The Dragon's Covenant (WIP)

[RGHV]

@kizzygm

Does Arael care about reform her empire or is down with mc starting a new one?

The MC and Arael haven’t really discussed that yet. Technically, the MC hasn’t made any concrete decision about starting their own empire—at this point, they’re just done fighting a war that no longer holds any meaning for them. There will be a scene later in this route where the realization hits: that building an empire may be the only path forward, whether they want it or not. That moment will also open space for a proper conversation with the rest of the group about what comes next.

@kizzygm

How tall is Arael? She seems around 5’3 5’4 maybe 5’2. I picture Ruby as being 5 ft tall. Just short and agile af

I imagine Arael as being slightly taller than average, but not by much—probably somewhere around 5’4” to 5’5”. Since average height varies a lot depending on the country, I never decided on an exact number. As for how I imagine them, Ruby is definitely on the shorter side, around 5 feet tall as you said. Walls is… well, very tall. Arael is just above average, Zatus is slightly taller than average for a man, Cassiel is about average, Ecbert is tall, Theresa about average, and Lyra is a bit taller than Arael.

@kizzygm

and are her wings bat like or smooth scale like snake skin?

Azgor’s wings resemble those of a bat, but with a few key differences—where there’s bone, they’re reinforced with thick, dark scales for added protection, while the rest is covered in a thick leathery membrane. I picture them as bulky and powerful rather than sleek, built more for strength and durability than speed or agility—very different from the elegant, lightweight wings the Aurelians possess.

@kizzygm

And i might be remembering but it weird the my high ego mc with a superiority complex ( dont say nothing ) to feel sad about killing his siblings that he already established that he doesn’t care about and who openly hate him bc he’s the strongest.

Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Someone else pointed this out a while ago too. Originally, the plan was to have the player choose from three base personalities and keep things locked into that structure—but it felt too restrictive, and most people seemed to agree. So I moved away from it, which unfortunately led to that kind of inconsistencies. Right now, I’m focusing on reworking that system to make the stats more meaningful and to better reflect the MC’s personality throughout the game. Truth be told I just learned the bare minimum of ChoiceScript before jumping into writing lol, so the more technical side is lacking quite a bit currently. I’ll try to learn how to better utilize the script now. These inconsistencies should be gone in the next update, and if all goes well, I’ll also start including more varied MC reactions based on their stats.

@kizzygm

Lasty if you side with the prince or princess you tripping. You can level a kingdom with ease, have 2 dragon siblings who can also do serious damage alone, An angel, powerful healing elf that doubls as a negotiator who comes with THE BACKING OF AN ENTIRE ELVEN EMPIRE, a POWERFUL science angel AND A DIE HARD CULT yet you wanna run back and be a toy to mofos you most likely gone outlive and only likes you bc your a useful weapon and you get lil to no say on how you want shit done

Haha yeah, I imagine most players choosing that route either want a Warden who’s tired of the struggle and has no interest in building a new empire, or are romancing one of the twins. I’m also planning an alternative path for those who just want the MC to step away from it all—to live in isolation, far from the wars and politics. But that path will skip a good chunk of the main content and head toward an earlier ending, so I’ll hold off on implementing it until we’re further along in the story.

@kizzygm

and can our powers strengthen our siblings?

Good question. Idius didn’t think it was possible, but he also didn’t really care enough to try. Ruby and Walls are hoping that Cassiel might be able to find a way to enhance them. Whether that’s truly possible… only time will tell.

[comradelenin]

@RGHV

Haha yeah, I imagine most players choosing that route either want a Warden who’s tired of the struggle and has no interest in building a new empire, or are romancing one of the twins.

Could also be the ingrained loyalty. We were trained to protect Emberford and this seems like a logical next step now that it’s under occupation. After being raised for this for so long, walking away at all may not occur to some Wardens.

That was one of the reasons I asked about re-establishing Emberford without the twins on the own empire path. No loyalty to them since they have no real authority but still gotta re-establish the nation and crush its enemies.

[RGHV]

That’s a good point. I originally imagined them letting go of that loyalty after witnessing the city and its people destroyed—accepting that there was nothing left of what they were meant to protect or fight for. But it’s just as plausible that they wouldn’t see it that way and would instead choose to follow one of the remaining heirs.

