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On the Road to Elspar [Book 1] (Dryad Mercenary Schoolgirl Quest)

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I see where the votes are going. Now, who want to hold bets about her reaction as everyone turn to stare at her?

I'm predicting silence, a drawn out squeal of surprise and possibly fainting.
 
[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.

Because it seems obvious to me that Sieglinde's opinions on Caldran and being a mercenary and their entire society will mostly be jack in the wind if she isn't forced to lead.

The thing with Sieglinde to me is that her opinions on what she thinks for Caldran haven't really been challenged by the wider world. By her parents, but every child's opinion is challenged by their parents frequently and often and Sieglinde is easily able to overrun them on most of her important stuff. The rest of the world though hasn't sat down with her and said "Well good luck, you're gonna do this now".
 
Oof, poor Lucille. Making her squad leader is a decision that will make nobody in her new team happy, least of all herself.

[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by Mother Nyx on Jan 24, 2019 at 12:45 PM, finished with 32 posts and 22 votes.
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[x] ...Neianne.

There's some good arguments for Sieglinde... but honestly I think we could also spin this as the faculty making a note that yes Neianne has improved/changed herself with the two big 'events' showing how she can plan+lead, which is I think a better leadership showing than anyone else in her squad has 'on screen' demonstrated so far. Like they're good advisors/knowledgeable/confident, but they don't really lead compared to what Neianne's done so far.

Then again I have yet to re-read everything to confirm this impression.

Also I want to see the crowd reaction to 'Neianne, Tiny Dryad with Bustersword who can beat Wyverns armorless' as the leader. I think people will be going all 'wow' but then '...wait no this makes sense' as they reflect on the past year. Neianne will just be one of the last people to realize how much her being leader makes sense.
 
[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.

Elizabeth is not truly expected to lead the way Sieglinde is on account of her personality, nor does she have the same reluctance. Not worth the effort of trying to change when she isn't gonna merc anyway.
Stephanie is a nobody and has been rather too withdrawn to draw attention with regards to leadership otherwise.
Neianne is also a nobody, even if she is the person who'd probably do best leading the squad right now. She might have the most potential as well, but that also depends on how one assesses Sieglinde and I currently do not believe the teachers view Sieglinde's potential for leadership as negatively as herself.

I'm not sure about the story beats though. I've mostly landed on this vote by thinking about what I feel makes the most sense in universe and haven't really considered those. Even then I'm not entirely sure I'm reading the teachers motivations correctly, but oh well.


As for my thoughts on Lucille's situation: My first thought was that making Wendy leader would probably have both better results for team coherency and for immediate leadership. Don't really know which of all of them has the most potential. It's true that Lucille honestly stands to gain the most from being squad leader though, as she has a lot to learn and will need it the most (or rather, is expected to need it the most). That all just makes it extra sad that making her leader here is highly likely to torpedo any chances of her teammates warming up to her, and a hostile team and no self-confidence don't exactly make a good environment for learning leadership.
 
Absum said:
[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.

Elizabeth is not truly expected to lead the way Sieglinde is on account of her personality, nor does she have the same reluctance. Not worth the effort of trying to change when she isn't gonna merc anyway.
Stephanie is a nobody and has been rather too withdrawn to draw attention with regards to leadership otherwise.
Neianne is also a nobody, even if she is the person who'd probably do best leading the squad right now. She might have the most potential as well, but that also depends on how one assesses Sieglinde and I currently do not believe the teachers view Sieglinde's potential for leadership as negatively as herself.

I'm not sure about the story beats though. I've mostly landed on this vote by thinking about what I feel makes the most sense in universe and haven't really considered those. Even then I'm not entirely sure I'm reading the teachers motivations correctly, but oh well.


As for my thoughts on Lucille's situation: My first thought was that making Wendy leader would probably have both better results for team coherency and for immediate leadership. Don't really know which of all of them has the most potential. It's true that Lucille honestly stands to gain the most from being squad leader though, as she has a lot to learn and will need it the most (or rather, is expected to need it the most). That all just makes it extra sad that making her leader here is highly likely to torpedo any chances of her teammates warming up to her, and a hostile team and no self-confidence don't exactly make a good environment for learning leadership.
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Not making Lucille leader was politically impossible. We're in the middle of House Celestia's land, and not giving her the position would be a black mark on their honor. The Headsmistress depends upon House Celestia for funding, defense, and all sorts of things. The only reason she can get away with not automatically giving Siegelinde a position is because her family has less power in Apaloft.
 
