The current talk about the Moth Sacrament is driven by the Celestia-learning-the-Lores situation, and the fact that when her Lantern equals or exceeds our Moth she will see us. So we need more Moth right?
Well that's not going to solve our problem. Yeah we could get to Moth 5, but then Celestia's achieving her own Sacrament and so we've got to keep running. Level 7 is the limit, and she can still achieve a 7th level in Lantern to see through even that dappled shadow. Getting levels in Moth just to stay away from Celestia is the very definition of "playing to not lose instead of playing to win". Celestia is still Celestia and still grappling with Daybreaker no matter if we're Moth 4 or 7, it's entirely possible that she could be triggered by some other factor (such as our Brand!) or even by someone's random dumbass roll firing off where it shouldn't.
Looking at you Luna...
"Winning" in this case is defined to me as removing Celestia as a danger to us rather than punting the can down the road hoping that we can keep the Moth/Lantern race going until we hit Glory. As to how we'd remove the danger, I'm confident that Bird has at least conceptualized a method, and more than likely has put the first string within reach.
Luna, and Cadance, will be the one to properly settle this, with our backing. She's training right now, once she's done with that one would assume she'll begin work on finding a way to save Celestia (I note the [Diligent] trait making her training inevitable in the event of us faffing around) and I think she'll probably request supplies/time/help with her efforts.
That would be how we win the Celestia "conflict", by making sure Celestia isn't a threat to us by enabling Luna to defuse her.
Thanks for explaining.
It's a fair point about raising Moth being playing-to-not-lose. I guess I see Celestia's state as less of a
problem and more of a
constraint. Problems we can fix, constraints we operate under.
I just don't think a doom clock would be introduced if it wasn't going to be relevant, or go away soon
Luna and Cadance can do their best, but re-read the update we saw Daybreaker in -- shit is
rough. It's going to be slow, and gradual, not something that's soon 'settled'.
I think the Brand worries are a little misguided. First, a sacrament all about putting a Mask sounds quite helpful with that problem too! And second, Celestia won't be getting a Brand. She's not a pony. It could spark a problem with Eclipse (we should social Midday Dew!), but that's at a slightly different level. (Yeah, I can definitely imagine Midday Dew confronting us, a turn or two down the road... Choices of kill, maybe leash, perhaps talk if we've socialed... But not immediate Celestia explosion, because I don't think that
will come out of nowhere.)
(Unless it's when Windy ends a city or something. Oof.)
In the meantime the Moth Sacrament may indeed be useful, but I don't consider it so overridingly necessary that we have to solve the problem like we did the Tribal Door, with the most expedient solution possible. We have a Mareinette, sending her out into the world to find somepony we'd consider acceptable and even Ideal for the Sacrament will not beggar us, will possibly entertain her, and will avoid burning a contact that can actually do something useful for us.
This is totally valid, but I do disagree, and I am reminded of the wedding vote/what we've been discussing.
As before, the benefits are unclear. There are alternatives we'd prefer.
But give the sacrament some credit. Whether or not you think we'll
need-need it, it's a sizeable amount of power that's one book, and one good friend, away! And it feels a little complacent, confident and perhaps over-confident, thinking we won't need it.
Because the other route has costs too. Turns without the Sacrament's power, turns of Mareinette actions (e.g. for Heart Influence, or Lessons, or immediate Confidant actions).
You know, Moth Sacramenting someone befriended entirely via Mareinette amuses me, because, the mask being off in this case could very well be Mareinette's. Just imagine learning that the Velvet you befriended was never actually Velvet in the first place, but this weird skull horse held together by wires. And then you see them in the same room together. At that point I'd keep things to the acquaintance level as well, because wtf is going on here.
This does sound funny (and horrifying), admittedly.
