Ok the more I learn about the betrothal, the more indecisive I get
On one hand Augustoria is a shitshow waiting to happen which may actually make them fall in love in one of the most dramatic ways possible
On the other hand, my foederati buddies like Eugusta and I like the foederati
Hmmmm…
Ok I made a table showing the pros and cons of each betrothal option
Betrothal Option
Pros
Cons
Victoria
Peace with less bloodshed, enemies to lovers, drama, married to someone with royal blood, competent, skilled warrior
G*leria, untrustworthy, she has low subterfuge, it would not count as a total victory because it’s a compromise
Marius
Married to someone with royal blood, passive (will not challenge Augusta and probably Prefect too)
G*lerius, Titus II, Leta is scheming, Augusta hates him (understandable)
Euric
Foedrati will love you, foreign royalty, competent, has stuff in common with non-puppet!Augusta, skilled warrior, probably smart
Ambitious, probably will challenge Augusta and/or Prefect, Iudians hate him, only for foederati path
Laurentius
Nepotism
Augusta can’t be your daughter, everyone will hate you for this (don’t worry I’m sure once everyone sees how the Prefect and only the Prefect benefited from this, they’ll eventually come around to the idea fr fr)
When Victoria (in the library) said her mother was dead and her father gave her all the books on war, that was when it hit me who she was, but I never had the option to tell this to Julia. i also started to secretly despise the hitman we send her way and wish I could be the one who was send to kill her when she was a child.
I would let Augustoria marry Euric, damn the senate on what they think about this, I got the legions supporting me (alongside Augustoria in the future) and Augustoria marrying Euric would mean a strong alliance with the foederati making for a strong Military Rome. What will the senate do? Call in strikes and riots? Ima butcher them all and eliminate their arrogance and ‘gangsta’ culture
The answer to that is you would want to avoid marrying her off at all during the events of the story. She is young, and perhaps in time she may follow her heart to a consort of her own choosing.
Of course, that involves forgoing the benefits of a matrimonial alliance during the events of the story.
Senate has most of navy, mercenary’s and possibly some legions they also kind of represent biggest traders in empire(not sure about last part) and have ton of connections.
from strategic stand point having navy is very important. if navy gose with senate most of southern provinces are cut off, Hadat also borders seyet(which can be in crissis) and you may also be facing pharian invasion, most likely also facing much bigger legitimacy problems . strategically speaking senate defecting should be much bigger blow. also cato is your enemy which means that you will have infinite spy’s in your capital.
on other hand if foederati defect. Victoria is in much worse situation, her force are divided in 2 continent’s with no easy way to reinforce and hevernica is also facing imminent invasion so its not like they can leave there positions undefended, legate still wants for ludia to exists which will stop him from making deals with incoming horde, granted vicotria gets bigger army but she is in worse strategic position, her centres of power are divided and i would guess most of legions stay loyal.
and which is why cato path is most fun, ally with senat to just backstab them
cato brings a lot of things on table for alliance like hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm feeling morally superior and people will love you i guess. correction people living in capital will love you because we are taxing other people to ground
Does that mean a manipulative prefect that puppet augusta could actually teach the nephew how to manage the empire and once the prefect die Laurentius take the leadership in the empire by still manipulating Augusta ?
That is a possibility. Alternatively, such a Prefect might seek to set up one of Augusta’s future children for the task of true rulership. Of course, all of that would be consigned to the epilogue as it would take place farther in the future.
"You know your mother was not fit to truly rule. Even though I had the opportunity to teach her. But you, on the other hand, can. So I will teach you. Conveniently, I will either be dead or very old by the time you can effectively rule, so I will have to unfortunately continue to…uh…help you and your mother lead Iudia until you are ready. All for Iudia’s benefit, of course.
Also, you have to marry my nephew. For the good of Iudia, of course."
This is the Romanos I Lakapenos route, with Augusta being Constantin VII.
