Esquestria: The House of the Sun - A pony cultist experience

[Venerable Ro]

That's not what giving to the Bureau would do though?

The Bureau and the Eclipse are separate institutions.

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Not if we're demonstrably better at their job while still doing our job to a magnificent standard...

 

[Shaper47]

Not if we're demonstrably better at their job while still doing our job to a magnificent standard...

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Doubtful.

Especially considering we don't want super death sun beams throw at us. So we can't really do their job anyways.

 

[Venerable Ro]

Doubtful.

Especially considering we don't want super death sun beams throw at us. So we can't really do their job anyways.

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And why should continuing to show our excellent dedication to Equestria result in death rays? We're doing what we were told to do, hunt the unseen enemies of Equestria. It just seems that there are more than Changelings to worry about.

 

[des-pair-2]

Mareinette has done us a favor – no, a charity – and it is only polite to extend that trust in turn. After all, she has been nothing but a gracious host since she has arrived.

I really want the latter of the two options to be a Bureau/Mareinette combination. To let her know that her presence is appreciated and to let others know we are back in business, stronger than ever. I think Merchant is best used for actions. I'm sure we can scrounge up three more actions to cover our bases twice.

 

[Venerable Ro]

So anyway, this is what I want to do.

I want to build on our reputation in the Bureau, make ourselves larger than life, establish a cult of personality if you will. Not to the point of aggrandizement, but to the point that our unquestioned devotion to Equestria, the Bureau, and our princess is something to be admired and imitated.

Laundering the Lores, perhaps even to master them with the Bureau's firm confidence in their Commissioner. It's a duty and a pleasure, watching the bounds, following in the hoofsteps of old Equestria, upholding the custodial legacy of the Lunar Princess.

To give an example, right now we've committed to having a security detail of ponies who are going to be extremely focused on keeping us in their sight at all times. From one perspective an inconvenience that gets in the way of our eldritch doings, from another perspective a trusted retinue, if we made the effort.

Imagine seeing summat like this as a Bureau option.
[]- You are in the habit of making enemies beyond what the average constable can be expected to handle, but your Bureau is anything but "average". Prepare the members of your security detail to face greater conflicts. (The members of your personal security detail will each gain at least a basic understanding of Edge, with luck perhaps one of them will discover a true gift.)

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Mareinette is the right call here, this is the turn she really started offering friendships to Velvet. And friendship is super important to get, it eliminates having to rebind her, and gain us more actions per turn which is the most valuable thing. Imaging getting 2 super social actions a turn, free max Heart, or Grail influence every turn.

Going from 1-2 respect points to 4-5 in a single turn with Mareinette will pay out big.

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I am not friending the foal-eating monster. She literally calls babies' toys bait. Also I'm simply unsure if she follows the traditional friendship track given her ultimate goal of getting Velvet to eat Silky.

I've come down somewhere similar. The one thing I will say about this:


It's claiming that next turn's Servants/Fluttercomet/(Rarity/Jade/Luna) actions are worth 100 bits.

I'll note it feels unlikely that those 3 AP, spent getting bits, would get 100 bits.

It's also not obvious what else we'll use those follower actions on.

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We use the follower actions to gain extra Velvet Actions to lock in and crush a turn.

I say we spike the noble and the murderer.

As the man said, "it's not about the money, it's about sending a message."

The message being, we are not dead, we are not infirm, and we are nowhere near done. So do not screw around with the Lunar Bureau. My favorite Hour is after all, The Colonel, similar to how Bird patrons The Wolf

The bribery I think can be resolved with a scare and a generous donation of manpower, graft being graft it's like being angry at water flowing downhill. You've just got to clean out the gutters on a regular basis.



There was also the time Velvet visited the family in Canterlot, she noticed Vellum following her on Steppes' orders, led him around for a while, and then snuck up on him in a maneuver that included hopping along a series of lampposts to drop down behind him in an alleyway so she could pull the "so what are we looking at?" prank.

Velvet is at a point where she can move through the civilian world pretty much at will, it would take a remarkable pony like Beyond Reproach to even really pick up on her. Moth/Knock 4 pretty much lets her embody the "carry a clipboard and act like you know where you're going" concept of social infiltration.

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Here here for some basic morality. And for showing the Sun Horse we can do things.

Ah, so we are getting close to Pinky levels of movement, got it.

Ugh, I'm having doubts about giving the Noble to the Bureau.

It kinda feels like a not-lose choice. Not the choice we make on the path to victory. When GLORY is right there.

Maybe we give the servant, and take Mareinette's choice…

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Nah, I don't feel like empowering the child devourer in exchange for additional shinies. And well, conspiring against the Crown is conspiring against not just Celestia, but Cadence and Selene too. Just ask the ashes of the Mansus just how merciful we are to such creatures. Take them down. Do not waver on this core trait for mere influence or wealth! Be as steel and scars, unyielding!

 

[Venerable Ro]

Hey I just had a great idea!

Luna wants an explanation on the Lores, Cadance and Shining really ought to get an explanation of the Lores, what if we turned an expedition into an educational field trip of sorts? Basically "here's an obstacle, here's how we're going to deal with it, and this is why that works."

I'd select the Canterlot expedition as a perfect opportunity, but that thing's a long expedition and I doubt we could monopolize 15 days of Cadance's time right now.

Alas, sadness.

The fact that I wanted to find a way to convince Cadence to finance that expedition so we could get it off the board does not, of course, factor into that sadness.

Where was I... Right, explanations. Any supernatural explanation really ought to involve all three royals at once, if only to avoid repeating ourselves.

