Ascensions and Transgressions: the Tales of Keris Dulmeadokht (Exalted game)

[BossFight]

It says something that Keris assumes the golden child hiding something instead of that shes just a genuinely good person

 

[EarthScorpion]

It says something that Keris assumes the golden child hiding something instead of that shes just a genuinely good person

Click to shrink...

I mean she's not a good person. She's a triad princess.

But she is honest in a way that Keris doesn't comprehend.

 

[Aleph]

First Dolphin, you mean. Golden Child is the middle daughter.

 

[BossFight]

So have the rules for the down time/season system actually been written up yet, or are yall still winging it?

 

[CeBrudras]

How does the minor action spent "doing their own stuff" look for Vali? Iirc you havent introduced any big personal projects on the island for him like the cults of Zanara or the merchant empire of Haneyl.

 

[The Sandman]

Would Rathan like First Dolphin more or less if he reasoned out that the First Dolphin should logically be the best one and the best dolphin is an orca?

Also isn't a Temperance 5 character the opposite of honest due to being the character most able to lie to a person's face about lacking any desire to punch said person's face until their face resembles punch?

 

[Aleph]

Okay then! So! A Very Saatan Coup is almost at an end, and here in Part 143 we see Keris's grand schemes start to close in on the Hui Cha like a silver fist; her deadly wiles setting up an assassination scheme on Pretty Peacock even as she ensnares the last few holdouts who stand against her will.

Also she has a birthday party. Whooo!

Aleph: Yeah. Oh, btw. It, uh.
Aleph: It occurred to me that the owlriders arrived in Water along with Testolagh, and we didn't actually specify what was happening to them.
EarthScorpion: Well, there were only about 20 of them, and you do have Kuha. I was assuming you'd just handed them to her.
Aleph: Ah, cool. Then yeah, she's been whipping them into shape.

…

Aleph: Hmm. Did you pin down an exact birthday for Hany? I think she was three in Air 770, and vaguely remembered comments had her being born sometime in Wood.
Aleph: (about a year before Keris Exalted, amusingly)
EarthScorpion: Yeah, I have no memory of giving her a birthday. And from one of the chapters:

"She needs to know Hany's birthday as well, she thinks; and asks Dulmea to make a mental note to that effect. Then, dramatically, she lets Kali squirm free of the hair-loop and tackle her in the stomach, sending her falling sideways into the cushions. "​

Aleph: Heh. We could put it ironically near Keris's, on the second of Crowning Wood.
Aleph: (Which Ali actually remembered and can set her right on, because it was the night right after the new moon that Maryam went into labour, and Keris greeted the early morning sun by screaming at it.)
Aleph: Roll for it? d3 and d28.
EarthScorpion: Heh, sure. Are you making a calendar for birthdays and the like?
Aleph: Yes.
EarthScorpion: Um.

EarthScorpion: /r 1d3
FirnBot: EarthScorpion rolled 2 <2>
EarthScorpion: /r 1d28
FirnBot: EarthScorpion rolled 2 <2>​

Aleph: ...
Aleph: holy shit
EarthScorpion: ikr
Aleph: 2nd of Crowning Wood
Aleph: she has literally the same birthday as Keris
Aleph: and turned one the day her aunty was having horrible no-good bad things happen to her in a cell in Nexus
EarthScorpion: god
EarthScorpion: She was that close to getting called "Keris".
EarthScorpion: But they named her for her grandmother instead.
Aleph:
Aleph: Ali decided it would be a bit too on-the-nose and might get too much undue attention from the spirits.

…

<during Charitable Peach terrorising>
Aleph: Oh yeah, I assume Keris can look at Charitable Peach's tattoos and so on and figure out what her standing with the Lintha is? I'm guessing a cousin.
EarthScorpion: Reaction + Lore.
Aleph: 5+2+1 Utz Semivir+1 bonus {recognising references or iconography}+2 stunt=11. 6 sux.
EarthScorpion: So, that's interesting. She doesn't have anything Lintha in her tattoos - and in fact, there are some large bits Keris thinks might be cover-ups. Maybe she used to have them and doesn't need them, or just she thinks she can do without those blessings.
Aleph: ... interesting.
EarthScorpion: Oh yes, FtFF says she expects Keris to be cold, cruel, demanding and relentlessly superior.
Aleph: No problem! I was already planning on that. : 3
Aleph: Yes, so. My idea was, hee hee~
Aleph: Keris may try to pull a Nexan Shuffle on her, say that the Lintha have become aware of the dragon in the Hui Cha, and order Charitable Peach to get close to Little River and either sway her to the Lintha cause or gain her trust enough that she'll give control over the triad's finances to her.
EarthScorpion: Hee. And also that she needs to report to her exclusively on that?
Aleph: Well of course. : 3
Aleph: o keris
Aleph: u r kind of a bitch
Aleph: and pretending to look down on her for enjoying sex and not being castrated
EarthScorpion: Sigh. Are you going to Pain-as-Witness Oath her now?
Aleph: : 3
Aleph: look
Aleph: Keris has the melodramatic-bitch thing down really well.
Aleph: Of course she's going to push her into basically going "yes I would like to keep him, if you will allow me to honoured elder, of course I will give him up if you wish" and then painfully Pain-as-Witness Oath her loyalty as "the price for being allowed to keep your toy".
Aleph: In a "the psycho Lintha decided to hurt you, but played a game so that it was 'your choice' to be hurt and it was the 'cost' of her not feeding your lover to a horrible demon shrimp monster" sort of way.
Aleph: Sigh. In truth, Keris was gonna let the guy live and mark her no matter what she replied.
Aleph: But the way she played it, it looked to Charitable Peach like saying she wanted to keep him would have had the psycho Lintha feed him to the shrimp monster just for the lulz of it and to teach her what her place was.
Aleph: Purebloods, amirite?

