Plotting for BAH

[Jenny]

1. Clean up the character profile for Emmond Salere, Head of the Black Ajah: Link to Google Doc
2. Plot Arc. Please discuss ideas here. I think that an interesting beginning would have Emmond reading a report on potential recruits to the BA and noticing the three Accepted. What do you guys think might be written on the report about your characters?
3. Plot Arc. More ideas. What would he do after reading the report?
4. Bridget, by the way, I read Rhykana's thread with Wilhelmaena. How much does Rhykana know?

Mirin Ronaile is a girl of Cairhienin origin who has gained the ring only recently. She is closely associated with Betrys, another Accepted of no particular interest. Her lessons consist of healing, political history, logic, and deduction. Our Yellow agents report that she has begun to show a startling interest in Compulsion under the guise of studying mental disorders. So far, she has been careful, but is not as careful as she thinks. She must be watched.

[Bridget]

Hmmm. Would the BA generate written reports? Ooh, do they have fancy ciphers? Or do you think they would work mainly by word of mouth? Sorry, getting distracted here!

I think it would be interesting to frame things as Emmond vs Lydarian, with the three of them acting as pawns. Perhaps Lydarian is trying to challenge Emmond for Ajah Head, and has been using her many recruits for years now to undermine him? Emmond could see the three of them as very dangerous (compulsion, ter'angreal creation, dreaming/inverted weaves), and want to turn them against Lydie. This could involve him suggesting that they spy on Lydie (shenanigans!) and discover things about her that will turn them against her. Only for them to discover that Emmond is the worst choice of the two! Out of the frying pan and into the fire. What would you guys think of something like that?

Oh man, I really hope I finish that thread at some point! At that point, Rhykana is certain that Lydie is in the Black Ajah, and she's able to question Wila about the Black. I imagine she knows that it exists, that there are Oaths, and that Black Ajah members only know a few other people in the Black Ajah. I would think that the Black Oaths (can we call them that? it's so metal) would prevent Wila from saying much more? Also, what do you guys think about Compulsion versus Oaths? While under Compulsion, would Wila really see telling Rhykana things about the Black as betrayal of the Black/a violation of the Oaths?

[Jenny]

Emmond vs Lydarian sounds exciting! I'm pretty much on board for anything.

I thought of passing notes because finding time to speak face to face is risky...and the walls have ears. I dunno though, word by mouth could work too!

I think that Compulsion can't overcome the Oaths. Even the Oath Rod can't overcome other Oaths. For example (SPOILER) when that one Aes Sedai who was bound by the Oath Rod to tell the truth, and then she was commanded to tell a lie, she started choking and almost asphyxiated.

The only loophole that I can see would be if Wila believed convincingly that she were about to die ("till the hour of my death") but that would probably cause more trouble than it solves since Rhykana would then have a dead body to hide lol....

[Bree]

E vs L - yes

Black Oaths - super chrome... yes

**I think we need to have a gimme for recruitment that is a Weave that can befuddle a recruit so that they can't quite remember being approached if they turn out to be not committed to the BA. It will solve the problem of answering questions and allow recruitment while under oath. But can't be used for anything else. A VERY specific recruitment Weave.

Written messages in broad cipher is canon I THINK. Isn't there a place in the books where they talk about notes being left in a hollow brick in a coded message? The Eagle has eaten the Squirrel... or some such?

Makenna is a bookish woman. Disturbingly Brown in her tendencies but she does have an intriguing skill in her Dreaming Talents. It would benefit us to keep an eye on her Dreams. She also seems to have uncovered information regarding inverted Weaves. That could prove useful.

That being said, someone is going to have to give me a bit of a script for Makenna's participation in the spy vs spy vs holy oh no plot arc.

[Jenny]

Hey guys, I've worked some more on the document for the BAH. I've taken your suggestions into consideration and edited his profile accordingly. Again, please feel free to comment/change stuff! I've also written a little bit about how this RP might begin. But how the three Accepted, uh, deal with the meeting and Emmond's request should be super interesting. I have no idea how this might end, although I do know that Mirin wants Aria Sedai dead. Will we find out Emmond's identity? <-- I think that this question should be answered organically through RP.

I've never done a larger RP like this before so... any recommendations would be great. I feel like I'm writing a lot, so please let me know if I'm writing too much >.< this is your RP as much as mine!

[Bridget]

I haven't read through his profile yet- went straight to the RP start! I like it a lot. I think it needs a little bit of an edit, to introduce Rhykana and Makenna a little more, but other than that it is wonderful. So, are we looking to write this into an actual RP, or to write a joint fic? I think it might be easier to do the fic- it's less structured, and we wouldn't have to follow posting order. And if we write it as a fic, we can play Emmond from all of their perspectives, instead of having one of us post as him. I think it could be fun to introduce Emmond and his POV only in the first part, and then just have him as seen by the three of them. What do you think?

[Jenny]

I love the idea of only introducing Emmond's POV in the first part and having the rest be from the POV of the three of them.

I totally agree about introducing Rhykana and Makenna more, but I didn't feel comfortable writing about them (because I don't know them as well as you do ) I'm trying to work on the "showing instead of telling" aspect of my writing so I didn't want to describe them too much without having them there to "show" their qualities. Please feel free to add whatever you like!

[Bridget]

Okay! What is our IC timeline for this? Based on conversations with you guys, I would guess:

Makenna and Rhykana (A Question of Color)
Mirin and Lydarian (Dark Questions)
Mirin and Rhykana - their confrontation in the hallway?
Fic with Emmond

What do you guys think?

[Jenny]

I think that Mirin and Rhykana could perhaps have their confrontation after Fic with Emmond?
I'm not so sure about an OP battle anymore. I doubt Mirin would want to reveal her abilities unless she is forced to. I'm not sure how their meeting will go but when we RP it out and let's just see what they do

[Bridget]

Okay! So I was thinking about what reason Emmond would do have to call them to his room/how he would interact with them, and had this idea. I put it in the googledoc, but I'm not sure if everyone is reading that with any frequency at this point, so here you go!

I think that he should offer them alternative mentorship. He’s trying to pull them away from Lydie, so he’d have to offer them something that they can’t get for her. Imagine that he, say, gives Rhykana expensive gems/things so she can make fancy ter’angreal, or even notes about ter’angreal that the Indigo Ajah wouldn’t share until she is a full sister. He could give Mirin (and Rhykana, for that matter) access to an Aes Sedai who is willing to teach Compulsion. For Makenna, secretive info about Dreaming and (unweaving? reading residues? there was something else you were interested in, Bree, right?). So basically, offer them exactly what they want. But in return, he wants something from them. Namely, for them to be his minions in some matters, and carry out dangerous tasks that seem nonsensical to them, but actually have some purpose in furthering the Black/building their skills/breaking them away from Lydie.