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

[OurLadyOfWires]

Voting is closed.

Wow this was close. And less than 50% of people voted for the winner.
But we have to call it at some point, so here it is.

Adhoc vote count started by OurLadyOfWires on Nov 27, 2025 at 4:16 PM, finished with 235 posts and 34 votes.

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  15 people have voted

  [X] Gift her influence.

  • Potdl
  • Biowolf
  • Earth-Destroyer
  • Sk1lz3r
  • Arrkhon
  • spiderhellian
  • Nevermort
  • IronHydra
  • Limabot
  • des-pair-2
  • Cochimetl
  • SilentPencil
  • AuthorTransient
  • jelloloaf
  • Shaper47

  14 people have voted

  [X] Gift her freedom.

  • ses
  • Greymere
  • DelightedOne
  • Random Anon
  • Venerable Ro
  • Talon Tiger Dino
  • Uruguayan spider
  • Limabot
  • des-pair-2
  • Cochimetl
  • SilentPencil
  • AuthorTransient
  • jelloloaf
  • Oblex

  12 people have voted

  [X] Gift her tools.

  • Rafuki22
  • Sintonir
  • keykigdom
  • Anjaxis
  • Portec
  • Solace2117
  • Absinthe69
  • Pittauro
  • Limabot
  • des-pair-2
  • Shaper47
  • Oblex

  10 people have voted

  [X] Gift her inspiration.

  • Pittauro
  • Arrkhon
  • spiderhellian
  • Nevermort
  • IronHydra
  • Bakkasama
  • Darkday
  • Witherbrine2671
  • Cochimetl
  • Shaper47

Good day everyone. Ill sit down to write later.

 

[Greymere]

Sigh. Now we're going to have to spend our social action next turn on talking to Mayor Mare instead of actually working on one of our near-Confidants...

 

[ses]

Damn, the vote was trending too, a few hours could have peeled someone else off. Ah well, we got our extra day and almost got there.

Happy thanksgiving to all.

 

[DelightedOne]

Welp, we just gave the Wolf a chance to get its mouth over Equestria's new heart.

There will always be more ponies. The earth pony city of Ponyville will be the beating heart that will keep Equestria moving.
-Mayor Mare will endeavor to make Ponyville the "breadbasket" of Equestria.
-Ponyville is uniquely situated in Equestria, occupying the great central plains of the country, while also being a stone throw away from Canterlot. Time to expand the as-of-yet tame farmlands of Ponyville into their full potential.

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For those that are wondering what I meant. This vote won.

 

[jelloloaf]

Wish I'd removed my Influence backup vote earlier to give Freedom a shot at the coin flip, but it is what it is. Still, at least it's not Tools.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate.

 

[DelightedOne]

Sigh. Now we're going to have to spend our social action next turn on talking to Mayor Mare instead of actually working on one of our near-Confidants...

Click to shrink...

And we're also going to lose the Leash for a bit unless we nat 100 or something.

Yay!(Sarcastically)

 

[Nevermort]

@OurLadyOfWires

Do we have any details on how Mayor Mare would be affected and why?
I mean what is Velvet justification for befriending her would be or is it OOC warning?
Because if say she breaks leg and in emergency vote Soft is appointed new town mayor I would not mind it that much

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Dang it.

 

[DelightedOne]

The only upside I can see with Influence is that we might have a reason to sic the Bureau on the Wolf cult earlier than it would be possible.

But then we might have to keep the heat off Soft, unless her cult is so loyal they would die without mentioning her.

They may be relatively tame now but the Wildhoof Club also started like that and evolved to murder and kidnapping when the Will of the Woods ordered. The thing with this cult is that they mostly operate by themselves, their Master is only halfway there.

In fact, they actively hide their cultish side from her.

"She's on her way. I can see her and Whacky coming down the street. Time to pack it up," the lookout says, letting out a sigh and a few more whispered words, "unless we get lucky today."

Still, despite the initial wave of disappointment that swept through the room, everypony got to work.

Large maps, of endless ashy wastelands with tentative paths drawn on them, were rolled up and stored out of sight. Bottles with dark samples, of oily blood or dry dust, were shoved into suitcases and pushed out of sight. And the several chairs that were spread here and there were gathered into a welcoming circle.

Of course, nopony was really angered by the warning they received. On the contrary, for some of them this would be the highest point of their week, to be able to see and listen to their precious Miss Sweeps.

Click to shrink...

 

[ses]

The only upside I can see with Influence is that we might have a reason to sic the Bureau on the Wolf cult earlier than it would be possible.

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Wasting our bureaus extremely limited actions is the exact opposite of what we want to do. The wolf cult will never eat a bureau action, for better or worse.

 

[DelightedOne]

Wasting our bureaus extremely limited actions is the exact opposite of what we want to do. The wolf cult will never eat a bureau action, for better or worse.

