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[LP CYOA] Epic
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
kazgar
Arcane
why does this always end in marriage/mating talk? Its not the bloody mass effect series sims.
Can't wait for the update where we decide if we want the beef or the chicken for supper, and decide whose turn it is to do the dishes.
Can't wait for the update where we decide if we want the beef or the chicken for supper, and decide whose turn it is to do the dishes.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
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- 9,611
'Cause we gotta leave a legacy to rule the Empire for the (rather large) chance Ean won't come back in a considerable while. Which most certainly will happen, as it gives treave an opportunity to finally make a large timeskip.
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Yeah pretty much, although I don't know why you think Sek would be good for the task, she prefers to remain in the shadows, unknown and unseen. She wouldn't do well in a position of command. Athena is however perfect for it.
Baltika9
Arcane
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Ahem, she wouldn't. But with her know-how, she would produce a child heir for Ean, with much better odds than the 1-in-500 years Ean will have with any other immortal (Athena included), and the 1-in-50 years he will have with mortals.
In other words: superpowered Immotral-Gieloth hybrid named Horus, because SCIENCE! See what I did there?
What Smashing Axe says. Sekhenun is a poor choice to lead once Ean goes away. She prefers to remain hidden and changes persona every decade or so. If we want stability for our empire, we should choose an immortal, and Athena is our only and best bet here.
We could try for a harem of mortals, but the poor chance of actually getting offspring, coupled with the fact that we don't know whether said offspring will be suitable for ruling the empire pretty much means we should reserve such a choice until a time where we have at least 100 years to waste on trying to build a dynasty..
Sekhenun as the Emperor's wife would only work if she was just one out of many. I don't think she would accept under any other circumstances, as she'd be painting a target of herself..
We could try for a harem of mortals, but the poor chance of actually getting offspring, coupled with the fact that we don't know whether said offspring will be suitable for ruling the empire pretty much means we should reserve such a choice until a time where we have at least 100 years to waste on trying to build a dynasty..
Sekhenun as the Emperor's wife would only work if she was just one out of many. I don't think she would accept under any other circumstances, as she'd be painting a target of herself..
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Eh, child rearing doesn't make marriage necessary, I doubt it would work as easily as you seem to think, we have no idea what the end result would be and it would take at least fifteen years after our spawn's birth before we could leave the empire stabilised. Child Emperors don't usually last. Even then it won't be enough time to impart the right kingly values and virtues reliably to the child. With Athena taking the reigns she already shares the same virtues that would keep our empire on track, and not turn it into a necromantic wasteland as our child might do without our guidance.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
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- 9,611
Oh? The average citizen identifies with his Kingdom rather than the Empire. The only unifying factor is the Emperor. And if he marries Athena, who will not, in all likelihood, produce a male heir, why would the other kings/citizens acknowledge her as Empress? Just because she sucked the Emperor off a couple of times and got in bed with him now and then?
Now, if we had a bona-fide heir, on the other hand. I think Sekhenun, with her scientific mind can come up with a solution. She leveled the stat to 9, after all.
Edit: Athena is, after all, simply the Queen of Greece and was not, before now, given any special acknowledgement or made to be superior in the eyes of the other kings and citizens, except those of Greece.
Edit 2: And who says Sekhenun can't just come up with another persona to raise the kid and slip away after he's good to go?
Now, if we had a bona-fide heir, on the other hand. I think Sekhenun, with her scientific mind can come up with a solution. She leveled the stat to 9, after all.
Edit: Athena is, after all, simply the Queen of Greece and was not, before now, given any special acknowledgement or made to be superior in the eyes of the other kings and citizens, except those of Greece.
Edit 2: And who says Sekhenun can't just come up with another persona to raise the kid and slip away after he's good to go?
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They'd accept her because she has the legitimacy, the divinity, and the power to enforce her rule as regent. She may be a queen now but with marriage she'd be elevated to Empress. What exactly are you arguing for here? We're going into the rift in a couple of years time, max. Even with Sek that likely won't be enough time to produce an heir, and even then it'd be an heir raised without our influence. If it's got Gieloth heritage, it's going to be a slave to desires we have only started to comprehend. The consequences of trying to leave this legacy with the timeframe we have are not likely to turn out well. I don't see why you're pressing this.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
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Let's just say that I trust Sekhenun to be a smart lil' tentacle, like she always has been. Besides which, she detests the idea of feeding on her own people and knows Ean doesn't want to feed on his(edit: can't remember where, but treave said that Sekhenun stayed in Babylon to stabilize the region, because that's what EAN wanted). I doubt she'd screw the kid up 'cause lulz.
And as for governing, think of it this way: you'd give Sekhenun a nation permeated through and through with hyper-educated spies. Sekhenun+scientifically minded spies= critical success. Whereas Athena has much to learn yet. But, let's see the vote options first, shall we, in the off case treave was just fucking with us.
