Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

[occipitallobe]

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[occipitallobe]

Adhoc vote count started by occipitallobe on Nov 7, 2020 at 9:33 AM, finished with 124 posts and 20 votes.

• ---

  20 people have voted

  [X] Plan: Triage Turn
  -[X] Man the Council properly
  -[X] Deploy her to the Scorpion Road
  --[X] We cannot afford Jingshen to think they can claim the road, we cannot afford for them to even dream it until we are back on our feet. To that end, it is critical that we ensure the cost for doing so is daunting. Yao Zhihao taking twenty years to stabilize her cultivation in Pleuron? Openly doing... Whatever it is she does while touring the road? It's a statement... Most importantly, it reinforces how our support led to the rise of a new Righteous Nascent Soul, and binds Jingshen from pulling a fast one, lest they be the aggressor in an inter-Righteous clash.
  -[X] Building Bridges (Strength Purity Sect)
  --[X] It could be said that you and the Strength Purity Sect have something of an... Understanding. The Golden Devils have done much to contain the threat of the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect, and serve as a valuable pressure release valve against the Devil Bee Sect, preventing them from reaching critical mass and overwhelming the Verdant South. The last thing they would desire right now is to a potential containment breach while their full attention is on the Ninth Demon Annihilation War, and this is a very real risk at the moment. Most importantly, the support of the Golden Devils has returned a Righteous Nascent Soul to the field and provides sanctuary while they acclimated to their new abilities, and that is no small thing given the intensity of the current War. See if something can be worked out with them to help... Massage the current risks into one that maintains stability in an unstable time.
  -[X] Hire Core Formation (5 Wealth per turn for 3 turns)
  --[X] We cannot afford to do less. This is the prime time for banditry to rise--and all the world knows it. Our easy hand on our subordinates is an investment for times of need such as this--and this allows us to maintain internal security while we re-establish our footing. The survival of our Foundation Establishment experts does much to ensure that we ultimately only require occasional intervention.

  • The Fourth Monado
  • Alectai
  • LordEdric
  • BungieONI
  • Anders
  • RebelYell
  • Kaboomatic
  • TehChron
  • Juugo
  • Hazardine
  • ninjastar
  • Insane-Not-Crazy
  • AlphaDelta
  • wrecksalot
  • DangerKitty
  • cheesyme
  • BlueHelix
  • Kairos123
  • Liliet
  • Bloodalchemy

Maybe the second place option will be able to catch-

Oh.

Well, let's call that one.

 

[SocsoD]

But With What, To Play Music?​

Twang.

Orphanos frowned. No, no, no. This wasn't what he wanted to hear at all. This was absolutely not the sound he was trying to make. Why couldn't this piece of garbage understand his intentions? Why couldn't it make itself compliant to his will and make the sounds he wanted? Snorting in disgust, he tossed aside the delicately carved lyre, formed of a brightly shining wood that seemed to slowly pulse in its light, with strings nearly invisible and yet distinct thanks to the light the wood gave off.

Another failure. This made the second largest failure so far, as the instrument had been a loan from the clan itself, to see if his musical talent did truly live up to what everyone else said, and what he desperately wished could be true if only to hear that song once more.

His first attempt had been an abject failure indeed. A crafted, crude thing of a wood from a tree that sang a soft, dulcet tone, carved into a flute to see if it would match the song he had heard from the tree itself. And yet, what came out was a warbling dirge. A feat from the instrument he held, but not what he had wanted. If a musician could not pick the songs that they sang, they were less a musician and instead a cacophony of noise others may think was song.

Oh, he tried many more times after that. He made all manner of instruments, with any combination of materials he could get his hands on with his meager Contribution Points. A good portion of those were donated by people who overheard his own experiments and cheered on his attempts when he explained the problems to them. But none of them, from the simplest reed whistles to the foreign monstrosity he had once crafted that was called an "organ" (truly, who named such a behemoth of an instrument after the internals?), none of them had managed to satisfy his ears. He poured his very being into making these, believing at first that the fault lay in his own skills of crafting, that the instruments would not be able to meet his exacting demands if it were not he who made it with the deftest hand possible. All of those failed.

And so he had turned to this option in desperation- to try and play a great lyre, considered a unique treasure in the clan, crafted by a true master whom he heard had gained great mastery over the Music Dao, and who surely could not possibly disappoint him!

Well, he was fucking disappointed.

He'd go return the lyre to the clan tomorrow. Today he just wanted to sleep.

