im so happy i get to romance korzha as a young mc! its such a taboo irl but we can all have fun in fiction, right 🥰🥰 anyways i love korzha, and i swear i almost squealed when i saw my stat bar go up to **korzha cares about you** ☹️☹️ i love korzha 🥰🥰🥰

I'm so pleased you're liking them! Korzha has a lot of ambivalent feelings about a workplace romance, especially with a subordinate, but that makes it extra fun to write their scenes.

Korzha: I like to maintain boundaries between my professional and personal life

Flirty MC who has been making eyes at everyone they meet: Oh yeah same

Korzha:

coding these cute scenes like a present to future me when I get to write them

Goshdarn it I like writing Korzha opening up verrrrry slowwwwly

Bonus Stories are returning to my Patreon!

We are back with a (gentle, polite) vengeance!

After a lot of soul-searching and making sure I have enough time and energy to do it, I'm restarting bonus stories on my Patreon. At £11+ you can gain access to the archive of four interactive stories about Asher, Javi, Hartmann, and Auguste, and to a new (sad but heartwarming!) story put up today from the perspective of Varenn Korzha from Honor Bound, set seven years before the game begins. Passwords are listed on this post which is accessible for subscribers at £11+.

During July 2022 and September 2023, the interactive story archive was available for subscribers at £6+ and I would like you to be able to keep access to it if you'd like to play those stories again. If you were a Sneak Preview/£6 subscriber or above between July 2022 and September 2023, please send me a message with your Patreon name and the details of when you were a subscriber and I will give you the new password which will give you access to them (though not to the stories from Sept 2023 onwards).

I always really enjoy writing bonus scenes and stories! I will continue to post something on the third Wednesday of the month - so the next one will go up on October 18th. In the meantime, I will be posting the next detailed progress update & small preview on September 29th for all subscribers, and Chapter 3 of Honor Bound on October 3rd for Sneak Preview subscribers.

As always, thank you so much for all your support!

I'm also romancing Korzha with a young MC, and I'm so excited after you saying that in that other ask - "I still always enjoy writing their non-flirty, but interested early-romance scenes!"

My MC is very much principled too, and he has been told not to do anything flirty in public since the students will get wild over it, so he's very very reserved in his reactions in general, but still very much attracted to Korzha.

I wonder if it'll be possible to go through the entire game without the teens noticing the MC has a love life going on. It would be so hilarious if at the end of the year they announced they are getting married or something, and nobody expected it heh

Oooh, that would be a good idea for an achievement wouldn't it!

I do track when people notice the PC flirting with anyone... so it would be pretty easy to implement to reward a very very publicly professional PC. Hmmm...

There are definitely points where the PC can be direct about how they feel about Korzha (and others) but they can also be reserved throughout - obviously there will be a point at which they'll need to say or do something, haha, but they can wait a fair amount of time while pining or working up the courage or certainty to do that, or come to a sudden realisation after bonding platonically, having worked together as a pair, and built up trust. And whenever the time comes there will be various ways of expressing it in more or less reserved/restrained tones.

It's something I wanted to be flexible with for Honor Bound and experiment with differently-paced and -toned romances where characters get an even spread of screen time and personal storylines, but it gets spread across chapters so some characters are more prominent at different times and you get a chance to get to know a variety of people on a playthrough rather than being pushed to focus on only one (though you can absolutely focus on favourites!).

The slow burn with Korza and a young MC is immaculate - I will win her over one day!

Wheeeee I'm so glad you're enjoying it! It was a ton of fun to write!

Hey!

I had a few chapters of backlog in Honor Bound, and I finally got to play them all. It was such a treat to had a bunch of content all at once!

I sent the more "technical" feedback via the form, so I won't comment on that stuff here, but I really wanted to mention just how much I enjoy my Korzha romance + Denario BFF playthrough! They are my favorite characters, and it makes so much sense for my MC to crush on Korzha and to have an almost sibling-like affection for Denario (with them practically having been raised together).

I think it's such a captivating set up considering what Korzha clearly thinks about the bandits. Especially with a MC who's extremely dutiful and normally not opposed to the system as a whole. But he's also gentle and emotional and leaving people in need doesn't stand well with him to begin with. Adding to that the personal ties to Denario... It makes for such delicious drama and conflict.

I'm really hoping against all hopes this situation can somehow end well, but I'll admit I'm scared. It would be heartbreaking for my MC to have to make a choice between the one he'd end up loving and his dearest childhood friend at the end of the road.

