Looking at them closely, all of these options nod to Emerald Seas national identity in one way or another, which is fun.
[ ] Settling the wall with the aim of ending the raiding that has killed so many of her people since time immemorial. That is the frontmost goal.
This statement is not untrue. And not unsympathetic for a Sun audience, even if they're liable to view ES conditions as soft as far as barbarian raiding goes. Adopting the peoples of the Emerald Seas as her people is a nice touch. As a stance, it's kind of unimaginative though? In the manner of the Xi.
Actual reality is more complicated, of course. She's not actually saying anything about who gets to be her people and how settlement goes down. This vision of the future isn't even a little incompatible with a mutually syncretic cultural fusion with the Cloud Tribes, even. A less bloody and heavy-handed version of the Sun's own bilateral assimilation would not contradict the mission statement. Which is funny.
Still, it's pretty flat in the immediate social context. It's not like Ling Qi doesn't believe in it, but her deeper beliefs are, well, deeper. Seems like a low chance of mutual cultivation sparks or similar nonsense.
[ ] Showing that the Wall could be tamed and that the Emerald Sea could pacify its own borders, and conduct itself as a province of the Empire no less than any other.
I find this one interesting because it leans most heavily into defining a distinct/autonomous Emerald Sea's political identity and it strongly echoes the politics of the Diao when it comes to themselves. Going with this stance would probably be agreeable with basically all factions of the Diao, even if they don't agree with the project as a whole. It's also a way to maybe loop them into our Emerald Seas identity cultural project, while creating openings to launder fun Weilu things into the mix.
More presently, this position mirrors a lot of what the Sun and Western Territory are trying to do themselves. Seize legitimacy as an independent and rightful province of the empire, equal to any other, and afforded the same (existential) rights and guarantees as the rest are. Given that similarity, I can see a moment of higher communication crossing between Ling Qi and Sun Liling as the latter digests our stated priorities.
[ ] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
Here's where we more boldly stand by the value of diplomatic efforts, while leaving the door concerningly open to more. Maybe. It's ambiguous, and that's the way we like it. This approach ruffles feathers and raises concerned eyebrows, but it doesn't technically directly offer any explicit ammunition. Which is, of course, grounds for complaint on its own.
It's sort of Fun™️ in terms of the Sun, though. Because, as much as he's the Butcher King, Sun Shao has definitely been pursuing means besides 'sword and fire' to build his extension of the Empire. Sun Liling herself is evidence of that. The full reach of our willingness to experiment contained in this statement is potentially very useful to the Sun. For similar reasons to the above option, I can see this sparking an elevated exchange between Sun Liling and Ling Qi.
[X] Showing that the Wall could be tamed and that the Emerald Sea could pacify its own borders, and conduct itself as a province of the Empire no less than any other.
I'm going with this one because I think the domestic political implications are more interesting. I'd rather have a rhetorical carrot we can play around with some of our local ideological critics with. It just feels more overall engaging than an, admittedly badass, one-off mission statement. Hmm, put another way, option 3 has some pretty plot threads, but I worry it strings them up a bit beyond our grasp. There's nothing wrong with aspiring to those heights, but I prefer something with more concrete tactile feedback in the interim.
