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Ravanayana [Exalted/Aberrant]

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TenfoldShields said:
Man I love these little details, especially taken in context with and juxtaposed against the information in the Voidborne Garuda Style segment. How...idk, I don't want to just restate shit I said earlier because it's a notable development but the idea that Jutayu used to be a hero. That to everyone here but Ravana he was a hero. How Ravana himself is kinda trapped in the conventions of the society around him and if he can't make it as a hero himself he'll market himself as a heel and a villain. Because at least that way people will see it, see him. Because then people will remember and that's kinda the real luxury here isn't it?

The privilege to forget, to ignore, to not care. To not care about the vast, oppressed underclass that you've created. To not care about the crimes committed on your behalf, so distant that no part of the blood splatter will ever touch you. To turn your life's work, the martial style you've created, the path to self-understanding and enlightenment into just another weapon. To sustain it with a literal fortune in machinery and Essence-tech past the point of viability, of utility, of necessity. And then at the end that's all you have y'know? Your useless sword, this emblem of all your excess and own kinda self-hollowing that you kept out of ingrained trauma and vanity and it's not enough to save you. It's not enough to make a difference. It can't protect you.

Where maybe kindness and self-reflection a century or two ago would have made all the difference, and kept things from ever progressing to this point. But you didn't see it, and if you saw it you didn't care.

It's the problem of the Monitors writ small and writ kinda large and a facet of how it just...permeates their everything. Their systemic privilege, the whole corrupt system that exists to enable them and their ego, this kinda withering of the self but the self is kept sustained by burning treasure and grand self-indulgence and is gilded so it seems as grand as ever. And if even a portion of that was diverted away, if they were capable of self-reflection rather than just self-obsessing, they would have been able to see the thing that would one day kill them.

To that end- even though I know it's way too late in the vote to sway things (I've just kinda had A Week and I'm pretty sure Havoc would kill me if I swayed the poll at this stage of shit) I kinda want to make a token motion towards:

[X] Rama (1.4x. He ordered this.)

Rama is the main antagonist, was the main antagonist of Ravana's namesake. He's the one who this, Za-Vant, this whole nightmare- who it's all for. He's the one who did this. But he hasn't really appeared much in person y'know? He's always been seen from a long way off, through supplementary materials or other character's awe or dread. Little notes like how he's corrupted the worship of his patron god into worship of himself, conflating the two until the boundaries are smeared and blurred. And I think it'd- I mean whatever wins honestly but this especially- serve us well IC and OOC to get a good long look at the guy himself as things go forward. 'Cause right now he's just this kinda inscrutable enigma, understood more by the shape of things around him and the persona he projects, rather than the Solar himself.
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I note that Indrajit's Movement is *also* something that's loomed pretty large over the entire narrative, but *also* hasn't really been explored. It's literally the primary protagonist's reason for being here. Ravana didn't care enough about he outside world to really get motivated by a distant thing like Rama, he cared about his *brother*. The rest of it came later, as he was dragged into the movement by fraternal piety. This movement, though... we've always seen along its edges. Having an actual clue what it's about might have serious value.

Given how antagonistic/antihero we're being, I'm half-tempted to toss the vote that would send it over to your side of the poll. On the other hand, you seem to believe with some reason that this might dismay the QM, and I'm a great believer in pandering to the QM. Thus...

[X] Indrajit's Movement (1.3x, Mohini is interested)
 
Sirrocco said:
I note that Indrajit's Movement is *also* something that's loomed pretty large over the entire narrative, but *also* hasn't really been explored. It's literally the primary protagonist's reason for being here.
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I mean... Not really. As you say, Ravana is here because he cares about his brother. Not his brother's movement, but Indrajit himself. And, crucially, we just had a vote with an option to define our powers and self-expression around Indrajit's movement, that 'every Dalit you've ever killed' option... And we didn't take it.
 
Imrix said:
I mean... Not really. As you say, Ravana is here because he cares about his brother. Not his brother's movement, but Indrajit himself. And, crucially, we just had a vote with an option to define our powers and self-expression around Indrajit's movement, that 'every Dalit you've ever killed' option... And we didn't take it.
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Except that Ravana is still *in* the movement, as are a bunch of other rather important characters. It's a pretty defining feature of Indrajit (who we've yet to see). The movement was what pulled Ravana into this whole thing, trailing along after his brother. It's the start of the thing that's dragging Ravana to heroism - the first thread that told him that being a meaningful hero was even possible.