---------

Orphanos found himself back at the beginning once more, looking at the wooden flute in his hand. It was smoothly carved, with not a single imperfection as far as the eye could see. As he ran his hand down the instrument, the trill of the wood that came from his finger pleased him. Even the flute agreed, there were no flaws.

Smiling in victory, he brought the flute to his lips for the final test. What came out...was finally recognizable. He could hear the same strains as the tree itself had sung, but how he was performing still felt off. He strained, listening closer to distinguish the two melodies and adjusted to try and make the two match. He could feel it getting closer and closer, to an almost perfectly overlapping tune until it all fell apart and the song fell into discord.

A frustrated roar tore out of him as he smashed the flute into the ground, furious at the impossibility of it all, how his dreams had been nearly one step away from reaching the starting line, and it still wasn't enough, even with his greatest efforts. He snapped the flute with his wanton bludgeoning, and growled when it shattered and didn't feel his rage subside any further.

He continued to strike the ground, his tantrum continuing with his fists, the deep sound of his inner fury and anguish pouring out. Orphanos paused, looking at his hands. He...he had made that sound. For once, the song inside of him had come out perfectly. There had been almost no barrier to it's true nature, just the purest sense of the song being played when he moved with his own body.

It was a revelation, and one he grasped with both hands. No instrument he would ever play could understand his desires and true expression better than himself! So he had to forge both his body and soul to perfection to make his instrument the greatest tool that could ever perform.

Orphanos got back on his feet and dusted his robes. Well, he might have thought less about dedicating his being to the path of cultivation before when he thought he could achieve the pinnacle of song without it, but now the answer was revealed to him and the path laid before him blindingly clear. He stepped forth and decided he would not falter, not for the pursuit of his craft.

------

Ey first one. Hmm, Cultivation Boost I guess.

 

[RyubosJ]

Turn 6 - The Town of Bérkleï

Year 111

It was evening When The Party of cultivators arrived at the town of Bérkleï. They had spent the last week and two days travelling from The Fortress city of Astypalaia By foot.

"Woooo" Spyridon cheered gatehouse came into view. "Beds, we get to sleep in beds again."

Normally Jamie would have retorted to his lackadaisical Attitude, but they were all too exhausted by this point. Instead, the rest of the party kept their heads down and kept on walking.

"Come on," laughed Spyridon , "celebrate! Beds, freshwater, food that isn't older than our shoes." Before blinking when he realised that he had fallen behind the others. "Oi, don't leave me!"

It only took ten more minutes for them to reach the gatehouse after that. With the sun visible the gate should have been open. Instead, it was locked shut with a tiny piece of paper pinned to it.

"Closed to all unexpected, and expected, arrivals till tomorrow" read Jaime in a tone of disbelief. "Oh, all the idiotic, asinine, and incompetent….."

"Oi!!!!! OPEN UP THIS GATE RIGHT NOW!!!!" She started shouting while banning her fist hard enough to cause the gate to wobble.

While she did this the rest of the party stepped back almost as one, Chrys giving Cassandra a quick yank when she didn't move. Jamie continued to shout at the gate for the next couple of minutes, getting angrier and more aggressive, before a voice interrupted her from above.

"Come on now, can't you read the sign?"

Looking up the party saw a rather scruffy young man wearing an odd hat with bells and a red feather attached to it. He was also in a stripy red and black outfit that looked like a cross between pyjamas and work clothes.

"Yes, that's the problem, it's 4 in the afternoon. Why the hell is the gate shut!" Jaime shouted back.

"Well, the guards all called in sick."

"Sick? Sick!? Then where are the replacements?"

"Also sick apparently."

"Are all the guards sick?" asked Fin, a frown on his face. "Surely we would have heard of this before now?"

"Nah" replied the man casually, "they aren't actually sick. They just called in sick. Don't want to get eaten."

"DON'T WANT TO GET EATEN!" Shouted Jamie! "If someone doesn't open this gate now they'll wish they were eaten!"

"Okay, Okay." He said, obviously scared of a pissed off Jamie, and ducked back behind the parapet "Plái! Can you open the gate, visitors are here." they all heard, slightly muffled.

After a moments pause, his head came back out. "Just checking, your not bandits right?"

Cutting in before Jamie could get started, again, Lemar spoke up, "no, we aren't bandits."

The man nodded, glanced back behind him, then turned around to the party. "What about demonic beasts that just look like humans?"

"No. We are Golden Devil Cultivators"

At this, the man sagged in relief. "Oh, good. Don't worry Plái; they're Golden Devils. No Golden Devils. The Cultivators. Yes, we can trust them." he continued, obviously trying to reassure whoever Plái was.

