- Added Space
- Jul 13, 2012
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Free Markets
Free People
Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!
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2 What you want, boy?
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Aug 26, 2016 22:38
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 18, 2024 11:38
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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2 This really what you want, kid?
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Aug 26, 2016 22:58
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- habituallyred
- Feb 6, 2015
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2 This is just embarrassing.
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Aug 27, 2016 02:42
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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quote:
When you approach young Ptolemy, he stops crying for a moment to hide behind his giant shield, so that it is covering him like a blanket. "Wh—what do you want, Artemis?" he sniffles, looking over the rim of the shield.
1. "I was thinking of speaking to your mother and convincing her not to make you compete in the Olympics. Does that sound good to you?"
2. "The question really is, what do you want? Is it to be an athlete, or something else?"
3. "I want to help you succeed at this. Let me be your coach."
quote:
Ptolemy IV hesitates, then mutters something behind his shield.
"I didn't catch that."
Ptolemy IV peeks his chin over the shield rim. "I said I want to be an artist," he says, somewhat sheepishly.
"What kind of artist?"
"Painting," Ptolemy IV says. "And poetry. Sometimes I write poems about my paintings and put them on the back."
You have instructed young Ptolemy in both art forms, and you must say, he's reasonably good…for a thirteen-year-old. You consider telling him about all the artists who gather at the Olympics to show their work. Ptolemy's parents could probably pull the right strings to get Ptolemy's own art shown at the Olympics. Finding a buyer would be another matter, but at least that would be a challenge the boy would pursue enthusiastically, even if his disappointment remained likely.
Maybe it would be enough to use art as an angle to get Ptolemy to want to go to the Olympics. Berenice would probably be happiest with that.
1. "I will try to convince your parents to let you compete at the Olympics as an artist instead of as an athlete."
2. "If you compete in the Olympics, you will have a chance to see a lot of art. Wouldn't you like that?"
3. "I think you're a little inexperienced to compete as an artist or an athlete. I'll ask Berenice to consider not making you go."
Character Sheet posted:
Current Year
232 BC
Your Stats
Artemis ("Athena") aka "Two Goddesses for the Price of One"
Techne: 12 (Extraordinary)
Medicine: 0 (No Knowledge)
Rhetoric: 0 (No Knowledge)
Idealist: 46% Pragmatic: 54%
Elitist: 54% Populist: 46%
Alexandria's Stats
Strength: 4 (Respectable)
Knowledge: 7 (Extraordinary)
Egyptian Unrest: 42%
Relationship (Young Ptolemy)
Ptolemy IV
Age: 13
Petty: 44% Wise: 56%
Relationship: 53%
Relationships (Others)
Ptolemy III: 48%
Berenice II: 59%
Archimedes: 65%
Nefertari: 60%
Inventions and Discoveries
Automatic doors engraved with images of double-edged swords
Fire engine
Geography
Mecha-Medes
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Aug 27, 2016 03:39
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- Comstar
- Apr 20, 2007
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Are you happy now?
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1. "I will try to convince your parents to let you compete at the Olympics as an artist instead of as an athlete." But I'll invent a machine to help you make art better than anyone else.
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Aug 27, 2016 07:08
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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1 Compete as an artist, I'll give you some mechanical easels to really showcase your stuff.
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Aug 27, 2016 09:31
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- habituallyred
- Feb 6, 2015
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1 Let us crush this dream sooner rather than later.
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Aug 27, 2016 20:56
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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quote:
Maybe it would be enough to use art as an angle to get Ptolemy to want to go to the Olympics. Berenice would probably be happiest with that.
1. "I will try to convince your parents to let you compete at the Olympics as an artist instead of as an athlete."
2. "If you compete in the Olympics, you will have a chance to see a lot of art. Wouldn't you like that?"
3. "I think you're a little inexperienced to compete as an artist or an athlete. I'll ask Berenice to consider not making you go."
quote:
"Perhaps your parents only want to see you apply yourself to something, and it matters not what," you say. "I will ask them whether it would be fitting for you to join the other artists at the Olympics showing their works, and save the athletic competitions for young men who enjoy them."
Ptolemy's eyes widen. "You would do that?"
