Author Answers (April) (Patreon)

General

Modern AU: Dayjobs for each LI (Prihine included)?

Hiya, this was answered here! As for Prihine, I could totally see her being a fashion, art, theater, or food critic of some kind, employing high end tastes to make a name for herself in haute couture! 

How are each of the shepherds at tonguetwisters?

Blade: not great! You probably couldn't get him to try a tongue-twister to begin with, but if you did, he'd probably be like... a 4 out of 10? He tends to be a careful speaker who doesn't talk much to begin with, so I can't imagine him being really great at a fast tongue-twister!

Trouble: pretty bad, like a 2 out of 10? I could just see him giving up in frustration and throwing his hands in the air after a few tries, like, "Sally sold shells by the shea--by the sh--oh, to Hael with it, this is dumb"

Tallys: she'd be good at tongue-twisters, but would say them at a normal pace, not saying them really fast like tradition dictates! Like an 8 out of 10!

Shery: she'd be okay at tongue-twisters, a little better than average; she tends to be a nervous, easily-flustered speaker and can stutter over her words, but if allowed to concentrate (and better yet, read the words she's supposed to say rather than repeat them), she'd probably be like a 6 or a 7 out of 10!

Riel: he'd be excellent at tongue-twisters, probably a 10/10, but he'd find the whole exercise so absurd and worthless that you probably couldn't get him to say one!

Chase: he'd excel at tongue-twisters, he's a fast talker anyway and his brain just works like that, so 10/10!

Red: he'd be really good at tongue-twisters, probably a 8 or 9 out of 10!

Ayla: she'd be so-so, probably a 5/10 (average), depending on the tongue-twister! She's better at consonants like "P"s or "N"s than ones like "S"!

Briony: she'd be pretty bad at them and would garble her speech a lot, probably a 3/10!

Halek: honestly he'd probably just look at you unimpressed if you asked him to recite one... he'd probably be out of breath trying a tongue-twister, so he wouldn't bother unless a kid he was fond of asked him to try it! He'd probably be average, 5/10!

Lavinet: she'd be excellent at tongue-twisters, just like her fellow orators Riel, Chase, and Red, so probably a 10/10--she probably had to do them during oration lessons or something like that as a young girl!

Is there any cultural memory among the Diminished about how they treated the Norms prior to the Castigation? Is there any sense of karmic justice or do they just regard such things as propaganda invented by the Autarchy to justify their second class status?

Good question! A lot of Diminished (probably 70% or more) are aware of how the Norms were treated prior to the Castigation, as it's one fact that the Autarchy hasn't tried to obscure (though neither have they emphasized it, perhaps not wanting to highlight their historical weakness in the face of Diminished disdain: could put some very dangerous ideas into rebels' minds if you push that narrative too far). Some Diminished do think that it's fictional or propaganda invented to justify the horrors of what have been done to the Diminished, while more believe that it's true but still doesn't justify the 200 years of oppression since the Castigation (somewhat ignoring that ill treatment of the Norms persisted for hundreds or even thousands more years than that). A very few do accept the idea that their current lot in life is the result of karmic justice for what their ancestors did to the Norms, but this is more of a coping strategy (a kind of fatalistic resignation, like 'I deserve this' because that's easier to deal with than the far more difficult 'I don't deserve this and need to fight back') than a legitimate belief that gets passed around, and it's very unpopular when voiced out loud to others. So yes, long story short, most Diminished are aware of this history, but I'd say the majority of them feel that they should not have to pay for the sins of their ancestors and that their current treatment is not deserved, as they themselves are innocent! The Elves, however, uniquely have a different take on this because many were alive prior to the Castigation and were a part of the cultural landscape that ultimately led to the Castigation. Many either don't really address it, believe that their contempt of the Norms is not equivalent to the violence that was done unto the Diminished (the Castigation was way overkill in response to what they believe were more on the level of micro-aggressions, basically), or deny that they had a hand in it because they were more isolated to their forests and rarely interacted with Norms, if at all! 

