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Army of Liberty: a Fantasy Revolutionary Warfare Quest

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@Photomajig , I'd like to ask for some clarification of the voting options, since right now there will be confusion between those just voting for the return of the goods, and those voting for the harsher punishments. Since right now they both have the same base.
 
[X] Return the loot to Daurstein.
-[X] And demand harsher punishments.

Yeah, this might mean we can't rely on the VI. to do much fierce fighting in an upcoming battle (though Guillory will likely have a little more time to work on their drill/morale before combat) but honestly? Fuck it. This is probably the best opportunity we'll get to lay down the law - if they're going to be mopey and weak, at least they'll be doing it behind the safety of a river.

It's not really about salvaging our reputation with the locals or idealism or w/e, to me, so much as just asserting authority. They ran roughshod over their orders and our agreement with the city, and I don't like the thought of letting them off with a (relative) slap on the wrist.

(Plus, I do kind of like the characterization of Durand as a real hard-ass drillmaster who's only liked by the troops because she keeps winning. It'd be another fun narrative beat for her first real interaction with VI. Army to be 'you crossed me and you will pay.')

Pinniped said:
-[X] Write-in Name: 1st Elven Regiment of La Durance
-[X] Write-in Name: 1st Human Regiment of La Durance
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Problem here is that they're definitely not the first regiments of La Durance :V - lots of our troops are already locally raised.
 
natruska said:
[X] Return the loot to Daurstein.
-[X] And demand harsher punishments.

Yeah, this might mean we can't rely on the VI. to do much fierce fighting in an upcoming battle (though Guillory will likely have a little more time to work on their drill/morale before combat) but honestly? Fuck it. This is probably the best opportunity we'll get to lay down the law - if they're going to be mopey and weak, at least they'll be doing it behind the safety of a river.

It's not really about salvaging our reputation with the locals or idealism or w/e, to me, so much as just asserting authority. They ran roughshod over their orders and our agreement with the city, and I don't like the thought of letting them off with a (relative) slap on the wrist.

(Plus, I do kind of like the characterization of Durand as a real hard-ass drillmaster who's only liked by the troops because she keeps winning. It'd be another fun narrative beat for her first real interaction with VI. Army to be 'you crossed me and you will pay.')


Problem here is that they're definitely not the first regiments of La Durance :V - lots of our troops are already locally raised.
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I'm worried that Guillory will also just actually really hate this, honestly? Like, he's already a bit skeptical about whether this even matters, which isn't particularly to his credit, but under what authority are we enacting these strict punishments? Despite this, I AM tempted anyways but, y'know.
 
The Laurent said:
I'm worried that Guillory will also just actually really hate this, honestly? Like, he's already a bit skeptical about whether this even matters, which isn't particularly to his credit, but under what authority are we enacting these strict punishments? Despite this, I AM tempted anyways but, y'know.
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Because he's subordinate to us by order of the Convention, as stated in the same letter that asked us to supply him.

[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.
-[X] And demand harsher punishments. You'll not be satisfied with Guillory's planned dismissals and disciplinary actions. You need heads to roll for this. Something visible, so that Daurstein's people will know the perpetrators have faced justice for their crimes. Local opinion loss averted entirely. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 5.
 
[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.
 
The Laurent said:
I'm worried that Guillory will also just actually really hate this, honestly? Like, he's already a bit skeptical about whether this even matters, which isn't particularly to his credit, but under what authority are we enacting these strict punishments? Despite this, I AM tempted anyways but, y'know.
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Honestly I fully expect us to burn our bridges with him here. He will be pissed. But I value doing the right thing here more than keeping a good working relationship with him. But yeah, I am fully aware this is not the optimal option.

I do wonder if it would be better if we personally take responsibility for the harsh punishment. Guillory's men being angry with Raka and the Fifth may be better than them being angry at Guillory since the former may be used to motivate them to outshine the 5th in the upcoming battle out of spite, while the latter is poison to morale.
 
