Discussion (Results Available) Who do you marry? [Fun with scenarios]

Definitely The (Future) World King.

Marrying the dragon seems like an emotional nightmare. Why would I want to spend my life with someone who gets along with me like a house on fire? Some people like bickering. I don't. I stay far far away from that stuff. I do value having intelligent conversations. But at the cost of my sanity? Naw.

The (Future) World King is sweet and well-meaning, and that means a lot to me. Someone's temperament plays a huge role in whether I want them around in my life. Lack of self-confidence... well I hope that can change with time. I think it's rather natural to lack self-confidence in your teenage years, especially around that age. The whole same-sex relationship thing is risky with him though. But given his amiable nature, I'll probably be able to threaten convince him that it'll be fine.

He does seem a bit... plain though. Seems like we can't have it all

@Moonpearl can you tag me once you reveal the consequences or if you have any similar threads in the future? I find it interesting ^^

 

"Get along like a house on fire" means that you get on very, very well, not that you fight. Basically you start talking like friends/getting close as fast as fire spreads through a house, is the idea of the phrase.

You can try and create an option C if you can find a way using the extra information as well. I can answer questions and I'll also let you know if anything you'd otherwise try would be impossible by the world's rules.

And sure, I'd be glad to tag you~!

 

Using what means?

 

Hm... oh that changes things. My mental image of a house on fire is makes me think it isn't a good thing lol... It's the first time I've heard of the phrase.

I'll have to think further

 

then i chose option nr 3: the queen goes to therapy to help with the genderdysphoria

 

I think I still would have to go with the future world king. I feel like the dragon is a trap lol... it sounds somewhat too good to be true?

It'd probably use my miracle to change me into an actual cis girl though. That way, our relationship might be more easily accepted and if I'm a woman and copulate with him, I'll probably be able to have children. That could be two birds with one stone.

 

So which gender am I again, I got confused. Do I have both or just a dick? Why don't we use magic to solve the problem of gender shenanigan again?

Definitely dragon, first he knew my secret which sealed the deal already, second, he is aggressive and dangerous, but has no ambition and seems to care a lot about me. Also, he can shapeshift and that's good enough for me.
I can definitely become the mentor of the future world king as he is naive and stupid, so I can teach him politic and knowledge in general and expected him to view me with respect and care after he became the king.

 

Yes~! I was waiting for someone to notice that.

If you choose either of these two suitors, your engagement would stay hidden until you return from your quest. Your circumstances mean that you have to go with them to avoid being successfully assassinated, so very little information about your whereabouts and what you're doing is going to be handed around anyway. By that time, the (Future) World King will just be the World King.
It's impossible for anyone to stand up to him once he becomes king (but the Elf King insists that he WILL be a benevolent king).
As for the dragon... Well, he's about as difficult to kill as your typical dragon.

By removing yourself as Queen, you do remove the pressure from the nobles to produce an heir. You won't stop men from chasing after you, though - most of them are there because they want to say that they, out of all men, where deemed "worthy" of you, and keep you as a prize, more or less.
They likely won't stop causing difficulty for your country, either. Now that you're no longer Queen, you don't have the power to stop your country from selling you off to someone to save their own hides.
You also take away the home, income and general lifestyle of yourself and all your friends, too.

But if you use your miracle to establish democracy in your country, it will be done. They likely won't be happy - nobody likes change, especially one so vast and sudden - and there's a chance that they might revolt and re-establish someone else as the monarchy. (As happened in England after Cromwell's death.)
You also might want to put thought into what sort of "democracy" you mean. "Democracy" in its original state was only giving wealthy men of a certain age to vote, and then it became only all men, slowly creeping to allow women to vote...

Invalid. No such thing as therapy in this world, and the queen is not having problems dealing with her gender.
That also doesn't solve any of her other problems.

Your gender is male and female, your sex is currently just male (just a dick).

(If you teach him thinking that he's stupid and you can use him rather than out of kindness, it will come back to bite you in the butt later.)

 

Not really using him, just that I can rest assure that he won't come to forcefully take me if I rejected him.

 

There is the choice of not marrying. Your strong enough to repulse invaders, trade embargoes may not even be much of a problem, and the nobles are not going to rebel against a beloved ruler.

