[X][NVB] Accept Nunnally vi Britannia as a Knight in your service, putting her in charge of 2nd Armored Cavalry Unit.
[X][GR] Commission her as your new Admiral: A genius and daring mind such as hers would be a waste at any other level.
[X][NVB] Accept Nunnally vi Britannia as a Knight in your service, putting her in charge of 2nd Armored Cavalry Unit.
[X][GR] Commission her as your new Admiral: A genius and daring mind such as hers would be a waste at any other level.
[X][NVB] Accept Nunnally vi Britannia as a Knight in your service, putting her in charge of 2nd Armored Cavalry Unit.
[X][GR] Commission her as your new Admiral: A genius and daring mind such as hers would be a waste at any other level.
Jeanne Rowe is of good breeding, has attended an accelerated year of officer school, passed with flying colors, and demonstrated nothing but loyalty to the Empire and its ideals. At fifteen, she is the very picture of a prodigy in the making and has purportedly attempted enlistment in several of the Knightly Orders located near the Ural border of Euro-Britannia and the EU state of the Rus Republic, all of which have a stated mission of taking back the western reaches of their homeland from the invaders who have occupied it. Were she to be accepted, she would no doubt win honor and glory among her fellows, likely advancing quickly among the ranks to a position of influence.
Current Annual Upkeep: 800 BRN
-Royal Connections 100x2
-Mighty Steed 100
-Bodyguard Unit 50
-This Land is My Land 50
-Talent Pool 50
-Keep or Castle 300
-Codes & Ciphers 50
-Patrol Boats 150
[X][NVB] Accept Nunnally vi Britannia as a Knight in your service, putting her in charge of 2nd Armored Cavalry Unit.
[X][GR] Commission her as your new Admiral: A genius and daring mind such as hers would be a waste at any other level.
It's not especially. You guys got 1D6+2 Frigades, 1D4 Cruisers, and 1D4 Destroyers. Destroyers are slightly larger than Cruisers on average, though, so it gets special mention as being your current flag ship.
Edit: Ignore that, Cruisers are bigger. One of the cruisers will be your flagship.
It's coming up at the next Phase. Lelouch meeting those two will be the intro to the actions. Meta-wise, I just wasn't up for writing another full Interlude at that point.
Slayer you can't just drop such nice pieces of life like that and expect us to be satisfied without a codex entry or something similar.
The little things like these are really what help make the world feel real. Things like that come up to show things are different, but they aren't in your face so often that you're confused as to what's going on.
I know, and that's why I like them. Think of the FLAG system as a patriot rating/score. You get points taken off for a lot of different things, such as being a first-gen immigrant or marrying a foreigner or having family living in another nation, that type of thing. You get points for having a clean service record, a long service record, significant achievements in important conflicts, having family and/or friends tie you to Britannia, etc... It's a relatively new system in Britannia implemented after the introduction of computers. It's supposed to give a broad idea of how much you can count on any given person in a moment of crisis to do the right thing for Britannian interests, not necessarily their own... such as last-stands and near-certain-death missions.
The Decarle Act is old, though, very old. It's got a good two-hundred years on it and a lot of people like it. Basically, it's a short-cut to naturalize Residents or Honorary Citizens into Citizens through meritorious conduct. Even though the hardcore Britannian Purists don't like it, it's got significant support even from the people who ascribe to Social Darwinism because it helps those who are trying to rise above their ignoble roots and... stuff like that. Eh, politics. It was put into place to formalize a procedure that a lot of nobles had been doing even before it went into law, though, and set a number of standards about exactly how much a person has to accomplish before they can be naturalized under for military accomplishment.
Beating 10:1 odds against an otherwise hopeless battle and securing a third of a pirate fleet that was then used to destroy the other two thirds? Even Lelouch's political opponents at court would only put up the most token resistance to giving those people citizenship.