Thankfully, it didn't take long before they could hear the sound of chains rattling from behind the gate. And after only a couple more minutes it swung open. Silently communicating with Lemar and Fin Chrys went first while the other two did their best to stay between the residents and Jamie. Hopefully, they would be able to find an inn quickly.

"Hello!" Said a new man, who Chrys assumed to be Plái. "Welcome to Bérkleï. I'm Plái, Squire and Gatekeeper(Temp)" Plái was shorter than anyone else in the party, with dark curly hair that seemed like a fluffy cloud. He also had what he was sure Steph would describe as a sunshine smile.

Bowing in response to Plái greeting Chrys couldn't help but relax a little. Maybe today would finally start going as expected. "Greetings Plái, I am Chrysanthos of the Golden Devils. My friends and I are here about the missing Lord Rítsarnt."

At this Plái froze for a moment. As if they weren't sure what to say. "Missing? Lord Rítsarnt ain't missing. No, he's dead. Got eaten by a Sandworm. Almost a month back. Awful thing. The whole town's been terrified to step outside since."

Now it was Chrys' turn to freeze. While it wasn't impossible for news like this to get lost the fact that they were here to investigate the missing person case for a dead man was worrying. Someone had really messed up.

"Wha--" I muffled Jamie might have said from the back of the group.

"Right, well. Do you mind taking us to whoever is in charge right now?" Chrys asked, trying to maintain some semblance of professionalism after what was turning into something of a disaster.

"Ah," said Plái "well that would be Lady Mantaléna, but she's in seclusion. Knight Nkáreth might be able to help, but it will take a while to track him down." sounding apologetic about the whole thing.

"Your best bet would be to rest for the night and then try the Lord's manner tomorrow." he finally suggested. "I know a great inn as well. Excellent service."

Frowning Chrys shared a look with Lemar and Fin. An inn would be lovely, and waiting a few hours wouldn't really be an issue if Lord Rítsarnt was dead.

"We accept your hospitality at the bosom of Ganymede" Cassandra suddenly interrupted them, speaking for the first time all day.

Sharing a second look, this one more resigned, with Lemar and Fin Chrys turned back to Plái who had been joined by the man from the wall. "As Cassandra said, we accept your hospitality."

At this Plái ushered them into the town proper, and the man from the wall. His name was Stéfanos; he used to work for Lord Rítsarnt; however, a month ago, Lady Mantaléna had him locked up, although he refused to say why. Lord Rítsarnt had ordered him released a little while later, and he had been staying with Plái and trying to keep his head down.

After Plái finished wrapping an alarming number of chains around the gate, the two men began leading them through the town, waving away the party's worry about leaving the walls unguarded. "It's fine. We were only there cause none of the guards are. Don't want Stéfanos back under lock and key" reassured Plái.

After taking enough back alleyways to suit a town twice the size of Bérkleï, the party found themselves before an inn called The Enchanted Forest.

Walking inside the party saw that in the inn was full to bursting, the patrons laugh laughing and drinking the day's labours away. First, Chris thought it was an ordinary inn; however, after a second look, they realised that there were no women in sight; not only the patrons but all of the staff were men.

Following their guides, the party pushed through the crowds towards the bar near the back, where Plái flagged down the humungous bartender. "Hey Bear, you guys got room for five travellers? They just arrived today and need a place to stay," he asked.

The bartender, Bear, squinted his eyes and studied the party, spending an extra moment on Jamie and Cassandra, before grunting and holding out his hand.

"Right oh thanks Bear" replied Plái before turning back to the party. "That will be three gold each."

As one they all looked at Lemar, who sighed and pulled out his money pouch. "Here, 18 Gold." Then looking at Bear he asked "will that include breakfast and dinner?" to which bear shook his head and grunted again.

Lemar looked back to Plái for a translation. "2 silvers for dinner, 1 for breakfast. Each. Drinks not included" and sighed again. "Sure" before handing over the coins.

Bear smiled for the first time and reached under the bar. Coming back up he handed over three keys, each attached to the statue of a muscular man posing while naked.

"Right," said Plái. "Rooms are just over there up the stairs on the second floor, loos on the first." gesturing to the right of Bear. As the party made their way to their rooms they heard him turn back around to Bear and order something called a Silver Sunburst.

--------

The next day saw the group up early and preparing to leave, apart from Spyridon , who had snuck downstairs the previous evening and was now trying his best to hide from the sun.

"Just leave me here" he moaned from under the covers. "I'll catch up with you this afternoon. Or maybe tomorrow."

