Video Game / The Eagle's Heir

The Eagle's Heir is a choice-based Interactive Fiction game, written by Jo Graham and Amy Griswold and published by Choice of Games. In an Alternate History version of 19th-century France where Emperor Napoleon was victorious at Waterloo seventeen years prior, you play the boon companion of Alexandre Walewski, Napoleon's illegitimate son and an avid airship racer, and are drawn into the vicious intrigues of the aging Emperor's court when someone makes an attempt on Alexandre's life.

The Eagle's Heir provides examples of:

• Action Dress Rip: A female protagonist and Amalia will wear dresses to Napoleon's grand ball which are fitted with a rippable train.
• All Love Is Unrequited: It is possible for a protagonist who's in love with Alexandre to never breathe a word of that attraction to him, convinced that he sees them as a sibling. They can even successfully get him married to someone else to either increase his chances of getting the throne, or just to make him happy.
  • Alexandre has a definite attraction towards Princess Victoria, but she can easily reject his proposal unless the protagonist works their magic.
  • Successfully romancing Alexandre will reveal that he's been harbouring feelings for the protagonist - but never acted on them because he also thinks that they see him as a brother.
• Alternate History: Ignoring the fact that the game is set in a Steampunk universe, the main historical divergence point is that France won the Battle of Waterloo, causing Napoleon to remain Emperor of France up until 1832. The actions of the protagonist can cause history to veer even more off the beaten track. It is possible to get an Austrian prince on the throne of France or create a Franco-British Union through the marriage of Emperor Alexandre of France and Queen Victoria of England.
• Altar Diplomacy: Both of Alexandre's potential marriages carry significant diplomatic weight - a marriage to Princess Victoria has the benefit of preventing England and Austria from allying if war breaks out, and also may lay the foundations for a Franco-British Union, while a marriage to Eugenie is a way of signalling to the people of France that Alexandre is Napoleon's chosen heir without directly antagonising the Austrians.
• Altar the Speed: Alexandre and Victoria's nuptials are very rushed for an Imperial wedding, in order to ensure that Victoria is crowned as the Empress of France before England can make any serious protests.
• Amazon Brigade: Under a liberal Emperor Alexandre or a Republic, Eugenie Duval and her friends support the establishment of a corps of women aviators.
• Anti-Villain: Franz isn't that bad a guy and if he wasn't opposed to Alexandre, you'd have little reason to be opposed to him. The only serious move he makes is made out of the (correct) fear that the Austrians will kill him if he doesn't become Emperor. All the other attempts on Alexandre's life were actually made by his bodyguard Amalia, who was only motivated by the justified desire to protect her master from the aforementioned Austrian murder.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Whoever becomes the next Emperor of France has one near the end of the story.
• Battle Butler: The player character is Alexandre's bodyguard first and foremost. The same goes for Amalia, though she takes great pains for this not to be apparent at first glance.
• Babies Ever After: If Alexandre successfully gains the throne, the epilogue begins with the whole of Paris celebrating the birth of his son and heir.
• Bodyguard Crush: A protagonist can harbor one towards Alexandre, with the impression that he doesn't feel the same way. Romancing him will reveal that their crush was reciprocated all along.
  • Franz and Amalia avert this, but she keeps up the ruse so that people will assume that she's nothing more than arm candy rather than a dangerous bodyguard.
• Cain and Abel: Downplayed. While several attempts are made on Alexandre's life by the Austrians, they're revealled to have been organized by Amalia acting independently of Franz. Franz himself has no clue about her plans and doesn't bear his half brother any particular ill will. The only time he does act against Alexandre is if he's denied both the throne and asylum in France, since he knows he's as good as dead if he returns to Austria.
• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Averted. The main divergence point in the Alternate History the story is set in is that France was the victorious party in the Battle of Waterloo. It is also possible for France to win a war against Austria.
• Chessmaster Sidekick: By the end of the game the player can be juggling managing Alexandre's day to day activities with engineering an alliance between France and England, stopping an Austrian assassination plot and thwarting (or aiding) underground revolutionary schemes.
• Childhood Friends: The protagonist and Alexandre - in a move deliberately engineered by Napoleon and the protagonist's grandmother.
• Childhood Friend Romance: If the protagonist romances Alexandre.
• Combat by Champion: Franz and the protagonist (acting on behalf of Alexandre) can throw down to decide who will take the title of Prince Imperial. Though if Franz loses they refuse to accept the outcome and try to take control of the throne by force.
