Appearance
Rebellion Against Piyse
Overview
The Rebellion Against Piyse is a mandatory main story arc. In the structure of the game, all of this is one very long event.
Near the end of Act 1 you become the King of Piyse. This can happen either 1 of two ways, you betray Piyse "out of the blue", or, they attack you from Winny Lo the spy's tattle-telling.
As the secret necromancer intent on eventually taking over the world, you are building an elite army of powerful heroes with advanced magecraft (many captured Mageknights), many of them are under the influence of your necromantic mind control.
You try to keep this a secret.
Winny Lo however, observes that you have a larger than legal army, though she doesn't suspect any illegal magic. Your militias are also much stronger than typical, though she doesn't understand why.
Winny Lo is a spy sent by the Piyse King, who has a secret intelligence like service keeping watch on all his vassals as is his prerogative.
If Winny sends the intel, the Piyse king orders you to go to the capital to face the accusations in court, when you refuse, it is essentially a rebellion and he sends his Royal High Knights, his elite guards, to arrest you. Your parents urge you to flee to the Kingdom of Chaoxia, where they hold office. Your mother is a Countess there, having recently inherited the title from your uncle. Yaling tries to talk sense into you, telling you she can buy peace if you flee with diplomacy, and so on.
Level 1 Outline / Purpose
Besides just being part of the plot, there's a few interesting points of tension.
- Heighten the peizhi mystery. What is going on? The scorean was confusing enough but this is yet more craziness.
- Suspicion of Peizhi, multiple characters become suspicious of peizhi, including of course Dan Dalo, the MC himself is confused but his arrogant assumption that she is just in love with him is correct, Yaling and various Len ministers are also suspicious, if Peizhi and Mireota wants anything.
- There's a tension, this feeling of forboding, impending doom from everything, but knowing we have a secret weapon, the necromancer army. Do we use it or not use it? Readers might be expecting an impending total change in our narrative where we end up combining use of the necromancy army. This doesn't happen.
- The secrets are straining, MC needs to avoid leaking his secrets while reassuring everyone with sheer charisma and dominance, it's tough but he pulls through.
- Yaling's hierarchical loyalty to her country/family/you is shown (weakest to strongest). It's not a conflict, there's nothing to decide how she feels has long been the case... but there's a moral price, a price in identity that she's paying. This is shown to benefit the ego of the MC.
- Yaling's female energy vs MC's calm dominance. Resolved by rough sex. She and her mother initially perceives his thinking as hubris or male ego (but in the writing we don't go into gendered terms or anything like that, it's understandable they think that way they don't have all the facts). She thinks it's her role to save him from himself, but his dominance overwhelms her.
- Everyone feels like they contributed to the win (probably more than they actually did).
- Alliances and friendships. There's this sense that there are types of alliances that matter and types that don't. When it comes down to life and death, long term friendships aren't enough. Family and love are stronger. In all other matters, might makes right. MC was able to win by proving his forces on the battlefield first.
- Consequences: MC ends up or could end up making a bunch of promises to various factions that potentially contradict each other. The promises could cause the player stress (even though in the game there's no actual consequences). When he's the emperor of everything it won't matter.
- MC himself is a scholar not a fighter, he commands but does not appear on the battlefield. He does not win with tactical genius (or even strategic genius) but the element of surprise for daring and sheer magecraft power scaling. In another sense, his power comes from tech rather than anything else.
- Villainy: The MC is the bad guy, since the accusations against him are true. But he allows the people he loves (parents, yaling, jingfei, deng yu) to mistakenly take him for being innocent, someone who is under assault from court scheming, while no such thing has actually happened. The only one who knows what's going on is sunwei. As a lot of the POV story is told from Yaling's perspective, the secrets behind the MC can set him up to feel like the antagonist.
- Power and Ambition: That's really the point of this arc, moving to the next stage of power. But the arc is a microcosm of the whole game, where this base purpose is disguised under a layer of justifications of him as the victim. The game itself provides all the military challenge and tension, this is just an interlude narrative cutscene, focused on celebrating and embodying the power fantasy of destroying his enemies with overwhelming power.
- Show the enemies reacting emotionally, with shock and despair. This increases the feeling of celebrating victory. The military commanders should also The Mireota betrayal needs to hit everyone hard. This is definitely the Piyse King and Dan Dalo, but also Yaling, her parents, Sunwei, Gao Feng, etc. Then Dan Dalo's turn also.
I would say about most of these actually do have tension, it's just not the "will they beat the King" part of the story. As male characters they get bare development and little screentime.
Core Strengths to Emphasize
Yaling's Confusion About MC's Secrets: The scenes where Yaling questions the logic of events (especially Scene 6 where she wonders about Peizhi's involvement) create excellent tension. This natural suspicion followed by her ultimate trust in MC highlights the deception at the heart of their relationship.
The Villainous Nature of MC: The contrast between how others perceive MC (as a wronged noble) versus his actual motivations creates compelling dramatic irony. This is particularly strong in Scene 2 where he reassures Yaling while knowing he's manipulating her.
Peizhi as a Wild Card: The mysterious support from Peizhi works well as a continuation from the Scorean arc - her seemingly irrational behavior makes sense to the player who's seen her interest in MC, while remaining confusing to other characters.