Would the ROs be eager to teach MC their own combat styles? And even want MC to be familiar with their own signature weapons in a deeper romance? Like Blade wanting MC to be able to wield Anguriel, Red and his hammer or Briony and Gonturan.

To be honest, I don't think any of the ROs would have any particular interest in teaching MC to use their signature weapon; the thought probably just wouldn't cross their minds because their weapons aren't something they feel this compulsion to share or aren't important enough to them to feel like it would be really special if MC learned how to use them, if that makes any sense? And in the case of Briony, she probably wouldn't volunteer to teach them how to use Gonturan because Gonturan typically refuses to be wielded by anyone except Briony, anyway!

As for their own combat styles, I think every RO would take pleasure in giving MC tips or coaching them how to incorporate the RO's fighting methods and techniques. I think Blade, Trouble, Tallys, Ayla, and Briony would be more keen on it than the others, but they would all enjoy it as a chance to bond and learn from each other for sure!

What is the best way to raise each of the stats? Follow up: Are any of the other quests being added soon because them seem like such a smart way to raise your stats.

The best way to raise your weapon stats is definitely by buying better weapons from Chandry's shop: the legendary-tier weapons automatically raise them to 100. Other than that, training in strength on your days off would be your best bet for raising both Physique and your weapon stat. 

The same goes for researching magic on your days off; that gives you the biggest and most consistent boost to your magic each time, and that boost will increase even more and be more consistent once we switch to the Twine version and do away with fairmath. Training in your magic specialization, too, like summoning spirits as a Conjurer, will give you additional boosts there. I don't want min-maxing magic to be a huge concern for the final build of the game, though I do want certain things to still be challenging enough that some choices (like using magic versus a WOP) are still rewarding to achieve. 

Praying on your days off is also the only consistent way to continually raise your Theist score, though choosing to believe in the gods/One-God in situations where the question arises obviously dictates that, too. There is a more "hidden" option in the beginning of the game where choosing to tell Caine about the Castigation in the long, detailed way results in the ability to choose your religion at the very beginning, which also affects this score heavily, so I'd recommend doing that if your Theist/Skeptic score is a concern!

As for the personality stats like Bright Mind, Nerves of Steel, and etc., I guess I don't really have a specific single best way to raise them other than consistently picking options that are tied to those stats, like picking scholarly options to raise Bright Mind or courageous, selfless options to raise Nerves of Steel! The prologue also has lots of choices that boost these: your education, racial heritage, and birthday  all add a large amount to these starting stats. I believe it goes:

• Elf - gets a boost to Razor Wits
• Norm - gets a boost to Silver Tongue
• Hunter - gets a boost to Nerves of Steel
• Ket - gets a boost to Physique 

---

• Self-taught - gets a boost to Razor Wits and Rebel
• Journeyman - gets a boost to Bright Mind and Silver Tongue
• Circle-trained - gets a boost to Nerves of Steel and Bright Mind

---

• Spring birthdays get a boost to Silver Tongue
• Summer birthdays get a boost to Nerves of Steel
• Autumn birthdays get a boost to Razor Wits
• Winter birthdays get a boost to Bright Mind

--- 

Note: these stat boosts might be more noticeable in the Twine version, but this info is probably good to know as you build your character in the very beginning and seal their starting strengths in from the get-go. 

You're right that the quests will be a great way to boost those further and in a more transparent way than by merely playing through the story, but unfortunately, the quests are the absolute bottom of my priority list at the moment and will be probably be some of the last pieces of content that get written for the game down the road. Hope that makes sense!

Suddenly, every ROs and Mimir and Halek got hit with a curse and turned into a cat. What kind of cat each of them would be and how each of them would react/behave/feel being a cat for a short time? Assuming they still retained their human mind and the curse later solved itself (not that any of them know that).

I'm not super familiar with cat breeds, but I'll do my best! 😁

Blade: grumpy black cat. He'd probably hide himself a way to try and give himself time to figure this problem out: as a cat, he'd probably seem very aloof and grumpy, hissing and raising his hackles at anyone who came near him, because he'd be deeply unhappy about the situation and wouldn't want to interact with anyone!

