Author Answers (July) (Patreon)

General

Hi Lena, hope you're doing well, and as a fellow desert dweller I hope the heat hasn't gotten to you yet!  My question is regarding single cutting edged blades, and how common they are within Blest. I noticed that Anguriel is double edged, and I was curious as to how common a saber or katana style weapon would be within the Ket or the Hunters. I shamelessly follow the wandering ronin trope (Yojimbo) and usually put myself down as Ket, but I'm curious as to what you think. Anyways, have a good week!

Hi there, I'm doing well, I hope you are as well! And great question! I would say that single-edged blades and swords are actually quite common in Blest: scimitars and sabers are the primary kind of sword in Jalis and the outlying lands, and even military officers out in the West tend to use sabers similar to French infantry swords. (In fact, this is what I intended for Lavinet to use when I refer to her weapon as a saber, but we'll see if I actually end up sticking with that by the time we get to her weapon codex entry rather than a straight English cavalry sword.)

As for katana-type weapons, yes, they exist in Blest as well and are used fairly commonly, to the point where no one would really bat an eye at seeing one. They're most often used by the Ket, though not the soldier caste: they tend to belong to more "showy" warriors who are particularly known for their skills, so swordsmen of the Sen or Khehi castes (assassin class or thereabouts). However, the double-edged straight blade like Anguriel is still far more common and considered the more practical choice in direct warfare and battle rather than one-on-one duels! 

Hope that helps! And I hope you have a great week as well!

Can you tell us anything about Cybele's sword? Is it a family heirloom?

You can kick my ass if I've said otherwise in the past (I'm really starting to lose track of all of my answers and little misc. facts at this point lol), but I'm pretty sure it's just a sword that she bought like the day before she joined the Shepherds! 😅 I'm pretty sure she uses it out of sheer stubbornness because the weapons merchant kind of like laughed/chuckled when she was browsing through his stuff and she picked it up, and she was like, What's so funny? >:( and he said Nothing and then she gave him such a hard time that he gave her a discount on it just to get rid of her! 

I was wondering what the other guys reactions would be to an MC simpering at them to get over a puddle—i know we had 'em helping us with the river, but that was a little more serious. would the puppy eyes still prevail?? (riel isn’t included since he would probably die trying to help someone across a puddle)

Blade: I think it depends on how public the setting is as well as how serious the situation was; if they're on a bonafide or urgent mission where they need to be somewhere, he's in "professional" mode so he's not guaranteed to do it just for funsies or to mess around; but if in a casual setting, he'd do something similar to Halek where he'd tsk or roll his eyes but pick MC up and bridal carry her and then set her down, "exasperated" but playful about it (in his own way)!

Trouble: he'd do it without even really thinking about it lol he could be carrying on a conversation with Tallys and Halek and just obediently stooping to give MC a piggyback ride without even realizing he was doing it!

Chase: he's never going to pass up an opportunity to flirt, he's definitely going to help but he's also going to leverage the opportunity to get something out of it (like a stolen kiss)!

Red: he'd be helping MC across the puddle without needing to be simpered at, he was raised to be a goddamn gentleman!

Riel: ugh, he hates being simpered at! he'll tsk and help you reluctantly but only if it doesn't involve muddying his own shoes!

Hi-!! Barbenheimer question for LIs- who watches Barbie with mc first then Oppenheimer? :3c Who watches Oppenheimer first then Barbie? :3c 💖💕 Does anyone dress up for the occasion? :D

This is assuming MC doesn't have any preference themselves!

