aionchat | PLEROMA - a few days after the raid

[Despite Claude's best efforts to shut his emotions out of this communion, it's impossible to fully avoid muted feelings of anger and bitterness leaking across the connection. Still, he addresses his thoughts in a calm, measured way, even if he's noticeably more downbeat than usual.]

Hiya. This is Claude, one of the new guys. I know most of us are still licking our wounds after what happened in Achamoth, but I wanted to discuss a few things.

What was the point of invading Achamoth, really? We attacked an enemy's stronghold, took back two of our own like we planned, sure-- but we lost two more in the process, and at least one smaller dragon lost its life trying to save us. And what else did we get out of it? A single prisoner? Some superficial damage to the city, which mostly would've just hurt civilians?

I don't want to act like war is just a game of numbers, when so many of you cared about the prisoners to go to these lengths for them, but strategically, the whole idea was insane. Personally, I was reassured a plan was being worked on, and that I just had to trust it was in hand. Sure, the big dragon that helped us was great, but it had to give its life for us. Both lives, even. And our escape route only came in the nick of time! If the forest dragons hadn't sympathised with our cause, we would have all been screwed.

If we mount any coordinated attacks in future, can we actually think about it at length? You know, plot it out from start to finish, try and account for as many variables as we can, not just talk about what enemies we might face and how they fight. And if we're going to walk into obvious traps, can we actually think about what the trap might be and how to mitigate it?

[He pauses. He's angry, if only because for a sect so supposedly dedicated to defending life, so many of them are too reckless about throwing lives away just to save a handful of others. Some casualties are inevitable in war, but these losses didn't have to be. That's what bothers him about all this more than anything.]

Anyway... I don't want to just gripe, so I also wanted to consider our long-term goals. I spoke to the dragon -- Estinien and the other thing? -- before the fighting started, and they made it sound like a direct assault on the Regent is nigh impossible. The Regent's corruption in that part of Horos is too powerful, the Citadel especially.

So, I think if we want to make them vulnerable at all, we have to figure out a way to purify the land. I don't know how yet, and the dragon wasn't sure either, but I want to believe it's possible. If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The "haaah" that comes out of his mouth is more of a sigh than it is a laugh. His tone still sounds friendly at least, but there's an edge of exhaustion to it. ]

Yeah, they did. If most of us were the type to leave people to be brutally tortured and killed, then we probably would have succumb to the Kenoma the first time the Regent's people fed it to us.

[ The first rounders at any rate. This time his "hah" sounds more like an actual laugh though. ]

I wasn't kidding about the awful gambles, and I don't think it's going to be the last one we have to take.

[ He's also not convinced they'll win this either, but he doesn't say it out loud. His best hope is to keep stalling, the way that Pleromas of the past have seemed to manage to stall the Regent. ]

Especially since I think that solution you've got there is going to take a lot of work and time. I'm not exactly an expert in magic though, so I can't really offer much in the way of tangible suggestions. The bolstering the resistance part is the only thing I'm any good for.

Yikes, you're so negative it's a wonder you didn't succumb to the Kenoma. "The only thing I'm any good for"? Come on, that could be a huge help!

How about you stop telling me what we can't do and share your ideas. What do you think the resistance needs right now, and what can you or any of the rest of us do to support them? You've been here longer than me, so I'm counting on all of your knowledge on this.

[He's not criticising the Pleroma just for you to get down on yourself, Ernesto...!]

Haha, you're getting me wrong here. I'm plenty good at helping with the bolstering front. I've been earning money and gathering supplies for the resistance for a long time. A good chunk of the materials we did have going into that raid were things I snagged.

[ It's not really a brag though. He's being objective and honest. ]

But I don't know much about magic. I wasn't a caster before coming here, so I never bothered to study up on magic when I did most of my fighting with a gun or a sword. I don't have much to offer, because I don't really know much about it.

I'm happy to direct you if you want to help with some of what I'm doing already, but for this purifying mission all I can do is offer my own help after people figure out what that would even be.

Sorry for misunderstanding, in that case. It sounds like you're doing good work. [He can come back to his other idea later, but for now...]

How much does the resistance have in terms of reliable supply chains or trade networks between cities? Getting supplies for them is good, but making sure things are going to where they need to be at the right times would be even better, especially for the cities that are struggling the most under the Regent.

It's a patchwork system right now. There are other Aions besides me who have taken up to living in Godsblood and snagging things as needed, and we have places to store the supplies between the actual transfer from Godsblood to Greentruth. Our biggest problem is that we can't move large numbers of things at once without it becoming suspicious, so things have to trickle in a little at a time.

Beyond the trade between those two cities though, we haven't set up anything else. We have had some recent interest in standing up against the Regent in Venera, but I'm not sure we have any Pleroma reliably stationed there to know who those people are, and how to get them what they need. Though I don't think anyone in Venera is hurting too much for supplies by and large, though I'm not sure their weapons situation, and Godsblood in particular is pretty industrious and brimming with goods. By and large the Regent isn't actually trying to starve out their own people or anything like that, as long as they're not actively rebelling, and none of them have gotten to that point on a large scale yet.

So it really is the rebels in Greentruth that need the biggest pipeline of supplies to them.

In my experience, trade's a surefire way to build relations between people if all sides are getting what they need out of it. If the pockets of resistance in each city can all rely on each other more, they'll feel less isolated and more like they're a part of something much bigger, even when when they're not making bold acts of defiance in public. Of course, the situation in Greentruth is unique since everyone needs to stay isolated here, but it could be good to build stronger ties between Godsblood and Venera. Greentruth will benefit indirectly whenever Godsblood benefits.

[He's just musing aloud here, it can be a long term project rather than something he expects to develop overnight.]

I understand Venera's been through some trouble recently, even if I don't know all the details... Even with that in mind, I think it'd be good if we could station at least some Aions there, if anyone is willing to step up.

[ Ernesto makes a vague humming noise of agreement to all of Claude’s musings. He used to work in trade, so he’s got some bias on that front, but he doesn’t disagree with what the kid is saying here. There are complications in all of it, of course, but there’s no point bringing those up when right now they’re just spitballing what needs to eventually be done to strengthen their cause. ]

It’s worth asking around to see. I admit I won’t be able to volunteer myself, considering the way of established myself in Godsblood, but I’m sure some of us are itching to get a better understanding of Horos as a whole. The trouble is going to be sending the right person with the right interest. We don’t have open groups of rebels anywhere outside of Greentruth, which means if we want to be able to offer supplies to anyone who is willing to stand up to the Regent, we need someone who is both good at nosing out who those people are, and subtle enough to not reveal them to anyone else.

Maybe we could raise it at the council? It'd be a delicate operation, so it's best to decide on who would be good at that kind of thing as a collective.

[And Claude doesn't have the knowledge or connections to know who would be suitable, so he's definitely going to have to rely on the group for this one.]

Probably the best place for it. We'll have the most volunteers readily available and listening to the proposition at least.

PLEROMA - a few days after the raid

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject