Inactive [LP CYOA] Overlord

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Second Princess Faislin Yuiry (17). Youngest daughter. Recently graduated from the University of Hazel in Gran Byarlant, and returned to serve her family and country. Child of Fowyl & Natalia.

target acquired

 

[Nevill]

Regarding A1, it's one thing to ask these men to join us, and it is quite another for these men to be fine with us murdering their brothers-in-arms and committing treason for the honor of serving under some random fucking guy who lives in the woods. And A2 is possibly even worse - so many headaches. First, there's the problem of knowing that they're sincere in defecting to us, and not doing it because they're terrified. Then, there's making sure that they are watched and accounted for at all times - these men are skilled, professional fighting men who will probably be a lot tougher than the goblins that comprise most of our forces. Given the conditions, it's remarkably easy for these guys to escape if either Erdrick or Rin are away.

Well, the idea - at least on paper - is to get the captain to follow us, and then use him to police his own men. He has a great degree of influence on them, to the point where they are said to take after him. If he goes with us earnestly, that would do a lot to mitigate the displeasure.

One could try this by explaining to him that returning Zayan to Dijeh would be against her will, that she needs to disappear, and that this needs to be kept under wraps lest two countries come to blows and Methuss drags her ass all the way back home to clear their name. What is he going to do, force 'a fate worse than death' on the woman he loves?

Killing the dissenters would not be a popular measure, but the alternative is harming Zayan, and these men do have a choice. It is possible that those who will be left alive would not require keeping our eyes at them at all times.

Yeah, I know, I know, pretty chancy. However, I find it quite amusing that you advocate secrecy and want to retain Talal at the same time by breaking him. Do you mean to have his loyalty by robbing him of a place to return to?

Here is one of the possible scenarios. His blind love for Zayan takes a darker turn as it turns into an obsession (killing your men to 'protect' the woman you think you love does that to you). He becomes desperate to make Zayan love him back, because otherwise everything he did would be meaningless. And if she didn't give a damn about him when he was a dashing officer bro, she is not going to like him more when he is a deranged obsessive psycho either. She is a scholar, and he is a soldier - that sums it up.

You are going to have a person who has a grudge against the world and nothing worthwhile to live for. A complete wildcard. What did you say about one of the assholes getting disgruntled and disappearing? Do you want to make bets if this outcome is more probable with regular soldiers under a sane commander, or with a mad wreck of a human being? 'cause I wouldn't know whom to bet on.

There is only one way to honor the deal with the governor in both letter and spirit, and that would be to remove all witnesses. Anything less, and you are taking chances for additional benefits. The only difference is that you want to take yours with Talal, while I do so with his men.

 

[Baltika9]

And if she didn't give a damn about him when he was a dashing officer bro, she is not going to like him more when he is a deranged obsessive psycho either.

Are you sure about that?

 

[Nevill]

Are you sure about that?

I see no reason to believe she cares about anything but science.

And a mad stalker desperate for her attention would be quite distracting.

 

[Elfberserker]

I see at laest two royalties we must contact ASAP.
First is the youngest princess, because she is youngest princess and those are usually pretty up in hotness scale.
We must meet up our soul brother fourth prince and have drinking and womanizing festifal

As for Captain...Well he could be a practice dummy for our corrupting skills, if we make him to murder his men.
If we succeed that then no deed is too dark for a man, who killed his own men....Not to mention maybe it would finally cross that invicible moral line that we never ever dared to cross.

Sure we betrayed the world for titties and half of world and tortured some men to get information and make rin happy, but making likeable captain to murder hs bro soldiers only to get one broken male captain?
I mean there isn't even extra hot female coming with this deal and that makes it truly evil for us.

Corrupting noble captain due his one-sided love for moraless scientints and killing his bro soldiers under his command to prove it?
Captain isn't even a woman, let alone hot one that could easily persuasive codex to do evil deeds to get him to harem.
Doing one big evil deed, so we could get one capable but broken man to serve as minion....Without even them being dick to us, but nice chap...
That is the level of evil we haven't done so far in this quest!
Corrupting and breaking nice chaps for rather small - medium selfish compared to tragic deed we must to do if we want him.
This is the time to prove yourself, do we have the stuff to be corrupters of men and get some practice on it.


