The Unseen Servant forums

terrymixon wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 12:08 am
“Will do. We could be there in a week, but he won’t be there. Even if he were, it’s too late. The cracks have been there for a long time and now blood has been spilled. Even if you kill Dulinor, others will fight for the throne. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no stuffing it back in.”

"I will deal with Dulinor later. His daughter is a close friend of Ciencia. I want to see if we can short circuit things politically. Ciencia is close friends with Dulinor's daughter. Perhaps we can create an alignment with Isis."

helvorn wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 12:40 am

terrymixon wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 12:08 am
“Will do. We could be there in a week, but he won’t be there. Even if he were, it’s too late. The cracks have been there for a long time and now blood has been spilled. Even if you kill Dulinor, others will fight for the throne. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no stuffing it back in.”

"I will deal with Dulinor later. His daughter is a close friend of Ciencia. I want to see if we can short circuit things politically. Ciencia is close friends with Dulinor's daughter. Perhaps we can create an alignment with Isis."

And the GM learns something new…

Walt:
”Ambassador, before you leave, I’d like to discuss a couple of things with you, if I may. I have an apology and an offer.

First, I acted in haste earlier. Now that we know more about the emergency situation and that Ciencia is safe, I owe you an apology. While I am quite certain that an Imperium official of any kind would be removed from the presence of the Zhodani crown while an assassination attempt was ongoing or in its immediate aftermath, that point is moot. In light of the actual events rather than hasty fears, I now know you did not deserve to be escorted outside. I humbly ask your forgiveness.”

He nods in a slight bow.

“Second, you have come a long way (very quickly and exposing what must be a secret) to speak with Ciencia, so it must be of great importance. And that matter remains unresolved at the moment. While she is physically well, she has been sedated after the emotional distress of what we now know was an internal assassination attempt on her father, the collapse of her mother, and the death and injuries of others she cared for. She may be out for a while, and when she awakes may have other pressing matters before speaking with you. But I know she will want to speak with you.

One of those pressing matters may be an immediate departure from Aki. I don’t know for sure. Such a departure would leave your affairs with Ciencia and William still without resolution.

Therefore, I have an offer for you. I invite you (the key word here is “invite”) to remain aboard. Bona and I offer you our stateroom, and you may also use that of our partner, Spicoli. He is off on another venture and his stateroom has been completely empty for some time. Feel free to make yourselves at home in the staterooms. the common room, library, gym and spa room, workshop, and shuttle bay. The only areas I ask you to stay out of are Metz and Bianca’s workshop…much proprietary work being done there….and the cargo bay, but only for now. Should we go underway and you choose to remain aboard for that jump, I think we can make the cargo bay available to you as well. Possibly even sooner than that.

If you’re wondering how I can know any details of this situation when I’ve been with you the whole time; well, some of us Counts Vincenzo have neural links in our nuggets. A lot of comm has run across that link.

Ambassador, you have come for a reason, and I’d like you to have the opportunity to have that discussion. The choice to accept the offer is yours. And again, my apologies.”


He nods his head again.

On the net:
“I’m only protecting the portal in the cargo bay until we enter jump, leap, whatever. I’m assuming since the Ambassador said they’d go to a hotel instead of their ship that they don’t have a ship. That they teleported to Aki. I’m betting they have a network of teleportals. It would make sense that a psi society would find Ancients tech before the Imperium. I’m only protecting the extant of our teleport network and trying to keep any near-term teleportal-travel confidential as we formulate our next steps. I’m sure we’ll teleport around to communicate our plans.”

terrymixon wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 12:56 am

helvorn wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 12:40 am
"I will deal with Dulinor later. His daughter is a close friend of Ciencia. I want to see if we can short circuit things politically. Ciencia is close friends with Dulinor's daughter. Perhaps we can create an alignment with Isis."

And the GM learns something new…

I read as much as I could about Ciencia. Apparently they were childhood friends. In the TU where Dulinor dies Archduchess Isis is a favorite of Ciencia. I figure that William learned this over pillow talk and casual conversation.

https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Isis_Arepo_Ilethian

William carries Ciencia to their stateroom and carefully tucks her in bed. He sits with her for a while stroking her hair and this time singing something very softly in Sagamal.

terrymixon wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 1:41 am "What do we do?" Aster asked. "They heard way too much. Even what they saw is too much."

Garvin replies to Aster "We look at the off suit two an' seven we've just bin dealt, smile contentedly and chuck our money in. All we can do is play this one out - an 'ope for better cards".

