guardian-of-time-if

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Will we be able to be Mercy bff and she ours even in the romanceroutes?

Yes, you can still be best friends! You'll just get extra scenes with her on the nonromance route.

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Sorry to ask now, but when patreon resumes will the schedule be two RO short stories like august would've been, or would it still be one RO short story & the Q&A like september typically would've been?

That is a good question, that I did not think about. Lets say that it will pick up with the Q&A like September would have been.

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Lukyan: Desperately wants to name his daughter after his dead mother.

My MC, who Tereza hated for reasons beyond her understanding: "Mmmm... No. Gonna have to veto that one. Sorry babe."

He'd understand why MC wouldn't be for it. He knows exactly how his mom comes across. He'd still be said though.

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Guardian of Time FAQ

Hello readers! I've assembled this list of frequently asked questions which also includes some questions that don't get asked a lot but I still want to make clear.

Why is MC genderlocked/Will you consider making MC gender selectable?

I will not be making MC gender selectable. I know this is disappointing for a lot of people, but there are several reasons why I am set on this, so if playing a F!MC is a deal breaker, I hope you can find another game you enjoy. My reasons for genderlocking MC are a mix between technical, personal preference, and vision/plot/worldbuilding. Technically speaking, since this is my first game, I didn't want to make myself overwhelmed, so one of the ways I tried to limit the scope of the game is by keeping MC genderlocked. Preferencewise, I just wanted to write a story that was a female MC romancing men. In terms of plot and vision, I dont think the story would work with a gender selectable MC. Primarily because the emperor would never propose a marriage between MC and his son if MC was male as Nytheris doesn't have legal same sex marriage. While it may not seem like a big deal to take away the arranged marriage and have MC adopted outright or intergrated into the imperial family some other way, the coming chapters will have a lot of plot points that depend on the arranged marriage aspect. (And I couldn't just gender swap Lukyan because I'd also have to gender swap Tzesar and it would change a lot of the politics withing the imperial family.) I also wanted one of the themes of the story to be about angency, and have MC wrestle with how much control she really has over her own life. It's part of why the early chapters have a lot of other people making her deicisons for her. Due to how gendered Nytherian society is, I thought this theme was better explored with a female character. So those are my reasons, and I hope this is a good enough explaination of why I'm unwilling to budge on this.

2. Will you consider adding a female RO/making the RO's gender selectable?

The short answer is no. For the gender selectable issue in particular, I don't like gender selectable characters in IF, I know a lot of authors/readers prefer them, but I've always felt that characters with set genders are more fleshed out. I also don't want to deal with coding gender selectable characters. But this really comes down to, as I said above, I really wanted my first story to be a FMC with male RO's. I know that's not for everybody and I'm okay with that.

3. Do I have to romance anyone?

No, you don't. I'm still deciding how the nonromance route will look, but most likely when the other MC's get an RO scene, you'll get a friendhsip scene with Mercy instead.

4. What is your ask policy?

In gerneral, just be respectful. Thankfully, this hasn't really been a problem thus far. I do my best to answer every ask as soon as I can. Currently, my queue is set to release five asks a day and is backed up an entire week. The only things that I may refuse to answer are code diving questions or NSFW. If you have a question about the code, I'd prefer you DM me, there are a lot of details in the code, that I don't want to be public yet, and in some cases, it's organized in a way that will only make sense in my brain, and no one else's. If there is an error in the code that need to be adressed please use the bug report form linked in the intro post, so I can adress it privately. Sometimes if something is vague enough, or I want to make sure it's clear, I will answer them, but in general, I probably won't. As for NSFW, my relationship with these is complicated. Mild/nonexplicit is probably okay, but nothing too detailed or explicit (such as asking about specific kinks). I know that's really vague, but in general, please just use your best judgement. If I find too many asks are crossing my boundaries, I'll switch to a blanket no NSFW policy, but so far you've all been very respectful, so I'm willing to take it ask by ask for now. If an NSFW question makes me too uncomfortable, I'll just delete it. As a side note, any NSWF content in the book will be fade to black. I'm just not comfortable writing smut.

5. Will we get to see Oren and Samira again?

All I'm willing to say on this is that you will get to see one of them again.

6. Will Luk take a second wife if married to MC?/ Would Luk be forced to take a second wife under x circumstances?

If married to MC, Luk will not take a second wife. The only exception is if their relationship is completely platonic, and MC is unwilling to have an heir.

I reserve the right to update as nessecary. (If there's any question you all think you be added to the FAQ please let me know. These are just the only questions I can think of being asked frequently.)

Link to RO Profiles.

Link to Error Report Form.

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Can dragonseekers like... Quit? From the monsterhunting order?

