[LP CYOA] Epic

[Azira]

Hey, becoming pharaoh instead of the pharaoh sounds like fun. I'm leaning towards A, but can be flopped/swayed by sufficiently convincing arguments.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I'd prefer not to go for a leadership position through brute force, far better to find allies first and have them make us Pharaoh by demonstrating our worth.

 

[Kipeci]

Our position was tenuous enough among the Akkadians when we'd been Akkadians ourselves and were extremely popular among the military for years and years and essentially became the king's right hand man. In contrast, we're going to be a foreigner killing the pharoah and saying that therefore we should be the one to rule. Taking on the throne is a bad idea right now; it's already infested with the Gieloth to the point where they're not bothering to hide, at war with both Thebes and Herakleopolis, and who knows what others might decide to make an opportunistic invasion after some guy kills the pharoah on top of all the other issues?

What I'm advocating for is a revenge against those Gieloth guys. Stamp out their cult and slay them until they are dead/retreat to hiding; this has the added benefit of weakening the pharoah, since he has positioned their cult as the state religion. They took down our last empire, so it'd be strange to start up another one without taking on the source of the problem.

I think going over to Thebes and Herakleopolis gives them too much time to solidify their status as the state religion, though. Remember, Shulgi's cult didn't take too long to establish, either, and it remained a pest for years and years. Besides, by throwing ourselves into danger we'll accelerate our acquisition of skills.

 

[XenomorphII]

C. No reason for us to rush things along. We have forever, so let's travel the world fighting the multi-headed dicks Gieloth and become a badass, while generally helping humanity not get wiped out prematurely. After all, our time as ruler did not see us advance hardly at all, while our time fighting sees us advance lots.

 

[newcomer]

B. SLAY EVERY TENTACLES IN HELIOPOLIS


Cmon guys, why do you pick a strength update in the first fight against these tentacles? Because you want to be a one-man army right? Now it's our chance to be a one-man army for real!

 

[newcomer]

Oh btw treave
did we managed to learn how to shield our mind?

 

[treave]

Oh, A isn't about taking the Egyptian throne, it's just about murdering the Pharaoh, who is the main advocate for the Gieloth cult. And probably anyone else who agrees with him. The cult has little support amongst the grassroots, and is mainly enforced on the people by the Pharaoh's priests. I mean, few people would willingly pray to a mass of black tentacles with a dozen eyes and gaping maws of teeth. This is the standard Evil Overlord with Ancient Doom God Temple scenario. Said temple being in Heliopolis.

Re: Mind shielding
You can protect yourself from any psychic backlash once you scramble a person's brains, but you still can't camouflage yourself from another telepathic being. An actual psionic assault will come down to force of will. Depends on who does it.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Okay then, we should cut off the tentacle monsters' support base before fighting them. Although we can likely take one on at a time, adding an army of fanatical servants into the mix makes dealing with them directly difficult.

 

[oscar]

B. This one is personal.

 

[Esquilax]

Right now our greatest advantage is the element of surprise. We are an unknown element, so whatever we do, we should definitely make it count by striking hard and fast before these Gieloth realize we've awoken from our slumber. C is out of the question: we've known from our battles before that these creatures have employed spies and that they like to work their way from within by posing as elites such as priests or nobles. It's likely that these guys have spies/moles within the resistance in Thebes, so we better fucking hit them before they've had a chance to prepare for us.

That leaves us with two targets: killing the pharaoh or striking the temple. Hitting the temple is the smart play here because the pharaoh is nothing without the backing of his cult, so if we torch his temple, he's fucked anyways. Besides, we are a brotastic warrior who can take on an army easily, this is right up our alley.

B

 

[Baltika9]

B. Since we're here lets make the best of it.

 

[Baltika9]

By the way, bros. We need a new alias I think, it just won't be smart to be recognized by the space Cthulhus and our rival Immortals because they heard a name.

 

[Smashing Axe]

I'm kind of interested in how the Shepherd has turned out. Did he strike down Shulgi because he was tyrannical or was it yet another powerplay? Has he become something of a champion for the downtrodden and acts to curb the egregious actions of other immortals? He could be an ally, if we act somewhat selflessly, I think. Perhaps I have misread him and his intentions, we have little information on him, but what we do know seems to support this.

 

[Tigranes]

How is Heliopolis a citadel of Gieloth worship when you say Gieloth worship is only prevalent in Memphis? Are we to assume that it is the Pharaoh that has newly christened Heliopolis as such? In that case, we might expect that place to be an excellent location not only to shame Gieloth worshippers, but also find plenty of disgruntled paganites for our cause.

I definitely think B or C - hanging out in Memphis where we are vulnerable to possibly several or many Gieloth is suicide because experience has proven that while we can defeat individual Gieloth, it takes full concentration and favourable circumstances. Combine that with the element of surprise as Esquilax says, and I think B makes sense.

Edit: as Baltika says, surely we want to operate under a different name than Ean for now? The Marduk/Ean stories probably have little traffic at the moment in Egypt, though later, it would be nice if we had some way of 'proving' that we are legendary king born again. We will see how treave takes the story, of course, and whether we can get past the first hurdle of the Gieloth...

