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Getting what you paid for is a neutral response.
But we didn't "pay" for the long term commitment of a (Lady) Magister with the Colleges. We mostly paid the equivalent of cost, without extra profit added on top. Or do you think that if we were a Damsel and had asked for these College Wizards we'd have gotten them for anywhere near as cheap? Or if Mathilde's project had been one of strictly personal interest.
Risks: Religious and political strife, neither the Ulricans nor Middleland would take it well and if they could prove it the Karaz Ankor would be spitting mad. To be honest I think Belegar might try to raise Norland to the ground if they could be proven to have assassinated Mathilde
Not if Nordland pays the standard fee of two heads. That of the EC and that of the assassin.
Runesmiths
No... just no, they would not know where to start hiring assassins if they wanted to which they do not
I'm actually curious. How would the Cult of Thungni go about having someone killed who is in a foreign polity if they can't convince any of the Kings to do it for them?
He purses his lips in thought. "And maybe have the letters informing their Magisters Patriarch left on their respective desks, rather than sent directly to wherever they are right now.
The Golds have a stockpile of the stuff from having absorbed all the pre-Teclisean alchemists,
Nice!
You smile, and begin to tell him about what you learned about Kislev's Waystones.
I don't know why this line makes me as happy as it does.

After carefully negotiating the web of Guilds and oaths involved in getting a human taught as a Gyrocopter pilot, with some relief you shut yourself away from all of that.
Is Adela allowed to eventually teach the stuff she learns to her own Apprentice, provided said Apprentice swears the right oaths?

the creation of entirely new Orbs of Sorcery.
This is massive!

Also, does it make sense to posit that the Power Stones in Teclis' sword should be growing whenever he kills a Daemon with it? Does he change them for new ones whenever that happens?
- Tragically you can only pick one, though some of these options will be available with minor modifications if/when you recruit a team of scribes for the Library.
That truly is tragic, because personally I envisioned a staff that's as multicultural as possible. Not because I want some best of all worlds min-max compromise option, but because multiculturalism is a virtue in its own right and one I envisioned the Library aspiring towards.

Which option, if any, would get closest to that ideal?
My first instinct would be "Locals", but for some reason the Halflings are explicitly a separate option from that, which I don't quite get, seeing how they too are locals.

The We would work much better in tandem with any one additional option. Their main drawback is that they can't individually speak and that they come completely untrained, both of those would be massively mitigated with a second partner.

Cython might end up as the multicultural option, because we have no idea who he would hire as assistants. But he might also just go the lazy way and choose a single source.
 
Meant to ask, actually, how big of a deal is this? The Orbs are irreplaceable, I get that, but how much oomph can you get out of one? Would Mathilde even need to stop at the size of Teclis' versions? How much more practical oomph could Mathilde make with this?
They're used to power the Battle Altars like the Celestial Hurricanum and Luminark of Hysh, and they're also used in the College's defence and vaults. They're pretty damn valuable.
 
I kinda view the We's unusualness as a good thing, honestly.

As someone who struggles to fit into society's norms myself, I hate it when not doing so makes you an outcast, something who is not permitted to participate.

I would love to push back against that fundamental mindset of "this is strange and not in my scope of comprehension, therefore it must be feared and kept away".

Seeing as that's also the mindset that led to Mathilde nearly being burnt as a witch when she was young, I don't think this reasoning would be out of character for her.
 
And then there's the Dwarven equivalent: the Runescribes Guild. A staff drawn from them would be one where the proper organization and maintenance of the books within are guaranteed, as you've seen for yourself that a properly maintained Dwarven library can withstand the ravages of any amount of time.
I'm not seeing a lot of discussion of this option. What do you think the drawbacks and benefits of this are? From the description it seems that a staff of Runescribes will be the best option for the purpose of maintaining our books, but on the other hand...actually I'm not sure what the drawbacks are? Someone roast this option for me please
 
Is Adela allowed to eventually teach the stuff she learns to her own Apprentice, provided said Apprentice swears the right oaths?

Yes.

Also, does it make sense to posit that the Power Stones in Teclis' sword should be growing whenever he kills a Daemon with it? Does he change them for new ones whenever that happens?

The time it takes for a Daemon's corpse to start disintegrating varies based on ambient magical energy. It might be a problem if he made a habit of not wiping his sword down after battles and let Daemon blood disintegrate on the stones.

Which option, if any, would get closest to that ideal?
My first instinct would be "Locals", but for some reason the Halflings are explicitly a separate option from that, which I don't quite get, seeing how they too are locals.