"Certainly," you say. "I would like to see my pupil flourish, not be…" You avoid saying "humiliated": "…put out so."
Ptolemy IV brightens. "I'm going to go home, then. I have a work that is almost ready. If they see my painting of Zeus, I'm sure they'll let me go!"
+7 Relationship with Ptolemy IV
Ptolemy takes off at a run toward the palace and (perhaps predictably) trips and sprawls over his shield again. But this time, he does not burst into tears. He picks himself up, and then he walks, rolling his giant shield alongside him like a wheel.
quote:
Berenice, who had been unaware of Ptolemy IV's artistic leanings, is at first a little skeptical of the idea of allowing her son to present himself as an artist at the Olympics. But you convince her that Ptolemy has no interest in the hoplitodromos event, and that he would probably embarrass the Ptolemaic dynasty if he were to compete; whereas, in your opinion, his paintings are not half bad for a thirteen-year-old, and may attract interest from buyers simply because of the chance of their value appreciating once young Ptolemy takes the throne.
So it comes to be that you, Berenice, and Ptolemy IV go to the Olympics. Berenice wins the champion's laurel for the chariot races, as the owner of the winning chariot; she is, in retrospect, grateful that she was not distracted by wrangling with Ptolemy.
+4 Relationship with Berenice
Ptolemy IV manages to sell all three of the paintings he brings; as it turns out, there are many patrons with the tastes of thirteen-year-old boys, and his depictions of Zeus and Hercules and Ares go over quite well. Sadly, the boy cares so little about the money that he forgets to bring it back from the artists' pavilion, but you suppose some other starving artist is quite happy now.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
Sponsor: You helped Ptolemy IV sell paintings at the Olympics. (5 points)
You may not have taught the boy the value of persevering at something he detests, but you did show him the value of pursuing something he loves instead. Surely, that counts for something.
+2 Ptolemy IV's Pettiness
At any rate, you have never seen the young prince happier than on the voyage home, at the prow of the ship, painting his next thirteen-year-old masterpiece.
quote:
When Ptolemy IV is fifteen, you decide it would be good for the prince to see how young people who don't have private tutors are educated. You bring him to the Musaeum, where students from all over the known world are gathered to learn grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. You walk among the Musaeum's new white marble assembly halls that Ptolemy III built along the waterfront. It speaks well of the elder Ptolemy, you think, that he used the same fine marble for the Musaeum as he did for the nearby palace.
You enter one of these new assembly halls to join a geometry lecture already in progress. As you enter the double doors at the back of the lecture hall, over a hundred student heads crane your way, wet clay tablets and styluses momentarily set down as students try to see over their peers on the higher seats behind them. Boys and girls alike are dressed in fine, colorfully dyed chitons, all of which were probably purchased in the last year to accommodate their growth spurts. The instructor, a young woman who must be new, is in the middle of drawing a diagram in the sand pit at the front of the lecture hall, using a taut string and a stake to make two marks in the sand, each at an equal distance from the stake. With a long straightedge, she connects her three points to form an isosceles triangle, then draws the students' attention by decisively clearing her throat.
"What I'm about to show you is an improved proof of Euclid's fifth proposition," the instructor says with excitement. "Euclid's proof is already known as 'the bridge of asses,' both because the construction in the proof looks like a bridge, and because understanding it supposedly makes you a true mathematician instead of an…ah, haha, right, I probably shouldn't use that language in front of you, should I? Well, anyway, there's a simpler proof. It turns out Euclid's proof was not only hard, but needlessly hard. Hey. Hey, I'm over here. Quit looking at the prince, please. This triangle is very interesting, honest."
As the instructor continues her proof, you and Ptolemy quietly take seats in the back. You suppose you've chosen a poor time to come in for Ptolemy to actually learn anything. This instructor, while full of energy and new ideas, clearly does not yet know how to control her classroom.
Indeed, Ptolemy seems enchanted not by the mathematics, but the world of the students, nothing of which escapes Ptolemy's eye. You see him look longingly at a whispering pair of students, peer inquisitively at a clay tablet that two students pass back and forth, and whip his head around at the sound of students giggling. You wonder how often young Ptolemy ever interacts with young people his age. Probably not often.
