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] "It is important that we all strive to do what is honorable and good, for those we command, and those who depend on us. The pride of the ruler is in the joy and flourishing of those they rule over, and I hope that all my admirers strive their hardest to be worthy of that pride, however much or little they control."

Sounds good.
 
Rolling.

E: Whoops
E2: :(
E3: I think this is a partial, at least?
AlphaDelta threw 1 3-faced dice. Reason: S Total: 2
2 2
AlphaDelta threw 3 6-faced dice. Reason: Subterfuge Total: 6
2 2 1 1 3 3
 
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2-6: Aki Go Home!
  • Threadmarks
    • "It is important that we all strive to do what is honorable and good, for those we command, and those who depend on us. The pride of the ruler is in the joy and flourishing of those they rule over, and I hope that all my admirers strive their hardest to be worthy of that pride, however much or little they control." you replied smoothly with one of your easy smiles. Well, they definitely looked easy to anyone watching. That was the point. A statement of purpose with just enough of a barbed sting for your idiot cousin: it was better fare for the newspapers than most of the canned answers you'd been trained to give.

    Thankfully, that seemed to make the foreign woman happy (she was cute but that amount of energy was a bit terrifying) and you were able to move on to other questions from other reporters. After a few more minutes of this nonsense, you were able to head off the stage and started heading back towards the car. They were talking about a tour of the city and then the luncheon and all that and you were looking forward to food since you had eaten the bare minimum of a breakfast. Before you could reach the car, though, your little group was intercepted by one of the reporters from Our Way, the Purity Club's newspaper. You did your best to smile at them.

    "Your Imperial Highness, my colleague and I were hoping we could get one more photograph," the man said with a warm smile, gesturing at the man next to him who was carrying a camera.

    "I don't suppose it could hurt. Unless Captain Ienaga thinks that we need to keep to our schedule?" HINT HINT. If this were one of the attendants back home they would have realized right away that meant you wanted an excuse not to do this. Sadly, Captain Ienaga was a mere Army officer.

    "Hm? Oh, no, we should have plenty of time," he said and glanced at his watch. "Yes, it shouldn't be a problem." The Navy being let down by the Army. What a surprise.

    "Well, there you have it," you said with more cheer than you actually felt. "What sort of picture did you want?"

    The reporter offered out a flag on a pole, the bright blue and white cloth fluttering gently in the breeze coming off the river.

    "We were hoping we could get a picture of you planting the flag in front of the palace. Maybe with the captain?" You glanced at Ienaga, who laughed then nodded.

    "I suppose we could play along," he replied, seeming more amused than anything.

    "Ah, yes, we could…" You murmured and reached out to take the flagpole. Something was telling you this was a bad idea. It was rough wood, probably hastily improvised this morning. You rested it against your shoulder and turned to head back towards the steps toward the stage, leaving Kenshin to look infinitely amused at your expense. The escort troops were halfway between their positions in front of the stage and the trucks and milled about in confusion for a moment before their NCOs and petty officers started pointing them back in the right direction as you clambered up the steps with Ienaga and firmly planted the flag in the middle of the platform. You did your best to look proud and he looked serious as you both held onto the flagpole while the Our Way photographer started to snap some pictures.

    You were half paying attention to whatever else was going on around you as you daydreamed about lunch when there was a shout from the crowd. It was one or two voices at first, then more and more as the Joseonian crowd started to shout and shake their fists. There were placards you hadn't seen in the crowd a few minutes before, some in the local language and some in Akitsukuni: "Self-rule now!" "No annexation!" "Joseon is free!" and other slogans. Oh. Oh no. You glanced at Ienaga.

    "Captain…"

    "I know--we should get off the sta--" He didn't finish the sentence. A cobblestone someone had ripped up from the square struck him sharply on the side of the head and he went down like a sack of rice. You bent to look at him. He wasn't in a good way and he was bleeding from where his scalp had split open. Oh Spirits there was so much blood. What were you supposed to do? You glanced around, trying to find someone, anyone who was supposed to be in control of the situation. The crowd was getting louder, angrier and they surged towards the stage. The only thing between you and the protesters now was a thin line of soldiers and sailors--the reporters had seemingly vanished in the last ten seconds.

