King Arthur
The Once and Future King
[X] Plan Diplomacy and Prospering Dryl
Catra of the Crimson Waste (A She-Ra Quest)
- Thread starter Ponibius
- Start date
- Sci-Fi Fantasy
Political standing and capital. In addition to being the nominal head of the Alliance and the leader in efforts to repel the Horde, as far as I'm aware Angella's also the only remaining Queen present on Etheria, with all the power and prestige that implies. So there are any number of possible benefits we could garner from her, but to answer your question with some more concrete/material benefits would be:
1) Political gains. On the face of things, being approved/supported by Angela/Brightmoon means that we'll automatically be more openly received by their allies, and in better regard (not to mention the less overt pressure Brightmoon's allies will feel to cooperate with us that will accompany it). Which means an easier time making treaties, establishing trade agreements and the like. Instead of being regarded as "an Empire with questionable motives that's full of and run by people that used to beat on us", they'd be more liable to see us as "a potential new ally and member of the alliance that will help us take down the Horde". Seriously, Angela's word seems to carry some weight - her reputation seems to practically be a propaganda machine in and of itself.
2) Since there's a non-negligible chance that the majority of the Horde's attention/efforts will be turned on us in short order, this has the benefit of giving us at least one concrete ally with decades of experience repelling the Horde. While I'd imagine that they have a standing army that we never really see on screen, at the very least this means we'll have another ally to support us/ferry supplies should the Horde dedicate their efforts to destroying us.
3) Resources/supplies. At the very least Brightmoon has access to an enormous natural supply of wood; which we lack due to our territory being comprised of a desolate wasteland and a kingdom perched on barren, windswept cliffs. It's also shown in that one episode with the haunted village that Brightmoon has various villages scattered throughout the Whispering Woods which at the very least supply them with food; presumably these villages also supply them with various other manufactured goods, including such luxury items as the abundance of pillows that appear to be present in nearly every room of the castle. Which, yeah, pillows. But I imagine that our subjects in the Crimson Wastes would be happy to have access to goods such as those, and Brightmoon presumably also has skilled craftsman which produce the weapons and the like that we see in Glimmer's little weapon vault and adorning their guardsmen/soldiers.
So, yeah, maybe not the best examples but those are just a few of the benefits that come to mind at the moment.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
All the plans proposed have their strengths and weaknesses.
For now I say:
[X] Plan Diplomacy and Prospering Dryl
I'm not sure I want to let Adora stew. On the other hand, I really wish we had someone trustworthy to send on a Diplomacy mission there other than Catra (who might freak out and ruin everything) and Scorpia (who hates Adora). But I don't think I can justify sending Entrapta, either. Oh, for a diplomacy hero. Hopefully, Perfuma and Bow can help.
For now I say:
[X] Plan Diplomacy and Prospering Dryl
I'm not sure I want to let Adora stew. On the other hand, I really wish we had someone trustworthy to send on a Diplomacy mission there other than Catra (who might freak out and ruin everything) and Scorpia (who hates Adora). But I don't think I can justify sending Entrapta, either. Oh, for a diplomacy hero. Hopefully, Perfuma and Bow can help.
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So... I wrote a bit of an omake, but I haven't written anything in a long time.
Was hoping someone would be willing to give it a quick once-over before I post?
Was hoping someone would be willing to give it a quick once-over before I post?
- Location
- Here
- Pronouns
- They/Them
If it's a basic quality check, I would be happy to help.
- Location
- Vancouver
Angela's shown herself to be fairly stable and levelheaded throughout the show, I think she'll be fine here. Most likely she'll fall back to the paradigm of 'worried about Glimmer' rather than thinking that her working with Shadow Weaver is the smart choice.
And I'm worried that trying to rush things between them will just make things worse, that they aren't in the right headspace to begin reconciling. Not forever of course, but even in what you're quoting, Catra says she can't deal with it right now. I know people want to rush things but let's give them a bit of time, while also consolidating our empire.
Started a convo with you both. Just general feedback/whether it's shit lol
Thanks for the help!
I mean there's a bit of a difference between "recklessly rushed off to help her friends/save people" and "just sabotaged a diplomatic conference and ran off with what is arguably one of the alliance's biggest enemies/threats".