Scenes
Scene 1: Exposed, Yaling's Fears
Scene 1 - Level 2: Exposed, Yaling's Fears
[Yaling POV]
Hanzen tells Yaling that Winny has disappeared and that she was probably a Piyse spy for the crown. This explains the summons from the crown last week. MC was told to go to the capital for government discussions on potentially becoming an advisor despite having said numerous times that he was not interested. Yang Xue advised him not to go, there was a plot afoot.
Just this morning before leaving to go to the Administration Building, MC had calmly informed her that Yang Xue told him that the King means to arrest him on charges of Treason.
Yaling is pretty sad about this, remembering how she trusted Winny and gave her information. Hanzen her maid and Cinean tries to cheer her up.
Yaling thinks about how she's disappointed you, the MC, since you warned her about trusting Winny.
Yaling gets on the SCN and speaks to your mother. Your mother asks Yaling to help you see sense and escape to exile to her territory.
Yaling assures your mother that she agrees, she spoke to Jingfei and felt like some of your military is not thinking clearly. Jingfei spoke as if she would die for you to defend Len... But Yaling didn't want to see anyone dead, not Jingfei, not you. Your mother said in situations like this the wife plays the crucial role, and Yaling agrees. Your father's family, you, might all feel slighted by the Kingdom and want to fight, to struggle against it. But it's their women who could help make them see reason, advise a smarter path.
Yaling gets the feeling that she has already spoken to you.
[Needs to get across your mother's ability to take charge and rouse Yaling into action. Your mother also seems to feel like it's her job to protect you.]
Yaling decides to go to the Administration Building to find you.
Scene 1 - Level 3: Exposed, Yaling's Fears
[Yaling POV the whole way] - Double check you eliminate narrative distance in her POV. It needs to be deep.
Opening Tension in Yaling’s Suite
- Environment: Morning light filters through tall windows; the atmosphere is subdued despite the sunny day. Yaling is in her suite's sitting room with Cinean.
- Emotional State: Yaling is restless, discussing the situation with Cinean, both standing.
- Hanzen Enters
- Hanzen rushes in, face serious.
- In hushed tones, she informs Yaling that Winny Lo's disappearance is as feared. She had snuck out in the middle of the night... The rumor is that Yang Xue thinks Winny may be a government spy.
- Yaling had a brief moment of disbelief, what about the project they were working on with Cinean...
Immediate Reactions & Regret
- Yaling’s eyes widen. Realization sets in: the King’s summons from last week, MC’s earlier warnings about Winny, and what he told her this morning.
- A brief flashback: MC warning Yaling about trusting the archivist. She had tried to heed those warnings, but the allure of what social cachet Winny might bring was too tempting... Yaling had not just answered a few too many questions, but had also introduced her to other people in her inner circle at Len...
- Now, Yaling feels the sting of betrayal... the thought that she might have been the one to hurt her husband was devastating.
- Cinean knows that Yaling had taken Winny for a friend, and was shocked.
- She tries to reassure Yaling, saying no one could have foreseen Winny’s disappearance.
- Yaling remains subdued, acknowledging she should have been more vigilant.
Treason Charges Surface
- Context Reminder
- Just this morning, before leaving for the Administration Building, MC calmly told Yaling that Yang Xue had uncovered a shocking rumor: the King of Piyse intends to arrest MC for treason.
- Yaling replays MC’s composed demeanor in her mind, unable to shake her own dread.
- Yaling’s Distress
- She paces the room, recounting how the King recently invited MC to the capital under the guise of offering an advisory role.
- In reality, it appears to be a trap. Yaling says that it appears to all lead back to Winny.
- Context Reminder
SCN Communication with MC’s Mother
- Transition: Nali the networker appears next, telling Yaling about a request to connect on the SCN from MC's mother, the Countess of Rom.
- Framing
- Frame the conversation with mother in law so that it sounds like the dialogue here are only snippets of the whole conversation, where the conversation is somewhat longer than this. That helps avoid the whole curtness of the whole thing and increases immersion and realism.
- The goal is to make it seem like there's a long conversation, but only parts of it are in the written dialogue, much of it is summarized and TOLD.
- Ideas for summarized explanations: The mother could talk about plots, how many enemies Len has at court (including the Chuns, though she doesn't blame Yaling of course), what she'll do to try to find out if there's ways to beat the accusations, how it's impossible to do so quickly and why they'll need time. How the father abdicated partly because he didn't want to deal with the court BS.
- End the scene mid dialogue so we don't have any awkward goodbyes.
- Visual/Atmospheric Detail
- Yaling agrees, and sits down with Nali, the two of them enter the SCN.
- Yaling closes her eyes, initiating the dreamlike SCN environment.
- Conversation
- MC’s mother appears as a poised, regal figure. She is visibly worried.
- She asks how everyone is, if they're handling the news.
- Yaling reveals she has already spoken briefly with Jingfei, who stands ready to defend Len at any cost. Jingfei’s loyalty is fierce, but Yaling felt some of your military is not thinking clearly. Jingfei spoke as if she would die for you to defend Len...
- She dreads casualties, especially Jingfei’s unwavering readiness to sacrifice her life.
