- Location
- Southern Virginia
Ulyssian can throw a respectable 12 dice around for a Social roll; that rises to 15 dice with a level 2 stunt playing on "I am Odyssial," +2 automatic successes under the new rules. Burn a point of Willpower for another automatic success, because that's what it is there for. Flash-buy that Presence charm Rihaku mentioned to strengthen the roll further; it'll be worth it and it's not like we will never ever have to convince anyone of something again. Nilul of course has even more dice and tricks to throw around, and she can burn WP and motes on them with abandon unlike Ayala and Fei Ling.
And critically, convincing people is not solely a mechanical exercise. Frequently I didn't even have to roll as a Face character in Exalted because I could write convincing arguments grounded in sound reasoning and mutual benefit. And the argument for defection is relatively solid.
First of all unleashing the Yozis really is complete madness. Ulyssian can draw on his memories as Odyssial in the Age of Glory to make that point. Nilul can just mention "oh hey Adorjan and Kimbery and Isidoros and Malfeas are kind of destructive here." I'm pretty sure this thought has occurred to every Infernal ever who is not a total lunatic. They may intend to 'work on it' but that really is a fairly long-term, highly ambitious project. And staking Creation's future on that project working well enough, fast enough, is a pretty terrible idea.
The second part is that they are speaking with Odyssial. Ayala has memories of the First Age and will know who Odyssial was. I suspect all Infernals would know of him, thanks to the libraries of Orabilis. Ayala can probably confirm that yes, it really is Odyssial there before them. And Odyssial who has cheated death, breaking one of the cardinal realities of the universe; if Ayala is all about SCIENCE then that feat should certainly intrigue her. And Odyssial's broader aim of remaking Creation is a goal of such sweeping ambition that all kinds of opportunities would be found for her to exercise her talents to their fullest extent. And of course, Odyssial is also just the kind of person who could see through any "reform the Yozis" project to a successful conclusion.
At the same time, both she and Fei Ling should be well aware of what happened to the enemies of Odyssial and how much it took to put him down. That's where the Intimidation specialty comes in; he doesn't need to make overt threats, his mere identity is a form of intimidation. And it lends weight to his proposal to save Creation and then change it. They know what kind of power Odyssial has already accumulated in his mere two months of Exaltation; what will he be like in five years? Ten years?
Siding with him can certainly look like a good bet. He doesn't have the same resources as the Yozis, yet, but Odyssial always finds a way. If he intends to save Creation it will happen. Aid to him is more valuable the sooner it is given; and even Odyssial counted a handful of Exalts as true peers. Wouldn't it be a good idea to get aboard the train before it leaves the station, this time around? Wouldn't it be nice to work with someone who is superbly optimal in what he does, instead of with inhuman alien titans who simply do not get human beings?
And of course Nilul is using all her tricks and efforts at the same time. It will almost certainly require compromise, give-and-take; these are allies, not subordinates. Ulyssian will need to do things for them. But such is the nature of a coalition. In return, he gains powerful allies. It won't be any different with any other allies we might seek out, not even Lealope or the Fairest.
And if they do defect we can use it to really throw a wrench into the Reclamation. The best agent is a double-agent. If Ulyssian authors a sufficiently convincing lie, or a trail of misleading evidence that they can feed to their fellow agents, we can probably insure that the Ebon Dragon sends critical resources somewhere very convenient for us and not convenient for the Reclamation. Perhaps Nilul is in the furthest West? Or maybe, heh, Skullstone or Thorns? We can certainly come up with some very useful lie, between Ulyssian, Pearl, Zao, and Nilul herself. Resources the Infernals devote to a red herring are resources not being used productively, and if we can get them into a conflict with the Deathlords or some other enemy then all the better.
And their cooperation means, even if we don't get a full picture of Yozi activities, we'll certainly wind up with a much better understanding of what the Infernals are up to. All intelligence is valuable when you have no idea what the opposition is up to.
Of course the defection would eventually be uncovered. But that's an advantage too! Because the Yozis won't know when or how the subversion happened. They won't understand why it happened. If we ramp up their paranoia toward their Infernal Exalts then they will take counterproductive action to insure themselves of Infernal loyalties. Those actions will, in turn, alienate other Infernals. The inhuman mindset of the Yozis is their greatest weakness in managing the Reclamation. We can certainly exploit it here.