When the water clock at the front of the classroom has stopped flowing, the students notice first, and it is the general commotion of students putting their tablets back in their satchels that signals to the instructor that class is over. "Study this proof for next time!" she shouts hoarsely over a classroom that has already stopped paying attention. As students congregate into their cliques to walk out, Ptolemy IV looks longingly at them. But when they look back with equal curiosity, he seems to shrink into himself.
The instructor approaches. "Your Highness, I'm so honored that you would come to my classroom…"
But Ptolemy ignores her. "I want this!" he says to you desperately. "I want friends! I want to be with other students my age! I'm so lonely, Artemis!"
You reflect that Ptolemy IV must be lonely indeed if even geometry class looks like the social event of the season.
1. I will try to convince Ptolemy's parents that he should have a Musaeum education instead of my tutoring.
2. I will try to convince Ptolemy's parents that Ptolemy needs more friends.
3. I tell Ptolemy that I think of him as a close friend, but I do nothing to help him make more.
Character Sheet posted:
Current Year
230 BC
Your Stats
Artemis ("Athena") aka "Two Goddesses for the Price of One"
Techne: 12 (Extraordinary)
Medicine: 0 (No Knowledge)
Rhetoric: 0 (No Knowledge)
Idealist: 46% Pragmatic: 54%
Elitist: 54% Populist: 46%
Alexandria's Stats
Strength: 4 (Respectable)
Knowledge: 7 (Extraordinary)
Egyptian Unrest: 42%
Relationship (Young Ptolemy)
Ptolemy IV
Age: 15
Petty: 46% Wise: 54%
Relationship: 60%
Relationships (Others)
Ptolemy III: 48%
Berenice II: 63%
Archimedes: 65%
Nefertari: 60%
Inventions and Discoveries
Automatic doors engraved with images of double-edged swords
Fire engine
Geography
Mecha-Medes
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Aug 28, 2016 01:16
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- The_Final_Stand
- Nov 2, 2013
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So cute and cuddly
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2. Not going to suggest he gets an alternative education on account of the fact that that would put us out of a job.
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Aug 28, 2016 01:22
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- Comstar
- Apr 20, 2007
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Are you happy now?
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2. I will try to convince Ptolemy's parents that Ptolemy needs more friends.. They could play Dungeons and Dragons together. Game pack 1: Theseus and the Minotaur.
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Aug 28, 2016 02:19
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- Raserys
- Aug 22, 2011
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IT'S YA BOY
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3
Trusssssst in me, little Ptolemy
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Aug 28, 2016 03:35
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- sullat
- Jan 9, 2012
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2. Not going to suggest he gets an alternative education on account of the fact that that would put us out of a job.
2 Agreed, we like the kid, but not enough to lose our job over it. Well, if he's 15, we'll be out of work soon enough anyway.
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Aug 28, 2016 03:39
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- habituallyred
- Feb 6, 2015
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2 We need to vet his new "friends"
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Aug 28, 2016 09:08
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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2 More friends will help ground you.
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Aug 28, 2016 11:59
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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quote:
You reflect that Ptolemy IV must be lonely indeed if even geometry class looks like the social event of the season.
1. I will try to convince Ptolemy's parents that he should have a Musaeum education instead of my tutoring.
2. I will try to convince Ptolemy's parents that Ptolemy needs more friends.
3. I tell Ptolemy that I think of him as a close friend, but I do nothing to help him make more.
quote:
"I will get you more friends, Ptolemy," you tell him. "Let me talk to your parents."
You make your case in an audience before Ptolemy III and Berenice.
"Young Ptolemy doesn't know how to interact with other young people," you say. "He needs more friends his age."
"Indeed, this is intolerable," Ptolemy III says, pounding his fist on the arm of his throne. "My son shall have the best friends in all Alexandria."
But Berenice looks irritated. "Are we really going to order up friends for our son? Demand the nobles send along their children to play with him? Artemis has been so careful to teach Ptolemy to be less demanding — but now we're going to show him that everyone has to come to our beck and call?"
"Our son could stand to be better connected, at the very least," Ptolemy III says. "And those children's families will be glad of the perceived opportunity for influence. Yes, it is time for us to procure some friends for our son. Done."
