Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
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every other source states they are not. quite explicitly
The Empire has access to all the Winds of Magic in the tradition of Hoeth. The Empire also has engineering and gunpowder cribbed from the Dawi. Having worse versions of the specialties of the best institutional magic user traditions and the best engineering tradition in the setting is not bad. The Empire also has full time professional infantry and a much greater degree of central control over its armies.
In terms of civilian infrastructure Bretonnia's only institutions of higher learning are 1 or 2 academies opened by foreign cults - Bretonnian nobility is culturally fixated on the Errant to Grail path with no emphasis on any other skill. The Empire has numerous institutions of higher learning and whilst martial prowess is emphasized (because Warhammer) the range of skills that is important for nobility is much broader than being a superior individual killing machine.
That's not to say that Bretonnia has no advantages - Grail Knights and Damsels are superhumanly competent but a small number of hyper specialists isn't necessarily better than what the Empire has.
deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
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Mousillon, maybe (although it is still around), Cuileux and Glanborielle were destroyed before Bretonnia was founded, and then absorbed into other Dukedoms. So I doubt you'll find many noble bloodlines claiming to be from there.
Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
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Grail chapels is one of the biggest moneysinks in the entire kingdom. Some of them bloat enough they become grail shrines, then grail cathedrals.
insert a joke about real-life Christianity here
Also, their primary fighting force, i.e. Armored Cavalry, is really fucking expensive by medieval standards. As in, taxes from an entire village are barely enough to equip one knight, and they have thousands.
Again, this all is just regular medieval feudalism stuff.
It is explicitly not better than the Empire has. We have had this conversation before and the GM noted that Teclis judged a divided Empire in civil war the premier human power of the Old World which is why he went there during the Great War. I mean I guess you could argue that he was just wrong or had some kind of bias, but I do not see why he would have such a bias and given the High Elves maritime supremacy he should have had a prety solid base of comparison.
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The female knights in question may have to pretend very hard to be men as well.
Only you assume strict monogamy or that having small numbers of children is the norm. I just assume that either many Knight of the Realm have several (noble) mistresses simultaneously in the tradition of the stereotypical French aristocracy, or that they practice serial monogamy, running through wives as their fertility declines/they die in childbirth from frequent pregnancies, so that while most Knights Errant die before becoming a Knight of the Realm and marrying, Knight of the Realm have even more proportionately large numbers of children. You can maintain a large and indeed growing population this way.
In many ways, the institution of Errantry, and the declaring of occasional Errantry Wars is a social repsonse ot the problem of elite overproduction. It's a way of avoiding the historical French issue of the nobility getting too big.
Teclis may also not have bene able to make as much difference Bretonnia. If the Damsels are as good at collecting those with the potential to use magic as the books claim, then there wouldn't be any one for him to recruit and train.
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deathofrats0808
Don’t think of it as dying; just as leaving early
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To play devil's advocate for a moment, the obvious reason Teclis might choose to aid the Empire despite it being an objectively worse choice (I don't believe it was, but devil's advocate) is that he saw he could gain more prestige there, as it lacked native casters of its own. Also, they were the ones who came looking for help.
I do not think Teclis really cared about the prestige of being a wizard. What he really needed was an army of mortals he could shove down the throat of the Everchosen. It is not like he set out to make magic legal in the Empire, that was Magnus' idea after he saw what Teclis and company could do.
Well a good question is, did he judge that while knowing Magnus the Pious was going to be there fixing all the problems, making people work together and making everyone accept his plan for magical institutions? Because that is kind of relevant. The Empire is the strongest power in the old world when they have a Magnus the Pious tier Emperor, its the other 99% of the time when they are not very good.
Other possible questions are whether he believed that giving the empire casters when they had none at all was better than improving upon an existing tradition, and whether geographical proximity to the front of the War Against Chaos was considered an important quality.
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So all the better then, he would not have to spend all his time teaching hedge mages not to explode, he could just persuade the ready made army to march against the end of the world. Like I said above it's not like he got on the boat saying 'I want to train wizards'.
