New HR Loop Poll: Muse, Crime, or Jester?
Added 2025-11-05 09:00:42 +0000 UTCHeya,
The current Hundred Reigns loop still has quite a few chapters left in the tank, but since I'll soon launch the story on Royal Road, I would like to outline the next arc for my peace of mind ;) As always, options not taken may or may not reappear in future polls, and it will conclude with the current arc.
Potential Poll Options
The Stone Muse: finally deciding to investigate Lorimor's 'muse' and to uncover the secrets of Crestone creation, Simon travel to Magvolia to learn more about both in the company of certain necromancers. What he finds is a hamlet with dark secrets, an ancient evil with much to teach, fools wishing to believe, and a Dungeon waiting for a master...
Contains: demon cult prophet Simon, new necromancy and diabolism spells, and secrets of the Crestones.
The Overlord of Crime: Realizing that the Overlord Class rewards nefarious behavior and eager to find magical artifacts he cannot obtain otherwise, Simon approaches a mentor mentioned in his father’s archives; the leader of the infamous Cobweb criminal syndicate. Put in charge of a chapter of the global organization, Simon discovers the empire’s underbelly runs far deeper than he thought…
Contains: Criminal Mastermind Simon, information on Vouivre, location of multiple Zodiac Fiends.
Mask of the Jester King: Having seen the devastating civil war that will unfold between the War and Church party without an Overlord to rein them in, Simon hits upon a genius plan: impersonate his own father, with none knowing the switch has taken place, and try to mediate between the factions. His efforts are doomed, of course, but this may be the occasion to find out who dug his father’s grave… and who’s profiting from it all.
Contains: “Balzam” being a dick, intel on who killed Balzam Magnos, Thalas suffering.
Comments
I think the stone muse makes sense. Quite frankly Simon doesnt feel "worn-down" enough for either of the other two options to make sense to me. He's still too idealistic. Diving deeper into the esoteric mysteries of the setting seems like something he'd want to do. The boy is aware that there are deeper games afoot than petty power struggles, and he has every motivation to try and find a way to subvert the overlord creststone.
Sean Coker
2025-11-08 17:42:17 +0000 UTCBelzam certified 🤣 I'm ded XD
Saddy Storm
2025-11-05 20:11:07 +0000 UTCthat and we had two runs without ouer Necromancer duo. its time for them to get some screan time aagain
Julian Hinck
2025-11-05 18:53:44 +0000 UTCOk so I'm thinking about this by virtue of immediate importance. What Simon needs right now are long reigns where he's able to get a lot of levels. Any reign that would end simply by virtue of him being too weak to rule like that is not worth pursuing atm, hence why the jester-king shouldn't even be entertained imo. For similar reasons I think crime-lord isn't really viable at the moment because he's so weak. Especially since it seems like he'd be bumping shoulders with Vouivre and the Zodiac Fiends, both being way above his pay grade but surprisingly less so than staying at Frightwall with his family. Since overlords and demons seems to be natural allies in addition to the muse providing a cult where Simon could still rule (possibly over some assholes he wouldn't mind being an asshole towards), it seems like the safest option right now. Which is what Simon needs atm. As his lives are finite, shortening them in any capacity would be an insane waste imo. Also, by the very nature of his story we don't have to just do one of these routes Voidy. We can literally just go in order of popularity and hopefully by the time he gets to the jester-king it'd be less of a joke for him to try it.
MasterofNova
2025-11-05 17:49:31 +0000 UTCBy that logic wouldn't ruling as a crime-lord do the same thing? In fact I'd argue it'd be better since he'd be out of sight for the most part, allowing him to stay out of danger while still farming levels by being a tyrannical and corruptive force. As jester-king it's only a matter of time before he gets caught and had.
MasterofNova
2025-11-05 17:29:54 +0000 UTCi realy miss the two Necromancers. and i have high hopes that we might be abele to safe Lorimor after all. so i chose the stone muse
Julian Hinck
2025-11-05 14:29:46 +0000 UTCIn the last poll, most people agreed that Simon needed that exp boost and so the adventurer loop won in a landslide. But this time there's a lot more diversity in people's options, based on the comments at least. Im excited to see where this goes no matter what path is chosen!
Kris Bruns
2025-11-05 14:13:48 +0000 UTCOverlord of crime seems thematic with the current reign. He has found out that the spider is powerfull and knows too much. Infiltrating them is a logical next step.
