Now, there is nothing wrong with mindless fun and wish fulfillment, but we serve a different meal here.
If you want to be Attia of the Julii or be a power player, this is your RPG. You (and your actions) will determine who your friends and enemies are. Naturally, to accommodate all that scheming, plotting, and backstabbing, we give the player plenty of choices, from multiple solutions to quests to different paths you can take through the game. The game is vicious, both in its lack of morality and its merciless systems.