I'm not arguing against, or for, a perpetual. Or an outsider.
But a Grey perpetual might be my preference, yes.
True, but the objection to Gretel is indeed illuminating: the same concerns we have on Gretel
will show up for both Perpetual and an Outsider, and there'd probably be a point where it becomes a very good idea for Mathilde to get a second IC, so it probably can't be held off forever. But it actually is abit worse, since we
won't know immediately what motivates the Outsider, and while the Perpetual won't be allowed out of the College without the Grey College having a certain level of confidence in his/her apprentice, their working relationship is probably a undetermined quality, unlike Gretel.
Can a2nd IC be trusted with the day to day management of an Info network that is also the keys to a significant part of a Financial Empire?
For an outsider, I'd say roll the dice.
For a Grey Perpetual.... pray for no crit fails on Character generation, but the margin of safety is
almost certainly higher.
Given the same concerns of what Gretel could hypothetically do
applies to any other handler-manager Mathilde employs, the 1 College Favor per turn may be actually a very reasonable price
just to ensure that you have someone with an actual vow of poverty with at least enough integrity to be allowed out of the College by some of the most paranoid people in the Empire , running the show.
Even if said Perpetual is a Mathilde tier flounderer starting out, the fears about Gretel's "reliability" is less likely to apply to said Perpetual.
"Putting a known acquisitive thief in charge of a corporate-based espionage team" is basically an invitation for her to commit corporate espionage, or at the very least to use her intel to enrich herself
The Amethyst College does not object to this by the way, and Gretel probably would only land us in hot water
if she broke the Articles of Magic to enrich herself unlawfully (since insider trading as far as I know is not outlawed in the Empire). Gretel enriching herself probably isn't Mathilde's concern so long as it doesn't raise the objection of the Amethyst College, or of Mathilde's fellow founders.
We did recruit a thief as leader of our watch as Lightlan said. I have no doubt he enriched himself behind our backs using his position, and I don't think Mathilde
objected.
When it comes to Handlers, and the ones who handle the handlers, there are four options:
1. A randomly generated outsider, or worse, many outsiders
2. Julia
3. Gretel Mauer
4. A Grey Perpetual
It seems to me that alot of the objections being levied at Gretel
strongly behoves us to not recruit the first three, and instead play it safer and just recruit a Grey Prepetual who probably can't misuse the keys to the Kingdom without the wrath of the Bursars down on him/her, if we don't get him/her first.
One is a crapshoot up to the dice roll. Two will enrich her own family. Three is a known Thief.
If Sentiment drives us, three is an obvious choice. If
trust is an OOC issue (it cannot be an IC issue, because remember, Mathilde trust very few people) , it seems to me that literally our safest option is to get a Grey Perpetual.
