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Blood of the Gods: A Fantasy CKII Quest

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I didn't vote for an updated plan, I voted for the plan that I saw and liked right now. if I will still vote for it after it's been updated is not certain.
 
Cetashwayo said:
I don't think our mother is power-hungry, I do think she has an ulterior motive and using us as an Azor Ahai or something. Because I don't see much other reason for a random foreign woman to sire a heir to the Pharoah.

Why did I choose mentor first? Because I frankly think that evaluation of mentors doesn't change anything. Our aunt is regent, she is respected, she is the sister of the late pharoah, and she is dying. I'd like to get as much out of her, as quickly as possible, before she dies. Having our regency end amiably is by far the most important thing for us in that respect.
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I don't particularly think so either, but it is a possibility to be aware of. As to why she sired an heir, I kind of assumed it had to do with the Pharoah being near death and desperate for an heir. She may have even been hired to use her magic to help him conceive. Or maybe she genuinely loved him? Hard to say.

You have a good point about the dowager queen. She is probably the best choice for mentor, especially if we are trying to tap into our dynasty's prestige. Would you consider my plan if I swapped court protocol for choosing her as mentor? I think reconciliation with the eunuchs can be put off a bit, and that building our personal reputation is more important. Other than that we seem to agree on things.
 
Cetashwayo said:
Because I frankly think that evaluation of mentors doesn't change anything. Our aunt is regent, she is respected, she is the sister of the late pharoah, and she is dying. I'd like to get as much out of her, as quickly as possible, before she dies.
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I agree that Neferet is probably the most respectable choice we could make for Mentor. However, remember what Cavalier said:
Cavalier said:
You have a chance to pick up more stat points from a Mentor, up to the Mentor's own competence. Generally you aren't going to learn anything in an area from someone who is already less capable there than you are.
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My question is: what is Neferet's competence? How much can we learn from her, given our current stat levels? I got the impression that the Dowager Queen's specialty lies in Diplomacy and, perhaps, Piety. But our Diplomacy score is already pretty high (it's currently sitting 17), and we could improve our Piety much more by choosing Meryawy instead.

Also, while Neferet is respected and we need her help to ensure a smooth transition, she did belong to the last administration that let the army and administration grow weak and corrupt. That does not bode well for her competence in other areas.

That's why I wanted to wait a turn, until we've had a chance to work for a year with Neferet, and the royal scribe, and the chief eunuch, and anyone else -- to test their character and their competence.
 
Hm. If it will give us an idea of who is who, then it is worthwhile delay of Mentor, I guess. Alright, I am convinced - but we have to pick a mentor in the next year because bonuses from Mentor are really good.

[X] Plan Firm Foundations
 
veekie said:
[] Plan Trust Is In Short Supply
-[] Learn Court protocol from Dowager Queen Neferet
-[] Establish network of informants in the palace [100 s. deben]
-[] Choose a Mentor (write in who)
--[] Mother
-[] Learn to drive a chariot [-5 Authority]
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Do you think we'll be able to establish decent informants in the palace without stepping on anyone's toes while not at peace with eunuchs and lacking any real knowledge about who is who?
 
Nervos Belli said:
Would you consider my plan if I swapped court protocol for choosing her as mentor? I think reconciliation with the eunuchs can be put off a bit, and that building our personal reputation is more important. Other than that we seem to agree on things.
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I would prefer reconciliation with the eunuchs to avoid what could be said to be a temporary split into a permanent gulf.

Also, Cav, how does mentoring work here? Is it like in CK2 where you earn stats rapidly till you hit age of majority from tutors and then that's it?
 
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[X] Plan Firm Foundations

This plan seems very reasonable after Catesh's and Pub's convo last page. And I like the groundwork laid out before we choose a mentor, investigate or setup our informant ring with little to no support now.
 
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Here's my plan:

PLAN SWORD AND SCEPTER

[ ] Learn Court protocol from Dowager Queen Neferet
[ ] Reconcile with Ptahshepses
[ ] Learn to drive a chariot [-5 Authority]
[ ] Establish network of informants in the palace [100 s. deben]

I think setting up an informant ring is still doable without eunuch support despite arguments in this regard, and I think the sooner we do it the better. Hopefully when Cavalier means ring of informants he doesn't mean we try to be Varys the second. I think it's possible to do a ring of informants without fucking up too bad.

I'm dropping mentorship because I want to wait a turn and get a better view of everything, and Publicola's points are fair.
 
Cetashwayo said:
Hopefully when Cavalier means ring of informants he doesn't mean we try to be Varys the second. I think it's possible to do a ring of informants without fucking up too bad.
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At this level it's more like getting the servants to tell you things. Mostly gossip and a less privileged view of the state of things. Maybe suspicious activity if there is any.

The position of Varys II is already filled.
 
Okay, so that sounds good to me. This plan covers diplomatic (reconciliation, court protocol) intrigue (informants) and martial (chariot) aspects. Which works for me.
 
Cetashwayo said:
I think setting up an informant ring is still doable without eunuch support despite arguments in this regard, and I think the sooner we do it the better. Hopefully when Cavalier means ring of informants he doesn't mean we try to be Varys the second.
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Thanks for getting clarification on that. I do agree that getting a network of informants is a high priority action.

