Dice Trial by Fire - Exalted 2e OOC

[Rykon]

Apparently, almost all notifications dropped off the grid for me. Still catching up on somethings.

Were the conversation to occur in IC, I'd anticipate the following to come up.

Aredin would find it futile to attempt to charge nearly a million people with crimes that aren't on the books for his domain. Any grudge towards the actions of the Scarlet Empire rests solely on the Empress and Bronze Faction co-conspirators. None of the others had sufficient agency to act as she held a monopoly on legal authority while holding the earth at what amounts to gunpoint with the sword of creation. Even if that weren't the case, executions on such a scale would leave the circle as more monstrous in the eyes of history than most entities, not to mention the gaping shadowland that would likely form and the brutal war for survival that'd accompany it. Also, need to mention again, Lookshy hunts Solars and Lunars too. They'd also be guilty as Immaculate faith followers if we want to wave our presumed authority in the collective faces of the earth. While the 2E write up suggests they might be more amenable to a meeting of a sort, it would still be wet-noodle up a bobcat's ass in a phone booth difficult to negotiate compared to non-Dragon-Blooded factions.

Finally, he has just recently moved past a motivation driven by vengeance to one driven by peace. He will do what he can to assimilate rather than annihilate when it comes to humanity.

 

[Rykon]

Sherwood and jaydude , for the spies. Do we know what tipped off our agents to the spies? More specifically, based on established criteria in the law write-up do we have enough information to have cause for a lawful search? Assuming that'll be addressed at some point given that it warrants a legitimate investigation.

 

[jaydude]

Apparently, almost all notifications dropped off the grid for me. Still catching up on somethings.

Were the conversation to occur in IC, I'd anticipate the following to come up.

Aredin would find it futile to attempt to charge nearly a million people with crimes that aren't on the books for his domain. Any grudge towards the actions of the Scarlet Empire rests solely on the Empress and Bronze Faction co-conspirators. None of the others had sufficient agency to act as she held a monopoly on legal authority while holding the earth at what amounts to gunpoint with the sword of creation. Even if that weren't the case, executions on such a scale would leave the circle as more monstrous in the eyes of history than most entities, not to mention the gaping shadowland that would likely form and the brutal war for survival that'd accompany it. Also, need to mention again, Lookshy hunts Solars and Lunars too. They'd also be guilty as Immaculate faith followers if we want to wave our presumed authority in the collective faces of the earth. While the 2E write up suggests they might be more amenable to a meeting of a sort, it would still be wet-noodle up a bobcat's ass in a phone booth difficult to negotiate compared to non-Dragon-Blooded factions.

Finally, he has just recently moved past a motivation driven by vengeance to one driven by peace. He will do what he can to assimilate rather than annihilate when it comes to humanity.

I was actually considering having Annika carry out a number of false flag assassinations to drive the Realm into a massive civil war, in order to weaken it before we try and take over, or just reduce its ability to threaten us. But now that Rykon brings up the possibility of creating a gaping shadowland, I'm not too sure. That said, I do believe that our conflict with the Realm will feature our greatest amount of fighting, regardless of what we do.

If Annika were asked for her opinion, she'd probably advocate keeping most of the Realm's infrastructure in place and allowing the existing Great Houses to retain their titles and lands in the Blessed Isle, while drastically reducing the amount of personal troops they can have, and taxes/rents they can charge. The Immaculate Order would be massively reformed to reduce its favoritism toward Dragon-bloods, if not abolished and outlawed completely. Slavery would be abolished, as would the practice of Dragon-bloods being owed allegiance from mortals, and perhaps the drug trade. Finally, Great House Dragon-bloods would only be allowed to hold a seventh of the top leadership positions in the army, navy and Realm bureaucracy. Those are all the ones I can think of right now.

This might sound soft to Aredin and Viktor, but that's because Annika has never had much issue with the Realm and the Dynasts compared to them. She was already considered a criminal before she exalted, so having the Wyld Hunt start coming after her wasn't a big change for her.

 

[Rykon]

My plan would have Lookshy being transformed into our own imperial military hierarchy. Any Realm assimilation would be subject to Shogunate Military tradition and the imperial title structure we have outlined already.

Given there will likely be an open war with the Realm if the Underworld or Infernals don't take the stage as central antagonists. We'd have to see who survives/concedes first in regards to how the houses themselves are treated. They are effectively 11 different governments in cold war with each other as it is, so any blanket treatment policy is not probable in my estimation of future events.

