>>5993262>>5993266>>5993295>>5993343>>5993441>>5993648>>5993651>>5993859Lana leads you through the halls of Suial's palace to the old tyrant's harem, a collection of his trophies and playthings. The first you meet is his legal wife, a handsome woman in her forties, exuding a mature beauty that still commands respect. "Your radiance," she greets you gracefully. Lana had told you Suial had long ignored her, finding her too old to entertain him. You suspect she harbors little regret over his death.
Next, you meet a blonde foreign concubine, draped in jewels and silk. She admits openly that she prefers the harem's decadence to starving on the streets and wishes to remain in the palace as your concubine.
A red-haired concubine follows, gazing at you with wary eyes. She was once the daughter of a prominent merchant before Suial claimed her. She lived comfortably before being pulled into the tyrant's harem, and she now considers returning to her family, though she requests more time before making her decision.
"Suial's sons?" You raise your brows at the sight of beardless boys in the harem. "No, they are slave concubines, just like us, trained to pleasure the old king," Lana answers. Disgust wells up within you at the depth of Suial's perversions, more so when you learn that these boys were castrated before puberty or fed to starving lions once the tyrant grew bored of them.
You meet more concubines. One has her back scarred by whips, marked by Suial's cruelty after a failed escape attempt. Another, a once-proud warrior woman, has had her spirit dulled by years of captivity in Suial's harem. You also encounter a mute concubine, her tongue removed by the old tyrant for one of his twisted games.
"He fathered no sons?" you ask, surprised at not finding a son who might threaten your rule. "King Suial ordered his sons to be buried alive after birth," Lana hesitates before continuing, "because he didn't want any competition to his rule." The more you learn of the old tyrant, the more you despise the monster. How can you possibly succeed such a man as king?
Among the slave concubines, a dusky-skinned concubine piques your curiosity, the daughter of a noble family eradicated on Suial's orders. You learn that the old tyrant had ordered a temple of the gods demolished and a new one erected in its place where he would be worshiped as a god. The dusky-skinned concubine's father had protested this blasphemous act and was buried alive for his defiance. Her mother was handed over to the soldiers, to be ravaged endlessly until she died. Her brothers were crucified, and the rest of her family was burned alive, even the babies smothered. She was kept alive only to satisfy the king's perverse lust, forced to worship him as a god.
> You express your condolences, acknowledging the pain she has endured.> As a foreigner, you seek her knowledge of the political climate in the kingdom.> You commend her resilience, noting the strength it took to survive such cruelty. 