- The Countess of Rom tells Yaling that the best immediate solution is for MC to flee to her territory in Chaoxia.
- She emphasizes her fear for her son’s life: if the King’s plotting is real, the entire County of Len is in peril.
- Yaling acknowledges the seriousness. She promises to do everything possible to safeguard MC.
- Your mother says that your father left Piyse, abdicated the County to you, partly because he was tired of dealing with the plotting at court. He thought he had found a good time to do so... but perhaps you weren't ready. She makes sure to say that they don't blame you, to not blame yourself. It's not something you have to fix. She tells Yaling to make sure you see that.
- Your mother said in situations like this the wife plays the crucial role, and Yaling agrees. You take after Ian Ming, feel a very strong sense of justice, might want to fight, to take costly gambles. It's their women who could help make them see wisdom, advise a smarter path.
- Yaling assures your mother that she agrees whole-heartedly.
- [Scene ends here trailing, no need for a smooth transition to the next scene or ending statements]
Scene 2: Reassuring Yaling
Scene 2 - Level 2: Reassuring Yaling
[DEEP 2nd person MC POV at start, switching to Yaling POV for the middle, back to MC POV after sex]
[MC POV]
You're brooding over your options, also thinking about which allies you could possibly call to defend you. You go through names in your mind, you've already contacted some of your friends, lords you were friendly with, most of them offered sympathies and remonstrations for your enemies. But for them to jump to help you in a war... they blanched at it.
Your mother wants you to escape to her Duchy in Chaoxia, where she is the Countess of Rom, where she will protect you. Abandoning the County of Len, entirely, your parents are not too proud to do that, they don't blame you, though you've barely been the lord of Len for two years, and have already made a muck of things.
They are convinced that your failures extend only to badly playing politics. That it's a court conspiracy against you, from the enemies in government, the Chuns for stealing their daughter, oil and natural gas, who knows what lingering resentments they have against Ian Ming.
But they don't know, you have secrets, the accusations against you are true, you are far more powerful than anyone outside your circle realizes. You have a strong army and stronger undead hordes too.
Though you are deep in consideration over what you should do, you feel no fear at all. You in fact exalt over this turn of events, that bravely pushes you onto center stage, you've been preparing for this moment, and now the time has come. You have many options, and many of them are good. You already know you're going to fight.
[Yaling POV]
Yaling comes in to talk to you. You can tell that she's trying to be reassuring, but she's actually full of anxiety. She had just had conversations with your Marshal and your mother.
She's telling you that the Piyse court treats you very unfairly, that she'll talk to her family and get them to try to apply political pressure. She wants to accept your mother's offer and escape to Chaoxia together, that you can win the political battle if you're not captured. Safe in Chaoxia, you can fight and win a war of words, but if you're captured it may all be over.
Regardless of what happens, the two of you can build a happy life, titles are not important...
You already know you would win.
You just smirk at Yaling, your quiet relaxation confuses her, she begs to know what you're thinking and to come back to conversation with your mother.
You stand up to her, your calmness radiating, infecting her. You just smile, "We'll always have that as a backup plan, but... we probably won't have a need for it."
She comes over to hug you, and to have a conversation. She asks you if you've spoken to your parents. You tell her about your conversation with your father. [Here we have a heartfelt conversation with Yaling to make her feel like we're open with her and not dismissing her, despite not telling her the secrets.]
You recount the conversation with your father and the lesson of delegation that he taught you.
She looks confused, and you take her face, cupping it gently, before moving to grab her hair, controlling her head. [Eyecontact] You cup her breasts, and runs your hand over her body, finding her damp tunnel beneath.
"MC..." she moans. You kiss her [foreplay]
You bring her over to the couch, and push her head down into the cushions.
She wants to say, "Wait, have you thought this through."
But those words die in her throat, replaced by pure physical sensation.
You slam into her from behind, bringing her into cries of ecstasy.
She loses control, head spinning, barely aware as you turn her around and gets on top of her. Pushing into her from the front, kissing her.
Her fears, plans, things she was thinking about saying, things she was thinking about asking, all dissipate into the great wonderful brightness of your violent connection. Though nothing substantive has really been said, it felt like all the answers she needed as she feels you flood into her like great relief.
It is all trust, and love.
[MC POV]
You're always happy to see Yaling in such a great mood, smiling deliriously. In your experience with women, pretty much all of them can be fixed by a good dicking. Some men have warned you though, not to over rely on it, it builds pattern where you incentivize them to act out in order to get your attention and pleasure. But you've never paid that type of talk much attention, of course that would be a problem if you gave pleasure ONLY in those circumstances... but that's not the case with you.
Those thoughts flick through your head in an instant, as you grown in pleasure.
MC: Love you... Yaling
You whisper to in her ear as she moans.
You look up to see Sunwei standing at attention, having been let in by Jiaolong.
Sunwei: My lord, the first unit is ready.
You get up, not bothering to fix your dishevelment, sitting on Yaling's legs.
MC: Execute the plan, destroy the Royal Knights.
Scene 2 - Level 3: Reassuring Yaling
[DEEP 2nd person MC POV at start, switching to Yaling POV for the middle, back to MC POV after sex]
[MC POV]
Environment: Late morning in the private study of Len’s Administration Building.
