[Exalted, ?] Most High
- Thread starter Rihaku
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Rihaku
The Internet
You wouldn't be around long enough to study it in-depth.
[X] Grin and Bear It
[X] The Shining Metropolis
[X] He could try
Updated vote. If we're going with Shining Metropolis as opposed to the Seat of Empire, Subversion should be avoided, because kicking off the Realm Civil War without a legion or three in our corner is a bad idea. Nellens' backing is less useful with the Realm on a war footing, because their power is mostly subtle; they're still a relevant factor, but fewer armies and thinner blood put them at a disadvantage if (though it's really more a question of when at this point) things come to swords. If we had more Terrestrials and time to develop in our corner, I'd be okay with it, but as it is... no. I also don't want to provide Anys with a convenient bogeyman who's gathering Anathema to his banner to unite the divided land against.
Grin and Bear It works reasonably well with the tight, centralized focused on Luseng's prosperity, and the stacked Prophecies should allow us to tank the taxes without too much trouble, especially if we crack open the Emerald Mountain. Sufficiently exploiting that would allow us to tank Creation's economy, so Syn can tax away all she likes, and it still won't do shit except tank the value of jade as we flood the market with the stuff. He could try seems the most in-character if we're trying to improve mortal welfare, but I still don't think Luseng deserves the full Ulyssian experience when there are so many other projects we could undertake.
[X] The Shining Metropolis
[X] He could try
Updated vote. If we're going with Shining Metropolis as opposed to the Seat of Empire, Subversion should be avoided, because kicking off the Realm Civil War without a legion or three in our corner is a bad idea. Nellens' backing is less useful with the Realm on a war footing, because their power is mostly subtle; they're still a relevant factor, but fewer armies and thinner blood put them at a disadvantage if (though it's really more a question of when at this point) things come to swords. If we had more Terrestrials and time to develop in our corner, I'd be okay with it, but as it is... no. I also don't want to provide Anys with a convenient bogeyman who's gathering Anathema to his banner to unite the divided land against.
Grin and Bear It works reasonably well with the tight, centralized focused on Luseng's prosperity, and the stacked Prophecies should allow us to tank the taxes without too much trouble, especially if we crack open the Emerald Mountain. Sufficiently exploiting that would allow us to tank Creation's economy, so Syn can tax away all she likes, and it still won't do shit except tank the value of jade as we flood the market with the stuff. He could try seems the most in-character if we're trying to improve mortal welfare, but I still don't think Luseng deserves the full Ulyssian experience when there are so many other projects we could undertake.
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- Location
- USA
I will give it a try but I am not sure if this is what you mean and want:
-Subversion
First priority is to undermine immaculate philosophy.
Second priority is to strengthen our allies by sparing their operations or helping them compensate (since we know what issues they are going to face) to ensure they come out looking good in the realm.
Third priority is to occupy and weaken Anys
>Zao
encourage fang to push for sorcery in the academy, especially for the heirs of major houses so that he can subvert them more easily, but also so that they can prove it to their families.
-He could Try
Leverage it politically as much as possible. Possibly to ally with house nellens.
-Seat of empire
Have celestials we recruit pretending to be DBs, if needed help them learn the charms for appearing a DB, serve as our bodyguards in case anys tries to assassinate us, can infiltrate the realm to promote our various goals.
Try to set them on the path of synergizing well when working side by side with DBs
Coordinate our conquests and attacks with our allies within the realm so they can share in the glory and raise their own political clout as well.
When we start to grow big, contact the bull of the north and get him to coordinate with you as well in the subversion of the realm. Surely he has celestial allies which might work as infiltrators, he can help us in case it comes to open war, and he can make sure to direct his attacks such that zao and our allies can get some decisive victories (with minimum actual casualties to him), while hitting hard those who oppose us.
- Location
- USA
Counter argument, if we go with shining metropolis then subversion is all we have. Since we are forgoing the military power inherent to the other two options in favor of political clout (which anys will immediately undermine unless we occupy her with subversion).
Also, remember that exalted grow through conflict. Metropolis and grin and bear it is essentially choosing to avoid conflict and just train some more. But that will significantly hamper our growth.
Why do we need to break into heaven? Can't a solar exalt just stroll in?
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Rihaku
The Internet
The people didn't move you enough? :,(
Not with a Sid at your side, and Ivory's the one that actually would be placing the Astrologies. Also, you're not E6.
We'll have the support of Zao and Nellens, in addition to our own economic prosperity, to mitigate her influence.
If there's one thing we do not possess, it's a shortage of problems. Ulyssian will find ways to improve his own abilities regardless of which option we choose, but if you're concerned about stagnation, we could always delve into the Emerald Mountain, or assault the Sislay Chorus Freehold, or attempt to assassinate Ragmar. That would be worth it just for the irony; in Soviet Luseng, General assassinates you!
Anyway, conflict is not in short supply; even if we're focusing on shoring up our borders, that doesn't prevent us from doing things like learning Sorcery or taking independent action to remove threats to Luseng.
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- Location
- USA
Can we walk in first without her to prep the field and acquire allies and conspirators before we try to sneak her in?
Rihaku
The Internet
Not unless you're E6. Or you could try Perfect Mirror, but it's not as good as Loom-Snarling Disguise at this specific task.
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- USA
Which is not only being worn down rapidly by Anys, but she has the power to outright kill both and we can't stop her from doing so if she resorts to it. Undermining her power via subversion makes it harder for her to do so, especially if we go full civil war (there are going to be more than 2 factions in that)
We would have all those things if we go subversion too, we would ALSO have subversion working for us to undermine her. And remember QM explicitly warned us that prophecies are not all powerful.
That does not excuse us choosing to avoid all of them as much as possible.
Except this is explicitly an option called The Polis of Legend and it is losing. Metropolis is explicitly precluding doing this thing, just as it explicitly precludes doing seat of empire.
meaning we abandon our satrap to go on a quest. So, not quite metropolis after all.
ok, that is funny.
Hey, they provoked enough base sentimentality that I'm not voting for the eponymous option! Ulyssian meeting Uly was adorable, for the record.
- Location
- USA
I believe this reframes the argument into:
"When/how should you try and break into heaven to access the loom of fate"
[] Right now - risky, but immediately reap the rewards
[] Wait until you reach E6 - safest and most likely to succeed, but requires the longest wait
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If she strikes against Zao, she cripples herself in the process. One reason I suspect she chose the Hesiesh guise is that it justifies her holding her power in reserve, just as the Hesiesh of Immaculate doctrine did. She can fully exert herself only a limited number of times.
No, they're not all powerful, but the support of Nellens is worth more when the Realm isn't falling to pieces around them, and Zao has more time to help us out when the Navy isn't getting drawn into Civil War.
We're... not avoiding them? We're just strengthening our position in preparation for dealing with them.
No, we can do this same thing with Metropolis, since we secure both the Mountain and Auseng Bu. Just have to vote for it later.
The Three Kingdoms Prophecy option, which would've stalled the conflict at the beginning of this affair, made allowances for us undertaking solo missions. Ulyssian can move quickly, and need not lock himself into a single course of action.
We already have Perfect Mirror.
- Location
- USA
thanks for the correction
Cripples our growth in the long term because when we come back, we are at a massive disadvantage to going on the warpath and there is no reason for the other sides to go first either. Meaning we are stuck in a peace rut
not anytime soon since metropolis is explicitly not this, and polis is explicitly that.
The core difference between polis and metropolis is that polis is about excavating the mountain of jade, and metropolis is about using trade economy to enrich our citizens (the mountain is seized for protection but not exploited). And it is dictating at least the next 3 months before we can even start to have a chance at redirecting our path.
Heck, we can go metropolis and then afterwards go seat of empire. But it will mean much time lost and much initiative. The world moves on without us, things change.
in 3 months of us stagnating, anys could kill fang, mindbreak moon, and start the breeding program such that every female DB in the empire be pregnant with flame's children.
in 3 months the bull of the north could be at our doorstep demanding our fealty and us being hopelessly outmatched by him.
in 3 months time a major fae incursion could occur elsewhere in creation and us not having the reach to go help them.
The QM has given us a ton of warnings and hints. (explicitly warning us about the bull of the north thing, although not giving a specific time)
Also, in 3 months, we could have an army lead by a dozen of celestials that equals the realm's entire military might in power combined with massive personal might increase (result of choosing seat of empire) at the same time the realm fractures into civil war for us to step into with our allies within it being at top shape (result of choosing subversion and future choices to support fang and any other ally with snag) and sweep it all under our power.
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Rihaku
The Internet
Btw, his name is Lung Feng Zao, not fang. Feng is the Chinese word for Wind, Lung for Dragon - Zao, the Dragon of Wind.
Which Greek mythological character is he?
Aeolus, I believe.
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- USA
oops, thanks for the correction.
is this phonetic pronouncing correct? https://translate.google.com/#auto/zh-CN/Wind
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Resettle and fortify the outlying territories to fix unemployment, start exploiting the area, do so while keeping things from getting completely out of hand. Right now, our econ is hurting, we need to take the 15-20% we've seized and turn it completely productive.
Secure the Mountain and mine as much as is possible, using the proceeds from that to subsidize the reconstruction effort and no-sell Syn's attempt to tax us into irrelevance.
Rihaku
The Internet
Any specific industries you want to encourage / suppres? Encourage fishing or metalsmithing, for example, or discourage the blue light district. Etc.
If Metropolis wins, I'd like us to look into using sorcery to make the city mobile. Walker style would be preferred.
Emerald Oracle
Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force
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- The Else
Ideas for a Shining Metropolis (in the long term):
Make it Defensible and defended to the point that it isn't threatened by direct attack by the local enemies of all that lives
The Center of a Realm Wide Trade Network developed by leveraging House Nellens
Building and creating a local answer to the Heptagram that far surpasses it
Aggressively recruiting for the Ghost-Fire Legion to replenish its losses
Leverage Lusengs ludicrous national resources to stabilize both it and the neighboring satrapies
Founding a sister/daughter school to the Naval Academy to supplement it and provide capable crews for Exalted Captains
If you're asking for how to practically achieve any of that, then really all I can say is smash with prejudice anything that threatens the city while using the aforementioned ludicrous natural resources to rebuild and undo the general ravaging Luseng has had to deal with.
Make it Defensible and defended to the point that it isn't threatened by direct attack by the local enemies of all that lives
The Center of a Realm Wide Trade Network developed by leveraging House Nellens
Building and creating a local answer to the Heptagram that far surpasses it
Aggressively recruiting for the Ghost-Fire Legion to replenish its losses
Leverage Lusengs ludicrous national resources to stabilize both it and the neighboring satrapies
Founding a sister/daughter school to the Naval Academy to supplement it and provide capable crews for Exalted Captains
If you're asking for how to practically achieve any of that, then really all I can say is smash with prejudice anything that threatens the city while using the aforementioned ludicrous natural resources to rebuild and undo the general ravaging Luseng has had to deal with.