Flopping to B1>A1

 

[Nevill]

King Fowyl Yuiry (59), the monarch of the kingdom, who has successfully reigned over periods of both turmoil and peace, and brought his country through intact. Currently preparing the way for his successor, and plans to retire when the time is right.

Queen Natasha (52), the king’s first wife. Twin to Queen Natalia. Known for her charitable endeavours.

Queen Natalia (52), the king’s second wife. Twin to Queen Natasha. Known for her diplomatic banquets.

We might want to take a lesson from the king here. Not with our twins, though, but I hope there would be more.

the King’s wives are Byarlantian nobility.

Curious. Byarlant Empire is said to have been at odds with Dijeh about 50 years ago when Zayan (the Twelfth?) sunk their whole fleet. And the governor said there were rumors about them making a move soon. I have also speculated that the black figure Rin fought is one of them. Are they secret allies with Barzam?

The impression I have of them is that of incessant plotters, and I suspect the whole Erise operation to be their doing. A lot of careful thinking went into that one - a plot within a plot within a plot. The Barzamites we've met - not that there were a lot of them - never gave me a reason to view their countrymen as very sophisticated.

Crown Prince Feist Yuiry (34), the ambitious first prince. Has been designated as the successor to the throne, and is keen to drag the kingdom into a brighter future. Child of Fowyl & Natasha.
[...]
Holy Barzam Ecclesiocracy – Bad relations ever since the Barzamite invasion a decade ago, but it is improving thanks to Prince Feist’s efforts.

Already hate him with a passion. Tried to antagonize the monster-bros, to take Zayan all to himself (a rival!), and is a filthy Barzamite whore at heart. I wonder what was the deal with Duke Hargreave Brescia and the title of a Crown Prince. I suspect that something fishy is going on with him. Wouldn't be surprized if he fell under someone's influence - a proper heir to the Kingdom wouldn't have been eager to piss off the only allies it has for a superficial gain.

Not that we are concerned too much with the well-being of Methuss, but that's where we are based at, and we don't want someone who is dancing on paladins'/plotters' strings - if that is indeed so - in charge.

Second Prince Feyl Yuiry (32), the second born son. Deceased. Child of Fowyl & Natasha.

Interesting. I wonder what the cause of death was and when it happened. Is it a coincidence he was the next in line for the throne after Feist, whom we know to be ruthless and somewhat short-sighted?

I have to say, based on the list of kids I vastly prefer Natalia to Natasha. Might have something to do with them being two princesses and a womanizer. I think we will have a lot of common ground with them.

The second princess, even though a bit too old for our tastes and married, has diplomatic contacts with Dijeh, and her husband, Mr. Hastwell, is known to have shown those Barzamites their place in the past. Seems like a nice couple.

Also, the famed BelBRO is a sworn brother to Hastwell. That is positively an interesting family.

Kingdom of Galbaldy – Frequent border skirmishes occurred up until five years ago, when Belbro Wickman defeated the Mercenary-King of Galbaldy in a famous duel. There has been peace since.

Whatever happened to the Mercenary-King? Sounds like your typical barbarian kingdom with all the finesse of a hammer. Might be an interesting place to relocate to.


TL: DR - suspect the Barzam and Byarlant to be in cahoots, suspect the Crown Prince to be a puppet for them, suspect that Dijeh and Byarlant are still at odds and that Byarlant is trying to get back at them by estranging Methuss from them.

I wonder how we will fit into this mess.

 

[lightbane]

Well, that infodump confirms that right now a straight or a sneaky assault against the Methuss Kingdom would end with an horrible defeat, regardless of if they possess an Angel or not, they have enough manpower to literally drown our village with bodies. Same for the other regions as well.

That Luna region sounds interesting: A beastmen kingdom that trades with slaves (I assume both human and non-human ones)? Quite interesting, we'll have to do something about these guys in order to acquire more followers. They must be quite powerful if Methuss or the others have not attempted to conquer/exterminate them outright. Since non-humans are usually reviled, an entire kingdom of them would be considered a blasphemy.

By the way, in which update was it mentioned that all monsters fled to the East? And was the reason ever explained? I forgot the specifics.

