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Behind the Serpent Throne (CK2)

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Gingganz said:
I basically agree. But there are several things that I think need to be done soon, among them getting our own servants, getting proper clothes and getting bodyguards. I just chose to start on the bodyguards because they seem the most vital, but I could be persuaded to choose something else.
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Of three main "setting in" things I consider bodyguards the least urgent.
Clothes help with influence after our novelty wears off, and dice are important. Our own servants mean relying less on dear ol' dad.
Bodyguards we can do without until we really get into the meat of things here at court. Kiralo is hardly helpless anyway.

E: autocorrect strikes again.
 
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Oh, and @runeblue360 may choose where to spend their bonus, which will be somewhere between +6 and +8 (still deciding) if they'd like to choose. If not, I'll just pick the least likely option and give it that bonus.
 
Muer'ci said:
Clothes help with influence after our novelty wears off, and dice are important. Our own servants mean relying less on dear ol' dad.
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So far, we aren't really in conflict with our father, so having our own servants doesn't look urgent to me either. On the other hand, Irit seems like a rather conservative province to me, so if we try to curry favor with the, proper Csiritan clothing might help. OK, I'm convinced and will change my plan.
 
[X] Plan Neptune
-[X] Clothes Make The Man - 1 dice

Updating our clothing is essential given the nature of court and they should give solid social bonuses (or remove negatives).

-[X] Trust in Arrears - 2 dice

The primary job given to us is too be the liason between Kuojah and the generals, so this option is essential and given the below average success chance it's best to drop two dice on it.

-[X] Csrae Bound - 1 dice
-[X] Prayer For The People - 1 dice

Csrae bound is a time-limited opportunity that was the result of a monstrous critical success so we should take advantage, and prayer for the people is needed so the Irit issue is more widely known which should aid in the state actions we have available plus some courtiers/officials may help independently.

-[X] Rumors of War - 1 dice

I really wanted to do a welcoming party this turn given it's the last chance but just couldn't find the two dice that would have been needed. This however should suffice instead, especially given the nature of the battle itself and how we specifically need to ingratiate ourselves with the generals. This should also make it easier for us to bring our mercenary unit into the country.

-[X] Fort Up - 1 state influence dice

While I'd like to do the put down option, it's better done in another season and when the army has been paid. So between alms and fort up I believe this is better as it provides the local forces an area they can exert influence and more easily deal with the problem themselves. Alms has short term benefits but doesn't solve the underlying issues.
 
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Though one thing to note is that the point of alms is that there is an immediate situation.

Though of course all three options will take more than a month to really get started, the month is the time it takes to convince everyone and get it started. Like, the soldiers' option wouldn't get started until Spring in terms of action, this is convincing people of it.

The alms action is one whose blessings should be debated, but not necessarily relegated to 'short term benefits only.' It also depends on what you define as 'underlying issues.'

Depending on one's definition, none of the options actually come even close to solving them.

Basically, you only have one state action a month (so far) so think carefully.
 
[X] Plan Making an Entrance
-[X] Absolute Rubbish, Laddie

Okay, if we want to influence the Emperor, establishing a personal friendship here, using our most skilled domain AND highest stat is likely more potent than going at it through the court, with established interrelations we don't know.
Synergy with the party, especially if we can lure him to participate.

-[X] To Serve...

We have yet to attract deadly attention, but we ARE attracting attention. This brings us a competent set of servants.
To handle our every day business and free up time for court, to entertain our guests and not look POOR. What kind of courtier has to do his own chores, when it's not a quirk like his horsework?

-[X] Clothes Make The Man

Also important. We can defer this, but not for very long. Dressing up appropriately helps prevent our novelty from wearing off to leave us the foreigner.

-[X] Csrae Bound

We have a scheduled meeting. Leaving it be would be rude. Dangerously rude.

-[X] Welcoming Party 2 dice

And finally, last chance to use our welcoming party to establish ourselves in court. This is a big opportunity, and I coupled it with synergy by getting personal servants(to help with the party) and new clothes(the better to be the talk of the party).