Codex
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I thought it would be fun to go over every Duke of Bretonnia in canon (remember 2522 IC) to get an idea of what the canonical rulers of Bretonnia look like:
Duke Taubert of L'Anguille: Former Sailor, excellent fighter. Has never set foot on a ship in fifteen years after a mysterious voyage, and completely and totally avoids the capital city of his Dukedom, appointing stewards to rule over the place. He spends all his time next to the Forest of Arden fortifying Castle Grasgar against the Forest of Arden and fighting Beastmen, which earns him the love and admiration of the rural peasantry. Not so much for the richer and more noble residents of the city of L'Anguille, as the steward left in charge of the city is the wealthiest merchant in Bretonnia and head of the Bretheren of the Lighthouse, an incredibly powerful merchant organisation that is slowly but surely pushing for the independence of the city of L'Anguille, sort of like Marienburg. Considering Taubert's lack of desire to get within five miles of the city, they might even succeed.
Duke Armand of Aquitaine: Grail Knight and former Battle Standard Bearer of Bretonnia, he was appointed Duke of Aquitaine after his brother the Duke passed away. He never expected to inherit, so he set out on the quest. Excellent combatant. Spends most of his time going from place to place to deal with the many feuds of his Dukedom, which he does well on, but he doesn't understand the meaning of delegation. He does everything himself and every time he solves a problem two more pop up. Prefers to have something to hit.
Duke Chilfroy of Artois: Large and scary man, powerful warrior (you're seeing a pattern aren't you?). Grim and never smiles unless he's seeing his enemies crushed before him. Doesn't care for politics and spends all his time hunting monsters and Beastmen. As the book says "The Duke is most active here, hunting down Beastmen and occasionally riding to the rescue of a besieged settlement. Even more occasionally, he arrives in time to do more than scare off carrion crows." Earl Larret is the real power in Artois, having total control over the more populous Eastern Artois and involving himself in politics. He plans and plots to at least get a Barony, but possibly attain Dukehood, although that would require evidence that Chilfroy was consorting with the Ruinous Powers. He doesn't mind it being improved evidence.
Duke Bohemond of Bastonne: Grail Knight, powerful warrior (again? This is getting old), specialised in fighting monsters and is known as "Beastslayer". Utterly loyal to Louen, but well... "Indeed, he delegates the whole business of administering his dukedom to his steward and justice to his justiciar. Alas, he is not a very good judge of character, and finds himself replacing these men with distressing frequency."
Duke Alberic of Bordelaux: Highly disciplined with absurdly high standards, which results in him having the smallest retinue in the Kingdom, albeit a very good one. Desperately wants to seek the Grail but weighed down by his responsibilities, never having the chance to go on the Quest before he became a Duke. Looking for a competent steward to run his Dukedom while he goes Questing (his high standards probably obstruct him here, he's getting old).
Duke Thoderic of Brionne: Giant of a man, powerful and a terror on the battlefield. Also loves poetry, music and is a bit of a minstrel himself. Always leads from the front and always comes back wounded. Rumored to be involved in amorous affairs.
Duke Huebald of Carcassonne: Familar? That's because he's the Duke we met in DL. He's older in canon. Described as stoic, never been known to laugh, he's small, wiry and fast rather than powerful. One of the most powerful leaders of men in Bretonnia and willing to engage in "unsavory" tactics like ambushes and feints against monstrous opponents like Orcs, justifying that they wouldn't show honor to them so why should the Bretonnians?
King Louen Leouncouer of Couronne: Grail Knight, King and Duke. "King Louen frequently takes the field with his troops, and when he does so, he rides a hippogriff, striking fear into his enemies. His prowess in battle is such that even those who meet him dismounted are prone to running away, and the King's presence on the battlefield seems to grant Bretonnians greater courage.
