Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest

[HavocOrder0999]

[X] [Negotiation] Plan Compromise

[X] [Incoming] Have Edward pass on his analysis and conclusions to the Metropolis police department, making no mention of Toyman or "Captain Ironfist," and then order them to only evacuate citizens and to let the demonstration proceed unimpeded.

 

[WheelOfTime]

Let Vlatava have the territories, give the markovian king plenty of especially easy to track financial reparations and take an action to figure out where the money was spent later, take the mineral rights markovia is offering and feed them into Toyman's operation later. There is no need to get clever with this, everything has worked out wonderfully.

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You're misunderstanding how investments work.

Markovia won't receive money directly. They'll either save money by having someone else fund their infrastructure or collect taxes from Lex's investments. For example, if Lex builds a factory, Markovia will tax it. That revenue belongs to them, and we have no meaningful way to track it.

My key issue with this is that we're accomplishing basically none of Vertigo's goals other than keeping his annexed territory.

He's not getting the mutual defence pact he wants, we're investing significantly in Markovia and we'd basically be pushing him into doing the same. We have to give him at least some of his goals.

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But he does. The plan makes Markovia financially dependent on Vlatava, gives his ally (us) full control of the border, and funnels Markovia's revenue to Vertigo, strengthening his power and deepening their reliance on him.

The goal is to make the special economic zone so profitable that it dominates the region, weakening both nations' control over their economies and shifting power to LexCorp. If Markov restarts the war, he'll face both Serial Peacemaking and crippling financial losses.

And he does get the defense pact. I included it in my edit already. The only thing he loses is Markovia's financial collapse, but whatever money they keep is a poisoned apple.

That said, I changed my vote with Captain Ironfist since I somehow missed keeping Toyman hidden from the police. thanks for pointing that out.

 

[jonasquinn]

But he does. The plan makes Markovia financially dependent on Vlatava, gives his ally (us) full control of the border, and funnels Markovia's revenue to Vertigo, strengthening his power and deepening their reliance on him.

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The issue with that is that making Markovia financially dependent on Vlatava would be a rather long term play. Vertigo's plan is to tank Markovia's economy so that a revolt eventually happens and he can justify intervening after most of the royal family are dead, if we tie their two economies together then that may also require tanking Vlatava's economy, could allow King Victor to more easily pain Vertigo as the bad guy for the declining economy or may just take too long and give Markova time to arm themselves.

I will admit however that I am far from an expert on economics.

The goal is to make the special economic zone so profitable that it dominates the region, weakening both nations' control over their economies and shifting power to LexCorp. If Markov restarts the war, he'll face both Serial Peacemaking and crippling financial losses.

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I think ultimately I just kinda feel like the SEZ is unnecessarily complicating the situation. I have no hard evidence for that and like I said I'm no expert on economics but I feel like pretty much anything we could accomplish through it can be achieved more easily through more direct means.

And he does get the defense pact. I included it in my edit already. The only thing he loses is Markovia's financial collapse, but whatever money they keep is a poisoned apple.

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That's my bad I missed that, sorry. One slight adjustment I would suggest is removing or editing the part about neither side being allowed to deploy aerial assets "under any circumstances" since that would arguably include the self defence pact too.

That said, I changed my vote with Captain Ironfist since I somehow missed keeping Toyman hidden from the police. thanks for pointing that out.

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No worries. And in regards to the negotiation plan, I don't dislike yours and the two plans are largely similar but there are just a few minor aspects I disagree with ultimately.

I'll be by no means upset if your plan wins.

 

[Randino Treviani]

You're misunderstanding how investments work.

Markovia won't receive money directly. They'll either save money by having someone else fund their infrastructure or collect taxes from Lex's investments. For example, if Lex builds a factory, Markovia will tax it. That revenue belongs to them, and we have no meaningful way to track it.

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I think your misunderstanding. King victor isn't asking for Money as taxable investment over time, he wants a direct and substantial insertion of cash to his countries coffers to get a metahuman supersoldier project off the ground, not the collection of revenue over long years.

