Long Live The Queen – Vote of No Confidence: All Votes Explained

With this guide, confidently win (or lose) the vote of no confidence in Week 17 every time. Contains some story spoilers by necessity; would not recommend reading this before playing the game at least once.)

Guide to the Vote of No Confidence

Сrеdit gоеs to let the potato rest!

Setting the Scene

If you angered Banion in your playthrough by executing his sister, or making his sister a commoner, or surrendering the province to Ixion, he will be a little bit miffed. As a result of this, he will try provoking you during the gala in Week 17. (Note: if you outright killed his sister, he will also send an assassin after you in Week 16, so good luck with that.) If you attempt to order his execution in response to this but fail a Test: Public Speaking + Presence ≥100 check, he will openly challenge your right to rule, and a vote of no confidence will commence: if you win, you will remain queen, and the game continues; if you lose, game over.

No pressure!

The Votes

There are eleven (or possibly ten, depending) duchies’ interests represented in this vote:

• Maree, represented by BANION. Always stands against you, for obvious reasons.
• Hellas, represented by BRIN (if you surrendered the province to Ixion) or BENNETT (if you executed Brin or made her a commoner).
  • Brin always stands against you.
  • Bennett always stands with you, since he hates his estranged brother Banion.
• Caloris, represented by JOSLYN, your father. He always stands with you.
• Merva, represented by LAURENT, your maternal uncle and next-in-line for the throne. He always abstains unless the vote is tied, in which case he will stand with you.
• Mazomba, represented by ARMAND, your paternal uncle. He always stands with you.
• Ursul, represented by JULIANNA (if you let her stay in Week 2 or jailed her and released her) or IGNATIUS (if you jailed Julianna and gave the duchy to Ignatius at his request) or NOBODY (if you sent Julianna away in Week 2).
  • Julianna stands with you unless you’ve refused to activate your Lumen crystal twice, in which case she will stand against you.
  • Ignatius always abstains, since he’s grateful to you but thinks you’re insane.
  • If Julianna was sent away but is still the Duchess of Ursul, she won’t attend the gala and Ursul won’t get a say, so there will be ten total votes, not eleven.
• Kigal, represented by SEVERIN. Stands with you unless you’re both engaged to Talarist and didn’t dance with his son Linley, in which case he stands against you.
• Sudbury, represented by LIEKE (the duchess-regent for her underage daughter Gwenelle). Stands with you unless you executed Brin or surrendered the province, in which case she stands against you.
• Mead, represented by CORISANDE, who is Ignatius’s wife (and her half-brother Kevan’s secret lover). Stands with you if you made Ignatius Duke of Ursul and didn’t upset Kevan to the point he snapped during the poisoner’s trial. Stands against you if you mishandled the poisoner’s trial. Abstains otherwise.
• Lillah, represented by ARISSE, who is Kevan’s mother and Nova’s so-called ‘Eastern Queen’. Stands with you unless you mishandled the judgement of Week 13 to the point Kevan snapped or are engaged to Talarist or rudely rejected Talarist, in which case she stands against you.
• Elath, represented by FABIAN, who is Arisse’s husband and duke-regent for his young son Adair. He always echoes Arisse’s vote—i.e. if she stands with you, so will he, and vice versa.

The Outcome

If a majority is against you, the game ends here. (If the vote ties, your uncle Laurent will cast the deciding vote in your favour, and you will win the vote.) If a majority is with you, you will keep control and Banion will be executed, and someone else will become the new Duke of Maree.

• If Brin is still Duchess of Hellas, then the duchy will go to Bennett. (As an aside, note that any blooming romance with Brin has now been killed dead in its tracks, since she does not appreciate you killing her brother.)
• If Brin has been executed or stripped of her title, then Anciet (Banion’s eight-year-old nephew) becomes the heir of Maree, since Bennett can’t hold two duchies at once.

An Aside: How to Fail Spectacularly

As you can see, there is a lot of variability to the outcome of this vote. It’s possible to absolutely crush Banion, with a decisive 8-1 votes in your favour (+2 abstentions) if you play your cards right. Conversely, it is also possible to crash and burn here, losing with a disastrous eight votes to two against you (with one abstention), which I would recommend only because it is very funny. For the people reading this who want to watch the world burn, to achieve this I would advise:

• Surrendering the province.
• Letting Julianna stay and refusing to activate your crystal twice.
• Being engaged to Talarist and not dancing with Linley.
• Mishandling the Week 13 trial of the poisoner.