Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
[X] Gretel, who's apparently spending her newly-earned wealth to make herself at home.
[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
 
[X] [ROMANCE] The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[X] Stirland, to see for yourself how the war against Sylvania is progressing.
[X] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.
[X] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[X] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[X] [ROMANCE] Magister Johann
 
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[x] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[x] [ROMANCE] Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[x] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[x] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[x] The Amber College, to check in on the salamanders.
[x] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.
 
[X] [ROMANCE] The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[X] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
[X] [ROMANCE] Magister Johann
[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
[X] The Gold College, to see what's become of their research into Skaven technology.
[X] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.
[X] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
 
Pans the type to go "no fun allowed"
Pan is absolutely fun.
"Most Jades do, that or emotive. What's it like for you?"

"Mostly visual, except for Waaagh and Dhar."

"Ooh, what colour am I?"

You barely have to concentrate. "You're pure green. Wizards always stick out like that. Makes it hard to know what they're feeling."
Her immediate reaction to "Mathilde has high-quality visual mage-sight" is to go "Ooh ooh what color am I please look into my soul"
What about you? Is the Grey College really a hive of secret Ranald cultists?"

"Wouldn't be much of a Ranald cultist if I told, would I?" you say, holding up a pair of crossed fingers.
"A hive of secret Ranald cultists" is not how a stick-in-the-mud would phrase it. It's amused sarcasm.
"We have an understanding. Where do you think I got Wolf?"

"Wolf? Wolf was... wow." She blinks, and frowns. "The God of sneakiness and deceit got you a puppy?"
"The God of sneakiness and deceit" is, again, not exactly how a stick-in-the-mud would phrase it.
I'm genuinely curious here if you don't mind, why do you think that Panoramia is the one that'll keep up with Mathilde?
  • Panoramia is roughly the third most magically capable wizard in K8P and I believe on a steeper trajectory than any of them except Mathilde. Max was using Relatively Simple spells throughout the Expedition and started working on Moderately Complicated spells (Silver Arrows of Arha) around the time K8P was retaken. Panoramia, meanwhile, was spamming Father of Thorns and Vital Growth (both Moderately Complicated) from the very beginning of the Expedition. She also hit Magister-tier expertise well before Max; the social option to help Panoramia study for her exams has been around since 2482, while Max just barely got nudged over in 2484 by cashing in his part of the Skaven tech haul. Her performance relative to Johann is harder to nail down, but my gut feeling is that Johann isn't making much mystical progress; I think the most noticeable boost he's gotten since the start of the Expedition was the Staff he picked up for the Skaven tech haul. Panoramia, meanwhile, got enough +Magic from new traits and practice that she started learning FC spells (Cure Blight). She still doesn't have a familiar and I'm not sure if she has a Staff.
  • Panoramia has her sights set the highest. Her first goal following the Expedition was to build agriculture from the ground up ( :V ) for a city of hundreds of thousands. She's basically accomplished this. Her next goal is going to be mucking around with K8P's Waystones. She may laugh at our hell tower, but she's also the only wizard in K8P that's thinking on anything like Mathilde's scale. Max wants to shoot orcs and blacksmith well. Johann, as far as I can tell, wants to prove that he's not a failure; he's driven away from something rather than toward a goal. Gretel wants mad dosh. Adela wants cool toys. Hubert... honestly I'm not sure what Hubert wants. Panoramia, meanwhile, has already pulled off a Halfling Great Deed and is already looking at a follow-up project of comparable magnitude. Johann doesn't have anything even a little bit like that on his five-year plan and maybe not even on his fifteen-year plan.
  • Panoramia isn't intimidated by Mathilde. I get the impression that Mathilde tweaks some of Johann's issues, like whenever he looks at her he can't help but think "I could be like her if I didn't have my Problems".
  • Panoramia is the only human on Mathilde's list that I think wouldn't take orders from her. One of the reasons we don't see her much, especially professionally, is that she's basically in command of a whole chunk of the Karak that's completely non-overlapping with Mathilde's responsibilities. At the very least she's Elder Hluodwica's Learning advisor and I wouldn't be surprised if she's handling Stewardship as well, especially since she's likely taken over those parts of Edda's responsibilities relating to keeping everyone fed. I have trouble seeing Anton or Oswald as Mathilde's equals and it's only going to get worse as Mathilde keeps climbing; if Mathilde went and lived with Anton for a year or two she'd be running the place wthin the week. Mathilde's taken a mentoring role every time she met Roswita, and if Mathilde was Roswita's Learning advisor I think there'd be debate about who was really running Stirland. Johann also defers to Mathilde; just look at the way the Gold Patriarch approached us about the Skaven tech haul.
  • Panoramia is the only person that understands Mathilde. We've worked with Johann and Max far more closely and they've just given up. Anton might have a chance. Oswald nope. Roswita I really, really doubt. I went back and read the not-dates that Mathilde went on, and Panoramia was the only one who tried to learn more about Mathilde. Not only that, she succeeded. Every other not-date was like Mathilde's meeting with Cython but with Mathilde as the big scary mysterious dragon interrogator. Lots of Mathilde steamrollering people and disassembling them with a scalpel. Not much of people reaching back out to Mathilde.
In short, I think that Panoramia is the only human on Mathilde's list that feels like her peer, and I think she has the best chance of keeping up with Mathilde's skill, responsibility, and personality.
I don't want to romance Pikachu. I want another member of team Mathilde, so we can build a heinously complicated fish-mecha and pilot it together using bicycle treadmills.
And... why don't you think Panoramia won't do that? Her plan after she develops an entire ecosystem from the ground up is to start screwing around with the world's largest waystone circle for fun.
Panoramia never moves, personally or professionally. If she's not willing to take those chances, why bother mentioning them?
Citation needed. Instead of capping off her journeying by going back and becoming an academic like her parents, she decided to take over agriculture for an entire Karak. Her plan after she finishes that is to play with K8P's waystones. At some point since the Expedition she started learning FC spells. She's literally the only person that managed to ask Mathilde a question about herself when they were on a not-date. I feel safe saying that she's guaranteed to end up learning Battle Magic. Etcetera.
 
