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Caught up on this thread again just in time for Pongza, hell yeah. Excellent updates as always Kangxi 
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Oct 24, 2019 17:09
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| # ? May 31, 2024 15:23 |
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Alright... is this mad woman gonna invade China?
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Oct 24, 2019 22:08
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Chapter 38: 1200 to 1206 - Tsenmo Purgyal Pongza 'the Just' My name is Purgyal Ponza. At the time of my accession to the throne, I was 20 years old. When I was a few years younger, someone invisible, some soul, whispered in my ear that I was to be the empress of the greatest kingdom of the world. Well, of course, I would! Whatever said that was a bit slow. Naive to the extreme. I knew of course that I would be communicated to by outside forces, but I would need special guidance to manage them and understand them. I spoke often with the Priests, who were deeply considerate, and the State Oracle, who went into trances as needed, and he was the most helpful of all in giving names to what I had experienced. There are evil forces everywhere. I had to reject discussion of these evil entities with most people, I am ensnared. I have to will them away and focus on specific things. I have to slow down and filter out what I think. I shall uphold laws and expand my reach. I'd prefer not to discuss these evil matters at so let's forget about that.  I found our treasury in a precarious condition. It would take perhaps a year for us to resume the payment of salaries.  Our Army was still functional.  Yet with our Treasury in a state of shortages, the levers of Power were worn away.  With deferred pay for the troops, they would be listless and they would be unable to fight.  I heard reports of rebellions in other kingdoms; this only made me fear subversion and revolt at home.  I went through a period of Instability. I am not there at all sometimes. I am looking at myself from a distance.  I was able to recover and address the most serious problems of the realm. I talked about the connections between Tibet and the Third Han, of the tools and grains used across the empire. I talked about how much currency we'd need to mint. We'd need to see if we wanted a Border Tax or a Tax on Wealth. Everybody else looked at me like I spoke no human words at all.  I had better luck in talking to the bureaucracy. I can speak to them about Laws and Money and they'll do it. Whatever we were doing seemed to work.  For my own health, I retreated when I could from the crowd. I was silent and frightened and could not always speak when others spoke.  That did not mean I could not act elsewhere. I had heard that many resented the arrogance and the isolation of the Third Han, and how the merchants and those along the trade routes were Impoverished because of their absence. I sent my diplomats to appeal this.  The Third Han appealed, in turns, to the glory of their past, their own legal rights as a sovereign state, the needs of the tens of thousands of thousands of people under their dominion, and their own need to secure themselves against external threats. In those areas, they had hoped that we could accommodate ourselves to this change in a matter of good faith and as a matter of understanding.  It is not too much a surprise that the Third Han would look to the glories of their own distant past. But those eras which were held up as an era of peace were deeply in want of it. Indeed, I have often found negotiations between kingdoms without familial ties to be Fruitless. This was not the imposition of a shared Law or drawing up a Contract between states, there is very rarely such a thing. And as for security? There can be no absolute Security unless it involves the total destruction of the opponent, which they will resist Bitterly. Any negotiations become like the bawling of competing shopkeepers, which at best attempt to commit third parties to do trade with them. There is a scarcity of Good Faith. We declared the routes open. The traders along the southern Silk Road and along the great southern ocean would be under our protection. The Mongolians, too, would find themselves benefitting from the routes along the Tarim Basin and north of the Kunlun.  The merchants tell us the Great Western Invaders have returned from across the ocean. Is it possible?  And to my other side, the Empress of China has died. Her daughter is willing to agree with us on trade so that at least is good.  The priests are doing better and that is all I'll say about that. The Sacred Hierarch was very cordial in her letters.  Churches, whatever. Sure.  I'm worried about our own church and the Sacred Hierarch. I was told she had gone to China to Supplicate to them. How could she! She was an agent of Evil Powers, setting up a conspiracy!  I sent a formal letter asking her to publicly deny any connections she had made with the Third Han Dynasty and to disavow any Conspiracies. She agreed.  But I was told by -- I was told, and I have heard it -- that she had a plausible claim over the entirety of the Empire and that she could press it. Obviously, this is a plot to overthrow my house and destroy the previous structures of our kingdom. It was a matter of the Daoists, I think. Their immortality and their secret potions. What could I do?  I was feeling unresponsive to my duties and responsibilities, and I was advised to take time off to hunt and go among Nature, as my Grandmother Khrimalod was fond of doing. I agreed, but I refused to go alone.  Before one of my trips, I was informed of a letter from the Chinese that they had demanded the revocation of some of my mercantile policies. They had no way to compel us, and we had no reason to agree. I denied them.  I was soon given a dog, who was my closest and most trustworthy companion. His name is Tricky and he is very good.  I was told fanciful stories by my hunting companions - that the Mongolian kingdom in -- what was it, Fulin? -- was severed by raiders across the sea. "Where did they come from?" I asked. He told me they were from the very northern edge of the world, where there is almost no sunshine for much of the year. Fascinating stuff. We would need to communicate with them. How? With the birds? The sand foxes follow us, you know. Not long after we returned, a prisoner was brought in. Her arms were bound. She was hunched over, the eyes of her whites visible in an exhausted look, and her jaw was clenched.  It was my Lönchen Tse. A young priest, an ambitious young man, had claimed to possess an incontrovertible Proof that she was not only an impostor but an agent of Buddhist clerics, intent on the subversion of the kingdom and the destruction of our church. The court gasped, and they all became a pack of howling animals, yelling at me, sending me negative immaterial energy, about what I should do. In the crowd, I hear four distinct points. A) Kill her! But would her death be considered just or heroic? B) Imprison her! But would she escape? C) Brand her an apostate! But would this be sufficient? D) Let her go! But what if the priest is right? The vote will close at 9 PM EST, October 28. This will have consequences.
