Interesting conundrum. The Solars are absolutely heroes to what they believe to be a simple mortal girl, but are monstrous when looked at from the perspective of those who have no reason to hold them in high regard.
It is in the Realm's best interest to betray them and make them die, yet it is also in the Realm's best interest to let them do as they will and destroy all the corrupted authorities.
It feels bad to betray their trust after they tried to rescue a seemingly hapless mortal and saved her life, and yet it feels criminally negligent to let them go because of what they did to the innocent monks.
Interesting conundrum. The Solars are absolutely heroes to what they believe to be a simple mortal girl, but are monstrous when looked at from the perspective of those who have no reason to hold them in high regard.
It is in the Realm's best interest to betray them and make them die, yet it is also in the Realm's best interest to let them do as they will and destroy all the corrupted authorities.
It feels bad to betray their trust after they tried to rescue a seemingly hapless mortal and saved her life, and yet it feels criminally negligent to let them go because of what they did to the innocent monks.
Based on the discussion so far, and the details given of the city, I'm pretty sure their plan involves structurally compromising the central pillar or pillars of the city, or possible collapsing a far cavern wall so the undercity flooding can compromise all of them, and then fleeing as the resulting disaster either plunges the city into Chaos or destroys it outright over the coming years.
Whatever happens, I wouldn't count on the number of corrupt not being outnumbered by the number of innocents who die five fold, particularly if this is related to the implications of shadowy forces working to escalate the internal conflict of the scarlet empire in the quest summary.
I feel like this is the most fitting and Grace-like option, and it'd be amusing to see her drawing on her real frustrations with her day job to portray that role. However, I'm inordinately entertained by the idea of her playing perfectly into the paranoid D&D style of "never rescue helpless women chained up in dungeons, they're 100% succubi or doppelgangers waiting to backstab you", so:
Wow, I know you said before the year ended but this still came out much earlier than I thought it would.
I wonder if Grace and Yula are still friends - given the timeskip and the proper return of the Solar Exalted I imagine tensions between the Gold and Bronze Factions have grown, although Yula was noted to not be a particularly hard-line Gold Faction member.
Based on the discussion so far, and the details given of the city, I'm pretty sure their plan involves structurally compromising the central pillar or pillars of the city, or possible collapsing a far cavern wall so the undercity flooding can compromise all of them, and then fleeing as the resulting disaster either plunges the city into Chaos or destroys it outright over the coming years.
Whatever happens, I wouldn't count on the number of corrupt not being outnumbered by the number of innocents who die five fold, particularly if this is related to the implications of shadowy forces working to escalate the internal conflict of the scarlet empire in the quest summary.
I think this is largely accurate. Bittern collapsing into one enormous sinkhole would cripple the Realm's ability to force project into the West and deal a heady blow to its economy and probably help make life better for a lot of Westerners (although not as much as if the Peleps admirality on the nearby Isle of Wrack got got). I think the specifics of that depends on the nature of what exactly happens, though, because what would be destroyed are the Peleps drydocks, ministries, and all of the wealth disbursement including anything brought into the port off-ship. The actual ships might be fine, unless a very, very large sinkhole is created such that it's lower than sea-level and sucks in everything into a horrible whirlpool - then it goes from merely a vast blow against Realm imperialism into something genuinely crippling to House Peleps.
This is great. I was hoping to read more about Grace, and here is a new quest already! I really want to see what is going on in Yu-Shan and what happened to Lohna. As for right now:
[x] The Musician
is the most un Grace-like option and so the one I want to see. She must have seen many feckless rich people in her former live, and her take on them interests me more than the other options that are so obviously part of her own character.
I think this is largely accurate. Bittern collapsing into one enormous sinkhole would cripple the Realm's ability to force project into the West and deal a heady blow to its economy and probably help make life better for a lot of Westerners (although not as much as if the Peleps admirality on the nearby Isle of Wrack got got). I think the specifics of that depends on the nature of what exactly happens, though, because what would be destroyed are the Peleps drydocks, ministries, and all of the wealth disbursement including anything brought into the port off-ship. The actual ships might be fine, unless a very, very large sinkhole is created such that it's lower than sea-level and sucks in everything into a horrible whirlpool - then it goes from merely a vast blow against Realm imperialism into something genuinely crippling to House Peleps.