Honestly, Victoria gives off some major main character vibes..I really want to hear more about that sick backstory of cheating death. If I were a citizen in-universe, I probably wouldn’t know shit about Augusta save for rumours that she’s either (a) a ‘spoiled brat’ or (b) MC’s bastard, while Victoria’s the rightful ruler whose life has been full of true struggle…I would’ve definitely been rooting for her. If her victory didn’t put our and Augusta’s lives in jeopardy, it would’ve been fascinating to see the outcome of her uncontested rule.
A joint rule with paragon Augusta would be neat, but fraught with problems of every kind.
She’s got that riches-to-rags-to-riches story. She also does seem like the underdog, which is helped by the fact that you can’t fault her for the sins of her dynasty, since she was far too young to have any kind of influence on the events. So her struggle for her birthright is shadowed by her family’s shittiness, but doesn’t depreciate it.
Plus she seems like a truly determined individual (confidence is attractive for a reason). Having that magic sword helps too. JRPG protagonist in a nutshell.
But we are the protagonist. And on my main run she won’t get even close to the throne. Main Character energy is no match for the power of my optimised run.
Victoria is very much the hero of her own story, as you’ll find. In another world, she would have been the central character. That won’t be the case here, of course, but not for her lack of trying.
Darius is not particularly interested in currying an alliance like that with Augusta using his House. However, if romanced, he can offer a very different kind of proposal to the MC. Particularly if they have made their wishes to seek the throne known.
If you had written a clunky prologue, telling the backstory of a character that isn’t even the main character, like so many other choicescript writers are doing, I wouldn’t have read the book. I love the way Julia’s story is told through the flashbacks. Cadanu shows her brutality. The wedding gives that brutality context. The battle with Aite attests her meticulous cunning. Everything then leads into the climax of Julia ordering the deaths of the Galerian heirs. The great thing is, these scenes are given room to breath, ample time for the reader to digest. If all of this was told back to back, the narrative would not resonate as it does now.
All that is to say, I think you’ve done good work with the flashbacks, and a bit of awkwardness with Julia’s romance does not diminish it in the least.
(I also just really hate long, dull prologues).
A question: What does matriarchy look like outside of the imperial core? The provinces of Iudia were once independent societies, presumably patriarchal. Have they truly embraced matriarchy, and if so, how did the transformation take place?
Typos and other issues
She was approached by four men and one women, cloaked and hooded, who coerced her into joining the plot.
‘one women’.
Upon her brow rests a silver, jeweled diadem, a far cry from the traditional wreath from Iudia’s ancient days that many Empress choose to sport, though not all.
‘Empress’ → ‘Empresses’.
She has always envied my place as the elder, not to mention that she was in tha capital at the time, a prime position to seize power.
‘tha’.
#"There will be other opportunities, Co-Empress. You won't be ruling for many years yet." I reassure her.
*set augusta_strength +2
*if augusta_strength < 25
*set puppet -1
*else
*set augusta_rel +2
*set puppet +1
Low strength should increase puppet here?
Standing athwart the entrance to the opulent palatial district of Kyro is the formidable Castra
‘athwart’.
*if ((dar_truth = true) or (watch_destroyed = false))
Alternatively, you could divide your forces with the aim of accomplishing both objectives, by sending
*if (dar_truth = true) and (watch_destroyed = true)
either Darius' Anusiya or Marcella's Watch
*elseif (dar_truth = true) and (watch_destroyed = false)
Darius' Anusiya
*elseif (dar_truth = false) and (watch_destroyed = true)
Marcella's Watch
to relieve the defenders of the Castra while you cut through towards the Imperial Palace with the Arcanii
*if (dar_truth = true) and (watch_destroyed = true)
and your other allies.
*else
.
watch_destroyed is checked wrong here.
Augusta’s appearance had always given way to some whispers about her true parentage, with features that rather unlike Titus or even Julia herself.
Missing an ‘are’.
Augusta’s relationship with her mother had declines before her death
‘declines’ → ‘declined’?