Finally losing her patience with Spyridon Jamie ripped the covers from him and kicked him off the bed. "Have some respect for yourself and others. Now get dressed." she hissed, before standing over Spyridon with her arms crossed while he gathered his clothes and bags.

It didn't take long after that for the two of them to join the others down below. The other patrons had all gone home during the night and Bear had vanished as well. The only person other than the party of cultivators was the proprietor of the inn, a beautiful blond woman that was currently talking with Fin.

"You all must come and stay tonight as well. It was criminal that only dear Spy joined the boys downstairs. And of course, if any of you fine lads needed a few extra coins, I would be happy to negotiate a small contract or two."

"If we require a room we will definitely come to my lady. However, if you excuse us duty calls." Fin replied; the pinnacle of politeness to those who didn't know him.

With their goodbyes done the party set out from the inn towards the centre of Bérkleï. As they walked, Chrys made sure to pay attention to their surroundings, taking note of the dilapidated state of many of the buildings as well as the bowed heads of the people.

"Guys, have you noticed the people here?" Chrys whispered, so quiet only another cultivator right next to them could hear. For another minute no one said anything, instead properly observing the town for the first time.

"This isn't right," said Lemar, "We are in the middle of our territory. How can these people look like this?"

"It reminds me of the slums back home" added Fin, a frown on his face.

"Do you think it's because of the sandworm? Stéfanos did say the guards were all terrified of it," suggested Spyridon.

"Maybe? I've never head of Sandworms around here before, too rocky, so they probably aren't used to them" replied Lemar in a distracted tone.

"Anyway, the Lord's manor is right ahead. Game faces everyone" Jamie ordered. At this everyone else shifted their gaze ahead and began walking in time, their spears held up and their shields flat against their chest. Even though they were only at the 1st Stage Essence Gathering six legionnaires of the clan was an impressive sight, and all around them, the citizens began to smile with hope.

Coming to a well-practised stop four steps before the manor's double doors the party took a moment to let their presence sink in before Jamie took another step forward and declared their presence.

"I am Jamie Johnston of the Golden Devils. I have come here to offer aid" she bellowed.

For a moment there was silence, then a large bald man in dark leather armour opened the door and looked down at them.

"Who'a you then?" The man asked, "And why ya here?"

"I am Jamie Johnston, Cultivator of the Golden Devils. The clan dispatched us after hearing that your Lord was missing"

"Lord Rítsarnt ain't missing. He's dead. We looked, find the tracks and blood and everything."

"We heard that as well. We are armed; if necessary, we can hunt the beast that killed your Lord. Give you justice at least."

At this, the man paused to consider Jamie's offer. Before he could decide one way or another, a second voice spoke up from behind him. "Nkáreth, come back."

"A moment Lady Mantaléna," he murmured, before turning back to the party. "The attack was about an hours trek north. Oi, Andronikos. Lead them."

With that done the man went back inside, a hideous smile visible on his face just before the door shut. For a moment everyone stood still unsure if that was it before one of the men in the crowd dropped to his knees; his friend patting him on the back. "Good luck, you'll be with heroes at least."


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Hot smokes. A tone shift! That's right. Welcome to the Saturday cartoon inspired chapter. This mini-arc will likely last one or two more chapters.

By the way, all the NPCs introduced this chapter (bar one) are references to a TV show. No prize for guessing which show. Mostly because I have no power here.

 

[occipitallobe]

Things were admittedly desperate.

Manuel had decided that the first course of action had better be to re-establish his Council - it was all well and good to safeguard territory or have more Legion flexibility, but he didn't even know what he was dealing with and where. Having a central chain of administrative command again would be crucial, he thought.

Thirteen Legates. Three to promote to various positions - spymaster, disciple-trainer, and administrator.

Of those thirteen, there were only five candidates he'd truly consider - some Core Formation elders were simply bad at administration and anything but war - or even just interpersonal combat, and finding the gems who could administer a part of the Clan in its entirety had never been easy. As for now, none of his candidates had the backgrounds he wanted, but all of them had passable cultivation and reasonable delegation abilities. It would be rough, but better to start them on their duties now. The later they started, the worse off the Clan would be.

All five were, roughly speaking, equally competent for all positions - which is to say not at all. What was important to consider was their personal traits, how they would treat the position.

----------------

Plan Voting. Pick one for each category. No candidate can be picked twice. Pick one Spymaster, one Master of Disciples, and one Elder of Administration.