With two dice and a high diplomacy modifier, we should be able to leverage this into increased influence across many sectors, which translates to more actions.
Most other actions can still wait, but we made a bang into the court.
Fading into the background is not good for influence.

-[X] Alms...

Simple way to help with the problem without a dangerous movement of men and horse. Bring food, and the banditry will reduce as people are less starved. It buys TIME to solve the problem. Time until we can move the odds a little. Time until we have the influence to focus on actions without losing precious time.
 
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veekie said:
-[X] To Serve...

We have yet to attract deadly attention, but we ARE attracting attention. This brings us a competent set of servants.
To handle our every day business and free up time for court, to entertain our guests and not look POOR. What kind of courtier has to do his own chores, when it's not a quirk like his horsework?
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We already have servants. They are just not really our own, just provided by our father.

The Laurent said:
You actually already have servants even if you don't choose that, just so you know.

They're just, you know, loyal to your father first and foremost.
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[X] Plan Mori

Absolute Rubbish, Laddie makes sense to do this turn while we're still fresh in the emperor's mind, however, I think it'd be best to take Poetical Exercises with it, to mitigate risk of ill-will from the established circle of court poets. Hari likely has influence there, to be the Emperor's tutor. Poetical Exercises could always be taken later, ofc, but that could mean letting it fester.

-[X] Absolute Rubbish, Laddie
-[X] Poetical Exercises

Aiding Irit is good, and state influence is hard to come by, so state action feels better, but A Prayer For The People is actually very strong- spending a court influence to get others to spend state influence. Failing it is a lot less of a blow than failing a state action as well. If things worsen, we can always take a State Action next turn, perhaps with improved odds or benefits of success due to awareness-raising.

We were called to court because of the Jinrae issue, and there are always other things to do. Right now might be as good of a chance as we get to take True Lords Of The Clipped Coin, which takes 2 turns and so should be done as early as possible.

-[X] A Prayer For The People
-[X] True Lords Of The Clipped Coin

Csrae Bound is time-critical and the Council of Generals is too important a thing to ignore, imo.

-[X] Csrae Bound
-[X] Trust in Arrears (2 dice)

That said, the party option is probably really good with 2 dice. I might be convinced to swap out Absolute Rubbish, Laddie and Poetical Exercises as being too slow/questionable impact.
 
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The Laurent said:
Though one thing to note is that the point of alms is that there is an immediate situation.

Though of course all three options will take more than a month to really get started, the month is the time it takes to convince everyone and get it started. Like, the soldiers' option wouldn't get started until Spring in terms of action, this is convincing people of it.

The alms action is one whose blessings should be debated, but not necessarily relegated to 'short term benefits only.' It also depends on what you define as 'underlying issues.'

Depending on one's definition, none of the options actually come even close to solving them.

Basically, you only have one state action a month (so far) so think carefully.
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I was speaking of short-term as while the problem is being exasperated by the winter, it seems at it's core to be about law/order and governance (as are most things even to this day) which alms does little about except delaying the descent slightly longer. I also see prayer to the people as fulfilling a slightly similar role, as the most likely response for the increased prominence of the issue for courtiers that care is to organize resources/food to go to Irit (and if those courtiers/officials have a state action to do alms themselves) although obviously it would be less effective than a successful state action. Making the preparations for forts on the other hand is not likely to be done as it presumably can only be done as a state action, and we know of that issue specifically because of the letter from the governor.

As for not solving the situation with one action that's quite obvious as the issues are multi-faceted, and importantly the actions don't have anything specifically to do with governance itself which was one of the noted problems in the first place. At the moment the best to hope for without a new action in the future is that with the eyes of the Imperial court looking on them the nobles of Irit clean up their acts slightly until the courts gaze wanders away.
 
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Neptune said:
I was speaking of short-term as while the problem is being exasperated by the winter, it seems at it's core to be about law/order and governance (as are most things even to this day) which alms does little about except delaying the descent slightly longer.
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The problem is, the long term fix takes TIME to work.