• The Coup: If the throne ends up contested, the Austrians will attempt to take control of Paris and capture Alexandre in a lightning strike that will win French acceptance of Franz' rule.
• Dating Catwoman: You can romance Amalia, while you're respectively fighting for Alexandre and Franz' claims to the throne. Fittingly, the romance can end in drawn swords and death.
• Deuteragonist: You're not the heir, you're his most trusted ally.
• Elopement: Alexandre and Victoria may elect to smuggle the latter into France so that they can get married, though the protagonist needs to jump through several hoops in order to get both parties to agree to do so.
• End of an Age: The protagonist muses that they've just witnessed the end of an era after seeing Napoleon collapse and die in front of them.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Wellington is under the impression that the protagonist is Madame St Elme's illegitimate child with her longtime lover Marshal Ney. The protagonist can set him straight...or play along with the misassumption to increase their standing in Wellington's eyes.
• Dead Guy Junior: Alexandre always names his daughter in honor of his mother. If the protagonist dies saving Alexandre from an assassination attempt, then his daughter is also given the protagonist's name in their honor.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: In contrast to how most Choice of Games books handle it, Gender Is No Object is not in effect here. 19th Century gender, sexual, and class divides are all in effect and further influence how the player can operate in the world.
• Full-Circle Revolution:
  • If Franz becomes Emperor and he hasn't made a deal with Alexandre, then the Revolution has failed and the ancien regime is back.
  • If Alexandre is Emperor and Honor is his highest stat, then this is downplayed. Alexandre retains the constitutional monarchy and works with the republicans, but he's a conservative ruler like his father and his government is drawn from the Bonapartist military aristocracy, who become a new noble class much like the old.
• Gilded Cage: Franz has been kept in one while in Austrian care. Depending on what ending you get this can even carry over into the epilogue, where he's kept a 'comfortable prisoner' in a luxurious French estate. Alexandre himself can be banished to one if Franz becomes Emperor.
  • The protagonist ends up in one as punishment for assassinating one of Napoleon's heirs, if they fail to flee into exile in the aftermath and are in good favour with the surviving heir. However, if they kill Franz and do not have a high enough relationship with his brother, it's the guillotine for them.
  • Princess Victoria has been severely smothered by both her mother and Lord Conway all her life. One of the things that Alexandre can use to convince her to accept his suit is the promise that she'll have much more freedom than she's ever been allowed previously.
• Give Me a Sword: If a female presenting protagonist decides to duel Franz at Napoleon's ball, the Ney gives them his dress sword to use as their weapon.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Neither Alexandre and Franz are bad people and both can become authoritarian autocrats or liberal progressives as emperor, though Franz naturally leans toward the former and Alexandre the latter. The player can also forgo the Empire in favor of spreading Republican values. Whatever path you take, you're likely to have sympathetic allies along the way.
• Heir Club for Men: In full effect. Eugenie is capable enough that if she was born male she could have easily been in command of her own regiment, but as a young lady she'll have to make do with her own airship and an indefinitely postponed wedding (courtesy of her very liberal father). In certain epilogues the birth of Alexandre's son is celebrated much more intensely than the birth of his firstborn daughter, as the throne finally has a legitimate heir. Part of the reason why the protagonist's grandmother is in keen favor of Napoleon's rule is because he's been making moves to eliminate this. A liberal Alexandre tends to make greater strides than his father in equalising the genders if he's crowned, whereas Franz repeals several of the more progressive reforms put in place under place under Bonaparte rule.
• Heroic Bastard: Alexandre is the illegitimate son of Emperor Napoleon and the player is the child of one of his soldiers and a woman he met during Napoleon's military campaigns.
• The Hero Dies: The protagonist can die protecting Alexandre from an assassination attempt in the final chapter, or be executed for high treason in the epilogue if they assassinate Franz.
• Historical Domain Character: The story features whole boatload of them. From the well known (Napoleon, Princess Victoria of England) to the slightly more obscure (Alexandre himself and Madame St Elme, who was quite the spy in her day).
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Amalia is this for Franz. In addition to keeping him safe from both external and internal threats she's actively scheming to clear a path to the French throne for him.
