Through the Ages (Exalted CK2 Style Empire Builder)
- Thread starter Alectai
- Start date
What we need to do is kill that immaculate asshole.
If we can do that, it should be harder for anyone to notice if we do flip this guy.
...Hm, maybe the Getimian that'll be showing up could help with that?
Apparently Sidereals can't really notice them so this Wyld Hunt sure as fuck shouldn't be able to.
Unlness that would provoke this Knife one to come along...
If we can do that, it should be harder for anyone to notice if we do flip this guy.
...Hm, maybe the Getimian that'll be showing up could help with that?
Apparently Sidereals can't really notice them so this Wyld Hunt sure as fuck shouldn't be able to.
Unlness that would provoke this Knife one to come along...
So this guy being killed early on won't cause a problem then?
(Also, hopefully we can encourage interpersonal tension and use that to hurt the hunt...)
- Location
- United States
It probably won't unless our method of killing him is immensely blatant. To be honest, using Neiya might actually have a higher chance of causing him to arrive than Altren revealing himself. There have always been Solars running around causing trouble, Altren's actions are amazing but not out of the ordinary. Solars and especially Lunars have a bad habit of carving out petty states and needing to be thrown down. Neiya on the other hand is a First Age Lunar who is a Chosen of the Waning Moon, a type that doesn't exist anymore. A Sidereal who finds out about her and Altren might have a heart attack and assume both Altren and Neiya are first age Exalted who have been in hiding in the Wyld for the past few centuries and are still alive due to the use of magic like Gems of Immortality. The idea of a perfect Elder Solar-Lunar pairing from the First Age is far more threatening then the idea of a Solar leader managing to hide himself for 100 or so years. We should probably be cautious about using Neiya.
Isn't that how most Presence and Socialize charms work? It just speeds up the prcess of finding their levers, not delete their loyalties and insert our own.
- Location
- Ireland
[X] Accept the Offer (Permanent Piety Advisor secured, new Hero Unit. +1 Piety Action, Starting Wyld Hunt Suspicion at 5%)
Don't think we have a choice in this, can't have suspicions at 25% before they even begin investigating.
As for 'turning' or 'work around'... I think it's necessary to turn him. He won't be putting an idiot in charge, they will be difficult to turn but I think they'll be pretty well versed in intrigue and therefore setting up an informative structure within our own system. If left alone for 4 or 5 years I think he will be entrenched enough for suspicion to rise quickly if we don't turn him.
As for 'Rising flame' ...... He needs to die. Although it obviously needs to be done in such a way that suspicion doesn't fall on us. So perhaps the plan to get Neiya to lay a trail leading the hunt elsewhere is a good start for the first year and if they find the trail set up an assassination using the likely methods of whoever our catspaw is will be our second year objective.
We could be looking at the leaders of the military infrastructure in the meantime and perhaps set up a few more assassinations/ambushes to take them out. But I think 'Rising flame' is our biggest threat as long as we don't draw the attention of 'The knife'.
Just started reading this lately by the way and just caught up. Probably one of the best quests of this type I've come across. The chapeters and intermissions give us breaks to recover and build infrastructure whilst also having threats to focus on and not get bogged down in repetitive turn slogging. Plus its really refreshing that this hasn't turned into 'lets advance a thousand years in technology in a compressed twenty year setting, whilst also applying modern institutions thats make us feel better rether than actualy be better for the realm as a whole'.
Heh...
... can probably tell I've got a few issues with the more generic quests of this type.
Thanks for sharing. It's a great read
Don't think we have a choice in this, can't have suspicions at 25% before they even begin investigating.
As for 'turning' or 'work around'... I think it's necessary to turn him. He won't be putting an idiot in charge, they will be difficult to turn but I think they'll be pretty well versed in intrigue and therefore setting up an informative structure within our own system. If left alone for 4 or 5 years I think he will be entrenched enough for suspicion to rise quickly if we don't turn him.
As for 'Rising flame' ...... He needs to die. Although it obviously needs to be done in such a way that suspicion doesn't fall on us. So perhaps the plan to get Neiya to lay a trail leading the hunt elsewhere is a good start for the first year and if they find the trail set up an assassination using the likely methods of whoever our catspaw is will be our second year objective.
We could be looking at the leaders of the military infrastructure in the meantime and perhaps set up a few more assassinations/ambushes to take them out. But I think 'Rising flame' is our biggest threat as long as we don't draw the attention of 'The knife'.
Just started reading this lately by the way and just caught up. Probably one of the best quests of this type I've come across. The chapeters and intermissions give us breaks to recover and build infrastructure whilst also having threats to focus on and not get bogged down in repetitive turn slogging. Plus its really refreshing that this hasn't turned into 'lets advance a thousand years in technology in a compressed twenty year setting, whilst also applying modern institutions thats make us feel better rether than actualy be better for the realm as a whole'.
Heh...
... can probably tell I've got a few issues with the more generic quests of this type.