Gino is gonna be spending his time trying to get into Jeanne's pants isn't he? Or worse, Nunnally will end up with a massive crush on him, and Gino will have to act dense to harem protagonist levels to avoid the danger.
Later on, yes, Lelouch will have to deal with Nunnally becoming sexually active. Exactly what that will entail and who she decides to take to bed... well, it's up in the air now. But there will be a point where her SL Progress will depend on successfully (or at least not fucking up), a conversation about that topic.
So are all the hero units living in our cozy little base? Is Kallen just chilling and drinking some root beer and lounging with Sayoko, Gino, and Jeanne, with Jaegar never seeing the light of another person's eyes, other than his own assistant's and Lelouch's? I can imagine a sitcom with them just relaxing one day in a beach episode or something.
A lot of your Hero Units have not yet formalized living on your base. Lelouch and Jeanne come and go a few times a year for duties. Jaegar and Madison had to close out a lot of shit and get ready to move in this year. Gino is similar, though he'll want to set up shop on the island pretty soon. Sayoko has moved a good few members of the clan onto the base, but several are still hanging at Aries Villa due to how often you move about. Kallen is kind of stuck making awkward excuses this year for the socialite stuff her step-mom wants her to do, and hiding over in Japan to get away from that. Until you go on campaign and she has an iron-clad excuse to dodge everything, she'll be in the wind a lot of the year unless you're taking a specific action involving her.
All of your Knights are housing their machines at a vi Britannia facility for this turn while they similarly make plans. You will need to build some infrastructure on the island to house all these guys next year, though. That's kind of the bad part of huge success.
It's not especially. You guys got 1D6+2 Frigades, 1D4 Cruisers, and 1D4 Destroyers. Destroyers are slightly larger than Cruisers on average, though, so it gets special mention as being your current flag ship.
No. No they are not. No RL navy has ever had destroyers larger than their cruisers. Off-hand I cannot think of any factional navy that has classified destroyers as larger than cruisers.
Where did you get that idea?
Later on, yes, Lelouch will have to deal with Nunnally becoming sexually active.
No. No they are not. No RL navy has ever had destroyers larger than their cruisers. Off-hand I cannot think of any factional navy that has classified destroyers as larger than cruisers.
Where did you get that idea?
Goddammit. Okay, yeah, checked my source again and I misread the line. Ugh. That's what I get for doing late-night research and not double-checking myself the next day.
My apologies for the wrong information. I'll keep the numbers since they were dice-generated, but the the flagship will be one of the cruisers until further notice. My bad.
Naval history has never been my strong suit. I'm much better at land-bound armies and such, so I'm having to continuously give myself a crash course in certain subjects.
No. No they are not. No RL navy has ever had destroyers larger than their cruisers. Off-hand I cannot think of any factional navy that has classified destroyers as larger than cruisers.
Later on, yes, Lelouch will have to deal with Nunnally becoming sexually active. Exactly what that will entail and who she decides to take to bed... well, it's up in the air now. But there will be a point where her SL Progress will depend on successfully (or at least not fucking up), a conversation about that topic.
...well might as well bite the bullet and get these questions out of the way.
Does she still have that childhood crush on Lelouch? Because that will make things ... Interesting in the Chinese sense if she still does. Because I'm assuming it isn't unheard of for the family tree of the royals to end up ... a bit bush like if you look at who the real parents are.
Also, are all royals able to marry multiple partners, or is it limited to just the reigning Emperor? Because density and reduced libido can only last Lelouch so long at the rate he gathers waifus. Because "why not just have them all" is a valid strategy for someone who desires to be Emperor. Heck, has there been any Emperor that was strictly monogamous?
Also, will we ever get an action to pay people to start doing safe and smart investments for us that we don't need to monitor? Because once you get rich enough it's a valid strategy to just pay someone to use your money to make more money without ever requiring your input.
With everyone talking about how Jeanne is effectively shaping up to be the supervisor of our military branch/basically the army's mom, I've been rethinking my stance on the Knight of Honor.
