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[Fluffe9911]

The one truly unexpected occurrence was the involvement of the Bleachedkin Vampires, who were seemingly aware of Nails' plan and positioned to swoop in and take over all the crime lord's operations within days of their removal. The Vampires are now the true power in Bride Price, running every illegal business and collecting protection from most of the legal ones.

And thus with the purge complete we have simply replaced one group of corrupt people we can barely control with another group of corrupt people we CANT control

With all this in mind, the Bleachedkin of New Mahallo have decided that it would be beneficial to us if your reign were to be long and stable."

Atleast they actually want to support us though even if its just for their own self interests

Anyway

Help out Anne with hexes I mean why not shrug

Let the De'villes keep their jobs (for now) As much as I despise our chancellor and am meh on the rest considering what we are likely about to do we need all the allies we can get.

Accept the offer What the vampires are proposing to offer us right now far outweighs what the imperial church most likely ever will. Remember unless they wish to risk a outright vampire coup (with little to gain from it other than causing the nation to get crusaded probably) the vampires prosperity relies heavily on us being in power and I have a feeling they will work hard to keep us that way. (Yay mutualism!) Also cant wait for all the vampires control the world conspiracy theories 1000 years from now Neutral now no vote for this one.

Ill let other people decide on the rest

[IronyOwl]

The one truly unexpected occurrence was the involvement of the Bleachedkin Vampires, who were seemingly aware of Nails' plan and positioned to swoop in and take over all the crime lord's operations within days of their removal. The Vampires are now the true power in Bride Price, running every illegal business and collecting protection from most of the legal ones.

And thus with the purge complete we have simply replaced one group of corrupt people we can barely control with another group of corrupt people we CANT control

With all this in mind, the Bleachedkin of New Mahallo have decided that it would be beneficial to us if your reign were to be long and stable."

Atleast they actually want to support us though even if its just for their own self interests

Yeah this was not quite the cleanup I was hoping for. I suspect we'll have to take their offer simply because we're in too deep with them to gracefully follow any other plan.

[King Zultan]

Help out Anne with hexes I mean why not shrug

Let the De'villes keep their jobs (for now) As much as I despise our chancellor and am meh on the rest considering what we are likely about to do we need all the allies we can get.

Accept the offer What the vampires are proposing to offer us right now far outweighs what the imperial church most likely ever will. Remember unless they wish to risk a outright vampire coup (with little to gain from it other than causing the nation to get crusaded probably) the vampires prosperity relies heavily on us being in power and I have a feeling they will work hard to keep us that way. (Yay mutualism!) Also cant wait for all the vampires control the world conspiracy theories 1000 years from now

+1

[mightymushroom]

Anne is too young to be playing with hexes. She's a smart kid, we can leave the option open for when she's closer to twelve or thirteen. (By my reckoning we started those classes about age nine, and then it is stated as "years" before we actually got to cast them.)

De'Villes can keep their jobs – but send a letter or have a meeting expressing how much this is using up our favor for Burt's support of our reign and wedding.

With all this in mind, the Bleachedkin of New Mahallo have decided that it would be beneficial to us if your reign were to be long and stable."

Atleast they actually want to support us though even if its just for their own self interests

Yeah this was not quite the cleanup I was hoping for. I suspect we'll have to take their offer simply because we're in too deep with them to gracefully follow any other plan.

I disagree that we're in too deep. At the moment, we are exactly as deep as we were before the purge. It is true that we can take little direct action against them, yet if we were told the truth about our curse then they cannot threaten us or our circle in the same way that the non-vampire criminals just attempted.

One thing is that our current deal has an expiration upon our death, and is only useful where we have control in the land: the vampires indeed want our reign to be long and stable regardless. I'm not surprised that they would take an opportunity to strike a new deal that would likely entangle any successor as well. The money is tempting, but it also commits us to being as much a crime boss mook as a king. We ought to just sign up for being a vampire if we go that route, and we won't likely end up at the head of the local organization.

