Roseblack's new orders

[Flagg]

How could an army move against Iselsi? They don't really exist as a House, and they have no real holdings or armies.

 

[Samiel]

In fact, to move against the Iselsi heads, you'd have to seige the Palace Sublime. Not advised.

 

[wordman]

My guesses are
1. Destroy the Bull of the North (hey the other guys failed, why not her too!)


2. Conquer Lookshy (Not likely, but one hell of a suicide mission!).


3. Retake Thorns

Well said.

 

[DownwardSpiral]

This will be a major plot in the later part of my game.  The PCs are going to get wind of this, and given their nature, will try to find a way to help the Roseblack succeed.

 

[Persell]

yes... if you want to move against house Iesli, you use ASSASINS not soldiers.


DAMNED GOOD ASSASINS too. since house iesli knows all but the best tricks.

 

[Forn Clakes]

yes... if you want to move against house Iesli, you use ASSASINS not soldiers.
DAMNED GOOD ASSASINS too. since house iesli knows all but the best tricks.

See Samiel's above post. Taking on House Iselsi means taking on the Palice Sublime.  "Damned good assassins" just don't cut it. Smarts, resources and allies are required.  Mainly smarts.


~FC.

 

[Persell]

true enough...

 

[Sorrow]

Isn't there an entirely different possibility?


There is a strip where the Slug agrees to help Roseblack against Memnon. Perhaps Memnon had arranged for assasins to kill roseblack when she arrived at the capital. Seeing this the Slug twisted things in order to change the orders and ultimately protect Roseblack?

 

[Alabaster Anathema]

Unless it was like a really simplistic order like burning a town of infants,  the "Those Bastards" from Arada might point to some bad times for the Roseblack

 

[Samiel]

Fair point there; they might have been ordered to make examples in the threshold to discourage revolt. Although the Roseblack is ruthless, she strikes me as a character who cares for the people of the Empire enough to object to such orders.


Perhaps she might go rogue if their orders become too taxing? With her influence on the Isle and her loyal legions, she could join forces with other dissident forces and prepare for an occupation. She DID mention being a Shogun rather than an Empress...

 

[Sorrow]

Unless it was like a really simplistic order like burning a town of infants' date='  the "Those Bastards" from Arada might point to some bad times for the Roseblack[/quote']
Or it could just be Arada swearing due to his surprize...

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

Long ago (okay, like a year or two) I planned on running a Vermillion Legion story around the Roseblack (some of you may remember the post) returning to the Blessed Isle, there was some stuff about a Solar and the Imperial Manse was involved.


Anyway, that never panned out, but the world keeps on turning, and while I was busy, my friends ran some stuff with the characters that they had made (prelude type stuff, great fun with axes in the face, from what I understand) and now those characters, as of Sunday, have officially been mentioned in the interwoven stories of the groups main ST.


However, there is a Solar round robin game going on, which currently involves the group fighting a proxy war against the Bull (my friend and I, playing brothers, have taken him as an Enemy).


I was pissed, originally, because WW having changed the Roseblack's marching orders negated my intended storyline, but that would have resulted in my having to divorce the story I was telling from the communal storylines, in order to not drastically change things (I want all the games any of us run to take place in the same "reality" of Creation).


Well, now that I think of it, it could work out pretty well.  Because, in a long, round about way...


I think they're sending her after the Bull.


Of course, that's suicide, and the Bull is raging about in the north of the Scavanger Lands, if I remember from Bastions of the North, so she's not only got a fair distance to go through a region that is certainly unfriendly to the Realm, but she's still going to have to face the damn Bull at the end.  Not a happy thought.


However, unbeknownst to the Roseblack, there is a rapidly growing mercenary army out of Whitewall, run by four Solars, that would like very much to tangle with the Bull.  And it just so happens that they might be able to cut a deal with the Roseblack, since defeating the Bull would be good for both of them, but neither group can probably do it on their own.


Just a thought.

 

[Lord Ben]

Here is another option:


She was expecting orders to come back to the Isle without her Legion, ala Ceaser.  What she got was orders from the family to return WITH her Legion for help in a civil war.


But most likely it IS a suicide mission somewhere.

 

[Guest]

Or the most likely order; whatever the storyteller wants.


The beauty of the Exalted Metaplot is that it is a vague snapshot in time.  What you do with it is up to you.

 

[Sherwood]

Now, why go and be reasonable at a time like this?  

 

[Persell]

Hmmnn... Think if she was defeated in battle she'd be willing to swear fealty to a anathema in exchange for her release... since She could certainly be invaluable to the bull, or lyta.

 

[Persell]

Think if she was defeated in battle she'd be willing to swear fealty to a anathema in exchange for her release.