…

<Golden Child scene>
EarthScorpion: Keris has set up the room so she's poorly lit as per My Dark Lady.
Aleph: Naturally. : 3
EarthScorpion: Additionally, Keris has built a two dot Principle of "Cinnamon (Lust)" in Golden Child - she already had a 1-dot from rumours, and as per My Dark Lady she only needed one scene to make it 2-dots.
Aleph: haha, fuck yeah
EarthScorpion: And, uh, she can play off that in the dim lighting if she wants her to indulge with her and make her more infatuated to make all her attacks UMI that costs +1wp to resist, though she'll need a second scene to raise it to 3-dots of lust.
EarthScorpion: OK, so Per + Pres for her seduction after the fade to black, plus tell me if there's any Charms or the like you're going to try to use to further your goals?
Aleph: Hmm. Hah, yes. Keris can ping her with Kindness Expects Repayment.
EarthScorpion: Yes, sigh, if Keris goes all out she's worth Resources 5.
Aleph: So yes, mwaa haa. Does Keris have equipment bonuses or a 3-die stunt from that?
EarthScorpion: Heh. yes, OK, 3 dot for the deliberate contrast with how Keris started out. And a +2 bonus for this engineered seduction space and clothing.
Aleph: Hee.
Aleph: 4+5+3 Exotic Beauty+3 stunt+2 bonus+4 Kimmy ExSux {endlessly giving, impossibly high standards, demands payment}=17. 8+4=12 sux.
Aleph: Using My Dark Lady to enhance social attacks, and Kindness Expects Repayment to leave her feeling overwhelmed and adoring and grateful for the attention.
EarthScorpion: OK, yeah, that'd actually cost more WP than she has right now to resist, because she's tired and worn out and also she doesn't really have any Principles that can stand against this.
EarthScorpion: (She's not her elder sister, where this kind of seduction would run into her Temperance and bounce off.)
EarthScorpion: OK, so after this she's going to try to schedule another appointment with Cinnamon in a few days time - for "a private religious ceremony" to "honour the gods" and while of course she's not hiring her for sex, she is very interested in making a gift to Cinnamon's attempts to get her place set up - as her first and foremost patron.
EarthScorpion: (Translation - she wants to hire Cinnamon again, and will pay with funding for Cinnamon's hall with a patronage relationship)
Aleph: Ooo. Nice. And yes, sigh. Keris isn't thinking of this as sex work, because she honestly does rather like Golden Child, and therefore considers it to be the same kind of set-up she had with Ogi. Yeah, she's getting something out of this relationship - but she gets stuff out of her relationship with Sasi, too.
EarthScorpion: Sigh. The veil of "it's just presents" is one Keris likes a lot.
Aleph:
EarthScorpion: Anyway, roll me Per + Expression for the private dance weekend, and then again declare any charms you're going to try to use on her for that time period or use to further your goals.
Aleph: mwaa haa.
Aleph: 4+5+3 Exotic Beauty+2 stunt+2 bonus+4 Kimmy ExSux {endlessly giving, impossibly high standards, demands payment}=16.
Aleph: Using My Dark Lady again, and also this time making use of Hidden Depths Temptress and Beauty-Over-Truth to whisper in her ear and nudge her, subtly and in a way that makes her think it's her own idea, in the direction of supporting Little River. 7+4=11 sux.
EarthScorpion: Keris has upgraded her principle to a 3-dot one of Infatuation - she's falling hard for this foreigner.
Aleph: Hmm. Yeah, Keris is now going to remember Ogi and pull back a little - or at least stop winding her in so deep.
Aleph: 3-dot is stable, especially if Keris plays matchmaker a few months down the line and sets her up to be happy with someone else and still remain fond of and grateful towards Cinnamon.
Aleph: More than that... leads into Mortals Are Fragile territory.
EarthScorpion: Elly and Rounen also mean Keris wins the rolled-off negotiations for the contract by 4 successes, so it's a very her-friendly deal financially.
Aleph: mwaa haa~
Aleph: I love those two so much ^_^
EarthScorpion: oh keris
EarthScorpion: sziroms and their evolutions are so wonderful for patching holes in her skillset.

…

EarthScorpion: Sigh. Oh Keris. My Dark Lady makes it really easy for her to femme fatale - and it's permanent so it's not even really deliberate.
EarthScorpion: Same as Calesco - she falls for people easily, but people fall for her too.
Aleph: Hee.
Aleph: She really isn't like Inks in how she's beautiful.
Aleph: Inks is sexy appended onto being a businesswoman.
Aleph: Keris actually performs and uses her sexiness in its own right.
EarthScorpion: Oh?
Aleph: Like... hmm.
Aleph: If you take away Inks' sexiness, what she's doing - business stuff and being a CEO merchant princess - doesn't change.
Aleph: But if you take away Cinnamon's sexiness, she kind of can't do what she's doing, because the sexiness and beauty is core to it rather than something added on top.
Aleph: You get what I mean?
EarthScorpion: Yeah. Although, hmm, her interactions with Rankar and a bunch of the house heads would be very different if she was a fat middle aged man.
Aleph: Yeah, but that's execution rather than, mm, concept.
EarthScorpion: But yes. Cinnamon is sexualised in a way that, say, Little River isn't.

…

EarthScorpion: Keris.
Aleph: tbh yes totally

Keris: "And so you're saying that you were the rulers of an entire galaxy who used shitloads of gold bling in their architecture and were general dicks, decided to make an elite hit force of techno-organic killing machines that look like different keruby-breeds of which my armour is a representative example, had them piloted by children who'd been dunked into a weird freaky evil hell-dimension of screw-physics-and-natural-law-ness, and you _didn't_ see it coming when they turned on you and wiped out your entire civilisation by murdering you all?"
Keris: "Because I gotta say, I'd've called that shit from decades prior."​

EarthScorpion: Well yes, Keris's armour is high tech plus organic.
EarthScorpion: Thus it shares the same space as warframes.
EarthScorpion: Goddamnit keruby would love to play with warframes and try to befriend them. And also decorate them.
Aleph: oh god
Aleph: oh god, it would be like Big and Little Sisters
Aleph: They would set up little cages on their backs to ride in and give them ribbons and food.

…

Aleph: Oh Keris.
Aleph: She is not a dragon.
Aleph: She is a snek.
Aleph: But she married into a dragon clan.
Aleph: Her big sister/adoptive parent is a dragon, and her girlfriendo is a dragon, and her babies with her girlfriendo are dragons, and her foster-daughters are dragons.
Aleph: She is dragonhood-adjacent.
Aleph: Just not a dragon herself. : P
EarthScorpion: Serpents are imperfect dragons
Aleph:
Aleph: (envy~)
EarthScorpion: So if she has a physical child with Sasi, they're probably going to be a dragon
Aleph: Yup. : P
EarthScorpion: (And also possibly a hellstrider).

…

EarthScorpion: OK, so, right, what's your Pretty Peacock plan?
Aleph: Right. So. Let's look at things strategically. Oh, does her forge have any other people in it yet? Apprentices, or the like?
EarthScorpion: You haven't taken the actions to train people up or recruit notable smiths from An Teng, etc, so it has some common availability people who are really meh - dicepools of 3.
Aleph: Cool. SO.
Aleph: Keris is going to bookmark at least a Minor action of WHIPPING HER APPRENTICES INTO SHAPE WITH TEACHINGS AND ATIYA-GLARES.
Aleph: Actually going and murdering Pretty Peacock is something she could do as an onscreen action if she were so inclined.
EarthScorpion: Zana will point out for a perfect ploy, she should make sure they succeed rather than do it for them. She approves of the artistry of meaning they doom themselves while Keris's hands remain clean.
Aleph: Hmm. True.
EarthScorpion: So, firstly, remember that Pretty Peacock has a hired DB bodyguard and is a well-off, dangerous woman with active counter-intel keeping her safe. If you want the Hinya murder attempt to succeed, you'll need to both devote defensive actions to protecting it from her counter-intel, and offensive ones to enabling it that can beat her defences.
Aleph: Yup. Can she have Rathan and Zanara run counter-intel to shield them without them noticing, by distracting Pretty Peacock's investigative efforts?
EarthScorpion: Yes. Sigh. Knowing Zanara, this might involve creating a new and completely different assassination plot that will distract their attention from the actual one.
Aleph: *facepalm*
EarthScorpion: But yes, to a certain extent this is a tutorialisation of what it means to not only go up against meaningful strategic opposition, but also to have to do it in a way that'll protect it from Sinasana (ie, meaningful DB) post-facto investigation.
Aleph: Yeah. And then Keris and Eko will, heheh, use Behind the Mask to geeeently nudge certain members of the house onto better plans as just a nameless drinking buddy in a teahouse who's talking about something different and gives them an idea, add details to the notes on Pretty Peacock's defences compiled by someone else involved, etc. Not interfering directly, just... streamlining and enhancing.
Aleph: ... wait, will House Sinasana actually, uh, care? Since it's not any of them getting murdered?
EarthScorpion: You're planning to use Raraan Ge to murder a major figure in the Hui Cha. You're starting a war between the Hui Cha and a Raraan Ge family, and then using that war to seize power. Your hands, Zana will say, must be spotless.
Aleph: … fair.
Aleph: Okay. So. Rathan and Zanara on defence and distraction. Keris and Eko helping streamline the Hinya plan without them noticing. Haneyl prepping some of her investments and seeded allies to grab at the cashflow.
EarthScorpion: OK, so in the plan as designed, we have:

Keris - Major, enabling the murder (offensive)
Eko - Major, enabling the murder (offensive)
Rathan - Major, protecting the murder conspiracy (defensive)
Zanara - Major, fake diversionary conspiracy to mislead the guards (defensive)
Haneyl - Minor, preparing assets to attack Pretty Peacock's organisation (assisted by Kerisgale, who's keeping Golden Child nice and sweetened up)​

Aleph: Vali - digging a SECRET TUNNEL from the cellars to the sea.
Aleph: (it does not go through the mountains)
Aleph: (or unite two young lovers)
Aleph: (it is pretty dark, though)
EarthScorpion: OK, you can propose the other actions people are doing - remembering that you do probably need some defensive things.
Aleph: Yup. So, hmm. Keris will be training up her silversmith apprentices with MOTIVATIONAL ATIYA GLARING. Zanara will be, uh, kind of upset that their Wood holidays are full of intrigue and won't allow for them to visit Lilunu. Hmm.
EarthScorpion: Zanara is actually happier than you'd think, because they're spending their Wood holidays organising a giant artistic convoluted scheme.
Aleph: ... lol, true.
Aleph: Haneyl may throw down a defensive on her businesses when Keris points out to her that she's getting a Reputation that isn't always positive.
Aleph: Rounen will be working hard to cover for his mistress's scheming.
Aleph: Rathan is proooobably sensitive to how badly this can potentially go if House Sinasana start nosing around, and may well be coaxed into putting down a second Minor defensive to hide all traces of demonic stuff going on.
Aleph: Hmm. Okay, so Minors:

Eko - playing with Asarin and the Lionesses.
Rathan - defensive on covering up demon activity.
Haneyl - improving her image; Reputation defensive.
Vali - investigating his keruby to see why mum thinks they're so important and potentially making the delighted discovery that he has an awesome kind of mature kerub that they start out as.
Zanara - hmm... defensive for Little River, actually, since Keris has now found out from two sources that "is she a spy from the Realm" is going around behind closed doors.​

EarthScorpion: OK, so Keris can't train as a minor unless she's willing to use her Kimmy training with attendant downsides - but she can try to hire some better people with better dice pools as a minor.
Aleph: ... hmm. Yeah, okay. For now I'll just do some hiring and leave the CoD-rendering training for after the big thing that will get House Sinasana's attention.
EarthScorpion: OK, so let's resolve the other things first.
Aleph: Oh yeah, one more thing first. Evedelyl went out to Shuu Mua with Xasan and a bunch of keruby back in Air and didn't find much. What's she been doing since?
EarthScorpion: Did you send her to do that again?
Aleph: Well, hmm. I'm thinking she may have stayed out there in Water and kept looking, since she didn't find much in Air, then come back to the Domain for Earth to either report on what she found or take a break.
EarthScorpion: OK, so in Water, she... rolled 1 success and still found nothing. That got her irked, so she stayed out for Earth, and then rolled 6. Deep in Shuu Mua, she's found a fascinating - and seemingly untouched - Shogunate small village, completely grown over and forgotten about.
Aleph: Ooooo~
Aleph: Heh. And she has been talking to Xasan in her Minors and giving him therapy for his bitterness and conflicted feelings about Keris's demon/Hell stuff?
EarthScorpion: Yes.
Aleph: Hee.
EarthScorpion: OK, so, Per + Bureaucracy to hire more qualified silver smiths.
Aleph: Aww :c
Aleph: Can I use Shining Silversmith to enhance that? Or, uh. Delegate it to Little Bird/use her for bonus dice?
EarthScorpion: I mean, you needed to hire them, and Little Bird isn't a silver smith. But yes, she does lower the difficulty.
Aleph: Cool. Then, uh... using Price-of-Everything Undercurrents to enhance...
Aleph: (oh god why do i have no bureaucracy)
Aleph: 4+0+2 stunt=6. Holy shit, 6 sux. Two tens. Niiiiiiice~
EarthScorpion: Yeah, there's not exactly good pickings, but Keris has found some better people to hire that brings the average worker up to 4-pool, and two 6-pool people.
Aleph: awesome~
EarthScorpion: Now roll me 11 dice for Rathan's cover up of demon involvement in Saatan society.
Aleph: 4 sux. :S
Aleph: goddammit rathan stop getting such low defensive rolls :S
EarthScorpion: Rathan: "It's not my fault! They're just showy!"
Aleph: goddammit souls, stop being such fucking showy drama queens
EarthScorpion: OK, roll me 6 dice for Haneyl trying to, uh, improve her reputation.
EarthScorpion: (she has internal penalties for that)
Aleph: oh haneyl
Aleph: 3 sux. Well, it's a start.
EarthScorpion: And roll me 13 dice for Zanara artistically mocking the idea that Little River might be a Realm spah.
Aleph: Lol. Are they helped by Charitable Peach deciding she wants to be Little River's friend?
Aleph: ... also lol. Zanara r usin' satire. Eko is so proud.
EarthScorpion: No, but it means she's not contesting it.
Aleph: Whooooaaa. 10 sux. Noice.
EarthScorpion: OK, so roll me 14 dice for Rathan's charming (goddamnit Rathan, you're so charming).
Aleph: 8 sux. Much better. Well done Rathan.
EarthScorpion: OK, so 5 net successes.
Aleph: Whoo!
Aleph: Heh. One of the potential outcomes if rolls go well here, I note - given his low number of successes on demon-interference obfuscation - is for the conclusion to be that the Hinya did the assassination... with the aid of demons.

Keris: "..."
Keris: okaywhynot.jpg​

Aleph: … OH MY GOD
Aleph: YOU'RE DOING A HEIST MOVIE THING
Aleph: WHERE THEY EXPLAIN THE PLAN AND HAVE FLASHES OF IT HAPPENING
EarthScorpion:
EarthScorpion: Roll me 12 dice for Zanara's artistry.
Aleph: ... urk
Aleph: um
Aleph: uh
Aleph: 3 successes : S
EarthScorpion: Tie - so doesn't defend, but doesn't give anything away.
Aleph: *sags in relief*
Aleph: Still, : S
EarthScorpion: OK, Keris rolls Cog + Command to assist with the planning.
Aleph: Hmm. Do any of her Styles apply?
EarthScorpion: Silver Willow Style, Social Saboteur Style, Wolf-as-Lamb, among others. But what she uses will shape the plan. Leave its marks on it. Frozen Forest Florist Style too, for example, if she wants to put certain northern poisons they won't have the knowledge of how to treat here in their hands. That would commit it to a poisoning, and an investigator will realise the poison came from overseas - but penalise attempts to treat it.
Aleph: Yeah. Hmm. Okay, I think I'll tilt it that way, since Keris hasn't - as far as I can recall - shown any hints of her northern drug stuff so far. Unless she thinks Pretty Peacock's bodyguard has things that can deal with Poison effects?
EarthScorpion: He's not a Wood Aspect, so that reduces the chance of it.
Aleph: Hmm. Okay, yeah. Enhancing with FFFS. 4+0+3 Frozen Forest Florist+2 stunt=9. 4 sux. Ehhh. : S
Aleph: Though Keris will be enhancing things with Passing Off Blame and Haar-Hidden Dealings.
Aleph: (as will Rathan, one presumes)
EarthScorpion: Roll me 13 dice for Eko's Phys + Subterfuge.
Aleph: Ooooph. Uh. 12 sux. Eko picking up mama's slack somethin' fierce.
Aleph: four 10s, es
Aleph: that's as many as a lunar once stole
EarthScorpion: Ok, roll me 10 dice for Haneyl.
Aleph: 7 sux. Very appropriate.
EarthScorpion: OK and we'll resolve and conclude later.

