What Empire Faction do you join?

[Crotiz]

I

Same target, but different Empire. Western empire has longer border with Aserai, and this is the area i wanna put my kingdom in

Spoiler: snip

After 250 hours in multiplayer, i feel ready to bury few weekends in SP when the game comes out ?

Oh, i meant to say Western! Haha, we have the same idea then

 

[Kernowek]

I choose to find out the murderer first

Found the cutscene of it:

Spoiler: 100% legit

 

[GabyTzu]

Found the cutscene of it:

Spoiler: 100% legit

Thank the non-existing goods of MB and our benevolent Police-State for all the corner cameras.
Their foresight really helped us resolve this mistery.
See how he has a Katana?
I knew it. It was a... Ninja. Weeaboos confirmed.
But who sent him? The mithical nation of Ippon?

 

[RhodokianSupremacist]

Find out the killer/story first and then conquer the empire for myself

 

[White Flame]

I am the Senate.

THIS

 

[FBohler]

Screw the Empire, I'm going to take 'em all captive and sell them to the ramson broker!

 

[Crotiz]

Find out the killer/story first and then conquer the empire for myself

Will there be quests or any sort of information to get this knowledge or are we speculating? ?

 

[World's Coolest Old Guy]

He who bleeds should lead. Garios has my vote.

Agreed... except for one thing. If I can weasel my way into the heart of the empress and marry either her or her daughter, my family could be in a very strong position right quick. For that reason (and also because nominal legitimacy), I believe I'll be siding with the Southern Empire. Mostly, I'm just curious what'll happen if I were to marry into the imperial family. Will the game skyrocket me to legitimacy, or will it not be that easy?

 

[RoboSenshi]

Western Empire all the way. They border more factions so constant action. Plus I've always like the name 'Ortysia'. Nice place for an Imperial Capital.

 

[Vedymin]

I plan on forming the khergit khanate. They are in the game and I think it might be possible.

 

[Princeps Senatus]

This is a tough question! All I can say is: a definite no to Garios. Soldiers should know their place and obey their betters. To think they would have any notion on how to rule an Empire, preposterous!

That leaves Senator Lucon and Empress Rhagaea. The Senate is the traditional source of legitimacy in Calradia, and the Empire is essentially a republic -- so one would think that the Senate would be my best choice. The Empire isn't the hereditary property of a single family. I guess you might say that given my username and icon, I am definitely leaning Senate.

That said, Arenicos was supposedly an excellent emperor -- and it would seem loyal to try to support the claim of his daughter? I would not exactly want to kick Ira our of her house, so to speak. So depending on personal qualities of both Lucon and Ira, I might end up supporting Ira's claim instead.

Decisions, decisions...

I am pleased that someone has apparently found the new art of what the three Imperial leaders (plus Ira) are supposed to look like, which looks MUCH grander and more regal than the placeholder art we saw in previous footage. I love the Tyrian Purple in use there. Link to the art here:

Unfortunately that does not help my decision very much, as both Lucon and Rhagaea have exquisite Byzantine-style ensembles and crowns, down to the pendilla and everything. (Lucon's being rather more accurate though, since the Byzantines didn't really use hoop crowns like Rhagaea has there). I am still quite torn!

 

[Lord Engineer (Castor)]

Personally I'll probably join either the Southern or Western empire mainly because I like those two more thematically.

As for who murdered Arenicos I think it was probably either Rhagaea or one of the senators supporting Lucon. Rhagaea wanted her family to rule but Arenicos didn't designate his daughter potentially because he thought she would be a poor ruler, on the other hand, Arenicos routed out a lot of corruption in the Senate and promised to restore them to power and probably made some enemies doing so and might not have trusted them to run the country.
A quick bit on Garios: don't have a good idea why he wasn't chosen, maybe Arenicos thought that the empire didn't need another Warmaster? I also don't know enough about him to say if he might have assassinated Arenicos.
EDIT: I remembered about the Legion of the Betrayed, maybe Garios wanted to reinstate the old army and undo Arenicos' reforms?

On why I think Rhagaea could be the killer: If Arenicos had chosen anyone other than Ira, Rhagaea would've lost power and her family wouldn't rule anymore, she was also probably present when Arenicos was murdered in his palace being his wife and all. She could have poisoned him, explaining the headache, and she could have stabbed him while he was weakened, explaining the blood. Arenicos would also have probably been more trusting of his wife and would explain how his murderer got past his guards. Even if she's not the killer she's very opportunistic.

On why I think Lucon's faction could be the killer: Lucon himself is described as being honourable but stiff-necked (prideful and stubborn) so it is less likely he is directly involved in his murder. However, the Senate is probably corrupt, at least some parts of it, considering that Arenicos went around dealing with corrupt and inefficient magistrates, and even if he had dealt with all the corruption inside of it (which I would say is unlikely) then I would say that if they thought that they couldn't get Arenicos to officially designate Lucon, they might have tried their hand at subterfuge and maybe something went wrong. Since the senators are government officials they could have gotten access to the palace and done the dirty deed.

Spoiler: Talk about legitimacy

...
According to one of the Empire Dev Blogs the heir is typically chosen from either the Emperor’s family, the upper ranks of his army, or the elders of the senate.

No one was chosen so after he died, the people choose the Emperor’s family, the army chose a popular general, and the Senate chose one of its own.
All of them have a somewhat equal claim so civil war has broken out to press their claims.

So who’s to say the Empress is more valid than either of the two Emperors?

"The question of succession was always a potential crisis. Usually, the emperor nominated an heir, the senate ratified his choice, and the people (meaning the army) acclaimed it. But this did not always happen smoothly, and then the succession was settled on the battlefield of a civil war."
"Traditionally, emperors looked in three places for their successors: their family, the elders of the Senate, and the upper ranks of the army."

Although in hindsight I think Rhagaea's claim is the weakest since neither the Emperor, the Senate, nor the army was involved in selecting her or her daughter.

 

[Redleft]

Calradia should be ruled by a woman! However, I will figure out the story then make her Empress.

 

[Theo_07]

Together with senator Lucon I will save the Empire from decay and the hordes of savages that stand ready to strike.

 

[eternalflame]

It is too situational, some characters may want to marry the princess, others take different paths to power. I might even play a white knight who makes the decision based on who the murderer was some time.

But first game, my horse will not care about arbitrary and defunct feuds or borders of soft westerners.