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Money and Power: A Xianxia Merchant Quest

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The Infinitely Perfect is your foundation and you can't donate it. But you could try and research up a solution using the Forge or your clan's other resources.

Forgot to address another question:

Teo was supposed to watch his brother along with some agents in sales. He has a lot of trust in the production branch and that lab in particular. The production branch is run by your father's first business partner, they founded the clan together, becoming adopted brothers, but he has no desire to manage anything but elixir production. They aren't blood relatives but Teo says you can trust him completely.
 
That's my girl. That's why I wanted to ask Oku.

adding the new option to my previous vote.
[X] Have Oku kill him

[X] Turn him in
[X] Landspeeders

I am supporting Turn him in because I don't like it when real companies protect executives from the consequences of criminal acts. This is a crime that's going to get a lot of people killed, and we, as leader of the clan, weren't even going to benefit, so fuck him. Sure Teo tried to screw is, but he also offered us what he thought we wanted, freedom to focus on Self-improvement.


[X] Take the deal on your own terms
Also approval voting this because I suspect the Empire is just a teensy bit racist and Abyssals aren't so much bad dudes as foreigners.
 
[X] Imprison him

The only thing I'm hoping is that everyone going no don't do that sort of thing will lead people to decide against calling the cops. I probably would have voted to kill if there was only one person told but with Teo knowing it would hit harder because he would know we killed him.
 
LLSix said:
I am supporting Turn him in because I don't like it when real companies protect executives from the consequences of criminal acts. This is a crime that's going to get a lot of people killed, and we, as leader of the clan, weren't even going to benefit, so fuck him. Sure Teo tried to screw is, but he also offered us what he thought we wanted, freedom to focus on Self-improvement.
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Yes, ethically, we should turn him in but, considering that we're on the verge of collapse and (depending on how much rot we might have inherited) that the empire might fully murder our entire clan, practically, it's a terrible idea.
 
Mr. Prokosch said:
The Infinitely Perfect is your foundation and you can't donate it. But you could try and research up a solution using the Forge or your clan's other resources.
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What about a remote control robot? Having two Teos (or two uses once we get some of our other skills up to par) more long would be worth the investment, especially considering the cost of using the potion probably isn't much lower in the long term.
 
LLSix said:
I am supporting Turn him in because I don't like it when real companies protect executives from the consequences of criminal acts. This is a crime that's going to get a lot of people killed, and we, as leader of the clan, weren't even going to benefit, so fuck him. Sure Teo tried to screw is, but he also offered us what he thought we wanted, freedom to focus on Self-improvement.
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You know that we can always leave the punishment later, when we:

1) Get more power
2) Get more inlfuence
3) Get more knowledge

Postponing the punishment from Tet's criminal acts does not mean we will not punish him for it eventually. However, right now, the more sensible choices are either killing him, and imprisoning him. We can't afford to have the Clan inspected, we can't afford to pay the bills, and if Mom dies Chachi will probably have a breakdown '-'.

We need to wait for the right opportunity.
 
[X] Turn him in

Still the best option in my eyes.

Oku's advice is tinged by her inexperience and her bias against our brother. She sees every option beside killing Tet as bad, and unless you all think the QM gave us all Trap options but one, she is necessarily wrong.

Teo's advice is tinged by his bias towards our brother, whom he clearly cares for. Imprisoning him where we keep our secret formulae is a recipe for disaster. Having people we trust guard him implies we have people we trust, but we don't. Not personally, at least, though maybe Teo himself does, or thinks he does. Let's also remember the many hints about Tet having a lot of people loyal to him. There's a chance that some are among the people that Teo thinks he can trust.

He's against turning Tet in because:
1) "He has not yet committed a crime. I would not see him executed for this flight of fancy."
To which I say, I don't care. The intent was there. The planning was there. The lying was there.
2) "They will find other, lesser, offenses. Tax evasion for certain. Every clan gets a bit creative with their book keeping. There is every incentive to do so, and we must remain competitive. I doubt we can afford to pay our back taxes at the moment."
To which I say, first, tax evasion is terrible, and anyone who thinks otherwise, or thinks it's a necessary evil, or is proud to pull one over the government, or a dozen other reasons they use to justify to themselves the act of, in practice, theft, leeching, enforcing inequality, etc., is contradicted by any study in any field that ever focused on this matter.
Second, if we handle Turning him in right, which we should thanks to our resources and our high Persuasion, we might not have to worry about it, by making a deal, protecting ourselves/clan, getting an Imperial boon, etc.
3) "I suspect your mother has murdered people in the past."
To which I say, first, murder is bad.
Second, it's possible Teo is wrong about that.
Third, it's possible there is no evidence or way to prove it happened.
Fourth, if any murder happened at all, it was years if not decades ago, when mom had no position/title in the business.
Fifth, how would the Empire figure out a murder happened by auditing the clan?
Sixth, if it's by interrogating mom and divining/reading, and, for some peculiar reason about things completely unrelated to the business... then yeah, what can you do? Still, if the Empire was capable of such a thing without a possible way out of it, then how is this world not a utopia? And if there are limitations to what this method can do, wouldn't Mom, with her specialty being mental powers, be the best one to find how to exploit them?

