Idle Arrangements: [Four Factions ]

I was more asking about the logistics of how to handle it from a storytelling perspective.


When I can make anybody my slave, bothering with amassing a cult seems like too much effort for too little gain, honestly. I figure I know who their trusted military adviser is now. I'll just replace him.
 
lockepick: please have a look at viewtopic.php?f=144&t=1278&start=15


"Praying Wolf is the mortal nominally in charge of the army"


He's one of the few men in Tyresö that remembers something of the settlement.


While not exceptionally skilled, he as a decent handling of the soldiers morale.


What are you specifically using to replace him?
 
Eh... I wouldn't underestimate the power associated with getting the people on your side if I were you. If by our hands the people become unruly or hateful of unfavorable influences (in our eyes, of course) such as the Realm, etc., then the Realm, Solars, Lunars, and whoever else you might be able to think of as our foes no longer have any backing. If you were to turn the entire populace over to membership in one or several pleasure cults, the eventual backlash of nihilistic views could very well destroy whatever fabric of a society they have.


Sure, you can make anyone you want your slave, but that could also be quiet obvious and it could potentially backlash on you in nasty ways. Let's say that slave of yours is somehow "released" - he now knows something was up with you, and is in a position to release that. There's also the threat of others taking note of his rather odd behavior and investigating. Of course, we want to take this town, but we don't want to do it a way that's too heavy handed or obvious at first. Avoiding the attention of the Realm, the Lunar horde, and potentially anyone else (Solars?) before we're ready should be one of our most important goals along the road to destroying Tyreso, if not the most important.
 
I'm of the inclination that 'a pleasure cult forming out of the blue' is going to raise more eyebrows than 'the head banker in Tyreso has a new lady friend.' I don't plan on using the top of any chains, those people are normally too high profile.


Also, these slaves are either in it for a month or not in it at all. There is no option to later resist control. It would take nine willpower to resist me AND know that I even did anything. I could also turn this into 'take nine damage,' which isn't an option for most people. It's a pretty concrete thing, I'd say.


I'm willing to change strategy to better work with any other plan we have. Right now my only action was going to be 'keep an eye out' and 'forcibly gain new allies.'
 
Perhaps we could make use of an ancestor cult then. Since Tyresö is under the Realm, ancestor worship would be a crime.
 
Well, I wasn't suggesting that it would be something that just springs up and engrosses a big chunk of the population immediately. Something slower, and beginning with simple, small taboos that most people violate occasionally anyway.


But fair enough, I see what you've got there. Though I have just a few questions:


Who do you plan on enslaving? Any people specifically? Do you have some kind of strategy for deciding who gets enslaved?


And you know that you commit the motes to each application of the Charm, right? As you said, the Duration is one month, and the cost of any Charms with a Duration longer than 'Instant' is committed until the Charm expires. This means you could only have a maximum of a handful of slaves, which I'm guessing would be somewhere between four and six for you.


I'm not trying to dissuade you. I think this could actually work quite well if you nab the right people in the right places. A few key noble allies, or perhaps something like a few workers guild leaders who are unhappy with the current political situation, or charismatic captains among the city guard / Realm legions - any of those could really be key. I just wanted to figure out how it's going to work.

hammercro said:
Perhaps we could make use of an ancestor cult then. Since Tyresö is under the Realm, ancestor worship would be a crime.
Click to expand...
This is definitely possible too. I suggested the sense cults because that plays in with the Lover's agenda well, but realistically, any way to subvert portions of the populace will be helpful in the end.
 
Guys, you should really get moving.


This is a PvP, so things happen only when the PC do them.


And I don't think you want things happening to you because the others are acting and you are idle.
 
I was waiting for you to reply to me. Are you comfortable making a thread that's just me moving about the city by myself? Or would you like to abstract what is basically just me making social checks?
 
Important question for the party:


Since we don't know there are other PCs to kill in character... What do we consider to be a... success? Like how do we conquer a city? Kill everybody to replace the army we lost? Destruction? Putting our people (not us PCs) as key members of leadership?
 
