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 can be uncovered by:

• Looking at or interacting with a shrine.
• Looking at painted or engraved objects.
• Trading secrets during the Water Ritual with a faction interested in sultans.

Gossip versus Tomb Inscriptions

Most of the sultan histories that the player will learn about during the course of the game is of the "gossip" variety. However, in the Tomb of the Eaters, the player can also discover tomb inscriptions that recount the same events in each sultan's history. There will be one corresponding tomb inscription for every event in the sultan histories. Tomb inscriptions typically have a different tone than gossip. The inscriptions often appear to elevate praise for the sultan to a higher or more miraculous level than the corresponding gossip, and sometimes omit certain shortcomings or moral problems with the sultan's behavior. The tomb inscription can also sometimes vary slightly in the specific details recounted in the event.

Example Event in Sultan History, with Corresponding Tomb Inscription

While traveling through Ekappur, Oyuram stopped at a tavern in the Shrine at Bibappir. There he lost his prized Radiantucus Flowersboon in a foolhardy bet. He cursed the tavern and left the Shrine at Bibappir. Anguish to the Shrine at Bibappir of Ekappur! It was there that Oyuram lost his prized Radiantucus Flowersboon during the ritual of the Empyrean Vault.

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, which will either be when the sultan was born as an heir or found as a babe.
   • At this point in their story, they will not yet be an actual sultan of Qud.
2. Eight randomly-selected life events, which are each chosen from a pool of 16 possible event types.
   • 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.
   • 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 event that recounts how the sultan had faked their death or been saved and actually they are fine. They will retain their role as the sultan of Qud if they already had ascended to that position.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Finally, an event relating the sultan's death will be added to their history.

References

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.201.56.