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[Exalted, ?] Most High

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[X] Essentially As Planned
[X] Kill Flame

Don't want that crazy brainwash moon plan to go ahead so before we escape it's best to snuff that out by killing Flame.
 
Orm Embar said:
They don't arrest Anathema, they kill them; arrested would be what happens with the disguise option.

Anyway, I think the general plan for killing Flame is to seize the opportunity presented now, kill him, and then make our escape. This is less difficult than disguising ourselves, but moderately more risky than just running. Still, I think the plan has merit as a middle ground between 'holy shit you need a three dot stunt to have a chance at this' and 'basically guaranteed success'. It is also somewhat unsatisfying to, upon Exalting while defending our dearest friend from our sworn enemy, immediately abandon the entire situation without even removing the threat. It would be like Odyssial sparing Larsyifex just because killing him is moderately more risky than escaping. I'd go so far as to call it cowardly.

[X] Kill Flame
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Woah, that's a decent argument.

Switching to
[X] Kill Flame
with Escape as a secondary preference.

[X] Essentially as Planned
 
Savonarola said:
Flame is our enemy anyway, and will likely need to die at some point or another if we ever want to succeed, and Syn is committed to empowering him and the Immaculate agenda. You can't make an ally out them, I'm sorry to say. Her plan, for the record, involves turning Moon into Flame's brood mare to create a dynasty, which requires mind control and/or kidnapping. She's the one who killed Zao last time around.
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When/if we walk into Yu Shan, shit changes. The Solars were given the divine mandate, and following the Usurpation a lot of gods probably turned a blind eye/lived in fear (Sids always wanting more starmetal..), but with THE first age Solar home, even diminished by reincarnation, the divine mandate restored, they're gonna push back against the Sidereals, including the Immaculate agenda. They are scared of Odyssial, and our choices carry that over to Ulyssian.

Right now, iirc, the agenda prevents mortals from approaching most gods, to keep them ignorant. I imagine a lot of gods would be more than willing to change this, which further tears away at Immaculate support.

It's against the law/heavy censure to assassinate a Celestial exalt, I imagine the only reason Sids get away with it in the Realm right now is fear of retribution/the UCS having turned his back. He's paying attention now, and showing up in Yu Shan is a giant potential gamechanger. I'm not saying it will be as easy or as big as I imagine it to be, but that, imo, should be a potential first stop.

And atm Moon is on her deathbed, which I guess puts her in a position to get mind-whammied, but she's safe from any immediate physical furthering of Team Anys's plans.
 
Xsi said:
And atm Moon is on her deathbed, which I guess puts her in a position to get mind-whammied, but she's safe from any immediate physical furthering of Team Anys's plans.
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The political situation in Yu Shan has... changed, to put it mildly. The Sidereals are out of favor with Heaven, due to the Wracking. What happened specifically, I have no idea, but in the Odyssey they were no longer welcomed by the Celestial Lions. What does this mean? It means they're desperate. It means Anys Syn sincerely believes that her abhorrent plan of mind control and rape is the only means of saving Creation, so she will do whatever is necessary to bring that about.

She is a Hard Woman Making Hard Decisions, and those are eminently predictable. She can't turn back, can't compromise with anyone, especially not a Solar, since we are one of the enemies she has spent thousands of years fighting against. She, and by extension Flame, are implacable enemies of Ulyssian and everything that he stands for.
 
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[X] Essentially As Planned
[X] Kill Flame

Orm Embar convinced me. We kill Flame and then get the fuck out. Besides, we do have a N/A Sword in our anima right?
 
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Orm Embar said:
The political situation in Yu Shan has... changed, to put it mildly. The Sidereals are out of favor with Heaven, due to the Wracking. What happened specifically, I have no idea, but in the Odyssey they were no longer welcomed by the Celestial Lions. What does this mean? It means they're desperate. It means Anys Syn sincerely believes that her abhorrent plan of mind control and rape is the only means of saving Creation, so she will do whatever is necessary to bring that about. She is a Hard Woman Making Hard Decisions, and those are eminently predictable. She can't turn back, can't compromise with anyone, especially not a Solar, since we are one of the enemies she has spent thousand of years fighting against. She, and by extension Flame, are implacable enemies of Ulyssian and everything that he stands for.
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Desperate Sidereals are pretty scary. I can agree with a heat of the moment killing Flame, it was the impetus to our exaltation, but I just don't like it.