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On to votes!

[X] [ROMANCE] Magister Johann
I'm fine with either him or Pan, so I tossed a coin and Johann won.

[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
[X] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.
It would be nice to check in with Belegar again, he's likely in need of a distraction from the Okral at the moment. Hluodwica because she's the only one we haven't spoken to yet, plus I wrote an omake about her.

[X] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
I'd really like to see how this is going, and if they've been having problems. Knowing how the dwarfs are doing might have an influence on possible EIC actions as well.

[X] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[X] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
Keeping a weather eye on Stirlandian acquaintances. Kasmir, to check in on him and his penance, Julia, to see how she's putting her prowess in intrigue to use, and Eike, to watch over the likely inheritor of the EIC and perhaps nudge her away from some of Wilhelmina's darker traits.

[X] The Amber College, to check in on the salamanders.
[X] The Gold College, to see what's become of their research into Skaven technology.
[X] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.
Headpats? Also just curiosity in how these things are doing.

Edit:
[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[X] [ROMANCE] Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[X] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[X] [ROMANCE] Chief Bombardier Oswald Oswaldson

Adding in other candidates because I don't want the dragon to win.
 
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[x] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[X] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II

I liked the interactions between these two the most, felt the most like prospective dating material.

Also WHY ARE PEOPLE VOTING FOR THE DRAGON??? I thought it was funny to include it in the first place but if we're getting serious now then im honestly baffled.
 
[X] Stirland, to see for yourself how the war against Sylvania is progressing.
[X] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
 
[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[X] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
 
[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia

[X] The Gold College, to see what's become of their research into Skaven technology.

