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

[Sveta08]

My thoughts aren't quite on this vote. Pardon if I'm not doing strange things with it.

[x] Plan Half Light/Half Shadow
- [x] Velvet Covers will... (Study Moth 5 Book and Lantern 4 Artifact)
- [x] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)
[x] Plan: To Find a Gate
- [x] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry: A permanent, three-circle ritual site that our entire faction can utilize
- [x] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual. (Jade Whistle)
[x] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too
- [x] Uncle Steppes has come to visit! But every time you speak to him, you get the impression he is… unwell. Even though he hides it well from the fillies. Spend some more time with him, and see if you can help him.
- [x] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

 

[The Outsider]

I just caught up with everything, and wanted to ask whether the thread had any plans on how to deal with Mareinette? I just realized that she is a permanent summon, and won't be banished back to the Mansus once her timer runs out. This is a very problematic, are we just going to sic Biedde and Daughter of Axes on her to kill when we can no longer pay for extensions?

 

[DelightedOne]

I just caught up with everything, and wanted to ask whether the thread had any plans on how to deal with Mareinette? I just realized that she is a permanent summon, and won't be banished back to the Mansus once her timer runs out. This is a very problematic, are we just going to sic Biedde and Daughter of Axes on her to kill when we can no longer pay for extensions?

Click to shrink...

Part of the thread wants to befriend her by taking her Sacrament(cannibalism).

Others hope we can finish the quest before she becomes unbound(she will if we can't pay the price to keep her or don't take her Sacrament).

Some do want to kill her(me included) but the only way we have to kill a Name without fail is by doing Regrettable Actions and even then only if we catch them off guard so... It is complicated.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

I just caught up with everything, and wanted to ask whether the thread had any plans on how to deal with Mareinette? I just realized that she is a permanent summon, and won't be banished back to the Mansus once her timer runs out. This is a very problematic, are we just going to sic Biedde and Daughter of Axes on her to kill when we can no longer pay for extensions?

Click to shrink...

Ehy, welcome to the discussion!

And I don't know man. I get the impression QM likes Mareinette a lot, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had an "out with a bang" event on his pocket if we ever try anything. Or maybe even a whole parallel plot ready for her.

I mean, have you seen his profile picture? Dude is insane.

 

[The Outsider]

Well, if the cannibalism sacrament is gonna make her our "friend", time to eat somepony. She's too useful to give up if we can befriend her by making some pony tartare.

 

[Sveta08]

Well, if the cannibalism sacrament is gonna make her our "friend", time to eat somepony. She's too useful to give up if we can befriend her by making some pony tartare.

Click to shrink...

To be quite frank...

I am hoping to see what happens from seeing potential Heart Sacraments. The Grail one is...
I like it. It's effective. It's also not really where Velvet is right now. I think.
... I think...

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

I... I am pretty sure I skipped at least one ping. Kindly let me know where it is, but I am currently "stun-tired" right now, so I'll just try my best to interact here and there.

technically the second one. the first one would be Velvet's, with the moth-flies and a book referencing Secret History.

ok, maybe it's not as clear, but in hindsight the connection is obvious.

and yeah... turns out, Velvet is just preparing the stage for the TRUE Host of the Name Hotel all this time

Click to shrink...

We could have a theological debate about that, but that would fall under the same unresolved saber-rattling of "The Moth/The Grail was the first Hour". Something that can keep scholars up at night, and that is a very good way to keep Professors getting their tenures by writing papers on the subject.

But ultimately, any cutie mark that came before Silky's only relates to the Lore in hindsight. Any cutie mark that came before this one is just the Histories trying to fix themselves into "having made sense all along".

But on the only way that truly matters, Silky's is the first.

"Make of that as you will." And I don't mind saying this because given our current status you would never find out about that IC anyways.

@OurLadyOfWires could we have Selene "escort us" through the Dreamrealms, to counter the danger of Worms? It could also be used to have her "bring us" to someone's dream door if we want to talk to them directly for any reason.

