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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Artificial Girl said:
you counted six dead and ten wounded, among them Kwon
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...I really hope that's supposed to suggest he's part of the latter group, and not to leave it ambiguous, because i dont want him to be dead :(

as for the vote...
Artificial Girl said:
Haruna currently has 10 stress.
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open_sketchbook said:
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.
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Gahhhhhh D=
 
That was really, really intense. Very well written, almost cinematic, and it managed to be a very good, exciting action sequence while also being authentically awful in a way that doesn't glorify the war. Very well done.

I don't know what to do on the vote. We can't handle a meltdown. We just can't. But on the other hand there are some really awful power dynamics at play here at absolute best, and as written I can't tell if this is something she genuinely wants to do, or something she feels she is expected to do.
 
open_sketchbook said:
Compensation for what, left unspoken. He'd come to whatever conclusion worked best on his own.

"
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Artificial Girl said:
As you pondered the question uselessly, a shadow appeared at your door. You looked over to see Min-Seo there, looking nervous, wringing her hands a little as she stood there. Her weight shifted a little, maybe a hint of uncertainty in the way she was looking at you.

"Min-Seo? What is it?"

She took a second, steadied her breathing, and then walked towards you in slow, deliberate strides, the door swinging most of the way closed behind her. You felt transfixed, too tired to react, as her hand settled on her shoulder, her knees on the mattress to either side of you, and her lips met yours.

She felt warm
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It may be the case that Min-Seo assumes that this is what we expect in exchange for her compensation.
 
I don't know why Min-Seo has decided to kiss Haruna, but I am not entirely convinced that this is what Min-Seo feels she is expected to do in exchange for not getting punished more severely. Haruna knows Joseon, at least somewhat, so @Artificial Girl @open_sketchbook are you taking write-ins?
 
Crasian01 said:
I don't know why Min-Seo has decided to kiss Haruna, but I am not entirely convinced that this is what Min-Seo feels she is expected to do in exchange for not getting punished more severely. Haruna knows Joseon, at least somewhat, so @Artificial Girl @open_sketchbook are you taking write-ins?
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Subject to heavy veto.

If Haruna protests, she will be speaking to Min-Seo, mind.
 
Huh. Can we have examples of breakdowns from playtests of the game. I know it's bad, but I'm trying to think of just *how* bad it is.

...though even if it's terrible, I might just choose that because it feels more in-character.

I have no idea if there's a Protest write-in that might slightly reduce stress (say, to 9, right on the edge) in some cathartic way, but I'm betting no.
 
So, our choices are morally dubious intercourse, for reasons of both power disparity and the fact that it's cheating on Haruna's girlfriend, or Haruna having a breakdown of some sort with some sort of negative consequences?

Also: Glory Over Ten Thousand Corpses!

That went better than expected!
 
I honestly feel like a breakdown would be more appropriate here. Both in-character, and because the alternative feels morally reprehensible.

I don't know if Haruna would agree with me or not, but personally, if we sacrifice our morals in this situation, I might have preferred that we die on that hill.
 
There are a few issues, either way.

If we indulge, we lose stress, but we may end up completely tanking our relationship with our g/f and we're in a very dubious position wrt to Min-Seo in terms of power disparities and all of that. It is morally not great for us or our interpersonal relationships.

The breakdown, on the other hand, could potentially have more of a repercussion on Haruna's career, depending on what form it takes. It may also mean we can't play naval politics as well when the repercussions of us losing the guns and getting into a fight that wasn't technically ours come rolling down the hill.
 
Honestly, I'm surprised Haruna is up for anything at all after the day she's had. Would giving in but declaring just cuddling be splitting the difference, or just count as Haruna protesting?
 
Diomedon said:
Honestly, I'm surprised Haruna is up for anything at all after the day she's had. Would giving in but declaring just cuddling be splitting the difference, or just count as Haruna protesting?
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If you wish to propose a write-in, format it as such.

[ ] Write In Suggestion

and leave it for discussion. depending on the discussion around it, we may or may not accept it, and we will do the accepting in the post where we end the moratorium.
Adhoc vote count started by open_sketch on May 12, 2019 at 10:11 PM, finished with 103 posts and 34 votes.
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The Laurent said:
Huh. Can we have examples of breakdowns from playtests of the game. I know it's bad, but I'm trying to think of just *how* bad it is.
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Well, they've been toned down. Now it's "At ten stress, you need to Vent", and Vents are stupid shit that creates drama and might give some other characters Stress, but still causes the net stress of the group to go down. Which is actually a positive change, because while it's still not good that things have gotten to that point, it's no longer at the level of "screw it, making a new character" (Breaks used to be things like "Permanently loose stuff you spent XP on" "Do something suicidal" and "fight another PC to the death". Hence the need to avoid a Break, because suffering a Break would make it so you couldn't really play that character anymore)
 
I say give in, if only because we are going to get drama either way, since Haruna is at 10 stress. And I would prefer personal drama over professional drama. And it's not like Haruna is against doing morally questionable things.
 