…

Aleph: Hee. You know how Evedelyl has a Baba Yaga hut?
EarthScorpion: Yes.
Aleph: I was just trying to work out what legs it has, since chicken legs aren't really in-theme for her.
Aleph: And then it hit me: secretary birds. They're sub-Saharan, so they're totally a thing in Harbourhead.
EarthScorpion: Heh
Aleph: Also they look really cool.

…

Aleph: Sigh.
Aleph: Keris. Eko. Vali. Ney. Kali, when she's old enough. Quite possibly Haneyl on sheer competitiveness.
Aleph: (Keris and Ney speak for themselves, Eko can wear masks, Vali has burst-speed and Kali coordinates with Ogin to somehow keep level with the others.)

…

Aleph: Oh Keris.
Aleph: You can parallel her into a lot of works - and her archetype means she's always part of the villainous faction.
EarthScorpion: Well, or at least the dubious.
Aleph: But her nature is such that whether she's a young Force-sensitive from a shithole world like Tatooine taken as a Sith apprentice or an ex-slave turned street rat who gains an Infernal Exaltation or a commoner from Essos who trains with the Faceless Men or an orphan picked up and taught by the Horde; she will always wind up turning on her boss and either killing them or fucking them over.
Aleph: Because Keris's nature is that she will always eventually turn on a being who would create something like her.
Aleph: It's not that she'll naturally betray anything in charge of her. It's that she'll always wind up hostile to the sort of person who'd make her. The things you put her through or imbue her with to get the finished product basically guarantee that she'll be loyal for a while, appear loyal for a while longer, and then murder you.
EarthScorpion: lol
Aleph: Heh. She's very much a Primordial avatar. Purifying and refining things by cutting away the old and ugly.
EarthScorpion: Hmm. Can also be Dynamic. Making new things, turning existing things into new shapes.
Aleph: She creates, yeah, but, hmm. In the effects she causes, I feel like she's more Primordial. Her creation is the cutting away of old growth and the breaking things so new stuff can replace it.

…

EarthScorpion: Ok, so resolving the KERIS CONSPIRACY. Her first layer of defence, the spies looking for people poking into her, roll 5 successes on 6 dice and equal Rathan. As he's defence, he wins.
Aleph: *sags in relief*
EarthScorpion: The conspiracy's implementation gets... 1 success. They fail their action, but fortunately Keris is there to provide 4 successes.
Aleph: ¬_¬
EarthScorpion: And her far defences get... 3 successes, so Keris just squeaks it.
Aleph: Phew.
Aleph: *crosses fingers*
EarthScorpion: Now, Zana failed to lure the DB swordsman away, so he's contesting actions against her person.
Aleph: dammit zana :c
EarthScorpion: Fortunately, he rolled 2 successes on his 12 dice.
EarthScorpion: Their assassin rolled 2 on 7.
Aleph: Woo hoo for other people's incom-
Aleph: ... dammit ¬_¬
EarthScorpion: However, the assassination attempt had Eko providing her support, and she provided 12 - massively beating his pool-penalised defence by catching the first assassin, which still managed to roll 6.
EarthScorpion: Eko therefore made sure to add a healthy dose of flavouring to Charitable Peach's breakfast when serving it. However, the failure of the first assassin means that they are alerted to possible assassination attempts, and so the poisoning doesn't take them by surprise.
Aleph: :S
EarthScorpion: The swordsman rolls 2 successes to try to save her life on Cog + Medicine - however, the exotic poison was Difficulty 4.
Aleph: Mwaa haa! Victory! Victory is miiiiiiine!

…

Aleph: Hee. Salinan Sorcery theory is fun. ^_^
Aleph: I liked Salina's thing about "only a living thing can resist the tides of the Wyld"
Aleph: Hmm. Yeah, I think in Keris's theory, all spells have a number of fundamental elements. Conduit - Anchor - is universal, and most spells will also have a form of some sort, be it obsidian butterflies or a glowing cherub that carries a message or a created sanctum that appears (though something like a curse of bad luck wouldn't have any specific Shape in and of itself, and would therefore lack a form element.).
Aleph: Life is a common one, in the Salinan paradigm.
Aleph: Hee. I'm having so much fun with the smoke-and-mirrors worldbuilding here : 3
EarthScorpion: Sigh
EarthScorpion: Aunty Keris may be a corrupting influence, if she's the one who teaches Aiko sorcery.

…

EarthScorpion: So.
EarthScorpion: Post mortem thoughts on the session.
EarthScorpion: I'm really pleased with how the dramatic tension worked out in strategic play. And how it basically served to set up a scene that happened off screen, but you know it happened.
EarthScorpion: Aiko is adorable, especially as the mature one of the babies.
EarthScorpion: Honestly, the whole assassination was very Keris. It only worked because she got trusted, powerful people into place who could bull through when things went wrong.
Aleph: Hee. Yes.
Aleph: Hmm.
Aleph: I'm glad that, uh, we remembered that Atiya is in fact a year old now, so we can have her start being a baby rather than an infant.

Click to shrink...

 

[Ct613hulu]

Great section as always. I love seeing how Keris interacts with her family. The character growth that is demonstrated throughout this story in her transformation from a detached murderhobo to a responsible head of household is absolutely fantastic.

One thing that I am curious about is what else is going on in Creation. The default setting is one where everything is in a state of near perpetual change as the return of the Solar Exalted runs into the schemes of the Yozi and Deathlords. The setting that is used in this game is a bit more stable, but it still seems like the presence of a large number of Celestial Exalted should be having a major result.

What are the other Infernal Exalt up to? Have the Deathlords made any moves to expand their influence? Has the Realm or the Periphery States enacted any plans to deal with the Mask of Winters ruling over Thorns?

I think that some kind of Rumors section that lets everyone know what Keris is hearing regarding the state of the wider world would be great as it would allow the events going on with Keris to be placed in a large context. It would also make a lot of sense for Keris to focus more on keeping track of this kind of things now that she is the leader of her own faction rather than an agent of Sasi.

 

[ImperatorV]

We've seen quite a few Celestials at work - Deveh being a nutcase, that one Abyssal in An Teng, the solars and lunar Ney works with and their kingdom, Orange Blossom with her plots in the Scavenger lands, and I think we've heard tell of some other things the Infernals are doing during various Allthing chapters.

Sure, all of the above is a fraction of what the Celestial Exalts, collectively, are doing, but Creation is a big place. It makes sense they wouldn't run into each other frequently. And Keris is very focused on her part of the world; it's very her to not acknowledge the possibility of other Celestials doing things until said things run smack-dab into her things.

 

[Academia Nut]

Random thoughts collected as I read through:

I see Keris is going MAXIMUM EXTRA for this one.

And that as Cinnamon she is going full Salome. Will she be getting any heads delivered to her?

Oh who am I kidding, she's going to become a mafia princess, of course she will.

Keris has Metagaos in her, she can eat 24 pieces of cake no problem. In fact, she can eat 40 cakes, which is 4 tens, which is awful.

Ah, the dual heist planning+execution scene. Classic.

 

[changeling]

Great section as always. I love seeing how Keris interacts with her family. The character growth that is demonstrated throughout this story in her transformation from a detached murderhobo to a responsible head of household is absolutely fantastic.