[X] Gretel, who's apparently spending her newly-earned wealth to make herself at home.

[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.

[X] Sir Ruprecht Wulfhart, leader of the frontier town of Ulrikadrin.

[X] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.

[X] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.

[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.

[X] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.
 
Also WHY ARE PEOPLE VOTING FOR THE DRAGON??? I thought it was funny to include it in the first place but if we're getting serious now then im honestly baffled.

To my surprise, this thread is the only place Google can find where the phrase "inherent eroticism of dragons" has been used. But yeah, like vampires, if you start looking at dragons sideways there's things hiding in the implications of their mythological representations.
 
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So I know the thread is pretty deadset on researching and exploiting Aethyric Vitae more, but if this battlefield wide Skywalk spell works out, we need to be churning out papers on it's structure and logic pronto because it's battle/greater magic that could be potentially cross-engineered to work with other winds.

Because seriously, if we can tool Aethyric Armor and Blessed Weapons into cross-wind battlefield wide buffs, any one future battle wizard could increase the effectiveness of imperial troops in truly ridiculous ways.
Adding to this the word 'harem' has some really terrible historical precedents. It's not something anime invented
The "historical precedents" you speak of have very little historical basis at all. Historically harems were private areas within a Muslim household reserved for the women of the household, as a private space where women could relax and act with fewer restrictions than in public. Sure it held wives and concubines, but it also was a space for daughters, prepubescent boys, female family members, and female servants.

The "historical" image of a harem being a powerful dude's sex room full of multitudes of women was conceived solely by white male explorers and diplomates being refused entrance for obvious cultural reasons and immediately assuming it was sex thing.
 
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Ok Belegar is a No brainer and I want Mathilde with one of those lovely Cinnamon Rolls.

[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[X] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.

And we kind of need the CF...

[X] The Amber College, to check in on the salamanders.
[X] The Gold College, to see what's become of their research into Skaven technology.
[X] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.
 
My voting is influenced by the Expedition. Thus, my priorities are for Mathilde to handle all her affairs and loose ends, so that if any Major events pop-up, which is likely since we're going into the Chaos Wastes, there will be a sense of closure as we explored all the unique social options beforehand.

[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
Obligatory romance vote for Pan, because Johann is coming with Mathilde on the Expedition, which will provide lots of opportunities to bond over. I want to see more Panoramia chemistry before the trip inevitably impacts Mathilde's relationship with Johann.

Karak Eight Peaks Notables
[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
[X] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.
1. We haven't met the Halfling Leader in all the time we've spent in K8P yet, which I think is a lost opportunity. I want Mathilde to get introduced to Esmerelda and bond over cooking, maybe get inspired by BURRITO's.
2. Belegar is just an obligatory vote for more background before the Expedition itself.

Foreign Relations
I don't really feel interested in getting updates on major events that Mathilde won't be very involved in, since she's leaving on a trip soon. We usually get news of the Sylvanian campaign from the EIC rumor-mill and the Barak Varr canal will be rife with Politics and Trade deals that isn't within her priorities to handle.

Friends Abroad
[X] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
1. Kasmir is another neglected Option that I want Mathilde to get closure on before leaving, to reflect on her Sigmar distaste and catch up with an old colleague before we go off on a dangerous trip. Otherwise, we'll never know what can happen in the intervening time.
2. Eike, because she's the heir to the EIC, a future partner that we should get to know while she's still young so that Eike feels comfortable working with us rather than just hearing anecdotal stories from Wilhelmina. Also, I want Mathilde to unofficially adopt her and see more Fairy Godmother antics like she did for Mandred.

Following Up
The only option that slightly interests me for this Selection is the Skaven organ-vats, mainly since it's been awhile since we donated it and we haven't checked back what came out of it.

It hasn't been long since the Gold College started working on Skaven research, so checking their progress on that feels premature with the limited options we get. The fief seems fine running itself and we checked the Salamanders before IIRC, so it isn't new.
 
