My Vow To My Liege: Chapters 1-3
Dec. 26th, 2021 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I am quite enjoying the Chinese fantasy m/f romance visual novel My Vow To My Liege, historical RPF set in the 5th Century BC Kingdom of Ng/Wu about various real and mythical people. The protagonist is King Fuchai, now a woman cross-dressing for Reasons (to do with Evil Dragons)
It feels like someone started with m/m xianxia, made the romantic relationships intense bromance to avoid censorship, and then changed their mind and made the protagonist a cross-dressing woman with as few changes to the art and dialogue as possible. Several hours in there's been zero overt romance, but a lot of delightfully fraught and intense f/m friendships where her being a woman has zero direct relevance to the fraught intensity. All the love interests are men she has direct life-or-death power over who call her "my Liege", and she's bitter, depressed, violent, and driven by revenge :D
I mean, it probably was actually written as het from the start and like...she looks like a very small and pretty dude, and is prone to crying and fainting into the arms of the nearest hot guy who then saves the day etc. And it's entirely possible that at the end she'll do the typical "Hooray I can go back to being a feminine presenting woman and never have to do anything masculine ever again" thing. But thus far it's a nice change from the usual otome dynamic.
The art is good. The writing, Mandarin voice-acting, and characters aren't the BEST EVER but are engaging enough, and so far the plot has been enjoyable fantasy nonsense, with a moody bittersweet vibe.
So I can see why this game hasn't taken the otome world by storm, and don't know how I'll feel at the end, but for now I am quite enjoying it! I'm currently partway through Chapter 5 but this was a better place to stop. I think I might be on a sub-route for Goujian and Shi YiGuang but I'm not sure.
Content notes: violence, age gap ships, slavery
From left to right: ChenFeng, Zheng Dan, Shi YiGuang, Goujian, Wu ZiXu
nb I am using CamelCase and referring to characters by their given names because the game does. The translation is adequate, I can usually follow the meaning but there's lots of awkward grammar plus some over-localisation.
Prologue:
FIRST SCENE IS ABOUT KILLING A GOD :D
The protagonist, Ji TengYu, is the 14 year old princess of the kingdom of Ng. She, her brothers, and her father, are performing a ritual to kill the dragon god their family has been in service to, which her father describes as a demonic beast that deceived their ancestors. Priestesses chant and dance and the royal family dabs their lips with blood from a ding (cauldron) The young priest Shi YiGuang is doing an associated ritual on nearby Tiger Hill.
The former royal mage, Mage Xian, appears with his black-clad Dragon God worshippers to kill them all for betraying the god. The dragon himself appears, and almost everyone is killed in the ensuing fight. The dragon is struck down, it's soul sucked into the ding. With his last words, Mage Xian casts a curse: "Your nation will crumble, families will be torn apart, everything you treasure will turn to ash".
TengYu watches, helpless, clutching a protective jade fish amulet from Shi YiGuang. On the verge of death she shouts his name.
Chapter 1:
The protagonist wakes from her dream, and the Sacred Seal on her chest is excruciatingly painful until she soothes it with the fish amulet. It is five years later, and she now goes by her brother's name, FuChai.
She is bitter and exhausted but determined to do her duty. She seems to have long term health problems (pain and fatigue from the Seal?) she doggedly pushes through.
An envoy from Qi, Gongsun Yi, has come to arrange a wedding to the Qi princess, and find a minor official who vanished near Tiger Hill.
FuChai's serious, earnest, faithful aide ChenFeng helps her dress, though he thinks she should rest. If he's embarrassed by her being a topless woman he hides it well, presumably used to it by now.
FuChai: We are neither a princess nor a king. We are a monster.
(She uses the royal 'we')
Look at how androgynous she is :D
She is grimly resigned to having to marry a woman and have children to carry on the family line...somehow?
FuChai: Do you think the seal has changed colour?
ChenFeng: I...don't look at it closely.
FuChai: When it turns black, our death will be imminent.
ChenFeng: The envoys bring sacred artefacts. We will break the Sacred Vow.
FuChai: They are fakes...just like us.
I love her.
The gruff, loyal, manly Prime Minister Wu ZiXu says he has captured a murder suspect: Goujian, former king of Yue, who lost a war against the Kingdom of Ng and is now treated like a slave. FuChai still refers to him as "The King of Yue" which Wu ZiXu doesn't like.
Wu ZiXu throws FuChai onto his horse in front of him, holding her tightly?? THAT'S YOUR KING, BUDDY.
Dragon God worshippers broke into the temple on Tiger Hill to try and free the Dragon God imprisoned there.
...what is this character design. Not complaining just...well! He has sly expressions that make me wonder if he's Up To Something.
Looks like the Dragon God worshippers kidnapped the teenaged archival officer from Qi. Do we get to date a HOT CIVIL SERVANT :D
The door to the secret room of the temple is sealed with a carving matching the seal on FuChai's chest. "The beautiful pattern depicts the endless dark abyss that has swallowed up countless generations of Ng's kings. I stand at the edge of that abyss."
She unlocks the door with a drop of her blood while Zheng Dan uses his magic to remove the covering water.
They are both disturbed by an impossible sight: a crack in the sacred ding holding the Dragon God's soul. Zheng Dan reassures FuChai that they are going to find a sacred artefact and kill the Dragon God for good.
She remembers her father's death three years ago. He told Wu ZiXu to hold a secret wedding to maintain the bloodline (??) and then made Fuchai promise "We will remember our revenge, and we swear to break this Sacred Vow".
