re: Plan Efficiency and Trip to Taliil.

I'll once again point out the folly of going all in with the Taliil expecting to make trade relations with a known paranoid clan before we've had the opportunity to feel them out. That's very high risk to locking us into unwelcome trade agreements down the line, particularly just putting it all on Talulah. That's straight up asking for trouble.

I've modified my plan though because I agree with Hannz; it's safer to work with a known quantity, the Kiyel and we are short hard currencies. Which I imagine will be vital for our eventual medical facilities needs for manufactured rare goods. That and it's basically Hannz's plan but with the right number of actions. Not sure the best way to go about setting it up correctly on your end or mine for vote purposes?

[x] Plan Trip on the Cat during Construction
-[x] [HUSBANDRY] The burdenbeasts, meatbeasts, and tumorbeasts you brought along are grazing in an ad-hoc, disorganized manner. It's both space-inefficient and resource-inefficient. Create an organized and consistent system for your livestock care and feeding.
- [X] [COMMERCIAL] You have a critical shortage of hard currency. Find a way to improve your ability to convert resources into CLD or LMD.
-- [X] [TALULAH] Make a deal with the Kiyel, exchanging worked metals for their own stores of hard currency.
-[x] [MILITARY] The monsters the Kiyel discuss seem to be, unfortunately, very real. Make arrangements with them to deploy joint hunting parties. This will assist them and allow your own people to gain desperately-needing experience.
-[x] [INFRASTRUCTURE] Allocate additional focus to construction
--[x] Field medical facilities, so your doctors and apothecaries have safe, clean places to work
--[x] [TALULAH] Fortifications around the living areas, so that if a bandit raid comes people have places to shelter.
-[x] [STEWARDSHIP] Establish the basics of a functional bureaucracy. Record keeping and standardized communication will make sure everything else goes smoothly.
-[x] [PERSONAL] Sacrifice one personal action for an additional Leadership Action. Notate this action as [ ] [TALULAH] instead of using the category. Mandatory until sufficient administrators are found or Morale drops below 6.
-[x] [PERSONAL] A well-connected Feline by the name of Kal'tsit is poking around the settlement. You could do something about that…
-[x] Meet with her…
-- [x] …and directly ask her what she's here for.
-[x] [PERSONAL] Search for capable administrators
--[x] Commercial
 
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Your doing seven leadership actions in this plan, which with no Commercial or Diplomatic leaders, is only possible if Talulah gives up all her personal actions. Invalid plan until corrected.
Huh, I completely forgot that was a thing.

Aight, removed the Commercial and Diplomacy actions for now then.

Considering we were just attacked last turn, fortifications need to be prioritized considering we're sending off most of our armed and trained people on a beast hunting trip. They'll want to feel safe if nothing else.
 
Huh, I completely forgot that was a thing.

Aight, removed the Commercial and Diplomacy actions for now then.

Considering we were just attacked last turn, fortifications need to be prioritized considering we're sending off most of our armed and trained people on a beast hunting trip. They'll want to feel safe if nothing else.
[X] [PERSONAL] Sacrifice one personal action for an additional Leadership Action. Notate this action as [ ] [TALULAH] instead of using the category.
Sorry. You only needed to remove 1 of your leadership actions, which I should have pointed out in the first post. Talulah is mandatory taking a second leadership option until all positions are filled.
 
Sorry. You only needed to remove 1 of your leadership actions, which I should have pointed out in the first post. Talulah is mandatory taking a second leadership option until all positions are filled.
I am incredibly confused right now.

Each category with a Adviser has 1 action. Categories without advisers have no actions.

Talulah has 3 free actions, 2 she can spend on personal and 1 she must spend on another category.

Currently, the plan has 2 personal actions, and spends the extra 1 on Infrastructure to help build fortifications while Jane continues to make our medical facilities.
 
Talulah has 3 free actions, 2 she can spend on personal and 1 she must spend on another category
All characters have 1 leadership action and 3 personal actions. Talulah can sacrifice all 3 personal actions for two more leaderships actions, and is currently locked into sacrificing a single personal action for a 2nd leadership action until we have filled all administrator positions. @notthepenguins can confirm this if need be.
 
Talulah, by default, has one Leadership Action. That's what she does in her day-to-day. She has three Personal Actions. One of those actions is automatically being consumed (along with most of her sleep schedule) to give a second Leadership Action, so she is functionally at 2 Leadership and 2 Personal. This is because she is categorically incapable of "taking it easy" when there's so much that needs to get done.

