[Exalted, ?] Most High
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
-
- Tags
- exalted (white wolf)
Is our character sheet up to date?
No, it's missing Better Listener and whatever we bought during the training point leading up to this fight, Regalia or Sword and Self.
I think it's SaS, as we condensed our anima into our blade.
This. No one's proposing that Ulyssian should become a pacifist after crying himself to sleep at night over the senselessness of it all.
- Location
- The end of all things
[X] "I meant to do that"
Mostly because a tournament match accidentally gone horribly wrong is such an amusingly mundane way to start an apocalyptic civil war. Not because of greed, ambition, or even noble ideas, but because a young man underestimated himself, overestimated his opponent, and got a bit (un)lucky. Too bad history will likely regard it as a brilliant (and/or horrifically brutal) assassination.
Really, it's almost like something out of a storybook. Moon would love it, except for all the horrible senseless bloody murder that will follow. You could make a pretty good argument that the civil war was inevitable, but it could have easily taken quite a while longer. Ulyssian would have more personal strength, but so would others, especially the various Anathema infiltrating the Realm. The houses will have more time to plan and prepare, and so will the Sidereals and Infernals. It's hard to get a better opening than assassinating a key enemy general and warrior.
Mostly because a tournament match accidentally gone horribly wrong is such an amusingly mundane way to start an apocalyptic civil war. Not because of greed, ambition, or even noble ideas, but because a young man underestimated himself, overestimated his opponent, and got a bit (un)lucky. Too bad history will likely regard it as a brilliant (and/or horrifically brutal) assassination.
Really, it's almost like something out of a storybook. Moon would love it, except for all the horrible senseless bloody murder that will follow. You could make a pretty good argument that the civil war was inevitable, but it could have easily taken quite a while longer. Ulyssian would have more personal strength, but so would others, especially the various Anathema infiltrating the Realm. The houses will have more time to plan and prepare, and so will the Sidereals and Infernals. It's hard to get a better opening than assassinating a key enemy general and warrior.
SirLagginton
Shadow Cabal Caerbannog Bun-Bun
- Location
- Arrrghhh
Also, Growing Ambition.
Algalon
Herald of the Titans
- Location
- Celestial Planetarium
[X] "Don't worry, I struck you with the flat side of the- hm. Hmm."
[X] Counter-infiltration
Oh god, this was hilarious.
Yeah, I'd rather not beg for mercy and forgiveness, which we will not receive.
It was an accident, and that's it. If civil war happens, then everybody gets caught unaware, and our show of strengh + the whole illegitimate son thing will get more opportunistic houses on our side, and intimidate others from joining the enemy.
[X] Counter-infiltration
Oh god, this was hilarious.
Yeah, I'd rather not beg for mercy and forgiveness, which we will not receive.
It was an accident, and that's it. If civil war happens, then everybody gets caught unaware, and our show of strengh + the whole illegitimate son thing will get more opportunistic houses on our side, and intimidate others from joining the enemy.
- Location
- The savanna.
Hey, there's nothing wrong with favoring ruthless options. I liked G10/H10 Odyssial, who shattered the Godspear and did so many epic things. I'd prefer not to take the first step down a road that leads away from that. I'm not saying we become a pacifist or anything, but Remorse does say that it shapes Uly. It shapes him in a way I don't want him to go, so I'm not voting for it. Simple as that.
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Yeah, that's perfectly cool. I've got no problems with that style of roleplaying. But when someone gets into a heated argument that lasts for multiple pages and then makes it clear that they think they're one of the few people with the balls to make the right call, they instantly open themselves up to ridicule.
Consider this your reminder that it's just a game, and the people making votes aren't divided into Morons Who Don't Understand My Argument and Hard Men Making Hard Decisions.
Is the whole uly is Zao's kid something only polemgaos thought of in his death knell or is it a memetic thought that hits a bunch of people at that point?
- Location
- The savanna.
I never claimed it was the right call. I mean, civil war is nowhere near civil. Hundreds of thousands dead, country on fire, all that good stuff. But it's the more ambitious road, and it's hard to deny that SB/SV rarely goes for that sort of strategy; my point was that I was taking a compromise option because I didn't think the thread would agree with the other route, not that that way is objectively better or anything.
Perhaps some will come to a similar conclusion, but as of now it's only Polemgaos' final bit of speculation; he certainly isn't going to be sharing it with anyone.
