They also know more they should about classified matters, since the whole Haupt-Anderssens being murdered was classified on a pretty high level.
The definite confirmation of their murder might have been classified, but if a whole dynasty gets pruned by accidents then most people would speculate either a curse or murder.
@Boney Could you elaborate or give an example of what you mean with "violent parodies of the apparent 'natural causes' that carried off the Haupt-Anderssens"? Do you mean that there's a pattern eerily similar to how the Haupt-Andersens died, except that the accidents are even more gory? Or do you mean actual serial killer stuff where someone is clearly murdering the Unfähigers and deliberately staging each crime scene to look like an "official" Haupt-Andersen cause of death?
"To become a Hunter Lord, one must not only prove martial prowess and political savvy but also prove skill as a hunter by tracking down and killing a dangerous creature of the forest. Targets include bears, lynxes, or wild boars. The animal skin is worn as a drape and is a symbol of honour once blessed by the Priests of Taal."
So some kind of semi-meritocratic position jockeying that then has to be confirmed by a difficult and dangerous final trial with religious connotations. Is it known whether every Hunter Lord is on the Hunter Council or if merely every member of the Hunter Council is a Hunter Lord?
Also since the leaders of the various major military organizations of Talab(heim/ecland) need to be Hunter Lords that puts quite a damper on selecting military leaders for loyalty/nepotism. And that within the central source of power of any normal Elector Count. Talabecland might well be one of the hardest Provinces to rule despotically with the most checks and balances. Maybe tied with Ostermark.
The Amber I understand (animality and such), the Jade too (the whole fertility thing) and maybe the Bright (passion, and being in very hot environments in the College😏), but why the Gold and Amethyst?
That's why I said for very different reasons.
The Gold are both the rational/scientific/analytical Order (in their own opinion) that prides itself in how their logic trumps their irrational emotions and they put emphasis and social status in the (artificial) perfection of the physical form. I expect a good number of them to at least act like the Human body is something to coldly inspect and to have a clinical view on nudity up to the point that they actually notice that someone is trying to seduce or titillate them (provided they don't already have the emotion dampening arcane mark). I also expect that anyone that manages to gild their chest or legs to want to show it off to their colleagues in private just like they would any other gilded body part, regardless of gender. And that at least some of the more arrogant gilded Wizards would show more disdain than embarrassment upon seeing "imperfect" bodies.
As for the Amethysts, not only are they celibate, their desires of the flesh expected to die off sooner or later, they also have a very different attitude towards the human body. Mostly in the form of corpses, dressed or otherwise.
So a question to the thread: do you plan on making another go at windherding within next few turns? The reason I am asking is because it changes the answer to the "what to with the saddle" question.
If yes, we should do whatever and submit to the colleges something less umgak.
If no, we might as well give it to the colleges as windherding was described before as "breaking the Teclisian paradigm" so unless we plan to make a new one soon we might as well let colleges know it is possible even if the craftwizardship is shoddy.
That seems to be a hard to answer question. Quite a few people seem to be afraid of the risks. Others think that the Gambler could mitigate the risks, but that would require not using the Coin for anything else that turn, which might be a hard sell especially in the next few turns.
Personally I think trying again is worth the 19% chance of miscast (two wizards), but see no need to do it right the next turn. IIRC many if us want to fill the next turn stock full of actions at least potentially related to the Father. I also want to finally have recruited everyone we want on board for the foundation action by the turn after the next one after the latest. That includes House Tindomiel, the Halethan Hedgewise and maybe (but not necessarily) one Hoeth-centric House and the Kislevite magic traditions. For plenty of others even that timeframe is far too long.