New Reign Poll: pick your faction
Hello everyone,
The next HR chapter is done and will arrive in a few hours after proofreading, but as warned earlier, the Elf Conspiracy is a short reign and we're approaching its endgame. Here's thus the new reign poll for your eyes only (as usual, I will close it with the last Elf Conspiracy chapter). Enjoy.
1) Casval Delenda Est: High among Simon’s list of enemies is a certain pair of dragons, and he is now determined to learn how to destroy them once and for all… from the inside. Joining Vouivre’s army as a warlord and lieutenant, he soon discovers that draconic family dynamics can become a little more complicated than expected, and that Gargauth left quite a lot to his heirs…
Includes: Casval ‘friendship’ (the dragon version), intel on Vouivre’s secrets, orc/shifter warlord Simon, location of the Beast Class Crestone.
Length: Medium (months to a year)
Unlocks: The Hoard of Gargauth, The Beast Within, The Sanctuary in the Sky.
2) Mask of the Jester King: Having seen the devastating civil war that will unfold between the War and Church party without an Overlord to rein them in, Simon hits upon a genius plan: impersonate his own father, with none knowing the switch has taken place, and try to prepare the empire for the disaster he knows is coming. His efforts are doomed, of course, but this may be the occasion to find out who dug his father’s grave… and how to get along with his family.
Contains: Intel on who killed Balzam Magnos, a lot of black comedy, a happy and well-fed Gourmand, Magnos 'family bonding.'
Length: Short (a month of madness)
Unlocks: Land of the Warlords, Lux Vult, ???, Kingmaker.
3) The Overlord of Crime: Realizing that the Overlord Class rewards nefarious behavior, that the Prince of Spiders is too dangerous to ignore, and eager to find magical artifacts he cannot obtain otherwise, Simon joins the Cobweb syndicate. Put in charge of a chapter of the global organization, Simon discovers the spider’s web extends far farther than he thought…
Contains: Criminal Mastermind Simon, Prince of Spiders’ real identity, location of multiple Zodiac Fiends & Noble Crestone, Silk ‘romance.’
Length: Medium (months to a year)
Unlocks: The Pirate King, The Crafter’s Tower, The Jungles of Uyo, The Sanctuary in the Sky.
4) The Church of the Stars: Requiring Astrology and Chronomancy research that only the Church of the Light can provide and deciding to learn more about their political party, Simon approaches Euphemia and High Confessor Mastemo with an offer they cannot refuse. Now the realm's newest Templar, Simon moves to their Lighthouse in the Valendre region, where dark truths hide buried in holy sepulchers...
Contains: Insight into the Church Party, Norbelle, new mentor & allies, info on Noble Crestones, the Zodiac Fiends and time-travel mechanics.
Length: Medium (months to a year depending on events).
Unlocks: Mastemo’s Angels, Lux Vult, the Cocagne Affair.
5) The Queen in Crimson: Determined to unlock his latent Visionary and Darkblood potential, Simon enters Justine Eligos’ service as a diabolist in training. Now splitting his time before summoning demons and entertaining his new eccentric mistress, Simon is finally free to explore his secondary passion: theater. The world is not yet ready for impresario Simon…
Contains: new rituals, diabolism, and performance spells, new powers, insight into demonology, Necromancer, Monk & Bard Crestone locations, and an orgy.
Length: medium (months)
Unlocks: The Pirate King, The Song of Bujan, Blades of the Orient.
Comments (69)
I got here late, but all these options are interesting, so I'm not disappointed Jester won. If I'm honest, it would be nice to finally get some info on Norbelle. We know everyone else in the family already, with the exception of Norbelle (who wasn't even on screen yet) and to a lesser extent Euphemia. Church arc would fill out our info on the Magnos family nicely.
I really wanted the Overlord of Crime and best friend Casval arc, but having the Jester King as a short arc is fine too. Land of warlords being unlocked is super interesting and I’m curious to see Warlord Simon.
What is land of warlords? I don't remember that at all.
I say do jester king, i want more gourmand and also it will only be entertaining while he is still lower level, if he knows everything and has everything it wouldn’t be fun.
Really hope we get a Casval buddy arc!! Who knows maybe casval could be redeemed under different circumstances (as much as a dragon can be). I also want to see Simon develop some guy friendships. Feels like all of his relationship & real friendship development in this series so far is with beautiful & exotic women (Anna, Eole, Cassandra, Belzemine, Tiela, Elaine etc)
I do have some male friends in store for Simon (especially among Noble Class users later) but yeah, Casval is... I wouldn't say redeemable, but he has more in common with Simon than either of them think ;)
I can't help to be intrigued by the Jester King, but as others also said, he's too weak and will be soon found out. It would be more fun in later reigns (lvl 80+), because he might actually make it work quite well.