She can spend the remaining two Personal to get one additional Leadership, because sacrificing even more of her limited free time and sleep time has diminishing returns, not just in time but also in ability to work at full capacity. Alternately, she can use those two for, well, personal things, like tracking down Kal'tsit for a chat or going on a walk with Dustwalker.
 
Vote closed
Scheduled vote count started by notthepenguins on Mar 8, 2022 at 1:36 PM, finished with 17 posts and 9 votes.

  • [x] Plan Trip on the Cat during Construction
    - [X] [HUSBANDRY] The burdenbeasts, meatbeasts, and tumorbeasts you brought along are grazing in an ad-hoc, disorganized manner. It's both space-inefficient and resource-inefficient. Create an organized and consistent system for your livestock care and feeding.
    - [X] [COMMERCIAL] You have a critical shortage of hard currency. Find a way to improve your ability to convert resources into CLD or LMD.
    -- [X] [TALULAH] Make a deal with the Kiyel, exchanging worked metals for their own stores of hard currency.
    - [X] [MILITARY] The monsters the Kiyel discuss seem to be, unfortunately, very real. Make arrangements with them to deploy joint hunting parties. This will assist them and allow your own people to gain desperately-needing experience.
    - [X] [INFRASTRUCTURE] Allocate additional focus to construction
    --[x] Field medical facilities, so your doctors and apothecaries have safe, clean places to work
    -- [X] [TALULAH] Fortifications around the living areas, so that if a bandit raid comes people have places to shelter.
    - [X] [STEWARDSHIP] Establish the basics of a functional bureaucracy. Record keeping and standardized communication will make sure everything else goes smoothly.
    -[X] [PERSONAL] Sacrifice one personal action for an additional Leadership Action. Notate this action as [TALULAH] instead of using the category. Mandatory until sufficient administrators are found or Morale drops below 6.
    - [X] [PERSONAL] A well-connected Feline by the name of Kal'tsit is poking around the settlement. You could do something about that…
    -[x] Meet with her…
    --[X] …and directly ask her what she's here for.
    - [X] [PERSONAL] Search for capable administrators
    -- [X] Commercial
    [X] Plan Dragon and Lynx
    - [X] [HUSBANDRY] The burdenbeasts, meatbeasts, and tumorbeasts you brought along are grazing in an ad-hoc, disorganized manner. It's both space-inefficient and resource-inefficient. Create an organized and consistent system for your livestock care and feeding.
    - [X] [MILITARY] The monsters the Kiyel discuss seem to be, unfortunately, very real. Make arrangements with them to deploy joint hunting parties. This will assist them and allow your own people to gain desperately-needing experience.
    - [X] [INFRASTRUCTURE] Allocate additional focus to construction
    -- [X] Field medical facilities, so your doctors and apothecaries have safe, clean places to work. (Trait Bonus: Jane Excalibur) (Requires: Jane Excalibur, Progress: 4 of 7 )
    -- [X] [TALULAH] Fortifications around the living areas, so that if a bandit raid comes people have places to shelter.
    - [X] [COMMERCIAL] You have a critical shortage of hard currency. Find a way to improve your ability to convert resources into CLD or LMD.
    -- [X] [TALULAH] Make a deal with the Kiyel, exchanging worked metals for their own stores of hard currency.
    - [X] [STEWARDSHIP] Establish the basics of a functional bureaucracy. Record keeping and standardized communication will make sure everything else goes smoothly.
    - [X] [PERSONAL] A well-connected Feline by the name of Kal'tsit is poking around the settlement. You could do something about that…
    -- [X] Meet with her…
    --- [X] …and directly ask her what she's here for.
    - [X] [PERSONAL] Search for capable administrators
    -- [X] Commercial
    [X] Plan Efficiency and Trip to Taliil.
    - [X] [HUSBANDRY] The burdenbeasts, meatbeasts, and tumorbeasts you brought along are grazing in an ad-hoc, disorganized manner. It's both space-inefficient and resource-inefficient. Create an organized and consistent system for your livestock care and feeding.
    -[X] [TALULAH] Make diplomatic contact with a group
    --[X] A nearby large tribe, a coalition of agricultural tribes, the Taliil.
    -[X] [TALULAH] Attempt to open trade relations with a nearby tribe the Kiyel have spoken of, the Taliil. They are a widespread farming coalition, growing and exporting food, known for their "witchcraft" and reliance on mercenaries in times of conflict. The Kiyel feel they have grown paranoid, of late.
    - [X] [MILITARY] The monsters the Kiyel discuss seem to be, unfortunately, very real. Make arrangements with them to deploy joint hunting parties. This will assist them and allow your own people to gain desperately-needing experience.
    - [X] [INFRASTRUCTURE] Allocate additional focus to construction
    --[X] Fortifications around the living areas, so that if a bandit raid comes people have places to shelter. (Trait Bonus: Jane Excalibur)
    - [X] [STEWARDSHIP] Establish the basics of a functional bureaucracy. Record keeping and standardized communication will make sure everything else goes smoothly.
    -[X] [PERSONAL] Sacrifice one personal action for an additional Leadership Action. Notate this action as [TALULAH] instead of using the category. Mandatory until sufficient administrators are found or Morale drops below 6.
    -[X] [PERSONAL] A well-connected Feline by the name of Kal'tsit is poking around the settlement. You could do something about that… (NEW)
    --[X] …and directly ask her what she's here for.
    - [X] [PERSONAL] Search for capable administrators
    -- [X] Commercial
 