Oppenheimer, then Barbie

• Blade
• Trouble
• Riel
• Ayla

Barbie, then Oppenheimer

• Chase
• Briony
• Lavinet
• Halek

Doesn't care/perfectly fine either way

• Tallys
• Red
• Shery

I can't see any of them dressing up for the occasion (though Lavinet as Barbie is tempting, I don't see her cosplaying for any movie) but the idea of Riel dressing up as Oppenheimer is hilarious to me 😂

I would love to know more about modern AU chef Halek- what sort of restaurant does he work at, and what do his employees think of him? I'm a line cook so i love the representation lol

I think modern AU chef Halek would have a kind of The Bear character arc, lol, where he initially starts off going to culinary school and then working in/apprenticing in really high-end restaurants (not exactly Noma or The Menu, but think a really busy, classy NYC restaurant, etc.). Eventually he'd become disillusioned by the insane work conditions and culture and become really burnt out, drop out, and end up as the sole cook in a greasy spoon diner back in his hometown, which he is content with for now (this would be the current timeline of any modern AU I envision for him), cooking hashbrowns and burgers and what have you. However, in the future (like 5+ years on), I imagine he'd open up his own nice cozy neighborhood restaurant: I could totally see him making fresh pastas and pizzas in a little red-brick Italian restaurant that can only hold like 20-30 people at a time! I think his employees would respect him a lot and see him as remarkably laidback and chill for being in the restaurant industry, but the more ambitious chefs under his command might be frustrated by his lack of aggressive direction or specific instruction, lol, they probably wouldn't feel like they would learn much under his direction unless they paid careful attention, but it would be a really healthy work environment in comparison to most!

I was going to ask which clan would the cast (+ Halek/Croelle/Prihine) be in a Vampire: the Masquerade AU, but it occurred to that I have no idea whether or not you're familiar with VtM, or any other ttrpg for that matter!  So I guess my question is: Which ttrpgs do you know about? Or rather, which ttrpgs do you know about well enough that you could answer an ask about it (like the above question) for future reference?

I'm sorry, I don't think I'm familiar enough with any TTRPG to answer an in-depth question about it! 🥹 Like, I could barely get by with telling you about the characters' DnD alignment or what kind of player/character they would be, but anything outside of that is uncharted territory for me! I actually played one VtM game (not a mainline one, it was the Coteries of New York and sort of like a visual novel) but I neither finished it nor retained any information about it LOL. Sorry about that!!

Hi! First of all wanted to give a big thank you for having fully platonic routes for all the characters that are as fleshed out as romance ones!! It means a lot to me!

Secondly, could you please tell us how the shepherds would support BFF!MC if they were going through a break up? Or if that’s too hard, just the sort of things they like to do with their BFF?

Hi, thank you so much for your kind words, I'm so glad the platonic routes feel as rich as the romance routes: that was really important to me! 🥹 And this is a cute question, lol:

Blade: he really has Zuko "...that's rough, buddy" energy, typically you should just not be relying on him to help you get through romantic heartbreak, lol, as he feels he has nothing to add or contribute to that; if he does get involved, his idea of helping you through a breakup is just sitting with you in companionable silence as a "I'm here for you" gesture, but he's probably, like, not going to talk to you about it unless you bring it up yourself. Oh, he will offer to kill your ex for you! So he does try to help! I just don't know how helpful most people would find that, lol

Trouble: it depends on the nature of the breakup, if he feels that MC's ex treated them poorly, he'd probably get mad and storm off to go confront/beat the shit out of them/force them to apologize to MC himself. If that's not the case and there are no "wrong parties" involved, he'd try to cheer MC up by taking their mind off of things, like inviting them to something active and fun like a sports tournament or a festival or something like that, and would just generally stick by their side and try to be light-hearted and make them forget about their troubles for several weeks until they felt better!

Tallys: she knows there's no rushing the healing process, so she'd be ready to do whatever MC wanted or needed to get through the whole thing: if they want to vent while she listens, she's prepared to do that. If they want to be distracted and never wants to think about it again, she's prepared to do that, too. If they want to be told how awful and worthless their ex was, she's ready to deliver! Her default assumption is inviting you to her room where there's a box of tissues, a comfortable blanket, and Tallys with two mugs of tea waiting if you want to have a sleepover!

Shery: her default mode is always "comfort," so she's the one letting MC cry on her bed or in her lap while she rubs their back or strokes their hair and makes soothing noises. She's constantly checking up on them throughout the day, making little snacks or meals for them to keep their spirits up so they can get through this, and is basically just MC's patient companion who's ready to help in any way necessary (short of bad-talking or confronting the ex herself)!

