Year 4 (Phase II) Results:
Further Afield: 81+20=101 // Crit: 31+01=32
Even as Britannia attempts to present itself as a holistic, unified bloc on the world stage, anyone even tangentially aware of political realities understands that isn't true. The empire can be divided up along many, many different lines depending on what methodology you use and what criteria you're looking for. You can separate individuals by blood lineage, by social class, by their ancestors' countries of origin. You can group people by income, by noble status or lack thereof. You can divide them by where they live: either rural and urban or geographically across the empire itself and whether or not they reside in an area as opposed to the homeland.
Which is why, in attempting to divine where those most likely to support you lie, you first rule out those who are
least likely to support you, for whatever reason.
Guinevere, for instance, already has a hold on the few dozen oldest, richest families of the empire barring the other royals themselves. Those individuals are almost certainly urban-nobility whose estates are, in reality, more akin to vacation homes than permanent residences. Those same people are also corporate kingpins. Their interests align with keeping their ancestral privileges affirmed, making sure the emperor is more concerned with other affairs than their own, and ensuring that taxes on the empire's largest businesses are kept low.
Schneizel, on the other hand, is something of a populist... although he laughs and waves that off any time someone brings it up. Self-described as an 'Imperial Paternalist,' he espouses the age-old interpretation of the emperor as a father to his subjects. In more concrete terms, he favors an expansion of personal imperial power to interfere 'on half of' the people as a function of the emperor's power. The people who support him are, for the most part, rural and suburban commoners and the lowest-ranked nobility of the empire. Those nobles, not-coincidentally, are the most numerous and the least powerful.
Cornelia draws support from the military. Even as she landed in eastern Africa, she's shown herself to be a fierce and
successful warrior. A royal who understands and is willing to support the armed forces as their first priority is always preferable to one who favors economics or diplomacy, to the military at least. She's also supported by those nobles in the colonies and areas, as well as a great many of the Britannian subjects and honorary citizens living there. Greater military presence usually means greater stability. Her powerbase is still in its infancy, but with time and further successes to her name there is a guaranteed pool of veterans, active servicemen, and military-industrialists who will see her as 'their royal.'
Carine will likely take up some of those supporters, too, once she starts in on building herself up. Clovis will take the artisans, actors, and celebrities of the empire. Odysseus will... likely take whoever is willing to support him, at whatever cost they ask for. Which, truthfully,
isn't necessarily a bad thing. A great deal of Britannian nobility and politicians are suitably mercenary that he could materialize a strong support base. Still, these are all the foundations of others, not yourself.
You, then, must find your niche.
...and find it, you do.
Uno avulso non deficit alter.
It is Latin, specifically a phrase from Virgil's Aeneid. The phrase sits innocently embossed on a small gold card, the lettering in black, with violet flowers along the border. On the back there is a phone number. The business card arrived anonymous within a shipment of supplies to your base in New Caledonia shortly after you started making quiet inquiries regarding noble support. Idly, you ponder the phrase as you mentally translate it.
When one is torn away another succeeds.
If you don't mistake the matter, then this is something of an
invitation. Logic, then dictates, that it is specifically to one of close-knit influence-peddling groups which litter the Britannian political scene. Albeit, this one seems to be particularly
covert in its machinations. Likely, they're playing at being some sort of secret society. Perhaps not the Freemasons, they'd be more upfront than this, but something along those lines, and while you're slightly leery of talking to and/or joining such a group, you can't deny that depending on their membership you'd likely have a great deal of influence.
Of course, it's also likely to be something of a private clubhouse complete with all manner of debauchery and sin lining the walls, ceilings, and floors. It's something of an open secret that many of these groups get away with anything short of murder, and sometimes that too, simply by flexing their billfolds and putting a word in the right ear. Trying to blow the whistle on them, especially if they're one of the
older persuasion would almost certainly not go well, prince or no prince. Off the top of your head, they will likely want you to take some sort of oath of secrecy before being allowed to see anything or meet anyone. Thereafter, if you decided to tattle on any misdeeds, any of the members you spoke out against would have
semi-reasonable grounds to challenge you to a duel for besmirching their good names, no matter how true your besmirching would be, and breaking your oath to another peer.
That's putting aside all of the various little ways societies like this can get even with those who meddle with them. You imagine that if you truly irritated any of their members, you'd see a rise in the prices of goods and services you sought to purchase. Individuals you contracted might receive better offers from elsewhere. Supplies and military shipments would lag behind or get lost in the bureaucratic hell of imperial paperwork. So, no, if you do decide to contact them it is best that you make peace with the fact that you will be exposed to a great deal of uncouth, and very illegal, behavior.