ChenFeng: I have found traces of the insurgents.
FuChai: Good! I will cut off their heads myself! THE SPILT BLOOD OF MY FATHER AND BROTHERS MUST BE REPAID WITH BLOOD.
:D
First choice of the game! I can search with ChenFeng at the lake, or with Wu ZiXu in the city of GuSu.
As curious as I am whether this is the same GuSu as in MDZS, ChenFeng is way cuter than Wu ZiXu.
The follow the trail to a hidden grove, where a girl holding an unconscious boy claims they were attacked by a boar. Because FuChai is still a dumbass otome heroine at heart, I guess, she smiles and steps towards the girl, but ChenFeng manages to kill the girl before she can stab FuChai.
FuChai: What a boring trick.
My apologies for doubting you, FuChai!
On closer inspection the injured 'boy', who is presumably the officer from Qi, appears to be a cross-dressing girl of around 15?? She's holding an ornate knife with a bird design that seems to glow with a dark aura only FuChai can see. When FuChai reaches for it, she feels a pain in her chest, and everything goes black.
Chapter 2
FuChai screams in pain but all she can produce is a soft hiss. She watches her body blacken and decompose.
A deep male voice smugly laughs that she is a traitor. The travesty against the gods committed by the Royal Family of Ng will be repaid a thousand times over.
A light breaks through the darkness, and she sees the fish amulet, now a real fish. She has a hazy memory of a youth singing a childhood song. He says "Don't be afraid" and she wakes in her bedroom.
FuChai: It is strange that you're helping me get dressed without saying I need to rest.
ChenFeng: I'm afraid my objection would displease you.
FuChai: Are you so afraid of displeasing me? The last time I got very angry at you was when you ate all my sweets from the kingdom of Yue.
ChenFeng: I was testing them for poison >.>
Hey, she's using "I", is this a mistake or a characterisation choice? Damn, I haven't been paying attention, I may have written some down wrong. Oh well!
ChenFeng: If only YiGuang were here. He would be able to dispel your bad dreams and cure your afflictions. I curse that I am so helpless and unable to shoulder your burdens.
FuChai: The fact that you're willing to shoulder my burdens makes me happy. If you weren't here, who else would I complain to? Just leave me half a bite of the treats next time ;)
ChenFeng, deadpan: Understood.
WAIT. I was wondering why on earth a teen girl would be masquerading as a public servant from another country and why the envoy from Qi was so upset she's missing. And then I realised: SHE'S THE QI PRINCESS. COME TO SEE HER POSSIBLE HUSBAND AND/OR DO SOME SCHEME AT THE SECRET TEMPLE :D
Ok unless she's older than she looks she's a bit young for me to straightforwardly ship with the 19 year old FuChai, but if I'm right I 100% want them to get married and have crossdressing adventures (and also babies with some winsome boy but in a kinda gay way).
FuChai: You were not only rude to us about this official being missing, you snuck into the sacred temple to search when you had agreed to wait for our investigation.
Wu ZiXu: This is high treason >:D
Haha yep the Qi envoy panics and begs that they save the princess ShaoJiang, who only wanted to see her husband-to-be.
FuChai and Wu ZiXu earnestly promise to look for the princess and update the envoy in two days, despite knowing exactly where she is. Sneaky!
ShaoJiang is still unconscious. Zheng Dan says the knife has a hard to break curse on it, but is being held back by some mysterious force. He says FuChai's fish amulet could theoretically break the curse, but only obeys the final instruction of it's owner: to protect FuChai. So if Fuchai stays near ShaoJiang it may let her live long enough for him to break the curse.
Zheng Dan smiles and admits he is envious of the power Shi YiGuang had and I really wonder what he's up to.
Ah! The reason Wu ZiXu suspects Goujian is that it was his job to guard the temple, and he has reason to want revenge against the Kingdom of Ng. The temple is also the king's mausoleum, and Goujian is performing reparations for killing the king??
The King of Qi will likely blame the Kingdom of Ng for his beloved sister's state. Wu ZiXu argues that if they convict and execute Goujian, the King of Qi will be satisfied. They can figure out the full conspiracy later.
Fuchai: So he'd just be a scapegoat?
Wu ZiXu: Do you really still believe he is innocent? :(
Fuchai: I don't know.
Wu ZiXu: He is a ravenous wolf that hungers for blood! Have you forgotten your vows to your father? My Liege, please place the good of the Kingdom above your personal feelings!
Fuchai: When have we ever not? *punches pillar*
She wants to stop history repeating, tormented by guilt as painful as the seal on her chest hastening her towards death.
Goujian has escaped! But Fuchai knows where he's gone: the sandy dreamland by the stream, where they met by chance three years ago and then became close friends.
Wow he calls her A-Yu, nobody else but her father has done that on screen. (It's a very familiar nickname for someone with a given name containing "Yu") She calls him A-Jiu, too. But then he gets on his knees and begs her for his life, as the king.
OH. She was pretending to just be a random dude called A-Yu but he figured out she's the king.
She explains the situation, implying that regardless of his innocence she is going to have to kill him, and he understands but says there is a doctor in Yue who will be able to cure the princess, who he discovered while trying to find some way to cure FuChai's illness (which he doesn't know the details of).
He first tries spinning this as loyalty but she knows he's lying and he admits he just wanted a way to win the king's favour, for his own survival.
FuChai: When have we ever mistreated you?
Goujian: Your Majesty...A-Yu treats me well, but what of it? Even now I must kneel for your mercy. Should I not do everything I can to please you, to guarantee my own survival? Would you not do the same?
