The Golden Rose: Book One by Ana Ventura

Ah, Indiana Jones. It probably inspired a generation of kids to become historians or archaeologists. :grin:

I know I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but I must reiterate: This is not set in stone and may change in the future.

But, for now, it’s planned to be:

  • 6 bisexual characters: 3 males and 3 females.

  • 2 straight characters: 1 male and 1 female.

  • 2 homosexual characters: one gay male and one lesbian.

This way, all MCs will have at least 4 romance options to choose from. I think that’s an acceptable number - hopefully, everyone interested in romance finds someone they like even a little bit.

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It also made them terrified of quicksand! :wink:

Gotta say, having at least 4 romance options is definitely more than acceptable! That’s great! I once played a game where you could only romance 1 person, so I’m always happy when there are two options, and you’re going way beyond that.

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This is so embarrassing but I can’t for the life of me find a word. I’ve tried google translate and the dictionary, but I just can’t find it.

To any English-fluent folk, what is that word that means like a passing wish, a sudden fancy? It sounds to me kinda like ‘wimp’ - but the meaning is completely unrelated.

This is the most frustrating feeling ever.


Also, so that this post is not totally in vain, should I add a loner vs team player stat? I haven’t added it yet because I’m not sure how prevalent it will be in the game outside of very specific situations - and some character’s passing comments.

But would you guys like to keep track of how your MCs prefers to work? Or do you find it unnecessary?

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Could ‘whim’ be the word you’re looking for?

A loner vs team player stat could be interesting (I think Wayhaven has one!), and I think it would be cool to see it, even if it’s only in specific situations like you mentioned. But it’s ultimately up to you!

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That’s the one! I was so close :smile:

Thank you very much!

(Also, the cat in your icon picture is so freaking adorable, is it yours by any chance?)

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You were only a letter or two away! And thank you! That is a very cute kitty, but it’s sadly not mine. I do have a cat, though! (Her name is Juliet.)

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Juliet is gorgeous! :black_heart: Thanks for sharing her pic.

About the loner vs team player stat, I think I’ll add it then. I don’t want to overwhelm the player with too many stats, but this one is straightforward enough that I don’t think it’ll make a big hassle.

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In my opinion, there is no such thing as ‘too many stats’. Which is, of course, ridiculous of me (๑꒪⍘꒪๑) (๑→‿←๑)

Thus, obviously, I would adore a ‘loner vs team player’ stat cx

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Well, if you want it, L_M, then consider it done. :wink:

I also like a lot of stats, especially when it comes to personality ones, but I know some people don’t. Hence the question.

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What would the stat effect anyways? Just. “You prefer to do things by yourself most of the time” ? lol

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A little more than that. :sweat_smile:

In some situations, the MC will be forced to either be alone or work with a team - at this time, for example, you can’t really disentangle yourself from Hadrian and Alessa - and depending on your stats, you could have certain advantages or disadvantages with dealing with the situation.

Also, some characters might react to you slightly differently, as with all the other personality stats.

And, lastly, it would be there as a tracking system for the player for how their character tends to behave. I dig those options in other games - as @MissionControl mentioned, I enjoyed it in Wayhaven.

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Is it bad reading this and my mind immediately went to.

RO : “I think I’m ready for us to try having sex.”

Loner MC : “Nah, I’ll just take care of myself.”

And I killed myself with laughing.

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Lol :laughing: A true loner MC does not share their bedroll.

If you wish to be intimate, prepare to lose 50 points of the loner stat

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I haven’t played any D&D since college either. Not that I’m up on the latest edition.

yep!

The primary language in the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire was Greek, not Latin, as it had more Greek speakers than Latin speakers. Court language remained Latin for some time, but was eventually changed to Greek. Culturally speaking, the Eastern Roman Empire became less and less Roman as the centuries went by. Persia was a rival, enemy and trade partner.

Nothing. When the empire was divided in half, Egypt was placed in the Eastern half. So when Rome fell, Egypt continued without a hitch under Constantinople which was still strong at the time. In fact much of the Western half, including Italy and nearly the entirety of the North African coast, was reconquered by the Byzantines under the Emperor Justinian only a few decades later.

Alexandria, the capital of Byzantine Egypt finally fell to invading Arab Muslims in 641 who slowly Islamized Egypt and the rest of Roman North Africa over the course of the ensuing centuries. Arabs being a desert dwelling people at the time, moved the capital to Cairo, and neglected the formerly great port of Alexandria until it decayed into a small village on the ruins of the former metropolis. The famed Great Library of Alexandria also disappeared from history, although there is some debate regarding what was left of it by the time it was conquered by Arab invaders as it had been through at least two major fires and the hostility of Christian leaders denouncing the pagan texts in its stacks. Egypt has been ruled by Arabs for so long that today Egyptians consider themselves Arabs. The remnants of the pre-Arab Christians are known as Copts today.