I don't want our first action to be something that sets us on a path like that, when we could possibly turn at least him, although probably not Anys, to our side later. Or even kill him in a less obvious fashion. But doing it before the eyes of the realm in a way that is unmistakably going to pin it on us is something that will have future ramifications.
 
Usernames said:
Orm Embar convinced me. We kill Flame and then get the fuck out. Besides, we do have a N/A Sword in our anima right?
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Yeah, we're armed and dangerous. Good thing, too, because the blade we parried Flame's attack with is basically a few tenuously connected drops of molten metal. Still, we have a mortal enemy, a N/A Artifact weapon, and a really big audience. I can work with this.
 
Orm Embar said:
Yeah, we're armed and dangerous. Good thing, too, because the blade we parried Flame's attack with is basically a few tenuously connected drops of molten metal. Still, we have a mortal enemy, a N/A Artifact weapon, and a really big audience. I can work with this.
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Not just any N/A Artifact. It's The Sword of Odyssial. It's the greatest sword/daivake in creation. It's THE daiklave of the setting. The most optimized weapon created by slaying more than 10,000 Legends.
 
Xsi said:
I don't want our first action to be something that sets us on a path like that, when we could possibly turn at least him, although probably not Anys, to our side later. Or even kill him in a less obvious fashion. But doing it before the eyes of the realm in a way that is unmistakably going to pin it on us is something that will have future ramifications.
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He's a zealot. He believes that the daeva that Exalted him is personally whispering in his ear, encouraging his rivalry with us. Perhaps if we could expose the deception, reveal Anys as Heshiah... It is theoretically possible, I'll give you that. But it would be an enormous waste of time and would require overturning literally every single aspect of his belief structure, with Anys and his own preconceptions fighting us every step of the way. More than that, I just don't think Ulyssian would want to. Attempted murder of our not-quite-girlfriend is traditionally an offense worthy of skewering.

Hell, I don't particularly want to. He's just a dick. His bloodline is useful, but he has a sister, so it doesn't have to end with him.

Let me put it another way: if you won't kill Flame, you set a pretty damned high bar that needs to be cleared in terms of 'people who deserve to die'.

Regarding the audience, yes, exposure is a sad cost of the affair. Sesus Ulyssian is permanently tarred as Anathema in the eyes of the Realm entire; that's the case with every option save for disguise, though.
 
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Disguised as the Glorious Sun.

Ulyssian blocked the sword so perfectly that for a moment he appeared to no longer be mortal. But no matter how far he had come he still remained so, limited to those same limits as all other mortals and to even attempt to stand next to the one of the princes of the earth was folly, the fires of Resolute Flame's anima would destroy them by their mere presence for in this world of Creation men were vulnerable to even the simple presence of those above them and to even stand near them was death. Ulyssian knew this and continued to stand regardless even knowing that it would be his end. It wasn't his end yet as suddenly, as if it was always meant to be there and he had simply not noticed it's presence the Dawn returned.

However to show his true face here would mean that he would either have to kill every person who present or alternatively discard his identity and the assets of his house, neither of which were acceptable outcomes. A moments thought and a solution came to him, while he had never needed to hide or suppress his anima he knew the methodology of how to change it to perform different functions, he had after all used it to store his sword and to crush his enemies.

And so the force of brightly burning gold that was his anima changed, the gold becoming naught but a highlight to the red and yellow flames his anima had now become. The stage he stood upon began to smolder and he could see Moon's fallen weapon beginning to slowly melt into uselessness from the heat he was emitting. With a quick adjustment of his aura he cancelled his Anima's effects upon the those he did not wish to see burned although he noticed that Moon herself had been left untouched even in those first moments of the charm's birth.