July 1086, Confronting the Cat
"Cloak and dagger work is all well and good. A knife in the back kills most people, and a stolen document can change the fate of nations. It's all part of the grand dance of politics. But you know what interrupts dances? A hammer to the kneecaps."

- Excerpt from
Shadows Burnt to Ash: The Memoirs of a Gallic Intelligence Officer, by Pierre Moreau



"For someone who's had her nose in everything, you're remarkably annoying to track down."

The white-haired Feline turned, green eyes locking onto Talulah with a cool intensity. Talulah didn't stop talking, just keeping a slight smile on her face.

"My name is Talulah." She extended a hand. "I'm…" she trailed off.

"The head of this settlement," the Feline answered, before taking Talulah's hand and shaking it. Not too firmly, not too softly, not too long or too short. It was the kind of handshake that would go in Ursus textbooks, if anyone bothered to write such things down. "I am Kal'tsit."

"I'm aware." Talulah nodded. "So, what are you digging for?"

Kal'tsit's ears twitched, and she tilted her head ever so slightly, but her face stayed impassive. Oddly, it didn't feel like she was controlling her expression, but that her physical reactions were… muted. "What do you mean?"

Talulah sighed. "You've spent the last week investigating every inch of the place but me. Clearly, you're here as some kind of investigator. I'd say spy, but you fail the subtlety test there."

"I see. And you are here because?"

"Let's not beat around the bush here. You want to know something. I want to know what you want, and your poking around is making people nervous besides."

Kal'tsit's eyes flicked over Talulah, to the sword she kept at her hip, then at the space between them. Her body didn't tense, she didn't shift her stance to a more combat-ready one. A caster, perhaps?

"You are a collection of unanswered questions," she said simply. "You and these people you have brought across the border."

Talulah raised a brow. "Territorial sovereignty, in Kazdel? A surprising concern for a Feline to have. One might suspect improper motives."

"What are your intentions here?" she asked, ignoring the jab.

"That is no secret. To create a home for the Infected, in the one nation on Terra that does not shun them on principle."

"How selfless." It was rather impressive, how she kept her voice and face impassive while simultaneously conveying an ocean of dubiousness.

Talulah's gaze hardened. "And what are your intentions? We are but recent arrivals, and have harmed no one. Who are you, to question us so? What have we done to earn your suspicion?"

Kal'tsit looked at her for a long moment, searching, before she finally nodded. "A fair question. I am a representative of the King of the Sarkaz."

Talulah blinked. Wait, the Sarkaz actually have a King? With a non-Sarkaz representative? Aztel'ra's reaction would make sense, in that case, but… how bizarre.

"And you have done nothing, so far as I can tell. Perhaps my suspicions were premature. But the shadows of Ursus loom large on the border, and where there is a shadow, there is oft a snake in the grass."

The Feline turned away, and Talulah froze, words striking her like a physical blow.

The Shadows of Ursus.

The Royal Guard.

They had followed her even to the border? No, she might be reading too much into this. A strange turn of phrase, perhaps.

She could almost believe that, if not for the last part.

"...there is oft a snake in the grass."

He
was dead. She killed him with her own hands. There was no way his death could have been hidden, not in the long run.

Did she know? Was she probing? Was it simply a turn of phrase?

Her time to act was short, the woman was leaving already.

[ ] Let the mysterious Feline go. If she was probing for a reaction, you won't give it to her. Besides, it could have been a coincidence.
[ ] Interrupt her departure. Demand she tell you what she knows.
- [ ] Tell her nothing in return.
- [ ] Admit that you were in fact raised by the Duke of Kaschey, before you became Infected.
- [ ] Tell her everything save for the serpent's shadow, coiled in your mind.
- [ ] [LOCKED, INSUFFICIENT TRUST] Tell her everything.



