Review of the Ming China Game

In my role as one of the Confucian purists in the Hanlin Academy of the Grand Secretariat, it's difficult to say just how we preformed in the "China Game". Our greatest obstacle to success could be divided into two things—a strong First Grand Secretary who was secretly allied to the Emperor himself, and our initial decision to respect the rules of etiquette and decorum.

Historically, the sort of bond forged between the First Grand Secretary and the Emperor himself could not have existed—essentially, there was a promise that the First Grand Secretary would not betray the Emperor's interests under any circumstance, and at the same time, that the Emperor himself would not accept the First Grand Secretary's "resignations", no matter how often they came. Our calls for the First Grand Secretary to resign probably would not have made a difference, whether we had made three or thirty—our Emperor placed an unshakable faith in his First Grand Secretary, much to the Secretary's advantage—unless there was direct intervention from the game-masters on the matter.

However, from another standpoint, we had also handicapped ourselves—the First Grand Secretary, through strong force of will and our own complacence, had managed to distract us from our chief concerns (the crisis of succession), and instill a need (or even a fear) to maintain decorum in us for some time. If we had pressed harder and earlier, we might have been able to force the hand of fate (even if we couldn't get the Grand Secretary to actually resign). We were able to overcome our initial restraint and make direct challenges to the First Grand Secretary, which seemed to surprise her initially (though it might have been too little, too late). However, it did successfully force the Emperor to order executions to try and maintain the dignity of the First Grand Secretary, which brought about the collapse of the dynasty—hardly the ideal consequence, but it did cruelly validate the warnings of us, the purists.

As a purist, my views remained unchanging—however, given my character's deep respect of the traditions and rituals, I was very reluctant to break with decorum (a mistake on my part, in retrospect—if I had been more loud and boisterous, I could have better pressed my case). As the Grand Secretary from Kaifeng, I was hurt by the destruction of farming properties around Kaifeng—my family was no longer wealthy entering the game, and was probably bankrupt by the time of the new flood. Had the First Grand Secretary came directly at me with a bribe, I probably would have been forced to accept it. I also wish that I had harder press the connection between the declining state of the Empire and the Emperor's refusal to follow traditions—in my typical modern mind-set, it was difficult to connect the flooding of the yellow river with the Emperor's neglect of his first son, but I should have pressed the issue harder.

-Kainien Morel