Army

Introduction
Another game mechanic that adds complexity. A stronger army will probably change some minor aspect of the end of the game and it already has shown some minor effects in the battle against the Horde. Two figures represent your Army:
 * Size: A representation of how many people are in it.
 * Quality: How disciplined and well trained they are.

Possible recruits
So far, it's possible to avoid getting any army but Orcent's band, and although the losses against the Orcs are heavy, that doesn't mean a Game Over but the reward list is minimal (and Carina's soldiers die.) TOTAL SO FAR:
 * When you recruit Orcent, you start with an army of Size 3 and Quality 1.
 * When you return to the farm (during Chapter 1) and dominate the two recalcitrant orcs you get +1 Quality.
 * When you recruit the Succubi in the tower near Stineford: +2 Size +1 Quality. Or if you failed to talk to their leader in Chapter 1, +1 Size +1 Quality
 * Hiring the Iron Cudgel: +2 Size +1 Quality.
 * Hiring the Dusty Horde: +5 Size.
 * Hiring AriGarda: +2 Size +3 Quality.
 * Convince the majority of the succubi and orcs in the Withered Mountain castle: +3 Size +1 Quality.
 * Sparing The Impaler: No effect on Army rating, but you get a synergy bonus for the passes battle.
 * Stark Head: No effect on Army rating, but you get a synergy bonus for the passes battle.
 * Size = 17
 * Quality = 8

Impending Horde Battle
The amount of Sx is determined by army size, the quality of the items is determined by army quality.

The results vary with your army strength.
 * Orcent will give you a variable amount of money in function of the size + hidden variable (see below) of your army, expressed as a number n:
 * n >= 5: 1000 Sx
 * n >= 8: 2000 Sx
 * n >= 10: 3000 Sx
 * n >= 15: 5000 Sx
 * The succubi village will give you various gear based on army quality:
 * 2 quality will net you a Steel Armor.
 * 3 will get you a Full Plate instead.
 * 4 will get you a Shining Sword instead.
 * 5 will get you the Full Plate and Shining Sword.
 * 6 or above and you win all three.
 * Carina's men will be saved by any mercenary company and will give you a Shining Armor. No effect on Carina affection or hidden Religion variable.

Synergy bonus
A hidden synergy variable is calculated. It is added to your army size to determine Sx earned from the battle (see above), and a total of 12 from size + quality + synergy is needed for the Orcent Orgy scene.

What affects synergy: Efficiency in the preceding section of Chapter 2 affects several hidden checks, but none related to this battle.
 * Having both the AriGarda and Iron Cudgel will give you +1
 * Having both the AriGarda and Dusty Horde give you -1 (stacks with above)
 * Having both the Withered Mountain Troops and the Succubi Tower will give +1, but only if you talk with them outside the dark tower to trigger their scene.
 * Having both Orcent and Impaler will give +1, but only if you watch their cutscene outside the Abandoned Fortress.
 * Having Orcent and Stark's head will give +1, but to get this you have to talk to Orcent at least twice outside the tower in order to show it to him.

After the Reunion
You can invest in mercenaries again here, with a few changes: If you purchased mercenary services before, you'll pay some upkeep to keep them on when you talk to Megail, but their bonuses are unchanged.
 * AriGarda is no longer available for your army, but you can pay them 10k ProN to align with House Rose, or optionally House Adamant if you resolved the mine problem in Aka's route by unleashing demons.
 * Iron Cudgel has declined in numbers since you didn't hire them before, so you only get +1 size, +1 quality. They're also more desperate, so they'll sign on for only 5k ProN.
 * Dusty Horde is unchanged, but cheaper - 10k ProN..