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Fargin Icehole
Feb 19, 2011

Pet me.
I chose a different path and as a result, i never saw that exchange with Bleden Mark. Interesting.

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EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:

it is also noteworthy that there is precisely one exception to this, loving around with the Oldwalls, which Kyros is quite clear is something that gets you got regardless of diplomatic immunity. this gives you a hint what the Banes are, but more on that when we get more in depth on them.

It's already been made clear why the Oldwalls are banned (it's because they're the main way of entering Spires, which are conveniently not banned, to deflect attention from them).

Yeowch!!! My Balls!!!
May 31, 2006

EclecticTastes posted:

It's already been made clear why the Oldwalls are banned (it's because they're the main way of entering Spires, which are conveniently not banned, to deflect attention from them).

like I said: more when we get a little more in depth on them.

Veloxyll
May 3, 2011

Fuck you say?!

Lucky for us we're Archon of the Spires and give 0 fucks then, isn't it

TheGreatEvilKing
Mar 28, 2016





Voting closed! We are going to take Eb and Kills-in-Shadow with us, and chat with Sirin at the Spire.

FoolyCharged
Oct 11, 2012

Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

EclecticTastes posted:

It's already been made clear why the Oldwalls are banned (it's because they're the main way of entering Spires, which are conveniently not banned, to deflect attention from them).

Yeah, but if most of the spires are in the old walls that creates a strong link between them. I think there is a lot more to the story of the magical monsters surrounding sights of massive magical power than we've been told.

TheGreatEvilKing
Mar 28, 2016





Cleopatra Jones and the Traumatized Archon

Last time on Tyranny, we chatted with Bleden Mark after breaking the Edict of Fire and decided we were going to Lethian's Crossing. We'll get there, I promise, but we have some talking to do first.



Barik and Lantry want to chat with us about Edicts! I clicked Barik first.

: To be honest, my head hurts.

: That is to be expected. I am no expert in arcane matters, but I understand that the will and commitment needed to shatter Kyros' magic are not resources in abundance.

: Take care that you don't exhaust yourself and become worthless to the war effort. Barik looks you up and down with appraisal, keeping any conclusions to himself.



This is the standard conversation so we exit out.

TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:

: Are you ok after ending those edicts? Take care of yourself! It's not like I like you or anything, b-baka!

Moving on!



: Anybody can do it - just think about the wording of the Edict and you'll find Kyros has left options.

: That's like saying winning a war is as simple as raising a giant army and making all the right maneuvers... knowing what must be done and actually doing it... well, that's the dividing line between being a legend and being forgotten.



TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:

: By Kyros' unspecified genitals in a legal and not disrespectful way! You broke two Edicts! SHIIIIIIIIIT!

It's time to go back to the Spire to switch out party members!





Aw, nuts.



I'm not actually sure if they're covered by Kyros' Peace or not. We will chat with them.



We will question them.



Who are we to interfere? I elect to escort them to Tunon rather than take their oaths myself.



And we get an accessory! Sunder's seal can be clicked to give a boost to Armor (reduces damage) and petrification immunity for 20s. I cannot think of a fight that relies heavily on petrification. Oh well, it's the thought that counts!



Rhogalus gets back to us, leaving us with only the decision to lie to him and claim we don't have the super-duper-forbidden knowledge in a way I'm sure won't bite us in the rear end later.

Rhogalus posted:

Fatebinder Cleopatra Jones,

You have me under Mark's blade. I possess only scraps regarding the Archive. Fragments gleaned from oblique references across a dozen texts. The Sages sought a way to preserve all knowledge they collected, yet have it easily accessible to those they felt worthy of their secrets.

I have found no reliable references to what solution they eventually settled on, but there certainly exist indications that they implemented something. Several documents intercepted over the years, some as recently as the Conquest of the Tiers, make reference to Sages bearing their discoveries to the Vellum Citadel as tributes to be paid to the Silent Archive.

The manner in which they wrote of it, I half expect you to tell me the Archive is a living person, some Sage volunteer kept alive - or else in a state very like life - through the guild's arts of preservation and healing, their mind forcefully filled to its borders with every stroke set to parchment, compelled by sigils of domination to reveal what they know to those bearing secret signs.

I enter the realm of speculation, I fear, for we have exhausted what little evidence I have. Keep me in suspense no longer, Cleopatra Jones! What became of the Archive?

-Fatebinder Rhogalus.

We are going to lie and say we never found it, which is technically true as we never found a guy strapped in magic BDSM gear made to tell everyone about everything at the raise of a finger.



See, technically it's a half-truth!

Myothis gets back to us as well.

Myothis posted:

Cleopatra Jones,

This is the sort of question that can get you killed. Very little is known about how Archons are born or come to power - and my long life has taught me that Kyros and the Archons prefer it this way... if the young and talented remain forever in the dark, the old and mighty can rule without challenge.

I heard of Ashe (he will always be merely Ashe to me - before Kyros renamed him and gave his legion that back-handed title) as a rebel - a grimy, illiterate partisan who was winning battles while his countrymen of the Northern Kingdom lost left and right.

Ashe was always a good leader, but he wasn't born able to mystically reach out and protect his soldiers. The earliest mention of isn't even until the tail end of the Northern Conquest - and if you read the journals, they don't tell stories of grievous harm warded off by Ashe's stern looks - instead, they talk of his soldiers finding their fears and doubts lifted from them by Ashe's presence. A careful reading suggests the ability to actively protect physical harm came years later, as that bond grew and (more importantly) as his legend grew.

