Oh I guess I misread the Roman numeral then but yeah he’s apparently a wight or something now
Edit: literally a page later he became the only man in Imperial history to be assassinated twice lmfao
Actually I think I got sent back in time because the chapter started with something I don’t remember (the war council with a newly reinvigorated Empress) and now I just read something I do remember (meeting with the old prefect to get rid of the Imperial heirs)
I also remember Titus getting poisoned but now she just tossed him off a balcony?
That moment when we get the chance to kill her really allows us to face the conflict between duty and love that I have going on in my playthroughs. I kept saying (in-game and on the forum) of the need to prioritize the Empire over Julia, but when the moment came to actually do it I couldn’t.
She trusts the lover Prefect so much that she entrusts to them Augusta, so basically the Empire, and then she breaks Church custom (for male Prefects anyway) by having the Prefect in the Axis Mundi and talking with you-know-who/what. Holy Sweet Gaia that is so sweet that it’s giving me diabetes.
I doubt it could’ve gone any other way. We’ve been talking about the whole Arthur C Clarke “advanced technology is magic” thing for a while now. It was almost inevitable that there would be no true Goddess with the appropriate behaviour because said Goddess was never meant to be one in the first place, as you said.
Ancient civilisation plot points should show that there are no true higher beings or phenomena, and so having the Goddess be someone/something that you could have a beer with fits rather well. She could go with less eyes, though. That is overkill.
How could you? The moment when Julia discusses her past with you is seared in my memory. Where she gets vulnerable and hugs you back. The moment when she calls you 'the crowning jewel of her Empire" and cups your face. The moment when if you beg her enough, she defies what she thinks to be near certainty of failure shown by the Goddess, risking her own death, to give you the chance to prove your hunch and make peace. When she calls you ‘my love’ in the Axis Mundi, inhibitions fading as she realizes she has nothing left to lose.
And just when I was starting to feel that she might be worse than Scilla, she allows you to change her mind. She displays the slightest hint, if not of altruism, of something more tolerant than blind hatred and paranoia. It’s so ironic that the harshest RO, guilty of the most slaughter, has so far the sweetest romance of all.
That’s true, but I was taking that to mean there was no ‘being’ behind the Goddess at all, that the Church just was using a possibility engine or computer system to run outcomes through, take the most statistically likely one or hedge their bets if the outcome was close, and use that to build Iudia’s Empire and their own illusion of divine revelation. I did not think we would be seeing some sort of sentient(?) AI.
The fact that my main run, as the Empress’ lover and father to Augusta, has always been offered the Antonius and Darius romances while never receiving options for Consentia or Ceto makes me think this is probably something related to what side you end up choosing in Chapter 1.
How do you romance ceto,ive replayed the game many times but ive never found the option to begin her romance, are their any specific options i need to pick inorder to start her route
Man, @Aeternitas, you sure know how to make me regret even thinking about making that choice.
Honestly that was a 33/33/33 for me. Either it was just some library/wealth of knowledge they obtained and made use of it, or it was probability engine, or a straight up AI. When our dear author said in a post that the Church got the answers very quickly for their doctrinal issues, there remained the engine or the AI.
Now the question is what the AI is, or rather, what it wants or if it can want. If it’s independent or is dependent upon input remains to be seen. A whole can of worms has been opened by this revelation. We will have time to discuss possibilites in the months to come.
Oh, absolutely! This is probably sacrilegious, but I haven’t even played through the scene where I tell Augusta about her parentage yet. My main run is too dutiful and noble to dare. I also need to continue the side run where I play ‘Indius Ionianus’ with Darius, and then look at all the code and min-max so I can dream of having a stat page with as many big numbers as @maroder123.
I will be replaying this chapter for a long while, and it certainly gives me a lot to think about. I’m just disappointed in Leta! I thought she would be the nice sage who sees past all the power games, but she tried to marry off Augusta, seize the Empire through ‘Diana’, and somehow ran off with the bulk of the Imperial Navy.
Literally me when I read that whole part.
I will reserve my judgement of her until we see more her. The fact that she helped Julia take the throne in the first place, only to do this now makes me think we have yet to understand her motives for this (extremely) dissapointing turn of events. I doubt she will be convincing enough for us Julia&Augusta stans, but I have no doubt her reasoning will at the very least make sense, from a certain point of view.