Away from war, he is renowned as a just monarch. He will not allow the letter of the law to cloak abuses of its spirit, and even the lowliest noble can seek a personal audience. The King has issued a decree that none are to suffer for what they say during such an audience, and he enforces it. Whenever the King gets involved, justice is done.
The only regret most Bretonnians have is that their King is still only one man."
Also notable in Couronne is Earl Adalbert, the Marquis of the Marches, who plans to become a Baron and expand his reach into Marienburg and conquer it for himself.
Duke Hagen of Gisoreux: Uptight Grail Knight who really holds close to the virtues of Knighthood. He is never mindful of the consequences and is very rigid in his worldview, and acts as a close companion and advisor to Louen, who is more politically savvy and realises following Hagen's advice could be disastrous. They're keeping a close eye on each other, and Hagen's uptightness is getting on the nerve of the Northern Gisorens who don't find it flattering to have their Duke moving closer to them and harping on their traditions for being improper.
Duke Adalhard of Lyonesse: He's simple, so let me quote the book: "Duke Adalhard appears to be a simple man. He excels on the battlefield and, whilst off it, enjoys feasting, gambling, and the other entertainments of warriors. Some observers of his style have suggested that his true loyalty is to Ulric, not the Lady of the Lake, and blame it on the Norscan blood found in northern Lyonesse. The Duke keeps himself aloof from the politics of his dukedom as far as possible.
If a conflict spreads to the point that he can't ignore it, he typically takes his forces in, crushes all parties, seizes their lands, and declares a resolution. This has been effective every time he has done it, so the nobility now try to keep their scheming from drawing the attention of their lord."
Duke Folcard of Montfort: An excellent warrior who doesn't fight on horseback because of Montfort's mountainous terrain. Actually cares about peasants and personally arrives to relieve them of threats, then sets up a temporary court to address any injustices in the area. Most beloved knight in the Kingdom by peasans.
Duke Cassyon of Parravon: Youngest of the Dukes in his early twenties. Despite that, he's a Grail Knight who rides a Royal Pegasus and is exceptionally good in combat. A Shonen Protagonist. His advisors find it impossible to dislike him because he is so open and enthusiastic, holding no malice to anyone, but he thinks every problem can be solved by flying up to it and smashing it. He's very good at that, but not at anything else.
Duke Tancred II of Quenelles: A very old Grail Knight, experienced and powerful. Fought and defeated Heinrich Kemmler in La Maisontaal Abbey in 2491 IC (hasn't happened yet). All his sons are dead except for one who has disappeared on a Grail quest for a long time now. Feeling his mortality. Quenelles looks to be facing a succession crisis as a result.
Duke Armand of Aquitaine: Grail Knight and former Battle Standard Bearer of Bretonnia, he was appointed Duke of Aquitaine after his brother the Duke passed away. He never expected to inherit, so he set out on the quest. Excellent combatant. Spends most of his time going from place to place to deal with the many feuds of his Dukedom, which he does well on, but he doesn't understand the meaning of delegation. He does everything himself and every time he solves a problem two more pop up. Prefers to have something to hit.
Duke Chilfroy of Artois: Large and scary man, powerful warrior (you're seeing a pattern aren't you?). Grim and never smiles unless he's seeing his enemies crushed before him. Doesn't care for politics and spends all his time hunting monsters and Beastmen. As the book says "The Duke is most active here, hunting down Beastmen and occasionally riding to the rescue of a besieged settlement. Even more occasionally, he arrives in time to do more than scare off carrion crows." Earl Larret is the real power in Artois, having total control over the more populous Eastern Artois and involving himself in politics. He plans and plots to at least get a Barony, but possibly attain Dukehood, although that would require evidence that Chilfroy was consorting with the Ruinous Powers. He doesn't mind it being improved evidence.
Duke Bohemond of Bastonne: Grail Knight, powerful warrior (again? This is getting old), specialised in fighting monsters and is known as "Beastslayer". Utterly loyal to Louen, but well... "Indeed, he delegates the whole business of administering his dukedom to his steward and justice to his justiciar. Alas, he is not a very good judge of character, and finds himself replacing these men with distressing frequency."
