ID: 219

Outcome: Narrow Victory

Open After Story: Yes

Manual Prompt: Yes

Text:

Zazie claimed the child in her womb was the rightful heir. The traditionalist nobles, though disgusted by your regicide, especially when you'd done it with the Sultan Card! But they grudgingly accepted the unborn heir... and you as Regent.



A new order rose around you and Zazie. After a brief dance of cautious probing, she withdrew to her chambers, citing the needs of her pregnancy, while you worked tirelessly to plant loyal men in every corner of power. For months, the arrangement held.



Then Zazie's child was born. Swaddled in white silk, the babe wore gold warmed against a slave's skin before ever tasting breast milk. He was Sultan now, divine and untouchable. The babe and his mother were the perfect apex of empire. His birth meant the realm no longer needed a Regent.



In those quiet months, Zazie had whispered in every dissenting noble's ear. She promised, lied, flattered and threatened. She made them believe her son would be gentler than his father and more generous to the old blood.



And she planted darker seeds. "When [player.name] usurps the throne..." she would begin. The great nobles would be beggared by his reforms. Corrupt officials would hang. Noble-born officers would compete with baseborn brutes for rank...



She struck at their deepest fear: the loss of privilege, the privilege they knew full well was poison to the realm. But men will drink poison to quench today's thirst.



Fear was Zazie's trade. She had learned much at the side of the child's father.



So when you came bearing gifts for the newborn Sultan, she smiled and bade you hold the babe, even asked you to choose his nickname. You reached for the sacred bundle... bur eunuchs behind you moved faster. Leather cords bit into your throat.



The first great act of the little Sultan's reign was the death of his Regent.

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