" Benedictus." You see the impossible visage of Julia sitting upon your bed
There’s an extraneous space before the name.
Is the correct spelling Ursinia now? If so, there are leftover instances of Ursina, like in the character profiles.
Born to the name of a famed matrician family, the Vitalii, Julia was born to the much lesser well regarded Hevernican branch of the clan in Covonia.
Should be Vitalliae. Also, and I don’t know Latin so I’m not sure, but if feminine is the default now, shouldn’t Arcanii be Arcanae?
A feat of dedication, considering the long hours of work she tirelessly puts herself through for the business of the Senate.”
Extraneous ".
“By the strength of your legions? Many believe so. Through able governance? That can be clearly argued. With great sorcery? That is undoubtable. Soldiers and scribes come and go, but no nation has replicated your formidable sorcery.”
You must have questioned this too at some point, no?" Darius raises an eyebrow.
Missing a ".
She has kept close loyalty to the current Empress, as far as any can tell, helping rally the Iudia to her cause under a holy banner.
‘the Iudia’ → ‘Iudia’?
In Leta’s character profile, she’s called Ursina, when she should be Celeris.
Having taken on the name of 'Diana' in order to evade the eye of Julia, Victoria now wages a war at the side of
*if sided_consentia > sided_amalrik
the Senate
*elseif sided_amalrik > sided_consentia
the foederati
to achieve justice and the throne itself.
You can certainly fault her for sending an assassin to kill Julia. The girl’s hardly innocent; she’s just another contributor to the cycle of violence.
If I were a citizen in-universe, I’d curse the damn royals for starting another damn civil war, sending thousands to die for their petty squabbles.
Thanks for the typos you pointed out! They’ll be fixed in a large update I’ll be putting out soon.
By now, the provinces of Iudia have been under the grasp of both the Empire and the Church of Gaia for centuries, the one the last to be integrated being the least assimilated and most rebellious of the lot, Midyan. I’d say Seyet was the one the least patriarchal of them, which aided a smooth, bloodless transition into provincial status. Attika was likewise culturally significant to Iudia, but after its conquest, the local elites adapted to Iudian customs with ease, including gender norms.
Hevernica and Ezperia took longer, but the gradual integration of the old Hevernican clans into matrician branches aided the process to Gaianization and assimilation into gender norms. Julia is a pivotal example of this trend, as she bears the name of a distant branch of a prominent Kyro matrician family, the Vitalliae, but she is far more Hevernican in blood than Iudian. Nevertheless, she is still a devout woman who considers herself an exemplar of Iudian custom.
However, the encroachment and gradual mixing of some Gruthungian customs into Hevernica as of late means those tides may be shifting, depending on how events in the story proceed.
Ezperia is certainly more of an odd duck here, as the integration of the province was partially done by conquest, but also partially by treaty. This means that many of the mountainous clans of Ezperia have retained more cultural independence than elsewhere in the Empire, but nevertheless the structures of provincial government and legionary ranks mean that the daughters of the clans have gradually supplanted their brothers as they leverage access to imperial advancement to gain control of their families.
Midyan is by far the least matriarchal and least Gaian of them all, beyond coastal corridors and key forts. This has a great deal to do with the myriad of local cults which hold sway, who command paramilitary forces of a sort to protect their temples. The Siqari of Cadanu are a prime example. Another factor is proximity to Pharia, which is religiously tolerant and has a constant see-saw of territorial control over Midyan and the river basin which separates imperial control from Pharian.
Hadat is much more egalitarian now than it did in the past, the gradual influence of Iudian merchants, sailors, and local Gaian converts causing a fierce struggle within the client state for the future of its souls. The deposed ruler, Zayar, was installed by Julia due to his openness to Gaianism and its customs, and for instance designated his younger daughter as heir over his older son. It was a scandal, and played a role in the discontent that Iblin and Victoria exploited to overthrow him.
and people will love you i guess. correction people living in capital will love you because we are taxing other people to ground 