I hope that Spoken Queekish V4 can be dropped
once the new plan has overtaken Powerstones.
I've dropped my Powerstone vote, so feel free to drop one Spoken Queekish V4 votes. I urge those in Powerstones to offer to drop their Powerstone vote if one Queekish V4 vote is dropped.
Honestly I fell a Grey Perpetual would just be another step on this weird EIC paranoia that the thread has.
The EIC paranoia is kind of usually rephrased as a long-term paranoia, not so much what the EIC would turn during Anton or Wilhemenia's lifetime. I have a feeling the thread would be more comfortable voting for things like a para-military navy if the Grey order presence in the EIC is locked in with a Perpetual because it means that Mathilde is already planning ahead the vigil on the EIC by the Grey Order beyond the lifetime of the founders.
From a narrative in-universe perspective, I think a Grey Perpetual being groomed is the kind of thing Mathilde might undertake as the complexity of her info-network grows because this agent can probably offer actions Mathilde might never personally dare take without an Agent of a Grey order whose political reliabilities are almost certainly higher than any handler Mathilde recruits who are not in the Grey Order. Given her loyalties to the Grey College, and given what that info-network is meant for, it won't be out of character for Mathilde to take in a young Perpetual to ensure that network remains in control of the Grey Order in event of anything happening to her, as a way to ensure her legacy continues. Mathilde is
that paranoid.
From the perspective of game play, it won't surprise me that the menu of options offered by a Grey Perpetual as opposed to a mundane handler is going to be very, very fun, because an Intelligence agent professionally trained to Grey Order standards is going to probably bring a completely more sophisticated skill-sets, and has a higher cachet of political reliability to engage in actions that Mathilde won't dare to instruct non-Grey Order operatives to do. The option sets
are almost certainly going to look very different, even if your Grey Perpetual has a far more limited magical capability than a Journeyman on Magister track, else it won't be a distinct option.
Plus, I really do like to read about Mathilde
grooming a fellow Wizard, but I don't think Mathilde is quite ready to take an Apprentice yet (maybe after both Lord Magistership and Nagartyhye). Grooming a Perpetual to serve as an Info-network Hand makes it felt that Mathilde is actively involving a
Grey Order presence in her holdings beyond herself, and I think it adds to the rich tapestry of the thread in a way a mundane handler of less certain political reliability and less commonality with Mathilde would not. It's the sort of unique narrative opportunity that we can get because we are playing as a Grey Magister.
Finally, the romantic in me still holds out hope that Mathilde finds love with someone who shares burdens akin to her own, as seen in my advocacy of socializing Johann.
Panaromia's mother married a perpetual..... so... that's another interesting option too.