Jasus
2025-11-05 13:34:01 +0000 UTCOverlord of Crime would be the most useful at this point, clandestine connections and capabilities complement well basically any type of reign.
Publius Decius Mus
2025-11-05 11:47:58 +0000 UTCit would actually start in Telluria and then lead to a detour to Magvolia after a certain discovery in the Archives, but I won't say more for now ;)
Void Herald
2025-11-05 11:34:31 +0000 UTCI feel like Stone Muse doesn't seem as Natural of a progression as the other two. Why would he choose to investigate that now instead of at any other point? The other two choices feel much more logical as a product of the current arc.
Razor2811
2025-11-05 11:26:26 +0000 UTCWell new spells will be bonus too. With fiend mask we see how powerful and useful they can be.
Navarog
2025-11-05 10:46:05 +0000 UTCOverlord of crime should be logical for Simon after his disovery of how powerful undergound is. But i dont care. I want necromancy shool trip.
Navarog
2025-11-05 10:42:59 +0000 UTCAh, all those three options are so tempting...but I'm going to go for Mask of the Jester King right now. After being close to the Cobweb during the current reign, I don't think Simon will want to join them immediately, not making two travels out of the Empire in a row. Plus as Chapter 37 hinted, the full civil war unleashed with no Overlord is going to be a slaughterhouse of epic proportions, and Simon still needs to figure who is the assassin and some mechanisms to understand the foundations of the civil war. In all likelihood, this reign will be quite short, but...well, this is a sacrifice worth making. Ruling like a true Overlord should earn him quite a few levels, Simon has never tried to wield tyrannical power from the Crimson Throne so far. And he is Level 25 now. He's not a 'god of war', but he's not a complete lamb to the slaughter. In my opinion though, the reason why all readers should vote for 'Mask of the Jester King' is Thalas suffering. I have nothing to add, Your Honour.
Antony444
2025-11-05 10:21:24 +0000 UTCThe first 50 or so lives are the "learning stuff" lives. Get a wide base of info on people, places, and things. (Hopefully he gets a memory power) Next 20 lives be the "experimental lives". What happens if I expose X secrets, what happens if I kill Y, what if I eliminate the entire family and disappear? These two sets can bet lengthened or shortened as needed. Next 20 or so should be the figuring out the plan and mastering it. Last 9 are the "let's perfect this" with a "F--k it I'm on vacation" life near the end. Last life is tap dancing like your life depends on it (because it does) and praying that there are no big surprises.
Joel Magnuson
2025-11-05 09:51:40 +0000 UTCThe crime boss. Simon now has the exp boosting perk and needs to level up some more. Although the Jester would give him opportunity to level up as well, I fear the reign would be too short.
MaliMi
2025-11-05 09:46:41 +0000 UTCI think if we go with the logic of the last Poll Simon needs Lvls and we learned he gets lvls bei beeing an asshole. So Jester seems to be the way to go. I hope there is a longer loop on the Horizon.
Seriously?
2025-11-05 09:34:36 +0000 UTCDon't think he's strong enough for the last 2 yet! So Stone Muse it is.
CentaureHeart
2025-11-05 09:27:11 +0000 UTCStone muse with the Belzam certified Cassandra romance! Secret of the crestone is extremely intriguing tho...
Pradian
2025-11-05 09:19:55 +0000 UTCOne of my proofreaders did make a few corpo jokes because of it XD
Void Herald
2025-11-05 09:15:04 +0000 UTCFiguring out who killed Balzan, and therefore who is stirring the pot towards civil war, should be Simon's primary objective, because otherwise he will continue to be reactive and a fugitive. This means Mask of the Jester King, now that he has the XP boosting perk. Once he understands what's going on, he can make some proper plans about all the other threats floating around elsewhere.
Angus Losier
2025-11-05 09:13:11 +0000 UTCEvery time I see the Hundred Reigns shortened to HR my mind goes to Human Resources first and get confused.
TheCrazyDuck
2025-11-05 09:10:51 +0000 UTCSorry, Simon being a lvl. 100 Mafia Boss is too tempting... but I wouldn't be upset if Mask of the Jester King won. Looks like a very interesting scenario! The Stone Muse honestly doesn't resonate much with me. It would probably advance the plot quite a bit, but... I don't know. Superficially, it doesn't look as exciting in my opinion.
Federico Bellavista
2025-11-05 09:06:31 +0000 UTC
