Ardan succession crisis

This page describes all the political manipulations related to the crisis regarding the successor to King Alonon during Chapter 4. As many other pages in this category, this page contains SPOILERS.

Variables
You need to have reached various thresholds to get the optimal effect from various political actions, which are expressed as adding or reducing the score of a given candidate. That doesn't mean that you can't get the best possible results in all cases, though.

Simon stats:
 * Economy &ge; : you can't check this one directly in-game, but if you were able to trigger Iris + Megail second scene you are (worst case) very, very close as you need 75 for that scene.
 * Social &ge; SS 40: if you were able to get the best result in the Ferolohm merchant camp dispute prior to start this section of the game, you already have it, as you can't lose Social points during this part of the game.
 * Religion &ge; : there is no way to check this stat in-game at this point.

Affection values:
 * Megail has to be locked. (That means having had the locking conversation, not just reaching points. Note that HQ is inaccessible, so you can't get the conversation during these events.)
 * Carina &ge;
 * Dari &ge;
 * Elleani &ge; for the best result,  for second best. (Be careful: you will lose Elleani RP from even talking to the King's aide, so if you're close to a threshold you need to have conversations in the right order.)

Optional characters:
 * Min (she will appear only if you have funded her investment before the start of this section)
 * Kara

Investments:
 * Eustrin Embassy ,
 * Ardan Bank Core Lender (reduces by half the amount of ProN necessary to sabotage Ghanth),
 * Mercenary Flotilla,
 * Merchant's Guild membership,
 * Sanitation Mages Guild ,
 * Order of Silence,
 * New Givini Trade,
 * Givini Mage Guild,
 * War Monument.

Country scores:
 * New Givini &ge; 35 for the best result, 25 for second best.

Candidates for the Throne
Some of them can be found in New Givini and others in Ardford. While Tyna stays mostly in Ardford during this part of the plot, her chances are affected by happenings in New Givini.

So far you can eliminate two from the race and weaken (or strengthen) the position of four more. The story suggests that most desirable candidate is Tyna, but much remains to be seen.

In New Givini:


 * Bhakan: he has the strongest claim from the point of view of blood relations (Alonon's grand-nephew by his next oldest brother). "A hard man, but not necessarily a bad king."
 * Donovan: son of the Duke of Stineford. To strengthen his position he would have to marry Tyna...
 * Farnan: strong Aramite connections.

In Ardford:


 * Tyna: she doesn't want the job, but...
 * Ignias: a childhood friend of Tyna's from a noble family near the border with Darghelon, and a good man.
 * Ghanth: his mercantile family has a lot of economic power, but very little nobility.
 * Jhenno: another grand-nephew of Alonon. He has strong connections with the Church of Ivala.
 * Antarion: enough said.

Arrival in the palace
Tyna will give you a quick orientation in the palace in New Givini, then leave you to start meddling.
 * Elleani is lurking in the library in the SE corner. Talk to her to recruit her to your mission.
 * Be careful: even talking to the King's aide will unavoidably trigger a conversation where Trin wants to copy him. You can't enter the throne room until you've recruited Elleani, so this will lose RP with her. If you're close to a threshold with her, maybe avoid talking to the aide until you've done the items where Elleani RP matters. You can avoid the RP loss temporarily by not talking to the aide at all, but you will end up losing more RP (-5 later instead of -2 now, and a small additional penalty) at the Council of Gawnfall.

Dealing with the candidates
In-game you can only see a non-numerical description of the status of their claim, but in this page we will also provide the numerical value in parenthesis.

Trin's abilities
Due to another increase in Trin's powers, she is able to stay with both groups, so she can duplicate weak targets. You can check who she has copied and how many free slots remain by speaking with Trin in the Ardan Candidates room.

The possible targets are 4:
 * In New Givini:
 * Bhakan's guard
 * New Givini King's Aide
 * In Ardford:
 * Ghanth's Aide
 * Lecherous Priestess

If the wedding between Simon and Janine has already happened, all the copies from the Trade negotiations are no longer managed by Trin, with the exception of Orgasmic Empire noble. That could free up to 5/6 slots in some cases.

