"When someone is fitted with suppressors, if it's their decision then it's their decision, and if it's something their parents have forced on them then they can still remove them and come to the Colleges and be accepted. But this is a decision that's normally being made when someone has first channelled and shaped magic. As young as Mandred is, as undeveloped as his magical ability is, fitting him with suppressors would likely completely smother any ability he will ever have to see and touch magic. And I couldn't recommend that for anyone. If I was given a choice between keeping my eyes and keeping my magic I wouldn't even hesitate to choose magic.
"And in all honesty, if he never becomes Emperor, so what? Plenty of people never become Emperor. I'm sure Mandred will grow up to be a wonderful leader, but the Empire would do just fine under Todbringer or Hertwig or Van Hal. Grand Prince Mandred will still have plenty of power and responsibility, and you're right that as a Wizard he could do so much good for the Colleges and for Wizards. In the minds of the masses he could do more simply by existing than people like me could do in a century of good deeds, and he could lay down legal protections that will stop us from being a single document away from being besieged by the Witch Hunters once more.
"You're looking at this as a gamble and then beating yourself up for seeing it as a gamble, but the decisions that led to this have already been made and it's too late to start second-guessing them. The only way to walk away from this hand is to abandon your son. If you don't, then it's your duty as his mother to accept who he is and help him grow into a good person."
Thinking about it, have we ever seen Mathilde be so open about her views with anyone, let alone a non-Wizard? Like, we knew that these are her views and I definitely don't think she was actively hiding them, but this bluntness and complete openness is not usual for her. Even when she's given advise to friends before (Belegar, Ducklings and Panoramia come to mind) she usually used facts, metaphors or examples. For me this shows just how important this situation was to her. It might genuinely have shook loose something deep inside her in that moment.
Mathilde places a lot of value in the wonders of magic, and I can't blame her. It's what pulled her out of what was promised to be a miserable and to her viewpoint, pointless life. Magic is what allowed her to jump up in station and become so powerful and capable of changing the world to a better place. Mandred is in a different situation, being able to make those changes even without magic, but he would still miss out on the wonders of altering the world with his mind and seeing the beautiful colors of the Aethyr, allowing him to unravel the secrets that others can't see. It would be betraying everything Mathilde stands for if she decided to remove that potential from a child who can't make the decision for themselves.
I do hope that his Windsight doesn't end up like the one Barbitus had though. Or another unpleasant one like proprioception.
Altering your viewpoint of the world isn't easy, but it looks like Heidi isn't beating herself up for viewing this as a gamble anymore, which is good.
She's also grown to appreciate or at least respect her husband, no matter the reasons she actually married him.
I also find it interesting that for such a straightforward, no nonsense grounded society, Dwarven culture has a great deal of unspoken understandings and subtlities that are dense and impenetrable to someone from the outside.
I think a big part of the subtleties are about taking the rigid, straight-forward and "obviously correct" traditions and altering them into something that's actually livable without sacrificing emotional health too much. At the same time that very act nags at their conscience, until the subtle workarounds are themselves old traditions they can settle on and enjoy.
Dwarves are such precious people. I really hope we made a lasting difference in their long term trajectory.
A bit wasteful of the jewels but I suppose he has to make a point.
How are they wasteful? What good are jewels for, other than ornament? And in this case they are ornaments on a useful tool that Edda might well use in public often enough.
I am kind of curious what is wrong with Klinkarhun numerals. The Dwarves having a crap numerical system for math is really not what I expected.
[X] The Cult of Myrmidia about whether Dwarven War Yodelling would fall under Myrmidia's authority
I am curious.
I don't remember if you already voted before this. So I'll remind you that only your latest post with any votes in it counts.
Far off in Laurelorn, Johann sneezes.
You don't think he came along to the wedding? So many people that he would personally know. Like the Ducklings for instance. And the Karag Nar notables. And maybe a few of his friends from the Cult of Grungni and the Order of the Pick. Also I think he still lives in Karag Nar, where his Wolfrats feel at home and can run around with Wolf, Skufit and the Halfling children.
And now my mind is thinking how we never visited Max or Johann in their own homes.
We went on Zeroth Dates with all six options. Date 0 with Roswita was helping her prep an anti-Vampire paper for presentation and then attending the presentation itself. It was cute nerdy fun, but didn't seem to grab people.
Thanks. I remember now.
Pure write-in votes always stress me out, so I can only imagine how hard they are to QM. I wish Boney luck in not going insane from the tally when all is said and done.
Especially since this time there might be quite a few edge cases where multiple people vote to approach the same faction, but want just slightly different things from them.