One thing that I am curious about is what else is going on in Creation.(...)

Click to shrink...

The game has dozen(s) of Important characters and tons of worldbuilding, whole new locations, Realm stuff, original demons - Ney arc in Taira showed quite what Solars are up to. I don't think it's reasonable to expect ES to compute several more Solaroid Exalted levels of chaos.

(Though, I wouldn't mind another game/story set in Keris-world - I loathed Infernals and 2ed Hell until this re-work).

 

[BossFight]

Did I miss something? Who's the swordsman that yall keep referencing?

Also the sorcery lesson was a nice tutorialization/reminder of how the sorcery hack works

 

[Azrael]

Did I miss something? Who's the swordsman that yall keep referencing

Click to shrink...

I haven't read the chapter itself but all I'm seeing are references to a Dragonblooded bodyguard, presumably of the person Keris is killing.

In other words, an obstacle who might not even have a name.

 

[changeling]

Did I miss something? Who's the swordsman that yall keep referencing?

Also the sorcery lesson was a nice tutorialization/reminder of how the sorcery hack works

Click to shrink...

There was hired Dragon-blooded bodyguard/conter-intel agent, which complicated things somehow. But he was against 3 demon lords, so it didn't help them much.

 

[Chloe Sullivan]

There was hired Dragon-blooded bodyguard/conter-intel agent, which complicated things somehow. But he was against 3 demon lords, so it didn't help them much.

Click to shrink...

Well if there was no dragonblooded and just mortals, Keri's wouldn't have to commit multiple demon lords to the task.

Just by existing he eats resources.

 

[changeling]

Well if there was no dragonblooded and just mortals, Keri's wouldn't have to commit multiple demon lords to the task.

Just by existing he eats resources.

Click to shrink...

Good point. It's also quite important that the House Sinasana family (the real competition as far as power levels go) also could investigate, which require even more resources to mask actions of Keris' adorable mafia family .

 

[Dynamesmouse]

Excuse me I just noticed what a terribly cruel?, effective, and overpowered combo Behind the Role and Flowering the Fairer Face is

@EarthScorpion what have you unleashed?

Btw, who holds ftff?

 

[Slamu]

Btw, who holds ftff?

Click to shrink...

Flowering the Fairer Face, as the floral theme might imply, seems to be Hungry Swamp Dude.

 

[beowolf]

Flowering the Fairer Face, as the floral theme might imply, seems to be Hungry Swamp Dude.

Click to shrink...

They meant of Keris' soul children.

 

[Thelxiope]

Flowering the Fairer Face is a Zanara charm:

Little River walks into the room like the tide drawing in - peaceful, unhurried and without spectacle, but unstoppable in its own quiet way, and with the memory of tidal waves in every gentle lap of surf on sand.

Rathan's light haloes her invisibly; a shield against their judgement that holds off the emotional impact of her late arrival back in Saata. Zanara's petals hide her thorns, allowing her to effortlessly hold to custom and know what they expect from her.

And the mercury in her blood glints like the silver in the Isles. Whispering to her that all she need do is reflect their selves, and she'll know what price might buy them each.

Click to shrink...

 

[Aleph]

So. Part 144. Last chapter of A Very Saatan Coup.

Quite a bit of social corruption fun, and an O-Ren Ishi scene that I've been looking forward to for a very long time. : 3

So! As is traditional for the end of an arc; give me reactions to A Very Saatan Coup as a whole as well as just to this chapter! @EarthScorpion and I discuss it a bit in the extras, but give me your takes as well - this was the longest arc in Kerisgame to date, and honestly had a shitload of character development in it. It's also seen the first real use of our strategic action system with seasonal turns, and has covered a full year; Wood to Wood.

Speaking of which, I said I would include the seasonal action chart, didn't I? Here you go:

Spoiler: Seasonal action chart!

Aleph: Sigh. Eko's genius, combined with the fact she has Elloge's storytelling now, is honestly enough that she's kind of put together an IC version of knowing about the fourth wall.
Aleph: Except it's not that she literally knows about it, she just has this weird paradigm where she sees everything as a narrative.
Aleph: It's like she knows about it without actually knowing about it.
EarthScorpion: Eko - nearly right.
Aleph: Sigh. She's in the same box as Harlan. So close to the real answer, but in a way that means she'll never quite get it.
EarthScorpion: Yes, heh.

…

Aleph: Hee. Oh, the Shashalme.

"The Shashalme is vain beyond hubris. In its quite-considered opinion, it is the entelechy of all things. Indeed, it has written several treatises which conclusively prove through obscure sorcerous proofs that Metagaos sprung from the Before Time so that it might come into being. Creation, the Demon Realm and even the Wyld exist so that it might be adored."

Click to shrink...

Aleph: Ngl, Keris would actually be pretty interested in seeing some of those proofs.
Aleph: No doubt the Shashalme would entirely willing to show her, in the manner of someone who makes model railways getting to show them off to someone who seems interested.
Aleph: (oh no, eko got her hands on them and is cackling gleefully)
EarthScorpion: eko no you can't cross out their name and write your own
EarthScorpion: not even if you append something on the end which proves the Shashalme came into being so you could get your hands on these proofs
Aleph: of course not
Aleph: she'll just steal the base principles
Aleph: and substitute "Keris" for "Metagaos" too ¬_¬

Keris: "I... can't tell if she means it or not. Sasi, help me out here."​

…

Aleph: Heh. Now that the bitch is dead, Pale Branch is probably feeling a bit of spiteful pleasure that Pretty Peacock knew she'd won by having a son - and never got to do anything about it.
EarthScorpion: Yes.
Aleph: Keris: "I really do like that woman."

…

<Atiya has vision problems>
Aleph: Oh goddammit. Does she have that "light levels are switched" thing? Or does she just need cute glasses?
EarthScorpion: I mean, she doesn't seem to see any better in the dark. She's just really short sighted, Keris thinks.
Aleph: Cute glasses it is!
Aleph: ... sigh. Did you do this just so that atiya will get to have scary shiny gendo glasses when she's older?
EarthScorpion: No, I did it because short-sightedness is a really common thing of prematureness.
Aleph: Ah.
Aleph: ...
Aleph: ... you're not complaining about her having scary shiny gendo glasses when she's older, though.
Aleph: Are you?
EarthScorpion: Of course not.
Aleph: Heh.
Aleph: Sigh. Her mama does the "wide eyes with narrowed pupils of rage" villainess thing. Atiya does the "adjust glasses and they flash intimidatingly white for a moment" thing.

