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

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Kinruush said:
What? That doesn't make any sense. Neianne will be the "glue" regardless of her position, because she has a personal relationship with each of the others individually. That isn't going to change because she's the leader.
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And what does Elizabeth do when her opinion is overridden or challenged? She speaks her mind and tries to get you to her way of thinking or to stand up for your position.

This is basically challenging orders, on instinct. Stephanie we don't know enough about to really say how she would react and Seiglinde would usually acquiesce out of liking for Neianne.

But that's not how a military squad works. The leader gives an order, and it's done because everybody trusts everybody else and aren't going to be habitually a problem for some reason. If Neianne is free to act as glue she can just come in on Sieglinde's side in any argument in order to convince Elizabeth of whatever Sieglinde wants to do, before it actually becomes a problem. That way Sieglinde can just worry about leading instead of herding.
 
BungieONI said:
And what does Elizabeth do when her opinion is overridden or challenged? She speaks her mind and tries to get you to her way of thinking or to stand up for your position.

This is basically challenging orders, on instinct. Stephanie we don't know enough about to really say how she would react and Seiglinde would usually acquiesce out of liking for Neianne.

But that's not how a military squad works. The leader gives an order, and it's done because everybody trusts everybody else and aren't going to be habitually a problem for some reason. If Neianne is free to act as glue she can just come in on Sieglinde's side in any argument in order to convince Elizabeth of whatever Sieglinde wants to do, before it actually becomes a problem. That way Sieglinde can just worry about leading instead of herding.
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So basically everything would have to be backed up by Neianne in order for the leader to actually lead? What if we decide to side with Elizabeth instead?
 
serra2 said:
So basically everything would have to be backed up by Neianne in order for the leader to actually lead? What if we decide to side with Elizabeth instead?
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Yes, because Squad Four has too many large egos to run with any kind of efficiency without some kind of pre-herding. If Neianne handles the herding ahead of time(which I should clarify means before combat) then who ever leads can actually lead because they aren't having their time sucked away by the herding.

If Neianne decides to side with Elizabeth, Stephanie probably is to due to her go with the flow outside of some political or cultural issue we don't know about. In which case Seiglinde is smart enough to go "They probably have a point" without further prompting.

You don't put linchpins in the top, you put them in the middle where they can have cover from stuff raining down from on high. Both in the sense of combat and not.
 
BungieONI said:
And what does Elizabeth do when her opinion is overridden or challenged? She speaks her mind and tries to get you to her way of thinking or to stand up for your position.

This is basically challenging orders, on instinct. Stephanie we don't know enough about to really say how she would react and Seiglinde would usually acquiesce out of liking for Neianne.

But that's not how a military squad works. The leader gives an order, and it's done because everybody trusts everybody else and aren't going to be habitually a problem for some reason. If Neianne is free to act as glue she can just come in on Sieglinde's side in any argument in order to convince Elizabeth of whatever Sieglinde wants to do, before it actually becomes a problem. That way Sieglinde can just worry about leading instead of herding.
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I'm genuinely not sure what sort of dynamic you're imagining here or why you expect that this would work better with Sieglinde in charge. Elizabeth gets off on pushing buttons and challenging authority, but she doesn't do it carelessly, and she's never actually disobeyed orders. Additionally, Sieglinde is the one who usually gets her to stop mouthing off and is better at it. With Neianne, on the other hand, Elizabeth is just supportive, though still an asshole. If anything, Elizabeth would be more actively helpful with Neianne leading, and Sieglinde would be better as the XO herding on the occasions when she needs to.
 
Like, Elizabeth did actually follow Lucille's orders during the attack, even while considering them to be bad ones given by a useless person, so it's not as though she's demonstrated herself to be utterly insubordinate when it comes down to it. She at least respects Sieglinde and seems to genuinely like Neianne, so she might not cause as many problems as all that.
Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 5:37 PM, finished with 62 posts and 33 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 5:51 PM, finished with 63 posts and 34 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 6:21 PM, finished with 64 posts and 34 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 6:37 PM, finished with 65 posts and 35 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 6:58 PM, finished with 66 posts and 36 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 9:25 PM, finished with 69 posts and 38 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 10:00 PM, finished with 70 posts and 39 votes.
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Adhoc vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 24, 2019 at 11:05 PM, finished with 1668 posts and 40 votes.
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[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.

I get to be fickle. Why bother justifying it? I'm changing my mind because I can.
Adhoc vote count started by BungieONI on Jan 24, 2019 at 6:22 PM, finished with 64 posts and 34 votes.
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Oh geez, I just remembered that we have to tell all our non-noble friends we just spent a month with Elizabeth.