 

[Steady Gaze]

Spoiler: Copyedits for Turn 20 - Results, part 2 and 3

@OurLadyOfWires copyedits for part 2 and 3. Unfortunately, for part 2, I inserted the quotes and then closed the tab thinking it was (auto)saved, but then got burned by all my corrections being deleted. I don't have the patience to comb through it again; I think there were maybe four more corrections missed.

Drummer Clap never really like foals.

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did like or liked

It certainly didn't help that she had been born in a farming community, at the tail-end of Equestria, where everypony was solely expected to put more food on the table and more foals on the world.

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in

It also did not help that she was the oldest of six siblings, and that her mother didn't just expect her to help raise her five younger siblings, but practically pushed those obligations on to her.

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onto (on to vs. onto)

---

In fact, just yesterday, you spitted out a clot that you were sure was lodged inside your head for the longest time.

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The past tense of "spit" is "spat" or "spit" (American English).

This is a hoard of such currency."

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Probably "currency." or "currency".

Of course, Drummer is not taking her duties lightly. She remains a soldier and a guard, even if her current title is that of a "constable". And keeping ponies safe is something she takes very seriously. So serious, in fact, that it is the theme of her cutie mark.

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I wonder, what is Drummer Clap's cutie mark? Something that involves both drumming and guarding?

I'm thinking we get Bureau loyalty through one or more of the options, and then spend our next commissioner action on building a relationship with Midday Dew instead of having to spend every turn making progress on getting the Bureau loyal. Eclipse is on the cusp of discovering the lores, and we need to come to some kind of understanding if we want to influence the path their research takes. Bringing up something Venerable Ro pointed out:

Ultimately I foresee a conflict in jurisdiction between the Lunar Bureau and Eclipse regarding the Lores, we're somewhat aided by their presumed myopic focus on Lantern, but disadvantaged by their head start. We need to get a move on or Midday will have too good of an argument for monopolizing any and all eldritch information/assets

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Actually, I thought of a truly evil plan: cast Path Through Nightmares on Celestia so that she becomes a A Poor Lunatic and let Luna ascend to the throne, putting us in charge by proxy and eliminating all our problems, except for a major secret/blackmail vulnerability. But Luna has no Lantern levels, right?

As for my actual votes, I would say we get bits from the merchant, because the other rewards are relatively low impact, and Bureau loyalty from the noble, which will effectively save a bunch (3?) of commissioner actions. The public servant I'm not sure about: I could go servant actions to balance out the other two, or get more Bureau loyalty, or let Mareinette take this one. A pity this doesn't appear to be a plan vote, because there might be a little coordination needed.

I think we should also consider auctioning off some of our artifacts. We will never get to studying all of them (we don't have enough AP to go around), so we may as well use them to generate bits.

 

[spiderhellian]

A pity this doesn't appear to be a plan vote, because there might be a little coordination needed.

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It is a plan vote.

Vote in plans. You must pick one option of each blackmail target.

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[Venerable Ro]

Oh, I hadn't noticed this.

@OurLadyOfWires is this intended?

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Seems to me like three approval votes nailed together, the most popular option for each section wins.

 

[spiderhellian]

We use the follower actions to gain extra Velvet Actions to lock in and crush a turn.

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Yeah, doing it with merchant vs public servant is 3 actions for 100 bits, that's what I was discussing.

Also I'm simply unsure if she follows the traditional friendship track given her ultimate goal of getting Velvet to eat Silky.

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For what it's worth we've been ~told her sacrament will make her our friend. No Silky involved.

 

[Steady Gaze]

It is a plan vote.

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Hmm, I missed that.

 

[Greymere]

So Plan!

Merchant - Extort for 100 Bits
Assassin - Extort for 5 Follower Actions (2 Velvet Actions)
Noble - Bureau / Mareinette

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Tbh, this sounds good to me, with preference toward giving the noble to the Bureau, both because a) I don't want even more conspirators against the Crown running about and b) I'm still hoping that enough Bureau loyalty can get us to the point where we can reveal Luna to them without Celestia finding out. Plus w/ the risk of the manuscripts, having a loyalty buffer could only be a good thing. And if they somehow don't end up being a problem, those are commissioner actions we can instead use for doing things like socialling Midday Dew or Fair Trial, or accompanying our agents on their actions.

Edit: Alternatively, the AP options for both merchant + public Servant (gets us to the +3 Velvet AP w/ only Servant + Fluttershy spent), or Mareinette on the merchant and AP for the public Servant. Because big loyalty boost an essentially free +2 Velvet AP are too good to pass up imo, but the merchant's options aren't as valuable (Rarity, for instance, can get us 100+ bits w/ her commission action, and which should only get better once she's Grail 4) so I'd be willing to see what kind of shenanigans Mareinette could get up to w/ the merchant.

 

[Zxzx24]

Books!!!

We want Heart 3, Heart 4 and Forge 4 Books.

Raising our lore is probably important (or at least helpful) in reaching Glory.

It would allow us to do our personal Forge Sacrament sooner. Paying for and being able to shell out for high level Reagents instead over multiple lower level ones.

Be a good friend to Jade and take her with us on an adventure with Selene and DoV.

Also if we want to pay Biedde.

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Do books help us find the outsider...? And climb?

 

[Rafuki22]

I'm thinking about voting these.

-[] What of the merchant, who engaged in bribery?
--[] Ask for a small "donation" (gain 100 bits)

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-[] What of the public servant, who needed a pony to "disappear"?
--[] Have Mareinette deal with it (unpredictable result, that will still benefit you)

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-[] What of the great noble, who conspired against the Crown?
--[] Put him behind bars, where he belongs (gain a great deal of respect from the Bureau)

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But they all seem to have potentially good benefits.