Number of Force Council members participating in this thread: 3
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The Crusade begins!
Onward and upward.
No one should have to, nor consent to, any revisions and/or edits. We are where we are, and my time machine is in the shop. The aim, which I was driving for and thank you Zell, was that we've gone this far - let's not go any further; efforts towards practicality (as cited by Leia, there are 3 FC members in this thread) and setting a good example.
I know I will.
I hate to say it, but: I told you so.
Quite honestly, this simple story for entertainment has become two things:
1. A plot without any foreseeable end, with no real direction and no plot points pre-made to roughly facilitate how the proceedings should go.
2. A battle of survival for two factions - one of which had the attack launched onto it, despite a certain Sith being told it was only an 'idea' - as they attempt to, literally, claw at the other side to continue living in the fundamental sense of the IC community. One can't back down without the other annihilating it, and visa versa, so far have the battle plans been drawn and conducted.
I will admit that I've been playing in order to affect the mass of NPCs, as opposed to directly attacking any individual enemy PC. And I will also admit that my initial concerns were for the lack of seeming direction. I didn't want the attack, I didn't need the attack, and quite honestly I knew it would degrade into something akin to what it is now - namely a play on powers; which, I might add, is hard to balance when you're dealing with as many factors as we are. For example, you've got three (well, two active) Sith masters who have been established as such for a good few years, and then you've got a newly ranked Sith master leading an army of NPCs against them and the Sith forces.
Am I an asshole for trying to keep the faction I joined, re-established and continued to lead from being taken over by two players intent on flexing their IC-muscle and bringing an enormous army that they accumulated in as many stories, in as many months? You decide. According to one, I am – and, yes, I’m pointedly calling you out Beff so that there are no misunderstandings.
It's so easy for everyone watching to point the finger, it's so simple to just shake your head and throw around the power-playing title. But, in the end, how would anyone seeking to protect the faction they've helped shaped from being destroyed act?
Should I keel over and simply let the Crusade rush through the ranks and systematically dismantle the Sith Order?
If that's what you want, Beff and Dolash, then you're welcome to it. If you honestly think you can create something better from the ashes of my time wasted, then by all means go ahead and rebuild once you've demonlished. If you feel that the Sith Order has become so stagnant as to require replacing, then have at it. Vicirus is weak, he's in his chambers - I charge you with making this whole debacle worth the insults, worth the time, and worth the loss of regard within the community.
Some might say I'm being overdramatic, some might say I'm just being an idiot (for lack of a cruder word) by just giving up and not caring; but the truth is, I'm not. I don't care, I don't really give a damn - I can always start over, with any other type of character, it doesn't worry me. If one figurehead of a faction can do it, then so can I - it's my choice to make, and only mine.
Where we go from here, is up to you.
Quite honestly, this simple story for entertainment has become two things:
1. A plot without any foreseeable end, with no real direction and no plot points pre-made to roughly facilitate how the proceedings should go.
2. A battle of survival for two factions - one of which had the attack launched onto it, despite a certain Sith being told it was only an 'idea' - as they attempt to, literally, claw at the other side to continue living in the fundamental sense of the IC community. One can't back down without the other annihilating it, and visa versa, so far have the battle plans been drawn and conducted.
I will admit that I've been playing in order to affect the mass of NPCs, as opposed to directly attacking any individual enemy PC. And I will also admit that my initial concerns were for the lack of seeming direction. I didn't want the attack, I didn't need the attack, and quite honestly I knew it would degrade into something akin to what it is now - namely a play on powers; which, I might add, is hard to balance when you're dealing with as many factors as we are. For example, you've got three (well, two active) Sith masters who have been established as such for a good few years, and then you've got a newly ranked Sith master leading an army of NPCs against them and the Sith forces.
Am I an asshole for trying to keep the faction I joined, re-established and continued to lead from being taken over by two players intent on flexing their IC-muscle and bringing an enormous army that they accumulated in as many stories, in as many months? You decide. According to one, I am – and, yes, I’m pointedly calling you out Beff so that there are no misunderstandings.
It's so easy for everyone watching to point the finger, it's so simple to just shake your head and throw around the power-playing title. But, in the end, how would anyone seeking to protect the faction they've helped shaped from being destroyed act?
Should I keel over and simply let the Crusade rush through the ranks and systematically dismantle the Sith Order?
If that's what you want, Beff and Dolash, then you're welcome to it. If you honestly think you can create something better from the ashes of my time wasted, then by all means go ahead and rebuild once you've demonlished. If you feel that the Sith Order has become so stagnant as to require replacing, then have at it. Vicirus is weak, he's in his chambers - I charge you with making this whole debacle worth the insults, worth the time, and worth the loss of regard within the community.
Some might say I'm being overdramatic, some might say I'm just being an idiot (for lack of a cruder word) by just giving up and not caring; but the truth is, I'm not. I don't care, I don't really give a damn - I can always start over, with any other type of character, it doesn't worry me. If one figurehead of a faction can do it, then so can I - it's my choice to make, and only mine.
