Castles of Steel - Lesbians Good, Imperialism Bad

Voting is open
Reader mode
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​


Click here for the winter version!

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.
 
Last edited:
Aw, we outnumber them. That's going to make defeat even more embarrassing.

Also, where did the Torpedo ram go?
 
[X] Lead a pack of coastal subs to raid smaller Caspian ports and lay mines. (Useful and daring, if without glory.)

I'd rather win the war than win glory and lose.
 
Simon_Jester said:
@open_sketchbook
@Artificial Girl

Are we firmly mode-locked to the timeline of Aircraft Design Quest? Or if something goes very right/wrong for us could we end up butterflying things off in a different direction at least a bit?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
We're locked, but you'll note that our aircraft designers are staggeringly ignorant of the events of the naval war outside of some broad strokes.
 
Miner238 said:
[X] Lead a pack of coastal subs to raid smaller Caspian ports and lay mines. (Useful and daring, if without glory.)

I'd rather win the war than win glory and lose.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think both of the highest options at the moment stand a chance to do that. (Well, contribute to a victory of some kind, at least.)

1) Stragglers: If that particular naval battle goes as it seems, every ship less that the Caspians would have available to capitalize on their victory would be marvelous.
2) Laying mines and raiding smaller ports would take some of the pressure off, making it less likely that the Caspians go in for even more decisive blows.

So, it's about what we think we can do best.
 
[x] Travel north to attack stragglers steaming back to rally with the Caspian fleet. (Tense, lone wolf action.)
 
[X] Lead a pack of coastal subs to raid smaller Caspian ports and lay mines. (Useful and daring, if without glory.)

Quite unsure about this.
Adhoc vote count started by Jrin on Jan 4, 2019 at 5:45 AM, finished with 3137 posts and 41 votes.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
[X] Lead a pack of coastal subs to raid smaller Caspian ports and lay mines. (Useful and daring, if without glory.)

The pact is sealed. 2d10 for your initial engagement roll, if you please.
 
3-16: Alarm!!!
  • Threadmarks
    • To start with, the submarines were reorganized slightly. The I-02 was the largest submarine in the fleet except for the big I-01 gun submarine and perhaps the I-05 with its attached mini subs. As a result, you found that a squadron of smaller coastal subs was being organized around you. Instead of operating alone, you would operate in conjunction with the smaller boats. You weren't sure that was the best plan since they were slower, smaller, and had a shorter range, but it was what your superiors wanted. As a result, you were quickly placed with four other boats, the Ha-17, Ha-20, Ha-29, and Ha-08, all commanded by lieutenants and with small crews. They also carried only four torpedos and had no deck gun.

    Your little squadron was spread out up and down the Caspian coast, watching for merchant shipping coming and going from the little local ports. You were on duty on the control deck while up above, the officer of the watch and the three or four lookouts with them were in the conning tower. As you bent over the chart to update the boat's position report, one of the men spoke up.

    "Ma'am, there's something coming over the wireless. You might want to look at this." He had one hand to the earpiece of the wireless set and the other was hurriedly scribbling down translation of the Vail code as it came through.

    You stared at the characters as he scrawled them down and finally offered the paper out to you as the message ended. You took a moment to read it again, confirmed it.

    "Send a confirmation of receipt and double check their position, if they're still transmitting. I'll let the captain know." You stepped out of the little radio hutch and called over another sailor.

    "Take this to the captain. Should be in his stateroom," you said and handed over the radio message. Stateroom was a grand name for the small cabin Kenshin had, but it was the most space anyone on the boat had to themselves.

    "Aye aye, ma'am." Came the crisp reply and he hurried off.

    Kenshin dragged himself out about a minute later, still shrugging on his leather jacket. He'd made a point of being better-rested these days, blaming the oversight in the chase on his lack of sleep.

    "They still transmitting?" He said. You nodded, and he swore before he stepped over to the chart table.

    "Is this position current?"

    "Yes, captain. I updated it just as the message was coming in."

    "Good and they're… " He bent over the chart, mumbling mathematic calculations as he put his finger down on a narrow little harbor about fifty nautical miles from your position. He turned and rapped out orders to the crew. You felt the boat shift as she turned and the engines throb leaped upwards as she went all ahead full.

    ---

    Ha-17 was in something of a pickle.

    Offensive minelaying was a huge part of Akitsukuni doctrine, and there was a Caspian port (Port Oak, to use it's designation inside the Navy) which was just begging for the treatment. A long and narrow inlet, artificially dug out and expanded, it was a resting spot for a lot of smaller Caspian ships as well as a great deal of military shipping. Ha-17 had slipped in past the shore batteries at periscope depth under the cover of darkness, and had enthusiastically started releasing anchored mines, back to front along the whole dockline. When the ships moved out in the morning, they'd be in for a surprise. Or maybe it would be tomorrow or in a week. It didn't matter when a ship hit a mine, just that one would and then the Caspian harbor would be paralyzed until they could spend the time to sweep them.

