- Location
- barking
status quo is good schenziel is that you.
also status quo got shattered the moment we showed up
also status quo got shattered the moment we showed up
Semper Ad Meliora (Code Geass/Britannian Royalty Quest)
- Thread starter Slayer Anderson
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
- Pronouns
- Reader
Yeah. There only saving grace is japan being nominally tied to the Lynchpin of the marriage alliance through the Sumeragi deals with lelouch. Which is all they are, deals. In spite of the fact that lelouch himself has been relatively friendly, in the end, Kaguya's father has maintained his merchant trading with another power approach to all his and lelouch dealings.
Could you imagine if we'd let him call kaguya back and cut ties over the Sakuradite? He'd be up shits creek without a paddle. Anyways,I can only imagine how things will shape up, and in reality euro-brittania is already a nominal Britannian ally, so once this war concludes there completely cut off and Isolated. Let's hope Kaguya's father has the intelligence to hold off from any hasty ultimatums to try and take advantage of the starvation situation in the north to force the Tianzi to back there independence. If he isn't an idiot, lelouch may well be able to ease the transition and help japan keep some of it's pride.
Last edited:
- Location
- barking
Euro britannian goverment screaming -take us seriously/j
- Pronouns
- Reader
"Have enough Autonomy that a random 12 year old royal can't snatch one of your most promising military officers more easily than anyone else he's bothered recruiting. Japan has talked their way into a buttload of Sakuradite for a girl lelouch made a subordinate to one of his actual advisors. Rus has been garbage for years and your just sitting around waiting for Corny to deal with the problem. You had a golden oppertunity yo be an empress maker by just smuggling grain to the empresses forces. SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!
not sure where you are going with this
Kaguyas father not only sold her to us for the sakuradite but because he wants a grandson from us and her to mold as next heir
so if anything i think he would pressure his daughter to jump into bed with us and get on with the baby making instead of calling her back
especially if said grandson could potentially end up as the halfbrother to the next chinese emperor and maybe even have close/blood relations to the next rulers of both britannia and russia
then he could leverage the fact that neither side wants japan under the aegis of the other polity to convince them to have japan nominally jointly ruled by the two superpowers but make it so that japan is governed by his future grandson and end up with japan de facto practically independant
- Pronouns
- Reader
I was more pointing out how, if we hadn't accepted his offer, and he'd called Kaguya back, he'd be really screwed right now, because lelouch would have little incentive to not just let one of the three powers surrounding it exploit the first opportunity Japan presented them to conquer it. Also that given he pulled that on us, I can imagine him pulling the same on Lihua, but with food for her people instead of kaguya, obviously, which I don't think will end the way he'd expect.
Last edited:
i dont think it was said that kaguya was guaranteed to move back to japan if we refused the trade deal, it would just have been a possibility instead of the sure thing the deal guaranteed, which is why people voted for it
and honestly with us behind lelouch we wouldnt let one of the superpowers conquer it but instead take it for ourself ...
similarily to the first point i dont think that papa sumeragi will try to hold back supplies for tianzi (whatever they can get through the blockade) in exchange for future backing for their independence but instead try to apply supply&demand to the sale and massively hike up the prices for anything they sell either side of the civil war
- Pronouns
- Reader
So, I've been rereading, and I think I have a decent proposal for the third question. "Where on earth are deposits of the Blue Mineral located?"
Last edited:
- Location
- Chile
In that quote it says that it's more common where there are rare earth elements. IRL China is king of rare Earth mining, only partially because of labor price and regulation. So I imagine there is a lot in China.
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- Reader
Indeed, but clarifying where the largest deposits are could be helpful. also, it's not something publicly known, so they can't be hitting larger deposits of it yet. The ability to aim for an overlap of a major city and large blue mineral deposits could simplify province selection in the event we become emperor Consort.
