Part 83: Bonus Update: The Trial of Fatebinder Furia
Bonus Update: The Trial of Fatebinder FuriaI've mentioned throughout the LP that I've been trying to get this event to fire without success, but I was able to get it to fire by reloading my practice run. We'll be using Cleo as our Fatebinder portrait here because it's the very last update and I don't want to make a bunch more portraits. Sorry! Also, my image processing kinda broke and I realized it at 2AM when my internet went down, so if I missed any miscropped images please let me know!







This means exactly what you think it means. "Defile" is an archaic word for rape, even.






Charming.



Remember, the basis of Kyros' Peace is that the Overlord has a use for you, not that your life is intrinsically valuable!

Remember this is the remnant of the man who surrendered his nation to Kyros because he believed Kyros' lies about peace, prosperity, and free food.


He as much as admits this is abusing the legal process to settle a personal vendetta to save, in his own words, worthless trash (who were also rapists).









I'm guessing that Furia is a newer Fatebinder, because someone like Calio would never be stupid enough to diss Kyros' law in front of Tunon.



Alright, let's take the option that makes Tunon happy.


Foreshadowing!


TheGreatEvilKing summary posted:
: It was totally fucked up, your honor! No one could have behaved rationally!
: Excuse me? Are you questioning me?
: No! But, uh, listen to my testimony!
: I have a better idea. See that Fatebinder? They can judge you. Go on!
: Hit me!
: Ok, so here's the lowdown: I caught two Scarlet Chorus soldiers raping a woman, so I killed them both and let the woman go. Then this jackass tied me up and dragged me here, mentioning that the Court would be furious.
: Furia is charged with murdering people under Kyros' law.
: Hang on, T, isn't that assault? I thought we executed people for rape!
: Well, that lady was from the Tiers and had no rights under Kyros' law! The two Chorusmen did. Please ignore the "extraneous variables" and execute the law.
: So the gang boss didn't interfere at all?
: Ha ha nope if those two fuckers couldn't fight a highly trained elite law enforcer and win I had no use for em. Still, I'm happy to abuse the law to kill a Fatebinder, LOL!
: He just made cracks about how I was "totally owned" the whole time.
: Did you talk to the victim?
: She thanked me before fleeing, but no, not really.
: Do you regret your actions?
: I'd fuckin do it again, Kyros' laws be damned! Uh...
: Yeah, uh, under Kyros' laws as laid out you're super guilty.
: I... I understand that you would be risking a lot going out on a limb for me, but I hope you are never in my position.
: Ha ha you're gonna fuckin die.
: That was the best justice ever and it was as good as I would have done. Awesome!
So there was an option to use subterfuge to save Furia, what happens if we do that?



I don't think Furia is cut out to be a Fatebinder, but we'll get to this after we see all the options.



Now, this contradicts her earlier testimony completely, but....

We get a warning from Tunon. Truth be told, I had to steel myself just to pick this option because Tunon's VA is very intimidating and the game is very good at communicating the atmosphere that one misstep means death.
The rest of the dialog is the same, but we have a new verdict.



Tunon sees exactly what we're doing and doesn't like it, both because we're subverting the law but also proving that the infallible Law of Kyros can be subverted. Remember, post-DLC Tunon is not a robot who you can dump lore checks into, he is a man under the mask struggling with his doubts about whether the law is correct and whether Kyros really is omnipotent. This entire regime runs on doublethink, so anything that brings the contradiction to mind and creates cognitive dissonance is a big no no in Tunon's court.


Tunon says principled, we say ostrich head in the sand.
There is a third outcome, which is to dispense with all the guiding the witness bullshit and just rule Furia innocent via pure intent or some nonsense. What if we do that?




Tunon is annoyed, but... we don't get Wrath. I had to double check here.
Nope, nothing! What happened?
This is an interesting little event for a lot of reasons, and I felt it was important enough to what the game was trying to discuss that I included this update. First, we should notice that Tunon's reply to the player character sentencing Furia to death is the optimal result from a pleasing Tunon standpoint - part of the office of Fatebinder is keeping an eye on those with "independent thoughts honed beyond the principled walls of my court" so they can be eliminated when they have the courage to say "damn the law, I'm doing what's right" to Tunon's face. It's an indirect lesson for the player character, as well - if you get out of line Tunon will have no qualms about sentencing you to death. The trial itself also serves to reinforce Kyros' law - either you take the option of sentencing the Fatebinder to death, or you have to scramble to contrive a defense by guiding the witness to use the Soviet-style buzzword of "Kyros' Peace" which Tunon catches but has to let fly because it is nominally the law.
Given all of that, why are we allowed to just declare Furia innocent with a pretext? Tunon clearly if slightly prefers her death, but if we take the difficult route we gain Wrath with Tunon while just going "lol this shit happens" lets us and Furia off with no penalty at all. Furia never shows up again in the game, and you can't get her support or anything, nor does this incident appear to ask Calio to testify despite her job being to monitor the other Fatebinders. It's not even like we're really doing an evil flinches when confronted sort of deal, because if you actually confront Tunon he fights to the death. We just kind of handwave something about "pure intent" and the defense grounded in the actual law is the one that pisses Tunon off. You could point out that by judging the Fatebinder in Tunon's court he's stuck with what you go by, but the Fatebinder's internal monologue when high reveals that Tunon can, in fact, overturn Fatebinder rulings. I have legitimately no idea what to make of this option, because it feels so out of place with the rest of the trial. We're not even ceding anything to Tunon's worldview like we are with the other options, where you either cede that this is the crime of murder per Tunon's instructions OR you invoke Kyros' Peace as a legitimate defense. Who knows!