As for Anys Syn, maybe we'll never negotiate with her. But would Ulyssian or Odyssial rule it out? Contingencies must be made for reasons. And it would certainly be quite useful to have her focused on rooting out Yozi agents in the Realm rather than on punishing Zao, wouldn't it?
And critically, convincing people is not solely a mechanical exercise. Frequently I didn't even have to roll as a Face character in Exalted because I could write convincing arguments grounded in sound reasoning and mutual benefit. And the argument for defection is relatively solid.
First of all unleashing the Yozis really is complete madness. Ulyssian can draw on his memories as Odyssial in the Age of Glory to make that point. Nilul can just mention "oh hey Adorjan and Kimbery and Isidoros and Malfeas are kind of destructive here." I'm pretty sure this thought has occurred to every Infernal ever who is not a total lunatic. They may intend to 'work on it' but that really is a fairly long-term, highly ambitious project. And staking Creation's future on that project working well enough, fast enough, is a pretty terrible idea.
The second part is that they are speaking with Odyssial. Ayala has memories of the First Age and will know who Odyssial was. I suspect all Infernals would know of him, thanks to the libraries of Orabilis. Ayala can probably confirm that yes, it really is Odyssial there before them. And Odyssial who has cheated death, breaking one of the cardinal realities of the universe; if Ayala is all about SCIENCE then that feat should certainly intrigue her. And Odyssial's broader aim of remaking Creation is a goal of such sweeping ambition that all kinds of opportunities would be found for her to exercise her talents to their fullest extent. And of course, Odyssial is also just the kind of person who could see through any "reform the Yozis" project to a successful conclusion.
At the same time, both she and Fei Ling should be well aware of what happened to the enemies of Odyssial and how much it took to put him down. That's where the Intimidation specialty comes in; he doesn't need to make overt threats, his mere identity is a form of intimidation. And it lends weight to his proposal to save Creation and then change it. They know what kind of power Odyssial has already accumulated in his mere two months of Exaltation; what will he be like in five years? Ten years?
Siding with him can certainly look like a good bet. He doesn't have the same resources as the Yozis, yet, but Odyssial always finds a way. If he intends to save Creation it will happen. Aid to him is more valuable the sooner it is given; and even Odyssial counted a handful of Exalts as true peers. Wouldn't it be a good idea to get aboard the train before it leaves the station, this time around? Wouldn't it be nice to work with someone who is superbly optimal in what he does, instead of with inhuman alien titans who simply do not get human beings?
And of course Nilul is using all her tricks and efforts at the same time. It will almost certainly require compromise, give-and-take; these are allies, not subordinates. Ulyssian will need to do things for them. But such is the nature of a coalition. In return, he gains powerful allies. It won't be any different with any other allies we might seek out, not even Lealope or the Fairest.
And if they do defect we can use it to really throw a wrench into the Reclamation. The best agent is a double-agent. If Ulyssian authors a sufficiently convincing lie, or a trail of misleading evidence that they can feed to their fellow agents, we can probably insure that the Ebon Dragon sends critical resources somewhere very convenient for us and not convenient for the Reclamation. Perhaps Nilul is in the furthest West? Or maybe, heh, Skullstone or Thorns? We can certainly come up with some very useful lie, between Ulyssian, Pearl, Zao, and Nilul herself. Resources the Infernals devote to a red herring are resources not being used productively, and if we can get them into a conflict with the Deathlords or some other enemy then all the better.
And their cooperation means, even if we don't get a full picture of Yozi activities, we'll certainly wind up with a much better understanding of what the Infernals are up to. All intelligence is valuable when you have no idea what the opposition is up to.
Of course the defection would eventually be uncovered. But that's an advantage too! Because the Yozis won't know when or how the subversion happened. They won't understand why it happened. If we ramp up their paranoia toward their Infernal Exalts then they will take counterproductive action to insure themselves of Infernal loyalties. Those actions will, in turn, alienate other Infernals. The inhuman mindset of the Yozis is their greatest weakness in managing the Reclamation. We can certainly exploit it here.
As for Anys Syn, maybe we'll never negotiate with her. But would Ulyssian or Odyssial rule it out? Contingencies must be made for reasons. And it would certainly be quite useful to have her focused on rooting out Yozi agents in the Realm rather than on punishing Zao, wouldn't it?