Where we go from here, is up to you.
Perhaps you are being over critical. It is possible to abandon the planet, temporarily, given the crusade a partial victory while maintaining the order in being by withdrawing. There is a saying I have come to find useful as the second in command of the Empire
" A good general knows when he can win a battle, a great general knows when he cannot."
Perhaps it is possible for the crusade forces to annihilate the Sith underlings and lower apprentices while maintaining the order intact perhaps be feigning death, or hiding in an underground cavern. The IC perspective is cowardice, but wiser minds see the futility in seeking death with life is yet an option. The line between bravery and stupidity is fine indeed.
" A good general knows when he can win a battle, a great general knows when he cannot."
Perhaps it is possible for the crusade forces to annihilate the Sith underlings and lower apprentices while maintaining the order intact perhaps be feigning death, or hiding in an underground cavern. The IC perspective is cowardice, but wiser minds see the futility in seeking death with life is yet an option. The line between bravery and stupidity is fine indeed.
True.
But first of all, we don't know that the Crusade is going to "win". More importantly - what do we mean by "win"? They've done (and written) very well initially, but now that Imperial/Sith reinforcements are arriving (the Imperial vessels, Ithron, Perrin) or revealing themselves (Lupercus), the Crusade is in danger of being outnumbered in terms of PCs and eventually in terms of NPCs as the Empire turns its guns to bear on it.
Second, and more importantly, who says the Crusade wants to capture Xa Fel and the Sith Order? Let's say that all the Sith get killed. Xa Fel has fallen. It's an Imperial world and it's inconceivable that the Empire would let it STAY fallen. They would send more and more ships (and the Crusade has freely admitted that it can't match the Empire in open warfare (2)) until it was recaptured.
Anyway, according to the latest instalment of the story, the Crusade is aiming for causing galactic chaos and getting the Empire to react to being attacked for once (1). It's done that. It's also killed (sort of, right?) a Sith Knight.
Hell, the Crusade leaders could pull out now - leaving their minions to die and STILL claim a victory of sorts. They've made their point.
So yes - Surely it's possible for both sides to "win" here sheerly because warfare isn't necessarily a zero-sum game?
- - - -
(1)
(2)
Or we could all realize we're both getting the crap beat out of us, stop fighting, and sit in a circle and sing John Lenon songs. We can all make love, not war. Or at least Beff and Lup can.
Firstly, peace is for those whose metal melts in the fires of battle.
Secondly, Xa Fel is indeed within Imperial held space and were it to be fortified or garrisoned by an enemy force, its recapture would be neccessity but at present it is worth little.
Thirdly, only an Imperial task force is on scene, with Admiral Thomas arriving later in the thread. NO OTHER warships have netered the system Xa Fel is deep within the Galactic Core and, as it takes six days to go from Sluis Van to Coruscant, it makes sense that from any civilized world to Xa Fel, it would take a trip of no less than two hours; no such dispatched for units could be arrived at this time. I as the man rping the acting orbital commander for the defense have also not authorized the arrival of any ships - I will allow the arrival of a stray frightor or personal craft less than frigate size but that is all. This thread will remain fair and honest.
Secondly, Xa Fel is indeed within Imperial held space and were it to be fortified or garrisoned by an enemy force, its recapture would be neccessity but at present it is worth little.
Thirdly, only an Imperial task force is on scene, with Admiral Thomas arriving later in the thread. NO OTHER warships have netered the system Xa Fel is deep within the Galactic Core and, as it takes six days to go from Sluis Van to Coruscant, it makes sense that from any civilized world to Xa Fel, it would take a trip of no less than two hours; no such dispatched for units could be arrived at this time. I as the man rping the acting orbital commander for the defense have also not authorized the arrival of any ships - I will allow the arrival of a stray frightor or personal craft less than frigate size but that is all. This thread will remain fair and honest.
I did not realize we put Xa Fel in the Deep Core. I thought it was in the Mid Rim or somewhere close. It is a polluted world with wretched beings that make it synonymous with pain, torture and suffering...
It got that way because of a KDY major industrial center.
It got that way because of a KDY major industrial center.
It's technically in the Kanchan Sector of the Expansion Region, which puts it between the Inner and Mid Rim.
Telan, forgive me. I wasn't dictating Imperial policy. I was merely pointing out that there's no need to argue over the thread as to "win" doesn't neccessarily mean "to capture the planet and kill the Sith". To KEEP Xa Fel would be difficult because the Imperials would send reinforcement (I meant on a timescale of months or years, not hours) but there's no reason the Crusade has to do that.
I simply meant that the Crusade can quite legitimately claim a victory without neccessarily wiping out the Sith.
I simply meant that the Crusade can quite legitimately claim a victory without neccessarily wiping out the Sith.