[X] He attempts to resolve things peacefully. (20% chance of major penalty to both Mechanicus & Eldar relations, 20% chance of minor penalty to both Mechanicus & Eldar relations, 20% chance of major penalty to Mechanicus relations & minor bonus to Eldar relations, 20% chance of minor bonus to Mechanicus relations & major penalty to Eldar relations, 20% of minor bonus to both Mechanicus & Eldar relations)

You could have sided with the Eldar. Nobody back home would have blamed you and you would even have retained the moral high ground as the Eldar colonists would have been victims of an unprovoked genocide. Not that anything could justify genocide.

You were tempted to and almost did make that decision, the one to take the simple solution to your current dilemma. But you are Drake Artorius and you are not one to settle for lesser choices when you can save everyone instead of just some. It is a gamble that risks war anyway and antagonising both parties involved, but it is a gamble that you are willing to risk if it means solving things peacefully.

It starts with getting Soptamorn to put their plans on hold as you need time to make a lasting peace. You haggle with the leadership by dangling the potential for acquiring more of the Federation's STCs in front of them. You let them know that you'll need to contact parliament regarding the matter as you cannot give them anymore without overstepping your authority. Throughout it all, you hint at the possibility of parliament not being willing to share if they find out that the Forge-World is in the middle of conquering one of their neighbours.

Your efforts prove to be successful because just as you suspected, the Mechanicus' disdain for the Eldar is easily overpowered by their desire for more Confederation STCs. Your hints do their job well enough that the Fabricator-General gets the picture and puts their planned invasion, buying you time.

While you stay behind to stay involved at Soptamorn, you send your wives back with half of your fleet as an escort to Excalibur to bring the Federal government into the picture. Meanwhile you begin to ply away at the Mechanicus with the power and prosperity of the Federation while beginning a public relations campaign. With few options at your disposal, you resort to giving tours of the Merlin with awestruck members of the local populace being escorted about the mighty Gloriana-class Battleship by Federal Marines.

By the time that Bel and Yas return with an official diplomatic mission from the Federation, you have firmly integrated yourself into the Soptamorn mindset as a powerful, but friendly figure from the stars, bringing hope from the past for a brighter future.

While the professional diplomats get to work at their jobs, you decide to handle the other side of things as you take the Merlin with a few escorts to Filnedan. Upon arrival, you find that you have either the greatest time or the worst as the Merlin exit the warp around the same time that an incursion led by servants of the Tempter appears on Filnedan.

Dealing with the warpspawn goes a long way to putting the Exodites at ease and with your silver tongue, it isn't long before you are convincing the local leadership of the benefits of being a Federal protectorate. It certainly helps that you have Eldryanoc to use as an example for the Federation successfully safeguarding an Exodite world. When you have to return to Soptamorn, you have a tentative basic agreement in place with the local Eldar populace.

Back at Soptamorn, you find the Mechanicus in similar talks with the Federation's diplomats. Apparently you have impressed the Forge-World enough that the Mechanicus is willing to join its fledgling empire with the no longer so fledging Federation of Bladus. Increased security, access to the STCs of the Federation, interstellar trade and more are all quite appealing, even to a place as well off as Soptamorn.

So when you finally begin your return home to Excalibur, you turned a brewing genocide into the Federation peacefully annexing a sub-sector with minimal violence involved. Pretty darn good if you do say so yourself. Just because you don't like diplomacy doesn't mean you can't be a deft hand at it.


I'm going to be time-skipping ahead to the point that Drake is found and the next few updates will be covering significant events and important choices. Because of this, you are going to be choosing Drake's character build now.

For this vote, you will be using plan voting and you have 150 Points. To get a higher level of a skill, you will need to purchase all lower levels first. As an example, if you wanted Personal Combat Level 4, you would need to purchase both Level 3 and Level 4 for a total of ten points.

[] Personal Combat.
-[] Level 3 (Costs 4 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Ground Combat.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 4 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 6 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 8 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 10 Points)
[] Biomancy.
-[] Level 3 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 5 Points)
[] Telepathy.
-[] Level 2 (Costs 1 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 5 Points)
[] Divination.
-[] Level 2 (Costs 1 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 5 Points)
[] Pyromancy.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 0 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 2 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 4 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Telekinesis.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 0 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 2 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 4 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Governance.
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 7 Points)
[] Engineering.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 1 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 7 Points)
[] Intrigue.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 7 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 9 Points)
[] Anathematic.
-[] Level 2 (Costs 7 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 9 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 11 Points)
[] Studying the Necrons.
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Studying the Orks.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 2 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Studying the Craftworld Eldar.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 2 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Studying the Dark Eldar.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 2 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Studying other Eldar.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 2 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)
[] Studying the Mechanicus.
-[] Level 1 (Costs 2 Points)
-[] Level 2 (Costs 3 Points)
-[] Level 3 (Costs 5 Points)
-[] Level 4 (Costs 6 Points)


And we are back briefly before a hiatus as I will be pausing my quest and story writing to do Camp NaNoWriMo. Anyway, you got lucky with the roles so you not only got a peaceful solution, but you levelled up your diplomacy skill.

Anyway, you will be doing the last skill vote. Before careful with this vote because this will be what Drake is like when the Emperor finds him and will be the basis for his skill set during the Great Crusade and whatever conflict tears apart the Imperium following it. If you are wondering about Level 5 Naval Combat, Drake will be getting that over the time-skip and there will be a vote on how he gets rather than whether or not he gets it.

Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.