Ptolemy III says this, then glances Berenice's way. You think he often consults with her before making decisions about Ptolemy IV, but this time, he has overridden her outright. Berenice scowls.
+2 Relationship with Ptolemy III
-6 Relationship with Berenice
Indeed, noble children begin streaming into the palace to become friends with Ptolemy IV. Ptolemy is a kind and good host to each of them, and they, in turn, help to bring him out of his shell a little. You realize, as you see Ptolemy's transformation, that you've perhaps been a little too harsh with him. He laughs so much more when he is around them. But then, in an effort to impress his friends, Ptolemy tends to bring out the kind of expensive indulgences that Sosibius has taught him to love. They drink fancy wines without mixing them with water, eat oysters, and order royal entertainment. You are less thrilled with these developments.
+12 Ptolemy IV's Pettiness
But so be it: Ptolemy has friends now, and he has you to thank. That's not too bad.
+6 Relationship with Ptolemy IV
quote:
When Ptolemy is sixteen, he falls in love.
During a mathematics tutoring session in your office at the library, Ptolemy suddenly interrupts the lesson to ask you for advice on a love poem he has written. The poem is not very good, but you suppose it is all right for a sixteen-year-old. It is addressed to someone named Agathoclea.
"I think she will like it," you say cautiously, returning the scrap of papyrus. "How did you meet?"
"Sosibius introduced us," Ptolemy says, smiling at the memory as he tucks away the poem. "He surprised me by bringing Agathoclea to dinner. She's his friend's sister."
"Oh really." You have a suspicion that Sosibius would not do such a thing unless it served him somehow. "So Sosibius went with you to this dinner."
"Yes, but he was very helpful," Ptolemy says. "I mean, introducing us and everything. She was shy at first." He grins. "I think she likes me very much!"
You ponder what an appropriate reaction to this state of affairs is.
1. I warn Ptolemy that this is likely just a ploy by Sosibius to win influence with him.
2. I will pay a visit to Agathoclea to determine whether her feelings are genuine.
3. I simply take this opportunity to interest Ptolemy more in his poetry lessons.
Character Sheet posted:
Current Year
229 BC
Your Stats
Artemis ("Athena") aka "Two Goddesses for the Price of One"
Techne: 12 (Extraordinary)
Medicine: 0 (No Knowledge)
Rhetoric: 0 (No Knowledge)
Idealist: 44% Pragmatic: 56%
Elitist: 54% Populist: 46%
Alexandria's Stats
Strength: 4 (Respectable)
Knowledge: 7 (Extraordinary)
Egyptian Unrest: 42%
Relationship (Young Ptolemy)
Ptolemy IV
Age: 16
Petty: 58% Wise: 42%
Relationship: 66%
Relationships (Others)
Ptolemy III: 50%
Berenice II: 57%
Archimedes: 65%
Nefertari: 60%
Inventions and Discoveries
Automatic doors engraved with images of double-edged swords
Fire engine
Geography
Mecha-Medes
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Aug 28, 2016 15:11
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- habituallyred
- Feb 6, 2015
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2 Ptolemy IV won't believe us either way, so let us cut this problem off at the source.
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Aug 28, 2016 15:48
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- Espresso Steampunk
- Sep 27, 2008
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2. because we have to try.
(Also I just found out about this LP. Does JosephWong have a twitter or something so I don't fall behind next time? Also this one seems wayyy trickier than magical celibate pirates)
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Aug 28, 2016 16:18
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- FredMSloniker
- Jan 2, 2008
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Why, yes, I do like Kirby games.
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2. because we have to try.
(Also I just found out about this LP. Does JosephWong have a twitter or something so I don't fall behind next time?)
There's an RSS feed for the Let's Play subforum that you can follow to know when any new LPs are made. If you have a mobile device, you can use an app called IFTTT to get notifications when new LPs are made, or you can follow it in your browser with Feedreader or something. This won't be Joseph's LPs in particular, but you can check each new one real quick to see if it interests you.
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Aug 28, 2016 17:34
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- sullat
- Jan 9, 2012
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3: Everything can be an opportunity for more book learning!