That in turn informed his strategic goals for this conference. Victor sought to obtain reparations first and foremost. The other countries sought ot use Markovia like a country in a coal mine, warning of impending danger when Vertigo's ambitions were sufficiently roused. As such Victor would argue that it was essential that Markovia get paid reparations by Vlatava. Zviad had ideas on how best to use that industry to build up Markovia's forces. Once they had enough forces to match Vertigo's monsters, the map could be redrawn, this time in Markovia's favor. Victor certainly would prefer not to concede land but he'd tolerate it as a condition. The world had not cared when Vlatava stole land from Markovia and so in turn they would not care when Markovia took that land back.

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[AizenMD]

Promotional Material: Pamela Isley-Kane

The evening sun cast long shadows through the floor-to-ceiling windows of their LexCorp apartment as Pamela Isley read through Lex's letter for the third time. Her fingers traced over the elegant letterhead, her mind already racing with possibilities when she heard the familiar sound of the security pad beeping.

Katherine Kane walked in, still in her LexCorp tactical uniform, looking pleasantly exhausted. "You would not believe the stuff Nightshade can do," she said, dropping her bag by the door. "All that magic stuff is absolutely wild, and she's pretty scrappy too—" She paused, noticing the focused look on her wife's face. "What's got you so interested?"

Pamela held up the letter with a slight smile. "It's a letter for a promotion. Chief Sustainability Officer." Truthfully, even if it were a reassignment as a janitor, Pamela would have still been happy to have it. If Lex extended an offer, then he had a good reason to do so.

"About time," Kate said, walking over to kiss Pamela's forehead before falling into the adjacent place on the sofa. "You've been doing half that job already—one foot in science and the other in politics and management." She stretched, wincing slightly. "Though... are you sure about moving away from research? I know you've been mostly overseeing things, so it's probably not as much of a loss from the intellectual side of things, but I also know how much you love your botany work..."

Pamela graced her wife with an unusually honest smile as she set the letter down. "That's sweet of you to worry, love, but you've got it slightly wrong." She leaned slightly on Kate, who appreciated the touch. "Botany isn't my biggest passion—saving the world is. If I have to choose between making scientific discoveries and implementing the changes that will actually preserve nature and help it prosper, I'll choose the latter every time." She smirked, putting on a haughty tone. "Besides, do you really think Lex could keep me completely away from research? I'm far too talented to let those skills go to waste."

Kate laughed, shaking her head. This was a side of Pamela that she very rarely showed to others—one that Kate was privileged to know. "As long as you're happy with it. Most CSOs are just there to help companies navigate environmental regulations. But then again, LexCorp's not most companies, and you're not most CSOs." She placed her cheek on top of Pamela's head. "After what you all did to Stagg Enterprises..." She whistled. "I'm pretty sure you'll change the world even more than you've already done. Just don't forget about your poor wife while you're attending your Illuminati meetings with Lex and Mercy."

"Never," Pamela promised, then hesitated for a moment. "Speaking of changes..."

"The kid conversation?" Kate asked, suddenly looking more alert despite her fatigue. They had been having this back and forth for a while now. Ever since their wedding, it was a question that had been looming over them. Their relationship was now fully mature, and they were set to spend the rest of their lives together. Seeing as a mortgage was the least of their concerns, the next natural step in their relationship was... well, children.

Truthfully, Kate never saw herself as someone's mother. Then again, she never saw herself being married either. She wasn't exactly opposed to having children, and it certainly was the sort of experience she was eager to one day share with Pamela, but certain insecurities were difficult to overcome even now.

"Well, with this position, the timing might be right..." Pamela ventured.

Kate shifted slightly, turning to Pamela, her expression uneasy. "You'd be amazing at it. Me, well, I'm not too sure." The statement was fairly awkward to say, but truthfully, Kate had no idea what their family unit could look like. What would her role even be? Pamela said that a parent didn't need a preassigned role and that families were far too dynamic for that, but that didn't actually make Kate feel better. What could she do that Pamela couldn't? What could she contribute? She didn't really have any good role models on that end, and the one she'd end up imitating would be, well, Pamela herself.

