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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A1-8: I'm Trusting You
  • Threadmarks
    • The next day, you went to administration, found out where the kid's dorm was, and headed there. Hopefully, he'd be at class or something and you'd have an excuse to just drop it in his mailbox.

    No such luck.

    "Um… can I help you?" He said, staring at you from behind his comically thick glasses after you'd knocked at his door.

    "I… I'm Kisihimoto Aiko. I ran into you the other day." You paused, awkward. "I have your book here." You said, handing it over sheepishly. "I'm… sorry it took so long to get it back to you."

    "Oh," he said. "...I had to go get another copy, already. But thank you. I do need those notes."

    "I hope it wasn't too expensive." You said, and immediately regretted it. Your books were almost a tenth of your tuition.

    He winced.

    "I am afraid it was," he says awkwardly.

    "Oh."

    You stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do, until you finally got it together and ran away down the hall, fully aware that if you needed to buy another book, you'd probably have to dip pretty far into your food budget for the month.

    -1 Serenity​

    ---

    Thankfully, you were distracted from that awkwardness when you got home, feeling drained and a little despondent. You could have easily gotten the book back in time, but you'd, what, seen it as some kind of justice to sit on it? Aiko, maybe you needed to… Wait.

    There was a pair of very large military boots in the entrance of the house. Suspiciously large, actually. You headed into the front room, following the sound of muted conversation into the room you'd met Mister Arisukawa. There, sitting at the low table was Mai. And more importantly, she was talking to your brother in his spotless white uniform with all the attendant gold brain and decoration, a new medal pinned to his chest.

    "HIDEAKI!" You shrieked almost loud enough that you were sure the whole house heard you. Your glum feelings vanished as you crossed the distance between you to hug him tightly. It felt like your heart might burst from the sheer happiness! He was laughing and you wanted to keep holding onto him as long as you possibly could. You hadn't seen him since the war started, what with you being in Tokei and him usually heading to Shimazu when he had the time or spending time with Osamu.

    "What are you doing here?!"

    "We put into Tokei for some supplies and a small refit before we head, well… I can't say where. That's a military secret that shouldn't be known. Prying ears everywhere." He beamed. "I don't have enough time to go down south, so I thought I'd look up my favorite sister."

    "I'm your only sister, you jerk!" You paused, remembered that Mai was in the room and carefully tugged yourself off Hideaki. "Um. I see you met Miss Watanuki."

    Mai beamed.

    "Yes, we were just discussing when you were going to arrive home. Out returning a book, I hear?"

    You glared at Mai. The idea that you had to trust her with your biggest secret was awful. Really awful. Ugh. You couldn't say much because you hadn't heard back from Haruna yet. Hopefully she was doing alright… Now that was a good topic to switch onto, right?

    "Right, yes. Just a simple misunderstanding with someone from school," you said and did your best to segue into talking about more pleasant things. "Have you heard from Lieutenant Arisukawa, lately?"

    "Mmm. A little, though she didn't say much. She's captaining a little torpedo boat somewhere--lucky! Suppose that's what good connections get you, though I can't say I envy her too much. I'm quite happy on my nice big cruiser." He chuckled with his usual brassy baritone. Mai gasped.

    "What? You know the princess too?!" She seemed shocked by the revelation. Even though you had told her that was how you'd met.

    "She was at my wedding." He said proudly.

    "Oh right, where you danced with her!" She said, smiling at you. "So romantic."

    Hideaki suddenly got a look about him that you recognized. He'd just realized something.

    "So… how long have you been dating?" He asked.

    "Mai and I aren't… we're just roommates." You said. Shit. Deflect. DEFLECT!

    "No, I mean the princess!"

    "I--We're not--" You stammered, trying to compose a response that sounded believable and utterly failing. "... we are… Since the day the war started."

    "Aha!" He exclaimed. "I figured it was only a matter of time after that dance at the wedding. Though I wasn't sure you'd be bold enough!" He wrapped his arms around you in a huge, brotherly hug.

    "...She actually confessed to me," you admitted against his chest.

    "Sounds like her," he said.

