2009-01-07 "Legendary Elven Ego"

[mindstalk]

Yay Sarine! You made things worse!

"Will you step in as peaceful mediators?"
"No. WAR!"

Maybe we'll get to see those battlemages and war golems outside wallpaper after all.

Nearly complete maps of the world. From airship surveys in the past 200 years, stolen Veracian documents, or stuff lying around from elven days, or covertly flying around for 1800 years? At any rate they've got more than we do, and one wonders what *is* on the rest of the planet; I've noted that our visible map doesn't seem all that big. But anyway, yay civilized competence.

The human faces suddenly look weird to me, like the mouths/facial hair is off and there's not enough forehead for our species. I dunno, I'm no artist.

Some of us have kept waiting for the fairies to show up again. I note that one logical reaction to Anilis going AWOL would be for them to go find their comrades, and chances are some of those were with Senilis. Come to think of it, even if Nookie and Kawaii aren't logical, there's still a chance that Elf Expedition could run into fairy guard more competent than sugar-high Kawaii. Nookie was temporarily inconvenienced by a bullet, though I think pretty briefly and she just didn't bother following up. One wonder just how powerful they are.

[Slamlander]

Sarine way missunderestimated (if the president can use it, it must be legitimate) the mages of Tsuirakushiti and their willingness to take on the elves. Elves aren't the only ones with hubris, it seems.

A proper shit-storm is on the near horizon. WWIII anyone? Stone Age looming on the far horizon.

[AdamZero]

This comic shows the time proven law.

"Angry old men with power will not hesitate to use it, poorly."

[Ged]

The Elves weren't going to stop just because the humans asked them to, they have to do something to head off the Elves getting a WMD and laying the world to waste as they fight with Ian, and they're effectively allying themselves with the more powerful faction in the event that Ian turns out not to be completely nuts yet. Their move makes sense to me.

[Slamlander]

Looking at it from a risk-balance view; Gramps may be considering getting to Senilis first and merging an Archmage to Senilis before the elves can get an Elfmage there. Remember, the wards are successful against elves but transparent to humans and the Archmages would probably have little trouble disabling the anti-human wards the elves might have emplaced.

Elves may have portals all over the place but Tsuiraku has airships AND portals. Not only; Tsuirakuan portals are operated by humans, theoretically making them more portable to anywhere there are a sufficient number of portal mages.

[Boss Out of Town]

So this is where Caspar Weinberger has been hiding out . . .

Probably a bad idea, but it says volumes about what a loser Rarune has been as the sole Elven contact with Tsairaku.

[Initial B]

Hmm, I'm betting the Tsuirakuans want to get to this potential megapower first, rather than pure altruism. At least now Poe has a plot device to allow Sarine, Ian, and Meji along for the expidition, and a way to fast forward quickly. Airships, huh? Tsuiraku seems to be even more advanced than the elves in some ways - more evidence that the elves are a stagnant, dying race...

[Graybeard]

The funny thing is, the two positions being expressed aren't really all that different.

The elves are about to go do something stupid! You've got to stop them!

The elves are about to go do something stupid, and threatening to us! We've got to stop them militarily!

And just how did Sarine expect Tsuiraku to stop the elves? By burying them under a magical avalanche of happy thoughts about bunnies?

Which is not to say that she has done the wrong thing here -- or necessarily even that the Tsuirakuans are about to. Question for discussion: knowing what we all know (which, after all, is more than either Sarine or Gramps know), what would we do under the advertised circumstances?

[Scient]

Looking at it from a risk-balance view; Gramps may be considering getting to Senilis first and merging an Archmage to Senilis before the elves can get an Elfmage there. Remember, the wards are successful against elves but transparent to humans and the Archmages would probably have little trouble disabling the anti-human wards the elves might have emplaced.

Elves may have portals all over the place but Tsuiraku has airships AND portals. Not only; Tsuirakuan portals are operated by humans, theoretically making them more portable to anywhere there are a sufficient number of portal mages.

The squad that originally arrived to take care of Ian and Meji, before Sarine joined the party, the one she sarcastically called the last remnants of the elven military, they teleported at the scene, didn't they? I forget if they required Sarine's assistance at the site of arrival, but even if that was the case, it's a port system that only requires one mage receiving them, surpassing that of the humans in handiness.

[KurtDunn]

I would pull a complete bastard move.

I would dispatch diplomatic envoys begging the Elves to stop, and just form up with us Tsuiraku's. At the same time I would dispatch a team to stop any elves that are going along anyways, regardless of how our envoy is successful or not.

If the Envoy is successful, we will send a token amount of troops, promising more to arrive on the eve of battle. Then, when battle approaches, the token amount get the hell out of there.

Come back when the dust settles, see who there is to negotiate with. If they're hostile, kill them. Unless it is Ian, in which case I'd offer that man a job in hopes of pacifying him.