Voting is open
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


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:
Huh.

Gonna need to remember that for reference when it comes to Aircraft Design Quest when it comes to dealing with the Navy.

Is steam turbine propulsion a thing? It ties into some of the same general advances in engine design and fluid dynamics and materials that influences aviation, so if aviation is ahistorically ahead I might expect to see turbine propulsion on ships whose armor and gun layout is just, uh, a bit behind the curve.

Exactly this re: all big gun battleship. It also concentrated all of that armament in turrets on the main deck instead of using barbettes. I don't know much about the propulsion but I can do some research

At this point (assuming that we're staying more-or-less in line with history), steam turbines were a thing, but in terms of naval engineering they were very much an experimental technology. The British built a number of turbine-powered destroyers in the late predreadnought era, but they didn't find their way into capital ships until the first generation of Dreadnoughts. My memory is just a bit fuzzy on this, but they were very difficult to produce and maintain, with most or all first-generation dreadnoughts using British Parsons turbines. There was also a fuel-efficiency concern, but that was only really a concern for the USN.




[X] IAN Okinami, Fleet tender. (Responsible for refueling, assisting, and minding larger ships, incapable of combat. A widely scorned position, this is an insult to any combat officer, as it lets them get close to glory but never danger. Sometimes they let civilians pilot these, to give you an idea.)
 
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship.
This one sounds to me like we'll see some action, see the hardships of war turn animosity into unbreakable bonds, and see the crew of this disrespected ship show everyone what they're made of. I think I'm in the mood for that sort of story.
 
Those of us who've been following Aircraft Quest can pretty confidently affirm that it is similar in this regard. Similar indeed.
What, no. We're all the best of friends.

Oh, dear. Do I want to know what the "enthusiastic but less than competent"* options would have been?

Helmsman on the IAN Insurance Fraud as she tours the polar waters?

After all, that character would have been given plenty of rope to hang themselves with.
 
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship. (The least honourable post in the Navy, ferrying to colonies and beachheads. You will have to interact with the lowest of the low… soldiers, something that will make you the laughing stock of the entire Navy. Urgh, you feel filthy just thinking about them getting their muddy boots on everything.)

I want to be tsundere at soldiers, please.
 
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship. (The least honourable post in the Navy, ferrying to colonies and beachheads. You will have to interact with the lowest of the low… soldiers, something that will make you the laughing stock of the entire Navy. Urgh, you feel filthy just thinking about them getting their muddy boots on everything.)

I want to be tsundere at soldiers, please.
I'm just transporting you, it's not like I like you or anything!
 
[X] IAN Okinami, Fleet tender. (Responsible for refueling, assisting, and minding larger ships, incapable of combat. A widely scorned position, this is an insult to any combat officer, as it lets them get close to glory but never danger. Sometimes they let civilians pilot these, to give you an idea.)

Maybe we can learn some hands on lessons about fleet logistics? Just trying to look on the bright side...
 
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship.

Seems to be the best option for us. Gives us the opportunity to interact with army, who might be a little more accepting of anything that pisses off the navy, and actually involves the warriors directly in some manner. Supply ships are of critical importance obviously, but it's a lot harder to get anyone to specifically think of them in the immediate area of a battle. Were it me, I'd have taken the Hospital ship since that one would involve what is likely to be the largest responsibility, but we're trying to prove a point, not provide the most effect.

I'm just transporting you, it's not like I like you or anything!
"Marine-senpai, what does the name mean?"

"'My ass rides in navy equipment', your highness."
 
While getting to tsun at the army would definitely be amusing, I'm not sure how much it really gains us in terms of much needed experience with the fleet. I doubt we'd go anywhere near combat either, given that the troopships of the age were generally just converted passenger liners as opposed to the dedicated assault craft of later eras.

My one caveat to this is that with some skill and luck we could maybe parlay this into joining the Navy's effort to get approval for a formal marine infantry force but I don't know how realistic that is.
 
honestly the troop ship might not be so bad- we are of the royal family, and as i understand it the army is pretty loyal to the empress. Though I am open to being corrected
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship. (The least honourable post in the Navy, ferrying to colonies and beachheads. You will have to interact with the lowest of the low… soldiers, something that will make you the laughing stock of the entire Navy. Urgh, you feel filthy just thinking about them getting their muddy boots on everything.)
 
Last edited:
Speaking for myself, my concern about the troopship isn't so much that I think it'll be a terrible experience but rather that I don't know where we really go from there.
 
[X] IAN Okinami, Fleet tender.
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship.

Just to clarify, approval voting IS in effect, right?
 
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship.

We are a modern woman. The first princess to have joined the navy.

Even if it's just coastal defense batteries, we will go into battle. We will go into harm's way!
 
Last edited:
[X] IAN Okinami, Fleet tender.
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship.

honestly the troop ship might not be so bad- we are of the royal family, and as i understand it the army is pretty loyal to the empress. Though I am open to being corrected
The Army has the privilege of guarding the palace and approaching it more closely than the Navy; I think they do indeed enjoy a considerable measure of favor.
 
The Army has the privilege of guarding the palace and approaching it more closely than the Navy; I think they do indeed enjoy a considerable measure of favor.

Yep. Members of the Army are allowed access to the gardens and so forth of the outer palace whenever they like.

Plus the Imperial Guard is an Army unit, though it recruits heavily from a specific community of commoner/former peasant families that have served the Imperial Family for generations as guards, soldiers, and servants. It's considered a great honor for anyone outside of those families to even be considered for the Imperial Guard (if they're a common enlisted person, anyway. All the officers are nobles).
 
Yep. Members of the Army are allowed access to the gardens and so forth of the outer palace whenever they like.

Plus the Imperial Guard is an Army unit, though it recruits heavily from a specific community of commoner/former peasant families that have served the Imperial Family for generations as guards, soldiers, and servants. It's considered a great honor for anyone outside of those families to even be considered for the Imperial Guard (if they're a common enlisted person, anyway. All the officers are nobles).
so, as an imperial offshoot, we won't get the full-on nasty "Snobby Navy Brat" treatment from the groundpounders that they would give some rando
 
[X] IAN Okinami, Fleet tender.
[X] IAN T-55, unofficially the Tachibana, Troop ship.

Both of these seem like valid options, even if they might lead down different paths.
 
Voting is open
Back
Top