To suffer the misfortune of bearing elfblood! Agh! The tragedy, oh, the tragedy! (This is going to be a long one, friends.. Before I start, I will say that I love this IF and the RO’s; all very well written! Thianne 4ever :])
I, by all means, am a sort of human supremacist. No matter what genre or activity I'm engaging in, whether it's Stellaris, DnD, Warhammer 40k, or any other RPG; if there's a 'race selector' of any sorts I always go with the humans. Hell, I'd go as far to say I support the humans in the Avatar series (not the Last Airbender, the one with blue people.. Duh). Now, even with my tendencies to be unbearably biased toward humankind, I did attempt to give the Fae in the IF a fair chance to win me over. But bloody hell do they make it hard for themselves.
Let me start with the first of my many problems with the Fae. Hypocrisy. To quote our dear friend Lady Maeve:
(“Humanity needs to be kept in check," she says eventually. Her tone is even, though you can tell there's a lot of conviction behind her words. "You’re fae and you’re the closest person to the royal family there is. Put two and two together. The Seelie Court hopes you’ll represent our interests. Convince the Prince that there’s no point in killing fae. Convince him that humans have no right to our living space. If he doesn’t listen, sabotage him. If he turns out to be a tyrant, do what you can to stop him.")
Now, the Seelie Court is supposed to be the “peaceful” group, correct? Something like that, I’d assume. Now, Maeve, a member of the Seelie Court, which, apparently, is open to “coexistence” with humanity openly speaks like humanity is some sort of pest. Something to be culled; ‘kept in check’. No reaching out and engaging actual diplomacy. Hell, humans don’t even know the Seelie Court or Unseelie Court exist. Quite fairly, humans have assumed fae to be a monolith because of their actions; which is treating humans like lesser beings and attacking them in different ways. For a ‘peaceful’ group which is open to ‘coexistence’ the Seelie sure as hell aren’t reaching out to find a resolution. Instead, we’ve got implanting spies, coercion, and threats. Also, what’s a ‘tyrant’ in Maeve's definition? Someone who goes against Seelie motives? ‘Cause there’s definitely a different definition there. Seelie ‘peace’ seems to be about maintaining fae leverage, not preventing any violence.
To quote Maeve again: ("I’m not trying to put any pressure on you, but if you refuse… The Seelie Court won’t hesitate to resort to more drastic measures. The Unseelie Court has already made up its mind.” MC: “You’re threatening me.” Maeve: “Yes. As I see it, there are two options: you don’t cooperate with us and the conflict will continue to escalate, or you cooperate with us and there’s at least a chance to resolve this.”)
Ah, I love some more hypocrisy. Again, the Seelie aren’t even trying actual diplomacy. ‘The Unseelie Court has already made up its mind’. And you guys are better, how? She says that the Unseelie Court resorts to violence and will not hear a word of coexisting with humans, but the Seelie Court seems to be the exact same. All the Seelie Court is doing differently is being just a tad subtler. Of course, that just means doing all the same things with a diplomatic flair. Next; (‘The conflict will continue to escalate’) Are the Seelie actually doing anything to deescalate tensions? And (‘or you cooperate with us and there’s at least a chance to resolve this.’) Ah, yes, resolving an all-out war in a peaceful manner by having a double agent, continuing to actively damage the relationship between Gaiapeia and the Seelie Court by lying to humanity, and having contingency plans to kill the human heir if things don’t go their way? I see no problems there. At least the Unseelie are actually honest.
Now to address what seems to have been the biggest contending point for the fae. Land. Maeve says: (‘Convince him that humans have no right to our living space.’) Our. The fae. What makes it exclusively the living space of the fae? Since the exact origins of the fae & humans are unclear, no one’s actually sure if they were first. It’s a tad unfair of the fae to assume the land is solely theirs. Even if they “were here before us” what does that matter? Humans have actually made laws, cities, borders, and most importantly? CIVILIZATION. Actual bloody civilization. The fae have virtually nothing like that; just vague claims about “being here first”. The humans aren’t an invading force, they’re just doing what it takes to survive. Isn’t their fault if the fae resort to violence first. If anything, the land belongs to humans. Next, to address the claim that humanity is a ‘plague’ and ‘lives beyond its means’; (‘It is true that humans use a lot of natural resources’) Ok.. Well, all I’ll say to that is not all of us can use hocus-pocus fae magic to summon our resources or magically live off the land. Necessity maintains the expansion of humankind. Maybe, hear me out now, just maybe if fae had actual borders and cities then those pesky humans wouldn’t be so eager to encroach on “their land”..