While, yeah, she's liable to remain a bit more collected than most - if she were liable to have a complete freakout/breakdown ala Catra I wouldn't suggest we try to diplo her - per Angela standards this is probably the most ruffled/weakened she's been since the death of her husband, and I think we should take advantage of that.
And I'm not saying that she'd think working with Shadow Weaver be a smart choice? I'm saying that she might come to the conclusion that if her daughter felt strongly enough about this that she was willing to work with the woman who'd tortured her, that Angela might come to the conclusion that Glimmer has a point and that she should have listened.
As I've said before, giving Catra and Adora time to mull over their emotional issues in the past has not had good results.
Especially where Catra is concerned, I think it's a terrible idea to leave her mulling over whether or not Adora betrayed her while trying to run an Empire and prepare for war.
- Location
- Vancouver
Those are some big ifs, and frankly, a chance I'm more than willing to wait 1 turn at least to deal with, assuming it does actually come to that and Glimmer doesn't compound things even further by screwing up more (which given the omake, doesn't seem likely). Even then, Angela recognizing she should have listened to Glimmer... still won't affect her diplomacy with us too much. She's too level-headed a states-person for that.
Why do you bother quoting me if you aren't addressing my concerns or raising new points? I get how you feel, you've made that apparent, but that doesn't answer the concerns I raised.
Running the Empire and dealing with war wait for no woman, we can afford to push those off even less than we can wait for the Adora situation. And ok, you say we shouldn't wait, what's your plan for dealing with Catra's emotions right now? Because you can't just ignore those. You were quick to bring up the character sheet, which I can agree with, but then you ignore what Catra herself is saying: She cannot deal with this. Not right now.
An obvious compromise would be to have Scorpia go to Plumeria and Catra to Brightmoon for your objectives, but you aren't doing that because you want to mash Catra and Adora together, hoping it will miraculously make things better between them. It won't. Work.
- Location
- US
- Pronouns
- He/They
While I have some doubts on her ability to do diplomacy (although I think she will pull through for us), I feel like sending Scorpia to hang out with the closest thing Etheria has to a therapist isn't a bad idea. She will probably be super open to what Plumeria has to offer!
- Pronouns
- Him/He
[X] Plan Diplomacy and Prospering Dryl
I like this plan a lot. Through no fault of our own, the princess alliance is seriously shaken and unsure about how things are. We're not going to ever get a better price for peace then we are now, next turn they'll figure things out better, but the diplomatic chaos and uncertainty is ripe for a charm offensive to flank them with a festival and keep them off balance while we interrupt their political operations!
I also like that we're spending other actions building up our forces, so if the horde or someone (...Glimmer.) does attack us this action or next, we're not going all in on soft power.
The military situation is going to be as it ever was, but the diplomatic situation will rarely be this fucked up for us to nail down all the diplomatic goodwill and credit as a rational peace-seeking actor. If this goes well we can tempt Mermista to have diplomatic relations next turn, and that will leave Frosta completely isolated diplomatically, instead of the current four kingdoms and seven political stances going on right now.
I like this plan a lot. Through no fault of our own, the princess alliance is seriously shaken and unsure about how things are. We're not going to ever get a better price for peace then we are now, next turn they'll figure things out better, but the diplomatic chaos and uncertainty is ripe for a charm offensive to flank them with a festival and keep them off balance while we interrupt their political operations!
I also like that we're spending other actions building up our forces, so if the horde or someone (...Glimmer.) does attack us this action or next, we're not going all in on soft power.
The military situation is going to be as it ever was, but the diplomatic situation will rarely be this fucked up for us to nail down all the diplomatic goodwill and credit as a rational peace-seeking actor. If this goes well we can tempt Mermista to have diplomatic relations next turn, and that will leave Frosta completely isolated diplomatically, instead of the current four kingdoms and seven political stances going on right now.
- Location
- Here
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Plan Flowers
Doing some tactical voting since my plan has no traction.
Doing some tactical voting since my plan has no traction.
The Festival
The Festival
Why don't you go out and enjoy the festival? I'll bet you've never been to one.
And who knows? It'll probably do ya some good and help you get over this whole...
Adora.
Thing.
You know what I'm going to stop talking, but you should seriously consider going.
Oh... Oh you're starting to get mad aren't you.
Yep. Stopping talking.
Just pretend I was never here.
Cause I'm already gone.
Yep.
I groaned in frustration. Why on Etheria had I listened to Scorpia?
