March Progress Report II (Patreon)

Hello guys!

TLDR: The next update will release on Wednesday.

We begin the route by telling everyone that we want to go south.

 But this brings arguments, even pleading from the adults around you to not go.

Lady Valerie and Sir William both debate the matter, Lady Valerie in favor of letting you go thanks to her Belthean upbringing, whereas Sir William rebuffs the idea.

But you gain an unlikely (or perhaps likely depending on what you've seen from him thus far) ally from Master Feren.

 I hope this offers a glimpse to the type of person Master Feren is, and his personality/philosophy/outlook. He believes in cultivating good people and leaders, but the best people and leaders are those who arent sheltered by the darkness of the world that still choose to be good and better. Besides, he came in the first place to teach the Champion specifically for the chance to research the progeny of two A'luthean bloodlines colliding in one.

He will have a bit of a confirmation bias issue at work here, one that's going to be very hard to dislodge since, well, our family is that fucking gifted.

• Adelina and Uriel's reforms and incredibly energetic governance

• Remiel and Otto's past achievements

• The Champion themselves and their almost supernatural intelligence

• And then Aurelian's own gifted noggin that Master Feren tutors in the future as well...

Perhaps I need to take a small detour for people that havent been able to read the side story with Master Feren and Queen Khari (that will have a re-release in the future alongside all the other side stories in the far future).

Master Feren has struggled with philosophy all his life, specifically concerning the model form of government and leadership. He sees the injustices of the aristocracy and their personal shortcomings (remember the empire is in a golden age but is also experience widespread decadence that started from Otto's fathers' reign), but also the mob mentality that comes with democracy or the way republicanism creates strongmen who revert the nation back to tyranny (as witnessed from the Sankri continent to which he traveled to).

Anyways, his question is thus: Are the Blessed truly ordained by the Goddess to rule?

Aren't they just as susceptible to the greed, hate, and other failings common in ordinary men and women? But what about the A'luthean bloodlines? One (Ravenea) created the largest and most powerful empire in Nareth's history, while the other (Argent) created and led the Tripartite Alliance for centuries which kept western Nareth in remarkable stability in comparison to the east, an alliance that was only recently broken by the same empire.

You are the product of both these bloodlines, who are supposedly the direct descendants of two Wreathed, demigods who walked alongside the Goddess Herself.

And hence, his support to letting you go on and see the realities of governance. He literally thinks (especially because of the small amount of time together already experienced) that you're built different.

Of course this doesn't mean he'll tell you toughen up and be stoic like the Beltheans would, but he wont baby you or shelter you as the Argentians would. Instead he'll stand beside you and support you, allowing you to experience the world and face the consequences but with him there beside you.

Anyways, Master Feren then explains different reasons as to why you should be allowed, and why he supports your decision.

He shares a few tidbits regarding both your grandfathers, and I hope it's not too on the nose as I want to ease the world for the reader instead like before.

Soon, the conversation allows for you to decide how to proceed.

• Friendly takes into account everyone's feelings.

• Carefree doesnt mean cracking jokes. It means you literally don't care for ritual, tradition, rules, or feelings if it comes between you and your goal. That goal right now is watching what happens in the southern amphitheater.  

• Stoic Champions are considerate of action. They review the things before them and then proceed after thinking things through.

• Being Imperious means thinking and acting in relation to people around the Champion. That is the key difference between Carefree and Imperious. Carefree don't care what others think of them. Imperious does, and tries to influence that perception, even by force if need be.

Only reason why i take care to specify each option is because I think some people needed some more clarification on the personality choices/reactions the Champion will come across often.

Annnyways, after this, you come to a fork in the path. Why? Because there are two other scions of nobility besides you; Princess Amina and Kinlord Zera.

I'm currently writing the two paths, and I even considered including Aurelian as a possible choice... but no, there's plenty awaiting him in the future; no need to start yet.

 Anyways, im taking a little bit longer than expected because I really want the two forks to be unique to one another, and I'm having alot of fun with it because it explores Amina and Zera far better here than the other paths so far. So much so that i was reconsidering making this a scene every player has to go through. But i dunno, ill work on it as one of the four exploration paths and see what you guys say once I release it and you test it.

Anyways, projected release date for the next update is on late Wednesday. Hoping that Monday and Tuesday are enough for both forks and Wednesday gives me the time to review it and fix up any spelling errors and fix sentence structures plus code.

Speaking of code, im sorry to say that i havent fixed the go_sub error people have been telling me about here and there. So far it seems to affect a few people??

Im hoping that with the completion of the South exploration route that all the code will be orderly and that it fixes itself. (call me delusional)

Anyways, that's it! You can expect the next update on Wednesday, and i'm hoping you guys enjoy it! I didnt want to share too much, especially since the good stuff is in the fork content with Amina and Zera!