I don't argue with any of this
I just think that
Could be rephrased as something less sure of itself, like
-[] Based on their modus operandi, Iowa looks like a weapon used by the Incubators to dismantle small, well-off groups of Megucas. You can't be sure, but you heavily suspect.
Because honestly, their prescience could be explained by any bullshit Path to Victory expy Wish, like "I wish I knew exactly how to defeat all my enemies", coupled with enough Potential
Raiseth, if it were just that, that would be one thing. That could definitely be explained away as some kind of clairvoyance. But it's not just that, that's only the capabilities part, it's that and the displayed motivation, which is
this:
"How about the Iowa group?" you ask as the torrent of Grief from the Grief Seed slows to a trickle. "I don't actually know much about them."
"Ah," Yuki says. "An excellent question. They are raiders, from America, as you might guess. They move into areas and demand Grief Seeds from the locals by dint of their powers. The locals typically do not have the firepower to fight back - the Iowa group knows to pick their targets. They stay for weeks to months before moving on."
And -- just for reference, the one you're already talking about, too:
"They rely on shock and awe," Yuki says. "That much has been a common thread. I suspect they have a clairvoyant of some kind, because another common thread is that they nearly always arrive in a perfect position to demoralize the defenders, often by destroying or occupying some location of significance, or even catching one of the defenders alone and then maiming them to send a message."
It would be one thing if they stayed for a shorter period of time, or if their opening action wasn't something that would do such a good job of driving up the locals' grief levels, or if any part of this sounded like it wasn't going to result in some or all of the locals witching out.
But when you take these two in combination... These tactics are visibly designed to go beyond simply defeating people. In Sendai, we say what simply defeating another group and forcing them to aid you looked like -- it looked like the tribute Akiko was demanding from University group.
But this? Destroying important locations, catching people alone and maiming them... Yuki is seeing those as intimidation tactics, but you don't have to do either of those things to effectively intimidate a group -- there are easier and more effective ways to go about it. You could just catch someone alone and surround them and tell them that if you can do it once, you can do it again. You can *threaten* to destroy an important location and not actually do it. These things would cause the locals to accumulate less grief than what Iowa is doing.
Now, on the other hand, if you
wanted to drive up people's grief levels and sow disunity in a way likely to encourage the defenders to argue with each other more, then it would be much, much more effective to destroy and maim, and then rub it in the locals' faces that they can't do anything about it.
It would be more effective to
make the defenders want to hurt you more.
Akiko didn't do any of those things, and frankly, the reason why is that
pushing up people's grief levels means they can't hunt as well and can't pay you as much tribute. The reason why, is that making the defenders want to hurt you
more, and then rubbing it in their face (directly or not) that they can't win against you --
that's not actually safer for you, and it sure as hell doesn't accomplish anything for you except to drive up the grief levels among the defenders.
If Iowa group was trying to "win", they'd be playing more like Akiko and less like they were trying to witch the defenders.
If you wanted to go about what the Iowa group has, without necessarily being directly responsible for witching people out, then you wouldn't use be known to use the Witchbomb as a weapon and you wouldn't stay in the same place for so long.
And yet, they do both of those things.
Because what they're trying to optimize isn't the tribute they receive, but
how much grief the locals are going to accumulate.
If it were just that, I'd only be massively suspicious, the way I have been since Firn gave us the first quote a while back. I'd find it deeply unlikely that any group would go around actively trying to witch people out, and not be wiped out for being too evil to not get ganged up on -- again, the way I have since Firn gave us the first quote a while back.
But when you add on top of that, that they apparently have access to a powerset matching exactly to what Kyubey would be capable of giving them?
If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, and quacks like a duck,
it is a duck.
That all said...
I have objections against strongarming Yuki into helping us by building a logical frame of them being an Incubator weapon aimed at us that we need to preemptively eliminate
Though yes, Redshirt Army's suggestion to hire them for this mission solves my concerns
Then I don't know I really have an issue here, cuz I am definitely willing to hire them instead of talking about the defense pact or any of this stuff.
Although, honestly... I don't really mean to invoke the defense pact to strongarm Yuki into
fighting for us. That would be kind of sketchy, and if my vote is conveying that, then I need to change it. What I want to do is inform Yuki about the fact that the group she's in a defense pact with is planning an offensive operation -- cuz boy if I were in a defense pact I'd want to know about that -- and why, and I want to make available to her anything that could be useful in the efforts she's
already making to get Intel about Iowa group.
I'm down to ditch all of that and just outright hire her to conduct Intel/combat ops against Iowa though. We might have a minor issue paying her -- we don't got too many grief seeds laying around -- but that could definitely be handled.
