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A Vision in Bronze; A Sidereal quest

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[x] Simply leave

Another funny thought occurred to me. Y'all think Maia swam here? Or maybe in the past couple years she's learned how to cast Floral Ferry, or maybe called up an Agata to ride.
 
[ ] Talk your way out of this
[x] Try to recruit Maia to help you

Conditional for now, pending:

Gazetteer said:
Cover check: ...subsequently risks fraying your resplendent destiny... This is a necessary risk at times.
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So is there an actual probabilistic element here for us as readers/voters, i.e. you'll roll some dice or give us a choice later on that requires us to make the call to let the destiny fray, or should we take this description as indicating that recruiting Maia definitely will result in this destiny fraying?

Gazetteer said:
...the subtle art of guiding her decisions in these small matters without appearing to, armouring her for the social engagement as best you can before getting to step back into the shadows, satisfied with your work. Handling a hundred small things that should be beneath her notice, so that they remain beneath her notice.
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Transferable skills, I guess.

Gazetteer said:
You never got to help Ambraea prepare for her wedding gala, a thought which invokes a strange sense of loss in you.
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D:

Gazetteer said:
The first of the gala's feasts is heavy on traditional Wàn cuisine, every table groaning under the weight of delicacies from across the Eastern Blessed Isle.
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Not really relevant to this specific update but something I've been wondering: this quest uses a lot of references to Creation's ethnicities, where I'm used to older material classifying people based on Direction or nation/polity. Is there any handy guide to these compiled somewhere, or is it just information distributed throughout the books? I find it an interesting touch that adds a certain texture and verisimilitude to the setting.

Gazetteer said:
"I didn't realise you knew so much about weather artifice from the Realm Before."
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God, being a (blunt) sorcerer in a house full of socialites who gets stuck doing a bunch of important socializing because they're short-handed must really be wearing on Ambraea's last nerve by this point. Not sure if Ambar is good for her, or enabling her to say "fuck it, he'll handle the fallout, I'm just going to say it".

Gazetteer said:
Nori smiles coolly, letting the water run out of his hand and back into the pond below. "He died almost five years ago. I hope you'll excuse me — I have just remembered something I need to ask V'neef S'thera."
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Oh that was extremely painful to read.

Gazetteer said:
...she's apparently come in secret anyway purely out of love for her Sworn Kin, which is very annoying for you.
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Love is a pain in the ass.

Gazetteer said:
"Do I look like a lady to you?" Maia asks, voice very quiet near to your ear.
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We're probably never really going to get into whatever Maia's Gender Stuff is, huh. A pity.

Gazetteer said:
The sentry, Wood Sparrow, though, you keep finding in strange places. She speaks to the servants more than the others — this could be simple gruff friendliness, but you don't like it under the circumstances.
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Damn it! The soulless minions of orthodoxy have learned to weaponize class solidarity against us!

Gazetteer said:
As if it's somehow been plucked free from the mirror.
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Now, I hope that means Bitter Cherry has simply stolen a copy and been off, but I'm also worried it implies she may be able to see, hear, or move through the mirror(s) too, which complicates a lot of things.

Also, I like her style. She's at a big rich people party on an island - time to create a storm that strands everyone there and then stage a murder mystery.
 
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kamikasei said:
Now, I hope that means Bitter Cherry has simply stolen a copy and been off, but I'm also worried it implies she may be able to see, hear, or move through the mirror(s) too, which complicates a lot of things.
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Yeah well....

Mirror Slip Trick said:
The Lunar dwells in Creation's secret corners —dreams, shadows, and even reflections. While touching a reflective surface, she can physically enter it, becoming a living reflection.

[...]

With an Appearance 4, Essence 3 repurchase, theLunar can pay five motes to travel from the reflectivesurface she inhabits to another such surface withinshort range (medium range if she has Appearance 5,Essence 5) as her move action. She must be able to seeher destination but doesn't need an unobstructed path.
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kamikasei said:
So is there an actual probabilistic element here for us as readers/voters, i.e. you'll roll some dice or give us a choice later on that requires us to make the call to let the destiny fray, or should we take this description as indicating that recruiting Maia definitely will result in this destiny fraying?
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I haven't been using dice for this quest, so take it to mean that Grace understands that there is a significant risk of fraying her RD if she goes with that.