Kali: "... there's literally not even a light source in this room! How are you doing that?"​

…

<The funeral>
Aleph: Oh Sea Eagle. He knows she did it. He just doesn't know how she did it.
EarthScorpion: OK, so rather than try to write this out, let's frame the conflict. What is Keris trying to get out of this women's get-together?
Aleph: Okay. Keris is trying to encourage a sense of unity and closed ranks - considering themselves all Hui Cha rather than different groups within it. She's then looking to ride that wave of cohesive identity to the top and get the women to support her in taking command of the triads. She obviously won't phrase it quite so bluntly or inelegantly, and will put it more in terms of "taking a seat on the council to help mediate the men and encourage them towards a common cause" so that the more traditional women like Aranya can think of it as a woman's role that she occasionally deviates from to go murder everyone on the deck of a Raraan Ge pirate ship, but in practice Keris is aiming to get them to support her taking a place on the council that she'll use to dominate it.
Aleph: It does help that, sigh, Keris's lax management style means she honestly is mostly just going to use that position to smack the men's heads together when they start bickering among themselves, and will otherwise mostly leave her "subordinates" to their own devices.
Aleph: She's not a micromanager and won't start any monopolies or make everyone follow her orders. She'll just manage and oversee things, and be a big stick the Hui Cha can shake at smaller groups.
EarthScorpion: OK, so Pale Branch also wants their backing for "she's taking her senile husband's seat, and when he dies, she'll take the seat for her son" and expects Little River's backing for that
Aleph: Yeah, Keris will pitch that to the more traditional members as basically a regency where she's holding it while the men it "belongs" to are incapable of using it properly, with the implicit promise that she'll give it back when her son is old enough.
Aleph: (Pale Branch obviously has no such intention, but they've talked about this and how to get it past the women.)
Aleph: Keris's main aim here is, hmm, to frame her intentions in a way that the more traditionalist women can put into the box of "a woman's role", or at the very least "things not far outside a woman's role that circumstances justify them doing".
Aleph: And to wave the "we're all Hui Cha" and "we have a common enemy" flags (along with a bit of "look, Pretty Peacock is gone and now you'll get a bigger piece of the pie") to fuzz over any disconcerted feelings.
EarthScorpion: OK, so. Opposition will be centred around Aranya, and she effectively has a 4-dot group principle of "that's not the way things are done" backing her. However, Keris is effectively invoking a 2-dot desire for profit (which would be more, but they're scared she's going to screw them over").
Aleph: Heh.
Aleph: ... I can't entire blame them there.
Aleph: On the plus side, this means that when Little River doesn't, they will feel good.
Aleph: Firmly on Little River's side are Pale Branch and Charitable Peach. Graceful Petal is loyal to her for clearing out her debts to Pretty Peacock, so she at least won't overtly oppose it. Tranquil Pool; Jade Fox's wife, likes her but is also a traditionalist - she could go either way (but Little River has pitched the "take a seat on the council" to her husband before).
Aleph: Golden Child is pretty happy with the Little River "women should get to do more" camp. First Dolphin will oppose it on traditional grounds.
EarthScorpion: Ah, but First Dolphin does actually want revenge for her mother.
Aleph: Oooo. Good goodie. That means I have most of Pretty Peacock's money on my side.
Aleph: This is very good. ^_^
EarthScorpion: OK, so contested Per + Expression, You're at Diff 5, Aranya's at Diff 2.
EarthScorpion: 7 successes on 10 dice, lol, so she's at 5 net successes.
Aleph: So I'm rolling at effective Diff 10, yes?
EarthScorpion: Yes. She made a very solid argument.
Aleph: Cool cool.
Aleph: 4+5+3 Perfumed Smoke+1 {hiding motives that conflict with the interests of a target}+2 stunt+9 Kimmy ExD {patronage and kindness are real, drowns all opposition, demands payment} x2 Hidden Depths Temptress=24. 10x2=20 successes. Woo!
Aleph: mwaa haa~

"A new, vicious breed of Hui Cha woman rises"​

Aleph: Eeexcellent~ </Burns>

…

EarthScorpion: So what is your approach/plan for the actual day of the coup? For example, what will you tell your allies on the Council beforehand?
Aleph: Right…
Aleph: Charitable Peach already knows I'm going to be making a play for the council; she'll prep Peaceful Wave.
Aleph: Pale Branch can handle Strong Ox, since she's going to be replacing him anyway.
Aleph: That leaves Sea Eagle, Lucky Wolf and Jade Fox. So, hmm.
Aleph: Little River will pay Sea Eagle a quiet visit and tell him that she's going to make her move to take a seat on the council in order to help with this war, etc - basically, the communicated message there will be "all you need to do is nothing, and you'll have one less rival and blackmail on the woman who sits at the head of the Hui Cha", etc.
Aleph: And then with both Jade Fox and Lucky Wolf she'll prep them with the same broad appeal she made to the women and which she sold her ambitions to Jade Fox with the first time around - traditional role of keeping the menfolk pointed in the same direction, a dragon to intercede with any major spirits on behalf of the Hui Cha as a whole, murdering the Hinya for their trespass, etc.
EarthScorpion: In their cases, too, they have Servitude effects on them to her.
Aleph: Yeah, the justification is mostly just so they're happy enough not to try and spend WP against it.
Aleph: And Red Leaf of course I'm not saying anything to because I'm planning to decapitate him.
EarthScorpion: OK. So time for your description of what you're wearing, feeling, etc.
Aleph: Something vaaaaguely like this, though in blue and silver and with a breastplate instead of an obi thing
Aleph: Also these boots
Aleph: Hmm. Okay. So the tack Keris is taking is challenging them to act, and inserting herself at the head of that action.
<resolutions>
Aleph: Heheh. "Queen of the old country" is more or less what Keris was going for, so it will suffice.
EarthScorpion: Not quite. It's still a framed limiting of her power, because the queens are meant to leave things to the men and only speak out on spiritual matters or if their husband is really fucking up.
Aleph: Yeah, but if you give Keris an inch, she'll take a mile and use it to distract you while she steals your house.
EarthScorpion: Yes.
EarthScorpion: Hmm. I thought you were out to offend Red Leaf. But you've just been wrapping everything up so much that he has no reason to be angry enough to speak out now.
Aleph: I kind of am. So, mm, I'm going for stuff that Red Leaf will only accept grudgingly - at the moment he's at a low simmer. If I get this and "oh and also I'm going to be on the front lines in the war" passed, my last question will be something along the lines of "Red Leaf, you seem unhappy; do you have a problem with me?" in a way that'll try to bait him into taking the prompt, running with it and speaking his mind in a way Little River can answer viciously. Quite possibly the "Realm spy" rumour.
Aleph: (Because that way, he's the aggressor getting all petty about it after everyone's agreed).
EarthScorpion: OK, do something to wind the tension in him even further, then.
Aleph: mwaa haa~
Aleph: Keris is having fun. : 3
Aleph: (If you look closely, you can see a little vein in his forehead throbbing.)
EarthScorpion: Don't kill him quite yet.
Aleph: Oh, I'm not going to. I'm going to be all infuriatingly calm so he switches targets.
Aleph: haha, actually
Aleph: If she can get him to call them all weak-willed cowards for bowing to a Realm spy, that'd just be just…
Aleph: *kisses fingers* mwaa~
Aleph: Perfect.
<Red Leaf blows his top>
EarthScorpion:
Aleph: do i even need to roll to kill him
Aleph: or can I just stunt it~
EarthScorpion: Physique + (lower of Expression and Melee) to do it as a performance. Diff 5.
Aleph: Oooo, goodie.
EarthScorpion: Oh, and Styles matter.
Aleph: 5+5+3 Prince of Hell/Snake Style+2 stunt+10 Kimmy ExD {pay with screams, bottled-up fury, vile art}=25. 10 successes again, god, the dice roller really likes that number today.
EarthScorpion: Yeah, that's a suitably brutal success that probably - if you want - qualifies as an MK Fatality. Or at least a Brutality.

