I dont believe the goddess to be an actual deity still hoping to sleep with her though
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Like the way most guys are waiting to sleep with ai models these days
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Most. Neuro-sama is NOT included
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Hello, there seems to be invalid indent for the Lance of Bodmil POV switch.
And thereās also this accidental space in the choice for Hevernican family name.
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Thank you for pointing this out, Iāll fix both.
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Hello @Azan
I read a strange thing and wanted to share it: Ayutthaya Kingdom It was also referred to as Iudea in a painting requested by the Dutch East India Company.
Looks like of topic but Iudian Empire. Here is the resource:
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Just finished my first run. It was with "cheats onā, so to speak. Here were the stats I got at the end -
Victory Clock (Battle for the Spire): 2 (Success at <= 0)
Victory Clock (Battle for Kyro): -6 (Success at <= 0)
Arcanii Battle Strength: 83
Kyro Status: 3 (0 = Pyrrhic Victory; 1-2 = Incomplete Victory; 3 = Complete Victory)
On to the review (which will have SPOILERS, and idk how to do spoiler text so if any potential readers are here PLEASE GO AND CHECK OUT THE DEMO FIRST!)
I really enjoyed my time with this one, and I could really tell how much effort went into it too. There was a lot of interesting politicking that really hammered home that you canāt please everyone. And the depictions of the military movements were also surprisingly detailed. The Empress was an interesting character for her ruthless inflexibility, and so was her daughter in contrast, as a character almost completely malleable by the playerās choices.
I was really impressed with the work put into Augusta. There was this part which mentioned how she had grown into a benevolent and moralistic ruler, but with the same stubborn streak as her mother, which was kind of heartwarming. Itās crazy to think that someone elseās Augusta might be a tiny tyrant instead!
I also liked all the āmagicā stuff, playing as a sorceress Prefect. It starts out just feeling like some grounded alchemy and then you end up with out-there things like the Goddess and the Lance of Bodmil. Iād love to have the option to lean more into this pseudo-arcane stuff for my own character if the opportunity allows. For now the trusty Pyrblade will suffice!
I also enjoyed the romance with the Empress Julia as a female Prefect. Itās what we like to informally call ātoxic yuriā, and itās some pretty solid toxic yuri. I donāt know if the ASOIAF series was an inspiration point but it kind of reminded me of a genderbent and romantic version of Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark (Victoria with the Lance of Bodmil at the end also reminded me of Daenerys getting her dragons!). I was positively shocked when I actually managed to convince Julia not to wage war on the Gruthungians, and it quickly turned into one of the most cathartic moments in the story, after all the times my pleas for her to use a gentler hand fell upon deaf ears.
I liked the different approaches you could take and am also thankful for the easy difficulty option because sometimes I just want to feel like a badass! But it was nice how despite having all the stat options available to me, the story still never felt like it was sunshine and roses. I was tense the entire time, worried about whether I picked my loyalties wisely or not, and if the people and things I forsook for the greater good were truly expendable or not.
All in all, Shattered Eagle was a wonderful experience and I canāt wait for more. It did so many things right that I honestly only have two real complaints, and one of them is extremely minor. Iāll share them anyway, but I totally understand if the author sees them not as flaws, but important aspects of the story.
- The main one - I thought the flashback scenes might need a little more options. This is tricky because you canāt exactly change what happened in the history of the world, only your reactions to it. But there were a couple moments which I felt were hard to roleplay. The biggest one was the burning of Cadanu, where the Prefect can very strongly beg the Empress to not do it, but she shrugs off her pleas quite casually. This scene kind of made me wonder how the two of them are still lovers a decade later, considering this is no small argument. Maybe there should be a way to convince her to be a little more merciful here, if the Prefect is a highly empathetic person? Or if not, maybe Juliaās response could be made a little more persuasive/manipulative, a bit like it was when she tries to persuade the Prefect to kill Tristitia?
