The Seven Heirs of Ophaesia: Part One (WIP)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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1983

I’m in favour of shorter updates because:

  1. It means getting new content sooner. :sweat_smile:
  2. If there’s something wrong storywise (which I doubt there’ll be, but you never know) it’ll be caught in the early stages.

In the end, however, you should do whatever works for you.

Does the MC’s appearance change the position of the Maeliah estate?

Wow, they have a very sinister reputation. :smiling_imp:Is this a recent development (at one point it’s mentioned that Ysonia used to be the favorite of the court) or has this been a thing for a while?

How do you pronounce Maeliah? I’ve been using “ay”, but it just occurred to me that it might be an “ae” sound. :sweat_smile:

1 Like
1984

It is totally possible. A male MC’s relationship with Nethica is one of the things I’m most excited to write, especially with all the different ways it can develop.

There are a lot of politics at play in Seven Heirs, so of course there will be plenty of chances for your MC to get involved in politics themselves, with various possible goals.

@Nomad33810 A lot of your ideas are scenes that will happen in chapter two! :blush:

I plan on including a changelog in the first post so people know what’s been updated and when. Something like:

August 1, 2018:
  - Added zombies to chapter one.
  - Skipped chapter two and just posted chapter three.
  - Replaced Ysonia with an unnervingly large bird.
August 31, 2022:
  - Finally uploaded chapter two.

All of this will be in chapter two! Chapter two allows for a lot of fleshing out of your character. Chapter one, for the most part, just introduces the setting and some of the major players.

I considered that, but I decided, for the sake of maps, it doesn’t. The Maeliahs’ ancestral seat, the Elenthene Palace in Elentha, is in that valley that’s considered Southern Ophaesia. It does change their ancestry a little bit, though; darker-skinned MCs will have stronger Dharsani blood, while lighter-skinned MCs will have more Merathene origins.

It’s not necessarily “sinister.”

The Maeliahs have always been very insular, which is part of why they’ve been around for so long. Because they inter-marry so much, they don’t bring in a lot of new blood, which means they also don’t bring in a lot of new worldviews and traditions. While Ophaesia has changed and developed, the Maeliahs, for the most part, haven’t. This sets them apart from other Houses and the general public, which they like and encourage as it fuels their sense of superiority, which further serves to separate them. They have a culture unto themselves and an inflexible sense of identity that’s built around being discrete and distinct; all of it makes them come off as a mysterious and impenetrable force, and it’s been this way for centuries.

The wiki actually has pronunciations on every page with a “foreign” name, to make everyone’s lives easier, but since that’s not public yet…

LIST OF PRONUNCIATIONS
  • Maeliah: MAY-lee-uh
  • Dahlas: DAH-luhs
  • Verathae: VAIR-uh-thay
  • Ophaesia: oh-FAY-shuh or uh-FAY-shuh (totally interchangeable)
  • Eraven: AIR-uh-vihn
  • Ysonia: ee-SOHN-yuh
  • Alapharen: ah-luh-FAIR-rehn
  • Neraven: NAIR-uh-vihn
  • Keralith: KAIR-uh-lith
  • Ilythis: IHL-luh-thihs
  • Olarion: oh-LAHR-ree-ehn
  • Terrisen: TAIR-uh-sehn
  • Baelira: bay-LEER-uh
  • Secrona: seh-CROH-nuh
  • Phylia: fih-LEE-uh
  • Atheron: uh-THAIR-rehn
  • Jasiphae: JAH-sih-fay
  • Nethica: NEH-thih-kuh
  • Sebriel: SEH-bree-ehl
  • Iseriah: ih-SAIR-ree-uh
  • Senetha: SIHN-nuh-thuh
  • Iphorah: ih-FOR-uh
  • Vesperion: veh-SPAIR-ree-ehn
  • Kaedra: KAY-druh
  • Kyrisen: KEER-rih-sehn
  • Kosphoren: kahs-FOR-rehn
  • Tepharon: TEH-fuh-rahn
  • Myteus: MIH-tee-uhs
  • Naphenia: nuh-FIH-nee-uh
  • Monathalen: mah-nuh-THAH-lehn

The general rule is that “ae” is pronounced “ay” and “er” is pronounced “air.” BTW, if you look at the RO section of the list, you’ll find Pythia’s new name – Iphorah – and the name of the new RO, Vesperion. :eyes:

Also, I will probably add a poll about the updates so everyone can just quickly and easily let me know which they prefer.

15 Likes
1985
I'm sorry I am not sorry

ysonia

7 Likes
1986

omg… She’s magnificent…

4 Likes
1987

That is an excellent idea

1988

I have been considering changing the way I do updates. I previously stated that I would only update when a chapter is completely finished, but I now think that perhaps I should do smaller, more frequent updates.

These smaller updates would include scenes and edits (minor and major), not entire chapters, and I’d edit the first post so there’s a changelog of what has been added and revised. I think doing these smaller updates would help keep me motivated, as well as keep readers interested, but the scenes could end at odd points and they may be subject to extreme edits later on if I find I need to rewrite or cut them for the sake of the story.

