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

Reader mode
Forge Redemption and Lore above 0 can be taught to Bureau later at any point. I'm pretty sure Baldomare can write a manuscript if we ask her, and make it impossible for anybody to tell it was her. Then we'll just need to "find" it convincingly.
Lore 0 is more tricky since it is a primer, it is a bit suspicious if Velvet just brought up some spooky new magic system. So IMO it would be best if they find the primer now.
But the only really time-sensitive thing is Windigos.
 
Shaper47 said:
Not the Sons but Soft is.

It's explicitly stated that her Heart is that of the Wolf-Divided multiple times.
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No it wasn't what was said was this:
OurLadyOfWires said:
You have put something inside Soft Sweeps. Feed it, and it will grow. Remove it, and she will die.

It will be fed, like all the dirty things in this world, by the performance of Regrettable Actions.

This was not a Regrettable Action. For Velvet Covers, because she will never regret saving her own daughter. And for the world, because a seed planted is not a tree grown. At least for now. All seeds brim with potential
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OurLadyOfWires said:
But although you did place something inside of Soft Sweeps, and you know that thing breathed life back into her once again, you honestly can't see any trace of it.
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OurLadyOfWires said:
It only exists in your memory, in the utter knowledge that it's still in her. Like a lump of coal keeping a stove warm or like the wind keeping a mill turning
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Velvet gave her a Wolf pacemaker, she didn't turn her heart into that of the Wolf.
 
Greymere said:
@OurLadyOfWires can we know what degree of Bad it'll be if the detectives find our manuscripts? Should I start mentally preparing myself for likely death-by-sunhorse and moving to Soft Sweeps Quest?
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I'll jump in to answer this because you sound like you are honestly worried.

Don't worry!

Celestia is generally inaccessible, Cadance is on your side (although she still lacks a LOT of context), and you have a very broad mandate from the Princesses.

It is extremely unlikely that a group of detectives would (1) find the manuscripts, (2) immediately recognize it as damning influence about you, AND (3) immediately jump over the chain of authority and make that information somehow reach Celestia.

Not impossible. But extremely unlikely.

My table of dice rolls is ready, pending your decisions on this vote. But the highest percentage of outcomes veer in another, more manageable direction.

Granted, i wont feel bad about these manuscripts biting Velvet. She has known about them for a long while, and my conscience is clean when she gets smacked by known threats.

But still, this isnt a "doom clock" level issue. I like to make those very clear.
Celly reaching high Lantern is a game-over-adjacent. These manuscripts are """just""" a "damning evidence" card on your board that might get sucked into the "investigation" event slot.
 
OurLadyOfWires said:
But still, this isnt a "doom clock" level issue. I like to make those very clear.
Celly reaching high Lantern is a game-over-adjacent. These manuscripts are """just""" a "damning evidence" card on your board that might get sucked into the "investigation" event slot.
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To be fair we tried 3 times to so far to remove the manuscripts.
Cochimetl said:
And it's not like we're lacking Favours from Authority, I guess.
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Velvet is both the bureau boss, and the mother of the head of the entire governmental branch. At most it eats a Luna action.
 
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OurLadyOfWires said:
Celly reaching high Lantern is a game-over-adjacent. These manuscripts are """just""" a "damning evidence" card on your board that might get sucked into the "investigation" event slot.
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yeah, they'd have to

1)Find the manuscripts

2)Recognize the hornwriting as being similar to Velvet's

3)Perform analysis to actually match it. Even so, it's not game over because presumably changelings could imitate that too...

4)After that probably even perform more checks, like verifying that the type of paper and ink used is commonly sold in Ponyville and is the type Velvet often uses/used, or maybe somehow find traces of Velvet's magic in it, or Velvet DNA (assuming they know of it, AND that they won't just assume Velvet contaminated the papers once they were in Bureau Custody instead)

5) AFTER all of that, they'd have to go to someone to accuse Velvet, and be believed.

Shining and Cadance are MOSTLY on our side, and would at least give us a chance to explain. After all we have LUNA on our side to vouch for us.

