[LP CYOA] Epic

B.

A goes way too far, C is unlikely to work unless we give a decent show of force (which we haven't thus far) and D will just piss off the Gutians and Assyrians alike.

 

Update 3.9

and update 3.10

I'm starting to see some dots here, which I hope are not hallucinations, that I'll go ahead and connect. Obviously speculation.

Naram is religiously devoted to the Masters, and just because the voices are making him do this does not change the fact.
He also refers to them as Demons.

The Masters are the "Allfather" figures in the pantheons, as Zeus showed us. I'll just go ahead and assume that had we summoned the master in Egypt, he'd be Amun-Ra.
The Immortals are the "lesser gods" and their "right hands."
The Gieloth are obviously antagonistic against them. It would not surprise me in the least if the Greek pantheon referred to them as Titans.

I'll go ahead and draw parallels with the Bible:
The new Master: God of Abraham.
Naram and subsequent Immortals and their children: Prophet and (Arch)Angels and Saints.
Gieloth: Hell's demons and the chief Gieloth would be Lucifer. They certainly fit the bill: eat humans, massive assholes (If Marduk and the Mayan/Aztec cultures are anything to go by).

Hance: Masters=Creators; Immortals=Enforcers; Gieloth=Rebels.



In conclusion, I'll leave this here: "An apology for the Devil - it must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all of the books." - Samuel Butler.
TL;DR: I think the Gieloth are actually the far better option to the Masters. Hence, if my speculations are true, I'm all for curing them.

 

I'd prefer if the new master was Cthuhlu or Odin rather than the bipolar Abrahamic god. If you must utilize semitic mythology then use El of the Canaanite pantheon. Also stop making connections where there are none. Is Naram Merlin too?

 

Relax. It was a) speculation and b) I used the Bipolar One to just get the general idea across. It's not like I'm expecting everything to be a perfect match. I was simply comparing the themes and trends I see, or think I see.

And no, Naram is not Merlin. Shulgi is. And Naram will be the dragon. And we'll be Mordred. Athena will be Arthur, because this is Kodex. With Sekhenun as Guinevere, also because this is Kodex.

Although I'd prefer Ean to be Cthulhu.

Edit: treave, speaking of Ean becoming Mordred, after we completely go Dark side and go Ghengis Khan for a couple generations, will our "evil" eventually burn out, or we'll remain evil forever with starvation being the only way to return to normalcy? And does he know anything at all about ships and naval combat?
Oh, and how are the Spartans coming along? And the Sacred Band of Thebes, for that matter?
Also, can we split up research between different agents? For instance, Sekehenun does her SCIENCE, someone else does cultural research and Ean focuses on militaries/navies? Or is it going to be the Civ system, one thing at a time?

 

C

 

Okay so as to a light troll for you fellows you do know that artimes and athena both switch places during our talks right I felt that I should tell you guys that because NO ONE caught that during the last update which made me a sad panda but hey you guys did pick A afterall so I decided to edit out when I put that helpful hint in also treave did drop NUMBEROUS hints in the post to the switch even Ean was like wtf y u so mad wisdom bro? And the hunter was like trolol I am deciding the way she acts and the final decisions.

 

Chapter 6.5: The Hidden Hand

The attacks that you led quelled the Gutians. No more further raids were forthcoming, as you exacted punishment on those tribes that had been the most culpable for the raids and Gudersu’s ambush. Though you thought the matter solved, in a matter of months, after you had returned to the capital, the Gutians began acting up again. This time, you made a point of finding out what exactly was causing their discontent. After your scouts had identified the ringleader behind the Gutians, you made a point of leading another raid and capturing him alive. Bringing him back for interrogation, you found that one of Marduk’s former men, Dapimsin, had been the source of your problems. Dapimsin now represented the Hittite Empire, and in recent years he had managed to contact some of his former subordinates who were now working in your government. The Hittites had cautiously opted to stay out of the Aegean war under their old king, but his son, who recently ascended to power, was more aggressive and believed that you were a weak emperor that could only preach of ideals of brotherhood to hold together Marduk’s conquests.