kamikasei said:
Not really relevant to this specific update but something I've been wondering: this quest uses a lot of references to Creation's ethnicities, where I'm used to older material classifying people based on Direction or nation/polity. Is there any handy guide to these compiled somewhere, or is it just information distributed throughout the books? I find it an interesting touch that adds a certain texture and verisimilitude to the setting.
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For characters from the Threshold, usually I'm using polity of origin, with some nods to a larger regional or ethnic identity if the books provide them. Sapphiria is a Ys, who are from the city state of Ysyr on the Island of Gralon in the Dreaming Sea, and are related culturally/linguistically to the other Gralon peoples. Scattered Silver and Smiling Chalus are both from the Coral Archipelago, but the former is from Brightwork in the Auspice Isles, and the latter is Azurite from an undisclosed part of the Azurite Empire. (Silver is also a Tya, but that's more of a larger cultural tradition/subculture than anything). This kind of thing is talked about in individual writeups for places in books like the Realm and Across the Eight Directions. There's no central source for it in general.

The Blessed Isle has many different peoples , being more or less a continent in its own right, although the Realm is lighter on detail for some of them than I'd like. The Wàn are the dominant ethnicity of the Isle, with me interpreting that to mean they're native to the Eastern Blessed Isle, and that the Empress and much of the Dynasty are Wàn. There are also the Kashkassu from the mountains to the west of the Imperial Mountain, and the Rivanoa from the Silk-and-Pearl Peninsula, who both face varying degrees of religious persecution etc.

kamikasei said:
We're probably never really going to get into whatever Maia's Gender Stuff is, huh. A pity.
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Maia is mostly just having a chip on her shoulder about not being a Dynast there, more than gender stuff. If she lived in a social context where it were a thing she would probably like she/they pronouns, but she is mostly just a masculine-presenting woman.
 
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Actually, is there a way to, idk, lie that we were asked to perform a task by a suspiciously mysterious figure, and thought nothing much of it at the time because we are simply a lowly servant who does as they are told?

In such a way that we deflect suspicion towards looking for shapeshifters plotting an assassination, obviously.
 
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[x] Talk your way out of this

Is what I would choose as the most in character thing for Grace to do. It's a safe option.

While as a readerI'd love to see more interactions between Grace and Ambrea's Hearth, I don't think recruiting Maia is a good idea at this point.
Gazetteer said:
Maia has an inscrutability about her, and you can neither fully control her actions nor fully account for all her motives. You do, however, know that she loves Ambraea and is loyal to her Hearthmates, and you are confident that you can convince her to act if you impress upon her that they are in danger.
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Apart from not breaking our cover do we really let Maia the dangerous assassin who kills out of love loose on this wedding reception full of dynasts who could all be the lunar?
Actually now I kinda want to see it. But it's not the responsible option.
 
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Year 1, Arc 3, vote 02 New
  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by Gazetteer on Feb 12, 2025 at 10:08 AM, finished with 66 posts and 44 votes.
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  • New
  • Voting
    • Yesman said:
    I forgot, is Maia shorter than Grace? I know Maia is shorter than Ambraea, but well, Ambraea is just a tall woman anyway.
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    Well, here's a quick height chart of Grace standing next to Ambraea and her friends. The images chosen here are just ones the site had, and are only very dubiously representative of the actual characters beyond helping them look distinct. These heights more represent a vibe in my head, rather than being entirely accurate down to the centimeter.

     
    The last entry had me thinking that Maia was stretching a bit to reach Grace's neck with a knife, but no, Grace is shorter than I thought she'd be. Just an inch taller than Maia.
     
    Yesman said:
    The last entry had me thinking that Maia was stretching a bit to reach Grace's neck with a knife, but no, Grace is shorter than I thought she'd be. Just an inch taller than Maia.
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    I said that Amiti and Grace are roughly the same height in the last update, come to think:

    Gazetteer said:
    "Oh, good! I'm absolutely starving!" The woman who opens the door is your height, insubstantially built, with a distinctly unhale cast to her prominent Aspect Markings. She looks as though she's been drained of all colour and warmth — pallid skin, bone-white hair in almost the same shade, and wide, icy-grey eyes. She's standing too close, and you feel her mere proximity in your bones like winter's chill. She snatches up a full plate of fried desserts from the top tier of your tray and puts one hastily into her mouth.

    You bow as best you can given your burdens, channeling the genuine alarm and fear this woman had once inspired in you to maintain your character. "I hope everything is to your liking, my lady!" you say, voice going a little shrill.

    "Amiti, please accost someone else's servant and let mine do her job, if you will," says L'nessa from behind Amiti, long suffering in a fond way.
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