Prince Aladdin Quest (Disney Villains *Almost* Victorious)
- Thread starter TempestK
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
- Location
- Goose Land
I respect your capacity for pendantry though I do not appreciate it.
The available information says they're "body snatching pod people summoning" types, not mundane religious difference types.
We've heard rumors of, seen evidence of, witnessed omakes of, and directly resisted attempts of mind control or other mental influence by this faction, so even in the absolute best case likely scenario they're willing to abuse mass mind control to convert those who oppose them.
I honestly forgot that that happened.
Yeah, that clinches it, I think. Capital E Evil it is.
English isn't my native Language, in my native Language it is very common to write words in the middle of a sentence with capitalization so that's hard-wired into my brain, I have always written like this in English and I frankly don't care enough to change that.
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Devil's Advocacy: It is unclear to what extent they're using mind control on regions as opposed to individuals; mind-controlling regions sounds like a lot more work.
Also, the EITC will probably whip you to death with a cat o'nine tails if you do the wrong things around them, and I'm pretty sure they practice slavery on a substantial scale though I could be wrong. I'm not sure that's better than mind-controlling thieves who break into a mayor's house, but we generally seem willing in principle to do business with the Company.
With that said, even 'limited' use of mind control certainly puts Lemuria down in the "dark gray" end of the moral spectrum, I freely agree, and I strongly agree that we should be treating "oppose Lemuria" as a serious priority, much more serious than if they were just a rival for territory.
Look, I want to be scrupulously careful about things like this, because I'm consciously trying to avoid the attitude in fiction where supernatural deviance is treated as a priori evidence that the deviant needs to be purged with fire.
Aladdin, being a head of state and all, is a pretty likely target for attempted mental influence even by someone who'd only use it on selected priority targets. Hacking the prince of Ababwa is very tempting if you're not a friend of Ababwa. If I had some other reason to think they're otherwise decent people (I don't), then I might overlook that if I had reason to think they wouldn't try it again and again (I don't).
But apparently (I missed that specific bit of that specific post), Lemuria's down to mind-controlling random burglars as slave bodyguards. And unlike some other rather nasty factions like the EITC, they're unwilling to live and let live even on relatively short timescales. John Company will conquer you if they get a chance, but they're willing to bide their time and negotiate more or less fairly in the short run. Lemuria doesn't seem so patient, which makes fending them off a higher priority.
Okay, but to native English-speakers, you will usually convey the impression that you have weird, obsessive ideas about the importance of the nouns you are capitalizing. Because the other use case in which English-speakers capitalize a noun is to communicate that they are talking about some incredibly important concept, something almost godlike in its significance.
- Location
- Goose Land
Personally, the vibe I'd gotten from our last EITC update is that they're morally reprehensible and also they tried to assassinate our (eventual) father-in-law, so any peaceful economic interactions we currently have with them are simply a prelude to their destruction or consumption by our hands.
Like I said, I respect what you're doing, I just don't personally appreciate it.
Making sure of the facts is good, I just find the way you're going around it tolerably annoying, especially because all of our IC evidence supports the OOC conclusion that they are cultists of what would nominally be the BBEG of any other setting.
I'm glad we've reached similar view points then.
I personally do Exactly what you're describing on a somewhat regular basis so I didn't even think anything of what Sturnn was doing.
MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
Tbe point is anyone that have a passable knowledge on literature wold think twice before before trusting a place called Lemuria and this before the shady stuff they where atempting. Any benefit of the doubt lease they had gone out of the window the moment they attempted to subvert the underworld with a cult as a opening diplomacy move.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Fair. Though, observations:
If they're the only people selling something we need, such as quinine, I don't know what we'll do.
The East India Company is a massive global naval force. While we are not a landlocked power, we are effectively pretty restricted in our ability to project naval power across the high seas. We are in no position to destroy or consume the Company. Our best reasonable hope is to keep them away from our own shores and make it impossibly expensive for them to take any further steps to integrate us or our immediate friends into our sphere of influence.