That legend part is the key detail. In my understanding, an Archon's power is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy: the widespread perception of an Archon's power is the very thing that strengthens an Archon's power. So in Ashe's case, he had some early inkling of a power - the ability to assuage the burdens of his men, and as he took on a mantle of power and became known all around Terratus as the next Archon of War, it soon became the ability to bear the physical burdens of his men, not just their fears and doubts.

Thus my advice to you is to act like an Archon - take power where you can find it. Foster fear, foster love - never walk through life anonymously but rather live in the thoughts of your followers and the anxieties of your enemies.

-Myothis

We will ask Myothis about Bleden Mark's killings.



I've been avoiding going too deep into Myothis' words for a reason, but we'll get some more pertinent information very soon.

Anyway, in the course of rounding up our goon-voted party, Eb has something to say.



: I've been mulling over that structure we found atop Vendrien's Well. Would you be opposed to me studying the sculpture in closer detail?



: You don't need to ask my permission.



Then we go into her normal dialog screen, and I rearrange our party.

TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:

: Can I make my magic all over your massive spire?

: Girl, you don't even need to ask.

: Oooh la la!





Calio wants to chat with us. As she's Tunon's head Fatebinder this is most definitely worth doing.

Calio posted:

Fatebinder,

Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on resolving the situation at the Burning Library. Fatebinder Rhogalus could not be more pleased by your choice to preserve the texts and relics of the old Sages. Or perhaps he's overjoyed that their grip on the library is now entirely broken. In either case, he almost borders on giddy. Almost.

I do not share his loathing of the old Guild. They built their own pyre on their hubris, true, but my opposition to them remains purely professional. It gladdens me that not their every myriad secret met the flame. I even suspect that an ambitious Fatebinder would have collected a few stray scraps of lore, perhaps as much as they could carry out.

I hope you soon make an effort to join us at Court in the Bastard City. I often feel that it has been too long since we last whispered of the darker corners of Terratus. You've experienced so many of them as of late. Perhaps I can provide illumination.

-Calio

Jeez, Calio really is the gossip of Tunon's court, isn't she? Even Mark is quoting her.

Anyway, I promised you a chat with Sirin. This is not gonna be a happy chat, be warned.





Sirin is kind of hard to get loyalty with if you didn't help her in Conquest.

: I would know more about you.



: Tell me about your homeland.



: A bunch of families ended up settling near each other and that was my village. It was about 20 miles from Shadow's Rest - and you probably haven't hard of that, either. We were farmers - poor and isolated.



: [Lore 47] Nothing in your past is worth dwelling on? It looks to me like you remember something.



The game makes it very clear that even the Archons are one misstep away from death or ruin. Sirin has a few privileges the commoners don't, but she's still very much a victim of the system.

: What do you remember about your family?

: The good thing about being taken from home when you're still a child is you can't miss the childhood you never got.



: You were taken from your family?



: You have no family left? What happened?



: How would you describe your father?

: Worthless? Hopeless? Devoid of human emotion? Sometimes I feel like we were complete opposites. He seemed incapable of feeling anything and I seem to be nothing but raw emotion.



Keep this in mind going forward. A mature adult like Cleopatra might ask "is Nerat telling the truth?"

: What do you remember about your mother?

: She's dead, so I don't have much to remember. She loved me, that much I know. But sometimes I wonder if what she felt was love or fear. Fear for me - or of me. And sometimes I don't think there was a difference between the two.



: Tell me about your mother's death.



We already got the Cliffs Notes version before. Sirin's mother was stoned to death by angry villagers while shielding Sirin with her body.

: Okay, Sirin. I will never ask you to tell me that story.



: Tell me about your father's death.



: [Subterfuge 47] For someone who always has a lot to say, that was incredibly succinct. Is there more?



Young lady we hunt down people who try to lie to Kyros all the time!

: When I got word he'd been found, I had him summoned to Kyros' court. I wanted to see the man who had condemned me to the life I was leading.



Take a good look at Sirin's portraits throughout this sequence.







: He got what he deserved, Sirin.



Really?



Ok, let's take a step back for a moment. Sirin describes her father as a psychopath incapable of feeling emotion right after stating she "barely" remembers him. Now, if we go back we see Nerat very kindly informed young Sirin that her father was the one responsible for enslaving her to Kyros and encouraging the mob to kill her mother. We can argue that inciting angry mobs is quite literally what Nerat does for a living and go down that rabbit hole, but we've seen Nerat ruin families before.

Earlier in the game posted:



Remember this? When Nerat taunted Ashe that Nerat had tortured and murdered his son, and Ashe called Nerat a "perverted piece of garbage"? Nerat organized this as entertainment. It's open to interpretation as to whether Nerat's agents found Sirin and he thought it would be hilarious to blame her father or her father sold her out to Nerat or whatever - but this is a well known trick to indoctrinating child soldiers. You make the children do awful things to break them down. It's equally as likely that Sirin's father went out to go to the blacksmith to fix the plow or something and came home to a dead wife and kidnapped daughter, seeing as his reaction is to be grateful he found her.

: Do you have any siblings?



: A living sibling?

: My brother died very young. I never knew him, so I hardly count him as a sibling. Life in the middle of nowhere is difficult. For a single child to survive - let alone more - is a testament to the parents.

