Read it through and took a nap, ready to think on the update now.
[X] Attrition. Slow, measured. Inflict the greatest material damage for fewest lives lost. Use your Night Witches sparingly, leveraging your immunity to illusion, target ammunition dumps, ballista batteries - tighten a vice around Phalanx Hypnos that will expose him. Then your strong reserve of Night Witches will strike, and end him.
[X] Use the Auratic Thread.
If the option to use a shiny new thing presents itself, I can't help but want to pick it. It also sort of represents that things aren't broken off between the two sides after the Immaculate Incident, and if it proves helpful, leaves at least a positive memory of the Titan's side of things. At first, I thought it might've been some minor sabotage after that Karuna scene, but the clarification on using it with the right plan makes it seem like it's just genuine but untested aid. I feel like Hit and Run might've also been really good for the information gathering the thread encourages, but maybe I'm thinking too much of the idea of the wire pulling back people as part of the "run" part of the plan.
[X] Our Sister of Supreme Mercy. This is an idealization of your axiom The Witch they Wanted, reframed as a protection of the weak against the strong.
[X] Our Sister of Supreme Passion. This is an idealization of your axiom Blackstar, reframed as a position of overwhelming passion for the pain of others.
The scenes where Harmony goes off on everyone was entertaining, cathartic, and necessary, but I personally think it's the type of thing you don't exactly want to be crystallized as something even more fundamental to yourself. These two reform the two more sensitive sides(in my opinion) into something more complete, while I feel like the other two don't really feel like improvements of the axioms or Harmony in ways that matter? I prefer Blackstar personally, but the title for The Witch is way better in my opinion. It sounds like one of those ominously ironic titles, like naming your murdersword Kindness.
[X] The Caprices. Gods, in a human shape. Ever-passionate, ever-spiteful monsters, too-caring, too-interested, their hands on the lathe of fate, their intentions malice, evil, cruelty. The Immaculates, the Prime Souls, the Titans.
I think there's a case to be made against Colossi in other types of stories(and a case supporting more flawed but adaptable gods), but so far, I think most of the story has focused on just how terrible human-like gods are. The Bronze King, the Carnosan paradise shattered, the seed/genetic banks gone forever, countless other visions crushed, and the Koinon dream, in my opinion, painfully corrupted. The Prime Souls, vengeance unchecked and the people's very history and culture forever tainted by their touch. The Immaculates, what the actual hell. It also doesn't feel like it'd make sense to choose Colossi since, I feel like we're kind of aiming to support/become one? Unless I totally misread that.
Overall really enjoyable update. I understand some of the thoughts on the longer update, but I don't really think I wanted to miss any of it? It was a bit fragmentary and jarring when scenes shifted, but I think that's the point. I sympathize with Karuna a lot though. Like, even if you can point out he's being a hypocrite, I think it takes a lot to look at something you cared about, see them part of something completely against everything you stand for, and go, no. I can't be part of this.
Side note, I know Koinon has a lot of stacked in their favor right now, but it makes me wonder how they still got away with the most gains it feels like after the war. This is supposed to be the turnaround against them, I think? I guess the Titans are still doomed, though.