Given the long hiatus, I wanted to make sure we had reviewed the IC evidence properly and were in correct possession of the facts. I myself recalled "Lemuria bad, but I don't remember all of why and how bad except that generically sinister magic and a conspiracy are involved." And while I can educate myself with a few hours of thread-crawling, it is good to have the relevant materials out in the open.
Lemuria-named places are not bad in all iterations; the term has its origins in, basically, the Indian Ocean version of Atlantis.
That was certainly enough in itself to make me think of them as a rival, a hostile power as opposed to a potential ally.
At the same time, in itself people who are more or less morally decent might try to operate that way. Our spy networks infiltrate places by way of the criminal underworld too, after all, because our two main Intrigue advisors are basically the competent schemy underlings of our own frickin' Disney villains.
If I were a religious sect trying to expand and cement influence in the region (and being a religious sect is not inherently bad), then I would probably try to convert people wherever I go too, and that would include converting people in the underclass. It worked for Christianity, after all. On the other hand, Christianity didn't use weird magic mind-slave practices to do so.
...
To be clear, what I am trying to do here is to differentiate very clearly between things that are nasty, annoying, and hostile on the one hand, and things that are atrocious, evil, and unforgivable on the other hand.
For instance, we had a big wave of Mongols under Jamukha come by. They were a threat, but we dealt with them peacefully before it descended into knock-down, drag-out warfare. Those Mongols may have actually done some real damage to our allies; I'm honestly not sure! Mongols are pretty rough customers. Certainly they were credibly threatening to do violence if they didn't get some kind of accommodations they liked. But we were still able to make peace, and peace was better than fighting them.
Maldonia dealt peacefully with a bunch of French Foreign Legionnaires who got ISOT'ed into or near their territory, despite having been under colonial oppression by their own timeline's version of the French not long ago and probably not wanting to see French troops around that much.
Because some groups are potentially hostile, but can be persuaded to desist from their hostility, while other groups are implacably hostile and must be treated as a threat to be put down as fast as possible. It's important to keep track of the difference, so I wanted to do, y'know, a check of what we think we know and how we think we know it.
Lemuria, yeah, piecing things together after the long hiatus, is coming across as the latter. Threat to put down.
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The other thing I remember about Lemuria in this story is that the ambassador was this slimy, seductive type who seemed extremely confident of the fact that Ababwa would soon be subsumed into Lemuria; in other words, domineering and condescending just like the EITC but in a different way. That paints them as evil to me, too.
MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
That where you miss the point, it was not an infiltration attempt, it was an subversion atempt, the method was deliberate in order to find the dregs of society and get a foothold on power. It was subversion and not al all what we do, we send spies and collect actionable intel.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
(Reviews Turn 8-9 results, it was one of those)
Also valid.
Eh. The difference between a subversion network and an intelligence-gathering network can be pretty academic, especially in the early stages.
The possibility of some of those little gold trinkets she spread around being magically active and a form of psy-ops, now, is far more sinister and troubling.
Again, my core point here isn't that the Lemurians aren't bad news. It's that I want to make sure we can distinguish between what you might call "normal fortunes of statecraft" problems caused by people wanting to, say, prevent us from expanding our borders in their direction or to get influence and profit from our trade networks, versus "actually evil" problems caused by people being significantly more evil than the minimum necessary to rule a country effectively.
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I mean, it's a fair point that some countries are going to be kinda shady without us necessarily having to be hostile towards them. Whoever wins in China for instance probably won't be very nice, but we don't necessarily have to plan on attacking them if they aren't expansionist.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Given that China is really big, we should probably rein in any crusading (jihading?) impulses directed towards them anyway.
I still say Siberia is the worst enemy we'll have overall. It's the equivalent to BILL BILL BILL BILL in Doofquest, the apocalyptic threat that's slowly preparing to strike.
MrRobot
In doubt there's always the Sun!
At least chenny have some counters even if those counters are scattered around the world an more a merling thing than an Aladin thing.