This is true! Infant mortality in antiquity was very high.



: I remember my mother talking about me getting a little brother. It wasn't long after I started singing and my powers started growing. She told me that soon it would be too hard for her to travel with me.



Is this the same supposedly absent father? I think someone has built up some delusions about her actions...

The Question The LPer forgot to ask posted:

: You didn't like traveling with your father?

: No. All he wanted was the money. When we were on the road he completely ignored me. I was simply something to earn rings with. A tool. The farmers in my village used their rakes and wagons, my father used my voice.

: Go on.

: Everyone wanted the Songbird to sing for them and they paid us so much money. So we went. But I didn't want to go without my mother. She was the only real comfort I had. When I was with her, I felt safe - nothing could hurt me.

: There was a trip coming up and I knew she wouldn't be going. I couldn't bear the thought of all those days in the care of my father.

: Her voice breaks again and she closes her eyes.



: My mother's screams cut the song short. And the blood. It was everywhere. I was dragged from the room but I don't remember who took me.



: Go on.

: People came and went all day. There was a lot of crying. And nobody looked at me the same way after that. My mother told me that things like this happen all the time, but even at five, I know what I had done. And part of me was happy.



Back up the dialog tree!



: How long have you been practicing magic?



The lesson here is that, among other things, children should not have power.

: Tell me about your time with the Voices of Nerat.



: How did you meet Nerat?

: I met it when I was unceremoniously dumped on its doorstep by Kyros. All I've felt toward it since the moment I saw it was sheer hatred.

: When one person tires of me, they just hand me off to another. I seem to be quite the handful - no one is truly prepared to deal with me, I suppose.



: Why did Kyros give you to Nerat?

: I made the mistake of trying my song on Kyros and forgiveness isn't exactly in the Overlord's vocabulary. Interestingly enough, I think it almost worked. Can you imagine how differently things would have turned out if I'd had a little more practice?

Sirin is showing some interesting parallels with Bleden Mark lamenting his failed assassination attempt while realizing he's far more powerful now than he was then.

: I was brought out at one of the many lavish gatherings thrown at the place. Kyros loved showing me off. You know - impressing the gathered 'elite'.

: So I performed. I sang, I danced, I convinced people to join in. Then, in the middle of it all, I had a brilliant idea to work one more performance into the show, something that would be the ultimate end to the evening.





: Weren't you afraid of getting caught?



This is a depressing insight into Sirin. Poor Sirin has been abused so much.

: Really? You were trying to save the world?



: Go on.

: Everyone stared, frozen by the yell echoing back at us. Kyros quickly recovered and gave the appearance of cheering us on, but I was convinced I was about to die. Interestingly, my execution never came.



Ultimately the myth of Kyros' infallibility fucks Kyros just as hard as everyone else. There's a bit more I'll get to after Sirin chat.



Not without a good reason! If some fifteen year old kid can punk Kyros, what prevents an ambitious older Archon from trying a sucker punch?



: Why can't you control him?

: I've been inside its mind time after time and I've never been able to get a handle on what's going on in there.

: Every time I talk to it, I feel like a different person is talking to me. And every one of them wants something different.



Uh, that just means Nickelback songs, right?

: Wait a minute - what does Nerat want from you that he's never going to get?



This is one of the moments I'm very glad we deviated from historical society norms.



Nerat is ALSO a creepy pedo guy.

: What has Nerat had you do for him?



Um, nope. We're done here. Up the dialogue tree!



: Tell me more about that headdress.



: What does it do?

: Makes me impotent. Do you have any idea what it's like to have a hurricane raging inside you? To feel the gale crashing against you to be released but only feel a gentle summer's breeze?



: Why do you have it?





: Why can't you simply take it off?



: If you can't take it off, then why did you try to get me to remove it when we met?



That's rather unwise.

: How do you know you'll die if you remove the helmet?

: Because I doubt Nerat and Kyros would go through all the trouble just to play a trick on me. Something this subtle, elaborate, and long-lasting isn't really their style - at least not Nerat's.



Fair enough.

: What would it take to remove it?

: Someone beating the information out of Nerat or Kyros. They are the only ones who know how it was constructed and how it works.

Before you ask, we cannot go back to Lycentia and get her to remove Sirin's helmet. She's stuck with it for the entire game. She still kicks rear end.



: You believe Nerat? Maybe he's just toying with you. Have you tried removing it?



: Why the headdress? Why not use magic to gag you?

: They tried magic. It didn't really work. The problem is - spells can be broken. Counterspells can be found, guards can be bribed, people can have 'accidents'...



Back up the dialog tree! Sirin is still an Archon, let's ask her about the locals.



: Do you know anything about what's going on in the Tiers?



: How long have you been here?



: What do you think about Tunon?



: What do you mean?

: Everyone has a presence. It's how my magic works. I reach into them and convince their presence to do what I want.



: If you have to reach into someone's mind to control them, how did you influence entire armies to do what you want?

: I can't influence an army, but I can... persuade them to feel the way I want them to. If I want to get someone to do a specific thing for me, I have to get inside their head and that requires a lot more effort.

: No one can keep me out, but if they're aware of what I'm doing, I can't force them to do anything. At least, not with this thing on my head. She knocks a hand against her helmet.



: I want to know about Kyros.



: How did you come to work for Kyros?

: After my father betrayed me and got my mother killed, I was taken by Kyros' men. I honestly don't know where we went, other than it seemed to take forever to get there.

