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The Last Daughter; Dragon-Blooded Sorcery School Quest

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Honestly several of the imperial daughters could probably make an adequate empress. The issue is that they are to evenly balanced so you just get gridlock.
 
[X] The White Serpent

The Serpent theme is all well and good, but the important point is that there's no baggage to this. The first Daiklave carries with it the history of being intended for a now-failed daughter, which we probably don't want to be associated with, and the second has the whole "We'd really like this back please" vibes from Prasad. With the White Serpent, we're starting completely fresh, and thus the lack of history won't come to bite us down the line in some form or fashion. Granted, it might be a less powerful weapon with that lack of history, but we will deal with it as we go.
 
[X] The White Serpent

I really love the Burano sword, but this being an unexpected, long-in-wait personal gift from the Empress is too good to pass up.
 
No7sHere said:
Honestly several of the imperial daughters could probably make an adequate empress. The issue is that they are to evenly balanced so you just get gridlock.
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Realistically I think the only way anyone can be Empress is if they have the Sword of Creation and use it to obliterate a few of their rivals before burning down a significant amount of the tangle of weeds that is the Thousand Scales and rebuilding. The Bureaucracy is designed around only answering to and only be controllable by the the Scarlet Empress, she is the only one who knows where all the bodies are buried, the only one with Prestige: YES, etc...
 
Gazetteer said:
The quest will have within its scope Ambraea deciding on a long-term post-mom-going-away plan to see to her safety. Swearing to support one of her sisters or another candidate for the throne in exchange for shelter, or otherwise becoming aligned with one of the houses is viable enough. She's a talented sorcerer, and she might be the least important of the Exalted Imperial children, but she's still an Imperial daughter.

Also viable is fleeing to Prasad, converting to the Pure Way, seeking adoption into Clan Burano while her grandmother is still alive and Rani satrap, and marrying a nice Prasadi boy. It is necessary to ask if Ambraea is really willing to just cut and run like that, though -- abandoning all or most of her friends, the land where she was born and raised, not even trying to salvage what she's worked for all her life in order to seek safety for herself while the Realm is consumed in war behind her. She is not unattached to the Dynasty and the Blessed Isle.
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I'm personally thinking about the political position of House Iselsi, and how Ambraea can best help Maia.
 
DragonParadox said:
Realistically I think the only way anyone can be Empress is if they have the Sword of Creation and use it to obliterate a few of their rivals before burning down a significant amount of the tangle of weeds that is the Thousand Scales and rebuilding. The Bureaucracy is designed around only answering to and only be controllable by the the Scarlet Empress, she is the only one who knows where all the bodies are buried, the only one with Prestige: YES, etc...
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I don't really agree with this take at all, and it's not the framing that Heirs to the Shogunate, one of the most important primary sources for this quest (alongside the Realm and What Fire Has Wrought) uses for the Realm Civil War. Heirs floats the idea that, barring plot or PC intervention, the path of least resistance is Mnemon eventually seizing the throne and working to rebuild the status quo as she sees it. It also presents V'neef, and several matriarchs possible frontrunners for the Throne.

If you successfully gain control of the Sword of Creation, you can dictate the outcome of the Civil War. It's hardly the only believable outcome, though.
 
Gazetteer said:
I don't really agree with this take at all, and it's not the framing that Heirs to the Shogunate, one of the most important primary sources for this quest (alongside the Realm and What Fire Has Wrought) uses for the Realm Civil War. Heirs floats the idea that, barring plot or PC intervention, the path of least resistance is Mnemon eventually seizing the throne and working to rebuild the status quo as she sees it. It also presents V'neef, and several matriarchs possible frontrunners for the Throne.

If you successfully gain control of the Sword of Creation, you can dictate the outcome of the Civil War. It's hardly the only believable outcome, though.
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That is your prerogative as the GM of course. For what it's worth though the reason I think the Thousand Scales are going to need major reform is at the very least is there is a lot of built in in-fighting and doubling of responsibilities. Even for something as straightforward as the treasury there are multiple institutions with their own stakes nevermind all the spies and assassins.
 
DragonParadox said:
That is your prerogative as the GM of course. For what it's worth though the reason I think the Thousand Scales are going to need major reform is at the very least is there is a lot of built in in-fighting and doubling of responsibilities. Even for something as straightforward as the treasury there are multiple institutions with their own stakes nevermind all the spies and assassins.
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I work off of canon 3e material almost exclusively, and am very selective about things I bring in from older content. I think the Thousand Scales getting reorganised is pretty likely. They're more complex than is necessary for peak efficiency in order to limit the power of any individual ministry and of the patriciate in general, but at the same time, they're an effective institution that more or less worked for hundreds of years. The biggest problem with the Thousand Scales post Empress is more that the Great Houses don't have anyone to make them not do whatever they want outside of the other houses and general societal inertia, and can subvert or outright ignore the Bureaucracy sometimes. I don't think the current, canonical depiction is that they're a teetering mess that needs to be burned to the ground or anything.
 
