#kingerlan

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The May side stories are now all ready to read for my Patrons! If you want to get more insight into the characters and their thoughts, consider joining my Patreon. You will also unlock all previous side stories (NSFW included) if you join Cyre Tiers and up.

The Burdened Heir - King Erlan's POV: This side story features King Erlan's perspective on his early life before he became king. In this story, read about his early days as a prince and get a glimpse into the beginning of his friendship with Ahlf. Available for Cyre Tier Patrons and up.

A Prince's Honour - Prince Irus' POV: This side story features Prince Irus' perspective as he discovers an old battleground in Urur. Read more about his thoughts as the reality of war sets in. This story features events that take place during Chapter 9. Available for Vinia and Ishari Tier Patrons.

The Queen's Dilemma - Queen Elora's POV: This side story was determined by a randomiser. In this story, read about Queen Elora's thoughts on her return to Vinia and the plan she has to secure control over Hadi. This story features the events of Chapter Nine. Available for Cyre and Ishari Tier Patrons.

A Determined Captain - Sir Oren's POV: In this side story, read more about Sir Oren's concerns as the preparations for his departure nears. Get a glimpse into the possible reasons for his need to sacrifice himself to protect others. This side story was determined by a randomiser wheel as it was tied for second place. It features events of Chapter 9. Available for Vinia and Ishari Tier Patrons.

A Warrior's Oath - Anu's POV: In this side story, read about Anu's thoughts on travelling to meet with the Nomad Tribes as she has a heart-to-heart conversation with Sargon. This story features events that take place during Chapter 9. Available for Ishari Tier Patrons.

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Wait you said "Erlan's version" of Solus...implying that he somehow changed to doctrine of the church to better suit his beliefs? Does that happen to have anything to do with Irus' mother leaving them because (paraphrasing) "The Ancient Ones aren't as separate from Solus as he'd like to believe" 👀

In other regions, Solus is worshipped alongside his sisters, so he's not the only God in that religion. Erlan took Solus from a different religion then made him the only God available in Cyre. Solus is suddenly the beginning and end of all things, ignoring the fact that it's not true. The Ancient Ones, Solus and his sisters and the Twelve (Vinia) all permit the existence of other deities but Erlan didn't much care for that part of Solus when he decided the worship of the Ancient Ones would be bad 😅

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Hi there! I have a few questions about the events that happened in Salt Bay and the aftermath. Feel free to ignore any if they get into spoilers or the like

Did Erlan ever use them for such extreme measures within Cyre? We get a pretty clear picture of their methods in Ishari, and we know that Salyra spent at least a bit of time being on the run within Cyre before she got to Ahlf's to drop off MC but seems like her path there was pretty removed from general society. Or has Virion's Blood Guard just that much more ruthless, extending towards his own people.

Dena mentions that their merchants knew of the massacre, but how common of knowledge is it? Has word spread to the general public in the weeks/months since, and did they have a reaction to that much carnage to their own people for a prince that wasn't even successfully captured/killed?

Or even within Virion's court, since Irus mentions that not everyone was siding with Virion to begin with regarding him taking the throne against Erlan's wishes. Has his ah, liberal, use of the Boodguard added to those voices? After all, it's one thing to look the other way while Virion ties up loose ends but it's another thing when he does so in a way that cuts into their profits and/or land, and carving a bloody path up to the Vinia border, destroying at least one port, and killing dozens if not hundreds of people including merchants and workers in the process would do just that.

I'll answer as many as I can 😋

Erlan and Virion are very different in the way the Blood Guard are utilised. Virion is definitely the more vicious of the brothers and has zero issues with killing anyone (even the people of Cyre) to get things done. There's a reason why Morden magically was promoted to the role of General as soon as Virion took over, because he's bloodthirsty and vicious too.

The news has spread right up to the palace. Everyone in Cyre and surrounding regions have heard whispers of what's been going on.

Chapter 10 and 11 deals with the responses so I'll hold off on answering this part 😊

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It might just be my daddy issues talking but the fact that Ahlf wanted Mc to stay with him makes me so happy?? Like "He told me that it would be better if you remained with him," she explains. "That you did not... that it would good for you to stay with him."

While i understand how extremely selfish as that was of him to do, he didn’t want Mc to leave, he wanted to keep taking care of them 🥲

He did in fact want to keep the MC with him for protection if nothing else - you're free to interpret the underlying reasons based on how you play the MC's relationship with Ahlf. If you read certain letters, you'll know that Erlan let the MC live with Ahlf out of the friendship he once shared with Ahlf so Ahlf truly believed that the MC would have been safer with him than with Salyra and her suicide mission of trying to end the war.

