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You Are: A sector admiral of a strained imperium.

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[X] [First] Princess Kathla
[X] [Second] Ranca
[X] Extremely
[X] Abstract Artwork (have a huge detailed mural dedicated to our past victories decorated onto the hull of the ship)
 
[X] [First] Princess Kathla
[X] [Second] Ranca
[X] Extremely.
[X] Leave The Sword Be. Regulation Navy Grey is fine.
 
[X] [First] Princess Kathla.
[X] [Second] Ranca
[X] Extremely
[X] Leave The Sword Be. Regulation Navy Grey is fine.

I really do not want to bling the ship. This one is Imperial property, not ours. We can bling a ship we actually own later.
 
[X] [First] Princess Kathla
[X] [Second] Ranca
[x] Very. You are already spending an absolute fortune on living expenses, hospitality and attendants. There is no need to go further than arriving in your pleasure cruiser starship with dozens of minions wearing the absolute latest in tastefully amazing dress uniforms and surrounded by senior and personally loyal nobility.
[x] Custom Paint Job. Specify it! (-1 Wealth, write in a cool custom colour scheme).
-[x] Keep the imperial grey but add red chevrons across the nose of your ships. It's distinctive but not tacky.

Let's not go out of our way to antagonize a guy that's one of the Imperium's anchor fleet commanders. We've already done that by shoving our imperial writ in his face and drawing down his veterans and marines. Also I don't see the point in blinging the ship to hell and back, it'll just cost more to repair when we inevitably get it damaged.
 
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Displaying a mile long portrait of Ranca in the middle of the swing of her blade would PROBABLY be in bad taste.

With or without clothing.
 
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[Unofficial Vignette: Beans]

He is a boy in his dreams. A boy, and it is almost always early morning, the stench of petroleum thick in the grey drab room he shares with his parents. He knows without needing to look that the splicers are at it again, dumping their excess oil in the river before the lawmen come. The smell is a clock, or at least Reinhard's clock, and his mother's clock, and his father's too, and even the neighbors', in this distant place that never sees the sun. He is up and tugging at his father's beard, and soon enough the room fills with the sizzle of frying beans. Reinhard's father is combing his hair as he always does, and his mother is humming along and Reinhard is both there and not there-- fading in and out--but if his parents notice they say nothing. Uncle Ho drops by with some kidney beans, and Aunt Anne with a lemon, and that is how, even here, they make life work.

Reinhard wears his grey uniform, one size too big, and stands as if the apartment were a parade ground-- even though he's missing a button and smells like he hasn't had a bath in five days, because he hasn't. Getting to school is long and difficult and passes by the river, which is really a slow undulating morass of water and sludge, sometimes tinted green, sometimes black. Once a boy Reinhard knew stripped down and dived into it. A stupid childhood dare. They spotted the body floating on its belly two bends down the river and one of the other boys poked it in the face with a pole. The face came apart in the water like soggy bread. Reinhard remembers it often in his dreams. Knows that if he looks at the river he will see it, so he doesn't.

The boy wasn't the only one to die. There are other places, other faces, other names. There always are. But Reinhard keeps forward. Deep in his mind he knows they have no power over him but that which he gives them, and yet he doesn't dare look. He moves forward. That is who he is. The path shrinks as he walks it and his face feels funny and his grey uniform is smarter and heavier than he remembers until he emerges into light gasping and wheezing.

Every time he wakes up he feels, first, how soft the bed is, then his augmentations kick in and flood him with information. In a few seconds he is Lord Commodore Reinhard Strauss, Hero of the Empire, Bearer of the Terran Cross. On many such nights Lord Commodore Reinhard Strauss, Hero of the Empire, Bearer of the Terran Cross wants nothing more than a glass of water, so he shuffles to the sink and cups his hands and drinks and wonders how, in this palace of lights and fur and barely-clad servants, it is the smell of petroleum and beans he misses most.
 