"Kate," Pamela said gently, moving her head to look Kate directly in the eye, "you are the most caring, dedicated, and wonderful person I know. Any child would be lucky to have you as a mother. Between you and me, I'm sure we can figure everything out."

"Even with our work schedules? The security risks?" The world certainly wasn't the one Kate had grown up in, what with all of these terrorist attacks and alien invasions. She worried about Pamela enough as it was, and Pamela was extremely capable. A child? Would she even be able to sleep at night?

"Even with all of that," Pamela assured her, running her fingers through Kate's short hair. "Besides, between my powers and your combat training, the kid would be more protected than any other." Kate wondered if Pamela could get Lex to mobilize all company resources to protect said hypothetical child, and the inevitable answer that came to mind was "yes." Her wife was just that valued, and Lex was just that kind of person.

"But enough of that—how about you and I celebrate the news?" Pamela changed the topic. She wasn't one to push Kate on issues like these, but they were most assuredly revisiting that topic sooner rather than later. "How about we go out somewhere for a change?"

Kate snorted. That would be some change. Both of them were homebodies, so it was rare for them to go on dates outside these days.

"Alright then, how about a nice vacation? A weekend getaway?"

"You? Since when do you take vacations?" Kate laughed.

Pamela slapped her on the arm gently. "Oh hush, we need to do something."

Kate leaned back slightly, stretching. "How about a movie night for now? We can talk more about it as we go. I'm sure we can figure something out." Pamela wasn't exactly the celebratory type either. She was clearly trying to get Kate out of her funk, and Kate appreciated that.

"Perfect," Pamela agreed. "I'll go get the wine."

The letter remained on the coffee table, Pamela's elegant signature already dried at the bottom, while the two women settled in for their evening, the future stretching bright before them.

---

[X] [Negotiation] Plan Peaceful Solutions

[X] [Incoming] Have Edward pass on his analysis and conclusions to the Metropolis police department, making no mention of Toyman or "Captain Ironfist," and then order them to only evacuate citizens and to let the demonstration proceed unimpeded.

 

[Negation]

Hence why we're focusing on improving the LMD's as much as possible before actually having Marie undergo robotic conversion. Robots that can simulate all five senses are perfectly feasible in universe.

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Yes but I want to dominate the Prosthetics market with both cybernetic and organic options for patients. The DCs should be around the same range or lower since we have Pamela & some research into the Green.

 

[Alex Sol]

Then I completely misunderstood what you were going for. You should add the part about Vlatava returning land, but that still means that Markovia will pay for its own land, when in reality their incentive is mostly money, so they still end up getting nothing.

Vertigo wants to collapse Markovia, but he also wants to hold onto what he currently has and king Markov is prepared to make that concession in return for money.

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You are correct, I should have made it more clear what we are aiming for , not leave it for further negotiation. Although with more people expressing their opinion I would rather make a new plan entirely. One thing I don't like in other plans, even those that don't short side Vertigo is that him getting land is considered a win. When he, and I dare to say we have much more lofty ambitions. If we agree to take land, then it would be much harder to justify any further interventions, not to mention that it creates bad international precedent. I don't think that even Vertigo is satisfied with only piece of Markovia. He will take it all when Markovia will cease to exists, until then he would be satisfied with only physical control of the land.