​

Xie Xinya - Xinya is a competent warrior, a reasonable administrator for her Legion, the 217th - named the Everburning Phoenixes - and a rather doting mother of twenty-four children. Manuel wonders how she has balanced the demands of cultivation and raising so many children, but it does not seem to have effected her overmuch. She is a competent administrator, a reasonable intriguer, and a decent trainer of disciples. She is in Mid Core Formation at 490 years old. She has a strong nepotistic streak and this may cause her to allocate more resources to her children and the Xie Family more generally, no matter where she is placed. Her Legion is deployed to man the Scorpion Road at the moment, and pulling her away will reduce your strength there. She will tend to offer Purchases that assist her Xie Family in some indirect fashion, whether it be materially, through prestige, or some other fashion.

Evaristus Ingerinus - Evaristus is fiery, angry, and obsessive. Mid Core Formation at a mere 360 years old, he is quite competent, but incredibly bullheaded and rushes into things, and then sticks to what he has chosen. Patience is not his strong suit, and once he has made a decision he will stick with it. He is likely to double down on any bad decisions he takes, though he will rarely be struck by indecision. As a trainer he would push his students to the limit, though some would crack. As a spymaster he would pull off absurd feats of derring-do against the object of his, but also likely fail in more basic areas on occasion. As an administrator he would be excellent at rooting out corruption and theft, but might have more difficulty identifying honest mistakes. His Legion is deployed to man the Burnished Crags at the moment, and pulling her away will reduce your strength there. He will tend to offer Purchases that assist his particular obsession until it is finished, and will often offer the same purchases again and again until Manuel buys them.

Ionnina Staurakia - Ionnina is a cold woman, with a powerful manifestation of the Blood of Bronze. Early Core Formation at 440, she is meticulous and calculating. She is also easily slighted, and fumes over those slights for decades before returning them tenfold. As a trainer she would be excellent at planning and and drawing up good regimes for the recruits, but would happily destroy the future prospects of those who brashly insulted her. As a spymaster she would be cunning and cautious, but would almost certainly misuse her office to wreak vengeance on those who slighted her. As an administrator, she would do well, but one of the core functions of the Elder of Administration is allocation of Legion Contribution Points - you could easily see her sabotaging the legions of those she hates in an effort to gain revenge. Her Legion is deployed to hunt Blood Path rebels in the Clan's core territories at the moment, and pulling her away will reduce your strength there. She will tend to offer Purchases that hurt her enemies in some way, or will allow the Clan to more specifically hurt its enemies.

Destasia Duca - Destasia is flighty. No better way to describe it. Early Core Formation at 520, she flits along her path of cultivation, rarely putting her full focus onto it. She is friendly, happy, and rarely gives her projects much thought or time. Nonethelsss she is tremendously competent, and is an excellent delegator. As a trainer she would offer good results on average for recruits, but would be inconsistent. As a spymaster she would offer differing results each turn, and would not necessarily focus on the given most obvious target. As an administrator, she would do well enough, but would rarely stick to single projects or build up specific things, choosing rather to opt into a hundred differing projects. Her Legion is deployed against the Devil Bees near the Night Devil Fortress, and pulling her away will reduce your strength there. She will tend to offer Purchases that are new and different each turn, and will never offer the same thing twice in a row, even if it would make sense to do so.

Casia Zimisce - Casia follows a Dao of Peace, and only kills at direst need. Late Core Formation at 700, she is gentle and kind. As a trainer she would be fair, friendly, and would offer excellent training plans, but would find it difficult to put recruits through hell to temper them fully. As a spymaster she would be focused on information, rarely killing or assassinating your enemies, preferring to find out about them only, or sabotage arrays, or steal items. She would kill on command, but the usual array of assssinations your spymaster conducts would be gone. As an administrator, she would do well, but would find it difficult to punish and reduce the incompetents out of position. Being kind, she is also likely to offer missions and the like to weaker Legions for more Contribution Points than they might strictly deserve, wasting Clan resources inefficiently. Her Legion is a support legion, rebuilding arrays and healing cultivators, and is currently split into several sections among your northern vassals, raising money and goodwill amongst them. Pulling her away will reduce that income and vassal goodwill. She will tend to offer Purchases that assist the weakest of the Clan in some way - often mortals or weaker cultivators.


So votes look like this.

[ ] Spymaster - Xie Xinya

[ ] Master of Disciples - Xie Xinya

[ ] Elder of Administration - Xie Xinya

Get to plannin'!

 

[mastigos]

As for now, none of his candidates had the backgrounds he wanted, but all of them had passable cultivation and reasonable delegation abilities.

Click to shrink...

Wouldn't we actually prefer lesser cultivation? Still Core Formation so they can't get mind whammied, but in terms of keeping the stronger ones out in the field.

