I’ve been meaning to ask, how old is the PC in the intro? Does it vary by origin?
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I don’t really have a specific age in mind, but age range would be 17-25. It won’t be directly mentioned so feel free to headcanon your mc’s age.
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So, I have read this and what not and also people’s opinions. So, with the Shah we know he has trauma can’t blame him for that because of what we have been told. Also, can understand if he doesn’t want to be that type either and just rather have one “true wife”. But the thing being with the children/kids on the reason why he doesn’t also want them is because of his wife Shahbanu Yaris? From what I have read it sounds like she’s a problem and our Shah wants nothing to do with her. From what I seen the marriage was just for empire, but they also got married young. But here the thing did she rape him? Is that why he doesn’t also want part of the harem?
since you can learn fire magic if you are a good person, what does joining the chaos cult get you, ice magic?
Also, we don’t really know WHAT she’s done, but it sounds like he thinks she’s ruthless. If that’s the case, I could see him not wanting kids and/or relationships with the consorts because he thinks his first wife is absolutely unhinged and would kill anyone who she believes threatens her position (I’m assuming being the first wife means she’s the most powerful, especially since the heir discussion specifically involved having an heir WITH HER in that snippet we saw). If that’s the case, it presents the issue of having to find a way to oust the first wife - or at least significantly reduce the threat she can pose - before having heirs
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Oh, I totally agree. Because I feel like she is going to be a problem. Because I can see him not wanting kids especially if she is around. Since she might kill them and that would hurt him a lot since they would be part of him and be his kids.
Like with my character I’m playing them pretty much on the route as the slave. So, she scared and what not and is shy. Because I want to play my person as someone who doesn’t want part of this. But depending on what happens down the road she might have to change to get what she needs. Like I don’t want my person to hurt people and what not
Its a fire thing and has no bearing on if your good person or not.
I mean the author stated it as literally good vs evil, with fire on the good side, I mean I guess you can pretend to be a good person to learn fire magic but not sure how that’s gonna work
But hey, after seeing my whole family killed, the idea of killing everyone sounds pretty good
Will we be able to relate to Kaz’s traumas as the Captive MC? His family was killed, our family was killed, we should talk about that.
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Same with Persa!
prologue_doors line 574: increasing indent not allowed, expected 8 was 1
came across this in some part i close currtains going in to bed
first time i get bathed at the harem at the start
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It gets you CONCENTRATED EVIL!
I’ll bet another creator on here would be willing to help out with these issues.
Kaz is deeply traumatized by the purge that killed his siblings orchestrated by his father’s jealous harem wives/concubines. Losing them in such a way made him guarded, distant, and reluctant to let others get too close out of fear of losing them too. It also instilled in him a distrust and resentment towards the corrupt politics and power plays within the harem, and on a more personal note he’s also seen how his mother was treated and the toll “playing the game” took on her. All in all to him the harem and all its connotations is just a… no
on his relationship with Yaris...
His marriage to Yaris was arranged as a political alliance. And rom the start, Yaris saw her marriage to the 17 yo Crown Prince as an opportunity to mold and control him to serve her own ambitions for power. She mainly did that through sex at the and she used it establish her influence over him. This obviously tainted Kaz’s first significant sexual experiences and he’s come to associate it with being controlled/losing control (his relationship with mc actually serves as a foil for this). Yaris consistently used seduction, and withholding of intimacy as tools to assert her will over Kaz, making their sexual relationship inherently transactional.
However, Kaz was more perceptive and willful than Yaris anticipated. Even as he indulged some of her power plays initially, he was studying her methods and biding his time to assert his own independence when he took the throne.
Once Kaz became Shah, the balance of power shifted. He refused to be the subservient puppet Yaris wanted, instead meeting her as an equally cunning and manipulative partner unwilling to be controlled. And she really hated that. She realized the young man she could once wrap around her finger had become an equally Machiavellian spouse who refused to be controlled. More and more, their sexual encounters were more about seeking gratification and petty vengeance through dominating and debasing one another under the pretenses of intimacy.