    "This is top secret, though! You're in the Navy, you understand! No leaking the secret!" You insisted.

    He suddenly looked extremely grim.

    "Absolutely. Top secret." He replied flatly. Mai clapped her hands together.

    "This is so exciting! Aiko, why don't we take your brother to that noodle place down the street? A big bowl of cold noodles is perfect for this hot weather we're having--" You glanced at Hideaki and he gave a shake of his head.

    "I appreciate your offer, miss, but I was hoping to get some time just with my sister and brother while I was in Tokei. Maybe another time, though?" Mai's bubbly attitude deflated just a little but she nodded.

    "Of course. Well--have fun, then," she said.

    "Oh! We're meeting Junji?"

    "Yes, I made arrangements for us all to grab a meal together. It's been so long since I've seen either of you."

    "Sounds wonderful. Let me put on some nicer clothes and we can go--" You hopped to your feet and hurried into the other room to change. By the time you got back, Hideaki was sitting to put on his boots at the entrance. Mai hovered anxiously in the background.

    "Have good time, Aiko. Tell me all about it when you get back!"

    "I will," you said with a laugh and slipped into your shoes before heading out the door with Hideaki.

    ---

    A meal turned out to be cheap bentos in a park a few stops down the streetcar line. Junji was already waiting there, sitting on a blanket with his nose in a book as usual.

    You found yourself having to take a moment as you stepped off the streetcar to calm yourself. These were your brothers, this wasn't an imposition, it was fine, they were fine.

    "Watcha reading?" You said, looking it over, a question you were used to asking, but then you realized you could read it, sorta. You were still learning, but you did your best to sound out the characters of the title. "La-lan-ne…" You attempted, struggling with the foriegn sounds, and Junji just shook his head sadly.

    "Lalanne and The Secret Fortune. It's a crime story about a lady thief from Gallia. Fiction, of course."

    "I figured it'd be more stuffy politics," you said with a grin.

    "I do have hobbies, Aiko. Do you spend all your time with electricity?"

    "Feels like it."

    "Hey bro, I thought your girlfriend was going to meet us?" Hideaki asked, catching up.

    "She's going to be a bit late. Getting off work, you understand."

    "Where's she work?" You asked curiously.

    "At the Dawn Star offices, she does typesetting, it's really very interesting. She showed me the process with all the metal pieces… they're got this huge library of characters, and some of them they've only got one or two copies of because they're rarely used, right? So they can't be used more than once a page…"

    "Must take forever." Hideaki commented.

    "Well, it can't, they print a new paper every day. She lays out the longer stories during the day, fills out the back pages, and the night shift does the breaking news stuff. It's non-stop, of course."

    You talked a little while longer about newspapers, and things were… almost normal. Nobody brought up that you hadn't written to them, that you'd never visited Junji in the city, it felt a bit like you were a kid again. Infuriated with your older brothers, but for sibling reasons instead of anything else.

    Hideaki, though, looked nervous. He wasn't terribly good at hiding it. At last, one of you had to say something.

    "... Alright, what's going on?" Junji said finally. "Something to do with the war?"

    "... yeah, sort of. I can trust-"

    "We're family." You said instantly.

    "Right, of course." This was the quietest and most even you'd ever heard his voice. "I… have something I need published. Anonymously… in secret."

    He took a letter out of his bag, smoothing out the crinkled paper.

    "What about?" You asked, and he sighed.

    "Navy policy. They… you've read about the Caspian submarine attacks, right?" He said.

    "Of course." Junji said instantly. You shook your head.

    "I've been too busy, I know they have submarines…" You confessed.

    "All our war resources need to moved by sea. All our soldiers and sailors, weapons and ammunition, by ship. So the Caspians run their submarines out to intercept them and attack with torpedoes, and there's no way to stop them. We have no weapons that can attack a submarine while it is submerged, not effectively. They aren't the most effective, but every week we lose two or three ships, and it is beginning to affect morale."

    "That's awful." You said.

    "That's not the worst part. The Caspians… they will hit a ship, then wait for another to come rescue it and sink that one too. Even hospital ships, vessels would go out under the Red Star and they'd hit them anyway."