 

[TehChron]

Hmph.

Wow.

Yeah that's bad

 

[wrecksalot]

Destasia at least seems mostly fine.

 

[cheesyme]

So, right off the bat I don't want Xie Xinya going anywhere as we need strength on the Scorpion Road right now. After that Casia Zimisce as Disciple Trainer seems like a good idea, as the disciples will recieve tempering through combat regardless. Evaristus Ingerinus seems the best bet for Intrigue in my opinion, as we're unlikely to usually be suffering from constant intrigue offensives, so having him to go after whatever is most important at that moment seems viable. For Administrator I'm thinking Destasia Duca, as she is noted to be both competent and good at delegation, and her flightiness might be less of an issue when it just means she's shifting between looking after all the many many many components of the Clan's infrastructure and foundations.

 

[TehChron]

Evaristus Ingerinus - Evaristus is fiery, angry, and obsessive. Mid Core Formation at a mere 360 years old, he is quite competent, but incredibly bullheaded and rushes into things, and then sticks to what he has chosen. Patience is not his strong suit, and once he has made a decision he will stick with it. He is likely to double down on any bad decisions he takes, though he will rarely be struck by indecision. As a trainer he would push his students to the limit, though some would crack. As a spymaster he would pull off absurd feats of derring-do against the object of his, but also likely fail in more basic areas on occasion. As an administrator he would be excellent at rooting out corruption and theft, but might have more difficulty identifying honest mistakes. His Legion is deployed to man the Burnished Crags at the moment, and pulling her away will reduce your strength there. He will tend to offer Purchases that assist his particular obsession until it is finished, and will often offer the same purchases again and again until Manuel buys them.

Click to shrink...

Hypothetically we'd be having Manuel's bonuses and the Golden Eye Array stacking things up enough that whatever maluses would apply to Intrigue would be covered for, and getting someone constantly hyping up the Burnished Crags is a good thing considering how critical that region is gonna be for us.

So this guy for Intrigue for sure

 

[ninjastar]

Ioannina Staurakia shouldn't be put near anything important. Being vengeful can be fine for a normal clan member, but it's a trait we absolutely can't allow for our leadership.

 

[Mochinator]

[X] The least amount of problems per role
-[X] Spymaster - Xie Xinya
--[X] Elder Of Administration - Evaristus Ingerinus
---[X] Master Of Disciples - Destasia Duca

I'm gonna go for those with the least flaws per role. Xie Xinya fits Spymaster for me because of all the options, she has no malus for spying which is Neat! It also lowers the Nepotism she can do to just her position as a Elder. Administration and Master of Disciples is just ripe for exploitation so take that out of her hands. Be the decentish spymaster that won't propose plans based on whims.

Same reasoning for Evaristus. All of the flaws present for each role, having a stricter bureaucracy is the least bad. Honest mistakes are still mistakes after all, so losing someone who did that is less bad then a reckless spymaster focused on James Bond Stuff or a Spartan Trainer from Hell. Also, dropping the chance of theft and corruption is just neat.

Destasia for Disciples because having good results on average is properly the best we could get from all the options available. The others will eventually cause us to lose out due to nepotism, over-training or sabotage. The Peaceful option not considered because we do have Trials to worry about. I can deal with only having good results on average since the Palace will also hopefully help boost it.

Peace Cultivator to useful for the Diplo boost especially since we getting the Mercs and definitely not considering the petty one. That cultivator will ruin any role.

 

[BungieONI]

Oh that's troubling. I'm looking more at where their legions are posted, and pulling away anything from the Blood Cannibal front sounds like a terrible idea. Same with the Bees, but less so, I could see that actually working out relatively fine.

 

[Rakuhn]

I'm thinking Xinya for spymaster. Her corruption would be too influential in administration and too demoralizing for the disciples.

Ingerinus would be terrible at Admin or Intrigue, but we might be willing to have a greater rate of disciple failure if we find the other candidates even worse.

I don't want Ionnia anywhere near a position of power.

I think I'd like Duca as our administrator. I think her strong delegation ability will be useful for maintaining our current assets. I don't want her anywhere intrigue though.

I'd really like Casia as our disciple trainer, but I'd hate to lose her legion's benefits. Still, I think I'd prefer her on the council to Ingerinus.

 

[RyubosJ]

Spymaster

Spoiler

Xie Xinya a reasonable intriguer
She has a strong nepotistic streak and this may cause her to allocate more resources to her children and the Xie Family more generally, no matter where she is placed.