I genuinely cannot understand why one would side with the fae. Humanity isn’t perfect, but the vast majority fae are the malicious ones in this situation. Gaiapeia is fighting to defend itself. Humanity is reacting. As brought up earlier, humans are very much ignorant of fae ways, and are swinging a sword in the dark when it comes to the fae. There has been no extended olive branch, no envoy nor messages. Instead the fae have infiltrated their society, replaced goddamn babies with changelings, assassinated humans in their homes, attacked innocent villagers, and much more. Humanity is, as a whole, traumatized. You can see it in the way they’re plating the walls with metal, training knights to fight fae, and how everyone fears or despises fae. Every interaction with the fae has been overwhelmingly negative to a T. We’ve all seen the effect that trauma can have on people [all my brotherly love goes to His Majesty Az’Lean]. Meanwhile, virtually every fae killed by a human has been in defense of the kingdom. The fae are ruthlessly assaulting Gaiapeia in one way or another and it is clear that Gaiapeia is more or less innocent. On that note, I will say this; I do not hate the fae. I definitely do not hate half-fae; Lester & the others have my heart. Them getting looked down upon just because they were born as (half) fae is pretty shoddy. There are outliers in the fae, I can’t deny that. But that does not change the fact that the majority are malicious.
Despite all I have said, though I do stand by it all, my choice was ultimately to go with the neutral path. Even with my gut screaming at me to wipe out every threat to humanity, I had to give the fae a chance [Well, for now, at least. Saves exist for a reason >:DD; I am not blind to the irony of me saying that with the MC as a fae btw]. At the end of the day, they’re all just people. Even the fae deserve a chance to live in peace, and I’d be damned if I didn’t give them a chance to try and change: the MC is living proof that it is possible. [Also, it’s just another thing to rub in the face of the fae later; having Gaiapeia actually be the ones that open up to diplomacy and real peace lol]
I had to ramble a bit, and I’m always open to some friendly debate. If you’ve read this far, thank you for ‘listening’ to me spew nonsense from the depths of my singular brain cell.
To end this long comment, I will leave you, dear Champion, with a quote;
“Dov wahlaan fah rel. We were made to dominate. The will to power is in our blood. You feel it in yourself, do you not? I can be trusted. I know this. But they do not. Onikaan ni ov dovah.
It is always wise to mistrust a dovah. I have overcome my nature only through meditation and long study of the Way of the Voice. No day goes by where I am not tempted to return to my inborn nature.
Zin krif horvut se suleyk. What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?”
Drew Lester the way I see him in my mind :) he's my favourite and he brings me joy. Never thought I'd relate so much to him but I found so many parallels between the conflict between the fae and the humans, and the conflict between the Mapuche and the Chilean government... me being Mapuche and Chilean. Leaning into stereotypes just because it lets you have some control, because even if you were perfect, they'd still call you a criminal. Everything feels so well handled and as realistic as something can be in a fantasy world. Also he's funny.
Wanted to say, I am so fascinated by how much each choice can affect the story!!! Played three different save files and it didn't feel repetitive because it was so fun to see how things changed. Can't imagine how much writing you gotta do to have something this varied. And !!! Huge thanks from an aro/ace person because there have been many great games in the past that I've had to abandon bc they force the MC into situations I'm personally not comfortable with... but here you can be QUEERPLATONIC ?!?! I was so shocked. The worldbuilding itself is also so good I love Maeve's design and magic !! I could go on and on about this game but I'll spare you the rest of my rambling !!! Just, really cool stuff.
Your art is amazing and it's really close to how I have been imagining Lester! I especially love the depth of expression, very visceral and appealing at the same time.
Thank you so much for your kind words and high praise. I am very glad to hear you've been enjoying the story and the choices within it so far. It was really important to me to make all of the different paths feel distinct and equally meaningful. It's been a lot of work, I can tell you that much, but knowing that people go back and check out different choices makes it worth it for sure.
Yeah, I'm ace myself and have been frustrated with the lack of nuance in relationships in some other games as well. Often there ends up being a binary of "I have no interest in this character at all" and "I want to immediately kiss, sleep with and marry this character" and it's just so reductive. So that was very imporant to me to avoid. I'm happy to know that the effort is being appreciated! :)
Thanks again for your lovely comment and your stunning artwork!
It just occurred to me on my second playthrough, that Az'Lean names a falcon after us, no matter what name we give our champions (my champion last playthrough was named Vanya, this time it's Nora). Is that intentional or a bug???
Also, what are the odds of him being particularly affectionate about owls because they are MC's family crest???
If you mean what I think you mean, I think that's just a misunderstanding:
“This here is Kaz. She’s one of my oldest and very calm. Nothing fazes her anymore.”
A light-brown peregrine falcon sits rigidly on a perch, clicking her beak as Azlean begins to fasten the leash to his glove and then the field jess around Kaz’s anklet. Without needing to give a command, Kaz climbs onto Az’Lean’s glove and he holds the field jess between his fingers to make sure she stays there.
“This here is $playername,” Az’Lean says and holds his left arm with Kaz on it out in front of you. Pitch black eyes stare at up you and Kaz slowly tilts her head to the side.
The falcon's name is Kaz, and he is introducing the MC to the falcon in that sentence, not the other way around. Though I see why it might not be entirely clear. I might go and reword that sentence at some point.
