I apologize if this isn’t a discussion you want to get into, as, though I’ve
posted my thoughts on this topic several times before, I’ve never seen you reply to anything of the sort, but I really would like to know: at how many girls do you draw the line for a relationship and why?
I ask this because you chose to include two polyamorous endings in the game (Evelyn and Callie
ménage à trois, royal ending)—or a lot more if we include Belle—so I can’t help but wonder, Why is a relationship with two girls (three counting Belle) acceptable, but a harem could never work unless the girls were “mindless sex toys”?
I also read the setting and several characters differently than you seem to:
- In the royal ending in particular, I don’t see why keeping concubines would be a problem. Selena herself mentions concubines during the finale (unless it was removed from the game) and, so long as it’s clear she would be the only legal wife, I don’t see why there would be a “scandal.” I don’t know if there’s any historical precedent for concubinage starting a revolt (though there’s a lot of evidence of concubinage that didn’t start revolts).
- Several of the girls seem to me like they wouldn’t be all that opposed to polyamory. It’s already possible to set up an open relationship with Evelyn and Callie; Lillith has sex with Dickon despite knowing he’s sleeping around; Samarra explicitly states that, whatever you’re strong enough to claim for yourself, goes; and Thorn could easily view the situation as something new to try out. (The two girls who would most likely be incompatible are Primrose and Nellie, though the latter, being incredibly naïve and impressionable, could possibly be convinced by Samarra, for instance.)
- Judging from what happens with Evelyn, who becomes very angry when she first thinks Dickon is two-timing her with Primrose (library blowjob scene), but later can be made to seduce Callie, leading to the aforementioned ménage à trois, Dickon’s mind magic seems capable of “opening the girls up” to sharing, without turning them into “mindless sex toys.”
This isn’t to say that I think a harem ending is “logical,” or that you’re wrong for not writing one, but I simply think a more polygamous ending, or one with a more complex polyamorous situation (some sort of sprawling open relationship), wouldn’t be completely out of the question for these characters.