Edit: besides, it's time to cash in on those Sekhenun points we were gathering since act III. Shit, now's a good time.
Edit 2: besides, I think that having a Gieloth child will help us conducting negotiations with the other Gieloth and bending them to our side. We are already on "fuck the Masters" road, as if the Scepter of Ra wasn't enough, we also openly attacked a Master, in view of the other Masters. The Gieloth are, at worst, allies of circumstance, brought together by a common enemy.
m4davis
Scholar
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2012
- Messages
- 557
you know at this point I think we have determined that if anything is given power by the masters and then the connection with the masters are taken away but the powers remain that it will gain a hunger that can only be satiated by at the very least sentients so I have to wonder what are the chances the masters have this hunger as well
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
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Actually, no. Ean didn't cut his connection with the Masters. He devoured his Voices, which are not exactly a connection/link to the masters in a direct sense.
The theory, however...hmm. I should consider this. I'm starting to get the feeling that these masters are not so much fucking with dimensions as they are fucking with time, to manipulate events to suit their needs. This...could be one of the reasons why.
Edit: by that I mean all this talk of destiny. And the voices know how to get history back on "track". That kind of knowledge can come only from seeing the future or knowing about these events having already known them. Or maybe these masters are from a dimension outside of time. Perhaps (edit: hopefully) the rift can shed some light onto the whole shebang?
Ruh-roh..
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
Chapter 6.9: Miasma Maze
Even for you, it was a hazardous expedition. Visibility was near non-existent and the air was suffocating under the mask you wore to filter the miasma. Despite the darkness within the miasma, there were strange flashing lights that appeared and disappeared like wisps as you approached. You soon learnt that sometimes these lights weren’t just lights, but the glowing patterns on the skin of a Terasphagos. It became so that the presence of each light was checked with caution, which slowed down the expedition even further.
Your first trip in lasted only a few hours. Despite the filter, the presence of the miasma and the flashing lights induced headaches and discomfort. You were not too affected, but your men were. Unfortunately, within the miasma there was a distinct lack of landmarks by which you could mark your way. Here and there you seemed to see huge structures towering over you through the dark fog and carved walls that flickered in the dim torch light, but they invariably vanished when you retraced your steps.
The subsequent expeditions fared better, but barely so. Though you were able to defend most of your men from the Terasphagos, and even with Artemis’s help with pathfinding, mapping and navigation of the area covered by the miasma was near impossible. Progress was so slow that even after three years, you had only managed to map a route that was at most one-tenth of the way to the center of Olympus, where you assumed the rift was likeliest to be located. The rubble and frequent monster attacks did not help, and letting a safety-line stretch too far ran the risk of having it cut by sharp rocks or Terasphagos. You began placing markers to track your path, but some of them would go missing in between expeditions, once almost causing a mistake that would have led you and your men off a cliff.
Worst of all, in the years since the major incursion, the miasma had begun to grow slowly, creeping over a larger and larger area. It was estimated that within a hundred years, it would have covered the lands which you were pushed back from during the Terasphagos assault. You had made slow progress establishing safe areas within the wasteland, at the cost of much resources and lives, but if the miasma engulfs those areas then they would have been wasted.
A. More men are needed for the mapping process. You have no time – isn’t this what you established the Empire for? You send more men into the miasma, having them map out a path to the rift for you with sheer numbers. Closing the rift is all that matters.
B. The miasma is moving slowly enough that it shouldn’t pose a risk for a long time to come. You cannot be lulled into making a rash decision based on this. You continue with the current way of mapping the miasma. Maybe there’ll be some new discovery that will help you find your way within.
***
Outside of Olympus, your empire continued to thrive. The forges were an instant boon to your own economy. Though the prices they charged were still exorbitant, they were considerably lower than what it would have cost to purchase steel items directly from the north. In just a few years, some of your smiths and craftsmen had begun to produce iron-ware exclusively. They were not anywhere near the quality of northern steel, but the presence of the forges in your major cities inspired them to try to catch up, and they began devoting their time to iron instead of bronze. The society that manned the forges remained as secretive as before. Only the masters and initiates of the forge were allowed within their premises, which were guarded like a hawk by tall northern warriors around the clock, bedecked in steel weapons and armour, and they only took on initiates from people of their own kind. The watchers would need to extend their network further into the north before they could succeed, but even there they had begun to met with the same problems that plagued the Gieloth infiltration. Here a document, there a spoken word, and their information network would mysteriously crumble, and they would have to rebuild from scratch.