If you want I can open a private scene in Tyresö, maybe as a sub-forum of the Team Compassion one.
 
Also, I'm assuming that you guys have already some 2000 animated corpses and no living troops, as you wouldn't have the means to provide them with enough food and shelter.
 
Well, we could have Ghostly troops. And how do we not have any means to supply food and shelter? Don't you think they would have came with tents and supplies and such? (thematically speaking, of course - it doesn't make much sense that a supply-less army can be walking around)


I'd also like to point out that Life Lingering in Shadows does have Resources 5... Worst comes to worst, I think that would be more than enough to cover those kinds of expenses, especially considering the Core lists the price of maintaining a Legion for one year as Resources 4 (Page 365). If it still ends up that this isn't enough, then of course we can go with the walking dead. I just want to work through this before it all is set for the in-game procedures.
 
It's not a matter of money.


You are in an isolated and barren location, the climate is especially harsh, and you have no viable supply chain.


If you want mortal troops, you must find a way to support them.


Anyway, since you have opened a small shadowland, ghost soldiers are perfectly ok.
 
This is fine. We can assume that the mortal troops were lost in the battle against the Haslanti.


On a side note: Resources do not necessarily equate to direct cash funds and such. Resources are supposed to be an abstract system of wealth that include money but could also include any sort of commodity that individuals could place value in. I can't remember which Exalted writer mentioned this on a forum somewhere (I have an inkling that it was Stephen Lea Sheppard, but don't quote me), but it makes clear sense. The idea is that you can and should be able to have the shaman-thaumaturge of a dirt-poor tribe of barbarians who has Resources 3. What makes up his Resources score isn't monetary - its rare objects and goods such as a perfect blessed feather of a powerful Raven-god, or rare crystals grown on the highest branches of the tallest trees in the nearby Wyld zone.
 
Wooops...


Something's happening at the Chasm!


All team compassion go to the Chasm: scene 7!
 
I saw, I'm currently considering the possible responses to take. Also.. Who's still in the Chasm with Sin?


EDIT: Also, going over Abyssal Command, it seems War Ghosts are ranked higher in power than I thought. Perhaps the core of the legion consists of walking dead and hungry ghosts, while there are smaller groups of War Ghosts/Nemissaries (and possibly maybe even some Shadowland mortals, comparative to how much supplies we could have potentially brought with us)?
 
What kind of ghosts? Hungry ghosts are mindless killing machines, but are pretty common/easy to come by (the Labyrinth is full of them, for example). On the other side, War Ghosts are basically normal ghosts who have been trained into hardened soldiers, but aren't as common because of the difficulties associated with training them (tougher to do after they're dead, but to do otherwise requires training mortals first and then killing them off). Realistically, both are similarly powerful in a physical sense, with the Hungry Ghosts probably even being more so. Though, the big advantage War Ghosts have is that they'll work in the same sense as traditional soldiers, wielding weapons and staying in formation and such, while Hungry Ghosts are more like hunting dogs without the use of magic/Charms to bind their will.
 
If you have Shadow Warrior Training Technique, war ghosts are not a problem.


Also, Ten would be able to recruit them.


Hungry Ghosts are going to be more difficult to direct, and this is going to be your responsibility, as army general, so you decide.
 
I don't have Shadow Warrior Technique, but it's the first thing on my list for XP purchases. There's also the option of them being the deceased mortal soldiers from the loss against the Haslanti and Lunars.


Hungry Ghosts can be kept in check by salt lines and similar wards, and they can also be bound by anyone with an Occult score of 3+. While Sin doesn't have Occult 3 (yet), Life most certainly has far more than that.


All right, well by my post you can already tell that I'm assuming Sin has at least a handful of War Ghosts in his forces. I hope that's cool.
 
Of course.


You have already about one thousands of war ghosts in your ranks, but they are still being integrated.
 
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