No, there will be no option to side with the Equalists. MC can do some pretty amoral things, but joining a league of Mages who torture children isn’t in the scope of that. Unfortunately the Shepherds are pitted against just as many Diminished with bad intentions as they are with Endarkened, so abstaining from conflict or defecting in any way (aside from situations like following Tallys) isn’t in the cards!
13 Likes
so i have a question @rinari in the fight with the demon in the church i chose to let everyone die i used my fists and a pistol and still both the inquisitors and the shepards mention i used magic and its even commented i cant use the words again…is that a glitch or just not written?
1 Like
It seems to me you’re one of those players whose primary roleplay choices involve going against the flow of most stories. 
Apathy, selfishness and true loner-wolf status are usually the traits of a more “evil” oriented protagonist, which doesn’t fit a story that is pushing you to be the “good” guy from the start. You may not like it but rail-roading is kind of essential, even in games with choices.
If you don’t care about the people then perhaps consider things from a different perspective - you joined the Shepards because they were one of the best opportunities you could ever have as a (potential) Diminished. You have a roof over your head, food, a salary and you can train and use your abilities without worrying about the Inquisitors breathing down on your neck.
As a Shepard, you also get to fight the beings that are wreaking havoc across the land, beings that also disrupted your past once and will undoubtedly do so again. If they are not eliminated, there may come a point where they will come for you and without the help of others, without training, to fight them, you won’t stand a chance. Neither will those you grow to care about. Sure you have magic words, but what are you going to do after spending all 7 of them?
My advice? Try to roleplay with the hand that was dealt to you - be the most evil you can be with the present choices without basically asking the author to change the entire course of their story. Because that’s a tall order… and difficult to integrate at this point. Alternatively you may want to consider keeping an eye out for darker stories, as those are more likely to include the things you want to roleplay as… 
22 Likes
Sometimes it helps to ask though, I and a couple of others asked for the reluctant, conscripted choice because in the original draft your only choice was to be enthusiastically “gung-ho” about joining the Sheperds. Even now that he has joined my mc’s oath requires him to fight demons and supernatural threats to the Autarchy. It does not seem to require him to act as a police auxiliary, so apart from personal favours to Trouble and Caine he won’t. Like I said before, when seeing a completely ordinary crime in progress like that bank-robbery he’d stand twiddling his thumbs in the corner.
In any case maybe it helps for the evil types to add some choices that are more actively corrupt than my mc’s “bothering by the book” or simply looking away when they can be. Like if demons thrash a noble’s house they won’t notice some missing items. Or maybe some noble wants to accuse one of their rivals of being a demon, so we plant some supernatural “evidence” for them that sort of corrupt stuff. After all it happens regularly enough in real life too.
I mean one of our future associates seems to be the thieves guild leader so plenty of opportunity for non law-abiding, corrupt and even (borderline) evil mayhem I would think.
2 Likes
Thank you @rinari for taking the time to answer. I wish a sufficiently trained mage would at least get the choice to tell Trouble he is unqualified to say what is possible with magic after his comment that the Equalists’ goal of imparting magic is impossible. As far as doing amoral things go, I would rank becoming a collaborator by joining the Autarchy via the Shepherds high on the list of amoral actions. The moral thing to do would be to try to bring down the Autarchy, not actively support it.
Being a loner in no way shape or form makes someone evil. Consider the Chaotic Good alignment.
3 Likes
Well true i always rebel against the path i am forced to go down i just don’t want him to be happy going down that path like why would you plus being a loner is who i am never been a real fan of people the only reason my guy joined is cause he had to does not mean i will be happy about it being forced to help the people who hate you not fun but i do like the story kind of reminds me of the grey wardens.
2 Likes
Oh, I don’t see anything wrong with asking, I’m just saying, plus I personally agree with your assessment. I think meeting the author halfway through is the way to go in these situations - ask a few options that deviate a little but don’t necessarily entail re-writing the whole story or making a completely different path. The author is free to pursue it if they really want to.
I never said being just a loner made you evil… you purposefully ignored the rest of the sentence where I clearly stated that apathy (towards other people’s needs and well-being), selfishness and a loner attitude (all combined) are usually traits that make you more “evil” oriented. This doesn’t mean you’re quite there yet (in fact, sometimes it just means you’re Neutral) but it is usually a tell-tale sign.
@Arcane_warrior
Out of curiosity - you say this is just how you roleplay but from what I’ve seen it seems to be pretty much how you play every game. It got me wondering… since you’re so attached to that specific character, how much of it is roleplay and much of it is self-insertion? 
(Yes, I’m replying to 3 different people in this post. Don’t want to double or triple post.)
1 Like
@IvoryOwl I chose at that time not to dispute your analysis regarding apathy and selfishness, merely to correct that you grouped being a loner with signs of being evil which is flat out wrong and rude. I would say being a loner moves the MC more to the Chaotic side of things but good or bad is something else.
Also, you are correct in many cases regarding the effect of selfishness and apathy on Neutral alignment. My MC joined the Shepherds willingly, but had my MC been forced to join under duress/undue influence, I wouldn’t consider being apathetic towards the Shepherds as even a sign of being evil under those circumstances. No one gets to threaten the MC into doing something while then expecting a good MC to actually be eager about it. So even good MCs forced into this should have options to be less than eager about it.
I do applaud replying to multiple people in one post. I do it all the time as needed.
1 Like
I just really like playing like that not many games let you play as a loner or evil for that matter.
2 Likes
How Inquisition treat prisoner of war
1 Like
Well, let’s just put it this way… they wouldn’t treat them great…
If I were a prisoner of war on Yelp, I’d probably give them a 1… 
15 Likes
I have seen new art for Shepherds of haven look cool 
2 Likes
Also, a quick plug if you haven’t seen me screaming about it elsewhere:
Remember how I had to take a break from ShoH to work on my science fiction novel, We Have Always Been Here?
It’s being published!
More details to come, but I remember everyone’s patience on here when I had to take a break from the game and how much encouragement and support was sent to me via this community and the forums when I was really in the trenches with this book. Thank you so much for your ongoing support! If you’d like to keep up to date on the novel’s progress and news about releases and etc., I’ll be posting about it on my new Twitter account!
And stay tuned: if you hadn’t heard already, more ShoH-related surprises are coming 11/11 and 11/19, so keep an eye out! 
And if you enjoy my work with ShoH and Apex Predators and like science fiction (and stories about misanthropic psychologists on spaceships, strange and lovable androids, creepy new planets, and space adventures with splashes of thrills and horror), please consider checking the book out when it hits shelves! 
82 Likes
Already majorly excited. This sounds right up my alley, and such stunning praise for it already- a neighbor to Alien! Wow 
1 Like
Big congratulations!!
3 Likes
Thank you so much! 
1 Like
Oh snap, congratulations! I’ll totally read the shit out of it!
1 Like
It can take me a while to get into the world of fantasy games, so thanks for including the codex!
3 Likes
Thank you so much, that’s so kind of you!
I’m glad you hear it’s useful to you! Sometimes I worry if I go too overboard on it, lol, so I’m glad to know it has value!!
3 Likes