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[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
[X] [ROMANCE] Elector Countess Roswita van Hal
[X] [ROMANCE] The Ice Dragon of Karag Zilfin
[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
[X] Stirland, to see for yourself how the war against Sylvania is progressing.
[X] Julia, to see what she has gotten up to as Stirland's most experienced spy master.
[X] The Gold College, to see what's become of their research into Skaven technology.
[X] Elder Hluodwica, High Priestess of Esmerelda and civilian leader of the Eight Peaks Halflings.

I want to revisit Stirland and the gang and I'm interested in what happens to what was dumped on the colleges (shouldn't the organ-vat have been appropriated by the golds when they took over? They wouldn't have asked us for everything we have and then ignored what we already handed over, would they?).
 
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My voting is influenced by the Expedition. Thus, my priorities are for Mathilde to handle all her affairs and loose ends, so that if any Major events pop-up, which is likely since we're going into the Chaos Wastes, there will be a sense of closure as we explored all the unique social options beforehand.

[X] [ROMANCE] Journeywoman Panoramia
Obligatory romance vote for Pan, because Johann is coming with Mathilde on the Expedition, which will provide lots of opportunities to bond over. I want to see more Panoramia chemistry before the trip inevitably impacts Mathilde's relationship with Johann.

I feel the need to point out there will be no romancing Johann on the expedition trip that's just not how things will work or play out the only chance to do that is here and now in the social turn vote and whilst this option isn't being touted as a soft lock for practical purposes it absolutely will be because this is where the first real attempt at romance will be and so every one is going to be swayed enormously by the fact that there will be actual romantic chemistry between Mathilde and the choice we make you know assuming they're remotely inclined.
 
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The "historical precedents" you speak of have very little historical basis at all. Historically harems were private areas within a Muslim household reserved for the women of the household, as a private space where women could relax and act with fewer restrictions than in public. Sure it held wives and concubines, but it also was a space for daughters, prepubescent boys, female family members, and female servants.

The "historical" image of a harem being a dude's sex room full of multitudes of women was conceived solely by white male explorers and diplomates being refused entrance for obvious cultural reasons and immediately assuming it was sex thing.

I was speaking of the Ottoman Empire's harem, which was indeed filled with slaves, captured Christians mostly taken from the Caucasus because it was unlawful to enslave freeborn Muslims. As for it holding daughters and sons, that was not a good thing. Many Sultans left the harem already deeply disturbed as their mothers went to extreme lengths to keep them safe from their brothers. Fratricide was sadely common in the Sublime Porte. That is the image the word 'Harem' conjures to me having been exposed to Ottoman history before anime.
 
I want to revisit Stirland and the gang and I'm interested in what happens to what was dumped on the colleges (shouldn't the organ-vat have been appropriated by the golds when they took over? They wouldn't have asked us for everything we have and then ignored what we already handed over, would they?).

They asked for everything she had at the moment negotiations started. If they want things that had already left her possession, they gotta go talk to the people that got them.
 
@BoneyM, what is the grand tower on the Tylos coins referring to?

Legend has it that Tylos was destroyed when they accepted the help of a Mysterious Stranger to complete their giant Tower of Babel analogue. His condition was that a bell went on top, and when the bell rang thirteen times, endless torrential rains turned the fields around the city into swamp and enormous hordes of rats ate all the food. Both Estalia and Tilea claim to have been founded by those that left Tylos under Myrmidia's guidance before the tower was completed.
 
The downside to all of this is that when you ask Panoramia if she thinks it'd be a good idea to use the eternally-burning fires of Dwarven Hell to weed her gardens, she laughs, looks at you, realizes you're not kidding, says "no" a lot and then runs away.
I think that Panoramia is being unfairly maligned for her reaction here, so I'd like to take a second to be completely serious about it.

