Difference between revisions of "Roof of the World Renaming Ritual"

Latest revision as of 13:10, 26 May 2015

Li Kao's Ritual for How to rename the Roof of the World and break/strengthen the Peace of the Lake

Overview/Notes

Xiao Fa is known to have believed that making the Peace of the Lake stronger is a lose, because it just strengthens the terrible Spider-y trap that lies on the capitol right now. Given that the Spirit of the Lake needs to buy in to this plan and the discovery (through Takanata) that what the Spirit wants is to be important to the country, he currently thinks that making the PEACE stronger is a lose, but broadening it into the JUSTICE of the Lake, letting it go country-wide, thus turning it into a tool of the ruler, not a trap for the unwary, i.e. Dragon-y instead of Spider-y, may just be the way to bring the the Lake on-board with this plan. It has the added benefit, he thinks, of possibly bringing the Meihua Sannong temple, and their current desire to do something big/important for the country, as an ally for this plan.

Kar Fai is currently on NPC wrangling duty for this plan, and has been given a Steward's Favor and Regent's blackmail to help facilitate getting the Steward and Lord Hawk to sign onto this plan. When he's ready, he'll let us know.

In the meanwhile, we should get the Spirit of the Lake onboard. Currently the plan is for Anto and Xiao Fa to speak to the Spirit of the Lake to make sure she is interested in this plan, and also so Anto can get an idea of how big the Spirit's Tao is (which is useful in order to do steps 2-4 elegantly).

Ritual

The country faces a struggle between two great families that now have equal claim to the throne of the land: the Lords Regent and the Lost Kings. And so the problem must be approached from both halves of the Tao, and then unified into the Tao itself.

We have to prime each family, and then bring them together, as Yin and Yang unite in Chi.

• 1. We must disrupt the Chi and separate Yang from Yin so that they can be primed separately. This is accomplished by causing the Lake to no longer Reflect - a great fog, or a storm whipping the surface into froth (other solutions are potentially good, as long as the lake no longer reflects) - for at least an hour, during which time Xiao Fa must make a Chi with Chi Mastery roll for 12 successes. This step is done

2-4 can be done in any order:

• 2. To prime the Yin, and tie it to the Peace, cause the current Lord Steward to pardon one who is Banished. Give him permission to live in the land and tell the populace to allow him to stay even in the face of his obvious unsuitability. Then the Lord Steward must be brought to the lake, placed in the waters and tied to the Yin of the Peace. (Yin roll with Chi Mastery for X successes.)

• 3. To prime the Yang, and tie it to the Peace, cause the current True King to kill one who has been Banished by the Peace of the Lake, condemning him for crimes and forcing him to face just punishment, not banishment. Then the True King must be brought to the lake, placed in the waters and tied to the Yang of the Peace. (Yang roll with Chi Mastery for Y successes.)

• 4. To prime the Chi, and tie it to the Peace, cause the spirit of the lake to leave the area, taking it away from the lake, and outside the borders of the country, and then bind it to the chi of the empire. (Chi roll with Chi Mastery for Z successes.)
  • Z = N - (X + Y)
    
  • N is the "Tao" of the spirit of the lake.
  • At first blush, Anto thought the Spirit of the Lake probably has Tao in the mid-to-high 20s range. Will putter with the Spirit and Anto as soon as we can.

To use either of the "rename" options (b or c) that follow, the claimant must have first performed some task in the view of all, (though he himself need not be viewed) in consonance with the new name.

• 5. At this point we must bring the Lord Steward, the True King, and the Spirit of the Lake together. One of the three must try to kill another, in full violation of the Peace. The one so attacked may then
  • a) restore the name of the country if he be the True King, breaking the peace,
  • b) rename the country if he be either the True King or the Lord Steward, also breaking the peace
  • c) rename the country if he be either the True King, Lord Steward, or Spirit of the Lake, making the Peace of the lake even stronger.

This now means that Xiao Fa is of the opinion that after step 4, the True King should perform some task in view of all in consonance with the new name (or restored name) and that in step 5, either the Lord Steward or the True King should try to kill the Spirit of the Lake, in full violation of the Peace. I think of the three, the Spirit is hardest to kill, and is most likely to survive the attempt. Of course, we could probably easily convince the True King to try to kill the Steward, but we probably want him to survive...