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[X] Princess Kathla. She is a Big Deal politically and, you know well enough, a formidable political and intelligence operative even if you are fairly sure she should not be a naval commander. She also seems to approve of you? Attending a party with her on your arm would hammer home that yes, you have Imperial favour.

[X] Ludicrously. Ramorg has annoyed you and you are riding high off the acquisition of immense, planet changing wealth. Crush him. Completely overwhelm any effort he makes to ensure his reception is impressive with an entourage of thousands and a colossal media campaign, ensure Alfheim knows you have arrived and that you are the most important and amazing person ever. (-20 Wealth, -20 Political Capital. You are spending the equivalent of hundreds of billions of US dollars on a blitz PR campaign and also ensuring that the Imperial censors and officials are totally on board with this.)

[X] Imperial Glorification. Ensure that the Sword is covered in statues, scrollwork, actually tasteful and well put together stuff but glorifying the Imperial House (-15 Wealth, +5 Political Capital).
 
You gentlepeople voting for Extreme and Ludicrous do realize you are voting to SPEND Political Capital, not gain it. Right?
We have around 250 PC, and will need to replace officers at our new fleet.
Similarly. We only have ~90Wealth free cash, and have ships to fix. Don't blow money unnecessarily.

Especially because walking into a man's home and attempting to outdazzle him is a good way to turn a rival into an enemy.
Besides, don't be tacky.

VOTE.
[X] [First] Ranca. The obvious choice, the heiress to a countess, a baroness, master duellist and black sheep of her ducal family who you are in an actual relationship with. That said her family does not view that positively and she does murder people far too often.
[X] [Second] Princess Kathla. She is a Big Deal politically and, you know well enough, a formidable political and intelligence operative even if you are fairly sure she should not be a naval commander. She also seems to approve of you? Attending a party with her on your arm would hammer home that yes, you have Imperial favour.
[X] Very. You are already spending an absolute fortune on living expenses, hospitality and attendants. There is no need to go further than arriving in your pleasure cruiser starship with dozens of minions wearing the absolute latest in tastefully amazing dress uniforms and surrounded by senior and personally loyal nobility.
[X] Leave The Sword Be. Regulation Navy Grey is fine.
Adhoc vote count started by uju32 on Oct 31, 2018 at 9:58 PM, finished with 58 posts and 36 votes.
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Blackshard said:
The thought occurs that the formatting of votes so far are... extremely non-standardized. This is partly because the QM asked us to give a first and second choice without providing a format for doing so, and partly because the voters are pretty evenly split on voting the options vs voting the options and the option descriptions. Tally for emphasis.
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for options vs option descriptions there's a 'manage votes' button that you can use to merge them
 
Satar said:
[Unofficial Vignette: Beans]

He is a boy in his dreams. A boy, and it is almost always early morning, the stench of petroleum thick in the grey drab room he shares with his parents. He knows without needing to look that the splicers are at it again, dumping their excess oil in the river before the lawmen come. The smell is a clock, or at least Reinhard's clock, and his mother's clock, and his father's too, and even the neighbors', in this distant place that never sees the sun. He is up and tugging at his father's beard, and soon enough the room fills with the sizzle of frying beans. Reinhard's father is combing his hair as he always does, and his mother is humming along and Reinhard is both there and not there-- fading in and out--but if his parents notice they say nothing. Uncle Ho drops by with some kidney beans, and Aunt Anne with a lemon, and that is how, even here, they make life work.

Reinhard wears his grey uniform, one size too big, and stands as if the apartment were a parade ground-- even though he's missing a button and smells like he hasn't had a bath in five days, because he hasn't. Getting to school is long and difficult and passes by the river, which is really a slow undulating morass of water and sludge, sometimes tinted green, sometimes black. Once a boy Reinhard knew stripped down and dived into it. A stupid childhood dare. They spotted the body floating on its belly two bends down the river and one of the other boys poked the face with a pole. It came apart in the water like soggy bread. Reinhard remembers that face often in his dreams. Knows that if he looks at the river he will see it, so he doesn't.