 

Picking Dragon.

If future king likes the queen just for being the first lady who was nice to him, and the queen doesn't seem to be that into him either, it might not work out (emotionally). I'm not sure what a 'house on fire' type of relationship is, but it sounds like it's supposed to mean something good so it looks like the relationship would work out better with the dragon.

Plus with the future king, the queen would get a ton of new responsibilities, and not much more help with her current responsibilities. If she goes with the dragon instead she can probably maintain a good relationship as fellow rulers with the future king, which will give her plus-points for possible alliance type arrangements without the increased responsibilities.

Also that Elf King is sketchy as hell and that future king is probably going to be involved with him for a long long time. Wouldn't be a bad idea to steer clear of that mess.

 

You could easily fake your own death - especially with assassins currently after your life. You'd probably need to beg for help from the Elf King to come out of it alive.
That would leave your country in chaos, though, and you'd have no say as to who the next ruler is. You'd also be abandoning your ladies-in-waiting - who have long since gone past "marriageable age" serving and protecting you - to the mercy of a cruel society.

Your beauty is half the problem. You'd still be pressured to marry for politics and to produce an heir, but it would put off the most shallow of your suitors. It might also put off the majority of your suitors. (Not the Dragon or the World King, though.)

I'm honestly not sure if enforcing a hive mind would be allowed. It's technically harming your people, so it might be refused. But even if your wish was accepted, the World King would have to undo it afterwards to rescue his subjects.

Sorry, but your country is small and weak. You've been lucky so far, but any attack from a bigger country would decimate you. (When I spoke about fending off attacks in the OP, I meant rape attempts. I'll go and change that.)

Trade is a big problem. One of the countries that are refusing you are the leaders in ship production and defensive measures. You're so far behind everyone else now that you're a sitting duck.

As for the nobility... The assassins that have been sent to kill you didn't come out of thin air. You might be the sovereign ruler right now, but you're still a "woman" in a world that views you as a second-class citizen, and their patience is wearing thin. Your reputation as a "virtuous woman" won't protect you if they think you're doing what's wrong for your country.

You still need to marry and produce a legitimate heir, anyway. And you need to at least produce a baby to be the next guardian for the spell. Not doing so would likely inconvenience the Elf King, and he's the last person you ever want to make an enemy of.

 

Easy, the dragon. If I have to do the deed and give birth anyway, I might as well choose someone who likes me for me and knows all of my secrets already and accepts them. i absolutely would not allow anyone to court me unless they knew exactly what they were getting into.

The humans of my kingdom are backwards, they could use a progressive touch. If that means I have to face opposition for my choice then so be it. Plus my dragon husband wouldn't mind terrifying them into submission. I would hope they would eventually learn not to bring it up after the seventh time he dangles someone from the balcony by their ankles. Plus I helped and am friends with the world god. If that doesn't give me some slack...well, nothing will.

Either way, I sure do hope my family's disappearance doesn't come back to bite me in the hinny. Things like that happen for a reason...and make me think I should prepare for my death instead of worrying about children that might follow my parent's example and dissapear.

 

*foreshadows ominously*

 

This took me ages to write up, so apologies to everyone for the wait~! The consequences of simply choosing one or the other are now here. @Scheherazade

Things that happen regardless of your choice:

Spoiler

The Elf King turns out to be telling the truth. He doesn’t kill or betray you, but leads you on an exciting and perilous adventure across the world that ends in the (Future) World King becoming World King.

The World King is all powerful and selectively omniscient. No one can keep secrets from him anymore. The position comes with immortality too. He does become somewhat more confident, no longer cowering in fear of being injured, and even asserting his opinions and getting angry on his behalf at times… Although you could say that anyone would be more confident if they were an all-powerful god.

The World King is also bound by oath to protect all the people of the world, and his own powers will temporarily reject him for any period that he tries to break this oath. As the Elf King said: he will be a benevolent king.

The Dragon learns that his father has been murdered by a wizard who is, shockingly, succeeding in hunting down the dragon race. He leaves with the world’s most powerful and evil dragon, a fellow shapeshifter who makes even the dragon king tremble, who trains him in return for the promise that your Dragon will overthrow the king. The party rests and trains at a temple for several months while he’s gone.

