[LP CYOA] Epic

[handup]

A

 

[TOME]

A

I'm not sure if xxBB was a smart choice for the last vote.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

A

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

B - Let them die. Their deaths will fuel the people's need for change. We can use their names as a rallying cry. For Rome it was Lucretia. For Earth it will be these two. Plus, you know, paranoia. Let Theseus 3 die and all that...

 

[Tigranes]

It could be a ploy from the President to get us involved in some brawl and bust-up and make that an excuse to frame us or even arrest us. Of course, we could swoop in save the day and gain further fame amongst the refugees, but we already have their support, and taking care of thirty men in the open is a risky affair.

Tentatively B. I'm concerned about the morality aspect but it really smells like a trap.

 

[Kipeci]

Wow, there was just about no synergy whatsoever between the options we ended up picking.

I'll go with B.

 

[aleam iacis]

Something in our recent narrative seems to have gone awry What are our long term goals again?

A. Action vs inaction. I don't see how either choice helps us reach the presidency, take down the former empress, or take advantage of our relationship with qinny qin qin.

 

[treave]

I was dozing off when I typed out that update. Bound to have missed a few details. You get this particular choice for not picking drug dealing and picking to help the community. The gangs see your growing influence as a threat. Obviously.

 

[aleam iacis]

No, I didn't mean that, just that things seem to have gone a little out of control already. Anyway, we want to help people, but our primary aim is to become president? Why shouldn't we be allying with Qin for our goals? Do we see her as adversarial or dangerous to work with?

 

[treave]

Things I should've explained more clearly in the update but was too damn tired to write:

The lack of religion means your support hasn't spread as fast as it should have, but on the other hand it means that you are not a high priority for the Federation at the moment - if they try anything, your information network will find out before their agents act. That will change when they bring in more competent personnel from off-world if you should grow more successful. Furthermore, even as a secular organization the focus has been on you, personally, due to your public leadership of the group. What this means is that rain or shine, whatever you do reflects on the organization as a whole, and vice versa. Your name and status is public. Expect everything you do to come under scrutiny.

The aid you provide is less towards doling out food and money, but more towards knowledge. Think of an order of monks instructing the illiterate on how to read and write. Well, the refugees are literate, but you do make an effort to teach them other more useful technical skills. Plumbing. Electrical works. Basic engineering. Anatomy & medicine. How to defend themselves. Of course you do give out whatever excess food that you cannot sell to the poorest of the quarter, but your aid is mainly in the form of knowledge.

Furthermore, you've already seen the first attempt to get your organization on their side. There will be more to come. When you increase your influence further, the cartel bosses will no longer be able to ignore you and will contact you directly instead of doing their dirty work through the small gangs. The Governor himself, once he takes notice of what's happening under his nose, will not stay silent either, and will surely call for a meeting to gauge which side of the fence you're on.

Then, there's the Federation and the Star League, which cannot be considered synonymous. You might do well to play one off against the other, like Qin does, when the time comes.

And finally, the ex-Emperor still commands considerable prestige and sway over the Ankidans despite having retired...

You don't need to become president if you don't want to. Qin's pet politician. The Governor. Perhaps one of the major crime bosses. Maybe even Kyrie's father. You can raise either of them to the presidency, which is possible because in their haste to escape the dying Earth Julia made a mistake in amending the laws of the Federation to stay in power. You'll be exploiting that loophole. You're not throwing in your lot with Qin just yet because it's still two months to go till the election comes and you are building up your power as the kingmaker. Sure, she might be the one with most faith in you, but it doesn't hurt to wait for the other choices to pop up (which will happen as soon as the next update, with the available options actually depending on what you pick here).

Helping people was always just the means to an end for this path we've chosen. Not the goal itself.

 

[Rex Feral]

A - since everything we do reflects on the organization as a whole. Failing to protect our people will make us appear weak. While helping them further solidifies our relationship with them AND our personal reputation as someone strong and reliable. Someone worth following.

Anyway, since we finished with Ean, this story seems to resemble Code Geass. I wonder, if we would have chosen to be in the shadows, would we have had a mask and a fake persona ?

 

[m4davis]

A

 

[Smashing Axe]

This is just all part of Kaito's nefarious scheme to get one over on us...

B

Not really
A

 

[Tigranes]

What happened to Esquilax and baltika? We need someone to over-theorise and make some sense of things so we can calibrate longer term decisions.

Let's keep it simple, what are our longer term goals? We voted that Senya wants power, but to what end? To set things right as much as he can, to make the best of the fucked up world? That option lost but was pretty close. What kind of organisation do we want this secular, Senya-flagged refugee patron to be? And to what end shall we direct whatever power we accrue?

For now, let's go from where we are. We've got a solid grip on refugees - who might be poor but not stupid. (@treave, re. circumstances of their becoming refugees - is this a hodgepodge of class/etc distribution back on Earth, i.e. just as likely to find a rocket scientist as a hobo, or are they demographically a slice of the 'lower' classes? What characterises them, as far as our organisation knows?) We're clearly set on the path to fight for their support/allegiance against drug gangs. One possibility is that in the 2 months we build a clear support base amongst refugees and take drug gangs out of the picture somehow, then as kingmaker raise someone to presidency and use that to give our refugees a proper home and economic/legal support - as our support base becomes richer and more powerful so will we, making us a solid and durable faction. For that, I suppose, a little risk must be taken in visibility; so flop to A. I assume our subsequent choice will then determine just how we deal with those 30 druggies.

 

[treave]

Hodgepodge, but slanted towards the poor, the unlucky, and those unwilling to leave the planet. There can be a few hidden gems in the population. There are few adults, most of them are either very young or very old. The policy of women, children and the elderly first was ill judged in the face of possible extinction.

 

[Tigranes]

Well, that makes them not quite so valuable to hang on to in the long run, perhaps. But yes, let's talk and arrange some kind of long term guys.

 

[Tigranes]

Maybe I have no balls everywhere. Proves you wrong, shitface. Huh? Huh?? : x

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

treave just said anything we do will come under scrutiny, ergo, we do nothing and the only ones under scrutiny are the cartel. These two are more useful dead than alive. Right now all they are is a liability.

The drug gangs think we're against them by not helping them sell drugs and that we have set the refugees against them as well for the same reason. The death of these two will actualize that and have the refugees hating the cartels. It will also generate sympathy and get popular opinion on our side. If we go in and cock it up - which we're bound to (really have you guys not figured that out yet?) - then our rep will get shafted.

Our long term goals are to take power and use it either to bring an end to the masters and their game or to see that our branch of humanity wins their game - from what I can extrapolate out of the B option we went with earlier that is. We're trying to put humanity back on the right path. What path that is is up to you bros and Senya.

I'd recommend seeking the throne for ourselves either now or a short while after making our puppet king. We're already exposed and it's the only way to insure our objectives. I'd also recommend killing Quin after she's outlived her usefulness. If she ever found out we (our other self) killed Kyrie, we'd be screwed. Beyond screwed. She might actually be the perfect candidate for a puppet. We'll kill her after the election and say it was the enemy (whatever enemy we choose - probably the former empress), then the people will want war to avenge her and so it begins...

edit: flop to A.

 

[treave]

The act of doing nothing tells us plenty about the character. See: making the gutsy choice to do nothing and wait for help when trapped in the virtual world.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Psh. Whatever. At least we gave Kyrie the most gruesome death in the history of this lp. That's worth something, right?

You are right in a way though. Though would the people really expect us to go there and negotiate or to let the law handle it? And I guess we could go there and "make every effort to save them", but still let them die. Up to you bros. I'm sticking with my vote.

edit: also, really, thanks, butthurt atheists. Now we can't larp a half-crazy cult leader. treave, I do think my name for the cult got the most votes though....

 

[Tigranes]

I don't see how anybody, including those in our organisation, would be aware of the fact that we know all about the situation and could easily have made it in time.

However, what happens afterwards? (1) They may not die, but at least one may be kidnapped; (2) Even if they die, the refugees and our own will see what we do in response. In both cases, our choices would range along the lines of (a) humiliating submission to demands / offence; (b) bloody retribution / correction, now made more risky; (c) a high-risk high-gain daring escape / punishment mission.

Compared to that, going now and putting a stop to it - perhaps bloodlessly if we can manage it - seems a good solution. We are all forgetting that B doesn't end with B.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

"My children, two of our dear ones have been taken from us tonight. There must be justice, but not just for them. They are dead. Gone. No gods. No masters. The justice I speak of is for you. For your future. For your children's future. We must rise my people. We must take back what is ours from these savages. We must root them out. Rise up, my people. Rise as one and root out these monsters from our communities! Rid this planet of their perversions. Kill their whores and burn there drug labs! Make this day their end! FOR WHATEVER THOSE BRATS NAMES WERE!"

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I don't see how anybody, including those in our organisation, would be aware of the fact that we know all about the situation and could easily have made it in time.

My thought exactly.

 

[treave]

Did it? I'll check through the names again. You can expect someone is running towards your place for help even now, you only get advance knowledge that's all. Expecting no one is going inform you that your underlings are in trouble given the reputation of your group is a bit silly. Anyway, picking A has its disadvantages. There's such a thing as getting too popular for your own good. Codex cannot handle success unless rationed with a big helping of failure.

 

[treave]

Never.