"Your imitation," he stated, "has not yet surpassed the original." the ash from the crumbling stage and floating embers dancing around the shimmers of heat in the air casts his shadow so that it appears to spread over Resolute Flame making him appear by contrast merely another ember compared to his own unyielding fire. He sliced, the air parting around his sword as if it didn't exist his blade achieving speeds beyond the speed of any mortal a thousand times before, he'd tested the limits of his personal skill to find himself pressed against a cage made of physical law. A human could only move so fast. A human could only perceive so much. Now he pressed, and found no limits at all. It flooded into him, like memories he'd never truly forgotten, what he would have learned if he hadn't been caged. Strike just so, move your foot like this, turn this way, what had so eluded him before as a mortal was now so obvious. Simultaneously there was the ringing of metal as swords clashed while Resolute Flame's face became trapped in a moment of shock as his footing was destabilized and his body seemed to practically turn on itself as his guard fell and his body collapsed, a clear opening created showing the chance for just vengeance with one final thrust.

Instead he kicked out, his foot crushing plate and bending ribs to the breaking point. He looked down on Resolute Flame what was once an impossible foe now naught but an insect compared to himself. However despite his desires to destroy him to strike him down now would only harm his plans for the future and so he held off on performing the last piercing blow, after all there would be time for that later after Moon was once again well.

Edit: Some grammar edits, added a comma.
 
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Can we at least retreat and hit him with a keen sight technique enhanced There is No Wind attack? It looks like we're killing him regardless, but do we need to make it so obvious? I don't think DB even get perfects so hit him with an unexpected arrow from half a mile away or something, we don't need to advertise that it was us. It's just a reputation damaging move (even though anathema has us damned for the moment, that may or may not change, murder is not something that will go away).
 
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Xsi said:
Can we at least retreat and hit him with a keen sight technique enhanced There is No Wind attack? It looks like we're killing him regardless, but do we need to make it so obvious? I don't think DB even get perfects so hit him with an unexpected arrow from half a mile away or something, we don't need to make it so obvious it was us. It's just a reputation damaging move (even though anathema has us damned for the moment, that may or may not change, murder is not something that will go away).
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Eh, if we can dodge the stigma of Anathema, I don't think mere murder is going to be a problem. They're going to think we're a soul-stealing demon monster who is puppeteering our body around, so all the other sins kind of fall flat in the face of that. Even if he just falls over and dies for no apparent reason, they're going to think we did it, because who else has the skills and the motivation?
 
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Orm Embar said:
Eh, if we can dodge the stigma of Anathema, I don't think mere murder is going to be a problem. They're going to think we're a soul-stealing demon monster who is puppeteering our body around, so all the other sins kind of fall flat in the face of that. Even if he just falls over and dies for no apparent reason, they're going to think we did it, because who else has the skills and the motivation?
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Any of the dozens of people who just witnessed him beat the shit out of Moon
 
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Dark Lord Bob said:
Honestly, that was one of the weirder and funnier parts of the setting.
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I just assume the gods didn't want to deal with the fallout. Solars are out of favor with the boss anyway, and Sidereals broke the universe hiding their involvement. If you can't prove it, and they can lie with the truth... What a fun court case that would be.

Edit: I'm more confused with the lack of reprisal for the assault on Lytek, since I think that was explicitly provable.
 
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Anyway, if someone comes up with a stunt for disguise that has a decent chance of succeeding, I'd consider voting for that. I really like Seacrown as a setting and the people within it, I just don't currently see such an option being viable, and without a truly solid plan, it's likely to fail and result in a sub-optimal outcome on all fronts. Hence, killing Flame. I am, on the other hand, categorically opposed to our first action upon receiving incredible cosmic power to be to turn around and abandon everything and everyone in favor of prioritizing our own survival.
Xsi said:
Edit: I'm more confused with the lack of reprisal for the assault on Lytek, since I think that was explicitly provable.
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They couldn't prove it technically enough for an audit, even though everybody knew. The Sidereals did face some subtle bits of reprisal, obstruction from various Bureaus here and there, though they fought back against that by allying with sympathetic and ambitious gods like Ryzala. That's what happened in 2E, anyway. Who knows what's going on here.
 
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Dark Lord Bob said:
Honestly, that was one of the weirder and funnier parts of the setting.
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They overlooked it because they had to.

Consider, the Solars are already dead, the Dragonblooded are in cahoots, the Lunars on the run. Say they execute the involved Sidereals.

How many of them will die trying? What's left of Creation if they did? New Exalts won't be ready for the challenge for a long time, and the Solars did tremendous damage going down. The Incarna aren't interfering, so what can they do?

After...it became precedent.
 
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