Sirrocco
Pedantic
On potential partners...
So, we've gotten to the point that "who might we want to pursue romantically" starts being pertinent. Romance is optional - we can have an entirely successful Court without it. It could yield some benefits, though, if played right, and it's worth looking into. It's broken down into two parts - who to woo, and who to seek to marry. The two are pretty disjoint in some ways, but for long-term happiness (and overall success rates), if we're hoping to marry one of the women here, we should probably also pick her to try to woo.
First, some thoughts about risk. In Rokugani court life, it is entirely possible to romantically pursue married women (or men). I'm thinking, though, that that's... overly risky for us. Given that, information on who is and who is not married is valuable, and will absolutely change some of these assessments. Similarly, while it's *possible* to seriously pursue multiple women and once, that seems... more dangerous than we really want to engage in. We can toss out deniable feelers to more than one, but ought to keep the serious stuff to a single target, who we intend to win (and have some expectation of success).
So... the women who are here (rough, based on limited available info)...
- Matsu Ketsui: Hey - she *is* single. This would be a Most Triumphant Success in our "keep the Matsu from harassing us in petty ways" mission, and "husband to the Matsu Diamyo" would certainly put us in a solid position to continue our service to the clan (as well as giving any kids we had a healthy step up in status) but we just don't have the raw physical prowess that it takes to properly woo the woman, and won't. Sadness. Technically, we could still wind up married to her, by way of her Champion (who doesn't like her very much) forcing us on her, but her champion isn't here, and convincing *him*? Yeah, I think we just have to accept that it's not happening. Probably a good thing for our life expectancy, really.
- Some Random Matsu: It's a family that specializes in female warriors. *Some* of them are bound to be unmarried. This is like marrying a less intense version of Matsu Ketsui but with drastically reduced political benefits. Not trivial to set up, and almost certainly not worth it.
- Some Random Ikoma: A better possibility in many ways, and would likely do nice things to the stability of the trade routes, but our role right now is "Scorpion interface with everyone except the Matsu, Dragon, and Unicorn", and most of those people don't like the Lion very much. We can probably work productively with the Ikoma, but actually wooing one, when added to Bayushi Kimiko's actions, is pretty much going to put the Scorpion in "friend to the Lion" camp - which means that many of the others will be arrayed against us. That's... not where we want to be.
- Doji Mariko: Here we start getting into the more workable stuff. May or may not be single. Crane/Scorpion is not a bad combination on the face of it, but there's the problem of comparative rank. She's (probably) about one notch above you, socially. That makes it much more likely that you'll get stuck with the "You change to my clan and then stay at home and tend to the holdings while I go off to do Awesome Things" role, but she herself is not powerful enough that being the man behind the woman is guaranteed to be of any particular political benefit. Mind you, on second thought, it's possible that she's the same rank we are. The way of the samurai is the way of death. It's entirely possible that this delegation has "get slaughtered by an enraged Matsu, inflicting severe dishonor upon them and allowing us to demand reparations" as a win condition - in which case they're likely to have sent relatively junior members (other than the Kakita, who they may want to be good enough to take a few with him as he goes). Even without that, though... well, insulting the Matsu doesn't *necessarily* take a lot of skill, and no one among the Crane is going to want to be here. Given that they're not as Loyalty-obsessed as we are, it's possible that the role fell to those who were willing to take it and/or couldn't avoid it. This could very easily be a "it's going to suck, and it'll be risky, but pull it off and you'll be going places" posting for a young Crane. In that case, the match is a lot better, but we still have the fact that she'll want us to do a lot more in the way of poking the Matsu in the eye than we otherwise might be inclined to.
-- Costs: heavier exp investment in artistic/social side, more likely to piss off Matsu, possibility of getting stuck at home with kids.
-- Benefits: enjoyable wife to have, decent match for personal development and clan influence if not stuck in subservient position. Likely to move up in the world if she lives.
- The Unicorn twins: Might be cute/interesting, likely to be single, but there's no *strong* reason thus far to pursue them rather than the others, and Yogo Hanzo has our in with the Unicorn. In this case, we cant' really afford *not* to mix business with pleasure.