Click to shrink...

Too close to Glory, so I'm not feeling too hot about poking this hornet's nest.

Because remember. Everything, and I mean everything that happens in an update was something I thought about beforehand as a possibility. And I still have been saying for a while now that your best shot is Glory.

But don't worry about the tasty lore surrounding the Dreamlands. I wouldn't mind discussing stuff at the proper time, when it happens.

hey @OurLadyOfWires if Rarity leaves Ponyville when working on her Commission, does that mean we can use her house for rituals "safely" while she's not in Ponyville?

Click to shrink...

On this particular instance, I won't fuss about where Jade will be making a ritual. IF her option wins and IF she does it.

So don't worry about it.



Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. Ping me if you need anything, and I'll edit this post to include an ad hoc tally in a few moments.


Edit: Here it is.

Adhoc vote count started by OurLadyOfWires on Mar 10, 2025 at 11:08 PM, finished with 80 posts and 17 votes.

• ---

  13 people have voted

  [X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too
  -[X] Uncle Steppes has come to visit! But every time you speak to him, you get the impression he is… unwell. Even though he hides it well from the fillies. Spend some more time with him, and see if you can help him.
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • DelightedOne
  • Sveta08
  • Nevermort
  • spiderhellian
  • Limabot
  • Solace2117
  • Arrkhon
  • MisRAR1
  • ArticulateJargon
  • Talon Tiger Dino
  • Sintonir
  • Witherbrine2671
  • Zxzx24

  6 people have voted

  [X] Plan Half Light/Half Shadow
  -[X] Velvet Covers will... (Study Moth 5 Book and Lantern 4 Artifact) Priority on Artifact
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • DelightedOne
  • Pittauro
  • Greymere
  • spiderhellian
  • Limabot
  • Anjaxis

  5 people have voted

  [X] Plan: To Find a Gate
  -[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry: A permanent three-circle ritual site that our entire faction can utilize
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • Greymere
  • Pittauro
  • Sveta08
  • Limabot
  • Anjaxis

  4 people have voted

  [X] Plan Ancient Darkness
  -[X] Velvet Covers will... (Study Moth 5 Book)
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • DelightedOne
  • Greymere
  • Nevermort
  • Anjaxis

  1 people have voted

  -[X] Uncle Steppes has come to visit! But every time you speak to him, you get the impression he is… unwell. Even though he hides it well from the fillies. Spend some more time with him, and see if you can help him.

  • ses

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan: To Find a Book
  -[X] Perform the Reflection of the Tapestry: Level 7 book
  -[X] You will NOT search for a book this turn. (No follower actions will be borrowed from Turn 22)

  • Greymere

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan Half Light/Half Goodies
  -[X] Velvet Covers will... (Study Lantern 4 Artifact > Manehattan book )
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • spiderhellian

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan Half Light/Half Shadow
  - [x] Velvet Covers will... (Study Moth 5 Book and Lantern 4 Artifact)
  -[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

  • Sveta08

 

[Shaper47]

[X] Plan To Gaze upon the Breaking of Chains (to be their at her side so she is not alone)
-[X] [MANSUS] The Shattered Stairways
--[X] [MANSUS] Reach for the Valley of Keys, where the snakemare of the Mansus toils for her freedom.
-[X] [MANSUS] The Wastes
--[X] [MANSUS] Stalk the Ashen Wastes. The alternative is to be stalked.
-[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

[X] Plan Edge Sacrament
-[X] [MANSUS] The Shattered Stairways
--[X] [MANSUS] Reach for the Valley of Keys, where the snakemare of the Mansus toils for her freedom.
-[X] Learn of that bright Edge, that lives within us all
--[X] Be blessed by that Wound, which never ceases to grow.
-[X] You will have a follower perform a RotT ritual.(Jade Whistle)

[X] Plan Ancient Darkness
[X] Plan Half Light/Half Shadow

 

[Maer]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

 

[dcoconeo]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

 

[Solace2117]

Well, if the cannibalism sacrament is gonna make her our "friend", time to eat somepony. She's too useful to give up if we can befriend her by making some pony tartare.

