Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/UsurpationAlternatives
rebeccaborgstrom - 12/15/2003 16:56:00
The Sidereals are heroes. Admittedly, "of a sort."
I don't think the mistake was choosing the Usurpation. I think their mistake was accepting the options they had.
What you *expect* from a grand meeting of Exalted sage-heroes is 'we *will* find an acceptable solution to this.' And then they do something brilliantly unexpected. I mean, duh. They're Exalted. The Exalted do the impossible. Regularly. They won a war against the PRIMORDIALS.
The Great Curse interfered with the process. Bronze Faction fixated on "We have to kill the Solars." Gold Faction fixated on "We have to save them, even though it probably won't work."
If you said, "We have to find a way," they'd all turn on you and go in their anguished obsessive way,
Bronze: "WE HAVE TO KILL THE SOLARS."
Gold: "I know! You're right! We'll try! We have a plan! It COULD work!
I'm glad you're with us! Let's do our best!"
Like the Solars, they lost the ability to do their basic heroic job. They lost their heroism at the root, rather than the branch. In the defining moment of their splat, the Sidereals let themselves become nearsighted dolts. And the Maiden of Secrets looked on and said, "Suckweasels."
Rebecca
rebeccaborgstrom - 12/15/2003 17:14:31
> Michy > Does that make what they did right? NO! Of course not! That's like saying that a madman who butchers fifty people cause he sincerely thinks they were invading aliens is right!
*giggle*
Or, at least, like saying that a madman who butchers fifty invading aliens without thinking to ask, "Are you here to bloodily enslave humanity or just to sample our fine cuisine?"
Rebecca
rebeccaborgstrom - 12/16/2003 20:18:14
I suspect that most of the potentially functional solutions floated here fall under the Gold scenario of "try to save the Solars".
The only option I think they outright *missed* is 'break the Prophecy by deliberately relying on elements outside the Loom.'
This is stupid, in one sense. Malfeans and Yozis are treacherous. But it had a significant chance of success, because it changed the battlefield. The Sidereals had a shot at outmanipulating the Malfeans and Yozis in an intrigue and backstabbing game, because Exalted were designed to defeat Primordials. If the Solars can kill Yozis in one-on-one fights, the Sidereals should be able to outbetray and outmanipulate them. :)
I dunno. It's what I'd expect PCs to do. NPCs, enh. The Malfeans would probably have eaten them alive and then eaten them dead and then seen what they could do about regurgitating them for additional post-death eatings, and that's how it should be.
Rebecca