Wow, it's been a while! I'm really rusty with these characters!

Babel has reignited my desire to continue this quest, but note that much of the content of Babel is incompatible with this Quest's backstory and trajectory. Some things will be carried over, but I put a bit too much work into the worldbuilding of this Kazdel to throw it all out. Treat it like an alternate-er universe if it makes you happier.
 
It's back! I'm leaning towards
- [ ] Admit that you were in fact raised by the Duke of Kaschey, before you became Infected.
or
- [ ] Tell her everything save for the serpent's shadow, coiled in your mind.
personally.
 
Babel has reignited my desire to continue this quest, but note that much of the content of Babel is incompatible with this Quest's backstory and trajectory. Some things will be carried over, but I put a bit too much work into the worldbuilding of this Kazdel to throw it all out. Treat it like an alternate-er universe if it makes you happier.
Wooo! it's back! All the gratitude! I'll just treat it as an awesome quest. those only need to make sense characterization wise. can't wait to see where we take this.

[X] Let the mysterious Feline go. If she was probing for a reaction, you won't give it to her. Besides, it could have been a coincidence.

let the kitty leave. we'll only provoke more attention with a response.
 
[X] Let the mysterious Feline go. If she was probing for a reaction, you won't give it to her. Besides, it could have been a coincidence.

If she were in any mood to truly be spontaneously helpful, she would have been. As the vote option says, she's either fishing for information by provoking a reaction, or it's just coincidence. Better not to play her own game on her own ground.

Also: YAAAAY! It lives! Thank you!
 
Babel has reignited my desire to continue this quest, but note that much of the content of Babel is incompatible with this Quest's backstory and trajectory. Some things will be carried over, but I put a bit too much work into the worldbuilding of this Kazdel to throw it all out. Treat it like an alternate-er universe if it makes you happier.
Well, I haven't been keeping up with arknights for a while, so I probably wouldn't have noticed if you didn't say so.
 
Oh holy shit it's back hell yeah.

-glances at the year-

oh holy shit we're going to be having some amount of problems real soon

[X] Let the mysterious Feline go. If she was probing for a reaction, you won't give it to her. Besides, it could have been a coincidence.

Fuck it, we don't need the attention and if she's decided we're not really worth bothering then we don't need to get (more of) the personal attention of the second worst authority figure to show up on our doorstep, politics-wise.
 
Writing in because if the royal guard are at the border, having some knowledge about that threat is more immediate then letting it slip. You can obscure other truths with a truthful distraction. The specifics of Kaschey, which may be easier to verify about Talulah, are of less importance then the presence of the royal guard.

Besides, it might help to know more about this "king".

[x] Interrupt her departure. Demand she tell you what she knows.
- [x] Openly trade some of the specifics about being from Ursus, let her cotton onto the fact that the shadows as a turn of phrase was understood while using that as a cover for anything about the snake. Use her training to get this Feline to let other info slip.
 
[x] Interrupt her departure. Demand she tell you what she knows.
- [x] Openly trade some of the specifics about being from Ursus, let her cotton onto the fact that the shadows as a turn of phrase was understood while using that as a cover for anything about the snake. Use her training to get this Feline to let other info slip.
This write in is fine.
 
[X] Interrupt her departure. Demand she tell you what she knows.
- [X] Admit that you were in fact raised by the Duke of Kaschey, before you became Infected.

I don't think Talulah is in a place where she'd trust Kal'tsit with more than that, but someone explicitly referencing Kaschey and the Royal Guard? She hates—and fears—them a lot more than she does want to keep every secret she has, especially when it could prove dangerous to what she's trying to protect.

(Plus, we can't forget that if there's a chance we can finagle this into a meeting with Theresa about Kaschey down the line… well, somebody with the demonstrated powers of the Sarkaz crown might be able to offer some useful assistance in certain mental matters!)
 
[X] Interrupt her departure. Demand she tell you what she knows.
- [X] Admit that you were in fact raised by the Duke of Kaschey, before you became Infected.
 
[X] Interrupt her departure. Demand she tell you what she knows.
- [X] Admit that you were in fact raised by the Duke of Kaschey, before you became Infected.

I recall that Kaschey absolutely loathes the Sarkaz Kings because the Black Crown is able to expose him for what he truly is.

A worm.

Time to make the old man scream by taking steps in that direction.

Also, really happy to see thos quest return! I look forward to more Talulah and Alinah fluff.
 
[X] Interrupt her departure. Demand she tell you what she knows.
- [X] Admit that you were in fact raised by the Duke of Kaschey, before you became Infected.
 
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