Explodium

Slow board indeed. Another thought I had. What about instead of Alm's brand signifying that he is the Chosen One who is going to save the world, what if it was something like Alm is the Chosen One who is destined to be Duma incarnate and roflstomp the world? And Rudolf had him sent away and had him raised away from Rigel in order to avert that? In my opinion, inverting the meaning of the brand really patches up the trampled "We are not determined by the status of our birth, but by our actions" theme, by turning it into a "Screw Destiny!" thing. Also it adds some consistency to Walhart's actions, because I'm pretty sure he was inspired by Alm in his whole "Damn the gods and damn their destinies" thing.

Say, just a thought I had: what if instead of Berkut being the nephew of Rudolf, he's a self-made man of sorts? Born to a poor family, climbed the ranks of the Rigellian army though sheer strength and force of will, and eventually was name successor of Rigel due to his accomplishments and because Rudolf had no heirs (that the public knew about). He completely subscribes to the Rigellian philosophy of might makes right, hardness breeds excellence, etc, and is a very proud individual. Eventually, when Alm was revealed as the prince of Rigel, it completely drove him off the deep end, not only because some random upstart from some backwater stole the throne from under him, but it completely went against Rigellian values. Here he was, born in the slums, and clawed his way to the top through sheer determination and strength, and here this guy comes by and renders all of his achievements pointless because Alm was born to the right father. Berkut is not a happy camper. Thoughts?

Well, it's because it's along the lines of Loyalists vs. Rebels, Clive is fighting for the loyalists, Desaix is leading the rebels, though he's only doing it for his own advancement, and Fernand is only sticking around because Clive is in charge.

Anyone else think it would have worked better if Desaix was portrayed as more of a "Villain with good publicity, presenting himself as some sort of Rebel Crusader but in reality he is just a huge butthole solely out to advance himself" sort of guy? Honestly, all things considered with how Lima ran the kingdom, whipping up insurrection wouldn't be hard. In my opinion this would also give Fernand a better reason to defect. Rather than betray his friend and his nation because he's a classist dick, he was hesitant to fight to preserve a system that got his family killed because it was partially the crown's fault that things were so bad in the first place, but he only stayed because his best friend was in charge. When he put some random schmuck in charge, that was the last straw, so he joined the rebels. Thoughts?