I'm curious though - is it the hardest combination of closest relationships for a MC to somehow deal with? It sure feels that way!

Awww, I love this so much. It's always amazing to hear about people's MC's stories and feelings - it's honestly magical to know that my imaginary stuff is affecting real people. And thank you for the bug reports and other comments - the bugs should be fixed by the time this queued post rolls around.

So...

Is it the hardest combination of close relationships to deal with...?

No, it's not.

There's one combination where the characters like each other, but something important comes up for them at the same time and you need to choose who to prioritise. That one isn't intensely fraught, exactly, just an awkward point that includes an argument.

But... there's another combination which is complicated for a reason that no one will find out until Chapter 9 or Chapter 10. And that will involve a lot more potential upset and difficulties navigating things - and it will be a big challenge to stay on good terms with everyone involved.

Hey, hey!! 😊😊

I have to say I loved "Honor Bound"!! Mainly because you have poly relationships within it, I love having these options in games, my favorites are Matia and Korzha!!

And if that's okay, I wanted to ask a few questions that made me curious about this (but you don't have to answer them if you don't want to).

1- In chapter 5, when we have the option to enter into a relationship with Matia, does this automatically block any other type of relationship we could have with Korzha in poly?

2- Do you plan to put a price on the game in the future? Are you going to send it to "Choice of Games" or is it going to be something more individual on your part? (I saw the game on Itch.io, so I wanted to clear this doubt)

Bye, bye!!! Take care and drink water!!

{Sorry for any spelling mistakes, English is not my native language}

Thank you so much, I'm delighted that you're enjoying the game so far!

Honor Bound is going to be published through Choice of Games and will be available to buy, though I don't know how much it will cost. The WIP is hosted on itch.io for now because I wanted an option where you keep current progress if you close the tab or browser (which dashingdon doesn't allow you to do).

Starting any sort of relationship with Matia or Korzha does not block a polyamorous relationship with the two of them - the only thing blocks it is choosing options with the [End/Reject Romance] tag for either of them.

Small, slightly spoilery extra detail:

You can have a brief discussion about the idea, hypothetically, with Matia in Chapter 5. But you don't have to have that conversation in order to start it later.

Not every PC's choices will be compatible with the Matia/Korzha polyamorous romance. There are some dealbreakers that come up beyond the demo. But they will have the [End/Reject Romance] tag on them and it should be clear. eg, a character saying explicitly "if X doesn't happen or Y does happen, I need to keep my distance from you".

You'll also need to signal to both of them that you have some interest in them before Chapter 9. That doesn't have to be starting to date/kissing/sleeping with them/having conversations about romance, it can just be meaningful looks or light flirting. But they won't start a polyamorous relationship that late if you're completely starting from scratch.

(side note, the solo romances can be started that late without having flirted previously.)

All of which to say, it should not be possible to unknowingly/accidentally block off a romance in this game.

Thank you for the ask and the well-wishes!

Hi, I was wondering... since in Honor bound MC and ROs are of a certain age is there a reason why they're still single? Like, it's totally fine if someone didn't want or did relationships in their youth or haven't met the right person yet but did any of the ROs or MC canonically have someone at one point? (Apart from our employer's daughter that is).

Ooooh. Now this is really interesting!

It's something that will come up ingame so it's behind the cut for those who want to go in without knowing anything:

None of them have had serious relationships in the immediately recent past.

Fiore (age 35): got together with their spouse Jaime young, when they were about twenty, and then they had Catarina when they were 21. After they divorced when Catarina was 8, Fiore was very focused on juggling caring for her and on their work. They co-parented with Jaime for about two years before Jaime's death, though Jaime was less present and their parenting was less stable/reliable than Fiore's. Fiore has dated people a bit, mostly people whom their friends introduced them to, or meeting people they've worked with for coffee dates, that sort of thing. But although some of them have been nice times, they haven't gotten really serious. There are a lot of reasons for this, much of which are in Fiore's head (they have a bunch of stuff going on about what they do and don't "deserve", and there are some other big aspects of their past which they don't feel comfortable opening up about. yet!). If they think about it, it's with a bit of wistfulness and a hope that it might be possible one day, when things align.