She sadly thinks that she does understand: Ah-Yu can trust her friends, but FuChai cannot.
Goujian: If I was lying to you, I might survive today, but would I survive tomorrow? But if we save the princess, we all benefit. If the doctor says the princess cannot be saved, you can cut off my head and present it to the King of Qi.
Wu ZiXu arrives, furious, and draws his sword.
Noooo I have to choose whether to let him kill Goujian?? That means I will sometimes have to say yes D: I'm not even into Goujian, he seems kinda shady, but I don't want to KILL HIM.
Ah well. Hopefully this will also unlock some other nice dudes I can romance. So far my choices have all been Not Wu ZiXu haha.
An undeterred Wu ZiXu says Goujian can prove his loyalty to Ng by DYING, and Goujian desperately yells out that the doctor's name is XiShi.
From the way that played out I think saying to kill him will have the result, Goujian will just be understandably uninterested in dating FuChai afterwards.
Chapter 3
FuChai is on a boat with Goujian, ChenFeng, and a near-death ShaoJiang to meet this doctor who I BET is an amnesiac Shi YiGuang.
XiShi (pronounced "sheeshee" to my ear) is a nickname because his surname is Shi. He stays in his village and never talks to anyone. Goujian thinks he's probably a survivor of the death of the rest of the Shi Clan 5 years ago.
ChenFeng glares at him and I have the choice to try and keep the peace or just...walk off? I think the latter is the ChenFeng choice, and I'd rather romance him, but also that would be a dick move!
Yes, this is an otome game where the protagonist will be yelling at me to be less of a goodie two shoes rather than vice versa haha.
FuChai can see that Goujian is afraid of angering her, and both of them are aware that she may still have to kill him. She thinks that their friendship was like a beautiful piece of glass, now shattered beyond repair.
FuChai has another nightmare of the voice in the dark, once again ended by the white fish and a vision of the youth, YiGuang. She wakes to an attack by black-clad figures and immediately runs to check on ShaoJiang. She ably fights off two men trying to kidnap ShaoJiang with Goujian's help, but ShaoJiang is knocked into the water.
"Without a second thought, I dive in after her, and barely manage to catch her in my arms"
...ok, maybe I ship it a little >.>
I'm hoping ShaoJiang gets to wake up and have a sprite and some lines at some point, though.
FuChai struggles to keep them both afloat, but then the white fish appears. A blurry figure approaches, saying "Ah-Yu".
She wakes on the shore, paralysed with pain, with a comatose ShaoJiang, and has to quickly hide them from followers of the Dragon God. Just when they're about to be found, Goujian shows up and saves them with a distraction.
Goujian: Your guards are all loyal to a fault, yet you're stuck with the only one who will betray you.
FuChai: We never said that.
Goujian: Why are you being so formal with me?
FuChai: ...I have never doubted you, Ah-Jui.
Goujian: It is Goujian who you do not trust. And how much did you really trust Ah-Jui, when you never told me you were a girl?
FuChai: When did you find out?
Goujian: When do you think?
She realises he was the blurry figure who saved her. Which makes me think that was the path split moment, and I'm now on the Goujian path. Oh well! In that case I guess YiGuang is the final boy whose path gets unlocked at some point, and is the blue haired guy who features so prominently in the title screen etc.
OOH A MAP
Ok so Wikipedia seems to romanise "Ng" as "Wu", which tripped me up for a while. But The Kingdom of Ng/Wu was in the south of what is now modern day Jiangsu.
FuChai's dad, Helu, gained great success because of his advisor...Sun Tsu! Ooh!
Wu failed to completely subjugate Yue, in part because of Fuchai's willingness to let King Goujian live in Wu as his servant. King Goujian suffered for years as Fuchai's servant/slave and planned his revenge. Fuchai under the promise of peace, let Goujian return to Yue, his homeland which later proved to be a fatal mistake for Wu. While Wu was engaged in a military campaign in the north, Goujian enacted his revenge and launched a surprise attack on Wu in 482 BC and conquered the capital. Over the next decade, Wu was unable to recover and Yue absorbed the state in 473 BC.
/o\
"The Records of the Grand Historian states that the people in Wu wore their hair short and sported tattoos." "The indigenous language of Wu region is distinct from Old Chinese spoken by central Chinese states. Historians have linked the language with Austronesian languages, Tai or a distinct Sino-Tibetan language" Huh!
And yep, it's the same Gusu as in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, though afaict that's set later, to the extent it has a specific time setting.
FuChai is determined to press on, even though she's visibly ill and they'll pass through a monster-filled swamp.
...yeah he totally tries to murder her on a different route. Maybe even on this one!
FuChai: This is not an order. But ShaoJiang is getting worse and worse...
Goujian: ...I know. You don't have to be so anxious.
And they carry on.
To persuade her to stop for the night, he grabs a snake and tries to scare her.
FuChai: You're more like a wild man than the king of a kingdom.
Goujian: How do you think I survived as a slave for three years?
FuChai: :(
I love how messy the power relationship is. Like she OWNS HIM AS A SLAVE, but they both still think of him as the king of a would-be conquering nation, her only friend who was raised as her equal rather than her subject. She knows it must have been lonely and painful to go from such heights to slavery.
The dark voice says "How happy can you be with that wretched life of yours? You might as well die" and a horrified Goujian catches her as she collapses. Is The Abyss a metaphor for depression??
He says she should rest (on a floating island??) but she says she's in too much pain and asks to chat.
