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Bunraku (Samurai Mecha Quest)

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Would Kozakura oppose the young upstart princess trying to grab more power than she's given?

Probably. But she's a human being, and she can be cajoled and befriended too.

But consider that if this is power you obtain by marrying Toshiro, then claiming more would mean giving him more, and that would already give you an insider ally. The Tenshin clan also has a puppeteer, and puppeteers tend to stick together; she could be an ally. A family is not a monolithic block; some Tenshin members may dislike and oppose you, but others may like and assist you.


An aspect left unsaid is that Kozakura is not the first Tenshin matriarch, nor will she be the last. While she might smack down uppity young relatives who try to get too high too fast, she also expects them to eventually reach a station of greater power, perhaps even her own, once they're old and experienced enough. I didn't really bring this up because I don't expect you to make decisions based on prospects far out of the Quest, decades in the future, but it does inform her character - she doesn't want to pull you in as a shiny prize and then "keep you in your place" forever, but she's also a kind of person who might not like those who climb too fast.
 
[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.)
 
Also, if we try to amass more power, it depends on whose expense it comes at.

Obviously internal politicking is going to run into more opposition, but the Tenshin are hardly going to oppose us taking advantage of their resources to increase our power if they also stand to benefit.

(Unless they feel we're becoming too powerful and don't want us gaining any more power, but we're hardly at that point)
 
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Arcus2611 said:
And if I believe you here, then it makes all the more sense to accept the Tenshin offer, because otherwise we're going to eventually end up in debt.
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Exactly, instead of limiting our excesses and having a modicum of patience, we should immediately put ourselves in debt to an entirely different person on top of what we already owe to our first boss.
Exactly nothing is wrong with this plan.
You seem to be convinced this is some kind of trap option that will utterly screw us over in the long run and will offer us no further opportunities for advancement. If it was, do you think the GM would have offered it in the first place?

I do think it's going to come with costs, but said costs will be proprtional to the benefits, unless @Omicron decides to be malevolent (in which case we're fucked any way)
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I'm convinced that this vote is a choice between waiting for something and getting it now, at the low, low cost of a bunch of political horseshit that we'll end up regretting later.
 
[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.)
 
Nevill said:
This is why I would love to hear the answer to the problem Satar's brought up above - what is the meaning of independence in the setting? Can you refuse an order from your liege that you personally disagree with, or tell him 'kthxbye', take your Bunraku and leave for greater pastures at any time? Is changing allegiances no more complicated than changing apartments? What good does it do us?
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In the Japanese(and oriental in general) manner, there are degrees of refusal and obligations. Get in deep enough debt and you shouldn't even suggest alternative approaches unless expressedly asked for, while an largely independent operator can politely refuse a certain degree of orders(while in turn the social contract means they know they don't own you enough to make orders rather than suggestions, for both sides will lose face if forced to refuse).

Since we're currently living on charity, but brought our Bunraku to the table, you can see how the engagement earlier went, we have some leeway in how to prosecute an order, but not much other than that

And no, the system doesn't care if you have conflicting obligations, your debt grows for going against one or the other.
 
Satar said:
One thing I don't like about the Japanese medieval ages is that advancement is so goddamn difficult. You're expected to die with your Lord, there really isn't a bureaucracy worth the name, and daimyo hold all the land and power.
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That's... not actually true. The Japanese medieval period was actually the period of time which saw the most mobility between levels of social classes in antiquity, such that there is even a term 'Gekokujo', which refers to lowers rising up and overthrowing their superiors, that was defined during this period. The Sengoku was defined by acts of loyalty, betrayal, and actually kicked off with a weakening of centralized power (Onin War) which gave way to the rise of the Damiyo. Before the Senogku, the country was ruled by the great Kuge clans and the Imperial Court. After, during the Edo period, classes became highly stratified and the Tokugawa established a strong hold over the country. It is the medieval period which was the most socially mobile, where Ashigaru and Samurai were not strongly defined classes but vague blurry categories where one could slip between one and the other, where a warrior could be promoted from merit from a peasant sandle-bearer to eventually seize control over the entire country, where peasants and samurai created a religious movement that threatened even the most preeminent warlord of the era. Even most of the famous Daimiyo clans of the Sengoku rose up from being no-names.

The Sengoku period is defined by chaos, which made it possible for people to refine themselves in the generally accepted social hierarchy. It is the most chaotic, and thus the most socially mobile period within the stretch of Japanese history between the Nara and the Edo era.
 
[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.)
 
[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.)

Just found this quest today. It's awesome.

Based on everything that's been said since the last update, I'm liking the sound of accept - in part because of the reasoning I've seen, and in part because it's so much more interesting than the bog-standard 'I am an island' strategy.
 
@Magery I agree getting involved with the local politics and families will certainly make things more interesting.
@Omicron if we somehow managed to gain a position of major power how likely is the family to support us and how likely is our potential husband to support us?
 
[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.)
 
[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.)

Kozakura's working Tomoe over, seeking to exploit her unfortunate circumstances for the benefit of her own family. Acceptance helps in the short term, but it locks Tomoe into a very particular path, working with a group of people who may not look kindly on an upstart with a threatening bloodline.
 
What do you mean threatening bloodline, our bloodline is part of the reason we're getting this offer at all, the only reason we're valuable to them is because our bloodline provides prestige and our bunraku provides power, they aren't going to do anything to limit either of these two things.
 
STILL A TIE

Next person who posts calls the vote, otherwise in an hour I'm flipping a coin >:C
 
Oh well we'll probably get another chance to get involved with the politics of autumn. On to the next issue, since our bunraku is now the first of a new class will we get the chance to improve/refine it further after some field testing? Also will the fact that our bunraku is made of spirit wood increase the chance of it awakening its spirit?
 
Which is to say... we are still tied 19 to 19. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen!

Vote Tally : Original - Bunraku (Samurai Mecha Quest) | Page 27 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.10.1
[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.)
No. of Votes: 17
veekie
10ebbor10
Arbit
Dexterity
Guessmyname
hcvquizibo
I'llNameThisL8r
LinkOnScepter
Melancholeric
Olive
Orm Embar
Pandemonious Ivy
Satar
The Meddler
The Phoenixian
Theoneandonlyz
Walker of the Yellow Path
[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.)
No. of Votes: 17
giodan
Acatalepsy
Arcus2611
Crilltic
DeepWaters
Elero
InterstellarHobo
KnightDisciple
Kuciwalker
Magery
mc2rpg
Nevill
No7sHere
pianoman
Tetsurou
Vanguard_D
Varano
[X]Accept Kozakura's offer.
No. of Votes: 2
Laurentius
Salbazier
[X] Reject.
No. of Votes: 1
Salty
[x]refuse
No. of Votes: 1
cB557
Total No. of Voters: 38
 
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