A Smol Adjustment

It's an uncommon thing to find Jazz in a cafe, even the Pelapuff. More often, she's a creature of the open road, the side of the road, off the beaten bush, way deep in the wilderness, and of course her least personal favorite: on a god damn boat. Which is probably why it's also weird to find her with a drawing of a traditional Yamato vessel sitting right in front of her, amber eyes studying it intently as long cold tea sits beside her.

She dabs her quill in the ink pot that sits nearby and then makes a small mark along the prow of the vessel.

On the other hand Shiruba regularly passes through the cafe, being the foodie that she is. And the cafe was good for just a pastry snack and some tea, Erufu's inn has better when you were looking for an entire meal. But the sharp-eyed hunter notices the unusual Undine presence almost immeadiately and walks over to table. Tilts her head at the drawing. "I thought you didn't like boats."

Outside it's not hard to tell were Shiruba has stopped. Her falcon isn't all that keen on indoors so she's perched on the edge of the roof, preening herself while waiting.

Yeowang generally spreads her custom among the various eateries of Yamato. Not through any particular favor, but rather, because of a lack of preference. She misses her personal chefs a lot, they had come, over the course of years, to be able to perfectly anticipate her tastes. Here, it's catch as catch can, as it were, and while it's better than the very first days in the game of menu food, it's not entirely up to her standards. Oh, it's certainly not bad. But she's grown up with haute cuisine, so regular food is not what she enjoys. But she has to eat, so here she is.

She had seen the falcon, possibly, or this was just the closest place to buy food when her inventory of meals ran out, but she enters a bit after Shiruba, and nods a greeting as well. "Good morning, all." Jazz sketching boats is an interesting thing, and she drifts over as well. "Some sort of new design?" she wonders.

"No, that's pretty much a Yamato vessel," remarks Jazz as to the question of its design. She answers Yeowang first, deferring Shiruba for just a moment as she considers it.

"I'm contemplating... refinements. Too many people, looking too much to home for ideas when we have so many new possibilities open to us."

She clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth in minor frustration. Her tentacles twitch in time, responsive to it.

"People will say 'well, we need iron clads, that's just how it's going to be to compete with the Palace Landers."

"Well, it's not entirely wrong, seeing what the Palace Land is able to put to sea." Shiruba holds up a finger to stave off any objections to the statement for a moment as she sits. "But, that's for us Adventurers to use, to defend against them. That's all they should be. A tool to fight this war we've been pushed into, and need to push back. At least, now that they don't have any holdings on our turf we've got a better defensive position to stand on."

She leans over a little closer to look at the picture, though not wanting to get too up into Jaz's personal space knowing how she is about the close contact issues. "Encouraging the locals to continue and refine their own maritime traditions should be followed as well."

Yeowang looks around thoughtfully. "You know. The last time we three were here was drawing up the plan for what would become The Red Chain, the aid organization," she muses. "I wonder have we all been drawn here for another great beginning?" She nods as Jazz explains about the Yamato vessel, though she cautions, "New possibilities are /not always/ better possibilities. Shipbuilders here have done as they like, to be sure, and that's quite an interesting design, but in the real world, we have engineers who can do quite complicated structural analysis that shipbuilders here would boggle at. You know, the aqueduct in Rome, built thousands of years ago without the benefit of engineering, is still standing in many places. But it occurs to me that if your structures outlive your civilization by 1500 years, maybe it's a bit overbuilt."

She will peer at the design as best she can without getting too close, and she agrees, "A design familiar to Yamato shupbuilders would be much easier for them to build, or help with. Perhaps with quite subtle improvements for safety and seakeeping. I wonder if the local shipbuilders have relaxed their iron grip on their own shipyards, which they had locked down when the Palace Landers arrived."

"... that's just it, Shiruba. We don't. What the Palace Lands is doing is a mistake. Same with Scale Emblem. Chances are, adventurers forged the way there too and the Landers copied them and incorporates it into their way of doing business. And why shouldn't they? Coal is an easy answer to the energy constraint and its abundance ensures you can build as you need."

Jazuhanzu lets out a breath, cheeks puffing oh-so-anime cute.

"But that doesn't change that it's not innovation. It's just forcing things down a road we already know the destination of. Bigger ships. Bigger engines. More power. Steam power. Industrialization."

"So far as some can see, that's how progress works. It's like... playing Sid Meier's civilization in their head. Oars to sails to more sails to iron class. Skip straight to the iron clads and you have a huge advantage. We saw how that works..."

"But it's a lie, here. We have something we never did back home. A whole new route: Magic."