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Not even if Celestia catches wind of that?

 

[Talon Tiger Dino]

Soft is never going to realize she has a cult under her, is she?

 

[OurLadyOfWires]

Soft is never going to realize she has a cult under her, is she?

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Answer 1: "Something something, runs in the family, something something, Mafia Princess mom."

Answer 2: "Flip that on its head. Is it really a cult if they don't have a leader? It's at most a..." (looks at the pony walking towards Mayor Mare's house with a shovel) "... a very enthusiastic fan club."

Answer 3: She will when the time is right.

Time will tell, I suppose. But hey, it seems we have another running gag now

 

[Pittauro]

I don't see anything in the mechanics saying it's not possible so...

Besides I don't think expeditions are academic actions anyway so it should be fine.

Also they have edge and expeditions do kinda fall under that domain narratively.

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keep this in mind:


[MONSTROUS APPEARANCE]: Cannot be used for Social Actions.
[UNINTELLIGENT]: Will perform badly at Actions that require academic knowledge. (This creature is still cunning, and will not walk into traps or act foolishly)

Preparing for an Expedition is meant to include stuff like "buying supplies and train tickets, prepare contingency plans" and so on.

A Risen can't really do that.

We'll probably send Jade on one, Comet on the other, and for the third we either wait or try to fit someone else as leader.

Besides it will give Jade a win and buddy cop Comet Biedde duo will be so amusing.

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While that's hilarious, mechanically speaking we might want to send someone more omni-competent, like Axe or Mareinette.

We'll see.

- Gift her tools: If there is anyone who can be trusted with the ability to summon Windigos and Ash-ghouls, I feel we have yet to meet them. Velvet included.

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In all honesty the reason we've never summoned WIndigoes is really because... we don't actually have much of a use for them. We have a Biedde and Axe after all, we don't need raw muscle for what we're doing right now.

Ash Ghouls are just sufficiently horrible that we're likely to avoid them... hopefully.

- Gift her freedom: My preferred choice, mostly because of the narrative aspects. We're showing interest in Soft's activities, as well as making sure things don't get worse than the Wolf being involved means they already are. I do agree that it's mechanically somewhat of a waste of an AP though; we're close to the end, and I can't think of any particularly good use-cases for fresh cultists over a Velvet action even with our instruction helping them out. Still, if we want to make things better, we should put our bits where our mouth is and invest some real effort into it.

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AotL and getting us Risens are not horrible uses, and they could be sent to search for expedition sites or get us bits I suppose.

Not really much more though. Maybe lead easy expeditions to free up Name/Follower actions?

Edit 2: Based solely off my knowledge of canon cultist simulator, the moth book appears to be about either the Long/Port Noon or The Painted River/The Vagabond, possibly both. The immortal Long can drink from the spring in Port Noon and forgetting/being forgotten and retiring there to live out their eternity in idle pleasures. This stops them from climbing the mansus. They do this to escape the otherwise Hour enforced inevitable fate of conscription or death. There isn't a river explicitly mentioned here to my recollection, but there is the special spring and Port Noon is built by the sea so presumably a river connects the two? Perhaps The Vagabond is facilitating/patronising the writer's escape, perhaps the Painted River is connected to Port Noon somehow?

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good catch.

Chucking healing rituals on the other hoof is also part of the deal.

Besides don't you trust our daughter?

She can heal her little friends of any maiming or serious mental issues if she has healing rituals.

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well, she can TRY.

and while I trust our daughter, I do NOT trust our Daughter

If one the Wolf's primary lenses and said lens' apertures all start bending it to a new purpose, then it's effects on the world will change. If successfully used to help someone heal, then they will have shatter a central axiom of the Wolf-Divided, that nothing good ever comes from the Wolf-Divided. That sort of thing has weight, especially since the Mansus reflects the Wake as much as the Wake does the Mansus.

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this is an interesting point.

It would be fitting that the only one who could change the Wolf would be the one good thing coming from it so far: Soft's continued life.

The one wolf-thing Velvet will never regret.

Sigh. Now we're going to have to spend our social action next turn on talking to Mayor Mare instead of actually working on one of our near-Confidants...

Click to shrink...

we COULD use the leash. or send Mareinette.

but yeah, I'm fairly unsatisfied myself.

It's not the worst case (but also basically impossible-to-happen) of "nothing", but other than that it's the least interesting to me.

Answer 1: "Something something, runs in the family, something something, Mafia Princess mom."

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it's not genetic, so... is it contagious?

 

[Greymere]

we COULD use the leash. or send Mareinette.

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Mareinette's probably going to have to either lead or accompany one of the expeditions next turn, but it'll ultimately depend on the difficulties. I'm fully expecting the Level 7 book to be difficult and need several Names, though. If we can manage it though, I'd probably prefer sending Mareinette to talk to Mayor Mare instead of spending our social action, since we have better picks for spending our social actions on (and having Mareinette ever interact with Cheerilee on our behalf doesn't strike me as a great idea, for obvious reasons).