[ ][HC] Accept the invitation, Interlude Occurs.
[ ][HC] Decline the invitation, no further Rewards.
Rewards: Trait Gain – Backroom Dealer: (+1/6) of Base Intrigue added to Diplomacy. Coterie of mid-ranking nobles identified and contacted, Intrigue options increase to include occasional 'Favor Trading' options. Invitation to ??? Secret Society acquired.
The Duke: 93+20=113 // Crit: 75+13+15(Omake Bonus)=103 // Crit2: 08+03=11
You rub at your eyes and lean back to stare at the ceiling.
In a fit of irreverence, you prop your feet up onto your desk, ignoring Jeanne's disapproving scowl as she stands beside you, the thick folder split open in your lap.
"Exactly...
how sure are we of this?" You ask with trepidation obvious in your tone.
"Absolutely sure, your highness." Jeanne states solemnly. "As the criminals you hired two years past had not been put to any task, I took the liberty of making them earn their wages. Admittedly, I hadn't expected them to be quite so...
good." It looks as though it pains her to admit it. "Or that they would uncover anything quite so
inflammatory."
"In this particular instance, I believe that is quite underselling the matter." You breathe deeply, shakily. "This is quite an impasse."
"Indeed, your highness." Jeanne nods. "I have seen for myself how great Dame Kozuki-Stadtfeld's prowess is within a machine. However, this..."
"Thankfully, there is absolutely no indication that Kallen's
father knew of this. I'm not sure even going before the emperor could spare him if that were so." You sigh deeply, pondering. Kallen was, quite often, irritated or outright angry at her father. Still, you were of the understanding that her anger was a function of her care for the man. At least, if the sheer vitriol the girl espoused for her step-mother was any indication. "The man's cousin, though... he will be the third generation of their family to have sold state secrets to the Europeans. It is more than enough to destroy them, should I take the matter to Father."
Jeanne was silent as you considered the matter.
The Stadtfelds were traitors.
Treasonous ones, even. Spies who had sold all manner of secrets to the EU since the days of the Great War. They'd been instrumental in the slow collapse of the Tsar's eastern front. The front your father had led, back when he was still a prince. It was, quite honestly, the most damning case of treason you had ever heard of in Britannia's history. Going to the Emperor, even if you could entirely prove Duke Stadtfeld's personal innocence, would spell the doom of his title and lands. The Stadtfeld family would be impoverished, what members weren't killed outright or vanished into the custody of the OSI. However, for finding and reporting such a horror, you would doubtless be rewarded
greatly. Beyond that, it would be messy and public, and reputation-making.
Kallen... you aren't sure how she would react. The young woman didn't seem too enamored of her noble status, but suddenly not possessing it anymore might be an odd shock. You certainly wouldn't have to worry about her father or family causing you any problems, though.
Alternatively, you could pass the matter onto OSI directly. The would... do
something. You aren't entirely sure what, but it would be quiet. The Stadtfelds would likely lose prestige under some pretense... or the OSI could simply co-opt the entire operation and use them to start feeding the Europeans false information. That would actually be quiet likely. The downside, though, is that as Duke Stadtfeld is innocent, regardless of the actual possessor of the family's primary noble title, the OSI would likely leave him out of the circle and he would be more or less free to do as he please, unknowing of just how precarious his situation had already become. That is, if he was inclined to be a problem for you at all.
On the other hand, neither would Kallen have to be informed or play any part. If you truly valued her services as a Knight highly, that might be for the best. She would have no way to know of your role in uncovering her father's family's duplicity.
Finally, you could simply meet the man directly. Isacc Stadtfeld was, by all accounts, a rather intelligent man. If one given to sentimentality. There's every chance that, upon seeing the evidence you'd accrued he would volunteer to come with you to the Emperor or OSI help you settle the matter. It would mean less praise and reward for you, personally, but less certain destruction of his family's legacy. Which, if he is sane, will mean a great deal of gratitude. While you wouldn't get as large of a reward from either the OSI or your Father, you'd also have a debt on his part to call in.
Of course, there's always the chance that Duke Stadtfeld is in on the entire matter and your spies missed a key detail. In which case he will likely try to assault and kill you once you reveal what you know. Save for your bodyguards, that might be problematic.
Taking another deep breath, you decide to...
