Castles of Steel - Lesbians Good, Imperialism Bad

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Lieutenant Arisukawa Haruna

Balance Stats
❁ • ❁ Work / Life ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Warrior / Princess ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Radical / Respectable ❁ • ❁

Tactical Stats
Gunnery 0, Navigation +2, Command +2, Technology -4, Personal -2, Strategy +3

Stress: 3​


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PLEASE READ THE QUEST RULES BELOW

You collectively vote on the actions of Arisukawa Haruna, the first woman to serve openly in the Imperial Akitsukuni Navy.

This quest is set in a universe which is much like our own circa 1910, but with different politics, cultural norms, and ideas about gender and sexuality, as well as some unusual and advanced technology in places.

We are using this quest to explore themes like breaking the glass ceiling, divergent outlooks on gender and sexuality, colonialism and imperialism, and the place of royalty.

Content Warning
This quest goes some dark places.

There is violence, often explicit, often unfair, often against undeserving targets.

There are not always good options forward. The protagonist is not necessarily a good person.

There is implied content and discussion of sexual harassment and assault.

This is a world where people are often racist, sexist, queerphobic bigots. Sometimes, even the PC and the people they are friends with.

Voting Rules

We will tell you if write-in votes are allowed. If we do not say that write-ins are allowed, they are not. This is to prevent people from unrealistically hedging their bets.

You may proposal other options in a non-vote format, subject to approval, on non write-in votes.

We will tell you when a vote allows approved voting. If we don't say the answer is no, pick an option. We like making people commit.

Discussions makes the GM feel fuzzy.

Game Rules
When we ask you for a roll, roll 3d6. You are aiming to roll equal or under the value of your stat. If you succeed, Haruna gets through the situation with no real difficulties. If you roll above the target value, Haruna will still succeed, but this success will cost her something or add a complication.

Whenever Haruna loses something or faces hardship from a botched roll, she takes Stress. The more Stress Haruna has, the more the job and the circumstances she's in will get to her, and it'll be reflected in the narrative. Haruna must be kept under 10 Stress: if she reaches 10 Stress, she will suffer a breakdown and the results will not be great for her.

Haruna loses stress by taking time for herself, by making meaningful progress on her dreams, and by kissing tall, beautiful women.

Meta Rules
Author commentary is in italics so you know it's not story stuff.

Please don't complain about the system or the fact we have to roll dice. We've heard it before, we've heard it a thousand times across multiple quests. We're not going to change it, and it wears at our fucking souls.

Just going "oh noooo" or "Fish RNGesus Why!" is fun and fine. Complaining at length because you didn't get what you want less so.

If you have a question, tag both @open_sketchbook and @Artificial Girl. If you only tag one of us, you will be ignored. Seriously, we both write this quest.

And yes this is an alt-history type setting with openly gay and trans people, ahistoric medicine, and weird politics. Just... deal, please?

This quest employs a special system called Snippet Votes. Please read this post for more information.
 
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[JK] Support blowing them up.

We're protected by continuity! Nothing we do here can start the war! Glory to the Empress!

[X] Cut ahead of them, release a pair of mines. If they hit the mines and anything happens we can blame them for trespassing in mined Akitsuni waters. They'd be forced to slow down, or stop, for fear of hitting more mines, two mines probably won't sink them outright.
 
[X] Support stalking them.

Having a boat that you know can sink you at any time and that you can barely harm follow you cannot be good for morale, and may even get them to turn around and go away. It's not like we can beat them in a gun duel.
 
veekie said:
Was under the impression it took more than one hit
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It can do and often did. But not always.

Battleships were large, with multiple hull spaces and double hulls and so on. Many took a mine and kept on sailing, and they were considered survivable enough that there was a group of pre-dreadnought battleships that the British used as minesweepers... just by sailing into a minefield.

Then again... The minefields at Gallipoli claimed several battleships. HMS Barham was sunk by a single torpedo. Sometimes, shit just goes wrong.

A destroyer is small, often in this era they would be literally 1% of the tonnage of, say, USS Iowa. No double bottom. No armour belt. Few compartments.
Destroyers could survive mines and they did. But just as BB's were rarely sunk by 1, DD's rarely survived just 1.
 
[X] Support stalking them
nothing spookier than being followed by a submarine...

And did I spy a reference to a rule 63 Kropotkin?
 
[X] Support stalking them.

Harass them nonviolently, try to spook them back to their side of the line.

