Dice Exalted Essence: The Young Exalts and the Sea OOC

[jaydude]

Currently trying to figure out a suitable course of action for Ranei to take. Ideally I'd have her direct you all to leave the island and gather more information about Aigaion before slaying it, but I want to make sure that such a thing makes sense within the fiction. And right now, her personal feelings towards House Tepet and Lunars aside, I imagine that certain elements within the Realm - particularly House Peleps - would jump on her if they could find evidence she was "conspiring" with an Anathema and the Western Sea Court.

 

[Random Word]

If, on the other hand, she were 'valiantly driving out' the anathema, and sending a Shikari to pursue it, and completely out of her control said anathema decided to pursue information about Aigaion, well there's hardly anything she could do about that.

 

[jaydude]

If, on the other hand, she were 'valiantly driving out' the anathema, and sending a Shikari to pursue it, and completely out of her control said anathema decided to pursue information about Aigaion, well there's hardly anything she could do about that.

I think I've worked something out myself, but suggestion definitely appreciated.

I'll think on how to have Ranei answer Tuyak's question. For now though, I need my sleep.

 

[jaydude]

So yeah. Sarumei is essentially neutral ground for all of you, and also a means for me to provide additional exposition as necessary.

 

[Rykon]

So I'm kinda seeing this moment as the last chance for Ranei and Sojiro to either calm down or succumb to the Great Curse. Sojiro's having to learn firsthand that members of different Great Houses can no longer always work together unconditionally - even in the face of something like Aigaion - while Ranei's unintentionally been provoked after turning out to have already been under more stress than she might've been letting on.

That being said Rykon , if you want to avoid a Great Curse Manifestation, you can absolutely have Sojiro avoid being driven into a tornado of fury and saying something he'll regret later, at which point Ranei will calm down and apologize for her outburst. I don't want anyone in this game to be forced into something they won't enjoy.

And I hope this goes without saying, but Ranei's words are in no way meant to constitute a personal attack of mine on you or your character.

I was planning on having Sojiro coldly tear apart her protest, as he's been through the ringer as well. If that counts as a Great Curse manifestation that's fine by me. Let me double check the text and see if I can get this right.

Edit: on second reading I was right on course for the manifestation then, I'll proceed.

 

[jaydude]

I was planning on having Sojiro coldly tear apart her protest, as he's been through the ringer as well.

That's fine with me. Perhaps bear in mind though that depending on what exactly he says, he won't necessarily be entirely in the right. As Ranei stated, she doesn't have an aerial vessel she can loan out to him, and from her perspective, she can't be certain that someone like Garret won't try to stab Sojiro in the back and take the vessel for himself.

 

[Rykon]

That's fine with me. Perhaps bear in mind though that depending on what exactly he says, he won't necessarily be entirely in the right. As Ranei stated, she doesn't have an aerial vessel she can loan out to him, and from her perspective, she can't be certain that someone like Garret won't try to stab Sojiro in the back and take the vessel for himself.

He's really just ranting about the principle of withholding assets from the effort to take down Aigaion. It's not a big deal that she just doesn't have an airboat or even an armored ship we can ensorcel into the air. We'll figure something out.

 

[Random Word]

I'd like to lodge the complaint that Ranei has had no time at all to do detailed research on an obscure threat that hasn't been seen for almost seven centuries. It just attacked about an hour ago, so she or her staff would have had to have memorized all of this. Either she's an avid student of the history of monstrous threats in the Western Shogunate, or it's more prominent in the historical records than I thought.

I do understand the need for narrative expedient, but I figured 'knowing obscure but useful things' was Ijara's narrative role.

Edit: Sorry, that sounded really whiny, I should have phrased it as a question about exactly how well known Aigaion is amongst graduates of the House of Bells. Perhaps it's a famous example used in a class on fighting monstrous threats, and we all know about it.

 

[Rykon]

Short is the life of a general without a well-read nerd in their pocket. This one's even seen a couple centuries if I read correctly. Though I do see your point. I do recall from the intro, both Sojiro and Ijara recognized it on sight with Sojiro having a Sagacity of a magnificent 0. So, apparently big behemoth leave big footprint. Especially when it makes the Empress look cool.