Photomajig said:
Yes, you let him know. He claims to have shared that information with his officers, but the trouble seems to have started with rank-and-file soldiers anyway.
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This makes me more confident in harsher punishment, considering we're not just dealing with the conventions of war or our own idealism here, but specific insubordination as well, and we can point that out to Guillory if he complains. This is a good opportunity to drag the core of our army kicking and screaming into professionalism, too, or at least get a reputation as doing such.

[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.
-[X] And demand harsher punishments. You'll not be satisfied with Guillory's planned dismissals and disciplinary actions. You need heads to roll for this. Something visible, so that Daurstein's people will know the perpetrators have faced justice for their crimes. Local opinion loss averted entirely. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 5.
 
[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.

We're about to be facing down the main Nornish army that's expected to have an overall advantage in quantity and quality. We can't afford for the VI. Army to be knocked down more than this.

Fuck, what a disaster this upcoming battle's shaping up to be. Our allied forces demoralized led by a general who has good reason to resent us while being faced with a superior enemy army. This is the sort of buildup that total military catastrophes are made of.
 
Chimeraguard said:
[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.

We're about to be facing down the main Nornish army that's expected to have an overall advantage in quantity and quality. We can't afford for the VI. Army to be knocked down more than this.

Fuck, what a disaster this upcoming battle's shaping up to be. Our allied forces demoralized led by a general who has good reason to resent us while being faced with a superior enemy army. This is the sort of buildup that total military catastrophes are made of.
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Don't catastrophize too much, remember we still have those surprise units in our back pocket!
 
I'd catastrophize less if we hadn't just accidentally sabotaged our allied army to the point of either insubordination or uselessness in return for the sweet, sweet reward of "fuck-all" because I didn't think to point out "Hey, isn't this kinda micro-manage-y?"

Which I did the last time we were writing letters to Guillory.

Now we have an fucked-up relationship with the main army we're supposed to be working with for the foreseeable future, and our only option to prevent getting a reputation as an oathbreaker is to fuck it up even more. You only get one first impression, and we just turned our first impression with Guillory from a competent general at the Battle of Daurstein to a meddling control freak.

Even if we win the tactical battle next time around, the strategic results if this turn are an unmitigated disaster where our only option is which long-term disaster we want to be suffering from for the rest of the Quest.
 
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[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.
-[X] And demand harsher punishments. You'll not be satisfied with Guillory's planned dismissals and disciplinary actions. You need heads to roll for this. Something visible, so that Daurstein's people will know the perpetrators have faced justice for their crimes. Local opinion loss averted entirely. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 5.

I'm tempted by the chance to have Local opinion loss averted entirely as this option says.

I'm also interested narratively in a characterisation of Durand as being genuinely idealistic in terms of both her own and the revolution's principles and how she puts them into practise.

It would also be useful in preempting the sort of reputation that would make future negotiations more difficult and utilise this as an opportunity to discipline the VI Army though I recognise there is a decent chance for this to backfire
 
The Laurent said:
@Photomajig , I'd like to ask for some clarification of the voting options, since right now there will be confusion between those just voting for the return of the goods, and those voting for the harsher punishments. Since right now they both have the same base.
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The tally should show separately who voted for return and who return + harsh punishment, if the right options are toggled. Worst case scenario, I'll count them manually.
 
Chimeraguard said:
Even if we win the tactical battle next time around, the strategic results if this turn are an unmitigated disaster where our only option is which long-term disaster we want to be suffering from for the rest of the Quest.
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I really think this is reading too much into that scene. It's not like Guillory seems actively resentful in the other scenes (the army's arrival, discussing what is to be done).

Seeing this moment specifically as a career-haunting disaster requires assuming that Guillory really is that worked up about it, won't get over it, and will remain important in the long-run.
 
Chimeraguard said:
I'd catastrophize less if we hadn't just accidentally sabotaged our allied army to the point of either insubordination or uselessness in return for the sweet, sweet reward of "fuck-all" because I didn't think to point out "Hey, isn't this kinda micro-manage-y?"

