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re: sunken palace HQ
Taking a sacred place to Ranald and having not only The Hochlander, but a bunch of staff and agents who are also not ranaldites constantly passing through it doesn't seem right to me.
I'm pretty sure most of the gamblers in the casino we turned the shrine of Only Mork into aren't Ranaldites either. I don't think it is in his nature to care as long as their actions are those he would favour. A bunch of spies using a sacred place seems like an extremely appropriate use to me.

E: Ninja'd, sorry if this seems like a pile on.
 
Ya, rethinking it.

The empire is not a bunch of monotheistic cults jammed together, even if the headquarters of a spy network didn't have one 'Ranald' worshiper and no shrine; it would not be long before at least a small one did get set up. Because even if he isn't the god of their personal lives, he is the god of their job.
 
Okay, thoughts on the plans. TLDR, I don't really like any of them as a whole, though different parts are attractive.

First, I don't really think it's a good idea to overwork right now. That would be better done after Foundations opens up a bunch of new options. Other than that, I really don't get the point of stuffing a bunch of research backlog here of all places. Improving Mathilde's swording is a good idea with us wanting to prepare for the Iron Orc thing and other potential adventures, but all the non-personal improvement pure research-and-publish actions are probably better done at a less time-sensitive juncture. IIRC we still have two techniques to work on with Branulhune. AV is bigger, but I still don't see the point of doing it now of all places, when an Aqshy firebomb can do the same job if you want explosions and weaponization.

I'm fine with recruiting Adela, but if that's the case we should also do two other WEB-MAT actions for efficiency. As for the Waystone Project itself, I'm still for Gambler, so I think anything we want to test the Father on (Halétha, the Lady, etc) should be squeezed into one turn so we get more usage out of the Coin's other sides during other turns. House Tindomiel is still a good idea to recruit now, since I really doubt Hekarti is one of the daughters.
 
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We have more money than we know what to do with (EIC), a province that's up for grabs faith-wise (Sylvania), an aspect of Ranald that isn't widely known (Father) and a place where to set up a base of operations for something.

We could turn Ranald into the Sylvanian version of Santa.

Sneaking into places to leave presents for children also solves the issue of worshipping Night Stalker without shady shit . . . hmm . . this might not be pure meme stuff . . .
 
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We have more money than we know what to do with (EIC), a province that's up for grabs faith-wise (Sylvania), an aspect of Ranald that isn't widely known (Father) and a place where to set up a base of operations for something.

We could turn Ranald into the Sylvanian version of Santa.
Santa-Ranald: sneaks into peoples house, then flips a coin on whether he gives the kids toys or nicks the kids toys.
 
I really don't get the point of stuffing a bunch of research backlog here of all places. Improving Mathilde's swording is a good idea with us wanting to prepare for the Iron Orc thing and other potential adventures, but all the non-personal improvement pure research-and-publish actions are probably better done at a less time-sensitive juncture. IIRC we still have two techniques to work on with Branulhune.
So the logic behind my plan is that I think we have enough different people involved to lay a solid foundation and don't want to bring anyone else in on credit. I also fully expect us to go full on every action will be waystone related for the next few turns, so it's just trying to get in some of the stuff people have been wanting for a long time before we lay the foundations and it becomes highly unlikely we will do those things for literally months of IRL time.
 
I honestly think the book mine should come after the librarians.

We will need help sorting though everything.
See I disagree. The book mine can potentially have books from centuries of vampire raiding and looting as well as black magic. All kinds of texts that can be useful to the waystone project. Also I am reluctant to let anyone near the vampire library because it will have books we do not want anyone exposed too.
 
I'll make one more case for putting the Shadow HQ in our fief instead of in the Sunken Palace.

Ninja Village.

Yes, it's remote and that means some things will be harder. However it also means that the entire village can be brought in on "the conspiracy" and provides a ready pool of recruits from an isolated environment who can be indoctrinated and trained to be spies with no competing influences. Something that will never happen with the Sunken Palace. Long term, I really think the Shadow HQ has more potential in a fief rather than in the Sunken Palace, a place that will always limit the amount of personnel and equipment that can be accommodated due to room limitations. There's a difference between a village that can be molded to anything you want and a hideout in the sewers.
 
So the logic behind my plan is that I think we have enough different people involved to lay a solid foundation and don't want to bring anyone else in on credit. I also fully expect us to go full on every action will be waystone related for the next few turns, so it's just trying to get in some of the stuff people have been wanting for a long time before we lay the foundations and it becomes highly unlikely we will do those things for literally months of IRL time.
Still no need for overwork, though.

Also, I want the HQ in the Sunken Palace. The Palace is right next to the regular EIC headquarters and is currently not being used, unlike the fief which is running along on its own. Besides, having a spy HQ in the fief might attract the wrong kind of attention or bring the wrong kind of excitement to our subjects, who we really should be leaving to live their lives in peace.
 
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I'll make one more case for putting the Shadow HQ in our fief instead of in the Sunken Palace.

Ninja Village.

