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An Utterly Thankless Job (Alt. Title: No SV, You Are A Logistics Officer)

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CharGen 7 (End)
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    • [X] You considered the query a bit before settling at the answer. "Being unorthodox does have their merits... but there's nothing wrong with mastering the basics either." You somewhat suspect that, as good as Karamovich is, his loss and tie record in duel has something to do with his fighting style being countered in some manner. Turn Melee Combat Dice Pool from [2d20] to [3d10+1d5+5] and Ranged Combat Dice Pool from [1d20+1d15] to [3d10+5].

    Karamovich blinked at your answer, before sighing. "Well, I guess you did learn a lesson. It's just not the one that I expected you wanted you to. He shrugged. "Ah well. It's something. I guess."

    "Well," You started. "I was wondering about your dueling records. Your losses and ties, to be specific."

    "Oh?" The First Lieutenant straightened up, clearly taking interest. "Explain."

    "Well, your fighting style is definitely not something that can be replicated with ease, but I can't help but wonder how those two statistics occurs."

    "Well, as you can see with our fight, sometimes luck is not on my side."

    "But during other times?" You prodded.

    "The other times, Mistress, is when I fought against truly skilled opponents or people who are just as mad as I am." He reflexively brushed the side of head. Your nodded in understanding.

    "Did you mean the shove-"

    "Ssshhh!" Karamovich hushed you, slightly panicked. "The Butcher is also in this train, don't mention anything in regards of him."

    You nodded. following the Hor-Herren's words. You're not someone who fall into army superstition lightly. Though having said that, The Radamantine Butcher is probably an exception to the rule. "Okay, so instead of speaking about him, how about, um... How long was I out again?"

    "Ten hours. It's now seven." Karamovich said. "The physicians said that you'll recover in two weeks. Getting hit by four blank impacts and a bayonet is not something that can be shrugged off easily, not even for Mages."

    "And whose fault is that?" You said flatly, to the utter non-apologetic look of your superior.

    "Well, you didn't yield so I see no reason to give you any mercy. Submission rules, remember?"

    You sigh at that, trying to sit yourself despite the protest lodged by your abdomen. Karamovich hands you a glass of scotch after you did. "What for?"

    "For a fortuitous future." He said, raising his own glass. "A good toast as any in these uncertain times, wouldn't you agree?"

    You nodded, smiling at that. "For a fortuitous future."

    CharGen Complete.
    Tracking Result:
    CharGen 1:
    > Start as Two Named. Stable Upbringing. Start with Familial Relationship Bonds.
    > Start as a Female Officer. Unlocks potential issues and opportunities.
    > (Unexpectedly) Gain Magic/Ides Manipulation. Unlocks potential issues and opportunities.
    CharGen 2:
    > Start with an affinity and a large boost to Stewardship Skills. Unlocks new opportunities and options.
    > Start with Companion, Emil Gram-Grelav, a Diplo-Commander Mage.
    CharGen 3:
    > Start with 1 Reputation Score and 3 Infamy Score. Unlocks further issues.
    > Start with a normal Companionship Bond with Emil. Unlocks further issues and opportunities.
    > Gain small boost to "Charming Persuasion" Skill.
    > Gain small boost to every Stewardship Skills.
    > Gain Ides Code Batumulus, conferring bonus to certain Dice Pools.
    CharGen 4:
    > Gain a secondary affinity and a small boost to Martial Skills. Unlocks new opportunities and options.
    > Start with a Troubled Superior Bond with Karamovich Hor-Herren, a Martial-Commander Duelist.
    CharGen 5:
    > Start Turn with Wounded Malus.
    > Upgrade Troubled Superior Bond to Familiar Superior Bond due to duel result.
    > Start to shift Infamy Score due to duel result.
    CharGen 6:
    > Upgraded Melee and Ranged Combat Dice Pools.

    Character Sheet Completed!

    Name: Winslett Hertz
    Age: 22
    Rank: Second Lieutenant
    Rep./Inf. Score: 1/3
    Description: The sole child of Malcolm Hertz and Henrietta Hertz (née Sadler). A somewhat coarse yet very ambitious young Mage. Fresh of Pennsbrooke Hall, she is ready to make her mark in the turmoiled world.

