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After the Ashes: A Fire Nation Chancellor Quest

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Leaning towards opium addict, just feel like it fits more with the character imo and chasing the dragon is sufficiently punny being a fire bender.

The lesbianism being a flaw on par with opium addiction or being absurdly corrupt makes me feel it's definitely not just a youthful dalliance that Namiko can just casually live with while marrying someone else.
 
Being corrupt will simply allow us to get shit done!

That it makes us filthy rich is just a nice ancillary benefit.
 
I would like the idea of have Merchant Contacts, however that Opiun addiction is too great a flaw for me.
 
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I'd like to broach the possibility of going with the military contact. Getting coup'd is supposed to be a significant risk starting out here, and starting out with the reputation of one who is (supposedly) unwavering in fighting seditionists could do a great deal to blunt initial hostility from the Ozai-appointed supremacist-inundated military that is suddenly going to find itself with a lot of free time and their careers under scrutiny.
 
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As a general rule, you can assume that the severity of these flaws are roughly equal. I've packaged them with benefits that might make some more palatable, but each will have a substantial narrative effect.
 
Granite said:
deputy minister of Public Wellbeing. Aya Matsura
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It not like we are with some random peasant girl or something, she a high up minister how we can promote to give more people in the cabinet.

Plus the Ministry of Public Wellbeing as part of Department of the Interior is unlikely to get destroyed by Zuko.
 
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Earl Warren said:
Well we can disappoint them if we really want to.
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Don't assume we can do so easily. Ignoring the emotional connections our character has with her family, the family represents our power-base. We need their money and influence in the colonies to keep up afloat in Caldera City where we don't have many friends. If the patriarch is demanding we get married, we can't exactly just say no because we're secretly in love with a woman. Family is everything in this sort of society, especially for us.
 
Granite said:
As a general rule, you can assume that the severity of these flaws are roughly equal. I've packaged them with benefits that might make some more palatable, but each will have a substantial narrative effect.
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  • [Opium Addict, Neutral Ground, Mercantilist Contacts] Both neutral ground and contacts with mercantilists are very good, which means opium addiction is not just "needs to destress every so often costing AP"
  • [Absurdly Corrupt, Efficient Kleptocrat, Extremely Wealthy] Corruption will obviously cause problems with personality and our interactions with Gaang, not to mention how being caught could be a problem, but being efficient kleptocrat means that we are good with stewardship and could probably catch a lot of people who are less efficient than us. Not to mention, money could be very useful given our position to do insider trading against our political opposition.
  • [Dynastic Pressure, Confirmed Bachelorette, Amorous Alliance] So so much drama. The choice between love and politics, not to mention risk of a political crisis if someone breaks the doors to our closet before we change the law will probably take at least months, if not years, but alliance with Ministry of Public Wellbeing could help with managing the economy and pushing natural stewardship
  • [False Glory, Callous Schemer, Trusted Colonial] Zuko will give us our dismissal if he finds out, but scheming could be useful as would be being trusted by metropole
 
BoSPaladin said:
First and foremost. Does Confirmed Bachalorette grant access to Bisexuality like General Bishop, or is this solely attraction to women?
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Purely attraction to women; bisexuality would be a bit too easy to navigate here :p

Diadochi said:
@Granite how illegal is opium ?

and how enforced are the laws against homosexuality?
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It's legal but frowned upon by some. The effects of the addiction are sufficiently debilitating as a flaw in their own right.
They're enforced but the scandal would be the bigger concern. Others have raised familial concerns and those would certainly be a factor as well if you were outed.
 
One of the reasons I'm not inclined to go with Dynastic Pressure is because this Quest has the possibility to be bleak, harsh and dystopian at times, and will involve us making nasty compromises just to keep things from falling apart. We'll be dealing with a whole lot of racism all the time. Adding having the stress of having to hide an illegal relation, and having increased tension with our family feels like it's a bit too much of that? I'd like to keep rooting for our character to WANT to improve the Fire Nation, and that is hard if we're dealing with its scorn from two angles. The Opium addiction is a vice that is our own flaw, and something that might, with sufficient effort, cost and story time even lead to a story about conquering it. (The other two vices I admit, would make me like her less, so I'm definitely not hoping for that one)

And you know, I think playing a very skilled, very driven, very capable character who only really has one way to relax and wind down.

In short, the opium addiction has a lot more story beats that I haven't seen, and are more bleak about our personal emotional state that needs healing, rather than our relation with the Fire Nation.
 
Granite said:
It's legal but frowned upon by some. The effects of the addiction are sufficiently debilitating as a flaw in their own right.
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Though in regards to the addiction, how bad are we talking here?

Would it be to the tune of 'can't go a couple of hours without lighting up a pipe' or would it be we smoke some at the end of the day to unwind?
 
Uh if we go full corruption I'd say kiss those hopes of actually reforming the social benefits or economics goodbye since that means inherently tying ourselves to those networks. This isn't just skimming a % off the top, it's being right at the center of a network that lives off being inefficient as fuck so we and a small select few benefit.
 
