Turning your mind to the future as you board the Gyrocarriage once more, you're very aware that it has been two years since you began pursuing the Waystone Project, and though you're quite proud of having managed to bring in quite a diverse group of contributors, on paper you have nothing to show for it.
It's been a year and a half, hasn't it? Or are you counting T34 because we had decided to pursue Waystones, even though we weren't in Laurelorn and officially started yet?
If you dig through the thread you can find me loudly advocating for a shadow HQ at least twice so I won't go through the whole thing again, especially as others have made good points already. But I want to add that both the auditors and checking the Eonir for trade possibilites are yet more EIC actions that are all about the economic company that is the EIC, and while they may be wise or prudent they are also mind numbingly boring. This isn't the hill I'm going to die on and I'm absolutely going to approval vote for plans that differ only on the EIC action, but yeah, I would much rather finally turn our intelligence network into an actual spy network than play tycoon simulator again.
To me, the chief attraction of the trade possibilities isn't economic, it's diplomatic: if it turns out trade is viable with the Eonir because they want something from the Empire badly enough that the logistical hurdles can be dealt with, that's good for binding them closer to the Empire and averting crises with their neighbors.
I'd also point out that giving the Hochlander an HQ isn't going to turn us into a spy network. We
are a spy network. Our infiltration of Talabecland administration was very useful during our Trouble in Talabheim adventure, for example. The main hurdle between us and doing spy shit is having targets that we both
want to and
are capable of spying on. The main issue, as I see it, is that we, of our own free volition, chose to pursue a project up in the corner of the Empire from where the EIC has actual reach, which means that our ability to insert agents is sharply limited. Will making an HQ give us more capabilities for spying? I dunno, and I don't think Boney would be forthcoming.
I once again ask to remember that we need to take teaching classes soon.
We've got some time:
It's not based on her age, it's based on the development of her ability to wield Ulgu and to keep from wielding other Winds. If she's an average student, she should be graduating from Junior Apprentice around turn 40.
Regarding AV enchanting: I think it might have potential for Windherding, but consequently I'd like us to Windherd successfully enough for us to know what we're doing before we take that action. Powerstone + AV, on the other hand:
Mathilde's hypothesis there is the absolute bare minimum of what could possibly happen from banging one incredibly powerful metastable form of solidified Winds into a completely different incredibly powerful metastable form of solidified Winds. If that's the only thing that occurs then all you could make out of it is an automated Wind separator, in the same way that if the only thing that happened if you smacked one atom of uranium 235 into another atom of uranium 235 was that they moved, you could only use it to play a very small game of snooker.
Seems like it has a lot of dramatic potential
immediately without the need for other actions, and I really think we should make it a priority.
I've also noticed that one of the plans has "Fatherless" in it, so I feel obligated to post this now that it's relevant:
What is this a reference to? I am old and out of this and other loops.
