OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread

[tanonx]

Assuming all of this is correct (i do not), you can then proceed to my second point - namely, that the Order was unable to convince people when they didnt have any restrictions on how to describe the problem, so why do you think they would suddenly be able to when they are limited to 25 words? And if the high priests were willing to Send to their underlings to help, they would have done it already when Roy was at the Godsmoot.

Well, let's see... the easiest answer is that they weren't asked to send help. This also includes the bit where they explain you can't Send into the Godsmoot (or out, I think, else we have bigger questions on our hands), which is kind of the response I would have expected, and we could get into relaying things via third parties (since we know there's a whole usher system that existed, and getting some replacements would be smart and sensible, especially given the news has already spread, so nobody needs to trust your Sending alone). I did gloss over that, and the negotiations in hierarchies, because they're problems with the process, not the initial decision. Kudos to Resileaf for familiarity with the story, though, solid catch.

So, basically, your second point just isn't so. That's supported by the fact that they did get help, in the area they asked for help on, and also for this specific plan. In the form of a token that, explicitly, according to the High Priest, proved that they had said High Priest's blessing on their mission.

Which worked, and got them stocked up on potions, oils, and Minrah. Granted, they then tried to cut her loose, despite having laid out the reasons why they shouldn't a hundred-odd comics and a few hours before then, but that's a different issue.

And now, knowing that someone did, in fact, throw their direct support behind the Order, in-comic, with an eye towards ensuring their followers assisted the Order in their task, which led to the Order getting assistance in said task, including increased numbers... I think we can say this point's fundamentally flawed.

But if we want to beat it into the ground a bit, circle back to that first link and notice that Roy didn't even know where he was going before the High Priest stepped in, and even that wasn't the ultimate destination. That's not exactly actionable information you can send a squad to, and you can't afford to swing 'round and park the airship to muster up at that point.

Now, you know what you can fit into 25 words that you couldn't before? Coordinates and a short description of targets. And, as has been insisted (but, I guess I need to add to be polite, assumed), we're working on a scale of weeks, not a "race the subcommittee" situation where the only person in a position to help is the one related to your destination. You can even send out the airship for transport if you want. You sent it away anyhow.

Your conclusion, even if it worked (which, again, i doubt - you yourself noted that for someone unfamiliar, they needed a name, race, class, and visual depiction. They were able to draw Durkon after adventuring with him for two years. Roy saw the high priests for a few minutes and only even got one of their names, IIRC), requires the characters to act contrary to how they have akready been established to act, and assumes that a minimal amount of explanation that the world is at stake will convince hoards of people deapite that this world has an "apocalypse of the week". Among the NPCs, nobody knows about how serious it is and the ones who do don't care. At least, not enough to get involved or others involved.

To break this down a bit:

One, I concluded, pretty explicitly, that you do not need those things. You need enough to specify an individual target. I checked, and I did literally write the words "the name isn't a requirement" there, so I guess I ought to disambiguate more. As the comic laid out, giving all that information was before the cleric asked if they had anything that made Durkon distinct from every other dwarf. The conclusion I'm drawing here is that the information there isn't helpful, not that a drawing is required, or else he'd ask for that first, not as a last-ditch attempt (with Celia explicitly pointing out she "sucks at drawing faces", and having one piece of chalk and a wall to work with, rather than actual art supplies).

Two, the "apocalypse of the week" scenario. Making our way back to the Godsmoot comic there, we can notice that one, plenty of authority figures do know how serious it is. High Priests across the board, and any dwarf in range of the whole Council fiasco and/or Roy carrying the High Priest's rune. The Eugene Greenhilt School of Zerg Rushes might meet with serious approval in the target demographic, if it was aimed at a certain lich... but we also know there's at least one adventurer worth their salt who's willing to pitch in for dwarfkind and could well survive the experience. And so far, I've only got Hylga down for people who know, but don't care. Even the High Priests on the Yes side don't seem too comfy there.

Three, and out of order for a reason, "acting contrary to how they've been established to act" can apply to anything, and isn't a defense for asking why they don't act differently. If you want to say they made a conscious choice not to do this, then say that. We can get into the whole flip-flop on Roy's views regarding whether leading people into grave danger is justified when the alternative risks soul-devouring. There's a big space to discuss that, and it's not the same one as talking about how Sendings work. But, at the end of the day, it seems like we'll break down to "it wouldn't be a good story." And there's a much smaller space to discuss that. So, ultimately, I'd like to know what angle we're going with, before I bore you with too many comic links and rules ideas.