2-5 Four Families: Xue - Yang - Hsu - Su
- Location
- Michigan
[X] Bringing Rural families and communities full on board as equal partners with families from the Capital.
[X] Making a Fresh start, apart from the Xue family name. Autumn still wants to find her siblings but she's done with the evil and folly of Xue and what it stands for.
[X] Making a Fresh start, apart from the Xue family name. Autumn still wants to find her siblings but she's done with the evil and folly of Xue and what it stands for.
Grandpa Yang spoke with Autumn only for a moment as they hurried out the next morning to visit with the local Yangs.
"You've got a lot of questions I'm sure, and so do we. We'd like to settle in today and then sit down together tomorrow."
Neither Grandpa Yang nor "Uncle" expected the extra arrivals that night. Uncle had to get up from the dinner table and enlist other villagers to find places for the Su and Hsu families to stay.
So the meeting the next day was with Yang, Su and Hsu families, and their attention was all on her.
Grandpa Yang spoke up, "I think we are eager to know your intentions Princess. If I may be so bold, our three families have no interest in Sang or Conner control of the Empire, even with the two princesses involved. Sang Tia and Conner Kasi are both loyal to their family of marriage first. As they should be. Unless Xue Chi shows up, you are our last hope for the Imperial family."
It wasn't too surprising to hear that from Grandpa Yang, but she hadn't really thought of the Imperial family continuing, it was already destroyed, and more bad would come when these pirates and outsiders arrived.
"I think we need a fresh start, but not the destruction which Lin Tsu promises. I fought him recently, and he used plagues, pestilence and horrible alchemy to try to kill me. These are not the ways of some kind of hero like he thinks he is. They are the same foul ways he used to kill my father. We can't let him or his Wu Allies take over.
Not everything can stay the same however. The Sang family represents a lot of what I don't like about my family and the way my brothers ran things. I can't let them take control even if it's in my sister's name. It's time to start again, and I think we should consider looking beyond just the capital. I want to argue for rural families and villages gaining a voice as well, we need to put some effort into including them in our conversations.
I am eager to rescue my siblings, especially my younger siblings who didn't do anything wrong. The Wu family and Lin Tsu are hiding them somewhere. The Xue family will recover, even though right now I can only join this council as myself. I have progressed in my powers, I was able to force Lin Tsu to flee when I fought him recently, but I don't expect Tsu to stop his own power progression. I also have several treasures I collected from the South and West palaces that I am willing to place before this council as additional consideration."
Yang priorities (fixed): Integrity, continuing Imperial line
Yang opinions: Dislike Wu - Lin, Neutral to Sang - Conner
Su priorities: Opposing Sang family, Supporting Autumn personally (not in favor of renewing Imperial Line)
Su opinions: Dislike Wu - Lin, V. Hostile to Sang - Conner
Hsu priorities: Wise Rule, Supporting Autumn personally (not in favor of renewing Imperial Line)
Su opinions: Dislike Wu - Lin, Hostile to Sang - Conner
Yang opinions: Dislike Wu - Lin, Neutral to Sang - Conner
Su priorities: Opposing Sang family, Supporting Autumn personally (not in favor of renewing Imperial Line)
Su opinions: Dislike Wu - Lin, V. Hostile to Sang - Conner
Hsu priorities: Wise Rule, Supporting Autumn personally (not in favor of renewing Imperial Line)
Su opinions: Dislike Wu - Lin, Hostile to Sang - Conner
The Hsu grandma who was representing her family responded first.
"Look, we can't follow the line of Imperial Succession exactly. We'd have to give your brothers each fourteen days to appear, including the Fifth Prince, and then there's no rules allowing for Princesses to succeed to the throne. Even if there were, you've got three older sisters. More importantly, we do want to avoid the Sang family taking control.
I think what we've seen is no one can do it all alone. We all need other voices of reason to keep us in check. So as for the Hsu family, we are in favor of a council, not in favor of returning to Imperial rule. It seems reasonable to seek more voices of wisdom, where we can find good representatives in the outlying areas, we would love to have them join this future council."