    "That's awful!" You said. "It's criminal! Why hasn't anyone said anything?"

    "It's been in the news once or twice, but it's just one of a bunch of Caspian atrocities, right? People are getting numb to them, especially with all the fake ones as well." Junji said.

    "Fake ones?" That sounded farfetched even for your brother.

    "Sure. Every paper's basically just threw out nonsense for a few months at the start of the war. Nobody cared if it sounded patriotic, but it's ruined the credibility of a lot of the reporting. All that stuff about Caspian saboteurs sneaking around at night, poisoning wells, warnings about spies in every Icthysian church…They had to apologize to a Helvetican business association because three of them here for banking stuff got beat up and hauled into a police station by some well-meaning idiots who thought they were spies. So people aren't believing anything anymore," he explained.

    "Right, and nobody in the West much cares about our hospital ships, it seems. We still have to be extremely careful, the Albians almost pulled advisors over us blowing up an aid station in the Port Georgia raid… okay, not my point. The important thing is that the Navy stopped sending ships to pick up sailors from sinking vessels that have been torpedoed. It was just leading to more losses," Hideaki said.

    "Makes sense." Junji said neutrally.

    You just imagined Haruna in the water, waiting for rescue that would never come.

    "It's awful for the morale of crews, but… I was selected for some special training about a month ago, for radio operators to guide in these new rescue planes that the Navy was buying from Ohara. They were light and rode so high in the water that torpedoes couldn't touch them, and if a submarine tried to surface they could just fly away," Hideaki explained, keeping his voice low.

    "That sounds great," you said, then you remembered there was a problem. "... what happened?"

    "They cancelled it. The whole contract. The training. All of it. Put us all back on our ships without a word. I guess they decided the lives of our sailors aren't worth it." He said, shrugging helplessly. "I have friends who run that line. I've lost friends on that line. And they just don't care."

    "Spirits."

    "Junji, can your girlfriend at the paper-" He asked, but Junji held up a hand sadly.

    "Dawn Star has Special Higher Police agents swarming it. They almost got shut down in April alongside Black Flag, they mostly just print the government line now. If I give it to her, she'll get arrested, then I'll get arrested, and then they'll come for you. Your career would be over. Probably Aiko's too." He said. "And… all my other contacts worked… well, they won't be helpful anymore."

    He stopped talking, but you worked it out. Your brother had learned to shut up in recent years, but it was a bit of an open secret that he had communist sympathies. He probably knew some of the people who worked for Black Flag before it was shut down.

    You knew people. You knew some of the ladies who ran the printers, made those pamphlets and essays you read. You had classmates with relatives in the print industry. Worst case, you could write to a journalist, if you could find someone you trusted. Right?

    Hideaki turned to you.

    "Can you find somebody who can print this and get it out there? People deserve to know about this." He said. "Something has to get done, and I only have a few hours more leave. Can I trust you?"
    ​
    [ ] Of course. (-1 Free Time, -1 Serenity)​
    [ ] … I can't. It's too risky.​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Well... That's a risky move if we decide to help.

    And not just for this quest. If the information comes out through communist channels? That'll complicate the aircraft design company quest as well, because that's a risky association in a society as rightwing as Akitsukuni.
     
    Are we limited to those two choices or can we make a very urgent call to daddy in law?

    Namedrop Haruna and ask about it in person.
     
    Hazard said:
    Well... That's a risky move if we decide to help.

    And not just for this quest. If the information comes out through communist channels? That'll complicate the aircraft design company quest as well, because that's a risky association in a society as rightwing as Akitsukuni.
    Click to expand...
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    What if we use feminist publications to distribute it? Play up the "Navy doesn't care about your husbands/sons/brothers" angle?
     
    [X] Of course. (-1 Free Time, -1 Serenity)

    This is more important than Aiko, this is more important than Haruna, this is more important than Hideaki and this is more important than Matsura. You don't leave people in the water. You just don't.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    Do we want to give the conservative government an excuse to crush all feminism?
    Click to expand...
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    Remind me again, didn't the government literally fake an assassination plot against the empress in Aircraft Design Company so they could manufacture an excuse to crack down on dissidents? I'm fairly sure I remember I remember that being a plot point.
     