- Location
- Pennsylvania
So like I said before, I've been reading some Chinese literature recently. While I was doing so I discovered something, China and a lot of Southeast Asia technically still uses an archaic measurement system for certain goods particularly in wet markets and formerly in things like weighing out precious metals. Instead of metric kilo and Imperial pound it used something called catties. The following image shows how they convert, with measurements shown being in grams. Red is metric, green is the traditional Chinese unit, Blue is Imperial/ American system:
A catty seems to be roughly 1 & 1/3 lbs or 605 grams equivalent. Related units include the picul, equal to 100 catties, and the tael (also spelled tahil, in Malay/Indonesian), which is 1⁄16 of a catty and which was commonly used as currency with value based on what metal it was made of. A stone is a former unit used in Hong Kong equal to 120 catties and a gwan (鈞) is 30 catties.
I bring this up because how it might effect our logistics for the campaign. I mean if everyone in Code Geas has agreed to switch to Metric measurements then fine there should be no problem especially since we know that the Chinese fleet were able to rearm us in Indonesia…but that could have been a matter of Lihua ordering the ships to carry supplies compatible with our equipment since Kaguya gave her a heads up of what we had planned. If they haven't switched over then we might have some logistics issues especially with ammo and whatnot.
A catty seems to be roughly 1 & 1/3 lbs or 605 grams equivalent. Related units include the picul, equal to 100 catties, and the tael (also spelled tahil, in Malay/Indonesian), which is 1⁄16 of a catty and which was commonly used as currency with value based on what metal it was made of. A stone is a former unit used in Hong Kong equal to 120 catties and a gwan (鈞) is 30 catties.
I bring this up because how it might effect our logistics for the campaign. I mean if everyone in Code Geas has agreed to switch to Metric measurements then fine there should be no problem especially since we know that the Chinese fleet were able to rearm us in Indonesia…but that could have been a matter of Lihua ordering the ships to carry supplies compatible with our equipment since Kaguya gave her a heads up of what we had planned. If they haven't switched over then we might have some logistics issues especially with ammo and whatnot.
- Location
- South of North
Update in progress, should have it on Patreon... probably Monday. I could have it out tomorrow, but I'm likely going to need/want to do something other than write, sadly.
As always, thank you for your patience.
As always, thank you for your patience.
- Location
- SEAsia
- Pronouns
- Thou
How likely is it that Kenshin's personality rubs off on the psychic shota and he also starts addressing Lulu as 'Muya Purinsu'?
- Location
- South of North
More complicated question than one would at first assume.
In his own way, Kenshin actually shares several attributes with some of the New Heaven devotees, even if both of them would find the very idea appalling to their core. One of the fundamental things they have in common, though, is that both Kenshin and the New Heaven cult are proponents of radical societal and technological change through inclusion of psionic abilities and principals (with wildly different outcomes in mind, albeit). What I mean to say is that, while the young boy is unlikely to pick up any of Kenshin's more flamboyant character traits, they actually have a lot more than you'd think to bond over.
Also, update is on Patreon, give it a day or two and it'll be publicly posted. Mostly depending on if the early-birds decide there's something horribly wrong with the text or mechanics I've written out.
Last edited:
- Location
- SEAsia
- Pronouns
- Thou
Thanks for the insight! Guess that means Kenshin's at least a sufficient minder for the boy. At least, so long as Madison's there to put out the fires. Also, I'm of the opinion that she deserves the bigger salary for being able to deal with Kenshin.
- Location
- Pennsylvania
So after watching this Zombie show Kingdom that took place in Joseon era Korea right after the Japanese invasion in the 1500s I decided to look into Korean history and discovered another reason why Korea was so willing to support Lihua's rebellion against the Eunuchs. Turns out that unlike the previous Ming dynasty in China the Koreans hated the Qing dynasty that replaced them. Apparently there were a lot of atrocities committed by Qing era troops when they defeated Korea in the 1600s. The Koreans as a result thought of the Qing as barbarians. It wasn't until the Japanese conquest of Korea in the 1890s that the Koreans would switch their cultural hatred to the Japanese. Considering Lihua's dad helped kick out the Japanese and also ultimately overthrew the hated Qing dynasty it's no wonder Korea has so easily thrown its support behind the Empress. The fact the Eunuchs are incompetent assholes on top of that just seals the deal.