Click to shrink...

Many just aren't as interested in the grail sacraments in general considering how Velvet has developed as a character and our attempts to hold onto at least some morals. Those lines are what often makes her so compelling.

As Sveta said, some of us are hoping her heart sacrament can befriend her and is more tolerable.
I hope it is because I don't particularly want to have to fight her, especially this close to the end and with all the "hints" that have been dropped about her.
Also while I don't like her because of what she represents I enjoy her as a compelling character. Maybe we'll be wrong and the heart sacrament will be just as bad, but considering how much Ourladyofwires is invested in her character it makes sense to me that she would have two dramatically different sides to her personality.

 

[spiderhellian]

I just caught up with everything, and wanted to ask whether the thread had any plans on how to deal with Mareinette? I just realized that she is a permanent summon, and won't be banished back to the Mansus once her timer runs out. This is a very problematic, are we just going to sic Biedde and Daughter of Axes on her to kill when we can no longer pay for extensions?

Click to shrink...

Right now, the dominant plan seems to be "Pay her next cost and hope we can go All In before the third one comes up".

It seems very silly to me that ignoring her will work out in our favour, and similarly unwise to try to take her in a heads-on confrontation. Even with Biedde in our pocket.

Where does that leave us? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We can hope for the Heart sacrament. I am doubtful it'll be a particularly more palatable approach, even if it does also get her friendship (which I really wouldn't be confident in either — every Name has one friendship quest, and she has two?). Plus it seems it'll be turns and turns before we even know what this, let alone if we can pursue it.

... I'll keep advocating and making a case. But I recognize it's hard for "uncertain consequences" to be strong enough to overcome present concerns and (especially moral) costs.

 

[Potdl]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

 

[spiderhellian]

View: https://imgur.com/VVRNKbf

I thought the update's title felt familiar...

Hmm, I wonder what the third chapter in DoA's story will be? The Velvet and the Axe? The Summoner and the Axe? The Murderer and the Axe?

It's on the tip of my tongue, just not quite there

(A fun reminder of how long some of these pieces have been planned!)

 

[AuthorTransient]

Huh... I could have sworn we would be doing Memory of Light...

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

 

[dcoconeo]

Huh... I could have sworn we would be doing Memory of Light.

Click to shrink...

Glory has been reconfirmed to be our best bet, and if the Blood option pans out this Turn we have everything down already and just need to finish the Name Quests / get Summons before we can finally end things?

Edit:
Like, every single Turn we don't Win means another curveball thrown in our faces, and sooner or later we will fail to catch them properly.

 

[Shaper47]

Glory has been reconfirmed to be our best bet, and if the Blood option pans out this Turn we have everything down already and just need to finish the Name Quests / get Summons before we can finally end things?

Edit:
Like, every single Turn we don't Win means another curveball thrown in our faces, and sooner or later we will fail to catch them properly.

Click to shrink...

I've been suggesting Mastery to grant more time but yeah we're kinda on a deadline here.

 

[Venerable Ro]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

 

[Demilich]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

 

[Waela]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

Hmm. Common consensus so far seems to be "No Memory of Light for us".

[X] Uncles and Memories of Light
-[X] Uncle Steppes has come to visit! But every time you speak to him, you get the impression he is… unwell. Even though he hides it well from the fillies. Spend some more time with him, and see if you can help him.
-[X] You will NOT search for a book this turn. (No follower actions will be borrowed from Turn 22)

I'll create the plan so the option exists, at least. No harm in it.

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

Hmm. Common consensus so far seems to be "No Memory of Light for us".

