[Emperors of the Fading Suns] [Emperors of the Fading Suns] OOC Thread

[cyl]

@Arynne: yeah we're next on Xarvh's to do list. :eek:


@CI: gimme a day or two to get back to you on that sorcery issue (got a lot on my plate at the moment) I'm sure we will find new ways to disagree

 

[Feantari]

I'm not disagreeing that she is dangerous, just that we can probs negotiate better.

Otherwise if you have other ideas about how to sweeten the deal, I'm all ears.

Things Cross needs she has the ability to make. We can outsource some of our needs to her. We have Siham and we have lots of new crafters coming up and such, but she can probably help us gear up faster. Think about what your troops need that isn't in the works. Argis really wants bows for the civil defense force so they can be effective from the city walls. If you need to, mention that it will let us focus more on cultivating and weaponizing the Bloom.

 

[cyl]

Oh that... well I didn't consider it that much of a serious problem.


Malek can afford the cost of keeping a Legion armed, fed, and paid in the field for a whole year (it's resources 4).


The plan was to buy from Nathir, and then transport it to Mirunda and get the stuff to the Cross.


It shouldn't take more than a full season to have a fully functional kick ass army... and it only means overseeing logistics (considering we get rid of the Legion first). Considering how far we are from everyone else... besides Legion, Tirana or other DKs... I'd say we're pretty safe.


If it's bows you need, our main resource being wood, I wouldn't worry too much about getting that either.


We can obviously get more from her, increased security for example (perhaps a military unit at our disposal for a period of time), but the overall threat level of the jungles and surrounding lands would lower considerably and everything would run much faster and smoother if the Legion was taken out of the picture.


Her gone means less risky exchanges between the Cross - Mirunda - Sanctuary, so materials, food, weapons, tools, safely moving the workforce where it's needed. Everything we need to declare ourselves a nation of the Confederation of Rivers (that... will be another mess best kept for some other time).


I sincerely doubt the Walker would risk a fourth knight to stop us if we manage to reason with him.


He sees us as a threat, and has every reason to.


But if we manage to lower our threat level for him or display our overpowering superiority (3 knights killed in 2 years and the Bloom deployed on some of his bases as a proof of our undead ass wooping capabilites) and manifest that we believe a conflict will only result in him loosing everything and us only being delayed in our plans and that if he stops hostilities towards us and our allies we will stop retaliating and threatening his realm... I'm sure he'll see reason... else we're going to have a very interesting next chapter on the works


Of course it relies on a few things:


- the Legion dead or out of the picture


- the Bloom successfully weaponized and field ready (work your magic, Siham you mad scientist ! :cool: ) to use as a nuclear threat


- a solid and careful plan for our development to minimize third parties intereferences


At least that's what I have in mind.

 

[Feantari]

Right, ok, but every time we talk about getting things we say oh we can just buy that/make that, but we still don't have things yet. I've tried to kick it off IC and we have gotten some things made, but we certainly aren't there yet. It seems like something easy to ask for that's easy for her to provide and you can spend your resources on other things. *shrug*


Legion gone is good, but as I said I don't think you need to offer anything for Tirana to see the upside of that one. :-P


I don't think we can really expect Walker to clam up in a hole because we are scary. Unless you want to make some treaty with him or something.

 

[Kacie]

Why is there unID'd power armor, starmetal armor, and a unknown short daiklave that aren't being used?


Or if not used personally, then trading them to buy a small kingdom to personally grow and ship you grain? Along with the army that comes with it, and a few land-ships thrown in for good measure?


You're sitting on amazing wealth/trade fodder.

 

[Feantari]

xarvh was going to detail it out, but we haven't made him yet :-P aka we are terrible people

 

[Arynne]

We also have some stuff Walker "liberated" from the Dragon Kings, but we might want to hold on to some of that...since we will eventually have some citizens who would find it useful...

 

[CrazyIvan]

There are tons of alternatives to trading the daiklave for food. Argis just offered it to Malek because he knows its something Tirana wants very very fucking a lot. Come on man, you going to let some giraffe set the terms of the arrangement without even haggling for more food?
Intermingling is good IMO


So you're giving up on our hunt for legion that is currently ongoing then eh? Also, since this is a negotiation, you would do well not to highlight your/our weaknesses. You make it sound like Legion is something we can't deal with. It's good to have her help and all here, but playing prey for the predator is not a good move.

Hell, Fangs just essentially offered to sell herself, and that didn't get so much as an acknowledgement

This has given me a lot to think about. Wow. I'm not sure where I intended to go with the character. At first I was looking at minimum combat charms necessary to not die, amd then moving on to sorcery, but I didn't imagine that sorcery would ne ALL i'd do. Though as I climb to your levels, I would certainly gain a lot of soells.