Thanks for sharing. It's a great read
The Knife is very likely the Elder Sidereal Assassin the OP mentioned earlier in the thread. Probably either a Chosen of Battles or Endings, with some level of mastery over sidereal martial arts. The main way to get him called in would be to let the Ultimatum that is the Sidereals finding out the truth behind our cover story pass by.
As an Elder Sidereal he should be tremendously busy, likely too busy to take part in a multi-year mission in Creation, so if we engage the Hunt before the Sidereals figure us out and reorganize their schedules we should be able to avoid having to deal with him.
He is what happens when we disregard the Ultimatum, like the Yojimbos curse or the threat of Pale Maw using First Age weaponry against us in previous chapters.
As an Elder Sidereal he should be tremendously busy, likely too busy to take part in a multi-year mission in Creation, so if we engage the Hunt before the Sidereals figure us out and reorganize their schedules we should be able to avoid having to deal with him.
He is what happens when we disregard the Ultimatum, like the Yojimbos curse or the threat of Pale Maw using First Age weaponry against us in previous chapters.
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Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
That sounds like a very good way for the rest of the Immaculates to take things out on the local Gods as retaliation and to try and get information on the Anathema, because clearly they actually contacted him or her for the hit.
I don't think it's so cut and dry as that. If it was just a matter of scheduling and being off by a turn or two potentially, he could just show up a couple years into the Interlude and kill everyone.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
A Solar who spends even a single year working to change someone isn't going to be working with a false assumption.
I mean, unless they're an idiot.
Otherwise, you'll be working to erode Intimacies without actually knowing what Intimacies the target has, or their Motivation. That's the information you need to flip someone.
(Resplendent Destinies are not a perfect defense against social attacks.)
Presence is basically a hammer of mind-altering. It gets close to mind-control in a lot of places.
Socialize is good for manipulating a large group, and is significantly less mind-control-y.
(In 2.5e, that is; I haven't read through 3e yet.)
Daniella_c2
Commie Ice fairy
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@Spectrum Probably the reason they won't sent him in if we beat the ultimatum is because they'd think it'll be far to risky to send an elder sidereal without any support with the wyld hunt being destroyed because then the sidereal wouldn't have support and would litterally be surrounded by an army with an solar, lunar and some dragonblooded exalted just to make the situation worse for the sidereal and unless the exalted are the greatest bullshit guys ever I don't think a single guy is any match for an litteral army. At that point it'll be smarter to just wait for the realm army to kill the solar. No risking of sidereals required!
Sol Zagato
senseless brute
I want this to be like Palpatine and Anakin. Right down to the opera.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
I don't. In the end, Anakin killed Palpatine.
Note to self: If I gain any subordinates by turning them from opposing factions, I will not torture their family members right before their eyes.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Sending an Elder Sid in with a small amount of resources that they can scrounge up is still going to be far, far better than letting the newly revealed Solaroid sit around with his kingdom for *another* fifty years building up. That kind of situation can justify calling in a couple other Sids to deal with the problem quickly.
There's the laws of Heaven which make that difficult to do on a larger scale than their vacation time.
- Location
- United States
Nah the Elder Sidereals hate getting their hands dirty. They have more important things to do like manipulating the entire religion of the Immaculate Order so that the Realm as a whole is stable or chairing the Committee on Wyld Activity to ensure that Wyld threats don't absorb a chunk of Creation. They won't just let us sit around but even in the most drastic case, they're more likely to pull a Pope Urban II and launch the mother of all holy wars with fanatical Realm peasants and Dragon-blooded zealots selling everything they have to arm themselves and recruit mercenaries to march on hell on earth. Sending Elder Sidereal assassin Jing Ke to try to assassinate a Solar is dangerous both because he might die and because he's already occupied. And if he does dies a leadership position opens up and since all the current leaders are Kejak's allies, Kejak is going to have an unknown entity/coworker in a position where he use to have an old friend (one who he's worked with for several hundred years and knows what Kejak needs done without being told).
Granted I can see Elder Sidereals coming into play in two ways.
One: there's a panic attack when they find out about Neiya and assume Altren is a first age Solar elder whose come out of hiding. A first age Solar can remake reality and while some deaths are going to be inevitable, they need to kill him now because if he starts teaching his "citizens" first age technology, everyone is doomed and Yilali can't be contained.
Two: Altren figures out where the Jade Prison is and decides to break it open. The Sidereals have to intervene.
Otherwise manipulation is the name of the game. There's no need to risk the death of a valued co-worker/friend who you've known for hundreds of years when there are thousands of dragon-blooded to do that! After all, why else have we Sidereals been wasting our time developing anti-Solar martial arts for these cannon fodder?!
Jade Prison is all the way in the opposite side of Creation, so we can't even get there unless there's a shortcut in the Wyld.
No one knows where it is. The comic with the sub going to check on it is not canon.
Aw, shucks. It would have been nice to eliminate the abbysals and infernals before they even existed.
Is it just me, or am I the only one hoping our new "ally" will have shitty stats?
I don't see why it wouldn't be. It's also stated in Scroll of Heroes that the Jade Prison is somewhere on the Western seafloor. So, at least it's canon for 2nd edition.
Hoping for shitty intrigue.