Castles of Steel - Lesbians Good, Imperialism Bad

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Lieutenant Arisukawa Haruna

Balance Stats
❁ • ❁ Work / Life ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Warrior / Princess ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Radical / Respectable ❁ • ❁

Tactical Stats
Gunnery 0, Navigation +2, Command +2, Technology -4, Personal -2, Strategy +3

Stress: 3​


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PLEASE READ THE QUEST RULES BELOW

You collectively vote on the actions of Arisukawa Haruna, the first woman to serve openly in the Imperial Akitsukuni Navy.

This quest is set in a universe which is much like our own circa 1910, but with different politics, cultural norms, and ideas about gender and sexuality, as well as some unusual and advanced technology in places.

We are using this quest to explore themes like breaking the glass ceiling, divergent outlooks on gender and sexuality, colonialism and imperialism, and the place of royalty.

Content Warning
This quest goes some dark places.

There is violence, often explicit, often unfair, often against undeserving targets.

There are not always good options forward. The protagonist is not necessarily a good person.

There is implied content and discussion of sexual harassment and assault.

This is a world where people are often racist, sexist, queerphobic bigots. Sometimes, even the PC and the people they are friends with.

Voting Rules

We will tell you if write-in votes are allowed. If we do not say that write-ins are allowed, they are not. This is to prevent people from unrealistically hedging their bets.

You may proposal other options in a non-vote format, subject to approval, on non write-in votes.

We will tell you when a vote allows approved voting. If we don't say the answer is no, pick an option. We like making people commit.

Discussions makes the GM feel fuzzy.

Game Rules
When we ask you for a roll, roll 3d6. You are aiming to roll equal or under the value of your stat. If you succeed, Haruna gets through the situation with no real difficulties. If you roll above the target value, Haruna will still succeed, but this success will cost her something or add a complication.

Whenever Haruna loses something or faces hardship from a botched roll, she takes Stress. The more Stress Haruna has, the more the job and the circumstances she's in will get to her, and it'll be reflected in the narrative. Haruna must be kept under 10 Stress: if she reaches 10 Stress, she will suffer a breakdown and the results will not be great for her.

Haruna loses stress by taking time for herself, by making meaningful progress on her dreams, and by kissing tall, beautiful women.

Meta Rules
Author commentary is in italics so you know it's not story stuff.

Please don't complain about the system or the fact we have to roll dice. We've heard it before, we've heard it a thousand times across multiple quests. We're not going to change it, and it wears at our fucking souls.

Just going "oh noooo" or "Fish RNGesus Why!" is fun and fine. Complaining at length because you didn't get what you want less so.

If you have a question, tag both @open_sketchbook and @Artificial Girl. If you only tag one of us, you will be ignored. Seriously, we both write this quest.

And yes this is an alt-history type setting with openly gay and trans people, ahistoric medicine, and weird politics. Just... deal, please?

This quest employs a special system called Snippet Votes. Please read this post for more information.
 
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cB557 said:
Contemplating hard mode on the basis of "We'll be season 1 Leslie Knope, which means we might be able to become later seasons Leslie Knope."
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Sold!

[X] An enthusiastic but less than competent officer, chosen by the Admirality with the hopes that her failure will end such talk permanently. (Hard Mode)
 
[X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)
[X] The dutiful child of a New Independent representative in the upper house of the Diet, who pushed the idea. (+Diplomacy & Strategies)

I'm thinking Strategy is key. OTOH, SV competence (or lack thereof) will probably be a greater factor on that front.

Thus, approval voting.
 
[X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)
 
Just because Akitsusuni is based in part on Imperial Japan doesn't mean that it will follow the same path or is even locked into the same path that Japan followed in the real world. For its similarities to our world, the world of the quest does have differences as well. Just something I thought was worth pointing out based on the discussion here. Don't assume you know how something is going to go just because of the way it went in the real world, is what I'm trying to get it.

Also you're a lieutenant in the Navy, cool your heels on trying to decide policy and elections until you're at least a captain, yeah? ;)
 
:p

I mean, I'm hoping that we can position our protagonist to do some good at the point in time when the Navy really could have used some good sense and liberal-mindedness... that is to say, the 1930s.

In the short term the goal is 'survive, be awesome,' but we can probably do that with any of the backgrounds though Hard Mode will make it harder.
 