 

[treave]

Ah, by Memphis I refer to both the city of Memphis itself, and all the other territories that Wankare controls, which happens to be most of Lower Egypt. The same applies for Thebes and Heracleopolis. A Memphite, Theban, or Heracleopolitan could, then, come from any of the territories ruled by those three cities, and not necessarily from those cities themselves.

But yes, the Pharaoh overturned Ra worship in Heliopolis and made it a Gieloth hotspot as a sign of dominance over the old religion. It also helps that their 'god' is present in physical form, while Ra is not.

 

[Esquilax]

How is Heliopolis a citadel of Gieloth worship when you say Gieloth worship is only prevalent in Memphis? Are we to assume that it is the Pharaoh that has newly christened Heliopolis as such? In that case, we might expect that place to be an excellent location not only to shame Gieloth worshippers, but also find plenty of disgruntled paganites for our cause.

I definitely think B or C - hanging out in Memphis where we are vulnerable to possibly several or many Gieloth is suicide because experience has proven that while we can defeat individual Gieloth, it takes full concentration and favourable circumstances. Combine that with the element of surprise as Esquilax says, and I think B makes sense.

I want to point out that it isn't like we have such a great advantage when it comes to the element surprise - these things are still going to be alarmed once they are aware of our psychic presence. But at the very least, it will give us just enough of a head start to corner and kill one of these fucking things.

as Baltika says, surely we want to operate under a different name than Ean for now? The Marduk/Ean stories probably have little traffic at the moment in Egypt, though later, it would be nice if we had some way of 'proving' that we are legendary king born again. We will see how treave takes the story, of course, and whether we can get past the first hurdle of the Gieloth...

Once our deeds become known throughout the land, I'm sure the people of Egypt will choose a name that's more than suitable for us.

 

[treave]

Once our deeds become known throughout the land, I'm sure the people of Egypt will choose a name that's more than suitable for us.

Achievement Obtained!

New Title Unlocked!

"You can now call yourself Cat-Saviour"

 

[oscar]

Damn I wish I knew more about this era of history

 

[eklektyk]

A Kill heretics! hopefully little comotion like not having a ruler in middle of war will make enough hassle so we can get more easily into killing our main targets

 

[TOME]

C

B could end up badly and we would be out for a couple centuries. Then it would be impossible to defeat Shulgi and Shepard in a fight.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Right now our greatest advantage is the element of surprise. We are an unknown element, so whatever we do, we should definitely make it count by striking hard and fast before these Gieloth realize we've awoken from our slumber. C is out of the question: we've known from our battles before that these creatures have employed spies and that they like to work their way from within by posing as elites such as priests or nobles. It's likely that these guys have spies/moles within the resistance in Thebes, so we better fucking hit them before they've had a chance to prepare for us.

That leaves us with two targets: killing the pharaoh or striking the temple. Hitting the temple is the smart play here because the pharaoh is nothing without the backing of his cult, so if we torch his temple, he's fucked anyways. Besides, we are a brotastic warrior who can take on an army easily, this is right up our alley.

B

To the contrary, I think our greatest advantage is our ability to command men and armies in battle. Keep in mind, our mindreading makes us ready for spies and double agents so we should be able to stop word reaching the monsters that we are working with their adversaries. If we are given an army to command by the Gieloth's opponents, then we can lure them out of their lair, where they will be prepared for attacks of an immortal nature (They know we exist and oppose them after all, hell, them being so open could be bait for a trap), and on to the field where we shine, out of their fortress and into battle. Facing supernatural odds, I daresay the Egyptians will take any aid they can get. We know their minds, we know how to play them.

 

[treave]

Chapter 3.1.5: Intermission Choice - Egypt

While considering your next move, you decided to gather information so as to better inform your decisions. You use your shapeshifting abilities to alter your looks and skin subtly, so that you look like a native Egyptian, and begin combing Memphis for knowledge. With your mind-reading skills, you are confident you will be able to obtain accurate information on whichever topic you choose. You decide to seek...

***

A. ...a full account of the political and socioeconomic conditions in Memphis, Heliopolis and the rest of Wankare's territories.

B. ...all knowledge about the Gieloth activities and their cult in Egypt.

C. ...the current military status of Memphis, Heracleopolis and Thebes.

D. ...any information about the presence of other immortals in Egypt.

***
Right, so update 3.1.5 will execute in about 12 hours, and then you guys can flip your flop for to decide where Ean goes next if you want to.

Just checking, do you guys want the intermission choice to be written before the 3.1 vote is locked down, or at the same time? The former should make more sense I think.

 

[Smashing Axe]

For Intermission Choice

B

If we're going to take them down, we need to know more about their activities and their weaknesses.

 

[Tigranes]

I suppose B is the most sensible for now, as it seems like they will be a long or medium-term enemy. Given that Shulgi has not reappeared since his vanquishing and he has traditionally not been associated with the Egyptian Gieloth or the region either, I doubt we need to worry about him yet, and Naram doesn't seem hostile yet either. A is tempting, though...

 

[Smashing Axe]

Just checking, do you guys want the intermission choice to be written before the 3.1 vote is locked down, or at the same time? The former should make more sense I think.

Whatever works for you. I'm really enjoying what you've done so far by the way.