Evaristus Ingerinus
As a spymaster he would pull off absurd feats of derring-do against the object of his, but also likely fail in more basic areas on occasion

Ionnina Staurakia
As a spymaster she would be cunning and cautious, but would almost certainly misuse her office to wreak vengeance on those who slighted her.

Destasia Duca
As a spymaster she would offer differing results each turn, and would not necessarily focus on the given most obvious target.

Casia Zimisce
As a spymaster she would be focused on information, rarely killing or assassinating your enemies, preferring to find out about them only, or sabotage arrays, or steal items. She would kill on command, but the usual array of assssinations your spymaster conducts would be gone.

Master of Disciples

Spoiler

Xie Xinya decent trainer of disciples.
She has a strong nepotistic streak and this may cause her to allocate more resources to her children and the Xie Family more generally, no matter where she is placed.

Evaristus Ingerinus
As a trainer he would push his students to the limit, though some would crack.

Ionnina Staurakia
As a trainer she would be excellent at planning and and drawing up good regimes for the recruits, but would happily destroy the future prospects of those who brashly insulted her.

Destasia Duca
As a trainer she would offer good results on average for recruits, but would be inconsistent.

Casia Zimisce
As a trainer she would be fair, friendly, and would offer excellent training plans, but would find it difficult to put recruits through hell to temper them fully.

Elder of Administration

Spoiler

Xie Xinya She is a competent administrator
She has a strong nepotistic streak and this may cause her to allocate more resources to her children and the Xie Family more generally, no matter where she is placed.

Evaristus Ingerinus
As an administrator he would be excellent at rooting out corruption and theft, but might have more difficulty identifying honest mistakes.

Ionnina Staurakia
As an administrator, she would do well, but one of the core functions of the Elder of Administration is allocation of Legion Contribution Points - you could easily see her sabotaging the legions of those she hates in an effort to gain revenge.

Destasia Duca
As an administrator, she would do well enough, but would rarely stick to single projects or build up specific things, choosing rather to opt into a hundred differing projects.

Casia Zimisce
As an administrator, she would do well, but would find it difficult to punish and reduce the incompetents out of position. Being kind, she is also likely to offer missions and the like to weaker Legions for more Contribution Points than they might strictly deserve, wasting Clan resources inefficiently.

Okay, this is a sum up of all the options. I think our best approach is to do removal. so go through spy and pick the two/three we absolutely don't want. then trainer, then admin.

So for me, both Ionnina Staurakia and Xie Xinya are very bad fits for all the roles. Casia Zimisce is also a bad fit for admin. The Contribution Board must be protected.

As such I would suggest this build.
[]CaEvDe
-[ ] Spymaster - Casia Zimisce
-[ ] Master of Disciples - Evaristus Ingerinus
-[ ] Elder of Administration - Destasia Duca

This risks with this are Casia not being aggressive enough and missing a threat that grows big quickly, Evaristus breaking our recruits, and Destasia not producing any major actions, being more of a manager than a leader.

 

[BungieONI]

I'm going to repeat it as well since I'm worried about it getting missed. Whoever we pick is also weakening our military in a specific area. And Ingerinus is in the Burnished Crags, one of our border regions with the Cannibals recently gained and being filled with mortals which we haven't fortified yet.

Removing him sounds like a terrible idea, same reason for Xie Xinya on the Scorpion road.

 

[occipitallobe]

It was buried in the post a bit, but please write up/vote in plan formats, so [ ] Plan X with other votes underneath. Otherwise we could end up with weird results (like the same person winning all three roles)

 

[RyubosJ]

I'm going to repeat it as well since I'm worried about it getting missed. Whoever we pick is also weakening our military in a specific area. And Ingerinus is in the Burnished Crags, one of our border regions with the Cannibals recently gained and being filled with mortals which we haven't fortified yet.

Removing him sounds like a terrible idea, same reason for Xie Xinya on the Scorpion road.

Click to shrink...

while true I'm not sure if we can afford to not take at least one risk like that. still, I really don't want to lose the burnished crags.

Might be willing to compromise on him

 

[LordEdric]

[X] The least amount of problems per role

I like the choices, and I think they are the ones we can move with least problems

 

[cheesyme]

I'm going to repeat it as well since I'm worried about it getting missed. Whoever we pick is also weakening our military in a specific area. And Ingerinus is in the Burnished Crags, one of our border regions with the Cannibals recently gained and being filled with mortals which we haven't fortified yet.

Removing him sounds like a terrible idea, same reason for Xie Xinya on the Scorpion road.

Click to shrink...