[BlueShayde]

My guy isn’t actually loyal to the royal family or city. He cared about Walls, Ruby, and his fellow experiments. He doesn’t trust either royal or the company they keep. (In fact, he would have taken advantage of the attack to end the king, had he not been more worried for Walls and Ruby)

Right now, I don’t know what his end goal is, cause he wants to be free and be treated like a person. Not necessarily to help one of the royals or start his own kingdom.

He kinda is directionless now and just going along with everyone to keep Walls and Ruby safe. It sucked to have to fight all the others to protect Walls and Ruby, cause I was in the mindset of my MC trying to better things for them all and end those responsible for the experimentation and abuse. He did at least try not to kill the other experiments, though.

[comradelenin]

I generally see my Warden leaving to Laphis for lack of better options.

Ecbert’s forces in Grafast don’t have an evident clear goal in mind now that the kingdom has fallen. Sure you could maybe take the Grafast capital (I assume also called Grafast) but unlike with Emberford, the vassals there could probably oust them pretty quickly. They’d have to win over allies in our most hated enemy’s territory, and well… we only learned how to make actual friends like a month ago aside from our two fellow child soldiers.

Theresa is trying to win over allies to raise an army to retake Emberford territory but that sounds like a pie in the sky plan to Sanya (the warden in question), who has no frame of reference for how she’d do that. Like, it’s plausible. Vlad Tepes did it IRL. But it doesn’t SOUND plausible from where we’re standing.

Both of these ideas sound like throwing what few forces we have into the meat grinder for nothing. Better to flee to a safe haven and get our bearings, then see if we can come up with a more viable way to retake the Kingdom. Or at least the lands that belonged to it and the people therein.

And also find out who (as in the individuals not the factions) is responsible for leveling the city under their protection and avenging this insult as they did with the village those orcs burned. Like, one thing that they’re going to ensure regardless of what they decide on is that everyone who had any involvement in burning Emberford dies. Every soldier and sorcerer present, the ones who ordered it, anyone trying to defend them, etc. need to be killed to the last. It’s a matter of principle.

Based on the reaction to the orcs burning the town, I generally see Sasha viewing Emberford, the kingdom, basically as their hoard or their den. I’m not exactly sure if dragons have those here but it’s like their territory, their assets, their… idk, pack? Pride? Gang? The point is that it’s Sasha’s job to safeguard the people as well and guide them as a group. If these lands and other assets are taken, you take them back and punish whoever took them. And of course if these people are hurt, that really pisses Sasha off. And there will be a reckoning. It doesn’t actually matter what the kingdom is called or whether it still exists on paper. The area designated Emberford is their charge and must be retaken from the enemy.

They’re actually a pretty compassionate sort, it’s just that you process that a bit differently when you have the soul of a power hungry dragon in you and have been trained as a child soldier. It’s hard to tell the difference between “this makes me angry because you’ve triggered my territorial dragon instincts” and “this pisses me off because this is wrong on a moral level and most people would get mad”.

And since that is that is, in theory, essentially what a king or emperor does for their countries, it’s fairly logical that they’d see themselves as an aspiring king, given how badly the last one botched it. Move over, you’re doing it wrong.

And obviously, a hoard needs to be expanded. More people and more realms must be under their protection.

And you can see where this is going.

[BlueShayde]

Hah, an interesting pov. I like it. I guess in a sense, my own MC sees Walls and Ruby as members of his Dragon Den? Or colony or packmates…whatever. They are his family and friends. He will protect. And probably ro Walls.

[kizzygm]

Damn mc is the same way he still had the discipline ingrained. But very lil. He didn’t leave bc thats his kingdom and all he knows. So when heard it was being attacked he was gone rush there not bc of loyalty to them but he doesn’t quite know why and panicked then Arael came to mind and he without thought flew to her first without knowing why again. After his angel wife asked why go back then he remembered his dragon wife and brother. Im we was giving the option to find them bc i could less anybody else in the cage of a kindom. Kinda wish to kill the king after but thats less important compared to the fam

[comradelenin]

Yeah Sasha is basically how I imagine one of those “I want to help everyone” shonen action heroes would be if they were also extremely maladjusted and trained for warfare from birth.

“You are all being rescued, please do not resist.”

Edit: I also gotta wonder if any of those old dragon cores the Aurelians harvested are still around, and if they have their minds still intact. Because if Azgor’s mate’s is still around, we could perhaps see if Ruby or Walls could take on their soul and gain their powers. Idk if they’d be as strong as Azgor but they might have a full power set.

[Banan1234]

Noticed that MC is referred to as he when being dug out of the rubble by Walls and Ruby. Also, how do you get the amulet from Zatus? I chose to hang out with him but not romance.