And if they open fire, submerge and start laying out the torps.
 
[X] Support stalking them.

This is probably better than what I originally voted. The only downside I see is that I'm not sure what we can do if they run, since they are probably faster than we are and maneuverable enough to be hard to torpedo if they are expecting it.
 
[X] Support blowing them up.

A military warship steams strait into a foreign nations sovereign waters. That's just asking for a major international incident to occur.
 
Miner238 said:
A military warship steams strait into a foreign nations sovereign waters. That's just asking for a major international incident to occur.
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Blowing up a foreign nation's warship without warning and without having been offered violent provocation (as opposed to mere intrusion) is ALSO just asking for a major international incident, insofar as "declaration of war" is a type of incident between nations.

Or don't you "remember the Maine?"

...

More generally, this kind of intrusion is not uncommon in real life, though it's usually done by aircraft. It's unwelcome, but if you shoot at everything that crosses the border in time of peace, you won't have a time of peace for very long.
 
[X] Support stalking them.

Honestly, we cannot open fire first, period. Like, our old boat had more firepower and armor then our current ride, so we get into a fight, we are fucked.

And a shot across the bow could go wrong in so many ways it ain't even funny.
 
Night_stalker said:
[X] Support stalking them.

Honestly, we cannot open fire first, period. Like, our old boat had more firepower and armor then our current ride, so we get into a fight, we are fucked.

And a shot across the bow could go wrong in so many ways it ain't even funny.
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The sub actually has more firepower, the problem is that it's almost all in the torpedoes...

OneirosTheWriter said:
A destroyer running into a sea mine is going to quite literally blow the bow off of it.

Also, some fun:

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3-14: Cat and mouse
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    • "Stalk them, Ken. Let's do what subs do best." You said.

    He grinned. "I agree, and, hey, look!" He pointed to the shoulder of his leather jacket. "I'm the captain, and you guys don't even appear to have ranks. So let's do it. All hands to your action stations--prepare to surface the boat!"

    You all dashed to your positions and made preparations. There was a rush throughout the tiny boat as everyone scrambled to get to their assigned duty stations in preparation. There was a nervous excitement in the air, a tension that you could almost reach out and touch. You might be shooting at the Caspians in a moment. Or getting shot at. There wasn't much for you to do, specifically, so you hovered near your duty station, peering over your radio operator's shoulder and then the hydrophone operator. Good. Everything was set.

    The boat creaked and popped and then surfaced with a rushing sound. Moments later, Kenshin was clambering up into the conning tower, leaving Kayabashi to run the control room. You heard Kenshin's voice call down soon after.

    "Arisukawa, Kehara, get up here. I need your eyes." The pair of you clambered up the ladder along with the group of four enlisted men who would be scanning the horizon in each direction while you conversed with the captain. It made for a tight fit on the conning tower, but you didn't mind. You could tell that there was an intense bit of jealousy from the enlisted types towards the one who was facing for'ard as the sub turned and began to leap through the waves on a course to intercept the destroyer. Kenshin grinned.

    "Let's see what he does now that he knows we're watching him." As you closed the distance, you knew that it would soon be impossible that anyone aboard the Caspian vessel had not noticed you.

    You were close enough that, through your binoculars, you could see little people moving around the walkways. They'd definitely seen you, judging by the sudden burst of activity which overtook the little vessel. Even though you knew you were well out of effective range, you still felt a nervous anticipation as the rear turret of the destroyer adjusted to point your way.

    "They're slowing down, Captain!" The enlisted man reported. Kenshin grinned and called down the hatch.

    "Slow to half and turn fifteen degrees port!" The rumble of the engines diminished a little, and the ship drifted slightly off a parallel course with the destroyer. This was a precaution: it was a lot harder to hit a target that was moving laterally than one coming straight forward.

    You watched through your glasses as the turret slowly cranked around to follow you, dancing just out of range for the better part of fifteen minutes before the Caspians realized they were being fucked with. Their smokestacks flared up and they started moving at speed again, and the submarine joined them. It couldn't keep up in a sprint, but at top speed the destroyer would chew through it's fairly limited supply of coal in short order, and it still, presumably, had to go home.

    Over the next four hours there was a long game of cat and mouse, where the cat, your sub, was mostly interested in just fucking with its prey. Kenshin would cut the engines and drift back a bit to make it look like they'd outrun you, then come back from a new angle. It had to be infuriating for the Caspians, faced with this new, devilishly fast and stealthy submarine, and they'd soon taken to zig-zagging in a torpedo-evading pattern whenever you came close.

