Corrupting Coup Crew AU

Creator: Dino

Description:

not very thought out au so feel free to help develop it but kinda like the corrupting dh2 coup crew au (which I kinda mentioned when we were talking about Separate Hypatia and Alex AU ) but corrupt dh1 targets au.

Corvo collecting allies like Pokemon

a sort of connection could be made about him being sort of diplomatic by convincing/converting them to the loyalists, it mirrors his original mission before the game of going around the isles to ask for aid, he's once again being a sort of diplomat? Altho Corvo's main role is a bodyguard and he's not exactly that kind of negotiator necessarily and the exact role he played during his time away from the empress isn't clear, he still was somewhat a part of negotiation, and tbh he ended up failing that bc of Jess's response to the letter. This time Corvo kind of takes the same job? Trying to convince ppl to aid him this time, not the isles as a whole, and this time he succeeds and kind of redeems that point in a way?

and that kind of action of corvo defying the loyalists mission presumably? (if the loyalists just wanted to YES!!! KILL!! and not bring more ppl to the cause despite how much more beneficial it would be) like the defying of the loyalists presents Corvo more as a person than a tool to them, he has his own agenda and he's gonna do what is best for it, and at the moment just getting more and more political (the twins, Boyle) and physical (daud, sokolov in a way with the plague idk) is better than just offing them. Corvo being his own person and not having to adhere strictly to what the loyalists tells him to, good for him!!

I just think that Corvo deserves to be able to make his own decisions regarding how to get Emily back and restore the throne, and he doesn't need to just be a tool for the loyalists. Like I understand why the game can’t have 50 options for dealing with targets but the idea of corvo stubbornly making choices that actually are morally upstanding is such a good au like. He has the option to REALKY make things better, not just kill or maim or destroy

I like this idea of dragging all those people to your side because it means Emily can start her reign with an array of powerful allies instead of. You know. Zero political support. Because like yeah kill campbell because if you 'corrupt' Martin then campbells not needed and you still have the high overseer on your side (coz Martin becomes HO right?). Then youve got the Pendletons and Lady Boyle. Youve got Sokolov. Just makes getting Emily back on the throne easier

it just makes so much sense? Like sure you can kill off the twins and let Treavor take power, or lichrally just talk to them and be like "Hey we're taking the empress now and we can pay you more than Burrows" honestly I've always believed that despite being "close allies" to the regent I think the twins don't actually like Burrows, they know he's the source of all the chaos in the city and they hate him for that, but in the political world you just have to stay cosy with the higher-ups. Plus considering the fact that they have the Empress and that they're easy to pin on being the kidnappers of Emily, and possibly even the whole assassination, they're in deep shit. Corvo coming along and providing them a way out of it, they might not be the most enthusiastic about the Loyalist cause but they're just grateful that they can just get away from Burrows

Lady Boyle figuring out who Corvo is and why he’s at the party and she defects to the loyalists side. Like she’s seen what damage Burrows had done with her money (and maybe suspects it wasn’t Corvo who killed Jess). And maybe since shes Burrows mistress then like she could spy on him for the loyalists? And once again, Lady Boyle can have a bit of redemption bc oofie that fucking non-lethal and I think the mission could be more fun. Like you could talk around more to more aristocrats, try to collect evidence and stuff to help convince the Boyles to your side and such.

Daud, well, grip him by the guilt and he'd do more or less anything. grip him by the guilt and tell him to fuck over burrows... You don't even need to convince him he's happy to do that.

daud's loyalties are to his whalers and nothing else, so he's probably easily turned.

Daud and the whalers being such great assets to Corvo as like an underground force that he can use to push his way owo like the Pendletons and Lady Boyle are political forces that can help Emily in like that proper sense, but Daud and co. can like peep around the city and make sure that Emily is safe, no other assassination attempts, probably would have a part of quelling Regenter rebellions later on idk.

Given that in high chaos the Loyalists break up and in low chaos Havelock just full on kills them itd be easy to tell Treavor and Martin like hey Havelocks a tad dodgy so like team corvo eh?

Treavor I feel you could threaten to flick him on the forehead and he'd collapse begging for mercy. martin has the self preservation instincts to know when to cut his losses and choose a winning team. Treavor is a coward who can probably be convinced by whoever yells the loudest, and Martin has a decent amount of self-preservation

The thought of having the twins join your side, and then the Loyalists defecting against you, but then having Treavor join back, and the idea of the twins defecting originally, is just so funny bc you just have the whole Pendleton family in your pocket. If it's a matter of the twins actually staying around the Pits or even just visiting for meetings or whatever you actually get to see them bully Treavor? Not fun for him but sure can be funny for us

Trev thinking that finally he found people in front of whom he hasn't been embarrassed so he can say shit like "I killed people with my wit" but then Morgan and Custis are suddenly there. That and like, being able to see what Treavor's actual dynamic with the twins and like that power imbalance between them. It'd be interesting to have Treavor being technically in charge of the Pendletons' votes in Parliament, so having all the power and money, fighting with his brothers who have no actual leverage but all the psychological hold on Treavor that decades of bullying give them.