Ooooh. Thats all sorts of Eclipse Caste goodness. My Circle's next story is taking us to the Blessed Isle and the idea of magically binding various DB from the Houses to me and the Circle is mucho fun.
As far as the Roseblack's story goes, I think either ordering her to take on Bull of the North is the most likely. Either she succeeds and eliminates a serious threat to the Realm's interests or she fails and hammers in the last nail on Tepet's coffin.


The idea of her and her legions being ordered back to the Isle to start the Civil War is fun too though.

 

[Persell]

Hmmnn... Think if she was defeated in battle she'd be willing to swear fealty to a anathema in exchange for her release... since She could certainly be invaluable to the bull' date=' or lyta.[/quote']
In our solar game which has gone on for a year plus we have realised that solars just arent fit to rule, and weve decided to get roseblack on the throne, she cant really refuse us....


Weve tiger warrior trained her warriors.


Given Her countless articfats( my characters is an artifact making machine, including a level 5 one).


She dosnt know were Solars but id say shes choosing to ignore the fact

 

[Solfi]

I get the impression that whatever the order is, it's spelled, "S-U-I-C-I-D-E M-I-S-S-I-O-N".

The orders wont have been anything along the lines of returning to the Blessed Isle as thats what she was expecting them to be and she was quite obviously shocked by the orders..

I am a bit puzzled as to what those orders are...


I agree with Sagacious that she seemed genuinely surprised about the orders. However, as to the rest... Suicide mission would be the obvious move, and one I doubt would surprise her.


Allowing her back on the Blessed Isle on the other hand would be stupid (a possibility that I believe her enemies among the Great Houses have been mentioned to fear), and if they have gone down that road they need to make damn sure she was separated from the Red-Piss Legion first... which sort of rules out the 'marching orders' part. And again, I doubt she would be very surprised.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

Regardless of the orders, is the Roseblack going to follow them though?  Is she going to march and sail all the way to the northern Scavanger Lands in order to tangle with the Bull, for example?


It seems pretty obvious from Ejava and Arada's reactions that these new orders are suicidal, or at least very, very difficult.  Is she going to ignore them and simply march on the Blessed Isle, which may be unexpected, but can be quickly countered?  Or is she going to follow the orders, marching her men to almost certain death in order to preserve the integrity of her and her house?  Will she simply ignore the commands, pretend she didn't get them, and act accordingly?


I think answering the question of how the Roseblack will react to the orders is more important than answering the question of what the orders are.  I think a campaign or story arc or just a story will be molded more by her reaction to the orders than the orders themselves.


As for myself, I'm not sure yet.  I talked to my friend last nght, and the timeline that he's developed over the last few years of running Exalted, coupled with his own plans for using the Vermillion Legion in the East in about a year's [game] time, has made things a little more complex than I had thought.

 

[Vanman]

I think answering the question of how the Roseblack will react to the orders is more important than answering the question of what the orders are.  I think a campaign or story arc or just a story will be molded more by her reaction to the orders than the orders themselves.

How can you predict what her reaction to the orders will be if you don't know what those orders are? I don't think you can have one without the other. And having generic reactions just feels forced. You can come up with contingencies for each situation, I suppose, but without knowing - or at least providing - a set of orders, predicting a reaction is a little difficult......

 

[Persell]

Funny stuff actually. The comic is so open that the orders will probably be something different in every new game I tell. My current one is set in the east and I don't plan on bringing the roseblack there, so I am not sure as of yet what to do with her. Perhaps I let her go against Ma-Ha-Suchi and tell the characters that the east sinks into chaos and war to strengthen their resolve to make something grand out of the devastated west.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

I think answering the question of how the Roseblack will react to the orders is more important than answering the question of what the orders are.  I think a campaign or story arc or just a story will be molded more by her reaction to the orders than the orders themselves.

How can you predict what her reaction to the orders will be if you don't know what those orders are? I don't think you can have one without the other. And having generic reactions just feels forced. You can come up with contingencies for each situation, I suppose, but without knowing - or at least providing - a set of orders, predicting a reaction is a little difficult......

Oh you're right, you need to know the orders, I'm not advocating that one ignore them or not bother deciding what they are.  I'm just saying that dramatically, I think the Roseblack's reaction is what you can really spin stories out of.  I think her reaction will have longer last effects on the metaplot than the actual orders themselves, at least so far as her and house Tepet are concerned.

 

[Vanman]

No argument there, my friend. What Roseblack chooses to do about said orders will have larger ramifications, as you say, than the orders themselves.


But, having said that, the orders could also come into play, depending on your story. It could be that the orders themselves can provide unsuspecting allies and/or enemies and provide some story arcs of their own. They might not be the focus of the story, but some nice subplots could develop.

 

[Persell]

to come back to the blessed isle and distract the regent from the immaculate texts.