I really disagree with the regency and consolidate power votes without going all in. The benefits of intensive research were so insane because it lowered our options to those two picks. You're picking them and not taking the biggest benefit of full Adorie support. I can understand for the sightseeing one because the point is to relax and chill, but these two options aren't really taking a break either. It's moderate in the worst way, with the weaknesses of both options without either biggest strength. If we're gonna commit to stabilizing the realms under our control why not also get a massive personal power boost and hugely accelerate our sign research? Mental stability loss and boosted apocryphal is rough but I think the benefits outweigh the cost by a huge margin.
So, I don't know if I was too dumb and everybody else thought this was obvious enough not to mention (or I missed it), but I finally figured out what the exact mythological reference was in Pillars of Creation. Are we going to meet The Hesperides in the Realm of Evening? Or some kind of natural occupants who are Spirits of Evening?
The Hesperides are nature spirits/goddesses that are directly related and explicitly related to evening, and in Greek Myth they reside in their Garden, a place mythically located in "The West" where the sun sets, the place where Hera's Golden Apples are planted, something that I think counts as a mystical, maybe even "anagathic", and certainly divine fruit, just like we can obtain in the Realm of Evening. And The Garden of the Hesperides also has the monster Ladon guarding it, which to some degree matches up with the Realm of Evening's ability to call forth enemies. I'm just getting the feeling that there's some meaningful lore inspiration/connection here.
Also, damn, I really hope we grab Pathway to Idyll soon. Could use the mental stability, and the boost to shaping the Realm of Evening would be useful to have from the get-go. There's so much we need to buy!!! Also, whatever Perchance to Dream is, gotta snag that....
The Opalescent Tower EFB boosts really incentivize going down that route. Probably important to grab Ruling Ring before heaping it on too much, though, for maximum gains. It's also balanced out by the fact that while Evening Sky EFBs offer a lot of utility and defense, they don't really offer much in the way of offensive power. The only roundabout there is through magic enhancement, which I guess dovetails nicely with having Edeldross enhancements/graces. I'd rather have variety through InkSky flavor-wise (imagine the boost that we would get to the Signs...), but things aren't disadvantageous as they stand.
So, I don't know if I was too dumb and everybody else thought this was obvious enough not to mention (or I missed it), but I finally figured out what the exact mythological reference was in Pillars of Creation. Are we going to meet The Hesperides in the Realm of Evening? Or some kind of natural occupants who are Spirits of Evening?
The Hesperides are nature spirits/goddesses that are directly related and explicitly related to evening, and in Greek Myth they reside in their Garden, a place mythically located in "The West" where the sun sets, the place where Hera's Golden Apples are planted, something that I think counts as a mystical, maybe even "agathatic", and certainly divine fruit, just like we can obtain in the Realm of Evening. And The Garden of the Hesperides also has the monster Ladon guarding it, which to some degree matches up with the Realm of Evening's ability to call forth enemies. I'm just getting the feeling that there's some meaningful lore inspiration/connection here.
Also, damn, I really hope we grab Pathway to Idyll soon. Could use the mental stability, and the boost to shaping the Realm of Evening would be useful to have from the get-go. There's so much we need to buy!!! Also, whatever Perchance to Dream is, gotta snag that....
The Opalescent Tower EFB boosts really incentivize going down that route. Probably important to grab Ruling Ring before heaping it on too much, though, for maximum gains. It's also balanced out by the fact that while Evening Sky EFBs offer a lot of utility and defense, the don't really offer much in the way of offensive power. The only roundabout there is through magic enhancement, which I guess dovetails nicely with having Edeldross enhancements/graces. I'd rather have variety through InkSky flavor-wise (imagine the boost that we would get to the Signs...), but things aren't disadvantageous as they stand.
Didn't realize there was a mythological reference.
I thought they were named after the three giant space gas formations, since the Cloak is the Sky, and these are cosmic phenomena called Pillars of Creation. There are even 3 of them for Noon, Evening and Empyreal
Edit:Now that I think about it, is it weird that it may reference an RL cosmic phenomena if the Cloak isn't from there? But the Azure Ring did have access to tales from there...
Didn't realize there was a mythological reference.
I thought they were named after the three giant space gas formations, since the Cloak is the Sky, and these are cosmic phenomena called Pillars of Creation. There are even 3 of them for Noon, Evening and Empyreal
Edit:Now that I think about it, is it weird that it may reference an RL cosmic phenomena if the Cloak isn't from there? But the Azure Ring did have access to tales from there...