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Oct 26, 2019 14:45
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C
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Oct 26, 2019 14:49
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A This is not the true Tse and never was! The tale of resurrection is an insidious lie created to weaken the Bon faith. She must be put to death for her crimes.
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Oct 26, 2019 15:00
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A-She covets Purgyal throne, and consorts with demons, heretics, and the Han to take it. End this charade.
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Oct 26, 2019 15:13
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FrangibleCover posted:A Agreed
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Oct 26, 2019 15:18
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A! The False Prophet must be destroyed for attempting to subvert the most high office of the church!
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Oct 26, 2019 15:36
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D, this is way too interesting to mess with.
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Oct 26, 2019 15:45
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B, but D
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Oct 26, 2019 15:55
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B This is some ploy of hers to take our throne. If we kill her, she'll just resurrect herself to try again! Put her behind bars so that we can keep an eye on her.
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Oct 26, 2019 16:15
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B
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Oct 26, 2019 16:27
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D His proof is bullshit, also this plotline rules don't kill it.
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Oct 26, 2019 16:30
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Tulip posted:His proof is bullshit, also this plotline rules don't kill it. A, this plotline is all about reincarnation so killing it seems like the most interesting choice.
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Oct 26, 2019 16:45
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B What terror does death hold for an immortal? Let her rot.
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Oct 26, 2019 16:52
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A!
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Oct 26, 2019 17:33
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Maybe the Archpriestess can explain how the laws she herself wrote apply here. A.
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Oct 26, 2019 17:38
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B.
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Oct 26, 2019 17:40
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megane posted:Maybe the Archpriestess can explain how the laws she herself wrote apply here. A. A
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Oct 26, 2019 18:07
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A absolutely no way this can go wrong
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Oct 26, 2019 18:25
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How dare such lies and calumnies be levied against our beloved and revered Hierarch Tse? How could she, of all people, be obstinate in the face of the true powers at work in this world? How could her path be anything but the most righteous before us? D.
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Oct 26, 2019 18:28
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D Lies and slander by some overambitious third rate alms taker
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Oct 26, 2019 18:55
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C Best case compromise we can hope for.
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Oct 26, 2019 19:04
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Abominations must die.
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Oct 26, 2019 19:51
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The only way to prove that she’s right is to kill her and see if she reincarnates. So, A
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Oct 26, 2019 20:11
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A. Should her death inspire her conspirators to out themselves, so much the better.
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Oct 26, 2019 20:35
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B. Let her languish until forgotten!
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Oct 26, 2019 21:46
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D
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Oct 27, 2019 02:35
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B
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Oct 27, 2019 03:58
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Empress Theonora posted:How dare such lies and calumnies be levied against our beloved and revered Hierarch Tse? How could she, of all people, be obstinate in the face of the true powers at work in this world? How could her path be anything but the most righteous before us? D.
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Oct 27, 2019 07:52
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C. The shame of being branded for apostasy should be enough.
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Oct 27, 2019 16:03
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Empress Theonora posted:How dare such lies and calumnies be levied against our beloved and revered Hierarch Tse? How could she, of all people, be obstinate in the face of the true powers at work in this world? How could her path be anything but the most righteous before us? D. D.
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Oct 27, 2019 17:16
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A
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Oct 27, 2019 17:20
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A. Establish your provenance in the next life.
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Oct 27, 2019 17:29
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 Less than 24 hours left to vote
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Oct 28, 2019 02:23
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B
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Oct 28, 2019 04:07
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D - Even if she is as her accuser states, we would rip the realm asunder if we were to act against her person. No, we must have more than the word of a young fool before we denounce the consort of Gyalyum.
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Oct 28, 2019 04:28
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pinchofginger posted:D - Even if she is as her accuser states, we would rip the realm asunder if we were to act against her person. No, we must have more than the word of a young fool before we denounce the consort of Gyalyum. I'm convinced. D is it.
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Oct 28, 2019 05:17
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pinchofginger posted:D - Even if she is as her accuser states, we would rip the realm asunder if we were to act against her person. No, we must have more than the word of a young fool before we denounce the consort of Gyalyum.
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Oct 28, 2019 06:16
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| # ? May 31, 2024 15:23 |
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D that Homestuck reference in A though. Don't think I didn't see that.
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Oct 28, 2019 06:48
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