While I still do not want to use an adviser for the position for not wanting to give them even more work, and I still think Sayoko has the best skill set for the position, it occurs to me that, while our Knight of Honor may technically have the authority to order around our guys, that doesn't mean they'll have the actual experience in actively doing so, either on their end or on our troops end.
As a result, I think that Jeanne's actually probably the best roll for the job, by virtue of her being our Martial Adviser. As much as I don't want to give her extra work by giving her that position, honestly she may end up having more work if we split up the chain of command by not giving the position to someone who already basically acts as our right hand. Hmm... not happy about it, but I am currently kicking around the theory that it's for the best.
Jeanne Rowe...as...Team Mom Lelouch vi Britannia...as...Your Boss Kallen Kozuki-Stadtfeld...as...Rude Knight Gino Weinburg...as...Best Boy Greta Romano...as...Shark Girl Madison Hashima...as...Not As Mad Mad Scientist Kenshin Jaegar...as...MAD SCIENTIST Shinozaki Sayoko...as...Ninja Woman
*guitar riffs*
So no one told you life was gonna be this way...
*CLAPCLAPCLAPCLAP*
You serve a bloke, who's woke,
Social life's MIA...
It's like you're always stuck in perpetual Fear
Of Missing Out,
You know, you've served just over a year...
But..
You'll help out Lulu!
When Kallen starts to brawl!
You'll help out Lulu!
You'll give Gino your all!
You'll help out Lulu!
Cause if you don't then he's screwed...
*ending guitar riff*
You considered yourself a young woman of discipline and excellence. You entered military school, and graduated at the top of your class. At fifteen, no less! You were a natural genius, and had the proof to back it up!
When it came to military matters, at least.
So why was this so difficult? Why could you not just expect half as much effort or effectiveness from others?
Prince Lelouch was the first to arrive to your hastily-arranged meeting. His suit spotless as always, hair perfectly done--what hair care products does he use? Would smell nice, right?
No, that's for later.
Where were the others? You wonder. The meeting is in five minutes, so certainly there should be some early birds depending on... was that-- no, just a shadow trick of some kind.
You sigh, still standing with muscles tense.
You had originally planned to schedule an inspection of the Knightmare Frames that will arrive with the Prince's sister, Nunnally in tow. That course of action was cut short when you came to the understanding that Lelouch, in his princely wisdom, had decided to accept the Butcher of the South Sea into his service.
Not that you were surprised. The young Lord has demonstrated his pragmatism in choosing talent, ignoring the backwater, sexist values of Euro-Britannia for a hand-picked selection of the best he could find. It just so happened that most of his choices were female. A coincidence, really. That included you, of course, for which you were ever grateful.
However, repeated failures in finding a suitable chancellor has been the norm. In addition, the Prince's own regrettably insufficient diplomatic tact, and frank unwillingness to improve his public image have thrust the duty of managing said image upon your shoulders.
Shoulders which were quite full already.
This doesn't bother you one bit however, since you are honored to even be here, to serve royalty. All your life you've been drilled and tested to the highest rigors of Imperial Standards. The military had prepared you well for a relatively easy task such as managing a prince's personal military and base.
What does bother you is that constant nagging feeling in your head of how quickly everything could fall apart if one slip-up occurs. One improper word, one misplaced murmur. No! The Prince deserves the best, and nothing less!
Rumors of a "harem" being found circulating amongst the base's staff were subsequently shut down by your vigilance. The admittedly terrible social conduct most of the new recruits Prince Lelouch has taken in also posed a problem. This could not be allowed to stand!
Lelouch opens up a cola bottle and takes a sip before looking around listlessly, yet with purpose in his eyes.
"So, Jeanne, have the others been notified of this morning's briefing?"