[X] Uncles and Memories of Light
-[X] Uncle Steppes has come to visit! But every time you speak to him, you get the impression he is… unwell. Even though he hides it well from the fillies. Spend some more time with him, and see if you can help him.
-[X] You will NOT search for a book this turn. (No follower actions will be borrowed from Turn 22)

I'll create the plan so the option exists, at least. No harm in it.

Click to shrink...

Inb4 Jade crits the Memory of Light with the action she was assigned to it this turn.

 

[IronHydra]

[X] Plan mafia Uncles are Family too

[X] Plan Edge Sacrament

[X] Plan To Gaze upon the Breaking of Chains (to be their at her side so she is not alone)

 

[Greymere]

It's kind of wild btw that we just finished up with the Knock Sacrament but we're still only like halfway through the turn. We still have:

1) Cadance talk, as the only outstanding friend yet to be checked up on
2) Midday Dew
3) Bureau results
4) Luna reveal(?) to the Bureau
5) Malleary
6) Whatever we vote for here
7) Luna soothing the night for the first time
8) Jade results (Memory of Light + probably book)

They're not all necessarily going to be in their own updates, but still. That's a lot of things that are going to happen from now.

 

[Sveta08]

It's kind of wild btw that we just finished up with the Knock Sacrament but we're still only like halfway through the turn. We still have:

1) Cadance talk, as the only outstanding friend yet to be checked up on
2) Midday Dew
3) Bureau results
4) Luna reveal(?) to the Bureau
5) Malleary
6) Whatever we vote for here
7) Luna soothing the night for the first time
8) Jade results (Memory of Light + probably book)

They're not all necessarily going to be in their own updates, but still. That's a lot of things that are going to happen from now.

Click to shrink...

Goodness, still a fair bit rolling huh?

I really do wonder who will poke Velvet first. Midnight Dew, or Beyond Reproach. I'm excited for both.

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

[X] Plan To Gaze upon the Breaking of Chains (to be their at her side so she is not alone)
-[X] [MANSUS] The Shattered Stairways
--[X] [MANSUS] Reach for the Valley of Keys, where the snakemare of the Mansus toils for her freedom.
-[X] [MANSUS] The Wastes
--[X] [MANSUS] Stalk the Ashen Wastes. The alternative is to be stalked.

[X] Plan Edge Sacrament
-[X] [MANSUS] The Shattered Stairways
--[X] [MANSUS] Reach for the Valley of Keys, where the snakemare of the Mansus toils for her freedom.
-[X] Learn of that bright Edge, that lives within us all
--[X] Be blessed by that Wound, which never ceases to grow.

[X] Plan Ancient Darkness
[X] Plan Half Light/Half Shadow

Click to shrink...

I need a plan to have one velvet action and one decision on book search. These plans that go mansus exploring only have a single velvet action (2x mansus explorations for one velvet action)

It's kind of wild btw that we just finished up with the Knock Sacrament but we're still only like halfway through the turn. We still have:

1) Cadance talk, as the only outstanding friend yet to be checked up on
2) Midday Dew
3) Bureau results
4) Luna reveal(?) to the Bureau
5) Malleary
6) Whatever we vote for here
7) Luna soothing the night for the first time
8) Jade results (Memory of Light + probably book)

They're not all necessarily going to be in their own updates, but still. That's a lot of things that are going to happen from now.

Click to shrink...

I have a general idea of how the rest of the turn will go. Still need a decision on your final action point so i can assemble all the pieces on the storyboard, but i have mental drafts.

Still, boy oh boy thats a lot of writing left to do.

 

[DelightedOne]

Hmm, I wonder what the third chapter in DoA's story will be? The Velvet and the Axe? The Summoner and the Axe? The Murderer and the Axe?

Click to shrink...

Hummm, how about "The Mother and the Axe" to keep on the family theme?

I would love to see something about Axe's Mother.

 

[Maer]

Speaking of Axe, something occurred to me. Spending actions searching for her in The Mansus will tell Bird how we view her. Mainly… how will we treat her?