As for the more specific details ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[jaydude]

I'd like to lodge the complaint that Ranei has had no time at all to do detailed research on an obscure threat that hasn't been seen for almost seven centuries. It just attacked about an hour ago, so she or her staff would have had to have memorized all of this. Either she's an avid student of the history of monstrous threats in the Western Shogunate, or it's more prominent in the historical records than I thought.

I do understand the need for narrative expedient, but I figured 'knowing obscure but useful things' was Ijara's narrative role.

Edit: Sorry, that sounded really whiny, I should have phrased it as a question about exactly how well known Aigaion is amongst graduates of the House of Bells. Perhaps it's a famous example used in a class on fighting monstrous threats, and we all know about it.

It's cool, and sorry for any blunders on my part.

I think that based on what you said, I'll have it so that Ranei's just studious herself, but she definitely doesn't know the full story about Aigaion.

 

[jaydude]

I do understand the need for narrative expedient, but I figured 'knowing obscure but useful things' was Ijara's narrative role.

That's fair, and apologies.

With this being the case, would you rather the group not go to Sarumei, if you feel that doing so would deprive you of your preferred role in the group? I'm fine if you wouldn't.

 

[Random Word]

No! Sorry, I was just taken by surprise by Ranei's knowledge, and also a bit worried my Charms might cheat us out of a planned major story arc you've put work into. If I use Of Truths Best Unspoken (or whichever one they put in Essence) and Efficient Secretary, can Ijara not learn everything Sarumei has to teach us without ever leaving the city?

I'm not at all opposed to going to Sarumei for research, but I don't think anyone else in the group is a researcher. They would be asking NPCs to search the archives on their behalf. Meanwhile Ijara probably wouldn't personally see the point, unless she learns Sarumei has old texts with important details even the archives of Heaven lack, in which case she's all for it. Or if Sarumei has physical artifacts or ruins that are crucial to defeating Aigaion.

 

[Rykon]

And before we skip past it... There's still a lot of development and introduction Ijara has to make to the circle at large once we've stepped away from prying eyes. Otherwise, there may be an issue of how or why Ijara has this knowledge and is sticking close at hand as a presumed mortal-sorcerer officer within the rank and file.

 

[jaydude]

No! Sorry, I was just taken by surprise by Ranei's knowledge, and also a bit worried my Charms might cheat us out of a planned major story arc you've put work into.

No worries there. Truth is, right now I don't have much for Sarunei besides some basic details I brainstormed up in a couple of hours.

If I use Of Truths Best Unspoken (or whichever one they put in Essence) and Efficient Secretary, can Ijara not learn everything Sarumei has to teach us without ever leaving the city?

And before we skip past it... There's still a lot of development and introduction Ijara has to make to the circle at large once we've stepped away from prying eyes. Otherwise, there may be an issue of how or why Ijara has this knowledge and is sticking close at hand as a presumed mortal-sorcerer officer within the rank and file.

When Random puts it like that, it doesn't make much sense to sail all the way to a new location for the sake of acquiring knowledge. But as Rykon indicated, it may be that this would require Ijara to come clean about what she really is, since I wouldn't envision a mortal sorcerer as knowing a big deal about Aigaion.

 

[Sherwood]

Unless there is another reason for us to go to this location? Perhaps there is an airship we can acquire along the way?

 

[jaydude]

Unless there is another reason for us to go to this location? Perhaps there is an airship we can acquire along the way?

Minor spoilers, but such a thing is going to require you to travel to a different location, at least as I've envisioned it.

 

[Psychie]

Does Garret have a flying form large enough to carry several others at once? If so, we could use that to close in and engage the monster without having to get an airship.

 

[Sherwood]

If we need an airship, I might be able to use Most Assurant's influence with her people to acquire one.

 

[Random Word]

If not, Garrett can acquire such a form, and Ijara can provide Cirrus Skiff and summoned flying mounts. The Autochthonian airship is definitely more on brand, though.