Your right fist reflexively crashes against your chest as you stand in salute. "Yes! The other members of your inner circle have been notified, and will arrive shortly!" It's still a few minutes early, and... oh, here comes the Prince's pilot friend.
"Hey, Lelouch, what's the big deal with--oh, hey, I've seen you around, you're that military girl Lelouch's been talking with all the time, aren't you?" The red-headed girl strikes a curious look at your posture. "Joan, was it?"
Again, your reflexes cause you to stand straight when addressing a friend of royalty. "Yes, I am Jeanne Rowe, military advisor and assistant to Lelouch vi Britannia!" She stares at you, one eyebrow raised. You thought you were accurately briefed on proper conduct in her homeland? "You must be Dame Kozuki-Stadtfeld. I am honored to be in the presence of one of Lelouch's companions, after hearing of your abilities." You bow deeply, remembering Dame Kozuki-Stadtfeld's origi--you hear a light amount of muttering under the other girl's breath as she interjected your train of thought.
"Yeah... my first name is Kallen, so just that is fine." Your cheeks begin to warm up embarrassingly as you observe her relaxed stance, but you give an affirmative nod to the fellow red-haired soldier.
She asks, "and what are you supposed to be? A knight? Some part of the military? Kind of young to be an advisor, no?"
You proudly puff out your chest, your fist once more returning to its position on said chest. "Affirmative! I am quite young and have advanced at a rapid pace during my time at a military academy I have graduated at the top of my class I am proficient in all fields of military operations and ca--" "Okay, you're good," Kallen holds up a hand, as if blocking your run-on sentence, "no need to tell me everything." You could swear she followed with some uncouth words you identified as her native tongue, but you politely nodded.
"Well, hey! How are you all doing?" A melodious voice flows from behind you.
You turn around on your heels, everyone's faces turn towards the origin of the beaut--charming voice. "Oh, apologies, my Prince! Am I intruding?" The gorge--charming young man puts up two hands and turns his blonde head from your group, a devilish smirk on his face.
"No, I'm quite certain you are here for your appointment, like we all are." Lelouch flatly retorts, loudly slurping on his cola, shooting down any implications that this handso--charming person in front of you may have brought up. His voice, gently caressing your ear, sounds once more.
"Oh, Lul--ooooch, Lelouch, why do you not humor me just a little?" He dramatically puts his hands around his left side, as if he was hurting.
"These fine ladies most certainly deserve a little brevity in their lives. Certainly!" He walks up--heavens, is he tall! Like, really tall! And muscles, in all the ri--and his attempt at patting Lelouch's shoulder is blocked by the Prince's voice.
"Please don't get your hands on my clothing, Gino. Those hands are clearly marked by oil, presumably from your morning check-up on the stables." Gino stood still, hand hovering in midair, a cute but stupid grin on his face. "So, please do be less absentminded when considering ablutions before meeting with others."
Poor Gino grimaced. "Oh, haha, yes, I did that on... accident... Good eye, Lelouch..." The tone of his voice conveyed the sense that he was sufficiently downcast. This well-proportioned specimen of a man rubbed his hands together. "So, are we still waiting for someone? Should be starting about now, right?" You almost manage to drift off thinking about his voice, before snapping back to the fact that he just faced you, and asked you a question.
"A-yes, there are the head researcher and admiral who still have yet to arrive." Good catch, Dame Rowe. "They have, according to my analysis, the highest likelihood of causing... public image issues if... left to their own devices."
"And speak of the devil." Kallen mutters, while the sound of heavy military boots echos out across the metallic floor. What approaches is the rough-looking sailor whom you have read about in the recent report. The woman was strutting towards your group with a most unprofessional stride. That is, until she comes in front of the Prince.
"Sir! Seaman Romano reporting for duty!" She barks out before standing neutrally, scarred hands loosely at her sides.
"Heh--ow!" Gino cries out as Kallen shoves an elbow into his gut.
Ignoring blatant infighting amongst his followers, Lelouch takes a solid look at her before nodding.
