To start, I worry about Kore and talk a little with her, in company with others.

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Interesting. Certainly bears keeping in mind.

So who might be responsible for the recent, tragic-then-not-that-tragic event? According to Zafra who had darted outside as fast as anyone could have: two individuals on a bike, speeding too fast for her to catch. No distinguishing marks whatsoever. Not even wearing matching leather jackets with their address and social security number embroidered on the back, the villains.

Jasen wonders if it might have been a message from the Progressives or the Traditionalists. Meseems neither. I suspect it is the act of someone else entirely, plainly trying to stir the pot. The Stormbreakers, potentialy? After all Dejah did explain they have, for years now, been actively destabilising the various factions of MoonFall, hindering any consolidation of power; and what am I, if not a rising one.

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Yeah, about that… For a while now, every time I spoke with Windress—who is herself keener on the progressive side of things, and holds contacts with that half of our Guild—I had available a dialogue option about meeting with the Progressives. And every single time I selected it; and every single time Windress curtly replied, “No need for that now.” Not a great way to make me feel like the co-boss. Errand girl, sure; but boss, not so much.

Still, moving on. The leader of the Progressives: Black Saffron. The leader of the Traditionalists: Lady Bathsheva.

Anent Black Saffron, Windress recounts a noteworthy story most telling of the woman’s character. In short, having twenty years been kidnapped ago by members of a syndicate who wanted to probe at the Guild for signs of weakness, Black Saffron was tortured for days. Not merely tortured in fact, but maimed and overracked in such a way would have made even Kang Kek Iew look away with unease. On the sixth day, blinded, she made her escape, devouring her way through a ganger’s lifestring afore stabbing three others to death. Is it a surprise to learn Zafra holds her in high esteem?

As for Lady Bathsheva—whom Nena once described as the canniest woman she ever met—details of her life prior to her joining the Guild remain wholly unknown. And while her beauty has enfamed her in MoonFall’s collective eye, her reputation should warrant great caution on my part. More: Windress knows the Old Watch once had definite plans to assassinate Bathsheva; until nothing whatsoever came of it, the Old Watch mysteriously and exceptionally canceling their operation.

Thus is a meeting with Black Saffron organised, and…

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Not what I had expected.

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No. I tried to meet her before. I couldn’t make this part of the story progress on ‘my’ own, that is by exerting my character’s volition; then I repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to get Windress to organise a meeting; and finally Diana, my co-manager of sorts, had not a thing to say on the matter either. Unless I missed something would have caused this meeting to occur much sooner, as soon as near the very beginning of the game, I’d like to suggest completely erasing this sentence, “You’ve been avoiding me.” As it is, it feels like taunting the player.

A short, not discourteous but somewhat dry introduction between us later, Black Saffron talks.

 

Spoiler

She states the obvious: she has heard about the bombing. But, she assures me without I can tell if lie or verity, she did not order said bombing, nor sanction it in any way, nor does she think some amongst her people could be culprits.

We both agree most menacing black clouds are presently rolling in from the horizon, and cast over us deepening, fatefraught shadows. Of all this—the violence, the deaths, the mistrust and misesteem—Black Saffron wants none. This civil war needs to end, and end soon lest it might never know an end true and final possessed of cicatrisive quality.

I briefly evoke a sensitive subject I’ve yet to properly investigate: Nena’s murder. A tragedy for the Guild, in which Black Saffron had no play, she assures me. Further is mentionned a name new to me, that of the Loveless, an assassins’ guild long disbanded yet at once rumored to be active anew, their old banners held by young hands. “I’m old enough to know these things happen in cycles,” says Saffron, “what came once will come again.”

Hearing these last words, my mind briefly drifts away as I think about sweet Dejah; but now is not an appropriate time for thinking pink.

At length Black Saffron attacks the meat of this parley: Traditionalist versus Progressives. In short, the Traditionalists are old women, fighting change itself more than fighting those pushing for said change. Let the young take the helm, and sail the Guild unto clearer, unroiling waters.

 

Abruptly, the meeting with Black Saffron is ended, and I find myself warped away, facing Lady Bathsheva.

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All right girls, vacate the room; I need to work my tongue. Yes, Diana, of course I mean ‘talk’, what else could I mean? Always with the suspicion of double-entendre…

Spoiler

During I envision how delicious would be to unclasp her dress, then caress with my lips the delicate, velvety back of her neck, Bathsheva is prompt and vehement in her gainsaying of the Progressives—animals!—who, in her seafoam-green eyes, must surely be responsible for the bombing of my brothel. They “lead us on the road to degeneracy,” she says. Men—apologies to Hatsuo and Jasen—can not become an integral, cardinal part of the Guild; and vulgar street whores are not fit to join its ranks, be it to claim the lowest one.

As with Black Saffron, the subject of Nena is raised, and the Loveless’ involvment is educed.

Then, a twist of the developer’s wand later, we gather in Diana’s office:

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And Diana to alert me that my vote will represent non-courtesan staff (Kaywin, Kore, Hatsuo, and Jasen); and also that the brothel’s personnel, by and large, favors the Traditionalists.

Feeling hapless to have re-joined the Guild in such times of strife, I bethink myself of all I have learned.

To a point, I agree with Progressives and Traditionalists. The Traditionalists do have about them something of the old fighting ineluctable change. And the Progressives something of the young and rash, prone to unheed the clear teachings of history. But the Traditionalists are, by nature, reluctant to acknowledge coming changes to MoonFall’s structure, and the adaptations required on the Guild’s part. Meanwhile the Progressives do not seem to fully grasp—or perhaps really care about—what makes the Guild what it is, and are overly eager to distance themselves from their counterpart, to push for too much change, brought about too quickly.

I ponder the issues, humming and hawing. At this pivotal a point abstention seems the coward’s way, and neutrality might be the worst option (though could also prove the best, in a gamble with horrible odds). So then, which side to favor? Surely the prestige garbing us courtesans should not be discarded for street rags as the Progressives propose. What good, to undergo a change so damnably profound we lose ourself along the way?

Eventually:

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My ponderous vote is cast. And once all votes tallied, support for the Traditionalists is enacted.

At which point the game then generously rewards me for my travails:

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(PS: it would be so funny and fitting to their name if the Loveless turned out to be incels)

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