• I Did What I Had to Do: If the protagonist assassinates Franz, then they're completely convinced that they did what needed to be done to prevent France from becoming a yet another Habsburg vassal state.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: If the assassination attempt against Alexandre in chapter 7 is successful, then the protagonist will be wrecked with guilt over their failure to protect him at his funeral.
• I Owe You My Life: Expressed by Franz if the protagonist saves him and his crew during the ship race. The protagonist can capitalize on this sentiment during the climax of the game.
• Iron Lady: The protagonist's grandmother, the Emperor's spymistress who's a veteran of multiple campaigns and still walks with the stride of a hussar.
• Karma Meter: You and Alexandre each have three, representing different values. Idealism is a combination of duty to one's country and belief in liberal and Republican principles, while Honor represents aristocratic honor, both in the sense of ideological conservatism and in personal daring. The third meter is Loyalty, which represents a belief in personal friendships over ideological questions.
• Lady-In-Waiting: Constance is one of Princess Victoria's ladies in waiting, and tags along if Victoria chooses to elope with Alexandre.
• Like Brother and Sister: The protagonist will see Alexandre as a brother if they're not romantically interested in him. A protagonist who is attracted to him assumes that he feels this way towards them, and thus doesn't pursue the attraction further until the events of the game.Romancing Alexandre will reveal that he never acted on this attraction to the protagonist under the assumption that they saw him nothing more than a sibling.
• The Lost Lenore: The protagonist and Alexandre themselves, if they're killed over the course of the game.
  • Cassius can end up dying in several endstates, which vary from him being killed on the barricade to him going off to war and never returning.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: If the protagonist plays their cards right, it's possible for them to have a ménage à trois in a shadowy corner of Tuileries Palace on the eve of Napoleon's death.
• Marriage Before Romance: Between Alexandre and Victoria. Alexandre admits that, while he doesn't outright love her now, he can grow to in time.
• Marry for Love: If Princess Victoria's decision to marry Alexandre sees her removed from the line of succession the English public will view her as a romantic figure who gave up her throne for love. The protagonist can also convince Alexandre to abandon his pursuit for the throne and marry them instead.
• The Matchmaker: The actions of the protagonist are vital in securing a successful match for Alexandre. Special mention goes to marrying him off to Eugenie as they're the one who first suggests the idea to both Napoleon and Alexandre himself.
• The Mistress: Romancing Alexandre usually sees the protagonist ending up as his side piece due to him needing to marry well to strengthen his claim to the throne.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Marshal Ney will support Napoleon's chosen heir, even if that means ultimately betraying the Revolution and returning to the fleur-de-lis.
• Noble Bird of Prey: The eagle is one of the symbols of Napoleon, the proud and noble Emperor of France.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The protagonist's grandmother is a tough as nails, war hardened battle axe of a woman. The only time she completely breaks down is if the protagonist is executed for treason.
  • Napoleon's composure cracks when it looks like Franz and Alexandre are about draw swords to decide who'll become the Prince Imperial. He's also noticeably shaky when calling the duel's outcome.
• Pair the Spares: Happens if the protagonist manages to secure a match between Alexandre and Princess Victoria and then romances Constance.
• Platonic Life-Partners: If he's not romanced, then this is the dynamic between Alexandre and a female protagonist. This also applies to Franz and Amalia, despite all appearances to the contrary.
• Polyamory: Can occur between the protagonist, Alexandre and Eugenie, if the protagonist schemes to have the latter two married while also romancing them both. Alexandre is very pleasantly blindsided when everything finally comes together.
• Puppet King: Lord Conway fully intends for Victoria to be nothing more than a figurehead when she's crowned, with him, as her reagent, calling all the shots. The Austrians also expect Franz to be one when he gains the French throne - it's the only reason that he's been allowed to live.
• Raised by Grandparents: The protagonist. Their father died before they were born, and their mother passed away several years later.
• Realpolitik: While a traditional ally of Austria, England is out for English interests. They can be persuaded not to back Austria's play if Alexandre courts Victoria, securing an alliance, or if Alexandre looks to be a stable and conservative Emperor.
• Rebellious Princess: Princess Victoria is chafing against all the restrictions her mother and Lord Conway have placed on her. If Alexandre gives a decent proposal she jumps at the chance to elope to France with him.
• Rebel Prince: Franz jumps ship to the French side incredibly quickly should he and Alexandre bury the hatchet between them. Even in the endings where Alexandre gives him the throne, he promises not to become the Puppet King the Austrians expect him to be. Alexandre himself can if one if he gives up his claim to the throne so he can be with the protagonist - especially if Franz is out of the picture by this point.
