I'm pretty split on the decision about Letoro's offer, but I think I'm leaning towards declining. Ryza's never been comfortable with all the formality of nobility and accepting would put her right in the middle of all that rather than being "just" Ryza. Wouldn't be opposed to the subvote talking to Artemis about it but I'll think a bit more before putting a vote down, I think.
From the way SoaringHawk framed the question, I'm pretty sure Ryza's going to be asking for advice about what the implications of being a "night" are before making a final decision. I mostly wanted to emphasize that Ryza should ask
Artemis's opinion and give it special weight over other people who are equally knowledgeable about nobility and friendly towards Ryza, but who aren't Artemis.
I'm 99% sure he meant it in the spirit of "Don't feed the trolls."
I'm not a woman and nobody with eyes or ears would mistake me for one. But from what I've heard from people who are/are mistaken for women, flirty assholes don't stop bothering people if they just get ignored.
I thought it was like "They do it to get a reaction out of you" sort of thing rather than "Don't tell him this specific thing or people are going to die"
I don't think it's "People are gonna die" either, I just didn't want to leave the implication that Archduke Leto is telling Artemis to politely accept shitheads' advances alone on the table. Especially since I wasn't trying to call out Leto or anything, just point out that the situation is more complicated than "if it's a problem, Artemis can just say something and the problem goes away!
"
More that...she's in a position of power here.
Theres nothing he can do, except provoke her into doing something unwise.
Don't give him any reaction whatsoever and he has no power here unless he actually does enough to justify being thrown out.
That's not true. He can make Artemis's day worse.
Ryza doesn't need a title to have power or respect. Power she has in the form of her own personal power, which will only grow over time, and respect is something she seems to have no trouble building. The title would tie her down for little benefit.
The situation is a bit more complicated than that. Having formal power, an official place in the world, gives Ryza certain perks. Broadly speaking, it will be harder for people in power to shirk their duties to Ryza or insist she overexert hers if those duties are spelled out in law and tradition.
Now, you'll notice I don't think any permutation of this argument is strong enough to overpower the reasons Ryza
wouldn't want to be Dame Ryza of the Dragonmout.
[X] You find yourself… liking the idea. How many times had you been worried about people not liking how friendly you are with Artemis? This way, they won't have any excuse! Besides, having some people who have promised to help you could be useful. You think you'll probably take him up on it.
-[X] You definitely need to talk about it with Artemis first. Hopefully tomorrow, if she has time.
I feel like it would be a waste to not take this opportunity. We actually get to own our home and can begin preparing to make it habitable again. That is something Ryza would very much want. It would tie us closer to Artemis, which she is very much for. Not to mention that having an official title helps give her an actual place in society opposed to the limbo that is Rhyza a right now.
I really can't think of an in character reason for her not to take it.
It seems like people being a bit meta gamey with this vote, worrying about things Rhyza wouldn't even care about right now.
There are absolutely reasons Ryza would find an official title appealing, and people arguing against her taking the title with meta-gamey arguments like "I'd rather wander around helping people instead of supporting one noble". But pretending that there are
no in-character reasons against the deal when the two most common arguments are "Ryza would prioritize manakete stuff over supporting Agrithe" and "Ryza has repeatedly and constantly expressed a dislike of people calling her Lady Ryza and otherwise deferring to her 'superior position'" is beyond absurd.
If you want another in-character reason that people haven't talked about: Ryza hasn't internalized the Agrithan political system as normal. Manakete society seems to have been more egalitarian than the vassalage and presumed manorialism of Agrithe and other human polities. (In layman's terms: Dragons aren't feudal.) At the very least, that's the world as Ryza knew it. She's known about dukes and knights for maybe three weeks, which is even briefer when you remember that 93-year-old Ryza is
maybe equivalent to a human tween. That's not enough time for her to accept "knight" as a legitimate thing people can be.
And if you'd argue that Ryza, the idealistic child, would calculate that the title would be beneficial even if it's illegitimate, I don't think it's
me metagaming about things Ryza wouldn't care about.
Also seriously what is up with people and the oaths stop panicking y'all are thinking far too long term. Like this is a possible problem decades down the line. Unless this quest uses a bunch of long time skips the, which I haven't gotten the impression of. Then why worry?
I would like to take this opportunity to poke fun at the fact that DraftierDruid accuses
us of being the ones who use out-of-character arguments. Sure, this technically isn't "worrying about things Rhyza wouldn't even care about right now," but not worrying about things Rhyza would absolutely care about doesn't seem any better.
Getting a home was Ryza's reward for saving Artemis.
Being a knight would have some benefits, but from an IC perspective it'd worth considering that Ryza has a ridiculous lifespan. The sources I see online give the impression of somewhere in the thousands of years; unless knight oaths come with an escape clause Ryza could come to find them confining.
Archduke Leto seems like a decent guy, and Artemis is great. But if Ryza understands how vassalage works (ie, after she talks about it with Artemis), she'll realize that she has to hope Artemis's great-grandchildren will also be good people.