There were people all around me. Crowded into the narrow curving streets and alleyways of Dryl. Laughing, cheering, singing. The noise was practically more than I could stand, and the smell... ugh. A sort of faint lingering odor that was a mix between sweaty exhaustion and slightly unwashed grime, it was far from the worst scent my sensitive nose had ever been exposed to.
If not for one thing: the stench was everywhere. There was no escaping it. Even the kids smelled of it.
Seriously, Hordak? You worked these people so hard that they didn't even have time to bathe properly, and for how long? Months?
Was a few more horde bots for the Princess Alliance to inevitably trash really worth this?
Shaking my head at the sheer, mind-numbing stupidity, I was almost bowled over by two large bustling men.
Repressing a scowl, I hurriedly slipped by them. While I was hardly one to shy away from strangers, just being around this many people... I could feel my ears flatten against my head.
Turns out, there's a big difference between leading an army - in other words a large mass of people - and being stuck in the middle of one.
Cause being surrounded by people, with far too many of them to track, wasn't doing wonders for the inklings of paranoia I could feel worming their way through my mind, my hair bristling on end with every accidental bump or touch in the jostling crowd.
After all, was it really paranoia if someone's out to get you? Say a mastermind that was the leader of a group that had waged havoc on Etheria for longer than I was alive?
How difficult would it be for Hordak to slip in an assassin among all these people? For that matter, with how he reacted last time we spoke, I wouldn't put it past Hordak to pull off some weird and creepy stunt straight out of one of Weaver's less-than-pleasant tales.
Like that one with the mad scientist sending brainwashed clones of his enemies (or their loved ones) to slit the throat of the original in their sleep, the victims only waking in time to see a familiar face staring back at them as they choked on their own blood.
...
Oh, gee. Thanks, Brain. I really needed that thought stuck in my head. I'm sure I'll get lots of sleep tonight.
So caught up was I in my thoughts - was this becoming a trend? am I turning into Adora? - I didn't notice the little red bob of hair until I'd plowed into it and the child it belonged to was on the ground.
Sniffling.
On the verge of crying.
What fresh Hell is this?
If there's one thing I cannot deal with, it's crying children.
So putting on my best I'm-not-going-to-maim-you smile, I knelt down and gently took the young freckled girl's hand.
Please don't cry Please don't cry
"Hey. There. Don't, uh, cry." I cringed internally. Smooth. And if anything the brat's sniffling was getting worse.
I tried another tactic.
"You don't want your enemies to see a weakness they can take advantage of, do you?" Bam. Nailed it.
Instead of shutting up - like any good horde cadet with a lick of common sense that didn't want to endure remedial training - as I expected, a short, warbling wail began to slip from the child's lips.
Oh shit Oh shit What would Adora do?
The answer rose in my mind unbidden: leave.
Which. Okay.
Not helpful.
...What would Scorpia do?
With that in mind, I tried again. "My name's Catra. What's yours?"
This time the child's sniffling stopped, as she finally looked up and stared at me with wide, glistening eyes.
She must be related to Sparkles.
"Catra?"
I grinned ruefully. Success. "Yup, I'm not exactly from around here."
"CATRA?"
I frowned. What is it with brats and repeating themselves?
"Yeah, that's my name kid. Don't go wearing it out." I replied, with a short little pat on her head.
But, with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I realized that I seemed to have made things worse - the brat began to emit a different sound, a sort of high-pitched keening noise that was growing louder and louder.
Urgh. What did I do now?
I winced in pain as my ears flattened against my head, debating making a run for it when the brat suddenly launched herself at me fuck me Shadow Weaver's tales about Hordak were true with a... squeal?
I found myself on my ass as I looked down to see the brat... hugging? Me? A blade being conspicuously absent as the brat's gaunt, surprisingly strong arms wrapped tightly around my waist. She was muttering really fast and even with my better-than-average hearing it took me a second as I struggled to make out what she was saying.
And even longer to understand.
Is she... thanking me?
I sat there stunned. I didn't - couldn't - understand the warm feeling that was spreading in my chest.
And before I'd even realized, it had begun to rain - the warm water running in trickles down my face.
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- Here
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This really makes me want to see the festival go well, so Catra can be a good person and actually get rewarded for it.
- Location
- The Usual Room
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan Diplomacy and Prospering Dryl
- Location
- United States
Yeah, that's the nearest vote we've had thus far.