Duke Alberic of Bordelaux: Highly disciplined with absurdly high standards, which results in him having the smallest retinue in the Kingdom, albeit a very good one. Desperately wants to seek the Grail but weighed down by his responsibilities, never having the chance to go on the Quest before he became a Duke. Looking for a competent steward to run his Dukedom while he goes Questing (his high standards probably obstruct him here, he's getting old).
Duke Thoderic of Brionne: Giant of a man, powerful and a terror on the battlefield. Also loves poetry, music and is a bit of a minstrel himself. Always leads from the front and always comes back wounded. Rumored to be involved in amorous affairs.
Duke Huebald of Carcassonne: Familar? That's because he's the Duke we met in DL. He's older in canon. Described as stoic, never been known to laugh, he's small, wiry and fast rather than powerful. One of the most powerful leaders of men in Bretonnia and willing to engage in "unsavory" tactics like ambushes and feints against monstrous opponents like Orcs, justifying that they wouldn't show honor to them so why should the Bretonnians?
King Louen Leouncouer of Couronne: Grail Knight, King and Duke. "King Louen frequently takes the field with his troops, and when he does so, he rides a hippogriff, striking fear into his enemies. His prowess in battle is such that even those who meet him dismounted are prone to running away, and the King's presence on the battlefield seems to grant Bretonnians greater courage.
Away from war, he is renowned as a just monarch. He will not allow the letter of the law to cloak abuses of its spirit, and even the lowliest noble can seek a personal audience. The King has issued a decree that none are to suffer for what they say during such an audience, and he enforces it. Whenever the King gets involved, justice is done.
The only regret most Bretonnians have is that their King is still only one man."
Also notable in Couronne is Earl Adalbert, the Marquis of the Marches, who plans to become a Baron and expand his reach into Marienburg and conquer it for himself.
Duke Hagen of Gisoreux: Uptight Grail Knight who really holds close to the virtues of Knighthood. He is never mindful of the consequences and is very rigid in his worldview, and acts as a close companion and advisor to Louen, who is more politically savvy and realises following Hagen's advice could be disastrous. They're keeping a close eye on each other, and Hagen's uptightness is getting on the nerve of the Northern Gisorens who don't find it flattering to have their Duke moving closer to them and harping on their traditions for being improper.
Duke Adalhard of Lyonesse: He's simple, so let me quote the book: "Duke Adalhard appears to be a simple man. He excels on the battlefield and, whilst off it, enjoys feasting, gambling, and the other entertainments of warriors. Some observers of his style have suggested that his true loyalty is to Ulric, not the Lady of the Lake, and blame it on the Norscan blood found in northern Lyonesse. The Duke keeps himself aloof from the politics of his dukedom as far as possible.
If a conflict spreads to the point that he can't ignore it, he typically takes his forces in, crushes all parties, seizes their lands, and declares a resolution. This has been effective every time he has done it, so the nobility now try to keep their scheming from drawing the attention of their lord."
Duke Folcard of Montfort: An excellent warrior who doesn't fight on horseback because of Montfort's mountainous terrain. Actually cares about peasants and personally arrives to relieve them of threats, then sets up a temporary court to address any injustices in the area. Most beloved knight in the Kingdom by peasans.
Duke Cassyon of Parravon: Youngest of the Dukes in his early twenties. Despite that, he's a Grail Knight who rides a Royal Pegasus and is exceptionally good in combat. A Shonen Protagonist. His advisors find it impossible to dislike him because he is so open and enthusiastic, holding no malice to anyone, but he thinks every problem can be solved by flying up to it and smashing it. He's very good at that, but not at anything else.
Duke Tancred II of Quenelles: A very old Grail Knight, experienced and powerful. Fought and defeated Heinrich Kemmler in La Maisontaal Abbey in 2491 IC (hasn't happened yet). All his sons are dead except for one who has disappeared on a Grail quest for a long time now. Feeling his mortality. Quenelles looks to be facing a succession crisis as a result.