This makes sense, but no matter what we do we have Xie Xinya Ionnina Staurakia and Evaristus Ingerinus as issues in that regard. We absolutely can't afford to move Xie Xinya as the Scorpion Road is actually under threat and absolutely vital to our continued survival. Then there's Ionnina whose abuse of power risks the main thing that's kept the clan alive, its unity and trust in those in command. Evaristus has issues, but they're not nearly as bad as the other two problem children, so he gets slotted somewhere and Intrigue seems the least terrible place for him.

 

[Nordlending]

You know the options aren't good when you can rank them from awful to slightly better than nothing.

Will they hold their position until the die?

 

[occipitallobe]

You know the options aren't good when you can rank them from awful to slightly better than nothing.

Will they hold their position until the die?

Click to shrink...

Usually, yes. You get better at a thing by consistently doing it - replacing Councillors is usually a bad idea unless you've got a really compelling replacement in mind.

 

[BungieONI]

while true I'm not sure if we can afford to not take at least one risk like that. still, I really don't want to lose the burnished crags.

Might be willing to compromise on him

Click to shrink...

If we pull him out and put him somewhere doing something, his legion is going to need to be replaced by another Legion from somewhere else. I totally agree we're probably going to have to do something ugh in terms of one of these people, or possibly multiple, and basically creating our future problems.

This makes sense, but no matter what we do we have Xie Xinya Ionnina Staurakia and Evaristus Ingerinus as issues in that regard. We absolutely can't afford to move Xie Xinya as the Scorpion Road is actually under threat and absolutely vital to our continued survival. Then there's Ionnina whose abuse of power risks the main thing that's kept the clan alive, its unity and trust in those in command. Evaristus has issues, but they're not nearly as bad as the other two problem children, so he gets slotted somewhere and Intrigue seems the least terrible place for him.

Click to shrink...

That's a good point, yeah between the three of them Xie is someone that I really really don't want to move. Hmm maybe I have been convinced on putting him somewhere. Not sure about intrigue as of yet.

 

[RyubosJ]

After talking on the Discord, It's been cleared up that the good/bad outcome rolls are the same. but the outcomes of those rolls are different.

As such, taking location and purchases more in mid here is my revised build.

[]CaXiDe
-[ ] Spymaster - Casia Zimisce
-[ ] Master of Disciples - Xie Xinya
-[ ] Elder of Administration - Destasia Duca

The logic behind this is that Evaristus Ingerinusis currently at the burning crags, so moving him weakens are border with the Blood Cannibals. Xie has, I think, the lowers risk simply because it gives us a twenty-year period where a NS is where she would be.

 

[Rakuhn]

I'm going to repeat it as well since I'm worried about it getting missed. Whoever we pick is also weakening our military in a specific area. And Ingerinus is in the Burnished Crags, one of our border regions with the Cannibals recently gained and being filled with mortals which we haven't fortified yet.

Removing him sounds like a terrible idea, same reason for Xie Xinya on the Scorpion road.

Click to shrink...

I'm more frightened of pulling troops away from the Abyssal Bees, who are blood path enemies, than I am of pulling troops away from the JingShen clan, who are righteous clan rivals.

We also have a nascent soul protecting us against the Jingshen until the end of the turn, whereas the we have no such protection against the Abyssal Bees.

Hopefully our attempt at diplomacy, as well as our natural CF promotion rate, will give us more options next turn.

 

[Mochinator]

That's a good point, yeah between the three of them Xie is someone that I really really don't want to move. Hmm maybe I have been convinced on putting him somewhere. Not sure about intrigue as of yet.

Click to shrink...

Hmm, personally i think Xie is the safest one we can touch honestly. Because we do have a NS guarding the road at this point so time to move the legion + get a new one there to learn the job under the watchful eye of the NS

Another point to consider about Xie Xinya is that Nepotism isn't inherently bad as long as the people pick have some talent for the role. While arguably it might lead to bad stuff, it could also lead to goodish people since historically speaking, it's how some Clans in China's past got a rep for being Scholar Clans, Officer Clans and so on


It is possible that a good role could even be the Xie clan developing into Intrigue specialists because she want them under somewhere she can control, in both missions and promotions. We are still a meritocracy after all, some risks have to be taken. It is also a very China/Xianxia thing to develop your Clan along a path established by your Family head.

-[ ] Master of Disciples - Xie Xinya

Click to shrink...

I'm personally not so Hot about her in any position where resources are distributed. That strikes me as a way nepotism can strike in a dramatic manner. As for the Crags, i guess i can really only say send more CF to it and hope we rebuild it before Turn 8