(no subject)

[moredakka]

[Sup Investigators. Have some spazflail in your brains.]

Ogura Sio, reporting!!

There are dragons. They kill people. There's a force that fights them coming from someplace called Flamegard but they lose a third of their people every year because they haven't even got cannons. Can, can we give them cannons? I know we're supposed to blend in b-but - but! What if it's our mission?

Comments

[notinthecards]

First things first, I'd say. Do we know how to build cannons? Because I think there's probably more to it than an iron tube and some gunpowder.

[moredakka]

I know how to build a cannon! [Come on Remy she's almost insulted that you have to ask.]

[notinthecards]

Well. That makes two of you that do. Next question, how long does something like that take?

[moredakka]

Umm, well, you need the materials and things first and... that costs money.

[howexciting]

[Leonardo can't help butting in for the first time since he learned about the network.]

Actually, there is not much more required to build a cannon. You need two trunnions to attach it to a movable base, and an opening to insert a fuse. Then you need a shot and some gunpowder. It is a lot simpler than most seem to realize.

... but is it wise? Do we know anything about these dragons? How big are they, where do they live, and what do they really want? Humans are not easy prey. They could just as easily go after cattle.

[notinthecards]

Not yet. But it's good to make plans and precautions, no? Maybe Remy would be all right facing down a dragon with nothing but a stick and a deck of cards. But most of us probably rather have some fire support, I think.

[howexciting]

I never said not to take precautions and imagine alternate solutions. I was merely trying to learn more. Perhaps something has been overlooked. I know they are a menace to the people here, but... I have never seen a dragon. I would very much like to study it.

[His next thoughts sound a little amused.] You must be very strong if something as simple as a mazzo di carte can protect you against such a creature.

[canbebrave]

If these dragons are like those that once roamed my land, what Sio says is very possible. Dragons do not follow the rules of humanity- to them, we are the cattle.

[howexciting]

This is true. Still, dragons are supposedly very smart. And for that matter, humans fight back. Something such as a cow would not provide as much of a challenge, no?

Is the reason for such a cost of human life because we are encroaching on their territory? Is it because they do want livestock but humans are protecting it? Surely there must be an explanation, and an easier way of solving the problem than this, that will likely not cost so many human lives.

[hakodate]

You change a lot more about the balance of power than just controlling the wildlife when you introduce guns to a society.

[superieure]

I concur. Did anyone mention defeating one with a sword or a lance? Or catapults?

[moredakka]

Uh, Jaeger-san mentioned a lance and ballistas... but that's still really primitive!

[hakodate]

Here's the thing. Especially after what I hear people saying about the state of the throne here, I'm not convinced that any fighting that happens here is only going to stay contained to dragons. Giving people firearms is going to give someone a massive advantage. I've seen what happens when you try to take on artillery with swords and spears and it's pretty fucking ugly.

Depending on what we need to accomplish here, that might be something that's useful to us. But it's not something we want to do lightly, or without recognizing what we might set off with it.

[superieure]

We don't yet know that a gun would be any more useful, and would be introducing an irremovable new factor at high risk and likely low reward.

Have you heard of anyone who's fought and killed a dragon successfully?

[feminitis]

[...dragons. Holy shit, dragons. She's only ever heard of them in myths. They're real here? Where is Okita-sensei when she needs him...]

Would cannons even help? Wouldn't the dragons just... fly away? How does someone even fight dragons, anyway?

[moredakka]

They've got to be better than swords! I, uh... if I could just see them and see what they're like, I'm, I'm sure I could come up with something!

[She came up with a plan to fight ocean monsters from outer space. How different can dragons be?]

[feminitis]

I've seen cannons. [Granted, they're cannons that by modern standards could be described as "old as balls," but...!] They're really powerful but really bulky and slow. By the time you got one in place to shoot the dragon...

[She frowns, thinking it over.]

...oh... but if you got it in place and the lured the dragon out to where it was set up, maybe you could compensate for the slowness and the dragon's flight that way...

[moredakka]

There are other things - [amazingly, Sio catches herself before she can go into a long, long list of delicious other things that can be used to blow dragons to bits. Gotta be practical. Stick to cannons.]

Yeah, that's a good tactic! You don't have to move the cannon. You just have to move the dragon to the right place.

[senseandcecilbility]

[Where is Saint George when one needs him?]

If the natives start consuming their eggs, they will become extinct in a few decades.

[And there will be less cannons and more omelets for all.]

[moredakka]

Uh... that's an... interesting... strategy... [Read: what.]

The dragons probably guard their eggs, though...

[senseandcecilbility]

[...Says the young lady who proposed cannons.]

Indeed. That is why one must abscond with them.

[Isn't that what humans have been doing since they got kicked out of Eden? Stealing eggs?]

[moredakka]

[HEY CANNONS ARE ALWAYS ON-TOPIC.]

You mean... steal? But we'll have to know where the nests are, and uh, wouldn't dragon eggs be really big?

[capital_asset]

Have they shown the ability or inclination to communicate outside of their own species at all?

[moredakka]

W-what? No, um, I didn't... ask, but... they're dragons. They're eating people!

[capital_asset]

...Which is a problem, yes. But knowing why they act the way they do could be helpful if it provided a means to get them to stop.