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

[xarvh]

Fair suggestion, but please let Ankss go.


Whether Malek will be there or not, it's up to Flicker.

 

[cyl]

Well we just sorted it out as far as I am concerned.


We know what most parties involved want, suggestions have been made regarding the different approaches we could take and we have analyzed the risks.


We are good and ready to go. We just need our C.O. to give her orders.

 

[cyl]

@Kacie : considering we're slowing things down for CI & you, how about a training scene with Malek / Mirror / Fangs in her manse ?


Since I'll be dropping like 50 xp in dodge charms (oh how I wept ), I thought a series of training sessions with one of the best fighters alive (well... half alive at least) could be good.


That way you won't get to wait 5 weeks to get another IC post in, and on the plus side you can beat Malek like a mule

 

[xarvh]

@Arynne: whenever you are ready, let me know how you want to approach and declare your challenge, so that i can open the new Scene.

 

[Arynne]

Sorry guys, this week is turning out to be crazy as fuck. It looks like Mon-Tues are going to be like this from now on.


I have a test today, which I am frantically prepping for. When it's over (and the rehearsal for my directing class, and...) I'll be able to come up with a proper response.

 

[cyl]

Best of luck mate !

 

[Kacie]

Thanks, Cyl, but I'd prefer to sit tight and wait. My heart's not in starting a training scene at the moment.

 

[xarvh]

Cyl, I was having a look at Malek's sheet.


I think it could be very useful for the game if his skills were more focused.


I think we can convert some of his Abilities dots back to XPs and rearrange his Favs, it would help you out of your current impasse and give him a better defined role in the Circle.

 

[Arynne]

In deference to Malek's worries, Flicker plans to ask Fangs to summon an appropriately honorable and respected elemental -- probably an elemental of Fire -- to act as her herald and deliver the terms of the challenge. She wants to face Zeesalth, or a champion of his choice, with the usual forfeit: the heart of the loser, to be offered to the Sun. She promises to abide by the terms of the duel, including going willingly to sacrifice if she loses but survives. She will also offer to return the eggs and fledglings, and throw in her personal Artifacts, in return for the manse's hearthstone, the manse's secrets, or whatever else Fangs insists be added to the stakes.


Ideally, "returning to the ancient alliance with the Exalted" would be part of the prize, but it would take a lot to equal that in the balance, and probably only a Charm like Know the Soul's Price could figure out what it would take...

 

[xarvh]

So, in the bucket:


* Zeesalth and Flicker's hearts


* Eggs and runaway Swamp People


* Flicker's personal Artifacts


* The Manse of Ankss


@CrazyIvan I think the list needs your input, then we can open the next Scene.

 

[JayTee]

Cyl, I was having a look at Malek's sheet.


I think it could be very useful for the game if his skills were more focused.


I think we can convert some of his Abilities dots back to XPs and rearrange his Favs, it would help you out of your current impasse and give him a better defined role in the Circle.

Could I do something like this for Siham? I came in to the game with a few assumptions and bought a few charms that were intended to satisfy a "right now" need, rather than a more strategic need, and I'd love the chance to streamline the build a bit more.

 

[xarvh]

Depends. What would you need?

 

[JayTee]

Moving the Stealth stuff in to Presence. I originally grabbed that ability because I was looking for a niche that needed to be covered, but Siham has developed in to a much more aggressive/ruthless person than I thought he would be, so the switch makes sense for the character.


Likewise, utting the Firearms/Dodge charms in to Melee. The more I think about it, it's harder and harder for me to justify Siham being skilled with a weapon that by all rights shouldn't exist in Creation, as opposed to being a good hand with a knife Short Daiklave for self-defense.


Beyond that, I'm more or less happy with the build. If Fangs is dead-set on mate redemption via self-immolation, Siham may be picking up Sorcery soon to continue maintaining all the spells she has running, so there is that to consider for me.

 

[xarvh]

Siham's Stealth Charms allowed him to sabotage a Factory Cathedral in Lookshy and salvage several parts, the effect on the story is too big to retcon it.


Dodge/Firearms is a much lesser problem.


Feel free to make your plans for Melee/Presence, but please let me see about Malek before you change anything.

 

[JayTee]

I figure the stealth thing would be less retcon and more "I'm out of practice with these skills".

 

[CrazyIvan]

I figure the stealth thing would be less retcon and more "I'm out of practice with these skills".

But how will you spy on the tenure committee of the academy or whatever it is without stealth charms?


#appliedacademia

 

[CrazyIvan]

In deference to Malek's worries, Flicker plans to ask Fangs to summon an appropriately honorable and respected elemental -- probably an elemental of Fire -- to act as her herald and deliver the terms of the challenge. She wants to face Zeesalth, or a champion of his choice, with the usual forfeit: the heart of the loser, to be offered to the Sun. She promises to abide by the terms of the duel, including going willingly to sacrifice if she loses but survives. She will also offer to return the eggs and fledglings, and throw in her personal Artifacts, in return for the manse's hearthstone, the manse's secrets, or whatever else Fangs insists be added to the stakes.
Ideally, "returning to the ancient alliance with the Exalted" would be part of the prize, but it would take a lot to equal that in the balance, and probably only a Charm like Know the Soul's Price could figure out what it would take...