I don't think any source did say explicitly that they don't that I've seen.
I'm not sure what he did do. However in terms of impact, he'd make a lot more difference by helping unify a disunited nation and train an army of wizards where there wasn't one before compared to simply mobilising an existing one. THe total forces of order available from a potential Bretonnia plus Teclis assisted Empire are much greater than just a Teclis assisted Bretonnia, if things became desperate. And letting Chaos have the resources of the Empire probably wouldn't be a great shout either. Much better to try to preserve the Empire and Kislev for the future.
Bretonnia may also, by its geography, be an awful lot more decentralised than the Empire. It's strength is spread thinly in castles distributed across the Bretonnian plains, while the Empire's population and military force is more concentrated in its towns and cities. Bretonnia may have an awful lot of strength, possibly equal or even greater than the Empire if it as possible to gather it in one place, but it's strongly decentralised feudal model means that you can't do that, as its knights and their retinues are spread out in penny packets holding the vast amounts of land their population is distributed over. Their expeditionary strength that they can mobilise to go on campaign anywhere that's not each Knights' own backyard might be much smaller than the Empire with its regiments of state troops and knightly orders.onse to a request for help
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I mean if they could not gather comparable strength against Chaos how are they stronger than the Empire?
Because there are multiple kinds of strength. They may, for example, be stronger on the defence because they've a defended castle every twenty leauges but less able to send out expeditionary forces to Kislev capable of fighting chaos. At the time of the Great War on Chaos, Bretonnia may also have been recovering from and digesting the gains of the Errantry War declared a century earlier than pushed the greenskins out of the Bretonnian mountains, given the evidence we have that they can last for nearly a century. The expeditionary strength of Bretonnia then and Bretonnia now may be quite different.
Also, Teclis went to the Old World in response to an emissary from Magnus asking the high elves to help save the Empire and him agreeing to do so. Bretonnia didn't ask so didn't get help sent. If Bretonnia had also begged for help we don't know which he'd have chosen in canon, but as they didn't, he'd have had to rock up uninvited and hope they put him in charge.
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Bretonnia produces armies in that it can scrounge up large numbers of heavily armed people.
What they lack is disciplined professional army of comprised of not individual champions seeking glorious melee.
SuperSonicSound
Shadowmancer of the Shadow Cabal
The only other source is table top where no multi wind castors exist even for the high elves, which is pretty clearly a gameplay abstraction.
Why would be want to be in charge? As for the geography surely it would take less time to gather up the armies of an at peace Bretonia and get them moving then to train hedge mages up to battle magic .
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I alluded to this when I was talking about high medieval tropes, like the Crusades being a great way to absorb excess sons. However, Bretonnia should have the opposite problem, is my point: unlike medieval nobility in real life, the point of Bretonnian nobility is that every single lord has done a stint as a Knight Errant. You can't exercise political authority without being a Knight of the Realm -- it's a legal requirement to be a landholder. So where are they getting enough Knights to do this from, when being a Knight is a dangerous profession and Bretonnia regularly has sufficient surplus Knights Errant to send off in Errantry Wars a la the historical Crusades? Polygyny among Bretonnian Knights isn't sufficient IMO, because the individual incentives to reproduce heavily aren't great; training and outfitting an elite warrior is expensive, and if you're a Knight of the Realm without a large estate (i.e. what the vast majority of Knights of the Realm ought to be), where are you getting the resources to deck out multiple sons in panoply and keep them in horses (not to mention maybe dowering your daughters, though I'm unsure if Bretonnian marital economics have ever been specified)? You can get around this by having someone enforcing mandates of reproduction because it's in society's interest for the nobility's size to keep pace with general population growth even if individual interests to have a lot of children is low, but you can group that in under "Lady-enforced eugenics" from my previous post. When enforced by strictly mundane means, these mandates don't work well -- Rome had its marriage laws to require a certain amount of children per citizen, because the citizenry was falling in number, which were wildly unpopular, for instance -- so it would have to be an outright divine commandment with some level of enforcement attached to it.