Context: You (the MC) have just received word that the Piyse King intends to accuse you of treason. Your mother has suggested fleeing to Chaoxia. Behind closed doors, you weigh your options.
You mentally list possible allies among the nobility, both in and out of Piyse.
Calling in all the friendships and favors you have... it's not the right time.
Your mother wants you to escape to her Duchy in Chaoxia, where she is the Countess of Rom, where she will protect you. Abandoning the County of Len, entirely, your parents are not too proud to do that, they don't blame you, though you've barely been the lord of Len for two years, and have already made a muck of things.
Outwardly, to your parents and many subordinates, your predicament looks dire—one more sign that you’ve “failed politically.”
They are convinced that your failures extend only to badly playing politics. That it's a court conspiracy against you, from the enemies in government, the Chuns for stealing their daughter, oil and natural gas, who knows what lingering resentments they have against Ian Ming.
But they don't know, you have secrets, the accusations against you are true, you are far more powerful than anyone outside your circle realizes. You have a strong army and stronger undead hordes too.
The government fear I'm building a conventional army that's too large. If they knew about the legions of undead waiting across the sea...
You amuse yourself playing back a hypothetical lawyer's argument about whether or not your army was larger than legal. It was, but it could've been MUCH larger if you wanted it to. Instead you diverted so much of your attention to your undead army, your human army is strong yes, but still... relatively neglected.
No you had no intention of leaving Len. This is your home, you like it here.
You feel no ill will towards the crown, because their accusations are true.
The only one who you want to take revenge on is Winny, and that's more for Yaling than anything.
You feel sorry for causing your parents, and your cousins, worry. Yaling too. Your father sees it as a long term dynastic attack, that unfortunately befalls you, the newest lord of the Ming family.
He feels the persecution keenly, and you feel bad for causing him that worry, but you can't absolve him of that old ongoing struggle, not yet.
But you will soon, you reassure yourself. All those old tired concerns will be made irrelevant.
you feel no fear at all. You in fact exalt over this turn of events, that bravely pushes you onto center stage, you've been preparing for this moment, and now the time has come.
Yaling slips inside, face taut with worry. She wears a slightly rumpled day dress—implying she’s been rushing between meetings.
[Yaling POV]
She closes the heavy wooden door behind her carefully, ensuring privacy, then approaches your desk.
You look so hot and sexy sitting there in contemplation, she feels a surge of protectiveness, this is something she wants to protect.
You looking at her, she tries a reassuring smile, but her voice shakes slightly as she begins.
Opening Lines: (Show, don't tell, her anxiety). "I just spoke with Marshal Changpu…" Her voice trembles slightly. "…the Royal High Knights are mobilized." She states it as a fact, a looming threat. Every Piysean knows the Knights' reputation – an elite force, loyal only to the King. To Yaling, they represent an insurmountable obstacle.
She observes you carefully, you nod reflextively, of course you've already discussed it with the Marshal already as well.
Laying Out the Dangers: She continues, her voice gaining a desperate edge. She lays out the political machinations, the King's summons, the accusations of treason, the trap that's been set. She emphasizes the unfairness of it all, the conspiracies against you, the betrayal.
She recounts, "Your father said it was not your fault, that he blames himself for leaving you with such a mess... I'm more responsible for handing so much information to Winny..." She pauses, her voice cracking.
The Chaoxia Plan: She presents the escape to Chaoxia as the only logical solution. "The most important thing is having each other. Titles, land, none of that matters… We can be happy together anywhere. Love prevails."
MC: You interject with your agreement. Our love would prevail anywhere.
You then say that your father blames himself, and that's natural, but not correct. You know he's done nothing to deserve such blame.
You tell her that as for Winny, that's also in the past, and it's something you will resolve.
Your Calm Demeanor: Your lack of panic is unsettling. She expected… more. A visible reaction, a shared anxiety. Instead, you're radiating a strange calm, an almost unsettling confidence.
Physical Contact: You reach out, taking her hand. The touch is gentle but firm, a subtle assertion of control. You draw her closer, your eyes locking with hers. This isn't a romantic gesture (not yet); it's a way to break her anxious train of thought, to focus her attention on you.
Yaling: Chaoxia is safe. Your mother is begging you to go.
Staying in piyse, potentially getting captured... or... killed! would be the only real loss.
The political battle can still be fought, it's only a loss if you get captured. Her family, allies, can all make arguments and help you.
You should make arrangements to leave Len... It's really the best option.
She gets worried when she doesn't hear you agreeing.
You're just smiling, smirking, an arrogant attitude that she found sexy in any other context, but now confusing.
Don't you understand?
Yaling: Your mother is worried that you might feel like you have to defend Len, that it's your grandfather's legacy... you may act emotionally...
You're smirking, standing, moving into her space.
You say: Oh? That's how lowly she thinks of me... a mother's never done mothering...
You continue manipulatively: but you don't think that of me don't you?
Yaling: No... I don't, you wouldn't gamble our lives like that. That's why you're going to Chaoxia right? [She asks hopefully]
You calmly reply, "We'll always have that as a backup plan, but... we probably won't have a need for it."
Confusion and Curiosity: She frowns slightly, confused. Your words don't make sense. How can you be so calm in the face of such danger?
You hug and have a heartfelt conversation.