    Hakazin said:
    Remind me again, didn't the government literally fake an assassination plot against the empress in Aircraft Design Company so they could manufacture an excuse to crack down on dissidents? I'm fairly sure I remember I remember that being a plot point.
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    Sure. They did.

    They can go after the feminists if they think it worth the effort. But fabricating assassination plots is not a free exercise. Do it to often, and like fake atrocities, it looses it's effect. The government is not all powerfull, much as it would like to pretend it is.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    Sure. They did.

    They can go after the feminists if they think it worth the effort. But fabricating assassination plots is not a free exercise. Do it to often, and like fake atrocities, it looses it's effect. The government is not all powerfull, much as it would like to pretend it is.
    Click to expand...
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    Okay, so, ebbor. You realize that one of the two QMs has side-eyed your take? Whether or not you think it should be right, it isn't.

    There's kinda a time to read the room?
     
    Frankly? Our best bet for getting the necessary traction in a manner that is safe for Aiko is getting it moved through a center to right leaning news outlet. If only because all publications further to the right are basically owned by the military in allegiance, if not in fact.


    There's other options, and using daddy-in-law is one, but that exposes him to risk, and that is unlikely to be appreciated. On the other hand, he is powerful enough to escape censure. On the other hand, Aiko and Haruna are not. It might well be that the best bet is to say 'whoops, not during this war, we make sure this is published in a few years just before the anniversary of the end of the war to make sure the hurt's fresh again'.
     
    Hazard said:
    Frankly? Our best bet for getting the necessary traction in a manner that is safe for Aiko is getting it moved through a center to right leaning news outlet. If only because all publications further to the right are basically owned by the military in allegiance, if not in fact.
    Click to expand...
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    These are the major outlets :

    open_sketch said:
    Newspapers in wartime were interesting. There was a considerable censorship bureau who were zealously culling articles and opinion pieces that went against government policies and the official narrative, and which only seemed to be growing more controlling with time. As a well-off, sophisticated intellectual, you had subscriptions to all the major national newspapers across the political spectrum; the sophisticated leftist paper Dawn Star, the conservative Akitsukuni Herald, the centre-right economic paper Tokei Financial Observer, and the hardcore communist Black Flag. (Though it was popular, you didn't bother with a subscription to Our Way, the propaganda organ of the Purity Club, seeing as it was tabloid trash that had only gotten worse with the war.) Increasingly, actual reporting was becoming scarce, with the papers just reprinting various government press releases with token commentary.

    The Dawn Star and Black Flag have been arresed on April 20th, though they've since been released.
    Click to expand...
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    open_sketch said:
    They tried to hide the scope of the disaster, at first. The newspapers on April 20th just said there was a "major offensive" that had taken ground. Then on the 23rd, Dawn Star was the first to break ranks. You didn't get a paper from them that morning, or the next. On the third morning, your bundle of papers had a small notice from the censor's office that the paper was suspended due to the arrest of the editorial staff.
    Click to expand...
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    The cancellation of the plane was on July 29th. So, those wounds are still very raw.

    The Laurent said:
    Okay, so, ebbor. You realize that one of the two QMs has side-eyed your take? Whether or not you think it should be right, it isn't.

    There's kinda a time to read the room?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Honestly, I'm confused more than anything else?

    We know that the government does not take kindly to criticism of their policy, especially if it reflects badly on them. We're pretty much outright told that the government would dissappear the Dawn Star if it dared to publish this material. The idea that the feminists publications would somehow be unaffected by publishing this material, because the government is already oppressing them, thus seems nonsensical.

    I'm simply positing what I think to be a rather obvious fact. Exposing the failures of an authoritarian government may invite retaliation from that government even if (especially if) the government already has reason to dislike the organisation responsible.
     
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    10ebbor10 said:
    These are the major outlets :




    The cancellation of the plane was on July 29th. So, those wounds are still very raw.