The Dragon thus becomes the Dragon King, and the strongest dragon in history. As a shadow dragon, his special ability even allows him to become a shadow and let attacks pass through him. He leads the entire dragon race to obliterate the enemy wizard in an army that the world won’t quickly forget.

Altogether, the quest takes you just under a year – waiting time included. Along the way, the curse that haunts your family catches your party off-guard and finishes you off. The Elf King brings the party to bargain with the Master of Death for your return, and the Dragon King (maybe the World King, too, if he’s your lover) and the Elf King risk their lives to retrieve you. Technically the terms of the curse are satisfied now, so your family will no longer be hunted down by Death.

Using your miracle to allow you to get pregnant gives you a mix of all sex characteristics (unless you went out of your way to specify). It was also worded in such a way that only your husband of choice can get you pregnant.

In the years that follow, the World King assists countless people and passes many laws that the world must comply with – including the legalisation of gay marriage and equal rights for women. Acceptance is still slow but, with the World King steering the helm, every country is forced to bypass centuries of reluctantly releasing their old prejudices and get right down to business.

The rest of the party stay with the World King to help and advise him – particularly the Elf King, who can offer his powers as an oracle.

The World King eventually makes those of you who are mortal immortal. You can go in and out of death at your leisure.

If you choose the Dragon (King):

Spoiler

You return to your country already pregnant and in need of a rushed wedding, to the disapproval of your ladies. There’s no hiding your state on your wedding day, so it becomes a scandal you never really live down. Your husband leaves every wedding decision to you, content for it to be your dream day, and donates a great deal of priceless silks and jewels to create your wedding dress. To the horror of your nobility, your wedding vows are not “until death do us part”, but simply “for eternity”.

True to his word, your husband takes the position as Consort – a role usually reserved only for women – and only assists you in ruling when you ask him to. He spends the greatest part of his time in the rooms you set aside for his hoard, looking after the children. He’s mocked as an emasculated toy boy, but he only finds it funny. To the great annoyance of the straight men of your country, he’s also adored as a heartthrob.

Your reputation as a domesticated goddess is quickly destroyed. You go from being a modest, chaste and only slightly wild lady to a scandalous woman who can’t be kept from flirting with her own husband in public. The fact that you’re married to a dragon remains a great joke to the rest of humanity, and a great shame to your country.

Your husband dotes on you. There’s very little you could ask that he won’t do – including wearing a dress for the amusement of the water spirit – and, after one of his “punishments” for a villain makes you briefly afraid of him, he is careful to reign in his cruelty in a way that (mostly) meets your approval. Due to various parts of the quest you went through, you are under no doubt that you are your husband’s ideal, and you can count on one hand the number of times his eyes have wandered during even 1000 years of marriage. (And his eyes are all that wander.)

In fact, he says you’re the greatest treasure in his hoard… And it’s not just a pretty phrase. Dragons turn out to have a code of conduct that makes killing anyone who tries to steal from their hoard almost mandatory. Even you have a tough time dissuading him from murdering people who make serious passes at you. On the other hand, he also says he’s happy for you to have as many other lovers are you desire? Presumably he won’t kill them so long as you invite their advances first.

You’re well-known for doting on your husband as well. You go so far as to learn how to shapeshift into a dragon to please him. You protect him from political machinations and enemies that he would otherwise take care of by murdering and carefully manage his reputation. You’re always finding new ways to catch his eye and fill his days with fun. You also fight off several female dragons who come to challenge you for your mating rights… (He was never going to let them have their way, but he does enjoy watching you demonstrate your strength.)

You have six children back-to-back before your husband learns that contraception is a thing that exists. While you were expecting to bear children every year for the rest of your life, he’s quite satisfied with six – as many as a dragon would have in one sitting. He’s a dedicated and loving father, if a little unconventional… Your first two children learn the alphabet through cuss words (“names for nobles,” he tells them) before you manage to intervene, and they wreak havoc in the castle after he teaches them to use their fire and fly.

Luckily you also have help from his mentor (really his foster father now) and his human wife. This older, wiser dragon is more than happy to help “this silly, cute young dragon” and his mate navigate your culture clash. His wife and you also become fast friends, able to discuss and complain to each other about the trials of being married to dragons.