[placeholder dialogue] "My father reminded me of one of the earliest lessons he taught me as a kid. Which is the importance of building your network. A Rolodex of contacts, that you may call for whichever situation. It's a lesson in delegation. Lawyers, doctors, people in the media, people to ask technical questions about. Understanding your people, learning how to use them, getting the most out of them. It's the prime lesson of every lordling. But this doesn't just extend to commoners, or even solfrey staff. People love you, this is the time to take the help. Don't ever feel like you stand alone, struggling against the enemy mano-a-mano. It should never be a fair fight. I told him I felt the love, some of my best memories with my father, and told him that his lessons were all taken to heart and I would never." [we might need a different term for Rolodex as it's a brandname...]
Continues to physical... to destroy her confusion.
- Shifting the Dynamic: You stand up, pulling her with you. The movement is unexpected, breaking the tension of the conversation. You're towering over her slightly.
- She looks confused, and you take her face, cupping it gently, before moving to grab her hair, controlling her head. Describe strong eye contact. You cup her breasts, and runs your hand over her body, finding her damp tunnel beneath.
- You feel the slight dampness of her pussy through her dress. Her anxiety hasn't vanished, but it's being overlaid with a different kind of tension – arousal. "MC…" she whispers, her voice breathy. You kiss her deeply, make out.
- You bring her over to the couch, and push her head down into the cushions.
- She wants to say, "Wait, have you thought this through."
- But those words die in her throat, replaced by pure physical sensation.
- You slam into her from behind, the sudden, forceful penetration eliciting a sharp cry of pleasure from Yaling. You don't hold back, your movements raw and primal.
- Her cries increases, loud slapping sounds of sex.
- She loses control, head spinning, barely aware as you turn her around and gets on top of her. Pushing into her from the front, kissing her.
- Her fears, plans, things she was thinking about saying, things she was thinking about asking, all dissipate into the great wonderful brightness of your violent connection. Though nothing substantive has really been said, it felt like all the answers she needed as she feels you flood into her like great relief.
- It's all trust, and love, and surrender.
Aftermath and Sunwei's Arrival (MC POV):
- Yaling's State: You're always happy to see Yaling in such a great mood, smiling deliriously. In your experience with women, pretty much all of them can be fixed by a good dicking. Some men have warned you though, not to over rely on it, it builds pattern where you incentivize them to act out in order to get your attention and pleasure. But you've never paid that type of talk much attention, of course that would be a problem if you gave pleasure ONLY in those circumstances... but that's not the case with you.
- Those thoughts flick through your head in an instant, as you groan in pleasure.
- MC: You're perfect Yaling. Your love for me means more than anything, I can see it. You are such a good girl. I love you Yaling.
- You whisper to in her ear as she moans.
- Interruption: You look up to see Sunwei standing at attention, having been let in by Jiaolong.
- You had long ago told Sunwei and Jiaolong to not be afraid to barge in when you were fucking your wife. She likes being seen.
- Sunwei: My lord, the first unit is ready.
- Orders: You get up, not bothering to fix your dishevelment, sitting on Yaling's legs.
- MC: Execute the plan, destroy the Royal Knights.
Scene 3: Attack
Scene 3 - Level 2: Attack
[This is a fairly brief summary, we're not interested in the action or combat. This will largely be told like a story rather than shown. Just tell us quickly what happens in the battles and the results, focusing on the strategic outcomes and logistics, none of the battle or action.]
The Royal High Knights move out with a force of some 25,000.
Though the Royal High Knights are a strong army, your forces (Unit 1) rout them in open battle, your army of heroes are shockingly far more powerful than anyone realizes.
You decide to bravely just gather your army and strike at the capital of Piyse, Yanezhou, cutting through the 50,000 strong Royal Guards like paper, before the main armies could respond.
[Focus on describing Yanezhou and the sendways]
Yanezhou is a bustling metropolis of 3 million, with many skyscrapers, there are no city walls (around any city as the tech level is too high for walls to be of any use), and they didn't even turn off the sendways leading to the city, allowing your forces to move in.
[Knight Commander POV]
Your forces (Jingfei) kill the commander of the Royal High Knights (who's more of a bureaucrat who didn't go on the expedition) and seize Yanezhou.
[The killing of the High Knights commander is the only combat scene that's told specifically, his disbelief impossible! is the emotional core of this scene, but it's still a brief telling not a showing]
The King of Piyse and his retinue flee the capital to a more defensible city to gather his vassals against the traitor.
Scene 3 - Level 3: Attack
Scene 4: Decision
Scene 4 - Level 2: Decision
Author's Notes about this scene:
This scene has 3 segments, a very logistical / strategic beginning followed by a Sunwei convo, then the Peizhi Nam conversation.
The logistical conversation should be told, not shown, in a high level distanced manner. Don't bother using a deep POV.
The Sunwei convo is the core tension in this arc, do we or do we not gamble with undead. This needs to fully embody the MC's worry.
The Peizhi Nam conversation has a core purpose of mystery. It has a feel of this beautiful, lovely queen doing unreasonably much to help you. Without going too deep into MC's questions, subtly indicate that the writing is aware of how unusual her actions are.
