Appearance
Storylines
Trust and Deception
There's a fundamental tension between some of our goals, "secret identity", "solace", "perfect communication", "true partnership".
To protect the solace and happy normal life aspect of our story, and not have the entire route be a scheming criminal partners in crime feel (I think this is what men want, but maybe not what female readers would want, honestly ideally we would do both but eh, the what men want first), we need to keep the necromancy a secret identity.
An early reveal would hurt the ability to tell the normal life story.
On the other hand, having a secret identity (aka late reveal) lets us:
Strengthens the "Solace" Theme: It delivers on the promise of her character route. The early game becomes a pure reward for the player's choice to marry her. It's filled with slice-of-life romance, comedy, and domestic bliss. This makes the "home" he's fighting for feel real and incredibly valuable. When the darkness inevitably starts to creep in later, the stakes are higher because the player has experienced what's at risk: this perfect, happy life. Creates a Better Pacing Arc: It allows the story to breathe. The early game can be focused on establishing the world, the fun of the harem mechanics (with commoners), and the pure joy of the romance with Yaling. The central conflict doesn't have to overshadow everything from the start.
Furthermore, we're going to keep the secret perfectly safe, such that Yaling does not suspect. Having Yaling have serious suspicion hurts the solace and fundamentally changes the feel of the route. At the start of the game she would ask about your time, why you are so busy, and demand you spend more time with her. In her route you absolutely agree and pursue abiding by that agreement with all effort. You make heroic effort to delegate, use remote magecraft to manage your affairs, etc etc, to spend as much time with her as possible, such that she is totally unsuspicious. There are even comedic scenes of juggling, maybe SCN meetings during dates, or sex while in remote battle, etc.
Important decision: We avoid even an optional darker / suspicion route. Even optional dark routes can permanently taint a character's perception. Once players know Yaling can become suspicious and miserable, it undermines her core identity as the "solace" character, even in routes where she isn't. Yaling promises "solace" - delivering on that promise is more important than exploring every possible emotional permutation.
We have considered alternatives such as her wondering what your secret is, then deciding to trust you instead of pursuing it. While that idea has some merit, it clashes with what we want out of their relationship, which is at least an ostensible openness. She would not shy away from directly asking you or challenging you to reveal the secret if there is one she is actually worried about. So the only time she is worried and considering your secret is in the leadup to the Roulan reveal. After the first half of the game, as the war gets more complicated, you get more emotionally stressed and anxious, there is some darkness to your mood. She could detect that, not a physical evidence of necromancy, just purely emotional. There, she is concerned about your dark secret, has thoughts about wanting to prove herself worthy of your trust, and then finally proactively goading you into revealing the secret to her, in a final cathartic denouement.
However this is a very small, limited arc in her overall story, serves to give her route a bit of momentary spice that's quickly resolved, and isn't something that takes over the entire feel of the route.
We also need to be super careful about the execution of the roulan reveal, and let the story kinda lead her in that direction, where she's pressing for you to reveal roulan to her, that this is the answer she wants to hear, some basically minor leading, so that she can also be part of the deception, so instead of you lying to her explicitly she kinda also sets up the lie of omission to herself. This makes it easier for the final reveal to not have been such a big lie.
Gives Yaling More Agency: Her nesting is a proactive, joyful expression of her love and victory. She is building her perfect world with her perfect husband. She hosts salons and renovates the manor because she is happy and wants to create a vibrant life with him, not for him in his absence. This makes her seem less like a pining wife and more like an enthusiastic partner in building their life.
The progression:
- Phase 1: Perfect honeymoon with comedic juggling, no suspicions
- Phase 2: She notices he's carrying some emotional weight, wants to be worthy of his full trust
- Roulan breadcrumbs: She picks up clues - maybe his reaction when childhood is mentioned, or when she meets Zhenzhen who hints at "the past"
- Her investigation: She actively pursues this thread, convinced THIS is the secret
- The "confession": She creates the moment, basically pulling it out of him, feeling triumphant when he "finally" shares
Why this works brilliantly:
- She's not passive - she's actively solving a puzzle
- MC isn't lying - he's just answering what she's asking about
- Her satisfaction with solving the "mystery" explains why she doesn't dig deeper
- She feels like she earned his trust rather than demanded it
- The necromancy reveal becomes "Oh... there was ANOTHER secret?" rather than "You lied to me!"
Key execution details:
- Her internal monologue should show her connecting dots: "That's why he's so protective of Zhenzhen... that's why he sometimes stares at nothing with that haunted look..."
