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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Rafin said:
Depending on who else we could have voted to meet, was there any chance that Mathilde wouldn't have noticed? Like if we had chosen three non-supernatural people for instance? Or would that have been too boring and sad of an option after a one in a hundred chance?
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Can you imagine if we had taken her to Kragg?
 
Zero Gravitas said:
Mathilde is senior to all but 7 people in the Grey College. She can just pre-pick an apprentice and then be undisputed unless Algard intervenes because she outranks other claimants.

On the flup side I'm quite sure that there's a lot of competition in that other Lore. Particularly stiff competition due to all the vampires (and Mathilde would be junior to most of them as well).
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I mean, I doubt many of those vampires have as much in-depth knowledge as we do. Given our... unique resources, and all.
BoneyM said:
Eike doesn't speak any Khazalid, it's hard to learn it outside the Karaz Ankor unless you're part of the Cult of Sigmar or attending one of the major educational institutions. Presumably Kazrik translated for her.
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...Hmm. That sounds like something we could fix if she was our apprentice. Assuming she doesn't just learn in the Colleges of course.
BoneyM said:
In 4e, Rhya was given strictures that pretty much say "LGBT people are valid". They're a bit on the nose for me to make them word-for-word quest canon but I like the idea of Rhya being the protector of the queer. It's also an adaptation of the IRL slang 'Friend of Dorothy'.
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I have never heard that slang before. You learn something new every day.
 
Rafin said:
Depending on who else we could have voted to meet, was there any chance that Mathilde wouldn't have noticed? Like if we had chosen three non-supernatural people for instance? Or would that have been too boring and sad of an option after a one in a hundred chance?
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Mathilde was doing a lot of magic around Eike, so she would have noticed something eventually. I'm actually really glad it was just a magesight thing and not a "harry potter at the zoo" moment instead. That could have gone really, really wrong.
 
You know it is all well and good to say 'let Eike decide' but it is worth considering that she is a child and the ward of a grandmother who errs more on the side of control than not. Odds are 'let Eike decide' is more like 'let Wilhelmina decide'
 
DragonParadox said:
You know it is all well and good to say 'let Eike decide' but it is worth considering that she is a child and the ward of a grandmother who errs more on the side of control than not. Odds are 'let Eike decide' is more like 'let Wilhelmina decide'
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Nah, this is for what Mathilde says to Wilhemina. If we say let Eike decide, we're telling Mina she needs to let her kid make that choice for herself.

Granted, I do want to lean a little bit on the grey order - Tell her what we do, tell her there are other options if she doesn't want that particular path, and see if she says no. It would hopefully ensure that she wouldn't be signing up for something that she actively dislikes, at the very least.
 
DragonParadox said:
You know it is all well and good to say 'let Eike decide' but it is worth considering that she is a child and the ward of a grandmother who errs more on the side of control than not. Odds are 'let Eike decide' is more like 'let Wilhelmina decide'
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I suppose the argument Mathilde would make to Wilhelmina is "It's best for Eike to find the wind that suits her best" and since Wilhelmina knows jack about the winds beyond the very basics, I expect she'll probably be less controlling on this point. After all, what if she forces Eike to pick the "wrong" wind, and things go badly?
 
Ericwinter said:
I have never heard that slang before. You learn something new every day.
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It's not used so much these days and I celebrate it becoming redundant in large swathes of the world, but it will probably never be completely forgotten because in the eighties, the US Navy spent quite a bit of time and money trying to find someone called Dorothy that they thought was at the center of a giant network of closeted gay sailors.
 
DragonParadox said:
Sure, but that assumes she will take our word for it and actually let the kid decide, I do not think that is a given.
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She's a really old friend of ours, and we're an authority on magic. She's going to at least listen, though she she might 'just' use it to inform her actions.

Also remember the vote isn't a 'one vote to rule them all'. If Let Eike Choose and 'Grey order' tie or come close, the two of them are going to be closely linked in some way. Hence why Im hoping it'd be "Give Eike right to Refuse"
 
Ericwinter said:
I have never heard that slang before. You learn something new every day.
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The term has a long and proud history. Including at one point the US Naval Investigative Service spending way too many resources trying to locate this elusive Dorothy with all the queer friends, not realising that she's presumeably in Oz.

EDIT: Incidentally, it's a pretty fun coincidence that the term "Friend of Rhya" was first introduced in the story during pride month.
 
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BoneyM said:
Wilhelmina Hochschild, Founder, Shareholder and Governor of the Eastern Imperial Company

> Wilhelmina is a good person at heart, but worryingly intense about trade. You don't know how much further she'd go if she didn't have you watching over her shoulder.
< Wilhelmina has reached the impression that you're going to bend the world to your will and wants to be in a position to benefit from that as much as possible.

Known Traits:
Ambitious: Wilhelmina sees a future of wealth and power and is clawing her way towards it.
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Wilhelmina will probably be fairly eager about the option to have Eike become Mathilde's apprentice eventually, given the way she views her and how ambitious she is.

Garlak said:
Though a directly-Mathilde-taught Grey Wizard would also be seen more favorably by the Karak Eight Peaks Dwarfs, which might make Eike's future job and role easier. Easier in one way, as the Dwarfs would see her as a continuation of Mathilde's tradition and tutelage and one of the granddaughters of a business partner harder too. Harder in another; as that whole "direct and practical use" thing... ... Plus, Eike has had years of tutelage of how to be on the straight and narrow. Trying to pivot to teaching her how to be a twisty-thinking Grey Wizard? ... Well, it's not impossible a circle to square. And I dunno if Mathilde is a good enough teacher for that though. (Mathilde has never taught an apprentice before. On the other hand, you always have to start with an apprentice at some point.) You can be moral and ethical as a Shadowmancer. Just... a lot of twisty thinking and justifications and rationalizations are involved in the life and mind of a Grey Wizard.
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That is a bonus as far as I'm concerned. Having access to multiple ways of thinking is good for people. Sure it'll make things harder at first but will serve her well later.


