactive novel (insomuch as this certainly isn’t my day job but what I’ve attempted to maintain as the primary endeavor of my off time) and it will remain such until it is done.

[Aeternitas]

Another few potential errors and bugs I found while taking @Iello up on his idea of a Senate-allied run (it did not go well…)

A period mark should punctuate the end of the sentence, in my estimation.

And this sentence could do with one fewer.

The reputation text for the Senate seems to have no text between the reputations of 85 and 95.

And the same goes here for 85 and 90 in the foederati’s text.