Shiruba gets back up from her seat for a moment to go over to the counter so she can order something. Her lupine ears clearly twitch back in the direction of the table though, and she hasn't missed a thing by the time she returns. "That's a good question, Yeowang. One that is worth looking into. Even with the invaders chased out of Mac Anu it will take time to get trade routes back in order."

She settles back into her chair, tail curling off to the side and around the back legs so she doesn't have to sit on it. Steeples her fingers as she leans forward on the table. "So what you're saying Jaz is not that innovation needs to be stopped. You want to steer it in what would arguably be a more natural direction for this world, utilizing magic instead."

Yeowang admits, "The Palace Landers did have the one giant ship. I'm sure magic was involved with that." It's not that Yeowang is anti-magic. She just doesn't understand it. Not has she really tried to, despite having some actual native potential. It makes her life strange. But not understanding it means she has no idea where it can go, either. "So, your design incorporates magic?" she wonders.

She nods to Shiruba, about getting the Yamato situation in order, and agrees about steering local designs, if possible. "Presumably local designs already incorporate magic, or elements, or whatever it is people do here that's not something back on Earth? My understanding is that Landers can basically do all the things adventurers can? I presume that extends to controlling the wind and waves for ships?"

"What Scale Emblem and the Palace Lands are doing isn't innovating, it's copying," says Jazz, gently, to Shiruba.

"The nobles are going to see the power of the Iron Clads, and they're going to want their own piece of it. Why wouldn't they? If you think they aren't watching our advances and how we conduct oursewlves, as much as they like us right *now* for helping to defend them, they're never going to bear in mind that they too could become victim to that power, if things were to ever break down. They'll want to be prepared. So they'll see... and they'll copy. They might refine, but ultimately, they'll still copy. Dig for coal. Put metal on the ships. How long before cannon? Befoire firearms? All the while, the traditions that define life on Yamato will change into some thing more familiar -- not because the Landers wanted it, but because we drove them towards it."

A glance towards Yeowang, "Conceivably. A lot of them lack the ... strength and proficiency that we do. And yes, likely *some* magic in that, but just as likely steam power. Why not?" She puts her hands together behind her head, hair weaving between her fingers almost of its own accord.

"...we instead capitalize on the innate naval traditions of Yamato, refine the production of local ships to be sleeker, faster, stronger. Utilize enchantments to strength areas prone to damage, give them tools that a well trained Lander can operate. Enchantments on hulls and mast, on oar and ramming prow. Fire spears. We produce a ship in line with Yamato naval traditions that can be produced faster, with a crew already trained for its operation by virtue of similarity in design, and not only will the nobles find that to be a superior option, they'll be more likely to more easily evolve in a direction we're familiar with from the bottom up as well. Add on top of that the *existing* fleet can then be retrofitted along this design, and we will be more capable to bring the fight to the Palace Lands, or defend ourselves from them should they invade again before we're ready. Unlikely as that is, it's still a possibility we have to beware. And all of it doesn't demand coal. It demands people. Expertise. Tradition. All things that the Landers have in spades. Work With. Not above, or apart."

She lets out a breath. "We use water magic to enchant the hulls to reduce friction. The vessel turns faster, skips through the water faster with reduced drag. We enchant sails to better capture the wind. We produce a vessel of quality that can stand head and shoulders above what exists, within the same *tradition*, and we can stop this turn before it ever really starts. I don't know about either of you, but I don't want to see a whiff of smog oru the entire planet getting a 'global warming' debuff."

"That is a big undertaking, but I like were you're going with this. It's true that we can't stop them from taking interest in things... but it's also true that a ship of wood and enchantments would be easier for them to reproduce. And while not cheap, certainly less costly than what it would take to mine and process ore for the ironsides. It would appeal to the traders and sailors that want faster, reliable ships rather than chugging oceanic tanks."

Shiruba sits up as her pastry and tea are delivered. "Haru is our resident expert in Enchantments. An I believe Fukaziroh is working on refining refigeration through Ice magic, I'm sure THAT would catch the interest of traders needing to sail their stuff from side of Yamato to the other."

She pauses to take a sip of her tea. "There's documentation on Yamato naval traditions in the Library and at the Museum, if you need to farther research that aspect."

Yeowang nods about Landers not being as strong, generally, as players. "But it's not really power that would be the thing, would it? And proficiency can be trained. We set up teams of Lander monster handlers to use healing and cleaning slimes, which they'd never done before." She considers Jazz's plan. "Something that current style ships can be modified into places a lot of limitations on the design, but it also gives you a very strong secondary market in refits," she agrees, chin in her hand. That would of course obligate the design to be consistent with current Yamato ships, but that's a goal anyhow, so not an additional requirement. She nods as Jazz explains the mods she'd make. "That all seems doable."