General advice

 * Although you can switch back and forth between the two groups, there is no real advantage to do so and you can be distracted, so it's advised to finish New Givini content before starting with Ardford. A possible exception will be if you're very near to a higher threshold on the Economy and/or Social scores needed in the deals with the candidates in New Givini - you can get Economy if you're able to intimidate Ghanth, and SS +1 Social if you ask Jhenno for political cooperation.
 * Regarding New Givini content, don't forget to speak with the king after the ball to get an optional boss fight.
 * Before using any of the resources to undermine one of the candidates in New Givini, it's a good idea to make a save in case that the timing is not ideal (for instance the Orilise intervention on Bhakan or Farnan business).
 * In Ardford, there is no need to wait to use the chances that your allies (Lynine, Min and Vhala) provide. To trigger Vhala's help (for Ignias or Kalant) you have to visit the Military Headquarters on the Military District.
 * You can change whose chibi represents your group walking around Ardford, by changing your Formation. Whoever's in the first slot gets used.
 * The end of this section is the meeting with Alonon, so in case that you have forgot something, you should make a save just before traveling to the Twisted Space. Interact with the flame on the top floor of your rooms to proceed.

Tyna

 * Initial status: (unclear)
 * Best result: unknown
 * Worst result: unknown

Your goal is to increase her legitimacy:

For one of the boosters mentioned above, Tyna needs to gain the support of New Givini to her throne's aspirations. Some of them will be from various notables New Givini's figures and others will be provided by harem members. Elleani in Simon's group chamber will keep you updated of your progress:

At the end of the current content, she can get various grades of legitimacy as a function of how successfully both groups have been supporting her:

Ignias

 * Initial status: Average (3).
 * Best result: Very Good (6)
 * Worst result: Poor (2).

There are not many events to raise or decrease his options, but the results can be pretty dramatic as you can see above:

Ignias (≥5) gives the most help later at the Gawnfall Council.

Bhakan

 * Initial status: Good (4).
 * Best result: Very Good (5)
 * Worst result: Poor (2).

There isn't a fixed order to deal with Bhakan. There is a couple of things to remember, though. Don't copy Bhakan's guard until you have confronted Farnan at the warehouse (as you need Elleani's RPs &ge; 70). In fact you can safely copy him after the ball (as this action doesn't have any impact in this phase). The other thing is to wait until Donovan returns to Stineford before using Orilise's help.

Donovan

 * Initial status: Good (4).
 * Best result: Good (4).
 * Worst result: Poor (2).

Donovan returns to Stineford due to a distraction created by Iris. How much that hurts him depends of the following factors:

Sabotage results:

Ghanth

 * Initial status: Average (3).
 * Best result: Average (3).
 * Worst result: Impossible (0).

You should start by meeting him in the castle, but that meeting is not mandatory. You can also meet him in the Merchant's Guild but the conversation that affects his status happens in the Silver Stump.

Results after the meeting in the Silver Stump:

If intimidated he is no longer a real competitor, but he hasn't agreed to withdraw yet.

Jhenno

 * Initial status: Average (3).
 * Best result: Average (3).
 * Worst result: Very Poor (1).

The campaign against this candidature starts by meeting him in the cathedral.

Once you have gained enough influence over him, speak with him in the castle. If your influence is &ge; 5, he will lose -1 in his status (no loss otherwise). You can choose to:
 * Cooperate with him in Politics to make him lose an additional point, SS +1 Social, and he will also agree to withdraw from the competition when the time is right.
 * Cooperate in Religion (no loss of status, but you get Religion). In this stance he doesn't agree to withdraw from the competition, but he will help you during the Council of Gawnfall.

Farnan

 * Initial status: Poor (2).
 * Best result: Very Good (6).
 * Worst result: Impossible (-2).

You can gain Control over Farnan by going to his secret warehouse. For this to happen, visit the New Givini Camp and follow him to the warehouse. Once inside you have two options:


 * 1) Attack the guards,
 * 2) or go left up then left till end and up and meddle with the magical communicator to distract the guards. This way you will confront him undetected (stealth).

In any case you can learn a bit more of his operation by visiting the top right room before your conversation with him. You can get more or less control in function of your choices:

Going to the Warehouse at the end sets, resulting in him secretly withdrawing.

Farnan Control &ge; 5 helps in the Erosian crisis and has a minor influence in the Council of Gawnfall.

Farnan Score:

Antarion
He is not a very likely candidate, but just in case, speak with him once more in the Blademaster Guild. Dari will automatically investigate him, who should give you all the leverage that you can reasonably need in any eventuality.

Suitors
They are not candidates to the throne (some of them are not Ardans to start with) but nevertheless they are somehow linked to the crisis. Their relevance and exact role are unclear for the time being.

Etuanun

 * Initial status 2
 * Best result: unknown
 * Worst result: unknown

Uneanun

 * Initial status 2.
 * Best result: unknown
 * Worst result: unknown.

Kalant

 * Initial status 1 (invisible in-game).

After the attack in the library, don't miss the conversation between Tyna and Kalant in the old Aram ambassador's room.

You can increase his status as a suitor (the actual advantages to do so remain unclear) by doing the following actions: