[LP CYOA] Epic

[Kukulkan]

Does Baltika have a facebook?

 

[Baltika9]

Does Baltika have a facebook?

No, but Latvia and Estonia do.

But seriously, no.

 

[treave]

Alright, clearing up the questions...

So how did Naram come into contact with this mysterious Master? Did the Master guide him into meddling with Sek's portal, or did he decide to do so on his own?

Naram was messing about trying to contact our friendly Masters (not knowing that Shulgi already had a line to them - the two still don't get along) and accidentally reached the Other Guy instead. Perhaps if Shulgi had been less stubborn and cryptic and plot-happy...

About Naram-Master, Ean only really met him at the end of his ascension, when he has become a higher being (or started to become one, depending on the choices you took to get there), so there's no clear grasp of his character, but from the start the Other Guy was always focused on ascension and whatever else he did in this world was just a passing fancy. Hence the Imperial Family mostly do as they wish, as does Dio.

What happened to Marduk? How did Zeus end up being replica but not Marduk?

If you'll recall earlier on in the LP, the voices are like packages which have... for some reason... familiar codenames. You can think of it as the Other Guy having access to these packages. As for Marduk, still floating around somewhere. The void is big. Many different threats can come out of it. Perhaps one day Marduk will come across Diogenes Camna and attempt to eat him.

Awesome, treave. Thank you for doing this and it was a magnificent ending. (Though there are no ending slides showing C&C in the various quest hubs! IT'S LIKE MALACHOR V ALL OVER AGAIN : x)

As far as ending slides go, the next update will be an intermission showing the current state of the world, a place that is relatively peaceful and advanced enough for the sequel to happen. How that came to be will be briefly touched upon.

Also, treave, is our character 13 years old at this point, based on the text about the Imperial education system? This is relevant because it makes sense to me that a teenage boy (assuming the character is in fact, a boy) would want to fuck any girl who is anywhere near halfway decent looking.

No, in keeping with true weeaboo style he is 17 and transferred in the fifth year, just like every other visual novel school life protagonist out there.

Also he's not too young because later on giant robots.

treave minor questions:

What was the nature of the agreement between the immortals and the Concordant? What kind of people made up the Concordant? I read it as them being half-gieloth/half-human hybrids of some sort. Did the gieloth and the humans intermarry with tentacle sex and everything or was there genetic manipulation involved?

I just thought it might be nice to know a bit more about the civilization we devoured...

The tree is different because the Chinese immortals guided its growth and eventually gave themselves to it. The Concordiat people are 'half-Gieloth' because initially they partook of the fruit. By the time Ean rolled around and ate the tree they didn't need to eat it to continue being part-Gieloth, the genes having blended into their body, but tradition keeps them doing so.
For that matter, had the tree completed its cycle, it would have seeded the galaxy with hybrids, human-looking ones. Essentially, in the Concordiat, the Gieloth tied their survival together with that of humans. The higher-ups of the Concordiat panicked when they learnt of what was going to happen (thanks to a certain somebody), and in their bid to ensure that Gieloth-humanity survived they coaxed the tree into resuming its devouring growth, instead of the stable, almost-dormant state it has been in for the past few thousand years.

treave, before I vote I must know if we will eventually play with this character out in the open world (assuming we make it that far ). The reason for that is is that I want to set our boy up for success from the begginning, whatever the chosen field might be, but if the answer is no then I might as well have fun rolling a nerdy neckbeard or champion jock, heir to the Imperial Throne.

Don't place too much importance on success unless you want the character's personal goal to be the most successful. Down that path lies madness.

Also, I don't mean to put pressure on you, especially not after banging out five updates, but could you give us a timeline of Shulgi after Akkad and tell us why he changed his view on the world and himself? It's just that impalement and cremation don't seem like they'd make him a good guy, quite the contrary actually.

Also, what was his view on Ean (would he consider him a friend?) and why did he never show himself, even when he knew we were around? Fear, shame, pragmatism? And what's with the wolf form, did he lose use of his body?

It's actually quite brief. After escaping the fall of his kingdom, he ran off to the north to hide and slowly master the voices in order to become powerful enough to fuck over everyone. In his quest for knowledge he found a way to reach the Masters directly, and he did so. He came into contact with the Master who would eventually end up in charge of your world after you made a mess of things, and she changed his outlook. It was also helped by watching Ean struggle blindly, not knowing anything but never giving up.

He didn't reveal himself because he thought that Ean would be suspicious of him, and also because he still has some inordinate fondness for plotting from the shadows, thinking that it is safer and smarter not to draw attention to himself. The wolf form allows him to conserve his power. His connection to the Master was a double-edged sword - it granted him even more power and knowledge, but when Naram-Master cut it off Shulgi found that he kept weakening over time.

He could reopen the channel once Naram-Master was no longer blocking it, but by the time Naram-Master was defeated he would have to resort to some less palatable methods to gain enough power to do so. He decided not to.

And, finally, should we ever meet, I have one question for you: single malt or blended?

Unfortunately I've never really had any liking for alcohol. Thanks for asking though.

 

[Kukulkan]

Will the Masters create new immortals on Earth?
Also, what year is the planet now on using the BCE-CE system?

 

[Baltika9]

Will the Masters create new immortals on Earth?

Although something tells me that Ean didn't cease to exist but became Earth's guardian spirit. Hence worst unkosher masters will be removed by his strong.

 

[Kukulkan]

Will the Masters create new immortals on Earth?