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Aug 28, 2016 19:11
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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1 Kid, you're old enough to learn that men like Sosubius don't do anything out of agape. Always test his motive, see what the catch is, don't get blinded by ephemeral luxuries or women who... Well, I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger...
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Aug 28, 2016 19:48
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- Comstar
- Apr 20, 2007
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Are you happy now?
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2. I will pay a visit to Agathoclea to determine whether her feelings are genuine.
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Aug 28, 2016 21:46
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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quote:
You ponder what an appropriate reaction to this state of affairs is.
1. I warn Ptolemy that this is likely just a ploy by Sosibius to win influence with him.
2. I will pay a visit to Agathoclea to determine whether her feelings are genuine.
3. I simply take this opportunity to interest Ptolemy more in his poetry lessons.
quote:
After Ptolemy's visit is done, you decide to do some sleuthing about his young paramour, Agathoclea. You learn that she lives with her brother Agathocles on a boat in the dodgy part of the harbor near the lighthouse, known as the Bay of Pirates. You decide to pay her a visit there.
When you go to Agathoclea's boat, it is late in the afternoon. It is a slightly chilly fall day, but there are no clouds in the sky, and the water this side of the Pharos is very still. Agathoclea's boat is in quite good condition compared to its neighbors. You yell, and a girl who could not be older than thirteen emerges from belowdecks. Her hair is unusual in that it is blond, as Ptolemy IV's poem emphasized over and over, making it easy to identify her.
"My brother isn't here, and I shouldn't talk to strangers without him," Agathoclea says over the rail. "Please go away."
"I am a friend of Ptolemy IV," you say from the dock. "I would like to see in person that your love is true, that I may vouch for you."
Agathoclea hesitates for a moment. "Very well, come aboard," she says. "I will show you something."
You cross the boarding ramp, and Agathoclea takes you belowdecks, where you find her cabin. Around the kline where she must sleep, tiny paintings of Ptolemy IV are crammed everywhere.
"I have been in love with Ptolemy IV ever since I was young, and my brother gave me my first image of him," Agathoclea says, setting down the candle she carries to pick up one of the tiny paintings. "I made him my imaginary friend. How wondrous it was to finally meet him in person." She holds the painting to her chest. "It is even more glorious than I imagined."
"Did you acquire these all yourself, then?" you say.
"No, some are gifts from my brother, while others are gifts from his friend, Sosibius." Noting your reaction to the second name, she says, "Oh, do you know him? He has always been kind to me. Whenever he gives me things, he just says, 'It's an investment.'" Noting your sour reaction, she adds, "An investment in my future, I think is what he means."
So: Sosibius, along with Agathoclea's brother, has apparently raised her to be infatuated with young Ptolemy, probably to give them a way to manipulate the prince. What will you do about that?
1. I try to convince Agathoclea that her romance with Ptolemy IV is a bad idea.
2. I go back to Ptolemy IV and try to convince him that he is being manipulated.
3. I will try to convince both of them that it will never work, starting with Agathoclea.
4. I will just go back to Ptolemy and teach him how to write better love poems.
Character Sheet posted:
Current Year
229 BC
Your Stats
Artemis ("Athena") aka "Two Goddesses for the Price of One"
Techne: 12 (Extraordinary)
Medicine: 0 (No Knowledge)
Rhetoric: 0 (No Knowledge)
Idealist: 44% Pragmatic: 56%
Elitist: 54% Populist: 46%
Alexandria's Stats
Strength: 4 (Respectable)
Knowledge: 7 (Extraordinary)
Egyptian Unrest: 42%
Relationship (Young Ptolemy)
Ptolemy IV
Age: 16
Petty: 58% Wise: 42%
Relationship: 66%
Relationships (Others)
Ptolemy III: 50%
Berenice II: 57%
Archimedes: 65%
Nefertari: 60%
Inventions and Discoveries
Automatic doors engraved with images of double-edged swords
Fire engine
Geography
Mecha-Medes
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Aug 28, 2016 23:33
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- Smiling Knight
- May 31, 2011
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I think we have strayed too far from our roots. Let's just teach the kid how to write better love poems.