Where Are They? Part 5 (Turn 10)(Canon)
Where Are They? Part 5 (Turn 10)
Holmes and Watson
Holmes and Watson
"Another successful case, Watson. What shall we do next?"
Does Watson's injury act up? 1d4: 2! No, his injury does not act up.
Does Holmes take a job with the Sultan? DC 50-25 (ID'd threat): 1d100: 86! Yes! What job? 1=Spying on the EITC, 2=A Golden Opportunity, 3=Charting A Course, 4=Scouting Out Ababwa. 1d4: 3! Charting A Course! Which Pirate Lord? 1=Sinbad, 2=Nemo, 3=Davy Jones. 1d3: 2! At the Sultan's request, Holmes begins investigating the Pirate Lord Captain Nemo. What are his goals? Is he a threat, or can he be made an ally?
Does Watson accompany Holmes? DC 75: 51! No, he remains in Agrabah to perform his usual work. DC to accompany Holmes on a case in the future has been temporarily reduced to 50.
Charting A Course (Nemo), DC 80/100: 1d100+30+30-20 (???): 105! Success!
As it so happens, Holmes has read the novel by Jules Verne, and his memory recalls a great many details to the surface. He's also read "The Mysterious Island", the stealth sequel where Nemo's backstory was revealed. While he doubts it was the case here in the amalgamated world, he knows that Nemo's true name is Prince Dakkar, that he built the Nautilus at a remote base about 2,500 kilometers east of New Zealand, and that he swore revenge on the British for murdering his wife and children during the Sepoy Mutiny. He reports as much to the Sultan, who muses that it explains a great deal about the man. Given what they know about the EITC, Holmes believes that Nemo could be an ally to Agrabah, and suggests making contact with the man.
Princess Jasmine reveals that Prince Aladdin has already made contact with Nemo, as was reported in a sealed diplomatic packet from Haroud to the Mukhtar, and may well be able to assist them in this regard. Said hopes are dashed, however, when they receive word from the EITC that Nemo and his submarine were destroyed in a battle in the Indian Ocean - or so they think; the massive plume of air and foam from where it descended suggests that it was hulled and the air all left in a rush.
As it was more of a consultancy than a true case, Holmes is left bored.
1d3: 1! "A 7% Solution" does not activate! What does Holmes do instead? 1=Work on a new chemistry lab; 2=Explore Agrabah; 3=Meet someone new. 1d3: 3! Meet someone new!
Who? 1d6: 6! Holmes seeks out someone who truly intrigues him: Sadira, the Sultan's newest advisor. The former street rat not only can use magic, but helped slay the Sand Witches, and he is interested both in her former profession and her new one.
What do they discuss? 1d2: 2! Magic!
Diplomacy Contest, Holmes vs. Sadira.
Holmes: 1d100+12: 81!
Sadira: 1d100+12+5 (Friend to Power): 101!
Sadira success!
Both people make a good impression on the other. Sadira is awestruck by Holmes's blinding intelligence, and Holmes respects her tenacity and kind spirit.
Result: Holmes has developed an unlikely friendship with Sadira! Personals have been modified accordingly.
Watson: Work for the Sultan. 1d100+16+10: 85! Watson's health regime for the Royal Family is paying dividends. The Sultan has lost a significant amount of unnecessary weight, and feels better than he has in years. Jasmine practically glows with good health. The staff are all strong and healthy. He also undertakes the cleaning and sanitation of the septic system and plumbing and institutes a boiling order for the city. Honestly, Agrabah has never been better.
As a result of Watson's string of successes, his "British Physician" trait has been modified! He gains an additional +5 bonus when working in Agrabah in general, and +10 for the palace and the Royal Family!
Moriarty and Moran
Moriarty: One action. 1-2: Going for a second Learning action; 3=Something else. 1d3: 3! What action? Auto-choose: Star Charts!
Star Charts, DC 40: 1d100+25+30: 155! Nat 100! Explosion reroll: 38! Total: 193! Planetary-scale critical success! Having adjusted to the oddness of the skies, Moriarty swiftly charts it. In the process, he discovers, for lack of a better word, 'gaps' where space bends and touches widely disparate points. Whoever controls the 'gaps' has unparalleled access to the world.