After Walt's speech he raises an eyebrow and neurally sends "Ruddy 'ell - well played Walt!"

Tiglath wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 1:48 pm

After Walt's speech he raises an eyebrow and neurally sends "Ruddy 'ell - well played Walt!"

Walt on link:
”Think so? Even brutes have their moments, I guess.”

Thumper wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 3:33 am

Walt:
”Ambassador, before you leave, I’d like to discuss a couple of things with you, if I may. I have an apology and an offer.

He will pause and listen politely.

Thumper wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 3:33 am First, I acted in haste earlier. Now that we know more about the emergency situation and that Ciencia is safe, I owe you an apology. While I am quite certain that an Imperium official of any kind would be removed from the presence of the Zhodani crown while an assassination attempt was ongoing or in its immediate aftermath, that point is moot. In light of the actual events rather than hasty fears, I now know you did not deserve to be escorted outside. I humbly ask your forgiveness.”

He nods in a slight bow.

"I accept your apology and thank you for it."

Thumper wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 3:33 am “Second, you have come a long way (very quickly and exposing what must be a secret) to speak with Ciencia, so it must be of great importance. And that matter remains unresolved at the moment. While she is physically well, she has been sedated after the emotional distress of what we now know was an internal assassination attempt on her father, the collapse of her mother, and the death and injuries of others she cared for. She may be out for a while, and when she awakes may have other pressing matters before speaking with you. But I know she will want to speak with you.

One of those pressing matters may be an immediate departure from Aki. I don’t know for sure. Such a departure would leave your affairs with Ciencia and William still without resolution.

Therefore, I have an offer for you. I invite you (the key word here is “invite”) to remain aboard. Bona and I offer you our stateroom, and you may also use that of our partner, Spicoli. He is off on another venture and his stateroom has been completely empty for some time. Feel free to make yourselves at home in the staterooms. the common room, library, gym and spa room, workshop, and shuttle bay. The only areas I ask you to stay out of are Metz and Bianca’s workshop…much proprietary work being done there….and the cargo bay, but only for now. Should we go underway and you choose to remain aboard for that jump, I think we can make the cargo bay available to you as well. Possibly even sooner than that.

If you’re wondering how I can know any details of this situation when I’ve been with you the whole time; well, some of us Counts Vincenzo have neural links in our nuggets. A lot of comm has run across that link.

Ambassador, you have come for a reason, and I’d like you to have the opportunity to have that discussion. The choice to accept the offer is yours. And again, my apologies.”


He nods his head again.

On the net:
“I’m only protecting the portal in the cargo bay until we enter jump, leap, whatever. I’m assuming since the Ambassador said they’d go to a hotel instead of their ship that they don’t have a ship. That they teleported to Aki. I’m betting they have a network of teleportals. It would make sense that a psi society would find Ancients tech before the Imperium. I’m only protecting the extant of our teleport network and trying to keep any near-term teleportal-travel confidential as we formulate our next steps. I’m sure we’ll teleport around to communicate our plans.”

"I appreciate the offer, but I must decline. This situation is a private one, and as an outsider it is best if I withdraw to allow you to recover your balance and allow the Grand Princess to deal with her trauma. I meant what I said earlier. She may call me any time day or night when she is ready to speak. If she must depart before we can speak, I will return to Collace and await her return. I am, and remain, at her disposal. Until she is able and willing to see me, I and my guards will decamp. I truly hope she finds peace and balance in these trying times."

With that, they will depart, leaving the PCs alone to handle their situation without prying eyes.

William steps out from his shared state room with a pale and expressionless face. He looks at the others and nods. "Well done all with the medical emergencies and the Zhodani. Very good handling of the Zhodani Walt." William walks over to the bar and pours himself a double shot of single malt. He throws it back and closes his eyes for a moment. "The newest Ciencia is lightly drugged and sleeping. The injured Ciencia will recover and wake up in the morning. The babies are fine. The empress had a mental collapse into physical shock and almost died. She should be stable now but there's no telling what her mental state will be. I can tell you that my wife will be angry but coldly calculating in the morning. I will need a bit of time with them both and then we can plan our next moves." William sits down and glances particularly at Garvin but at the rest as well. "The Imperium may be rotten but it is better than Civil War. We will do all that we can to prevent that and if we fail then we will finish it utterly with every force at our disposal before innocents can die."

helvorn wrote: ↑Sun May 04, 2025 3:02 am . "The Imperium may be rotten but it is better than Civil War. We will do all that we can to prevent that and if we fail then we will finish it utterly with every force at our disposal before innocents can die."