    Traits:
    Tenacious: When health drops to Three Pips, do not gain penalties to rolling.
    Lucky: ????

    Stats
    Martial
    Battlefield Awareness: [2d15+10] (Batumulus confers +10 bonus)
    Melee Combat (Sword): [3d10+1d5+5]
    Ranged Combat (Autorevolver): [3d10+5]
    Command (Platoon): [2d15]​
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    Diplomacy
    Charming Persuasion: [1d25+1d20]
    Roguish Persuasion: [1d20+1d15]​
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    Stewardship
    Accounting Acumen (Battalion): [3d20+10]
    Administrative Acumen (Company): [2d20+2d15]
    Managerial Acumen (Company): [2d20+2d15]​
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    Intrigue
    Covert Intrigue: [2d15]
    The Invisible Hand: [2d15]
    The Invisible Dagger: [1d40]​
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    Piety
    Fervor: [1d30]
    Willpower: [1d45]​
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    Magic
    Theoretical Understanding: [2d30]
    Magic Potential: [2d35+8]
    Practical Understanding: [4d15+5] (Batumulus confers +5 bonus)
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    ​

    ​
    ​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Wrangling with the BBCode when sleepy is not ideal, especially when there are snags in the formatting. Things should be fixed now, formatting-wise.

    Logistics Quest will be taking a small 'hiatus' of sorts where I deal with the front page and structure around what is essentially Chapter 1 of this Quest. Depending on my muse, I will post the Roads Not Travelled post, further mechanical updates, and the first update of the Chapter around three to four days from now, less if I found nothing else to do. As usual, if you have questions, ping me as I wrangle with things. Setting up actual codex entries might be a bit of a hard thing to do if I am to maintain a (near-)daily rate of update, so feel free to ask more about the setting and more.
     
    other then not really being clear on how the mechanics work looks like an interesting quest you got here.

    looking forward to where this leads too

    also wow not at all the good at commanding ppl are we?
     
    Redhead222 said:
    other then not really being clear on how the mechanics work looks like an interesting quest you got here.
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    Thank you and yes, the mechanics are not quite clear and very much a WIP every step of the way. A great deal of it is tied to the narratives and that takes precedence over the mechanics at times. I am trying to expand and clarify a lot of things so it would be nice that, after this 'hiatus', people tell me what is not yet explained.

    And also yes. Actual commanding is not at all Hertz's strong suit. Her job is much more important than that, which is feeding and arming said people~
     
    oh i understand that part for sure it just you know young officer and all and almost no skill in commanding ppl might become a thing.
    but seeing she is not in a command roll at this time its not a major thing.
     
    This is great, I like the dice system :) and the fact that we got magic via luck!
     
    What current effect does magic have on warfare? All Ides seen so far were personal-level, but what is the ceiling for magical power?
     
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    Winslett and Emil: The Ship (by Andelevion)
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    • Anyway, this is fun and also i love her picture.

    It's kind of a waifu-design, but something about it is really cute and elegant and I can dig it? Are we adding our character sheet/companion bonds to the saved posts in the front page? Cause that might be a good idea.

    and also, in honor of husbando, here's a sketch for The Ship. Am I hasty? Sure. But I Love........them............

     
  • Media
    • FortTell said:
    What current effect does magic have on warfare? All Ides seen so far were personal-level, but what is the ceiling for magical power?
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    Magic/Ides have a significant impact to the battlefield. Currently, nearly every nation work with the doctrinal thought of using Mages as the spear tip, to bring a decisive blow or to turn the tide of battle. Conversely, this means that the doctrinal counterplay is to send your own Mages to counter, or to use people like Karamovich and Francesca as dueling counters.

