Bunraku (Samurai Mecha Quest)
- Thread starter Omicron
- Start date
- Original
DeepWaters
No one will be the wiser.
- Location
- Land of Spiders and Shipping Charts
[X]Accept Kozakura's offer. (While this does not lock you into marriage, this is an implicit acceptance of his courtship and tie you more closely to the Tenshin family the more you let it happen.)
- Location
- St. Petersburg
The second part of the sentence does not seem to be a translation from Noblespeak, and thus needs not be italicized.
Also,
In hindsight, it should have been obvious that a no-name ronin like us would be sought by the higher-ups for the only two things we have to offer: our blood and our mech. And since our mech is going to be in service of our Lord anyway, the royal blood that may secure the throne someday is perhaps the most important part of the equation.
I wonder if in seeking legitimacy that way Kozakura isn't going to become more trouble than she is worth.
Why are we backing out, though? Doesn't it come with power, wealth and social access we were gushing about just a while ago? We didn't think it'd come for free, did we?
And wasn't the choice of Verdant Sapling dictated by our desire for independence from our Lord? Come on, people, own up to it!
[X]Accept Kozakura's offer. (While this does not lock you into marriage, this is an implicit acceptance of his courtship and tie you more closely to the Tenshin family the more you let it happen.)
(We could be getting smashed with our battlebros just about now *sigh*)
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KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
[X]Accept Kozakura's offer. (While this does not lock you into marriage, this is an implicit acceptance of his courtship and tie you more closely to the Tenshin family the more you let it happen.)
In for a penny, in for a pound, and not 100% locked in to a marriage anyway.
In for a penny, in for a pound, and not 100% locked in to a marriage anyway.
- Location
- in the trash
[X]Accept Kozakura's offer. (While this does not lock you into marriage, this is an implicit acceptance of his courtship and tie you more closely to the Tenshin family the more you let it happen.)
At least, we can see what our potential spouse is like first before we turn him down. And we picked Imperial Blood, so unfortunately it's unavoidable that marriage for us is going to involve a lot of politics.
On the flip side, if we marry into the clan we'd secure ourselves a powerful alliance.
Although, post-Empire gender dynamics might be something of an issue. I suspect this wouldn't really hurt or restrict us, though. We have significant prestige and repuation, whereas our potential suitor is a relative unknown.
At least, we can see what our potential spouse is like first before we turn him down. And we picked Imperial Blood, so unfortunately it's unavoidable that marriage for us is going to involve a lot of politics.
On the flip side, if we marry into the clan we'd secure ourselves a powerful alliance.
Although, post-Empire gender dynamics might be something of an issue. I suspect this wouldn't really hurt or restrict us, though. We have significant prestige and repuation, whereas our potential suitor is a relative unknown.
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- Location
- va
[X]Reject Kozakura's offer. (There is an etiquette for doing this without offending Kozakura, but this will likely will cut any further involvement with the family.)
cB557
voOOP
Technically not, but we know what she's really asking here, and she knows we know what she's really asking here. Even if we haven't technically made an agreement, just taking the free ride for a bit and then not marrying the guy will most likely be treated as breaking our word and taking some advantage of her. If we do that it'll probably be worse for us than not taking her up on it at all. Anyone voting accept with the intention of doing that, I'd recommend reconsidering.
The thing about courtships is that they don't always work out for whatever reason, yeah they wouldn't be super happy with us but they aren't going to start trying to kill us either, and that assumes we end up not liking the guy if our interpretation of his calligraphy is correct he doesn't seem like a bad guy.
Acatalepsy
Firewall Proxy
- Location
- The Diamond Age
[X]Accept Kozakura's offer. (While this does not lock you into marriage, this is an implicit acceptance of his courtship and tie you more closely to the Tenshin family the more you let it happen.)
In for a penny...
This makes sense, we are poor, homeless and without backing. The key is to fix that fast enough to not end up under the Tenshin family's thumb. My concern with accepting is that, if we accept this courtship, it gives Kozakura some stake in keeping us dependent, and invites retaliation from the Tenshin family toward any other allies we choose to make. @Omicron, thoughts on that?