I was speaking more about the place Pillars takes us: the Realm of Evening, which was seeming to invoke a specific sort of mythological flavor.
"Pillars of Creation" is definitely a direct reference to the awe-inspiring real life images of the Eagle Nebula. Probably chosen because they're 1. In space, visible in the night due to the lack of ambient light, and so are the appropriate aesthetic for an Evening Sky EFB, 2. Have "Creation" in their name + reference the way that nebulas are star nurseries, invoking the RoE's aspect of positive generation, and 3. invoke the appropriate grandeur of feeling for an EFB.
In fact, wikipedia says of the "Pillars of Creation" that:
In calling the Hubble's spectacular new image of the Eagle Nebula the Pillars of Creation, NASA scientists were tapping a rich symbolic tradition with centuries of meaning, bringing it into the modern age. As much as we associate pillars with the classical temples of Greece and Rome, the concept of the pillars of creation – the very foundations that hold up the world and all that is in it – reverberates significantly in the Christian tradition. When William Jennings Bryan published The World's Famous Orations in 1906, he included an 1857 sermon by London pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon titled "The Condescension of Christ". In it, Spurgeon uses the phrase to convey not only the physical world but also the force that keeps it all together, emanating from the divine: "And now wonder, ye angels," Spurgeon says of the birth of Christ, "the Infinite has become an infant; he, upon whose shoulders the universe doth hang, hangs at his mother's breast; He who created all things, and bears up the pillars of creation, hath now become so weak, that He must be carried by a woman!"
The deeper question of why Earth phenomena echo so heavily in the multiverse is left up to question, as is the way that Advancements are named. It's possible that many things become significant on Earth because they're multiversal (or human-related multiversal) concepts. It's also possible that Earth, for some reason, has superior metaphysical weight of some kind. Or it might be that The Accursed sends his Indentured Cursebearers to encounter places and items and situations that are related to things they already know about from their home culture, to give them an appropriate advantage. I think that last one might be a bit too much, though. The former two seem more likely.
On the topic of Advancements, it's less clear. Canonically it doesn't seem like Hunger gets access to advancement names the way that Seram might, with his quantified world + video game interface. They're more...loosely associative. That is, the advancements we get shown are drawn from Hunger's experience of growth, to represent the potential ways it could solidify properly to us. It's most likely that the reason that advancements are tailored towards mostly Earth references is that they're made for us.
However, that still doesn't really resolve the problem of Earth culture being so multiversally relevant...The Forebear being recognizably King Arthury in particular. I mean the answer from a Doylist view is obvious because it's the same answer as why advancements are biased, but in Watsonian terms the reason isn't so clear.
However, that still doesn't really resolve the problem of Earth culture being so multiversally relevant...The Forebear being recognizably King Arthury in particular. I mean the answer from a Doylist view is obvious because it's the same answer as why advancements are biased, but in Watsonian terms the reason isn't so clear.
I believe the Ur-Mother references this, stating that the Forebear in executing justice on the universes he encounters, limits their existence to become pale shadows of our Earth
I believe the Ur-Mother references this, stating that the Forebear in executing justice on the universes he encounters, limits their existence to become pale shadows of our Earth
Ur-Mother versus Moral Realism as an emergent phenomenon that supervenes on tribal intelligences.
Maybe it's just the case that brainwashing the population of a universe to worship you in an unending oubliette of misery is wrong no matter where you go or why you do it.
inb4 some form of morality counts as a force at least as powerful as the Accursed for the purposes of the Doom of the Tyrant
Can't wait for a Forebear equivalent with a totally alien morality to us-- a paperclip optimizer demon, perhaps, fighting large, multiverse-scale wars against the forces of the Accursed.
Speaking of interesting and unusual associations, I've been thinking about the Fairbright bloodline lately. Refining Edeldross into Elixir is supposed to enable its acquisition, and as some have previously surmised, "edel" means "noble" in German. Where am I going with this? There exists a meme called "Noblebright", derived from Warhammer's "Grimdark". It's supposed to describe universes that are the opposite of grimdark, where everything goes right for the heroes.
That sent me on another tangent. We've mostly been thinking about the Human Sphere in terms of Evangelion and Star Wars, but there are many Warhammer elements to be found too. The Astral Realm itself can be seen as a Warp analogue, though there are naturally many differences.