Plot:
Though you seized the Palace and various government bureaus it's not easy to just declare martial law and expect loyalty from the city.
You and your marshal decide you need to be there personally to coordinate and travel from Len to Yanezhou after it becomes safe.
Yaling and Cinean are determined to go with you, and you allow them. Weilan also asks to go but you say no, she's safer/better off in Len. Fact is she's useless in battle not being Solfrey while both Yaling and Cinean could at least defend themselves. You try to as quick as possible move militia forces from Len to the capital to help control it. Both of Yaling's siblings and their spouses are living in Yanezhou. The Chuns parents just happen to be visiting them while doing some business in the capital.
After 2 days:
You're in your city apartment where you lived when you were working at Charmlight Coporation. It's a very big suite and you're comfortable there. Your army has taken over the surrounding block, and some of them are in the Palace. You decided not to stay in the palace for now because you can't be sure there's no traps or such left behind.
You are in your apartment's parlor with Gao Feng, the only other person there.
You listen to a quick update from Gao Feng, who is your chancellor, as he laid out the plans for the capital and the report on what your various staffers are doing:
Right before he begins, Nali bursts in, interrupts:
- Nali tells you that Deng Yu is coming to Piyse and would like to speak to you when she gets here. Deng Yu would be coming in her official capacity as a Yan representative to find a diplomatic solution that avoids excessive bloodshed.
Nali exits.
Gao Feng continues:
- First orders of business is securing the supply lines to your forces, keeping your forces gathered and not allowing them to get attrited by small scale fighting, and seizing control of the sendways and SCN networks around the kingdom, a lot of that administration is done from the capital. This buys you time and slows down the enemy's ability to gather their forces. This has overall gone well.
- The city is operating relatively normally all things considered. You have seized members of the Chao house, those people will be used as hostages. There's a widespread assumption that you intend to use the entire city of Yanezhou as a hostage in order to get independence for Len, many civilians are escaping, evacuating as a result. We don't want.
- Wang Li - your Chief Coordinator is in charge of contacting the various factions in the city to counter that conspiracy and reassure people of your just intent. He will be organizing a propaganda campaign. He's also trying to open communication with army generals and the like. The idea is to get them to betray the Chao dynasty in exchange for money and titles "once you win". It's worth a try to see who bites.
- The captured Vice Minister of Defense for Piyse is telling people that the second army at the Veriques border is preparing to move on the capital. There's another army at the border with Nebim that's preparing to move on Len. We're choosing not to stop anyone from evacuating, the army is gathered centrally in defensible positions as planned.
- He says the forces against you are overwhelming and there's no way you can win. He seems like he's willing to die for his country.
- The King and his Princes are rallying the banners of the vassals, who will respond eventually and come to take back the capital. The combined mobilization can get up to 100k soldiers within 2 weeks and 1 million if given 6 months.
- Yang Xue - Chief of the Bureau of Strategic Insight is busy arresting people who were politically opposed to you or Len from the court. There are some who are friendly with you and you have the option to release them. Gao Feng tells you that it may be worth it to meet with them later, if you promise them that their desired reforms could go through, they can help you control the civilian population, enact the martial law, keep supplies flowing, etc. They seem to really like your courtier, Cinean Sung. You agree and say that you will do that later.
- Baron Zhang Ming, your Grand Emissary (who is also your cousin once removed), has been setting up meetings with various mercenaries, various country heads, etc. He and Yaling has been talking to the other nobles of Piyse to see who they can turn to support you. He has been spreading the word that you are a brilliant strategist and general (despite never actually leading the military in any way). Still, the idea is to hide the fact that you won due to having more advanced magecraft tech and stronger soldiers. This fact must be disguised as long as possible.
You order him to tell Unit 1 led by Jingfei Haerata to get ready to defend Len if need be, if they decide to do the crazy thing to leave Nebim and attack Len. We control the sendways and can use it to slow down the enemy.
Afterwards you move to a private war room to confer with Sunwei.
At this point you would be highly outnumbered by the full might of the kingdom, and you have to make some hard choices. You are mostly considering how to bring your undead army to strike at the Piyse rear. You had mostly been using your undead army in another continent, conquering it slowly, because you did not want to give any clues to your identity as the necromancer. But this may be enough chaos for the undead army to appear and save you. However this has a huge risk of giving away your secret identity.
Using the undead would essentially be theater, they would attack the Piyse Royal forces from the rear, perhaps after they do enough damage, you can go and save those poor victims, perhaps this would be enough to convince people that you were not acting in concert?
As you try to think through this question with your trusty secretary Sunwei. He's telling you that this has to be the main plan and cannot be considered the backup plan. If you end up pulling the trigger on this too late, all this does is sacrifice Len's forces for no reason. Even though there's significant danger.
There are significant dangers to this, but Deng Yu coming might give us an excuse, the Necromancer chased their enemy Deng Yu here for example. Hmm you consider this if you can use Deng Yu to make the chances of tis going well higher.
Nali interrupts the meeting, says Peizhi wants to speak to you.
- Of course you connect to her through the SCN. You see her in the SCN avatar, wearing a military uniform like a general, what a change of pace and somewhat disquieting considering the circumstances, you try to ignore it...