Goujian: You were clutching that pendant so hard you're bleeding. Are you stupid? Why does it matter so much?
FuChai: A friend gave it to me, and then died. To this day, I don't know if he died for Ng, or for me.
Goujian: As a king, there is no difference between you and your kingdom.
FuChai: True. I haven't been doing a good job as a king.
He says even in Yue it was clear that the previous king of Ng was exterminating followers of the Dragon God and she admits she's motivated by revenge without explaining the details.
Goujian: I long had suspicions that you were a girl. We were close friends...perhaps too close. I'm not sure which was more shocking, that you are the King of Ng, or that you are a girl. Perhaps what shocks me most is how well you've ruled Ng.
FuChai: Me, rule well...haha :/ Why didn't you expose me?
Goujian: I felt like we're similar. What's more ridiculous, a woman as a king, or a king as a slave? Lady luck makes fool of us mortals. But I will regain control of my own destiny. If I die, so what! I will live life to it's fullest!
She thinks of herself, refusing to give in to the dragon's claws, and asks if he intends to return to Yue. He stares at her for a moment and then nods.
FuChai: I could punish you for treason for saying that.
Goujian: I have a thousand ways to achieve my goal. I can deceive you, please you, or bargain with you.
FuChai: Then why haven't you?
Goujian: We know each other too well. I admire you, Ah-Yu, and don't want to lie to you.
FuChai: Then when we have cured ShaoJiang I will let you return to Yue, on the condition that you become an ally against Ng's enemies.
Goujian, prostrating himself: This sinner cannot thank you enough!
FuChai: Enough. Kneeling in this swamp is pretty foolish.
Goujian: Haha, true.
I'm sure this will all turn out fine *kicks wikipedia article into swamp*
SUDDENLY HUNDREDS OF SNAKES ATTACK!!
A GIANT SNAKE MADE OF SNAKES APPEARS, CONTROLLED BY DRAGON GOD FOLLOWERS!!
Goujian throws ShaoJiang to FuChai as she runs to take down the mages while he keeps the snakes busy. But the snake heads straight for her. Full of angry frustration, she shouts "I CONTROL MY OWN DESTINY" and stabs it.
As it is about to consume her, swords of clean water cut through the snakes, turning them into mud. The followers scream and die.
It's Shi YiGuang!!
Feeling safe, but confused and exhausted, FuChai collapses into his arms. The last thing she hears is him saying "Ah-Yu, don't be afraid."
Oh hey, looking up stuff for this post I came across the character section, which has a sprite for ShaoJiang!
She's 16 and has a fiery temper. Yeah, I ship it.
The other ages:
Shi YiGuang: 19
GouJian: 21
ChenFeng: 22
Wu ZiXu: 37
Ooh, Zheng Dan is not on the Steam list of LIs, is he actually just a villain or something? I did notice he didn't get any LI-ish moments so far. And he's the most feminine and sexily dressed man which...often means evil, sigh. (Shi YiGuang is the Good and Wholesome kind of androgynously pretty, as much as I can judge these things)
Zheng Dan has an age in the character list...and is SIXTEEN??? HUH. Ok then DEFINITELY not a love interest. Looking up his collar style it seems to be from Manchuria, which is a totally different part of China, and he's wearing little shorts which... SURE. FINE.
Oh hey, the character list also gives surnames! ...ok unless the translation of the main game text is consistently wrong, ChenFeng's name is not "Chen Feng" and the person who typeset the character list just didn't realise he doesn't have a canon surname. Also I doubt "Shao Jiang"'s voice actor's name is Liuzhixiao as one word.
The character list has Wu ZiXu's name as Wu Yuan, maybe one's his courtesy name?
I'm checking out the glossary and it's pretty detailed, with discussions about cultural details and translation choices.
"Legend says that XiShi was given the King FuChai of Ning by King Goujian of Yue in a sexpionage operation which successfully brought down the kingdom of Ng. My Vow To My Liege, however, is a historical fantasy retelling stories and legends. Here, XiShi is turned from a woman to a man, and from a mortal to a mage."
...I don't see you saying there's not going to be any sexpionage, though *waggles eyebrows* Also I love that the writers saw this bit of history and decided to build a genderswapped romance around it.
*ends up on Wikipedia spiral*
"Legend says after the burial of Wu King Helu, his son, the successor of the throne, commanded the murder of some thousand craftsmen who were involved in his father's burial in order to conceal the exact location of the grave" Let's just...assume our FuChai didn't do that /o\
I am quite enjoying the Chinese fantasy m/f romance visual novel My Vow To My Liege, historical RPF set in the 5th Century BC Kingdom of Ng/Wu about various real and mythical people. The protagonist is King Fuchai, now a woman cross-dressing for Reasons (to do with Evil Dragons)
It feels like someone started with m/m xianxia, made the romantic relationships intense bromance to avoid censorship, and then changed their mind and made the protagonist a cross-dressing woman with as few changes to the art and dialogue as possible. Several hours in there's been zero overt romance, but a lot of delightfully fraught and intense f/m friendships where her being a woman has zero direct relevance to the fraught intensity. All the love interests are men she has direct life-or-death power over who call her "my Liege", and she's bitter, depressed, violent, and driven by revenge :D
I mean, it probably was actually written as het from the start and like...she looks like a very small and pretty dude, and is prone to crying and fainting into the arms of the nearest hot guy who then saves the day etc. And it's entirely possible that at the end she'll do the typical "Hooray I can go back to being a feminine presenting woman and never have to do anything masculine ever again" thing. But thus far it's a nice change from the usual otome dynamic.
