I did edit the save file, but only the basic things such as resources, relationship values, ect.
Iâve fixed it! For some reason the âmismatchâ value was empty, so i put it to 0, Iâm sorry for bothering you with this, thank you so much!
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Oh, that. Yes â thatâs what I was referring to with Consentia and pulling the ladder up. Itâs quite interesting that sheâs very invested in upholding this system.
Itâs a different situation as Azan notes below. I think focusing overmuch on the wealth and privilege misses the point: itâs a sharp cultural shift and that makes the families as alien to each other as Juliaâs family is.
Heh. Well, the Aemilii are an interesting example because they interbred with the imperial family in the early Julio-Claudian period. Much of the remaining old patriciate did so (in Augustusâs attempts to shore up the family) and were caught up (along with those who hadnât married into the family) in the purges of Sejanus, Gaius, and Nero. Thereâs a reason there was precious little if any of the old patriciate surviving into the Flavian period. Theyâd essentially become far too attached as appendages of the imperial family and too dangerous as claimants. If you look at the composition of the Senate by the time of the Antonines, there are very few members of even the old nobilitas left (that is, families descended from those who had an elected, republican-era consul). By late antiquity we can only identify a single family of the entire nobilitas left: the Acilii Glabriones. The âold nobilityâ of late antiquity was of Severan vintage as best, including the great and the good Anicii.
Iudiaâs quite a bit different than the Julio-Claudian principate. Weâre somewhere in between that period and the Antonines, which is why I pointed to Vespasian as a good example. While the persistence of the matriciate exceeds that of the Roman patriciate, the old families of republican stock seem to have a cleavage with the autocratic family of the Galeriae. Perhaps they intermarry â we just donât know that lore â but theyâre different. We do not see them with similar class interests, we do not see them trying to uphold each other. This is not the nobility of Versailles upholding the Bourbons.
Focusing only on wealth is a bit misleading. And I daresay, the senatorial elite might call it vulgar. 
I donât see the barracks emperors as a spectrum. As a typology itâs a very specific phenomenon and it encapsulates the alienation of the senatorial class from the imperial governing apparatus. Gallienus is the last senatorial emperor we see until perhaps Tacitus, or even the 5th century emperors. Juliaâs still a member of the matrician class, even though sheâs sidelined and has the whiff of the provinces about her.
Sounds Flavian still. Domitian, anyone?
I mean, you know how much I love the mirror with Leta. Iâm going at that with Augusta rather than Julia, but I certainly get it. I am very much interested in that battle between duty and love. I guess for me the duty won out longer until Augusta came along.
I mean, my prefect is serving her loyally up and until that one opportunity arises. I think of it more as a spur of the moment thing, perhaps not even fully thought through. Heâs not plotting against her or anything. So thatâs not as dissimilar to your prefectâs approach I think.
Alas I am unsure if we have chocolate in this universe. Is it something native to the Empire? Do we have to go to this worldâs version of the new world? questions, questionsâŚ
Exactly! Of course, our prefect does not know this until we have that Leta conversation. And for some of us cough we havenât quite earned it yet, but Iâm hoping to get it!
Sounds like sheâs more interested in a good toasted pop tart than a Snickers.
OOOO. I need to try this then. Perhaps I can pull it off⌠and just wait for the Consentia scenes. Iâll miss the music playing, but at least I can get that at Augustaâs birthday partyâŚ. (at least I hope, I donât know if thatâs available if I donât ally Consentia, which I need to make sure I donât do in order to get the compromise).
Very good. Obviously Iâm too nice to do blackmail but it is very much true that it tends to make people kind of hate you and makes them aim for revenge which is⌠not as ideal as having them onside. This is especially the case when the blackmail involves the betrayal of very intimate trust.
Exactly my thoughts. Despite the privilege of the senatorial class, inheriting what they see as a public office is pure anathema. As Tacitus put it, the Empire has become the personal property of a single family. Ick! Itâs something that I see as striking at the basic conception of the senatorial class and their entire sense of identity. It reduces them to courtiers and bureaucrats. There is no sense of identity between them and a family that choses to subjugate them. Even if they have plush accommodations and a wealthy lifestyle, itâs that difference between being a citizen and a subject that really strikes at their core as members of an urban civic elite.
