HOMEWORLD: The Sword of Caaliburnous (She-Ra/Homeworld crossover)

Ajora shifted in her seat. "Lets," she said.

The Somtaaw woman nodded and Ajora felt like...

Well.

This was pretty much a do or die moment for her, wasn't it?

"Lets start with when you arrived on the frigate," Emilia said, her fingernails creating a tiny rat-a-tat-tat roll on the metal table.

Ajora sighed. "I was thrown in the brig after refusing to follow orders to...destroy your planet."

"I see," Emilia said, quietly. "The entire fleet participated in the action. We have recorded footage of it. The frigate you were on, when it was captured, was engaged in...the destruction of the cryotanks that hold the last survivors of our people." She frowned.

Ajora could practically see the conversations being held at work stations and off duty shift corners on this whole massive ship. They had to know that a new Taiidani was aboard. And she could practically feel the urge for all of them to see her suffer and...worse...like a weight on her shoulders.

"Do you have any proof for this?"

Ajora blinked. "Excuse me?"

"There's no time log on how long you were in the cell - and your wrist comp was confiscated and turned off. For all we know at this point, you could have been in the brig for drunk and disorderly." Emilia said, quietly. "That would alter the calculations being made in Fleet Intelligence."

Ajora squared her shoulders.

--
Intrigue Time! All intrigues are built out of Actors and Props. Actors are entities that take action in the scene. Props are entities that do not. Note, neither HAVE to be an NPC - a survival intrigue about trekking through the wilderness can have an Actor called "The Untamed Wilderness" that is doing its best to kill you! Props can be traded, stolen, destroyed, created, and are usually how the goals of any intrigue are accomplished.

This Intrigue has three Actors: Ajora (obviously), Emilia and, of course, the Kushan as a whole. Each actor begins with props based on the fiction and two special props: Their loyalty and their motivation, which are secret. By revealing motivations and loyalties (and capturing them) you can make an Actor do what you want, even if they're not actually in your control.

Now, play begins with the NPC actors taking their action. In this case...

EMILIA: Reveals Prop "Ajora's full story." (by revealing the prop, it is placed in the field, but is not claimed by anyone)
KUSHAN PEOPLE: Reveal Prop "Taiidani murderer" (Same!)

AJORA'S CURRENT STATE
HEAT: 0/6
PROPS: "Loyalty: People Who Need Help and Kaja", "Motivation: I want to live"

EMILIA'S PROPS: "Loyalty: ???", "Motivation: ???"
KUSHAN PEOPLE'S PROPS: "Loyalty: ???", "Motivation:???"
UNCLAIMED PROPS: Ajora's Full Story, Taiidani Murderer

So, narratively speaking - if Ajora ends up with the prop Taiidani Murderer, then people will think she's...you know...a Taiidani murderer. Not great for her long term survival. If Emilia has access to Ajora's full story, she can do with it whatever she wants - if you trust her to speak honestly, then her having it might be the best thing for you...but if you DON'T trust her, her having it might be the worst thing possible, since it'll mean she can destroy it, distort it, do whatever she wants with it.

It's almost like this was some kind of an intrigue or something!

Now, it is your turn. You can take as many actions as you want, but each action is at +1 diff after the first. The actions you have avaliable are Claim, Hide, Reveal, Destroy and Steal.

Claiming lets you snag a prop that is unclaimed using a narratively justified skill check. Hiding lets you take a claimed prop and hide it - making NPCs unable to act on the prop until it is used again.

Reveal lets you either reveal a hidden prop (like, say, a loyalty or motivation) OR it lets you "reveal" a prop that didn't exist before, using a narratively justified skill check (with the difficulty being based on the improbability of the prop in question.) As a fun bonus, revealing a prop means you get to have the prop in your hands without taking any additional steps!

Destroy lets you remove a prop that you hold from the field by refuting it, smashing the evidence, whatever.

Stealing lets you steal a prop held by someone else - BUT you need to have a prop that allows for it in your hands. E.G, if you wanted to steal Emilia's loyalty, you'd need a prop that would convince her of why she should be loyal to her. Say...a sword?

So, here's an example action!

[ ] Plan: The Sword
-[ ] Reveal: The Sword of Caaliburnous (Diff 3 Awareness check - remembering that your confiscated goods would include the sword - gain 1 heat.) Tell her about the sword and that you bear it. It's a long shot...but...
-[ ] Steal: Emilia's Loyalty (Diff 3+1 Charm check, take 4 heat) ...hope that she has faith in Sajuuk. He Who's Hand Shapes All.
-[ ] End Turn (-1 heat)

This would mean that you now have Emilia's loyalty and her actions would be SUPPORTING you, rather than being against you! I hope that all makes sense and...isn't confusing.