[x] An enthusiastic but less than competent officer, chosen by the Admirality with the hopes that her failure will end such talk permanently. (Hard Mode)

Fingers crossed.
 
[X] The rebellious daughter of a noble-turned-capitalist family, escaping a suitor after her for her wealth. (+Strategy & Subterfuge)
[X] An enthusiastic but less than competent officer, chosen by the Admirality with the hopes that her failure will end such talk permanently. (Hard Mode)

Because easy mode is for game journalists.
open_sketchbook said:
You will fortunately be entering WW1, not WW2.

Well, first, you'll be entering a much sillier version of the war with Russia. And by sillier I mean way worse.
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Well, they did win that war, so I guess this means we get to get into shenanigans.
Simon_Jester said:
To be fair, we did kiiiiinda dismember the Caspian crown prince a little in the other quest.
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What's a little wrist slicing between friends? All the cool kids are doing it!
 
[X] The daughter of an ancient noble family, whose unwillingness to give up masculine ambitions after her transition has become socially difficult. (+Prowess & Tactics)
 
[X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)
[X] The dutiful child of a New Independent representative in the upper house of the Diet, who pushed the idea. (+Diplomacy & Strategies)
 
Map!
  • Informational
    • [X] The dutiful child of a New Independent representative in the upper house of the Diet, who pushed the idea. (+Diplomacy & Strategies)

    Now I don't mean to be a dead wood Kantai Kessen addicted admiral, but carriers shouldn't even be a twinkle in our eyes yet. I made an effort post a while ago on why aircraft carriers are actually not very useful in pure tactical terms in the 1920s, and even up to the mid 1930s, so here's that:

    Sturmi said:
    I have relatively little knowledge of modern naval war compared to early-mid 20th century naval warfare, so I will give my two cents for aircraft carriers.

    The first thing to understand about carriers, is that there original purpose was essentially to serve as a fleet scout. Not until the mid-late interwar period did aircraft come into being that were truly capable of posing a threat to the majority of surface vessels, such as the Fairey Swordfish - Wikipedia , Aichi D1A - Wikipedia , Northrop BT - Wikipedia . Until aircraft like these enter service, carriers IMO are useful only as scouts. While Billy Mitchell's tests did prove that aircraft had the capacity to sink surface warships, it wasn't until this generation that they could practically do so under combat conditions due to the exponential speed of aircraft development in the first third of the 20th century.

    Also, coordination between aircraft and carrier was close to incomprehensibly difficult before radios could be practically fit into carrier aircraft. As a result of the limited performance of these 1920s aircraft, and the lack of radio coordination, as well as the general mediocrity of the first generation of purpose built carriers, I would consider carriers only somewhat more useful than a particularly large destroyer screen for scouting. They would also be useless in attacking anything larger than perhaps a light cruiser, and even then, I would question the ability of a carrier to sink one without using most of its air group.

    In essence, 1920s, to early 1930s carriers would be very limited in their ability to influence whether a fleet battle would be fought to annihilation, or to stalemate. It could perhaps bring two large fleets into contact, but carriers too are limited to daytime operations during this period, and would not be able to assist in tracking a fleet during the night in a meaningful way, and on the off chance that they discover the fleet after a disengagement, it lacks a serious ability to slow them down due to the pitiful payload of these aircraft.

    However, once you move past this area, a series of technological innovations suddenly makes carriers utterly devastating weapons. Aircraft suddenly gain enough munitions to seriously threaten any ship, with thousand pound bombs, or torpedoes approaching 53cm or larger in diameter, while maintaining reasonable handling characteristics, something unimaginable a decade before. Radio also makes it possible for aircraft to actually coordinate with the fleet effectively, so they are not effectively cut off once in the air. Some aircraft, such as the Grumman TBF Avenger - Wikipedia could mount surface search radars as the size reduction of these technologies swiftly increased, vastly increasing an aircraft's ability to find ships at any point. Finally, carriers gain the ability to operate at night to a degree.

    All four of these innovations and more essentially nullify all my points about interwar carriers. Radar along with radio allows near real time reports of the positions of ships, attempting to seek combat or disengaging, allowing for superior positioning, or exact knowledge of where your opponent is attempting to retreat. Aircraft suddenly have the capacity to seriously hamper and slow down any fleet with their vastly increased payloads(as well as numbers as carriers advance in the number of aircraft carried). With the ability to operate at night as well, suddenly, there is no place you are safe from a carrier, except out of range of their aircraft.

