Initial preferences.
[X] DIPLO: Collegiate
How independent the Colleges are from each other depends a great deal on your perspective. There can be a lot of value in bridging those gaps.
- Tempting. Very tempting. Short term it likely helps with getting all those College precursor secrets. Long term that research branch will benefit.
[ ] DIPLO: Dawri
You've lived along Dwarves for long enough that your Wizard robes and Arcane Marks are often the only things preventing you from being mistaken for one. But you could immerse yourself even deeper in Dwarven culture and become able to navigate it like a native.
- I… honestly feel this would be a waste. Being able to hide amongst Dawi isn't of meaningful use. Simply being 'more Dawi than the Dawi' wouldn't get us the juicy secrets we crave. Our 'Reputation: Yes' already gives us more than cultural assimilation ever could.
[ ] DIPLO: Draconic Fascination
You've only really spent time with two Dragons, but both have been thoroughly fascinating individuals.
- Much as I would love to take this, dragons just aren't numerous enough to justify it.
[ ] DIPLO: Interfaith Dialogue
Ranald isn't the most accepted of Gods, but you're growing adept at finding common ground with the other faiths of the Old World.
- Could be useful. However it moves us in a direction I don't particularly like.
[ ] DIPLO: Knight
You bear the title of Knight, and you've worked alongside Knightly Orders multiple times now.
- With the best will in the world, they are just meat shields. Knightly orders might be high quality meat shields but there are plenty of other options available.
[X] DIPLO: Mentor
Though you've never taken an Apprentice of your own, you have spent quite a bit of time taking less-experienced Wizards under your wing.
- Good in the long term but little immediate benefit. Unless it directly translates to explaining knowledge gained from one wizard (or mage or runesmith) to someone else.
[ ] DIPLO: Polyglot
If you had been unable to use Khazalid as a bridging language, there were many encounters that could have gone quite badly. There's a great deal of potential benefits to further expanding your linguistic lexicon.
- Nope. We already have the vast majority of useful languages. Had we gone to Swamp Town it might have been an option. As we didn't this would be an outright waste of a trait.
[ ] DIPLO: Trucemaker
Sometimes the best battle is one you never fight. Every life not spent fighting lesser evils can be turned against the greater ones.
- Seems like it would have been critically useful for the Roving Troubleshooter jobs but we are trying for much longer term arrangements than truces.
[ ] LESSON: Cartographer
Being able to explore, record, and subsequently navigate unfriendly territory is an incredibly useful and often underrated skill.
- Useful. Overshadowed but useful.
[ ] LESSON: Dhar Insight
You've seen Daemons, the Chaos Wastes, the Windfall. You're reaching as thorough an understanding of the fel energies of Dark Magic as can be attained without actually wielding them.
- …it isn't a trap in the sense that there is hidden danger. It is just an open invitation for self-harm.
[X] LESSON: Leader
Despite not seeking it, once more you found yourself in military command. Perhaps this tendency is something to be embraced.
- Useful. And increasingly a role Mathilde plays simply by weight of reputation and authority.
[ ] LESSON: Light Fingers
It's not theft, it's espionage. The enemies of the Empire and the Karaz Ankor have all sorts of interesting and portable items that would do a lot of good in friendly hands, from supplies to devices to paperwork.
- Eh, looting is the least important of Mathilde's activities.
[X] LESSON: Logistician
Warriors win battles, logistics wins wars. Being able to get what you need to where you need it is halfway to victory.
- Exceedingly useful.
[ ] LESSON: Mystic
Some mysteries should be embraced, rather than unravelled. You might not fully understand the Gods this way, but you are much more likely to get along with Them.
- Nope. The secrets of the universe are there to be solved, not merely admired.
[ ] LESSON: Poker Face
Acting like you always know what's going on has gone from a source of personal amusement to a vital diplomatic first line of defence.
- …not sure how this could manifest or what it could give us mechanically. Not keen. Not keen at all.
[ ] LESSON: Syncretic
Ranald will likely always be your primary God, but you are branching out into a healthy and respectful understanding of some of the other Gods of the Old World, both human and Dwarven.
- Could be useful, particularly if combined with Interfaith Dialogue. But not a direction I want to go in.
[X] LESSON: Theologian
You have a breadth of experience with the Divine that would put many Priests to shame, and are starting to build tentative overarching theories of the Divine that many might consider heretical.
- Yes. We shall steal the secret of [insert knowledge] from the gods.