BSLunarExampleCharacter
TheSeraphIsIn: I'll take a look later.
TheOneandPrime: nod
TheSeraphIsIn: For now I have to write a Lunar PC.
TheSeraphIsIn: To reform the bureaucracy of the Realm.
TheOneandPrime: Right
TheSeraphIsIn: This is what happens when I make bad decisions.
TheSeraphIsIn: I need, like, peer intervention.
TheOneandPrime: Indeed
TheOneandPrime: What decision resulted in this horror?
TheSeraphIsIn: I doubt the efficacy of canonical Lunars, while another claims they function well.
TheSeraphIsIn: He is clearly deranged.
TheSeraphIsIn: So we set the challenge.
TheOneandPrime: Lord...
TheSeraphIsIn: He uses canon-Lunar to accomplish what I try with ability-Lunar
TheSeraphIsIn: It's sort of like Game Game Nerdolution.
TheOneandPrime: Or like the dorkiest game of HORSE in existence
TheSeraphIsIn: I'm thinking I'll have him put to the torch if I win.
TheOneandPrime: And what if you lose?
TheSeraphIsIn: I expect I'll be exiled if I lose. Like Napoleon.
TheSeraphIsIn: A taller Napoleon.
TheSeraphIsIn: Not much taller.
TheOneandPrime: Napoleon came back from exile...
TheOneandPrime: Tried again
TheSeraphIsIn: Yes.
TheSeraphIsIn: I am nothing if not persistent.
TheSeraphIsIn: Like E. coli.
TheSeraphIsIn: And the ice ages.
Goal and Design points
Back to BerserkSeraph/AbilityLunars Back to BSLunarCharmsBureaucracy Back to BerserkSeraph
The goal of this exercise is a 'test' and a comparison. We will be taking two Lunars - one, made myself with the rules presented in BerserkSeraph/AbilityLunars, the other made by (the clearly deranged) BillGarrett, using canonical Lunar rules. The stated task is to affect reformation inside the Realm's Bureaucracy, while retaining a successful cover identity.
Some other restrictions imposed: I will be using an Artifact to replicate the effects of Prey's Skin Disguise. While I believe that my Ability-based Lunars will, at final call, innately possess this ability, because it has not yet been stated in my notes I would hardly be being sporting to mention it when it becomes a clear benefit for my plans. I will be assuming that the average Deliberative member is not scanned for supernatural influences due in no small part to already presumably being supernormal - that is, any exceptional traits will not draw undue attention, as 'exceptional' is par for the course for Dynasts.
Firstly, I will consider what constitutes the Realms' 'bureaucracy'. Primarily - the magistrates, the ministries, and the two sections of the Deliberative. As the last is more cohesive than the first and smaller than the second, it will be my entry point - I'll slip into the Greater Deliberative, where the exceptional qualities or oddities of an Exalt will draw less attention.
Consider my targets: Reform is best accomplished, by Lunars, through mutiliating the current structure. Therefore, my primary objective is legislative dreadlock, then bureaucratic collapse in the ministries. The Magistracy is no longer a credible threat and, in any case, nosy magistrates can be handled piecemeal.
The first is the one with the easiest target set - the Lesser Bureaucracy is a large association of patricians that resent their Greater Deliberative peers, and as such it can be easily pushed into a situation where it will spitefully or unflinchingly use its veto powers on anything put forth in the Greater Deliberative that is not somehow made worth their while. Erego, I will use Lunar Bureaucracy to push through the bills that I support, using public opinion to cleave the Lesser Deliberative, and apply other Charms to make them indolent or spiteful when I need them to stop the bills of others. The Charms used to push through will rely on cleaving a bloc of votes to a certain edge, then using the 'us against them' attitude of the Lesser Deliberative to make the bloc become a rolling tide of support as people jump onto a bandwagon.
Infiltration is the hard point. Once inside, I have two Charms that will all but ensure my success in holding the majority of the Greater Deliberative in my party. Stance of the Glorious Alpha, paired with Streamlined Legistlative Predator, will allow me to become the only Greater Deliberative member with a reputation for getting the newly-resilient Lesser to do anything. Then, by applying Grinning Tiger Attitude, I can ensure loyalty and further success with my good record.
The ministries must be handled with delicacy, but can be easily turned against one another by selecting portions of the ministry to be laid low. By fostering internal factionalism, I can all but ensure that that ministry will have its secondary functions seized by other power-hungry ministries, creating a jurisdictional dispute that I can control by taking place in the interpretation of the Registry. By making my seat on said board publicly known, I can wrap all but the toughest ministry leaders into my plots, then divy up resistant ministries with legilislative action allowing for redistribution of duties - with no Empress in place to affect a veto, I need only clear the two Deliberatives.
The magistracy is an organization that runs on the backs of theives, and as such can be easily defeated in the court of public opinion - having a charismatic and high-profile Senator point out the inconsistency in having the wicked enforce the law should soon lead to a dissolution of any remaining support for the Magistracy of Hares, and any attempt at counter-slander will be construed as politically-motivated persecution in the wake of the Empress' disappearance - not likely to foster much trust with the public or the Great Houses.
Major resistance in the form of DB bureaucrats is the primary issue to be overcome, but fortunately the ministries and the congress aren't where the truely potent DBs end up. I will plan for strategies against the standard DB political maneuvers and Charms - most easily blocked by drawing up a faction of supporters that would have interest in seeing me keep on top. This is almost verbatim the situation for which Grinning Tiger Attitude was designed, and, indeed, it does handle Thrashing Carp - among the more potent offensive bureaucracy Charms.