Jaelah takes Roscoe's hand as they sit together. "I agree. What happens next is mostly up to Ciencia, and I for one will support her to the hilt."

Walt-
”Uh, thanks William”

”I for one want to grind Dukinor’s face into the gravel for killing my friend.

We all wanna be mindful to what happens in the Imperium’s struggle. After all, the Imperium’s Scout Service is crawling all over our Pocket Universe and a portal to it sits at the Capital. I certainly hope the Scouts haven’t figured out exactly where Pocket Universe actually sits in the galaxy.

We need to end Dulinor in the quickest time possible to contain the spread of civil war and minimize the collateral damage to citizens. I suspect that the de-escalation of civil war will be most effectively and efficiently handled through political back channels seeing as an Archdukary just became vacant. But there certainly will be fighting and we can bring a number of surprises in short order! Ciencia has my gun!

Thumper wrote: ↑Sun May 04, 2025 5:08 am Walt-
”Uh, thanks William”

”I for one want to grind Dukinor’s face into the gravel for killing my friend.

We all wanna be mindful to what happens in the Imperium’s struggle. After all, the Imperium’s Scout Service is crawling all over our Pocket Universe and a portal to it sits at the Capital. I certainly hope the Scouts haven’t figured out exactly where Pocket Universe actually sits in the galaxy.

We need to end Dulinor in the quickest time possible to contain the spread of civil war and minimize the collateral damage to citizens. I suspect that the de-escalation of civil war will be most effectively and efficiently handled through political back channels seeing as an Archdukary just became vacant. But there certainly will be fighting and we can bring a number of surprises in short order! Ciencia has my gun!

The portal the scouts are using is in Glisten. It made a brief trip to Capital to get specialized ships, if I remember clearly, but was never going to be there long. The huge scout base as Glisten is the primary hub for personnel. A number of trusted people from Capital did make the trip at that time, but the large teleportal is back at Glisten now

William nodded to his friends. "Thank you on behalf of of Ciencia for your unwavering support. I hope bloodshed is minimized but if the war even starts on a small scale there will be loss of life and destruction." He grinned with an unpleasant look in his eye at Walt's comment. "I want to cut Dulinor into small pieces from what is done to Ciencia and her family as well as the larger group killed and injured at the palace or yet to be killed." William took a deep breath. "Ciencia is very, very good friends with Dulinor's daughter Isis. Perhaps we can use our speed of travel to bring the two together and somehow checkmate the Civil War before it happens."

He went on. "The first thing is to secure all of the Fleet Depots and ensure nothing moves without our permission. Dulinor claims the throne through Right of Assassination. The more powerful claim backed up by tradition is the claim by Right of Fleet Control. We also need to secure Capitol and the Moot to make things stick politically."

helvorn wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 1:21 am William nodded to his friends. "Thank you on behalf of of Ciencia for your unwavering support. I hope bloodshed is minimized but if the war even starts on a small scale there will be loss of life and destruction." He grinned with an unpleasant look in his eye at Walt's comment. "I want to cut Dulinor into small pieces from what is done to Ciencia and her family as well as the larger group killed and injured at the palace or yet to be killed." William took a deep breath. "Ciencia is very, very good friends with Dulinor's daughter Isis. Perhaps we can use our speed of travel to bring the two together and somehow checkmate the Civil War before it happens."

He went on. "The first thing is to secure all of the Fleet Depots and ensure nothing moves without our permission. Dulinor claims the throne through Right of Assassination. The more powerful claim backed up by tradition is the claim by Right of Fleet Control. We also need to secure Capitol and the Moot to make things stick politically."

"I hesitate to gainsay you, but we would reveal far too much about ourselves if we engaged so openly," Aster said. "If word spread about some of the things we can do, it would make things even worse. The last thing I want is let a civil war rage unchecked, but can it really be stopped at this point? If we stop Dulinor, what is to stop the next archduke from proffering a claim by force? Why stop at one? Why not all the archdukes and a slew of lesser nobility? I've read the classified reports compiled by the Omicron Division. The Imperium was just short of a boil before this and now it will come apart no matter what we do. Rest assured that he has highly placed people in the core and surrounding depots and fleets will have been striking in time with the assassination. He'll have learned the lessons of previous assassinations and will be on the move and his loyal people with me moving with him."