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Which is actually one of the reasons, on top of thinking it would be good for her, that I voted for Neianne.

Political drama/questions/worries/concerns. And yeah, there will be people quite 'concerned', no doubt.
 
Uggggh. POLITICS CAN SUCK IT! Besides, we know well and good Caldrien's gonna get a bite taken out of it-sorting THAT mess out should reduce our profile.

But character wise...Well...
Elizabeth...Just straight-up is like 'no'. She doesn't want to ahve to deal with stupid inconsequential problems of idiots not being able to speak their mind properly or hang ups about things that are far less important then how they handle themselves to begin with. And that opinion will block quite a bit of the empathy gains she might make otherwise. Flipside, no actual political fallout-her family'd probably be surprised more than anything, the problem is impressing Elizabeth enough to make it worthwhile to listen. And sure we have the Wyvern. We also had the 'run away out of position from our squad' incident in the courtyard.
Sieglinde...Rrrrrrgh. She's not the sort to SHUCK that sort of duty once placed but...The problem is I don't trust her not to start pulling shenanigans-she has this quiet 'rebel' feel to her that makes me think she might cause problems, Castila-style. Feels like a poisoned apple.
Stephanie? She's a samurai, not a leader. I'd rather not unless there's a chance to swap leaders, and if that's the case all this becomes much less fraught anyhow, but there's too little gains.
Neianne...Feared Elizabeth, Fearsome Sieglinde, Fearful Stephanie, and Fearless Neianne. You can see my opinion on who'd be the best leader, from a characterization standpoint. Also shuts up that 'Elven nobleborn' whining Sieglinde has been doing. But well...I wouldn't be surprised if Siglinde's mother has a problem, we'd have to be the bigger dog to get Elizabeth to heel, and oh let's not forget Stephanie being hung up on family drama. And Neianne is being driven by SV which well you know what that means! Of course this quest DID get the Wyvern write-in sooo we've got some competence in-thread.

...Flipsides beyond team dynamics, is higher profile and more likely to get hit by those Tennies, leadership classes means less time for weapon classes/other things, and the aforementioned team dynamics to deal with. But do we think the others can handle it? Elizabeth can, or at least she seems like she wouldn't stand for failing. Sieglinde is capable as well, if reluctant(And as I recall the Elven nobleborn kick she's been on would be reinforce by her or Elizabeth winning). Stephanie is her typical question mark of uselessness. But on the flipside, if we're NOT the leader, we can work within the squad to ease the burden of the current leader...
Oh screw it I can't even talk myself out of it.
[x] ...Neianne.
 
Nervos Belli said:
Not making Lucille leader was politically impossible. We're in the middle of House Celestia's land, and not giving her the position would be a black mark on their honor. The Headsmistress depends upon House Celestial for finding, defense, and all sorts of things. The only reason she can get away with not automatically giving Siegelinde a position is because her family has less power in Apaloft.
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Don't forget that while Siegelinde is politically expected by her parents to be well connected, she's also fought for several hours on staying. Lucille never fights back against their parents, but Siegelinde has shown willingness to go against her parents, so is less of a risk to the academy since she's not going to be browbeaten into formally supporting her parents claims that she 'wants' to be a leader.
 
Incidentally, I had toyed with the idea of attempting an omake of Squad Four facing off against Squad Eight (cue Kei groans) but I didn't trust I had a good enough grasp of the character's personalities to actually do them justice, or comprehend how well they'd do on the field, nor did I even have a solid idea of who to pick for Squad Eight's roster beyond the obvious Squad Leader.
 
[x] ...Neianne.

Regardless who's leader, i expect all our team members are going to stay rather independent, so rather than because she's gonna actually lead i'm choosing Neianne as the best way to force them together.
She'd be the one all of her teammates(except probably herself) would least mind being the leader so the inter-team dynamics probably wont change much there as well.

And she's the party tank, it's appropriate she gets the most attention.
 
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So, on the whole "how about Neianne?" thing I'm going to raise a point I think has significant support.