"Yes, however from now on, under my command, you will hereby be referred to as Admiral, to reflect your new status." Lelouch extends his right hand to the newly-christened Admiral, which she takes with a solid grip.
"Aye. I'll make sure to crush any opposition in our way." She calmly says, the words dripping out of her mouth. Did... did she have shark teeth for a minu-- no, just bad vision. What is with your vision today?
They part, and Romano quietly shuffles to one side. You didn't understand at first how this was the woman who ordered the brutal deaths of thousands of pirates.
Then you connected the pieces of her background and psyche: this was the calm face of a psychopath, just waiting to be unleashed into the next assignment, to be given a modicum of freedom to legally enact her brand of force.
Great.
"Hey, Lelouch, didn't I hear about some kind of ninjas you have protecting you?" Kallen asks.
"Well I can neither confirm nor deny their existence, even to my inner circle, unless they decide to reveal themselves." Lelouch calmly takes a sip of his cola. "I can assure you that real ninjas would not be qualified if everyone just knew who and where they were."
You noticed another-- nope, just a light trick. These curtains are certainly tacky, with a plain black coloring and flowery pattern.
"Yes, if there were any... ninjas, they would be extremely competent. Of course, that just leaves our head researcher and his assistant," you add, "they are a little... eccentric, I won't lie, but they do hold huge promise in the new field of Psionics."
"SHHHH!" You actually jump in place as you hear a loud, echoed whisper at the left side of your ear. "THEY'LL hear YOU!!!"
Son of a bitch.
A plain-looking japanese lady wearing a tidy white lab coat was walking into the living room. She had with her a tired smile, dragging what appeared to be... oh no.
"UNHAND ME, TRAITOR! THE ORGANIZATION HAS CORRUPTED YOU! UNHAND ME, MADDY!!!" The struggling blob of limbs behind Dr. Hashima yelled out, flailing in a complete mess while manipulating some kind of baseball-sized dark glass orb device in his hands.
You hear another loud whisper in both of your ears, combined with the mad scientist's own voice "YOU CAN'T SUPPRESS SCIENCE, CABAL SPIES! I'LL FIND THE REAL MADDY AND KILL THE REST OF YO--" He received a swift kick in the ribs from Greta. Thankfully, he dropped the orb and was now sobbing while clutching his side on the ground.
It's almost disappointing.
"Now, now, Mr. Jaegar, it's happy pills time!" Dr. Hashima cooed, her voice soothing Dr. Jaegar's now-slightly controlled weeping. "Ready for the capsule to enter the chute? Say ahhh~"
She made a figure eight with her hand containing the pill, before the sentient puddle of tears on the ground opened his mouth and let out a pathetic "ahhh..", swallowing the pill.
After a minute of Dr. Hashima patting his head, awkward stares from everyone else in the room, and Lelouch loudly slurping on his cola looking anywhere but there, Dr. Jaegar miraculously stood up without assistance from his assistant, his side's injury forgotten.
"Well then hello fine folks how are each and every one of you this fine morning?" "We--" "I mean this day is just so nice out and I was really hoping to have a good rest then a jog around the compound today but then I remembered that you locked me in my lab because I was quote unquote unfit for public sight even though I was wearing a perfectly presentable lab coat!" My god, what did he eat-- "Sure it was a bit dirty since you fine folks didn't include a washing machine in the lab and the sink was barely enough for washing wait no there wasn't a sink right the soap was scarce so no one could really do anything about that luckily Madison here was free to come and go as she pleased and that's fine enough for me--" Fed up with having to covering her ears from this talkative ape, Greta sent another boot into the doctor's other now-also-hurt side.
The doctor collapsed into a pool of agony after remembering what nerves were, apparently.
"Oh, sorry, we haven't been introduced in person." Dr. Hashima says, holding her hand out cheerfully, as if her partner wasn't convulsing in pain at her side. "The name's Madison Hashima, but you can call me Maddy if you like, that's what Mr. Jaegar calls me."
