There
Was
No
Power
Struggle
Thing
In
My
Game.
No
One
Mentioned
Any
Powers
Or
Struggles
Ever.
Discussion of who's smart or dumb aside, let's focus on the game; I don't think you're retarded just because you played AoD a certain way and didn't immediately fall in love with it. AoD is pretty unique, so it's unsurprising that if somebody picks it up without warning they'll run into issues. It's been a while since I played a loremaster and left Maadoran immediately after Antidas tells you to find the temple, so I decided to refresh my memory and see if the power struggle is mentioned; here's what I found:
The game indicates early on that House Daratan is a fallen power that can barely maintain its hold on the guilds.
Dellar tells you that House Aurelian is moving into a mine, and that they might want to attack Teron.
Depending on how you complete the House Aurelian mission, Dellar remarks that House Aurelian is competing with House Daratan.
When you complete the mine & bandit camp missions, Lord Antidas tells you that his dream is to rise above the petty power-struggles in Teron and rebuild the empire. He specifically says House Aurelian opposes his efforts and wants technology to be buried.
Anyway, that's not much information about the nature of the struggles, so I can appreciate where you're coming from. It must have seemed jarring to suddenly have the game give several pages of detail about power struggles in Teron that involved people you never met. That's one of the unique aspects of AoD, the world doesn't depend on you. What's the remedy? Make a new character and meet more people, or follow Feng's advice and speak with the guilds before leaving.
I think the problem you encountered could be solved, though, if Feng's dialogue is slightly adjusted. Right now, Feng automatically prompts you to go to Antidas and give him the fake ring, and then Antidas tells you to go to Maadoran and investigate the temple. Feng only tells you to apply to the guilds if you ask him certain questions. Therefore, if a player doesn't talk to Feng too much, he will go to Dellar and Antidas, and then Antidas will direct them to Maadoran; if they do as Antidas commands, then you will miss the struggles in Teron.
If Feng says something when he sends you to take the objects to House Daratan, this issue will be resolved. Feng could say something about how House Daratan loves trinkets, but that the fate of a loremaster isn't determined by the rise and fall of noble houses. Then, Feng could tell the player to become familiar with the guilds, too; that way the player is automatically prompted to do more than just talk to House Daratan and go to Maadoran. Perhaps Antidas could say something like "You go find the temple, and I will continue to defend my family name against the encroachments of House Aurelian and the guilds", indicating explicitly that Antidas is engaged in his own struggles and that he might not succeed.
Anyway, the issue only arises as a Loremaster, Grifter, and Drifter. Grifter and Drifters also have to specifically select a dialogue option to be told to go check out the guilds. This wouldn't happen as a Praetor, Assassin, Thief, Mercenary, Merchant, because people who follow those paths are automatically told to speak with factions that deeply embroil the player in the Teron power struggle.
Honestly, though, I don't even know if this should be changed at all. I mean, if you literally fail to ask your mentor about what work you can find, and then you do not explore the town at all, and then just immediately hop on the trail to Maadoran, then so be it. The game is meant to be replayed, anyway.
So, what makes it worth the replay? Here goes:
- Replays don't take forever; as pointed out above, AoD is focused on content. You go directly from point to point, choice to choice; trash mobs have been taken out, and there's little if any filler to waste your time clicking around. Put in 45 minutes as a mercenary and you'll have a totally new story in Teron that has little if any point of contact with your loremaster.
- Although it's a fictional world, it's also very much rooted in the real world. It's an eclectic mix of human history and philosophy, and it's all recognizable and surprisingly deep at times. For example, when I was playing for this post, I spoke to Feng and he said that in Zhin man is considered naturally evil but he can be made good through law and order. Zhin is presumably China (Qin), and Feng looks Chinese; that quote about humans being evil by nature but elevated by law sounds like the philosopher XunZi. Familiarity is precious and inviting, and it lets the older, less tolerant crowd accept the fiction and fantastic. Familiarity is why it's so easy to play the old classics, but I find it near impossible to pick up a recent game like D:OS and suffer through the new lore and fictional world.
- The world is deep, but multi-faceted. If you want to play as a loremaster and explore other-worldly mysteries, you can do that and avoid the politics and realities of human society. If you want to play as a political creature and lock away technology and the divine, you can do that, too. It's not a game where you have to start at one point, and reach a single conclusion, completing a narrow series of missions for a set faction.
For the above reasons, it's easy to replay, the replays are wildly different, and the world itself is easy to access and has enough depth that you will find it engrossing and genuinely want to learn more about it.
Possible typos/bugs:
When you pass the Charisma check, Antidas says his house name comes from the battle of Dar Attan. He says the emperor gave his house the name "Darattan", but everywhere else it's spelt "Daratan". Presumably Antidas should say that he got the name "Daratan" from the battle "Dar Attan", because "Darattan" does not appear anywhere else.
When you swear fealty to House Daratan and have a high reputation with Daratan, should you be able to tell the guards at the gate to let the travelling villagers in to Teron? Admittedly, you're not actually a Praetor, so if popularity with Daratan is not enough then I understand. When you play as a Praetor you can tell the guards to let them through if your House Daratan reputation is high enough.