What I'm wondering about is whether there's an equivalent to the Chaos Gods in the Astral Realm, supreme entities that are head and shoulders all other inhabitants, even the Sovereigns. And whether there's an Eye of Terror somewhere too? Well, the Human Sphere doesn't seem to have as much of a problem with Astral denizens, so it's probably not that big of a deal, but I'm curious whether things will develop in such a direction as we explore the Human Sphere more and Apocrypha continues ramping up.
Thoughts on Plot and Characterization with Intensive Research +Strain
#2875 Words
The gameplay benefits of Strain + Intensive Research have been pretty well laid out: the sample 5th Sign we've already seen operates at Universe-busting levels, and the 4th (potentially) offers progress towards extracting Mages from the Voyaging Realm. These benefits are worth at least 26 Arete, ignoring the potential compounding effects towards Adorie's future Sign discoveries.
The gameplay costs of Strain + Intensive Research have also been repeated fairly consistently: Improving the power of the next Apocryphal proc is a risk, and the thread has a long history of ignoring Mental Stability while chasing power - that pattern has to change eventually.
But there are other costs: the issues of plot structure, characterization beats, and quest-wordcount are also at stake here. This post is meant to discuss some of the reasons that I'm most excited by the Strain + Intensive Research plan, without fixating too much on stats or gameplay mechanics.
Plot
We haven't explicitly discussed the plot structure of the overarching quest, and I'm not the expert that will introduce that to the Discourse. However, the plot structure of the current arc is a narrow enough scope that I feel confident about drawing some conclusions. We've just passed the major climax by getting a dramatic interlude with Gisena, and we're moving into the falling action. There are at least two plot threads that we need to tie off. The first plot thread is whether Adorie will be okay moving forwards. This is the falling action: any remaining bad guys need a chance to either swear revenge against Adorie + Hunger or to be apprehended by the authorities. The second plot thread is how Hunger will extract his companions from the Voyaging Realm. This is the tag at the end of an episode with foreshadowing or a plot hook for the next arc.
The Adorie plot thread is more important than a lot of Sightseeing voters realize, imo. We tied Adorie to the main party when we added the Tears of Winter to our Panoply. That means that she & Nilfel are going to be a major component of our panoply moving forward. The political situation in Nilfel will affect what kind of reception we receive if we come back later asking for more help or resources / artifice components. We can cultivate a powerful ally who has the backing of the local superpower, or we can leave behind an ally who is crippled by trying to appease members of the previous government. Whether you like Adorie or not, we are leaving the Tears (25 Arete) in her possession. It doesn't make any sense to me to let that investment go to waste.
I think that this political subplot is a complication that a lot of people have disregarded because Adorie's management prevents the Apocryphal Curse from targeting any of the VR countries we've conquered. But activation of the Apocryphal Curse is not the only way that complications might arise. The Voyaging Realm is a dangerous place and we've seen multiple examples of its decline: the Elixir Sovereignty was dealing with the Rotbeast since before Hunger & the Apocryphal curse showed up. I think that the Realm of Towers still got flattened by Typhonmiele even though (or exactly because) we didn't go hunt it. The Outer Darkness advancement promised that we would meet enough eldritch and gargantuan monstrosities that being able to talk to them would be useful. The Elixir Sovereignty and Temple Remnant are not safe just because they are being ignored by the Apocryphal Curse!
So far this is an argument for Consolidate Power, not Intensive Research. Aside from the mechanical benefits equivalent to 26 Arete, why should we strain ourselves? The connection is that Adorie's subplot hasn't ended yet. Think of what she's gone through in the last 4? days. After years trapped in an Ivory Opalescent Tower she was visited by a scruffy team of minor nobles (and teenagers).
Negotiating some trade deals was like pulling teeth, but she recruited them as allies. Two of her new allies left on personal business, leaving the teenagers behind for babysitting duty. Then while she is just getting her first taste of direct command over her loyalists, the Lord Protector struck against every important part of her coalition. The teenagers are moderately helpful, but they get taken out of commission by a targeted spell that punishes the trade deal used to recruit them in the first place. When her recruited allies finally come back, she is backed into a corner after a disastrous first attempt at military command. The mercenaries steamroll the opposition that had her on the ropes, immediately discover that the Lord Protector is her half sister, and whisk her away to a dramatic throne room confrontation.
