Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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Dear reader! Whether you are new here, archive-reading and whatnot, or you are already someone who has been with us for quite a while, I would like to say a few words that I believe are best kept close to mind.

-This is an MLP quest. And more importantly, none of us are gratuitously cruel. So good things will happen on this quest, and I hope that enough good things have already happened to prove that.
-This is also a horror quest, so bad things will happen. Bad things might happen to good characters if you are not able to protect them, and you most certainly will not be able to intervene if you lack the tools to do so.
-And finally, this is a quest in which you jostle with powers greater than yourself, with all that it entails.

Please, do keep those things in mind as you go forward. But ultimately, this is also a quest in which it is hoped we all have fun! So if any of the above points is not exactly your cup of tea, or somehow make the experience as a whole "not worth it", then this quest might not be for you. Which is fine! Individual tastes are a thing, so don't think any more about it if you don't want to read anymore. And regardless, I hope you have a lovely day!

Kaelor said:
PSA for whoever needs to hear it:

Readers should take their own mental health into consideration when voting and not subject themselves to triggering narrative elements like rape or constant mental torture of a friend just for the Greatest Good of a world that doesn't exist.

If those are fine for you or Regrettable is even more triggering, then GREAT! More power to you. But you aren't a bad or selfish person for picking the option that keeps the characters you've emotionally connected with safe. [REDACTED for spoiler warning]

This is a high intensity quest that doesn't hold back when it comes to horror and negative consequences. Take care of yourself.
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(Quote slightly edited to avoid spoilers)
 
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I don't think we can ever introduce the Lores in a way where it seems like we knew about them beforehand without being turned into charred Pony BBQ so any plans about that can be safely dropped. Best to pretend to be a savant when we're officially read in.
Ericwinter said:
And if she's pretending to be Velvet at the time…
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That is such a terrible idea. Grail bombing isn't the end-all-be-all solution, especially with the rules Birb laid out and the fact that in this case, it wouldn't be an active effect. So the moment Miday gives his actions any thought we're fucked.
Toboe said:
Something to be aware of, but not panic.
Just should consider that they could develop into a competing cult that can win the monopoly on official Lore usage.
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I don't think that's something we need to worry about. Maybe the rank and file of the org but us the Commissioner? Our Deputies, department heads, and other officers who need to call in the shots? We're gonna be read in and have access even if it's lesser. I just don't see the worst-case scenario of a Psykana lookalike happening regardless of how short Celestia's temper is.
 
Iustus Vitae said:
That is such a terrible idea. Grail bombing isn't the end-all-be-all solution, especially with the rules Birb laid out and the fact that in this case, it wouldn't be an active effect. So the moment Miday gives his actions any thought we're fucked.
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There's a reason I said almost. It wouldn't actually be smart since it's kinda useless. Either he gets in trouble for spilling the beans, or we both keep the secret that he told us and it doesn't actually change anything except Velvet knows.

It would be really funny though.
 
Greymere said:
Another time-related aspect is that we also need the Lores to be discovered in a way that gives us 'access' to them relatively early on. Otherwise the first Eclipse member to eventually stumble through the Branding Door is going to notice something very interesting about our Cutie Mark, and we won't have an explanation.
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Except here we do have one out people haven't mentioned. Eclipse isn't under our purview, but at the same time the Bureau isn't under theirs. As such they probably only know so much about what the Bureau is doing, and are heavily to not know more than that. Given that sure they might notice the Brand, but given they know jack all outside of that and don't have authority over the Bureau....mums the word.

Basically, Compartmentalization goes both ways.
 
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If there is a department that is investigating mysterious phenomena, our best bet is probably to arrest a cultist and send anything they have on the Lores Eclipse's way. They would have to fill us in as soon as they find first circle rituals to make sure the Bureau knows what to look for as evidence, since as Bird said, as soon as Celestia learns about them she might figure out what happened to Luna.
 
Gmerguy said:
Given that sure they might notice the Brand, but given they know jack all outside of that and don't have authority over the Bureau....mums the word.
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But they presumably report to Celestia.
Who absolutely has the authority to "invite" us over for a "talk" with the [Eclipse] expert and her.
The kinds of talk where not fully succeeding leads to a need for sun-protection-factor ∞.
 