The boy wasn't the only one to die. There are other places, other faces, other names. There always are. But Reinhard keeps forward. Deep in his mind he knows they have no power over him but that which he gives them, and yet he does not look. He moves forward. That is who he is. The path shrinks as he walks it and his face feels funny and his grey uniform is smarter and heavier than he remembers until he emerges into light gasping and wheezing.

Every time he wakes up he feels, first, how soft the bed is, then his augmentations kick in and flood him with information. In a few seconds he is Lord Commodore Reinhard Strauss, Hero of the Empire, Bearer of the Terran Cross. On many such nights Lord Commodore Reinhard Strauss, Hero of the Empire, Bearer of the Terran Cross wants nothing more than a glass of water, so he shuffles to the sink and cups his hands and drinks and wonders how, in this palace of lights and fur and barely-clad servants, it is the smell of petroleum and beans he misses most.
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Just wanted to say this is ace, really well written.
 
[X] [First] Princess Kathla
[X] [Second] Ranca
[X] Extremely.
[X] Leave The Sword Be. Regulation Navy Grey is fine.
 
uju32 said:
You gentlepeople voting for Extreme and Ludicrous do realize you are voting to SPEND Political Capital, not gain it. Right?
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Yes, yes I do.

Do you realize that we're preparing for a diplomatic fight, and deciding how much ammo we bring for it? The outcome of that fight could also cost or gain us political capital, which is why going in prepared makes sense. Of course, there's a difference between being prepared and wasting all our resources... but in these circumstances, Extreme seems sensible instead of profligate.
 
So I'm just gonna quote this from the Discord...

ForgothraxToday at 7:16 PM

Any particular commentary on how decorating our flagship is likely to be received?


PatratToday at 7:17 PM

To be honest? Not many people will care, outside of the obvious. I mean the Governor General had all of his patrol cutters gold plated because he felt like it.
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So I don't really see the point of pointlessly blowing Wealth on customizing our ship. The 1-wealth repaint I guess, if you must, but 10-15 accomplishes nothing. Plus it isn't even our ship. If you must customize a vessel, paint Reinhard's personal BC the Sword of Tactic-ocracy.

uju32 said:
You gentlepeople voting for Extreme and Ludicrous do realize you are voting to SPEND Political Capital, not gain it. Right?
We have around 250 PC, and will need to replace officers at our new fleet.
Similarly. We only have ~90Wealth free cash, and have ships to fix. Don't blow money unnecessarily.

Especially because walking into a man's home and attempting to outdazzle him is a good way to turn a rival into an enemy.
Besides, don't be tacky.
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Dude, we're about to engage in a social fight. Just because the venue isn't a wargame bout or a cage match doesn't make this any less of a combat, and due to us not being specced for battles like this we are going to need to compensate in other ways. Ramorg is almost certainly going to act irrationally here; Reinhard susses out that he feels personally threatened, after all. It is best to prepare for the possibility that we will need a really good Diplo roll here or there to not get forced into a corner and lose 50+ PC because he maneuvered us into saying/doing something he could spin, or force a duel on us in a matter that would either get Ranca further smeared for being the cute l'il murderess that she is or cost us bookoo bucks to refuse.

We also have a period of some time at New Atlanta in which we can probably seize some shipyard time (yay Imperial Priority), and a voyage of several weeks to our future command. Most of our ships only need 5% or so to top off. The Xining needs 10%, the Huitz needs 15%, and the Putian needs 20%. Of those, I suspect that the Xining can steal some yard time and load up on parts to get fully topped off by the time we reach our command and the Huitz will be 95% or so, which is probably fine. Not even going to talk about the Mianying at 50%, her captain is so bad we're better off just sticking her in reserve once we reach our command anyway.