The thing that's missing from this (extended) summary is Adorie's personal agency. She accepted Hunger's offer of alliance the way a drowning person accepts a life preserver. What I like about Intensive Research is that it puts Adorie in the driver's seat and gives her a chance to begin her reign with a victory built on her own specialization and knowledge. Researching the 4th and 5th Sign falls directly inside her primary field of specialization. The entire Nilfel Arc has had her in a completely reactive position. Consolidate Power and Regency both have her reacting to Augustine's fallout, and relying on Hunger to do it. Only by including Intensive Research can we end Adorie's screentime with a confirmation that she really is "superhumanly adept with voice and quill" and "skilled in many professions and well-learned in the history of her realm," and "a capable and perspicacious leader for the realm of Nilfel."
I'm saying that Intensive Research closes out the Adorie subplot with a scene where she gets her groove back. Don't you want Adorie to get her groove back?
Now, I recognize that not everybody is invested in whether or not Adorie gets her groove back. Concern about Aeira, Aobaru, and Letrizia's extraction from the Voyaging Realm is another good reason to consider voting for Intensive Research. There's a throwaway line about kidnapping a Republic operative but we don't currently know where to find any of those. Getting to pick from the blurbs for 4th and 5th Empyrean Signs might provide a direction for where to go: regardless of whether we get a stealth, divination, or defensive sign it will be a good first step towards formulating a plan. This is Nightmare Praetor's time to shine!
But I think there's a more important pacing issue at stake than just building up momentum. Between Adorie and Gisena, we'll figure out a workaround eventually. But the timeline on "eventually" is totally nebulous. Consider what the pacing would look like if we go sightseeing: at least one update of food porn, maybe a second update with a historical or scenic destination. But this is explicitly a time-skip vote, so in not too many updates our two-week window will pass. Then we'll abscond into the Realm of Evening for...
...another three weeks of time-stop vacation? That means 2-3 updates will be spent on vacation and then another several updates will be needed inside Pillars before we can take any practical action towards implementing a Magus extraction. Keeping in mind that Hunger presently has no concrete plan, sightseeing into Pillars might delay our departure from the VR for 2 weeks IRL or more (depending on the speed of updates, of course). So the IRL progress is an issue.
But ignore the speed of forward progress in the plot for a minute. Sightseeing blunts the contrast between Hunger's time in the Voyaging Realm (the real world) and his time in the Voyaging Realm. If we have two weeks of vacation, followed by three weeks of time in a low-stakes environment where our curses are at 1/3, that's five weeks in-game devoted to fluff. Frankly, this seems like a major deviation from the parts of the quest that I've found most interesting. There are calendar effects, but participation was highest during the Vanreir era and lowest during Be The Change. Part of the formula has been to cut through each new challenge. We can cut through the challenge of relaxation by going to a time stopped realm of luxury where Hunger can manipulate the fabric of reality itself. If that is preceded by 2 weeks of being a Dad on vacation with our 3 teenagers and 2 princesses then the narrative shock of finally getting some time off kind of loses its impact. Instead of cutting through to the Relaxation Realm, Hunger will just kind of be wallowing? in relaxation.
Taking a Pillars vacation after the walking tour of the Realm of Myth is like saying "I need a vacation from my vacation" and then doing that. Just... what a totally banal reveal of the Pillars EFB.
Now, I do recognize that the Pillars are a 25 Arete tool that can be used as a training aid as well as a relaxation implement. Sightseeing voters might reference the Devil's advocacy from Rihaku pointing out that allowing Hunger to relax now might make the stint in Pillars more productive. However: Strain + Intensive Research offers 26 Arete worth of raw power immediately. Sightseeing into a "more productive" Pillars visit delays the day when we actually get access to that power.
If you're scared of the Apocryphal Curse or the Chains Terminator then delaying our powerup is even harder to defend. The argument insists that the difference in eventual payoff between a visit to the Realm of Evening when we are strained and a visit to the Realm of Evening when we are fresh off of a 2-week vacation is more valuable than 26 Arete right now. That's pretty hard to defend.
So to conclude this section, I think that the Adorie plot arc is more narratively satisfying if we let her have a personal win by successfully researching the Fourth and Fifth Empyrean Signs. I think that the Mage Heist can use the Fourth or Fifth Sign as an initial foundation / direction for whatever plan we come up with. This is foreshadowing for the next plot arc after Pillars times out. I think that the Pillars Reveal will be more dramatic if it is given to a Hunger that worked hard for three weeks, instead of a Hunger that still has a Tourist style Farmer's Tan from the walking tour of Nilfel.