Which I did the last time we were writing letters to Guillory.

Now we have an fucked-up relationship with the main army we're supposed to be working with for the foreseeable future, and our only option to prevent getting a reputation as an oathbreaker is to fuck it up even more. You only get one first impression, and we just turned our first impression with Guillory from a competent general at the Battle of Daurstein to a meddling control freak.

Even if we win the tactical battle next time around, the strategic results if this turn are an unmitigated disaster where our only option is which long-term disaster we want to be suffering from for the rest of the Quest.
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I don't actually think it matters that much? Like, this is what the text says.

Photomajig said:
You could ask why he's wasted all this time here, then, rather than ride back to actually take charge of his men, but you bite back on the comment and instead attempt to smooth his ruffled feathers. He settles down eventually, but there is a certain tension to your work together for the rest of the day.
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A "certain tension." Like, that's not actually anything? Now, if we then hit his men with a harsh punishment, that's probably going to singe some bridges, but that's something we have control of right here and now.
 
natruska said:
I really think this is reading too much into that scene. It's not like Guillory seems actively resentful in the other scenes (the army's arrival, discussing what is to be done).

Seeing this moment specifically as a career-haunting disaster requires assuming that Guillory really is that worked up about it, won't get over it, and will remain important in the long-run.
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If he doesn't resent us for this, I think he'll definitely resent us for transforming his army from a somewhat rowdy but undisciplined force into an actively raging tire fire right before one of the most critical battles to come by demanding harsher punishments. And because his army is so screwed up we'll probably have to put them in a position where they'll basically be doing nothing important, which will make him resent us even more.

And if we don't demand harsher punishments, Durand gets to walk away from this with a reputation as an oathbreaker who lets other armies sack the cities so she can say she kept the letter of her word, which means we sure as hell won't get any further towns surrendering peacefully to us ever again.

@Photomajig Is there a way we can salvage our relationship with Guillory after this, or is this permanent damage we won't ever be able to fix? Even if we've rendered the VI. Army effectively useless for the upcoming battle due to a general who resents us for treating them like a child and possibly crashing their morale down to a level where they're liable to run the moment they come under fire, I'd feel a lot better if there's a way to actually claw our way back from this in the long term.
 
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[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.

Next time we have to storm a city, make the VI. Army take point to impress upon the survivors why discouraging cities from surrendering to us is stupid.
 
I mean, if we literally just have them return the loot, he's not going to care that much, it won't fully repair our relationship with Daurstein but it'll help, and the unit will still be usable with Morale 5. That's not great, but it's vaguely functional. Bam, just like that. And if we actually win the battle, nobody will give a shit about slightly ruffling Guillory's feathers a month from now.
 
I'm pretty sure that if we'd had someone behave that way to us, treating us like a child who doesn't know how to do their job or basics like "Hey, you know armies need to drill, right?", we'd despise them for the rest of the Quest. Especially if they then proceeded to knock 3-5 Morale off our army.

And I'd expect to receive as we would give, given we're in the reverse of that scenario.
 
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Chimeraguard said:
I'm pretty sure that if we'd had someone behave that way to us, treating us like a child who doesn't know how to do their job or basics like "Hey, you know armies need to drill, right?", we'd despise them for the rest of the Quest.

And I'd expect to receive as we would give, given we're in the reverse of that scenario.
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That's silly? Like, Questers are specifically spiteful because the stakes are nonexistent and there's parasocial involvement in the protagonist. Plenty of people who IRL if someone insulted them wouldn't swear an oath of vengeance love fantasizing about anyone that discomforts their beloved protagonist getting beaten to death with a tire iron.

Real people work with people who've been a dick to them once all the time.
 
[X] Return the loot to Daurstein. It won't be possible to return everything or to guarantee that all of it goes to the rightful owners, but it'll certainly show the people of Daurstein that you are a woman of your word. The VI. Army will not be happy. Local opinion improves. VI. Army's Morale decreases by 3.
 
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