The art is good. The writing, Mandarin voice-acting, and characters aren't the BEST EVER but are engaging enough, and so far the plot has been enjoyable fantasy nonsense, with a moody bittersweet vibe.
So I can see why this game hasn't taken the otome world by storm, and don't know how I'll feel at the end, but for now I am quite enjoying it! I'm currently partway through Chapter 5 but this was a better place to stop. I think I might be on a sub-route for Goujian and Shi YiGuang but I'm not sure.
Content notes: violence, age gap ships, slavery
From left to right: ChenFeng, Zheng Dan, Shi YiGuang, Goujian, Wu ZiXu
nb I am using CamelCase and referring to characters by their given names because the game does. The translation is adequate, I can usually follow the meaning but there's lots of awkward grammar plus some over-localisation.
Prologue:
FIRST SCENE IS ABOUT KILLING A GOD :D
The protagonist, Ji TengYu, is the 14 year old princess of the kingdom of Ng. She, her brothers, and her father, are performing a ritual to kill the dragon god their family has been in service to, which her father describes as a demonic beast that deceived their ancestors. Priestesses chant and dance and the royal family dabs their lips with blood from a ding (cauldron) The young priest Shi YiGuang is doing an associated ritual on nearby Tiger Hill.
The former royal mage, Mage Xian, appears with his black-clad Dragon God worshippers to kill them all for betraying the god. The dragon himself appears, and almost everyone is killed in the ensuing fight. The dragon is struck down, it's soul sucked into the ding. With his last words, Mage Xian casts a curse: "Your nation will crumble, families will be torn apart, everything you treasure will turn to ash".
TengYu watches, helpless, clutching a protective jade fish amulet from Shi YiGuang. On the verge of death she shouts his name.
Chapter 1:
The protagonist wakes from her dream, and the Sacred Seal on her chest is excruciatingly painful until she soothes it with the fish amulet. It is five years later, and she now goes by her brother's name, FuChai.
She is bitter and exhausted but determined to do her duty. She seems to have long term health problems (pain and fatigue from the Seal?) she doggedly pushes through.
An envoy from Qi, Gongsun Yi, has come to arrange a wedding to the Qi princess, and find a minor official who vanished near Tiger Hill.
FuChai's serious, earnest, faithful aide ChenFeng helps her dress, though he thinks she should rest. If he's embarrassed by her being a topless woman he hides it well, presumably used to it by now.
FuChai: We are neither a princess nor a king. We are a monster.
(She uses the royal 'we')
Look at how androgynous she is :D
She is grimly resigned to having to marry a woman and have children to carry on the family line...somehow?
FuChai: Do you think the seal has changed colour?
ChenFeng: I...don't look at it closely.
FuChai: When it turns black, our death will be imminent.
ChenFeng: The envoys bring sacred artefacts. We will break the Sacred Vow.
FuChai: They are fakes...just like us.
I love her.
The gruff, loyal, manly Prime Minister Wu ZiXu says he has captured a murder suspect: Goujian, former king of Yue, who lost a war against the Kingdom of Ng and is now treated like a slave. FuChai still refers to him as "The King of Yue" which Wu ZiXu doesn't like.
Wu ZiXu throws FuChai onto his horse in front of him, holding her tightly?? THAT'S YOUR KING, BUDDY.
Dragon God worshippers broke into the temple on Tiger Hill to try and free the Dragon God imprisoned there.
...what is this character design. Not complaining just...well! He has sly expressions that make me wonder if he's Up To Something.
Looks like the Dragon God worshippers kidnapped the teenaged archival officer from Qi. Do we get to date a HOT CIVIL SERVANT :D
The door to the secret room of the temple is sealed with a carving matching the seal on FuChai's chest. "The beautiful pattern depicts the endless dark abyss that has swallowed up countless generations of Ng's kings. I stand at the edge of that abyss."
She unlocks the door with a drop of her blood while Zheng Dan uses his magic to remove the covering water.
They are both disturbed by an impossible sight: a crack in the sacred ding holding the Dragon God's soul. Zheng Dan reassures FuChai that they are going to find a sacred artefact and kill the Dragon God for good.
She remembers her father's death three years ago. He told Wu ZiXu to hold a secret wedding to maintain the bloodline (??) and then made Fuchai promise "We will remember our revenge, and we swear to break this Sacred Vow".
ChenFeng: I have found traces of the insurgents.
FuChai: Good! I will cut off their heads myself! THE SPILT BLOOD OF MY FATHER AND BROTHERS MUST BE REPAID WITH BLOOD.
:D
First choice of the game! I can search with ChenFeng at the lake, or with Wu ZiXu in the city of GuSu.
As curious as I am whether this is the same GuSu as in MDZS, ChenFeng is way cuter than Wu ZiXu.
The follow the trail to a hidden grove, where a girl holding an unconscious boy claims they were attacked by a boar. Because FuChai is still a dumbass otome heroine at heart, I guess, she smiles and steps towards the girl, but ChenFeng manages to kill the girl before she can stab FuChai.
FuChai: What a boring trick.
My apologies for doubting you, FuChai!
On closer inspection the injured 'boy', who is presumably the officer from Qi, appears to be a cross-dressing girl of around 15?? She's holding an ornate knife with a bird design that seems to glow with a dark aura only FuChai can see. When FuChai reaches for it, she feels a pain in her chest, and everything goes black.
Chapter 2
FuChai screams in pain but all she can produce is a soft hiss. She watches her body blacken and decompose.