    Another brick went sailing past your head and you instinctively putting your hand to your sword. Where was Kenshin? The captain was still bleeding badly--you could run but what would happen if the crowd get their hands on him? More rock and bricks were being hurtled and you ducked slightly as one flew past a few feet to your right to clatter onto the stage. Internally, you reprimanded yourself for showing that flinch--you were expected to stand upright on the bridge under shell fire and a brick was scaring you? You were an officer, damn it! You tried to fight down the sick feeling of panic rising in your gut. You had to do something, anything. Sitting here without acting was going to get even more people hurt!

    The line of soldiers and sailors was starting to edge backwards despite the urging from their non-commissioned officers as the crowd grew bolder. One of the Army privates yelped as a rock hit him in the hand and he nearly dropped his rifle. A sailor was struck in the head by another thrown brick and he somehow kept standing despite the blood starting to drip from the gash in his scalp onto his previously pristine white uniform.

    Someone need to take control of the situation and you realized with a heavy, sick feeling in your stomach that that person was probably you.

    [ ] Run!: You need to get out of here! Back to the trucks and car. The captain will have to fend for himself.
    [ ] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)
    [ ] FIRE! Order the troops to open fire on the crowd. The lives of an Imperial Princess, and more importantly an injured officer, are at stake. There's no time for niceties and bullets will do more to put these people on their heels than just a rifle butt. (No check. The crowd will be dispersed and you'll be fine. But there will be consequences)
    [ ] Retreat into the Palace: You'll basically be placing yourself under siege until somebody comes to get you. It'll be a national embarrassment and a stain on your honour and your already strained reputation in the service… but it'll let you wash your hands of the situation and let someone else make the hard choice. Blood won't be on your hands… but it will be spilled. (No check, just consequences)​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)

    Let's try to build our legend a bit.
     
    One option makes us not as morally culpable - at least on a personal level - for any spilling of blood that comes with this.

    Another option makes us DIRECTLY responsible for it, but also gives us an easier out.

    And yet another is dicey, but also still ends up with us having blood on our hands.
     
    shooting first is bad, and we gotta keep our honor
    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)
     
    The fact that, objectively, I completely sympathize with the Not!Koreans is making this decision acutely uncomfortable.

    Really, though, we have two realistic choices. Hope bayonets and rifle butts work, or open fire. To roll the dice or not, when you get down to it.

    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)
     
    [x] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)

    Taking the flag was a...

    ...really bad idea. Why though?
     
    Well hell. So. We can go down as a coward right now, a butcher in the history books (and right now), or probably a butcher a butcher in the history books. This also doesn't mesh super-well with the speech we just gave.
    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)
     
    [X] FIRE! Order the troops to open fire on the crowd. The lives of an Imperial Princess, and more importantly an injured officer, are at stake. There's no time for niceties and bullets will do more to put these people on their heels than just a rifle butt. (No check. The crowd will be dispersed and you'll be fine. But there will be consequences)
    50-50-ish on Fixing Bayonets working out. I don't know about you, but I am NOT feeling lucky.
     
    [X] Fix bayonets!

    We can't open fire on civilians or retreat away from all this - we just gave a passionate quote about duty and honor after all.
     
    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)
     
    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)

    I mean, I guess
     
    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)

    this seems like the least bad of all of these absolutely god awful shit tier options.
     
    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)

    Only good choice here, I think. God damn it.

    At least fixing bayonets isn't straight up murdering everyone in the crowd; we still issue them for crowd control after all.
     
    Guys! This has a coin-flips chance of blowing up in our faces! Am I the only person here who's a coward?!

    Wait, that came out wrong.
     
    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)

    We need to break the riot quickly. If it gets of hand, it'll spread and cause more destruction.
     
    Fuck.

    I am not a fan of this. Not even slightly.

    [X] Fix bayonets! Order your escort to beat back the crowd with rifle butts and bayonet points. Organized troops should be more than a match for an unruly mob of students and angry peasants, right? (Tactics Check)
     
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