    TL;DR Interwar carriers would have very little influence except in the initial contact, or pursing the defeated due to the massive time delay of information due to lack of radio, and lack of sufficient anti-surface weaponry, and numbers. WW2 Carriers, get tech that nullifies all of that and become unkillable death gods as long as they have aircraft, aircrew, ammunition, and a flight deck.
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    For the foreseeable future, battleships will still be the king of the seas, and assuming we even play to the point where carriers become tactically relevant, it still should not be a concern to give though to now.

    Also, here's the map of the world!

     
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  • Informational
    • [X] The daughter of an ancient noble family, whose unwillingness to give up masculine ambitions after her transition has become socially difficult. (+Prowess & Tactics)

    Edit: also, on the bright side, yay more quest that hopefully will be even half as good as airplane design quest, cause thats awesome :) On the downside...nooo, i can't just rely on my OP highlighter script to catch QM posts when there's a co-qm D=
     
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    Sturmi said:
    For the foreseeable future, battleships will still be the king of the seas, and assuming we even play to the point where carriers become tactically relevant, it still should not be a concern to give though to now.
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    As a junior officer, we probably want to command a torpedo boat or be the executive officer of a destroyer. It's more opportunity for independent action and demonstrating aggression, compared to being one of several dozen lieutenants aboard a capital ship.
     
    firestorm440 said:
    As a junior officer, we probably want to command a torpedo boat or be the executive officer of a destroyer. It's more opportunity for independent action and demonstrating aggression, compared to being one of several dozen lieutenants aboard a capital ship.
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    I agree completely, I just wish to try to staunch the flow of carrier enthusiasm for now, as the time has not yet come for it.
     
    [X] The daughter of an ancient noble family, whose unwillingness to give up masculine ambitions after her transition has become socially difficult. (+Prowess & Tactics)

    Maximum proficiency at wrecking shit with swords and/or naval artillery. Social skills? Who needs those? It's only the fantasy!IJN, after all. What's the worst that could happen?

    A transwoman protagonist is also something I've never actually seen in a quest on SV, oddly enough.
     
    [X] The rebellious daughter of a noble-turned-capitalist family, escaping a suitor after her for her wealth. (+Strategy & Subterfuge)

    [X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)
     
    [X] An enthusiastic but less than competent officer, chosen by the Admirality with the hopes that her failure will end such talk permanently. (Hard Mode)
     
    [X] The dutiful child of a New Independent representative in the upper house of the Diet, who pushed the idea. (+Diplomacy & Strategies)
    [X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)

    People talk to much of carriers. We all know the true future in naval warfare is below the surface. Let's go for submarines:wink:
     
    [X] The rebellious daughter of a noble-turned-capitalist family, escaping a suitor after her for her wealth. (+Strategy & Subterfuge)
    [X] The dutiful child of a New Independent representative in the upper house of the Diet, who pushed the idea. (+Diplomacy & Strategies)
    [X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)

    Ooh, this looks interesting...

    Any particular reason why the (so far empty) character sheet is pinned to the top, and will it remain so?
     
    [x] An enthusiastic but less than competent officer, chosen by the Admirality with the hopes that her failure will end such talk permanently. (Hard Mode)
     
    FlyingScanian said:
    Any particular reason why the (so far empty) character sheet is pinned to the top, and will it remain so?
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    It seems plausible to me that this was done with the intention of it not remaining empty, but remaining pinned, and thus becoming useful at some point in the future. This may have been a "so we remember to do it" thing, or something of the type.
     
    So, this isn't a flying circus quest, yeah? Will the mechanics for this quest be in that sort of TRPG vein as well, or is this going to be more mechanics-light? If it's going to be more complicated I feel like I shouldn't vote for hard mode since I'll probably make no effort to understand the mechanics.
     
    [X] The dutiful child of a New Independent representative in the upper house of the Diet, who pushed the idea. (+Diplomacy & Strategies)
    [X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)
     
    [X] An enthusiastic but less than competent officer, chosen by the Admirality with the hopes that her failure will end such talk permanently. (Hard Mode)
    As a masochist, I say bring it on.
     
    [X] A daughter from a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, who brought up the idea with her cousin and, thus, was put to the front of the line. (+Subterfuge, plus great political connections)
     
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