>>5636609Disaster. Catastrophe, even.
Ariarra is ended, the eternal festival ending up for less eternal than originally intended. Ariaios rages at her close aides, demanding that they somehow fix this disease that’s ruining the fun, offering compromising methods to continue the festivities, threatening public humiliation for any attempt to stall the events, but as weeks pass and reports pile up, she faces the grim fact that things simply cannot continue without risking her priesthood and the adoring faith of the public. A few last days of fun are arranged, mostly confined to the beachside, before things peter out entirely.
The disease is an existential threat to the lustful joy that Ariaios covets, seemingly designed specifically to punish those who have sex with lots of people. Ariaios after a week of seething, two weeks of drug addiction and another week of seducing married men, knows exactly who is responsible, her rival Aios has sent a curse upon the Dorrans to claw back power. Well, look who’s willing to get her hands dirty, to enforce monogamous matrimony by any means.
Ariaios is not going to let her win without a fight. She may not be her brother, but she is not going to lose to something like this. If it’s a war Aios wants it’s a war Aios will get.
Action 1: Upgrade Stables. Construct foundations for Temple to the Earth Mother, Diurn
Ariaios turns to a rival from the earlier days of her rule, deciding that they might be better as friends, or forced-friends, the best kind. She was in a rather bad mood when she last censured the minor temples of Meris and Stania, the heavenly horse riders and caretakers.
But really, horses aren’t that bad. Perhaps Ariaios must have misjudged them. The problem wasn’t the beasts themselves, rather than everyone cared too much about the stupid things when they should have been paying attention to her instead. If Ariaios is responsible for the horses that everyone likes this time however, then everything is just fine. Better than fine even. Her mind swims with plenty of fun uses for the strapping steeds these temples care for and train, and swiftly orders that the stables be expanded in scope, for the increase in herd sizes and higher quality training of the horses. If the cults do a really good job at impressing their empress then maybe she’ll lift her punitive law and let them wear clothes while riding their horses again. Or maybe not, depends how she feels. Though, it may be best to have the stable supervised by members of her cult, it’s not explicitly a temple so that’s fine. Maybe some guards too, so the supervisors don’t get bored.
As Aios reaches out to one avenue of her empire, she decides to raise up another. Not out of popularity this time, rather out of need, the empress raises up a grand temple to the Earth Mother, healer of the sick and giver of life.
