[Exalted, ?] Most High
- Thread starter Rihaku
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- exalted (white wolf)
meianmaru
The Devourer of Fiction
I'm currently voting for Delegate (or Parley), and would actually prefer it or Vengeance instead of a compromise vote. I want us to commit to either to one or the other of the choices, no middle ground thanks.
I dunno, mad Sidereal deduction skillz? We underestimated her once. Once.
Well, the XP part is like half of the reason to vote for it. The other half is still twice as preferable as the other option though, so I would.
Rihaku
The Internet
Interesting, you could consider the XP a full fifty percent of the reason to vote?
The xp is about half the reason since we are starting to flag on the fanworks for right now and we could use more.
Rihaku, on getting more evocations for Ambition without WtS, will we need to wait until all 560,000 solar xp is paid up? Will we also need training time to pay it off or just the xp?
Rihaku, on getting more evocations for Ambition without WtS, will we need to wait until all 560,000 solar xp is paid up? Will we also need training time to pay it off or just the xp?
- Location
- USA
I am pretty sure they know, they must have been told by hesiah itself that we are an anathema in disguise. That is why they are here in the first place.
... then again, they might have been chosen for "will fuck us over politically the most to kill/disappear" rather than dogmatic fanaticism. Such as favored children of each major house.
I would have been amazingly more inclined to negotiate with him if he did not out us as his first action of the parley, in essence he asked for parley and then immediately betrayed it by attacking us with an ability that revealed our nature.
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Of course. XP is a definite benefit. Other parts of the vote can be argued against, but a point of having more XP is indisputable. Especially in this trying times.
Everybody knows that the Anathema return to seize the shells of other unfortunates periodically, even if they're slain in battle, and Seeds doesn't even like his name anyway. Let him lay low for a few months and then resurface with a new one and some disguise Charms. In the meantime, he can focus on covert aid and researching the subjects we have so graciously provided for him. It will mean setbacks in the short term, but if the alternative is dying here and now? I think he'll see reason.
I was talking about the operatives, not the shikari; those guys will have to die anyway, but the two operatives who were stationed in Luseng aren't in on Anys' games.
No, he revealed us and then asked for a parley. It was the only way he could get us to the negotiating table, because otherwise we would have just stayed the course and murdered the hell out of him, because we had nothing to gain by jeopardizing our reputation as a hero by conversing with one of the Anathema.
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- Location
- Fabulously Rainbow Ireland
He was ALREADY suited up in his ZOMBIE!Evangelion, which makes him look like a guy SAYING he just wants to talk all the while getting his knife in position to stab us in the back
- Location
- USA
something we have done before.
The XP is pretty huge for me. I interpret the risk/xp ratio to be much more favorable than previous red options.
The amount of XP offered is far greater than my total input in the quest, so this is my best chance to advance Ulyssian short of suddenly becoming a prolific and talented author/artist during exams week.
I often experience ambivalence between options, since I'm mostly here to indulge my fetish for Rihaku's prose, and I also much prefer the clean break of defeat to the sad fate of hiatus.
Void Scar and Mairon aren't a strong factor in my decision. I prefer to spare and turn them to establish Ulyssian as a more desirable leader, but they're not yet characterized, so I don't much mind if they have to die.
The amount of XP offered is far greater than my total input in the quest, so this is my best chance to advance Ulyssian short of suddenly becoming a prolific and talented author/artist during exams week.
I often experience ambivalence between options, since I'm mostly here to indulge my fetish for Rihaku's prose, and I also much prefer the clean break of defeat to the sad fate of hiatus.
Void Scar and Mairon aren't a strong factor in my decision. I prefer to spare and turn them to establish Ulyssian as a more desirable leader, but they're not yet characterized, so I don't much mind if they have to die.
- Location
- USA
The whole purpose of giving him the dragonblooded was to spare their life, so he can manipulate their memories.