[X] [Negotiation] Plan Land is Bought, not Conquered
-[X] [Negotiation] Begin negotiations by clarifying our position of wanting to ensure the peace and stability of the region as well as our desire to help both sides recover from the damage done by the war.
-[X] [Negotiation] Suggest that territory currently claimed by Vlatava remains under Vertigo control, but still officially recognized as Markovia land, loaned under twenty years lease, paid by Vlatava, with an option to extend said lease for additional money. Argue for oversight of said money so it is spent on vital infrastructure and aid.
-[X] [Negotiation] Support getting reparations from Markovia for assassination attempt but with concession of it being immediately redirected back toward rebuilding of infrastructure in the zone of conflict, led by independent contractors and thus preventing mismanagement of said money.
-[X] [Negotiation] Suggest the signing of a mutual defence pact between the two nations in order to help heal old wounds and provide an additional layer of protection from any other countries that may attempt to take advantage of their weakened state.
-[X] [Negotiation] Suggest the creation of a special economic zone in location close to Markovia capital, including a part of Markovia capital were we will build our Tower. Promise to invest in both countries with the goal of repairing necessary infrastructure, providing jobs and improving their economies to help them recover from the war. Leave specifics for individual negotiations.
-[X] [Negotiation] Provide space for both parties to address any other immediate grievances that need resolution to secure long-term stability. Propose creation of meta human school in the special economic zone.



[X] [Negotiation] Plan Compromise

[X] [Incoming] Have Edward pass on his analysis and conclusions to the Metropolis police department, making no mention of Toyman or "Captain Ironfist," and then order them to only evacuate citizens and to let the demonstration proceed unimpeded.

 

[WheelOfTime]

I think your misunderstanding. King victor isn't asking for Money as taxable investment over time, he wants a direct and substantial insertion of cash to his countries coffers to get a metahuman supersoldier project off the ground, not the collection of revenue over long years.

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I know what Victor is asking. I'm saying that there is no way to really deny him making the money disappear. If you give it to him outright he'll clam on it and obfuscate things and you will never find the money. This happens IRL very frequently. It's one of the reasons foreign aid is such a problematic concept but that's neither here nor there.

The most we can do is make things as hard for him as possible. By giving him investments and infrastructure he can't raise capital as quickly, and by making him pay for things like repairing the colonies in Vertigo's control or for Lex to act as an enforcer for the agreement, we further complicate things for him.

The goal, at least to me, is for him to fix his country and get him his money... but in as an inconvenient of a way as possible, and with plenty of room for interference.

The issue with that is that making Markovia financially dependent on Vlatava would be a rather long term play. Vertigo's plan is to tank Markovia's economy so that a revolt eventually happens and he can justify intervening after most of the royal family are dead, if we tie their two economies together then that may also require tanking Vlatava's economy, could allow King Victor to more easily pain Vertigo as the bad guy for the declining economy or may just take too long and give Markova time to arm themselves.

I will admit however that I am far from an expert on economics.

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It's a lot more complicated than that. I will spare the detailed explanation and say that I don't trust Vertigo to not do anything stupid so it's meant to temper his own methods and force him into a slower conquest that we can interrupt whenever. I think that having him fight over resources with Markovia is a net positive outcome for us.

For a very basic example. Markovia is suffering from a food shortage, so Lex grows a lot of crops in the DMZ, creating an incentive for Markovia to not move their military there under the threat of destroying their food supply. This gives both Lex and Vertigo a lot of say in Markovia's food logistics since Vertigo owns a lot of the land there and Lex is the one who manages the border.

I think ultimately I just kinda feel like the SEZ is unnecessarily complicating the situation. I have no hard evidence for that and like I said I'm no expert on economics but I feel like pretty much anything we could accomplish through it can be achieved more easily through more direct means.

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This isn't a do or die thing for me if I'm honest. A lot of the plan is probably going to get side tracked. I think that this adds a layer of complication but one that benefits us the most and one that is ultimately very easily justifiable (for example, Lex could be doing this to create a tax haven for himself)

It isn't the end all be all and it isn't the core of the agreement either. It's fine if nothing come out of it. I'm mostly doing this to try and create some kind of a power base that can be given to Talia so that she can do her own thing.

That's my bad I missed that, sorry. One slight adjustment I would suggest is removing or editing the part about neither side being allowed to deploy aerial assets "under any circumstances" since that would arguably include the self defence pact too.

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This is actually a fairly complicated question.