It's also going to tell us a *lot* about how the monitors are likely to handle Indrajit, and how they're likely to respond to the moves we've made thus far. Yeah, Rama may be the end-boss, but what the Monitors think of the movement is hugely applicable in the short-term. In-character, we have the stack, and we're eventually going to pull basically everything out of it. This is a question of what to pull out right now, and their attitude towards the movement seems like it might be more time-critical.
 
Sirrocco said:
Except that Ravana is still *in* the movement, as are a bunch of other rather important characters. It's a pretty defining feature of Indrajit (who we've yet to see). The movement was what pulled Ravana into this whole thing, trailing along after his brother. It's the start of the thing that's dragging Ravana to heroism - the first thread that told him that being a meaningful hero was even possible.

It's also going to tell us a *lot* about how the monitors are likely to handle Indrajit, and how they're likely to respond to the moves we've made thus far. Yeah, Rama may be the end-boss, but what the Monitors think of the movement is hugely applicable in the short-term. In-character, we have the stack, and we're eventually going to pull basically everything out of it. This is a question of what to pull out right now, and their attitude towards the movement seems like it might be more time-critical.
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Ennhhhh I don't- I don't really buy that tbh. That Ravana was inspired or uplifted exactly by Indrajit's movement, especially since afaik we've been veering away from options that would more strongly identify him with it on a personal level. What dragged him out of the coke haze and, like, cumulative decade long bender wasn't Indrajit's movement, it was Indrajit himself. Him getting blackbagged, him vanishing, him disappearing while Ravana was high out of his mind and very plausibly getting rammed by a murder-horny Mantis-man. That combination of guilt and the fundamental shock to the system of "I wasn't there for him" and "I have to fix this". Which is what prompted the race, which is what prompted all this. Ravana by my reading isn't especially like...ideological exactly? He has pretty strong convictions but by and large they're unconscious and he's not comfortable examining them in a more coherent way.

Plus uh: we literally just murdered Rama's adopted dad. I mean that's kinda the thing to take into account too in terms of "what will the Monitors do" and "what will happen next". Because literally all of them are going to flip their shit and get angry. And supremely powerful godlings do stupid, unpredictable shit when they get angry, and when you wrench away that armor of seeming-invulnerability they've wrapped around themselves.

What Rama in particular does or is going to do is pretty massively important. And it should be noted that the vote option is for "what do you choose in addition to all you can glean on Indrajit".
 
TenfoldShields said:
Ennhhhh I don't- I don't really buy that tbh. That Ravana was inspired or uplifted exactly by Indrajit's movement, especially since afaik we've been veering away from options that would more strongly identify him with it on a personal level. What dragged him out of the coke haze and, like, cumulative decade long bender wasn't Indrajit's movement, it was Indrajit himself. Him getting blackbagged, him vanishing, him disappearing while Ravana was high out of his mind and very plausibly getting rammed by a murder-horny Mantis-man. That combination of guilt and the fundamental shock to the system of "I wasn't there for him" and "I have to fix this". Which is what prompted the race, which is what prompted all this. Ravana by my reading isn't especially like...ideological exactly? He has pretty strong convictions but by and large they're unconscious and he's not comfortable examining them in a more coherent way.

Plus uh: we literally just murdered Rama's adopted dad. I mean that's kinda the thing to take into account too in terms of "what will the Monitors do" and "what will happen next". Because literally all of them are going to flip their shit and get angry. And supremely powerful godlings do stupid, unpredictable shit when they get angry, and when you wrench away that armor of seeming-invulnerability they've wrapped around themselves.

What Rama in particular does or is going to do is pretty massively important. And it should be noted that the vote option is for "what do you choose in addition to all you can glean on Indrajit".
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Ehhh... fair enough. You have made the correct choices in this conversation tree.

Vote change

[X] Rama (1.4x. He ordered this.)

It would have been more narratively satisfying if there had been other folks to give you the victory in reward for your rhetoric, but it is what it is.
 
[X] Indrajit's Movement (1.3x, Mohini is interested)

Getting along in her okay books on the same page with Ms Murder wind is also important.

Mostly so she doesnt stab us
 
fitzgerald said:
[X] Indrajit's Movement (1.3x, Mohini is interested)

Getting along in her okay books on the same page with Ms Murder wind is also important.

Mostly so she doesnt stab us
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I still think it's bloody funny.
- Ravana handles a major invasion, including the deployment of a city-killing weapon.
- Mohini sits in a safehouse for half an hour.
- Mohini has the higher body count.

