A New Interactive Novel
A Tale of Crowns is a high fantasy romance with Middle Eastern roots, free to play from start till finish, both on pc as well as mobile! It’s entirely text-based, with choices throughout to shape both your main character’s personality and skills as well as influence their relationships with others. There are four love interests for you to choose from, both female as well as male, each with their own stories and secrets for you to uncover!
❂ THE SETTING
The story takes place in Arsur, a fictional empire within a fantasy universe that draws inspiration from historical settings in the Middle East. Much of it is based on Kurdish culture, drawing from my own experience as a Kurdish woman.
Your character was born and raised in Arsur, where magic is considered a skill no different from reading or writing. Gender, sexual orientation and race have no bearing on social position or class; it is instead only based on wealth and level of education.
The Arsurian Empire itself is overseen by a single ruler known as the Crown. Unlike traditional monarchies, however, the title is not inherited through blood. Whenever the Crown dies, their famed golden eyes pass on to the one chosen by the spirits of this world to be the new Crown: this appears to happen at random, as Crowns in the past have ranged from the poorest farmer to the wealthiest noble.
❂ THE STORY
Their parents murdered and the previous Crown of Arsur assassinated, your character finds themselves on the run as they’ve been bestowed with the golden eyes that mark them as the new Crown.
Unseen enemies at their heels, will they succeed as the Crown, or will they lead to the downfall of the Empire?
❂ CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
At the beginning of the story, you’ll have the opportunity to customize your Crown’s name, pronouns, sexual orientation and their skill in magic. You can also customize many parts of your Crown’s appearance: hair color, hair texture, hair style, skin color and height are all up to you and will be reflected in the story as well. Their backstory and ethnicity are the only things that are locked in. The Crown is also locked in as a person of color, as is in line with the setting - their specific race is up to the player to imagine.
As for your Crown’s personality, there are twelve different character traits in total that will be decided based on the choices you make in game. This will subsequently change your Crown’s behavior during story scenes.
The character traits are: Charming/Blunt, Kind/Calculated, Intelligent/Intuitive, Cautious/Adventurous, Flirtatious/Reserved and Assertive/Passive. Some of these will mix and interact with each other in different ways as well!
❂ THE LOVE INTERESTS
Depending on what your Crown’s sexual orientation is, the gender of the love interests will change accordingly to match that. There are four of them in total, and regardless of their gender their titles are as follows: the Sorcerer, the Hero, the Protector and the General. Each love interest will have their own route which you will get to choose from at the end of the common route.
So far, the common route of the story has been completed, and I have started publishing the routes for the love interests! The story overall has 7 chapters so far, with a word count of ~230k, including scene variations. I will release each chapter as I finish it, so the game will be a continuous work in progress. Would you like to know more about the story, the setting, or the love interests? Check out the game blog!
NOTE: This game is not suited for those under 16 years of age! Please keep the age rating in mind.
❂ PLAY THE GAME ❂ DESIGNING YOUR MC ❂ STORY & SETTING ❂ THE LOVE INTERESTS ❂ PINTEREST REFS ❂ FAQ ❂ DISCORD ❂ KO-FI ❂
Last updated: 29 jan, 2022
Art by @artbygaia