Characterization
This issue is related to the cohesion and pacing of the plot, but there are some long-running issues at stake. Not every poster has been thrilled by the characterization we've developed. Our risk tolerance dismays the NOT DYING GANG. Similarly, the exposition about our rulership style dismays MORAL GANG. While I am happy to admit that the Sightseeing + Mentorship combination would be a lot of fun to read, I think that it is counterproductive towards fixing both of these characterization flaws.
The Not Dying Gang has largely balked at the boosted Apocryphal proc from this option. But while we're talking about risk tolerance, I want to point out that Hunger has found a way to get 26 Free Arete of immediate power with no immediate percentage chance of death. If every action echoes into the epilogue, this would be a real coup in terms of finding methods of advancement that do not involve death percentages. (I'm going to endlessly reiterate the near equivalence between the Empyrean Signs and the Royal Praxis until the end of the quest.)
I butted heads with the Moral Gang about the nature of Hunger's rulership style. Regardless, Intensive Research + Strain would be a good precedent for anybody who is unhappy with Hunger's apathy about acquiring benefits & protection for his constituents, specifically. The combination of Sightseeing + Consolidate power has Hunger taking the opportunity to grab some benefits for his subjects when it doesn't interfere with his five week vacation. Same with Sightseeing + Regency. Either pairing would be a fine demonstration of his existing rulership style.
But Intensive Research with strain directly contradicts the idea that Hunger sees the position of King as a "tool of purpose that exists to enact his designs" without any "especial duties towards the ruled." Working himself to the bone in order to ensure an orderly transfer of power in Nilfel, secure benefits for the Elixir Sovereignty and Temple Remnant is almost a complete repudiation of that idea.
An additional benefit, in terms of rulership ethics, is that Intensive Research + Strain spends so much time with Adorie, the "capable and perspicacious leader." It would be good for Hunger the Cursebearer to be reminded of his time as the Conquering Hero of the Isekai world. He walked away from the fight with the Tyrant holding on to shreds of his identity and still had enough idealism to try to reform a corrupt feudalist system. As has been pointed out, Adorie is less vulnerable than Hunger was after the Shattering Blow. But she is in a similar position: the old political order has been wiped away, she's opposing the interests of some entrenched players, and she is not a juggernaut of physical combat who can defeat every potential challenge. Setting her up to succeed and giving her a chance to shine in the field of research would be a sort of catharsis for Hunger.
(One objection to this line of argument: We could vote for Regency + Consolidate power without taking strain. That would deliver the catharsis without the Apocryphal boost. However, this hollows out the sacrificial element of working hard for his subjects. "Giving up 2 weeks out of my 5 week vacation" isn't exactly the catalyst for a hero to wake up and adopt the mantle of leadership.)
(Another objection to this line of argument: Hunger benefits personally from the output of working himself to the bone. From one point of view, that suggests he still thinks of rulership as a source of personal enrichment. And that might be true for an Intensive Research vote that doesn't take Cursebearer's Strain. But here he is taking on a personal burden in exchange for improved rulership outcomes.)
Wordcount
The quest is finite, and I really want to learn more about how this random nation's magic system can rival the Royal Praxis. I want more Foremost and Voyaging Realm Lore. Most upsettingly, we will have few other chances to get the Mirellyian bloodline EFBlurb. Basically, I think that we'll regret leaving without giving Adorie at least one more major scene. If nothing else, she should get to ruminate about how the price of power was her half sister's life.
Adorie is going to be left behind in the Voyaging Realm when the plot moves forwards. If we want to learn about her reaction to Augustine's identity or unlock more information about her family's bloodline, this is our chance. Remember what happened when Letrizia and Versch got left out of the party for the entire Temple arc: the thread gave serious consideration to accepting a 25% chance of her death. Now consider what Adorie is up against: she can't even cook us Soup because she'll be stuck in the VR while we travel. This seems like a really bizarre fate for someone that is holding on to 1/4 of our Panoply.
Now, wordcount preference is totally personal and I can't argue about what things you should like. But Rihaku is good about not relitigating votes. If we choose to bounce without showing any additional interest in Adorie, she probably won't be back much at all. We'll have many other chances for fluff with Aeira, Aobaru, and Letrizia. Gisena is working on a grace to allow her to turn off the fluff. Adorie fluff is a rare and limited resource.