What would we do for our daughters in this situation? Reach out at least once, let them know we're here for them, and then give them space if they need it, right?

How we react to Axe right now will tell Bird how Velvet view's Axe. Do we spend the actions that COULD have been spent racing to Glory on Axe? Like we would for a family member? Or do we trust her to do her own thing and come back after?

If we want her to be our daughter… we have to act. No matter the grumbling, or belligerence she usually has when thinking or talking about Axe, Velvet sees her as a lonely teenager, who recently found out her only family left in the world who could have saved her abandoned her a very, very long time ago. If we want Velvet to finally admit what we all already know is true, she needs to act on it. Even if she won't admit it mentally or verbally, her actions need to reflect what her true thoughts are on the matter. Searching out Axe.

Not to resummon her, but to help and comfort her. We need Pasharka fixed (Rarity?) and then to take her with us on our search for Axe. Because otherwise, the message isn't 'searching for Axe to comfort her', it's 'searching for Axe out of our needs'. Or not searching for her at all.

The specifics matter, here, at least as far as WHAT we do.

So I guess we need to decide if we want to officially start treating Axe as our daughter, or fixate on Glory even harder. Because I'm not sure what other options there are for now.




But what does everyone else think?

 

[Sveta08]

But what does everyone else think?

Click to shrink...

Ax is... impossibly old. And yet a teenager.
I realized I was about to go into what I think should be done, which I will at the end, but first, what I think of Velvet and Ax.

Ax is... has been, has always been, lonely. Powerful, but lonely. Left behind, chained to her false mountain, desperately hungry and terribly frightened of a connection that is more than... than what Biedde would call "Good Service." Powerful, embittered by the hands of fate, clinging to the lifeline of her sister that was never coming home. She...

Velvet... knows that kind of isolation. That fear. The loneliness of having someone who was important to you suddenly... vanish. Not the how, not the why, not the... endless niceties that make it so violently different. But she knows what it was like to be alone. How it was killing her.
She knows Stormchaser rescued her. She knows he tried and tried and tried. Velvet knows love.

Ax is not a child. She is not quite mature, but she is not a child. Ax is not looking for a Mother, I think. Well, to be fair, I dont' think Ax is looking for anything right now. But she... she doesn't need a Mother with a capital M. She needs... someone.
Maybe not a friend. Maybe just an ear. Or a shoulder. Or someone with a heart.
Not a daughter. But someone you reach out for.



You give her space, a moment. Time to herself to breath. To be furious and angry and mourn and weep and despair. You give her enough space to try it on her own. For a moment.
But. I agree. We shouldn't, and likely can't summon her now. We will have to find her.

I think we should fix Pasharka. I think we should, not this action, but soon in next turn, go searching for Ax.
Oh. And not with Forge. With Heart. No one will take the place of Pasharka, or occupy that idea, or be made to fit it. But with repitition, with the work of a needle and thread, with endlessly woven of the smallest of holes, to repair it and make it... not whole again. But to repair it and offer it back to Ax.
That she will always have a place, long as Velvet can.

 

[Greymere]

But what does everyone else think?

Click to shrink...

I think we're one of the last people Axe would want to deal with right now. Our current relationship is basically nonexistent beyond the contractual one as summoner and summonee. On a personal level, we're a stranger to her at best, and someone she dislikes and is wary of at worst.

We simply don't have the relationship necessary for me to think that us poking at a wound, one created by an incredibly personal betrayal, so soon after it was opened to be anything but unwelcome.

Give her time to process what happened. And then, come next turn, we'll see what's come of Pasharka's decision and what DoA will decide to do, now that she's free.

 

[DelightedOne]

But what does everyone else think?

Click to shrink...

I don't think Axe wants to have a new mother. I do think she wants a family.

Silky is our best and if I'm being honest only way of making sure Axe is in a better place mentally(that cutie mark with diplomatic leanings also doesn't hurt).

But the first step should be to call her back when we can. After all, no progress will be made if she isn't with Velvet.