Your husband is both an international relations disaster and a blessing. When enemies you don’t know how to deal with coming knocking on your door, he sends dragons to bring them to heel alongside his uniquely cruel punishments. Few are willing to attack or upset you with every dragon in the world as your army. Your allies are uneasy, though, and many speak of you as a tyrant. Your nobles urge you to get rid of him before he starts a war, and your people fear his cruelty. The latter you manage to change with some heavy PR. He never gains support outside the common people.

Your husband’s feminism makes him endless enemies in your court. He breaches all decorum and makes your elderly lords blush by insisting on staying right beside you through labour and birth, he refuses to join in with the nobles complaining about their wives, and he picks fights with anyone who even hints that they think his daughters are inferior to his sons. He has wifebeaters quaking in their boots before the World King even passes the worldwide law against domestic abuse.

His influence even causes many women to run off and try to mate with dragons themselves, which he only encourages… Sadly this one endangers your population, so you’re forced to ask him not to. Regardless, relations between humans and dragons slowly become more intimate under your husband’s rule.

When you retire from ruling your country (he never retires as Dragon King), you both join the rest of the party in the World Castle, with a huge underground cavern crafted for your husband’s hoard. You each assist your friend in your own, unique way. With your free time, you finally get to live the life of freedom and adventure you always craved. The Elf King mischievously leads you all away on quests for amusement, and your husband gladly flies with you to every corner of the living world and the Land of Death that piques your curiosity. Due to the changes made by the World King and the enthusiasm of your husband, it’s your eldest daughter who takes the throne after you.

The two of you go down in history and legend as one of the greatest love stories of all time and as a harmonious power couple. You in particular go down as woman of great bravery and strength, both in body and in mind; you are praised for your beauty, but much more for your wisdom, your patience, your great service to your country, and your persistence in all matters. You are acknowledged to be as wild as your husband in your own way and are always regarded on equal footing with him.


As for the World King…

When he eventually finds out about your secret, he’s confused for a time, but otherwise accepts it. He turns out to be not as attached to convention as he first appears and is slightly annoyed that he might have been passed up on those grounds. He remains your friend though, and grudgingly tolerates your husband. He deliberately never reads your mind, because he doesn’t even want to know how someone picks the Dragon over him.

But he initially takes the news of your engagement hard. The Elf King decides that the best way to help him get over it and to grow confidence is to have someone in the “maiden” role for him to protect and to encourage him… And seeing as you are unwilling to fill the position, he uses elf logic to decide that he must.

Elf logic works, to the surprise of all. You travel all across the world having to witness an ancient, murderous Eldritch act coy and flirt and pretend he needs protecting… And the ever dense World King never notices a thing or chalks it all up to a practical joke. More painful is finding out that the Elf King is some sort of elven aberration who, despite coming from a race that cannot fall in love, falls madly in love with the World King. Naturally he doesn’t realise this on his own. (Your husband-to-be calls it “great entertainment” and has to be begged to help straighten it out.)

Everyone manages to get the truth out when you stop at the temple. By the time you leave, those two are an item. The World King builds his castle ready-made to accept the Elf King as his consort and, several years later, they marry. Through a means that is a legend all of its own, the World King bears six half-elven children all at once, all of which suffer with some sort of half-elven mindset and sometimes even unclear prophetic visions. The other elves treat them like nightmare fuel. (The World King also has about ten illegitimate children from before he was crowned. That’s the Elf King’s fault and he finds it hilarious.)

The Elf King takes his role as “the lady of the house” very seriously. On top of confusing half the world about his gender, he graciously accompanies his husband in entertaining guests and learns how to cook so he can give the World King the comfort of a homemade peasant meal from time to time.

If you choose the World King:

Spoiler

He’s shocked by the revelation of your secret, but it doesn’t put him off you for long. You become Queen Consort of the World. Your husband builds the World Castle but leaves it in the capable hands of the rest of the party, living with you in yours when he doesn’t have work. Without someone to keep an eye on the Elf King, he leads everyone else on numerous wild adventures… But rarely anything that really causes trouble for your husband.