- Asako Tani: Again, age and marital status are largely unknown - though we can pretty much guarantee that she's notably older and higher status. We pretty much already have what we'd want to woo her - we're someone who knows enough to discuss things on (or at least close to) her level. We'll want to buy that 5th point of intelligence, but we'd want to do that anyway. She's also nice as a target because she wants everyone to get along. Maintaining harmonious relations serves us reasonably well, and having an excuse to maintain harmonious relations when people like the Crane might wish to push us serves us even better. Essentially, she's the low-cost romantic option (assuming that she's single) - to the point that pursuing her might work out reasonably well even if she doesn't go for it. If we do it right, she's likely to find it at least endearing. Also, it's nice to have someone to talk with about this sort of thing. The disadvantages here are in what we'd win for the clan - there isn't *all* that much. The Phoenix are devastated, and won't really be a power for at least a generation. They're pacifists in general, and can usually be depended upon to want to get along with everyone anyway. As a Loremaster, Asako Tani has a lot of status (and the associated influence to push us to a subordinate position) but not necessarily all that much direct influence - or at least not of the kinds that we could profitably influence in turn. In the end, we might enjoy a life as the helpful husband of the esteemed and learned Asako Tani, but it wouldn't do a whole lot for the clan.
- Wasp Clan archer: She'd want us to be a *lot* better at kyujutsu, to enter the Bowman's Wager, and to at least give her a run for her money. The Wasp attitude towards bows is like the Unicorn attitude towards horses. There are *some* advantages here - she's lower social rank than we are, so we wouldn't have to worry about being stuck at home. Also, the Mantis are a rising power, allied to the Crane and hungry for respect. Arranging a few marriages between Scorpion and the various minor clans of the Alliance could help pull them in as something of an ally, and that could prove useful - especially leveraging the combination of their dominance of oceanic trade and the Scorpion control of Beiden Pass and the River of Gold. Aside from "closer ties with the Mantis might be useful", though, there's nothing to really recommend this one in particular, and we don't have (or, necessarily, want) the skill at kyujutsu to woo her properly. Also, "silent and severe" isn't a huge selling point.
- Yasuki Mia: A possibility, depending on age and marital status. This one *will* be higher-ranked than we are - the Matsu Winter Court (ie, the "Beiden Pass (Lion) Winter Court") certainly merits at least a mid-ranked Yasuki as far as the Crab are concerned. Still, the Scorpion can certainly use another in with the Yasuki, especially in a time dominated by concerns of commerce and rebuilding. She'll likely appreciate investment in intellect, commerce, and the courtier support stuff that we're training for already. A willingness to risk our lives in mortal combat with the creatures of the Shadowlands would also likely be a plus. We don't know a whole lot about her as a person, yet - we'll want to fix that soon, regardless.
...and the sources for arranged marriage
- Otomo Kairyu: It's an arranged marriage, so we know nothing about the woman, but this would be excellent both for our own ambitions and for service to the clan. To do this, we'd need to impress him (keep our int up, a healthy level of skill in Go, perhaps pull off some social coups where he can see them) and manage to be especially useful to him (which involves, among other things, figuring out what that involves). Basically, we do well enough to be added to his retinue because we're just so darn useful, and then do well enough to be rewarded with an imperial wife (who will then presumably find us so darn useful).
- Others: ugh. Running out of ergs for this. Regardless, in general, everyone has relatives - and some of those are likely to be both female and unmarried. The path to getting arranged marriages is pretty similar in every case. We pull off a few coups, and make something of a name for ourselves. We demonstrate to the delegation in question that suborning us would be useful to their long-term goals. We further assist them with achieving a few of their immediate goals, and express an appreciation for their clan and a potential willingness to work with them. Essentially, we make ourselves appear to be worth bidding for, and then admit that we might be open for bids.
-- Lion is possible, especially if we've met and displayed possible interest in some Ikoma of appropriate age. Pulling that one off without upsetting everyone else is likely to still be a bit tricky, but much less so than an outright wooing - and it would certainly help the Clan, particularly if we were generally assigned to Shiro Matsu. We *would* have to beef up our combat abilities afterwards, however.
-- Phoenix is pretty much strictly worse than going after Asako Tani, and generally not worth it for the clan.
-- Unicorn is unlikely because we don't have what they want.
-- Dragon is unlikely because the one guy they have doesn't look like he has all that much in the way of deployable family members. Also, we won't be talking with him much.
-- Mantis would require impressing their lead with our skill at commerce - something that's actually reasonably doable. Not a terrible option.
-- Crab is basically the same requirement set as Yasuki Mia, with similar results (though perhaps a more similar rank).
