#JusticeForTitus
To be fair, there’s not much you can do as an immoral, opportunist prefect compared to a morally upright one. Taking care of Julia and Augusta, which is a major theme in the game, would always lean more on the caring, good natured prefect. Even if you choose your motivation at the start to be self-serving, the very act of caring will be more closely associated with a kind prefect. Half the job as a prefect is a caregiver and teacher of sort - teaching Augusta what to do, and assisting an ailing Empress.
From what I gathered Julia didn’t order him away, he himself left for some reason(probably dealing with his side of the family or some diplomacy Julia couldn’t be bothered with). Cause from their reaction, no one knew he was back and immediately claimed that he wasn’t leaving again, which means that while Julia has the power to dismiss him (since she’s the Matriarch) she can’t outright throw him out for the sake of appearance.
@Jeb2020 It’s to be expected, she never liked much less loved Titus. He was just a means to get the throne and now he’s just a nuisance.
@cascat07 I don’t think anyone would think of Julia as a Regent, especially not for Titus. The only value Titus has is his relation to the previous Empress, beyond that he’s worthless in the eyes of the court. He’s not part of any meeting, isn’t warrior and is rarely around meaning no one really of him as a possible ruler.
@Cornelliau I disagree, I haven’t felt limited by playing the power hungry prefect, it’s personally the best way to play when romancing Julia even if it starts out as a ruse.
If you reconcile with Titus then he’ll tell you Julia forced him to leave shortly after Augusta’s birth. Julia lied to the Prefect about why he left and only allowed him back when he was needed for public appearances.
There’s some complexity to the situation. Julia couldn’t truly force Titus to leave, but she made clear of her displeasure in him being in her and her daughter’s presence and told him as much starting from when Augusta was born. Hence why Titus felt he was forced to leave.
From her perspective (though perhaps not an objective one), Julia didn’t lie to the MC, as she has, as it’s very clear, always loathed and resented Titus, due to his being a living breathing representation of her humiliation. Neither did she feel she could give him some responsibility to distract him, because she sees him as incompetent.
For Titus, as much as he wanted to try to love Julia and be there for Augusta, part of him couldn’t handle and process the shame and frustration of being rejected and feeling so unwanted. So rather than staying and fighting for his place, he left. He came back intermittently, but the same story played out again and again, until we get to the start of the game where everyone is very much at their limits.
It’s a struggle between two people driven by their emotional frustrations and failures to understand each other. If Titus understood the position Julia was put in and that she wanted nothing to do with him, and if Julia understood Titus’ own plight and his background…perhaps this conflict between them and the violent end it can potentially have could have been avoided.
Yet, in the end, Augusta is left in the middle and largely neglected.
She is effectively the Empress Regent for Augusta not Titus. She has no claim to the throne herself.
I’m surprised if this is the case. At the least, I intended for there to be many ways an opportunistic and/or immoral MC can amass power. You can be a steadfast follower of Julia, doing as she requests no matter the immorality. Which to some extent, such as killing Tristitia or Titus, helps the marriage path open up, a whole new story branch.
As much as you can be attentive towards Augusta, you can also be dismissive and uncaring towards her. You can can teach Augusta to be cold and callous through the Tyrant pathway, and you can turn her into a pliant puppet. Which means manipulating a lonely 13 year old girl and chipping away at her confidence and sense of self.
Additionally, you can embezzle funds to enhance your own skillset and make decisions with your allies that empower you both, but undermine the Empire as a whole.
But there’s a lot more to come in the story, ways that the MC can be loyal, morally upright, and selfless, and also ways you can be scheming, selfish, and cruel. Stay tuned.
Just wanted to say that the marriage vs reconciliation path is far and away one of the best additions. I love the fact that I have to give up the thing my dude wants to have more than anything else in order for Augusta to have another parental figure who cares and to make another person’s life better. Also pumped to turn on the Kyro mech with the key. All for Julia’s nuttery.
Her claim to the throne comes from her marriage to Titus (and her army). That’s why she married him.
No, Julia was forced to marry Titus or get killed. This was former Empress way to (try to) prevent a potential coup, since kin slaying is the most heinous crime.
