And why I've characterized Maghda as caring deeply for the Faithful of Manann explicitly in these past two updates, focusing explicitly on 'how can we make things better for them/reassure them'. Because she really cares about them! And, like, yes, the Greatships would not be under Ostland control, but my god, why would you think she would want to explicitly harm the Faithful of Ostland. The point is for Frederick to make the sacrifice because of the pride and money put in them, not anyone else. Otherwise, she would have been like 'hey, yeah, let's do some penance for the wife and the ogre and all the Greatswords and so on and so forth'. The punishment is for Frederick, no one else's. She also sneered on the tendency for there to be collateral damage when the Sigmarites go a-bashing. So why...why...why...would you think she'd accept causing collateral damage to Manann's Faithful in Ostland in the course of this?
It was supposed to come up organically next update, as the levels of appeasement could improve Maghda's level of authority amongst the Cult, meaning she could allocate more funds and effort to protecting the holy site of Salkalten's temple or things like that, but I didn't want to explicitly spell that out here, because its supposed to be a personal vote of thought not something that metagames on the potential offerings afterwards.
She would never, ever, ever countenance an act that would cause more harm to Ostland's faithful to the Cult, especially when she's made it clear how this is supposed to help them spiritually and mentally so that they can go out and do stuff physically.
... Well that kind of makes me lean a lot more heavily on the "Dedicate all 5 Greatships to Manann" action, then...
Because. This sounded a lot like a confirmation that
Maghda would not screw over Ostland's naval defenses against the Druchii and Norscans!
Because it's meant to be a sacrifice of pride and status/stature
from Frederick (and Ostland's wealth/status/prestige)!
It is
not meant to
actually hurt or put Ostland in threat...
... Yessss, in fact...
This is looking like a huge opportunity!
Guys, if we give all 5 -- or maybe just 4? -- Greatships to Maghda
this also hugely shores up her support in Marienburg and among the faithful and against the Rutgers and pro-Haendryk types!
This is not just an opportunity to avoid Manann's displeasure and to win his favor, this is also an opportunity to
achieve some of our political goals/thoughts/desires in Marienburg! ((The update even says this, and I even quote this and comment on it once, but I then kind of zoned out about it, but. Yeah.))
Wouldn't it be extremely
worth it to get the Matriarch of the Cult of Manann resoundingly on our side, from this?
Think of it like this guys: this is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
So I say, go for it.
I say, let's go all the way. Level 4+ Greatships, and level 4+ Keelhauling. Ideally max levels on both.
And that's something people seem to be forgetting. Mannan's so powerful in this city and Its almost like the GM is hinting that the cult leader who dislikes mercantile asshats might be a potential ally against the mercantine dick heads we area dealing with.
HINT HINT!
Yeah, definitely. I am now more excited about this whole thing. Rather than just cautiously optimistic in the veins of 'Well, maybe we'll be able to keep this from being horrible and blowing up in our faces?' I feel
energized/
excited about this!
... Plus. I want to see more of Manann and Maghda.
Yes but it's something we then no longer have control over and I would like to keep at least half
I am not opposed to giving her the third once we made new ones but I find that losing 3 is too big of a sudden drop in power
That's true. That's absolutely true that we
lose total control over that.
But.
You know what makes it?
That makes it,
an act of faith.
And a hella
powerful one too.
It is saying, that we trust in Manann and the Cult of Manann to defend us.
That we trust almost utterly in Maghda's position and benevolence, and that Manann's faithful will protest us and serve us.
And also, at the same time, Frederick demonstrates the greatest amount of remorse for his actions by the greatest keelhauling? Well. That's a hell of a kicker.
Think of how all that will look to people and to Manann's faithful.
Both the act of Frederick doing an extreme penance, and then Frederick going "Manann, take the wheel!"
Heh, in fact, that could be a neat plan name -- "Manann, take the wheel!" or "We put our faith in Manann" or the like. If anybody wants to use that name.