- You begin by trying to charm Peizhi
- She giggles about how this time you connected right away without waiting a few days - teasing
- she says: there's no jiaolong saying, "oooh he's so busy, i can put you in for after he returns from his business trip" - she does an imitation of jiaolong's manners
- But she didn't let you respond, just moves on and changes the topic to the matter at hand
- You try to tell her not to use her influence to not let King Ping answer King Chao's call for help
- But she says something that shocks you, despite King Ping's 50 year friendship with King Chao and hundreds of years of alliance between the two nations...
- She assures you that the Mireotan army is on your side, she will be bringing 100k troops to the border to support you in the event of a full on civil war. She says she'll see you soon.
- You're astounded and try to get confirmation, "how? are you sure?"
- Peizhi reassures you that it's true, and tells you that the Mireotan Minister of Foreign Affairs will be contacting Baron Zhang Ming.
- You try to tell Peizhi that you're willing to pay a high price for her support, but she laughs and tells you that what she wants, she doesn't want to take it under duress, you don't have to worry about it. Good relations with mireota in the new regime is all you should promise.
- You're very happy.
Afterwards you quickly ask to connect to your mother. As you wait for her to get onto the SCN you remember her telling you just that morning that you should still flee to Chaoxia, that she can defend you there, but it would be impossible and ruinous for Chaoxia to have a full fledge war against Piyse even despite your success in taking the capital.
You told her that you didn't want her help, Chaoxia's appearance is even harmful because it makes you look disloyal, you just wanted her safe and out of the issue. If it comes to that you'll escape to exile to her home, but hopefully it doesn't come to that. She tells you that she's going to send people to extract you forcibly if necessary, no son of her is going to die out of misplaced pride. Neither she nor your father blames you for losing Len.
When she finally gets on, you tell her about Peizhi's support, and she comes around to fighting, says she'll ask the King of Chaoxia if she can support you, the Kingdom wouldn't move but her forces will.
However after getting reassurances from Mireota of support, she decides that it does make sense to take the gamble to support you militarily in your rebellion. Rapidly, your odds improve.
Scene 4 - Level 3: Decision
Scene 5: Parley
Scene 5 - Level 2: Parley
21 days later:
At the almost onset of civil war, the participants decide to gather in a SCN conference, mediated by the Cult of Yan. Amusingly, the Cult of Yan representative, Deng Yu, is your lover.
The King of Piyse and his heir tries to convince the vassals and the government of Piyse that they are in the right, and that they can beat the Chaoxians and the Mireotans, and can get other allies as well. They have enough money to hire a a lot more mercenaries too.
People murmur about how Peizhi Nam represents Mireota, where is King Ping (currently having a religious retreat is the official answer)? The girl looks like a cosplayer in a cute military outfit avatar. Mireotan officials, generals, give her gravitas.
However, it doesn't go their way, as Peizhi Nam mocks the King playfully, at the mention of money she looks over at a mercenary captain who is present, "looks like he has more money, should you not raise your prices?"
On your part, you discussed your victory over the Royal High Knights. Originally feared as the most elite and powerful unit in the country, that it was defeated so readily by your forces, cast a black mark on the ruling family's prestige. The House of Chao suffered horrendously from the death of the Knight Captain.
You have reason to downplay your forces, so as you discussed with Sunwei, you decided to go with the angle of the Royal High Knights being corrupt and weak. Cowards with no loyalty. Their defeat signified the end of the Chao dynasty, that they have mismanaged their kingdom, lost the mandate of heaven. It's hard for the King to refute, as it would mean praising you and making your forces sound scarier than it is, the King's goal was to make the fight look easy to win for them, or at least winnable.
Your mother talks about how you've always been loyal to the King and it was the King that betrayed you out of his paranoia, criticizing the corrupt snakes in government and their incessant scheming.
In reality the King of Piyse's closest ally was supposed to be Mireota. Duke Dan Dalo was the liaison to Mireota and was very confident in that relationship. The fact that Mireota could turn on them shocked him deeply and severely damaged his ability to trust the King of Piyse's reading of the political situation or his reassurances of other allies.
Additionally, even among the vassals, some might not be that loyal. There are your allies in the government who might also be treacherous, it would be difficult to root them all out at this point in the middle of the civil war. There's also Yaling's parents family, the Chuns, the Duke of Acasa. While they showed up to the conference on the side of the King would they really move against their daughter?
[At the time nobody understood that it was your forces that were superlatively strong rather than weakness in the Royal Knights]
Finally, there was one more boogyman, Nebim, whom they just seized land from 35 years ago... If Piyse destroys itself in a civil war all may be lost.
In the end Duke Dan Dalo decides to acknowledge the possibility of you as the new King, speaking up first. He starts asking for reassurances of privileges and adherence to law under you. The King is shocked, and his son starts raving and ranting at him. Deng Yu just mutes him in the SCN and fades out his avatar. Seeing his pathetic image throwing a fit silently, the other vassals also begin negotiating and it eventually ends up with you as the King.
You end up agreeing to rollback of centralization reforms that were undertaken during Chao's rule.
To Yaling's relief, her parents the Chuns are the first to acknowledge you formally as the King, kneeling and swearing loyalty. She accepts their offer with pride and happiness.
