Add “I can fix her (by proxy)” to the list of “tropes which are going to make Augustoria a fan favourite pairing”.
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Sure, but that’s kinda the point? All of this is because Julia failed to kill the rightful successors when she usurped the throne. Even when all that shady stuff was not known at the time, Aite still had a full army of loyalists backing her dynasty. Those loyalists don’t just disappear into the ether. Julia was hardly a benevolent ruler, and the city’s full of gossip that her husband (who legitimized her claim) may not even have fathered her heir.
Victoria taking down her dynasty would feel like justice, especially if it’s the Senate and People of Iudia supporting her rebellion. I mean, shoot, Ceto’s built this whole underground empire around convincing people that she’ll make things better for the little guy! That kind of backing would definitely make the average Iudian look at Victoria in a more positive light.
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I just imagined a Prefect puppeting Augusta to take control of the empire teaching his nephew how he did it so he can then manipulate Augusta… as well as puppet their future daughter, to which Laurentius then chooses a husband to teach him how to manipulate her and puppet their daughter, the entire conspiracy being like a misoginistic Bene Gesserite.
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Don’t forget choosing his own nephew as his daughter’s husband
Why not just do it yourself? Gender-flipped Cixi hours.
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The sentence should be “months earlier is all evidence”. I’m also not quite sure why the word “the” is italicized instead of palace, which would seem to make more sense unless I’ve misunderstood the sentence.
The word should be spelled disturbance.
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Now all that remains to do are some “Lofi Beats to Burn Down Cadanu To”.
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Wow. Not gonna lie, i sadly avoided this title till now. Because when i first clicked on it waaaaay back when. I thought the professions seemed a tad eeeeeh.
What a mistake that was, finally went through it on multiple job routes, and it was a blast. The ONLY thing that made me sad about that was Spymaster was only a SPY master. The inner nerd in me is oh so woefully crushed that i cant be an assassin for the crown. 
Despite that oh so cruely crushed dream ((in case some get the wrong idea, im just being overly dramatic)) I feel like the Spymaster has one of the best idk depth(?) To its roll. You get the chance to actually talk to your spies and issue an order which is pretty cool.
Other than that, i found the Warmaster’s unique choice to train the little empress ((Co-empress spunds meh. So i must dote on her)). And i think the sorcery one? But that was just dialog and not a choice.
ANYWAY, was pleasantly suprised by just how great of a W.I.P this is.
Choosing to upgrade subterfuge mentions ordering assassinations so I just assumed that Collector Prefect did assassinations in the past and just doesn’t do it now because they’re at a high enough position that they don’t need to do it anymore
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Thanks for the answer, but I meant to ask about society as a whole, not just the top. Big noble clans can be integrated into matrican families, and a limited number of women can certainly gain power through working for the state, but how do things look for the common folk, the majority? What pressures exist to actually challenge the power of men on a wide scale? The preaching of the Church is just not enough; to substantially change the dynamic, the Empire would need to have stifling common laws, something like ‘only women can own and inherit land’, ‘only women can own businesses’. Even then, people would flout such laws. It would take multiple generations for such a fundamental change to take genuine root.
You know, a timeline of Iudian expansion would give some much needed context here.
Also, another question: Will anything be done to the Imperial Favor stat, now that Julia’s out of the picture? Even if she returns, it doesn’t seem right to leave her there next to the power players.
Oh, for sure. The Empire has had the entirety of the main provinces under its control for two hundred and fifty years, and much longer for most of the western half of the Empire. There has been a great deal of time for Iudian law and customs to filter down into the masses. Land ownership is restricted, as is inheritance, though as you go down the ranks, this grows much more muddled. The matriarchy is strongest at the upper crust of society, the matrician class, and there exists a more nuanced state of affairs at the lower rungs of plebeian and non-citizen society. As I have said before:
There are certainly those who flout laws restricting men’s rights and status in society, particularly in the reaches of Ezperia and Midyan. It’s not a universal state of affairs, but in Iudia proper it might as well be close to it. The Prefect’s family adhered to the matriarchal customs regardless of background as they’ve been in the metropole (if provincial origin) for centuries.
Recall also that to most everyone in the Empire, women are also the only ones capable of using magic, and the sorceresses do spread themselves across the Empire in the garrisons and legionary deployments (during times of war). In addition to the widespread adherence to the Church of Gaia over the better part of six centuries, the power of sorceresses has been a potent way for the Church to assert the superiority of the matriarchy.
Already is the case at the end of Chapter VI.
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Hey, long time fan here, guess I’ve finally decided to break my hermitage.
My first set of questions is mostly motivated by selfish motivations (my master’s thesis is on the role of slaves in society during the Roman occupation of North Africa): is the status of slaves and freedmen in Iudian society similar to that in Roman society? If so, it would be neat to see them making appearances in the imperial bureaucratic machine, or perhaps even a surge in freedwomen taking up the name Augusta Hevernica with a paragon Augusta at the throne.