Panoramia was absolutely correct to reject our research proposal, and when we made a joke she responded in kind.

Panoramia's gardens feed upwards of fifty thousand people. A crop failure means that people die. Lots of people die. Production is sufficient and manpower is not lacking, so the only remaining objective to optimize is risk. Specifically, Panoramia's objective is to minimize risk. Using the dwarf hell tower to weed her gardens is just about the riskiest possible proposal. It might work, sure! But if it does, it doesn't gain them anything - they're already producing enough food. And it might not work, and if it doesn't work, how wrong will it go? The correct answer is to not try it at all.

As for the part where she says "no" a lot and runs away... We walked up to her and asked her if she thought it was a good idea to use the eternally-burning fires of Dwarven Hell to weed her gardens. Our research proposal was, at that point, a joke, and her rejection took the same form - a joke. I am absolutely certain that everyone laughed when they got to this line of the update. People wouldn't have laughed if she'd just said "no". And that kind of thing isn't limited to our reading. Like all the other times Panoramia has rolled her eyes at us, she was actively indulging in Mathilde's silliness when she turned us down with maximum drama.
 
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[X] [ROMANCE] Magister Johann

[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.

[X] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.

[X] Follow up on your donation of the Skaven organ-vat, and see what has been made of it.
 
[X] [ROMANCE] Magister Johann
[X] [ROMANCE] Baron Anton Kiesinger II
[X] Belegar, to discuss the northern Karaks and the Expedition.
[X] Barak Varr, to watch the progress of the canal.
[X] Kasmir, to see how he's keeping himself busy in Sylvania.
[X] Eike Hochschild, to get to know your future business partner.
[X] The Gold College, to see what's become of their research into Skaven technology.

My preliminary votes. May edit out one of the romance votes, not sure.
I feel safe saying that she's guaranteed to end up learning Battle Magic.
What? Why in the world would she have any reason to do so?

She's very focused on, guess what, farming. She isn't even interested enough in the Magister's exam to take a few months off in order to go pass the exams in Altdorf. This, despite the fact that half of the year she spends doing nothing, because it is the quiet season for her job and magic.

Battle Magic has absolutely no applicability to her desire, or goal, of farming for the Karak. You could try to make the argument for Throne of Vines, I suppose. But even that's a "no." It's simply not necessary. It's a great big miscasty risk of horrible gribblies, just for more power. Power which you wouldn't even need over the course of your job. She's more likely to just get a staff, try for a Familiar with Power, or something. Why would she learn Battle Magic? Much less "guaranteed to end up" doing so?

Frankly, Johann is the more likely to learn Battle Magic. He was brought up by a graduated Battle Wizard of a Lady Magister. He didn't lose courage despite losing his eyes the first time around. And he's really good at the Elemenetal, metal, part of Chamon. So it's possible he might be pretty good at casting some of the Battle spells.

Also, he goes into combat. He's a fighting wizard. And, furthermore, he is going to be joining the Karag Dum expedition, a deadly endeavor, so he'd have use for Battle Magic.

... Hm. Put like that, I've actually convinced myself that Johann is probable for learning Battle Magic. After all, he even has somebody he can go to, for learning Battle Magic; his own master, who is a Lady Magister who is a graduated Battle Wizard.


All that aside though...

... I'm just... not interested in farming?

She has one big job or thing she does in her life. A passion or interest that she works toward and takes responsibility for. And that's "farm for a Karak." That's just not interesting to me.

You, apparently view or judge it by its metaphorical or symbolic value; "this is a big thing" "she wants to do a big thing" "this is impressive, ergo..." Whereas to me I look at farming and soil and go "Am I interested in this? No, not really. Do I want Mathilde to take an interest in this? No, not really." And getting close to her just for the sake of a chance at finding out more about Waystones, would stick in my craw. That shouldn't be the only reason you go for somebody. Not just for what they can get you like that. =/
 
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