It will be interesting to see what people make of Ulyssian in the aftermath of this incident, though. Our reputation has undergone such drastic and inexplicable shifts in so short a time period that we must seem both very mysterious and very intimidating to any observers. First we were Lung Feng Zao's mortal protege (itself a near-impossibility), then his secret student, followed closely by the accusations of Anathema-hood, and now this? We are a spymaster's nightmare.
meianmaru
The Devourer of Fiction
And if someone does uncover the whole truth, we go from a nightmare straight to a fricking existential horror. "Aha! He is the intact reincarnation of the most powerful being from the First Age who tried to unmake Creation and nearly succeeded!" is not a conclusion you want to come to if you are his enemy.
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kinglugia
Hora hora~
I bid that someone Fortuitous luck, because that someone's tears would make for some delicious artifact ingredients
[X] Demonstrate Massive and Total Remorse.
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
We went and tied our firtune with Realm so lets not set fire to our own house. Besides I like chance to make Uly different from his past life and seeing how Ody claimed he can always find a way maybe we can find one to make him better person. That it reduces amount of hostility we will experience over this is incidental.
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
We went and tied our firtune with Realm so lets not set fire to our own house. Besides I like chance to make Uly different from his past life and seeing how Ody claimed he can always find a way maybe we can find one to make him better person. That it reduces amount of hostility we will experience over this is incidental.
[X] Demonstrate Massive and Total Remorse.
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
....what?
Looking like a pacifist?
Did you guys forget how we spared
Syryns despite the fact she came with with her perfected Brotherhood to execute us only five days after we exalted? How this was after we slaughtered her entire brotherhood as easily as we slaughtered Polemgaos? How she was still trying to kill us?
How Rihaku kept telling us that we shouldn't underestimate an Immaculate master?
Do you all remember why we spared
her? Let's name a few people put forth
It made Saery more happy with, it let people know that we could be merciful, or the biggie we were going to try to convert her(Despite Rihaku telling us it was very very unlikely. Especially
if Zao interrogated her and we weren't
there to social fu him into sparing her.)
If we went though all that trouble for an enemy who came to execute us then we can show some fucking remorse for killing a hero of the realm that we could've potentially worked to gain as an ally and wasn't actually trying to kill off. As Rihaku said People haven't died from this thing in years and Cathak was "immortal." Ulyssian was not expecting to actually finished him off that easily.
Also how the hell could we look like a pacifist when we were the ones who accepted the perfected brotherhoods challenge instead of just negotiating or letting Zao kick them out?
Now as much fun as I'm sure starting off the Civil War would be, I'd rather not do it until we have the power to reclaim the Sword. There is already too much bullshit going on now without a potentially drawn out Civil War making things worse for the Realm and Creation. There's also the little problem of how if we're outed as Anathema we're fucked even if we win the Civil War. And that little fact could get revealed during said Civil War.
Also do you guys really want to do that without getting the opinion of people like Zao, Ivory, and Nilul about whether that is a good idea? If we're going to kick off the RCW it should be for something we knew we would do that. Not for a damn accident.
Oh and don't give me that "showing remorse makes us look weak" bullshit argument. You can't say that after we just stomped and perfected brotherhood and a dragon blooded that could rival Zao or the empress like they were nothing compared to us. If anything it makes us look stronger as it shows we killed him by fucking accident. We stomped him on accident.
What the hell so you think will scare people more? Knowing we did on purpose or knowing we had actually overestimated our opponent. Plus Rihaku said Odyissial could show remorse for killing someone he didn't intend to and I want to reinforce that. We should feel remorse for killing an opponent we had no real reason to want to kill in a setting where no one really expected death to happen.
Looking like a pacifist?
Did you guys forget how we spared
Syryns despite the fact she came with with her perfected Brotherhood to execute us only five days after we exalted? How this was after we slaughtered her entire brotherhood as easily as we slaughtered Polemgaos? How she was still trying to kill us?
How Rihaku kept telling us that we shouldn't underestimate an Immaculate master?
Do you all remember why we spared
her? Let's name a few people put forth
It made Saery more happy with, it let people know that we could be merciful, or the biggie we were going to try to convert her(Despite Rihaku telling us it was very very unlikely. Especially
if Zao interrogated her and we weren't
there to social fu him into sparing her.)
If we went though all that trouble for an enemy who came to execute us then we can show some fucking remorse for killing a hero of the realm that we could've potentially worked to gain as an ally and wasn't actually trying to kill off. As Rihaku said People haven't died from this thing in years and Cathak was "immortal." Ulyssian was not expecting to actually finished him off that easily.
Also how the hell could we look like a pacifist when we were the ones who accepted the perfected brotherhoods challenge instead of just negotiating or letting Zao kick them out?