In the mean time, Edem and Mehrune had also returned from the north, with valuable information to share. The last of the free tribes of the north had been united under the banner of Egill’s clan about fifty years ago, and they have made remarkable progress since then despite the poor weather and lands. Their population was small compared to the great cities of the South, but they were an industrious folk and have apparently discovered ways of forging better, more durable iron. Unfortunately, Edem was unable to visit the forges, which were held a sacred site and off limits to those not initiated in the art. As for the Gieloth, there were a few of them holding minor positions, but their machinations to ascend were invariably, mysteriously foiled by some setback or another. Edem also found that the chief adviser of King Egill, a man who is rumoured to be the real power behind the throne and a shaman that has served his clan for many generations, turned out to be just a normal human, albeit one that was intelligent and resourceful – it was his idea to send an emissary to the south, and he was knowledgeable enough about events that were happening in Greece and elsewhere.

***

A. Give the Gutians an ultimatum – cease their misbehavior or be exterminated. You will then launch a war against the Hittites to punish them for their transgressions against your empire.

B. Raid the Gutians again and give them one last chance to stop their attacks or face death, but ignore the Hittite role, as you do not want to begin another war so soon. As long as the Gutians stand down, you will be satisfied.

C. Ignore the Gutians and invade the Hittites, the true culprit behind these raids. Once the Gutians see that their backers have been destroyed, they will naturally fall back into line.

D. Ignore them both. It’s too much of a hassle.

***

Having the information about Dapimsin’s men in your government, you know their identities. It would be a simple matter to round them up should you want to.

A. You purge the traitors in your government publicly, to set an example to others.

B. You have them quietly dealt with. There is no point in alarming the people with public executions.

C. You keep them around. How would they feed misinformation to Dapimsin from now on if you kill them?

***

A. Although Edem was unable to bring you back the secret of better iron, craftsmen in the empire are already beginning to figure out ways to temper superior iron on their own. You encourage this path of progress and work together with those in the know to create higher quality metal to replace the bronze equipment prevalent throughout the empire.

B. You focus on teaching every citizen in the empire to be able to read, write and count. You do not demand that they are able to speak more than one language, but they should at least be able to read and write in the language of the place they stayed in, as well as understand the basic principle of arithmetic.

C. To explore the world better, you need a way to travel further and faster. It was no good knowing about all these places if you couldn’t reach them in a reasonable amount of time. You focus your efforts on creating hardier, faster ships. A vessel enabling mortals to cross the great ocean to the west was still a faraway dream, but this is the first path towards that goal.

 

CCA.
They naturally complement one another. Feeding false information to the Hittites to lead them into ambushes of our superior weaponry, while the same weaponry controls the Gutian raids and minimizes damage. Then we kill the traitors.
Yes, we'll take a hit to our reputation with the Assyrians, but staying our hand with the Gutians will avoid making us a villain in the eyes of our other subjects, especially Athena.
As for the navy, had our Empire already had iron as the dominant metal, I'd be all for it. As it stands, we'd better modernize and fast, if we're marching off to war again.

Edit: And letting the whole thing slide is out of the question. Dapimsin dies. The Hittites bow and join us as equals to the Kings and Queen or die.

 

A
C
B

 

I'm voting this.

Smashing Axe reminded me that we already voted for the scientific method earlier, so it makes more sense to pursue a tech that will complement that. Still voting CC for the first two, but B for that last one.

Besides, according to our status update, we're now the strongest empire, military might-wise. Advances in iron can wait till later. There is also a chance that our pursuing of iron upgrades might make the people from the north feel threatened.

EDIT: ScubaV makes sense. Flopping to BCB.

 

I really like the idea of our people being literate, since further developments can spring rapidly from this if the scientific method is being employed, encouraging literacy in our followers also shows Athena that we care about seeing mankind progress. Well, it might at least. I think we also need to deliver an ultimatum to the Gutians, and then proceed to punish the Hittites for their transgressions against us.

