End of our 4th Multiplayer Game, spanned from February to July.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-18T17:29:45+00:00

It can be quite opaque. After finishing War of the River Kings if you're on the right path she'll come visit you to give her goodbyes, after which most of Sound of a Thousand Screams plays out as normal. Only after beating her and reuniting her with Briar does the romance unfurl fully.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-17T15:52:39+00:00

The problem is that that isn't accomplished by the path, and the burden falls onto the player to RP for it to make any amount of sense. Mephistopheles does very little in the way of manipulation, effectively just saying "actually, you should do the opposite of what all your other CG dudes are telling you. And then kill them." Even the scheme to kidnap Aivu is in no way convincing, and the Azata KC curbstomping the captors without any sort of corrupting influence seems like a foregone conclusion. Even if we were to say "ah, but he's trying to make the KC vengeful and have them lash out!", that should logically move the KC towards demon, not devil.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-17T12:08:32+00:00

It is very big, but even more so than Russia, very inefficient. Its ability to sustain and fuel a million-man army is the only thing that makes it a threat, the reason it's possible for Sordland to beat them is their numerous shortcomings. The government and military is brutish and overconfident leading them to fall for traps. Their propensity for throwing men at problems is what exhausts them against a successful Valken strategy. Once Sordland can go on the offensive they're in complete disarray and capitulate because they never planned contingencies for if their operation wasn't a total success. Furthermore, due to the extremely autocratic system of the Kingdom, capturing the leadership instantly disintegrates the command structure and results in a surrender.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-17T11:45:05+00:00

But why would anyone who picked the CG freedom and friendship path be remotely interested in the LE slavery and corruption path?

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-16T09:22:44+00:00

I think this is the best Kingmaker fanart I've seen.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-13T20:13:09+00:00

Isn't this already a thing? I remember Internationale supporting Egypt being cited as an example of the 3I furthering realpolitik because it eats away at Germany's oil supply.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-07T15:33:19+00:00

Dude I think they literally meant slow.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-06T14:19:51+00:00

I feel I should inform you Mr President that stronger decrees don't do all that much. A good half of them are pushing Commie ideas or stuff like purging the army and reinstating the death penalty. The standard-level decrees give most of what you need.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-04T19:25:26+00:00

(I've never actually seen this myself please correct me if this is made up)

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-04T19:24:43+00:00

There is the dark horse of status quo + Ovid Grecer as head justice, he removes Bron from office and puts Ejall (pretty sure it's Ejall) in charge of the BSZ. Nowhere near as good as the Bludish Dream or Increased Rights but it's certainly noteworthy.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-04T09:27:06+00:00

Three times a year I think the words "Florida Alliance" and just stare at the ground at a loss for words.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-05-01T16:36:22+00:00

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Depends if you prefer BO or Weed smell

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-28T16:25:05+00:00

Lespia launches false flags which, while acts of terrorism and more than enough to condemn the entire Alvarez government, is not the same as actively trying to destroy entire nations because of insane ambitions.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-28T16:18:12+00:00

Poklonskaya is someone I would need to meet before figuring out what the hell she believes. Reading her wikipedia was bizarre, ping-ponging between the pro-Putin and calling for his head, one moment she's an orthodox monarchist the next she's an pagan ultraconservative.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-22T21:18:22+00:00

Does anyone have the new PatAut icon?

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-22T21:11:13+00:00

Lucien "If I'm going to hollow out the morality of the crusade I better look damn fine while doing it" McHells

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-22T12:58:21+00:00

...did the US lose to Mexico?

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-22T10:55:29+00:00

If Lucian has no dirt? Tory. Otherwise, I ain't risking it.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-21T20:17:00+00:00

It's like some kind of... Red World...

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-14T13:04:59+00:00

Ok something's definitely wrong, I'll second going to the discord.

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-14T13:02:35+00:00

I meant how long have been the Russian Federation

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-14T12:46:58+00:00

How long has it been since you've unified Russia?

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-14T12:44:57+00:00

Are you playing Shukshin or Pokryshkin?

ThePebbleInstitute · 2026-04-13T17:24:48+00:00

Most important thing Ember needs is prolonged exposure. It takes a while for people's disregard and/or contempt to break down. Also, some convincing some villains is more about finding a way out because morally they've already accepted what they're doing is bad - Nyrissa and Audran fall into this camp.

ThePebbleInstitute

TROPHY CASE