Riel: he already took steps to make ex's life as miserable as possible, you just need to say the word 🙂 he quietly digs up dirt on all of MC's SOs just in case, lol. It's not like he's expecting the relationship to go wrong, he'll also use that info to protect them if they end up falling deeply in love! But yeah, he's just like, "Say the word and I'll ruin their life. Here are all the relevant files" LOL

Chase: "Aw, sunshine, don't cry over that stupid shitheel, they had rocks for brains and you were way too good for them! Your tears are more valuable than anything they ever made in their miserable life." Basically he leans hard on demeaning and dismissing the ex entirely and trying to hype MC up by showing them how much better they are than him and how the ex isn't worth their time. Then he'd proceed to be even goofier and sillier than usual just to get MC to crack a smile and would focus on entertaining them and keeping them occupied with fun, light-hearted stuff for a few weeks until they seemed to forget all about it!

Red: he's there to lend a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen to whatever MC wants to talk about; he's a prime "venting" companion and is endlessly patient, inviting MC out to meals and letting them stay with him while they talk/sob out their feelings!

Ayla: she's a mix of "do you want me to go beat them up? I'll totally go beat the shit out of them" and "you don't need them, they sucked!!! Let's go out on the town and find someone better and hotter!" Her method of recovery tends to be dressing up, going out, getting absolutely blind drunk, and possibly finding someone to hook up with, all of which she is willing to help MC to accomplish!

Briony: she'd be soooo worried about MC during this time, she'd be organizing everyone else to be extra mindful and caring towards MC during this hard time and would be the one running around the compound snatching away anything that could remotely remind MC of their ex! She's prepared for the sleepovers, she's prepared for the long heartfelt talks where they cry together, she's prepared to immediately (though discreetly) start scouting out the TRUE love of MC's life to set them up down the road, she'll do anything to make her precious MC feel better!! And of course, she swears total and absolute enmity towards the ex, now and for eternity!

Lavinet: she'd be willing to comfort MC with the sleepovers and the girls' nights and the vent sessions for a good two weeks, but afterwards if MC was still hung up on ex, she'd start getting impatient, like "enough crying now, now is the time for revenge!" Revenge to her is either ruining that person's life (if the breakup was egregious enough to warrant it) or giving MC a makeover to both bolster MC's mood/self-esteem and make the ex regret ever leaving MC, then publicly setting MC up with the most desirable, attractive person she can find, specifically so that ex will see it and become really insecure about it (i.e. if MC was dating someone poor, she'd set MC up with a rich noble; or if MC was dating someone short, she'd set MC up with someone really tall). Basically she'd try to target the absolute, most undeniable "upgrade" from ex she could find out of supportive and loving spite! 

Spoilers

In case I missed it, who is going to be Riel's second-in-command? And who's going to be the MC's second? Is that a choice for us?

I just changed what Blade says recently in my version, but Trouble is going to be Blade's second, and Tallys will be Riel's, both due to her seniority and her organizational/administrative experience as a Keeper! MC will get to choose their replacement, but I waffle back and forth on whether it's going to be an actual player choice (because it might just create more work for me when it's not really that relevant in the game: it only becomes important if/when MC dies or is absent) or if it will be delayed off-screen until after the events of the game, if that makes any sense! So I'm not sure if that choice will physically present itself in the game or be left to headcanon yet!

Hi Lena! If MC isn’t offered the position of Commander-Legate, does Lavinet get promoted to the position regardless?

Hi there! If MC isn't offered the position of Commander-Legate (or if they turn it down), Blade and Riel actually hold off on selecting their third commander and kind of have Lavinet on a probational period, partly because she needs more time to earn the respect of the Shepherd officers (some of whom dislike her for her noble background) and partly because they know she might not be willing to 100% invest her future in the Shepherds when she has her future as heiress of Lockwood as well as a looming "someday" engagement hanging over her. In the end, she will be promoted to Commander-Legate, but after the events of the game (like "next year"), so it's not something that we'll see take place right away!

when you’re writing the day off interludes with companions, are any of the storylines recycled from plot points (or character arcs) in the novels, or are they made up for the game? I always imagined it was some mix of the two as opposed to one or the other, but I’m curious anyway lol. I hope your month is going well! :)

Good question! On the whole, I would say that like 99% of the character interlude content is exclusive to the game: Blade, Trouble, Tallys, Shery, Ayla, Briony, and Lavinet's day off storylines are all completely original! (In the novels, for example, Blade's brother is dead and his parents are alive, and none of this Autarchy/assassination business ever happened.)