Right after them finding out we're going to be giving orders to Elizabeth and Sieglinde.

There is going to be a lot of 'Is Neianne secretly terrifying and I just never noticed?' going around this year.
 
Kei said:
In a clear voice that rings through the hall, the instructor announces: "Squad One, Lucille Lorraine Celestia."
...
Seated at the same table are her new squadmates. Penelope, Wendy, and Trudy - formerly of Squad Twelve - don't look particularly thrilled with any of these decisions either. Wendy, at the very least, is clapping lightly and holding a determinedly neutral expression. The same can't be said for Penelope and Trudy, both of whom only barely restrain themselves from glaring at Lucille through the clapping.
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Umm... wow. That team is going to be, ah... interesting is the polite way to say it. It really feels like Lucille is being to set up to fail. Or fail more, as the case may be.

As for the vote, Sieglinde makes the most sense for many reasons, but I am weak cannot resist:
[x] ...Neianne.

I would also be sorely tempted to vote for Elizabeth but the collective will of the voters seems to have better sense than me. :)
 
serra2 said:
Also, it's been so long since a vote I forgot this was a quest lol.
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im sorry T_T

UberJJK said:
I was honestly rather surprised to see this being a vote considering that it is supposed to have been based upon our actions over the last year. This seems like the perfect moment for a "Because of X, Y, and Z A has now become Team Leader" thingy to show the arc change.
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In spite of what @serra2 said, this is a quest after all, and while previous decisions will go a long way to decide a lot of things automatically without quester input moving on, voting is important, so. ^_^;
 
[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.

This is the one I want to be queen, so giving her a start. I figure she's better placed to leverage us all as allies after the squad graduates.

Also I feel like maybe I'm I busybody, but we should definitely talk to each member of squad 1. They seem real close to actually being able to work, especially if they can roll with a butterbar/senior sgt sort of structure. Noble paints broad strokes, second takes over to run execution?
 
Gazetteer said:
Like, Elizabeth did actually follow Lucille's orders during the attack, even while considering them to be bad ones given by a useless person,
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I mean, that make sense. Having a confused chain of command or contesting an order in inappropriate time can be more devastating than having a bad commander at times. This is way military have discipline and chain of command in the first place after all. Elizabeth may be prideful, but she is also too intelligent to not know that, and her pride in said intelligence would not let her be the kind of stupid who cause more self-side-damage than the other incompetents
 
[x] ...Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill.

If she actually wants to put her policies in place, she's going to actually have to lead. And tbh, this is a relatively safe squad for her to practice in with just a bit of spice.
 
Salbazier said:
I mean, that make sense. Having a confused chain of command or contesting an order in inappropriate time can be more devastating than having a bad commander at times. This is way military have discipline and chain of command in the first place after all. Elizabeth may be prideful, but she is also too intelligent to not know that, and her pride in said intelligence would not let her be the kind of stupid who cause more self-side-damage than the other incompetents
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Well...the attack kind of showed the opposite.
 
Salbazier said:
elaborate if you please?
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Lucille's orders were bad enough that disrupting the chain of command would quite probably have been the lesser disaster - she scattered the academy students and boxed them in where the assassins could go after them piecemeal, and cut off communications so that they wouldn't be able to warn each other they were under attack.

Of course, it wasn't really possible to tell her orders would be that bad until after she'd given them, and as bad as the orders were, they were what a whole bunch of students wanted to hear, so challenging them after they were made...
 
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Candesce said:
Lucille's orders were bad enough that disrupting the chain of command would quite possibly have been the lesser disaster - she scattered the academy students and boxed them in where the assassins could go after them piecemeal, and cut off communications so that they wouldn't be able to warn each other they were under attack.

Of course, it wasn't really possible to tell her orders would be that bad until after she'd given them, and as bad as the orders were, they were what a whole bunch of students wanted to hear, so challenging them after they were made...
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It also left them improperly armed and hiding away from the main fight around the armoury for all that time while other apprentices were fighting and dying.

Subsequently, when faced with the wolves in the courtyard, instead of organising any effective response, she instead opts to just try and hold the wolves off with just herself and the rest of Squad 1 armed with training weapons, leading to two squadmates dying and a third quitting soon after.
 
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Gazetteer said:
It also left them unarmed and hiding away from the main fight around the armoury for all that time while other apprentices were fighting and dying.
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To be fair, having them run to it was kinda also what the assassins wanted and throwing more bodies earlier into that fight...

Let's be fair. None expected a fight that large was ongoing, especially not us either.
 
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