You know, we could just start our own research div. Like get a win or two under our belt then take a few ques from Eclipse and start researching Lore in-house. If Celestia ever asks well she never forbid us for one and for another if we get results then she'll be mollified too. That is if she even gets angry because from her pov we're just being our usual overachieving self by successfully managing the Bureau and running a research div side hustle that's doing better then hers. Hell with Luna's backing it wouldn't even come to that.
jelloloaf said:
I think sharing confidential top-secret info with the head of the pony CIA is understandable, if not advisable. Sharing confidential top-secret info with someone you met five minutes ago is grounds for vaporization.
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Ericwinter said:
…How so? Unless you mean to have her do it in a discreet manner so he doesn't know who to blame for tricking the secrets out of him.
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Honey trap, get him drunk at a bar/after a date or something, Marinette grabs him off the street and intimidates the answers out of him. A variety of things really some more likely to work than others but basically anything that doesn't tie back to us. All of these result in him getting fucked over in some way and security being raised so imo best to do it later when they have information worth stealing.
 
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Toboe said:
Velvet: "Why I have this? I explored this maresus thing the [Eclipse] people mentioned"
Celestia: "They only mentioned details about some of the Lores, not the Mansus itself. I know because all communication on that was in burned-afterwards writing that i have copies of. And they all passed an interview in front of the candle mirror."
Velvet: "..."
Celestia: "So you are telling me you broke my direct orders to leave it to [Eclipse], somehow found your way to the mansus without being told, AND were faster than the teams i tasked with that, teams that had all the resource support i could give them?!"
Velvet: "..."
Celestia: "EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"
Velvet: *develops "stood on the sun itself" levels of sunburn*
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"Look at your eldritch tomes. Now look at my flank. Now look at your eldritch tomes. Now look at my flank. Tomes. Flank. Tomes. Flank. There is an eldritch tome slapped on my flank and somehow you wonder how I am so good at this."
 
Toboe said:
Reason to be converned/aware, but not yet to panic, true.
But we aren't talking about someone with the action economy of a normal life.
We are probably talking about a department of hoof-picked geniuses.
Where this could be a researchers main focus (4 AP + whatever they are willing to do in overtime) with support from their department.

Something to be aware of, but not panic.
Just should consider that they could develop into a competing cult that can win the monopoly on official Lore usage.
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Even so, I'd be very surprised if they were faster than Velvet (10 turns/months).

and while admittedly Velvet didn't go as fast as she could, she

1) Has unprecedented talent and learning speed for the lores, even ignoring how she learn all of them

2) She was going into the woods for years before game start. So it took 10 months since quest start, but technically speaking she had a few more years of experience in which she at least got semi-comfortable exploring the woods.

A genius scientist won't necessarily be talented in the lores. and they don't have a teacher at all.

Even worse, the methods of accessing the woods are, for the most part, very hard to guess. cut a lock of hair before sleeping. Sleep in a completely white room. whatever Knock did.

they might happen by accident, but even so they're easy to dismiss as just dreams.
 
Pittauro said:
2) She was going into the woods for years before game start. So it took 10 months since quest start, but technically speaking she had a few more years of experience in which she at least got semi-comfortable exploring the woods.
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Rarity still hasn't even gotten through the Woods, and she has Velvet she can ask for advice. She's had about ten months herself.
 
Pittauro said:
A genius scientist won't necessarily be talented in the lores. and they don't have a teacher at all.
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"won't necessarily"? True.
But with a good sized group of scientists, what are the chances that there isn't someone with a good talent for some lore (like Lantern).
Pittauro said:
Even worse, the methods of accessing the woods are, for the most part, very hard to guess. cut a lock of hair before sleeping. Sleep in a completely white room. whatever Knock did.
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Potential access to forbidden library kind of stuff could help with that.

Ericwinter said:
Rarity still hasn't even gotten through the Woods, and she has Velvet she can ask for advice. She's had about ten months herself.
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Does Rarity have drive to explore?