This does seem like an effective plan for crippling the Realm's ability to project force into the West. I appreciate you putting this into context. It's been a while since I've read The Realm, so I'm foggy on a lot of the details about Bittern.
I love that right off the bat, second paragraph, we get this awesome juxtaposition:
The ravenous maw into which the blood-soaked plunder of the West flows. Hundreds of thousands make their home here, from wealthy Dynasts and patricians to common sailors and shipwrights to slaves and beggars.
These Solars might have a high-minded goal of freeing the West from the Realm's plundering iron fist, but for their plan to have seemingly written off *hundreds of thousands of people* as acceptable casualties is, well.
It's certainly Player Character behavior.
This whole mission, and perhaps the greater mission of the Bronze Faction itself, is to constantly make a calculus of lives. It was the Realm's brutal exploitation of the West that resulted in the death of her father and the enslavement of her mother, and in (presumably) backstabbing these Solars Grace is doing her part in ensuring that that butchery continues, because the alternative must be worse.
In her view, she and her heavenly superiors and overseers of destiny are the better candidates to make that calculation. These returning God-Kings, full of fire and righteous fury? They'll choose wrong.
It's a really fascinating perspective on the setting. I'm really excited to see where this all goes.
In her view, she and her heavenly superiors and overseers of destiny are the better candidates to make that calculation. These returning God-Kings, full of fire and righteous fury? They'll choose wrong.
Remember that the quest summary described Grace as working to prevent a war which would threaten millions of lives, with shadowy forces attempting to escalate the conflict. So things could have consequences beyond the initial loss of life.
Also, while this would interfere with the realms subjugation of the West, the West itself would also likely erupt into conflict over the many valuable sapatries which have long been without defensive armies besides the realms legions.
In her view, she and her heavenly superiors and overseers of destiny are the better candidates to make that calculation. These returning God-Kings, full of fire and righteous fury? They'll choose wrong.
It does not take a lot to convince a Sidereal that they are the best candidate to make that kind of calculus, just generally. Gold Faction Sidereals also think that to various degrees, they're just coming to a different answer.
It does not take a lot to convince a Sidereal that they are the best candidate to make that kind of calculus, just generally. Gold Faction Sidereals also think that to various degrees, they're just coming to a different answer.
These Solars might have a high-minded goal of freeing the West from the Realm's plundering iron fist, but for their plan to have seemingly written off *hundreds of thousands of people* as acceptable casualties is, well.
"Trust me man. I stared at the sun for 30 minutes and he told me that I had to make the world better 'as best I know how'. You got this."
-Sharp-Tongued Umar, Zenith Caste, minutes after convincing a the local kids that they can toootally knock the helmet off the head of that Realm legionnaire.
The walkway leads to another, and then to a rough stone staircase carved into a cavern wall, carrying you ever-lower. You memorised this route in preparation for this plan. It's just a matter of retracing your steps, and watching your footing on the damp wood and stone.
Try as you might, you can't entirely put the sound of the monk's scream out of your mind. Obsessing over every death or misfortune you encounter will only drive you mad, but this one was so pointless, so easily preventable, if your companions were only willing to listen. It's foolish to think like this, of course. These aren't reasonable people you're guiding. They're Anathema, gripped by the near-insanity of Solar Essence, ploughing brutishly through any person or obstacle in their path while thinking themselves righteous. Even if they aren't really possessed by demons who have stolen the power of the sun, in many ways, they are the monsters that your Immaculate upbringing taught you to expect them to be.
This thought doesn't stop the smouldering indignation you feel at having been dismissed and lectured out of hand. If they were capable of following your guidance, what you're doing here might not have been necessary. It reaffirms that reasoning with them is pointless.
You have gained 1 point of Limit. Current Limit: 1/10
All Exalted unknowingly suffer from a baleful death curse placed upon the concept of Exaltation itself, its specific form and manifestation differing between the different types of Exalted. Unlike the Dragon-Blooded, whose behaviour is affected in more subtle ways, the Chosen of the Celestial Incarnae, Sidereal Exalted among them, are driven to far more dramatic manifestations.