Decline the vampire offer. While we are not fans of Imperial intolerance, we have been attempting reconciliation with the Mahallo and the distinct possibility of Mahallo-dominant or Mahallo-Imperial fusion culture. Siding with vampires is a step in the opposite direction and certain to harden the resolve of the rebellious druid faction, our other chief worry. The vampires have played up the monetary benefit and tried to discount the political fallout.

Advise Anne to give her parents more time to accept Alan's recovery. Their current attitude is the result of many years of worrying, it is a sad truth that adults usually don't change their minds as quickly as children do. This is a thing that even the commands of a king can barely effect. If Alan is truly feeling better, then the physicians and parents will eventually believe the change in his behavior; Anne can aid Alan best by being an emotional support for her brother, an advocate on his behalf to her parents, and even a physical help when he has trouble with the chains. Promise her that we have been receiving regular reports and if the situation doesn't improve in the coming season or so, we will have a stern talk with the physicians about his actual need for restraint.

[VoidSlayer]

Also our only major alliance is imperial and might be taken aback by open vampire court.  And both our minor in kingdom allies are also opposed to this.

The vampires have almost a monopoly on the criminal underworld.  Why not keep them there for now.  Basically ask them to lower their efforts against honest workers or whatever will be best for the economy and we will look the other way for whatever.  Subject to bringing them fully into government at some later time where it is more politically viable.

Decline Bleachkin offer, offer a less restrictive mutual understanding.

Start with light hexes on Anne at age ten.

Ask Anders to perform a (bullshit?) ritual to help heal Alan's mind.  His parents might then be convinced to reduce restrictions gradually and will be more likely to agree to whatever greater ritual Anders will need to do to remove the curse altogether.

I think it would be hypocritical for us to complain of cowardice when we were not even there and strongly considered evacuating most of our family as well.

[Fluffe9911]

Also our only major alliance is imperial and might be taken aback by open vampire court.  And both our minor in kingdom allies are also opposed to this.

Who is our major imperial ally the Devilles? Or our brother to our north who shows more of a general apathetic toleration than any actual alliance.

The vampires have almost a monopoly on the criminal underworld. Why not keep them there for now.  Basically ask them to lower their efforts against honest workers or whatever will be best for the economy and we will look the other way for whatever.  Subject to bringing them fully into government at some later time where it is more politically viable.

Thats the problem I dont think it will EVER be politically viable...atleast not in our lifetime anyway. If anything as we become more prosperous to a point outside forces start caring what we do more, its likely they will try to pressure us to cut all ties and actively prosecute vampires and other heretical stuff in our kingdom which declining will probably bring similar consequences as if we accept the vampires right now if not more. Of course they will do this even if we accept the offer but atleast we will have more resources and hopefully general tolerance to give them the middle finger with

Point is if we don't want both the vampire hex we got and the criminal world purge to go to waste its beneficial we take this now before people start pressuring us to to deal with our "vampire problem" who knows maybe actively working with the vampires will make people see (after the initial negative reaction we will receive) they really aint that bad be the change you wanna see in the world and all that.

(At the very least it will make a good historical foot note for scholars to argue about)

[Maximum Spin]

Decline the offer.

I still hold out hope of eliminating the vampires completely.

[IronyOwl]

Help out Anne with hexes I mean why not shrug

Let the De'villes keep their jobs (for now) As much as I despise our chancellor and am meh on the rest considering what we are likely about to do we need all the allies we can get.

Accept the offer What the vampires are proposing to offer us right now far outweighs what the imperial church most likely ever will. Remember unless they wish to risk a outright vampire coup (with little to gain from it other than causing the nation to get crusaded probably) the vampires prosperity relies heavily on us being in power and I have a feeling they will work hard to keep us that way. (Yay mutualism!) Also cant wait for all the vampires control the world conspiracy theories 1000 years from now

+1

+1

Not a fan of the vampires, but they're rooted so deep and are technically our allies, so I feel like we're better off trying to mold them into a respectable aristocracy than solving the faults of this purge with a second one. The reputation hit will be a problem, but we do have the Eclipse Mother prophecy to hide behind. And the De'Villes. And the next head bishop.