-- Crane is probably more realpolitik than wooing Doji Mariko would be. As such, it demands fairly high levels of awesome, but even moderate levels of working with them should be enough. Like the Ikoma on the other side, it's easier to pull this off without taking political damage in the wrong places.
So... plausible things we might wish to shoot for, as I see them:
Arranged marriages (all of these are pretty passive, and most can be pursued more or less at the same time)
- Otomo arranged marriage: We'll want to be pandering to Otomo Kairyu about as hard as we can regardless. If it somehow nets us a wife in the future, that's just bonus. Requires no additional tactical thought.
- Ikoma arranged marriage: Not a bad backup plan. Try to work with the Ikoma if we can, be appropriately impressive to the right people in the right ways, and if we happen to meet a nice young Ikoma of the correct gender and marital status, then a bit of so-subtle-you-can't-be-sure flirting might be in order. See if you can help out the poor Ikoma, but do so deniably.
- Mantis arranged marriage: other than the general "try to be awesome" that all of the arranged marriages involve, meet with Yoritomo Harike, and convince him of our abilities in the area of commerce... something we'd likely wish to do anyway. Also, don't hork over the Mantis in any serious way.
- Crab arranged marriage: see Mantis, and change names.
- Crane arranged marriage: Demonstrate intellect, and refinement. Don't hork over the Crane. This is probably one of the easier ones to pull off, given how beaten up the Crane are right now, and how well the Scorpion are doing at rebuilding. They want connections with us more than we want connections with them - we just have to be awesome enough that they decide that *we* are the connection they want with us.
For the arranged marriages, it's more a set of tertiary goals to keep on the back burner, and be aware when you're sacrificing. If we find that we need to hork over the Crab for some reason, that's okay - but it does mean that we're not going to get offered a Yasuki wife once this is all over.
plausible people who are here that we've met:
- Doji Mariko: We'll be updating this one after the current turn goes through. Likely to include some heavy investment in art, though. Might have to give up on that reflexes buy, for example. May well not be worth it.
- Asako Tani: Keep doing what you're doing. At the appropriate time, start with low-key geek love wooing. Bonus points for stealth-flirting via references that no one else will get.
- Yasuki Mia: go heavy into the Commerce. Engage her in her area of strength, and try to intrigue her there. Get tips from Pale Oak.
So, we've gotten to the point that "who might we want to pursue romantically" starts being pertinent. Romance is optional - we can have an entirely successful Court without it. It could yield some benefits, though, if played right, and it's worth looking into. It's broken down into two parts - who to woo, and who to seek to marry. The two are pretty disjoint in some ways, but for long-term happiness (and overall success rates), if we're hoping to marry one of the women here, we should probably also pick her to try to woo.
First, some thoughts about risk. In Rokugani court life, it is entirely possible to romantically pursue married women (or men). I'm thinking, though, that that's... overly risky for us. Given that, information on who is and who is not married is valuable, and will absolutely change some of these assessments. Similarly, while it's *possible* to seriously pursue multiple women and once, that seems... more dangerous than we really want to engage in. We can toss out deniable feelers to more than one, but ought to keep the serious stuff to a single target, who we intend to win (and have some expectation of success).
So... the women who are here (rough, based on limited available info)...
- Matsu Ketsui: Hey - she *is* single. This would be a Most Triumphant Success in our "keep the Matsu from harassing us in petty ways" mission, and "husband to the Matsu Diamyo" would certainly put us in a solid position to continue our service to the clan (as well as giving any kids we had a healthy step up in status) but we just don't have the raw physical prowess that it takes to properly woo the woman, and won't. Sadness. Technically, we could still wind up married to her, by way of her Champion (who doesn't like her very much) forcing us on her, but her champion isn't here, and convincing *him*? Yeah, I think we just have to accept that it's not happening. Probably a good thing for our life expectancy, really.
- Some Random Matsu: It's a family that specializes in female warriors. *Some* of them are bound to be unmarried. This is like marrying a less intense version of Matsu Ketsui but with drastically reduced political benefits. Not trivial to set up, and almost certainly not worth it.
- Some Random Ikoma: A better possibility in many ways, and would likely do nice things to the stability of the trade routes, but our role right now is "Scorpion interface with everyone except the Matsu, Dragon, and Unicorn", and most of those people don't like the Lion very much. We can probably work productively with the Ikoma, but actually wooing one, when added to Bayushi Kimiko's actions, is pretty much going to put the Scorpion in "friend to the Lion" camp - which means that many of the others will be arrayed against us. That's... not where we want to be.