"Uhh, so are you both doctors, or--" Kallen tries to ask before Gino steps forward, muscles gleami--
"Oooohhhh, you're like that, aren't you!" Even in playful banter, his voice carries-- "An item?" He squirms his eyebrows like a wave. This action manages to make you loose a singular bead of sweat from your forehead.
Was the room hot?
Of course it was. Control yourself, Rowe.
So many people. You swear this was against the Fire Marshal's advice. Did you even have a fire marshal on New Caledonia? Who knows.
You just know that thinking about anything other than that movement was cooling you off.
"Oh, no, we're more special than that!" Madison says, her voice full of glee, "we're paarrtneeeers~" Her eyes sparkle as she drags out that "er", giving you dreams of--stop that!
"OKAY!" You blurt out not in embarrassment, getting everyone's attention, only sound you now hear being the incoherent white lab coat-clad animal curled up on the ground. You kick your heels together, and stand at attention to let them know this is serious information.
"Now, you have all been called here as Prince Lelouch's personal specialists in your respective fields. I am aware that you all have your specialties, and may find it easy to neglect other subtler factors. However, we must make sure we are all on the same page regarding our conduct."
"What do you mean, sweetcheeks? We gotta play by the rules or something?"
Hopeful that a blush did not definitely show on your face, you respond to Gino's question.
"Precisely, Sir Weinburg." Smooth moves, now. "We should come to an understanding that as Prince Lelouch's personal advisors, we have... deficiencies for which we have not been able to be find an excellent minister to make up for. Yet. This is in part due to unforeseen misfortunes disrupting our plans early on in the search. Now, in the meantime, we should address the elephant in the room: we are quite inept at diplomacy." There are a few mutters of agreement, with some swears from Kallen in Japanese, and numerous swears from Dr. Jaegar turning over on the floor, in multiple languages.
"That is why I have presented a few adjustments to your routines and behavior--" you hand out the individually printed notes to each person present, with a single one for the two doctors to share. "--which I will summarize."
"Hey! Why am I 'potentially impulsive'?" Kallen shouts out, nonplussed at her reading of her personality analysis. "Outrageous... This is unfair!" She pouts, but you are, thankfully, immune to that tactic.
"To be truthful," Gino gives a most charming grin at... her... "we are all somewhat bad at something, so no need to worry! We'll improve and all that!"
"Right. Let's start with you, Mr. Knight." He looks at you with a small frown, mouth slightly ajar. "You are quite a carefree and amiable person, and that is good for your social life."
"Here comes the but..."
"But you require more work on your mental focus and attitude towards life to not become as absentminded as you are currently."
A nod from him signifies that he agrees with you. Your heart is flipping with joy right now.
Standing straight and facing Kallen, you call out the redhead with utmost respect.
"Perhaps your piloting skills rival even those of the Prince's sister, but your temper leaves more to be desired." Her knuckles tighten and whiten as you continue. "Your departure from your parents' estate was certainly spur of the moment, and will require a concentrated effort to fully mend relations. We are lucky that your parents have been reasonable."
Kallen clutches her hands together, but says, "...okay, fair enough. No more random actions." Then she mutters something Japanese. Are all people from her homeland like this? Surely, she wasn't representative of all of her people.
Now, your attention turns to the newest recruit. Greta stares patiently, but with intent in her eyes. She seems to seek prey, like a shark, looking for the next weak point to exploit.
"So, we have not had you onboard for a long time yet, seeing as you are a new arrival." She clearly is listening, but she just looks so... bored, even for a sailor on land. "However, your reputation precedes you, and it would be prudent for you to consider your actions now a reflection of Lelouch's. As long as you carry the title he bestowed upon you, Admiral, you represent him in your actions."
You furrow your brows and give a faint smile, hoping to give off an understanding look. "So please exercise restraint when handling explosives and other large weaponry."