I could summon an Elemental, or if you want additional "oomph" I could see if Fangs could talk a Hidden Judge into mediating. That has a properly serious aura of "Don't fuck around with this" and they're more heavily associated with the Celestial order.


Plus Fangs has been playing Gateway with them. Because who else would she play with but supernatural executioners?

So, in the bucket:
* Zeesalth and Flicker's hearts


* Eggs and runaway Swamp People


* Flicker's personal Artifacts


* The Manse of Ankss


@CrazyIvan I think the list needs your input, then we can open the next Scene.

First thought, IIRC, is that it's Mirror's personal artifacts, not Flicker's?


This is a good list. It's not the list Fangs would produce on her own, but that's part of the reason Flicker is here, to avoid Fangs' interpretation of freelance nation building.


My only added suggestion is the liberation of the Ankss human population. Mirror views it as an abomination, it plays on a number of Fangs' themes, and...well...it's actively wrong. You want to offer up criminals or volunteers to the Unconquered Sun? Fine. But the People As Cattle thing needs to go.

 

[xarvh]

Love the idea of using a Judge. =D


Flicker's offering her personal Artifacts to Zeesalth if she loses.


Flicker can try and ask to have the Orichalcum Daiklave and Soulsteel Bow back.


Flicker loses:


* Her heart


* The eggs


* The swamp people refugees


* Her artifacts


Zeesalth loses:


* His heart


* "His" daiklave and Berek's bow.


* The Manse of Ankss


* Reform/liberation of Ankss humans?


So far it seems that Flicker's offer do not much too well her demands: her artifacts do not match Zeesalth's and few refugees and eggs do not match the whole Ankss and the Manse.

 

[CrazyIvan]

Add "and we never trouble Ankss again"?


Given one of the members of the party is both Barek's mate and capable of summoning a Hidden Judge, I genuinely think "And this problem goes away" is a pretty big offer on balance. Not specifically for Zee, but if he has any pretense of being a statesman anymore...

 

[xarvh]

Flicker loses:


* Her heart


* The eggs


* The swamp people refugees


* Her artifacts


* "Nice swamp you have here. It would be a pity if it was ravaged by a horde of demons..."


Zeesalth loses:


* His heart


* "His" daiklave and Berek's bow.


* The Manse of Ankss


* Reform/liberation of Ankss humans?

 

[cyl]

The main issue I have with the reform is that it may not be up to Zee... but heh, we haven't spied on Ankss enough to know what's what.


As for Malek's development: I don’t think that the changes are going to be necessary, or rather I don’t think it’s going to be enough.


Most of his abilities and powers have been bought out of necessity and all have been used during the story, most of the time to face hardships.


At this point, he’s invested so much in different abilities that switching his faves won’t move more than a few dozen xp or so.


The only change I can think of that will save a significant amount of xp is to change his combat style from MA to Melee.


My actual plan includes spending 56xp on Dodge to get the PD, the combo breaker, and the anti surprise attack. If I switch to Melee, I don’t have to invest that much since I already bought enough Mantis Style charms to get the Melee PD and then some more.


This switch would allow me to focus those 56xp on something else (like investigation-socialize).


Short of a complete rewrite, that’s the only thing I can think of that could improve his efficiency without tearing holes into the story.


As for the focuses, it depends on if we get Rhapsody back or not.


My actual plan was to focus on Larceny-Linguistics first, then Socialize-Investigation-Bureaucracy, to make him a social spider able to gather, channel and focus intel resources and people…. but if we lose Rhapsody’s social hammering force, I may have to invest more in Presence / Performance (which won’t be a total loss anyway).

 

[CrazyIvan]

The main issue I have with the reform is that it may not be up to Zee... but heh, we haven't spied on Ankss enough to know what's what.

Whoever it is up to should be smart enough to figure out that, for the moment, it needs to be up to Zee. "Nice Swamp You Have There..." isn't Zee focused either.


If they can't put that together, Cunning Fangs is totally okay with a Law of the Jungle-esq solution to this problem, because really, that level of stupid needs to be wiped from Creation on principle.

 

[cyl]

It wasn't clear in my post but the real issue is that what binds Zee, may not bind the DK community days/weeks/months after the duel.


The DK won't automatically go away if Zee loses, so we'll still have a very uncooperative dominion surrounding Mirror's Manse.

 

[CrazyIvan]

It wasn't clear in my post but the real issue is that what binds Zee, may not bind the DK community days/weeks/months after the duel.
The DK won't automatically go away if Zee loses, so we'll still have a very uncooperative dominion surrounding Mirror's Manse.

Which is fine. They can be uncooperative. We don't require good service at local restaurants.


If they want to do more than that, to borrow from Watchmen, it's not that we have an uncooperative dominion surrounding Mirror's Manse. It's that they have Mirror's Manse in the middle of their dominion.

 

[xarvh]

Z alone may or may not have enough sway/authority on the other DKs. He's definitely the leader, but doesn't seem to wield that kind of power.


Your negotiations will need to include all DKs.


EDIT: Also what CI said works.