- Doji Mariko: Here we start getting into the more workable stuff. May or may not be single. Crane/Scorpion is not a bad combination on the face of it, but there's the problem of comparative rank. She's (probably) about one notch above you, socially. That makes it much more likely that you'll get stuck with the "You change to my clan and then stay at home and tend to the holdings while I go off to do Awesome Things" role, but she herself is not powerful enough that being the man behind the woman is guaranteed to be of any particular political benefit. Mind you, on second thought, it's possible that she's the same rank we are. The way of the samurai is the way of death. It's entirely possible that this delegation has "get slaughtered by an enraged Matsu, inflicting severe dishonor upon them and allowing us to demand reparations" as a win condition - in which case they're likely to have sent relatively junior members (other than the Kakita, who they may want to be good enough to take a few with him as he goes). Even without that, though... well, insulting the Matsu doesn't *necessarily* take a lot of skill, and no one among the Crane is going to want to be here. Given that they're not as Loyalty-obsessed as we are, it's possible that the role fell to those who were willing to take it and/or couldn't avoid it. This could very easily be a "it's going to suck, and it'll be risky, but pull it off and you'll be going places" posting for a young Crane. In that case, the match is a lot better, but we still have the fact that she'll want us to do a lot more in the way of poking the Matsu in the eye than we otherwise might be inclined to.
-- Costs: heavier exp investment in artistic/social side, more likely to piss off Matsu, possibility of getting stuck at home with kids.
-- Benefits: enjoyable wife to have, decent match for personal development and clan influence if not stuck in subservient position. Likely to move up in the world if she lives.
- The Unicorn twins: Might be cute/interesting, likely to be single, but there's no *strong* reason thus far to pursue them rather than the others, and Yogo Hanzo has our in with the Unicorn. In this case, we cant' really afford *not* to mix business with pleasure.
- Asako Tani: Again, age and marital status are largely unknown - though we can pretty much guarantee that she's notably older and higher status. We pretty much already have what we'd want to woo her - we're someone who knows enough to discuss things on (or at least close to) her level. We'll want to buy that 5th point of intelligence, but we'd want to do that anyway. She's also nice as a target because she wants everyone to get along. Maintaining harmonious relations serves us reasonably well, and having an excuse to maintain harmonious relations when people like the Crane might wish to push us serves us even better. Essentially, she's the low-cost romantic option (assuming that she's single) - to the point that pursuing her might work out reasonably well even if she doesn't go for it. If we do it right, she's likely to find it at least endearing. Also, it's nice to have someone to talk with about this sort of thing. The disadvantages here are in what we'd win for the clan - there isn't *all* that much. The Phoenix are devastated, and won't really be a power for at least a generation. They're pacifists in general, and can usually be depended upon to want to get along with everyone anyway. As a Loremaster, Asako Tani has a lot of status (and the associated influence to push us to a subordinate position) but not necessarily all that much direct influence - or at least not of the kinds that we could profitably influence in turn. In the end, we might enjoy a life as the helpful husband of the esteemed and learned Asako Tani, but it wouldn't do a whole lot for the clan.
- Wasp Clan archer: She'd want us to be a *lot* better at kyujutsu, to enter the Bowman's Wager, and to at least give her a run for her money. The Wasp attitude towards bows is like the Unicorn attitude towards horses. There are *some* advantages here - she's lower social rank than we are, so we wouldn't have to worry about being stuck at home. Also, the Mantis are a rising power, allied to the Crane and hungry for respect. Arranging a few marriages between Scorpion and the various minor clans of the Alliance could help pull them in as something of an ally, and that could prove useful - especially leveraging the combination of their dominance of oceanic trade and the Scorpion control of Beiden Pass and the River of Gold. Aside from "closer ties with the Mantis might be useful", though, there's nothing to really recommend this one in particular, and we don't have (or, necessarily, want) the skill at kyujutsu to woo her properly. Also, "silent and severe" isn't a huge selling point.
- Yasuki Mia: A possibility, depending on age and marital status. This one *will* be higher-ranked than we are - the Matsu Winter Court (ie, the "Beiden Pass (Lion) Winter Court") certainly merits at least a mid-ranked Yasuki as far as the Crab are concerned. Still, the Scorpion can certainly use another in with the Yasuki, especially in a time dominated by concerns of commerce and rebuilding. She'll likely appreciate investment in intellect, commerce, and the courtier support stuff that we're training for already. A willingness to risk our lives in mortal combat with the creatures of the Shadowlands would also likely be a plus. We don't know a whole lot about her as a person, yet - we'll want to fix that soon, regardless.
