Royal Affairs

Return to the exclusive boarding schools of Crème de la Crème—this time as a royal! Work hard, study hard, and play hard as a royal in training at the exclusive Archambault Academy. Will you rule the roost, or be a royal disaster?

Royal Affairs is a 437,000-word interactive novel by Harris Powell-Smith set in the world of Crème de la Crème 59. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

As the middle child of the Queen of Westerlin, you’ve led a sheltered life in the palace, but now you must spread your wings and prepare for your royal responsibilities with a year at the exclusive Archambault Academy.

Everyone knows your name, everyone has an opinion on what you do, and everyone views you as the face of the new generation of royalty. Your every move is reported in the press, a word from you could make or break a teacher’s career–or the fate of the school itself. You’re being courted by every club and social group on campus; and there are countless students who would love to be in your orbit.

In luxurious armchairs behind ivy-covered walls, you and your fellow students debate political theory—but outside, real trouble simmers across the realm. There are activists fighting to open voting rights beyond the aristocracy, and you can use your influence to sway the government’s decision in either direction. Relations are growing increasingly uneasy with your country’s neighbors, and there are conspiracies around every corner. Why is your mother whispering behind closed doors with the Prime Minister? Have the leaders of the protests really disappeared? Which allies can you trust? There are some secrets that only your royal authority can uncover.

Will you honor centuries of royal tradition and follow the path that your mother the Queen has laid out for you? Or will you be a force of change, leading your country in a new direction as you break free of a lifetime of expectations?

Oh, and speaking of expectations—there’s also the foreign royal that your mother wants you to marry. Who is in your class. And who happens to hate you.

• Play as male, female, or non-binary; gay, straight, or bisexual; monogamous or polyamorous; asexual and/or aromantic.
• Find love and/or friendship with your free-spirited childhood companion, a firebrand radical, a dreamy dancer, a financier haunted by tragedy, your devoted bodyguard, or a rival foreign royal.
• Cuddle and train your pet: a horse, dog, or bird of prey.
• Put on a lavish play, become a sports star, or run Student Council; and represent Archambault Academy against its rival Gallatin.
• Become your classmates’ confidante and help them solve their problems—or make those problems worse.
• Embrace your royal responsibility and carry on your mother’s tradition—and perhaps even take your sister’s place as heir to the throne.
• Forge a path to the future by supporting revolutionaries’ calls for change, or stamp out the movement with scheming and deceit.

When this tumultuous year ends, will you be Archambault Academy’s crowning glory?