…

<Walking with Pale Branch>
EarthScorpion: TME can be activated to detect an incoming threat.
Aleph: Yeah, activating it for 1 mote.
EarthScorpion: OK. Someone's thrown a knife at your back - applying parry or dodge DV.
Aleph: Parry DV of 7. Stunting to add +1.
EarthScorpion: ... you're just catching the knife, aren't you?
Aleph: : 3
EarthScorpion: Ha ha. Well, uh, hilariously it hit.
EarthScorpion: [10 10 10 9 9 7 6 6 5 2 1]
EarthScorpion: That's 9 successes on 11 dice.
Aleph: goddammit
EarthScorpion: What's her "naked" soak?
Aleph: Hmm. Hang on and lemme recheck my soak, yeah. 3+4=7L soak from Scar-Writ Saga Shield.
EarthScorpion: OK, so that reduces it to 1 dice of damage.
Aleph: Lol, she may "catch" it even though it technically succeeded.
EarthScorpion: Which... 1 success.
Aleph: … or not. Drat. Bloodied fingers, then, as she catches it by the blade?
EarthScorpion: Yes.
Aleph: Unless she has a very good reason not to, she's gonna whip it back into the thrower's throat. I'm guessing this is a revenge thing for killing Red Leaf. Poooossibly by his wife, or maybe one of his captains.
EarthScorpion: Oh btw that's coral snake venom on the blade. So that's a -5 poison penalty.
Aleph: Meh. It actually isn't, because lol, Mercurial Sap Embrace. Though, uh, shit, need to bandage it quickly before anyone sees quicksilver in the blood.
EarthScorpion: Ha ha true. Well, it would be.
Aleph: ... actually I guess this could also be a really dumb Hinya plan.
Aleph: dammit this is why thrones are a bad thing
Aleph: they attract assassination attempts like vinegar attracts flies
<Radiant Grace>
EarthScorpion: Now, if that hadn't been Keris she threw the knife at...
EarthScorpion: Just resolved it quickly. She'd have had surprise, done 5L of lethal damage, and then the coral snake venom or the bleeding would have finished them off.
Aleph: Yow.
EarthScorpion: So, yeah. Super lucky that it was Keris that killed her husband, not Pale Branch.
EarthScorpion: OK, Phys + Ranged, and you probably want to make sure you hit
Aleph: Annoyingly, my Ranged style is exclusively used with hair, because it's an angyalkae one.
EarthScorpion: Amusingly
EarthScorpion: Wild Alleycat covers thrown knives
Aleph: ... hah! So it does.
EarthScorpion: god
EarthScorpion: That's an old reflex there.
EarthScorpion: That "throw a knife at their throat" back from the old days. She hasn't done that in years.
Aleph: Yup.
Aleph: 5+2+3 Wild Alleycat+2 stunt+7 Malfeas ExD {indiscriminate callousness, collateral damage, authority}=19. 12 successes.
EarthScorpion: OK, so Phys + 8 + 3 damage dice (ie, no double 10s).
Aleph: 5+8+3=16. 8 sux, lol. One-hit kill.
Aleph: Hee~

…

EarthScorpion: Heh. Honestly, Haneyl probably won't be the first to get sorcery.
EarthScorpion: Not only does she give up too easily when she runs into problems, but sacrifice is going to be hard for her because it involves sacrifice.
EarthScorpion: On the plus side, when she does manage it she can get into Keris's lineage no problem. This may confuse people when they find a demon casting in a Salinian style.
Aleph:

…

EarthScorpion: OK. So. Retrospective on this arc
EarthScorpion: Which will turn out to be... 22 chapters, and about 250k words lol.
Aleph: jegus
EarthScorpion: yuppers
EarthScorpion: I mean, it's just over 10k a session.
Aleph: Heh. Okay, so. Hmm. This one is much longer than the others. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it might be worth taking a look at why.
EarthScorpion: So, just checking over it quickly, some of it is that every 4 or so chapters, there's a 2-3 chapter mini-arc.
Aleph: Hmm. Yes.
EarthScorpion: Between "time to get back to Saata", "Resplendent Air", "the All-Thing"...
Aleph: Yeah. That's probably a good thing. It means that reading it, it's not just a long drag of boring sameyness like Lady Sareh's Mistress was. There's plot and an up-down arc with Things Happening and the occasional break in which Other Things Happen.
EarthScorpion: Yep. Plus, it also breaks a lot into "things done to subvert a specific person"
Aleph: Yes. Hmm. So speaking of which - Keris's impersonation of a Cadet House.
Aleph: First thoughts: holy fuck she's a monster.
Aleph: Seriously. We knew her wolf-pack of souls was going to be powerful, but I'm still surprised at just how powerful she's turned out to be with them all pointed in the same direction.
EarthScorpion: She really is. But of course, it relies on her argumentative and disobedient souls actually falling in line.
Aleph: Yes. And we have reason to deny her that for a while now.
EarthScorpion: A lot of it is because they each have big pools in their own specialities, and many of them can pass as human. So they do basically impersonate a cadet house.
Aleph: Yes.
Aleph: The character drama's been great, and we've made several big steps we've had planned for a long time.
EarthScorpion: Yes. Also, Keris has been having glorious fun embracing her inner (and outer) demonic priestess villain.
Aleph: It's so much fun~ : 3
EarthScorpion: And yeah, there's always progress going on with more demonic corruption.
EarthScorpion: A certain level of word bloat does seem to have been a direct consequence of the expanding cast list, but on the other hand, pretty much all the cast has been in the real world, so it hasn't just been Keris going on dream quests as "filler"; it's been her having coffee with Zanyi or reading reports with Rounen.
Aleph: Yeah. And it's, hmm, kind of been a heist movie where she moves on each blue sea master in turn.
Aleph: Well, not heist, but you know what I mean.
EarthScorpion: Shonen manga against the themed bosses~
Aleph: Hah, yes.
Aleph: They'll mostly fade back a bit now so they're no longer the centre of the narrative, though Sea Eagle will still be a threat/opposition underling.
Aleph: Oh Sea Eagle.
Aleph: He's wary of her, but he's not scared of her. Assuming he doesn't fuck her over too badly, she's probably going to find herself weirdly missing him a bit when he dies of old age or whatever.
EarthScorpion: Keris: *sigh* "He was fun."

Haneyl: "That's the me in you speaking."​

Aleph:
EarthScorpion: Heh. Also, the babies were useful for showing the passage of time.
Aleph: Hee. Yes.
EarthScorpion: Also also aiko is best foster daughter.
Aleph: She's so cute~

…

EarthScorpion: o keris
Aleph:
Aleph: Indeed.
Aleph: But shooting Keris in the gut would only moderately annoy her, and that's if you managed to hit.
EarthScorpion: Depends - Lorraine is totally a Night
EarthScorpion: (or a Fiend)
Aleph: Or, it has to be said, Keris.

…

Aleph: Hee. I did like Nara being stored not as a statue, but as a super-creepy lifesize uncanny valley puppet that Zana likes puppetting using the strings.
EarthScorpion: Dammit you two.
Aleph: A reminder that the "art" they can store themselves as is a lot wider than just statues and paintings.
Aleph: God, I bet it's only a matter of time - if it hasn't happened already - before one of them wears the other as a couture outfit.
EarthScorpion: oh god nara wearing zana as a mask-face
Aleph: Possibly one made out of flayed skin, yes.

Keris: "LITERALLY WHY"​

…

Aleph: *snrrk*

"All of us are cousins, for the Hui Cha are united. The squabbling Raraan Ge don't have the strength that lies in our ties to one another." Little River smiles at the older woman. "We must stand together against this cowardly attack, for now is a time for family to come together and be unified."

Charitable Peach nods at that. "I have arranged a small... mourning gathering of the ladies for afterwards," she says. "Perhaps we should speak of the importance of family unity. After all, no doubt the menfolk will need solid lines of credit and chains of supply for whatever vengeance they seek." She rests a hand on Little River's. "Maybe the greatest thing Pretty Peacock will do for us is teaching us all that our divides were meaningless."