Your husband turns out to have some sort of hyper-fertility. You bear five children at once and the Elf King immediately takes pity on you both and sets you up on a contraceptive. You children are… Not entirely human. Your husband avoids the topic at all costs.

Despite the oddities and hiccups, your husband is incredibly sweet and devoted. Cheating never seems to cross his mind, and he dotes on your children… Too much, to be honest – it’s up to you to keep them disciplined. You’ll probably always have to take the lead in bed, but at least he never says no. That honeymoon stage never ends for him and he’s always starstruck by your beauty and kindness.

You occasionally have some trouble with people trying to poison you and replace you, but your husband easily stops them. People stop troubling your country pretty quickly. Instead, you have no end of people offering to become your allies and showering you in gifts. With your husband’s power, your country never suffers from drought, famine, or war ever again. He’s incredibly popular with all your people, of course.

Your husband doesn’t have much time to help you with smaller, more mundane matters, but he tries. The Elf King and the priestess advise and assist him in his own duties; most of the support he needs from you is emotional. He always places what advice you do give him above anyone else’s, though.

After you retire from ruling your country, you leave the throne to your eldest (by a few minutes) – your son. Your duties as Queen of the World increase and you and your husband move into the World Castle permanently. Most of the hijinks happening there stop… Apart from when you deliberately take part, much to the exasperation of your husband.

You go down in legend as the ideal married couple, with perfect traditional fidelity and domestic bliss. Your own reputation as the ideal woman only strengthens. You are known as a great beauty, wise, patient, loyal and domesticated. Your strength in battle is eclipsed, only praised for the support it gives your husband.


As for the Dragon King…

He can’t believe you chose what he calls “the whelp” over him. He immediately tries to appeal to you, citing all the many flaws and pathetic weaknesses of the World King; when he can’t move you, he storms off in a temper that sees him ignore you for weeks. Even when he does talk to you again, it takes a long time for his anger to fade into simple bitterness and jealousy.

Relations between the Dragon and the World King were always bad, but they go beyond repair after this. The Dragon goes from being merely snarky towards him to constantly berating him, sneering every time he cowers from a challenge and telling him he’s not good enough for you.

As a result of always causing trouble, he never really fits into the group comfortably. He does somehow manage to become a strange sort of friends with the Elf King, who follows him out on his solitary walks often. Whatever they talk about, it seems to help the Dragon settle down. He switches from simply attacking the World King with his speeches to pushing him (more like shoving him) to step up and be worthy of you.

It’s a wonder he returns after he becomes the Dragon King. But despite it all, the two of you become close friends.

There’s no place for him in the World Castle after the quest, and he’s more than happy to part ways from your husband. He lives alone in his vast den of treasures. With nobody to keep an eye on him, he runs amok in the world and falls foul of your husband many, many times; your husband even refuses to revive him or bestow immortality on him, so much does he hate him. The Dragon King secures it all for himself using the miracle he earned.

He has no end of mates to choose from and sires countless children. In true dragon fashion, they’re all short flings and one night stands and he has no part in raising any of his offspring. Much later on, he adopts a child he finds abandoned in the wild.

He returns often to visit you and the Elf King. He still makes appeals to you to reconsider and come away with him, but they get less and less as you all get older; in between them, he resigns himself to simply being near you. Every time you meet, the tenderness and longing in the room is practically physically felt. It’s no secret to anyone that he’s madly in love with you. Your word still holds the most sway with him and he goes out of his way not to disappoint you. Even if your husband and the Elf King were unavailable, you’d only need ask and the world would be served to you on a platter.

He is always an uncomfortable part of the legends: a dark figure who never really belongs and yet is never really firmly rejected by the party. His love for you is spoken of with shame and often intentionally unmentioned, as if his very existence might call into question your purity.

Feel free to ask any questions or continue trying to create a third option~!

A present for playing and reading all this:

 

That was incredibly fun! Thank you.

I like both endings, and they each have their merits.

 

Thank you~! I'm glad you feel that way. The queen's real choice in the game was the Dragon King, so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make the World King's route fleshed out enough to be fair.

I'll make another scenario thread probably next week, after university finishes... Hopefully a much less wordy one. XD

 

This was really interesting ^^ Can't wait to see more of these aha