Not "omg emergency! Need to deal with it NOW!", but something we should keep in mind.
 
Byzantine said:
You know, we do have that knock 2 artifact that we'll never examine let alone use...
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Oh right, we should get to studying that.
Reminder for thread:
BirdBodhisattva said:
KNOCK Level 2 (NOT STUDIED) (CANNOT BE USED UNTIL STUDIED)
"A hoof-sized tuning fork... or at least a tuning-fork adjacent. The thing has three prongs instead of two, arranged in a triangular pattern. Striking it yields no sound, none that you can hear at least, even though the thing clearly vibrates."
Appraised cost: Unknown (not studied)
Special properties: Unknown (not studied)
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Pittauro said:
Even worse, the methods of accessing the woods are, for the most part, very hard to guess. cut a lock of hair before sleeping. Sleep in a completely white room. whatever Knock did.
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Knock's requires wounding the sole of the foot, if it's the same as in CS. Which I'd think would make it the most likely out of the three to happen by accident, though still not particularly likely.

Edit: That being said, the Changelings had seemingly started dreaming of the Mansus without any fancy methods. So maybe it's more a matter of reliability than ability.
 
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Toboe said:
But they presumably report to Celestia.
Who absolutely has the authority to "invite" us over for a "talk" with the [Eclipse] expert and her.
The kinds of talk where not fully succeeding leads to a need for sun-protection-factor ∞.
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And? Their job is to report on themselves not the bureau. They have their own job, and thar doesn't include what we do. For all they know Celestia already knows.
 
Gmerguy said:
And? Their job is to report on themselves not the bureau. They have their own job, and thar doesn't include what we do. For all they know Celestia already knows.
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Sorry, but them not mentioning seeing something so odd as another know outside [Eclipse]?
Sounds absurd.
They wouldn't start investigations, sure, but I'd bet they report it.
 
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I wonder if Canterlot has like, a cartographer's guild? If we want to do more expeditions, we'll need to find them first. And cartographers seem like somewhere that we could maybe build up some contacts and get tips on interesting locations, or find a potential SH-affinity Confidant. Or maybe historians?

@BirdBodhisattva would something like this be a valid write-in action? Probably for either Rarity or our servants?
 
Greymere said:
I wonder if Canterlot has like, a cartographer's guild? If we want to do more expeditions, we'll need to find them first. And cartographers seem like somewhere that we could maybe build up some contacts and get tips on interesting locations, or find a potential SH-affinity Confidant. Or maybe historians?

@BirdBodhisattva would something like this be a valid write-in action? Probably for either Rarity or our servants?
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IIRC Velvet had them do stuff during the Luna Search. They should exist.
 
Talon TigerDino said:
Quick, plant it on the Blueblood Estate!
Honestly though we should keep it so our summoners don't suck at Knock.
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they can't use it unless we study it, and I don't know if we'll ever study it...

Well, we're running out of study subjects, so maybe.

Right now we still have the two lvl 3 forge books, and the unknown book. That's a full action.

then there's the knock 2 artifact. if/when we get a second artifact then it would be a decent second thing to add to the study action.
 
I think all this speculation of possible things Eclipse might do in many turns and the implications for us in many turns, when we don't know what will happen when Luna comes back next turn, is a little misguided. We just can't be confident about what the situation will look like then at all, let alone where we'll fit in and how speculative paths might turn out.
So can I ask for speculation on something totally different? We have seen the event that reshaped the Mansus as some intense blow of destruction, one with an epicenter and sufficient impact to strew wreckage across the House of the Sun (e.g. description at the Tribal door and afterwards). We have also seen it as some Glory-powered re-awakening, where the Sun-in-Splendour (?) returned (?) and SPOKE and remade the Mansus to remove any need for the climb (IN GIRUM IMUS NOCTE ET CONSUMIMUR IGNI memory).

Do these two things fit together? Is the immense blow we've seen evidence of... that speech? Or something else?

And what on earth was the Forge-of-Days doing when the SiS (?) undertook this great act of remaking, she who (in CS canon) had remade the Mansus's ways and paths before?
 
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