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Mare Internum: An Exalted Quest

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Now That You Are Pure 51
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    • Legionman said:
    [X] If I can call you Logris. (shake the hand)
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    "If I can call you Logris." you shake the hand. It's cold, even through her white glove.

    LOGRIS: "You may, Vesper. We will speak again."

    LOGRIS' FACE: This was not as painful as I expected.

    The captain remains seated in her folding chair under the pavillion. As you move away, she produces a small leather-bound book and starts leafing through it.

    SAGACITY: Well, apparently she has at least one book.

    As Logris observed, the rain has stopped, but Sulco camp is still a mire of well-trodden bare earth and puddles. You can still smell baking bread, from somewhere to your left, beyond which you can detect the faint scent of the sea, over the cliffs. The air is full of the sharp percussion of tools striking metal and wood, there must be a workshop nearby, with many craftspeople busy within.

    Well, it's time to-

    PRESENCE: Wait, wait, hold up. What the hell was that?

    What the hell was what?

    PRESENCE: You just met a real Dynast, in the flesh, and you were all buddy-buddy. You shook her hand, you're on a first name basis now!

    We're not buddy-buddy, it was just basic manners.

    PRESENCE: Fuck your basic manners! You want to be some big-shit anti-Realm revolutionary, right? How does that start with making nice with a Dynast?

    Well, she seemed nice. Being rude would have been weird.

    PRESENCE: Oh, I see how it is. You've been encorcelled by her androgyny and her perfumed soap and her vowels. Next you'll be reclining on a couch made of human baby leather and slurping liquified cultural treasures through a jade straw. You're corrupted.

    This is bullshit, I'm not corrupted.

    PRESENCE: This is how it begins, don't you see?

    [ ] You're right, I need to be more combative with Dynasts. I'll do things differently in future.
    [ ] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
    [ ] I don't think I want to think about this anymore [Unequip Unbroken Rushes]

    This is a consequential decision, please vote.
     
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    • [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
     
    [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
    I don't expect this to have a good resolution no matter what we vote, but here we go I guess.

    Edit: To be clear, I think a big part of our problem as a person is that we're too inconsistent. Too willing to change our minds on a dime. This is common with Water Aspects, but clearly we took it too far, for too long.

    Crumplepunch said:
    It's just a face. The face of someone else, somewhere else, full of misery and mistakes and a burning need. First came the desire to be better, but little by little that was washed away by the desire to be different. It's the face of someone who has destroyed everything she cared about in her need for change.

    You don't know who she is. You badly want to stop looking at her.
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    We spent half a day contemplating why we hated the Dynasty and now we're chatting up one such Dynast no problem - Presence must be feeling like there's no point in thinking about such things if you're not going to apply them. Like, look at the Unbroken Rushes bonuses and maluses! Somehow we navigated our way through this talk without directly going 'fuck you, I have no idea why I saved you'! And now we're trying to argue to ourselves that maybe we can find some sort of compromise.

    In the style of Disco, there's not really a wrong answer here, but we will call ourselves out on contradicting ourselves, for sure.
     
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    [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
     
    You are ignoring content by this member.
    [X] You're right, I need to be more combative with Dynasts. I'll do things differently in future.

    Dynasts are evil and, to be frank, they're kind of fucked here. I think we should be exploring our options with the local rebels, tbh.
     
    [X] You're right, I need to be more combative with Dynasts. I'll do things differently in future.
     
    You are ignoring content by this member.
    I mean, let's be real here, the Dynasts are here to commit intense violence and enslavement upon the locals for daring to become independent.
     
    Seems likely to me. But if we do go off and rebel or something, this way we might have a more emotionally heart rending conversation between us and our dear beloved... um, brand new acquaintance we just met.

    I jest. But it might be cool to have a scene where we can tell her that the Dynasts, as a group, are terrible and ask her to come with :).

    And I think it might be easier to get better outcomes at this point if we are not combative with (some) people as a default.
     
    [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
     
    SunnySprings said:
    I mean, let's be real here, the Dynasts are here to commit intense violence and enslavement upon the locals for daring to become independent.
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    Oh, absolutely, the machinery of empire is oiled with the blood of innocents and polished with their agency in order to sustain itself and its wealth. But individuals are never the entire empire and taking out our anger specifically on Logris isn't going to solve anything. Being stubborn about holding onto whatever ideals we think we have at the moment is counterproductive.

    Ultimately, in the current circumstances of being unsure of who we are, going 'fuck the Dynasty' in any sort of tangible way is just gonna be a way of making us feel better about ourselves, not about actually helping anyone. Like, let's say we killed Logris right here and Usamir - Mei immediately will attempt to kill us, what remains of the legion will fall apart and will start looting the surrounding areas because what else are they going to do, and ultimately it won't even contribute all that much to the fall of the Dynasty - the people of the island will simply be caught in the crossfire.

    On top of that... between the island being 'cursed', the weird weather, the way people are amassing in Ashglass, and the apparent presence of a corpse-kraken-thing, there's a good chance that there's also an Anathema here on the island, which for all we know might actually be causing tangible harm to the locals.

    Now, if we want to be a proper revolutionary, we would be much better served finding comrades in this endeavor, planning things out, waiting for the proper time, and then making them all pay in a way that actually hurts.
     
    [X] I don't think I want to think about this anymore [Unequip Unbroken Rushes]

    I'm not exactly ready to start committing one way or the other yet. Especially as an amnesiac. Also frankly I'd like to get another thought added to the cabinet, we really need to start contemplating what the heck happened with the mysterious stranger incident.
     
    [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
     
    [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
     
    [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.

    Wild, but smooth. That's Disco. Even if for some reason people keep choosing the boring options when interacting with others.
     
    Now That You Are Pure 52
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    • googlyeyesultra said:
    [X] No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
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    No, there has to be a better way than just hating all Dynasts on principle. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.

    THOUGHT GAINED: Those Jagged Peaks

    PRESENCE: Suit yourself. Enjoy your compromises! You're going to have blood on your hands by the time all this is over.

    EMBASSY: Well, I think this is a sensible approach. Directionless antagonism isn't going to help anyone, we need to formulate a structural critique.

    PRESENCE: Oh, figures that the one who only cares about rules and politeness wants to follow rules and be polite!

    EMBASSY: Well, it figures that the one who only cares about being loud and being seen prefers ineffectual posturing to effective political engagement!

    Please stop arguing, this is very difficult to follow.

    PRESENCE: Fine. Get back to what you were doing.

    NAVIGATE: We were going to find some food. Or some other stuff? I just like finding things, I'm not complicated.

    [ ] Look for some food.
    [ ] Look for the workshop.
    [ ] Look for Fincher and her group.
    [ ] Take a walk around the outskirts of the camp.
    [ ] Go towards the manse entrance.
     
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