- Location
- South of North
There's an intricate mess of history in the region, as Kaguya almost steps on here:
This has been another episode of, "Things we don't talk about in polite company."
I'll be posting the update in a few hours as it seems there aren't any glaring errors outside of a few grammar issues.
Chinese Federation Invasion – I
- Location
- South of North
Chinese Federation Invasion – I
The movement of ships on the scale of fleet actions is a tedious, time-consuming thing, the logistics of which could–and had–reduced grown men and trained officers to tears. While you possess some thirty warships, you require at least twice that in troop transports, supply vessels, and maintenance craft that you can only fill some dozen slots for. The remainder requires a heavy reliance on the mercenary forces sourced and paid for by the Duke of Westhaven, Isacc Stadtfeld. The problems with such an affair are manifold in both breadth and depth, requiring a great deal of personal attention over the course of five months after you'd finalized all of your plans.
The task itself would, normally, be merely herculean in scope, but is made mind-bogglingly impossible by the need to move men and materiel in relative secrecy.
There is an impossible task...
...and then there is what you have set for yourself, here and now.
When you truly comprehend what it is you are trying to do, one late night at the end of February, you almost call the entire affair off as a horrific mistake waiting to happen, ready to doom you to an ignoble death or exile. That night's sloshed ruminations as you stare down the specter of defeat in your own psyche, though, drives home the truth.
You cannot accomplish this insanity on your own.
So you do not try to do so.
Instead, you open discourse with Governor Carbez once again, and politely ask for her help by 'dropping by' with Euphemia and Nunnally to have dinner and attend a few parties before you return to the Homeland. After three days, you receive a blank check to use the Area's military airports and docks as you see fit. The woman, as it turns out, holds you in high esteem for your efforts in securing trade lanes through the Confederation, as well as her ability to send forces to cut a slice of glory off the MEF campaigns for herself. In the end, she sends you timetables, supply cache data, resource backlogs, and so much more as you move your ships through her Area.
Ships, and so much more.
Because you cannot simply transport an entire mercenary army tens of thousands strong without anyone noticing. Ideally, you would simply be able to have the Duke of Westhaven place the men on ships from whatever base they are currently operating out of and send them on their way. As with all things military, though, you have come to learn that nothing is ever so mercifully easy. Especially when Kallen's father has to contract entire battalions. Even were a single PMC to have the kinds of numbers you needed, having them begin moving about those levels of troops would send up red flags to virtually every intelligence agency operating in the western Pacific.
Instead, while you and Euphemia are starting your 'relaxing vacation' together, you take steps to meet up with Isacc Stadtfeld during a brief stopover in Pendragon and hand him a harddrive containing depot points, pick up locations, transport requirements, arms and munitions manifests, and dozens of other various requirements, all the product of several sleepless nights of you, personally, adding your efforts to collate intelligence reports from your agents.
All of that effort, would of course, go to waste if you could not coordinate the supplies you were now covertly gathering. Ultimately, all Isacc Stadtfeld now possessed was a set of timetables that would allow you to know where and when individuals would arrive for transport, after all. Truthfully, it was not a single set of timetables, but several dozen. An attache you had left with the man would send coded messages back to you as to which schedule any specific group, ship, or supply drop would be following.
It is madness.
Against all odds, it works.
Your people pull double, and even triple shifts of their own volition for over two months once supplies, troops, and ships start coming in, but each one is carefully matched with the other all across Indonesia, the Philippines, and even the southern regions of the Chinese Federation itself. Most of them are Britannian, with reputations verified by the imperial military itself. The crown tends to prefer its own soldiers, but there are rare occasions when PMCs are drafted or chosen for specific assignments. The Vikings, headquartered out of Nova Scotia in the Homeland, are one such group, often having been tapped for deniable raiding during the Great War. Jormungand, you also recognize, having heard rumors they were tapped for populace suppression in the ongoing brushfires of South America.