 

[jaydude]

Well, you're the boss. And I'm not too bothered on how we handle the infrastructure side of things, to be honest. You seem to have more understanding of it than I do.

Sherwood and jaydude , for the spies. Do we know what tipped off our agents to the spies? More specifically, based on established criteria in the law write-up do we have enough information to have cause for a lawful search? Assuming that'll be addressed at some point given that it warrants a legitimate investigation.

Right now, all Annika has are reports from her followers that claim the people in question are spies. She personally trusts them, so I suppose it would be more of a question of whether or not Aredin would consider those reports to be valid evidence regarding justifying a search.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. Night all.

 

[MasterDAF]

I hope my post didn't confuse anyone, as I went from attempting to describe Heaven's deeper feelings in regards to Sirocco, followed by memories of another, one that brings him the slightest pangs of heartbreak to remember. I considered addressing his feelings for Sirocco (I think that's the best nickname I'm gonna get unless Heaven decides on another...) In relation to his motivation, and the internal struggle that makes him desire both, but I couldn't quite fit it here, so I went with what you see now. Again, I hope I didnt ramble or drag anything out. Or worse, just make a really lame post xD

I thought it was a really solid post, always nice to work in some personal characterization!

Edit: Just realized I had the same issue where my thread also did not update. As such, I missed the entire chunk of ooc posts after the one I'm responding to.

Catching-up, I actually agree with Rykon that eradicating the Realm would be a horrible plan (before considering the added issue of a resulting shadowland, if such a thing is possible on the Blessed Isle which I'm not sure it is) and assume such actions would ultimately work against us. Viktor doesn't view it that way, but I agree that if we were to attempt it than an unfortunate outcome would be highly likely.

Though I should point out that Lookshyan faith and Dynast faith are somewhat different, in a way similar to Catholics and Protestants. While both ultimately do believe that Terrestrials are the rightful rulers of Creation, one sticks to a more ridgid Shogunate inspired code that involves partnership/cooperation with other spiritual entities, while the other has been adjusted and personalized by the Sidereals specifically with the goal of placing rulership of Creation firmly on the head of a single soverign and requiring all (including Terrestrial gods and elementals formally outside direct control of the Dragon-Bloods) to follow their sole decrees (and tying belief/moral enlightenment into following her edicts). Thus, while both are similar, I believe it is somewhat erroneous to say that Lookshyan Dragon-Bloods follow the Immaculate faith.

 

[Rykon]

Don't get me wrong, Lookshy is my favorite DB faction, but the differences we're talking about boils down to a perspective difference between insiders and outsiders. Insiders would see Lookshy and Realm religious differences as fairly substantial, outsiders would see them as immaterial. Same thing with the real world comparison in my experience.

Well, you're the boss. And I'm not too bothered on how we handle the infrastructure side of things, to be honest. You seem to have more understanding of it than I do.

It'd be really awkward for me if I didn't. I know not everyone nerds out over infrastructure minutiae like MasterDAF and myself do.

The notes have grown fairly substantial with time. As initially intended, they are more for reference than an in-depth read.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

I love how my character stumbles into this at this exact time, probably causing more mayhem

 

[Rykon]

When the level of doorbell ringing is approximately this subtle.

 

[jaydude]

I'm not saying anything to Pale Heaven's Star for now, because I don't know whether or not he's going to come up to join us.

 

[Rykon]

Sorry for the short phone posts, trying to hold the door open for early birds to engage since I know y'all are likely in vastly different time zones or work shifts.

 

[jaydude]

Sorry for the short phone posts, trying to hold the door open for early birds to engage since I know y'all are likely in vastly different time zones or work shifts.

No worries. I'm in the UK, by the way.

 

[Rykon]

Yeah, I'm in southeast US and that's still a 5 hour difference before daylight savings.

Edit: Pardon if it comes across as clumsy, but it's just an extension of a lesser grudge from childhood to the effect of "those assholes can make things happen to track me down and kill me, but letting my family die by Raksha is cool... I see how it is." And the guilty by association fallacy. Viktor has won them fair treatment and consideration compared to the Realm in Aredin's eyes, but it basically just masks the shadow of resentment for what he had to endure for 12 years prior to exaltation.

 

[MasterDAF]

"My people have discovered what they suspect to be two small groups of foreign spies operating within our walls. One of them - a baker and his wife - is from the Realm."

"There was a baker and his wife, and she was beautiful..."

Just want to say, if it turns out the Realm spies are killing people and putting them into pies, I called it first!