There is a reason that when you meet Consentia at her house, despite all the wealth and trappings of luxury they have, they donât seem super into standing on ceremony. Of course, they also have blinders of privilege too: they expect to be served and deferred to.
I mean, this is true! This happens a lot. Child characters are risky exactly because of that dichtomy. I wrote my own work starring an imperial heir some years ago, and I ended up getting BOTH the âsheâs very annoyingâ and the âshe sounds very grown up for her age.â Itâs quite the achievement to avoid either outcome tbh. Thereâs a reason we all love Augusta. You should feel very proud.
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I must say that Iâve played most of WIPs ever made and the published interactive fiction but this one⌠it was really emotional! I have not enjoyed a book so much in a very long time and it made me question what i know of loveâŚ!
As the book slowly progressed, it brought me to tears, itâs a really unique book which reminds me of roman times a lot.
Thank you for making this, i can see that you care about creating a beautiful story.
I have genuinely enjoyed it, it has touched my soul, Iâm really looking forward to the full release and I pray that youâll continue this sagaa through more books
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I just want to mention I find it very funny that Leta and Iblin spent years cultivating relationships with Iudian factions and institutions to build the groundwork for a rebellion, and my Prefect responds by casually couping Pharia and installing an ally as the King of Kings. Pretty drastic move there. I do hope thereâs some mention of it in the next interlude. Leta will be like "he did what?â
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I find equally funny the fact that Darius usurps his father and is going on a fratricide spree, causing his very own civil war with the suffering and death that entails, all because he wants that sweet, sweet knowledge. The King of Geeks, indeed. Thatâs my boy.
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Iâd say itâs more than the whiff of the provinces, Juliaâs branch is commented on in the text as descending more from the old Hevernican elite pre-Iudia than from the Iudian family whose nomen her family bears. In fact, her family were very much living on the frontier of Iudia, which is what she comments on passing by in Chapter V. Their looking down upon Julia is then more of a provincial vs metropole elite phenomenon.
There might be some distant islands which rare and valued beans are brought from, who can be turned into quite the delectably frothy drink.
You still get the cithara scene, it just takes place in Chapter VII instead of Chapter VI.
Will fix!
Thank you! Shattered Eagle, however, is a standalone work. It will only be one book and a self-contained story.
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I was trying to be polite! Itâs ill-bred to be blunt about such things. But yes, sheâs a member of the provincial elite â a close equivalent of the Gallic nobility that irked the Italo-Roman senators when they joined. The distinction for me is that sheâs still the member of an elite class, which is something that the barracks emperors emphatically were [i]not[/i]. Julia, despite her upbringing and her sensibilities, knows how to play the game in a way that the barracks emperors simply didnât.
Very good. Letâs try to procure Julia a snickers before itâs too late. Oh, itâs too late. Darn. I wonder if a computer program would enjoy chocolateâŚ
Oh, good! I can work towards that then.
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My first attempt at a Darius-allied foederati run, with reluctant rivals for both Consentia and Ceto.
I will note that this is not optimized for Empire stats like my runs usually are. I could pump up these stats a bit by destroying the fertilizer and integrating Hadat as a province. I am trying to be as conciliatory as possible, though.
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Oof, those stats are a mixed bag.
Great work on gaining the loyalty of the Legions and in keeping the Empire in fairly good shape, but I wouldnât count on your Foederati allies having your back for much longer (I could easily see them rebelling against you before you even have a chance at enacting any sort of peace).
I am curious about some of the choices you must have made, because seeing your Public Favour that low is pretty concerning too; I know from my own experience that itâs definitely possible to still have decent (or even good/great) numbers with the public while siding with the Foederati (and even with making certain choices that they donât like).
Seeing stats like that is one of the main reasons why I never go for any sort of compromise, because itâs fairly easy to alienate your own allies in trying to appease the rival faction; Iâm sure it is possible to balance it, but anyone trying it is probably going to have pick pretty specific choices with little margin for error.
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Those Empire stats are already quite optimized, their sum is almost the same as my Darius-allied Senate&People run without compromise (72 stability 39 resources 85 power) where I also chose to keep the fertilizer. The Foederati route is nice for Empire stats because the second economics choice when you meet Antonius is a free +5 power, which Consentia and Ceto donât have an equivalent to unfortunately.
Itâs always funny when the faction youâre fighting a war against ends up liking you more than your allies because you compromised too much lol, curious to see if that means your hand is weaker at the peace summit because Victoria knows you are on thin ice with your allies. Your public favor is low, but I assume thatâs because youâre a Hadati male prefect romancing Julia and not neglecting his daughter.
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Yeah, when you refuse the Euric betrothal, thatâs an instant -15 favor, along with additional penalties for not having Augusta wear barbarian regalia at her coronation and allowing the loyalist rump Senate to enter session. Couple that with penalties for doing anything favorable to the Senate even before the civil war and Darius sucking up every opportunity to gain free favor for like six chapters, and you end up like this. Realistically, for a Treasury Prefect thatâs not particularly keen on cultural fusion, the Senate is the natural choice of ally, and my earlier run with them, albeit slightly worse for the Empire, puts me in a more stable position than this one, I agree.
Since we, however, donât yet have any indications as to the possibility of a loyal faction switching sides, Iâll risk it for now and adjust if necessary. After all, Victoria has already made promises to the Senate and People that are in direct contradiction to what the foederati want. It is impossible to please both sides at once, and so from that standpoint the foederati stand little to gain by defecting. Any world where they do (unless we are decisively defeated in battle) would immediately result in the Senate flipping to Augusta, which, while funny, is probably not something Victoria wants.
Public favor has always been my Achilles heel. Iâm not really sure how everyone on a foederati run manages to get it any higher. I play as a man romancing Julia, and Iâm instantly under 20 favor. I even give the Senate the (reduced) grain rations from Seyet, move court to the Forum, and get the max Kyro status, but it just doesnât budge for very long.
Would you believe me if I said that between chapters 5 and 6, when I saved everyone from Hadati pikes, my public favor was at five?
Well thatâs my modus operandi. That being said, this does put me in the perfect position to agree to Letaâs betrothal offer if I must, and secure peace, hopefully eliminating the war and being reliant on one faction for power. I have a very large pool of compromise points to negotiate with. I want to see how this very precariously balanced run manages a war first, but as Iâve stated upthread, these empire penalties are getting a little scary and I may need a cessation of hostilities if I truly am to restore the Empire. It remains to be seen.
I am interested in seeing the actual terms of a peace deal and what it would require. I really donât want to give Iblin an inch of Hadati soil. And youâre mostly right about the character, except Iâm not Hadati.
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In my female sorcerer path, I didnât accepted ceto deal, supported Watch, gave rations to legion ,helped all stops at kyro battle and going for fertilizer + accepting matricians and rhetoricing the Herald. I reached 43 public, 94 legion and 54 barbarians, 19 senate. I married Julia and puppeteering Agusta and true Romance Darius. Will usurp throne probably and marry my price. Will talk Otha to join me. I think I managed well for now. Ah and I went for the past wreath and purple toga and Julia sword coronation in Castra.
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Was/is Shattered eagle your first attempt at writing a choice story or do you have other ideas and half finished drafts of other games before you published this one?
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I had written a prologue and chapter one of another story before scrapping it. The concept wasnât as unique or interesting as Shattered Eagleâs and I mostly used it as a testbed for learning ChoiceScript. I donât have plans to revisit it in the future.
I havenât worked on anything else choicescript related since I started Shattered Eagle. I have a couple docs with notes and ideas for future projects, but none of those are particularly concrete. Until I send Shattered Eagle off to be published, I wonât be working on another project. I donât want to put the cart before the horse.
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Wait how do you get the Euric betrothal option?
If youâre allied to Antonius, it should be offered near the end of Chapter VII, when you attend the party with the foederati.
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Huh, Athaling. I hadnât realized that was Euricâs name. Quite a royal Saxon-esque name.
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