A deep male voice smugly laughs that she is a traitor. The travesty against the gods committed by the Royal Family of Ng will be repaid a thousand times over.
A light breaks through the darkness, and she sees the fish amulet, now a real fish. She has a hazy memory of a youth singing a childhood song. He says "Don't be afraid" and she wakes in her bedroom.
FuChai: It is strange that you're helping me get dressed without saying I need to rest.
ChenFeng: I'm afraid my objection would displease you.
FuChai: Are you so afraid of displeasing me? The last time I got very angry at you was when you ate all my sweets from the kingdom of Yue.
ChenFeng: I was testing them for poison >.>
Hey, she's using "I", is this a mistake or a characterisation choice? Damn, I haven't been paying attention, I may have written some down wrong. Oh well!
ChenFeng: If only YiGuang were here. He would be able to dispel your bad dreams and cure your afflictions. I curse that I am so helpless and unable to shoulder your burdens.
FuChai: The fact that you're willing to shoulder my burdens makes me happy. If you weren't here, who else would I complain to? Just leave me half a bite of the treats next time ;)
ChenFeng, deadpan: Understood.
WAIT. I was wondering why on earth a teen girl would be masquerading as a public servant from another country and why the envoy from Qi was so upset she's missing. And then I realised: SHE'S THE QI PRINCESS. COME TO SEE HER POSSIBLE HUSBAND AND/OR DO SOME SCHEME AT THE SECRET TEMPLE :D
Ok unless she's older than she looks she's a bit young for me to straightforwardly ship with the 19 year old FuChai, but if I'm right I 100% want them to get married and have crossdressing adventures (and also babies with some winsome boy but in a kinda gay way).
FuChai: You were not only rude to us about this official being missing, you snuck into the sacred temple to search when you had agreed to wait for our investigation.
Wu ZiXu: This is high treason >:D
Haha yep the Qi envoy panics and begs that they save the princess ShaoJiang, who only wanted to see her husband-to-be.
FuChai and Wu ZiXu earnestly promise to look for the princess and update the envoy in two days, despite knowing exactly where she is. Sneaky!
ShaoJiang is still unconscious. Zheng Dan says the knife has a hard to break curse on it, but is being held back by some mysterious force. He says FuChai's fish amulet could theoretically break the curse, but only obeys the final instruction of it's owner: to protect FuChai. So if Fuchai stays near ShaoJiang it may let her live long enough for him to break the curse.
Zheng Dan smiles and admits he is envious of the power Shi YiGuang had and I really wonder what he's up to.
Ah! The reason Wu ZiXu suspects Goujian is that it was his job to guard the temple, and he has reason to want revenge against the Kingdom of Ng. The temple is also the king's mausoleum, and Goujian is performing reparations for killing the king??
The King of Qi will likely blame the Kingdom of Ng for his beloved sister's state. Wu ZiXu argues that if they convict and execute Goujian, the King of Qi will be satisfied. They can figure out the full conspiracy later.
Fuchai: So he'd just be a scapegoat?
Wu ZiXu: Do you really still believe he is innocent? :(
Fuchai: I don't know.
Wu ZiXu: He is a ravenous wolf that hungers for blood! Have you forgotten your vows to your father? My Liege, please place the good of the Kingdom above your personal feelings!
Fuchai: When have we ever not? *punches pillar*
She wants to stop history repeating, tormented by guilt as painful as the seal on her chest hastening her towards death.
Goujian has escaped! But Fuchai knows where he's gone: the sandy dreamland by the stream, where they met by chance three years ago and then became close friends.
Wow he calls her A-Yu, nobody else but her father has done that on screen. (It's a very familiar nickname for someone with a given name containing "Yu") She calls him A-Jiu, too. But then he gets on his knees and begs her for his life, as the king.
OH. She was pretending to just be a random dude called A-Yu but he figured out she's the king.
She explains the situation, implying that regardless of his innocence she is going to have to kill him, and he understands but says there is a doctor in Yue who will be able to cure the princess, who he discovered while trying to find some way to cure FuChai's illness (which he doesn't know the details of).
He first tries spinning this as loyalty but she knows he's lying and he admits he just wanted a way to win the king's favour, for his own survival.
FuChai: When have we ever mistreated you?
Goujian: Your Majesty...A-Yu treats me well, but what of it? Even now I must kneel for your mercy. Should I not do everything I can to please you, to guarantee my own survival? Would you not do the same?
She sadly thinks that she does understand: Ah-Yu can trust her friends, but FuChai cannot.
Goujian: If I was lying to you, I might survive today, but would I survive tomorrow? But if we save the princess, we all benefit. If the doctor says the princess cannot be saved, you can cut off my head and present it to the King of Qi.
Wu ZiXu arrives, furious, and draws his sword.
Noooo I have to choose whether to let him kill Goujian?? That means I will sometimes have to say yes D: I'm not even into Goujian, he seems kinda shady, but I don't want to KILL HIM.
Ah well. Hopefully this will also unlock some other nice dudes I can romance. So far my choices have all been Not Wu ZiXu haha.
An undeterred Wu ZiXu says Goujian can prove his loyalty to Ng by DYING, and Goujian desperately yells out that the doctor's name is XiShi.
From the way that played out I think saying to kill him will have the result, Goujian will just be understandably uninterested in dating FuChai afterwards.
Chapter 3
FuChai is on a boat with Goujian, ChenFeng, and a near-death ShaoJiang to meet this doctor who I BET is an amnesiac Shi YiGuang.