"A wise outlook," nods the Infernal assassin who secretly arranged the woman's murder. "I would be glad to attend. I'm sure there will be much to discuss."

Click to shrink...

Aleph: such a little shit
EarthScorpion: such a shit

Click to shrink...

 

[Academia Nut]

"May have slightly brought this upon herself, in retrospect." Oh Keris, this is going to become your family motto, isn't it?

"Like how Molian needs her so romantic doki-doki friend, she clarifies with heart shapes made with her hair and fingers." I see Eko is getting worse.

"And this is my darling little Pale River,' she says, with a mischievous grin.
Keris, for her part, has to hide back the surprise. Because the boy might be asleep, but the girl's eyes are open, and they're a bright, pale green."

Hmmmm... I wonder if metaphysically Haneyl's work has made Pale Branch's children descendants of Keris.

"The fact that all the people involved in this plot are either Keris or her souls means she has to struggle to keep a straight face in self-satisfied smugness at the web of confusion she has spun." I'm now imagining the joke about a militia being entirely composed of FBI, local police, and ATF agents, to the point where no one in the conspiracy isn't a police officer. I can totally see someone confronting Keris, only for all of the members back them to dissolve into Gales.

"((Instead of a pirate council you shall have a QUEEN! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the sea!))" Whenever you can channel the classics, you must channel the classics.

"'Though she is not a queen, such a... neutral adjudicator might be useful,' Sea Eagle ponders out loud. One eyebrow raises, as does the corner of his mouth. She can read him. By her oath, she can't be neutral when it comes to him." Damn son, this mortal sure has got one over an Exalt.

"Hui Cha Little River turns from her position on the table to regard the other lords. Her eyes are wide; her pupils narrow pinpoints. Her hair falls from its bun and unravels behind her in a straight and satin curtain. Her hands are white-knuckled around the terne kris pair that holds the heron stamp." Hi there.

"She'd even managed to pull off that catch-and-return trick a few times on the streets, though she'd never relied on it to protect herself. Still, it was amazing how few people were ready for a knife they just threw to come straight back at them. It tended to catch them off-balance." You're full of references today.

 

[EarthScorpion]

Hmmmm... I wonder if metaphysically Haneyl's work has made Pale Branch's children descendants of Keris.

Click to shrink...

Well, put it this way.

Haneyl's core existence is built around Self-Seed Infestation. It's basically impossible to stop her leaving her mark on biology, because that's what she is; infestation and subversion and the moulding of the new flesh, under all her superficial layers.

 

[changeling]

Quite a bit of social corruption fun, and an O-Ren Ishi scene that I've been looking forward to for a very long time. : 3

So! As is traditional for the end of an arc; give me reactions to A Very Saatan Coup as a whole as well as just to this chapter! @EarthScorpion and I discuss it a bit in the extras, but give me your takes as well - this was the longest arc in Kerisgame to date, and honestly had a shitload of character development in it. It's also seen the first real use of our strategic action system with seasonal turns, and has covered a full year; Wood to Wood.

Click to shrink...

I really like the wheels-within-wheels thing in the arc when the natures and designs of Unquestionables clash with natures and desires of Infernals and their souls. It is very well done and really can be source of endless intrigue for games and stories - no Infernal is an island, each is soap-opera in a can! and the structure of Reclamation with dozens of Unquestionables is the layer on top of the layer of roleplaying.

Speaking of that, the fact that Keris humanity makes her souls the most effective in blending-in and hiding is another brilliant conceit - she is far more valuable than someone whose souls are more like Octavian-type monster-bruiser or some inhuman Lovecraftian monstrosity. As I understand, its another conundrum for Reclamation - the best subtle assets are far too human to be entirely loyal to godlike, spiteful Yozi and inhuman Princes.

Generally, chapeau bas for the re-working Infernals into something genuinely good fluff-wise.

BTW, is there a write-up for Sirelmiya? There is no bookmark for her.

Second thing I really liked is the fact that dice gods decided to f*ck over the N/A boat-submarine of Keris, which really shows how interesting thing are going to happens when you build your assets and you can be everywhere at once, which is the point of Exalted when my players started demanding D&D 3.5 teleportation powers..

Third, a question! Keris-game hacks don't have 6 dot in craft(s) - how player/story character would get around of building or repairing N/A artifact on their own? Would it require special enlightenment 10 charms?

Edit: Fourth, is the omen weather and "there is lot of second circles around shredding fate and killing people who touch fate of hundreds/whole fleets" foreshadowing of some unfortunate Sidreal's investigation into things that are going here in anarchy? (not that I expect answer;P just speculation)

 

[EarthScorpion]

And here is the full write-up of the first of Keris's Psyche souls - the ones who aren't her children, and represent a different aspect of herself to the Progeny souls. They're much more classically demonic, and certainly can't be used in populated areas in the same way as the others. And they're also weaker - E5 rather than E6 as a baseline.

So here's the first boi, Firisutu, the first Keris-made demon.

(Though not the first Kerisian demon, Eko points out annoyingly)

Firisutu, the Golden Ape, the Scrapheap Idol
Demon of the Second Circle
Eleventh Soul of Keris Dulmeadokht
"Lead My People Well"
In the foothills where the Ruin meets the Spires is one mountain which stands out from all the others, made from the detritus and offcasts of all of this land. Here they take what is not wanted, and grant it new forms and new purpose. Wood pulp steams away in cauldron lakes and rotten food is burned to drive mechanisms that pump molten metal. In the temple at the peak of this scrapheap sits a form akin to an ape; though it is less hunched than a gorilla and bulkier than any chimp. It is hewn from gold and from silver and from gems and from hair - hair as red as blood, which winds through its limbs and coils within its chest. The source of these locks sits in lotus position in the cage of electrum that serves as the ape's head - a golden monkey built around a tiny red-tressed skull. This is Firisutu, the Scrapheap Idol.

He is the majordomo of the lady of this realm, and his attention is turned towards lesser matters, not greater ones. He cares little about grand policy, but the number of candles that burn in her halls - and their cost - or the amount she spends on her vanities occupy his thoughts day and night. To let something rot without something being made of it causes him a deep and abiding loathing, and so he and his demons root through garbage piles and drag them back to his fermenting pits. From his spire comes many things of use and beauty, but the other princes and princesses resent the raids by his servants and his supercilious manner.

The Golden Ape is a rarity among demons, for he was once less than what he is now. He was the first demon to be made by the hand of Keris Dulmeadokht; her familiar and firstborn, and believes this to be how he came to ascend as one of her souls. Thus, he prizes his title of Firstborn greatly, and has a long-standing enmity with those keruby who claim to have come before him, as well as the Princess Eko - whose touch melts his gold and whose spontaneity offends his philosophy. He values length of service perhaps more than he should in an underling, as this view sets only the Queen Dulmea above him - and as his body of precious metals might hint; he is vain. When he treads the soil of Creation, mounds of debris in the area start to resemble his mountain-temple through sheer happenstance.

Summoners might do far worse than call on Firisutu to keep their ledgers and assess their holdings. He is hard-working and diligent, and wishes that which he administers to thrive. His magics and his coin-towers let him know of all the properties a master sets under him, and allow him to divine their condition from afar. He may step into Creation uninvited when a lord despairs of managing his many territories while standing amidst piles of wealth, and build himself a body from their coffers before offering his aid. Such lords should be wary, though - to see a landowner or leader betray what he owns for personal gain drives Firisutu into a maddened rage, and the strength of his ape-like body is terrible indeed.