Trouble: big orange tomcat. Idk what specific breed they are but the ones that have like two braincells. As a cat, he'd probably be derpy and adorable, but his human mind would probably be like WTF IS THISSS WHY AM I A FUCKING CAT and he'd probably hunt someone like Riel down and furiously meow and bat at them with his paw trying to convey his frustration at being trapped as a cat until they got annoyed and shoved him into a carrier or something 

Tallys: a sleek bengal cat! She'd probably be pretty affectionate as a cat, rubbing up against people and purring--maybe showing more affection with them than she does as a human! She'd be pretty interested to find that she was a cat and would spend a little while doing cat things just for the fun and enjoyment of it, like chasing butterflies and pouncing on things. She wouldn't be too bothered about finding she was a cat because she'd figure it would wear off eventually or there'd be some way to fix it, so she'd mostly just enjoy herself!

Shery: a Birman cat? At first, she'd be panicking, not wanting to be stuck as a cat, so she'd definitely come off as very shy and nervous and skittish, hiding herself away under furniture due to her distress. If someone could convince her that the spell would wear off, though, she'd be pretty content cuddling up to people and sitting in their laps and purring!

Riel: Russian blue cat. He'd figure out pretty quickly that the curse would wear off, but he'd still find being confined to a cat body very irritating and distressing. I think the urge to wash himself, cough up furballs, or the irresistible instinct to start chasing things would horrify him, and he'd find the ordeal extremely annoying at best!

Chase: I think he'd be another black cat, and in some angles, he'd look sleek and regal and dapper, and in others, he'd look like an unholy eldreitch blob of darkness

I think he'd be a very playful, mischievous kind of cat, the kind you could never get to stop knocking things over or getting into things or getting the zoomies at 3 AM. Once he figured out that he wasn't going to be a cat forever, he'd probably just lean into it and enjoy causing as much havoc as possible in his feline form!

Red: Norwegian forest cat. At first he would panic, then he would just become very interested in the experience of living in a non-human body and the effects it would have on his consciousness, reflexes, instincts, abilities, and etc., and then he would be exasperated by all the hair. He'd be obsessively grooming himself like omg a tuft is sticking up... omg now another one is! He'd never get anything done and it would probably be up to someone else to cure him, lol.

Ayla: Siamese cat. She'd find that shit badass! She can fall from any height and never die? Awesome. She can claw someone if they annoy her? Amazing. It'd only be when she realized that she'd have to eat meat that she'd realize it's probably time for her to change back, and that's when the urgency would actually set in!

Briony: Ragdoll cat. Mostly she'd be like omg I'm ✨ adorable ✨ and would just enjoy giving cuddles and getting pets and being all sweet and affectionate! Of course she'd be anxious to return to her human state, but as a cat she'd be looking up at you all Puss-in-Boots and going "meow? 🥺" and chirruping at you because she'd know damn well how cute she is!

Lavinet: British longhair. She'd be very regal and poised and almost haughty! She'd kind of just stare coolly at you until you felt the compulsion to serve her every whim and desire. She wouldn't really enjoy being a cat, I think, but she'd be dignified about it and would seem very human-like while she waited for you to figure out a solution! Her tail would be very expressive in displaying her disdain for the whole ordeal! She'd also be the type of cat to just sit on whatever you were doing and stare expectantly at you until you gave her whatever she wanted!

Halek: Maine Coon. He'd a big boi! He'd probably just sleep all day in a nice patch of sunlight. Maybe being a cat was the solution to all of his problems all along? He probably wouldn't be in a big hurry to change back, honestly, that's his ideal lifestyle! What's he got to worry about? He's a cat!

Mimir: Himalayan cat. This is kind of mean because they can look pretty derpy but I feel like the thousand-yard stare totally fits her! She'd probably just sit there quietly and wash her paws and just wait for someone to notice that she'd been turned into a cat!