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wotaddict said:
I say give in, if only because we are going to get drama either way, since Haruna is at 10 stress. And I would prefer personal drama over professional drama. And it's not like Haruna is against doing morally questionable things.
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Yes, she's perfectly willing to do morally questionable things, like serve in the military of an imperialist power, but these are all things that from her cultural context probably seem obviously right rather than wrong, and we've generally played her as someone who tries to avoid doing things she views as morally wrong. After everything she's seen so far with Min-Seo's treatment and that conversation about the servants back home, there's a real chance that this could fall into that category depending on what she thinks Min-Seo's motivations are. Very questionable power dynamics are one thing (and a thing that, as a member of the imperial family dating a commoner, she's had some amount of experience rationalizing, working around or outright ignoring), but the less charitable interpretations of this are something else entirely. This has the potential to get pretty rapey depending on what exactly led up to it, and that is a line that I will not vote to cross and I can not see Haruna knowingly crossing.

It all comes down to if this is just consenting adults making really bad decisions, or if there is an element of implicit or assumed coercion to it. I genuinely can't tell. My inclination based on the information I have is not to risk it, but I acknowledge that I might not be the ideal person to make this call and will be waiting on more discussion.

tryrar said:
You gotta admit, there's gonna be legends told about the Guns of Hill 191 after this :p
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If we don't get some kind of medal, there is politics or bias at play. Not that it would be much consolation to the dead.
 
brmj said:
It all comes down to if this is just consenting adults making really bad decisions, or if there is an element of implicit or assumed coercion to it. I genuinely can't tell. My inclination based on the information I have is not to risk it, but I acknowledge that I might not be the ideal person to make this call and will be waiting on more discussion.
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Well, speaking personally, if I was in this position, I would either just go for it and not really think about it OR react extremely violently and kick her out of the tent with some force. I'm not sure which of the two it would be, but I know that it'd be something that I would want to apologize to her for afterwards.

So in my case, when I look at this vote, I'm sort of mentally going "consenting adults making really bad decisions" or "explosively angry reaction". That's sort of my perspective I guess.
 
open_sketchbook said:
Castles is going to handle this somewhat differently, as Haruna is not a pilot and, in fact, hates airplanes.
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BRB, abusing the Flying Circus rules to make an Ekranoplane/WiGE for Haruna to command. :V

I agree with @brmj that this comes down to why Min-Seo has decided to kiss Haruna. And I think Haruna would feel quite guilty if it turns out that Min-Seo felt somehow obligated to do this. And her reasons could range from a poorly timed "I think Haruna is attractive and want to try things with girls" to "Haruna is probably going to abuse me and my family the least, and by attaching myself to her, I will gain some measure of protection from the rest of the Akitsukini"

If asking Min-Seo why she's doing this counts as protesting, then I have no idea. Because y'know what? I'm cool with consenting adults making understandably bad decisions on their own time. So it's really an issue of where Min-Seo falls (or feels she falls) on the line between consent and coercion.
 
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I feel like it should be mentioned that Haruna suspects that her gf is foolin' around with her roommate and isn't too caught up about it considering their distance, unless I'm remembering that wrong.

Alternatively, Haruna could try to acquire catharsis by speaking about the battle, the Army officer, or distract herself from those memories by bugging Min-Seo about her family or home life. I figure a write-up that goes about that way would net us -1 Stress without getting into the power-dynamics in relationships rabbit hole.
 
I think I'm slightly less ambivalent about all of this than some other people. Yeah, taking advantage of our superior social status is bad; yeah, cheating on our partner is less than ideal.

On the other hand, we nearly died and are in desperate need of some form of comfort/stress relief. Min-Seo is offering to help Haruna when she's in desperate need of that help. Personally, even if she's just doing it out of some sort of fucked-up sense of obligation, I'd rather have Haruna discuss it with her later, find out that Haruna had made a mistake and that Min-Seo was doing it out of impure motives, and have Haruna decide never to take advantage of her again then to risk Haruna's sanity by deciding to stay ideologically pure.

Also, just from a realism standpoint, something life-affirming and self-gratifying after all of that death and despair sounds like exactly what Haruna needs. Maybe in the long run it will turn out to be a mistake, but at this point I feel like Haruna has earned the right to make a few mistakes.
 
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