Although something tells me that Ean didn't cease to exist but became Earth's guardian spirit.

That's gay. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to bring him back from the dead in the sequel.

 

[treave]

Dunking the planet into the void and almost turning it into a sphere didn't do it any favours.

Thanks to that it's not where it is supposed to be right now. Masters will only find the planet if Shulgi opens up the comm-lines again and tells them. As far as they're concerned it's vanished. Not that they really care all that much for one planet, in their eternal war against the Great Idea and all...

 

[Baltika9]

in their eternal war against the Great Idea and all...

Yeah, about that bros... I think all that celebration was premature. From what I understood, Dio will eventually come in contact with the Great Idea and overtake it. Effectively, we replaced neutral curiosity with Diogenes Camna, Avatar of Chaos. And you know what that means: the spheres are protrusions of it's body, so here comes the Warp.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Yeah, but what can Dio do to the GI now that he doesn't have the sword...well, unless Marduk eats him and he overtakes Marduk and then tries to devour the GI. Then reality's pretty much screwed... Huh. Answered my own question there...

edit: That...makes sense, treave. It also makes me glad we opposed the masters.

 

[treave]

When Dio meets the Great Idea, at the center of the multiverse, the event has happened simultaneously at every point in time and space, rewriting the universes as we know it without its inhabitants noticing.

Dio then proceeds to start an eternal war against the Great Idea to impose his meaning upon the multiverse.

In the moment of their meeting, Dio becomes - retroactively - the progenitor of the Masters. But that is a story for another time.

edit: One of the Olympus endings would have had you eating your way up the food chain until you devoured the Great Idea itself, and reset the multiverse, with Ean being the new big bollocks at the center of all things. It is not possible for Dio to do that even after stealing Anbar-Shi, as he does not have your experience in the void nor does he have the required mindset. His ego is simply too big to allow a silly concept like hunger to control him, and that self-control prevents him from ever being some devouring monster. Giving into the hunger has its perks, perks that he will never enjoy.

 

[Kukulkan]

Will we go multiverse hopping in the next instalment?
And to repeat myself, what's the year of the setting in our system?

 

[Baltika9]

So Ean never was?
Right, let's get this Weeaboo: The LP out of the way and get back to kicking asses, this time with much more success. Or do it during this chapter, that works too.

 

[treave]

It's another thousand years or so from the end of Chapter 8. so about 2200 A.D?

Multiverse hopping is on the cards. I don't plan for school-life hijinks to last forever.

 

[Baltika9]

Multiverse hopping is on the cards. I don't plan for school-life hijinks to last forever.

Last question/kinda-sorta a request: is the headmaster's name Sargon? Would be pretty symbolic of a new beginning.

 

[Kukulkan]

Will we be piloting giant Mecha?

 

[treave]

No to Sargon, and yes to robots.

 

[Kukulkan]

Will we visit Japan and battle robo-samurai?

 

[treave]

Probably not, but there will be katanas.

 

[Kukulkan]

Probably not, but there will be katanas.

How is that possible?

 

[treave]

Why not?

 

[Kukulkan]

Why not?

Having Katanas in a Europe that has had no contact with Japan is jarring and ruins the immersion.

 

[Baltika9]

You know, I think it's time to spice things up. For now, I'm putting in my vote based on an archetype, which I think would be the better way to do this. Could also flip to an Ean 2.0 suggestion, if it stands a chance.

The Distinguished Gentleman- a somewhat sophisticated, but infinitely prestigious young man from a poor background, working his way up with wit, guile and derring-do.
1A- Why, a gentleman and a scholar, of course.
2A- Such an up-and-coming young gentleman can't afford flights of fancy.
3A- and he must make connections.
4B- his lower-class upbringing made him a little rough around the edges, sadly. But someone of his drive will no doubt get over such an obstacle.
5A- cunning never did a gentleman harm and there is no dishonor in cunning.
6C- a distinguished man is nothing without his wit.
7B- Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite.
8B- such a partner, romantic or otherwise, would be a welcome addition.
9B- pick one's battles wisely and always adapt.
10B- a gentleman always knows when to bow out with dignity.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Alright, flipping my vote to more of an Ean 2.0 as Baltika & E suggested building more of an archetype and that's the sort of character I feel most comfortable playing:
Ean 2.0... Let's see, that would be: BBAACABAAB I think...
1B - the soldier
2B - idealist
3A - "Hey, there's a giant sphere! LETSBEPALS! "
4A - Makes friends in all shapes and sizes - with and without tentacles...
5C - honourblade
6A - "I love you, Sekhenun-kun!"
7B - He'd sacrifice his own life first...
8A - Yes, she's an alien who has devoured living humans in order to increase her power - but look at that shapely posterior!
9A - Ean never really did change, did he? A fool to the end - but what an end!
10B - Never wanted to die, but never turned away from death either...

 

[treave]

Why not?

Having Katanas in a Europe that has had no contact with Japan is jarring and ruins the immersion.

Why would it have no contact with Japan?

 

[Baltika9]

8A - Yes, she's an alien who has devoured living humans in order to increase her power - but look at that shapely posterior!

And those teeth! Good oral hygiene right there.
Seriously, though, I think the criteria would be better suite with 8B, since Ean never paid Sek's looks any attention after their first encounter and relied more on her brainpower.
Which may be why she teased him about "virginity." He didn't pay her any attention and even had the gall to pass her up for a couple of twenty-somethings with half her looks and none of her brians.