Winter is coming. By the time fixing governance or security does anything, people will be dead and frozen.
Food deals with the problem of people starving over winter, which buys us immediate gratitude and live people to apply a longer term solution to.
 
[X] Plan Put Down the Fires
-[X] Trust in Arrears (2 dice)
-[X] A Prayer For The People (2 dice)
-[X]Absolute Rubbish, Laddie
-[X] Csrae Bound
-[X] Alms...

Ok. First of all, having our own bodyguards and servants? While important to keep things from Kuojah, the truth is, right now we have nothing to keep quiet from him except Csrae Bound. Yes, I know I put that in the plan and not the retinue ones but I am somewht worried about the options that are time sensitive.

The matter of the military is a serious one in case of civil war and is one that will take long so we should begin it as soon as we can. This is both in case things go south and so that we can increase our influence in the military, which is our strong point. The sooner we can get a military command, the better, and that won't happen if the army hates our guts on principle. Sincé we both can't afford not having the military discontent if we want them to support the emperor, we want to look like the ones that save it and it is hard, we invest two dice to make it likelier to succeed.

Second is the matter at Irit. Work on forts and mobilising the army won't start until after Winter but people are starving now. A Prayer for the people and Alms sinergize and if we can show that we can get things done then it should help our influence. Clothes we can get at any time but the mentality that "Kiralo thinks it must be done= it is important and thus done"? THAT is the kind of thing that requires timing. Plus, it shows that when people tell him of their problems he tries to solve them, which translates to people going to him. The banditry problema we can work in spring but once the harvest comes we will lose the window of opportunity to benefit from the starving.

Csrae Bound becomes less likely to succeed every turn that passes and it nets us a contact if it goes well. While not one with family conections, it is one Kiralo admits might be useful later.

Ladie is so that we get closer with the emperor.
 
I come around to the idea of giving alms. It's the most helpful action right now, and, come spring, we might have gathered enough influence with the military that we can push for decisively put down the bandits. I will edit my plan again.

If we want to do this, I would very much like to start getting into the generals good graces right now, as I suspect that gaining their respect will take time.
 
Bakkasama said:
Second is the matter at Irit. Work on forts and mobilising the army won't start until after Winter but people are starving now. A Prayer for the people and Alms sinergize and if we can show that we can get things done then it should help our influence. Clothes we can get at any time but the mentality that "Kiralo thinks it must be done= it is important and thus done"? THAT is the kind of thing that requires timing. Plus, it shows that when people tell him of their problems he tries to solve them, which translates to people going to him. The banditry problema we can work in spring but once the harvest comes we will lose the window of opportunity to benefit from the starving.
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Different approach to gaining influence I see. Hmm, potentially effective, though I have my doubts about just how much it would do compared to fixing up our presentation. Remember, we've already been here for a month. We have yet to attend court or host any major social event.

We look mostly like a foreign troubleshooter at present, at some risk of being marginalized over time, if we simply don't go out and be SEEN. The court, we have seen, cares much less for actual actions, compared to appearances and acquaintances. Saving people is noble but unlikely to greatly affect our position outside of a subset of the people...while mobilizing armed forces or taking direct at all, is something we know that people actually see as a detriment here.
 
We should play to our strengths, and we want to propely prepare campaign in the spring we should start now. We have just received news so it is good to seen doing something. even if we do not do much we could get some influence by immeditily trying to do as much as we can. Also I am choosing to use Irit as excuse to push Kujoh to pay soldiers. Some people will starve, but others may take actions we should play for our strengths, and beginning to work to prepare for spring campaign. Also positiong to be part of it, so we could use our extremely high military skill. So our Stewardship is somewhat low, while our martial is hight.
 
[X] Plan Making an Entrance

Get the whole settling in thing out of the way, then get to work. Sure.
I want a party as much as the next person, anyway.
 
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