A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Eight Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC

Though you ponder long the offer of the stone fey, among his folk the most inclined to consider the dictates of law over the whims of his heart, in the end you choose the another to head the ministry. Great shall be the works of the Ministry to Public Works, but not always grand. The Imperium need schools and hospitals, roads and bridges, alike one to the other as much and more than it shall need grand buildings of state and prestige to be the wonder of the world. There is a place for such as Nineteen of Three Hundred in your realm, for him and for all his kin, but that place is not in the minister's silk-backed seat where he would likely find much drudgery regardless and little joy in the making.

Of Shad Ibm Mal it cannot be said is less strange than one of the fey would have been, but he is more thorough in his manner and more able to learn the ways of the land he now calls home, and you have little doubt the azer shall if only to be rid of the inefficiency of having his words relayed by an interpreter. Thus you wish him good fortune in familiarizing himself with the tasks that shall be his after his inauguration and turn your eye towards the next ministry you must fill.

From the building of roads to the building of minds, you think with some pardonable pride at what you have wrought in the Deep and beyond. Beyond the secrets of magic, high or low, you realm has more than any of its neighbors seen to it that the citizens shall not be ignorant of the world or of how their lives may be bettered. As the fields call upon less each year and magic and mechanism make away with the drudgery of earlier life so too is there need of more who can do finer and more complex work, and so is there need for men and women to do more than the work of their fathers and mothers is they are to step into a world transformed.

The first step forward for the role is a former maester of the Citadel, young from the half-chain he had forged and as skilled in languages and finance as he is in teaching, though it does not take much of an interview with the man to realize he harbors some resentment for the 'usurpation' of the Citadel and the loss of many of his former colleagues at the hands of Marwyn and Qyburn. Elric understands why it had to fall of course, else he would not have sought your service years ago, but that does not wholly stop personal animus.

One might almost wish for a touch more resentment and a touch less... faith from the next person on the list. Anlyse of Myr is a woman of great skill in both organizing that which is in her direct purview and delegating that should not be there, a rare skill and an admirable one. Alas, she is also among those faithful of the Red God who believe that you are Azor Ahai, playing some grand test upon their faith and all the world. Presumably as part of that test you have set devils to tempt the faithful, for she clearly thinks little good of them.

Veda of Pentos again shows a marked departure in matters of faith. A former bondswoman who escaped to your realm in the early days, she had made a name for herself as a skilled investigator and a proponent for more education as a means of improving the lot in life of her fellow citizens. Alas, that very outlook has gone a long way to souring her on gods who cannot or will not aid those in most need. Further, among the candidates, she is recommended rather more for her loyalty than experience in matters of organization.

Who do you choose for Minister of Education?

[] Elric of Oldtown
+Pedagogue (Understands well the art of teaching one student or many)
+Skilled in Finance (Having come into a maester's education late from a family of traders has come skill at managing money)
+Linguist (Rare is the man outside of your own companions or those familiarly endowed with magic who has learned so many tongues so quickly)
-Somewhat Socially Conservative (He is Westerosi and a Reacher at that for all his mercantile roots)
-Mourning Lost Companions (Though he had renounced the Citadel years ago it is clear he does not see Marwyn's coup with good eyes)

[] Anlyse of Myr
++Brilliant Organizer (Rose to the top of the School Inspectorate for the whole of the Eastern Disputed Lands, starting from nothing on the strength of skill alone and has made it one of the most tightly run organizations of its type in the realm)
+Delegating Skill (Unlike most of her position has an eye for people also, knowing who to select and how to motivate them)
-Peculiar Faith (She is one of those R'hllorites convinced that Viserys is Azor Ahai)
-Wary of Hell (Is less inclined than others to allow that dark spirits might be redeemed though Imperial service)

[] Veda of Pentos
+Skilled investigator (Starting off as a investigator for the Lawmen and then then Inquisition she found a niche working for the office of Education, seeking out sources of internal corruption)
+New Woman (A fervent believer in the Imperium that allowed her to rise above humble birth)
+Ever Forward (Somewhat Socially Liberal, though an adept of gradual change)
-Inexperienced with Finance (Has never been in charge of anything like the resources of an entire Ministry)
-Vocal Non-Theist (Though she admits the Gods are real she does not think they are worthy of worship)

OOC: Some interesting rolls for this lot, for once they are all human too.