How much does he share with Frollo? Intrigue check, Moriarty vs. Frollo:
Moriarty: 1d100+25+15: 93!
Frollo: 1d100+21+10 (suspects everything: 56!
Moriarty success!
Moriarty opts to share the star map, but conceals from Frollo the information regarding the gaps. Frollo, gearing up for his grand crusade, is so grateful to have a map with which his troops can navigate that he doesn't even stop to suspect that Moriarty might not have told him the entire truth.
Result: Frollo now has updated star charts! Moriarty knows about the 'gaps', but has neglected to share the information with Frollo.
Thanks to the incredible critical success, Moriarty has gained +1 Learning!
Moran: Two actions. Actions list: Launch the Eastward Crusade (locked); Recruit troops; plan a counter-offensive against the Cauldron-born; scouting expedition; push against Maleficent's forces. 1d4: 2! Plan a counter-offensive!
Counter-offensive plans, DC 75: 1d100+20+10: 76! Bare success! Time spent on the crusade limits the focus Moran can bring to the northern threat of the undead, but with that being said he does manage to draft up a good plan. Undead are not fought like one does the living; they have no morale to break, no lines of communication to disrupt, cannot starve, thirst, or drown. They are very vulnerable to fire, and from what he's learned and seen they appear to rely upon the Cauldron mists for motivation. As such, he prepares plans for formations that utilize weapons to burn the monsters, explosives to blow them to smithereens, and artillery to smash holes in their lines.
The Eastward Crusade, DC 90: 1d100+12+20+10+10 (Long-term preparations): 93! Bare success! The crusade is off to a start, but Frollo's armies barely cross the border into Germany before they encounter resistance in the form of Queen Grimhilde's armies.
Grimhilde's general: 1d3: 1! Sigmund Igthorne!
To Be Continued…
Creating a network, 321/500: 1d100+25+30+20+10+20 (gap knowledge): 185! 506/500! Network complete! Moriarty and Moran have used their time wisely, and now have infiltrated the entirety of Frollo's government! Even the legal and diplomatic corps are their.
Does Frollo suspect? DC 85+20, 1d100+21+10: 83! Frollo, focused east, is clueless as to the threat posed by his general and chief scientist.
Trait gained! "The Spider's Web" - thanks to his thorough infiltration of Frollo's government, Moriarty gains +60 to all Intrigue rolls within France, and +10 with its immediate neighbors. He can use this network to launch a coup against Frollo, and his opening move, thanks to having passed the competitive checks, will retain its full advantage when supplanting the Demon Pope.
Action unlocked! "Memento Frollo Mori" - Slay the Lich, and take over France for your own!
???, DC 80: 1d100+25+30+10+10: 147! Massive success! As the tendrils of Moriarty's network creeps over the world, they run into those of another network heading the opposite way. Moriarty is left with a burning question: Who is the man, the myth, known only as "The Raptor"?
Iago is left with a burning question: Who is the man, the myth, known only as "The Professor"?
Flynn Ryder
Ryder has two actions. What does he choose to do? 1=Study Arabic, 2=meet people, 3=Explore Ababwa, 4=Find somewhere to live. 1d4: 1! Study Arabic! Does he do it alone, or seek out a teacher? 1d3: 1! He tries doing it alone.
Arabic practice, A1: 0/100, 1d100+6: 28! Flynn tries, he really does. And to his credit, he did manage to teach himself Italian back before the Upheaval. But Arabic is known as one of the most difficult languages for a non-native to learn for a reason. It takes him two weeks before he realizes he's supposed to read it from right to left, not left to right. Some progress is made - he learns a few basic greetings and now knows how to ask for the toilet - but little is accomplished beyond that.
Trait unlocked: Student of Arabic! His current progress is A1, 28/100. His efforts at communicating in Arabic suffer a -20 malus, instead of an automatic failure.