In the end there is no full civil war, you didn't have to use your undead army, Piyse government's worst fears are prevented, and Mireota does not get to invade. Peizhi pretends to look disappointed but actually she is just happy for you. You thank her for her support.
Scene 5 - Level 3: Parley
Scene 6: Reassuring Yaling Part 2
Scene 6 - Level 2: Reassuring Yaling Part 2
Yaling thinks about the events of the Rebellion and it doesn't make sense to her.
Why MC would choose to fight and prosecute the rebellion without Peizhi acting as a backstop, it would obviously fail, therefore logically MC must have already had conspired with Peizhi to do this. Therefore was MC conferring with Peizhi more than she knew?
She asks this to MC.
You tell Yaling that you had no idea that Peizhi was just so ready to go to war and sacrifice the lives of her men for you.
You also fuck her brains out, and the orgasms shatters her, rendering her unable to think. The afterglow just leaves her with a deep feeling of trust. Another less trusting wife might've pushed harder or be more suspicious that you guys could've planned something, but she trust you completely of course. Your relationship is ideal, and so she accepts your dubious, doesn't make sense, albeit true story (it doesn't make sense to you either).
Scene 6 - Level 3: Reassuring Yaling Part 2
Scene 7: Coronation
Scene 7 - Level 2: Coronation
You and Yaling become crowned King and Queen. Peizhi and King Loren Ping of Mireota are both there to cheer you on, as well as lots of dignitaries etc. There's a parade, a multi-day and long celebrations where you're given extensive loyalty rites from all the nobles and the government groups.
Deng Yu is also there to preside over your victory, giving you religious recognition.
Your Len servants all come, including Weilan, Zhenzhen, etc.
Your family and your extended family, both parents are there. You talk with your father and he admits that you've turned out to be far superior to what he could've imagined. You tell him that you did it and avenged the humiliation of Ian Ming.
But you think to yourself, this is just the start, there's so much more left to do. Piyse is a medium sized country, but you're going to upend everything, even the Yan will obey you eventually.
You greet the ambassasdors of various nations and take calls from important well wishers.
There are options to celebrate by fucking all your harem, including Zhenzhen, Weilan, Deng Yu, Yaling, Cinean, and others.
Scene 7 - Level 3: Coronation
Scene 8: Deng Yu's Debrief
[Deng Yu POV]
If your progress with the Deng Yu route is high enough, you can access this optional scene.
It's a sex scene, show casing Deng Yu's desire for you and her awkwardness with Yaling.
Deng Yu is also worried about how to control the messaging coming out of her role in the situation. This is a chance to elaborate on the Tianxia concept she has. Working with it, she needs to take care of not just how the achievement appears to people in the immediate tactical level, but also how it effects the Yan strategically.
While the response to the Yan peace summit was very positive generally, having helped saved many lives and brought about justice, the Yan cannot be seen as a force that can go around deposing kings, unjust as they may be, if she wants the monarchs to buy into her vision of Yan leadership.
This is a strategic difficulty that she has to manage, and she implores you to help her with it. You're incredibly supportive as you fuck her, assuring her that you will depict her role as having tried to have saved the monarchy (straight lies), that the pressure about the Chao king was overwhelming, and that in the end she was the one who saved the dynasty's life. All to minimize the appearance of collusion.
She's grateful for your support and understanding and this whole experience makes her feel super confident about your relationship. It also gives her this warm optimism about the Tianxia and her vision of the world and the peace that the Yan could deliever.
Scene 9: How to Rule
Scene 9 - Level 2: How to Rule
3 days after the coronation, you're sitting in your study talking with Yang Xue, discussing how to purge the Piyse intelligence services and replace it with your own. As a Solfrey, Yang Xue cannot be mind controlled and you have told nobody that you are the necromancer.
Your intent is to place your mind-controlled commoner minions into the ranks of the service in Piyse. You tell him that you're going to arrest and kill the majority of the spies that were working for the Chao dynasty and replace it with commoners that you trust and Solfrey from Len. There were also some officials from Len who had shown sympathies to the old King Chao during the rebellion, they would have to be replaced as well.
The old King is captured though the Crown Prince fled into exile. You tell him you want to interrogate the old King, you want to ask him questions about the demons. You also discuss putting extra effort into finding Winny Lo.
Speaking of Winny Lo...
You confront Cinean and Yaling about how Winny Lo was allowed to spy on you. You decide to punish Cinean for her security failings. You admonish her in public, and she submissively says she'll submit to any punishment. You can decide to order her to be paddled in addition. [There is no real reason to do this except to be a pervert, but it's an option]
Then when in private with Yaling you tell her that in public you had to take her side and punish Cinean, but you know that Yaling is ultimately the one to blame as Yaling made Cinean comfortable with Winny. Yaling is defensive and shirks responsibility, turning it back on you saying you're the husband, if you knew she was suspicious you should've tried harder to stop me. She dares you to punish her, she's queen now, before just coming onto you and giving you an exciting suck and fuck. This shows her manipulative and spoiled side, you think, is this not what I sometimes do to her.
However the next morning she admits you were right, takes responsibility, and goes to apologize to Cinean. She's saying she's now more aware of enemies. You apologize to her too, saying you wanted to shield her from this world of war and betrayal, and vows to punish the real perpetrator, which is Winny.