In other news, I was just re-reading bits of the older part of this quest. We've just killed Jutaya. By extension, the entire empire is about to utterly collapse. The monitors have been sunk in their own individual projects for a very long time, and they are desperate to do whatever random thing it is that they do rather than actually handle the scutwork of rulership. Even more than that, Jutaya has been balancing the whole thing on his fingertips. Even if the Monitors wake up and care enough to actually put in effort to keep things running rather than trying to foist it all off on each other, he has plates in the air that no one else is keeping track of... and when they drop, there's not going to be anyone to catch them. Worse yet, the Monitors are utterly out of touch. They have absurd amounts of raw power, but they lack certain kinds of understanding, and they utterly lack his soft touch. Everything is about to fly apart. We have dealt this corrupt nation a mortal blow. The only question now is how things will look once the apocalypse is done, and what we can do to push it one way or the other.
 
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Sirrocco said:
In other news, I was just re-reading bits of the older part of this quest. We've just killed Jutaya. By extension, the entire empire is about to utterly collapse. The monitors have been sunk in their own individual projects for a very long time, and they are desperate to do whatever random thing it is that they do rather than actually handle the scutwork of rulership. Even more than that, Jutaya has been balancing the whole thing on his fingertips. Even if the Monitors wake up and care enough to actually put in effort to keep things running rather than trying to foist it all off on each other, he has plates in the air that no one else is keeping track of... and when they drop, there's not going to be anyone to catch them. Worse yet, the Monitors are utterly out of touch. They have absurd amounts of raw power, but they lack certain kinds of understanding, and they utterly lack his soft touch. Everything is about to fly apart. We have dealt this corrupt nation a mortal blow. The only question now is how things will look once the apocalypse is done, and what we can do to push it one way or the other.
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I think you are reading too much from a single interlude

This is 100% true in the case of Lakshmana, sure. The other eight Monitors though? We don't actually know enough about them to tell.
 
Broken25 said:
I think you are reading too much from a single interlude

This is 100% true in the case of Lakshmana, sure. The other eight Monitors though? We don't actually know enough about them to tell.
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I got it from the attached dossier

Havocfett said:
Still, Jutayu is enormously potent even if only as a politician and political manipulator. While the Monitors spend most of their times on personal projects, or administering the Empire as a whole, Jutayu is, in practical terms, the ruler of the Za-Vant system and the Capital itself. He controls the Empire's most powerful Houses, manipulates them and pits them against each other for the good of the Empire, he cajoles the Monitors into governing the system when they visit, he deals with threats, manages the Sidereal Bureaus and GCM Node, and ensures that things go not as he wants them to, but as the Monitors want them to. He, in practical terms, governs Za-Vant while the Monitors are away, and though he may disagree with what the Monitors demand or prioritize he is unerringly loyal and has never failed to carry out the spirit of their requests. In return, of all their servants Jutayu Aruna is the one most beloved of the Monitors.
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...though, on re-reading, you are correct. It's only the Za-Vant system and the Capital that are going to collapse. Still, it's going to get *messy*.
 
We're calling the vote here, Rama slightly in the lead. I'm going to be out for the weekend and will be working on an article when I get back, so next update may be A Bit.
 
Sirrocco said:
In other news, I was just re-reading bits of the older part of this quest. We've just killed Jutaya. By extension, the entire empire is about to utterly collapse. The monitors have been sunk in their own individual projects for a very long time, and they are desperate to do whatever random thing it is that they do rather than actually handle the scutwork of rulership. Even more than that, Jutaya has been balancing the whole thing on his fingertips. Even if the Monitors wake up and care enough to actually put in effort to keep things running rather than trying to foist it all off on each other, he has plates in the air that no one else is keeping track of... and when they drop, there's not going to be anyone to catch them. Worse yet, the Monitors are utterly out of touch. They have absurd amounts of raw power, but they lack certain kinds of understanding, and they utterly lack his soft touch. Everything is about to fly apart. We have dealt this corrupt nation a mortal blow. The only question now is how things will look once the apocalypse is done, and what we can do to push it one way or the other.
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While the Monitors hate the busywork that comes with ruling there's no indication that they're bad at it. They're Solars, and even Lakshmana who seems to be the Twilight of the group is apparently supernaturally skilled at ruling. Provided they decide to stop goofing off and wallowing away their years on pet projects and decadence they'll be as terrifying as a circle of elder Solars who have charms devoted to ruling can be.

Honestly I'm more hoping there will be friction and bickering over jurisdiction then them actually failing to implement Glorious Plate Catching Prana.
 
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