What else does he do? 1d3: 2! Explore Ababwa! Intrigue or Diplomacy? 1d2: 2! Diplomacy DC: 50. "Gentleman Thief" activates! DC 40, 1d100+10: 25! He's feeling cocky, and that rubs people the wrong way. -5 malus. 1d100+10-5: 66! Success! Flynn's strut around the town is a productive venture; he checks out most of the public venues, and learns street names and regions as a part of his efforts to learn Arabic.
Result: Flynn has familiarized himself with Ababwa, and can no longer get lost when roaming the city. His effort in learning the names of places and buildings has granted him (1d5+1: 6!) +6 to his Arabic studies, leaving him at 34/100!
The Maldonia Contingent
Von Lettow
Von Lettow
Von Lettow's priorities: Martial, Learning, Personal: Self-Reflection.
Martial: 1=Drill your troops; 2=Patrol. 1d2: 1! Drill your troops! After Staquait's encounter with Chaos, Von Lettow decides to take some time to drill his men on anti-magic tactics. He leverages his own experience fighting Queen La and his close call with Ursula to help his men learn how best to combat them.
Drilling the troops, DC 35/70/100: 1d100+20+20-5: 67! One degree of success! Being the commander of a ship, perhaps the greatest threat his men face is creatures that can manipulate the weather; accordingly, he drills them in the procedures one would use when adjusting sail, combat, and other considerations when dealing with rapidly changing and/or extreme weather conditions.
Result: Von Lettow's men suffer reduced maluses when battling a foe who can manipulate the weather to their advantage.
Learning: Study Arabic (locked). Current progress: A2, 27/150. 1d100+20+5-5: 81! Language mastery progresses to 108/150! Von Lettow's fluency grows by the day, and within two months he can hold basic conversations with people in Arabic.
Self-Reflection: Learning DC 60, 1d100+20-5: 38! Failure! Von Lettow is still angered and grieved by what he has learned about the future, and his friends worry that it might see him slip into a depression. -5 malus to all rolls retained.
Jean Staquait
Colonel Staquait's priorities: Intrigue, Martial, Stewardship!
Intrigue: Chaos. Staquait will never forget the sheer horror he felt upon being played and manipulated by that damned cat, and he will never let himself be caught by surprise again.
Intrigue DC 75: 1d100+12: 43! Failure!
d1-fish=Table Flip Interrupt! Auto bare success!
Maldonian archives have nothing on the creature, and the vague reports from Egypt contribute nothing that Staquait doesn't already know from his own encounter with Chaos.
…until he sees reports about a strange upheaval coming from Egypt. People and buildings appearing from nothing, wearing strange clothing and speaking ancient languages. It would appear that Chaos has power over time as well as matter. How utterly terrifying.
Martial: 1=Train the troops, 2=go on patrol. 1d2: 1! Training! On what? 1=Swordsmanship, 2=drill and marching, 3=artillery, 4=experimental tech. 1d4: 3! Ammunition is limited for the artillery they have, but Staquait manages to get his old light artillery piece attached to his unit.
DC 40, 1d100+17+5: 54! Success! Within two months, his company has all been trained in quick-firing light artillery, although the small amount of ammunition means that they only fire a few shots in training. Maluses when using artillery have been eliminated!
Stewardship: 1=open a bank account, 2=invest in Dumont and Friends, 3=buy some personal supplies. 1d3: 2! Staquait uses some of his paycheck to become an investor in Renard Dumont's new conglomerate.
DC 0, 1d100+13: 57! Staquait earns a 5.7% return on his investment, and is quite pleased with the dividends. He (1d2: 1) saves the profit, and plans on opening a bank account soon.
Dumont and Friends:
Renard Dumont
Renard Dumont
Run your import/export business: 1d100+20+10+20: 95! Thanks to the influx of visitors celebrating the birth of the heir, business is booming! Dumont is quite pleased with how business is going, although he is aware that recent successes are due to a temporary state-of-being and he needs to develop more constant sources of income.