I can totally imagine Az'Lean (if he's on good terms with MC) starting to grow even fonder of owls! It'd be difficult not to associate them with each other, I think.
Hello I'm new here and I just played through the game three times now. I've read a few comments about how there are serval different routes. Is there guide that could tell the branching? I've ended on the C route every time. I'll admit I probably not making the right decisions.
Hey there! There's not really a guide, but it's not too complicated, so I can just tell you how it works real quick:
There are three routes, A (humanity), B (the fae), C (neutral), and the split happens towards the end of Chapter 6 during the conversation with Vynn. If you want to experiment, it'd be good to make a safe file before that point.
To get route A, you need to have a good relationship with Az'Lean, and during that conversation with Vynn, decide to support humanity above all else, which includes being willing to betray Maeve.
To get route B, you need to have a good relationship with Maeve, NOT tell Az'Lean the truth about you, and during that conversation with Vynn, decide to support the fae above all else.
To get route C, you need to have at least a neutral relationship with Maeve, and during that conversation with Vynn, decide that picking one side over the other isn't the answer, and that you'd rather find a different solution.
That's all there really is to it. Then, in Chapter 10 those three routes branch again based on the character you are closest to (so that would then be 15 routes in total you could end up on).
Wow, well written! when I first came across this work, I had just started grad school, now I'm about to graduate... ... How time flies!
Though personally, I think the choice in chapter 6: 1. try to resolve the conflict peacefully and 2.prioritizing the protection of the kingdom ----shouldn't necessarily be mutually exclusive. In my opinion, to protect the kingdom, we should, one the one hand, involve using force to defend its citizens from elven attacks (including preventing tragedies like the village and the MC's replacement). On the other hand, since the elves are divided into two factions (and Maeve belongs to the more pacifist one), the human side ought to find a way to communicate with Maeve's faction, to reduce conflict or at least gather information about the elves' intentions ---- make more friends and fewer enemies.
However, choosing choice 2 immediately leads to capturing Maeve and severing the MC's only line of communication with the elves, which seems rather unwise. Meanwhile, choosing choice 1 and the next chapter suddenly reveals that "the elves are also MC's kin". But there was little depiction of the MC's sense of belonging to the elves. Aside from Maeve, there were no other elves we had a close relationship with. The elves still feel like a distant symbol ----which even causes the tragedy that befell the true child. This transition feels a bit abrupt.
Also, from what we've seen so far, the elves seem to have many ways to infiltrate the human territory, such as sending changelings or somehow learning about the MC's conversations with Vynn ---- yet the human side appears completely unable to counteract or even detect these incursions. That might make sense if humanity had only recently encountered the elves, but hasn't it already been a long time since they settled in this land?
In my point of view, the elves' use of changeling-child is a deeply serious violation against humanity. It's not just a matter of sending spies to gather intelligence of cause sabotage ---- it's an act that can spiritually end emotionally destroy families, and it also reflects a grave irresponsibility toward the changeling-child themselves. The MC happens to have supportive friends and family, but what if they weren't so fortunate? And what about the replaced human child, what kind of life they lead in the elves' world, what status do they hold there, and how do they view humanity after being taken away? Truly hope this topic will be explored in greater depth later on. No matter which routine the story takes -- perhaps especially in the "peaceful" one -- this feels like a can of worms that can't stay closed forever.
First of all, thank you so much for your indepth comments. There's no greater honour than having someone engage with your work on such a level. Your perspective is giving me something to think about, and that's very helpful when it comes to improving my storytelling. Also, awesome that you're graduating grad school!
I find it so interesting that your perspective is perhaps the complete opposite of some of the other readers. I've gotten comments about how clearly humanity is in the wrong because they are colonisers stealing the fae's native land, taking their resources, etc. I'm not going to offer up any arguments either way - I want to facilitate the debate, not sway it with 'authorial intent'.
It's just so fun to see the different responses to the same story. Of course, depending on what route you play you'll get different information and it'll inform your view, but also, depending on your view, different routes will open up to you. I noticed you said "1. try to resolve the conflict peacefully and 2.prioritizing the protection of the kingdom" but of course there's also option 3: side with the fae. I wonder if you just didn't mention it, or if you didn't unlock that option because it didn't align with your MCs opinions.
As for the route split feeling sudden, depending on how you played your MC, there's some truth to that. If I had more time, I think it'd be worth expanding on it. That's the main criticism I've been getting in general - that there just aren't enough choices for what players would like to do, or for how they would like to characterise the MC.
Moving on, I wonder if I should point out any misconceptions you have... If it's because you simply haven't come across that information in your playthrough, then it'd ruin the point if I tried informing you about it now. Though I think Maeve did mention early on that most fae aren't a part of either of the two courts, but rather acting as individuals. If that wasn't clear I think it's be worth pointing out again.
I will say, I do hope every route/ending will end up being satisfying in its own right. You can only get the big picture by playing through multiple routes, there's no getting around that, but I do hope every route will at least be internally coherent. It's sometimes difficult to keep track of everything I now, and everything a reader of a particular route knows.
