It really isn't. Ranald option risks it all. Wizard Mandred probably won't be Emperor, but Ranaldian magic-using Mandred might even lose the title of Grand Prince.
What would be the avenue of him losing it other than assassination, palace coup or civil war? Is there a legitimate fear of Luitpold disinheriting his son over this? I guess a Sigmarite popular revolt in Altdorf tacitly supported by Ulricans and Verenans might also be an option.
You could've at least had the Ranaldite priest present do some talking up of her own side of things.
We don't even know if your typical Ranaldite priest would know that that's an option in cases like this. In fact:
Or there's a third path, the same path as his mother walks. He could be taught to wield the divine magic of Ranald, and cement even further the influence that your God will have over the potential future Emperor.
How much does this amount to pure speculation on Mathilde's part? As far as I know she has not yet had anything like concrete evidence for the popular (among the Colleges) theory that Divine Magic overwrites the dangers of untrained magic potential like training in a single Wind would. Even less does she know the dangers involved, when compared to mono-Wind environment training and such.
The thing is, why would we want the Emperor or Elector Count of the Reikland to be a Rnaaldian miracle worker.
Look at the spells. Look at the Divine Marks. None of them particularly seem like things that are sufficiently helpful for a Warhammer ruler to be worth it, and many of them are actively detrimental.
Remember that part of his job will be riding at the front of a battle with a runefang killing enemy champions. Ranaldian miracles are one of the worst options for this. For the actual statecraft bit, Ranaldian magic isn't anywhere near the best either.
The other consideration is that we've seen how much difference that the right equipment can make to a wizard, so with Mathilde's contacts and the Emperor's wealth, Mandred can be given a very significant advantage in that front. As an example, while Kragg may be more difficult to convince; I could see Thorek being willing to make a Dhar burning talisman for the Emperor's son; if he can work out how.
Similarly, it may be possible to get something extreme like an elven archmage as a tutor for him.
If gods has any personal control at all over the magic he gives out to his favored followers then I am quite sure that the canon Divine spell list is an abstraction and/or the most common at-will miracles. When the favored priest is the Emperor (or heir apparent) and trained by the mother-prophet from such a young age then I expect him to get access to a few miracles curated just for him.
The idea of getting him a Dhar-averting item or maybe even an item that repels all Winds but one when equipped is a great one though. Emperor Luitpold should have plenty of Dwarf Favor stored up. And if he doesn't for whatever reason then getting it in one year's time should not be hard for a man in his position. And with Dwarf Favor he can get Kragg if he really asks for it and other Runelords can't hack it.
Getting an Archmage from a foreign polity to be the crown prince's main tutor is politically iffy. And also not guaranteed to be in any way better than getting one from the institutions that have been successfully training Human Wizards for a few centuries now.
she decided it was the best decision for her Godson, she would. She's got beef with Sigmar but wouldn't sabotage Mandred just to spite him.
But "disdain" isn't some kind of flaw she's aware of, like a wart on her nose, is it? She literally disdains Sigmar and his ardent followers. How could she genuinely sell Heidi on the idea that the best thing for the little boy is to worship the disdainful and unreliable deity that everyone in that whole fanatical organization that has so captured the Empire's power structures expects him to worship? And not just worship, but do so fervently enough to become a miracle worker. Mathilde has no idea how much of the popular stubborn fanaticism and hypocrisy that she can't stand is a corruption of the church and how much it reflects Sigmar just as she and Heidi reflect Ranald. For all she knows for Mandred to even be able to channel his magical talent into safe Sigmar-casting he has to become at least temporarily as disagreeable as Kasmir.
Wouldn't that also be the case if he were a wizard? Do Reiklander nobles dislike Ranald more than magic?
Altdorf nobles at least should be influenced by the prevailing opinions on Wizards. And we've already seen them attend a Wizard-hosted party and have fun there. Beyond that we've seen more Empire nobles work together with Wizards amicably than we've seen any of them work together with known Ranaldites amicably. I'd bet that outside of the ones who are fundamentalist believers of the most mainstream religions the reason they don't like the idea of their own Wizard children inheriting is because they are worried about the reaction of their commoner subjects or their local clergy. And the title of Prince of Altdorf is probably the one where this problem is most manageable. Even if it is the seat of the Grand Theogonist.
[X] Wizard
The levels of 'acceptance' necessary are different between the people with all the weapons and the money and those who... don't have those things. The peasants would be risking a hanging if they rebel and they know it so they do not tend to rebel unless they are really pushed into a corner, which this is not.
Religious imperatives and fear of large scale divine punishment can make peasants feel pushed into a corner even when they are no hungrier or at risk of being killed than usual. There's plenty of IRL uprisings triggered by this kind of stuff.
Yes, there's nothing really revolutionary in it, but previously passengers on Dwarven monitors were usually treated like cargo you couldn't stack quite as high. This is a specialized passenger ship that can double as a troop transport if it needs to.