[X] Airships
 
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[X] Imprison him

Don't want to jump straight to killing family.

He may make us regret it in the future if he runs off with our secret recipes but at least we will have given our brother a chance.
 
@Epic Bygones

They will not just make an audition. They will use intrusive techniques - like mind and memory reading. With it, they will not need any concrete evidence, because all the proof they need is the person itself. Why the world is not an Utopia? Because those that have power don't want. It is easier to acquire influence and money when people are corrupted. They only pay attention to crimes brought to their attention; no want with power will go out of their way when there is no need to, and when chances are that we are robbing them of their money - and have other aggravating circumstances - I say that this is a good motive to fuck with us.

Tax evasion is bad? Yes, it is. But thinking that doesn't change a thing. You can be against it all you want, and you can even vote in favor of stopping it in the future, but we need to think of the consequences of doing that right now. We don't have the money, and if we don't have the liquid assets to pay back what we owe, chances are theat they will confiscate our business, houses, and everything else.

Murder is bad? Yes, too. It happened before Mother was a part of the clan and therefore is unrelated ot it? Yes. However, you need to consider that Chachi is a sweet character, and the possible prison of her mother - and maybe even execution - will have consequences for us as 'players' too. Moreover, we don't even know her circumstances yet. As far as I know, her associates can be anything from rapists, pimps, assassins, or whatever. Murder can be bad, but it does not exactly mean someone is evil.
 
You made a lot of assumptions, there, and ran with them. I disagree with most of them.

-You don't know what techniques they'll use.
-You don't know how the techniques they'll use work, how precise and thorough they are, etc.
-You don't know why the world is not a utopia.
-You don't know how the Empire, and the specific organization we'd be dealing with, operate and how.
-You don't know if we have the money or the liquid assets to pay for our tax evasion.
-You don't know whether or not we would even have to pay anything.
-You don't know if confiscating assets is a thing at all.

I make different assumptions, which I explained in a lot of past posts, so feel free to check them out. On top of what common sense tells me about this being a quest with no trap options, these assumptions indicate to me that Turn him in will be safer, better and perhaps most importantly more appealing to me.
 
Epic Bygones said:
You made a lot of assumptions, there, and ran with them. I disagree with most of them.

-You don't know what techniques they'll use.
-You don't know how the techniques they'll use work, how precise and thorough they are, etc.
-You don't know why the world is not a utopia.
-You don't know how the Empire, and the specific organization we'd be dealing with, operate and how.
-You don't know if we have the money or the liquid assets to pay for our tax evasion.
-You don't know whether or not we would even have to pay anything.
-You don't know if confiscating assets is a thing at all.

I make different assumptions, which I explained in a lot of past posts, so feel free to check them out. On top of what common sense tells me about this being a quest with no trap options, these assumptions indicate to me that Turn him in will be safer, better and perhaps most importantly more appealing to me.
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Id like to just say that with two different characters giving hardline advise to not bring in the "feds" AND giving reasons to not to, you really cant call it a trap vote anymore if they absolutely destroy us. We have been given explicit warning TWICE, thats the opposite of a trap.
 
You may want to reread the update:
Epic Bygones said:
-You don't know if we have the money or the liquid assets to pay for our tax evasion.
-You don't know whether or not we would even have to pay anything.
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Tax evasion for certain."

Chachi sighed, "we're committing tax evasion?"

"Every clan gets a bit creative with their book keeping. There is every incentive to do so, and we must remain competitive. I doubt we can afford to pay our back taxes at the moment.
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We're definitely evading taxes and we'd definitely at the very least have to pay them back, something that our brother is unsure if we can even afford, and he'd be the one to know. And what exactly would you expect to happen when a group can't pay their taxes in a feudal setting? Getting our shit seized is definitely on the table, especially considering we have a giant stockpile of elixirs that the local lord would no doubt be very interested in getting their hands on.
You're approaching this from the mindset of the 21st century as if we were a corporation operating in a nation state, not from the mindset of a trading family in a feudal setting where everyone is looking out for the advancement of their own family.
 