Your point about the historical French actually supports my point, because under French law all children of a noble were themselves noble, regardless of whether their father was a landholder or not, allowing for the growth of an unpropertied class of nobility that needed to be dealt with (by e.g. sending them off to wars), and furthermore hereditary nobility could be acquired through service to the crown, either in a single lifetime or amortized over two generations, and even purchased by non-noble landholders. So, you see, the historical French issue of the nobility getting too big was a direct result of them having extremely permissive laws about "who is a noble," and is not an inevitability among countries with noble estates -- England and the Holy Roman Empire solved this with a two-tiered system, the gentry/peerage in England and the niederer adel/hochadel in the HRE, conferring the full privileges of nobility only on the latter, but Bretonnia does not seem to have such a system. They are far, far more similar to Sparta in the laws surrounding their nobility than to medieval France, and as such they should be having the sorts of problems Sparta faced, not the sorts of problems the French faced.
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Paying for noble (or maybe even 'noble') sons whose parents don't have the money to get their knightly gear is almost certainly regarded as a suitable show of piety, if not an outright feudal obligation when it comes to the liege of a landless knight. And its where future landless knights of the realm come from, so a necessary expense.
And the Lady already has to enforce so many things about this society that a little extra is hardly a problem. Plus Damsels can use Ghyran, so when one of them shows up at your wedding and blesses you to have a lot of kids nothing stops them from putting some extra oomph behind it.
And the Lady already has to enforce so many things about this society that a little extra is hardly a problem. Plus Damsels can use Ghyran, so when one of them shows up at your wedding and blesses you to have a lot of kids nothing stops them from putting some extra oomph behind it.
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Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
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For the point about the cost of outfitting each Knight Errant in their panoplies and mounts, one element ought to be considered which technically exists outside of Bretonnia's feudal order; the merchants. You see, by the letter of the law in Bretonnia's tax code, peasants owe their lord nine-tenths of all that they produce as tax. But merchants, due to practicing a trade where goods and money are only ever exchanged, technically produce nothing and are thus exempt from taxation. Of course, the letter and spirit of the law are very different things, but Bretonnian merchants are very keen on ensuring this state of affairs persists.
So, the merchants of Bretonnia have devised an informal system of commissioning very fine and expensive gifts for the lords of the lands where they practice their trade. Gifts which said lords can very handily sell forward as luxury goods in exchange for hard currency, which their own regular taxes from peasants are not as good for; after all, selling off the surplus grain or livestock from this year could very well mean a revolt or even starvation if the next year's harvest is poor or a blight ravages the herds.
So, for the hypothetical scenario in which a Bretonnian Knight of the Realm does not have the means to give unto each of his sons the panoply needed to begin their Errantry, the local circle of associate merchants (guilds are not permitted, you see) might consider collectively pooling together their excess funds and gifting to him a set of fine horses and suits of mail armour, in exchange for a solid two or three years, or perhaps even up to a generation of going untaxed again.
So, the merchants of Bretonnia have devised an informal system of commissioning very fine and expensive gifts for the lords of the lands where they practice their trade. Gifts which said lords can very handily sell forward as luxury goods in exchange for hard currency, which their own regular taxes from peasants are not as good for; after all, selling off the surplus grain or livestock from this year could very well mean a revolt or even starvation if the next year's harvest is poor or a blight ravages the herds.
So, for the hypothetical scenario in which a Bretonnian Knight of the Realm does not have the means to give unto each of his sons the panoply needed to begin their Errantry, the local circle of associate merchants (guilds are not permitted, you see) might consider collectively pooling together their excess funds and gifting to him a set of fine horses and suits of mail armour, in exchange for a solid two or three years, or perhaps even up to a generation of going untaxed again.