    But that's all on personal scale. On a more strategic scale, Ides Manipulation is more, in orders of magnitude, devastating. This devastation is the reason there's the Marden Front in the first place. Without wishing to spoil much, let's say that Wollenfrei Empire is not the most magically gifted combatant in the war.
    Andelevion said:
    and also, in honor of husbando, here's a sketch for The Ship. Am I hasty? Sure. But I Love........them............
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    I... simply do not have any words and is simply honored to get fanart. I expected to get through the quest without getting any. Thank you, Andelevion. Threadmarked and I will need to find a way to reward you for it, other than being even more dedicated to seeing this Quest push through, that is.

    And yes, the character sheet/Dramatis Personae is going to be up in the next four hours or so. And alongside it, the first installment of Roads Not Travelled.
     
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    Roads Not Travelled: CharGen (Part 1 of 3)
  • Apocrypha
    • Roads Not Travelled: CharGen (Part 1 of 3)
    Welcome to the Roads Not Travelled section of the Quest. This is where your perpetually sleepy and lethargic QM outline the what-ifs that would have happened. This section will also cover what you picked, if only to contextualize what exactly happened. In this post, I will outline the decisions not taken (and taken) on CharGen 1 and 2. Originally, I planned on making it between CharGen 1 to 3 but considering the length of CharGen 1's choices alone, I felt cutting them into a more manageable piece might be better.​

    CharGen 1 Choices​
    Gender Vote
    This one is, as can be seen with CharGen 3, is not a purely cosmetic vote. Women rights are something much stronger than the period of time the Quest is based on (early-1900s) on account of the fact female Mages can blast fireballs just as well as male Mages. That said, the treatment gets slightly more period accurate if you happen to be the 98% of the population that can't sling fireballs.

    Life isn't hunky dory if you're a male Mage either. You will be targeted for your Magic Potential, due to the (maybe true maybe not) belief that children between Mages tend to result in a child that is also a Mage. This would've led to perhaps the most utterly dreaded vote in the Questing community, the so-called 'waifu' vote (Or 'husbando' vote but that got sidestepped pretty hard, more on that later.)

    [] One Named
    This would have been the utter shounen subversion option, perhaps. Your Patron picked you simply because you start with a 1d100 in Magic Potential. You are, as a talent, would be utterly indispensable to contesting the presence of hostile mages. Your magic combat potential is simply unparalleled in one-on-one duel. Your presence alone would be a sheer morale multiplier, perhaps one that would've made you into an archetypical Jeanne d'Arc figure.

    Which is why you're pointedly not going in the front line. Your Patron is an Intrigue-focused character who knows that you are proverbially holding a giant sign that simply reads "KILL OR CAPTURE AT LITERALLY ALL COST". Your existence as a trump card is a state secret available to the highest echelon of society. You would be part of a covert group that will run high-risk mission interspersed with your cover job. Your successes and exploits would be relegated to the annals of the deepest and most secure archives of the state. Your job as a Logistics Officer is a great cover... it's just not the one that you excel in the slightest (There would've been no option for you to focus on Stewardship Skills). Which is bad because as part of the deep cover and classified info, you are supposed to do your job.

    Fortunately, you're aided in several. You have a handler, who would have either been a 'subordinate' or a superior who can waive or handle some of the tasks you're supposed to do as a Logistics Officer. Not to mention the fact that you're equipped with the best of Ides Code available to help you in your run, not that you can show them off nilly willy either. You also have the clandestine backing of the entire Wollenfrei Empire, which can allow you to Requisition (new mechanic, TBA) things to help you run your job as well. Of course, it does not mean much if the Supply Chains (also new mechanic, TBA) happen to be bombed to bits and you are, say, cut off behind the enemy lines. But you know, some benefits are situational and all that~

    Oh, as an orphan, you're carrying some hefty upbringing baggages. Which would have carried several repercussions. The bad kinds.

    [] Three Named
    This is the profligate option. The option in which you can be pretty sure that you'll be able to contribute to the war effort with your own coffers. The option in which you start higher in every single base Skills by virtue of a more refined and educated upbringing. The option in which you start with Ides Codes (yes, plural) of your selection.

    Also, the option in which you pointedly do not have Magic Potential.