Chase, Riel, Red, and Halek's storylines draw a little bit of inspiration from their novel backgrounds: Chase really did have an ex who betrayed him in the novels, though you guys were the ones who voted on her name in the game, and it was not something that was explored or discussed at all in the novels; Riel's backstory (which we haven't gotten into much yet in his interludes yet) is fairly parallel to his backstory in the novels, but will play out very differently in the game; and Halek really was begrudgingly sol of the Reach in the novels and similarly struggling with questions about his destiny and obligations, and he did dream of being a chef and opening up his own restaurant, but he was not engaged to Moonsilk. The way he wound up handling all of that stuff was pretty off-screen, so I'd say the vast majority of the stuff that comes up with him in the game ends up being unique!

Red's interludes and his particular character arc are all also unique to the game: he did, of course, attend Solhadur with the MC in the novels (though it wasn't a Circle, just the regular school, because the Castigation doesn't happen in the novels), but he was never Archmage. In the books, he actually joins the Worldwalkers as an adult (they're a commonly-known research society, though joining them is like becoming an astronaut for NASA and notoriously hard; that's actually what he's doing when novel!MC taps him to join the Shepherds later on. The Worldwalkers--then called the Travelers Society--have to halt their work and shut down for story reasons)! So his current search to uncover evidence of them and all of the story surrounding that is brand-new, since that was actually his day job in the novels LOL! 

All in all, I'd say there aren't many plot points that are used from the novels, primarily because the novels focused on how the main cast dealt with present-day stuff and didn't have much "character interlude/day off" type content: that's partially why I wanted to make Shepherds an IF in the first place, so there could be more room to juggle different interactive storylines where you spend time with the different characters rather than trying to keep it refined to just one big plot or a handful of POVs like in a novel. There just wasn't room for all of the companion storylines in the books! I hope that all makes sense!! 😅 

Hi Lena! Hope you’ve been enjoying your summer and staying cool! Oh to be a fly in the wall when Ari reported to Chase that MC was thought to be his weakness!  What was going through his head upon hearing that, and what was his reaction? And what was the plan to take on the Hero of Haven? Seems a bit ambitious of Parmercy lol.

Hi kingdom! I'm staying cool now: our AC was technically broken but we didn't realize it because our state is in a 110+ heatwave for the 19th day straight and I just thought it was normal for it to be warm inside LOL turns out we weren't having any cold air blowing, but it's fixed now!

Anyway, Parmercy was just an idiot, lol. I think the primary thought was that tales of MC's prowess are either overblown and overhyped (fair assumption because people who don't know MC directly hear all these crazy exaggerations and think there's no way they could be true) and/or assumed that this prowess only applied specifically to fighting demons and whatnot, like their powers are only good against Faceless Lords or something, not that they would be immune to the ol' "Hey I'm one of Chase's thieves, he asked me to come get you because he needs help with something, he's fighting off enemies in this abandoned warehouse and really needs your help!!" (bag 'em, snag 'em, drug 'em and hold 'em hostage or torture them for info, which they do a lot in the thief business)... Basically thinking that because Parmercy had an "in" as one of Chase's thieves, MC wouldn't have any reason to suspect him so they could ambush MC and take them by surprise!

If Chase and MC are on a romance path (but obviously haven't hooked up yet), Chase's first reaction to hearing that this was Parmercy's plan was kind of this dry "lol seriously? What a stupid idea. Not only is it MC we're talking about here, but if every person in this city got it into their heads to kidnap the people I'm attracted to/want to fuck, a shitload of people would go missing... and it still wouldn't make me do anything, whoever came up with that plan is an idiot." But then he'd think on it some more (after the fact) and be like, wait, why did Parmercy think MC is any different from people I've openly hooked up with, and how did he intuit that just from observation? We haven't even hooked up yet, and it's not like he's been around the both of us that much... why did he think I would care about MC being kidnapped specifically, instead of, say, Trouble or Ari....? ......welp that's enough of that, let's cheerfully package away that thought and pretend it never happened 🙂 Parmercy's an idiot who was just shooting blindly in the dark with the worst half-baked plan I've ever heard of and that's all we need to know!