Celestia is near impossible to reach

Midday Dew is basically an unknown and also similarly unreachable.

I suppose their best guess would be to go to Lady Fair Trial.
 
If Bureau does not properly understand what Lores is and what is the deal with Copper's cult then it is not really a damning evidence. Velvet can for example claim that it was old theoretical magic research that was stolen from her home during attack. And it is somepony from her research group making breakthrough that allowed for practical implementation of said theory, turning evil and assaulting others to steal their pieces of research. Or perhaps it is changelings learning that said theory is viable to be used against them and attacking researchers.

I think the less Bureau really knows by the end of investigation the more room we will have to bullshit our way out of it.
 
Shaper47 said:
I don't think Ash is able to be killed that easily.

I'm guessing our daughter will take over life support for the other two sons.



She's still a wolf even if not fully grown.



???

Yes it can Soft just has to climb up herself.

On the bright side Soft will probably get Selene and Cadence as Apostate allies.



No it's not. Not for a wolf.
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Shaper47 said:
A Changeling is not part of a God.

Soft is a real wolf just like Selene was a real Alicorn while she was sleeping.
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No she is not. She is explicitly not a Wolf until fed enough Regrettable Actions. Until then she is a pony.

However, she is unique in the case of Velvet's Wolf-Spawn in that if Velvet dies, she does not, because she is not the product of a Regrettable Action. She is not a Stain that disappears when the stained item is gone. Which means she could probably turn herself into a Wolf given the time, knowledge, and desire.

But finally, it's too early to say that a bit of Wolf cannot work with Harmony. Working with things you don't expect is kind of Harmony's entire schtick.

It worked with Velvet when it came to Luna, after all. It worked with Discord, Changelings, and Scorpan, in canon. It was willing to try and branch out to dragons, griffons, and basically anyone who might be willing to work together and not be awful. And currently, Soft is more original Soft than Wolf Soft. And it's not like each piece of the Wolf is as strong as the Wolf and can resist being turned to new ends, either. That's how this whole Soft situation came to be; with Velvet slamming a bit of the Wolf into keeping someone alive against its will.
 
I'm actually very surprised they even were in a safe.
The manuscripts are kinda supposed to be free to read for anyone with high enough position in the cult (and the position is basically "if they know it's a cult they should be able to read them").
That means either Copper actually thought them to be valuable enough Lore-wise to be locked up, or she recognized that they will be one of our targets if we actually came after her in the Wake and had some good alternatives.
 
Sintonir said:
I'm actually very surprised they even were in a safe.
The manuscripts are kinda supposed to be free to read for anyone with high enough position in the cult (and the position is basically "if they know it's a cult they should be able to read them").
That means either Copper actually thought them to be valuable enough Lore-wise to be locked up, or she recognized that they will be one of our targets if we actually came after her in the Wake and had some good alternatives.
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There are two sets of manuscripts: the originals, which Velvet hoof-wrote herself, and the rest, which were copies of our manuscripts made by other members of the cult. The large majority of manuscripts in the original Wildhoof library were the latter, and this presumably extends also to the Manehattan branch.
 
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Sintonir said:
I'm actually very surprised they even were in a safe.
The manuscripts are kinda supposed to be free to read for anyone with high enough position in the cult (and the position is basically "if they know it's a cult they should be able to read them").
That means either Copper actually thought them to be valuable enough Lore-wise to be locked up, or she recognized that they will be one of our targets if we actually came after her in the Wake and had some good alternatives.
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Nah.

Copper got smart, even if she was Copper about it.
She introduced Velvet to the lores. And was later eclipsed by her. Access, free and ready access to lores provides benefits to be sure. A smarter cult, a better history of things. But, it also breeds the ground for people who might eclipse her. Who might grow smarter, or stranger than her.

The manuscripts are helpful, but control of information is valuable too. And if worse comes to worse, they are good blackmail. Locking them up prevents secret Velvet affiliates from stealing them. Which ... Is exactly what happened.

Something something, Serpents being the cause of their own problems, something something, reflections of relationships as action, something something, Grail
 
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