Vertigo's goal with the defensive pact is to be very costly to uphold and to justify getting involved with Markovia when it collapses. I wanted to ensure that Vertigo has maximal legitimacy for a full mobilization since if he can just, for example, send a few exosuits or planes to do some targeted attacks then it will be more difficult to justify moving his army across the entire country and actively occupy it under the guise of "helping Markovia defend itself."

 

[Randino Treviani]

I feel like this is a very complex and micromanagement later heavy plan that involves paying more attention to post conflict Markovia and Vlatava than I have any interest in and runs directly counter to my desire to give Cassandra free reign over a lexcorp branch in Markovia's capital to run as she sees fit, regardless of what that means for either nations ambitions.

Like, the Vlatava war was always a case of low stakes aid of one of our more inconsequential allies personal ambitions with no real major commitment to how it turned out. We took two actions related to it in the entire previous quest year and the best thing to come out of it was getting rid of moon.

None this attempt to turn the Markovia/Vlatava situation into a complex balancing act of working against both rulers to check their aggression while taking a major interest in both countries appeals to me. Let Cassandra have it. It will be an amazing learning experience.

 

[Alex Sol]

I feel like this is a very complex and micromanagement later heavy plan that involves paying more attention to post conflict Markovia and Vlatava than I have any interest in and runs directly counter to my desire to give Cassandra free reign over a lexcorp branch in Markovia's capital to run as she sees fit, regardless of what that means for either nations ambitions.

Like, the Vlatava war was always a case of low stakes aid of one of our more inconsequential allies personal ambitions with no real major commitment to how it turned out. We took two actions related to it in the entire previous quest year and the best thing to come out of it was getting rid of moon.

None this attempt to turn the Markovia/Vlatava situation into a complex balancing act of working against both rulers to check their aggression while taking a major interest in both countries appeals to me. Let Cassandra have it. It will be an amazing learning experience.

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What do you think about my latest plan then? I shifted tower location to capital, plus special economic zone that takes over part of the capital. You know like in those anime where some individual buys part of Tokyo and makes their fiefdom there. If we actually plan for Cass to spend some time there it would be ideal arrangement.

 

[jonasquinn]

Yes but I want to dominate the Prosthetics market with both cybernetic and organic options for patients. The DCs should be around the same range or lower since we have Pamela & some research into the Green.

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We conceded the prosthetics market to Wayne Enterprises a while ago.

Also I'm pretty sure the DC for organic prosthetics will be significantly higher than the alternative because creating an organic one would require us to develop cloning technology sophisticated enough to create a limb completely independent of a functioning body and the technology necessary to bind that to someone.

The DC for cybernetic prosthetics will almost certainly be lower because we already have access to LMD's and the robotic conversion process both of which provide most of the technology needed for high grade cybernetic prosthetics.

It's a lot more complicated than that. I will spare the detailed explanation and say that I don't trust Vertigo to not do anything stupid so it's meant to temper his own methods and force him into a slower conquest that we can interrupt whenever. I think that having him fight over resources with Markovia is a net positive outcome for us.

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While I don't really trust Vertigo to deal with the situation perfectly himself I'm of the opinion that it is a decent plan, especially since he just got a pretty good Intrigue hero from us, and that we can help in other ways

Vertigo's goal with the defensive pact is to be very costly to uphold and to justify getting involved with Markovia when it collapses. I wanted to ensure that Vertigo has maximal legitimacy for a full mobilization since if he can just, for example, send a few exosuits or planes to do some targeted attacks then it will be more difficult to justify moving his army across the entire country and actively occupy it under the guise of "helping Markovia defend itself."

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You raise a good point but considering that Vertigo's plan is to wait until most of the royal family has been killed and then swoop in to rescue whoever remains I don't think that's something anyone could argue could be accomplished with just some planes or exosuits.

 

[WheelOfTime]

I feel like this is a very complex and micromanagement later heavy plan that involves paying more attention to post conflict Markovia and Vlatava than I have any interest in and runs directly counter to my desire to give Cassandra free reign over a lexcorp branch in Markovia's capital to run as she sees fit, regardless of what that means for either nations ambitions.