Sidereal Essence is heavily defined by instruction, orderliness, and manipulation. As such, the Great Curse takes the form of a growing certainty among a Sidereal that they are right in their beliefs in methods, that they alone understand the correct course of action. It fills them with confidence and self assurance.
This is measured for you through a resource called Limit. As the quest progresses, certain decisions and events will cause you to gain or to lose Limit. When you reach Limit 10, you will experience an episode of Celestial Hubris. This will cause problems for you.
You gain gain Limit under the following circumstances:
- You deny or goes against one of your major or defining intimacies
- Someone ignores your advice or rejects one of your plans
- You receive evidence reaffirming the necessity of your methods
You may lose Limit in the process of carrying out destiny's will, and will lose all of it after an episode of Celestial Hubris.
By the time you get closer to the water level, Radiance's Caste Mark has gone out. Which is just as well — you're not alone anymore. Your way is lit by torches, lanterns, bonfires, and rarer sources of illumination maintained by the folk of the undercity. Ramshackle shelters cluster around one island of crumbling masonry, hollow-eyed beggars shrinking back from your group of heavily armed strangers as you pass. On another, a gang of hard-bitten street toughs cluster around a sloppily repaired First Age building, crude masonry filling in the gaps of the ornate brickwork. The gang eye your valuables speculatively, but quickly avert their eyes when Smiling Chalus raises his massive axe in their direction.
You yourself, with your ill-used clothing and unkempt hair, physically look as though you might belong among these people. But your bearing tells a different story. You are draped in a resplendent destiny of the Pillar, a constellation in the House of Serenity that governs long-term relationships, whether they stand the test of time or fail under pressure. When people look upon you, the impression they get is of a steadfast clerk, a career junior bureaucrat, the kind of woman who one expects to be a fixture of a Thousand Scales office somewhere in the city above. You'd chosen the Pillar for a reason. It not only makes your supposed former profession more believable, it also makes the betrayal you claim to have suffered all the more galling.
You often find the Pillar useful in this way. This is the first time you've used this particular resplendent destiny under such strange circumstances, but you often find the guise of a hardworking junior official useful for moving through multiple levels of Realm society unremarked upon. It is a role you can inhabit with little effort — it's not entirely dissimilar to what you did before you lived in heaven, after all. In truth, however, among those in the House of Serenity, the constellation does not particularly resonate with you.
The constellation of the Pillar is wrapped up in a certain optimism in one's relationships. Holding faith in the goodness of the people around you, viewing human connections as something stable, enduring. It is an outlook you can imagine, but not one that you relate to. The most important relationships in your life have always been ones touched by significant imbalance, whether that be social class or age or supernatural might. Human connection is precious precisely because it can be so precarious and conditional. Bonds can die, or be forgotten. To be close to someone is to give them the power to hurt you, and to hurt in turn. You learned these lessons the hard way from a very young age.
You have been told by friends that this is an excessively gloomy outlook, and you suppose that they may have a point. Maybe that's why you've made such an effort to try and connect with this outlook.
As you go, moving from island to island, crossing over walkways and through rocky passageways, the great stone pillars that hold up the city loom closer into view. They're built on a scale that the Realm would struggle to replicate today, each a monumental work of magic and mundane masonry. Your group mostly proceeds in silence, Chalus walking ahead of you, accepting your quiet directions, Radiance taking up a rear guard, and Flotsam and Rika walking just behind you. You are both highly protected and extremely boxed in.
Eventually, Rika seems to reach a point of satisfaction with whatever her last minute preparations had been, tying her satchel closed and slinging it over her shoulder, opposite her spear. You become aware of her moving up closer behind you, of her gaze following your movements a little more closely than can be merely casual. You're not surprised when she speaks up.
"So! What exactly did you used to do, Breeze?" Rika asks. Her tone betrays a keen interest, but perhaps not actually in the details of your theoretical job. "Something about... weights?"
You've told them that your name is Salt Breeze, unremarkable among Voice-of-the-Tide's largely Western-descended peasantry. Your own name had felt a little too conspicuous — there are few enough low born mortal girls with a name like Singular Grace. "Yes, I was a clerk in a local office of the Ministry for Weights and Measures," you say, maintaining a quiet, studious voice. A thread of nervousness beneath seems entirely appropriate. The persona draws on your experience as a domestic servant from your youth, but also on several petty or unemployed gods you've met in heaven.