AAB

I've reconsidered. Guys, I don't think a war is necessary here, at least not an extended bloody one. ScubaV has convinced me. If we put the Gutians in their place with B, which won't be an excessively extended conflict, we can stop. If we manipulate and feed information to the Hittites' spies then we'll have control of what they do, and can manipulate them to an action where war won't be necessary. Let's not start our reign as bloody conquerors. Yes, the Hittites are being dicks, but we don't need to start yet another war to counter them. This will also open us up to pursue social policy and increase literacy amongst our populace, as we won't need to pursue so hard of a war agenda. Also, we'll save our forces for when they're most needed.

BCB

 

BCB

 

When I was voting, I initially contemplated voting for 1B because I didn't want another war so soon after the Aegean, but this new King thinks we're weak, and if we don't deal with him now, he might invade while we're in Greece fighting the Terasphagos. Our best bet is to take out the Hittites as fast as possible so that we can return to more important matters. They have a large army and their nation was untouched during the Aegean War, so we need to vassalize them and get them to commit troops to Olympus.

C: The Gutians aren't the problem, the Hittites are. In fact, a show of mercy here is a good idea - we should hire these same people out and send them to fortify Olympus, should we have the opportunity. Our rep might take a hit in Assyria, but I'd rather demonstrate to our other subjects like Athena that Ean is a fair ruler capable of mercy. I would much rather deal with a pissed off Assyria than a pissed off Athena.

Besides, I'm sure the Assyrians will be appeased once we behead Dapimsin on the streets of Ashur.

C: Fantastic idea, and this is another reason why you don't want all of those public executions. We could feed those administrators a ton of false info on troop positions, invasion plans, etc. and really use Dapimsin's contacts against him. The Hittites think that Ean is a weak Emperor - let them be convinced that's true. This will be great for the war effort.

A: Not surprisingly, this is the hardest one. B would strengthen the unity and culture of our empire and be a great extension of the Scientific Method update (not to mention, it would impress the Goddess of Wisdom), but we really need the war against the Hittites to go as quickly and smoothly as possible. Also, we do really need every edge we can get against the Terasphagos.

I'm very much willing to flop to B if I hear other arguments in favour. Storyfag?

B C B

 

CCA

 

Why voting for 1C with 3B in tandem is not a good idea: think about it. We're about to start a war with a rather powerful Empire (treave did mention that, had we not had Jesus-only-better on our side, these guys would be a problem) while at the same time leaving the Assyrian border open to Gutian raids.
1A is not a good idea, period. If they refuse to surrender, which wouldn't be surprising, considering they already ignored use three times, we will be forced to exterminate them. And where does that get us? Certainly not into Athena's good graces. Plus, it would force us into a war on two fronts, which kinda reminds me of the Third Reich picking a fight with the Allies and ol' Joe.
Now, most of our armor is bronze, which would lead to meaningless, useless loss of life in both the invasion force and the defense force.
P.S.: If it weren't for Athena, I'd jam the closest equivalent of the Black Mamba up Dapimsin's ass when we caught him and force him to take a hike from Babylon to Memphis.

Esquilax: psst. Help me out here.

 

Regarding the tech, you won't see much advances, if any, for nearly five more years at least for your choices. It takes a while to get started, you aren't going to be cranking out iron armor by the thousands or building public schools in each village or constructing an ocean going armada any time soon. It's at a faster (much faster) speed than this normally goes, but it's still a project that will take years to bear fruit.

Edit: Particularly if you are busy leading the troops in the front lines; that means you aren't around to help with teching up, meaning it will take an even longer time depending on the type of research you pick. But you guys already know that.

 

treave, how long has it been since the Aegean War? Has the military and populace recovered? Basically, I'm trying to get a sense for how well a war would be received. Remember guys, this would be a war of aggression not defense, at least against the Hittites. It also probably won't go over well with Athena, regardless of how the populace feels.