Now as much fun as I'm sure starting off the Civil War would be, I'd rather not do it until we have the power to reclaim the Sword. There is already too much bullshit going on now without a potentially drawn out Civil War making things worse for the Realm and Creation. There's also the little problem of how if we're outed as Anathema we're fucked even if we win the Civil War. And that little fact could get revealed during said Civil War.
Also do you guys really want to do that without getting the opinion of people like Zao, Ivory, and Nilul about whether that is a good idea? If we're going to kick off the RCW it should be for something we knew we would do that. Not for a damn accident.
Oh and don't give me that "showing remorse makes us look weak" bullshit argument. You can't say that after we just stomped and perfected brotherhood and a dragon blooded that could rival Zao or the empress like they were nothing compared to us. If anything it makes us look stronger as it shows we killed him by fucking accident. We stomped him on accident.
What the hell so you think will scare people more? Knowing we did on purpose or knowing we had actually overestimated our opponent. Plus Rihaku said Odyissial could show remorse for killing someone he didn't intend to and I want to reinforce that. We should feel remorse for killing an opponent we had no real reason to want to kill in a setting where no one really expected death to happen.
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[X] Demonstrate Massive and Total Remorse.
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
And there we got the perfect excuse to leave and make everyone wonder "Is he hiding power or weakness with this". Backing out now would leave everyone wondering if they could have taken him, if it was a fluke or just to show what he can do.
Exploitable
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
And there we got the perfect excuse to leave and make everyone wonder "Is he hiding power or weakness with this". Backing out now would leave everyone wondering if they could have taken him, if it was a fluke or just to show what he can do.
Exploitable
[X] Demonstrate Massive and Total Remorse.
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
Welp. Polemgaos sounded like a swell guy. Killing him is going to a have a pretty negative impact on the Realm and House Cathak in particular. So, yes, Uly is almost certainly going to feel remorse. Regardless of your personal opinion of him, his power is something that is going to be missed. Uly's ability to lie is quite bad for a Dynast, especially compared to all the elders hanging around here today. So, being honest about his feelings instead of trying to spin it would be much easier. It would also be quite effective.
While Zao is very influential, Polemgaos has a lot of friends and admirers. By demonstrating remorse, we can at least blunt the dislike that they will feel for us. Our job is hard enough without alienating more people than necessary like Jeanne of Cynis. Kicking off the Realm Civil War by pissing off multiple factions does not seem wise, when we have yet to assert our own powerbase. Also, I would rather try and remember the controls to the Sword Of Creation before starting the war.
Leaving the tournament seems like the safer choice. We got somewhat lucky with the rolls, and we can't trust that it will continue. By not fighting, we will prevent people from getting an accurate assessment of our fighting capabilities, which can only really make us seem stronger than we currently are. As for the Infernals, they are unlikely to antagonize us after that display. There is also little need for us to contact them here, in this relatively public forum. We already know who they are, so we can contact them later, when we have discussed and prepared what we want to say and reveal with Zao and Pearl.
[X] Withdraw from the Tournament.
Welp. Polemgaos sounded like a swell guy. Killing him is going to a have a pretty negative impact on the Realm and House Cathak in particular. So, yes, Uly is almost certainly going to feel remorse. Regardless of your personal opinion of him, his power is something that is going to be missed. Uly's ability to lie is quite bad for a Dynast, especially compared to all the elders hanging around here today. So, being honest about his feelings instead of trying to spin it would be much easier. It would also be quite effective.
While Zao is very influential, Polemgaos has a lot of friends and admirers. By demonstrating remorse, we can at least blunt the dislike that they will feel for us. Our job is hard enough without alienating more people than necessary like Jeanne of Cynis. Kicking off the Realm Civil War by pissing off multiple factions does not seem wise, when we have yet to assert our own powerbase. Also, I would rather try and remember the controls to the Sword Of Creation before starting the war.
Leaving the tournament seems like the safer choice. We got somewhat lucky with the rolls, and we can't trust that it will continue. By not fighting, we will prevent people from getting an accurate assessment of our fighting capabilities, which can only really make us seem stronger than we currently are. As for the Infernals, they are unlikely to antagonize us after that display. There is also little need for us to contact them here, in this relatively public forum. We already know who they are, so we can contact them later, when we have discussed and prepared what we want to say and reveal with Zao and Pearl.
CrossyCross
A+ RIDING
[X] "Don't worry, I struck you with the flat side of the- hm. Hmm."
[X] Counter-infiltration
[X] Counter-infiltration
Honestly, I rather dislike that write-in.