Yes, it's remote and that means some things will be harder. However it also means that the entire village can be brought in on "the conspiracy" and provides a ready pool of recruits from an isolated environment who can be indoctrinated and trained to be spies with no competing influences. Something that will never happen with the Sunken Palace. Long term, I really think the Shadow HQ has more potential in a fief rather than in the Sunken Palace, a place that will always limit the amount of personnel and equipment that can be accommodated due to room limitations. There's a difference between a village that can be molded to anything you want and a hideout in the sewers.

That makes our fief important, putting it in the line of fire.
 
I'll make one more case for putting the Shadow HQ in our fief instead of in the Sunken Palace.

Ninja Village.

Yes, it's remote and that means some things will be harder. However it also means that the entire village can be brought in on "the conspiracy" and provides a ready pool of recruits from an isolated environment who can be indoctrinated and trained to be spies with no competing influences. Something that will never happen with the Sunken Palace. Long term, I really think the Shadow HQ has more potential in a fief rather than in the Sunken Palace, a place that will always limit the amount of personnel and equipment that can be accommodated due to room limitations. There's a difference between a village that can be molded to anything you want and a hideout in the sewers.
Counter argument: there is more then one building down there. Just have to find them.

And I don't think the goat farmers want to be ninjas, I think they just want to herd goats

And the good relationship Mathy has with them is that she is very careful to let them just farm goats.
 
Stealing from kids is another level of assholyness, especially poorer ones.
Still in character for him in canon, sometimes, and other times not.

He is very hard to pin down in this way.

In that he will do really nice things for one person and then completely fuck over another: sometimes for a reason like the first guy is very good person and the second a very bad person… but other times he just messes with someone at random. Or even goes after the good guy and rewards the bad guy.

He is weird.
 
I think we should at least visit the fief before we turn it into a ninja village.

Who knows, maybe Eshin Friend has retired there and begun teaching the locals how to be ninjas already. That would save so much time.
 
Still in character for him in canon, sometimes, and other times not.

He is very hard to pin down in this way.

In that he will do really nice things for one person and then completely fuck over another: sometimes for a reason like the first guy is very good person and the second a very bad person… but other times he just messes with someone at random. Or even goes after the good guy and rewards the bad guy.

He is weird.
You're describing Ranaldites, not Ranald himself. There's very little material in canon of Ranald doing shit personally. Ranaldites are diverse, just as there are Shallyans who kill people to spare them from suffering, or Sigmarites who do horrific shit to people in the names of maintaining the Empire's safety, or there are Ulrican who destroy people's food stores in winter so they can survive with their own wits etc etc.

The closest thing I know of what you're talking about is the canonical "Ranald's Coin", which siphons other people's luck to fuel your own. It's a pretty dickish artifact, but you're the one who chooses to wear it.
 
[-] Plan Disregard WEBMAT, Acquire AP
-[-] One Overwork Action
-[-] COIN: The Father
-[-] WEB-MAT: Hire someone as a full-time Gyrocopter pilot (Adela)
-[-] Lay the foundations: work with the current members of WEB-MAT and the Waystone Project to build a single unified framework for understanding the Waystones.
-[-] Attempt to bring a non-Order magical tradition into the Waystone Project (Nordlander Haléthan Hedgewise)
-[-] Attempt to bring a Major House or Ward into the Waystone Project (Tindomiel)
-[-] Branulhune's ability to disappear and reappear at a thought allows entirely new forms of combat. Continue to work on them.
-[-] Investigate how the Vitae reacts to a power stone.
-[-] EIC: Investigate what trade goods the Eonir might be willing to import from the Empire.
-[-] KAU: Decide who your library staff will consist of, and go about recruiting them.
-[-] SERENITY: Write a book: Windsoak Mushrooms (1/2)
I'm a big fan of this plan.

The only thing I might change is the AV action, in favor of the Nut. I'm a big fan of AV, but I've also been missing Panoramia because with all the mini-adventures recently I feel like we have had a tragic drought of Panoramia. I'd really like to see Panoramia more outside of social actions.

But I do really like AV, so I'm not entirely sure which I prefer.

By the way, where can I find out how the WEB-MAT mechanics work? I see people talking about how we should do 2 more WEB-MAT actions or something to save AP, but I don't see the mechanics under Organizations or in the vote post or anything.
 
I think we should at least visit the fief before we turn it into a ninja village.

Who knows, maybe Eshin Friend has retired there and begun teaching the locals how to be ninjas already. That would save so much time.
I really don't want to transform our fief into a ninja village. First I don't think it's that useful. Secondly it's the ass end of the Empire, actually going in and out is going to be a pain the ass for the students.
Third, it would paint a big target on it, and I doubt the peasants would be grateful for that. They seem quite happy with their quiet life.
 
The closest thing I know of what you're talking about is the canonical "Ranald's Coin", which siphons other people's luck to fuel your own. It's a pretty dickish artifact, but you're the one who chooses to wear it.
Iove that coin: but my play group enjoys messing with each other in game and out of game (best example was a d@d game where my friend used his Goliath character to throw my gnome down a hall we suspected was trapped to test it… it was.)

But that coin can be real dividing and some GMs will just not let it be part of the game.

Edit: but I will point out that the same can be said off all the gods that doesn't turn up in AOS: so we can only really look at the cults.

And his cults can, at times, but that dickish.
 
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