My votes for now are:
B - Put the Gutians in their place; we took out the main agitator so they should calm down after this. Ignore the Hittites for now, build up our internal strength and make them attack us if they want to antagonize further.
C - With Sekhenun close at hand, this is a golden opportunity to manipulate Dapimsin via misinformation.
B - With an intelligent, literate, and scientifically-minded populace, technology advances will come more quickly and easily in all areas, not just iron. Besides, we may be able to trade with the northern kingdom for the secret of their iron-production or at least for some of the iron itself. This option will also demonstrate to Athena our commitment to furthering humanity.

 

It's been only about 6 years, and given the amount of fatalities on Marduk's siege of Olympus (just about everyone died or were lost when the rift formed) you are left with only about 20,000 soldiers throughout the entire empire. Most of those are new conscripts, some that haven't started shaving yet. Of that, 5000 are in Greece while the others are here and there abouts, patrolling and stuff. Raising more men at the moment would severely tax agricultural efforts. Though the Hittites have smaller territory, they can probably match your numbers... is what you can guess at from reports from merchants and other travelers.

Consider this option E: One just simply walks into the Hittite capital as a show of personal power.

 

Let's do the earthquake attack in their capital.

 

Scuba, I think you've hit on a winner.

Option E just proposed by treave is tempting however...

 

I definitely see the merit in ScubaV's BCB plan: ignore the Hittites, subdue the Gutians by one last raid and focus on internal development, using the moles in our government to maneuver the Hittites into a position that would justify us attacking and subduing them (the "Pearl Harbor Maneuver"). The fact that the Gutians, yet again, may ignore us, forcing a genocide anyways notwithstanding, it is a very good plan.

However, we all know where this will lead: the Hittites are going to attack us anyway, leading to loss of our reputation and, most importantly, the lives of our citizens and soldiers. And I don't swing that way. Since we have all the justification that we need (seriously, they send moles into our government and conspire against us) to press our casus belli, all the men to wage a successful campaign and the opportunity for disinformation to launch a devastating first strike, I suggest we do it. Every moment that we wait to build up our forces, they do the same. Hell, if we are going to delay the war it makes more sense to research iron first and attack with a modernized military, than research education.

However, since treave said that we won't get a modern military immediately, I'm flopping to CCB.
ECB
"Shin'ar, FUCK YEAH! Freedom is the only way, yeah."

Edit: anyone who is considering bending over backwards for that cheap piece of Greek muni, that will stab us in the back as soon as she finds out Ean eats people and gets more evil by the second should be ashamed. We're the goddamn Emperor, she should be chasing us. Besides, we already have the One True Option:


Edit 2:

The main problem here is Dapimsin, he's not going to let it rest. Before treave proposed option E, I was thinking of starting this war to get to the sleazy fucker. Because it's better for their citizens to die then ours.
As it stands, we just bust in and take his ourself.

 

CCB

Third one is the only hard choice here. A would increase our military might and prepare us to battle the gieloths and I'm guessing that C would give a hefty bonus to trade and also a easier way to get to china. But B is the best for long term, and it should help us with Athena.

Btw. Couldn't we just assasinate Dapimsin and send a warning to the hittie king? Invading whole country for a few raiding party seems little extreme to me.

Edit: BCB

Might flop to ECB. E seems a bit dangerous though.

 

You're assuming that they're going to attack us anyway, I don't think it's inevitable, it's just an ambitious young king acting foolish and if we manipulate his intelligence sources sufficiently we can give him the idea that attacking us would be a very bad idea.

Even if they do attack despite our political maneuvering, how will fighting a defensive war cause a loss of reputation? If anything it'd give us enough justification to counter their attack and conquer their lands. As it is we're only acting on information provided by a Gutian tribe leader for our casus belli, Athena would look on this as just another cynical political maneuver by us to increase our own power. If it started as a war of defense, then I think she'd think us justified.

If they do persist in annoying us, then I'd be favour of option E. It shouldn't be too hard to cow the young king and convince him that we're "strong" enough to defend our land. If only by being able to break into his city, bust up his guards, and hold his life at knife point.

 

Flopping first choice to E.