As far as I see it, it doesn't really have that much value for it's intimadation factor since, while it does make Uly appear rather strong, it doesn't really seem to do so in the way we want.
The effect we want to create is one where people are afraid of crossing us or standing in our way, but we're clearly admitting that standing in our way isn't why we killed Polemgaos. We killed him unintetnionally and are admitting to have done so.
That write-in does not have us appear as ahypercompetent killing machine that will utterly destroy anyone who stands against him but, to admittedly overexaggerate more than a bit, as a buffonish asshole and uncontrollable brute that refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for his mistakes and therefor is not ever going to cease with his reckless and utterly destructive behaviour. That's not someone who you cower in fear of, that's someone you do your best to get rid of, preferably by exploiting the lack of control he demonstrated so far and before he grows even further in strength, lest he causes even more catstrophic damage with his shit. He just killed one of the most powerful DBs alive and greatest defenders of the Realm in a freaking Tournament, so who can tell how much more damage he will do if left to his own devices?
Combine that with the fact that this option also reduces our defenses against beign prosecuted and that you can be damn sure the Siddies at the very elast will be throwing themselves at exploiting that avenue of attack and you can easily see why the effect this would have on our reputation is very much not necessarily going to be a positive thing.
So what advantages does this leave to argue for the write-in?
Sure, a lot of people appear to dislike the potential effect being remorseful could have on Uly's characterization, but Rihaku already provided more than enough justification for being remorseful not "softening" Uly in the least by offering a potential reasoning even Odyssial himself at the height of Heartlessness would accept. Remorse only offers a chance to remove Uly's characterization from Ody's roots for those who would want to pursue that and nothing more.
Which only really leaves the avoidance of war, which on the one hand is probably better served by full-on remorse and on the other hand is arguably the greatest advantage of not being remorseful.
The Civil War is pretty much inevitable and while it's true that we aren't "ready" yet, it's hardly like our oppoition is not going to take advantage of the time either and this does provide us with a powerful opening to the Civil War.
Considering that at least two badass Infernals and likely more are actively pursuing schemes within the realm right this very moment and that the Scarlett Empress herself is scheming together with the freaking Ebon Dragon, it's rather easy to argue that we'll want to throw all their plans for a loop before they can fully implement them and fuck over any potential of the Scarlett Empress trying to reclaim her power base as soon as possible.
Furthermore the Siddies also have a lot easier of a time to use their entrenched position in Realm institutions when the Realm is not utterly splintered among faction lines and open warfare will make it a lot easier to wield our main strength of massive amounts of brute force against our enemies within the Realm.
And while open Civil War certainly invites a large degree of threat from the outside, the Civil War itself is almost inevitable and the sooner we kick it off and end it, the less time the hundreds of other Solaroids out there with reason to hate the Realm in its current iteration will have had to establish their own power base and exploit this opening.
Not to mention that Lea hearing of an event this big provides the possibility of secret Lunar allies either helping us directly, tying up outside threats or simply even lobbying against large coalitions of Lunars trying to take advantage of the Realm's momentary weakness, whereas the Civil War being kicked off by another event doesn't guarantee Uly did impressive and public enough stuff that she'd recognize Odyssial's involvement in time.
And finally there's a lot of advantages to be found in this happening early enough for Zao to be the primary leader of our coalition because he neither had to expend his political assets for our sake nor martyr himself for our sake again. If we can secure him victory, he'll be able to entrench himself a lot more firmly in the position than Uly could really hope to with Uly having to focus so much of his attention to stuff that only helps indirectly with ruling at best and being probably a lot more useful as an active operative than having to maintain control over the Realm anyways, even if we could assume he can secure himself nearly as much respect as Zao in spite of his age and can completely dodge the Anathema accusations.
[X] "I meant to do that"
[X] Forbearance
As far as I see it, it doesn't really have that much value for it's intimadation factor since, while it does make Uly appear rather strong, it doesn't really seem to do so in the way we want.
The effect we want to create is one where people are afraid of crossing us or standing in our way, but we're clearly admitting that standing in our way isn't why we killed Polemgaos. We killed him unintetnionally and are admitting to have done so.
That write-in does not have us appear as ahypercompetent killing machine that will utterly destroy anyone who stands against him but, to admittedly overexaggerate more than a bit, as a buffonish asshole and uncontrollable brute that refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for his mistakes and therefor is not ever going to cease with his reckless and utterly destructive behaviour. That's not someone who you cower in fear of, that's someone you do your best to get rid of, preferably by exploiting the lack of control he demonstrated so far and before he grows even further in strength, lest he causes even more catstrophic damage with his shit. He just killed one of the most powerful DBs alive and greatest defenders of the Realm in a freaking Tournament, so who can tell how much more damage he will do if left to his own devices?