TL;DR
1. Nilfel, Sovereignty, and Temple Remnant aren't safe just because they aren't being targeted by Hunger's Apocryphal Curse. They're still in the Voyaging Realm.
2. Adorie's plot arc hasn't ended yet, and she hasn't been properly tested as a hero of her realm. Intensive Research gives her a win on her own merits before putting her in the pilot's seat to administrate Nilfel and The Elixir Sovereignty and the Temple Remnant.
3. Two weeks of vacation followed by three weeks of time stopped vacation blurs the contrast between the tension used to drive the narrative so far & Hunger's chance to finally relax in the Realm of Evening. It cheapens the reveal of the EFB imo.
4. Sightseeing might make our Pillars visit more productive, but probably not by enough to make up for leaving 26 Free Arete on the table.
5. The Empyrean Signs are a major power advancement that do not require fights with death percentage. Pursuing them brings Hunger closer to the Not Dying ideal.
6. Adorie is in a similar (but not identical) position to Hunger after Shattering Blow. Relating to her might allow her idealism to improve his approach to rulership. Working himself to exhaustion to help his subjects is a pivot away from his current attitude that rulership is merely a source of power.
7. There will be few (if any) opportunities to get more Adorie Wordcount once we leave Nilfel.
Damnit, I've edited my previous post 3 times now to change my votes, I swear I'll make this the last time I flip-flop... :conflicted:
Mainly choosing the most efficient option, but I hate my guts knowing it's yet another step to Hunger's eventual breakdown, I just know it. No amount of rationalization of gains or priority will lighten my burden of guilt at reinforcing a pattern of frankly unhealthy behavior, but until a major loss happens, I'll swallow it down.
[X] Cursebearer's Strain
[X] Consolidate Power
[X] Regency
[X] Intensive Research
Adorie and Hunger's situations aren't even remotely comparable. Adorie has rank 6+ unlike Hunger's 'common soldier level', is critically important, has numerous loyal supporters, etc. It's like comparing Odyssial, The Most High, and Ulyssian, one single exceptional mortal in a school.
Adorie and Hunger's situations aren't even remotely comparable. Adorie has rank 6+ unlike Hunger's 'common soldier level', is critically important, has numerous loyal supporters, etc. It's like comparing Odyssial, The Most High, and Ulyssian, one single exceptional mortal in a school.
Hunger was reduced to soldier-tier by the end, physically irrelevant, only politically relevant and then only by reputation and no concrete power. Adorie is in no such state. Comparing them has no value.
Hunger was reduced to soldier-tier by the end, physically irrelevant, only politically relevant and then only by reputation and no concrete power. Adorie is in no such state. Comparing them has no value.
Shard, it's your business if you can't see any narrative parallel between the vulnerability caused by Hunger's crippling loss of power at the end of his campaign on the Tyrant and the vulnerability caused by Adorie's complete lack of combat experience.
Personally, I think that there is enough common ground that giving some wordcount to Adorie before we leave the Voyaging Realm could net us some Deep LORE about Hunger's past. Plus, Adorie is a good influence and it is good for Hunger to have more than one social connection with someone over the age of 21.
Shard, it's your business if you can't see any narrative parallel between the vulnerability caused by Hunger's crippling loss of power at the end of his campaign on the Tyrant and the vulnerability caused by Adorie's complete lack of combat experience.
Personally, I think that there is enough common ground that giving some wordcount to Adorie before we leave the Voyaging Realm could net us some Deep LORE about Hunger's past. Plus, Adorie is a good influence and it is good for Hunger to have more than one social connection with someone over the age of 21.
Hunger: Crippled and maimed hero with no personal power and all his companions dead facing off against a major coalition of nobles in an effort to reform the system. Assets: Personal influence from slaying the Tyrant, literally nothing else.
Adorie: A very powerful princess who wants to rule her country normally. Assets: Rank 6+, Hunger, Gisena, Aobaru, literally the whole Royalist Faction, anti-diminishment bloodline, not missing multiple limbs and organs, being vital to the continued existence of Niflheim...
Are in any way remotely comparable! It's like a challenge run of Brutal++ compared to a no-frills run on newbie difficulty!
Nope. There has been some hints about needing to set up the Realm of Evening before we get full returns actually. Don't know what we actually need to do or the current benefits on offer though.