In essence, Kaz associates sexuality with cruelty, subjugation, and politics rather than any sense of love or willing partnership. His warped relationship with Yaris stripped away any idealism he may have had about such matters at an early age.
No magic for cultists, I’m afraid. The “good guys” and the religion they follow (the main religion of the empire) are based on zoroastrianism. In zoroastrianism, fire is seen as the supreme symbol of purity, and sacred fires are maintained in fire temples which represent the light of Ahura Mazda, so there is some narrative consistency there. So no magic for the cultists, however you can commit ritual human sacrifice. 
a brief rant about zoroastrianism and it's role in the story.
At its core, Zoroastrianism emphasizes a never-ending battle between good and evil — a contest between the religion’s God, Ahura Mazda, and an evil spirit, Ahriman.
Believers have the freedom to make good or bad choices. Zoroaster, the founder of think good thoughts, say good words and do good deeds. Good deeds tilts the balance of the world toward Ahura Mazda and bad deeds tilt the balance of the world to Ahriman.
In this book there is a cult that worships Ahriman. They want to summon Zahhak, a major antagonist in Zoroastrianism and Persian mythology. He was a Persian king who ruled with the aid of demons and had snakes growing from his shoulders, which he sated by feeding them two people each day. He ruled for several centuries until he was finally defeated and deposed by the hero Fereydun. However, he will return at the end of time to ravage the world. Zahhak is an antagonist in two key Zoroastrian texts, the Avesta and the Shahnameh. Extra mythology made a cool video on it.
Anyway, how it relates to the story. This cult wants to bring zahhak to ravage the world and bring chaos so powerful that the balance of the world is titled towards Ahriman permanently. There are some in court and even the harem that are associated with the cult and carry out evil deeds and human sacrifices.
Yes you can bond with Kaz over your dead families (or the stress of being groomed for the crown if royal!mc) and with Persa over the genocide of your people.
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Definitely into this I can’t wait to play more. Here’s some questions I have.
Can we romance both the shah and… I’m sorry I forgot the name of the other guy, can we romance both of them of them and wether it’s intentional or not turn them against each other?
If we are doing the princess route can we have a secret correspondence with our father telling him the weak spots of the palace, the chinks in the armor of the army and which people in the royal court can be swayed to our side? And if we do all of this just right we can take over?
Can we choose a body type? Skinny, muscular, curvy?
Regarding all the baby talk I personally don’t mind and in fact think it can bring a lot of interesting stories and plots if he has one child with one of his wives I do think it would have to be a girl so the kid can’t be an heir and so the people who don’t like the kid storyline we can choose how much we interact with the kid, I also think it would be interesting if one of his wives or concubines were pregnant but no matter what the kid dies when it’s born either as a still born or… If you want to be this kind of person our MC could poison the person’s food to guarantee the child isn’t born. 
Obviously do what you want to do this last part is just a suggestion.
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so excited for this
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Also, I just noticed - In the beginning, when you choose your background/origin, ‘desert’ is typo’s as ‘dessert’.
There’s also ‘bark-ridered’, which I assume is supposed to be ‘dark-ridered’.
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found this error " prologue_doors line 574: increasing indent not allowed, expected 8 was 12 "
when i choose : “You creep into your bed and draw the curtains closed, hoping that they’ll muffle the crying.”
love the demo so far and the already many differences in choices and possibilities
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I’m loving the lush prose and the building story. I adore a good intrigue-heavy story, and I’m ready to meet the thorns behind the beautiful harem roses.
About the children dilemma - I think having a childless Shah is better for the story because it better explains the ruthlessness of the harem. Whoever gets to our man first will have the heir. It makes this a race. Not to mention it fits with the backstory of a traumatized survivor of a brutal culling.
As a final note on errors, have you seen a strange error upon dealing with a crying bedmate? It seems to be regarding line 574. I don’t think anyone has brought that one up yet.
Just kidding!
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I also really love the prose I’ve seen some complaints saying it’s too wordy but I totally disagree.
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