Dude, literally nobody ever needed an education to be a king. That’s what ministers are (hopefully) for.
EDIT:
And also in, y’know, real life.
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But we have education / knowledge, it comes from the books you read, from and with the interaction and watching people. We know how to read the room, so we won’t get caught by Brynne and Master Trent. We understand and care for others (that’s education as well). And plus we are willing to learn more with the help of Collin and Dorian (and the other dear RO’s too xD) we won’t be only a small light, we will be a shining beacon in the future. It only needs to grow and shape through the story.
It would be far too easy and boring if we would have been on our best from the start 
so let MC grow to the beautiful soul they are.
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How f’ing dare you.
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Lol no beautiful soul for you? okay, beautiful heart, soul and body
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You struck a good balance of this in your other works! I enjoy this setting and so far The Eternal Library feels like it fits tonally, even if it’s on the darker, less magic-friendly end of the spectrum. It’s working for me, for sure.
I think people are sometimes too quick to undervalue this kind of knowledge 
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Sorry I missed responding to this earlier but THANK YOU SO MUCH for purchasing Ink and Intrigue and playing it! I hope you enjoy the story! 
I’ve outlined ten chapters. Eleven if you include two different versions of chapter five. Subject to change, of course. Wordcount is likely to be over 300k, though that is very difficult to estimate.
Actually, the current coup has been led by another kingdom entirely. And while Collin has tried improving things in the kingdom in the past, his father always shot down his attempts. Now, Collin inherits the responsibility and power to do something about the mess of the kingdom, and he gets to decide who helps him. Since Collin’s magic/intuition tells him the MC is important and a key piece to the puzzle, there is a good deal of opportunity for the MC to contribute.
The MC is never going to be the most powerful person in the story (just like Cinderella isn’t the most powerful in her fairytale). That isn’t what this is about. There are Kitherin who hold more power than kings. But contributing to the unfolding destiny of the kingdom seems a worthy goal to me, so that’s what I’m writing about.
While absolutely true, I’m hoping to do better than that with these characters. 
Collin is highly educated, being tutored by the master librarian and master sorcerer. The MC also has a decent education, having read a lot of books and inheriting the ancestor’s knowledge.
This! 
Agreed.
Thank you for that, and for your continued encouragement. I appreciate it so much! 
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But it is merely decent compared to the high educations of Collin and Dorian. So mc will not win a scholarly debate against either of them either.
Still appears to me those contributions will be primarily be as a follower, not a leader in their own right. Which I can speculate would sting a bit since mc now holds the memories of someone who used to be all that in their own right.
Okay, that clears that up, which also means mc will very likely never really be able to rise to the same level, in their own right, their ancestor once held and squandered in their own coup. I can still see that reasonably be a point of frustration for mc, given the extremely shitty life they have led thus far.
Have to see where it all ends up, but keeping in mind the words of Theo from your other game about the library and the sacrifice mc has made, it may yet be that mc here sacrifices the most for the least gain of the major characters.
Please remember, this game is based on “Cinderella.” It’s a fairy tale set in a fantasy world. The limitations the character would face in the real world apply only so far as the author wants them to apply. It might be worth mentioning in the end that the character does have a lot to adjust to and a lot to learn if they end up as a monarch, consort, or noble - that would add a touch of realism without making for a less happy ending. But you should also bear in mind that a major part of the premise of the story is that the PC isn’t just a menial, even a self-educated menial - they’re basically the reincarnation of their warrior ancestor. They already have all kinds of skills, mannerisms, and natural talents they shouldn’t logically have. So the idea that they might settle into a leadership role far more gracefully and well than anyone would reasonably expect on the basis of their background really isn’t that farfetched if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief at all. And if you’re looking for a realistic experience of social limitations in a highly stratified society, this might not be the right game for you.
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So we’re around or a bit less than halfway through. That may calm some of the anxiety.
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This doesn’t particularly resonate with my interpretation of the MC’s ancestor; I didn’t get the impression this is someone who would chafe at simply not being in charge, and I don’t find anything wrong with the MC not being in a leadership position. Their ancestor’s memories and experience can help make them a valuable member of a team and I think that can be plenty fulfilling for this narrative.
Yes, this. I don’t think it’s a requirement that a fictional setting follows every real-world possibility. Plus, the narrative focuses on the MC’s ancestry (both the fae aspect and the rebel aspect) and to distract from that with other things might not serve the story as a whole.
