Julius (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
overharrowed) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
therookery2023-07-22 11:23 am
overharrowed) wrote in therookery2023-07-22 11:23 am
Entry tags:
Report: Wheel of Blackmail
SUBJECT: An attempt to remove Cedric Marquette from play
PARTICIPANTS: Ellie, Lalla, Yseult, John, Evelyn, Bastien, Nina, Gela, Julius (supervisory only)
CLASSIFICATION: Private to Division Heads, with need-to-know privileges for personnel it might affect in Scouting and/or Diplomacy
DATE FILED: Backdated to the end of Justinian
STATUS: Ongoing
SUMMARY: A few teams went out to try to find pressure points to get Cedric Marquette to stop helping the Venatori. While this effort was not successful, it did point to a few possible leads to that end. Julius intends to try again when staffing allows for another pass.
REPORT:
While it is never heartening to submit a report detailing a failure to obtain a goal, in this particular case I have the comfort of observing that it is more likely a failure to obtain it yet, rather than a more permanent loss.
Those surrounding Cedric Marquette, it turned, were somewhat more elusive than my initial intelligence suggested. The antiquities market, in particular, turned out to be a complicated system to enter in any capacity other than as a buyer. We may wish to cultivate further third party contacts or draw on existing (perhaps in Antiva)? I suspect a professional rivalry here may be useful to us, but we need a clearer way in.
Similarly, Marquette’s household staff seems either well-paid or fearful enough that a casual approach won’t do. That said, agents’ reports doing seem to indicate a great deal of personal loyalty, which makes me think this could be a useful avenue if we are able to gather more information about the hold he has on them.
I do plan to keep in touch with several points of contact at the university. Our agents identified especially Lucrèce Langlois as a senior lecturer who is especially sensitive to reputational damage for her department and the university at large. Reputation may also be a useful lever with one or both of Marquette’s sisters. I would suggest, though, we do not maintain contact in that quarter; I think we may be better served by a fresh approach next time.
All of which is to say, while we found the road steeper than anticipated, we have gained a great deal of useful information about Marquette’s network. I think this project is worth revisiting when we have sufficient personnel to return to it. While Marquette is certainly not Riftwatch’s highest priority, cutting off one of the Venatori’s major suppliers is still a goal worth devoting some resources to securing, in my opinion at least.
— Julius, leader of Project Sashamiri
NEXT STEPS: Julius has refined a list of names of people who might be able to pressure or persuade Marquette. He still believes this is a worthy and achievable project, and is keen to try again once personnel frees up.
NOTES & LINKS: OOC post; IC post
PARTICIPANTS: Ellie, Lalla, Yseult, John, Evelyn, Bastien, Nina, Gela, Julius (supervisory only)
CLASSIFICATION: Private to Division Heads, with need-to-know privileges for personnel it might affect in Scouting and/or Diplomacy
DATE FILED: Backdated to the end of Justinian
STATUS: Ongoing
SUMMARY: A few teams went out to try to find pressure points to get Cedric Marquette to stop helping the Venatori. While this effort was not successful, it did point to a few possible leads to that end. Julius intends to try again when staffing allows for another pass.
REPORT:
While it is never heartening to submit a report detailing a failure to obtain a goal, in this particular case I have the comfort of observing that it is more likely a failure to obtain it yet, rather than a more permanent loss.
Those surrounding Cedric Marquette, it turned, were somewhat more elusive than my initial intelligence suggested. The antiquities market, in particular, turned out to be a complicated system to enter in any capacity other than as a buyer. We may wish to cultivate further third party contacts or draw on existing (perhaps in Antiva)? I suspect a professional rivalry here may be useful to us, but we need a clearer way in.
Similarly, Marquette’s household staff seems either well-paid or fearful enough that a casual approach won’t do. That said, agents’ reports doing seem to indicate a great deal of personal loyalty, which makes me think this could be a useful avenue if we are able to gather more information about the hold he has on them.
I do plan to keep in touch with several points of contact at the university. Our agents identified especially Lucrèce Langlois as a senior lecturer who is especially sensitive to reputational damage for her department and the university at large. Reputation may also be a useful lever with one or both of Marquette’s sisters. I would suggest, though, we do not maintain contact in that quarter; I think we may be better served by a fresh approach next time.
All of which is to say, while we found the road steeper than anticipated, we have gained a great deal of useful information about Marquette’s network. I think this project is worth revisiting when we have sufficient personnel to return to it. While Marquette is certainly not Riftwatch’s highest priority, cutting off one of the Venatori’s major suppliers is still a goal worth devoting some resources to securing, in my opinion at least.
— Julius, leader of Project Sashamiri
NEXT STEPS: Julius has refined a list of names of people who might be able to pressure or persuade Marquette. He still believes this is a worthy and achievable project, and is keen to try again once personnel frees up.
NOTES & LINKS: OOC post; IC post