Korzha (age 41): is someone who is very "married to their work" and in being so, keeps a lot of distance between their personal life and their work life... but doesn't have a huge social life outside of work. Some of this is intentional from their side, some of it is a habit they've fallen into. They did date more when they were younger, and ended up in a pretty serious relationship in the workplace that went wrong somehow. Maybe it imploded, maybe there was drama, maybe they didn't treat each other well. Either way they went "no, things are going to be different from now on". And broadly, generally, they are content with that. They get a lot of satisfaction from their work and do prefer to keep their distance emotionally from those around them... and for some people that suits them very nicely but for Korzha sometimes it really doesn't. They had a horrible example of romantic relationships in the shape of their parents, and want to avoid repeating their patterns. If they think about it, they probably think that they might find someone suitable when they're assigned somewhere else - Ozera is so small that they don't think it would be possible to date comfortably.

Matia (age 44): if they were a sailor they would be "married to the sea" but... they're not. Maybe "married to the wilderness", lol. They've travelled around a LOT for most of their life and it's only in the last ten years that they've settled in one place. Which isn't to say that they haven't had longstanding relationships: I can absolutely see them having long-term friends-with-benefits situations where they would consider themself very close with and trusting towards the other person, but wouldn't necessarily call it "a romantic arrangement", as well as ones that have ended badly. They haven't been in a situation where they want to move in with someone, for example, and they'd see a romantic relationship as including markers like that - partly because of seeing their parents, who have had a very long and generally sweet/chill romantic marriage. After moving back to Elene's Prospect, they haven't really dated people in the town because of all the scrutiny all that gets. They do sometimes go to the neighbouring city to enjoy some hedonism; they may have had a fling with a previous teacher at Ozera; but in general they haven't had a recent "romantic, serious" relationship and are not expecting or actively looking for that at this stage.

Raffi (age 25): has had a lot of no-strings attachments with people they know, which has sometimes caused drama and has sometimes been fine, and Raffi hasn't totally figured out ways of pushing it towards the "fine" end of the spectrum. They have also had some friends-with-benefits situations but more often it has been less emotionally close. They have been in situations where they've been given lavish gifts and hung out with very wealthy people while sort-of-not-really dating them, but although they did enjoy that and found it fun, what they would really like is to be with someone who treats them like they're the most important person in the room; they believe there is someone out there who will, it's just that they haven't found them yet. Still, though they find the thought of that exciting, they're aware that they're young in the grand scheme of things and they haven't been in a huge rush to settle down.

Savarel (age 28): went on some very sweet, chill dates as a teenager with friends from school, and I can totally see their parents, aunts and uncles (their family is very, very large and sprawling) trying to set them up with kids or cousins of their friends when they come home on leave. Which Savarel would have gone on and probably enjoyed - maybe not always having a fantastic time, but sometimes! They would probably have had some romantic encounters, mostly with their own friends at some points, especially in their early to mid 20s. But as they've got older, they've done that less and less, especially in the last couple of years. Currently they don't really place themself and romantic relationships in the same sentence; if they think of it at all, they probably think "that simply isn't something that's going to happen" - not because they don't want it. But because the world, and they, are not in a state where it could happen. And they are in a mental place where they do not feel at all comfortable with wanting things let alone having them.

I think about Korzha an abnormal amount and I’m okay with that. I love them very much and cannot wait to make them love me back!

Can you tell me some of their guilty pleasures? They’re so straitlaced, I’d love to know what they turn to when they get the urge to indulge!

This actually made me pause for a bit because Korzha is so straitlaced, even though I too think about them an abnormal amount...

I don't think they particularly see stuff like alcohol or food as guilty pleasures - they do like fancy spirits or nice chocolates on occasion but fairly moderately, and they don't feel guilty about it, haha! I haven't decided whether they read a lot...

I actually think one of their guilty pleasures is nostalgia/sentimentality. They have a lot of good memories of their time in the Teranese Service and then their military time in their 20s and they don't manage to see many of their friends from that period, either because they've faded out of contact or because things are so busy. It is a bit of a guilty pleasure for them because they enjoy thinking about it, but it makes them feel embarrassed and silly, and also a bit squirmy about some of the things they did back then that they now think are cringey or unwise. They don't have a ton of compassion for their younger self.

I have some tentative headcanons about other things that they'd consider a guilty pleasure but I haven't decided whether that's canon yet or not, so we'll see about those!

wait there’s a korzha/matia triad?? How do we trigger that? Just flirt with both of them? Ahh!