 

[Nevill]

Same for the other regions as well.

Possibly, though I think we might have landed in one of the stronger ones. Takes some serious stability to have the royal line unbroken for generations, and such stability does not happen without power.

I would assume Galbaldy and possibly Barzam to be weaker. Methuss and Dijeh must be a really powerful combination of money and technology working in concert.

By the way, in which update was it mentioned that all monsters fled to the East? And was the reason ever explained? I forgot the specifics.

Not an update, just random goblin lore:

Re: goblin knowledge of non-human territory

The non-humans were gradually pushed further east after the Demon God’s defeat. For some time the humans ruled this area, but barely a hundred years after their victory they left for some reason that the goblins are not aware of. The goblins of Grahferde are currently not in contact with any of the other non-human races, they see them as quitters and losers.

All the surviving non-human races fled east thousands of years ago. You don't know if there has been any regular contact between humans and demons since then, and whether that contact is friendly. The goblins are a little too isolated to know that.

 

[lightbane]

Hm, didn't Barbatos say that three of the Demon Weapons betrayed their Big Boss and were wielded by the humans (possibly re-purposed as "sacred/holy weapons)"? I bet there's at least one of these Demon Weapons hidden somewhere in Methuss. Perhaps said weapon is the one responsible for influencing the Crown Prince.

 

[Nevill]

Sneaky edits.

Then, three of the seven weapons betrayed the Demon God. Barbatos does not know why: all he knows is that Neros, Reminos and Athos vanished from the Demon God’s side, and were next seen in the hands of the five heroes that the gods had chosen.

Neros of the Sword.

Curainnos of the Spear.

Reminos of the Bow.

Merdeos of the Dagger.

Athos of the Staff.

Barbatos of the Fist.

And finally, Equinos of the Golem.

So, the Sword, the Bow and the Staff.

Does Barbatos know what connection is there between the Staff and the phase dagger Rin was stabbed with?

Do other Kingdoms claim they were founded by the descendants of the Five Heroes? I know it has been several thousands of years, but t is just too convenient - five Gods, five Heroes, five Kingdoms. It's like each Kingdom has a patron deity.

Wonder who the founders of Byarlant Empire were. These guys are the ones that interest me the most now.

 

[lightbane]

I thought about it and I believe keeping these men alive is not worth the effort, they would require constant watching and there's little doubt the squad would be strong enough to make a mess in the goblin village before escaping. If we had something better than overgrown cats for their guards though, I would consider it. For now, it would be better if we only keep Tal alive and ensure his loyalty by allowing Zayan to perform experiments on him, giving the poor bastard enhancements/horrific mutations that will allow him to surpass the human limits, for the small price of losing his sanity and sentience. I believe that's the closest thing to love he will get from his object of affection.
However, if he understandably is not mad enough to betray his comrades, then he'll have to be shown how Gygadine can make his head disappear (along with everyone else). Besides, that's the laziest and therefore most in-character option.

Therefore, I'll switch my votes to B1>C.

EDIT: Talking about experimentation: treave, does the C option allow us to take a few survivors so that Rin and Zayan can use them for "practice"? Just to know.

 

[treave]

treave, does the C option allow us to take a few survivors so that Rin and Zayan can use them for "practice"? Just to know.

How do you plan on transporting them back? Fortunio and his bandits can guard a few of the prisoners you take, but don't expect them to be sent back together with Zayan immediately.

 

[Nevill]

What do we expect to do with them in A1, then? Do we not possess the capabilities of transporting a group of people with the help of a teleportation circle?

 

[treave]

Ah yes, that slipped my mind. Sure, go ahead and have Rin bring a few of them back immediately then.

 

[Storyfag]

The Royal Army

A standing army of 25,000 men commanded by the royal family and generals loyal to them.

The Noble Army

A force levied from the nobles of the kingdom. Numbers vary, but are estimated to be at about 100,000 men in total when at full strength.

A note on the numbers above:
The absolutist Louis XIV of France commanded up to 30,000 men, with no nobles being allowed to raise armies of their own in France in the 17th century, meaning that vast majority of availible soldiers were in the King's service. Methuss seems to have four times as many availible soldiers. Should we understand that it is a sprawling empire, four times the size of France?

