Hi everyone! I’m happy to announce I’ve updated the demo to include Chapter 3.
For the fine people who already played chapters 1 and 2, I also have a build of chapter 3 only, with a quick character generator, at the following link: Chapter 3.
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Well…
“I know it is dangerous for you to say yes, in front of many people. That is well. We want you to stay friendly with the other chieftains. Go to their meetings. Learn their plans. If you want to fight for us, come to us when you can. You know where.”
After something like that the logic to work undercover for the Romans falls apart. It would just take a traitor among the onlookers and at the first chiefs meeting I would be stabbed to death.
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I’ll think about rewording it. The implication I was going for here is that Africanus is going around saying this to every chieftain he encounters. There will even be a discussion in Chapter 4 with another Leinster chieftain about his offer.
But the Irish coalition can’t cut loose everyone that Africanus has approached, so everyone is careful about accusations.
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Quick update in response to some messages I’ve received:
Chapter 4 is still in the works. It’s been a brutal couple of months for me personally: my day job has been more stressful than usual, I’m dealing with mice in my home, and a second covid wave hit Ontario, which has made childcare a lot more complicated.
On a more technical note, I’ve hit the point in the story where the early exposition is complete, which allows me to broaden the decision tree and give players more room to explore. This is the type of gameplay I prefer and have always dreamed of writing, but it also takes much more work to make the same amount of playthrough time.
Anyway, I’m hoping to have a draft of Chapter 4 to Mary by mid-November, and have it edited and ready to post by early December.
Thanks for your interest and patience! I hope everyone gets to enjoy Samhain this weekend the traditional way: with cups of mead and temporary freedom from social, moral, and physical laws.
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@leewardvessel It would be nice if we could tell Deaglan to shut his trap during the negotiation with Africanis. I’m trying to get as much info as I can and he’s like, “You would betray our people?!” No dumbass I’m getting to know my enemy so I can use that to fight back. The insubordination from him is making us look weak in front of our enemy.
Edit: Good luck. Mice are crafty little f*ckers.
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I can do that!
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Can’t wait! I’m having my own Hosted Game within the ‘Clans of Éire’ series and haven’t seen any others set in Ireland. Looking forward to reading it!
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I’ll check it out!
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Well this is exceedingly fun. I found no bugs or spelling errors, so nice job.Very sad though, all that work to make the high king like you and then… bleh. Fatality.
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Update here. Chapter 4 still needs a lot of work. On the plus side, it’s shaping up to be the largest chapter yet, around 20,000 words or more! I’m looking to post it in early January now. Sorry about the delay.
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Sorry all, I’m still working on Chapter 4. I have some excuses, some personal, some covid-related, but bottom line, it’s taking awhile.
I tried to negotiate with my day job to work fewer hours, which didn’t work out. Now, I’m trying to rearrange other parts of my life. I also am reading a book on overcoming perfectionism! So yeah, I’m trying out different angles to get this done, and I’m hoping to get the chapter out soon.
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Life comes first. We get free entertainment.
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There is no need to rush.
Life comes first.
…and will MC Marry?
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There is no need to rush.
Life comes first.
…and will MC Marry?
I’ve thought a lot and had a few discussions with my editor about this. I feel it might take readers out of the historical setting to have a non-patriarchal, non-hetero institution of marriage in the story. But, I also don’t want to prioritize hetero pairings by giving them a marriage option that same-sex pairings don’t have.
So, right now, my plan is to only have the option to marry Enda, the enby royal. They are the most politically advantageous person to marry, and readers can picture the gender dynamics in whatever way they choose. Every other pairing can be romantic and/or sexual, but does not lead to marriage.
But I’m open to input. While I’m trying to maintain a high level of historical accuracy so that the setting is immersive, I know that it’s not fun for people to be reminded of homophobia or heteronormativity when they’re just trying to play a game. So, if you have strong feelings on this, let me know!
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What if we take the “help the Romans” path? I don’t think Enda would switch sides. Perhaps another possible marriage between MC and some other noble who sided with them / some opportunistic Roman rich guy’s family might be the way to go if we take this path.
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Maybe! Another major nonbinary character would probably be a good addition. Although I promise you I’ve thought through some interesting relationship dynamics if you take Rome’s side!
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I would actually take this opportunity to explore the common Roman practice of “forcing allies” to their side with this situation.
This is just my perspective, but being an “alternative timeline branch” world with all factions and forces cut off from the historical sources of power and morality, this presents you with a way to create new and alternative (part celt-mythological) based sources of power and morality.
Celtic Christendom was among the last to adapt to and adhere to such tenants as celibacy… this is the perfect vehicle to explore what might have been different in the realm of marriage and gender norms in your world.
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Yeah. It actually is possible for Enda to switch sides. They… go through some stuff.
Hmm… yes. I prefer to bend rather than break historical precedent, but I’m thinking there is space for gender norms to change as a result of the MC’s actions.
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Ireland and the Roman empire? I’m going to play this.
Or, without abandoning so much “historical realism”, you could just gloss over the marriage part.
Marriage as we intend it today (a law’s matter/a formal one) wasn’t perceived so in western Europe until early medieval times, when we have documents of many bishops lamenting that the commoners lived like husband and wife without having performed the proper rites.
Of course, on the contrary, the upper classes (and our protagonist is a chieftain), during all ages took particular care in formally recognising their own marriages.
So, no historical realism with gay marriage and no gay marriage with historical realism.
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