Ardan succession crisis

The goal of this page is to describe all the political manipulations related to the crisis regarding the successor to King Alonon during chapter 4. At this point, the process has started but it's very likely that it will carry on through the whole chapter, or at least through the end of version 0.34.

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; 80: you can't check this one directly in-game, but if you were able to trigger Iris + Megail second scene you are (in the worst case) very, very near as you need 75 for that scene.
 * Social &ge; 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; 20: there is no way to check this stat in-game at this point.

Affection values:
 * Megail has to be locked (&ge; 100).
 * Carina &ge; 75.
 * Dari &ge; 75.
 * Elleani &ge; 70 for the best result, 50 for second best.

Optional characters:
 * Min
 * Kara

Investments:
 * Eustrin Embassy.
 * Ardan Bank Core Lender (Reduces by half the amount of ProN necessary to sabotage Ghanth).
 * Mercenary Flotilla.
 * Merchant's Guild member.
 * 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.
 * Ardoheim ??

Candidates for the Throne
Some of them can be found in New Givini and others in Ardford. Tyna is primarily located in Ardford, but she is also 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 gameplay suggests that most desirable candidate is Tyna, but much remains to be seen.

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 neccesarily a bad king.
 * Donovan: son of the Duke of Stineford. To strengthen his position he would have to marry Tyna...
 * Farnan: strong Aramite connections.

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.

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 gains the chance to stay with both groups, so she can target and duplicate weak targets. You can check the status (copies already done and number of free slots) of Trin's copies by speaking with her 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 get a higher threshold on the Economy (you get +2 if you're able to intimidate Ghanth) or Social (you get +1) scores needed in the deals with the New Givini located candidates.
 * Regarding New Givini content, don't forget to speak with the king to get an optional boss fight.
 * Before using any of the resources to undermine one of the candidates, 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.
 * 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.

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:

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 Jhenno 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 ( +1 Social score) or in Religion (no loss of status, but you get a +1 Religion score). He will also agree to withdraw from the competition when the time is right.

Farnan

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

We can gain Control over Farnan by going to his secret warehouse therefore visit Givini Camp and follow him to the warehouse. Once inside you have two options:


 * 1) Attack the guards OR
 * 2) 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.

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:

If you go to the Warehouse at the end Farnan Talk is set to ON => Resulting in his secret withdrawn.

It's unclear what the Farnan control will mean in the future.

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.

Etuanum

 * 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).

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