Julia has a claim to the throne as the “head of Titus’s household” but it’s very much tenuous and unprecedented way to acquire it:
The aged woman coughs. “This…this is true. Then before all the Empire, your rights and those of your children are not to be considered, for your eldest sister, Helena, had heirs. A son, Titus, but a man may not inherit the Empire, as laws divine and temporal dictate. We then turn to the head of his household.” The Holy Matron glances at Julia, who takes the stage in turn.
“You honor me greatly, Your Holiness. But this manner of succession is unprecedented! Surely, the will of the…Senate must prevail in such instances, does it not?” Though you know her to be no ally to that ancient legislature, certain favors need be doled out for Julia to take the throne. Everything is going as planned.
Technically she was forced to marry him by the previous empress and then used that fact (and her army) to take the throne as revenge.
It is also in keeping with Scilla’s trend of having her heirs fight it out to keep herself in power. She believed by introducing Julia to the mix it would put her twins on the backfoot and prevent them from orchestrating a coup, for they would have to contend with Julia now as another rival. Scilla also believed Julia’s claim would be weak enough (as you mention in your post) that she wouldn’t have a hope of actually taking the throne, so she would only be throwing a wrench into her daughters’ gears and humiliating a rival.
Would this create a messier civil war regardless? Oh, absolutely yes. But Scilla didn’t care about that, only about maintaining her own power and survival. Very much an “after me, the deluge,” which explains the state of Iudia after three decades of her rulership.
Of course, she underestimated Julia, and also overestimated Leta’s loyalty despite Scilla’s misrule.
It’s not as simple as ‘having bad governance = self-serving while having good governance is morally upright’ since I, like most people, predict that our actions have consequences. Sure, like the example of increasing your skill at the expense of the empire’s threefold issues (economics skill test where you need 5 economics to fix all without spending resources); you could ignore those issues and just improve one of the prefect’s skills, but it would weaken the empire and would one day bite the prefect. The same thing goes for Augusta. Sure, you could be an asshole to her, but is that really the smart thing to do? Being an asshole to the future ruler, even if you plan to make her a puppet? Which is why even though I try to make puppet stat high, I still strive to increase trust and wilfullness since I predict leaving those to dry out would only lead to bad consequences. Taking care of the Augusta and the empire is incentivized even if you’re playing as a selfish, opportunist prefect.
I’m only listing ways you can act selfish and opportunistic that are implemented in the game. Whether your MC believes those are beneficial to their personal power is up to them.
I mean, obviously if you want someone to do something for you, you should at least make sure they don’t hate you. But, the point of subterfuge is to be subtle to get what you want, like telling them they did something right, knowing it’s wrong and gaslight them into thinking it’s their idea.
The only reason I’m not outright immoral in my playthrough is cause I chose to make Augusta my kid and I’m content knowing that even if I don’t get the throne outright, it’s still my lineage that will.
It is why I believe it is easier to lean more to a morally upright prefect since even if you play a selfish prefect, you would still be encouraged to take care of Julia, Augusta or the empire (which is recurrent element in the story) as they are beneficial even to a self-serving prefect. There haven’t been many instances where you could see how something would greatly benefit a self-serving prefect, at the expense of others, without also inadvertently harming said self-serving prefect.
Morally upright Augusta might decide the Empire is much better off having a self-serving Prefect replaced with someone who genuinely cares, so i’m not sure if this sort of taking care of her is in such Prefect’s best interest.
Julia, similarly, will give a morally upright Prefect a side-eye at best. She much prefers her Prefect to share her Tyrant mindset.
Not to mention that being immoral and selfless are not mutually exclusive concepts here. A MC going along with all of Julia’s plans out of loyalty or love is certainly not morally upright, but they wouldn’t be acting selfishly. Same for an MC who believes Augusta must be a cold and harsh ruler in order to survive as a future Empress.
Hence a self-serving Prefect would want to have a puppet Augusta. But they would work their trust with Augusta so she would trust them, and this stat is tied with being nice to her or caring her.
Sure, Julia would prefer being ruthless but I don’t think she would approve the prefect in their plans of turning Augusta into a puppet. Letting a dying Empress live a little longer and making her trust the prefect while they slowly consolidating their power, and making Augusta into their puppet is in the best interest of a self-serving prefect since Julia being dead right now would leave them vulnerable.