XiShi (pronounced "sheeshee" to my ear) is a nickname because his surname is Shi. He stays in his village and never talks to anyone. Goujian thinks he's probably a survivor of the death of the rest of the Shi Clan 5 years ago.
ChenFeng glares at him and I have the choice to try and keep the peace or just...walk off? I think the latter is the ChenFeng choice, and I'd rather romance him, but also that would be a dick move!
Yes, this is an otome game where the protagonist will be yelling at me to be less of a goodie two shoes rather than vice versa haha.
FuChai can see that Goujian is afraid of angering her, and both of them are aware that she may still have to kill him. She thinks that their friendship was like a beautiful piece of glass, now shattered beyond repair.
FuChai has another nightmare of the voice in the dark, once again ended by the white fish and a vision of the youth, YiGuang. She wakes to an attack by black-clad figures and immediately runs to check on ShaoJiang. She ably fights off two men trying to kidnap ShaoJiang with Goujian's help, but ShaoJiang is knocked into the water.
"Without a second thought, I dive in after her, and barely manage to catch her in my arms"
...ok, maybe I ship it a little >.>
I'm hoping ShaoJiang gets to wake up and have a sprite and some lines at some point, though.
FuChai struggles to keep them both afloat, but then the white fish appears. A blurry figure approaches, saying "Ah-Yu".
She wakes on the shore, paralysed with pain, with a comatose ShaoJiang, and has to quickly hide them from followers of the Dragon God. Just when they're about to be found, Goujian shows up and saves them with a distraction.
Goujian: Your guards are all loyal to a fault, yet you're stuck with the only one who will betray you.
FuChai: We never said that.
Goujian: Why are you being so formal with me?
FuChai: ...I have never doubted you, Ah-Jui.
Goujian: It is Goujian who you do not trust. And how much did you really trust Ah-Jui, when you never told me you were a girl?
FuChai: When did you find out?
Goujian: When do you think?
She realises he was the blurry figure who saved her. Which makes me think that was the path split moment, and I'm now on the Goujian path. Oh well! In that case I guess YiGuang is the final boy whose path gets unlocked at some point, and is the blue haired guy who features so prominently in the title screen etc.
OOH A MAP
Ok so Wikipedia seems to romanise "Ng" as "Wu", which tripped me up for a while. But The Kingdom of Ng/Wu was in the south of what is now modern day Jiangsu.
FuChai's dad, Helu, gained great success because of his advisor...Sun Tsu! Ooh!
Wu failed to completely subjugate Yue, in part because of Fuchai's willingness to let King Goujian live in Wu as his servant. King Goujian suffered for years as Fuchai's servant/slave and planned his revenge. Fuchai under the promise of peace, let Goujian return to Yue, his homeland which later proved to be a fatal mistake for Wu. While Wu was engaged in a military campaign in the north, Goujian enacted his revenge and launched a surprise attack on Wu in 482 BC and conquered the capital. Over the next decade, Wu was unable to recover and Yue absorbed the state in 473 BC.
/o\
"The Records of the Grand Historian states that the people in Wu wore their hair short and sported tattoos." "The indigenous language of Wu region is distinct from Old Chinese spoken by central Chinese states. Historians have linked the language with Austronesian languages, Tai or a distinct Sino-Tibetan language" Huh!
And yep, it's the same Gusu as in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, though afaict that's set later, to the extent it has a specific time setting.
FuChai is determined to press on, even though she's visibly ill and they'll pass through a monster-filled swamp.
...yeah he totally tries to murder her on a different route. Maybe even on this one!
FuChai: This is not an order. But ShaoJiang is getting worse and worse...
Goujian: ...I know. You don't have to be so anxious.
And they carry on.
To persuade her to stop for the night, he grabs a snake and tries to scare her.
FuChai: You're more like a wild man than the king of a kingdom.
Goujian: How do you think I survived as a slave for three years?
FuChai: :(
I love how messy the power relationship is. Like she OWNS HIM AS A SLAVE, but they both still think of him as the king of a would-be conquering nation, her only friend who was raised as her equal rather than her subject. She knows it must have been lonely and painful to go from such heights to slavery.
The dark voice says "How happy can you be with that wretched life of yours? You might as well die" and a horrified Goujian catches her as she collapses. Is The Abyss a metaphor for depression??
He says she should rest (on a floating island??) but she says she's in too much pain and asks to chat.
Goujian: You were clutching that pendant so hard you're bleeding. Are you stupid? Why does it matter so much?
FuChai: A friend gave it to me, and then died. To this day, I don't know if he died for Ng, or for me.
Goujian: As a king, there is no difference between you and your kingdom.
FuChai: True. I haven't been doing a good job as a king.
He says even in Yue it was clear that the previous king of Ng was exterminating followers of the Dragon God and she admits she's motivated by revenge without explaining the details.
Goujian: I long had suspicions that you were a girl. We were close friends...perhaps too close. I'm not sure which was more shocking, that you are the King of Ng, or that you are a girl. Perhaps what shocks me most is how well you've ruled Ng.
FuChai: Me, rule well...haha :/ Why didn't you expose me?
Goujian: I felt like we're similar. What's more ridiculous, a woman as a king, or a king as a slave? Lady luck makes fool of us mortals. But I will regain control of my own destiny. If I die, so what! I will live life to it's fullest!
She thinks of herself, refusing to give in to the dragon's claws, and asks if he intends to return to Yue. He stares at her for a moment and then nods.
FuChai: I could punish you for treason for saying that.