 

[jaydude]

"There was a baker and his wife, and she was beautiful..."

Just want to say, if it turns out the Realm spies are killing people and putting them into pies, I called it first!

I don't get the reference, I'm afraid.

 

[MasterDAF]

I don't get the reference, I'm afraid.

I was trying to reference the musical Sweeny Todd, though in that it is a barber and his wife rather than a baker, so unfortunately it's not an exact match. One of the intro songs starts off "there was a barber and his wife, and she was beautiful..."

 

[jaydude]

I was trying to reference the musical Sweeny Todd, though in that it is a barber and his wife rather than a baker, so unfortunately it's not an exact match. One of the intro songs starts off "there was a barber and his wife, and she was beautiful..."

I thought it had something to do with Sweeney Todd.

 

[Rykon]

I think a Realm funded soylent green factory in Gwynnin might actually push Aredin into the purge the Realm camp. Dunno bout the rest of y'all.

 

[MasterDAF]

I think a Realm funded soylent green factory in Gwynnin might actually push Aredin into the purge the Realm camp. Dunno bout the rest of y'all.

Haha! I think it depends on how yummy the pies are. If they taste great, perhaps they slide, but if not...

 

[jaydude]

I think a Realm funded soylent green factory in Gwynnin might actually push Aredin into the purge the Realm camp. Dunno bout the rest of y'all.

Meh, I'd settle for having the "factory operators" and everyone in on the scheme hung, drawn and quartered. No reason the Realm as a whole should suffer because of some especially rotten apples.

 

[Rykon]

Meh, I'd settle for having the "factory operators" and everyone in on the scheme hung, drawn and quartered. No reason the Realm as a whole should suffer because of some especially rotten apples.

Once cooler heads prevail, yeah. I doubt the Realm survivors would ever hear the end of the shaming though.

 

[jaydude]

This doesn't need a concrete answer, but what castes would Aysik, Dunbar and Mellar have?

 

[Rykon]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Aysik is Secrets, Dunbar is Journeys, and Mellar is Battle at a rough guess by attitude and background. /Profiling.

 

[MasterDAF]

I'll take that bet (the three Sidereal's castes), and raise you one further:

- Aysik is a Secrets, but also an Akuma enslaved to the will of the Ebon Dragon! He gained the trust of our circle of Solars, so that eventually he can tempt us to the side of the Yozi. When the time is right, he will summon a demonic gate to Malfeas, where we can be transported over Cecelyne and into the demon city. It will cause the Bronze faction to panic, thinking we have a pact with the Demon Princes, and they will follow us deep into the bowels of Hell. The Yozi will allow the Sidereals to kill Sirocco and the rest of us, convincing Heaven that the only way he can survive is to submit to the former King of the Primordials. Heaven will be remade into an Akuma of 'Primoridal War' level strength, kill the assault group, and then lead a demonic army to the surface. After stealing the Sword of Creation, he will use his superior Solar Sorcery to break the bindings that hold the Yozi in thrall.

- Dunbar is a Journey, and just stuck in the middle of a war he is unprepared to fight. He dies in Malfeas, attempting to defend the circle against the Bronze Faction Sidereal hit squad. No songs are sung to honor him, and his name is not remembered.

- Mellar is not a Sidereal at all, and is in fact a Changing Moon of Luna. He is an ancient Lunar who's mind was broken by Fair Folk before his caste was sealed, and at some point in the past he killed and consumed the Sidereal formerly known as Mellar. In a twist of Fae-born irony however, he decided that life would be more dramatic if he simply took on the identity of the fallen Sidereal and resumed their life where he had ended it. So he swallows their star in the sky, and allows their strand on the Loom of Fate to remain, consistently blocking Aysik every step of the way just because it seemed like a fun and interesting thing to do. When he is foiled in Gwynnin, he didn't disappear in a traditional sense, but rather used a smuggled item to momentarily block the artifact's effect and then shrunk to the size of a flea. From there on, he escaped back to the Five-Score Fellowship where they realized he was not a Sidereal and began to torture him for information. Eventually he yells out two words, "Baggins," and "Shire" which confuse the Sidereals, but they ultimately decide he must be harmless and release him so that they can hunt down the circle that just left for Malfeas.

Or, you know, maybe not.

 

[Rykon]

My experience with RotSE left me horrified until the gollum reference. I'm gonna do whatever I can to avoid retreading that path.

I'd almost rather get a Sidereal city relocation trick tossing us into Autochthonia, but that would be even more derailing to our course.