: Then I was put in school. It was a wonderful and horrible time. I learned how to control and maximize my power. But they underestimated my abilities, or overestimated theirs. I think it was more the latter than the former.



Again, child soldier indoctrination.

: What was life like with Kyros?

: For several years, I was surrounded by people who would smile to my face and sneer when I turned away. They were supposed to be my mentors - my teachers - but all they did was resent me.

: They taught me to refine and control my voice. My power became more directed, more powerful, more subtle. I no longer needed to specifically say what I wanted people to do.

This, of course, let her try to assassinate Kyros in front of witnesses and get away scot free. Are you noticing the self-destructiveness of evil yet?

: I could just think what I wanted, how I felt, and the weaker the mind, the faster they would respond. It still required me to sing, or at the very least make music with my voice, but I could say one thing, but mean something else entirely and the magic worked.

Turning a mostly innocent young artist into a propagandist.



Thus we see the trap Kyros created for herself by constantly hiding.

: I didn't see much of Kyros. She was busy taking care of her affairs. But I was never allowed to forget by whose power I was allowed to exist.



The fate of all favorites of tyrants.

: How long did you work for Kyros?



: What do you think of Kyros?

: Honestly? I didn't really think of him at all at first. If I wasn't getting daily reminders that he owned me and could have me killed any time he wanted, I would have completely forgotten he existed.



: Wait a minute. You've called Kyros both 'him' and 'her'.



Sirin, please. The thread wants answers.

: Is Kyros a man or a woman?



Sirin. Sirin no.



: Tell me, Sirin.



:mad:

Oh well, back up the dialog tree.

: What can you tell me about the Scarlet Chorus?

: If I never talk to another Chorus member my entire life, I will consider it a success, no matter what else happens. She folds her arms across her chest and levels a steely gaze at you.



drat, Verse.

: Oh, Verse... anything that helps numb me to the droning sound of your voice. Now, do you mind? I'm speaking with the Fatebinder.



: You weren't a member of the Chorus?

: What? Absolutely not! The only reason I worked with them is because I was being forced to. Once Kyros had this monstrosity placed on my head, I really had no choice.



: What was it like working with them?

: Well, at first I was treated like a queen. I spent all my time recruiting - and let's be honest, the Scarlet Chorus isn't choosy, so it was easy to convince people to join.

: Toward the end I actually started fearing for my life. With this thing on my head, I couldn't effectively control an entire army. So hobbling me was quite an intelligent thing for Kyros to do.



: What do you think of them?



Kids these days.



: What's your opinion on their methods?

: They randomly grab anyone and anything they can get their hands on and hope they'll work if they beat them enough. Sounds like the makings of a fantastic army to me!

: I am repulsed by them and everything they do. Nerat is a disgusting excuse for a leader and I look forward to the day I can watch the life drain from its insane eyes.



Back up the dialogue tree!



: What do you know about the Disfavored?

: I really don't know much about them, Fatebinder. I never got a chance to work with them, so I don't think I'll be much help on this topic.



: What do you think of Graven Ashe?



Just another reminder that Sirin is another character with her own point of view. There are no characters in Tyranny who do not have some kind of agenda and will be offering an honest assessment with full knowledge and bias-free.

: Have you seen them in action?



: You never worked with them?



Back up the tree!

: What about the other groups in the Tiers?



We very briefly met the Stonestalker tribe when Kills-In-Shadow kicked them out of her entourage.

: Tell me about the Stonestalker tribe.

: Not even worthy of my attention. A beast is a beast and you can't ever make an animal be anything more than what it is.

Sirin! Stop being racist right now, young lady!





:(

: Okay, so maybe that was a little harsh. Let's just say that in my brief life I haven't had much experience with the Beastmen, so I haven't had the chance to form much of an opinion on them. Better?



: Tell me about the local Rebel groups.



: Tell me about the Vendrien Guard.



: Tell me about the Unbroken.



: Tell me about the Bronze Brotherhood.



Sometimes Sirin can be outright wrong. Back up the dialog tree!

: Tell me about any of the mage guilds.

: Generally I don't like throwing in with other mages. I've not had a good experience with them in the past so I keep my distance.

: And they're so demanding! You ask them - very nicely, I might add - how to cast a spell and they insist they're not a charity and they're not going to hand over their secrets out of the 'goodness of their heart.' Right, like there was anything 'good' about that one...

: And I didn't even use my magic on him! That's gratitude for you... She trails off and gives you an intent look. Suddenly your head feels like it's too small for your brain. She closes her eyes and takes a breath and the feeling dissipates.



: Tell me about the Sages.



As a matter of fact, I can.

: Tell me about the Earthshakers.



I agree Sirin. They won't be able to have enough spells to always have one off cooldown. That said, the Earth sigil is very good.

: Tell me about the Forge-Bound.

: The group that Kyros used to make my hobble? The less I have to think about them, the better.





One last query.

: Tell me what you know about Edicts.



Dammit Sirin, you're an Archon trained at Kyros' court. Oh well, glad to have you anyway. At the very least we can keep you away from that fucker Nerat.

: It intrigues me. I want to learn what it is and harness it. Sadly, I don't think I have the magic needed to enact or break an Edict.



: I'd remove it if I could.



: You're an Archon. You must know something about Edicts, Sirin.



Back up the dialogue tree!



: What do you think of the state of the world?



: Neither of them seem capable of dealing with the rebels that are taking them down. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is how it should be.