How would each RO in the early newborn stage with MC comfort their own child (e.g. If child was crying at night)? Who would eagerly take on all the responsibilities, share the responsibilities or leave it to MC?

I'd like to think that every RO would at least share responsibilities with MC rather than leaving it all to them and being a neglectful parent! 

Blade: knowing he can't do everything, he would share responsibilities with MC, but try to take on as much of the duties as he could himself, and when it came to getting up to comfort the baby in the middle of the night, he would take that on 100% of the time! MC gave birth to the baby, so the least he can do is let her rest. He'd probably comfort the baby by walking around outside with them in his arms at night, showing them the moon or a nearby lake and quietly lulling them back to sleep while MC got a quiet house to herself!

Trouble: he'd eagerly try to do everything/take on all of the responsibilities. He'd probably comfort a crying baby at night by bouncing them in his arms, talking to them in a quiet, jovial voice, like "that's it, my lad, you just wanted some attention, huh?" or holding them aloft in the air and making them laugh--basically tiring them out a bit!

Tallys: she'd try to take on all of the responsibilities herself and would be a very protective mother. She'd probably comfort the baby by rocking them in her arms and singing Elvish lullabies to them until they fell back asleep, maybe sitting with them in a special rocking chair made for that purpose or even burning some kind of scent that encourages sleep!

Shery: she'd eagerly try to take on all of the responsibilities herself, and would try to comfort a crying baby by reading them stories, singing soft lullabies, giving them a warm bottle of milk, or maybe lying down with them and cuddling them until they fell asleep!

Riel: realistically, he'd probably tell MC to send a servant to take care of it LMAO, but he wouldn't leave MC to take on everything by themselves, he'd share the workload and/or hire a bunch of caretakers to help both of them out! When it came to comforting the crying baby, he'd probably read (way too advanced) books to them until the sound of his voice lulled them to sleep!

Chase: he'd share responsibilities with MC and would be happy to be the one to get up to comfort their baby in the middle of the night. His strategy would probably be similar to Trouble's, being playful and silly and tossing baby around and playing airplane with them. In really extreme scenarios he might just strap baby to his back and go out for a night on the town until they were tired out, but depending on the reaction of his spouse, he would probably learn not to do this quite quickly... 😅

Red: he'd try to take on as much of the responsibilities himself while still sharing a reasonable amount with MC! He'd probably do a mix of Blade's strategy (walking around and pointing at things, whether inside or outside) or reading to baby until they were lulled back to sleep!

Ayla: she'd try to take on all the responsibilities herself because she'd love being a parent! Her strategy would probably be to feed baby a bottle of milk and then pat them on the back until they went to sleep. She'd probably be one of those moms who think there's no such thing as giving the baby too much milk, so that might be her solution for everything! 😂 Her babies would grow up to be extremely strong, hulking kids who'd tower over her as adults, I feel like!

Briony: she'd try to take on all of the responsibilities herself, but would vastly overestimate her own abilities and would quickly have to learn to share/ask for help from MC! Her strategy would probably be to just talk and coo soothingly at her baby, swaying with baby in her arms or lying in bed with them and whispering mostly nonsense words until they were comforted and soothed from feeling the need to cry! She might give them something like a stuffed animal or soft blanket for extra coziness as well!

Lavinet: she'd be pretty reluctant to get out of bed to tend to baby and would be the type to put the pillow over her head and groan, so it'd be ideal if MC was the one who was happy to get out and comfort their child... if not, she might send a servant to do it! I wouldn't say she'd leave it all up to MC and would be the kind of mother who wouldn't put any work in, but she'd definitely see no harm in using all of the resources available to her, like childcare staff and etc.! Why should she and MC both lose sleep when she can pay someone else to help out? But if that wasn't an option, she'd be okay with taking turns with MC to see to their child. She'd be a bit awkward about comforting baby at first, but her strategy would probably be something like swaddling them in a blanket and rocking with them in her arms in a rocking chair. MC would probably get up in the morning to find both Lavinet and baby passed out, still in the chair! 