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Aug 29, 2016 01:15
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- AfroSquirrel
- Sep 3, 2011
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Rhetoric: 0 (No Knowledge)
4. Hey kid, tell her this limerick...
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Aug 29, 2016 01:26
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- sullat
- Jan 9, 2012
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Rhetoric: 0 (No Knowledge)
4. Hey kid, tell her this limerick...
There was a young woman from Pharos
Who worshipped the shrine of Eros
She was good for a fling
And would do anything
But was she worthy of Pharoahs?
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Aug 29, 2016 02:24
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- AJ_Impy
- Jun 17, 2007
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SWORD OF SMATTAS. CAN YOU NOT HEAR A WORLD CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE? WHEN WILL YOU DELIVER IT?
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Yam Slacker
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3. Poems have no moving parts and can't destroy things. Wrecking a teenage infatuation, on the other hand...
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Aug 29, 2016 03:38
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- Espresso Steampunk
- Sep 27, 2008
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I'd say 4. is pretty harmless. We're all planning to murder Sosibius, anyway.... aren't we?
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Aug 29, 2016 04:37
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- habituallyred
- Feb 6, 2015
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2 Don't stick your dick in crazy kid. This is the first of many crazies that will be lining up to have a shot at you.
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Aug 29, 2016 04:59
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- Comstar
- Apr 20, 2007
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Are you happy now?
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I'm an engineer, not a love doctor Jim. 4. I will just go back to Ptolemy and teach him how to write better love poems.
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Aug 29, 2016 10:37
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- Kanthulhu
- Apr 8, 2009
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NO ONE SPOIL GAME OF THRONES FOR ME!
IF SOMEONE TELLS ME THAT OBERYN MARTELL AND THE MOUNTAIN DIE THIS SEASON, I'M GOING TO BE PISSED.
BUT NOT HALF AS PISSED AS I'D BE IF SOMEONE WERE TO SPOIL VARYS KILLING A LANISTER!!!
(Dany shits in a field)
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1. I try to convince Agathoclea that her romance with Ptolemy IV is a bad idea.
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Aug 29, 2016 11:31
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- JosephWongKS
- Apr 4, 2009
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by Nyc_Tattoo
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quote:
So: Sosibius, along with Agathoclea's brother, has apparently raised her to be infatuated with young Ptolemy, probably to give them a way to manipulate the prince. What will you do about that?
1. I try to convince Agathoclea that her romance with Ptolemy IV is a bad idea.
2. I go back to Ptolemy IV and try to convince him that he is being manipulated.
3. I will try to convince both of them that it will never work, starting with Agathoclea.
4. I will just go back to Ptolemy and teach him how to write better love poems.
quote:
When you next meet up with the young prince for a tutoring session, you decide that the boy simply does not need to know about the suspicious contributions of Sosibius and Agathocles to Agathoclea's crush — which appears genuine, if a bit manufactured at the same time. Who are you to deny Ptolemy his young love?
+4 Ptolemy IV's Pettiness
"Would you like me to help you write better poems?" you ask.
Ptolemy nods eagerly.
You proceed to give Ptolemy intensive lessons in improving his poetry. In trying to explain what makes his work bad, you find yourself coming to novel realizations about what makes work good. Improving his poems proves to be a useful exercise for you both.
+1 Rhetoric
Meanwhile, you have never seemed smarter to Ptolemy than you do now, and his admiration for you only increases.
+3 Relationship with Ptolemy IV
However, your suspicions about the whole arrangement resurface when Agathoclea's brother Agathocles wins a plum position in the priesthood, joining his friend Sosibius at court thereafter. Ptolemy may be in love, but Sosibius and Agathocles have undoubtedly used this hook to increase their power at court. You can only hope that their motives, if not innocent, remain at least innocuous.
CHAPTER 5 - THE COLOSSUS FALLS
quote:
As you had agreed when you first arrived in Alexandria, you serve as young Ptolemy IV's tutor until he is nineteen years old. The time passes quickly, between your duties at the library and your duty to the young prince. When you are finally relieved of your tutoring duty, you are not quite sure what to do with all the time. But soon enough, the royal family has need of you again, as they find that Ptolemy often still needs someone at court who can explain what his parents are doing.
Unlike his father, nineteen-year-old Ptolemy IV insists on having slaves cater to him while the king is holding court. He drinks wine, is fanned by palm fronds, and always has a selection of dates and grapes available in little bowls nearby. As a result, Ptolemy IV is growing fat.