Either way, I hope you'll continue enjoying where this story goes in the future!
Thanks for not spoiling anything! Might start a new save later to try different choices, interact more with M/L, and see the story from other perspectives! Currently got little information about the "human steals land" others mentioned. The information I’ve gathered so far suggests that the kingdom has always existed in this land rather than having come from elsewhere — it’s just that as the population grew, so did the territory. Do the fae see this territorial expansion as colonization? But if the land doesn’t expand, where are the surplus people supposed to go? Besides, it doesn’t seem like the fae have ever agreed to communication— instead, they resort to acts of destruction. But again, maybe it's a different-view thing. A new save we go~
Anyway, looking forward to seeing where the story goes next! Big thumb-up for this excellent work~
for some reason it keeps referring to my MC by he?? but it also calls her "Lady ABC XYZ", should i restart and just something i misclicked or is it more likely to be a bug?
Well, gender and pronouns are two separate options, so it's possible you misclicked something. Also, be careful during the intermission after Chapter 1: it contains the option to change pronouns, so that's also something you could have accidentally clicked on. If it happened only once I'd think it might be a bug, but it sounds like it's constant? If you aren't too far in the story, restarting might be the easiest solution. I'll still take a look and see if I can find anything that might be a bug though.
ran into what feels like a bug/error (using a save from before chapter 10 so that might be the source of it). conversation with thianne away from az'lean and it seems like thianne was supposed to say something to az'lean afterwards but it got cut out for whatever reason. i have a save file but i don't know where would be the best place to get it to you, and again it may just be that the update broke my previous save
Hmm, I need a bit more info than that. Do you mean the scene where Thianne pulls the MC aside and warns them about the oath? Az'Lean isn't present at the end of that scene, so I'm not sure what you mean by 'was supposed to say something to Az'Lean afterwards'. Or do you mean something else?
It was MC pulling Thianne aside to talk (I think) about trying to convince azlean to work towards peace; thianne and mc then go back to azlean and he asks what they talked about, and that’s where it seems like there was missing text
Oh, now I know which scene you mean. Yes, there's an if-statement there that might not be showing up correctly, I'll look into it. Thanks for letting me know!
The update came at the best possible time, I just came from being left with a mixture of anger and frustration for some things I read in another story and being left with the cliffhanger at the end from its 3rd chapter just to find that the story is being rewritten, seeing that this was updated just brightened my day again.
(In case anyone is curious, that other story is "Love After Dead" you can see it and other cool stuff on my collection of if's on my profile)
Hehe, yes, thanks, but now that I have some of your attention, I wanted to ask you a slightly weird question, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but...
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Okay, I just had to start a new game because the previous ones were deleted and I don't even remember why (and I don't know if they would still work)., I just got to chapter 7A and I was wondering, when Az'Lean tells you that only he will decide when and how to use your abilities and that he will use you to your fullest, did he only talk about helping the kingdom or did he also talk about other things...
I'm sorry if the question makes you uncomfortable, as I said it's VERY weird, but I didn't want to be left wondering if it's just that or if it's really just my submissive side getting carried away by a character with such a dominant aura (plus something about how he acts when he says it makes it feel even more like that)
PS: I don't know if there's something wrong with how I wrote it, since my English is still pretty bad (at least in terms of writing and pronunciation) and the translator often messes up what I say.
Haha, I was expecting a worse question than that! I will say, you're not the first one to comment on it either. To be honest, when I first wrote that line, I wasn't thinking much of it, but then I read it back and went "Hmm... That's kind of... More suggestive than I meant it to be, but it works." So yes, the double meaning is more or less intentional. However, Az'Lean himself is really only thinking about the kingdom, he's too repressed to notice the way it comes across. He's just trying to sound threatening, which does play into his dominant aura, as you said. Maybe he'll figure it all out eventually ;)
Your English is absolutely fine by the way! No need to worry about that :)
If you need to scroll down to read the whole text and you then press either the settings or saves button while being on the bottom of the page, the popup windows that open are not visible to you. It appears that they are anchored to the top of the text (box?) area. It is bothersome but not game breaking. It should be possible to have them always open at a certain place on the screen instead. If you find the time, code and energy to do that, it would be much appreciated. If not, that's ok too. Just thought you might want to know...as it seemed like something that is most likely not intentional, but instead a bug of some sort.
I've actually gotten a report about that before, but I haven't been able to recreate it. It doesn't do that for me, when I test it the box is always centred in the middle of the screen. So I haven't quite figured out what causes that yet. I've been thinking it might be an issue in how it interacts with fullscreen, or perhaps it might be browser dependant. The last user who reported this issue was using Firefox, could you tell me what browser you are using, and if you're running the game in fullscreen or not?