: [Leave] Goodbye.

That was a lot. Here, have a summary.

TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:

: Hi, Fatebinder. What do you need?

: I'm curious about you, Sirin. Where are you from?

: I'm from a boring farming village you never heard of. My past isn't worth it - I barely remember my father, my mother died, and everyone just wanted me to do magic song poo poo.

: Come on, you seem to remember something.

: I guess watching my mother get stoned by an angry mob protecting me IS pretty memorable.

: Tell me about your family.

: Well, Kyros took me away as a child, my father was a worthless piece of poo poo who saw me as a cash cow to be rented out to sing for money, my mother actually cared but died.

: How did your mother die?

: Fatebinder, that's really traumatic. Please don't.

: Alright. I promise to never ask you about your mother's death.

: Yay!

: So, what about your father?

: He hosed off after I was taken, then I had him brought to court and he killed himself, and he's gone forever.

: Uh huh.

: Ok, fine. Nerat told me he was responsible for me being sold to Kyros and my mother's death, so I had him brought to court. He tried to act like a loving father, but I was really pissed, so I sang a song of death and regret and mind controlled him into killing himself.

: He had it coming! He had it coming! He had only himself to blaaaaame!

: If you'd have been there! If you'd have seen it! I betcha you would have done the saaaame!

: Any siblings?

: Nooope. None living.

: Sirin...

: Ok, fine! My mom got pregnant and was going to have a little brother. I was going to be stuck traveling with my dad to earn cash, but he treated me like a tool and I wanted my mom, she made me feel safe. So I sang a magic song and she gave premature birth and my brother died. It was horrifying and everyone hated me for it, but I was also kind of happy - I was five.

: So, you were with Nerat? What was that like?

: Well, Kyros kind of dumped me off with him because no one likes me and I don't have any friends. You see, I...kinda tried to kill Kyros.

: Holy poo poo, what?

: Yeah...I was twelve, and Kyros was going to have me perform for all their toadies. I sang and danced, and then I thought - what if I used a magic song to convince people to kill Kyros? So I did. Kyros nearly cut herself with a sword before I got overexcited and hosed it all up. But guess what? I was never executed or anything! The Overlord needs a really good excuse to execute an Archon, and to execute me Kyros would have to admit I mind controlled him! I was his propagandist! It'd look very suspicious if I got killed for no reason! Anyway, that's how I got this lovely helmet and handed over to Nerat, who I can't control.

: Why can't you control him?

: There's like fifty people in that mask, and one of them wants me to do things I'm never, ever going to do.

: What, like a Nickelback cover?

: HE'S A CREEPY rear end PEDO YOU MORON!

: Uh, poo poo, let's talk about the hat.

: gently caress THIS HAT! Kyros and Nerat made me wear it, I can't take it off, only they know how, and it kills me if my song is too powerful. They can't use magic because I know how to beat it, so here we are!

: What do you think of what's going on in the Tiers?

: I've been here through the whole Conquest, Tunon is a weird empty person I can't control, Kyros is an rear end in a top hat, the Scarlet Chorus loving sucks and I'll be happy to never talk to one again -

: Hi Sirin!

: gently caress YOUUUUU! Anyway, the Disfavored are OK but I don't know much about them, and the rebels sure are rebelling.

: So is Kyros a man or a woman?

: You don't know? Trolololololol!

: Come on, Sirin!

: Nooooope. It won't matter after you beat hir rear end.

: Know anything about Edicts?

: Nope! Kyros deliberately avoided teaching me that.

: What do you think of the world these days?

: Ash and Nerat are incompetent fuckups, the rebels are going to get them, and I hope they get rekt!

What can we take away?

Sirin was indoctrinated as a child soldier, and unlike more sanitized franchises like Fire Emblem, that hosed her up pretty badly. First she's abducted and separated from her parents. Sirin doesn't say how much violence she endured at the hands of her teachers, but my guess is quite a bit given that she murders one of them. Most importantly for our purposes, Nerat manipulates her into killing her own father, a transgressive act of violence. We can see that the conditioning didn't take. Sirin has no peers to shame her into falling in line, so her lie is that her father deserved what she did to him and this bred a hatred of Kyros.

You can read about child indoctrination here, it's not pleasant.

As an Archon and a prodigy, we can assume Sirin is somewhat more resilient that the average child would be - she's a canny survivor rather than a cowering victim. She discerns Kyros is ultimately responsible for all the wrong done to her but has to convince herself her cruelty was

All this being said, the developers wrote a short story of Sirin's abduction and her father does not come off very well. The story does hammer home that Sirin isn't just "some kid" but a powerful entity of legend capable of slaughtering an entire village when pressed.

The second thing we can take away from Sirin's indoctrination is just how much leeway the Archons have. An ordinary citizen is not going to survive pushing a Kyrosian mage out the window, but an Archon can! We're going to go way back for this one.

Earlier in the game posted:



Notice the phrasing. Kyros didn't welcome Graven Ashe, the Archons did. Let's go back to our friend Myothis.

Myothis posted:

I heard of Ashe (he will always be merely Ashe to me - before Kyros renamed him and gave his legion that back-handed title) as a rebel - a grimy, illiterate partisan who was winning battles while his countrymen of the Northern Kingdom lost left and right.