Gazetteer said:
I work off of canon 3e material almost exclusively, and am very selective about things I bring in from older content. I think the Thousand Scales getting reorganised is pretty likely. They're more complex than is necessary for peak efficiency in order to limit the power of any individual ministry and of the patriciate in general, but at the same time, they're an effective institution that more or less worked for hundreds of years. The biggest problem with the Thousand Scales post Empress is more that the Great Houses don't have anyone to make them not do whatever they want outside of the other houses and general societal inertia, and can subvert or outright ignore the Bureaucracy sometimes. I don't think the current, canonical depiction is that they're a teetering mess that needs to be burned to the ground or anything.
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Oh that explains it, I am working off Second Edition where they were unspeakably poorly organized intentionally so that everything would fall apart without the Empress. I had heard Third Edition dialed down some things, I guess this was one of them.
 
[x] The White Serpent

This is actually a reference to one of the sidebars I've always liked since I first saw it in Heirs to the Shogunate:



DragonParadox said:
Realistically I think the only way anyone can be Empress is if they have the Sword of Creation and use it to obliterate a few of their rivals before burning down a significant amount of the tangle of weeds that is the Thousand Scales and rebuilding. The Bureaucracy is designed around only answering to and only be controllable by the the Scarlet Empress, she is the only one who knows where all the bodies are buried, the only one with Prestige: YES, etc...
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It's worth pointing out that this quest is operating very thoroughly on third edition assumptions, not second edition. What happens/happened to the Scarlet Empress is a mystery that's left to the individual campaign, not something with a single right answer—and the Ebon Dragon and the idea of the Reclamation is not especially a higher chance than the other possibilities.

More importantly, the Sword of Creation isn't the power of the Realm. The power of the Realm is the power of Dragon-Bloods. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of DBs is enough to shake the world. There is a notable power in the world that relies on its First Age artifice that may or may not be reliable enough to count on, and it's Lookshy (which... also has enough DBs for that to be no paper tiger even if their warstrider or implosion bow isn't working any longer).

Heirs to the Shogunate actually gives several possible superweapons that could shape the Realm Civil War, which is another sidebar I like:


But, ultimately, the Realm Civil War is fertile ground for things that seem unthinkable and impossible to turn surprisingly quickly. Even most of the dark horse candidates have Exalted might to back up their connections with major parties throughout the Dynasty, and a dedicated circle of protagonist DBs might be the finger on the scales at just the right moment to change things a lot. Say, imagine a Sesus-Tepet-V'neef alliance, held partially together by Ambraea's friends, and maybe House Iselsi focusing more on their rivals? That might change things at a critical time, with no Sword of Creation needed.
 
[X] The White Serpent
"Undefined potential" is basically narrative shorthand for "protagonist item."

Earth Meets Sky also seems really cool, but I also get the impression it's the political equivalent of carrying around the Elgin Marbles.
 
[X] The White Serpent
tbh they all have some sort catch, even white serpent. like i suspect it'll be extra good at stabbing anathema or someone might get jealous we ain't using it to stab anathema or such.

I voted it because it's commissioned by Empress sounds neat.
 
UrsaTempest said:
[X] The White Serpent
tbh they all have some sort catch, even white serpent. like i suspect it'll be extra good at stabbing anathema or someone might get jealous we ain't using it to stab anathema or such.

I voted it because it's commissioned by Empress sounds neat.
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Yeah. The anathema lead army don't run in the sort of social circles that would let them know Ambraea has this sword because she is the empresses daughter rather than because she is an aspiring or accomplished anathema hunter.
 
Especially under Immaculate teachings, it's generally a good and morally upright thing to do for a young Dragon-Blood to participate in Wyld Hunts to safeguard Creation and its good people from the horrors of the Anathema. Someone who recognises that Ambraea is carrying a sword like that might expect her to be especially willing and ready to take up that cause at need, and then it's a very awkward conversation to try and get out of it if that's what you really want to do.

It's basically like, you have a magic sword forged by a famous swordsmith for your hand, but eventually someone is going to expect you to use it to be heroic.
 
[X] The Tidal Fang

You know what, it's grown on me. Too late by now but I like the water associations - this is her water weapon, not Maia. Also, embrace the position as a less than perfect daughter.
 
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