There are several huge issues with that:
1. one or more might escape. (these are no scrubs)
2. or if unable to escape, send a message
3. they might be found and rescued by their patron
4. what exactly are they going to say when they came back? and think how badly it will reflect on us. Even if they won't remember it was us who turned them over to the necromancer. we would either have been caught in a lie (if we say they died) or be compelled to mount a rescue operation if we say they were captured.
5. this option was meant to be the mercy option. You are making it out to be some cruel option instead
PS. I didn't actually vote on this issue. I am really uncertain which path to take. But I disagree with some of the arguments I am hearing
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Emerald Oracle
Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force
- Location
- The Else
My reasons for choosing Vengeance over Parley are fairly simple. The XP is nice, but the choice in general has other factors at work as well. I will admit that they're mostly emotional rather than logical in nature though. I don't want Ulyssian the sort who'd screw over loyal subordinates for the sake of a tentative and somewhat objectionable alliance. I'm aware that it is significantly more complex than that, but that's what it boils down to for me. If things were more solid, or there was less potential blowback from allying with the Necromancer, I might support negotiation with him, but as things stand it seems like abrogating a principle (IC anyway given Ulyssian doesn't know that Seeds is peaceful etcetera) for the sake of power, and that's not something I really want to support?
Again, this is pretty much an emotional reaction though, not one really based in logic.
Again, this is pretty much an emotional reaction though, not one really based in logic.
I really just want info on the Abyssals and the Deathlord. It would help us immensely if we knew if The Gardener actually has more Abyssals so we don't get surprised again except put in a far worse position.
The fact he could also be a very useful ll is just a really nice bonus bonus but I don't want to go straight to an alliance. Also giving him the dragonblooded could really fuck us over if they escape.
The fact he could also be a very useful ll is just a really nice bonus bonus but I don't want to go straight to an alliance. Also giving him the dragonblooded could really fuck us over if they escape.
This is incorrect. I don't see how you can genuinely support that position, seeing as we were inside his head for the period leading up to his proposal. He's aware he's outmatched and is pragmatic enough to know that diplomacy is his only chance.
The memory manipulation negates most of the issues surrounding their (virtually impossible) escape.
Neither is the Seeds? He's an expert necromancer and medical specialist who's done this sort of thing before. He knows how to imprison essence users.
How? They're captured and none of them are Sorcerers, to the best of my knowledge. Also, memory manipulation.
Anys Syn has an empire to administrate; if she could look over our shoulder and keep an eye on us personally, she wouldn't have sent the shikari. She is literally busy enough that she has to use interpretive martial languages to issue multiple sets of instructions at once.
Isn't he going to manipulate their memories? You mentioned that earlier on; I don't see how it can reflect badly on us if they don't remember anything, even in the unlikely event that they do escape.
It's not cruel, they get to live and advance the cause of science, and won't even suffer for it. Given that literally all other options end with the shikari dead and their souls condemned to the blankness of Lethe, I'd argue that it's very merciful.
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- Location
- USA
And where are you getting this information? you don't know if he had held elite dragonbloods captive before. Also, I wasn't disparaging his skills but raising a possibility. Saying that he is not so far above them that it renders escape attempts on their part moot.
Start at escape attempt, fail, but while it fails have allies buy time while you use sorcery to summon a specific minor demon to send a message (one your superiors know to check with)
She explicitly "took over" to deal with us, personally. We are a huge priority for her. And if the circle of immaculates she sent with us to take care of us disappear, then she will be very interested to know where they went. And if anyone can track them down, its the most powerful known living chosen of fate.
How does that remove the need for a consistent and plausible explanation for the events?
"we remember getting captured by a necromancer and escaping" "really? because ulyssius said he saw you die"
"he went out with a bunch of elites and came back alone, stating that he failed to kill a single necromancer, let the necromancer capture 100% of his force, and then escape"
That reflects on us, tremendously.
It isn't supposed to be, but you are making it into the cruel option via the specifics you are arguing
- Location
- The savanna.