...and the sources for arranged marriage
- Otomo Kairyu: It's an arranged marriage, so we know nothing about the woman, but this would be excellent both for our own ambitions and for service to the clan. To do this, we'd need to impress him (keep our int up, a healthy level of skill in Go, perhaps pull off some social coups where he can see them) and manage to be especially useful to him (which involves, among other things, figuring out what that involves). Basically, we do well enough to be added to his retinue because we're just so darn useful, and then do well enough to be rewarded with an imperial wife (who will then presumably find us so darn useful).
- Others: ugh. Running out of ergs for this. Regardless, in general, everyone has relatives - and some of those are likely to be both female and unmarried. The path to getting arranged marriages is pretty similar in every case. We pull off a few coups, and make something of a name for ourselves. We demonstrate to the delegation in question that suborning us would be useful to their long-term goals. We further assist them with achieving a few of their immediate goals, and express an appreciation for their clan and a potential willingness to work with them. Essentially, we make ourselves appear to be worth bidding for, and then admit that we might be open for bids.
-- Lion is possible, especially if we've met and displayed possible interest in some Ikoma of appropriate age. Pulling that one off without upsetting everyone else is likely to still be a bit tricky, but much less so than an outright wooing - and it would certainly help the Clan, particularly if we were generally assigned to Shiro Matsu. We *would* have to beef up our combat abilities afterwards, however.
-- Phoenix is pretty much strictly worse than going after Asako Tani, and generally not worth it for the clan.
-- Unicorn is unlikely because we don't have what they want.
-- Dragon is unlikely because the one guy they have doesn't look like he has all that much in the way of deployable family members. Also, we won't be talking with him much.
-- Mantis would require impressing their lead with our skill at commerce - something that's actually reasonably doable. Not a terrible option.
-- Crab is basically the same requirement set as Yasuki Mia, with similar results (though perhaps a more similar rank).
-- Crane is probably more realpolitik than wooing Doji Mariko would be. As such, it demands fairly high levels of awesome, but even moderate levels of working with them should be enough. Like the Ikoma on the other side, it's easier to pull this off without taking political damage in the wrong places.
So... plausible things we might wish to shoot for, as I see them:
Arranged marriages (all of these are pretty passive, and most can be pursued more or less at the same time)
- Otomo arranged marriage: We'll want to be pandering to Otomo Kairyu about as hard as we can regardless. If it somehow nets us a wife in the future, that's just bonus. Requires no additional tactical thought.
- Ikoma arranged marriage: Not a bad backup plan. Try to work with the Ikoma if we can, be appropriately impressive to the right people in the right ways, and if we happen to meet a nice young Ikoma of the correct gender and marital status, then a bit of so-subtle-you-can't-be-sure flirting might be in order. See if you can help out the poor Ikoma, but do so deniably.
- Mantis arranged marriage: other than the general "try to be awesome" that all of the arranged marriages involve, meet with Yoritomo Harike, and convince him of our abilities in the area of commerce... something we'd likely wish to do anyway. Also, don't hork over the Mantis in any serious way.
- Crab arranged marriage: see Mantis, and change names.
- Crane arranged marriage: Demonstrate intellect, and refinement. Don't hork over the Crane. This is probably one of the easier ones to pull off, given how beaten up the Crane are right now, and how well the Scorpion are doing at rebuilding. They want connections with us more than we want connections with them - we just have to be awesome enough that they decide that *we* are the connection they want with us.
For the arranged marriages, it's more a set of tertiary goals to keep on the back burner, and be aware when you're sacrificing. If we find that we need to hork over the Crab for some reason, that's okay - but it does mean that we're not going to get offered a Yasuki wife once this is all over.
plausible people who are here that we've met:
- Doji Mariko: We'll be updating this one after the current turn goes through. Likely to include some heavy investment in art, though. Might have to give up on that reflexes buy, for example. May well not be worth it.
- Asako Tani: Keep doing what you're doing. At the appropriate time, start with low-key geek love wooing. Bonus points for stealth-flirting via references that no one else will get.
- Yasuki Mia: go heavy into the Commerce. Engage her in her area of strength, and try to intrigue her there. Get tips from Pale Oak.
