How do I throw my axe at the noble during the Dinner
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In the current demo you have to (a) have the ax equipped (of course) and (b) be under 40% merciful. Thanks for bringing it up though because I recently decided against doing too many personality-gated choices this early in the game.
So for this coming week’s Patreon update, that should be available for all ax-wielding heirs AND all heirs should be able to reject their betrothed at the dance.
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thanks
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For June’s Patreon update I:
- redid the purple smoke scene so it’s a bit more grounded
- finished revising speeches
- updated the stats screen with dynamic flavour text
- removed personality barriers for throwing your ax across the room and asking someone else to dance
- added a couple little scenes where Justin, Connor, or Nora might comment on your outfit
- made some small changes to the Ch 2 beginning to address player feedback and improve clarity
- added new lore and character details to Ch 1 & 2 including on option to decide your stance towards Thestria’s main religion
- added almost 2k words of flavour text options depending on what name you choose for your MC
These changes should be available on the public demo on July 10, which is also when I might update the Patreon demo next. I may wait another month though on this one depending on how long it takes to finish drafting out the skeleton code for Chapter 3.
As always, I’ll keep you all posted in the newsletter.
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I enjoyed the demo. I do wish there was a bit more interactivity—by this I mean there are many times I’m pressing Next without making a choice.
The moral complexity of ruling a kingdom was lovely. I hope I can do a slowburn romance with Nora. I replayed the speech part many times to see the various reactions!
I didn’t see the repeat choice option, but I also didn’t realize how to turn it on until Chapter 2. So I can’t say if I enjoyed it or not.
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I have been feeling this a little on my end, so it’s good to have confirmed on the reader end. I’ll aim to have more choices in Ch 3 and who knows, maybe down the road I’ll add some more earlier on too (though I don’t want to get stuck in endless revisions either).
I’ve been worried lately that some of the romance plots have been moving a little too fast but I don’t see why that one in particular couldn’t be played a bit slower. Slowburns are my favourite so I’d really like it to land.
It seems most people like it so far so I might update the demo to prompt players to turn it on rather than have it hidden in the stats screen.
Thanks for playing and sharing your thoughts 
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Hmmm I was thinking…would there be an RO from the rebellion? Because I have a weird feeling Mirabel is in the rebellion…thats the secret she has been hiding lol
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You know I still daydream from time to time about turning the rebel leader into an RO but it’s an impulse I have (thus far) been actively repressing for the sake of keeping the story manageable. I can’t guarantee I will always repress that impulse, however.
Hey now if you’re trying to get me to spill game secrets it’s not working 
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No no its fine the current ROs are fine and perfectly diverse I enjoy them just thought I finally knew Mirabel secret.
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Chapter 3 has officially begun!
The first little bit of Chapter 3 (~7k words) is now available for subscribers while all of the newly revised Chapter 2 is now up on the public demo.
For the public CoG Demo I:
- redid the purple smoke scene so it’s a bit more grounded
- finished revising speeches
- updated the stats screen with dynamic flavour text
- removed personality barriers for throwing your ax across the room and asking someone else to dance
- added a couple little scenes where Justin, Connor, or Nora might comment on your outfit
- made some small changes to the Ch 2 beginning to address player feedback and improve clarity
- added new lore and character details to Ch 1 & 2 including on option to decide your stance towards Thestria’s main religion
- added almost 2k words of flavour text options depending on what name you choose for your MC
- made the code a little less spoilerish and now publicly available for code divers
Play the Patreon demo to:
- nurse a hangover or enjoy a calm, cozy morning after a hard day
- choose the style of your chambers (opulent, natural, cheerful, dark, or exotic)
- learn what kind of impression you made on your first day
- find out what Garrett or Mirabel discovered during the banquet
- and possibly start facing some repercussions for your actions
This update should be available on the public demo August 7, and the next Patreon update is scheduled for August 14.
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I also have a question in terms of geopolitics how strong is our nations army (and economy) in terms of in the region ranking? Are there any geopolitics such as a rival we should keep an eye on or is it that Grimwald wants an alliance for protection? Is there any real world inspiration that you took? Finally can I depend on the army to destroy a rebellion and a civil war against my nobles anytime? Enjoyed the update very much! Cant wait for the next chapter!
Small typos:
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After picking that my mother “Knew how to demand obedience, even though she wasn’t physically strong.” with 0 in athletics, the athletics stat wrapped back around to maximum. I haven’t hit any checks for it yet so I don’t know if the bug is in the display or in the stats.
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Worldbuilding is also a WIP so things could change, but currently Thestria is the military powerhouse of the region while Grimwald is the economic one (though Thestria’s economy isn’t too bad, it’s just not nearly as noteable).
Vannia to the south, which is currently a vassal of Thestria’s, is a long enemy of Thestria. They have not been allowed a military since being conquered by Thestria but you bet they hate Thestria’s guts and would aid any enemy of Thestria’s if they could get away with it.