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please don’t hesitate to correct me if im wrong because i very much want to be but… if salyra somehow is involved in the death of irus’s father then that means she indirectly got ahlf killed too…

We could really say Erlan is the reason for most deaths in the game - indirectly and directly 😅

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heyy, I haven't seen this question. Did Erlan ever love Lamahu? Or at least there was some affection or respect? I think you mentioned once that the breaking off of the engagement was the final straw because he felt like he was being denied something else that "belonged" to him, I always thought he was referring to Ishari

This is a bit complicated because once, Erlan wasn't as ruthless as the man that we see in the game. He did love Lamahu, whether that love stemmed from the fact it was part infatuation, part desire to control Ishari and a part of him actually loving her is something up for debate. I like to think that he loved her at one point but his ambition got in the way of things - Lamahu also at some point after the war began realised that Erlan's love for her was flawed because he obviously didn't respect her beliefs of the Ancient Ones to respect Salyra's advice to break off the betrothal (which to Lamahu was an order from the deities she worshipped). So yes, he loved her in his own way.

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I have a low of humor; can't stop laughing at imaging Erlan screaming in the afterlife at romanced Irus "WHEN I SAID F THE ISHARI THAT WASN'T WHAT I MEANT!"

Now that we know Erlan was meant to marry Lamahu, we all know that he'd be quite hypocritical for saying this 😂

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This may seem like a dumb question, but did Ahlf hate King Erlan? I get the feeling their relationship was more complex than that.

Not a dumb question at all!

Their relationship was very complicated. When they were still young and Erlan wasn't a bloodthirsty tyrant, Ahlf and Erlan were very good friends, in fact, they were more like brothers than Erlan and Virion were. Once things started to change and the war started to last longer than was originally planned, Ahlf lost a lot of trust in Erlan as a king and as his friend. He tried to convince Erlan to stop the war, but by then things had gone too far and Erlan would rather end his friendship with Ahlf than heed his former friend's warning. That said, if Ahlf and Erlan had to meet each other in the battlefield (if they were both still alive), they'd both hesitate to kill each other. I'd go so far as to say that they'd spare the other if it came down to it.

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Assuming a hypothetical where Salyra wasn't in prison, and Salt Bay was never attacked and MC didn't leave, do you think Salyra would have gone back for them now that Erlan's dead?

Nope. She'd still be imprisoned 😋👀 Yes, I know you said hypothetically but I'm trying to give people hints as to what's to come 😅

That said - remember that Ahlf had a role in keeping Salyra away from the MC. He did write back to her and she stayed away. The question why will be answered in Part 3 😬👀

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I have question if relationship between King Erlan and Papa become bad after Papa courting with Salyra, Why King Erlan still give Prince Irus's Guardian position to Papa? Like if King Erlan was suspect or angry at Papa, Why he still trust Papa to protect his son?

Remember to keep in mind that Irus is a year older than the MC, so when Irus was born, Ahlf was still part of the Blood Guard - though at that point, he had lost faith and the motivation to keep fighting in the war. During this time, Erlan knew about Salyra but he believed that he could still get Ahlf to leave Salyra.

At the same time, Erlan was facing a lot of push back from those in Cyre - mostly nobles and his brother, because the war was costing the kingdom a lot of resources and time which wasn't what Erlan initially promised. Because of this and the paranoia that the people around him were untrustworthy and would either use Irus as blackmail or kill Irus altogether, Erlan turned to the only person he did actually trust which in this case was Ahlf. They were very close friends before the war and even in the early start of it so Erlan knew that despite their differences, Ahlf would at least protect Irus and not try to harm him.

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It going the most cursed theory in my head....

1. Why Salyra wait from 20 years to kill King Erlan? It is because she wait from Prince Irus's mother or she another plans in her head?

2. Oh god...it was cursed idea that i have in my head right now.....i wonder when King Erlan and Ahlf still being friends. Did King Erlan have crush on Ahlf before anything go down to hill?

(Sorry about cursed question)

Because there was a war, she was on the run and had no way of getting to Erlan. By the way, did she really kill him? 😋

Haha, no 😅 Erlan was in love with Lamahu or was it love? No one knows for sure. Erlan and Ahlf were more like brothers so you can say they were best friends.

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Perhaps Erlan was in love with and/or wanted to marry Princess Lamahu and she turned him down... So hurt pride/feelings and all that 👀

👀

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I will say, in light of the Ahlf and Salyra letters situation my MC can't really be mad at Ahlf about it. Sure, if he was alive they would be pissed at both of them, but him being dead and most importantly dying to protect them changes things. It makes it easier for them to understand that Ahlf might have kept it away because hearing from their mom that is just having her whole life in a completely different place and has no indications of coming back for them might just harm the MC more than doing good in the long run (nevermind the possibility of a young MC trying to run away after her or something), as well as just thinking of Salyra delivering the whole "new sibling" situation via letter would have hurt my (then younger) MC so much worse 💀 He took that chance from MC, sure, and while it doesn't go ignored by my MC he gets why he wouldn't (and is a little grateful in retrospective, at least for trying to do right by them even if it wasn't their choice to make).