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To suffer the misfortune of bearing elfblood! Agh! The tragedy, oh, the tragedy! (This is going to be a long one, friends.. Before I start, I will say that I love this IF and the RO’s; all very well written! Thianne 4ever :])
I, by all means, am a sort of human supremacist. No matter what genre or activity I'm engaging in, whether it's Stellaris, DnD, Warhammer 40k, or any other RPG; if there's a 'race selector' of any sorts I always go with the humans. Hell, I'd go as far to say I support the humans in the Avatar series (not the Last Airbender, the one with blue people.. Duh). Now, even with my tendencies to be unbearably biased toward humankind, I did attempt to give the Fae in the IF a fair chance to win me over. But bloody hell do they make it hard for themselves.
Let me start with the first of my many problems with the Fae. Hypocrisy. To quote our dear friend Lady Maeve:
(“Humanity needs to be kept in check," she says eventually. Her tone is even, though you can tell there's a lot of conviction behind her words. "You’re fae and you’re the closest person to the royal family there is. Put two and two together. The Seelie Court hopes you’ll represent our interests. Convince the Prince that there’s no point in killing fae. Convince him that humans have no right to our living space. If he doesn’t listen, sabotage him. If he turns out to be a tyrant, do what you can to stop him.")
Now, the Seelie Court is supposed to be the “peaceful” group, correct? Something like that, I’d assume. Now, Maeve, a member of the Seelie Court, which, apparently, is open to “coexistence” with humanity openly speaks like humanity is some sort of pest. Something to be culled; ‘kept in check’. No reaching out and engaging actual diplomacy. Hell, humans don’t even know the Seelie Court or Unseelie Court exist. Quite fairly, humans have assumed fae to be a monolith because of their actions; which is treating humans like lesser beings and attacking them in different ways. For a ‘peaceful’ group which is open to ‘coexistence’ the Seelie sure as hell aren’t reaching out to find a resolution. Instead, we’ve got implanting spies, coercion, and threats. Also, what’s a ‘tyrant’ in Maeve's definition? Someone who goes against Seelie motives? ‘Cause there’s definitely a different definition there. Seelie ‘peace’ seems to be about maintaining fae leverage, not preventing any violence.
To quote Maeve again: ("I’m not trying to put any pressure on you, but if you refuse… The Seelie Court won’t hesitate to resort to more drastic measures. The Unseelie Court has already made up its mind.” MC: “You’re threatening me.” Maeve: “Yes. As I see it, there are two options: you don’t cooperate with us and the conflict will continue to escalate, or you cooperate with us and there’s at least a chance to resolve this.”)
Ah, I love some more hypocrisy. Again, the Seelie aren’t even trying actual diplomacy. ‘The Unseelie Court has already made up its mind’. And you guys are better, how? She says that the Unseelie Court resorts to violence and will not hear a word of coexisting with humans, but the Seelie Court seems to be the exact same. All the Seelie Court is doing differently is being just a tad subtler. Of course, that just means doing all the same things with a diplomatic flair. Next; (‘The conflict will continue to escalate’) Are the Seelie actually doing anything to deescalate tensions? And (‘or you cooperate with us and there’s at least a chance to resolve this.’) Ah, yes, resolving an all-out war in a peaceful manner by having a double agent, continuing to actively damage the relationship between Gaiapeia and the Seelie Court by lying to humanity, and having contingency plans to kill the human heir if things don’t go their way? I see no problems there. At least the Unseelie are actually honest.
Now to address what seems to have been the biggest contending point for the fae. Land. Maeve says: (‘Convince him that humans have no right to our living space.’) Our. The fae. What makes it exclusively the living space of the fae? Since the exact origins of the fae & humans are unclear, no one’s actually sure if they were first. It’s a tad unfair of the fae to assume the land is solely theirs. Even if they “were here before us” what does that matter? Humans have actually made laws, cities, borders, and most importantly? CIVILIZATION. Actual bloody civilization. The fae have virtually nothing like that; just vague claims about “being here first”. The humans aren’t an invading force, they’re just doing what it takes to survive. Isn’t their fault if the fae resort to violence first. If anything, the land belongs to humans. Next, to address the claim that humanity is a ‘plague’ and ‘lives beyond its means’; (‘It is true that humans use a lot of natural resources’) Ok.. Well, all I’ll say to that is not all of us can use hocus-pocus fae magic to summon our resources or magically live off the land. Necessity maintains the expansion of humankind. Maybe, hear me out now, just maybe if fae had actual borders and cities then those pesky humans wouldn’t be so eager to encroach on “their land”..
