>>35057358I feel a bit drained by stuff but for me, the main question I have is how the puppet is being used (see
>>35048771) and the somewhat odd behaviour from the raiders (although it can be partially explained by commander's incompetence). My counterproposal would be like in
>>35011210, where the reason for the /meat/ fleet to come to this presumably friendly port was not to resupply for raid, but to retrieve someone important that the elder obtained. It is also possible that the elder's previous cooperation with /meat/ is in human trafficking, which would still match the enslavement description while fitting /meat/'s usual use of foreign assets.
I mentioned Wentli candidate as the suggestion, which you can read more in
https://rentry.org/vtwbg-meatlore#wentli. It's basically a rare kind of slave material that /meat/ would not dare harm and would want to retrieve even with great loss. An idea that I have when pondering about the scenario was that maybe the elder has a wentli candidate that /meat/ sought after, but at the same time the elder also did not wish to part with. A loved one or a family member, for example. In that case, the elder might have decided to cooperate with /meat/ by providing assistance in human trafficking in exchange for keeping the wentli safe. Of course, if we assume his appointment as the elder was not a coincidence, that would imply /meat/ has further assets in Pasuma and maybe other places, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.
As for where V7 comes in... well, getting the elder to switch side will likely be helpful to the goal of reducing human trafficking and slavery to /meat/, and the elder can be a nice point to approach to break the chain here. Maybe V7 convinces the elder that /meat/ will not give up the wentli candidate despite the deal, and is just trying to squeeze the most out of him before taking the candidate. Maybe the elder himself wants to renege the deal and happens to know someone who knows V7 can keep the candidate safe from /meat/ agents. Regardless, under-the-table machination led to V7 converting the elder into a lure for Vijaya's trap (him overthrowing and killing the elder might be coincidental or inconsequential in the eyes of V7), as not wanting to harm the candidate would explain the softer approach of the /meat/ flotilla as shown in the story.
Personally I think this is a reasonable approach (otherwise I wouldn't propose it), as it both gives new and reasonable context to the actions by the raiders, and can potentially provide character for WARsuner to use, from the candidate herself, V7 agent, /meat/ agent and so on. I guess it might also have the unintentional effect of making the elder more sympathetic. On a mostly unrelated note, I also have an idea or two for the /meat/ agent involved if you want deeper levels of speed chess, but I don't know if delving too deep would steal the spotlight from the actual main story. Tell me what you think about it!
>>35058181I think someone in /kr/'s fairly active here so you probably won't have to wait long for that discussion (your timezone might vary).