Father Su spoke next, "For the Su family, we'll consider working with anyone elese, as long as we can stand firm against the Sang family. If we do anything else, first we have to make sure that they can't take over. Some of us are going to have to go back to the Capital to resist there influence. And secondly, we stand behind you Autumn, we've only interacted on occasion before, but between my wife and kids, we all come away with a good impression. Like the Hsu family, we have no desire to see the Imperial line continue, but we are here to support your plans."
"Princess," Grandpa Yang asked. "If you want to continue as the next in line for the Emperor, even if we have an interregnum for now, we would hope to convince one of our other families. Is that want you want?"
"If things were different, and the Su and Hsu families were eager to see the line continue, I would support that, but honestly, as it is, I think devolving to a council of four families is what I support. With four, we will have to work together and gain the support of two other families to pursue anything. I was not raised to be a ruler, I was raised to be a wife, and I worked hard to break out of that mold, but I was more interested in Tuan's swords than Son's administration."
Conversation continued, and the Su and Hsu families filled in Autumn and the Yangs on the quickly changing Capital situation.
"There is another group of families having conversations much like ours. You may not be aware of them, Autumn. The Vong family and Ho family were the first two families but others have sought interest. We have no reason to oppose their efforts, it would be good to make contact.
Open fighting has broken out in the Capital. The Sang and Conner families are attacking families in their homes. The Su family as well as our Hsu family were attacked. The Wu family is taking control of Hightown and raiding any merchant families there not supporting them.
Many of the poorest families in town have actually resisted the Wu family, and now there's a lot of anger in those parts of town. It's disorganized anger but it will have an effect."
Grandpa Yang finally relented on the Imperial line talk. "If the Xue, Su and Hsu are against it, we won't fight for the Imperial line," Grandpa Yang said. "If we are to insist on one thing, it would be fighting to stick to our word. The Yang family is known for that, and I don't want to think any less of our council's integrity. We will hold on to the Sang and Conner family's bank money for the duration of this conflict, but if they surrender to this council, our obligations will be repayed even to them. This is our Yang bedrock and foundation."
Grandpa Su responded, "We don't have a problem with that. Our firm position is that we must oppose the Sang family. We are flexible on everything else."
Grandma Hsu confirmed her family's priorities, "We were adamant about not continuing the Imperial line, but now that that is settled, we consider it even more important is that we conduct our council with wisdom and open conversations. We will oppose any group that wants to put brute unthinking force or unexamined tradition in charge. That means the Sang and Conner families, and seemingly the Wu family are not qualified."
Autumn completed the four families statements with her bottom line, "I won't work with the Wu family or Lin Tsu. I think Lin Tsu needs to be arrested and face judgment for what he's already done. And I need to find my younger siblings. Xue Wei, Xue Tai, Xue Siu and Xue Suk are all currently captured by the Wu family or one of their supporters. I have no idea how they are being treated right now, but I don't want to subject them to a moment longer."
Autumn added further, "I will go back to the capital, if you think I should be there to look for more allies, and seek out the Vong and Ho families. I want to ensure someone is looking towards our Rural friends. Grandpa Yang, do you think your family could take up that matter. Starting with this village, and moving on to others nearby? Bring all of the families of the village in to discuss these things, and maybe each village can appoint one family to act as their representative? If you are willing, I'll leave that with you."
Grandma Hsu said, "Let's take the night and consider what our plan actually is, instead of just flying off in four directions. In the morning we can decide exactly what to do."
Father Su and Grandpa Yang agreed, and they broke up the gathering to spend the day in rest and contemplation.
First thing the next morning, they met again to put together a few plans and decide among them.
Vote on a Plan for the next few days (or write in your own):
[ ] Plan 1: Autumn & Su family return to the capital. The Yang family purchases property for the council in their home village. Hsu family seeks support amongst nearby villages.
[ ] Plan 2: Su and Hsu family return to capital. Autumn and the Yang family seek support amongst nearby villages.
[ ] Plan 3: The Yang family purchases property for the Council, the Hsu and Su begin seeking support amongst nearby villages. Autumn returns to the capital to talk with the Vong family and find out where her siblings are being kept.
[ ] Write In
(Returning to the Capital takes the full time for a family, but Autumn alone can get something done once she gets there. There are other ideas for the families, but they should be options the families could realistically know about.)