DangerKitty said:
Id like to just say that with two different characters giving hardline advise to not bring in the "feds" AND giving reasons to not to, you really cant call it a trap vote anymore if they absolutely destroy us. We have been given explicit warning TWICE, thats the opposite of a trap.
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I guess we have different ideas of a trap option is. To me, that's an option that has no possible positive outcome. Basically, it would mean that Turn him in is doomed to be a terrible idea, no matter what, and the QM put it there with the explicit intent of being the "wrong" choice. As opposed to non-trap options, which have within themselves at least the chance of being either good or bad, depending on the situation and/or dice rolls and whatever else.
That's what I think it means anyway, and since the QM stated he doesn't like trap options, I believe there are none (but especially in a vote that only 4 originally).
sheep-dodger said:
We're definitely evading taxes and we'd definitely at the very least have to pay them back, something that our brother is unsure if we can even afford, and he'd be the one to know. And what exactly would you expect to happen when a group can't pay their taxes in a feudal setting? Getting our shit seized is definitely on the table, especially considering we have a giant stockpile of elixirs that the local lord would no doubt be very interested in getting their hands on.
You're approaching this from the mindset of the 21st century as if we were a corporation operating in a nation state, not from the mindset of a trading family in a feudal setting where everyone is looking out for the advancement of their own family.
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We'd have to pay taxes back if:
-they're discovered.
-the Empire cares about them when they have High Treason on their hands.
-we can't make a deal.

There is no evidence that confiscating assets is a thing in this setting, so like I said, it's an assumption and nothing you can say "definitely" for. I absolutely believe it's possible and even very likely, but maybe not, or maybe something else works as well.

Also, this setting is not even close to being the same as a "feudal setting". It has some characteristics that might be the same, some that are similar, some that are different, some that would be the same if magic or a thousand different context details wouldn't be there, etc.
 
Epic Bygones said:
I guess we have different ideas of a trap option is. To me, that's an option that has no possible positive outcome. Basically, it would mean that Turn him in is doomed to be a terrible idea, no matter what, and the QM put it there with the explicit intent of being the "wrong" choice. As opposed to non-trap options, which have within themselves at least the chance of being either good or bad, depending on the situation and/or dice rolls and whatever else.
That's what I think it means anyway, and since the QM stated he doesn't like trap options, I believe there are none (but especially in a vote that only 4 originally).
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To me trap votes are when an option is presented that has extremely bad consequences if things go wrong, but no warning prior to the vote about how severe those consequences are. If we took turn him in and then everything they warned us happened (our clan gets ruined and our mother imprisoned/executed) without warning that the consequences were so severe, thats a trap vote to me.

Having the stakes and dangers clearly explained to us makes it a non trap to me because we know what we are signing up for. Its not catching us unawares, as traps are meant to do irl.
 
@Mr. Prokosch

Another question to test Chachi's knowledge and memory~

Do we know something about Teo, Tet and Oku's mother (correct me if I am wrong, but the three of them are true siblings, not half, right?), and her family. Was she from some influential clan, another merchant clan or just a commoner?

Honestly, I feel stupid asking that. But who knows. If they have some influence they can always be of use... I think...
 
SpaceOwl said:
@Mr. Prokosch

Another question to test Chachi's knowledge and memory~

Do we know something about Teo, Tet and Oku's mother (correct me if I am wrong, but the three of them are true siblings, not half, right?), and her family. Was she from some influential clan, another merchant clan or just a commoner?

Honestly, I feel stupid asking that. But who knows. If they have some influence they can always be of use... I think...
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Both our parents were commoners before the Clan. Mom went whole hog on transmuting self-hate into ruthlessness and distain for the lower class.
 
Teo and Tet are full brothers from the Patriarch's first wife and were born fairly close together. She was from a small merchant clan that focused on growing specialty ingredients. They were an important connection at the time, but now they're just one of many suppliers with a solid relationship. She had a flaw in her foundation and remarkably poor health for a cultivator. She died of old age in Refinement.

The Patriarch then spent significant time unmarried. He was a suitor to a few high status women but they fell through. Chachi doesn't have details on that. Oku was born out of wedlock at that time.

Chachi's Mom told her they were a love match. He met her in a mortal hospital while distributing cures for charity and fell instantly in love. They were quickly married and you were born soon after.
 
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