The second set is more of a bunch of musings in regards to the status of Hadat: from my reading of its section in the stats page, it’s inspired by Libo-Punic culture with the political situation of the Kingdom of Mauritania. My first question here is in regards to its military status. North Africa had the Legio III Augusta, elements of the Legio VI Ferrata and auxiliary units, totalling to a number between 15,000-20,000 stretched across the entire region pulling duties which ranged from defending the limes to tariff collections. I might also note that Roman rule over the non-urbanized, inner parts of the region grew increasingly shaky during the 4-5th century with a series of insurrections by the native populace called the rural revolts. Obviously I don’t expect Hadat to be a 1:1 copy of the African provinces, but I do wonder how Iblin potentially taking away a large portion of the kingdom’s military presence will affect it, given that anti-Iudian sentiments have been hinted at.
The second is whether Hadat also serves as a grain basket for Iudia like North Africa did, and whether an expedition to reclaim it would eventually be necessary if reconciliation is impossible.
Finally I’d like to say how refreshing it is to see the different factions put their bickering on hold and rally when large threats like Uzin Khan rear their heads. It makes the characters feel a lot more human for me, if that makes any sense.
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Oh so, Hadat is the misogynistic kingdom?
Bondsmen have been referenced as fulfilling a variety of menial office roles in the palatial district, but they’ll play a somewhat larger role if you pursue the Ceto route, as her faction has a good deal of freedwomen and freedmen in its ranks.
That’s about true, I’d say I had a mix of inspirations for Hadat (whose name I derived from the punic name of Carthage) including Punic and Numidian/Berber naming conventions and so forth.
As for the military situation of Hadat, the Kingdom’s only independent standing armed forces are the marines, attached to its vast merchant marine fleet and the royal cavalry, which are the elite and widely feared horsemen which form the bulk of the Kingdom’s strength.
However, Hadatis also serve as auxiliaries in the legions, primarily as skirmishers and light horse, all across the Empire. There are garrisons in Hadat itself, but they’re widely supported by Hadati auxiliaries and it is safe to say many of the regular legionaries have been forced to flee or surrender during Iblin and Victoria’s lightning takeover of the kingdom.
Hadat is a key supplier of grain, yes. Which provides all the more impetus for the Augustan faction to secure a swift victory in the civil war.
As for anti-Iudian sentiments and the possibility of needing to send an expedition to reclaim Hadat, there will be an important decision regarding that in the next chapter. Not all Hadati resent Iudia, as converts to the Church of Gaia have grown over the centuries.
I don’t think I would say that; while it might have once been true, before Iudian suzerainty, that Hadat favored men over women, the customs of the kingdom have shifted upon a more even basis by the present year.
It’s a tenuous state of affairs, as followers of the old pantheon favor men over women, and followers of Gaia vice versa, but for example: Ibin’s predecessor was his mother, the first-born child. This is why the former King (or Meliq in Hadati parlance) Zayar’s preferring his daughter over his elder son was a scandal, as he was adhering to Iudian inheritance law, not Hadati.
It’s a nice coincidence to talk about this now as I’ve been writing the Victoria interlude I mentioned I would, which has grown large enough to require a header for it. I hope it will prove interesting for the readers despite the length, as it will both shine a light further on Victoria and Iblin’s characters beyond their status as antagonists, but also reveal new pieces of Hadati and Old World lore. It seems it will serve as an intermission of sorts between the two halves of the book.
I’m not certain I would characterize them as wholly ‘stock standard’ patriarchal. Pharia is perhaps the best characterized as that, but pre-imperial societies such as Seyet were fairly egalitarian for example, and even Gruthungians, who extoll masculinity, have a far more fluid perception of gender than Iudians do.
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Every society outside of Iudia is stock standard patriarchy, why single out Hadat?
Wait, so is adoption established as something that royalty can do then (and have done in the past)?
I’m just asking because Victoria being a potential betrothal option doesn’t really make sense to me otherwise (because it would be a succession crisis waiting to happen, no?)? I thought a large part of the reigning ruler’s legitimacy comes from their blood (which is why Augusta potentially being a bastard would be such a scandal if discovered)?
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It’s something that was done in the early days of the Empire, in the days of the First Citizens, and indeed adoption is still a perfectly recognized mechanism in matrician society (as much as certain families value their ancient bloodlines), but it’s long since fallen by the wayside of imperial succession. The Galeriae in their 112 year long rule have helped instill dynastic expectations of “the purple,” to the deep chagrin of the Senate who resent the idea of being ruled by a monarchy.
It would certainly be a bit of a scandal if, indeed, Augusta and Victoria were to marry (there have only been a few Church approved marriages between women) and if they were to adopt, that would work to end the idea that succession ought to be bloodright, which is how Julia leveraged her marriage to Titus and the subsequent heiress of Augusta to gain power.
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Augustoria, is a match made in hell, and I am all here for it 
. Ugh, the angst is real 
.
Ah, I see.
Honestly though, of the four potential betrothal options, Victoria is still definitely the one that I’d be least-inclined to go for. Just seems like way too volatile an option for a multitude of reasons, even though I could imagine my empathetic/idealistic MC seeing the merits of moving away from bloodright succession (although probably far more gradually down the line rather than in the confines of the timeline of this story). A disaster waiting to happen imo (I’m kinda surprised that it’s seemingly so popular on here).
Also, as someone who usually plays the game where Augusta is my daughter (or sees her as one if not her bio-parent), the thought of someone like Victoria being even near her, let alone married to her, gives me serious anxiety (Victoria is probably the last person I’d want to see my daughter married to, regardless of any potential political implications). Absolutely no chance in hell my papa wolf MC will be letting that happen if he has something to say about it lol.
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