Besides, maybe Toshiro is a great guy? Worst case scenario he's a problem and we tell him and his family to get stuffed. Give'm a chance, is all I'm saying. If he's mediocre we can just back out or try to trade up for a better Tenshin.
In for a penny...
This makes sense, we are poor, homeless and without backing. The key is to fix that fast enough to not end up under the Tenshin family's thumb. My concern with accepting is that, if we accept this courtship, it gives Kozakura some stake in keeping us dependent, and invites retaliation from the Tenshin family toward any other allies we choose to make. @Omicron, thoughts on that?
Besides, maybe Toshiro is a great guy? Worst case scenario he's a problem and we tell him and his family to get stuffed. Give'm a chance, is all I'm saying. If he's mediocre we can just back out or try to trade up for a better Tenshin.
Khona Moshr
Pink Flamingo Cabal Healer(they/them)
- Location
- Alabama
- Pronouns
- They/Them
It's starting a courtship, and we don't know how he feels about Tomoe so he may not want to marry her and also we currently have postive impression of him from his calligraphy so give the guy a chance
LinkOnScepter
The One who Strangles Concepts to death
- Location
- Interwebs
[X]Reject Kozakura's offer. (There is an etiquette for doing this without offending Kozakura, but this will likely will cut any further involvement with the family.)
Free stuff is not worth cementing ourselves with one family and then having that bite us later.
Edit: Besides, it's obvious this woman knows what she's doing. If we agree, it's only a matter of time until she backs Tomoe into a corner where not marrying into the family will dishonor her in the eyes of everyone else. I'd rather avoid that.
Free stuff is not worth cementing ourselves with one family and then having that bite us later.
Edit: Besides, it's obvious this woman knows what she's doing. If we agree, it's only a matter of time until she backs Tomoe into a corner where not marrying into the family will dishonor her in the eyes of everyone else. I'd rather avoid that.
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Agreeing to in any form serve the scheming noblewoman that wants to use Tomoe in the nastiest of ways is not a good idea, and being connected with her family sends a certain sign to anyone who's watching.
I'llNameThisL8r
Bad at names
- Location
- Here
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X]Reject Kozakura's offer. (There is an etiquette for doing this without offending Kozakura, but this will likely will cut any further involvement with the family.)
- Location
- Virginia
[X]Accept Kozakura's offer. (While this does not lock you into marriage, this is an implicit acceptance of his courtship and tie you more closely to the Tenshin family the more you let it happen.)
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
While this isn't exactly impossible, it's difficult. Courtship among noble families is a sanctioned process; changing which relative you are courting is difficult at the best of times, although it does happen. If you managed it, Toshiro would likely consider himself spurned and deeply offended even if the rest of the family is okay with it.
What tends to happen more among ambitious upstart is that they settle for marrying the junior, then begin an affair with a senior relative which they use to obtain more covert power.
Well, it's not quite free. You can back down before marriage at any moment; but the further you allow the courtship to continue, the more official it is considered, and the more backlash you risk facing if you break it off. Milking courtship for benefits before breaking them and moving away is something that happens relatively regularly, but it is not without consequence for the "unfaithful" party.
It is also likely that past a certain point, the Tenshin will start asking you for favors to get you to show your genuine engagement in the process.
It's complicated.
In theory, a noble family is subordinate to the Imperial Family. Specifically, Toshiro (assuming it is he) would cease being Tenshin Toshiro and become Toshiro, Prince of [BLANK]; he would ascend to the Imperial Family, rather than integrating you into his family.
In practice, the Imperial Family is too disconnected to back up this tradition. The Tenshin's political wealth and political clout would allow them to put pressure on you no matter what formal ranks said. Of course, this would in turn mean you having access to that clout and wealth.