That's certainly possible, though I'd suggest slightly more "Not Die" than say, Fangs has, but the Solar Melee tree is pretty generous in that regard at our XP level.


And as other people have said, play what you want. The mechanical disaster that is Cunning Fangs is still a blast to play, even if there's part of me going "There's a better way to do this", but that's because I enjoy Exalted's mechanics. But the advantage of this game is you *can* play something sub-optimal and still have fun.


There's also advantages to sorcery in this game. Demon summoning really is a blast, and with the exception of a few spells (notably Unbreakable Bones and Skin of Bronze) Fangs can act as a tutor.

 

[CrazyIvan]

We can seriously think and present ourselves as equals.
She has a horde of Breeding 5 Dragon Blooded beastmen, we have a legion of rodents.


If she wants us dead, we're dead. She knows it, we know it.


The artifact is worth a little fortune (ress 4 or something like that), but it is not jade we need at the moment (I have enough and will do what's necessary to maintain it), it's food in sufficient quantities to buy us enough time to set up the other supply chains, and the insurance that Legion will not interfere.


As long as she's around, she can attack the food convoys or worst, she could attack Tirana's children when they get to the Cross.


Otherwise if you have other ideas about how to sweeten the deal, I'm all ears.

As mentioned previous, you have something she wants: Cunning Fangs. A Celestial Exalt's loyalty is a pricey thing.


Beyond that, you don't need to present yourself as equals. Because as mentioned, we aren't. But you don't need to be equals - we need to be useful and dangerous. What we need to present ourselves as is a threat. Yes, if she wants to wipe us off the face of the map, she can. But if she gets gored in the process, it's not a net win for her. That's the key with any predator, Tirana included. You don't have to be able to win to be "Not worth the risk". You just have to lose with sufficiently spectacular style.

 

[cyl]

Right, ok, but every time we talk about getting things we say oh we can just buy that/make that, but we still don't have things yet.

That's because of the timing. We realized only too late what the Bloom was and what it was capable of (and the group was partial about the proper use and its threat level to humanity).
Once we knew what it was, and that it wasn't dangerous for hoomans or the land, the Walker also knew about it and had sent things in motion to slow us down / protect himself from the threat.


At that precise moment we could have gone to him and say "hey, everything cool, we no enemies of you !", but since he's a deathlord he sent his knights on a dirty job and we lost the tome and were attacked, making us pause every other expansion projects we had at that moment.


Since then he's used the Legion to slow us down (he also uses it as a threat to stop us from taking initiative because of the risk of her showing up and destroying small task forces), most likely his current resort since he doesn't know where we stand on the whole process of weaponizing the Bloom.


IMHO a simple plan like: get rid of the saboteur, develop the nuclear weapon, and use it in the field USA style twice to show that it's not a one time thing should encourage the formation of a peace treaty... or bring us to a full war vs the underworld (in which case we can team up with Great Forks & Tirana and other powers to kick his soulsteel clad ass).


And yes, I believe that once we manage to get and maintain the upper hand, a diplomatic solution could be possible and could even be exploited to our advantage (our allies are off limits to you but you can do what you want with the rest -> suddenly everyone wants to be our ally). He feared the Bloom enough to strike first, so if we endure and show him we can use it at wish, he'll either fold or escalate.


If he folds, that's good for us.


If he escalates, we'll have the Bloom, strong allies and we will have ourselves a good old fashioned epic war.

Legion gone is good, but as I said I don't think you need to offer anything for Tirana to see the upside of that one. :-P

I disagree, Tirana for the moment doesn't give a rat's ass about the Legion, she's not bugging her, she's bugging us and our mortal nuisances. That's not bad for her, only for us and since we are not good for anything to her, she could let us die... part of the reason why I inserted some comments about the Bloom. "help us survive and together we will defeat the undead".

As mentioned previous, you have something she wants: Cunning Fangs. A Celestial Exalt's loyalty is a pricey thing.

I wasn't sure that you meant to trade your services (although I had strong suspicions).


In this case I'd rather give the klave away and have Fangs back on our team... but that doesn't fit with your agenda.


However having Fangs at Tirana's side may turn out to be in our best interests in the long run.


Plus Malek doesn't know what has been concluded between the two of you and he wouldn't dare reduce Fangs to a bargaining chip.


If we had had the opportunity to gather and talk about our positions we could have shared more insight on the situation, but that's not a problem per se.