Spoilers

Hi lena! I wanted to ask, if the other characters were present in chapter 1 during trouble and Tallys’ fight, who would they have followed when they stormed off?

Also I hope things are going well with you! Sending my best wishes ❤️❤️

Thank you so much anon, I really appreciate it! ❤️ And good question!

Blade: he would have followed Trouble, if only to investigate further and make sure Trouble didn't go off all half-cocked; he trusts Tallys to make smart decisions, he doesn't always trust Trouble to 😅

Shery: she probably would have followed Tallys because she's closer to her and isn't, like, scared of her when Tallys is angry like she is of Trouble... and she wouldn't think she'd be of much help to Trouble, anyway!

Riel: realistically, he probably wouldn't have followed anyone and would have just, like, gone back to work because he doesn't like wasting time by involving himself in other people's interpersonal conflicts LOL..... but if he had to follow someone, it would have been an even coin toss between them, to be honest: I could see him following Trouble or Tallys to try and smooth things over with either of them! He thinks Tallys is more reasonable, so his chances of success with her are higher and he gets along with her better, but he may have also picked Trouble because his case is more "urgent" or high-stakes. Or he would have gone to investigate Hal on his own, lone-wolf-style, and would have just ended up running into Trouble on the way!

Chase: he probably would have followed Trouble because he'd be more interested in seeing how things turned out on Trouble's end!

Red: he might not have followed either of them lol, but if he had to pick, he probably would have picked Trouble to keep him out of trouble; Tallys seems more self-reliant to him!

Ayla: she would have picked Trouble for pretty much the same reasons as Red, and because she'd likely agree that the Equalists seem like a likely cause for the kidnappings!

Briony: it's a coin-toss with her; she would perceive Tallys as the one who'd actually gotten her feelings hurt by Trouble (rather than the other way around) so would have wanted to show her friendship and support to Tallys, but also is close to Trouble and would have gone after him to both scold him/keep him from doing something stupid, so it's an even 50/50 split with her!

Lavinet: she probably would have picked Tallys! She's not interested in trying to talk Trouble down when he's all rage-y and would have agreed with Tallys's train of thought and reasoning... and it would have been an opportunity for them to bond, which they obviously need at this point in the game!

Halek: he probably would have stayed out of it, lol, but if he had to pick, it's more likely that he would have picked Tallys because following Trouble seems like a bigger pain in the ass!

After Wallmire, how did the Sheps get the ahfuri home since they translocated from the swamp to Haven? tell me we didn’t leave my best friend Uwala behind 😭

Oh, the ahfuri definitely made it home safely, haha! My guess is that a message was sent to another Shepherd team in the area to stop by the town where the ahfuri were left and retrieve them on the way home, or some sort of courier service was paid to retrieve them. It's technically possible for Red to have translocated to the town and translocated the ahfuri back, but it's far riskier to translocate with large animals (who are liable to bolt or do something to mess the spell up) than it is even with multiple other humans, who know what's going on, so my guess is that some other team fetched them on the way home!

Is the Arch-demon someone that we’ve already met?

Nope! 

Riel briefly mentions how life for Cosmas turns out (rip), but do you have any thoughts on what happens to Shikokami?

I've been divided on whether the romance between Cosmas and Shikokami was even rooted in truth, or whether it was just a fiction of the labyrinth to test MC's choice-making and integrity! But either way, I imagine Shikokami went on to continue her studies at Saenreth, where she became an extremely powerful Enchanter in her own right. This is really vaguely implied in some conversations with her, but her backstory is that she was the heiress to a prominent Ket family in Luxue (i.e. she's a Ket-Mage), who made their fortune manufacturing and smuggling weapons in a... not really great way. (Somewhat analogous to Riel's birth family.) After she finished her education at Saenreth, her family pressured her to return and use her powers to further her house's status by using her abilities to pressure and influence people's minds during business negotiations, etc., which could have become quite a sinister thing over time; but her time at Saenreth had instilled better ethics in Shikokami regarding the use of magic, so ultimately she refused and was excommunicated from her family. She fell in love with a fellow student at Saenreth but never pursued anything with him during their time at school because she believed she would be called to return to Luxue after graduating; after being exiled, however, she continued living in Magus and served as the mistress of ceremonies for the Lord-Governor (aka Archmage) of Magus at the time, a quasi-political role where she essentially was in charge of planning his events and entertaining his guests and so on and so forth. Eventually she ran into that student she'd been in love with as adults, they got married, and had two kids! For all we know, one of their descendants could be running around in the modern day as we speak! 🤔