• La Résistance: Cassius' group of revolutionaries want to get rid of the French Empire and bring back the Republic. They're passionately dedicated but rather inept, to the point of being their own worst enemy, and their attempts at rebellion will backfire on them unless the player helps them out.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Victoria, who has a backbone of iron and is very much not content to just sit back and let Lord Conway use her as a puppet Queen.
• Shoot the Dog: One way to settle the Succession Crisis is to kill Franz, either by assassination or in a duel.
• So Proud of You: The protagonist's grandmother, if they manage the feat of getting Alexandre named Napoleon's heir while also successfully reconciling the Bonaparte family.
• Sore Loser: Franz does not take not being made Napoleon's heir well. Justified due to the fact that him returning to Austria without gaining the throne is tantamount to signing his own death warrant.
• Succession Crisis: France is on the cusp of one at the start of the story - Napoleon's days are numbered, but he has yet to chose which heir should succeed him. Should he name Alexandre his successor, or no heir is chosen, a full-blown inheritance war may erupt between France and Austria.
• Supporting Protagonist: The story revolves around Alexandre, the titular Eagle's heir, and the politics which he's embroiled in during the end days of Napoleon's rule. The protagonist, being their bodyguard, is just along for the ride, but they can play a decisive role in determining the fate of France.
• This Is Gonna Suck: If Napoleon dies with no heir proclaimed, Marshal Duval says it all.
  Ney: Where do we go from here?
  Duval: To hell.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: A (male presenting) protagonist can be offended enough at Lord Conway calling Alexandre a bastard that they challenge Conway to an honor duel. Winning said duel nets quite a lot of England approval, as no one present really likes Conway that much.
  • If Alexandre and Franz do not strike a deal, then the latter can challenge the former to a duel to decide who becomes the Prince Imperial. Napoleon tries to head this conflict off by forbidding Alexandre to accept the challenge, only for the protagonist to offer to duel in his stead.
• Tragic Keepsake: For Napoleon, it's Franz's childhood room in Tuileries Palace, which has been kept untouched since it's occupant last lived in it.
• Undying Loyalty: Franz will forever be the center of Amalia's world. To the point where she's willing to kill his own brother if that's what it takes to keep him alive. The protagonist can play this straight when it comes to Alexandre...or avert this entirely.
• Uptown Girl: Princess Victoria, heir to the English throne, is this to Alexandre, the bastard child of Emperor Napoleon. Though this is rendered moot should Alexandre be legitimised in the finale.
  • Alexandre is this to the protagonist, as, even though he's a bastard, he's the Emperor's bastard. This difference in class means that, if they don't convince him to relinquish his claim to the throne, the protagonist can only ever be his mistress.
• Velvet Revolution:
  • If the Republic is proclaimed despite Franz' enthronement, it's completely bloodless. Marshal Duval and the Guard join the people of Paris, and Franz and the Austrians have no chance to suppress the revolution. The war with Austria only starts after the declaration of the Republic.
  • A Velvet Counterrevolution is possible: If a Republic isn't declared, then the revolutionaries will seize the Hotel de Ville. If Alexandre is Emperor or has a deal with Franz, he or the PC can talk down the revolutionaries, or he can barricade the Hotel until the radicals get hungry and decamp.
• Virtuous Bees: As with history, the bee is the symbol of the Bonapartist monarchy, and Alexandre will wear it if he becomes Emperor. This doesn't necessarily apply if Franz becomes Emperor - but an Emperor Franz who isn't wearing bees is a sign that things have gone very, very wrong.
• Wild Card: England's a traditional friend of Austria and enemy of France, but as always, their first allegiance is to English interests. If you can get them to sit out the war between Austria and France, then it's a short, victorious war for France.
• The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Though Franz is technically Napoleon's legitimate heir, the general consensus is he's the worst candidate for the French throne due to the fact that he'll just serve a Puppet King for the Austrians. His detractors are proven right should he gain the throne, as he undoes all of the more progressive reforms passed by Napoleon.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Franz is killed in mysterious circumstances should he return to Austria without gaining the French throne. Preventing this is the main reason why Amalia is dead set on removing Alexandre, his main rival, from the running.
• Zeppelins from Another World: Aeropiles are employed both for racing and warfare, and Alexandre is an avid pilot.