It’s a limited reign that will only happen when he’s weak
I was thinking Mask would be a good idea but idk, Im torn between him doing it when he's a lot stronger and seeing if it's a good idea for him to get killed by the assassin so he gets some Perk that could let him identify them
Too soon to infiltrathe the spider's web, the jester king seems like a nice palate clenser before more plots. The queen in crimson sounds very appealing and eventually infiltrating the dragon is a must, if nothing else do it for the HOARD :P
I'm surprised that the jester gains so much support. The only truly interesting thing there is finding directly the killer, which is not nothing, but there so much more interesting options.
It’s because the ball room seen was nice
They are all so interesting I want them all but that unlock ??? Is just way too intriguing to pass up. Jester king for a short and fun reign and then back to the badass Simon.
Vote for the Jester King. The Overlord calls!
It’s too early/he’s too weak to pretend to be his father yet. Also you had me at orgy :))
I think the overlord of crime would be better, or the Queen in Crimson, but the knowledge of who killed Balzam could open so many other paths and fit a major piece of the puzzle. But yeah, it would be a waste of a life, currently, he would be too easily sussed out. Maybe a changeline ability to assume identities would be needed before that becomes viable.
I just think that Jester King would be a waste of a reign. He will die very quickly and the knowledge who killed Balzam is not very useful while he is still so weak.
Although I do agree with Simon not being ready for the Jester King, I really do feel like we've been edging ourselves for too long as well.
Booo he’s not ready
As much as I want to see Jester King now, Simon doesn't understand Euphemia well. He should do Church of the Stars first to learn more. Also from Euphemia's perspective Balzam would have gotten the Overlord class and instantly been high level. He could talk to her about it. The Cobweb seems the most important thing to unravel but I guess there is no urgency. Also the Visionary stuff could be useful to get sooner rather than later. Overall I like these new unlocks!
Jester King and church of the stars help eachother, but jester king has much more of a potential impact on CotS. Yes, Simon could talk to high-ranking members of the church party in CotS to be better prepped for JK, but he could also kill them and feed them to gourmand in JK to get MUCH more info for CotS. Also JK likely yields more EXP in both kill exp and oppression exp.
It is finally time.
It’s finally time for the Jester King!
I hope we go church next to progress towards getting the mage crest stone
Mask of the Jester King, without a doubt. We've been waiting too long for it. Although The Queen in Crimson also sounds interesting.
My heart says Casval Delenda Est. There will be time for that later so for now Jester king or we will never get it. But still Casval Delenda est!!!
I think Simon should do Queen Crimson after he’s done the church path so he has more info about how visionaries work, which could hopefully lead to bigger rewards and maybe even a third eye of his own
I wonder what will happen when he sit on the Crimson Throne for the first time
Interestingly the votes were roughly distributed closely to my own preference. The Queen in Crimson sounds as the most logical continuation but Jester King was promised a loop ago already so I voted for it. The Casval's route lacks interesting characters, more people would be interested probably if it involved a cat girl harem, though...
My dream order would be 1, 3, 5, 4 and then 2. From the least to the most interesting jn my opinion. For me it's just hard to get into a new arc if the one preseding it just hit that hard.
Family bonding with such a dysfunctional family like the Magnos? Sign me up!
Is it bad to think that Simon actively trying to be cruel and evil is probably better than normal Balzam? It would be hilarious, if everyone thinks that ‘Balzam’ is being in a good mood whilst it’s just Simon trying his damn hardest to sell the act lol
The Queen in Crimson would be the logical follow-up from this reign. I am not unhappy with the Jester King though, which seems to be the leading option. Finally we get intel on the killer! My bet is Louis. The mana sword was never found, and Louis has a pocket dimension full of weapons. Curious, isn't it?
I think it’s gonna be Laurianne. She’s just too unassuming in Simon’s eyes
Queen in Crimson and Church of Stars make by far the most sense. Acquiring the pseudo visionary powers is not something that should be postponed. And knowledge about the reigns, astrology and visionaries alongside infiltrating the Church Party is as much enticing. I don’t understand that need to have the Jester King. This reign doesn’t seem to bring much, other than the identity of the killer.
I agree from a strategic view. On the flip side he can pretty much feed anyone he wants to the gourmand as 'Balzam' and could probably level quite quickly as an arbitrary and cruel overlord
Split between crimson queen and church. I think crimson queen will advance Simon’s skills, while the church run will improve Simon’s faction knowledge. As previously, the Jester King is a really cool run I want to see with a level 60 Simon. And he likely needs a little more knowledge on the factions, mainly: Church, Cobweb, Killer.
Church will also provide a path towards the mage crest stone
Quote from Void: "just saying, there will be reigns when Simon is strong enough to assert himself as Overlord down the line. But if he's strong, he doesn't need to impersonate Balzam so Jester King will stop making sense after a while and may not appear in polls." Jester King for the win!
No thanks to the orgy. Sounds like a sausage party.
Simon is in desperate need of a girl-failure heroine and I think Vouivre has what it takes. Trust in the process.