Why did Kyros rename Ashe and his army? The Archons convinced her to recruit them, she didn't get a choice. There are a few hints that if enough Archons get together there's some channel to convince Kyros to heed them, and Kyros is not personally powerful enough to fight every Archon. Look at the lengths she's gone to to keep her armies in the Tiers at odds. If the Archons get word that Kyros is violating Archon's Privilege by mistreating Sirin - and they will, Kyros is showing her off at every opportunity - they could declare a major insurrection and force the Empire into war on two fronts. Even Bleden Mark might be offended if Archons are getting killed for no reason. This also is why Sirin is left alive after her assassination attempt - the Overlord cannot kill an Archon for no reason. That is an attack on every Archon in the Empire. However, if Kyros tells the truth, the Archons they've selected for ambition turn on her and kill her.

Once again, Kyros is dicked over by the systems they put in place to control their empire. The hilarity is that Sirin responds best to simple human kindness because no one was ever nice to her, and it would have been relatively easy for Kyros to adopt her as a daughter, treat her well, and have a reliable and powerful ally, but Kyros cannot do this because she is an evil rear end in a top hat.

TheGreatEvilKing fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Nov 5, 2020

bob dobbs is dead
Oct 8, 2017

I love peeps
Nap Ghost
christ i hope you live in pacific time or a non us time cuz if you live in eastern time it sorta looks like you dont fuckin sleep

also the fact that nerats a pedo makes the dealio where he has laws for treatin children better p ominous

bob dobbs is dead fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Nov 5, 2020

bewilderment
Nov 22, 2007
man what



I'm sure there's an obvious quote somewhere I'm missing but I genuinely think that Nerat's outburst in the command tent wasn't planned and that he really can't stop some of his absorbed voices, like Ashe's son, from bursting out sometimes.

One of the people Nerat ate (and that presumably he makes use of regularly) is a pedo.

Xarn
Jun 26, 2015
I am somewhat disappointed in two things

1) You didn't show the dialogue about what she did during the training with Sages
2) You don't switch between using him/her for Kyros :colbert:

inflatablefish
Oct 24, 2010
I think Sirin needs a hug.

Mr.Misfit
Jan 10, 2013

The time for
SkellyBones
has come!

inflatablefish posted:

I think Sirin needs a hug.

Really? I think Sirin needs a dagger and up-front access to Kyros.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
One thing I am very grateful for, Tyranny shies away from sexual violence even when you'd probably assume it of the setting.

Lynneth
Sep 13, 2011

Mr.Misfit posted:

Really? I think Sirin needs a dagger and up-front access to Kyros.

I rather think Sirin needs both.

Narsham
Jun 5, 2008

bewilderment posted:

I'm sure there's an obvious quote somewhere I'm missing but I genuinely think that Nerat's outburst in the command tent wasn't planned and that he really can't stop some of his absorbed voices, like Ashe's son, from bursting out sometimes.

One of the people Nerat ate (and that presumably he makes use of regularly) is a pedo.

It could well be the original.

Lots to say about the latest update, so I’ll select one thing: if an Archon’s power is tied to fame/infamy and belief, then they would weaken themselves by performing acts contrary to their power. If Tunon overtly breaks the law, it might even kill him. For Ashe, he can’t voluntarily break the connection with one of his soldiers. That means that he’s known that connection keeps Barik in agony, but he’d damage himself if he severed it, so he never has. And for Kyros, that means the construction of her own power is self-perpetuating. Not only could she not gain Sirin’s trust by behaving in a more kindly fashion toward her, doing so would have been a threat to his power almost as severe as Sirin’s murder attempt.

From the account, it sounds like Kyros’ life was saved by something Sirin didn’t effect, although whether that was an artifact bound to Kyros or a separate entity is unclear. It’s interesting that the Kyros who holds herself so aloof and remote and unknown has a court of the sort described at all, much less holding social events.

TheGreatEvilKing
Mar 28, 2016





Xarn posted:

I am somewhat disappointed in two things

1) You didn't show the dialogue about what she did during the training with Sages
2) You don't switch between using him/her for Kyros :colbert:

Last update hit the character limit hard, but you are correct I need to respect the Overlord.

Donkringel
Apr 22, 2008
Couple things here.

1) You lost fear with Eb! I didn't realize you could lose in Loyalty/Fear, I thought it was only gain in them.
2) It's obvious Nerat lied to Sirin about her dad and her mum. Question is how to break it to her? She's kind of built killing her father into a righteous thing; making her realize it may not have been him could has some super consequences. It needs to be done but.... that's a delicate situation.
3) I kind of agree with Sirin's helmet a bit. Not to control her, but help her control her powers growing up. 5 year old Sirin could have used that helmet. Kyros and Nerat take a potentially helpful thing and horrifically twist it, no surprise there. But then that's their MO right? Dress up "Help" as Kyros' generosity while it is secretly a heaping pile of bullshit.

I really want to see Kills-In-Shadow in action and dialogue. She's pretty cool.

FoolyCharged
Oct 11, 2012

Cheating at a raffle? I sentence you to 1 year in jail! No! Two years! Three! Four! Five years! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Somebody call for an ant?

Donkringel posted:

I really want to see Kills-In-Shadow in action and dialogue. She's pretty cool.