Goujian: I have a thousand ways to achieve my goal. I can deceive you, please you, or bargain with you.
FuChai: Then why haven't you?
Goujian: We know each other too well. I admire you, Ah-Yu, and don't want to lie to you.
FuChai: Then when we have cured ShaoJiang I will let you return to Yue, on the condition that you become an ally against Ng's enemies.
Goujian, prostrating himself: This sinner cannot thank you enough!
FuChai: Enough. Kneeling in this swamp is pretty foolish.
Goujian: Haha, true.
I'm sure this will all turn out fine *kicks wikipedia article into swamp*
SUDDENLY HUNDREDS OF SNAKES ATTACK!!
A GIANT SNAKE MADE OF SNAKES APPEARS, CONTROLLED BY DRAGON GOD FOLLOWERS!!
Goujian throws ShaoJiang to FuChai as she runs to take down the mages while he keeps the snakes busy. But the snake heads straight for her. Full of angry frustration, she shouts "I CONTROL MY OWN DESTINY" and stabs it.
As it is about to consume her, swords of clean water cut through the snakes, turning them into mud. The followers scream and die.
It's Shi YiGuang!!
Feeling safe, but confused and exhausted, FuChai collapses into his arms. The last thing she hears is him saying "Ah-Yu, don't be afraid."
Oh hey, looking up stuff for this post I came across the character section, which has a sprite for ShaoJiang!
She's 16 and has a fiery temper. Yeah, I ship it.
The other ages:
Shi YiGuang: 19
GouJian: 21
ChenFeng: 22
Wu ZiXu: 37
Ooh, Zheng Dan is not on the Steam list of LIs, is he actually just a villain or something? I did notice he didn't get any LI-ish moments so far. And he's the most feminine and sexily dressed man which...often means evil, sigh. (Shi YiGuang is the Good and Wholesome kind of androgynously pretty, as much as I can judge these things)
Zheng Dan has an age in the character list...and is SIXTEEN??? HUH. Ok then DEFINITELY not a love interest. Looking up his collar style it seems to be from Manchuria, which is a totally different part of China, and he's wearing little shorts which... SURE. FINE.
Oh hey, the character list also gives surnames! ...ok unless the translation of the main game text is consistently wrong, ChenFeng's name is not "Chen Feng" and the person who typeset the character list just didn't realise he doesn't have a canon surname. Also I doubt "Shao Jiang"'s voice actor's name is Liuzhixiao as one word.
The character list has Wu ZiXu's name as Wu Yuan, maybe one's his courtesy name?
I'm checking out the glossary and it's pretty detailed, with discussions about cultural details and translation choices.
"Legend says that XiShi was given the King FuChai of Ning by King Goujian of Yue in a sexpionage operation which successfully brought down the kingdom of Ng. My Vow To My Liege, however, is a historical fantasy retelling stories and legends. Here, XiShi is turned from a woman to a man, and from a mortal to a mage."
...I don't see you saying there's not going to be any sexpionage, though *waggles eyebrows* Also I love that the writers saw this bit of history and decided to build a genderswapped romance around it.
*ends up on Wikipedia spiral*
"Legend says after the burial of Wu King Helu, his son, the successor of the throne, commanded the murder of some thousand craftsmen who were involved in his father's burial in order to conceal the exact location of the grave" Let's just...assume our FuChai didn't do that /o\
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Date: 2021-12-27 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-28 02:34 pm (UTC)Ha, happy to oblige. Feel free to pass on any other recs to games you think I'd like!
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Date: 2022-01-07 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-11 08:13 am (UTC)haha, true true
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Date: 2022-01-12 04:17 am (UTC)I actually took the opportunity to attempt to over-localise the character intros https://bamboocounting.tumblr.com/post/638110139505836032 most bc some of the nuance I feel didn't come off quite as hilariously!
And I'm sure you can see the switches in pronouns for when she's being royal (guaren*, I, a person bereft of (virtue), the 'de' so often mentioned later on, due to typical cultural humbleness) vs I for regular conversations.
*I'm seeing stuff about how in ancient pronunciation it would have (along with gu, lonely) been close to jun, sovereign? But in modern chinese gua and gu have the meanings of being lonely, bereft, and heavy lies the head that wears the crown/it's cold and lonely up at the top etc which is also hot.)
Suzhou is a lovely city full of culture and the famous cultivated gardens of Jiangnan! You can still see the Tiger Hill and some of the other places.
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Date: 2022-01-13 01:45 pm (UTC)Yeah they were pretty cute in Chapter 3. The common route had moments that made me see the appeal of every ship, I'm a bit sad I didn't get to see the quietly yearning ChenFeng dynamic I thought I was getting based on the start :(
Oh that's cool about the pronoun meaning! So much more evocative than "we"!
I actually used the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou as the basis for a garden in a fic (for Heaven Official's Blessing), so I spent a lot of time looking at pictures and descriptions, it's lovely. But I hadn't looked into Suzhou beyond that, it sounds very cool, and very different to the sort of historical places we have in Australia.
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Date: 2022-01-16 03:53 am (UTC)there's probably a chenfeng route where the agonized touch could have been way more yearning...and I did enjoy the flash of humor when he's metaphorically standing there with his mouth full of stolen snacks, but we had the standard yandere type deal :[
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Date: 2022-01-17 02:39 pm (UTC)ha that's a cute detail. It does rely on the pagoda owner not knocking it down to make something different but I guess if it's a fancy enough building to 'steal' they were safe to assume it would stick around.