 

[Bibbimbop]

Pretty routine for fantasy stories to have little to no grounding in logistical support limits.

 

[Storyfag]

It is routine for the Codex to demand better

But in all honesty, that was just a question to Treave, regarding the size of Methuss.

 

[treave]

A note on the numbers above:
The absolutist Louis XIV of France commanded up to 30,000 men, with no nobles being allowed to raise armies of their own in France in the 17th century, meaning that vast majority of availible soldiers were in the King's service. Methuss seems to have four times as many availible soldiers. Should we understand that it is a sprawling empire, four times the size of France?

The French army at the end of the 17th century boasted, at least according to their records, 400,000 men if I'm not mistaken. Which source are you citing?

Here, I'll link a paper by John Lynn on the size of the French army in that era.

http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Lynn_01.pdf

 

[Storyfag]

The French army at the end of the 17th century boasted, at least according to their records, 400,000 men if I'm not mistaken. Which source are you citing?

To be honest, I just read it in the history section of the weekly newspaper. Should have checked twice before jumping to conclusions. So how large is Methuss? And the other realms? Will you draw us a map?

 

[treave]

You're mistaking me for some other more hardworking and diligent LP writer, I'm afraid. No maps.

 

[Storyfag]

You're mistaking me for some other more hardworking and diligent LP writer, I'm afraid. No maps.

Even a very general one? Pwease? Pwetty pwease?

 

[treave]

You can buy one when you reach the capital.

 

[Storyfag]

You fiend!

 

[ScubaV]

B1 > C

 

[Esquilax]

Some thoughts on the information:

A standing army of 25,000 men commanded by the royal family and generals loyal to them.
...
A force levied from the nobles of the kingdom. Numbers vary, but are estimated to be at about 100,000 men in total when at full strength.

Obviously, if you want to topple Methuss, you need to get the nobles on your side or incite some sort of civil war/succession crisis.

King Fowyl Yuiry (59), the monarch of the kingdom, who has successfully reigned over periods of both turmoil and peace, and brought his country through intact. Currently preparing the way for his successor, and plans to retire when the time is right.

Queen Natasha (52), the king’s first wife. Twin to Queen Natalia. Known for her charitable endeavours.

Queen Natalia (52), the king’s second wife. Twin to Queen Natasha. Known for her diplomatic banquets.

Crown Prince Feist Yuiry (34), the ambitious first prince. Has been designated as the successor to the throne, and is keen to drag the kingdom into a brighter future. Child of Fowyl & Natasha.

Second Prince Feyl Yuiry (32), the second born son. Deceased. Child of Fowyl & Natasha.

Third Prince Fillipe Yuiry (29). Dashing and popular with the nobles. Child of Fowyl & Natasha.

First Princess Filomena Yuiry (28), the eldest daughter. Currently in Dijeh on a diplomatic mission with her husband. Child of Fowyl and Natalia.

Fourth Prince Fennick Yuiry (25). Widely considered a lazy wastrel who does nothing but womanize and drink all day long. Child of Fowyl and Natalia.

Fifth Prince Farstalt Yuiry (23). Is interested primarily in art and cares little for matters of the court. Child of Fowyl & Natasha.

Sixth Prince Farland Yuiry (22). Youngest son. Popular with the people, but has drawn criticism for his populist pandering. Child of Fowyl & Natasha.

I wonder what the circumstances of the second son's death were. Could there have been some plotting that lead to a mysterious accident?

Duke Hargreave Brescia (49). One of the most powerful men in the kingdom, and spokesperson for the nobles as a whole. His support has allowed Prince Feist to be granted the official title of Crown Prince.

Marquis Ondore Hastwell (31). A talented strategist that masterminded the repulsion of the Holy Barzam Ecclesiocracy’s invasion ten years ago. Married to Princess Filomena. Has little interest in court intrigue.

The Duke seems to be a tremendous power behind the throne and acts as a kingmaker. As for the Marquis, he's clearly a military prodigy, akin to this world's Hannibal or Alexander. Repelling an invasion from a rival power at only 21 years old is truly remarkable.