Greta just sighs and shrugs, giving you a quizzical look of insubordination, but you remind yourself that you were all equal on Lelouch's council.
Mentally sighing, you now turn to Madison. Where was Dr. Jaegar? Oh, he was probably-- "Excuse me! Dr. Jaegar! Please come back to the table." You say out loud as you spot Dr. Jaegar trying to crawl away from the group. The effects of the medication were clearly wearing off. "DON'T you DAre yeLL at ME, younG LaDy! If You WERE AN allY, YoU'D calL me KENSHIN! TELL ME! Does the ORGANIzation tEll yOu tHaT?"
Clearly he's in between lucidity and his regular self.
So, you turn to face Madison.
"Please, I know he is a handful, but you must keep Dr. Jaegar under wraps." You scratch the back of your head. "He is frankly not fit to show up outside his laboratory, much less in public. We will provide him with better accommodations when we have the resources to do so. So please keep an eye on him?" Madison shakes her head, but not in complete disagreement: "Now, my Mr. Jaegar would never hurt a soul, he's just a little jumpy at new people! I do appreciate the offer for providing him a better living space, so please feel free!"
She grasps Dr. Jaegar in a bear hug, and in a single action carries him bridal-style. He tries to get off, but his injuries convince him otherwise.
Dr. Jaegar, defeated, says "I guess... this must be the choice of Code Geass..."
...what?
"Buh-bye!~" She just... skipped down the hall. Carrying the doctor in her ar-- okay, that's not important.
Dr. Jaegar subsequently shouted something about "Psionic Kangaroos" and using code names you're sure you've heard in a children's show once. You're certain of it, but that is neither here nor now.
You turn around to face the rest of the young faces staring off into various directions, waiting to see when this lecture would end.
You turn around for one second, and this is how they react? Children, really, all of them...though you know that's not really true.
"So... is that all? I'm up for some breakfast if you don't mind." Kallen yawns, causing almost everyone else to follow suit shortly after.
You shrug off the feeble attempt at instilling drowsiness in you through primal instincts. Your mental training has protected you against these kinds of useless tactics!
Your words pierce the silence:
"No. In fact, the last matter is you, Lelouch." The Prince looks a tad surprised, maybe feigned, maybe genuine.
"Oh? Me? Surely, dear Jeanne, you are mistaken. Have you not witnessed my generous public speaking skills and colorful rhetoric?"
Yep, definitely feigning.
"Well, it's known that your mother was of... common birth," you try to word it delicately, as you want to let Lelouch observe the tact that he should conduct himself with, "however, that does not mean you should go about merely doing as you wish. That might draw less ire from nobles, as in their eyes you may be living up to their ideals of a 'commoner prince'. However, this will not win you many allies apart from your family. And we know there are numerous political entities even in the far reaches of the empire such as here. It is of grave importance that you utilize the knowledge you have of courtly etiquette and apply it to your actions when dealing with nobles and other political figures. A single fish cannot swim in the ocean safely, after all."
"Ah, wise words, Jeanne, truly." Lelouch claps his hands briefly, before standing up and patting you on the shoulder. "Now, I trust you've all had a good rest last night, and are quite hungry." Sounds of confirmation, as well as a grunt from Greta affirm Lelouch's statement.
"Then let's go, I'll ring up the head chef..."
...
"So, why were you not invited, Sayoko-sama?" Your subordinate, Shinji asks you. "If I may ask?"
You smirk slightly, already knowing his intent. "Shinji-san, these may be young people, but they are some of the brightest that the world has ever seen." You take a sip of tea from a cup before resuming. "Also, my own ability to conduct myself, while more than sufficient, is not necessary for the Prince to worry about, in our line of duty."
