March Q&A answers

Which of the cast do you think would choose/be capable of remaining as spirits after they die?

Good question… I think none of them, but this would also depend on what kind of outcome you'll get at the end of the story. Those who live at least a relatively happy life, almost never linger long enough to be able to do much as spirits. They could stay behind for a few years, but the priests, most likely, wouldn't summon them. They only summon those whose energy is very turbulent and keeps trying to come back. They reach out to them through meditation to ask their name and purpose, and then later bring them over through a ritual. The others usually move on on their own.

I think Ahmose is the only one who is genuinely curious about what it would be like to turn into a spirit, but I think even they wouldn't stay behind for long.

Spirits are not kept in high regard in general. They usually have troubled pasts, and refusing or being unable to walk the path that the gods provided for humans is not something to be proud of, and even spirits agree on that. (Whether they say it out loud is a different question.)

What do the ROs find compelling/attractive about the different MCs? For instance what does Ahmose find most attractive about the thief? What about the guard captain? Etc.

Hmmm that's mostly up to your headcanon :) I don't know what your MC looks like, so you'll have to imagine the physical attraction on that side. If you are on someone's romance route, they will always be attracted to MC's appearance, no matter what your character looks like.

It's probably safe to say that all MCs have certain base qualities, regardless of how you play them. For the priest, every RO will admire their bravery and willpower. For noble, they all appreciate their wit and insightfulness. For captain, it's their resilience and resolve. For thief, it's their resourcefulness and the fresh perspective they bring to the group because let's be honest here, most of the main cast doesn't know how the lower class lives.

How did you choose which characters to make gender selectable? Is there any personality or any other differences (excluding looks) in the gender variable characters?

Narmer was always going to be a man because he's the pharaoh. I considered making him gender-selectable in the very beginning, but it would've brought too many complications into the story. For example, female pharaohs never ruled alone. They were always co-rulers with either their husbands or their sons, or the regents of one. If Narmer was a woman and a pharaoh, she would have to have either a husband or a son. But women can't have more than one official spouse, and Ahmose is gender-selectable so… yeah. Like I said, too many complications.

But since Narmer was there as a guy, I wanted to balance the cast out with a set female character, hence Tabiry :)

Tabiry could be gender-selectable, I just chose her not to be, so that there would always be at least one woman in the group.

There are some big differences between female-male counterparts for some of them. There are a few for Qenna, most of which are spoilery :D One thing that's slightly less spoilery is that f!Qenna can't have biological children anymore because of the demon. She is super careful not to get accidentally pregnant. M!Qenna doesn't have that problem. So m!Qenna had lots of one-night stands during the years. F!Qenna didn't have any partners since the demon because she is too afraid to catch an unwanted baby.

The most important difference for f!Ahmose is that she is not the first in line for the throne. She has two nephews who are ahead of her at the moment. She also has a different attitude towards marriage because she is more monogamous than m!Ahmose. As a woman, she couldn't have other official partners anyway. M!Ahmose is somewhat more liberal with his affections because he knows that he will follow his father on the throne, and as a pharaoh, he may be forced to have several partners for political alliances and such. They also have slightly different interests based on their genders. F!Ahmose is leaning more towards arts and dancing, and M!Ahmose is more fond of sports and competitions.

For Zaia, there is no difference except for some minor things. F!Zaia has been sexualized more than m!Zaia, so she is a bit more wary of that. M!Zaia has a pretty face, so he is often mistaken for a woman, which they don't mind that much, but they find it annoying because what they wear in the game is their original face from their life. So he can draw the conclusion that when he was alive, people probably thought the same about him.

We know that Narmer and Ahmose have Set as their patron god, do any of the other characters have a ''main'' god that they worship?

Qenna is a follower of Khonsu but they are shit at their own magic, so they mostly use the demon's, whose main power aligns with Horus.

Zaia used to be a follower of Anu, who was the main god of the Mesopotamian region, where Zaia is from. They didn't convert to the Egyptian religion per se, but their powers are now associated with Set because Set, among other things, is the god of foreigners as well.

Tabiry and her whole family are followers of Hathor.

Hudjefa is of course a Ra priest. Sesi is also a Ra follower because he was named after him (Ra-m-ses, son of Ra). Pihu started praying to Mut when she got married. Nedjemut used to worship Sekhmet but she switched to Amun once she joined the Amun Corps in the war.

As for the MC's, that mostly depend on their family (or your own headcanon). Priest MC doesn't have a canon patron deity because you can choose that. I was considering to let you choose your patron deity for other MCs as well if you learn a lot of magic, but I recently discarded the idea because it would take years to get a magical specialization like what the priest has. So that choice will remain unique to the priest path.

Harkhuf's side of the family is a follower of Khonsu because the patron deity of the previous dynasty, the one before Narmer's father, was Khonsu. Harkhuf chose him out of respect for the king way back when he was still working for him. MC's mother's is a follower of Isis. MC could be either or both. Pihu also used to be a Khonsu follower. Itamon (MC's brother) started supporting Set once he joined the army, out of respect for the current dynasty.

Heset is a follower of both Hathor and Mut. Captain MC is probably either a Sekhmet, Set, or a Horus follower, but you can headcanon others too if you play a less combat-oriented character.