The "Oh, look at this racist rear end in a top hat" interjection was great

Tenebrais
Sep 2, 2011

FoolyCharged posted:

The "Oh, look at this racist rear end in a top hat" interjection was great

I liked that little interaction. It showed Sirin as just a kid repeating what people around her have said and not really believing it deeply.

bob dobbs is dead
Oct 8, 2017

I love peeps
Nap Ghost
on the child soldier thing: we are also, uh, fighting and she is, uh, fighting alongside us

so whats that make us

mortons stork
Oct 13, 2012

bob dobbs is dead posted:

on the child soldier thing: we are also, uh, fighting and she is, uh, fighting alongside us

so whats that make us

A proud servant of Kyros!

JT Jag
Aug 30, 2009

#1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver

bob dobbs is dead posted:

on the child soldier thing: we are also, uh, fighting and she is, uh, fighting alongside us

so whats that make us
Pragmatists willing to use any tool at our disposal to increase our personal power create a more just and fair Terratus operating under the ideal of the Law of Kyros, as is our duty as a Fatebinder. We didn’t start the child soldier-making, but maybe we can use a child soldier so there are less child soldiers in the future. This logic is entirely sound.

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."
Some thoughts:


-Sirin isn't contradicting herself in how she describes her father. She states that he only disappeared after her mother's death and her kidnapping.

-If you ask her how long her mother had been pregnant, aside from "not long enough", Sirin adds that, well, her song didn't exactly intend for her brother to come out alive, regardless of how far along the pregnancy was. The thoughtless, selfish cruelty of children only underscores how much she should not have had that power.

-Sirin's story more or less confirms that some archons are just born with their powers, and then grow into them as their reputation spreads, and that the powers are not created by the belief that leads to Archonhood. This supports Tunon's assertion that not anyone can become an Archon.

-The story of Sirin's mother's death is a bit more than just her being stoned while shielding Sirin from attackers. If you note other hints she drops, after that point, Sirin sings a song that causes all of her attackers to die, killing either themselves or each other. While I have never had the heart to force her to tell the story explicitly, it's easy to infer that she was the last one alive when she was collected by the agent of Kyros who collected her (you can even find out who it was, specifically, if you ask around).

-Sirin is actually very easy to get a ton of Loyalty with, as promising not to ask about her mother is a Very Major increase (unlocking Tier 5 Loyalty more easily than any other companion except possibly Eb), and adding to that just being nice to her in her regular conversations and bringing her along on any quests that involve murdering lots of Scarlet Chorus, not to mention doing her companion quest, which all adds up to it being pretty easy to max her Loyalty even if you don't meet her during Conquest.

-Sirin's story about almost killing Kyros demonstrates his one great weakness: powers she doesn't understand. Variables that fall outside her calculations can catch him off-guard. This is a vitally important clue to fully understanding the broader story.

-For anyone planning to play for themselves, there's an option in the menu that will show the impact a given conversation option will have on Favor/Loyalty/Fear/Wrath (though, sometimes the effect won't be shown until after you've made your choice, if it's dependent on some sort of secondary factor). Just in case you want to play through with less uncertainty.

EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Nov 5, 2020

inflatablefish
Oct 24, 2010

EclecticTastes posted:

-Sirin is actually very easy to get a ton of Loyalty with, as promising not to ask about her mother is a Very Major increase (unlocking Tier 5 Loyalty more easily than any other companion except possibly Eb), and adding to that just being nice to her in her regular conversations and bringing her along on any quests that involve murdering lots of Scarlet Chorus, not to mention doing her companion quest, which all adds up to it being pretty easy to max her Loyalty even if you don't meet her during Conquest.

In that case I'm hoping we can get her loyalty up to the point where we unlock that one locked option in her dialogue.

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

inflatablefish posted:

In that case I'm hoping we can get her loyalty up to the point where we unlock that one locked option in her dialogue.

Huh, weird, yeah, I didn't notice, but between the Very Major boost and other opportunities available up to this point, GEK should have hit Loyalty 2 by now, I think. Hell, a Very Major increase with a companion gets you most of the way to 2 all by itself. Guess I should have paid more attention to exactly which dialog options were chosen. Shame Sirin wasn't taken to the Burning Library (entirely possible since Lethian's Crossing is available from the very beginning of Act 2), there's a lot of spots there where you can get points by insulting/attacking the Scarlet Chorus dudes.

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

The thing about Sirin's father is, while I don't believe he actively sold her to Kyros, it also sounds like there was a poor relationship between them. Memory editing is a powerful thing, but Sirin singing her brother's death to avoid being stuck alone with her dad for a few weeks is a pretty harsh hint there... but she was also a 5 year old who didn't fully understand death or have the more developed empathy of an older child, and who was traumatized enough by the result to be scarred at the time by it, although presumably a factor there was the pain it caused to her mother, who she adored. Without context Sirin doesn't have, it's hard to tell if her dad really did dislike spending time with her or if, before the miscarriage, he was just an awkward and unexpressive man who didn't know how to entertain a bright and energetic 5-year-old on long road trips.

The best evidence we have that Nerat lied instead of told the truth to hurt is that her dad wasn't scared to see her and that he looked haggard and worn, in my opinion. One would think a man who sold his miraculous daughter at the price of his wife's life would have gotten compensation. I'd hazard a guess that the impoverished nature of the tiny farming community Sirin was born in meant that using her powers to encourage growth and hearty crops was a no-brainer for her parents, that Sirin's dad wasn't good with kids, that the miscarriage song made him terrified of her and he drew away more or expressed anger instead of forgiving her like her mom did, and that word of the miracle singer travelled further than Sirin realized as a 7-year-old and no selling of her was necessary to arrange her kidnapping. Either way, arguing with Sirin on how much her dad deserved only serves the point of being cruel to her in this moment, since she can't take it back and I think she still needs the emotional shielding for now.