Eugh. Really torn on this one, but I like the alternative even less.

Advise Anne to give her parents more time to accept Alan's recovery. Their current attitude is the result of many years of worrying, it is a sad truth that adults usually don't change their minds as quickly as children do. This is a thing that even the commands of a king can barely effect. If Alan is truly feeling better, then the physicians and parents will eventually believe the change in his behavior; Anne can aid Alan best by being an emotional support for her brother, an advocate on his behalf to her parents, and even a physical help when he has trouble with the chains. Promise her that we have been receiving regular reports and if the situation doesn't improve in the coming season or so, we will have a stern talk with the physicians about his actual need for restraint.

+1 to this

Pluuuuuus we can't swear this isn't a ploy by Alan. We still don't actually know the source of his affliction or its nature, so it's impossible to say if he's actually better or just decided Anne is a mindslave to us now.

I still hold out hope of eliminating the vampires completely.

Thoughts on how we'd pull that off?

[Maximum Spin]

I still hold out hope of eliminating the vampires completely.

Thoughts on how we'd pull that off?

It depends on how thorough the hex is and whether it stops us from doing things like "making a list of all the vampires in our country and leaving it out next to some files we ask Nails to review". I mean, nothing harmful about that, surely. It's just a list. The list might even be headed "vampires we love and totally don't want you to kill".

[mightymushroom]

The vampires have almost a monopoly on the criminal underworld. Why not keep them there for now.  Basically ask them to lower their efforts against honest workers or whatever will be best for the economy and we will look the other way for whatever.  Subject to bringing them fully into government at some later time where it is more politically viable.

Thats the problem I dont think it will EVER be politically viable...atleast not in our lifetime anyway.

I agree, I don't think it will EVER be politically viable. It's always a trade off.

who knows maybe actively working with the vampires will make people see (after the initial negative reaction we will receive) they really aint that bad be the change you wanna see in the world and all that.

We know they have extortion and protection rackets going. It's reasonable to suspect smuggling as well, and given their nature that includes kidnap and human trafficking. Do you have any elaboration on how we would be reforming their international cartel, or perception thereof, into something that "ain't that bad"?

I thought we accepted the hex to protect ourselves from vampires, not so much because we hoped to protect them from the big bad world.

---------

I still hold out hope of eliminating the vampires completely.

Thoughts on how we'd pull that off?

Thought 1: Although we cannot read the hex directly, our magic briefing informs us that even powerful users must keep them narrowly focused/triggered in order to be long lasting. I believe it is unlikely to have a worryingly broad interpretation of us doing harm to the Bleachedkin. As a high level magic I don't know that we can "trick" it about our intentions, but if anyone acting independently should catch and kill vampires, well by the time we hear it's too late for us to intervene.

Thought 2: Mistress Mire traded her threat of personal destruction by giving us a threat of their destruction. The current situation is a result of Nails keeping his hands off the Bleachedkin; imagine what a person of his ability and temperament might do with a full list of operatives if he (or we) should decide that our long-term health is a lesser priority.

Thought 3: I do not advocate suicide, but if poor health should force us to abdicate to a chosen successor, might we be able to avoid the nasty partition business?

[Fluffe9911]

We know they have extortion and protection rackets going. It's reasonable to suspect smuggling as well, and given their nature that includes kidnap and human trafficking. Do you have any elaboration on how we would be reforming their international cartel, or perception thereof, into something that "ain't that bad"?

Yeah I realized the flaws in my logic there after I made the post and now that I'm well rested and looking back at it its probably for the best we dont fully side with the vampires making my vote a neutral one now. Still filled with absolute despair over how the purge ended up going though, main reason I was originally for the vampires cause it woulda felt like the purge would of been for nothing otherwise (although thats sunk cost fallacy so yeah best I just go neutral)

We do need to find a reliable source of income though so we can start doing things.

[MrThrowaway]

Help out Anne with hexes I mean why not shrug

Let the De'villes keep their jobs (for now) As much as I despise our chancellor and am meh on the rest considering what we are likely about to do we need all the allies we can get.

