I think part of the problem we haven't seen what the benefits of this situational ability to more easily requisition manpower, is that so far, we haven't really tried to see what dropping College Favor to get people in your project can really do for Mathilde, aside from the Tower of Gazul which is an upper end-use case banked rolled by Belegar. But I do think that there is a very real possibility that even something as simple as hiring a Research Assistant/Lab Tech/Personal Assistant from a Prepetual in the Grey College can go a very long way in improving Mathilde's capabilities to do more with her time, which at the end of the day, is what AP hell really is. There is a very good reason why influential people with many responsibilities hire personal assistants, and I get the feeling Mathilde is reaching the point where a PA/RA to handle the various lower level time-consuming (preparing experimental material, cleaning up after experiments, running down to the publishers, passing messengers, getting testers off the streets, sorting and filtering Correspondance, searching for relevant literature, sending and collecting publications from the printers, helping with sundry domestic tasks in a large home, the list goes on) aspects of some of her actions can have some impact on AP Hell, which at the end of the day simply is an abstraction of Mathilde's limited woman-hours.
I think the only question, is the favor exchange rate actually worth it, for the benefits it might bring to Mathilde's time constraints? For example, if Mathilde wants to save the coins, would the manhours saved on her research project help Mathilde carve out the time to take a look at the coins from her AP Hell? Because to be honest, if the effective exchange is 4 College Favors to carve out that one AP needed to save the coins without having to sacrifice on too many actions Mathilde wants to do, that expenditure might be really worth it.
Naw, thing with spending Favor getting help with projects is mostly that Mathilde usually works in fields where:
-Information security is maximum. She can't get help because she's doing things which are kind of secret and/or illegal. Borderline or otherwise
--E.g. anything working with Skaven requires read in operatives, any multiwind hijinks should be after she can be sure there won't be Dhar production, etc. AV research at its current juncture is pending Mathilde finishing testing on accidental Dhar production and conducting...if not heretical(because Ranald is a pretty cool guy about that stuff), then ill advised to announce research in poking it with divine power.
-
Mathilde is the current leading expert in the field, and the field is about one wizard deep because its groundbreaking research. She can't get help because she's the expert.
-Mathilde has not done enough research to know who she wants to bring into the project yet.
--Early AV research, where it was just Strange Liquid.
-The research isn't worth the moo yet, or she has someone usable on hand already so she doesn't need to splurge.
I'd note we frequently and readily spend favors on getting help when the above conditions are cleared, and when getting help is part of the option itself.
Knowing them they'll just immediately unleash a Zombie Apocalypse in the Under Empire and wipe themselves out.
I mean, just look at Skryre, they already accidentally unleashed a zombie apocalypse...right there...in the vault.
...
did they find a Book of Nagash and the Skaven in question reanimated the dead and silenced his fellows before running for it?
So, as a general question. How do people feel about our constantly increasing wealth?
More specifically, how do we feel about the Vow of Poverty we took?
Because I'm becoming more and more uncomfortable with how we are dealing with our vow and our relationship with wealth.
Vows are forever and they are made in both the spirit and the letter of said vows. This is generally how I consider them. If you are not willing to stick to it forever, don't make them. If you change your mind, take steps to disavow yourself.
But there must certainly be other opinions floating around. Considering the boat-plan. Or how some voters talk about wealth. Or how it is considered inevitable that we are called to the Bursar again. Is it not our goal to avoid being called to the Bursar?
In my mind, our intentions with the money don't really matter. Give it to someone who'll do the same with it that you trust. Or give it all the the College. There is very little reason in my mind why we should have money in the first place.
Thoughts?
There is
no problem, whether in letter or in spirit of the Vow.
It keeps coming up because players have difficulty understanding a Vow which is MEANT to be skirted, with big obvious loopholes.
The spirit of the vow simply rules out accumulation of wealth in her position as a private citizen of the Empire. This is to ensure that her wealth is associated with an organization and thus gained through the lawful operation of that organization rather than theft and deception.
The letter of the vow makes it clear that you are intended to skirt it, or you wouldn't be able to reliably pay your College dues and taxes in the first place and you wouldn't have standard rates for Grey Wizard hiring which is significantly higher than the taxes for Magisters. Books do not count. Equipment do not count. Employees do not count. Towers do not count. We have a Grey wizard having famous collections of very expensive to build enchanted towers filled with very expensive books as our leader.
Thus far the closest thing to actually infringing on the Vow of Poverty was the dragonbone luxury chair and silk sheets, except we're getting both of those as non-monetary benefits of our lawful employment. We spend basically all our money on our tower, book collection, and research, all of which are spent into the economy of Imperial allies.
The Bursar approved of our wealth acquisition, because almost all of it comes from being a benefit to the Empire and its allies, and because she has checked and when it comes to loot splits and rewards, Mathilde did not once ask for money.
We do not, in fact, have too much money. Our ability to spend it grows exactly as fast as our ability to gain it.
Well, we might end up in a romantic relationship with Johann, which sounds pretty bad to me.
Well, if you're Skryre yes.
Our last date with Johann rocked the world!
There was giant laser dragons and explosions and all.