ForgothraxYesterday at 7:23 PM

@Patrat can we expect at least a week of yard time at New Atlanta?


PatratYesterday at 7:24 PM

@Forgothrax You have no idea, but will probably have some kind of pause given you will be presented at the Imperial Court. Which will probably take a while.
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[X] Princess Kathla. She is a Big Deal politically and, you know well enough, a formidable political and intelligence operative even if you are fairly sure she should not be a naval commander. She also seems to approve of you? Attending a party with her on your arm would hammer home that yes, you have Imperial favour. (Option 1)
[X] Monson. Strick heterosexuality is considered fairly odd in Imperial high society, Monson is a friend but you have not had the chance to spend much time with him since rescuing him from the hell of paperwork. Also he was one of Remorg's staff officers prior to his current assignment and he is very good at navigating high society. (Option 2)
[X] Extremely. You are rich thanks to your victories, help display this. Ensure that not just you but every one of your senior officers have brand new outfits in the latest styles and that the local media is saturated with your and their exploits prior to the event. (-10 Wealth, -5 Political Capital. Make the kind of impression that will seriously impress even baron tier nobility and rear admirals.
[X] Leave The Sword Be. Regulation Navy Grey is fine.

I seriously doubt that we're going to be involved in any duels at the party, so I fail to see why we should take Ranca. Instead, we should grab Monson so that we can have another person who can help us with diplomacy here. Also, considering that Monson used to be a staff officer of Ramorg, that means that he knowns the Vice Admiral well, allowing us the ability to partially predict what the Vice Admiral is going to try and pull on us and take measures to prevent his actions against us.
 
[X] Princess Kathla. She is a Big Deal politically and, you know well enough, a formidable political and intelligence operative even if you are fairly sure she should not be a naval commander. She also seems to approve of you? Attending a party with her on your arm would hammer home that yes, you have Imperial favour. (Option 1)
[X] Monson. Strick heterosexuality is considered fairly odd in Imperial high society, Monson is a friend but you have not had the chance to spend much time with him since rescuing him from the hell of paperwork. Also he was one of Remorg's staff officers prior to his current assignment and he is very good at navigating high society. (Option 2)
[X] Extremely. You are rich thanks to your victories, help display this. Ensure that not just you but every one of your senior officers have brand new outfits in the latest styles and that the local media is saturated with your and their exploits prior to the event. (-10 Wealth, -5 Political Capital. Make the kind of impression that will seriously impress even baron tier nobility and rear admirals.

Best have some

Still very torn on the bling option.

On one hand the Sword isn't our ship and blinging it is practically speaking a waste of money. On the other hand absolutely bonkers levels of conspicuous consumption is extremely appealing for many reasons. Mostly because shiny!
 
[X] Princess Kathla. She is a Big Deal politically and, you know well enough, a formidable political and intelligence operative even if you are fairly sure she should not be a naval commander. She also seems to approve of you? Attending a party with her on your arm would hammer home that yes, you have Imperial favour.

[X] Extremely. You are rich thanks to your victories, help display this. Ensure that not just you but every one of your senior officers have brand new outfits in the latest styles and that the local media is saturated with your and their exploits prior to the event. (-10 Wealth, -5 Political Capital. Make the kind of impression that will seriously impress even baron tier nobility and rear admirals.

[X] Imperial Glorification. Ensure that the Sword is covered in statues, scrollwork, actually tasteful and well put together stuff but glorifying the Imperial House (-15 Wealth, +5 Political Capital).
 
[X] [First] Princess Kathla
[X] [Second] Ranca
[X] Extremely.
[X] Leave The Sword Be. Regulation Navy Grey is fine.
 
[X] [First] Ranca
[X] [Second] Princess Kathla
[X] Extremely.
[X] Leave The Sword Be. Regulation Navy Grey is fine.

Just a preference for Ranca, don't mind me.
 
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