Oh cool! The Dwarves are now actually designing stuff with squishy Human tourists in mind.
Outside of Ostermark, Elector Count is an inherited position, and being a Wizard alone wouldn't be enough to start an outright rebellion or coup in Reikland.
Why have most noble Wizards in history been disinherited to the point of there being no known ones that didn't then? Just fear of the noble house losing the support of a conservative EC liege while also pretty much never having enough military or clout to resist peer pressure or peasant pitchforks on their own?
I am deeply, deeply uncomfortable with the idea of dedicating a 7 year olds soul to a god to the extent that being a priest requires. At least with being a wizard, he gets to loosely choose what type of person he wants to be, but as a priest he will be expected to act as an extension of Ranald's will, not his own person.
You mean like his mom has to?
This means nothing. We barely met the kid. The next child Mathilde interacts with multiple times is the one that will reveal the truth.
I suppose that's that. The Forest of Shadows is probably not evil. Just full of evil shit. Gotta respect the trees for holding out so long despite being a misterable place everybody hates.
Alternatively it is evil, but not mindlessly so. And prefers its own brand of evil over Drycha's, while also having a place in its heart for Vampire-sympathizers and those that unwittingly fight on their side.
I think a better way of thinking about it is that Reikland Electors haven't needed the same level of support from the rest of the Empire because they have the Cult of Sigmar backing them. But even that's just a net +1 vote because the Ulricans and Middenland will reflexively oppose any candidate backed by the Cult of Sigmar. Being tight with the Sigmarities constrains almost as much as it helps.
Besides, this isn't OTL. If you lose the support base from the Cult of Sigmar you just need to build a new one. Reclaim Marrienburg, grant an Electorship to the Colleges, hell, give the Shayallans a vote if you're going to be pissing off the Sigmarities anyway. It's not easy but it's doable, and Heidi is a consummate operative.
Apparently you need a two thirds majority to get elected Emperor. Ten votes, that is.
Also, I'm not sure that Emperors after the Magnus reforms have the power to unilaterally declare new Elector Seats. Else we'd have seen some vote stacking at some point. At least in the days of Dieter IV.
[X] Grugni
Ranald is not well-suited for rulership, so why not go with a divinity that would fit superbly? Human worship of the Ancestor-God is an already existing thing and Sigmar should also be able to vibe with this choice.
It is a bit questionable whether Grugni would have experience with the whole 'Preventing Corruption' thing, but as a god he should be capable of figuring something out.
We're not looking for a patron god for shits and giggles. The whole point is to make Mandred wield miracles instead of Wind magic. Even if it turns out that Ancestor-Gods can and want to give such powers to Humans, who the hell are we going to get that's gonna teach little Mandred how to do that before he accidentally Dhars himself?
There is no honor among thieves, but there is honor among Ranaldites. That is a saying in the Cult of Ranald telling you that betraying your fellow Ranaldites will get you shivved.
I'm not advocating for letting Ranald decide Mandred's fate, but I'm not fond of this rhetoric. Ranald isn't some unthinking addict who will throw every one of his followers into danger for his own amusement. He is Mathilde and Heidi's friend. Even if he won't honor other people, he will honor his friends.
Ranald only has to follow his own strictures as much as Shallya (known for occasional smiting) has to follow hers.
Ranald is far more risky,
@Boney confirmed it. The nobles of Reikland will at least be able to bear a wizard heir, a secret Ranaldite heir on the other hand would likely face rebellion and death if found out. By contrast Nullify is something Mathilde would think of as crippling the kid since she thinks magic is a blessing.
He will most likely be a secret Ranaldite either way if he doesn't either literally get shipped off to the Colleges or has his father taking a more active role in his religious education.
The Windsight necessary to recognize an Annointed's patron while he isn't casting is not a small one. And if Ranald isn't giving his most useful pawn anything akin to our Coin (or at least something at the level of a single Face) then that's his own big screw-up.
And honestly, a Priest of Ranald commiting miracles in plain sight of non-faithful is kind of a bad Priest of Ranald.
To be fair, Mathilde has spoken to what, three Elector Counts? Abelhelm and Roswita were and are more Witch Hunters than traditional Elector Counts and the last was Luitpold, who works with Wizards semi-frequently and theoretically has no accountability.
There's also the EC of Wissenland in Nuln (forgot his name) who wanted to hire her and was willing to have a second "creepy tower" in his city next to the one with the probably scariest Wizard currently in service of the Empire.
If anything Grey magic is good for showmanship and the Grey College has a focus on diplomacy which should help win over hearts and minds;
I don't think that the Grey College's diplomacy focus is directly related to their Wind. And Mandred will have dedicated diplomacy tutors regardless of whatever would usually be the standard curriculum for the Wind he ends up choosing. So long as his Wind doesn't actively make him disinclined to listen to said tutors or give him highly problematic Marks.