The Guardian Angels, in particular, are high-risk operators serving as support services for KMF groups in the inhospitable regions of southern Africa. While the former are somewhat infamously Britannian aligned, it's something of a surprise to find The Olympians on the list Isacc forwards you as well. A European PMC headquartered out of northern Italy, they have a reputation for heavy support weapons and small unit tactics, having seen combat in both the NAL and MEF wars. A quick search shows you that they also occasionally take jobs from the empire as well, though, it's just extremely rare since they tend to charge Britannians extra.
You wince when you read some of their quotes.
Of course, there are others you aren't as familiar with. Noir, a group specializing in scouting and communications work that is apparently nomadic. DTP, no explanations of the initials given, is a heavy-assault group carrying their own light tanks and a few supply vessels. Independent 'shipping' companies like the Outlaws and the El Dorado have licensed you a half-dozen ships each. Laughing Coffin, headquartered out of Euro-Britannia, has sent sappers and generalized infantry. A Japanese group with a similar makeup, but focusing on more infantry, known as Fuurinkazan... and, you desperately hope that at least one of their leaders has actually read The Five Rings instead of just knowing about it...
Normally, this kind of fast-paced, short-notice amalgamation of random forces strewn together would be a disaster waiting to happen.
Your saving grace is that, apparently, Kallen's father sensed you were committing to some manner of incredibly risky and secretive operation, so he pulled out all the stops and signed up the same mercenary force he'd contracted years prior to purge his own family of traitors. A group with an ironclad reputation for loyalty, discretion, mission completion, and considered the reigning gold-standard for paramilitary groups world-wide. At over a five thousand-strong and bringing the bulk of the KMF support gear, they'll serve as the backbone of your command and control network, simultaneously solving much of the complicated linguistics you'll have to shoulder as well as the issue of pairing a patriotic officer corps with a mercenary body of soldiers.
As you step onto the bridge of your aircraft carrier, your staff coming to a perfect parade salute, you idly note the dozen commanders standing off to the side, all with just a hint less of the strict formality. They've all been paid well in advance and are all men with years of experience, but none of them wear flags on their shoulders, none of them have the kind of conviction you see in your own subordinates. They're here to make money and obey orders, nothing more and nothing less.
You can respect that.
Pip Bernadotte, Commander of the Wild Geese, stands at their head ready to liaison with the other major branch commanders who have been seconded to you for the duration of the operation. In badly accented French he speaks, the European emigree holding his hat under one arm and wearing a smile bordering on the absolute limits of professionalism to very nearly a smirk. "A very good morning to you, Your Highness. I do hope the flight over was not too taxing last night?"
"An eight-hour flight in a R-26 Raptor that doesn't explode when you get it up to speed was surprisingly boring, actually." You reply drolly, enjoying the man's slight surprise. "On the other hand, the last time I had to deal with a pack of wild dogs chasing me up a tree, so perhaps a boring trip is preferable."
Muted laughter circulates through the bridge, cutting the tension that had been thick in the air.
"It is true." Bernadotte nods, his smirk expanding slightly. "Your Highness has a reputation for daredevil stunts. As we soldiers of fortune are now safely away from any port or contact with the outside world, though, I think it is time that we be apprised of what manner of stunt we have signed up to undertake this time." The Commander of the Wild Geese gives a look at a visibly-displeased Jeanne by your side and amends his not-quite-demand. "If only to better serve Your Highness in the field, of course."
"We have reached the point where a proper briefing is needed." You agree, and motion to Jeanne to prepare the screens as aides hand out various packets of documents liberally stamped with TOP SECRET/SCI and bound with ribbon bearing the black and silver of the Vi Britannia crest, sealed with ink.
If nothing else, it adds just a bit of extra flair to the entire presentation.
"While I have had rumors spread amongst the troops during the landing exercises last month that this is a retaliatory strike against the pirate group which attacked the Indonesian Confederation's international conference last year, this is not the case." You state, everyone's attention immediately snapping to you. "General Li, if you would?"
The PMC liaisons follow your gesture towards the door as Li Xingke strides through it in full federation officer uniform. You make note of which of the commanders' eyes widen at his appearance, Bernadotte's among them along with a man you could have easily mistaken for a rank and file Japanese salary worker in a suit.
"We'll be invading the Chinese Federation in support of the Empress." You declare.