Um. Not really becuase there is no way to unbond from a dragon, so they are kind of stuck, but they can 'retire' after enough years of service, but no one has so far.

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Chapter 4-1 Spoilers

Lol. Just in the inverse.

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Demo Spoilers

Do you think MC's reaction was too calm? I saw MC as being like 'yep this sounds about right for my life right now' and taking it in stride, but if you guys think MC should have more a reaction, I am open to adding a choice there.

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does psionic magic work against animals? or just people?

For the most part, just people. A very good psionic mage could influence an animal to like them more, but it wouldn't be possible to read or influence their thoughts becuase animal minds aren't sapient enough.

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I'm so happy to see you back to the IF community I've been following your story since the start! & I can't wait for the demo! Now that you've returned, are there any IFs you are looking forward to personally? Thank youx

Dear anon, thank you so much for the welcome back and for keeping our story in your heart all this time, we're working hard on the demo and bringing our intro back to life! There're so many new IFs we came back to it's hard to name them all, but there's some we're looking forward to as well: @evertidings — When we received a similar ask back in 2021, we mentioned 'When Twilight Strikes', and it's still one of our favorites! An amazing author. @guardian-of-time-if — A super hooking demo, we love Tzesar, highly rec! @neondreams-if — A very new IF, amazing concept and we couldn't wait to play the demo. Big congrats on the well deserved mile stone<3 @suevi-if — Their demo weaves together such a beautifully intricate world and story, always excited to read more! @bloodlines-if — Extremely compelling ROs, can't wait for more! @fateunwritten-if — Unique premise and excellent writing, an all-in-1 @cosmic-writes-if — Incredible customization and exciting plot @if-mirrormine — Beautiful aesthetic and a haunting story, what more can we ask for @woesoftheirwretched-if — So dark and REAL, an amazing cast and concept @spoiledblogif — HYPE WITH EVERY LORE DROP, THANK YOU FOR FEEDING US @night-market-if — Characters have so much LIFE in them, and we love Gabriel @ri-writes-if — Heart wrenching, their words convey MC's turmoil so well incredible @debauchery-if — Tackle a very real concept with a riveting cast and writing! @if-underourskins — MORE RO PROPAGANDA PLEASE WE LOVE YOUR WORK @acatslifeif — On hiatus but super excited for whats in store! @featherofdarkness-if — On hiatus but an incredibly unique mix of concepts & style @oneshot-if — Loved the prologue and looking forward to more! @leoneliterary — An addicting read and an equally addicting playlist, love love love @ataleofcrowns — We've been keeping up for years now, for good reason! @whentherewasatime-if — Very recent discovery, GOLDMINE, you will prevail @bloodandiron-if — Incredibly hyped for the demo, hooking plot, we want to interact with the ROs so badly (EYEING YOU D-6) There's so many more we'd like to mention because all these authors are such inspirations and have amazing talent. The community is seriously thriving, so we'd love to reconnect with the community and support them!

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albien and sentinel wouldnt stay with a luk married mc but mc thinks she can't break it off? why would they pursue her in the first place lol

Well they kind of don't? At least at first. If MC continuous shows interest in getting out of the marriage, then they'll both start to be more forward, but for the most part, neither of them actively pursue MC until after she breaks off the marriage.

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Patreon Demo Spoilers

The story MC gives Ilarion is the same story she gives Luk and Tzesar, so if she told them about Tempurion, Ilarion knows as well.

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Spoilers for the Demo

They find out about MC being a dragon seeker, and undergoing training by letter after they've already left. So they know, they just find out way later.

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does konstantin know about gulin's sister's buisness?

Umm. He knows that it's shady at best and quite likely illegal, but he doesn't know the details. They basically had a moment when Gulin had to help his sister out of trouble, and Konstantin was like "do I want to know?" and Gulin was like "Probably not." Then Konstantin asked "Will this bite me in the ass?" And Gulin answered, "I'm tapping out before it bites me in the ass, so it for sure won't get traced backed to you." And that was pretty much teh conversation.

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More Minor Spoilers

Aww. That's so sweet Anon!

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Monthly Update: August 2025

I got preoccupied with the demo update yesterday, and forgot to do this. This is going to be a short update. Most of the month was focused on getting the update ready, then fixing bugs and typos after release. I read over my outline for chapter 4-2 and did start writing it, but I didn't get too far.

For those who haven't seen my announcement, I'll be taking some time off for August, so I may not longer to respond to messages, and I won't have as much of a set schedule for working on the book. There will also be no Patreon content this month, and billing is currently paused until September 1.

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Minor spoilers for Chapter 4-1

Oof. Yeah. I wouldn't want to with Gulin either.