Combine that with the fact that this option also reduces our defenses against beign prosecuted and that you can be damn sure the Siddies at the very elast will be throwing themselves at exploiting that avenue of attack and you can easily see why the effect this would have on our reputation is very much not necessarily going to be a positive thing.
So what advantages does this leave to argue for the write-in?
Sure, a lot of people appear to dislike the potential effect being remorseful could have on Uly's characterization, but Rihaku already provided more than enough justification for being remorseful not "softening" Uly in the least by offering a potential reasoning even Odyssial himself at the height of Heartlessness would accept. Remorse only offers a chance to remove Uly's characterization from Ody's roots for those who would want to pursue that and nothing more.
Which only really leaves the avoidance of war, which on the one hand is probably better served by full-on remorse and on the other hand is arguably the greatest advantage of not being remorseful.
The Civil War is pretty much inevitable and while it's true that we aren't "ready" yet, it's hardly like our oppoition is not going to take advantage of the time either and this does provide us with a powerful opening to the Civil War.
Considering that at least two badass Infernals and likely more are actively pursuing schemes within the realm right this very moment and that the Scarlett Empress herself is scheming together with the freaking Ebon Dragon, it's rather easy to argue that we'll want to throw all their plans for a loop before they can fully implement them and fuck over any potential of the Scarlett Empress trying to reclaim her power base as soon as possible.
Furthermore the Siddies also have a lot easier of a time to use their entrenched position in Realm institutions when the Realm is not utterly splintered among faction lines and open warfare will make it a lot easier to wield our main strength of massive amounts of brute force against our enemies within the Realm.
And while open Civil War certainly invites a large degree of threat from the outside, the Civil War itself is almost inevitable and the sooner we kick it off and end it, the less time the hundreds of other Solaroids out there with reason to hate the Realm in its current iteration will have had to establish their own power base and exploit this opening.
Not to mention that Lea hearing of an event this big provides the possibility of secret Lunar allies either helping us directly, tying up outside threats or simply even lobbying against large coalitions of Lunars trying to take advantage of the Realm's momentary weakness, whereas the Civil War being kicked off by another event doesn't guarantee Uly did impressive and public enough stuff that she'd recognize Odyssial's involvement in time.
And finally there's a lot of advantages to be found in this happening early enough for Zao to be the primary leader of our coalition because he neither had to expend his political assets for our sake nor martyr himself for our sake again. If we can secure him victory, he'll be able to entrench himself a lot more firmly in the position than Uly could really hope to with Uly having to focus so much of his attention to stuff that only helps indirectly with ruling at best and being probably a lot more useful as an active operative than having to maintain control over the Realm anyways, even if we could assume he can secure himself nearly as much respect as Zao in spite of his age and can completely dodge the Anathema accusations.
[X] "I meant to do that"
[X] Forbearance
[X] "Don't worry, I struck you with the flat side of the- hm. Hmm."
I've made some adjustments to stunt as it really didn't send the right message across to the crowd.
Fanwork##277
As the shattered form of Cathak Polemgaos hit the hot sands of the arena an utter silence filled the air as the crowds took in what had just happened. In a matter of moments the Master of Flames had been defeated by a first time participant in the Equinox Invitational. Even if the challenger had been the secret prodigy of Zao it was never thought that he stood a chance against the champion of the Equinox Tournament. That an experienced Dragon-Blooded, one of the strongest in the Realm considered on par with the likes of the Empress or Zao, had fallen to one that had so seemed to be his inferior at first glance was nigh on unbelievable.
Murmurs quickly filled the arena as what had happened finally sunk in and the shock began to wear off. At the center of it all stood Sesus Ulyssian seemingly unconcerned by what he had just done. In a single elegant movement the wishmetal blade which had so effortlessly slain Polemgaos was lowered, silencing the crowd and capturing their attention. Barely sparing a glance crowd, Ulyssian turned his gaze towards the prone form of his enemy. After a few more moments when it became apparent that Cathak Polemgaos had truly moved on from the mortal coil and that he truly had no more tricks up his sleeve, Ulyssian sheathed his blade.
Not bothering to utter any words for his victory, Ulyssian calmly strode out of from the arena and went to meet Nilul at the agreed upon rendezvous. There was much to be discussed and she would most likely know the best way to twist this opportunity to their advantage.