You decide to forgive the various men and women for their sudden bouts of quiet cursing, simultaneously grateful that Isacc had indeed handed over the extra funding for a blind operation to all of the groups. Such things were indeed expensive, but it simply wouldn't have been possible to coordinate this entire operation and maintain the element of surprise without it. Even if many of the assembled mercenaries look as though they are regretting that very thing at this moment. You will doubtless have to deal with a number of attempts at loopholing their way out of this madness you've conceived, but they won't find any. The legal teams employed by Britannian high nobility are monsters with few equals and the cancellation terms Isacc had written into them were catastrophically ruinous.
Once they calm down, you move forward with your presentation of the strategy and, while many still obviously think you insane, they are simultaneously filled with hope at the idea you'll simply get yourself killed and they can retreat in good order without ever having to land.
Somehow, you will have to find it in your heart to disappoint them.
Did you allow Euphemia to accompany you, though?
[ ] Yes, she was willing and eager to participate as far as it was feasible for her to do so.
[ ] No, even if she wished it, you need not risk both of your political futures on this gamble.
QM's Notes: The Rolls scattered throughout affect the invasion to come by introducing a few narrative and mechanical potential problems. IE: if you'd failed one or more, I'd have thrown some modifiers your way and hit you with a curve ball or two on the decisions you'd have to make coming up. Even if you'd failed all of the checks, the invasion still would have gone ahead, you'd have just been living in very interesting times. As it is, you'll be eligible for the Super Secret Fun Prize for having succeeded so hard you've caused yourself entirely new and unexpected political problems. Have fun with that.
ONE HOUR MORATORIUM! DO NOT VOTE FOR ONE HOUR!
My Patreon & SubscribeStar links are in my sig below if you want to support the quest or just like what I do. Thank you very much for reading in either event.
Last edited:
I think we're gonna get victory disease.
As for Euphemia, if she wants to and it won't screw or change her political career in some way that is not in our or her best interest I think it's fine. We're very unlikely to lose it all with this start so we don't have to worry about that so much.
As for Euphemia, if she wants to and it won't screw or change her political career in some way that is not in our or her best interest I think it's fine. We're very unlikely to lose it all with this start so we don't have to worry about that so much.
QuietlyObserving
The Railgun That Walks Like a Bear
- Location
- Here.
The Man of Miracles strikes again. Charles is probably going to laugh his ass off when he hears.
Interfere in a bloody civil war in another superpower? The apple evidently does not fall far.
Interfere in a bloody civil war in another superpower? The apple evidently does not fall far.
- Location
- Earth
The dice gods were on our side once again, but this one is just ridiculous. That is a 381 in total. And on flipping the Admiral no less. What do we get, does the entire province including Eunuchs defect?
I know Lelouch succeeding so hard will lead to new troubles, but it is just too funny
meianmaru
The Devourer of Fiction
I'm just imagining the meltdown Lelouch's Best Uncle is having at the moment he hears the news. Which might just fuse with the other meltdown, when considering what Slayer has told is happening this turn in Britannia regarding Charles.
On Euphy, yes please. We won so hard we got political problems in some form, so we need her there to clean up whatever mess Lelouch has caused while being once again too clever and lucky in any reasonable metric.
Speaking of, hey Slayer Anderson? What were your expectations when starting to roll things for us? IIRC that super-crit Diplomacy roll at the end at least was rolled before we even made the choice on how to approach things.
On Euphy, yes please. We won so hard we got political problems in some form, so we need her there to clean up whatever mess Lelouch has caused while being once again too clever and lucky in any reasonable metric.
Speaking of, hey Slayer Anderson? What were your expectations when starting to roll things for us? IIRC that super-crit Diplomacy roll at the end at least was rolled before we even made the choice on how to approach things.
NuclearConsensus
Herald of the Thorned One
- Location
- the Philippines
Imagine what the news headline's will be around the world. Might have to start a collection for that. Oh, and Marianne's reaction too. That'll be something to behold.
Those mercs must be hailing Lelouch as god at this point. They came in expecting bombastic, even then they got more then what they bargained for.