As for how he reacted, all he did was smile gently when Ari told him the news and say, "Well, we'll just have to show ol' Parmercy the error of his ways, won't we?" Ari and Kato knew what was up and just nodded and immediately dispersed to arrange things; stuff like this (traitors and upstarts in the Guild wanting to challenge Chase's authority) has happened before, so they knew the routine lol!

For #tellmeeverything , has it been posted what Trouble’s given name was changed to? If I’m a dummy and it already has, feel free to ignore!! or if you just want to keep it a secret I totally understand!!I’m probably super late to all this, Tysm!

Hi there, I think it has been posted somewhere, but since I can't find it, there's an updated link to his true name here! :)

Another day alive is another day to bully Blade.

The Blademancer in me needs to know if the rest of the Wallmire boyband tease Blade for carrying MC across the river after getting back. And which of the other ROs join in. Feel like the Matchmaker squad would be over the moon with that progress.

If I was Chase I would bring it up everytime I saw a puddle for at least 4 months.

Red never brings it up because he and Blade don't have that kind of relationship, LOL. The nice thing about Trouble is that, although he'll give Blade a really hard time in the moment and immediately following any sort of incident like the river-bridal-carry, he tends to forget about things pretty quickly, so it's not something he brings up all that often because he just stops thinking about it after a while! He is also careful not to tease Blade about liking MC too much because he's conscious of inadvertently making Blade more adverse to his feelings by making the whole thing more embarrassing: he more pesters or harangues or calls Blade out for having an obvious crush on MC (like "dude you are so stupid, why don't you just admit you like her") and pushes him to do something about it than he tends to tease him outright (like "lol remember that time you carried MC across the river 😂")! He's more inclined to laugh/smirk about it with someone else like Chase as an onlooker than he is to bring it up himself after the fact!

Chase carefully hoards stuff like this for a "rainy day," so he doesn't actually bring it up that often. He prefers to let his victims think he forgot/forget about it themselves, then slyly refers to it for maximum effect. It's a "stiletto between the ribs" strategy rather than a bullet barrage, where it happens to neatly and unexpectedly you don't even register the wound until it's too late... Like if it's absolutely horrible weather during the spring rains and he makes a comment about having to patrol in it and getting his socks wet and Blade unsympathetically retorts, "It's your job. Wet socks are the least of your issues" and Chase sighs and says, "You're right... Be a lot easier if I had someone to pick me up and carry me, though ♡"

As for who else would join in on the teasing, Briony and Lavinet would just be more excited and squealing, like, "You picked MC up in your arms to prevent her from getting wet?! How did you do it?! What did you say when you offered it?! Show me the exact position she was in" *hands curling to clutch his shirtfront with the fixed mania of unrepentant shipper gossips* 

Tallys would smirk at hearing the news, but she wouldn't tease Blade about it. Same with Halek! I think Ayla would definitely join in on the jeering and would be like "omg you did what? That's CRINGE" and would just be relentlessly mocking him alongside Trouble and Chase when they first report back!

visiting the Menagerie has me so stupidly happy! Are the ✨special✨ animals (like Lyone) something you just made up for that particular day off activity or  is there a deeper lore behind them?

I'm so glad you're enjoying that part! And no, there's no deeper lore behind the legendary beasts in the menagerie, though their names are a direct easter egg/allusion/homage to a somewhat obscure book I read when I was around 12: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld!

NSFW

A bit of a NSFW question. How soon after getting together would the ROs and Halek want to, or impulsively decide to, have sex with MC? Are some of them ready to start stripping after the first kiss, or do they want to slowly build up to that level intimacy over weeks or months, or somewhere in between? Assuming MC doesn't have a preference. (Obviously this excludes Tallys and Chase.)