I genuinely cannot understand why one would side with the fae. Humanity isn’t perfect, but the vast majority fae are the malicious ones in this situation. Gaiapeia is fighting to defend itself. Humanity is reacting. As brought up earlier, humans are very much ignorant of fae ways, and are swinging a sword in the dark when it comes to the fae. There has been no extended olive branch, no envoy nor messages. Instead the fae have infiltrated their society, replaced goddamn babies with changelings, assassinated humans in their homes, attacked innocent villagers, and much more. Humanity is, as a whole, traumatized. You can see it in the way they’re plating the walls with metal, training knights to fight fae, and how everyone fears or despises fae. Every interaction with the fae has been overwhelmingly negative to a T. We’ve all seen the effect that trauma can have on people [all my brotherly love goes to His Majesty Az’Lean]. Meanwhile, virtually every fae killed by a human has been in defense of the kingdom. The fae are ruthlessly assaulting Gaiapeia in one way or another and it is clear that Gaiapeia is more or less innocent. On that note, I will say this; I do not hate the fae. I definitely do not hate half-fae; Lester & the others have my heart. Them getting looked down upon just because they were born as (half) fae is pretty shoddy. There are outliers in the fae, I can’t deny that. But that does not change the fact that the majority are malicious.
Despite all I have said, though I do stand by it all, my choice was ultimately to go with the neutral path. Even with my gut screaming at me to wipe out every threat to humanity, I had to give the fae a chance [Well, for now, at least. Saves exist for a reason >:DD; I am not blind to the irony of me saying that with the MC as a fae btw]. At the end of the day, they’re all just people. Even the fae deserve a chance to live in peace, and I’d be damned if I didn’t give them a chance to try and change: the MC is living proof that it is possible. [Also, it’s just another thing to rub in the face of the fae later; having Gaiapeia actually be the ones that open up to diplomacy and real peace lol]
I had to ramble a bit, and I’m always open to some friendly debate. If you’ve read this far, thank you for ‘listening’ to me spew nonsense from the depths of my singular brain cell.
To end this long comment, I will leave you, dear Champion, with a quote;
“Dov wahlaan fah rel. We were made to dominate. The will to power is in our blood. You feel it in yourself, do you not? I can be trusted. I know this. But they do not. Onikaan ni ov dovah.
It is always wise to mistrust a dovah. I have overcome my nature only through meditation and long study of the Way of the Voice. No day goes by where I am not tempted to return to my inborn nature.
Zin krif horvut se suleyk. What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?”
-Paarthurnax
Drew Lester the way I see him in my mind :) he's my favourite and he brings me joy. Never thought I'd relate so much to him but I found so many parallels between the conflict between the fae and the humans, and the conflict between the Mapuche and the Chilean government... me being Mapuche and Chilean. Leaning into stereotypes just because it lets you have some control, because even if you were perfect, they'd still call you a criminal. Everything feels so well handled and as realistic as something can be in a fantasy world. Also he's funny.
Wanted to say, I am so fascinated by how much each choice can affect the story!!! Played three different save files and it didn't feel repetitive because it was so fun to see how things changed. Can't imagine how much writing you gotta do to have something this varied. And !!! Huge thanks from an aro/ace person because there have been many great games in the past that I've had to abandon bc they force the MC into situations I'm personally not comfortable with... but here you can be QUEERPLATONIC ?!?! I was so shocked. The worldbuilding itself is also so good I love Maeve's design and magic !! I could go on and on about this game but I'll spare you the rest of my rambling !!! Just, really cool stuff.
Very nice fanart you’ve drawn! It’s quite nice to see people draw characters from stories that they like, it’s always neat to see.
Your art is amazing and it's really close to how I have been imagining Lester! I especially love the depth of expression, very visceral and appealing at the same time.
Thank you so much for your kind words and high praise. I am very glad to hear you've been enjoying the story and the choices within it so far. It was really important to me to make all of the different paths feel distinct and equally meaningful. It's been a lot of work, I can tell you that much, but knowing that people go back and check out different choices makes it worth it for sure.
Yeah, I'm ace myself and have been frustrated with the lack of nuance in relationships in some other games as well. Often there ends up being a binary of "I have no interest in this character at all" and "I want to immediately kiss, sleep with and marry this character" and it's just so reductive. So that was very imporant to me to avoid. I'm happy to know that the effort is being appreciated! :)
Thanks again for your lovely comment and your stunning artwork!
It just occurred to me on my second playthrough, that Az'Lean names a falcon after us, no matter what name we give our champions (my champion last playthrough was named Vanya, this time it's Nora). Is that intentional or a bug???
Also, what are the odds of him being particularly affectionate about owls because they are MC's family crest???
If you mean what I think you mean, I think that's just a misunderstanding:
The falcon's name is Kaz, and he is introducing the MC to the falcon in that sentence, not the other way around. Though I see why it might not be entirely clear. I might go and reword that sentence at some point.
I can totally imagine Az'Lean (if he's on good terms with MC) starting to grow even fonder of owls! It'd be difficult not to associate them with each other, I think.
Hello I'm new here and I just played through the game three times now. I've read a few comments about how there are serval different routes. Is there guide that could tell the branching? I've ended on the C route every time. I'll admit I probably not making the right decisions.
Hey there! There's not really a guide, but it's not too complicated, so I can just tell you how it works real quick:
There are three routes, A (humanity), B (the fae), C (neutral), and the split happens towards the end of Chapter 6 during the conversation with Vynn. If you want to experiment, it'd be good to make a safe file before that point.