Ultimately, how I do updates affects you guys the most, so I want to know which you would prefer.

Poll: When should I post updates?

  • When a scene is added. (A lot more updates, less content per update.)
  • When a full chapter is complete. (Fewer updates, more content per update.)

0 voters

4 Likes
1989

I have another important question - when I take the throne. Can I make it golden or constructed from the blades of my foes?

I’m asking for a friend.

7 Likes
1990

When a scene is added.

I’d also love to see a moment while the MC is still in the nursery where a servant is being rude to them and Ysonia happens to come for a visit.

3 Likes
1991

I would say that you should do whichever feels better for you, really. :man_shrugging:

4 Likes
1992

If you personally prefer smaller updates then go for it! Do what you think is beneficial :smile:

3 Likes
1993

Another fun scene idea could be the MC overhearing the servants talk about the prior queen and how much of a saint she was.

2 Likes
1994

Seeing that motivation is a factor, this is my suggestion:

  1. Have this thread for the public: update only chapters - your feedback will be better this way for most casuals.

  2. Have a private thread where you invite a few fanatics that you introduce to the scene updates. These are the testers that you find that can deal with the more raw material and can act as a control group as you put together the major update.

Many authors use this method and it seems to work out well for them. Jacic and Maylinryder both have done so as have others I’m not taking off the top of my head.

This way, you can keep your motivation going with more contact with a core group and get the bigger feedback pool here in the public thread.

22 Likes
1995

To your knowledge, would there happen to be a specific number (or range) of people that would make for a good private tester group?

3 Likes
1996

It depends on the author and her abilities. Stupid answer, I know.

5-10 would be the range I would shoot for to begin with - knowing you will have some people drop out for whatever reason, I’d try to keep a list of alternatives as well.

Some authors also have outside testing drawn from TUMBLR and other social media contacts and some authors even have “reading groups” and such to use. Eric Moser is a master of doing things on social media - I think he even has a Patreon (sp) level that he allows some advance testing on.

I see Rurri and others use these various means as well. Serephin is great using Tumblr.

12 Likes
1997

That’s not a stupid answer at all, it was very informative. Thank you.

I figured it would be dependent on the author but as with all things in life, it’d be way easier if there was a magic number. :sweat_smile:

Hmm, I have more questions, but I believe it would be more helpful if this were a separate topic.

Thank you again for the answer!

4 Likes
1998

I t was a great question really. This is my personal experience
It depends entirely on how author handle feedback and if he/she/they wants a interaction between testers or not. Some authors prefer a group of testers but handle a post or mail with each one separately. others prefer groups of testers that talking each other and discuss about the content etc.
Others read your feedback and doesn’t tell you a word back so you only wonder if you were useful or not . Others get terrible offended by your feedback and call you mean stuff (it happens very rarely)

But that’s my own personal experience and my feedback is probably the most controversial feedback from the forum. Even if I really grateful for it due I made very good friends with very talented people

4 Likes
1999

I vastly prefer this method, but seeing as how I’m not going to be an author any time soon it is also moot. As a tester I prefer either this one or this one:

2 Likes
2001

Nooo here goes my rival romance (my female mc wanted to be a paladin and resented him a little),but if it’s for the best ( it would only be fair to have a gay characters to balance out and because representation, but not gonna lie I wish it wasn’t this one ) go ahead, I liked the premise of your story and I’m not one for medieval fantasy, it looks really interesting, especially the characters(I read all the comments, judge me lol) looking forward to this (sorry if this doesn’t make sense English is not my first language)

1 Like
2002

The crown is already golden – Ophaesians love their gold – but there is an unfortunate lack of blades. I’m thinking I’ll add an option to remedy this – maybe also let you douse it in the blood of your enemies. The court may call you a barbarian, but they’ll certainly think twice before they tell you so.

That’s a really great suggestion, actually. The poll currently is in favor of full-chapter updates (which I’m quite surprised by!), and if that holds true for another day or so, this is probably what I’ll do. I currently don’t have anyone to read through what I’ve written or discuss ideas with, so having a group of alpha testers would be a major help.

I definitely want to see if I can find some people outside the COG forums to bring in to read through the game. I’m not very active on social media at the moment, but I’ve been meaning to get back into in a professional capacity to properly establish my brand as an author. I suppose I ought to actually get around to doing this.

@mistylavenda was a fan of Senetha as well, but I talked to her about the new RO – Vesperion – and she seems to like him all right, so I hope you will too. I haven’t decided whether or not I will make Senetha gay, but right now it seems highly likely that I will.

Vesperion is quite different from Senetha, but there are a few similarities – they’re both fairly reserved – and I hope that he will, in a way, make up for Senetha being gay, if that’s the route I go.

9 Likes
2003

I have a question about romances. You seem thankfully not follow the trend that to romance someone you have to say yes men to everything and share absolutely all same goals . But of course We should be able to effectively change certain ways in our ro. For instance my character is ruthless and manipulative trying to take the throne. I mean if x romance her… I suppose they can’t be nuns of virtue romancing a bloody princess

3 Likes