[RGHV]

Sorry about that, I’ll fix it as soon as I can! As for the amulet, in what scene did it happen? It would be easier for me to track what went wrong if I know at least the general location of it.

[RGHV]

Hey everyone! Quick question. I’ve been thinking about writing some short POV chapters as a side project for a while now. Don’t worry—they’ll be short and won’t slow down the updates nor will they affect the main story in any way. Its just for the people who would like to learn more about the characters or the world.

The plan is to release them first as early access on Ko-fi and eventually include them as optional scenes in the main game so everyone can read them.

Now, I’ve seen different approaches to different POV chapters, so I wanted to get your thoughts on it. For scenes where the MC is present, my idea is to let you make the same choices as in the original, just from the other character’s perspective, hearing their thoughts instead of the MC. That part seems pretty straightforward.

But what about POV chapters where the MC isn’t present? I’d like to explore moments from the characters’ pasts, or scenes that happen after the MC leaves—things that help reveal more about their history, motivations, and inner struggles. The issue is that I don’t want to let readers control the character’s actions in these scenes, since i feel like that would dilute their personality and sense of agency. At the same time, making it entirely non-interactive would probably feel too static or dull.

So I thought of letting readers make small, flavor-style choices about things happening around the POV character, that don’t affect the main story but slightly alter how the scene plays out. But I’m not sure how satisfying that would be since it also would feel kind of pointless I think. What do you all think? Would you prefer fully linear POV chapters, small optional choices, or something different?

Also, I already have a few of these chapters that i want to write in mind, and I remember people asking for Ecbert and Theresa’s POV during the arena scene—but for those I’ll wait until I start writing their route so I don’t spoil anything.

That said, I’d love to hear what POVs you guys would be interested in reading. It doesn’t even need to be from a named character—could be anyone, even something like a outsider’s perspective during the Aurelians’ final battle against Azgor, or a normal person during the battle of Emberford for example. Let me know if you have any requests!

[Kaiser_03]

One word: FANTASTIC

I rarely comments on WIP,
good storytelling got me hooked,
Looking forwards to this

[RGHV]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[comradelenin]

So, most of the scenes I can think of have variations based on per choice. Not quite sure how to deal with that. One story for each option seems like a lot on your plate.

[RGHV]

I wasn’t planning to make them very long. For scenes where the MC is present, the structure would stay pretty much the same as the original: same choices for the Warden, but instead of their thoughts, you’d be seeing everything through the eyes of the other character.

If its from a scene after the MC did something, I think I could just write whichever versions people want to see the most, since its just an extra.

What scenes did you have in mind, though?

[comradelenin]

One was Zatus’s perspective on MC burning down the fort.

Another was Ruby on being saved from the other subjects.

Another was Ruby and Walls on our first visit to them.

Another was Arael on our first meeting.

[BlueShayde]

Sounds great to me. I personally love pov bits for ros, myself.

[Chancetaker]

Well the additional sences sound great. How I think about is the additional scences are nice and small changes or variations would work. It is not that bad having the scenes be a bit restricted as well it is not the mc. I’m okay letting the scenes playbout.

As for sences one or two to ahow the devastation of Emberford.
A citizen walking the streets just to see the sky darkening for the war ships.
A survior or sence of the scale of the dead.

Just to emphasizethe loae as most of what we do is immediately fight, fight, fight.

[jjc73]

Didn’t check update yet. Will have to soon.

Do however dislike making choices for NPCs in their PoVs. I can persuade or let them figure things out in relation to what my own choices are.

Example pull from BG3. Will forces the player to choose for him instead of how was talked to during story. However not same for others as they decide on your play style instead.

PoVs are fine in some cases. Also seen PoV swap break plotline. Anaxa is a traitor! Oh, wait, guess not after all. Should of kept that PoV closed then, right. Another game PoV swap example. Not posting the HG one that broke plot.

ITFO, Whiskey and few others did good with theirs and happy with them.

[AnneWest]

@comradelenin

Theresa is trying to win over allies to raise an army to retake Emberford territory but that sounds like a pie in the sky plan to Sanya (the warden in question), who has no frame of reference for how she’d do that. Like, it’s plausible. Vlad Tepes did it IRL. But it doesn’t SOUND plausible from where we’re standing.

The difference here is everyone was tired of the Ottoman Empire thundering about all over the place when Tepes did it. With Theresa, we’re the empire everyone was sick and tired of.