As time passed, mortals died…
Nabuchasar and Akilhotep both passed within a year of each other. To the thrones came their children, Nabuchasar’s eldest, Nabukudzur, and Akilhotep’s youngest, Akilptah. They had barely begun settling on their thrones when they came to you with a proposal: a palace and capital befitting your status, and consorts from each kingdom to warm your bed. Of course, you could already knew that Nabukudzur was the brains behind this idea, and he just wanted a find a way to get you out of his palace, where you had been staying for many, many decades. You decided to call up a meeting of the kings and queen of the empire to discuss the issue. Athena seemed indifferent to the idea, but reminded you quietly that unless you had a taste for the terror twins, the only one she could offer as a consort was Artemis, and Artemis had pledged eternal celibacy. There were no other Greek ‘royals’, but she stated that Greece would accept not having a representative consort in your quarters. The other kings had sisters and nieces that would suit the purpose.
A. You accept the offer of the new capital (free-form proposal: go look at the map and figure out where to put it and what to name it).
B. You reject the offer of the new capital. It’s fun squatting in Babylon.
C. You offer to squat at the capitals of each of the kingdoms in rotation.
***
A. You accept the proposal as is: a consort from every kingdom except Greece.
B. You attempt to make Greece provide a consort. (1. Athena, 2. Artemis, 3. Twins)
C. You have other ideas in mind regarding marriage (insert proposal here).
D. This is all a silly distraction, you refuse to get any consorts of the sort. Who knows what shenanigans and politics they might attempt to play in court.
Even for you, it was a hazardous expedition. Visibility was near non-existent and the air was suffocating under the mask you wore to filter the miasma. Despite the darkness within the miasma, there were strange flashing lights that appeared and disappeared like wisps as you approached. You soon learnt that sometimes these lights weren’t just lights, but the glowing patterns on the skin of a Terasphagos. It became so that the presence of each light was checked with caution, which slowed down the expedition even further.
Your first trip in lasted only a few hours. Despite the filter, the presence of the miasma and the flashing lights induced headaches and discomfort. You were not too affected, but your men were. Unfortunately, within the miasma there was a distinct lack of landmarks by which you could mark your way. Here and there you seemed to see huge structures towering over you through the dark fog and carved walls that flickered in the dim torch light, but they invariably vanished when you retraced your steps.
The subsequent expeditions fared better, but barely so. Though you were able to defend most of your men from the Terasphagos, and even with Artemis’s help with pathfinding, mapping and navigation of the area covered by the miasma was near impossible. Progress was so slow that even after three years, you had only managed to map a route that was at most one-tenth of the way to the center of Olympus, where you assumed the rift was likeliest to be located. The rubble and frequent monster attacks did not help, and letting a safety-line stretch too far ran the risk of having it cut by sharp rocks or Terasphagos. You began placing markers to track your path, but some of them would go missing in between expeditions, once almost causing a mistake that would have led you and your men off a cliff.
Worst of all, in the years since the major incursion, the miasma had begun to grow slowly, creeping over a larger and larger area. It was estimated that within a hundred years, it would have covered the lands which you were pushed back from during the Terasphagos assault. You had made slow progress establishing safe areas within the wasteland, at the cost of much resources and lives, but if the miasma engulfs those areas then they would have been wasted.
A. More men are needed for the mapping process. You have no time – isn’t this what you established the Empire for? You send more men into the miasma, having them map out a path to the rift for you with sheer numbers. Closing the rift is all that matters.
B. The miasma is moving slowly enough that it shouldn’t pose a risk for a long time to come. You cannot be lulled into making a rash decision based on this. You continue with the current way of mapping the miasma. Maybe there’ll be some new discovery that will help you find your way within.
***
Outside of Olympus, your empire continued to thrive. The forges were an instant boon to your own economy. Though the prices they charged were still exorbitant, they were considerably lower than what it would have cost to purchase steel items directly from the north. In just a few years, some of your smiths and craftsmen had begun to produce iron-ware exclusively. They were not anywhere near the quality of northern steel, but the presence of the forges in your major cities inspired them to try to catch up, and they began devoting their time to iron instead of bronze. The society that manned the forges remained as secretive as before. Only the masters and initiates of the forge were allowed within their premises, which were guarded like a hawk by tall northern warriors around the clock, bedecked in steel weapons and armour, and they only took on initiates from people of their own kind. The watchers would need to extend their network further into the north before they could succeed, but even there they had begun to met with the same problems that plagued the Gieloth infiltration. Here a document, there a spoken word, and their information network would mysteriously crumble, and they would have to rebuild from scratch.
