Okay, knowledgeable and notably pleasant-smelling folks of the forums… I have a quandary. The end of the University storyline, right? Name the murderer and suffer the consequences, or frame an innocent and personally benefit. Classic moral conundrum. Sir Frederick, being a diligent, conscientious fellow, saw justice done, while Hubris - that cad - framed the innocent.
Now, Juniper and Esther have reached the same point in the story… and I haven’t the foggiest what to do. Juniper - a former urchin who has struggled to make her own place in the world - is devout and (these days) generally law-abiding, so she might be driven to expose the true murderer… but she’s also respectful of authority and fearful of being back on the streets, so she’d hesitate to expose the wrongdoings of a prominent, respected person.
Esther, meanwhile, works as essentially an agitator for the revolutionaries among the well-to-do. She has every reason to want to see the high-and-mighty brought low… but she’s also canny enough to keep such a thing up her sleeve to use later, ensuring her own name isn’t similarly ruined. Plus, Hell has been of great assistance to the revolution, and they might not want their own involvement in the business made public.
My own driving obsession with symmetry and balance demands that I have them reach different outcomes. So… who should take which option? I’ve been hesitating over this for months, and I’d truly welcome your input.
It makes sense to me that Juniper may have grown and evolved in her sense of authority and who truly deserves it, and may trust in her abilities to snub and overcome one of the lesser examples she has encountered.
It certainly seems to me to make sense that Esther would calculate the worst-case and likely-case scenarios of either, and frame the innocent, letting pragmatism and ends justifying the means rather than take a risk for little observable gain.
I feel more strongly about the Esther fit, leading me to think that this could be a growing moment for Juniper, and I tend to enjoy those in role-playing. Having characters changed by their actions instead of twisting everything to maintain a carved-in-stone headcanon is part of the fun of it, in my opinion.
The actual question for me was whether I should frame Consumptive Cryptozoologist or not.
Considering the whole matter from this point, I doubt an ex-urchin, who knows first-hand what struggling for your life (and probably well-being of those few you care about) means would be heartless enough to use an old wound - alleged murder of one’s sister as a motive for revenge, knowing that said person is actually innocent.
Revolutionaries(any kind, not neathy-only) are known to do everything that has a slight chance of providing a boon to the cause, so it becomes a matter of profit. On one hand, promoting yourself in master’s eyes is valuable, yet could also be done with a number of different ways. Provost, being compromised as a pawn of masters, might be useful for one-time extraction of information, though it will have you implicated as a suspect. Surprisingly, profits are not as huge as one would expect.
On the other hand, when someone goes down, a number of people may go up. The Cause just needs to put right people in right places beforehand. And you get to be a badass revolutionary rogue academic.
I say, let symmetry flow up the river. edited by Talkes on 3/1/2016
Juniper might be better off framing the innocent. It fits in her "Dog eat dog" background in the Flit. Who knows? It might even get her a comfortable position (and access to exotic wines) under the Provost in the future.
[quote=Sir Frederick Tanah-Chook]
Esther, meanwhile, works as essentially an agitator for the revolutionaries among the well-to-do. She has every reason to want to see the high-and-mighty brought low… but she’s also canny enough to keep such a thing up her sleeve to use later, ensuring her own name isn’t similarly ruined. Plus, Hell has been of great assistance to the revolution, and they might not want their own involvement in the business made public.
My own driving obsession with symmetry and balance demands that I have them reach different outcomes. So… who should take which option? I’ve been hesitating over this for months, and I’d truly welcome your input.[/quote]
Esther is better off naming the Provost outright. The Revolutionaries have an active cell that is interested in the University library. A scandal means that the University’s security team will be focused more on controlling angry faculty members and students than doing routine monitoring of certain University areas. Besides, its easier to get brilliant minds to the cause if said minds find a worrying London problem to complain about.
I say Juniper should frame the innocent. It could make for a powerful regret. Those are important to an RP as well. I know Atticus has a few, even if he did expose the scummy Ol Provost
Would Juniper actual derive some enjoyment of seeing those positioned as better then her brought down a peg? Would it help reinforce her own notions of her worth compared to those who were born higher then her?
Those are the questions that came to my mind.