"What did you measure?" Rika asks,
"Cargo mostly, my lady," you say. "Spices, usually. My... well, my superior would do the actual weighing and measuring. I would write down what she said. It wasn't very interesting, until the authorities were told about discrepancies. Then she claimed I had been the one taking bribes to fabricate the records."
"Well, you'll never have to deal with that again. And that boss of yours will be sorry, after today," Rika says. "Along with anyone else in this horrible city who hurt you, and the entire Water Fleet."
"You're very kind, my lady."
"Just Rika is fine," she says. The move to do away with formality is always an interesting one. It's at once a request to ignore the difference in power between you, and an admission that she is the one capable of dictating the terms of the conversation. The name 'Joje u Rika' tells you that she was an aristocrat even before she Exalted. Rika slips past you, turning around to face you as she walks backward while the island you're currently on is large enough to accommodate this. She's smiling, but something about her expression makes you feel like a flower she wants to pull up by the roots and keep in a little vase.
Flotsam gives an irritated scoff. "Can we go anywhere without you trying to pick up another stray, Rika?"
Rika shoots him a quick glare. To you, she says: "Don't listen to him, he doesn't know how to be polite."
"She's not like that mud rat girl you picked up in Wu-Jian," Flotsam says, coming to a stop. His voice is thick with scorn, even as he speaks about you like you're not present. "She was born here. Even if she's not rich, she was a collaborator for as long as she could be one."
"I just want to be helpful," you say. They both ignore you.
"She's not a collaborator anymore! She's just Breeze now!" Rika insists. She stops as well, putting a hand on your shoulder as she continues to stare him down, equal parts protective and possessive.
You don't shrug her off — if she's thinking about bedding you, she's not questioning your story. You don't particularly enjoy being handled this way by a near stranger, though, especially not by such a dangerous Anathema. She is a Twilight Caste sorcerer capable of creating horrors and wonders as easily as someone else might sew a shirt. One of the Unclean, who had featured as villains in many of the morality tales that the monks had told you growing up.
"She worked for the Thousand Scales. How many people suffered and died for those spices she was tallying? She's not a victim of the Realm, she was just part of it. There's blood all over her hands." Flotsam's own hands, never far from the hilt of his sword, tighten into fists.
"Leave the girl alone, Flotsam," Radiance says, voice weary. "Whoever she was, she's seen the error of her ways enough to help us. You know Rika is always going to... make friends wherever she pleases."
Flotsam subsides, grumbling. Rika giggles at her word choice. Before Rika lets go of your shoulder, she gives you a reassuring squeeze, and leans in to murmur directly into your ear. "She's right, you know. I do make friends wherever I please." Then she lets go with a smile, releasing you to continue guiding them all.
This plan is risky in several ways — you and your colleague went back and forth debating its merits as opposed to other approaches, and then about as long gathering sufficient support for it to make it viable. Ultimately, you are taking these people very close to their goal, and if things go wrong, it may be too late to course correct. But you're shorthanded — always shorthanded — and your superiors have trusted you to manage this task with the resources you have at your disposal. You won't risk this situation spiralling out into something genuinely disastrous. This plan is the cleanest, fastest way to solve the problem.
"Have you ever been to sea, Breeze?" Rika asks, walking alongside you now. She smiles at the play on your assumed name.
"Not often," you say, "Or very far. I've never gone farther away than the next prefecture."
"You'll love it!" Rika says with baseless confidence, "I know I do. I think my favourite place I've ever been is..."
You allow her to draw you further into conversation. It's better for at least some of them to be lax, overconfident. The sheer arrogance to be this comfortable in the heart of one of the Realm's great cities is staggering already, but you can't take it for granted. So you deliberately lean a little closer to her, answer her questions with more lies, and listen with rapt attention to whatever she wants to tell you.
She is right about one thing — this will all be over soon.
Article:
While you are playing a role, the best deceptions contain some truth. What is something you tell Joje u Rika about yourself or your life that has more truth in it than you intended?