Something to consider, however, is that your Plan only has us working with the dowager queen and the chief eunuch, as you dropped the action that would have us working with the chief scribe. That's fine if Neferet works out as our choice for Mentor, but if she doesn't, then you've limited yourself to only one other choice that we will have worked closely with. It's possible the informant ring might give us some of the palace gossip from Day 1, but I suspect we'd need to wait until we 'Investigate' a specific target for usable intel.

Either way, while I like all of the actions you picked, your plan doesn't provide as many options for deciding who our Mentor will be next turn.
 
[X] PLAN SWORD AND SCEPTER
[X] Learn Court protocol from Dowager Queen Neferet
[X] Reconcile with Ptahshepses
[X] Learn to drive a chariot [-5 Authority]
[X] Establish network of informants in the palace [100 s. deben]
 
[X] PLAN SWORD AND SCEPTER
[X] Learn Court protocol from Dowager Queen Neferet
[X] Reconcile with Ptahshepses
[X] Learn to drive a chariot [-5 Authority]
[X] Establish network of informants in the palace [100 s. deben]

Close enough to mine. I don't really get why people are so desperate to resolve a petty grudge so quickly, but it's not a big deal.
 
[X] PLAN SWORD AND SCEPTER
[X] Learn Court protocol from Dowager Queen Neferet
[X] Reconcile with Ptahshepses
[X] Learn to drive a chariot [-5 Authority]
[X] Establish network of informants in the palace [100 s. deben]
 
Well, voting technically begins now but it looks like a nascent consensus is already developing. I'll wrap up the votes tomorrow afternoon then so there's a chance for last-minute input and such.
 
[X] PLAN SWORD AND SCEPTER
[X] Learn Court protocol from Dowager Queen Neferet
[X] Reconcile with Ptahshepses
[X] Learn to drive a chariot [-5 Authority]
[X] Establish network of informants in the palace [100 s. deben]

No real objections from me.
 
Based on my informal tally, it's still pretty close.

Plan Sword and Scepter - 6 votes
Plan Firm Foundations - 4 votes
Plan Trust is in Short Supply - 2 votes
Plan Foundations of Power - 1 vote


The top two plans are the same (learn court protocol, reconcile with the chief eunuch, learn to drive a chariot) except for the fourth personal action.

Sword and Scepter sets up a 'network of informants' -- setting the groundwork to ensure we can control our own government; placing trustworthy eyes and ears within the palace to keep an eye on the Royal Council and lesser officials.

Firm Foundations 'negotiates with Mefkat' -- spending Authority now so we won't be faced with a bottleneck later; establishing our credibility and authority in an area (Diplomacy) we're already very good at; and (most importantly) putting us in close contact with the Chief Scribe.


While every action is useful for reasons of its own (and I agree 'informants network' is absolutely essential), Plan Firm Foundations was designed around a single principle -- evaluating as many key officials as possible to determine their eligibility for becoming our Mentor.

We need to choose a mentor next turn, and the other actions only let us work with the Dowager Queen and the Chief Eunuch. Negotiating with Mefkat, as useful as it may be on its own, would also let us examine the Chief Scribe as we work alongside him, to see if he'd be a feasible mentor. Establishing a network of informants would only put us in contact with maids and servants and lesser folk around the palace. All of those potential informants have their uses, but none of them qualify as a prospective Mentor to the Pharaoh.

I encourage voters to reconsider and cast their support for 'Plan Firm Foundations'.
 
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No mentor?

We pretty much have to choose one, and our actions these turns don't change the choices much, except for opening up the eunuch if we succeed on that roll.
 
[X] Plan Firm Foundations

Okay, I am severely dissapointed, guys. I get not trusting Khui. But not trusting Khui and trusting Neferet of all people?
At least We made a decent impression on Khui. Neferet does not care for us personally at all. And she is effectively conspiring against us by prolonging regency till we marry, concentrating more authority in her hands.

Like at least Khui is only a suspected conspirator, and that is only because he is considered too handsome, ambitious and competent by some. The end result of Neferets actions have concentrated power into her and the council's hands, away from us.
 
Cetashwayo said:
Our aunt is regent, she is respected, she is the sister of the late pharoah, and she is dying. I'd like to get as much out of her, as quickly as possible, before she dies. Having our regency end amiably is by far the most important thing for us in that respect.
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Not really? She does provide some veneer of legitimacy, but she doesn't give us the battle training needed to defeat the tribes and get our vassals back, and she is dying and won't get us support once she is dead. At least training with army gets us more prepared and linked for the battles to come so we can establish ourselves.

Like we can investigate Khui while learning from him, and if he does turn out to be traitorous a mentor student duel could be cool. Or we could just execute him. The problem with not learning from him and then killing him is the acute lack of talented commanders in Kemet- we have many Diplomacy/ Stewardship types, especially if we can wrangle Eunuch reconciliation.
But the lack of high martial types should we kill him can only be reliably filled by us, because we are the only character players can reliably control the growth of.
 
[X] PLAN SWORD AND SCEPTER

My preferred plan would have included 'negotiates with Mefkat' instead of 'chariot training' so as to use up more authority. But, in the end I value the network over a higher use of authority this turn.
 
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