Could you tell us more about Senua? She's such a great character! I couldn't help but wonder when reading about her if she is, perchance, a distance ancestor of Red? (The irony in that would be amazing! Poor Red missing out on that adventure but actually being somewhat related to Senua? lol)

Yay, I'm so glad you liked her! I wondered if her character would be more divisive given all the shit she puts MC's party through, but I personally love her! XD Unfortunately, the "real" Senua never married or had children, so she's not related to Red! I imagine that she was the only child to commoner parents who didn't really have a strong Gift themselves (I'm getting the vibe that they were cloth merchants or something like that). Around the age of six, her unusually strong magic would have started manifesting itself, so after consulting with some local teachers, her parents decided to send her to the Mage academy Stavastre. Interestingly, I think she wouldn't have completed her education there, probably running away as a teen of seventeen before earning her graduation robes because she would have been frustrated by how stifling and traditional she felt the teaching style was; Senua was a pioneer and maverick even from a young age, and coupled with her enormous Gift, she would have insisted on experimenting with magic in ways that would have made her instructors extremely uneasy or disapproving. So probably in a fit of pique after failing another class or something like that, she ran off in a "fuck the system" rebel move and probably would have traveled around for a while, doing whatever the hell she wanted. I could see her working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a sailor on a merchant barge, a keeper at a menagerie--whatever captured her fancy! She was enormously inquisitive and her mind was hungry for everything: experiences, knowledge, meeting people, new sights and sounds, what have you. 

Eventually, however, she would have settled a bit more in temperament and realized that her true calling lied with magic. Returning to Stavastre wouldn't have been an option (she was also quite hardheaded and prideful), but hearing about Archmage Tangriel and the things that Saenreth was pioneering (they would have been on the absolute frontier of magic), she would have been eager to join people she perceived to be more like herself (innovative, fearless, radical, revolutionary) and would have joined the Crystal Tournament in order to secure her entrance. Notably, she wouldn't have been part of an official delegation the same way the Adepts from other schools were, which would have made them treat her a bit coolly (this gets translated into how MC and their group feel as outsiders during their Crystal Tournament); if Senua was strong enough to enter the tournament essentially on her own and without the backing of a school, the others would have considered her a threat or would have looked down on her for being so unconventional. But she would have swept the competition, and you know the rest from there!

After she left Saenreth, I'm not sure what happened to Senua. If you find Archmage Tangriel's journal at the bottom of the Cave of Many Mouths, he includes a page addressing her and voices deep regrets over sending her away. A few years after she leaves, of course, is when he enters the reclusive part of his life and ultimately withdraws from the teaching and public life entirely, living in his tower with mostly only the companionship of his spirits and a few apprentices. The doors of Saenreth ultimately closed as a school, and it was some time later that the Archmage--in his experiments to perfect a method of translocation that didn't require you to have been to your destination before--vanished entirely. 

As for Senua... we know she went to Armalenthieh, and it's my guess that she became an instructor there, with all the connections and resources and recommendations and accolades Tangriel would have provided her with. But probably the scandal of their rumored affair would have caught up with her even there, and she probably wouldn't have fit in as well as she could have among the staff there anyway, preferring to be left to her own devices and teaching only because it was required of her to keep her position. Although still strong-minded, she would have become more and more solitary as time went on, until one day someone discovered that her office was empty and that Senua had simply... left. The history books don't say what happened to her after that!