Like Emerald Oracle, my reasons are mostly emotional, but I'm voting for Parley. I just like the Seeds. I like his ideology, his wry humor, his fixation on science, his skills, his habit of keeping an Evangelion around just in case somebody kicks down his door, and the fact that he's a guy in a cast with a lot of female characters. He's had ~2000 words and Mairon/Scar have had none. If we kill him, that wordcount goes to waste. Polemgaos was cool and we killed him, which was kind of a shame, so I'd prefer not to do that again. I just care more about him than the Dragon-Blooded, plain and simple.
Also? We're kind of in a terrible position at the moment in Luseng. Not as bad as we were when we arrived, but we're still outnumbered and buggered six ways to Sunday. The simple truth of it is that we could really use an ally and the Seeds looks like a good one. How often do you stumble upon Celestial Exalts with unique skills and an ideology that is, if not identical to ours, then at least compatible. There are issues to allying with him, but faking his death mitigates most of those, and the issues with continuing on blindly with no Celestial support are just way bigger.
Also? We're kind of in a terrible position at the moment in Luseng. Not as bad as we were when we arrived, but we're still outnumbered and buggered six ways to Sunday. The simple truth of it is that we could really use an ally and the Seeds looks like a good one. How often do you stumble upon Celestial Exalts with unique skills and an ideology that is, if not identical to ours, then at least compatible. There are issues to allying with him, but faking his death mitigates most of those, and the issues with continuing on blindly with no Celestial support are just way bigger.
Hm, several of Luseng's Dragon-Blooded have been captured before. I thought one of them was taken the Abyssals, but I looked back over the update and it was actually Ragmar. Anyway, if the Lunar warlord can hold a Dragon-Blood captive, then the Abyssal scholar with knowledge of essence meridians and how Exalts respire motes can definitely do the same.
Sorcerers are rare; Luseng only had one, meaning that Scar and Maison are guaranteed not to be one. Even assuming the shikari have a Sorcerer among their number, they still wouldn't be kept anywhere near each other, and would probably be mote-tapped when not being experimented on. How would they even link up and know that they're allies, or even know which demon to summon, if their memories are being manipulated? The scenario you describe isn't impossible, but it's so astronomically unlikely that I feel the chance is worth it.
They'll be kept in a Shadowland, where fate doesn't work properly. In any case, it's more likely that she'll either write them off or send an investigative team. In the latter scenario, being able to truthfully claim that we didn't kill them would be very helpful for fooling their investigation Charms.
Because they wouldn't know where to go or who to contact?
I'm advocating that we have the Seeds fake his own death. He can return later, because that's what the Anathema do. You kill them, and they come back to possess a new host. We get the benefits of the reputation, the shikari out of our hair, and the loose ends like Scar and Maison are neatly tied up.
I don't really see how? They get to live, first of all, and their existences will be painless and productive. Isn't that very merciful for people who serve our sworn enemy?
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I thought a lot of Dragonblooded picked up a spell or two eventually?
I think that's 2E; I was working off of this:
- Location
- USA
I don't have time for a point by point right now
but I gotta reply to this one. The setting so far has been absolutely lousy with sorcerers, especially demon summoning ones.
Heck as a mortal we used to hire them on a regular basis. And we keep on encountering NPCs that can do it.
Among the Realm's Dragon-Blooded, knowledge of one or two spells does not make one a sorcerer. Any Dragon-Blood might learn a single spell, and many make the effort to learn Emerald Countermagic... Some Houses teach one or two spells to their members ... (pg24)
That passage does make me think most DBs lack a "demon messenger hotline" spell, however. (Also, it is certainly 2e)
- Location
- The end of all things
Not really? Even in 2E it was a distinct minority. I want to say it was a little less than ten percent, with most of those being mere dabblers.
So it's not particularly rare, but it's pretty believable that the legion only has a single sorcerer attached.