As time passed, mortals died…
Nabuchasar and Akilhotep both passed within a year of each other. To the thrones came their children, Nabuchasar’s eldest, Nabukudzur, and Akilhotep’s youngest, Akilptah. They had barely begun settling on their thrones when they came to you with a proposal: a palace and capital befitting your status, and consorts from each kingdom to warm your bed. Of course, you could already knew that Nabukudzur was the brains behind this idea, and he just wanted a find a way to get you out of his palace, where you had been staying for many, many decades. You decided to call up a meeting of the kings and queen of the empire to discuss the issue. Athena seemed indifferent to the idea, but reminded you quietly that unless you had a taste for the terror twins, the only one she could offer as a consort was Artemis, and Artemis had pledged eternal celibacy. There were no other Greek ‘royals’, but she stated that Greece would accept not having a representative consort in your quarters. The other kings had sisters and nieces that would suit the purpose.
A. You accept the offer of the new capital (free-form proposal: go look at the map and figure out where to put it and what to name it).
B. You reject the offer of the new capital. It’s fun squatting in Babylon.
C. You offer to squat at the capitals of each of the kingdoms in rotation.
***
A. You accept the proposal as is: a consort from every kingdom except Greece.
B. You attempt to make Greece provide a consort. (1. Athena, 2. Artemis, 3. Twins)
C. You have other ideas in mind regarding marriage (insert proposal here).
D. This is all a silly distraction, you refuse to get any consorts of the sort. Who knows what shenanigans and politics they might attempt to play in court.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
B
A- Constantinople.
C- Sekhenun
treave: did the difficulty get cranked down, or am I just that far gone into paranoia? Everything just seems to be going way too smoothly. It just feels... wrong.
A- Constantinople.
C- Sekhenun
That would have been met with a hyper Empire. Or manipulated to our ends vie spies and military intervention, but then treave told us what is really going on. So, yes I did take the bigger picture into account, only I focused in the things that already happened.
treave: did the difficulty get cranked down, or am I just that far gone into paranoia? Everything just seems to be going way too smoothly. It just feels... wrong.
B
A - allow me to suggest Antioch. Should be central enough, given the layout of our lands. While squatting around various capitals could be fun, I think a central one will help us with integrating our various subjects into a single people.
C - adopt Athena as our daughter and heir. Marry the consorts proposed by all the kings to get things over with.
A - allow me to suggest Antioch. Should be central enough, given the layout of our lands. While squatting around various capitals could be fun, I think a central one will help us with integrating our various subjects into a single people.
C - adopt Athena as our daughter and heir. Marry the consorts proposed by all the kings to get things over with.
B is not the option to get it over with. A means sending the troops in to scout the miasma.
Fear not. I'm not getting that impression
Read the word downwards. It's my opinion on the consort idea:
B
A
D
As to where to put the capital, it would make sense to place it at the centre of our empire, and ideally also at the center of our road network.
It should be grand, but not opulent. Something that the empire can boast about, yet which is functional. It would ideally serve as the focus of our empire, both with regards to government, but also militarily, thus the need for control of the road network.
It should also grow rather quickly if we make it the center of trade and government.
B
A
D
As to where to put the capital, it would make sense to place it at the centre of our empire, and ideally also at the center of our road network.
It should be grand, but not opulent. Something that the empire can boast about, yet which is functional. It would ideally serve as the focus of our empire, both with regards to government, but also militarily, thus the need for control of the road network.
It should also grow rather quickly if we make it the center of trade and government.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
In this chapter, as far as the immediate and obvious goes, yes.
Let's recap: Wanted to be Emperor? No problem, Egypt and Babylon gobbled up Ean's cock like Naram did the Masters'.
Wanted to play the Hittites? A-ok! Our misinformation worked like a charm.
The subsequent war even won Athena completely to Ean's side. Speaking of her: storm into her palace and try to convince her to join your Empire as a Queen, against her principles? Hell, your trolling skill is at level 10 (I also insist it be made Ean's special skill, he's a master at it. If you need me to substantiate my argument, I shall gladly do so), so you win again!
Terrasphagos surge out the rift? No problem! Emps and his Guard, with outdated equipment, win, and gain 20 levels! Aren't we just awesome?
Oh, want the Adeptus Mechanicus to work under the Inquisition's nose without incident? Well, you're in luck!
...you get the point. It feels too wrong, bro. Too easy. Too... popamole, even.
Tell me, am I going crazy and starting to see ghosts where there are none? Pm me if you want secrecy, but I must know, I'm worried for my sanity.
Edit:
Thanks for catching that. And, yeah, things sound waaay too sugar-sweet.
Edit 2: actually 2C with 3A sound attractive too, since we'll be basically rolling around the Empire, banging the King's sisters right in the next room to them.
Well, you completely failed to take the bigger picture into account. The Gieloth are stirring shit up in China and we aren't doing shit about it. Hell, we don't even know how the war is going presently. The stalemate we knew about was. like, 10 years ago? Also, we completely failed to scout the miasma for 3 YEARS. And now it started to expand. Yeah, things are going REALLY smoothly.
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