At this stage of the game, pretty much haha! There are some spoilery dealbreakers for Korzha which haven't come up yet and will be very clear.

Some other spoilers below:

At the moment you may notice some small responses if you flirt with or are particularly affectionate towards one of them in front of the other. Just make sure you outwardly express that you're interested in them both (whether that's making a flirty comment, getting flustered, lingering looks, brushing a hand on an arm, asking "do you want to date", etc) before... probably Chapter 9, if my calculations are right and they'll talk about what's going on. So far I've written one of the ways it can become official - the demo hasn't reached that point yet - but there will be multiple points so that it doesn't get missed.

You don't have to be officially dating either of them (as in you don't have to have picked a "start NPC romance" option) in order to have that conversation, you just have to have made it clear that you're into them both at some point.

There are also a bunch of points where you can get off the polyamory train, as it were, by making it clear that you want to be monogamous with one of them and were just being non-seriously flirty earlier on.

Unlike some of the polyamorous romances I've written, they don't get together if the MC isn't with them: the MC is a catalyst for their friendship turning romantic.

12 for korzha! Thanks!

questions from Bhanu Kapil's Twelve Questions: all questions here; send a question and an Honor Bound character, and I'll answer it in-character based on how the character is doing at the start of the game.

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12. And what would you say if you could?

A: Interesting one. In general I say what I need to. There isn't much that I'd like to say that I don't. Some things are harder to say than others, so it would sometimes be useful to be able to make someone aware without speaking. There are certain things, or people, I care about a lot, and I don't necessarily enjoy saying it out loud. It feels... sentimental, messy, I suppose. But in the case of people - they understand it even so, I think.

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10. Describe a morning you woke without fear?

Matia and/or Korzha

(I feel they'd have some good anecdotes before their service)

questions from Bhanu Kapil's Twelve Questions: all questions here; send a question and an Honor Bound character, and I'll answer it in-character based on how the character is doing at the start of the game.

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Matia: I mean I don't really wake without fear much, specially not these days when I don't tend to get stranded on mountainsides or out in the desert, so this isn't like a really notable one - but one of the first times I stayed over at Ozera, before I'd gotten used to sleeping there I slept just... ridiculously deeply and I got to have a lie-in. I was still a bit sore from the tail-end of a bunch of medical stuff but the bed and pillows there were just - incredible, and there was no noise except the sheep outside and some of the kids up early in the fields, and I got to hang out there until about lunchtime. It was the most luxurious thing I'd done in forever, and there was nothing I had to get on and do, and it was gorgeous.

Korzha: Fortunately, waking with fear isn't commonplace for me. That wasn't always the case. It was a long time ago now, but all right - the first morning of Teranese Service on the mainland was in a dorm, and there were a lot of others around, which I wasn't used to. It was in no way luxury, and it would have been inappropriate if it was. But it felt peaceful in a way that was unfamiliar. I suppose I knew exactly what to expect, and what to do, and that was unfamiliar also.

Hi Hannah!

I’m beyond obsessed with Honor Bound already, I cannot wait for the full release!

Question about the romances, I think Raffi is so sweet and I’m really enjoying them but Khorza is my one true love. Will starting a relationship with Raffi lock me out of the Khorza romance? They seem pretty…particular about who they would allow to get close and I don’t want to jeopardize it!

Ahh thank you so much, I'm absolutely delighted that you're enjoying it!

Relationship spoilers below:

Raffi and Korzha aren't non-monogamously compatible, I'm afraid. Although starting a romance with one of them won't lock you out of starting a romance with another, at some point in the game you will need to choose one or the other.

(Raffi would, but Korzha wouldn't.)

Can MCs of any age be a DILF/MILF/PILF hunter or will some of the ROs be age-locked?

There is some variation in your interactions with the ROs (and other characters too) based on your age category. But ROs aren't gated based on it, so you may be pleased to hear that MCs of any age may hunt DILFs/MILFs/PILFs, or indeed you can be older than an RO and be hunted without restriction.

Fiore would be... hmmm... a little amused to be called that despite themselves, and maybe a bit intrigued because, well. It is a bit flattering. But they'd try not to show that.

Korzha would give anyone who called them that a resigned, long-suffering Look (if they liked them) or quietly say something like "you needn't embarrass yourself on my account" (if they didn't)

Matia would laugh and laugh and laugh. They would absolutely get hold of something like this mug.