Neianne is a doer style of inspiring and leading, see the Wyvern most explicitly and the Squirrel attack. She is also absurdly diplomatic and very easy to get along with, and because she's a doer she's pretty good at getting that diplomacy used to get things done.

Thus I would argue Neianne is actually an absurdly good secretary and adjunct. To support another person who has to be the pinnacle of whatever the squad or army looks towards, while getting a shitload of paperwork and interface with the soldiers. She's like the epitome of the dryad lieutenant or something. I would also argue that because of her helpful nature and the qualities I've already outlined she would be amazingly good at teaching some important leadership lessons to a person above her in the command chain.
 
I'm also pretty sure many of you are awaitng reactions at the tournament. First people will be like 'Aww, look at how cute she is.'. Then she'll bring out the buster sword and they will be like o_O.
 
[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.

I think it would be more valuable for Sieglinde's development to be chosen, but Neianne winning would be hilarious, so that's a close second :p
Adhoc vote count started by BungieONI on Jan 24, 2019 at 2:08 PM, finished with 49 posts and 30 votes.
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BungieONI said:
So, on the whole "how about Neianne?" thing I'm going to raise a point I think has significant support.

Neianne is a doer style of inspiring and leading, see the Wyvern most explicitly and the Squirrel attack. She is also absurdly diplomatic and very easy to get along with, and because she's a doer she's pretty good at getting that diplomacy used to get things done.

Thus I would argue Neianne is actually an absurdly good secretary and adjunct. To support another person who has to be the pinnacle of whatever the squad or army looks towards, while getting a shitload of paperwork and interface with the soldiers. She's like the epitome of the dryad lieutenant or something. I would also argue that because of her helpful nature and the qualities I've already outlined she would be amazingly good at teaching some important leadership lessons to a person above her in the command chain.
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Which would be a useful role.... in a larger unit or army. This is a four person squad.
 
serra2 said:
Which would be a useful role.... in a larger unit or army. This is a four person squad.
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It's actually still useful there because Sieglinde or Elizabeth or Stephanie, but mostly Sieglinde is often too aloof to fully connect with her team. If Neianne acts as the glue that keeps them together in a de facto lieutenant role, there can be deep and insightful talks between her and Sieglinde.
 
BungieONI said:
It's actually still useful there because Sieglinde or Elizabeth or Stephanie, but mostly Sieglinde is often too aloof to fully connect with her team. If Neianne acts as the glue that keeps them together in a de facto lieutenant role, there can be deep and insightful talks between her and Sieglinde.
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If said leader requires a second person on a 4 person team to actually keep the team together, why not just cut out said 'leader'' and install the glue? We can still have those deep and insightful talks as we solicit advise and thoughts from the team.
 
BungieONI said:
It's actually still useful there because Sieglinde or Elizabeth or Stephanie, but mostly Sieglinde is often too aloof to fully connect with her team. If Neianne acts as the glue that keeps them together in a de facto lieutenant role, there can be deep and insightful talks between her and Sieglinde.
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There's nothing stopping Neianne from doing that if she's in the leadership role either. She's friends with her entire squad, so while she may have to 'order' them at times, if there is an issue she can actually talk to them as friends and not get brushed off with 'I follow orders, stay out of my business' the way a more 'structured' squad may be.

We should have a talk sooner or later with Sieglinde about her avoidance of putting herself out there instead of just lecturing at like minded people, but it can happen in either position since we'll be doing it as a friend who wants her to make her dreams a reality, and not a squad leader filling out checkboxes.
 
serra2 said:
If said leader requires a second person on a 4 person team to actually keep the team together, why not just cut out said 'leader'' and install the glue? We can still have those deep and insightful talks as we solicit advise and thoughts from the team.
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RubberBandMan said:
There's nothing stopping Neianne from doing that if she's in the leadership role either. She's friends with her entire squad, so while she may have to 'order' them at times, if there is an issue she can actually talk to them as friends and not get brushed off with 'I follow orders, stay out of my business' the way a more 'structured' squad may be.

We should have a talk sooner or later with Sieglinde about her avoidance of putting herself out there instead of just lecturing at like minded people, but it can happen in either position since we'll be doing it as a friend who wants her to make her dreams a reality, and not a squad leader filling out checkboxes.
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Because if you're being the leader, or being the glue, you aren't the other one.
 
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