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Given how shit their mc’s has been thus far I don’t think it is unreasonable to aspire to something better than remaining a slightly better treated servant for the rest of their lives, particularly now that they have full access to the memories of someone who used to be near the top of the pyramid themselves and could have been the monarch in their own right, had their little rebellion succeeded. I think having memories like that now would make the mc desire more, not less, for themselves, but ymmw.
I mean right now neither the sorceress nor Collin really seem to respect the mc as even a potential future equal as they do not even deign to inform mc before using their magic on them. I mean all the times when it was healing my mc would have granted his permission but the point is they completely disregard mc and don’t even think to ask. The only time my mc would have denied it, if he could, would have been Thempestea’s clothes transformation spell.
To the sorceress the mc is ultimately just a pawn and a servant still and to Collin it seems to be pretty much the same except that for a prince of Minare he is unusually lenient with the servants.
Yeah, but what will it bring the mc? Given the shit life mc has already led and what they sacrificed by going through the library, I think mc has earned the right to look out for themselves a bit too, instead of just being completely self-effacing. At least for my mc it won’t really bring love or lust either since he doesn’t like Collin, Dorian or Sevitas that way.
Let’s hope so, the alternative is thoroughly miserable.
Sure but the game does make it plenty clear how the mc is both the lowest of the low and just how loathed they are by are large part, likely even the majority of Minare.
It absolutely shouldn’t. There’s a reason it’s called speculative fiction.
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Yeah, that’s because it’s a fairy tale. You’d never know from the way most people talk about them, but most fairy tales are brutal. They put their characters through the wringer on the way to what is generally a happier ending than would be realistically possible.
The fact that it’s set in a highly stratified society doesn’t mean social limitations are going to be depicted in a realistic way. Early modern Europe wasn’t exactly a utopia of merit-based social mobility, and no king ever arranged his son’s marriage by throwing a ball for commoners and hoping sparks would fly, but that generally hasn’t stopped anyone from enjoying the fantasy of Cinderella marrying the prince.
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We’ll see how the no romance ending(s) end(s) up then, particularly since my mc isn’t interested in romancing any of the three dudes.
I didn’t say that I like Angelina and Mariella seems intriguing this just seems to be the game where I have the rotten luck the ro I would normally be interested in and another who has piqued my interest are incompatible with my mc’s orientation.
That is really something I would have to see happen to believe it with this mc, as opposed to just becoming a consort to Collin or Angelina. Becoming that in their own right seems extremely far out of bounds for the mc right now.
That would still leave the mc just a mostly powerless, symbolic, consort.
Let’s first wait and see if the mc will be allowed to lead anything at all, particularly when it comes to the named characters (so not like five unnamed soldiers), instead of being a perpetual follower.
I don’t see why that should make a difference. Certainly there may be some endings that aren’t attainable on a non-romance route, but there’s no reason the PC couldn’t be named monarch after leading a coup, or be granted a noble title for their deeds, or enter a political marriage with a platonic friend. I trust Leia will figure it out just fine.
I guess I’m a little confused what it is you actually want here. If you’re not willing to buy into a fantasy that’s unrealistic in genre-appropriate ways, and you don’t like any of the ROs, why would you even want to play this?
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While this may be the case, this doesn’t automatically mean “in charge” is the ideal for every MC (I imagine there will be room for yours to feel that way). The MC can probably end up with a lovely life for themselves that doesn’t involve an elevated social status, if they so desire. I’m sure, since this is ultimately a Cinderella retelling, there will be a way to end up as royalty as well.
Since I haven’t seen any of what’s to come, it’s hard to make any assessment of the completed journey or how it relates to the destination.
Honestly, it’s hard not to feel like you’ve been ascribing to the work a more grounded or cynical tone than it actually seems to have. There are definitely works out there that reflect the tone and perspective that you seem to be looking for, but I’m not sure that this will be one of them, based on what the author has said upthread. To continue to offer feedback from this perspective might not ultimately be the most productive.
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good thing history happened and it proves you wrong: Meet The Nobody
the guy was a peasant, somehow became best friends with Byzantine emperor, married mistress of said emperor, was named co-emperor and then promtly killed his best friend and became sole emperor of byzantine empire. and he was great at it. did i mention the guy was a peasant?
if it happened in real life, what’s stopping it from happening in fantasy? especially with magic present, which only multiplies one’s strength to achieve something similar
edit: a lot of ruling dynasties were kicked out of ruling for less with permament solutions. just look at history of china
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That is amazing 
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I don’t get where the anxiety is coming from. It’s just a story, let’s chll out. Leia can write it how she wants to.
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