Accept the offer What the vampires are proposing to offer us right now far outweighs what the imperial church most likely ever will. Remember unless they wish to risk a outright vampire coup (with little to gain from it other than causing the nation to get crusaded probably) the vampires prosperity relies heavily on us being in power and I have a feeling they will work hard to keep us that way. (Yay mutualism!) Also cant wait for all the vampires control the world conspiracy theories 1000 years from now

+1

+1

Not a fan of the vampires, but they're rooted so deep and are technically our allies, so I feel like we're better off trying to mold them into a respectable aristocracy than solving the faults of this purge with a second one. The reputation hit will be a problem, but we do have the Eclipse Mother prophecy to hide behind. And the De'Villes. And the next head bishop.

Eugh. Really torn on this one, but I like the alternative even less.

Advise Anne to give her parents more time to accept Alan's recovery. Their current attitude is the result of many years of worrying, it is a sad truth that adults usually don't change their minds as quickly as children do. This is a thing that even the commands of a king can barely effect. If Alan is truly feeling better, then the physicians and parents will eventually believe the change in his behavior; Anne can aid Alan best by being an emotional support for her brother, an advocate on his behalf to her parents, and even a physical help when he has trouble with the chains. Promise her that we have been receiving regular reports and if the situation doesn't improve in the coming season or so, we will have a stern talk with the physicians about his actual need for restraint.

+1 to this

Pluuuuuus we can't swear this isn't a ploy by Alan. We still don't actually know the source of his affliction or its nature, so it's impossible to say if he's actually better or just decided Anne is a mindslave to us now.

I still hold out hope of eliminating the vampires completely.

Thoughts on how we'd pull that off?

+1

[IronyOwl]

It occurs to me that nobody's commented on Marion's education.

Suggest she study at the Grand Temple, but remind her that she can invite instructors to come stay with their king for a while where convenient. While I'd rather keep her nearby, becoming a powerful and politically influential druid is probably more important. It'd also allow us to nudge ourselves closer to reuniting the offices of monarch and druid.

It'll also make for interesting results when we reveal the druids have been conspiring against us.

[mightymushroom]

Suggest she study at the Grand Temple, but remind her that she can invite instructors to come stay with their king for a while where convenient. While I'd rather keep her nearby, becoming a powerful and politically influential druid is probably more important. It'd also allow us to nudge ourselves closer to reuniting the offices of monarch and druid.

It'll also make for interesting results when we reveal the druids have been conspiring against us.

+1

[Shadowclaw777]

It occurs to me that nobody's commented on Marion's education.

Suggest she study at the Grand Temple, but remind her that she can invite instructors to come stay with their king for a while where convenient. While I'd rather keep her nearby, becoming a powerful and politically influential druid is probably more important. It'd also allow us to nudge ourselves closer to reuniting the offices of monarch and druid.

It'll also make for interesting results when we reveal the druids have been conspiring against us.

So I include Nobody ?, also not not making her a political valuable to the Druids is valuable compared to our first priority, getting a heir. A long-distance relationship means we would have less opportunities to y’know and therefore we should wait to confirm Arawn’s wife pregnancy before having her leave the Molar, I don’t know how being pregnant would affect someone’s mental studies but it should have some sort of significant impact?, but it should have an effect. She can begin her full-time studies once we have a child in the Molar, we should have royal caretakers and King Arawn then take care our firstborn.

We can have like our half-brother Andre go and try and romance and marry Luanda I think (and a demand if it forces us), since she’s next in line to become Archdruid?, and that’s a political connection that we could viably have to make the Mahello people more happy with us.

As for Vampires, fine let’s Expel the Vampire Mafia when we are given enough resources and an opportunity to do so. Maybe tell Nails to see if this is a plausible goal?

Edit: Also only a partial amount of the Druid's are conspirers against us and working with Korrag, there should still be some Druids that are happy to work with us such as Halia and our grand-uncle Archdruid Tamar