If Kozakura's son is courting you (or you him; the gender roles here got a bit blurry), she would absolutely have a stake in keeping you relatively independent from lord Summer. This means giving you the tools of that independence - escalating the further into the courtship you go, eventually giving you access to their wealth, their skilled retainers, their bunraku workshop, and their political connections - but it also means demanding things of you in return; asking you to make decisions which are more advantageous to them than to your lord, expecting you to inadvertantly drop details that you are not supposed to disclose in dinner conversations (nothing so crude as "espionage," of course), politely suggesting that you shouldn't associate with people you don't like (although they will not oppose getting friendly towards those they are neutral towards), and so on.
It offers resources, and influence, in return for a loss of freedom.
There is also, of course, a character aspect. Tomoe is 23, which is relatively old for an unmarried noble lady; before the Fall a member of the Imperial Family would have had an arranged marriage set up long before they reached twenty. She's been married to her job as long as she served Autumn, and it is unclear whether she regrets this and fears growing old and alone, or if she is fine with it and doesn't want to tie herself down in a family life. Her new trait, "A ghost in the flesh," would incline her towards the latter.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
- The woman is a slime, and she wants to buy us dirt cheap.
- We have already failed one lord, are we about to get involved in a power dispute on the 'wrong' side while in service of another?
- We wanted to be independent, but even if we go all the way, this just trades one master for another... and arguably a worse one. While the Dragon may value us as kin, we are worth absolutely nothing to Kozakura unless we improve her standing somehow.
- We are not obliged to commit, but they are not fools, and won't be giving us much more than bait until we do. We can try playing coy and leverage our potential influence in some other way, but those games are dangerous.
- From a personal standpoint, there is nothing farther from Tomoe's mind than marriage.
There are plenty of reasons.
Why are you assuming it's for the worst of reasons all she seems to want to is to improve the influence and power of her family how is that in any way a bad or unexpected thing, especially considering that if we married him (if) we'd be part of that family.
@Omicron how old is our prospective suitor and can we tell how skilled he is compared to us? Also is there an available method of family planning, ie can we prevent pregnancy?
@Omicron how old is our prospective suitor and can we tell how skilled he is compared to us? Also is there an available method of family planning, ie can we prevent pregnancy?
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The update contains both of the first informations
Contraception exists, although its effectiveness is relative. A lot of female samurai who want to avoid unplanned pregnancies mix certain herbs in their tea which prevent pregnancy. Unplanned pregnancies still happen, but for the wealthy and prepared they are rare.
Because she's a manipulative noble hag that views us as nothing more than a tool of her power plays which include Heavens know what, and accepting her offer will tie us up with her family which will be problematic to wash away. You are basically going on like this:
- Guys can you say why you vote for this?
- Here are the reasons.
- Okay but how do you KNOW manipulative noble will manipulate us?
Just snap out of your denial already.
I realise that she will manipulate us, so will anyone else with power, we aren't going to get anything for free if we want something from someone we will need to give them something in return and currently we only have two things to offer. We are simply not in a position where we can gain any significant power or wealth by ourselves, we will have to align with someone eventually and from what we've heard about this family they are one of, if not the best options around. Not only that this courtship gives us a chance to get to know them and what they would expect while still giving us a way out if we really want it.
Olive
Silent Princess
[X]Reject Kozakura's offer. (There is an etiquette for doing this without offending Kozakura, but this will likely will cut any further involvement with the family.)
Mainly because of Tomoe's internal cringe as soon as she realised what was going on, but if I had to explain the choice... While the concept in and of itself is not something to be outright rejected, there may br further opportunities later, and with other families, based in our observed achievements and that don't see the noble party taking such implicit advantage over the effectively homeless Princess.
Mainly because of Tomoe's internal cringe as soon as she realised what was going on, but if I had to explain the choice... While the concept in and of itself is not something to be outright rejected, there may br further opportunities later, and with other families, based in our observed achievements and that don't see the noble party taking such implicit advantage over the effectively homeless Princess.
I'llNameThisL8r
Bad at names
- Location
- Here
- Pronouns
- He/Him
...Except for the part where we actually are.
Literally the only thing she can offer us is a slight edge in quality and a lot of expediency in exchange for a disproportionately large amount of obligation.
We've done all of mabe two things for lord summer, we need to see what he is going to actually give us before we jump ship for his political rival.