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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[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.

[X] You weren't staying on top of your fitness when you were out of it. Time to do something about that and get back into shape proper. Aiko did say she thought you looked good in the photo! (+1 to the next roll involving physical prowess, buff haruna.
 
Yeah okay actually I'm switching, because Buff Haruna

[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.

[X] You weren't staying on top of your fitness when you were out of it. Time to do something about that and get back into shape proper. Aiko did say she thought you looked good in the photo! (+1 to the next roll involving physical prowess, buff haruna.
 
As an aside, the conversation with the boys was legit one of the hardest things we've written for Castles thus far.

See, we've both been present for conversations like this, but for Some Reason they've always made up uncomfortable so we'd never really been participants. That made figuring out what it should sound like hard, and we kept stalling and hedging.

Eventually, I ended up writing the start of it in a different document and pasting it in, because I managed to get into that foul headspace but I was so ashamed at the idea of @Artificial Girl watching me write it.

I've witnessed conversations like this. I've mumbled along uncomfortably in them and then done my best to forget them. It's not the crudeness that's bad, I write pornography as writing warm-ups these days. I can do crude. But like... Haruna's right about the rape joke thing.

A quote that's stuck in my head a while now is that when a guy makes a rape joke, and the nine men around him laugh, one of those men didn't hear a joke, he heard a gesture of solidarity.

One of the weird parts of being a trans woman is... while you don't experience girlhood sexism, for which I count myself impossibly lucky, you get to spend years being treated as an insider to the fucked up shit men say about women, and then you gotta take a run at being a woman yourself and disentangling all that shit, coming to terms with the magnitude of it. The last place I worked was an all-male kitchen, and they talked like this. I quit when I realized I was going to transition, because my coworkers had told me, with a wink and a nod, with jokes, that it wouldn't be safe.

God these conversations sucked, and I'm so glad I kind of definitionally never have to be present for them again.

It has been my experience that, unless there is active pushback from men in these spaces, the conversation in any social group where men talk about women unobserved will become dominated by men who talk about us like this. It's true along other axis of oppression as well. Guys, please call this shit out when it happens around you. Yeah, you'll be the joyless buzz kill., it'll be awkward, but that's the place where real, lasting social change is made, in millions of tiny interactions.

Also here's a funny tweet I made while we struggled to write the scene.

 
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[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.

[X] You weren't staying on top of your fitness when you were out of it. Time to do something about that and get back into shape proper. Aiko did say she thought you looked good in the photo! (+1 to the next roll involving physical prowess, buff Haruna.)
 
[X] You still had some of those primers on electricity, the ones you picked up so that you could understand what Aiko was studying. Maybe make a real effort on those? (+1 Technical)

Electricity is cool
 
10ebbor10 said:
@open_sketch @Artificial Girl

Does not picking this option mean Haruna just goes back to writing regular letters, or is it basically ghosting her for the time being?
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It means she goes back to regular letters. Normally, Haruna and Aiko write about two letters a week each to one another, frequently enough that it's background events, sort of carrying on a long, slow, slightly asynchronous conversation.

If Haruna and Aiko ever somehow learned what a webcam was, they lose their minds.
 
open_sketch said:
As an aside, the conversation with the boys was legit one of the hardest things we've written for Castles thus far.

See, we've both been present for conversations like this, but for Some Reason they've always made up uncomfortable so we'd never really been participants. That made figuring out what it should sound like hard, and we kept stalling and hedging.

Eventually, I ended up writing the start of it in a different document and pasting it in, because I managed to get into that foul headspace but I was so ashamed at the idea of @Artificial Girl watching me write it.

I've witnessed conversations like this. I've mumbled along uncomfortably in them and then done my best to forget them. It's not the crudeness that's bad, I write pornography as writing warm-ups these days. I can do crude. But like... Haruna's right about the rape joke thing.

A quote that's stuck in my head a while now is that when a guy makes a rape joke, and the nine men around him laugh, one of those men didn't hear a joke, he heard a gesture of solidarity.

