Story
The year is 797, Gran Calendar. From across the waves, a man by the name of King Alfonse of Askr forced the entire known world to pay him tribute. By the swords of the so-called “Order of Heroes” came a new form of government, set to wipe out the old aristocratic order. Democracy, they called it: rule of the people. As far as this new chamber, the Parliament of Heroes, was concerned, titles were meaningless. If the residents of Barhara willed it, the King of Grandbell could be voted out of office.
As it so happened, an election was looming. Sigurd of Chalphy was an old man, in his sixties. His son, Celice, was no longer a young man either. The heir to the throne had an heir himself, though vicious rumours circulated about this child’s parentage. Though Celice was married to Lana of Jungby, a childhood friend of his, many believed his true feelings were for his own sister, Julia. Furthermore, some considered the child of Celice to be a product of incest, made even more severe with Julia being a product of incest too. If any evidence proving this true were to come out, it would end the Chalphy dynasty’s dreams of power.
Foreign Competition
Should Sigurd and his party, known simply as the Jugdral Party have faltered, a new group was waiting in the wings. From beyond the known world came a man known as Byleth Eisner. Hailing from a mysterious land known as “Fódlan”, the so-called “Ashen Demon” allegedly destroyed the feudal order and the dominant church, and was seeking to spread revolution across the planet. No law required a candidate to actually live within their home constituency, and masses of candidates from the Fodlan Party saw fit to run in Jugdral.
Can the Jugdral Party hold off Byleth’s challenge? Or will the old order succumb to a new age? Ultimately, the people would decide.
Information
Parliament of Heroes was my submission to Vesly’s version of Make a Fun Chapter, numbered 5 in continuity with Ghast’s four-entry long series. The entry itself is heavily story focused, composing more of words than actual gameplay, which was rudimentary and rushed. Unlike Ghast’s MAFCs, which had no issue with story focus, Vesly held this in deep disdain. He introduced a bar on chapters lasting more than half an hour, quite a short length. A normal Fire Emblem chapter is often much longer than this. In addition, dialogue scenes lasting more than 30 lines were also banned. Vesly’s summary speaks to his goals best: “You make a short chapter, and I play it.”
Due to the violations of the 30 minute length rule and 30 line dialogue rule, the submission was disqualified. Personally, I consider these regulations to be detrimental to the quality of the competition. Instead of unique, technical chapters, the entries are more generic and bland. I have absolutely no interest in following these rules, and so long as they remain in place, I will not enter any future MAFCs.
In all fairness, I rushed the chapter out without several plot beats and the gameplay never advanced beyond a rudimentary proof-of-concept. I have no doubt in my mind that significantly more polish could have been added with more time. But I also strongly disagree with the stated rationale for disqualification. “I appreciate the intent of creating a novella with visuals, but I don’t think it is in the spirit of this competition,” Vesly said. When prior MAFCs included Tequila’s chess and Leonarth’s cube, “novellas with visuals” fit in quite well, as far as I am concerned.
Project Status
Parliament of Heroes is a Make a Fun Chapter entry, and there are no plans to continue development. Perhaps converting it to a more traditional piece of fan fiction would be a better way to experience the story.
Gallery
Downloads and Links
Initial release (released 18/01/21): here
Fire Emblem Universe post: here