- The minor one - I wasnāt a huge fan of Augusta changing her title from Empress to First Citizen for a couple reasons. For one, the word āEmpressā carries so much thematic weight in the story, and āFirst Citizenā just doesnāt have the same feel to it. I get the message the Senate wants to send with it, but I think it could serve as just a ātechnically correct titleā while the people still stick to the age-old title of Empress. Secondly it also felt that the title was used replaceably with Empress in some sentences, which made them feel a little clunky. Like the line where Augusta goes āI want to be a First Citizen who does good, I want to be a First Citizen who listens to her people, I want to be a First Citizen whoā¦ā etc. It was also strange how everyone from the nobles to the guardsmen switched from using the term Empress to First Citizen so effortlessly a minute after the proclamation.
Anyway, these were the only things that really stood out to me in this gigantic storyline, everything else ranged from good to fantastic. Iām truly excited for what comes next, and I hope that itās been as fun for you to write as it has been for me to read.
Please keep up the great work!
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Thank you, I appreciate it!
That will be an option for a character with higher Scholarship in the coming chapters.
Yep, the political themes of ASOIAF were certainly an inspiration for parts of the IF.
It seems reasonable enough for Julia to be a bit softer in her tone in this scene towards a romanced Prefect, so Iāll put that on my docket.
If there are places where it seems awkward, Iāll try and correct that. Thank you for the feedback!
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Progress Update: Hi all, August was unfortunately a busier month for me, with a lot of moving parts to wrangle, but Iāve been chipping away at Shattered Eagle all the while. This Labor Day weekend though, Iāve been making strides of progress into Chapter VII, and Iām hopeful for my progress to come!
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Definitely agree with you that the find-and-replace nature of the title seemed a bit awkward at places where it didnāt have the same ring. That said, I will note that First Citizen is actually the age-old title in this universe and empress is the newfangled novelty title.
This message brought to you by the Senate and People of Kyro. Praise the republic.
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You could always use the Latin version of the term.
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True. Principissa is the neo-Latin equivalent of a female Princeps ā by analogy to the Greek Basileus ā> Basilissa for Queen/empress.
The challenge of course is that Principissa doesnāt immediately provide the same connotations to the reader as First Citizen, but itās an option! I like both in different contexts.
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You could introduce the term like āPrincipissa, the First Citizenā so that ppl know what is meant. Iām somewhat fond of it ngl.
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Iāll give that some thought: while Principissa would be a smoother fit for the augtitle variable, it might not as readily convey the same connotations to the reader as First Citizen.
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Augusta and Elya trade mentors
Ever notice that Augusta and Elya are really similar
- Theyāre both teenagers who inherit the throne during a civil war
- They both lived the pampered life of a royal until they inherited the throne
- They both wear their hair in a braid
- They both rely on the MC for guidance
- They inherited the throne when their parent, the previous monarch, got assassinated
- Their parent was an asshole
- The MC influences their personality, from cold and cruel to warm and kind
- They both have a stat that measures how strong they are which the MC influences
- The MC can scheme to take their throne
- The MC can kill their other parent, the Consort
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11.The MC can potentially kill them to entrench their own position on the throne (TBD).
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I figure I ought to provide an update on this: I cut a route from the game while I was working on Chapter VII, the āSuspicious Puppetā route where Augusta figures out the Prefect is manipulating them and plays along to keep herself safe. While it was an interesting route to write, I realized that I needed to slim down the Augusta variables in order to make her scenes not balloon too far into a mess of conditional statements. Instead, in Chapter V, Augusta will set her Puppet points to zero if sheās of high enough Strength and will become a Paragon or Tyrant instead.
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''How dare you say that about Julia." - the people simping for her
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That aināt exactly mutually exclusive
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That makes sense. Realistically, Augusta is secure enough to not truly have to play along if she doesnāt want to. We donāt have the personal loyalty of the major power brokers (with possibly the exception of one) or the popular legitimacy to get away with killing her. Thereās no reason for her to hide her intentions from us. If she wants to countermand our orders, she can simply say so.
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