She hrms to Shiruba as she addresses resource usage. "Just as importantly, they won't need to start any -new- supply chains since we won't be using new or unusual materials. That would allow us to dovetail neatly into their shipyard process. The less we make things new and complicated the easier it will be."

"There are absolutely limitations to this idea," agrees Jazz with Yeowang, "But I'm hoping that the Lander shipwrights can take it another step and evolve their *own* ideas from it. We just get them started, work within their traditions, and then they'll take it from, there, I hope. But yes, those things also help," she agrees as they continue. A glance towards Shiruba, a nod. "Yes. We provide the alternative, and I suspect they'll take it. This world doesn't need to be more like our own. If we are to believe that this world is real, and that the Landers are real and full as people, then we bear a responsibility in what we show and teach them, as well. I'd rather empower them to better create their own world, rather than a carbon-drenched copy of our own."

Shiruba chuckles softly to herself when Yeowang uses 'dovetail'. She actually understands the reference now thanks to her Woodworking work. Something uncomplicated to fit together but holds firmly once joined.

"And this is the best time to start putting some of these ideas forward. While people, Landers and Adventurers alike, are looking for ways to rebuild and recover after the occupations. We put Shibuya back together, now we help put the rest of the region back up, stronger than before."

Now for that pastry. Nomf.

Yeowang is all smiles until Jazz suggests the world is real, when her expression fades into a weary grimace. But only for a moment. "On the other hand, how we treat the Landers is a reflection of /our/ character, and many of them do have complex stories and motivations and skills. Moreso than many real people in real life, in many cases." But she agrees, "It's true anywhere, if you make it easy for people to do what they want, they will do it more eagerly."

"In truth," Yeowang says to Shiruba, "the Palace Landers didn't do that much that was bad, to the Landers. They used resources poorly, and lived the high life, and did bad things to players, and to Landers that opposed them. But they didn't, generally, damage what they captured indiscriminately. So, getting things back together is more a matter of cementing supply chains back together, and reaffirming confidence that the Palace Landers are well and truly gone."

"That's correct," says Jazz. "I've told people that when all this ends, assuming it ever does, and we find ourselves ... home again, I wanted to be able to look myself in the mirror and live with the choices I make here. If that ever is to come to pass, I have to treat the Landers as something more than extension of my own belief system. That means giving them the final say, really, so far as I'm concerned. Otherwise, I'm an enormous hypocrite and I don't want to be." She smooths her maid's outfit a little, sighing. And then finally takes a sip of her tea.

It is cold.

Her eyes cross.

She pushes it away after a moment.

Shiruba pushes her cup of warm tea over to Jaz. "Here. I'll get another one. And I agree... really, regardless of which way you look at this world, what you've said is true. The influence we make should be meaningful. Without twisting and ruining what's already here just because some people cling to what they once had."

Yeowang nods gravely to Jazz, though she says, "I don't believe /we/ will be going home. I think we are copied out from our original selves, who logged on all that time ago, and have been copied onto a separate server. Possibly for the entertainment of someone who can set up such things. They would of course play as a super-powerful individual and lord over the regular players, when they took an interest, but as the one connected player on the server, their presence would be inconsistent. But going home or not, our character and how we comport ourselves is still a matter of importance. Even if we never leave, I will not become some villian."

She smirks as Shiruba passes her tea over, and says, "Meaningful without being overbearing, I think is the objective?" She looks to Jazz to confirm her summary of Shiruba's goal. "I think this is very doable. I had tried to set up a shipbuilding enterprise of our own in Ninetails, as an alternative because Fourland's shipbuilding was under threat. But they would not release the resources for two reasons. The threat of the Palace Landers, but they also did not want Fourland to feel they were trying to muscle in on the shipbuilding business."

The tea is eyed. Jazz takes it. Sip.

"Overbearing is one descriptor, yes." She listens to Yeowang, agreeably, nodding. "No villainy also sounds wise."

Shiruba nods her head in agreement. "We want to guide developement and improvement of their own ways, not force them to take our own." She takes a moment to finish her pastry, then gets up from her chair. She'll get a fresh cup of tea on her way out. "And if you need any help, you girls know you only have to ask."

Yeowang smiles to Shiruba and Jazz and nods thoughtfully. "Am I rolling this all up into a plan forward?" she wonders. "Or should we hold for your designs to reach a later stage?" She knows nothing of naval architecture, alas.

Jazuhanzu makes a face at 'girl'. Of course she does. She glances towards Yeowang, "I'll be in touch. I've already done some reaching out. I'll definitely want your help."