Like, the Vlatava war was always a case of low stakes aid of one of our more inconsequential allies personal ambitions with no real major commitment to how it turned out. We took two actions related to it in the entire previous quest year and the best thing to come out of it was getting rid of moon.

None this attempt to turn the Markovia/Vlatava situation into a complex balancing act of working against both rulers to check their aggression while taking a major interest in both countries appeals to me. Let Cassandra have it. It will be an amazing learning experience.

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I'm not sure where this thing about micromanagement is coming from. The only point is to set up circumstances in our favor. The only required investment would be to actually build things in the country which is going to be case regardless. Hell, this way if Vertigo starts losing, we can pivot to Markov instead of being forced to commit.

I'd prefer to hand the whole thing to Talia when she's done with us tbh. This seems like a great place to build her own faction and have two countries subsidize it. Cassandra can rule Alexandria as its queen and eventually replace Lex as CEO as he goes off to space to take over the galaxy.

While I don't really trust Vertigo to deal with the situation perfectly himself I'm of the opinion that it is a decent plan, especially since he just got a pretty good Intrigue hero from us, and that we can help in other ways

You raise a good point but considering that Vertigo's plan is to wait until most of the royal family has been killed and then swoop in to rescue whoever remains I don't think that's something anyone could argue could be accomplished with just some planes or exosuits.

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It is because I don't trust Vertigo that I want to create a set up where he is less liable to shoot himself in the foot. From what I checked last turn the action to meet him barely passed, and if it didn't then Vertigo would be blowing the event up right about now and dragging Lex more into his mess.

I don't care if he and Victor try to kill each other behind the scenes or whatever, I just don't want to be dragged into their nonsense.

As for the second part, if you feel strongly about it I can remove it. Another benefit is that it lets Vlatava jerk Markovia's army around a bit. For example faking terrorists and forcing the Markovians to mobilize to aid them.

I'm really just trying to give them a lot of breathing room to screw each other over without having Lex get involved again unless we really want to.

 

[jonasquinn]

It is because I don't trust Vertigo that I want to create a set up where he is less liable to shoot himself in the foot. From what I checked last turn the action to meet him barely passed, and if it didn't then Vertigo would be blowing the event up right about now and dragging Lex more into his mess.

I don't care if he and Victor try to kill each other behind the scenes or whatever, I just don't want to be dragged into their nonsense.

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Fair enough.

As for the second part, if you feel strongly about it I can remove it. Another benefit is that it lets Vlatava jerk Markovia's army around a bit. For example faking terrorists and forcing the Markovians to mobilize to aid them.

I'm really just trying to give them a lot of breathing room to screw each other over without having Lex get involved again unless we really want to.

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I don't feel that strongly about it, I was more just spitballing than anything else. Feel free to keep it if you want.

 

[drake_azathoth]

[X] [Negotiation] Plan Compromise

[X] [Incoming] Have Edward pass on his analysis and conclusions to the Metropolis police department, making no mention of Toyman or "Captain Ironfist," and then order them to only evacuate citizens and to let the demonstration proceed unimpeded.

 

[Nicolay]

I have a question

How similar is this version of Vandal Savage to the Young Justice version?

 

[King crimson]

Promotional Material: Pamela Isley-Kane

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Omake review time. I might be going a little fast with this since I have classes soon that I can't afford to miss.

Broadly speaking I think this omake was solid. I also want to say that despite ostensibly being about the promotion to chief sustainability officer, the part that stood out to me more was the conversation about having children.

Pamela Isley read through Lex's letter for the third time. Her fingers traced over the elegant letterhead, her mind already racing with possibilities when she heard the familiar sound of the security pad beeping.

Katherine Kane walked in,

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I'm highlighting this because while you got it right above, considering it's post wedding I believe that Katherine and Pamela should share a last name of "Isley-Kane". That being said considering I also think I make this mistake, I won't dock it against the omake.

She placed her cheek on top of Pamela's head.