To get route A, you need to have a good relationship with Az'Lean, and during that conversation with Vynn, decide to support humanity above all else, which includes being willing to betray Maeve.
To get route B, you need to have a good relationship with Maeve, NOT tell Az'Lean the truth about you, and during that conversation with Vynn, decide to support the fae above all else.
To get route C, you need to have at least a neutral relationship with Maeve, and during that conversation with Vynn, decide that picking one side over the other isn't the answer, and that you'd rather find a different solution.
That's all there really is to it. Then, in Chapter 10 those three routes branch again based on the character you are closest to (so that would then be 15 routes in total you could end up on).
Wow, well written! when I first came across this work, I had just started grad school, now I'm about to graduate... ... How time flies!
Though personally, I think the choice in chapter 6: 1. try to resolve the conflict peacefully and 2.prioritizing the protection of the kingdom ----shouldn't necessarily be mutually exclusive. In my opinion, to protect the kingdom, we should, one the one hand, involve using force to defend its citizens from elven attacks (including preventing tragedies like the village and the MC's replacement). On the other hand, since the elves are divided into two factions (and Maeve belongs to the more pacifist one), the human side ought to find a way to communicate with Maeve's faction, to reduce conflict or at least gather information about the elves' intentions ---- make more friends and fewer enemies.
However, choosing choice 2 immediately leads to capturing Maeve and severing the MC's only line of communication with the elves, which seems rather unwise. Meanwhile, choosing choice 1 and the next chapter suddenly reveals that "the elves are also MC's kin". But there was little depiction of the MC's sense of belonging to the elves. Aside from Maeve, there were no other elves we had a close relationship with. The elves still feel like a distant symbol ----which even causes the tragedy that befell the true child. This transition feels a bit abrupt.
Also, from what we've seen so far, the elves seem to have many ways to infiltrate the human territory, such as sending changelings or somehow learning about the MC's conversations with Vynn ---- yet the human side appears completely unable to counteract or even detect these incursions. That might make sense if humanity had only recently encountered the elves, but hasn't it already been a long time since they settled in this land?
In my point of view, the elves' use of changeling-child is a deeply serious violation against humanity. It's not just a matter of sending spies to gather intelligence of cause sabotage ---- it's an act that can spiritually end emotionally destroy families, and it also reflects a grave irresponsibility toward the changeling-child themselves. The MC happens to have supportive friends and family, but what if they weren't so fortunate? And what about the replaced human child, what kind of life they lead in the elves' world, what status do they hold there, and how do they view humanity after being taken away? Truly hope this topic will be explored in greater depth later on. No matter which routine the story takes -- perhaps especially in the "peaceful" one -- this feels like a can of worms that can't stay closed forever.
First of all, thank you so much for your indepth comments. There's no greater honour than having someone engage with your work on such a level. Your perspective is giving me something to think about, and that's very helpful when it comes to improving my storytelling. Also, awesome that you're graduating grad school!
I find it so interesting that your perspective is perhaps the complete opposite of some of the other readers. I've gotten comments about how clearly humanity is in the wrong because they are colonisers stealing the fae's native land, taking their resources, etc. I'm not going to offer up any arguments either way - I want to facilitate the debate, not sway it with 'authorial intent'.
It's just so fun to see the different responses to the same story. Of course, depending on what route you play you'll get different information and it'll inform your view, but also, depending on your view, different routes will open up to you. I noticed you said "1. try to resolve the conflict peacefully and 2.prioritizing the protection of the kingdom" but of course there's also option 3: side with the fae. I wonder if you just didn't mention it, or if you didn't unlock that option because it didn't align with your MCs opinions.
As for the route split feeling sudden, depending on how you played your MC, there's some truth to that. If I had more time, I think it'd be worth expanding on it. That's the main criticism I've been getting in general - that there just aren't enough choices for what players would like to do, or for how they would like to characterise the MC.
Moving on, I wonder if I should point out any misconceptions you have... If it's because you simply haven't come across that information in your playthrough, then it'd ruin the point if I tried informing you about it now. Though I think Maeve did mention early on that most fae aren't a part of either of the two courts, but rather acting as individuals. If that wasn't clear I think it's be worth pointing out again.
I will say, I do hope every route/ending will end up being satisfying in its own right. You can only get the big picture by playing through multiple routes, there's no getting around that, but I do hope every route will at least be internally coherent. It's sometimes difficult to keep track of everything I now, and everything a reader of a particular route knows.
Either way, I hope you'll continue enjoying where this story goes in the future!