She stood, walked over to the bar and poured herself a stiff drink. "The fractures have always been there, but they've been growing over the last few centuries. Do we really want another set of emperors of the flag? Let me remind you that seventeen emperors achieved the throne through assassination, fleet action, political maneuvers, and general mayhem over a twenty-year period. What makes you think our intervention won't break things even more? The Imperium has been coming apart though it was never visible because the nobility had reason to keep things hidden, but I don't believe that even we can stop what is coming. The key might not be to keep the Imperium together, but to secure what parts of it we can hold. Deneb is under our control right now and will be for a year. If we spent the time culling the worst elements, we could keep it together, I'd wager. At the very least, it seems possible where stopping what has started does not. Our duty is to save what we can. Perhaps in time we can do more, but the Imperium's enemies will not hesitate to strike while she is being torn asunder, and that includes our friendly Zho ambassador who knows far too much now. Those in the know have suspected a fifth frontier war in a few years. Now it is a certainty. They will take ruthless advantage of the oncoming chaos to strike. That, at least, is something we might be able to do something about. The core of the Imperium is beyond us."

helvorn wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 1:21 amHe went on. "The first thing is to secure all of the Fleet Depots and ensure nothing moves without our permission. Dulinor claims the throne through Right of Assassination. The more powerful claim backed up by tradition is the claim by Right of Fleet Control. We also need to secure Capitol and the Moot to make things stick politically."

Jaelah raised her hand. "I suggest that we table this discussion until Ciencia can participate. She, and the rest of us, will be better able to talk about this tomorrow. As for me, I want to go home for the night."

joertexas wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 1:57 am

helvorn wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 1:21 amHe went on. "The first thing is to secure all of the Fleet Depots and ensure nothing moves without our permission. Dulinor claims the throne through Right of Assassination. The more powerful claim backed up by tradition is the claim by Right of Fleet Control. We also need to secure Capitol and the Moot to make things stick politically."

Jaelah raised her hand. "I suggest that we table this discussion until Ciencia can participate. She, and the rest of us, will be better able to talk about this tomorrow. As for me, I want to go home for the night."

"Time is a fleeting thing and we are critically short of it right now," Aster countered. "Does she need to be part of the discussion? Yes. Will she be thinking clearly tomorrow? No. She's just taken a devastating loss and we don't know how long it will take her to get back up on her feet. She's just turned 19 and has lost her father. The final say is hers, but it is our duty to advise her and if we don't talk before she wakes, it would be criminally negligent of us. We don't have to make any final decisions, but we need to talk this out now."

terrymixon wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 2:10 am"Time is a fleeting thing and we are critically short of it right now," Aster countered. "Does she need to be part of the discussion? Yes. Will she be thinking clearly tomorrow? No. She's just taken a devastating loss and we don't know how long it will take her to get back up on her feet. She's just turned 19 and has lost her father. The final say is hers, but it is our duty to advise her and if we don't talk before she wakes, it would be criminally negligent of us. We don't have to make any final decisions, but we need to talk this out now."

"No." Jaelah stood and looked at everyone in turn as she spoke. "Ciencia is now the Empress. We are smart enough to formulate advice without meeting behind her back. I won't be a party to any policy discussions absent Her Majesty's express consent. There is an old saying about avoiding the appearance of evil, and, to me, this situation could be misconstrued as trying to take control of the new Empress." She paused and looked at each couple in turn. "What we do and say in private with our spouses is our own business, but I won't participate with anyone else until the Empress approves it."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "What we can formulate are logistical concerns, such as information gathering. We know basically squat right now. So, we could determine what assets we have, and how to best deploy them to get Ciencia the data she needs to prepare a response to this mess."

joertexas wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 2:34 am

terrymixon wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 2:10 am"Time is a fleeting thing and we are critically short of it right now," Aster countered. "Does she need to be part of the discussion? Yes. Will she be thinking clearly tomorrow? No. She's just taken a devastating loss and we don't know how long it will take her to get back up on her feet. She's just turned 19 and has lost her father. The final say is hers, but it is our duty to advise her and if we don't talk before she wakes, it would be criminally negligent of us. We don't have to make any final decisions, but we need to talk this out now."

"No." Jaelah stood and looked at everyone in turn as she spoke. "Ciencia is now the Empress. We are smart enough to formulate advice without meeting behind her back. I won't be a party to any policy discussions absent Her Majesty's express consent. There is an old saying about avoiding the appearance of evil, and, to me, this situation could be misconstrued as trying to take control of the new Empress." She paused and looked at each couple in turn. "What we do and say in private with our spouses is our own business, but I won't participate with anyone else until the Empress approves it."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "What we can formulate are logistical concerns, such as information gathering. We know basically squat right now. So, we could determine what assets we have, and how to best deploy them to get Ciencia the data she needs to prepare a response to this mess."