Mechanically, I assume being gay here is going to be a sword of Damocles, and delicious blackmail for our opponents if they get wind. That being said, I also think it's the least interesting,

Honsetly, I really enjoy the idea of our character having some major stain on their character. It also gives Namiko a direction for personal growth, interacting with the Gaang and working towards actually making the world a better place, there's plenty of fertile soil for some very juicy come to Jesus moments.


[] … bribing one of the several majordomos of the royal household for information on the most recent development within the palace. The colonies practically ran off of graft, so it was little surprise that a scion of the greatest of the bureaucratic families would be well experienced in dealing with such things. She proved an almost frighteningly efficient kleptocrat, leveraging her friends and connections to both shore up the position of the Morishita and ensure that she held an ample supply of personal funds. [Absurdly Corrupt, Efficient Kleptocrat, Extremely Wealthy]

[] … leaning on an up-and-coming general in the domestic forces to share what he knew about the coming changes. Chojiro Hiruma had been a dead-end colonel in Colonial Affairs when they'd first met; they saw the opportunities that they offered one another and collaboration quickly developed. Together, they maneuvered her rivals into adjacency of a more radical faction and then provided those rabble-rousers with the weapons and incentive they needed to rise up. They were allowed to rage for long enough to scare the viceroys before the two descended upon them with their forces, strangling that gasp of freedom in its cradle. They've been bound ever since, each enjoying the fruits of their treachery. [False Glory, Callous Schemer, Trusted Colonial]

These two really fascinate me from a character perspective, and give some solid mechanical advantage as well.
 
My read on the Opium Addict flaws is - assuming this is publicly known - that Namiko is seen as morally decadent with her dedication and political stances put in question. If her addiction is a secret, then there's the possibility the Mercantilists might hold that over her head down the line, but the damage would be to how she has been perceived by the public.
 
Brainbow said:
My read on the Opium Addict flaws is - assuming this is publicly known - that Namiko is seen as morally decadent with her dedication and political stances put in question. If her addiction is a secret, then there's the possibility the Mercantilists might hold that over her head down the line, but the damage would be to how she has been perceived by the public.
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Also the actual physical toll addiction places on the body. There is a vital meeting we need to be at in order to pursue our agenda, but unfortunately we're seriously jonesing for a hit and the addiction wins out, costing us.
 
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Brainbow said:
My read on the Opium Addict flaws is - assuming this is publicly known - that Namiko is seen as morally decadent with her dedication and political stances put in question. If her addiction is a secret, then there's the possibility the Mercantilists might hold that over her head down the line, but the damage would be to how she has been perceived by the public.
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I mean, she's meeting with other factions in the opium den so they're also indulging in said drug.
 
All of these drawbacks will have a cost, obviously. I feel the question is, which consequences are the most interesting and fun to read. Having our character enrich herself while the others starve, or sell out people trying to improve their lot are not fun to read for me because I'd rather like the character. Having our character have her family relation suffer, have to be the face of a government that persecutes people for the same love she bears is less fun because I'd like the country we fight for less (and it is already a hard country to like)

The addiction is a personal problem, with impacts on our profession of course, but I like how it opens both doors to interesting bad things, but also hopefully good things as friends we make might support us in dealing, and maybe one day ridding ourselves of it.
 
I'm just going to say it outright.

Addiction to opium Terrifies me.
Historically, and in the modern era, plying women with drugs and alcohol was a good method gangs used to trap women in debt, exert control over them, and coerce them into performing sex work.

'Crack whore' Isn't just an expression. When drugs lower inhibitions and instill chemical dependence. Addicts will do literally anything to get high, and especially to avoid withdrawal. Facts that gangs and criminals have used to their advantage for literal millenia.

Being addicted, dependent on the drug opens the door to all kinds of risks. It leaves us more vulnerable to blackmail as its frowned upon. Access to the drug can be used as leverage over us. If our suppliers deny it to us.

Like. As an addict we might not start out absurdly corrupt. But it would leave us uniquely vulnerable to rapidly being compromised in that manner.

And admittedly, us using a 'neutral ground' opium den, higher class provides a slightly higher degree of safety. But the price of the drug will jump in line with that, as addicts aren't just paying for the drug itself, but additionally paying a premium for safety. Or, as much safety as possible, which isn't much.

Lowered inhibitions. Memory issues. That's a recipe for absolute horror if we're questioned about something that's supposed to be secret and we don't remember telling people.

Minister Qin is looking for a fall guy, a patsy, and being a drug addict would leave us as an easy target to pin the blame on.

Out of all the options. I am soundly convinced that a chemical dependency would be the worst flaw. Easily leading to someone who engages in corruption and/or sells out others to maintain access to the drugs.

I might be interested if it was just recreational opium use. But starting with outright addiction? A hell no from me.
 
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