Locals. It includes Halflings, it's just not exclusively Halflings.
 
I kinda view the We's unusualness as a good thing, honestly.

As someone who struggles to fit into society's norms myself, I hate it when not doing so makes you an outcast, something who is not permitted to participate.

I would love to push back against that fundamental mindset of "this is strange and not in my scope of comprehension, therefore it must be feared and kept away".

Seeing as that's also the mindset that led to Mathilde nearly being burnt as a witch when she was young, I don't think this reasoning would be out of character for her.
But the We aren't humans. They aren't outcasts from society - they live in a seperate society that fits their needs. Would they even want to be librarians? Would it be good for them?
 
I'm leaning heavily towards the We, spider librarians sounds pretty awesome, not even mentioning myriad advantages of having telepathic spiders that can increase their numbers as they please.
 
I'm not seeing a lot of discussion of this option. What do you think the drawbacks and benefits of this are? From the description it seems that a staff of Runescribes will be the best option for the purpose of maintaining our books, but on the other hand...actually I'm not sure what the drawbacks are? Someone roast this option for me please
Well, they're Dwarfs, so there's the usual caveats- fastidious to point of absurdity, and they'd presumably be available in smaller numbers than other options.
 
I just thought of something spider related that isn't library exclusive. If the We work in the way I think they do at least. We security cameras.
 
But the We aren't humans. They aren't outcasts from society - they live in a seperate society that fits their needs. Would they even want to be librarians? Would it be good for them?
Considering how much they seem to like learning, yes I'm pretty sure they would like being librarians.

Also Mathilde is entirely in favour of normalising Magic and the strange, I don't see why she wouldn't like the idea of getting more people used to the We and having word about them spread.

It could lead to other colonies being recognised as what they are and not attacked on sight by scared people who assume them to be monsters.
 
[ ] Collegiate
Will be a boon to any magical research, and will allow the Library become a seamless part of the larger Collegiate ecosystem.

[ ] Orphans
Will ensure staff that is fanatically loyal to you.

[ ] The We
Spider Librarians.

I am somewhat leaning towards spiders.
In part because i find the idea funny.
But also in part because once The We learns how to be a librarian, they will be a librarian basicly forever, so there will be basicly no loss of institutional knowledge and only minimal drift in policy based on changing circumstances instead of people wanting to leave their mark or somesuch.
 
Mathilde now : "Boss, turns out you can move multiple winds safely if you use Dhar. Please let me research this dark magic."

Mathilde soon : "Boss, I just made Orbs of Sorcery for Winds I can't touch. I refuse to say how I managed it."

Lady Magisters are trusted, right?
 
Considering how much they seem to like learning, yes I'm pretty sure they would like being librarians.

Also Mathilde is entirely in favour of normalising Magic and the strange, I don't see why she wouldn't like the idea of getting more people used to the We and having word about them spread.

It could lead to other colonies being recognised as what they are and not attacked on sight by scared people who assume them to be monsters.
I wasn't suggesting that Mathilde wouldn't want to normalize the We - I was suggesting the We might not want to integarte into a society that's radically different from their own. Yes, they've expressed interest in other civilizations, that doesn't that they want to completely abandon their way of life in favour of doing something that our society thinks of as 'better'.

Since the We is a voting option I don't actually think Boney is going to turn around and say "no actually the We don't want to go back to the vote", but I'm not getting the warm fuzzies that others seem to get from this option.
 
Orphans have the same fundamental problem as the We. They are going to need a lot of time, and a lot of training, before they can be librarians.

And if we want them to be loyal to us, that means that it will take a lot of Mathilde's personal actions to do that training.

I'd rather just go with an established group.
Mathilde got plenty of friends nearby that they can train them for her, far easier to train than the We plus they would get along with the locals the more they interact.
Don't forget we have plenty of money to hire people to train them if needed.
 
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I wasn't suggesting that Mathilde wouldn't want to normalize the We - I was suggesting the We might not want to integarte into a society that's radically different from their own. Yes, they've expressed interest in other civilizations, that doesn't that they want to completely abandon their way of life in favour of doing something that our society thinks of as 'better'.

Since the We is a voting option I don't actually think Boney is going to turn around and say "no actually the We don't want to go back to the vote", but I'm not getting the warm fuzzies that others seem to get from this option.
So you think Boney is going to lock the We into some life of eternal slavery in our library even if they don't want it?
 
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