[ ][IS] Go straight to the emperor, such a transgression must be brought to the highest power in the land.
[ ][IS] Go to the OSI, it is their job after all, to deal with information security, this will represent a rather large black mark on their record.
[ ][IS] Meet with Duke Isacc Stadtfeld personally, bringing with you...
-[ ] Kallen
-[ ] Jeanne
-[ ] Nunnally
-[ ] No One
Rewards: Opens Mini-turn negotiations with Duke Isacc Statdtfeld. Discovery of incredibly potent blackmail and extortion material sufficient to destroy the Duke of Westhaven and his entire family, both financially and physically.
Tools of the Trade: 22+25=47
As preoccupied as you are with other matters, this affair is thankfully short and simple, the bulk of the work landing on Kenshin and Madison's shoulders after you authorize acquisitions and budget for all of the resources they requested.
Over the course of your visits to the island, you do take a few looks in on the good doctors and are reassured by the ongoing assembly of various machines, the influx of the new personnel, and the general air of productivity that abounds.
Dr. Hashima files a few reports about items being mislabeled and incorrectly stored here and there, but her organizational skills are sufficient to make sense of the mistakes. A few items
are lost or destroyed in transit from the homeland, Japan, or the Chinese Federation, but annotations to Hashima's reports in Dr. Jaegar's scrawl assure you that he can make due without a few bits and pieces. It seems the man had the good sense to pad his orders a little so that he wouldn't be caught shorted on materials in just such an eventuality.
Excellent, it's good to see that even his madness doesn't stop him from behaving productively within his field.
Rewards: New Caledonia Laboratory fully equipped and staffed with negligible equipment shortages. Penalty to research projects removed.
Mapping the Domain: 33+25=58
New Caledonia is, somewhat surprisingly for its small size, a very complex geographical landform. There are numerous mountains on the island, a wealth of tropical and subtropical jungle, and a 60 kilometer navigable river. Surrounded by shallow bays and steep cliff, it's a very beautiful place to set up shop if nothing else.
The company you hired the job out to does good work, providing you with a series of maps over the course of the year that highlight potential sites for fortifications or watchtowers of some kind.
Of note is the fact that the team appends numerous notices about the strange wildlife and odd flora of the location for potential investigation. They also emphasize that the island is not very 'friendly' in terms of terrain. Once you get outside the small settlement at the primary port of Noumea, it's utterly impossible to use motorized vehicles. As a result, much of the mapping had been done on foot or renting some of the islander's small stock of horses.
They also include a few notes on the natives, though that wasn't the focus of their investigation. It seems the bulk of the native peoples are living subsistence-level hunter-gatherer and farming lifestyles. Outside of the tools they managed to trade with visitors for, their overall technological level is stone-age. Despite a few misunderstandings, they are largely friendly and docile, most having no knowledge or care that their island falls within the larger geopolitical schema of the earth's superpowers.
Rewards: Basic survey of New Caledonia's physical and human geography performed. Potential fortification sites identified, lack of infrastructure identified, neutral contact with native tribes.
Remember: 29+12+15(Omake Bonus)=56
This year you, almost thankfully, do not receive any potentially revolutionary skills from the memories you are slowly processing from the artifact.
Instead, you 'remember' fragments of an impossibly full lifetime.
You remember flying through the air solely on the power of your own mind.
You remember a hundred impossible things that have been lost to recorded history.
You remember so much
death and so much
loss at the end of the tale that it is almost heartbreaking.
Several times you awake from your reveries with tears streaming down your face and the smell of ashes and death thick in your nose for several long moments.
It is the contrast that strikes you the most. The early memories are of a civilization at its peak, stretching its power up even to the body you know as the moon, an orb that is dotted with the pale-blue green of habitation in your dreams. Towering structures higher even than modern skyscrapers, gleaming in gold and pink and light and crystal...
Then rubble.
Death and disease and the all-consuming fire occupy a large of part of your idle musings this year, and you feel it is only through the barest of luck that you manage to avoid seeing things which would have truly scarred you. As it is, the weight of what you now know is heavy indeed, something you do not even share with Jeanne, both because of her personal beliefs on psionic and the fact that you fear she would force psychiatric care on you.
Because, at this point, you have finally derived meaning from that strange word: Tokushi-La.
The connotations aren't easy to directly translate, but very roughly...
"The Violent Ones who came From Beyond to Conquer."
Rewards: +1 Piety, Unknown Trait reveal progresses marginally. Option locked for 1 turn due to near-failure. DC revealed at 55.