If I’m being honest, my hunch is that she probably found out that we went back on our word to her about not killing her more vulnerable family members. I suppose if we chose to spare Tristitia, both her and Victoria are now alive, so we really didn’t kill anyone, but we did try to. There will probably be another monologue from her about how power corrupts and what it means to have loyalty to the Empire.
What I find interesting is that if the foederati rebel, they work with Iblin and Hadat, while the Senate works with Victoria and Leta. There’s nothing to suggest so far that the two relatives by marriage are working together, or even aware of each others’ mutual desire to kill us and take Iudia.
Also, I think each domestic faction will be sorely disappointed when Victoria or Iblin don’t give them respect and Iudian land or senatorial supremacy, respectively. There are different interests at play here, and a conciliatory prefect will probably have a chance to reconcile with the rebels. A Paragon Augusta will probably help here.
Now THIS is the Shattered Eagle: Fall of an Empire.
Paralysed leadership. An incoming massive barbarian invasion. Conspiracies topped by other conspiracies. Conspiracies that don’t even know others exist and they have the same targets. Complaining about the fall of the empire while you pour gasoline on the fire. Internal elements working with outside forces to take over. Outside forces that use internal elements to take over. Assassin’s Creed levels of assasination (there is literally an order of assasins).
If we actually win in this absolute shitshow we must get an achievement called “Turning the impossible into possible”.
I keep thinking about what the author has said, in that it will be quite difficult to actually strengthen or reform the Empire by the end of the story. I’m certainly having quite a hard time keeping the Empire stats level with the game’s starting values, let alone increasing them!
On the other hand, times of crises facilitate changes that times of peace would render at least unlikely. Having the apocalyptic Witch-King knock at our Shattering Empire with his massive army and quirky magic should allow us to push through reforms, perhaps of a more emergency nature. Or, if we defeat him, to give us the necessary prestige and power (aka auctoritas) to enact changes afterwards.
There’s probably a way to get all 3 factions over 50% favor while still maximizing Empire stats, including the reduced grain levy, but I haven’t min-maxed it enough.
Oh feel free to send them through whatever means is most convenient!
Fixed!
Okay, that shouldn’t happen? As far as looking at my code, at least, might be a browser or DashingDon issue, perhaps? If the problem occurs again, screenshot it all for me.
I’m glad her route has left such an impression! It’s been a careful balance crafting a nuanced character such as hers, she certainly doesn’t leave anyone indifferent!
I’ve already started chipping away at Chapter VI and I’ve been having a lot of fun writing that character. Suffice to say, the jarring tone, the genre shift, the anachronism, is all very much intentional. You’ll be getting more exposure to this character in the next chapter to come.
I’m not going to delve deeply enough into this to spoil y’all before everything becomes apparent, but to clarify what will be an important point, Leta is specifically only mentioned in those scenes as being the fake grandparent of Victoria, whom she did introduce to court, but not as Victoria and her ally’s chief co-conspirator. That would go on both routes to her father, Iblin.
More or less, yeah! This is “Fall of an Empire,” after all! Though I will say reform might be easier to get started than strengthening, if only because your political rivals just decided to flip the table.
I’m so shocked that no one ever brought up again the order of assassins I introduced in the first chapter. Turns out, they would come back…
I teased that in the interlude if you managed faction balancing for a reason, I’ll say.
It should be straightforward, if there are problems let me know:
Meet with the Senate in Chapter I
Side with Ceto on the grain dole in Chapter I
Invite her to the Council in Chapter II
Say the code phrase to her thugs in Chapter II (or just accept being taken away)
Stick around afterwards when Ceto asks you to stay.
Essentially just side with Ceto throughout Chapters I and II and you should then have her opened up as both a potential ally over the Consul and a romantic interest (which can be further explored in Chapter IV, if you so choose).
I have made the now clear mistake of drawing parallels with the Siqari’s clear inspiration from the historical Sicarii. I was most likely thinking “Huh, neat reference” and just assumed they would’ve committed mass suicide in Cadanu just like the Sicarii at the Siege of Masada. But, surprise surprise, they still play a significant role in the story. Oops.
Well, I suppose they wouldn’t be a good assassin order if we would’ve found them out too easily. Yes, that’s it. It’s not because I forgot about them, no way. They were just too good at their job.