I also think it would be good to suggests colleges that teach their apprentices about economics and the like, to not halt that part of her education. I think that would be Gold and Grey?
From a narrative perspective I'm interested in having her be Mathilde's apprentice eventually. I'd also like to see more of her, as she is indeed quite adorable.
Choice is very important to me as a person so I also think that while these considerations should be conveyed Mathilde should give accurate information on all options as best she can, leaving the ultimate choice with ideally Eike.

So...

[ ] Neutral
[ ] Wizard
- [ ] Let Eike decide
- [ ] The Golden Order
- [ ] The Grey Order

I think.
 
Rafin said:
Did you mean a small mug of beer or do they actually have some kind of more child friendly beer called "small beer"?

The only less then ideal connotation I can think of is that sometimes lesbians are expected to marry a man just like Rhya did. But we knew that already.

The QM still isn't sure whether Ranald is real? Crazy.
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Small beer is a real thing, only question is if a Dawi bar would stock it. Dawi have children but their version of small beer might be as strong as regular human brews. This particular bar must see enough human customers who want to stay sober to make it worthwhile.

It's not like Mathilde doesn't find some men attractive so if she had such an obligation she could find someone. I don't think she will though. The only one of her holdings where an heir of the body might be expected is the knightly fief and she's been hands off enough there that it wouldn't hurt much to not continue the line. For the EIC the heir(s) will be determined by which shareholder(s) would be most beneficial to the Empire.
 
noliar said:
It's not like Mathilde doesn't find some men attractive so if she had such an obligation she could find someone. I don't think she will though. The only one of her holdings where an heir of the body might be expected is the knightly fief and she's been hands off enough there that it wouldn't hurt much to not continue the line. For the EIC the heir(s) will be determined by which shareholder(s) would be most beneficial to the Empire.
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Even if Mathilde wasn't a pansexual disaster mage (which she is), she could still solve the heir issue by adopting.

This is the Warhammer universe, we're not exactly short on orphans.
 
noliar said:
It's not like Mathilde doesn't find some men attractive so if she had such an obligation she could find someone.
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There's plenty of precedent for adoption as well; Mathilde's heir doesn't have to be biological. Hell, Eike might not even be related to Wilhelmina at all; the evidence is tenuous at best, and that hasn't affected her legal status at all.


... what if we adopted Eike and she inherited our knighthood? The legacy of the Wizard Knights of Stirland will endure!
 
I don't think Wilhemina would have a problem with Eike becoming a wizard, Mathilde made too much of a good impression on her.

The problem is that there is a period where Eike would have to be cloistered in the colleges, and Wilhemina is getting up there in age.

This whole thing puts a big damper on any of her retirement plans.
 
Nerdasaurus Rex said:
There's plenty of precedent for adoption as well; Mathilde's heir doesn't have to be biological. Hell, Eike might not even be related to Wilhelmina at all; the evidence is tenuous at best, and that hasn't affected her legal status at all.


... what if we adopted Eike and she inherited our knighthood? The legacy of the Wizard Knights of Stirland will endure!
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Ehh, that does feel a bit too much like we'd be "stealing" her from Wilhelmina.
 
Have not read, bar the minimal, but one thing worht mentioning is that Wilhelmina has no obligation to disown a Wizard!Eike and Eike has no reason to disown her inheritance unless she goes Amethyst or maybe (not sure) Grey. Amber might lead to her doing it naturally, sure, but that is a different thing entirely.
 
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noliar said:
The only one of her holdings where an heir of the body might be expected is the knightly fief and she's been hands off enough there that it wouldn't hurt much to not continue the line.
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On top of this, it's actually extremely normal for lines to go extinct. The average IRL noble family only lasted a couple of centuries in the equivalent time period and they weren't living in a hellworld. If the family isn't concerned about going extinct - and in this case Mathilde is the family - then there's no major pressures for it to continue and there's processes in place for what happens if it does end. The land would revert to the control of the local Count, which in this case would be Roswita, and from there it would either be granted to someone else or just added back to the tax rolls.
 
[ ] Neutral
[ ] Magic-Dampening
[ ] Wizard
- [ ] Let Eike decide
- [ ] The Order of Life
- [ ] The Grey Order

I think Eike's situation is too different from Mathy's not to mention the Magic Dampening, even if mathy doesn't have positive feeling on it.
For mathy, being a wizard was a complete net positive, but wizard stigma will be a tough pill for a near trade princess. Maybe not now, but definitely growing up.
 
Omegahugger said:
We're a Ranaldite, we're honourbound to steal things.
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I mean, I'm not going to complain about any path that leads to Eike bringing home a boy—or girl, or whatever else—only for them to realize her adopted mom is the woman who vaporizes armies, murders colleges, and robs gods with alarming regularity. Granted, that still works even if she's just our student, but mama bear Mathilde is an awesome picture and we all know it. Eike probably needs a decent parental figure anyways, since Wilhelmina is nice but most definitely her grandmother, and more demanding besides.
 
@BoneyM , if she gpes to the Grey College, how much time is expected to pass until she becomes someone's apprentice?

I ask because an apprentice now is AP hell, but maybe not later
 
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