    The whole time, you were getting encoded messages tracking the incoming cruiser squadron. Three fast cruisers closing rapidly. All you had to do as delay until they got here, and suddenly this engagement would be very one-sided indeed.

    Kenshin was getting quite daring, bring the sub closer and closer. Eventually, it provoked a response. A signal light from the back of the destroyer flashing a warning: any closer and we'll fire. It was something of a strange threat, given that you were still a ways away and the I-02 was a tiny target. They'd be wasting shells and provoking retaliation for a very slim chance of a hit.

    "Nice, we have them properly riled up." Kenshin said. "We'll just hold at this range. Hey, can somebody get a signal lamp up here?" The lamp was run up through the hatch, trailing an electric wire, and leaned against the railing.

    "Hey, Arisugawa, you're up." Ken said. You took your position behind the light and stared out at the tiny dot marking the enemy ship: you knew they had powerful telescopes and could see you just fine.

    "What am I saying?" You asked.

    "Whatever pisses them off. We just need to buy forty-five more minutes, right? Get them into an argument or call them mums nasty names or or something. Whatever distracts them. Or just get them to leave, that'd work too."

    "I kinda want them to shoot at us." Akio said. "It would be all on them if they did that."

    "Risky, but maybe." Kenshin rubbed his chin contemplatively: a scruff was rapidly developing there. "I bet the diplomats would love that, they'd basically be handing us ammunition for some serious concessions on a platter. Then again, I don't want to bet too hard on terrible Caspian gunnery. Any ideas, Arisugawa?"

    "I have just the thing, captain." You said.

    "Perfect." Ken replied. "Go for it."

    [ ] "This is the IAN. Please pull over. Have you license and registration ready." (Diplomacy. Will get them to turn back out of your waters if successful.)
    [ ] Accuse their Czar of terrible, awful, no-good things. See if you can draw them into an argument. (Hard Subterfuge. On a full success they'll sit still to banter, otherwise they'll just keep rolling.)
    [ ] Call them cowards for running away. Say they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Provoke them. (Prowess. Will get them to fire on you, which could be really bad or very heroic.)
    [ ] Write In

    For clarification: The Caspian destroyer is on a mission to basically embarrass and harass the Akitsukuni navy by driving deep into their territorial waters, which is something Akitsukuni takes particularly seriously. The farther they get past the northern islands, the more shameful it is for your Navy and the more pissed the Prime Minister is going to be. ​
    Adhoc vote count started by open_sketch on Jan 2, 2019 at 9:28 PM, finished with 3068 posts and 30 votes.
    • [X] Accuse their Czar of terrible, awful, no-good things. See if you can draw them into an argument. (Hard Subterfuge. On a full success they'll sit still to banter, otherwise they'll just keep rolling.)
      [X] "This is the IAN. Please pull over. Have you license and registration ready." (Diplomacy. Will get them to turn back out of your waters if successful.)
      -[x] "Please have your holds ready for inspection so that we can check that your catch does not exceed quotas and have your fish handling equipment ready for hygeine assessment."
      [X] "This is the IAN. Please pull over. Have you license and registration ready." (Diplomacy. Will get them to turn back out of your waters if successful.)
      [X] Call them cowards for running away. Say they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Provoke them. (Prowess. Will get them to fire on you, which could be really bad or very heroic.)
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    • open_sketchbook said:
    "Stalk them, Ken. Let's do what subs do best." You said.
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    Float on the surface being a slow and vulnerable target?

    Honestly, I'm surprised we can keep up with the destroyer. Submarines aren't exactly known for speed. Guess we're lucky that they're on a strict fuel budget.

    Oh, and before anyone thinks of it, we're not provoking them. Their accuracy is uncannily good.
     
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    open_sketchbook said:
    For clarification: The Caspian destroyer is on a mission to basically embarrass and harass the Akitsukuni navy by driving deep into their territorial waters, which is something Akitsukuni takes particularly seriously. The farther they get past the northern islands, the more shameful it is for your Navy and the more pissed the Prime Minister is going to be.
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    Brinksmanship. If it weren't for Ohara, I'd say this sort of thing would be very likely to set off a war. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the incident at the race makes war a foregone conclusion. I just hope we don't make things worse.
     
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