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As someone who personally struggles with writing romance, I've arbitrarily quoted this section to say that I like a lot of the little touches you implemented to show their connection/relationship.

I personally struggle to be subtle and to use little things like that to convey love so it's really cool to see you do it well and I want to commend that it's good.

The letter remained on the coffee table, Pamela's elegant signature already dried at the bottom, while the two women settled in for their evening, the future stretching bright before them.

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So I'm going to say that I'm keeping it fast because I need to go to classes soon, and because this was generally all around solid. I'll give this 500 exp and canon status. I'll also apologize that the threadmark will come late today (I've got a lot going on), but I will get it today and get everything properly bookkept. Thank you for your understanding and patience, I really enjoyed the omake.

I have a question

How similar is this version of Vandal Savage to the Young Justice version?

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I can't say too much but I will say that a lot of the superficial elements are very similar but he's pretty different. This version of Vandal has an appearance close to that of the Young Justice Version and some elements of characterization are true in both.

That being said the actual history of the character are wildly different. IIRC, this version of Vandal Savage is not the father of Nabu, has no meaningful connections to Atlantis, never fought Starro in any capacity, has never met or cut a deal with Darkseid (and would get squashed like a bug if he tried), and currently has only two daughters currently still alive, both of which are at least somewhat estranged from him.

I'm doing my best to avoid in quest spoilers but he's very much not Young Justice Vandal, even if he has elements that can be recognized as coming from him.

Edit: I'll say that ultimately it'll come down a bit to how you read the character. For example, my take on Vandal and Young Justice's version would probably both agree that the way Superheroes largely defend the status quo is not a good thing. How similar that makes them is something people are free to agree or disagree on. I hope this helps clarify some stuff even if it's not exactly a straight answer.

 

[Randino Treviani]

I'm not sure where this thing about micromanagement is coming from. The only point is to set up circumstances in our favor. The only required investment would be to actually build things in the country which is going to be case regardless. Hell, this way if Vertigo starts losing, we can pivot to Markov instead of being forced to commit.

I'd prefer to hand the whole thing to Talia when she's done with us tbh. This seems like a great place to build her own faction and have two countries subsidize it. Cassandra can rule Alexandria as its queen and eventually replace Lex as CEO as he goes off to space to take over the galaxy.

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By nature going against the aims of both rulers and trying to limit there ability to pursue there desired course of action is just going to have them seeking work arounds, which we could have to respond to, such as sabotaging the economic Zone to justify pulling the funds intended for it elsewhere.

Still don't like the whole leased markovian land part, so I'm sticking with plan compromise. In general other plans feel like they just add a lot of unnecessary bits which aim to control the situation too much by doing things both sides will object to. It's a little arrogant. I feel like their is little chance of the other plans passing as are. Ultimately this is an agreement between Vlatava and Markovia and trying to take total control of the situation this way is something they can probably oppose if neither is given much incentive to cooperate.

 

[King crimson]

So I figured I ought to try and get ahead of the ball here for once. The vote will close late on Friday and I'm once more going to try and get the update done by the end of the weekend. I will try and get something up for you guys over the course of the week but it will almost certainly be light as I've got a big project coming up and only about two months left before I finish with law school.

Edit: Is there anything fun and fast people would like to hear about?

 

[WheelOfTime]

By nature going against the aims of both rulers and trying to limit there ability to pursue there desired course of action is just going to have them seeking work arounds, which we could have to respond to, such as sabotaging the economic Zone to justify pulling the funds intended for it elsewhere.

Still don't like the whole leased markovian land part, so I'm sticking with plan compromise. In general other plans feel like they just add a lot of unnecessary bits which aim to control the situation too much by doing things both sides will object to. It's a little arrogant. I feel like their is little chance of the other plans passing as are. Ultimately this is an agreement between Vlatava and Markovia and trying to take total control of the situation this way is something they can probably oppose if neither is given much incentive to cooperate.