I’m still working on the Palelands to the north (name might change) but they aren’t super friendly with Thestria, though not outright antagonistic, and separated by mountains and a river so they are not an immediate threat but things could escalate.
There’s also now some reference in the demo to the Sallanists to the southeast, who recently conquered another friendly empire (Aurentium) and are rapidly spreading westward. There are significant geographic barriers before they reach Thestria so they are not an immediate threat but you bet they’d conquer Thestria if they could.
Osdric is famous for defeating hordes of barbarians to the East, but he’s building a wall over there so it kinda makes some people wonder if there’s still a threat out there that he hasn’t talked much about. This is something your MC might recall in Chapter 2.
Chapter 3 will include a meeting with Osdric where you can learn a lot more about the various threats that your nation faces.
An alliance with Grimwald would provide both nations with valuable trade routes, and also a degree of protection. The two nations have historically shared similar values, including a religion, and they have both fought together in the past against mutual enemies.
100%. In fact I don’t even know where to start with real world inspo because so much of the Thestrian world borrows heavily from the real one, though maybe not always in expected ways. I don’t usually have specific historical people or events in mind (with the exception of some of the lore characters like Aurelius) but I do take inspiration from general historical themes and patterns, mostly from 15th century Eastern and Western Europe but also from elsewhere.
Even the magical elements are mostly ripped from real historical understandings of what we call the fantastical. As far as I understand, pre-moderns had no problem talking about the fae, or dragons, or witches as though they were real and had real power. Likewise in Thestria, these things are very much real.
That will really depend on your playthrough! Thestria has a decent military but with so many threats cropping up, both internal and external, it’s starting to get stretched thin. Your best bet for having a strong military defense against the rebels and nobles will probably be to side with Osdric and do what you can to secure his throne.
Glad your’e enjoying it, thanks for playing! And for finding the typo, it’s fixed now
Thanks for pointing this out, it looks like it’s an error in the display. I fixed it for coming updates but in the meantime it shouldn’t affect gameplay.
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This is just a thought, but I wonder if you might consider that in my opinion it doesn’t seem quite realistic that even the heir of a known tyrant king would be able to get away with much rebellion at all, let alone publicly speaking against them. Judging by what I’ve learned from watching historical movies and Game of Thrones, to me it seems a little more realistic that the heir would have extensive training in, and focus by necessity on, influencing people with subtlety and stealth behind the scenes. They might use tactics like double meanings, innuendo, and leading questions/statements to get people to arrive at the conclusion the heir wanted and yet think it was all their own idea. In my humble opinion, it might be the best strategy for the heir to appear to be harmless to everyone including their father–and thereby take him by surprise eventually and make any rebellion easier. I am not at all saying they shouldn’t do ally gathering behind the scenes and work to sway public opinion in their favor still–in my opinion that is absolutely necessary with a tyrant king on the throne. They would just have to keep it secret and hidden for their own physical safety if nothing else. Again, this is all my own opinion, and please feel free to make use of it or discard it as you wish!
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This is probably true, and it’s possible I made the wrong decision in the speech scene, but I have had requests to give players the opportunity to be pretty bold towards Osdric. It’s a hard line to walk because I do think it makes sense to offer this choice to players, but at the same time I can’t punish players too much early in the game.
Now that I think of it though, it might be fun to include some game overs (with warnings and checkpoints beforehand) for especially radical choices. I’ve been (very slowly) playing through Walls of Naturn and that game does that so well, it might be fun to incorporate some of that in IKH.
Unlikely to see that in Chapter 2 any time soon though, as I’m moving on to that chapter for now.
I will say though: there are repercussions to making Osdric mad in Chapter 2, and they’ve started showing up already in Chapter 3 (Patreon only for a few more weeks).
This is true but alas I am no GRRM and my efforts in this area will not match his 
I have been working on getting better with both dialogue and intrigue but it’s definitely not where I’d like it to be. I did try to do this for one of the speeches too, where you have the chance to try to undermine Osdric subtly, but if you don’t have the right stats this is going to backfire in your fire.
If you (or anyone else) has specific suggests for ways an MC could be a bit more manipulative in a specific moment, feel free to share and I’ll take it into consideration!
You’re not the first to want this for your MC I want to include multiple ways of allowing MCs to pursue their goals, as I know not everyone likes being sneaky and manipulative, but I will say there will be an advantage to pretending you like Osdric and backstabbing him later.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Very good points have been made, but I also think the king being pretty much isolated at this point would make him more willing to work with the only person that could potentially be on his side of things… but a tyrant is a tyrant. Anyway, I love the game as it currently stands though. Keep up the great work!
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Yeah there are character and plot reasons too why he might be a bit more lenient than other tyrants with his heir, which should become clearer as the game progresses thanks for the kind words!
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I believe everyone who gains power is a tyrant. Every King wants control and sends his people to war. And he had to be the tyrant because he isnt royal blood meaning there was no legitimacy to his rule and he had to have a powerful military backing him to keep the kingdom and him safe. You cant decline the call for war, its not an offer. Its natural.
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