Like Ahlf might have had completely different reasons as to why he kept the correspondence secret, but so far this is the angle I'm seeing and I'm playing my MC based on.

Now I'll wait for you to smack me with another curveball in the next update 😂-

I can say that you're quite correct with Ahlf's motivations as to why he might have kept the letters away from the MC. You'll still learn what Ahlf's responses were because of course Salyra would have kept the letters 😋😅

The only curveball comes from Erlan's death 😋

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I loved chapter 6 😍. Dear author the emotional trauma was chef’s kiss 😚👌

My opinion on Salyra has not changed but worsted lmao 🤣 . That being said I don’t doubt Salyra loves the MC in her own complicated way, but the path to hell is paved with good intentions 👀, and there is so much that a person can endure and forgive… You have build a really interesting character and the fact that there’re so different responses to Salyra speak well of your writing.

I was expecting the reveal about Erlan and the probable role Salyra had in it, but the implication on why she had the MC hit in the feels. Poor MC when they will discover the secret Salyra is trying to keep. I love how Salyra only followed them to avoid her old friend to spill the beans 😂.

On the other hand i can forgive Ahlf’s role in chapter 5 angst, he was only trying to protect the MC, and my MC would have reacted the same way (like father like daughter much to Salyra’s chagrin 🤣). Maybe it is because i read Ahlf’s side story? Or maybe because his secrecy seems to be propelled by a wish to protect, while Salyra seems to act in fear of the MC’s reaction? 🤔

Now I have a doubt: was Salyra truly the fugitive she believed to be? We already know that Erlan wasn’t a threat to the MC or the vinian family, so it is not hard to believe that he wasn’t so obsessed in finding her outside of Ishari. I mean I don’t doubt Erlan would have danced on her grave if in the war effort she ended up dead, but going to the lengths of finding her for years outside of Ishari… 👀

I'm so glad you enjoyed Chapter 6! 😊💖 I tried my best to make things about the MC and dealing with the aftermath of Chapter 5's events so I'm happy the emotional trauma hit the mark 😅

Salyra is a complicated character and I never wanted her to be this perfect mother who swoops in to save the day, after the MC had to live with Ahlf for so long 😅

Erlan's death is going to come up in Part 3, because I wanted to focus on the main plot points for this chapter and to foreshadow the MC's reason for being born 👀 Salyra did not follow the gang to meet Sangasu - she had already been planning to head there but didn't think the MC would have gone too 😂

Ahlf did try his best to protect the MC and by part 3, you will get to learn more about his role in the whole Salyra/MC relationship 👀 the side story does explain a little about how it started, but there is a lot more that still has to be explained.

She was for a long time on the run, but with age, Erlan grew more reluctantly to continue fighting a battle he seemed unable to win so he lost interest after some time. Whether or not Salyra was really being sought by Erlan is a matter of perspective 😅😬

Thanks for playing and for your support! 💖

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How much did Erlan actually achieve before his death? He was well loved by his people and did manage to wipe off the Ancient worship in his kingdom, but was it all worth it to him by his deathbed?

Quite a fair bit! He nearly eradicated all worship of the Ancient Ones in Cyre, built up stronger trade with neighbouring kingdoms and created the ultimate army - the Blood Guard 😂

As to whether he was proud of his accomplishments... you'll need to track him in the underworld to find out 😋

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Salrya got me facepalming at everything she's attemping to get closer to MC. Seriously woman, which one of those five braincells made you think rifling through someone's personal belongings was going to endear you to them more when their trust in you isn't currently at its highest? 🤦

But you know what? That war getting triggered? I don't put so much blame on her for that one. Yeah, it's a part of what started the war, but she isn't responsible for Erlan choosing to be a petty prick about the rejection and starting a war over wounded pride. And there could have been numerous other ways Lama could have navigated things between her and Erlan to make the reaction less negative. This is the one area of Salrya's mistakes that I don't think anyone could fault her too much for (surprisingly), as she should not be held responsible for how two adults in power go about making their life choices.

Salyra isn't thinking so much with her logic but going according to her emotions. She's desperate to reconnect with the MC and she's struggling with the idea that the MC is not the child she remembers so yes, she'll do some questionable things in the process 😅

You are right that Salyra didn't cause the war but she did influence the way the marriage negotiations were handled. Erlan is of course a petty man, so he saw it as a direct affront. He also had his own agenda in trying to gain a greater control of Cyre so one thing led to another and bam, we're thirty years down the line and only slightly closer to perhaps attaining peace 😋

I will say that there were genuine feelings between Lamahu and Erlan so their failed betrothal/agreement really made things more complicated than simply being politics.