Assuming MC doesn't have a preference:

Blade: in my first drafts of his confession scene/first kiss with MC, it did end up with them sleeping together (if MC chooses to, of course), so he is ready to have sex with MC right away due to months of unbearable sexual tension and repressed feelings! I'm actually unsure if I'll stick to this draft or diverge from it for the ✨ angst ✨, but my point is, he would 110% be ready to from the moment they first kissed, because by the time that's happened, it means his self-control has already broken down beyond repair! 😂

Trouble: he'd be ready the first time they kissed and would absolutely be down to start stripping in the first makeout session, but out of respect for MC and what he thinks of as conventional courtship rituals, he'd probably wait for them to give the signal that they were ready for that first (presuming that would be a few "dates" in). So he'd be ready, but he'd be surprised if MC was already ready too, and would be more prepared to wait like 3-5 dates first!

Tallys: you know

Shery: honestly, she would probably need at least 3 months to comfortably work up to having sex, and she could go as long as 10 months to a year if MC didn't show any inclination to hurry things along on that front! She's very "in her head" about sex and has built it up a lot in her mind and would be nervous/anxious about pleasing MC, about not seeming very good at it, etc., so she'd definitely prefer to wait and would absolutely not be ready to go right after getting together!

Riel: he'd most likely leave it up to MC, but if MC really had absolutely no preference, I think three months could pass before he'd start questioning it, like "oh yeah, isn't that supposed to have happened by now?..." But it would be more about knowing what's "typical" for most relationships and wanting to make sure everything is going well rather than because he'd be burning with carnal desire himself: he'd be ready if MC made a move at three months (probably not before), but he could comfortably go a year before he himself would be provoked into acting!

Chase: no answer needed

Red: if they're exes, he'd probably dance around the topic for like... two to three weeks lol, he'd be ready on the first kiss but he wouldn't think it was a good idea to rush into it due to horniness and would want to give things more time to settle before progressing to sex: he wants their (second) relationship to last, so he wouldn't want to rush things out of a sense of caution! If they're not exes and are just friends who have (presumably) been pining for a while, he's ready the first time they kiss, because they've been waiting for years at that point (and don't have an "ex" relationship to serve as a cautionary tale). If they didn't have a prior relationship before any of this and met for the first time as Shepherds (or were rivals), he would probably wait around a month out of politeness and wanting to make it clear he's in the relationship for the long haul, not just because he wants to hit it and quit it!

Ayla: she's down bad and ready the first time they kiss! She'd low-key be shook if they went a week without having sex, lol!

Briony: she's ready the first time they kiss as well, but she wouldn't be like jumping MC's bones or immediately stripping of her own accord, she'd only progress that fast if MC was also feeding into that energy/initiating it; if it were up to her, she'd probably wait for 3 weeks to a month if MC didn't make a move first, though that would make her equally happy! 

Lavinet: honestly, she always thought she'd wait for marriage before having (penetrative) sex; for non-penetrative sex, she'd want to wait a month or two, and for penetrative sex, it would probably take her a year to 15 months before she wanted that!

Halek: former King Slut is ready to go at any moment, so presumably he'd be ready to sleep together on the first kiss/confession!

Hi Lena, first of all let me thank you for creating ShoH. It keeps me somewhat sane while writing my master's thesis. To my question (#nsfw): Do mages use sex magic (for example drawing from the shared connection or the euphoria)? If yes, how would the Ros react, if the MC invites them to such rituals?

Hi anon, thanks for your kind words, and good luck with your master's thesis! I've been there... remember to take breaks and interact with the outside world when you can, lol! And to answer your question, "sex magic" isn't really common in Blest and isn't really used in that way (using psionic connections to create feedback loops and etc.). Sex is considered so intimate that magical interference can make a person feel very vulnerable, and there's resistance to using it in that way (especially because it gives the Mage partner a lot of power), so culturally there actually isn't a ton of interest in it. There are magical sex toys or potions that enhance the experience of sex, but not really active sex magic that's being worked by a Mage partner during the act itself. Hope that makes sense!