 

[Sk1lz3r]

On a completely unrelated note, 5 minutes ago I became a Forge Long! Now to see if I can make that me become a name…

 

[ses]

I almost wouldn't mind just letting Mayor Mare meet an unfortunate end rather than burn Mareinette AP on it next turn.... most likely we just spent Velvet social on it instead of Cheerilee

We have The Great Book Hunt and The Quest for Iotic Essence next turn, both of which are likely to be long expeditions and both can't really be delayed.

Most likely Axe and Mareinette take one each, with Cherenkolt in fun sized mode as Forge/Grail to help cover Axe's Antisocial, then we spend Comet and Bieddes ap on short Manhattan expeditions with Axe accompanying as many as she's allowed.

 

[Shaper47]

While that's hilarious, mechanically speaking we might want to send someone more omni-competent, like Axe or Mareinette.

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I was thinking for the gang assault expedition.

Biedde's good at intimidation and if there's a fight he can handle it.

Preparing for an Expedition is meant to include stuff like "buying supplies and train tickets, prepare contingency plans" and so on.

A Risen can't really do that.

Click to shrink...

Keep in mind we've seen Risen commit prep before though.

 

[Greymere]

I almost wouldn't mind just letting Mayor Mare meet an unfortunate end rather than burn Mareinette AP on it next turn....

We have The Great Book Hunt and The Quest for Iotic Essence next turn, both of which are likely to be long expeditions and both can't really be delayed.

Most likely Axe and Mareinette take one each, with Cherenkolt in fun sized mode as Forge/Grail to help cover Axe's Antisocial, then we spend Comet and Bieddes ap on short Manhattan expeditions with Axe accompanying as many as she's allowed.

Click to shrink...

The book hunt, yes, absolutely. The Forge 6 reagent I think we have a decent chance at getting lucky on it and ending up with a short expedition, like how we found the Level 6 book in a short, extremely easy expedition.

And I'd rather not Mayor Mare get shoveled because, for some reason, we decided it was a good idea to not let Soft Sweeps know that she is a cult leader and what that ultimately entails.

Edit: Also, the Manehattan expeditions? Not critical. Don't take away manpower (horsepower?) from the actually important expeditions just to scratch the itch of "DO ALL THE THINGS RIGHT NOW".

 

[ses]

And I'd rather not Mayor Mare get shoveled because, for some reason, we decided it was a good idea to not let Soft Sweeps know that she is a cult leader and what that ultimately entails

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I would also rather that not happen and voted for it not to happen. But our AP is limited and I want to establish saving mayor mare as "in the list of things that can be cut if we absolutely have to"

We're spending 1 Velvet AP on Baldomare SH and most likely 2 more on Grail and Moth Sacraments. Assuming we continue to Bases for 1 AP we can probably afford the social action even with the usual QM curveballs...

Very ironic that people cried about our precious AP but we're having to spend it anyway and not even getting a cult out of it.

 

[DelightedOne]

Also, the Manehattan expeditions? Not critical.

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That's right. But if we are gonna do any of them my vote goes to "Is it Free Real Estate?", purely for the possible Neighnia clues.

Assuming we continue to Bases for 1 AP we can probably afford the social action even with the usual QM curveballs...

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We can also just bench the Constables for a turn. That gives 1 Velvet Action.

 

[Shaper47]

Edit: Also, the Manehattan expeditions? Not critical. Don't take away manpower (horsepower?) from the actually important expeditions just to scratch the itch of "DO ALL THE THINGS RIGHT NOW".

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Just send our Shattered Risen, Jade and Comet as the leaders.

They're short expeditions afterall.

Axe is still free if her AP is needed on the Forge Reagent expedition.

Besides we don't have bits or the ap for any long expeditions at the moment.

Also Filthy Rich and Servants can cover our bases as a reminder.

 

[DelightedOne]

Just send our Shattered Risen, Jade and Comet as the leaders.

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I will agree with you on that if you put Jade's base action in "A Memory of the Path".

Also Filthy Rich and Servants can cover our bases as a reminder.

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As a reminder, that didn't work last time and while I AM willing to use the Leash like that if needed we also have to save Mayor Mare.

Why? Because she is a damn good mayor!

Edit: Also we might not even need to Leash him at all, we sent Mareinette for another social this turn.

 

[Shaper47]

I will agree with you on that if you put Jade's base action in "A Memory of the Path".

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I'm pretty sure Jade only gets one ap a turn and well, we're on the Glory ending run.

 

[DelightedOne]

I'm pretty sure Jade only gets one ap a turn and well, we're on the Glory ending run.

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You could just drop the Cloudsdale expedition, that is like the least tempting one. Why extort a rando when we can track an unbound Name and progress the back up victory?

And if my curse worked, not for long.