    Honestly, I'm confused more than anything else?

    We know that the government does not take kindly to criticism of their policy, especially if it reflects back on them. We're pretty much outright told that the government would dissappear the Dawn Star if it dared to publish this material. The idea that the feminists publications would somehow be unaffected by publishing this material, because the government is already oppressing them, seems nonsensical.
    Click to expand...
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    That's not what you were talking about, however. Allow me to quote:

    10ebbor10 said:
    Do we want to give the conservative government an excuse to crush all feminism?
    Click to expand...
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    This is not, "Oh, whatever feminist publication ran it would probably get into hot water."
     
    The Laurent said:
    This is not, "Oh, whatever feminist publication ran it would probably get into hot water."
    Click to expand...
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    In that case, I excuse myself for the fact that my point was not made clearly.

    From the beginning, my point was that whatever system we utilize to dissiminate this information will be attacked, and that we should thus consider whether we're willing to make that sacrifice. Aiko likes the WNA, she's not just going to risk them.
     
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    Hazard said:
    It might well be that the best bet is to say 'whoops, not during this war, we make sure this is published in a few years just before the anniversary of the end of the war to make sure the hurt's fresh again'.
    Click to expand...
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    What's the objective here? All the people who are being killed by the lack of the Dolphin die anyway but boy do you get your licks in at The System. This is priority news right now.

    The threat of the government crushing the WNA if we use their channels to disseminate this information cannot be ignored, or rather it can safely be ignored because we already know how everything goes thanks to ACDQ but it's polite to ignore what we can ignore and vote in line with character motivations.

    However, you're all thinking about this wrong. We move this information through Right-wing Populist outlets, the Support Are Troops papers who are perfectly willing to wallop the government for readership occasionally but are no great loss to us if they get shut down and are unlikely to be shut anyway. Additionally nobody in the military reads Black Flag but I bet some high muckity-mucks have a subscription to Our Way.
     
    It's unfortunate that we have no realistic way of thinking the idea, but sending this to the army would really be the best bet.

    The Army has the Dolphin, so they know the story is true (airplanes are still fledgling. To the commoner, the navy cancelling an airplane that could safe sailors is no more obviously true than the navy cancelling a bomber that could wipe out Moscow, or a battleship that could move onto land. No one has an idea of what works and what doesn't).

    They have the rivalry, and thus the motivation to publish.

    They have the institutional power to resist retaliation.
     
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    This does a lot to contextualize why that competition was being run in the first place. Good update.

    [X] Of course. (-1 Free Time, -1 Serenity)
     
    FrangibleCover said:
    What's the objective here? All the people who are being killed by the lack of the Dolphin die anyway but boy do you get your licks in at The System. This is priority news right now.
    Click to expand...
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    They will still die if it's published; the Navy has already rejected the design and Ohara is enough in disfavour there that they'll blatantly ignore the Dolphin and its uses while aiming at whoever embarrassed them.

    FrangibleCover said:
    However, you're all thinking about this wrong. We move this information through Right-wing Populist outlets, the Support Are Troops papers who are perfectly willing to wallop the government for readership occasionally but are no great loss to us if they get shut down and are unlikely to be shut anyway. Additionally nobody in the military reads Black Flag but I bet some high muckity-mucks have a subscription to Our Way.
    Click to expand...
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    This could work, especially if we can find an entry that is more supportive of the army than the navy.

    10ebbor10 said:
    The Army has the Dolphin, so they know the story is true (airplanes are still fledgling. To the commoner, the navy cancelling an airplane that could safe sailors is no more obviously true than the navy cancelling a bomber that could wipe out Moscow, or a battleship that could move onto land. No one has an idea of what works and what doesn't).

    They have the rivalry, and thus the motivation to publish.

    They have the institutional power to resist retaliation.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Even more importantly, the Army has a definite benefit beyond the rivalry; those ships that are sunk are carrying army supplies and troops. While losing the supplies is inconvenient, being able to pick up the survivors would be a boost to morale, especially since many of them would be soldiers rather than sailors.
     
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