- After the Roulan reveal, she should feel clever for figuring it out
- Maybe even have her think "No wonder he works so hard to be present with me - he's trying to be better than his past self"
This transforms the deception from "MC lying" to "Yaling solving the wrong mystery and MC not correcting her." Much cleaner for their relationship dynamic.
Deception Management
Since we have a secret identity, there has to be deception. The key is to manage what happens, the fallout, and the reveal so that it doesn't feel negative and isn't seen as a problem.
Paternalism
you tell her, the deception is out of love for her, you just wanted her to be happy, you protected her, like a paternal figure almost, kinda like a "master", the proof is the heroic effort you made to center your family life even as the necromancy war is going on. It was obvious that that was what was most important to you. And she'll of course love that, that is what's most important to her as well, the validation of your relationship rather than any desire to be an equal partner.
His heroic scheduling proves she's his priority
Fits power dynamic (he's the protector)
Emotionally satisfying - "I lied because I love you"
Maintains her happiness as his goal
The secrets were protective, not betrayals. This is crucial to maintain.
She's partially responsible
We also need to be super careful about the execution of the roulan reveal, and let the story kinda lead her in that direction, where she's pressing for you to reveal roulan to her, that this is the answer she wants to hear, some basically minor leading, so that she can also be part of the deception, so instead of you lying to her explicitly she kinda also sets up the lie of omission to herself. This makes it easier for the final reveal to not have been such a big lie.
Major storylines and their dependencies, an overview
Some plot points are only viewable after heavy investment into other characters.
Dependent on other characters:
- Sex coordinator plot: only after high Weilan REL.
- Peizhi's visit: only after talking to Peizhi
- Cinean Sung's route interactions
Dependent on choices:
- Family battles: Only after waging a revolt against Piyse and fighting all the other lords, including her family the duke of Acasa.
- She wants to bring them to your side, to be allies, and to also protect her home and not let it be destroyed.
- After you win and become King you treat them nicely initially but things happen...
Guaranteed as you progress through her route:
- Mariwen's stalker story
- Dealing with the Subjustice
- Tells off Shuqin Tao when she tries to buy your old firm.
- Overall nesting behavior
- Gains co-trusteeship over the healthcare family and the printing family
Random Scenes
- Help me come up with some ideas here. I'm not wholly sure on this idea, but I have a thought to really demonstrate the class difference and the total disregard she has for commoners.
- She should ruin a commoner's life with sheer neglect and for an absolutely trivial reason and avoid the responsibility.
Peizhi R4's Scorean
Social Club Expansion
Mariwen
Piyse Early Court Politics
Spying Arc
Her reaction to realizing you are the necromancer
The reveal takes place after around 70% of the game. Depends on your choices during the game. She has multiple outcomes.
If you were attentive to her and consistently chooses her over others
- She takes it in stride. Happy to finally resolve the last issue bothering her. She's grateful and falls more and more in love with you for how hard you have tried to please her. She's grateful that she's rewarded for her faith and trust, and that you have seen it fit to return her trust with yours, telling her that you were the necromancer. She resolves to be your right hand and build your empire. You were the conqueror, and she would be the builder.
- She gets obsessed with giving you an heir, and changes her mind about not birthing, decides she wants to birth herself in addition to using surrogates to give you children.
- She transfers her "nesting" energy from Len to the entire empire.
- At the end of the game, you rule the world together and start a new dynasty. You can optionally elevate her as your queen and share power. (ending 1)
- At the end of the game, you might choose another woman over her, leaving her as an ally and lover but spurned romantically. (ending 6)
- If you hurt her family as the necromancer while giving her lots of attention. She feels shattered and afraid of you. She's still your wife and loves you as her husband, but that you would choose your own family's revenge over her happiness shows her that you cared for her much less than she does for you. Her world is turned upside down, and rather than an exalted feeling of achievement the world seems darker and scarier than it was before. She feels like she has to fight for you, to keep your attention, fight for her position and your love, something she didn't think she needed to do. (ending 2)
If you failed to give her constant attention and showed that you were becoming attached to other women such as Peizhi, Shuqin or Cinean
- She realizes the game is incredibly high stakes, if she thinks she can win, eg if her REL is pretty close to her closest rival, she'll try to take out her rivals. It's all out war. (ending 3)
- If she doesn't think she can win (other girls have too much REL compared to her), she ends up disengaging. She cries, but ends up withdrawing her love for you to protect herself. She ends up as a "friend" and lets you do whatever you want, be a "cool girl" and withdraws into developing other interests instead of being so fixated on you and the family she was building with you. (ending 4)
- If you hurt her family as the necromancer while not giving her attention, she'll turn into an enemy and withdraws all support to you, and if opportunity arises would seek to leave you. (ending 5)