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Bonus Sneak Peek
🕑 Added 2025-03-24 15:23:10 +0000 UTCI didn't expect to write a little theological debate today, but Hadrian and Romanus love to surprise me. Just wanted to share this because I liked it 😋
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"I'm used to higher lands as well," you admit. "But nature does as it will, and no man or God can stop it."
Hadrian peers curiously at you. "You see nature as an entity?"
You consider it. "Of sorts. I've witnessed her might many times. Felt her sting on my skin, her caress on my hair. I've reaped her bounties in the spring and endured her punishment in the winter. Your God may very well be out there, Hadrian, but Nature has a will of her own. She's chaos and life, she's peace and violence, she's cyclical... and the destruction of cycles."
Hadrian watches you for a moment, his eyelids lowering. "Heresy," he says, but his voice is low and thoughtful, and his smile makes you know he doesn’t mean it. "But I've sinned worse, and the scriptures aren’t always right. Lord knows I've learned that much."
*if (No Romance)
You fall quiet, letting the conversation trail off.
*if (Romance)
He hesitates, then adds in a smaller tone. "I, uh. Thank you. For... describing that to me. You are— I mean."
He looks away, then, and the conversation trails off.
Comments
Sneep
thinking about the river at the start of the game YEAH nature sure is one hell of a force alright!!! i love this interaction between them. hadrian being thankful for you taking the time to explain it has me on the GROUND
Bobbin
Oh I love this! My last time playing through with an academically inclined, pagan Romanus in a romance with Hadrian totally and organically veered off course from what I was expecting. Emotionally pulling back from Hadrian as issues of Latin and religion come up more frequently, beginning to sense that there's this insurmountable gap in understanding between them, and being subsconsicously drawn much more towards Lance when in conversation (not even necessarily romantically), because there's this clear connection of language/worldview that just clicks. Like oh! Here's someone they suddenly feel can look at them and see them on a deeper, more nuanced level, maybe one than Hadrians core beliefs wont ever allow him to view. And it fosters this isolating fear that they're just deeply incompatible. Perhaps a very reductive and short sighted view on Romanus' part, but exciting to contemplate. Really highlighted to me just how much Romanus manages to jump off the page in such vivid and variable ways, and how interesting the relationship between a heretical character and Hadrian will be in the long run (plus just how compelling Lance is!! I love him) Can't wait to see this discussion in game!