"And it's better to stumble around in the dark figuring out options while she watches us?" Aster asked, seeming exasperated. "How can we even start the process without laying out what we know and believe? Determining policy behind her back would be wrong. Discussing what options we have and potential courses of action which she must them approve or reject is out duty. If you want to bury your head in the sand and wait a day or more until Ciencia can think, then I can't stop you. Or you could stay here and make sure that we play by the straight and narrow. Don't abrogate your responsibilities, Jaelah. Be the person Ciencia needs you to be and help us map out potential courses of action that we can present when she is ready to hear them. We can't afford to shoot from the hip when we have time to consider things."

Walt-
"I'm afraid Aster sees the right of it. Are we advisors and friends to Ciencia or not? She's out at the moment. We should do what we can to get a little ahead of things...especialy the time critical ones. Like the Zho Ambassador.

No matter what we do now, civil war has already begun. The Spinward Marches will see a mass invasion by the Zho. Their speculation on what they saw the first time aboard might have kept the Zho at bay longer than having it confirmed by their presence the second time. If they have teleportal travel as I suspect, the Zho will be on the Frontier in force before we know it. If they can't return, we will have more time to prepare. We have to find out where their portal is on Aki and steal or disable it to prevent the Ambassador's return to the Consulate. Roscoe? Can we send spy drones out to follow them...some armed with tranq in case the Zho try to use the portal...failing that one drone armed with a dis-integrator rod to eliminate the portal when found? Can you feed their visual link to me, Arker, and William in case it's best for us to teleport to the Zho's location to stop them from using the portal...possibly allowing us to steal the portal?

As far as the war goes, I think the only smart play is to consolidate Ciencia's control of the Spinward Marches, Deneb, and Corridor, and as much of Vland as possible (but especially the neck). Claim that as Ciencia's stronghold before news reaches this far out, prepare for the Zho war that WILL inevitably find it's way here. Once done, perhaps Ciencia can work diplomatic miracles to calm the civil wars from a position of strength. But I'm not versed enough in politics to decide how to begin that for Ciencia.

Metz' TL16 capabilities could go a long way to consolidating Ciencia's control of the Marches, Deneb, Corridor, and a corner of Vland. It will also fortify us against the Zho.

Another question: shall we go after Dulinor and eliminate him so he cannot benefit from his treachery? Perhaps Ciencia can support Isis in her father's place and help cool things down a bit? Could the two work together as allies?"

William listened quietly as the others spoke. "We will secure Deneb and Corridor. We will stop the Zhodani Walt." William shook his head. "I don't believe that Dulinor has Capitol or the Core Depot secured or why would he depart? I think he has his domain under control but little else. The Archduke of Vland will not support him with his reputation as a radical and reformer. Sol will be busy and Gateway is weak. The lag in communications will be our ally as things start in slow motion." William slammed his fist down on the table so hard that glasses jumped and broke on the floor. "The Empire may be rotten but I will not throw a trillion innocent lives into the fire without a fight. We can do this without completely revealing our hands. The Terran Confederation won the 9th Interstellar War with jump three and meson guns among other things. We have Skip Drives and antimatter projectors."

He looked around and took a deep breath. "Until Ciencia is stable I am pronouncing myself Imperial Regent. We won't go behind her back, she is my beloved wife and mother of my unborn children" he nodded to Jaelah, "But we will not lose time." William met the eyes of each person in turn, lingering on Aster. "Will you support the rightful Empress of the Third Imperium? Will you support the Third Imperium?"

terrymixon wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 2:44 am"And it's better to stumble around in the dark figuring out options while she watches us?" Aster asked, seeming exasperated. "How can we even start the process without laying out what we know and believe? Determining policy behind her back would be wrong. Discussing what options we have and potential courses of action which she must them approve or reject is out duty. If you want to bury your head in the sand and wait a day or more until Ciencia can think, then I can't stop you. Or you could stay here and make sure that we play by the straight and narrow. Don't abrogate your responsibilities, Jaelah. Be the person Ciencia needs you to be and help us map out potential courses of action that we can present when she is ready to hear them. We can't afford to shoot from the hip when we have time to consider things."

"You just made my point," Jaelah replied evenly. "Just how should I make sure you play things straight? What authority do I have to demand that any of you do anything? Oh, wait. I don't. Just like none of us have been asked to discuss policy." She turned to look at Walt. "I don't disagree with you insofar as your analysis. I do disagree about your proposal that we take action. This is precisely what I'm talking about."