    Now admittedly, you could've still be a Mage on top of those advantages, but a roll result of 22 sort of put a stop to that line of thought. Had this option been picked, you would've also been forced to roll a dice to see how a possibly sheltered teenager who used to have things to their way suddenly not get something so coveted react to this revelation. That'd have been 'interesting', to say the least. You got thrown into the spot of being a logistics officer due to losing in the usual noble intrigue, which also forces you to pick an enemy character. Which would've been 'fun'.

    Also, this is the option in which you start with a betrothal arrangement with someone of the opposite gender. Actual romantic feelings to one or the other may vary, but this is would've left you with a character that, at worst, would be an asset, or at best, would be a Second Companion (more on that later).

    [X] Two Named
    The one you picked. And the one where the descriptor of 'luck' is the most apt one to be had. This is the middle-ground option. Or rather, it should be. You start without any upbringing baggages, unlike One Named option. You do start with Familiar Relationship Bonds (more on that later). But neither do you start with anything especially great, unlike Three Named option.

    That is, until you rolled 78. That put a stop to that line of thought of 'anything especially great'.
    /
    CharGen 2 Choices​
    Affinity Choices
    This one is self-explanatory. The vote is all about the Primary Affinity of the MC. The four options headed your way were a pick between the Stats "Stewardship", "Martial", "Diplomacy" (with a side boost to "Intrigue"), and "Magic". Different Named options have certain restrictions on what Primary Affinity they are unable to advance in. Intrigue and Piety are locked off to Two Named. One Named do not have Stewardship or Diplomacy option but do start with the choice of Intrigue as a Primary Focus. Three Named, of course, do not have Magic option, but they do get to pick two focus for their Primary Affinity, to simulate the their more sophisticated learning opportunity.

    Companion Choices
    This is the big one. This sort of chooses what sort of person who you can count on when the going gets tough. And of course, the other way round, the 'drawback' is that it is hard to downright impossible to try and ignore your Companion's requests or pleas for help. The choices are as follows:
    Vocalend said:
    [] A man in the same officer uniform as you. Right. He never seem to fit his clothes, always looking too much like a scoundrel for it. Not helped, of course, by the fact that he always carries on his waist a trench shovel. A small scar ran along the top of his left eye. It's a detail that you'll never forget from him. Due to the simple fact that you had inflicted it on him.
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    Remember The Radamantine Butcher mentioned in the last CharGen? This is him. A former death-row prisoner who got his pardon when, during the first weeks of the war, he defended the town of Radamantine after being assaulted by an enemy Battalion. He is credited with two hundred confirmed kills, of which ten of them were Mages he dueled personally. It is said that the shovel he carries is the same one he uses in Radamantine as his main weapon, utilizing his Ides to such an precise extent that the trench shovel turns into a makeshift Ides Code. His sheer presence is utterly terrifying to behold, making him a character with an Infamy Score of 8.

    And just so happens, Hertz would've been the closest thing he has to a handler. Or well, monster tamer. Leash holder, if one's brave enough to utter it in his earshot. 'Might makes right' is his credo and Hertz managed to beat him well enough.

    The Radamantine Butcher is a pure-Combat duelist beatstick with a secondary-specialization at "Roguish Persuasion". He is simply a murder blender who can and will mulch any combatant headed his (and thus Hertz's) way. He is capable of some subtlety and actual diplomacy, but he leaves that to you as the handler. Picking him would result in you being put together as a joint Mage Unit.

    The Companion Relationship between him and Hertz relies on how much Hertz found the Butcher's presence acceptable. A Strained Bond would give her the inverse of Emil's vote, 3 Reputation/1 Infamy, at the expense of Hertz being unsure that being handed the leash to an extremely dangerous blender. A normal Bond would've given her 2 of each Scores, on account of fully accepting that she has a beatstick at her beck and call, making her just that bit more violent and unscrupulous in dealing with obstacles. No matter what, being in close proximity of The Radamantine Butcher would give Hertz some hefty Melee Combat boost.