I've been searching the thread for any further hints about Halétha - I'm pretty sure there aren't any that haven't already been discussed - and I came across her mention in Mathilde's promotion to Lady Magister. To those that don't remember, this is what our Patriarch and fellow LMs had to say about the space the Grey College inhabits:
We know that the Aethyr gives form to ideas and beliefs, and the idea of boundaries in general certainly has mystical and symbolic significance in the minds of mortals: in that sense the existence of such a place is simply a novel application of existing principles, as Melkoth says. But it is also the border between the Aethyr and reality, as Algard suggests, and the border between life and death, as Starke suggests, and the border between civilization and wilderness that the Hedgewise call the Hedge. It is the border, and so it either is, or in some sense contains, all other borders. And of course it is Ulgu that allows mortals to access it and Ulgu that draws power from it for its spells, since Ulgu is among other things the wind of boundaries.
So far so good, but what does any of this have to do with Halétha? According to Kupfer, the forest of shadows has some connection to that space, and Halétha somehow gave access to it to those who are opposed to it. I don't have any idea what that could mean, but since I assume that literally every other theory given to Mathilde is in some sense true, I have to imagine that Kupfer knows what he is talking about. If I'm right, this means that Halétha has as part of her domain some power over the metaphorical concept of boundaries. So Halétha is a goddess of a place which has shadows in its name, and is related to the Hedge and the place that the grey college is in, both of which are related to boundaries. Shadows and boundaries - just add confusion and mists and you have all the major themes of Ulgu. So Halétha is, if not quite a Goddess of Ulgu, at least a Goddess that has a strong connection to Ulgu, like Morr has with Shyish. Having her in our corner could be quite useful.
Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just trying to hype myself up about Halétha. You know, in order to make the moment we find out Ranald's daughter is the minor goddess of carpentry all the more painful.
So, obviously, I'm interested in the relation of this space to Halétha and the Hedgewise that Kupfer and Kurtis suggest, but beyond that I've been thinking about what this plane might be. I haven't read all the comments that were posted after that update so maybe this idea already came up, but I think that the answer to the question 'which of the LM is right' is 'all of them'. My idea is that this plane is the boundary - not a boundary, but the boundary, the platonic ideal of boundary.
We know that the Aethyr gives form to ideas and beliefs, and the idea of boundaries in general certainly has mystical and symbolic significance in the minds of mortals: in that sense the existence of such a place is simply a novel application of existing principles, as Melkoth says. But it is also the border between the Aethyr and reality, as Algard suggests, and the border between life and death, as Starke suggests, and the border between civilization and wilderness that the Hedgewise call the Hedge. It is the border, and so it either is, or in some sense contains, all other borders. And of course it is Ulgu that allows mortals to access it and Ulgu that draws power from it for its spells, since Ulgu is among other things the wind of boundaries.
So far so good, but what does any of this have to do with Halétha? According to Kupfer, the forest of shadows has some connection to that space, and Halétha somehow gave access to it to those who are opposed to it. I don't have any idea what that could mean, but since I assume that literally every other theory given to Mathilde is in some sense true, I have to imagine that Kupfer knows what he is talking about. If I'm right, this means that Halétha has as part of her domain some power over the metaphorical concept of boundaries. So Halétha is a goddess of a place which has shadows in its name, and is related to the Hedge and the place that the grey college is in, both of which are related to boundaries. Shadows and boundaries - just add confusion and mists and you have all the major themes of Ulgu. So Halétha is, if not quite a Goddess of Ulgu, at least a Goddess that has a strong connection to Ulgu, like Morr has with Shyish. Having her in our corner could be quite useful.
Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just trying to hype myself up about Halétha. You know, in order to make the moment we find out Ranald's daughter is the minor goddess of carpentry all the more painful.
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So, every one is a great warrior, some of them are good judges, at least one is a decent politician.
Not a single one of them is known for administrative skills or greater involvement with the details of rulership. Certainly no innovators among them.
Several of them explicitly leave all the day-to-day work to stewards.
I do not get the impression that Brettonia is a terribly well-run country, even if there is not an ounce of actual malicious intent in the matter.