Spoiler alert, but there's going to be traits coming out of this entire series of events. I'll be presenting you with two lists to choose from: one of internalized lessons for Mathilde to take away from all of this, and one of forms the emotional damage can take. I'm open to suggestions on these, and I invite you to add to them in the lead-up to the turn proper. Mechanical effects of the lessons will be concealed (but often can be easily guessed) and some will have minimal stat effects but will unlock new options for you to explore in the coming years; the same applies to the penalties to the damage.
Examples of internalized lessons:
Artillery is the King of Battle.
Dwarves are the greatest ally of humanity.
The Halflings have proven themselves as a worthy neighbour.
The risks of Dhar are endless - but likewise is the potential.
The dead of Sylvania's prehistory deserve an undisturbed rest.
Examples of damage:
In the confusion of battle, even the greatest warrior can lose their life pointlessly.
The Colleges of Magic act in their own interest, rather than that of the Empire.
Sylvanians will meekly accept any tyrant, to the point of complicity in their actions.
The Empire is a morass of self-interest, to the point of becoming a millstone around the neck of humanity.
The Morrite compunction against mutilating corpses is the greatest gift necromancers could ask for.
I, personally, failed to protect Abelhelm.
Some suggestions:
Internalized lesson:
1. The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved.
Draws on the idea of Mat and Abel not noticing that their forces had stalled out, as well as ambushing the city and downing an old castle with cannon. Some relevance to finding the skeleton tunnel, and the idea what would have happened if they didn't see them coming. Scouts, scouts, invisible scouts?
2. Leadership and morale can change on a dime, on the spin of a coin, a fortunate strike, or a dreadful accident.
When you lose it, armies can stutter, rout and fall, or some subordinate can find themselves rising to the occasion and coming back even harder.
3. Expertise matters. And Stirland has precious little of it. Skill and professionalism makes a lot of difference, but not all of it.
Examples: The Patriarch slapping that spell out of the air, the way the dwarves planned the siege and treat their cannon, as opposed to our own people and
healers.
4. Faith, like luck or magic is a fickle thing.
It can raise up to strike down the unworthy, saving hundreds of lives(Cassamir and Mat working together), but it can also fail you when you need it most. It is something to be hoped and played for, but not counted on.
Damage:
1. It takes but a moment of inattention, to ruin months and years of planing.
Van Hals death, the various miscasts, whatever happened to the Patriarch, not calling for Green Mages.
2.Miscasts can be horrific, not merely lethal. And I have to live it them for the rest of my life.
This would be the emotional argument. It's one thing to hear about, and be warned, quite another to see a certified Magister just suddenly die from it, and take a quarter of the city with them.
3. There is only so much any one person can do.
When swarmed, even Van Hal fell. When the vargheist came, even Asarnil and his Dragon could not stop them all. This plays on the fear of solitude and being other, as a wizard.
4. What use is Sigmar when he won't even protect one who dedicated their entire life to protecting Sigmar's flock? When he abandoned him to die, on the spear of some no name skeleton?
This is somewhat irrational, but entirely within the concept of grief. It's basically blaming Sigmar for Kashmirs failure. Somewhat harder to blame her own god, when Van Hal was not one of his, and it's entirely a god of chance and mischief. But Van Hal spent his whole life in service to the Heldenhammer. This is his thanks for a lifetime of service?
