#(and in my defense here i will say Tyranny seems to be actually thematically encouraging my bullshit not just permitting it!)

[paradife-loft]

yeah if anybody was generally wondering where I’ve been this past (couple?) weeks. the answer is “getting sucked back into playing Tyranny during all my spare time”.

(bring-your-own-blorbo rambling below)

so - I’m partway through Act II; sided (so far?) with the Scarlet Chorus and have just finished up grabbing the Silent Archive out of the burning library. exchanging correspondence with my fellow Fatebinders. and I am just - rubbing my little hands together gleefully at the transition underway from “polite, dutiful, kind of nerdy and curious ~servant of justice!~” to “sneaky, mildly conniving and paranoid, power-hungry, semi-treasonous-but-still-loyal-to-Kyros-regarding-everything-other-than-forbidden-magic-for-me-personally-I-swear!!!” jackass protagonist >:D >:D >:D

because there’s just... something so very interesting that the game is doing in how it’s conveying worldbuilding information to you (the player) and you (the protagonist) at the same time - you start out assuming, ok, rival armies of Kyros, cool, wow these guys are acting unprofessional.... and then some conversation with the Voices of Nerat, among other things, and you increasingly gain the understanding - [the Chorus] isn’t a... top-down Imperial Army, exactly? neither of them are? this is “somewhat autonomous force created for Nerat’s own benefits, allowed to do whatever it feels like so long as it’s also aimed at Kyros’s overall goals, because Kyros just sort of eats up existing powers and turns them loose on their enemies? it’s the same with the two armies; it’s the same with the Archons writ-large - Archons develop independently, and then Kyros essentially leashes them. the conversations with Sirin about her history!! the various lines you can say about Kyros’s peace being about the benefit of the whole, not necessarily individuals! ....and then oh, you open up your mail from Fatebinder Myothis responding to your question about the rise of past and present Archons, and she’s like “at this point, regardless of whether others are naming it, I would consider you an Archon of the Spires” - f e a r !!!!!

so this whole sense of being.. precariously balanced on a knife’s edge, in a couple of ways. do I want power/do I want to be seen to be gaining more power/is it even safe to not gain more power now that I’m as known as I am/but then that’s surely going to trap me into a cycle of “only allowed to exist so long as I’m still being useful and nonthreatening”. and then... after originally going to the Vellum Citadel during the Conquest, on the vague feeling of “ooh library what if I can get anything cool out of being here --> nope actually you are going to burn it all now”, being literally sent back there and handed the entire Silent Archive on a platter!!! ...but how open can I even be about that. who do I trust. like it’s not all forbidden stuff but also, I do very much also want to keep the forbidden stuff. (and now I’ve proclaimed and ended two entire Edicts, and magically that feels... so good. powerful and addicting and I am thinking about more of them, that can of worms has been thoroughly opened. and also Eb’s comment when she pressed me about why I joined with the Voices in the first place, “well if raw, unmitigated power is what gets you off [disapproving]”....... How Much Do I Want To Navel Gaze At That Feeling, Really? :’) .........so yeah)

(oh and also, just Eb in general, is Not A Fan I think we shall say.... which is really pretty fair because I think she’s getting to see the main brunt of Ways In Which I’m Kind of A Jackass - not merciful at all toward any sort of enemy who doesn’t humble themself before Kyros. tactfully Not Saying Much about her anger toward the Sages for stealing other schools’ magical secrets, but like. she knows I would/do take the Sages’ side on that issue, and am basically inclined to do the same in their place. again, the entire fact of siding with the Voices (and frequently frequently wiggling out of condemning them..... not that they don’t do horrible things and also I disapprove of their entire army-running philosophy, but like. the disgust toward them seems so tangled up also in disgust toward what they do magically, and sure consuming minds is unsettling but it’s also. power. and kind of enticing. and we are not going to mention this at all nope definitely not.)

anyway yeah :D I’m having a lot of fun getting to be sorta fucked up and awful, and also going *grabby hands* at all the magical mysteries slowly unfurling so far :3