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GODSTAR - a Science Fantasy Civilization Quest

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Why are the two military options mutually exclusive? I thought at first that it might be because we haven't developed espionage (just not sneaky enough?)... but if that's the problem, Support for Rebels and Trade Embargo seem like they should be mutually exclusive too, as we would lack any means to funnel support without the cover of trade (presumably openly sending aid over the border would just trigger a declaration of war).
 
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[X] Plan: Go Fuck Yourself
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training. May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Embargo
Your people find the League of Strength's large-scale use of enslaved labor abhorrent. Your merchants will refuse to trade with the League of Strength as long as their goods are made using slave labor.
 
[X] Plan : Poisoned Chalice
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training.
May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Deal
You will seek a beneficial trade deal that enriches you both.
 
[X] Plan : Poisoned Chalice
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training.
May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Deal
You will seek a beneficial trade deal that enriches you both.
 
[X] Plan : Poisoned Chalice
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training.
May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Deal
You will seek a beneficial trade deal that enriches you both.
 
I hate supporting this, but if shit goes wrong with the LoS and the Machine Army takes that as the time to attack, we might just be screwed... Really makes we wish we'd contacted the League of Five Shields instead!

[ ] Plan: At Arm's Length
-[X] Mutual Defense Pact
You and the League of Strength will sign a treaty ensuring that you will automatically support each other in the event of an invasion by the Machine Army.
-[X] Trade Embargo
Your people find the League of Strength's large-scale use of enslaved labor abhorrent. Your merchants will refuse to trade with the League of Strength as long as their goods are made using slave labor.

If people have arguments for why GFY is feasible even with war on both fronts, I'll gladly listen.
Poisoned Chalice just looks absurd to me, though - a way to strengthen and enrich the aristocrats in the short term, get us into an extremely dangerous war in the medium term, and (if we survive) ensure no one will ever trust us again in the long term.
 
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[X] Plan : Poisoned Chalice
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training.
May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Deal
You will seek a beneficial trade deal that enriches you both.
 
[X] Plan: Go Fuck Yourself
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training. May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Embargo
Your people find the League of Strength's large-scale use of enslaved labor abhorrent. Your merchants will refuse to trade with the League of Strength as long as their goods are made using slave labor.
 
[X] Plan: Go Fuck Yourself
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training. May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Embargo
Your people find the League of Strength's large-scale use of enslaved labor abhorrent. Your merchants will refuse to trade with the League of Strength as long as their goods are made using slave labor.

 
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[X] Plan: Go Fuck Yourself
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training. May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Embargo
Your people find the League of Strength's large-scale use of enslaved labor abhorrent. Your merchants will refuse to trade with the League of Strength as long as their goods are made using slave labor.
 
Yeah, OK, if everyone's just voting to fight, we should pick the choice that doesn't strengthen our enemies right before we might go to war with them

[X] Plan: Go Fuck Yourself
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training. May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Embargo
Your people find the League of Strength's large-scale use of enslaved labor abhorrent. Your merchants will refuse to trade with the League of Strength as long as their goods are made using slave labor.
 
I distinctly oppose Poisoned Chalice because it will poison the League's reputation. Forevermore will other powers look askance at our diplomats, ever asking themselves whether the hand of friendship we offer has a knife hidden in its palm. Sanctuary is also watching this, and doubtless they'd heartily approve of opposing slavers.

[X] Plan: Go Fuck Yourself
-[X] Military Support for Rebels
You will begin funneling support to the rebels in the League of Strength's territory, including weapons, supplies, and military training. May lead to war with the League of Strength.
-[X] Trade Embargo
Your people find the League of Strength's large-scale use of enslaved labor abhorrent. Your merchants will refuse to trade with the League of Strength as long as their goods are made using slave labor.
 
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Cosmic Energy Theorizing (etranger01)
  • Sidestory
    • Cosmic Energy: Thoughts on Stellar Rays, Leylines, and Their Implications
    by Juri Night-Wanderer, Order of the Star-Gazers
    transcribed by Nelo Ink-Fingers

    Introduction
    There is much wisdom in the celestial bodies. This is well-known to my Order. However, as with all wisdom, there is apparent wisdom and there is hidden wisdom. Apparent wisdom is straightforward to discover with the application of cleverness and thought: there are celestial bodies, these bodies have influence over events and circumstances, that influence is observable and even somewhat quantifiable. These are profound pieces of knowledge. However, despite their magnitude, much remains hidden about the nature of the celestial bodies and the forces they exert. To begin to uncover that hidden knowledge, we must step back from that which is straightforward and enter into a different realm: that of speculation. By speculating on that which is not straightforward, which is not immediately observable, we lay the path for future discovery. Such informed speculation is a valuable undertaking. Therefore, this work is my speculation on the ways by which the celestial bodies exert their influence.