Khenethetep converted to a Set-following after the war, in support of the royal family. Before that, his family didn't have a dedicated patron god. MC's mother is a follower of Bes. Thief MC could be anything.

In the latest chapter, the MC was able to give the travelling party gifts and it seems like, while they all had a favourite gift, none of the options were actually bad. Is there a gift that the main cast would be annoyed with receiving? And if they did get something they didn't really want/need, would they fake their reaction or be honest?

Narmer really doesn't want to get more weapons. He got enough from his father and pretty much everyone who only knows him as a warrior-king and assumes that he chose that life out of his own free will. The only exception would be if he actually wants a specific weapon and MC buys it for him as a present. Narmer wouldn't tell the MC if he doesn't like something. It's a gift anyway so he will appreciate the thought instead.

Qenna doesn't much care about gifts in general. They will never be overly enthusiastic about them unless it's a specific something that they really wanted, but they will appreciate the thought. The only time they would be annoyed, if it's coming from someone who is deliberately trying to bribe them with an expensive gift.

Zaia would only be annoyed if MC keeps giving them material things even after Zaia told them not to, since they can't do anything with them. You can bet Zaia would tell straight away if that's the case.

Tabiry doesn't really like to receive makeup and beauty products. She is quite picky when it comes to what she puts on her skin, so she prefers to choose it herself. She wouldn't tell MC if she doesn't like the present but you would notice that she will find excuses for why she isn't using it.

Ahmose likes getting new stuff even when they have too many things already. Similar to Qenna, they would be annoyed if the gift comes with an ulterior motive though, but MC doesn't have to be afraid in that regard. No matter what they get from MC, Ahmose will always try to find something to like in it. If nothing else, then the fact that MC thought of them and chose it with Ahmose in mind.

For all of the ROs and Ebo, in some weird scenario where they get to experience all of these characters as companions... Fuck, marry, kill, hug - Hudjefa, Pihu, Nedjemut, Sesi?

Lmao okay… 😂

Narmer would choose to fuck Hudjefa, marry Pihu, kill Sesi, and hug Nedjemut. (sorry Sesi but you are not Narmer's favorite person)

Qenna would fuck Pihu (out of revenge), marry Sesi, kill Hudjefa, and hug Nedjemut.

Zaia would fuck Nedjemut, marry Sesi, kill Hudjefa, and hug Pihu.

Tabiry would fuck Hudjefa, marry Pihu, kill Nedjemut, and hug Sesi.

Ahmose would fuck Sesi, marry Hudjefa, kill Pihu, and hug Nedjemut.

Ebo would fuck Nedjemut, marry Pihu, kill Sesi, and hug Hudjefa.

What is the difference between a spirit and a demon in the game?

A demon is a corrupted spirit. They come from the same place, they all have history too, and they all had a previous life that somehow scarred them. Sometimes, a spirit turns into a demon on their own. If that person was a very troubled and dangerous individual to begin with, like for example a serial killer, then this would happen to their spirit on their own. Or if someone got so badly tortured during their life that it scarred their soul to the very core, then they can turn out of themselves and become deranged souls.

Dangerous summoning rituals can also turn benevolent spirits into demons. One example of that is the process I already wrote about in the spirit lore post here on patreon, the one where someone tries to bring back the dead by summoning the spirit into a living body and trying to kick out the one that's already in there. The reason this is never successful is because this process is so traumatizing that it can easily drive both souls insane, essentially turning them both into demons. This happened a few times in the lore of the game, for example if you play a 35+ captain or priest, they mention one such case that they participated in years ago. They had to kill the host there because that was the only way to contain the situation.

This magical practice is banned everywhere in the country and even attempting it is punishable by death. Some sects still try it from time to time when they think they have found a 'revolutionary, completely safe' method. (They never do)

The demons are destructive, with volatile and unpredictable moods and magical abilities that they often can't control.

Spirits have the raw, innate magical potential of a person. They are much stronger than a human being, but they also have a big vulnerability, which is their lack of a physical body. They can be caught by magical devices, contained with spells, and if they run out of their summoning energy, they slip back to the Duat.

A demon who is inside a living body has little to no vulnerabilities. They basically have an infinite resource of energy, which is coming from the biological body itself, and they are also much harder to hurt because they can just heal the body instantly to prevent it from perishing.

What is the process to summon a demon and why would someone attempt it?

In general, if someone simply wants to summon a demon, the process is the same as summoning a spirit. With added extra precautions to prevent the demon from murdering the summoner the first chance it gets. Sometimes they use demons in wars, for example, if they want to wreak havoc on the enemy, but this doesn't happen often. Controlling a demon is very tricky, so this is only attempted when someone really doesn't have anything left to lose. And often not even then.

Then again, there always were, and always will be deranged people who simply want to hurt others for the sake of it.

Are all demons as ... colourful ... as the one we've met?

No :) Our demon is a bit of a special snowflake. Him and Qenna are a one-in-a-million type of combo.

We've been hearing about Narmer the first all over the story. Is the Narmer that's cohabiting with Qenna THE Narmer?

Maybe 👀

Last and least serious. Can the MC and old man Narmer go skipping into the sunset together? Corpse obelisks and bloodied pyramids in their wake. 

Qenna would heavily object, I think.