One of the weird parts of being a trans woman is... while you don't experience girlhood sexism, for which I count myself impossibly lucky, you get to spend years being treated as an insider to the fucked up shit men say about women, and then you gotta take a run at being a woman yourself and disentangling all that shit, coming to terms with the magnitude of it. The last place I worked was an all-male kitchen, and they talked like this. I quit when I realized I was going to transition, because my coworkers had told me, with a wink and a nod, with jokes, that it wouldn't be safe.

God these conversations sucked, and I'm so glad I kind of definitionally never have to be present for them again.

It has been my experience that, unless there is active pushback from men in these spaces, the conversation in any social group where men talk about women unobserved will become dominated by men who talk about us like this. It's true along other axis of oppression as well. Guys, please call this shit out when it happens around you. Yeah, you'll be the joyless buzz kill., it'll be awkward, but that's the place where real, lasting social change is made, in millions of tiny interactions.

Also here's a funny tweet I made while we struggled to write the scene.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


For what it's worth you did an amazing job of capturing the not-so-subtle cruelty of male boorishness. I can't pretend to know what those sort of conversations are like for lesbian or trans women, but I did strongly identify with Ishinari here.

I grew up going to Catholic school and I still remember the first time I, as a young boy, heard grown men speak like that. It was... shocking and disturbing. I'm no longer religious and while I have plenty of problems with the Church, many of those lessons about basic human decency are a large part of why I'm a social justice advocate now.

Maybe in another world or time Ishinari would be the same.

Don't want to make this about me, but I feel it neccesary to discuss important matters such as these. Even when my own perspective is limited. Also felt that some praise should be thrown your way for writing such an emotionally difficult scene so well.
 
[X] You still had some of those primers on electricity, the ones you picked up so that you could understand what Aiko was studying. Maybe make a real effort on those? (+1 Technical)
Technical is our weakest skill and this will give us something to talk with Aiko about.

[X] You let active drills slip while you were out of it. Get the ship running again and take her out. Drill the crew and make sure they're at the top of their game. Make sure all the new crew feel integrated and welcome, while you're at it. (+1 forward to your next roll with the crew in combat.)
We are still at war lets make sure our ship is ready for the next battle.

[Snippet] some of the old folks of the island keep trying to trick or convince Haruna into doing Shinto rituals because she has imperial blood
 
open_sketch said:
It means she goes back to regular letters. Normally, Haruna and Aiko write about two letters a week each to one another, frequently enough that it's background events, sort of carrying on a long, slow, slightly asynchronous conversation.

If Haruna and Aiko ever somehow learned what a webcam was, they lose their minds.
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Click to shrink...

Jules Verne wrote about those.
 
[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.
[X] You weren't staying on top of your fitness when you were out of it. Time to do something about that and get back into shape proper. Aiko did say she thought you looked good in the photo! (+1 to the next roll involving physical prowess, buff Haruna.)

Sweat out the booze. Suffer now and make it stick? :3

[] The Ito family is grumbling and potentially causing problems in the wake of their daughter leaving with Seaman Tsuda

I had some other potential but a complication like this seemed both appropriate and, uh, less serious than other things that could be suggested in the wake of that last update.
 
[X] If you want excitement, you need to go look for it. Resume the boat's pointless patrols and go bug some fishermen. Maybe you'll turn something up. (Fate roll.)
It's like drilling but better!

[X] Get whatever newspapers and articles together that you can and get the best idea possible what the overall war situation is. You're honestly not sure anymore.
And this one is for us, not for Haruna.
 
[X] You still had some of those primers on electricity, the ones you picked up so that you could understand what Aiko was studying. Maybe make a real effort on those? (+1 Technical)

[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.

Buff Haruna is tempting but Ota really was MVP this update, he deserves some time.
 
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Do we need the letter to Aiko?

Haruna is already going to send biweekly letters. Sending 1 single extralongletter doesn't seem anywhere near as significant as all the other options.
 
Look at that, that was hardly catastrophic at all. Not sure what the fuss was all about, we just got blitzed for a few weeks.

/s if it wasn't blindingly obvious

On a side note, as a male that conversation seemed like it could've been lifted straight out of a grungy sports bar. It was spot on for how gross some men can be about women. I applaud you two authors for it for how well it was written given your rightful discomfort with the area.