But Berenice and Ptolemy III both indulge the boy — they deny him nothing.
Sosibius, meanwhile, continues to find excuses to hover around the boy, despite the fact that young Ptolemy no longer needs a caretaker. Sosibius often inquires about Agathoclea, who became Ptolemy's lover years ago and remains so now. There has been increasing tension between Ptolemy IV and his parents because he wishes Agathoclea to be queen one day, and neither parent wants to entertain that notion. Meanwhile, Agathoclea's brother Agathocles has come to court as well, representing the Egyptian priesthood at court despite his being Greek himself. The two men try their best to exclude you from their conversations with the prince, and they largely succeed.
+5 Egyptian Unrest
One day, a messenger comes from Rhodes. "Sire, the Colossus of Rhodes has fallen in an earthquake," the messenger says.
"What's a colossus?" Ptolemy IV asks you.
"A large wonder of a statue that stood over their port," you say. "It was so tall, a ship's mast only came to its knees."
"We can help them rebuild," says Ptolemy III. "We have the gold."
"They say it is an act of the gods, punishing their hubris," the messenger says.
You catch Sosibius and Agathocles exchanging a smirk at this notion. Hubris: what a quaint idea!
"They have not requested aid," the messenger concludes.
Ptolemy III looks to you. "What do you think we ought to do, Artemis?"
1. "We should build our own colossus, as a testament to the strength of Alexandria."
2. "We should go buy the pieces, bring them back, and reassemble them."
3. "The money would be better spent on the city's defense."
Character Sheet posted:
Current Year
226 BCE
Your Stats
Artemis ("Athena") aka "Two Goddesses for the Price of One"
Techne: 12 (Extraordinary)
Medicine: 0 (No Knowledge)
Rhetoric: 1 (Dabbler)
Idealist: 44% Pragmatic: 56%
Elitist: 54% Populist: 46%
Alexandria's Stats
Strength: 4 (Respectable)
Knowledge: 7 (Extraordinary)
Egyptian Unrest: 47%
Relationship (Young Ptolemy)
Ptolemy IV
Age: 19
Petty: 62% Wise: 38%
Relationship: 69%
Relationships (Others)
Ptolemy III: 50%
Berenice II: 57%
Archimedes: 65%
Nefertari: 60%
Inventions and Discoveries
Automatic doors engraved with images of double-edged swords
Fire engine
Geography
Mecha-Medes
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Aug 30, 2016 16:28
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- Oblivion4568238
- Oct 10, 2012
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The Inquisition.
What a show.
The Inquisition.
Here. We. Go.
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College Slice
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With our incredible Techne and our complete failure to rein in Ptolemy IV up to this point, let's accept that we're just a mad architect and make our own Colossus, preferably with locomotion.
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Aug 30, 2016 17:23
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- habituallyred
- Feb 6, 2015
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3 If the option doesn't say build a giant robot, save money for a giant robot.
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Aug 30, 2016 20:25
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- Comstar
- Apr 20, 2007
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Are you happy now?
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Put all the wounders of the world in one city. 2. "We should go buy the pieces, bring them back, and reassemble them."
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Aug 30, 2016 21:46
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- Raserys
- Aug 22, 2011
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IT'S YA BOY
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Pfft, how can we make a proper colossus with foreigner parts? 1
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Aug 30, 2016 22:48
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 18, 2024 11:38
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- Espresso Steampunk
- Sep 27, 2008
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This plot's all over the place! Will nothing come to fruition? 3., defense. It might help us bro-out with Archimedes. And we'll need defenses when this Egyptian Unrest boils over. And I'm still hoping we can arrange an 'accident' with Sosibius or Agathocles (I can dream).
FredMSloniker posted:
There's an RSS feed for the Let's Play subforum that you can follow to know when any new LPs are made. If you have a mobile device, you can use an app called IFTTT to get notifications when new LPs are made, or you can follow it in your browser with Feedreader or something. This won't be Joseph's LPs in particular, but you can check each new one real quick to see if it interests you.
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Aug 30, 2016 23:07
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Aug 26, 2016 22:38
