[OOC] The Tea Shop

[Melagant]

From a player stand point i agree with you Grundz that would be best but from a character standpoint Kido wont have it, no way no how. He is very loyal to the now dead king and not 100% sure if you guys told him the truth about his death, and the kings last order was to kill the boy if he didnt prove to be a worthy person and something should happen to him (IE his death).

If it does come down to the pilgrimage then Kido will insist that some of his guards and one of his pupils accompany the group.

[GunMetalDrac]

I don't really think he is the only viable alternative.

From the way I read we can go forward with the following:

1. Place the boy as king. It's a quick fix(given a few weeks of training) but one that would probably have the hardest chance of long term success. He has no real experience as a leader of state. A regular prince would have a bit from being with his father and growing up as a prince. Since he doesn't, he is already at a disadvantage. I am assuming he has not taken the Imperial Examination. If he hasn't, then the Shizoku would want to know his scores and we would not be able to provide them. Even if we rushed it all, we don't want an unlikely candidate for king to score badly on the exam. Will he score badly? I don't know but do we want to leave that up to chance?

2. Wait for Shin to come up with something. I don't know how much faith we can put into this(not into Shin, just in finding someone).

3. Install the Queen as ruler. This is an option that sorta popped into my head. I don't know how others would take it, but she WAS the Queen of Sho Tai. She has royalty in her blood and from her bio she would be a good statesmen(women?). "Controlling" her would be difficult and it may be a little dangerous to put someone with ties so close to Zhounghua in power.

4. Set up a Shizoku-led council that would oversee the running of the state. Hardest to control. Easiest to go out of control. Pontentially, least likely to end up in straight anarchy.

I'm currently thinking the #3 may be the best option overall but I have my doubts. The boy seems like too much of a "powder keg" to me. Removing a person who has been placed in a seat of power is rather difficult without losing control of the situation. It may not be as easy as just "Even though your a king, you have no power. So deal with it."

[Allu]

I've been thinking on 3 a bit and well there is some precedent, afterall the dowager Empress of China reined as "regent" to both her son and her grandson, never really giving up power. Would anyone be against this, tell of the inexperience of the boy and then make the Queen the real power holder as regent? We would have an effective veto if she tries to join us to Zhonghua but there's few who would dare rise up against the combination of an heir and the king's own wife.

Edit: Also he would in fact have little power if she was over him "during his time of inexperience."

[GunMetalDrac]

I had thought a bit on that Allu. My only concern with establishing that type of "heirachy" is that the chance of a civil war breaking out is a lot higher in that case. If we don't like the Queen and want to put the boy in charge, there would be reprecusions as undoubtably, some would ally with the Queen and some would ally with the boy(assuming he would turn into a fine ruler with the amount of time having the Queen rule would give us to train him). It's not a certainty but I'm pretty sure there is enough historical evidence to suggest something like that could happen. Not to mention, both are probably intelligent enough to see the whole ploy from a mile away.

I like the idea more then just relying solely on the boy. I would prefer to go with just the Queen rather than the two of them. But we should probably give it some thought.

[Allu]

Going with just the queen has little precedent that I could find, at least in Eastern Asia and that's likely for a reason (see the Shizoku would lose their **** and veto the whole thing because they're for the most part a backwards lot).

If I knew anything about her and thought I could trust her as far as I could throw her and her clock I'd put Jade on the throne, changelings are great if you can control them.

[FFFFFF]

You guys seem to be doing great on Yongzhang, here are some thoughts...

1 - You could keep a king in check (haha) fairly easily by sequestering him for his own safety. You couldn't keep the other courtiers and magistrates from seeing him, let alone his step-mother, the Queen. Your biggest danger would be power-hungry courtiers making a deal with Yongzhang, and having you all declared as treasonous.

2 - Shin will almost certainly be able to find a young Ryukyuan half-orc half-elf in Shanghai. It seems to me this would put you in the same position as you are with Yongzhang, except he'd start off not wanting to kill half of you. There is the spear issue but you could probably imitate the display of the spear with prestidigitation and ghost sound, or something similar.

3 - Tyger - who seems to have taken a week off (his semester just started)Tenma Kuronaga as Councilor would tell you that the Queen is well-loved by all of the Zhonghua-descended Shizoku families, which is about 80% of them. The 20% whose ancestors came from Nippon, Joseon, and Viet Nam despise her. The the Qian Dynasty is basically invaders from Manchuko who conquered Zhonghua a few centuries agoimperial family of Zhonghua, in which she was raised, has a very different culture than that of Zhonghua, one in which women can be scandalously outspoken. King Sho Tai indulged his queen to offer her opinions on politics (though he rarely followed her advice - he was a modernizer, she is a traditionalist).

4 - Easy to do, hard to go back on. Kuronaga can tell you that the Shizoku don't want a parliament because they want to rule or guide the kingdom, they mainly want the opportunity to make more money. Their primary concern is privatization of international trade. At the moment, legal international trade (as in nearly all Asian nations of the period) is completely controlled by the crown. They want you to renounce your control over trade, auction the fleet to them to manage as they see fit, and move to a Western model based on port tariffs. A vocal minority also want to move to parliamentary elections for bureaucratic officers like yourselves.

In other news, here is the random event for week 2:

Outstanding Success One of your kingdom’s citizens creates an artistic masterpiece, constructs a particularly impressive building, or otherwise brings fame to your kingdom. You gain 1d6 BP and a +4 bonus on Economy checks until your next Event phase. Reduce Unrest by 2.

Since Unrest was at 1, you get +1 BP for reducing Unrest below 0.

We need designated rollers for Economy, Stability, and Loyalty (I don't want to roll for the kingdom). Do you guys want to assign someone, or rotate? Anybody feel unlucky and want to bow out of the responsibility of rolling for the kingdom?

Anyway - whoever you guys decide to roll for Economy checks, please roll 1d6 to see how many BP this event generated. If any of you have any ideas/requests for what the event could be, feel free to make suggestions. My idea right now is discovery of bituminous coal on the peninsula by Nago, or a pechin winning a martial arts tournament in Nippon.

[Allu]

I call not it, dice tend to hate me. I still like the Queen as regent whilst we get the prince in order personally with my "other bastard" as a non-vocal threat if Shin produces one.

Also, any call on the max you want him spending on that engine? If Nippon gets it we're humped.

[GunMetalDrac]

We should probably finalize what we're going to build for the month before we determine that Shin. I think we're all in agreement about a Pier but it's the 2nd building that we're not sure about. Once we determine that we can figure out how much to spend on this crazy engine.

If we place the Queen on the throne, it would probably give Nippon a second guess as to invade us.

[FFFFFF]

FYI - BPs do carry over, and for what its worth, if you want to talk about Nipponese invasions you might want to arrange a meeting with Park Su, the ambassador from Joseon. She has both personal and governmental experience, having been at the fall of Seoul, and been part of the king's cabinet during the defense. Further - she wants help from you, and there might be something you can do for her, and some things she can do for you.

[Allu]

Don't worry F-F, we haven't forgotton about her, as for our second building, I still have to say Alchemist so we can produce our own source of black powder efficiantly.

[Allu]

What can I say; the dice love a swashbuckler it seems.

[Grundz]

I suppose I can take the Stability rolls as my main meta-governmental function...

[GunMetalDrac]

I was going to suggest we each rotate and then figure out who the random number generator loves more

I'll pick up loyalty and economy rolls.

[Allu]

Sorry, I might not be able to post over the weekend, going to be going to a rave in the woods. Should be fun.

[Grundz]

Keep an eye out for crazed axe-wielding rednecks!