    To engage in this speculation, I have endeavored to step outside my Order's traditional focus and immerse myself in the esoterica of leylines and the networks they form by their interactions. Some speculation has already been done on the influence of the constellations on the leyline networks and it is useful speculation indeed. I wish to expand upon that.

    My speculation follows.

    On the Nature of Paradisea
    The Daystar is an emitter of prodigious magical energy. Like a great river, its power rushes toward us and engulfs us. Unlike a rock in the river, we do not simply divert the flow of the river, but rather absorb it, at least in part. It flows both around and through us. We also receive energy from other celestial bodies, the Moon foremost among them, as the Daystar's energy is deflected off of them and onto us. These lesser streams influence the character of the energy flowing across Paradisea; that is how the Moon encourages acquisition of knowledge and the Warstar creates conflict. We are therefore directly influenced by the character of the magical energy that surrounds us.

    Focused as we were on the stars, we did not stop to consider the implications in our own home. If the other celestial bodies alter the properties of the Daystar's energy, then it naturally follows that the celestial body on which we reside does likewise. Energy may descend from the Daystar, but it flows through the ground beneath our feet, and there it changes. Something must be doing the changing.

    What if that something is a spirit? Not a spirit of the land or the water, but a world-spirit, Paradisea Herself, located somewhere deep within the earth? If not a spirit, then perhaps some kind of force or object, acting as a lens and gate through which the energy flows? It is impossible to say for certain, but I believe that some of the answers to the stars lay not out in the cosmos, but beneath our very feet.

    On the Possibility of a Cosmic Network
    It is known among those who study leylines that energy flows are diverted, attracted, and altered by the presence of natural landmarks and that they can be consciously altered by the creation of artificial landmarks through the use of sacred architecture. If the Daystar emits energy in the same manner as energy flows through the leylines, then it follows that the Daystar, a great sphere, does not merely pour its energy haphazardly or uniformly into the cosmos.

    Instead, what this suggests is that the energy emitted by the Daystar is attracted to the other celestial bodies, that such energy forms currents through the cosmos. The light of the Daystar is attracted to the Moon; thereafter, the energy is transmuted by the Moon and sent in streams to other celestial bodies, perhaps even back to the Daystar itself. If indeed constellations are made up of other Daystar-like bodies, then this cosmic network need not be restricted to our surroundings alone. It could be impossibly vast, flowing out through as many celestial bodies as there are lights in the sky. More study of this possibility may lead to answers regarding the quantifiable nature of cosmic energy.

    On Changing the Nature of Energy
    Our illusionists are capable of warping light. This is a noble profession, allowing as it does for communication and night-banishing radiance, though perhaps a little less of the latter might be helpful for my Order. However, we have not yet fully explored the implications of our ability to bend light. If indeed the Daystar emits its cosmic energy in the form of light and heat, and that light is in turn altered by its interaction with celestial bodies, then it naturally follows that we should also be able to alter its properties with sufficient energy or, perhaps, a kind of monument. Indeed, magic itself must be the small-scale personal alteration of cosmic energy into different forms, and rituals a medium-scale version of the same.

    Therefore, we should be able to alter not just the flow of energy but its nature on a much larger scale, using monuments and other sacred architecture, or shifting the location of existing natural landmarks. I cannot know the full implications of such a profound act of mystical engineering, however, so my speculation is limited and tempered with caution. It should only be explored with proper reverence and patience.

    Conclusion
    Thank you for reading my speculation. Effusive thanks to my colleagues who helped with this speculation. Their desire to remain anonymous, lest my speculation turn out to be catastrophically incorrect, does not diminish my gratitude for their efforts.
     
  • Sidestory
    • dash931 said:
    I distinctly oppose Poisoned Chalice because it will poison the League's reputation. Forevermore will other powers look askance at our diplomats, ever asking themselves whether the hand of friendship we offer has a knife hidden in its palm.
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    Click to shrink...

    Eh. I'm skeptical of this. We break no agreements in Poisoned Chalice...people will be careful of what they agree to with us, but that's not the end of the world. Also, anyone anti-slavery will hopefully approve of using even underhanded means to bring down slavers.
     
    DeadmanwalkingXI said:
    Eh. I'm skeptical of this. We break no agreements in Poisoned Chalice...people will be careful of what they agree to with us, but that's not the end of the world. Also, anyone anti-slavery will hopefully approve of using even underhanded means to bring down slavers.
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    we aren't gonna be telling people we are giving mil support to the rebels which since we don't have espionage trading with them isn't gonna help much with that. All they will know is that we are okay in trading with a slave state and buying slave made goods
     
    Woltaire said:
    we aren't gonna be telling people we are giving mil support to the rebels which since we don't have espionage trading with them isn't gonna help much with that. All they will know is that we are okay in trading with a slave state and buying slave made goods
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    Click to shrink...

    In the very short term, maybe. In the long term, once the rebels have won is a very different story.
     
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