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They are going to be fighting over the agreement no matter what. They have very contradictory goals. Viktor wants money and Vertigo wants him to not have money. If we don't want to overtly side with either side, we will need to raise things they'd both object to.

They are probably going to try and circumvent certain things and such, but that's how negotiations work. You start with something and then you push it to a middle ground. LexCorp has quite a bit of sway and can bully both countries to some degree so that's fine. A lot of things are probably going to get dropped throughout the negotiation. There are probably going to be at least 2 more turns of back and forth on this.

Generally, I want to limit the ways they can engage with one another. If they do something overly dangerous or showy we will need to get involved, but that was going to be the case regardless. At the same time, I don't want the Markovians to reach out to other international allies, because that would complicate things. There are a lot of moving parts here.

I'm not sure what you mean with leased lands.

 

[Randino Treviani]

No, Vertigo wants the land and to not pay large reparations himself. Victor wants financial reparations. We can favor what they want and take some of the burdens they don't want without focusing on controlling what happens to an unreasonable degree or coming off as too much in favor of one over the other. Frankly, this delusion of successfully pushing the idea of near total neutrality is ridiculous. The current votes mostly come across as controlling rather than neutral. At best they come across as neutral about which nation Lexcorp is controlling.

 

[DarthXeno1999]

[X] [Negotiation] Plan Compromise

[X] [Incoming] Have Edward pass on his analysis and conclusions to the Metropolis police department, making no mention of Toyman or "Captain Ironfist," and then order them to only evacuate citizens and to let the demonstration proceed unimpeded.

 

[WheelOfTime]

No, Vertigo wants the land and to not pay large reparations himself. Victor wants financial reparations. We can favor what they want and take some of the burdens they don't want without focusing on controlling what happens to an unreasonable degree or coming off as too much in favor of one over the other. Frankly, this delusion of successfully pushing the idea of near total neutrality is ridiculous. The current votes mostly come across as controlling rather than neutral. At best they come across as neutral about which nation Lexcorp is controlling.

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Vertigo's ultimate goal is to cause a lot of unrest in Markovia over time and then swoop in as its "savior" and take over and to create an environment where he can kill king markov and blame it on dissidents. For that, he wants Markovia to be as poor and for the deal to give them as little as possible. He also wants to secure an alliance with Greece, maybe so that he isn't as dependent on Lex.

Victor wants money and is willing to give land. He wants no oversight to create an environment where he can build a private force and restart the war (he think Vertigo will restart it, but is willing to escalate things himself), with an interest in buying metahumans.

Victor wants money to build an army in secret. Vertigo wants him to not gain any money to make it easier for him to make Markovia crash. These are their biggest, fundamental goals, and they are highly incompatible.There are other issues (Victor wants to disrupt Vlatava's narratives about his country, while Vertigo wants to use them to seek additional allies) but that's the big one.

I'm not really sure what you mean about them coming across as controlling rather than neutral. Like, an agreement is meant to be restrictive since we specifically want to deny Markov his idea (make it a lot harder for him to build his army in secret) while still not completely shutting him out. Vertigo notably can still do his plan, though it wouldn't be as easy. Hell, if LexCorp gains hold on Markovia's economy, we could make things easier for Vertigo if we want to.

 

[Extreme]

[X] [Negotiation] Plan Peaceful Solutions

[X] [Incoming] Have Edward pass on his analysis and conclusions to the Metropolis police department, making no mention of Toyman or "Captain Ironfist," and then order them to only evacuate citizens and to let the demonstration proceed unimpeded.

 

[drake_azathoth]

Edit: Is there anything fun and fast people would like to hear about?

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Maybe what the ideal pet for each of our heroes would be?

...I can imagine Cassandra with a boxing kangaroo and Carl with some kind of rodent escape artist.

 

[wabbitking]

[X] [Incoming] Have Edward pass on his analysis and conclusions to the Metropolis police department, making no mention of Toyman or "Captain Ironfist," and then order them to only evacuate citizens and to let the demonstration proceed unimpeded.
[X] [Negotiation] Plan Compromise