You slowly pull back into meditation, to keep an eye on the base with your vision. "That Kallen child... reminds me of myself when I was young. Rowdy, full of potential, and quite a handful." You giggle gently, letting your thoughts focus on the world around you. Everyone had a place, and you were luckily placed into training at an early age, now a true woman in your own right. You trust that the young ones can also grow to become great.
The room, Shinji, the eight other shinobi planted at various discrete locations throughout the complex--was Saki hiding in a curtain again?--, and finally, the base as a whole. Everything felt at peace, no attacks or weaknesses have been found, as those pirates were taken care of by Romano. The Prince seems to trust her enough to allow her into his inner circle quickly, though you are more weary. The reports of her methods were terrifying, so it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the newest arrival, nonetheless...
Does she still have that childhood crush on Lelouch? Because that will make things ... Interesting in the Chinese sense if she still does. Because I'm assuming it isn't unheard of for the family tree of the royals to end up ... a bit bush like if you look at who the real parents are.
Lelouch doesn't exactly know for sure. What I'll say on the subject is that he hasn't observed a significant departure in Nunnally's (or Euphemia's, for that matter) behavior towards him. Beyond that, you won't know save for if/when certain things happen.
Also, are all royals able to marry multiple partners, or is it limited to just the reigning Emperor? Because density and reduced libido can only last Lelouch so long at the rate he gathers waifus. Because "why not just have them all" is a valid strategy for someone who desires to be Emperor. Heck, has there been any Emperor that was strictly monogamous?
Kind of. The sticking point to your question is the specific term 'marry,' here. Generally speaking, upper nobility and royals have a singular 'legitimate' spouse with whom their children will be the official heirs. However, there are a lot of caveats about this statement.
A number of wealthy nobles and royals will legitimize children from other partners years after their birth (how long depends on the situation) for... a whole bunch of complicated reasons. Usually it comes down to them wanting to keep all of the administrative positions of a company/fief/military command/etc... 'in the family' by forming up a bunch of kids to take over at all of the highest levels. The women/men besides a person's 'official spouse' still aren't technically married to them, but they can be as good as married with a lot of finicky little side-agreements about legal distribution of wealth, property, inheritance, etc... This is, de facto, what the Emperor does with his kids.
A large consideration is the people involved and whether or not they can come to a reasonable agreement on how things are going to be split up. Kallen's parents are a great example of what happens when they can't. Kallen's step-mom couldn't handle not being able to produce a legit heir and having to deal with the 'mistress' making babies that would inherit a portion of her wealth. Likewise, her bio-mom understandably didn't want to play second-fiddle to a bitch in what was technically her estate given she was the 'first wife' and the mother of his children.
Men do have an easier time of this than women, for obvious reasons. Men are able to impregnate multiple women at a time while women are only have to have one child at a time (although this is changing with modern medicine and egg donors). But the ultimate answer to your questions lies in the answer to "How many spouses do you need?" Refer back to the Emperor. He 'needs' a lot of kids to take over various positions and conquer the world and stuff. That's the justification, anyway.
What I'm trying to say is that all of this shit is very, very complicated and you'll need to make a lot of judgements based on the context of your situation, not by standardized rules.
TL;DR - The size of your holdings (hah, dick joke) directly correlates to the amount of spouses you can have, even if they aren't 'officially married' to you.
Also, yes, there was an Emperor who had only a single wife. His brother inherited the throne after his entire family was killed tragically.
Also, will we ever get an action to pay people to start doing safe and smart investments for us that we don't need to monitor? Because once you get rich enough it's a valid strategy to just pay someone to use your money to make more money without ever requiring your input.
I get the feeling that a major reason for Nobles to have so many children/large families is to avoid making it too tempting for other family members to gain your wealth and titles by killing your whole family since having a small family makes that far easier to pull off. After all Britanians are from a very Darwinist society that encourages such things . With a large family it's a lot harder to pull off and if said conspirators miss any then they need to worry about retaliation from some very pissed off family members who likely have a ton of political power, wealth and connections.