Me too…

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Hmm, so you would agree with @SeventhJackel in that it would be highly unlikely that a non-christian Byzantine would retain its Roman roots.

I’m kinda surprised Latin wasn’t their primary language tho, especially since Latin remained relevant in the west for centuries after - primarily as a written language, but still.

But by the time Rome fell, it was already a very different Egypt from the ancient Egypt of old, right? As in, much of the culture and religion was already “watered down”. I reckon Greek contact and Roman rule must have influenced them a lot.

I didn’t know Italy was re-conquered by Emperor Justinian. :grimacing: In any case, at the time this story unfolds, Egypt is an Arabic nation.

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In Roman times, Greek was the language of scholarship and trade, not Latin. In the early days of the empire it was a status symbol for wealthy and powerful Roman families to have a Greek tutor (often a slave) to teach their heirs Greek language and literature. There were more Greek-speakers in the united Roman empire than Latin-speakers, and the Eastern primarily Greek-speaking half was always more heavily populated than the Western half.

Latin was preserved in Western Europe through the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church. In the East it was the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria that held authority, and they had little incentive to accept the Patriarch of Rome’s claimed supremacy or preserve the Latin language since the New Testament was originally written in Greek and few of their followers spoke Latin. After Alexandria and Antioch fell to Islam, the struggle for Christian primacy was between the Roman Catholic Church in Rome and the “Greek” Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople. Eventually Constantinople too fell to Islam as well in 1453 leaving Rome standing alone of the original great Christian patriarchs.

You can see the influence of the Greek language in many of the Eastern European languages such as Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Serbian which all use a modified form of the Greek alphabet known as Cyrillic thanks to the Eastern church’s missionary efforts.

Yep, they’re very different and you reckon correctly. The Hellenization of Egypt began with Alexander the Great’s conquest, spread through the upper classes under the Ptolemies, and continued under the Romans after the last Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII and her Roman lover/general Marc Anthony lost their fateful war with Julius Caesar’s nephew Octavian, the future emperor Augustus. Thanks to the Ptolemies the Egyptian upper class already spoke fluent Greek.

Alexandria was one of the greatest and most cosmopolitan cities in the Eastern Roman Empire, a major port known for its large communities of scholars. It was in Alexandria under the Greek Ptolemies in pre-Roman times that the original translation of the Bible’s Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek known as the Septuagint was completed, and for over a thousand years this translation was the basis of all other translations. After the Roman Empire was Christianized, Alexandria also became the seat of one of the four great Christian Patriarchs. At the time that Rome fell Egypt’s population was primarily Christian, although there were no doubt still pagans quietly going about their business trying not to attract undue attention to their religious practices.

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I should add that it was during Roman times that the Coptic language caught on in the Egyptian countryside. Coptic is basically Greek-influenced Egyptian with a modified Greek alphabet adapted to the spoken Egyptian language. Coptic and Koine Greek were the two main languages of Egypt during Roman times. It took centuries for Arabic to displace Coptic after the Arab conquest. And similar to the way the Roman Catholic Church has preserved Latin, the Coptic Orthodox Church has preserved Coptic.

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Just so you know I have like five pages of Wikipedia opened on my browser because of you :smile:. I’m kinda ignorant on this issues compared to you, so bear with me.

I know the Romans - especially the wealthy ones - learned Greek but I tough it was more as a means to understand Greek philosophy, science, etc. Their legacy. I guess I always imagined the Romans much too proud to attribute social status to anything related to a former conquested empire.

Kinda like all things Roman, language included, are the best. So it’s interesting to learn they actually valued Greek culture - I mean, they did steal a lot from them, so I guess it’s only fair.

Ah, the Ptolemies. I’ve forgotten about the Greek pharaohs. Yeah, it makes sense Egypt was by then very different.

Hmm, do you think those pagans worshiped the Greek pantheon or the ancient Egyptian one?

Wow, I’ve heard an excerpt of Coptic language on youtube (obviously, I don’t know how accurate that is) but it sounds to me a lot like Arabic. So in Constantinople people spoke Coptic? Or did it only exist in Egypt?

I wonder if the language was actively pursued to extinction.

Thanks for telling me about this, I think I might actually use it somewhere :slight_smile:

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Not really sure about the Egyptians , but for the Eastern Europes… someone told me , they are many who revert back to their old religions secretly, even quite many in the British Isles revert back to the praying of Nature ( he assured everyone in that forum he is one of them) :-):sweat_smile:

For him… it is too generalised and “not appropriate” to refer all old religions as Paganism :-):stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

By the way, when we talk about Roman Empire… do we include Byzantine , the East Holy Roman Empire ? Which outlast the Original or west Holy Roman Empire…

I suppose if we include the Byzantine , then the Roman influence in your timeline still exist :slight_smile:

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Hmm, is that person you, Eric, by any chance? :yum:

Yes. I don’t know how to link individual posts, but I’ve discussed it with Jackel on post 102, if you wish to read it.

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