Sultan histories

Sultan histories are composed of the significant events from the lives of the sultans.

These events are recorded in the Sultan Histories section of the journal as the player uncovers them during a playthrough.

The histories of the sultans will always include a series of events from 5 initial periods of sultan rule, involving 5 procedurally generated sultans. Those sultans' names, events from their lives, prose that recounts those events, and recurring sultan themes that are relevant to each sultan will all be procedurally generated.

The sixth sultan is Resheph - a guaranteed sultan who appears in every playthrough and always has the same fixed events described in his lore. You can review the static events that compose the history of Resheph on his wiki page.

= Uncovering Sultan Histories =

Events from the sultan histories are a type of secret that the player can uncover by:
 * Looking at or interacting with a.
 * Looking at painted or engraved objects.
 * Trading secrets during the Water Ritual with a faction interested in sultans.
 * Rifling through trash with the Trash Divining skill.
 * Gaining the metabolized effect of cooking with.
 * Exploring new zones while infected with.

= Gospel versus Tomb Inscriptions =

Most of the sultan histories that the player will learn about during the course of the game are of the "gospel" variety. However, in the, the player can also discover tomb inscriptions that recount the same events in each sultan's history. Each event in the sultan histories will have both a gospel account and a corresponding tomb inscription. Tomb inscriptions typically use a different tone to describe the event. For example, the tomb inscriptions often appear to elevate praise for the sultan to a higher or more miraculous level than the corresponding gospel account, and sometimes omit certain shortcomings or moral problems with the sultan's behavior. A tomb inscription can also sometimes vary slightly in the specific details recounted in the event.

Example Event in Sultan History, with Corresponding Tomb Inscription
= Individual Events = Each procedurally generated sultan from the first through the fifth period sultanate will have between 10 and 22 events included in their history. Typically the number of events is at the lower end of that range, around 11-14.

The events in each sultan's history are generated in the following order:


 * 1) An origin story event, which will either be when the sultan was born as an heir or found as a babe.
 * 2) * At this point in their story, they will not yet be an actual sultan of Qud.
 * 3) Eight randomly-selected core life events, which are each chosen from a pool of 17 possible event types. These can occur in any order, and the same type of event can be chosen multiple times.
 * 4) * Several of these event types can result in the destined sultan becoming the actual sultan of Qud. For example, they may challenge the existing sultan of Qud to a duel, assassinate them, lead an army to their gates, or simply be named their successor after the existing sultan dies or abdicates the throne.
 * 5) * If one of these events involves the sultan's death, such as by driving a chariot off a cliff or by losing a duel to a challenger, it will be followed immediately by a second death reversal event that recounts how the sultan had faked their death or had somehow never actually died. They will retain their role as the sultan of Qud if they already had ascended to that position.
 * 6) * The temporal order of these events matters. For example, if the sultan gains a new relic from a Marriage event, they can then lose that relic in a Bloody Battle event that occurs after the wedding.
 * 7) If one of the eight randomly-selected life events has not yet resulted in the destined sultan becoming the actual sultan of Qud, an event with that outcome will be added to the sultan's history.
 * 8) If the events thus far have not included one event that takes place at each of the 2-3 historic regions that were added during world generation for this period of the sultanate, events will be added to ensure that at least one event takes place in each of those regions during the sultan's history (presumably this is to ensure that, if there is a historic site associated with one of those regions, there will always be at least one piece of sultan history lore that can reveal the secret of that region).
 * 9) Finally, an event relating the sultan's death will be added to their history.

After all events are generated, if those events have not resulted in the sultan having three favored factions, the game will choose additional random factions to ensure that the sultan has three friendly factions at minimum.

= Origin Story Events = Origin story events explain how a sultan was born, or how they were found as a baby.

The following sections provide examples of each type of origin story event. Hover over the underlined phrases in each example event to see more information about how the event is generated and how it influences the sultan's characteristics or the features of the world around them.

Found as Babe
= Core Life Events = Core life events recount the significant victories and tragedies of the sultan's life. They explain how the destined sultan eventually rose to be recognized as the sultan of Qud, how they shaped the world through creating, destroying, or renaming regions and locations, how their thematic obsessions evolved over time, and how they came to be loved or hated by factions and artisans throughout Qud.

The following sections provide examples of each type of core life event. Hover over the underlined phrases in each example event to see more information about how the event is generated and how it influences the sultan's characteristics or the features of the world around them.

Challenge Sultan

 *  If Not Yet the Sultan of Qud 


 *  If Already the Sultan of Qud 

Chariot Incident

 * Faction Rescue


 * Artisan Rescue


 * Tragic Ending

Marriage
= Death Reversal Events = Death reversal events recount how the sultan narrowly escaped death, faked their death, or was otherwise incorrectly presumed dead.

The following section provides an example of a death reversal event. Hover over the underlined phrases to see more information about how the event is generated and how it influences the sultan's characteristics or the features of the world around them.

Death Reversal
= Death Events = Death events recount how the sultan ultimately died.

The following section provides an example of a death event. Hover over the underlined phrases to see more information about how the event is generated.