Thanks for not spoiling anything! Might start a new save later to try different choices, interact more with M/L, and see the story from other perspectives! Currently got little information about the "human steals land" others mentioned. The information I’ve gathered so far suggests that the kingdom has always existed in this land rather than having come from elsewhere — it’s just that as the population grew, so did the territory. Do the fae see this territorial expansion as colonization? But if the land doesn’t expand, where are the surplus people supposed to go? Besides, it doesn’t seem like the fae have ever agreed to communication— instead, they resort to acts of destruction. But again, maybe it's a different-view thing. A new save we go~
Anyway, looking forward to seeing where the story goes next! Big thumb-up for this excellent work~
for some reason it keeps referring to my MC by he?? but it also calls her "Lady ABC XYZ", should i restart and just something i misclicked or is it more likely to be a bug?
Well, gender and pronouns are two separate options, so it's possible you misclicked something. Also, be careful during the intermission after Chapter 1: it contains the option to change pronouns, so that's also something you could have accidentally clicked on. If it happened only once I'd think it might be a bug, but it sounds like it's constant? If you aren't too far in the story, restarting might be the easiest solution. I'll still take a look and see if I can find anything that might be a bug though.
yeah, i think i missed the part in the very beginning where it has the pronouns option vs. gender option! it works for me now :)
big fan cant wait to see more. I think some options might be missing but i figure its because its still a demo lol. enjoyed it a lot!
ran into what feels like a bug/error (using a save from before chapter 10 so that might be the source of it). conversation with thianne away from az'lean and it seems like thianne was supposed to say something to az'lean afterwards but it got cut out for whatever reason. i have a save file but i don't know where would be the best place to get it to you, and again it may just be that the update broke my previous save
Hmm, I need a bit more info than that. Do you mean the scene where Thianne pulls the MC aside and warns them about the oath? Az'Lean isn't present at the end of that scene, so I'm not sure what you mean by 'was supposed to say something to Az'Lean afterwards'. Or do you mean something else?
It was MC pulling Thianne aside to talk (I think) about trying to convince azlean to work towards peace; thianne and mc then go back to azlean and he asks what they talked about, and that’s where it seems like there was missing text
Oh, now I know which scene you mean. Yes, there's an if-statement there that might not be showing up correctly, I'll look into it. Thanks for letting me know!
The update came at the best possible time, I just came from being left with a mixture of anger and frustration for some things I read in another story and being left with the cliffhanger at the end from its 3rd chapter just to find that the story is being rewritten, seeing that this was updated just brightened my day again.
(In case anyone is curious, that other story is "Love After Dead" you can see it and other cool stuff on my collection of if's on my profile)
I'm glad I was able to improve your day a little bit, that's really my ultimate goal :)
Hehe, yes, thanks, but now that I have some of your attention, I wanted to ask you a slightly weird question, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but...
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Okay, I just had to start a new game because the previous ones were deleted and I don't even remember why (and I don't know if they would still work)., I just got to chapter 7A and I was wondering, when Az'Lean tells you that only he will decide when and how to use your abilities and that he will use you to your fullest, did he only talk about helping the kingdom or did he also talk about other things...
I'm sorry if the question makes you uncomfortable, as I said it's VERY weird, but I didn't want to be left wondering if it's just that or if it's really just my submissive side getting carried away by a character with such a dominant aura (plus something about how he acts when he says it makes it feel even more like that)
PS: I don't know if there's something wrong with how I wrote it, since my English is still pretty bad (at least in terms of writing and pronunciation) and the translator often messes up what I say.
(I'm already regretting writing this)
Haha, I was expecting a worse question than that! I will say, you're not the first one to comment on it either. To be honest, when I first wrote that line, I wasn't thinking much of it, but then I read it back and went "Hmm... That's kind of... More suggestive than I meant it to be, but it works." So yes, the double meaning is more or less intentional. However, Az'Lean himself is really only thinking about the kingdom, he's too repressed to notice the way it comes across. He's just trying to sound threatening, which does play into his dominant aura, as you said. Maybe he'll figure it all out eventually ;)
Your English is absolutely fine by the way! No need to worry about that :)
#BUG REPORT#
On Chapter8C23, check the italic tags around the word "us" on the answer linking to Chapter8C24C
Thanks for letting me know!
Another thing I just noticed:
If you need to scroll down to read the whole text and you then press either the settings or saves button while being on the bottom of the page, the popup windows that open are not visible to you. It appears that they are anchored to the top of the text (box?) area. It is bothersome but not game breaking. It should be possible to have them always open at a certain place on the screen instead. If you find the time, code and energy to do that, it would be much appreciated. If not, that's ok too. Just thought you might want to know...as it seemed like something that is most likely not intentional, but instead a bug of some sort.
I've actually gotten a report about that before, but I haven't been able to recreate it. It doesn't do that for me, when I test it the box is always centred in the middle of the screen. So I haven't quite figured out what causes that yet. I've been thinking it might be an issue in how it interacts with fullscreen, or perhaps it might be browser dependant. The last user who reported this issue was using Firefox, could you tell me what browser you are using, and if you're running the game in fullscreen or not?
#BUG REPORT#
On Chapter10CL6, the link to next passage displays $playername instead of the MC' actual name.
really loved this game and im pretty close to finishing ch9 however thought i should comment about this bug i found