    Vocalend said:
    [] A woman in the same officer uniform as you. Her eyes held concern and not a small amount of exasperation. She's taller and a slight deal more attractive (and bustier) than you. All the better to avert people's gaze from the revolvers hanging from her hip holsters. It's something that a lot of people fall for on spars.
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    Anya Syle is, in many ways, a mirror of Winslett Hertz. Both are simple girls with the simple ambition of being more than they could be. Both happen to get the chance of achieving said goal, both having Ides Manipulation of their own. Both happen to be scouted by capable Patron who both recognized their respective charge's talents.

    It is no wonder, then, that the two would find their similarities a comfort and something that strengthened their relationship to that of a Companionship.

    Anya Syle, however, is not a Stewardship-focused officer like Hertz. She is a hybrid Intrigue-Magic Duelist who is nonetheless exceedingly good at her job as an Intelligence Officer. Her posting, much like Emil, would've brought her far from Hertz. It's hard to keep in touch when your job entails being a covert agent.

    The Companionship Bond between Hertz and Syle depends on how much they find each other's Companionship to be. There are many forms of Companionship, after all. There's the more platonic type, conferring the two of them normal Companion Bond, with 2 Reputation and 0 Infamy Scores gain. Then there's the more romantic type, which confers a Strained Companion Bond, which also confers 2 Reputation and 0 Infamy Scores gain. The strain comes from the fact that while the relationship is acceptable (Names wise, which is why Hertz and Emil pairing is substantially more dangerous), both Hertz and Syle understand that their posting would very well put them far way from one another and there's a good chance that one of them would die well before the other. Mending that bridge, however, has the chance of turning their Companionship to a Special Bond.

    Vocalend said:
    [X] A man in the much personalized officer uniform than you. Ah, him. With his wry smirk and... he's also holding a glass of wine. Of course he would have the same idea as you on what to do on mornings like these. Well, you and him often got the same ideas running through your minds. Which explains your affinity with each other despite your differing number of Names.
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    The picked option. Emil Gram-Grelav. There's not much to be said, mostly because a relationship between Hertz and Emil hinges on CharGen 3... which is not covered in this post.

    And that covers the first installment of Roads Not Travelled. Next two installment might take a bit longer to write. If there's something I missed or you want to particularly know in this installment, do let me know.
     
  • Apocrypha
    • Alphaleph said:
    If we had rolled 100 there...
    Would there be a chance that we could convince you to change MC's name to Tanya Degurechaff if that was the case? :V
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    I will fight it with every step of the way, this Quest may have been inspired by Youjo Senki, but I'm not having that blatant of a madness :V
    Nevill said:
    When was that?
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    In private, rolled after I made the OP post a week ago. Part of the unplanned madness is not knowing whether the Two or Three Named have Ides Capability.
    BurnNote said:
    Aww, now I'm sad we didn't get a magic beatstick.
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    If it's any consolation, he will be a presence in the Marden Front, which means there will be the occasional news of him going off which in turn, spreads throughout the front.

    Also, Dramatis Personae is added to the front page. Feel free to peruse that. There's only...three of them right now. But it will do for now, I think.
     
    Vocalend said:
    [X] Two Named
    The one you picked. And the one where the descriptor of 'luck' is the most apt one to be had. This is the middle-ground option. Or rather, it should be. You start without any upbringing baggages, unlike One Named option. You do start with Familiar Relationship Bonds (more on that later). But neither do you start with anything especially great, unlike Three Named option.

    That is, until you rolled 78. That put a stop to that line of thought of 'anything especially great'.
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    Interesting. How could have changed with rolls like 1 or 100? What roll 78 mean for the plot, anyway?
     
    FakePriest said:
    Interesting. How could have changed with rolls like 1 or 100? What roll 78 mean for the plot, anyway?
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    The threshold for the acquiring of magic is something that will remain classified, for several mostly vague reasons. But I can tell that a result of 1 would mean the same as rolling 22 and a roll result of 100 would have gotten the QM in a spot of aneurysm of sorts, due to the fact that it would mean that you're starting with One Named option power level. The roll of 78 itself doesn't have a significant importance, merely that it gives you the capability to manipulate Ides to a high degree.

    Also, tonight and tomorrow will be relegated to committing in polishing a good deal of the mechanics. That fills me with more dread than writing another 1.8K of Roads Not Travelled posts.
     
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