Remy Baudoin
Run your restaurant: 1d100+12-1+10+20+5 (Patronized by the Prince of Ababwa)+5 (Letters from Indy): 115! Between the hundreds of foreign visitors, the benefit of a visit from Prince Aladdin, and the morale boost from receiving news from his friend Indy, life is going well for the Belgian. There's even a lovely lady who has taken to eating most of her meals there, and seems to favor him with her smile.
Hooft and Hugo
Run the brewery: 1d100+15+6+15+5+20 (Amateur Brewers): 122! Massive success! In addition to making alcohol for Remy and Renard, the two friends have also started their own bar. They specialize in beer, wine, and whiskey, and have begun experimenting with scotch. Both men are happy as clams, and reveling in their new-found popularity and wealth.
Albert and Joey
Run the stable: 1d100+17+20+5+20: 118! Albert's stable is booming, and Joey is having the time of his life. The old war horse is in high demand as a stud, and seemingly half of the brood mares are carrying his foals. Between his form, temper, and seemingly endless strength and endurance, his progeny promises to be of the highest caliber of equines.
.9+1.1+1.2+1.2=4.4. 4.4% growth in their conglomerate over the past two months.
Dantes and Madellaine
Study time! 1d6: 6! Nothing is learned, but both manage to keep up the other person's morale.
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- Location
- Wherever I feel like being
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oh wow, that was awesome!
8 XP for this awesome omake!
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Holmes? Read speculative fiction?
I can't imagine that he would. The man had, per canon, very very limited literary inclinations. Virtually no interest in literature or works of fiction of any kind, or most kinds of history, or philosophy, while being obsessively well-read regarding things like chemistry, poisons, and the geography of London.
I'd expect Watson to be the one who'd read Verne, since in-character he's the one who's enough of a man of letters to produce stories of literary merit comparable to, say, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Mumble mumble sede vacante...
...That must have involved some real fast talking to the Maldonian government, or a major trust exercise on their part.
They are very, very short of modernish artillery of any kind, and handing over even a single '75 they don't strictly have to surprises me.
Import-export in Maldonia has nearly bottomless potential, being as how Maldonia is the closest thing to an industrial nation on the Mediterranean. Renard's going to be fine, and I could make suggestions.
It was the one Staquait brought with him to Maldonia; his argument was that of anyone in the country, he knew best how to use it. Also, it's not quite handing it over? Staquait works for them, he's not independent.
In later books, Holmes demonstrates a working knowledge of a far wider range of literature than he did in A Study in Scarlet; it's suggested by some Holmesian scholars that he was teasing Watson, and actually indulged in non-criminal literature from time to time.
The what now?
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Yeah, but just about all the other artillery in Maldonia would be '75s or other French artillery models of similar vintage. Remember, they're coming back from the 1920s, not the 1800s or anything; the artillery and combat they're most experienced with are those that play by World War One rules.
I wouldn't expect the argument to fly, so I'm calling it a surprise.
Inserted some invisitext, btw. Happy hunting!
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Hm. If so, then that's a fair point. I must be over-remembering A Study in Scarlet.
It's Latin for "the seat is vacant" or something along those lines (I can't conjugate in Latin). It's commonly used among what are called 'Sedevacantists,' Catholics (I dunno if that's strictly what to call them but you know what I mean) who believe that there is no valid Pope. In the modern day, in real life, this is usually because they're ultraconservatives who dismiss Vatican II as heresy and so consider the papacy to have lapsed in the 1950s.
In this case, well, for Catholic Western Europe (e.g. France and the northern parts of Spain), the Pope is gone, Italy is effectively replaced by something out of a Fractured Fairy Tales version of Greco-Roman myth, the bulk of the College of Cardinals is thus gone for good measure...
Frollo asserts that he is the Pope, but anyone who questions his title will be saying "Sede vacante." As will anyone who aspires to empty Frollo's chair.
- Pronouns
- He/They
Mmm, more delicious omakes! Good to see that everything's going well, and I can't believe I'm rooting for Moriarty.