 

[jaydude]

Does Garret have a flying form large enough to carry several others at once? If so, we could use that to close in and engage the monster without having to get an airship.

If we need an airship, I might be able to use Most Assurant's influence with her people to acquire one.

I like both of these ideas.

Psychie , there's a part of me that would much rather you didn't start off with one, if only so I can make an arc out of the five of you tracking and then hunting such a creature down. But if you'd rather do so, I won't object.

Sherwood , what would your idea entail in terms of the fiction? I'm assuming you'd have to go somewhere to pick up the airship.

 

[Rykon]

Bonus points if Garret suplexes the whale in bird form.

 

[Random Word]

And before we skip past it... There's still a lot of development and introduction Ijara has to make to the circle at large once we've stepped away from prying eyes. Otherwise, there may be an issue of how or why Ijara has this knowledge and is sticking close at hand as a presumed mortal-sorcerer officer within the rank and file.

But as Rykon indicated, it may be that this would require Ijara to come clean about what she really is, since I wouldn't envision a mortal sorcerer as knowing a big deal about Aigaion.

I don't think so, but if I'm wrong then that's not a big deal. Ijara's current identity Shale isn't working for the Cathak legions, she was discharged when the legions were disbanded. As to how she knows what she knows, she merely has to say she intends to sorcerously communicate with colleagues at the Imperial Archives and the Heptagram to justify her knowledge. As to why she's tagging along - well, she only needs to make herself useful and presumably not only would there be no complaint, but an active desire on Sojiro's part to keep her around. Her cover is a Tepet legion veteran who has already proven useful fighting Aigaion once, so her cover has every reason to want to assist Sojiro if she can.

 

[jaydude]

I don't think so, but if I'm wrong then that's not a big deal. Ijara's current identity Shale isn't working for the Cathak legions, she was discharged when the legions were disbanded. As to how she knows what she knows, she merely has to say she intends to sorcerously communicate with colleagues at the Imperial Archives and the Heptagram to justify her knowledge.

This works for me as a cover, though I'm not going to object if the other PCs want to try and figure you out.

And again, sorry about hijacking your desired narrative role. I put it down to my having a degree of tunnel vision when it comes to Exalt Castes and their possible roles; with Ijara being an undercover Chosen of Battles, I figured your plan was to have her primarily serve as an advisor and aide to the group in matters of combat, and didn't much figure how providing knowledge about foes could relate to that. If she'd been a Chosen of Secrets, I'd likely have offered to have her be the Circle's go-to source of information from the start.

 

[jaydude]

Also, in regards to my earlier post about Psychie and Sherwood 's ideas for flight, I've kinda changed my mind a bit. I'm thinking we go for the airship option, but I'm also willing to let Garret have an airborne Legendary Size form. I figure that it'll be a lot easier to put siege weapons on the airship than on Garret.

 

[Random Word]

This works for me as a cover, though I'm not going to object if the other PCs want to try and figure you out.

And again, sorry about hijacking your desired narrative role. I put it down to my having a degree of tunnel vision when it comes to Exalt Castes and their roles; with Ijara being an undercover Chosen of Battles, I figured your plan was to have her primarily serve as an advisor and aide to the group in matters of combat, and didn't much figure how providing knowledge about foes could relate to that. If she'd been a Chosen of Secrets, I'd likely have offered to have her be the Circle's go-to source of information from the start.

Oh, I really didn't mean to throw a tantrum. It was mostly surprise, and wanting to get my bearings again. Before you wanted to put some of that information in spoiler tags, which made me think it was very obscure knowledge. To then see it casually tossed out as if it were common knowledge threw me off. I just needed to recalibrate. But yes, in the absence of a bunch of other Sidereals, or a Twilight/No Moon/etc, I did figure 'research' fell into the wheelhouse of a Sagacity 5 Sidereal with Efficient Secretary .

Oh and of course other PCs can try to guess Ijara's not what she claims to be her job is to make that difficult, though.