Im torn between Jester King and Queen Crimson. I changed to Queen Crimson because it makes more sense plot wise. The ability to "gain" Visionary powers would be too great to pass up as well. From my POV Simon would want other ways to facilitate his Reigns. Jester King is short though, and it likely has alot of stuff he can benefit from. Maybe even acquire the Mana sword. To destroy it. He likes maces.
The church feels like the last faction we haven't explored yet! Pretty keen to learn more about the time travel mechanism. Otherwise, cobweb infiltration would give Simon tonnes of knowledge
I've been wanting for the Jester King run for a very long time (as long as it been suggested) but I've want to see the Crime lord run just as long and just as badly... As for the other runs: The Casval run sounds fun mainly because I'm a huge sucker for Casval and a fake one-sided bromance arc sounds like it could be really funny. Church for Stars sounds very informative and looks like it could give a lot of resolutions to lingering plot questions. But that's about it. Very try compared to the others. The veggie option (good for you but you don't really want it), but maybe these veggies are seasoned and sautéed. Queen in Crimson is looking to turn Simon into a MILF hunting theater kid... this is my third pick, behind Jester King and Overlord of Crime. (Maybe even my second.)
guys its not about what is the most optimal, its abotu what would be entertaining to read. thus jester king takes it.
I feel like Church of the Stars is super underrated. I am fiending to find out how the loops work
They're all great and hopefully we will see all of them with time.
Jester king for sure. ??? Is enticing af.
I don't understand why so many people vote for Mask of the Jester. I agree it will be a ton of fun but he won't get much out of it when he's still this "weak". I think that applies to Overlord of crime as well. I'm more leaning towards Queen in Crimson, but the rest would also be good!
Void said the jester king may not appear again once Simon can assert himself, we are pretty close to that - especially when he can just choose to side with Louis to force Euphemia to the table.
Really want the mask of the jester king. It’s a short reign but it gives such key information that it feels important for Simon to want now after all these past reigns having been focused on the civil war and his family.
1. crimson 2. Cobweb 3. casvsl 4. jester King 5. church
I REALLY want to see the Jester King one, I've wanted it since I've seen it last time, but I don't think it makes sense plot wise, yet! That one seems like a mid level reign, honestly. I feel like he'd need a dozen or even two more levels to even passably impersonate his father (he needs to be able to slap around at least some people, and almost everyone is in mid 60's level wise in the palace. To me, the most natural one after this one feels that he goes back to Justine since he was there already this reign, finishes that one then Cobweb reign, then Vouvre or Church in either order(maybe slight preference to Church first, or some other reign as well). After all that I expect him to get 15-20 more levels, maybe he discovers too much fcked up or shocking shit and needs one quick, wild, mad jester king reign to crash out. So Crimson it is, for me at least.
U‘re Right. Changed my mind
I am morbidly curious about the Beast crestone, since we know so little about it so far.
Crimson one sounds cool but looking at the poll right now it’s probably not happening this time but it seems like a good one to do within the next couple of reigns.
I think it should be third after church to get information on being a visionary and other rituals to help in unlocking his power, Also church leads towards the mage crest stone
Queen in crimson #1. Getting his visionary abilities would be a big game changer and feels like the buff he needs.
Going church first to get more information on visionaries and rituals might be required for the actual unlock
I don't think Jester King is the way to go after this reign (why would he go on a suicide run when he can learn so much more elsewhere and live longer to gain more experience) but... haaa just get it out the way, it's short anyway and is probably gonna win no matter what.
1) He can probably gain a decent amount of class Experience by pretending to be his dad. 2) He can also gain insight into the motivations of the various factions in the royal family that he won't be able to get otherwise, about how they felt about his father, how they feel about Simon, what they want to do, and why they want to do it. 3) Force out some hidden aces that the various fashions have. 4) Figure out who the Assassin was 5) And most importantly it will be funny *nods sagely*😌
Nice new options and every one is interesting My current preference is 1) Jester king 2) church of stars 3) the queen in crimson I don't really have have preference of one over the other for the last two. I am interested in the artifacts he might collect by working with the spiders.
I think we should do them in that order
Between 3 and 4 for me, with the creststone and all
The impossible choice between Jester and Crimson.
So many reigns 🤤 I want all of them. Laughed out loud at the ‘Cocagne Affair’.
‘Overlord of crime’ makes the most sense plot-wise. Once he has the intel for the elves, logically he’ll go to the cobweb, as it was those two that bullied him the most last reign. However, I’m tempted to go the ‘jester king’ route just to know what ‘???’ is.
Damn, I am torn between all of these. Silk romance sounds steamy and dangerous, just the kind of stuff I like... but an orgy is way too tempting. That said though, if it weren't for the aforementioned... ehm... "group project", I would've picked Mask of the Jester King (again). It sounds SO much fun and I'm intrigued by how he'll boss around his family. Torturing Thalas, humiliating Louis, maybe banging Euphemia... the possibilities are endless!
I think after fooling the ballroom now is a perfect time to play pretend as daddy-o