Deadmeat5150
Nov 21, 2005

OLD MAN YELLS AT CLAN
You know as many times as Ive gone through this, I somehow have failed to notice how ofte people refer to Nerat as an It. Even Tunon, who at this point is just black smoke behind a mask, is considered male.

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

Deadmeat5150 posted:

You know as many times as Ive gone through this, I somehow have failed to notice how ofte people refer to Nerat as an It. Even Tunon, who at this point is just black smoke behind a mask, is considered male.
I'd argue that Nerat definitely has several genders in there, even. I guess they just seem a lot less human than Tunon.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


There's nothing human left in Nerat, just fire and what it stole.

EclecticTastes
Sep 17, 2012

"Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

wiegieman posted:

There's nothing human left in Nerat, just fire and what it stole.

I mean, there's petty cruelty and grasping ambition in there, too, so I'd say there's plenty human left in Nerat, just not the parts we normally want to claim.

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

EclecticTastes posted:

I mean, there's petty cruelty and grasping ambition in there, too, so I'd say there's plenty human left in Nerat, just not the parts we normally want to claim.
Petty cruelty, grasping ambition, and possessive curiosity, I'd argue. Whatever made Nerat before he was the Voices of Nerat, I imagine curiosity without empathy was a huge part.

Zulily Zoetrope
Jun 1, 2011

Muldoon
Nerat, as I understand it, was just a singular dude who at some point gained the ability to eat souls. How much of the original personality remains in the Nerat we see now is an open question, but I wager their primary personality is pretty close to that of the pre-Archon version.

Grenrow
Apr 11, 2016
So out of the Archons we've met directly so far, three of them (Bleden Mark, Sirin, and Graven Ashe) tried to fight or kill Kyros directly. Tunon was onboard before Kyros even arrived, and we don't know how Nerat joined up. I guess Archons and the kind of people are by definition more inclined/more capable of resisting.

I brought my Drake
Jul 10, 2014

These high-G injections have some serious side effects after pulling so many jumps.

This is going to be like a Star Trek or Twilight Zone episode where Kyros is really a computer or an android or a sentient cloud or something. I haven't played the game, I'm just guessing.

Zengetsu
Nov 7, 2011

bob dobbs is dead posted:

christ i hope you live in pacific time or a non us time cuz if you live in eastern time it sorta looks like you dont fuckin sleep

also the fact that nerats a pedo makes the dealio where he has laws for treatin children better p ominous

I mean, that's one possible angle. The other possible angle is that all of the other people are stuck in the Neratmind with the Pedo which and being constantly bombard with creepy pedo thoughts that horrify them.

No way to know without a better understanding of how that weird mishmash of a hivemind works. They definitely seem to be able to take and give information between the various "personalities", even against said personality's will, which is honestly a sort of "Jesus Christ, What the gently caress" thing in and of itself. Get your soul eaten, have all your secrets stripped away to be used to betray those you care about, and then get constantly bombarded by just the worst sort of intrusive thoughts as the worst sort of people force their weird perversions and hosed up thoughts into your "mind", such as it is.

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

I changed my mind teenagers should NOT, i repeat NOT be allowed to join the Scarlet Chorus.

I dont know
Aug 9, 2003

That Guy here...

Zengetsu posted:

I mean, that's one possible angle. The other possible angle is that all of the other people are stuck in the Neratmind with the Pedo which and being constantly bombard with creepy pedo thoughts that horrify them.

No way to know without a better understanding of how that weird mishmash of a hivemind works. They definitely seem to be able to take and give information between the various "personalities", even against said personality's will, which is honestly a sort of "Jesus Christ, What the gently caress" thing in and of itself. Get your soul eaten, have all your secrets stripped away to be used to betray those you care about, and then get constantly bombarded by just the worst sort of intrusive thoughts as the worst sort of people force their weird perversions and hosed up thoughts into your "mind", such as it is.

Yeah, there is a reason why being captured and fed to Nerat is considered a fate far worst then death.

Cythereal posted:

One thing I am very grateful for, Tyranny shies away from sexual violence even when you'd probably assume it of the setting.

From what I remember of my play through, there are a few mentions of sexual violence. They were somewhat oblique and I don't think there were more than 2 or 3 instances. One example, a member of disfavored saying something like, "We need slaves to pull our wagons, and warm our beds." Basically, enough to confirm that yes, it does take place. However, the devs has enough sense not try to make it part of the game.

PetraCore
Jul 20, 2017

👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

It's horrifying enough as a brief mention, and I think it's a good decision not to go into that further.

inflatablefish
Oct 24, 2010

queserasera posted:

This is going to be like a Star Trek or Twilight Zone episode where Kyros is really a computer or an android or a sentient cloud or something. I haven't played the game, I'm just guessing.

Given that Nerat is like 50 assholes in a trenchcoat and Tunon is an empty mask, I was wondering if Kyros had just ascended to embody a vague concept of tyranny. Presumably not if Kyros is still stabbable. Though it does make me wonder if Kyros would eventually do the Stalin thing of being left to die because Kyros' minions are too afraid to disturb Kyros.

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wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


Remember that Kyros goes out of their way to make sure no one is telling stories about them. Swearing by Kyros and being wrong is a capital offense.

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