This scene is a merely polite introduction to the forging of a deeper relationship between our two nations (with a tragic interlude for Fangs).


We presented our agendas, needs and desires at this point, and we are still trying to work something out.


Nothing has been concluded yet, we are just agreeing on principles.


So feel free to ask for things or propose deeper connections between Sanctuary and the Cross IC.


I do not claim monopoly on the negotiations, I'm just here to help with our agenda and seal the deals

 

[Kacie]

The Bloom is a biological weapon; think of it as if someone set off the Great Contagion. Think about what your response would be if you heard the Great Contagion was upstream from you, and had been released.


The Bloom is already weaponized. And it has already been used.


Regarding Tirana, how about each person making a short list of what they see as immediate needs for the Cross that you think you can get from Tirana, and a short list of what the Cross can trade Tirana. If you can come to an agreement about the Cross's needs and the worth of what you have for trade, that will help you know how to position yourselves in bargaining with Tirana.


For instance - yes, the Cross could eventually divert enough man-power to fell trees and craft bows, or you could get 100 longbows right now and start training people. What is that head-start on training worth to the Cross? Is it better to have people in the Cross spend their time making bows, or to buy your bows and have your people do something else?


Sometimes the best way to get long term good relations going is a series of profitable short-term trades.

 

[xarvh]

@cyl: you can't produce good quality bows.


Short bows require a variety of materials and long bows can't be built out of any tree.


Agatha turned the wood of the jungle into a volcano-sized building, oaksteel and oaktapuses, but you have to research this technology.


@Feantari: the several dots of jade artefact found in Agatha's Manse are up to you guys to qualify.


On the top of that, a few artifacts I have qualified for you.


Being First Age artefacts, they are even more valuable than the jade they are made of.


Selling them will be another thing entirely...


@Norts: man, stop stressing with the mechanics and just go for what you find fun.


Go for what will allow you to do a shitload of awesome stunts, go for what will allow you to enjoy writing.


The rest is irrelevant, really.

 

[WlfSamurai]

@Norts: man, stop stressing with the mechanics and just go for what you find fun.
Go for what will allow you to do a shitload of awesome stunts, go for what will allow you to enjoy writing.


The rest is irrelevant, really.

This!

 

[Feantari]

@Feantari: the several dots of jade artefact found in Agatha's Manse are up to you guys to qualify.
On the top of that, a few artifacts I have qualified for you.


Being First Age artifacts, they are even more valuable than the jade they are made of.


Selling them will be another thing entirely...

Kid meet candy store. Can you confirm that what is listed in that post is accurate and officially state a number of dots for us to play with? Otherwise we may peer at it in hope and never act (as has been evidenced)


Also dibs on the totally sweet jade hook swords in the corner! >.> <.<

 

[Norts]

Well...combat is what makes me think of stunts, but what wr need is another crafter amd.some.sorceric mojo.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Dude, you can totally stunt the CRAP outta some carfting and socerer-ing (notice: not a real word).

 

[xarvh]

Ok, it's official here: Artifacts from Agatha's Manse

 

[WlfSamurai]

That link keeps giving me an error, FYI.

 

[xarvh]

Works for me. oO


Try this: http://www.rpdom.com/threads/artifacts-from-agathas-manse.54354/

 

[Feantari]

It looks disappeared? Getting errors on both and not seeing the original thread. Maybe it accidentally got marked to be hidden from us or something?

 

[xarvh]

There may be a problem with the permissions. Lemme ask the mods.

 

[xarvh]

Nope.


A bug.


I deleted three posts and the whole thread got deleted. oO


Should be fine now.

 

[Kacie]

Before it disappeared, I saw the Loot you guys got from that manse - good grief! You've a proper treasure trove. Don't spend it all on Tirana - I'm sure you can get some much better deals in Nexus or Lookshy. You can trade anything in Nexus, and Lookshy is probably interested in high-quality First Age Jade gear.


In Nexus, you probably could trade for a new land-ship and many tons of grain.


And someone may want to try out that Jade power armor. Depending on what kind of power armor it is, that could be really good, even for non-DBs.

 

[Arynne]

Yes, but anything we order from Nexus will have to fight its way past the Walker's blockade. Buying stuff from Tirana, at least, avoids that problem.

 

[Kacie]

Where is the Walker's blockade?


Looks like anything has to come down past Sanctuary on the Rolling River. Where did the reinforcements from Great Forks get hit by the Legion? If they were already past Sanctuary on their way towards the Cross, that means the Legion can hit goods coming from Sanctuary to the Cross.


If the Legion can hit anywhere and stop any convoy of goods, that is a big problem.