who does Corvo want in control of the Pendleton votes, since Treavor is just so easy to manipulate. It would give Corvo such a headache, for all his smartness Corvo is not big on psychological warfare and political manipulations. the fact that like, Treavor being in control of everything makes him easy to control, but the fact that the twins also aren't that hard to control either... The Pendletwins try to approach Treavor to bully him into making decision to suit them and they just make eye contact with Corvo whos stood on the opposite end of the room slowly having a drink while not breaking eye contact

Campbell, Burrows and Havelock have to go though.

also, about campbell, it's the first actual mission, and one of the two who was most involved in corvo being tortured? so i just can't see corvo ever thinking of turning him. Its not personal (it is a little bit). But Burrows orchestrated the whole thing and theres no way hed turn against himself and theres no way corvo or emily would trust him again. Campbell isnt needed and also same thing as with burrows. No trust.

Havelock well fuck him

also, w/ campbell, i also cant see him turning against himself ever. like, everyone else is just self-absorbed and uncaring. those three main targets have like, an actual agenda they're following. campbell and burrows w/ their money grabbing poor people hating bullshit, havelock wants to have what burrows has.. etc.

Also maybe chaos changes the difficulty of corrupting them (well technically its uncorrupting but ya know)? Like with high chaos theyre a lot more cautious because like corvos been killing people so why isnt he gonna kill me but with low chaos is a lot easier. Like, even if you wanted to corrupt someone in a high chaos thing it wont work. Kinda like "im not here to kill you" "you sure? * points at pile of dead guards *".

especially with daud, id say.. he would be the one who reflects personal chaos the most?. There wont even be talking in hc, he just attacks your ass. everyone else you can talk to and they'll refuse on super high chaos, but with him you dont even get the option if you killed his whalers

Or maybe you have to use different methods. Instead of convincing them, you threaten them? There are some actions that make it impossible to complete the demotion (if you kill Daud's Whalers you can't get Daud, if you kill a Boyle you can't get the other sisters, if you kill a twin you can't get the other) but high chaos doesn't make it completely impossible to corrupt the targets. like, thats the distinction between high chaos and super high kill every living thing chaos. The same way that you can get high chaos even by sparing all the targets.

Top 10 things that make me caca real hard is the idea of you killing one twin and not the other . In the case of this being a game I've always wanted to see an actual dialogue in the case where one twin found the other's body and they would mourn and stuff. Here it would affect the dialogue choice, like Corvo can't just ask them to join anymore that's barred off but maybe even tell them that they're going to brazil the mines or will be killed. Also in the same vein of killing some or most of the whalers like, Daud mentioning it while dueling you and when the dialogue option comes up to ask him to join your side he'd mention that you killed some of his men and that he couldn't do it bc of that

It would be fun if the exact rethoric of convincing the targets is roughly the same in lc and hc (you promise the twins financial help, you exploit Daud's guilt, you use Martin's self-preservation instincts) but the tone Corvo used in the discussion is so different that in one case it sounds like a genuine proposition and in the other case it really sounds like a threat. In lc you emphasize the carrot while in hc you emphasize the stick.

also, the way the group works is affected by chaos? in hc, you have a lot more infighting, every one for themselves, theyre ratting on each others backup plans and basically all more or less successfully plot murder. lc, its still a bitchfest, but no assassination attempts. here there be bitching, and idiocy, and daud and martin are at each others throats all the time, but its clear they are trying to work togethere. Also just. Once you've collected your conglomeration of political allies it's just a fucking disaster of arguing and bickering. Everyone pointing fingers at each other,, lots of yelling, before Corvo just shoots a gun in the air to get their attention

If you can use Daud in some ways (send him on missions or something), in lc he'll use nonlethal eliminations, in hc he'll murder people. in lc he'll spill the beans on delilah after its done (sometimes he was just gone for a night or three), in hc he doesn't try to work against delilah, its more apathy, hes only in it to make sure he has shit in place to get out of dunwall before he's executed

corvo is wearing his mask and spills his drink everywhere but still doesnt break eye contact and somehow its even more terrifying. Drinks black coffee with his mask and just spills piping hot coffee all over himself. Ultra intimidation factor

Corvo and Daud having drinking contests drinking more and more rancid shit as everyone else just watches like O.O. The "Daud is immune to poison" jokes never get old. corvo isnt but he isnt gonna let a bitch like daud beat him. Corvo eats rotten food instead.

Corvo ends up winning when he eats a live rat and Daud just stares at him like "aight you won".

emily also sticks a rat in her mouth to prove she's as good as her father before immediately taking it back out and apologizing to it

Archives:

Lady Boyle: looks at the guest book, looks at corvo, reconsiders some life choices

The lab making "coup crew AUs": And everyone works together and everyone lives!

Also the lab: Except Burrows Campbell and Havelock fuck them lmao

The Pendletwins: * bullying Treavor into making decisions *

Corvo: * baps them on the heads with a newspaper * no

Corvo: Drinks black coffee with his mask as a power move

Daud: Weak. Watch this. Drinks pure arsenic from the bottle as a power move