A Blade for the Emperor

Infiltrate the undying emperor’s palace, gain his trust, and assassinate him! Your choices could save the empire, conquer it, or destroy it forever.

A Blade for the Emperor is an interactive dark fantasy novel by Samuel Gohra, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—600,000 words and hundreds of choices—without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

From his seat of power, Emperor Erid Virdeus dominates his lands with oppressive decrees and twisted curses. There is no greater danger than a tyrant with magic at their fingertips–and you are the assassin tasked with ending this existential threat. Runes carved into your very bones give you supernatural abilities far above those of most humans.

But the capital is already in turmoil. Guards savage the populace, rebels plot in the shadows, sorcery silences rebellious voices, and creatures of rotting death lurk in the caves that carve through the earth below the city streets.

Choose your allies with care, for everyone here has secrets of their own. One of the emperor’s heirs has already been exiled for defying him—will you ally with her and fan the flames of revolt? Or you might stand with the emperor’s other kin: a refined politician, or a mighty warrior.

As you remove imperial servants one by one, you and your allies must shape the future that follows. Who will sit upon the throne? Will you leave the realm in peaceful prosperity or bloody broken ruin?

Bring death to those you deem deserving, forge alliances with courtiers or rebels, dare to follow your heart and find love amid treachery and murder, delve into magical secrets to unlock the power running through every leaf and root in the city.

Who will you leave in your wake, as a bloodied corpse, a mottled creature, or a spurned and broken tool? And who will you guide into the future, as a redeemed and reformed paragon, a closely protected consort, or an all-powerful ruler?

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, or bi.

• Perfect your assassin’s craft: be a silent knife in the dark, a whispering puppeteer, a rune-bolstered warrior, a chameleon spy, or a silver-tongued rogue?

• Romance the emperor’s refined politically-savvy sister; a hot-headed warlike royal cousin; or his rebellious exiled sister, becoming the power behind a new throne–or slay them and set up a new leader.

• Shape the realm that rises from the ashes: become a merciful savior, a bloody butcher, or a being of elemental transcendence.

• Purge the city of perilous sorcery–or uncover the secret to the emperor’s immortality and wield it for yourself.

How many must die, to bring an end to the immortal empire?