Makes my skin crawl too. It's objectifying and callous.

[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.
[]Hey, you've done a lot of reading since the days of the minisub. Maybe you should find an excuse to hang out with Ota, practice your Joseon, and talk about the world.
[ ] You weren't staying on top of your fitness when you were out of it. Time to do something about that and get back into shape proper. Aiko did say she thought you looked good in the photo! (+1 to the next roll involving physical prowess, buff Haruna.)
[]You still had some of those primers on electricity, the ones you picked up so that you could understand what Aiko was studying. Maybe make a real effort on those? (+1 Technical)

I'm sure I'm voting for the letter, but not sure yet on the other choice.

[X][Snippet] Draw some landscapes for Aiko, even if they are monochrome because we can only find pencils.
 
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[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.
[X] You still had some of those primers on electricity, the ones you picked up so that you could understand what Aiko was studying. Maybe make a real effort on those? (+1 Technical)

Both of these synergize really well, and making Haruna better at electrics somehow makes her better at engines too!
 
[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.
[X] Hey, you've done a lot of reading since the days of the minisub. Maybe you should find an excuse to hang out with Ota, practice your Joseon, and talk about the world.

Because I will never not support more scenes with Haruna and Aiko, and because Ota was absolutely the MVP of the last chapter and deserves more screen time.
 
I love stats but I love Ota and Aiko more

[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.
[X] Hey, you've done a lot of reading since the days of the minisub. Maybe you should find an excuse to hang out with Ota, practice your Joseon, and talk about the world.
 
Honestly, personally, if I had a cool boat girlfriend I'd prefer to get a shortish letter that said "I've been reading some technical manuals so I can understand what you're doing better." than a long letter about life, the universe and everything. I don't really care about the stat point, this is my I Like Aik vote. Ota is also cool and there's no way that a continued relationship with an avowed revolutionary could go wrong for us.

[X] Hey, you've done a lot of reading since the days of the minisub. Maybe you should find an excuse to hang out with Ota, practice your Joseon, and talk about the world.
[X] You still had some of those primers on electricity, the ones you picked up so that you could understand what Aiko was studying. Maybe make a real effort on those? (+1 Technical)
 
The Laurent said:
a well documented argument
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I'm not one to argue with good research.

[X] You're already writing overly long letters to Aiko, though you let it slip when things were at their worst. She's probably worried about you. Write her a huge letter and make it lovely.
[X] You weren't staying on top of your fitness when you were out of it. Time to do something about that and get back into shape proper. Aiko did say she thought you looked good in the photo! (+1 to the next roll involving physical prowess, buff Haruna.)
 
Well, that wasn't half as bad as I had expected... (still want to deal out judicious kicks to the balls and/or cactuses, though)

[X] Hey, you've done a lot of reading since the days of the minisub. Maybe you should find an excuse to hang out with Ota, practice your Joseon, and talk about the world.
Don't know about a second vote, but I want to see more of Ota, the anarchist who found himself a comrade with a princess. I'm almost half-way expecting him to protect her from an assassination attempt soon (where did it all go so wrong)
 
[X] You still had some of those primers on electricity, the ones you picked up so that you could understand what Aiko was studying. Maybe make a real effort on those? (+1 Technical)

[X] You weren't staying on top of your fitness when you were out of it. Time to do something about that and get back into shape proper. Aiko did say she thought you looked good in the photo! (+1 to the next roll involving physical prowess, buff Haruna.)

Time to wash the ick off by focusing on a nice wholesome relationship.

Also I feel like the big question is if that conversation would have stayed on its downward trajectory if the men involved weren't sure Rape-Joke McGee was actually making a joke. It's kind of the 4chan paradox: stuff that seemed at least a bit funny when you thought it was just dark absurdity becomes a lot less so when you find out that some of the people saying terrible shit actually meant it.

That's coming from a male perspective, of course, where you generally don't think of rape as a thing that might happen to you unless it already has.
 
A conditional snippet vote, if exercise wins.

[] She mentions to Aiko that she's working out, but casually and downplaying it to surprise Aiko later.

Less conditional:

[] A flock of birds causes everyone far too much trouble and grief.
 
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