    Unfortunately, a straggler had wandered into the port as Ha-17 was on it's way out. One of the Caspian's bizarre coastal monitors, a nearly cylindrical boat with a turret housing atop it, had entered the port and promptly parked its fat ass at the entrance, probably with the exact purpose of preventing submarines from sneaking in. It had a great deal of displacement, enough that with the way it had parked itself, you'd need to be surfaced to have any hope of slipping out past it. Which of course would invite the fire of every Caspian gun in the damn harbor.

    The monitor, or whatever the abomination was supposed to be, needed to be pulled away from the entrance to the harbor. The question then, was how to do that without endangering the I-02 unnecessarily. The damn thing carried guns big enough to dent a battleship. One hit from an 11-inch shell would end your day very quickly.

    "Why can't we just fucking torpedo it?" Akio asked impatiently, peering up the ladder towards the circle of night sky visible through the hatch. "Shit, why can't they do it?"

    "Because then Ha-17 would have to surface to escape, to clear the wreckage, and it's started to get light out. They might get tagged by the shore batteries." You explained.

    "Fuck."

    "What if we torpedoed it and missed?" You suggested. "Something blows up in the harbour and we make a getaway, they give chase?"

    "Would they? It's one of those round little monitors, it'd be like a sumo wrestler chasing a sprinter." Kanbayashi said. "They might just decide to try and get us at long range with the batteries."

    "At least it'd distract them." Akio said. "Actually, heck, if we torpedoed it while surfaced, the gun batteries might be too busy shooting at us to notice Ha-17."

    "Or they shoot us, then shoot them." Ken said bitterly. "Let's get a non-shooting option."

    "Fake distress call." You said. "Seaman Tanji speaks Caspian and can even do the accent, kinda, if we wanted to do it on audio. Or we just use their civilian channels and an SOS. The monitor will have to move so the gunboats and tugs can get out."

    "Or they ignore it. Or one of them hits a mine before the monitor moves and they figure out it's a trick." Akio said. "Besides, don't they have those radio triangulation towers looking for us? If the signal isn't coming from our actual location, we're fucked, and it is, then we're double fucked if there's any fast frigates in the area."

    "What's the odds the monitor moves on its own before the air runs out on Ha-17?" Kenshin asked. Kanbayashi's facial expression provided a perfect answer.

    "They've already been in the harbor something like four hours and who knows how long they were submerged before that. Those coastal boats don't have a lot of endurance, so I'd give them a total of twenty-four hours. Maybe a few more if they're really careful about it."

    What does the ship do?

     [ ] Torpedo the monitor while submerged and hope Ha-17 can make it out. (Fate roll)
    [ ] Torpedo the monitor from the surface and hope you can dodge shells while Ha-17 escapes. (Fate roll)
    [ ] Make the fake distress call from a secret location. (Very hard subterfuge roll.)
    [ ] Make the fake distress call from the proper location. (Hard subterfuge roll, bad consequences)
    [ ] Wait it out. (Hard fate roll)
    [ ] Write In (Subject, as usual, to veto.​

    VOTING MORATORIUM: WE'LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN YOU CAN VOTE​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Torpedo a docked ship making them suspect land based sabotage.
     
    Putting comrades' lives in the hands of fate is a bitter taste.

    I don't think we have a ghost of a chance of hitting a docked ship. Long narrow harbor, monitor blocking the way. Mines, too.
     
    Good to know that we strongly outnumber the Caspian fleet, and we have the only proper dreadnought battleship. Unfortunately, we know that this isn't going to go great for the navy. On the other hand, bad times for the surface navy means GLORY TO THE SUBMARINES.
    open_sketchbook said:
    Caspian's bizarre coastal monitors, a nearly cylindrical boat
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Oh hey, those things! They're adorable, in a bizzare way! Unfortunate that it's parked in our way though.
    open_sketchbook said:
    Fake distress call.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    BIG no from me on that option. Fake distress calls are not good. I'm probably leaning towards torpedoing submerged once the vote opens.
     
    Here's an alternative idea.

    [] Torpedo while submerged, but don't arm the torpedo.

    Because I really doubt the crew is going to sit there and stay put after they hear a torpedo bouncing of the hull. They will start trying to make evasive maneuvers, which should pull them out of position.
     
    So this is off topic, but I found something that might be of interest to this quest. Its a concept for a Soviet super sub which looks like it could have existed at one point. I was wondering if you guys think it would be possible for the Akitsukuni to build this beast of a sub at some point.

    Project P-2
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    Here's an alternative idea.

    [] Torpedo while submerged, but don't arm the torpedo.

    Because I really doubt the crew is going to sit there and stay put after they hear a torpedo bouncing of the hull. They will start trying to make evasive maneuvers, which should pull them out of position.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Wasn't technically mentioned but I think the same principle applies as with the suggestion below:
    open_sketchbook said:
    "What if we torpedoed it and missed?" You suggested. "Something blows up in the harbour and we make a getaway, they give chase?"

    "Would they? It's one of those round little monitors, it'd be like a sumo wrestler chasing a sprinter." Kanbayashi said. "They might just decide to try and get us at long range with the batteries."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Voting is open
    Back
    Top