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[Maximum Spin]

Juliette
We're frankly short on non-magic learning around here. If she truly has skill in engineering, maybe she can even work something out that would better contain or channel that river-flood magic Tamar told us about. Divine guidance is the best lead so far to breaking an army that is probably more than five times our size (that is, combined from 5 petty kingdoms, while we had the worst lot).

She seems like the second-worst option to me, after only the aged lesbian!

If it's going to be an Imperial, and I'm not saying it should be, it should be Marion, who overawes the Imperial church, the favour of which was the whole point of possibly marrying an Imperial in the first place.

[mightymushroom]

What's so wrong with a wife who is proven fertile, is well learned, and an excellent teacher?

... And, I wasn't impressed by Marion nor by crocogirl.

We don't need to overawe the Imperial Church, we need to skate right under their noses. We're the Illusion King, it's about putting up a front while we arrange matters to our liking surreptitiously. Marion's prophecy doesn't kick in for at least generation, and meanwhile we'll have every cleric poking their nose into our family.

Halia the shapeshifter is probably nice, but I don't see an advantage worth taking. We're not short on combat capable magic, so unless the rumor of more subtle forms makes her a better spymaster than any other candidate she isn't more interesting than any other.

[Shadowclaw777]

Too marry gung-ho, y’all need some patience before making these sort of commitments.

Will he get the same amount of favor with the Imperials if we have Andre marry Marion, for instance. We can even split the difference and have the marriage be about Andre instead.

Also can we get a report on our military strength and capabilities, so that we can have a better picture if we were going to ever need to use them against a foreign power or support one.

[mightymushroom]

Anders is promised to Evie the Necromancer.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised we didn't have a bride waiting for us. Maybe Dad's Plan A got sick or died in the crossfire during the Crusade?

[Powder Miner]

Mostly in a wife I'm looking for someone that we can ultimately work with closely rather than try to have to sneak around to do our thing. The imperials worry me a lot for this reason - without meeting them we can't know how hardline they are, and we can stumble right into having to hide in our own bedchambers. With the druids we don't have to worry about that, Haila being a noted shapeshifter means at least some notable magical capability, and the turning into a fucking gator would be very useful for protecting us in a close combat scenario - note that this is our greatest weakness in combat, if someone rushes us down we don't really have a great natural protection. Between her and Allana, she probably doesn't have Allana's baggage, and she's noted to be cunning and ambitious - if we meet her and this doesn't turn out to be a problem, it's a distinct plus, because so are we, and having someone to plot and plan with who will also keep us from being ganked in the fucking face is a GREAT thing in a spouse. Allana isn't an awful candidate either, among the druids.

Marion could help alleviate pressure among the imperials, but without meeting her we don't actually know if she is or is not an obstacle herself. I DO NOT WANT TO RUSH INTO MARRIAGE WITH AN IMPERIAL - or with anyone, really. I want to be able to entrust our spouse with a lot rather than just sort of try to avoid them like a character in a bad joke, so meeting them and getting a sense of how trustworthy and how orthodox they are is VITAL.

[Shadowclaw777]

Anders is promised to Evie the Necromancer.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised we didn't have a bride waiting for us. Maybe Dad's Plan A got sick or died in the crossfire during the Crusade?

I'm talking about Andre, the brother we sent for like military and combat training, shouldn't he be our marshal?, I mean I don't know how much military and tactical knowledge he got because he was... intellectually challenged, but it means we can push a De'ville member out of our council with a more trusted family member in there instead.

Even could like divert the Imperials attention from our marriage to Andre and have him marry Juliette to combine their skillset so that she could him would military leadership skills and whatnot, I just wanted to know if we would get the same value for Andre to marry Marion and to get a proportional amount of respect from Imperial clergy who respect prophesy to one of our brothers.

[IronyOwl]

What's so wrong with a wife who is proven fertile, is well learned, and an excellent teacher?

Engineering doesn't synergize with anything we want to do, she's got fewer reproductive years in her than most of our other candidates, and she already has two children to worry about. She doesn't really have anything recommending her above any other candidate.

We don't need to overawe the Imperial Church, we need to skate right under their noses. We're the Illusion King, it's about putting up a front while we arrange matters to our liking surreptitiously. Marion's prophecy doesn't kick in for at least generation, and meanwhile we'll have every cleric poking their nose into our family.

The problem with being all super sneaky is that it tends to work a lot better the first time. Trying to make subterfuge a primary strategy gets you a reputation for doing so, which defeats half the point. Ruling as a valiant Beastmaster King is a far better longterm solution, as is amassing as much piousness and cultural affinity as we can get.

Will he get the same amount of favor with the Imperials if we have Andre marry Marion, for instance. We can even split the difference and have the marriage be about Andre instead.

Also can we get a report on our military strength and capabilities, so that we can have a better picture if we were going to ever need to use them against a foreign power or support one.

+1 to investigating these possibilities.

[Maximum Spin]

I really don't see Arawn wanting to marry an older woman anyway. Sure, it worked out for our dadnephew, but he was ultimately doing it for politics because he had no chance of inheriting any power otherwise. Not only has Arawn no need for that kind of plotting because he's already king, none of the choices offer comparable gains. He should marry one of the age-appropriate girls, and I have to be honest, Marion's prophecy definitely puts her in the lead for me so far.

[Powder Miner]

as is amassing as much piousness and cultural affinity as we can get.

You're listing two things that have essentially thus far been mutually exclusive.

[VoidSlayer]

The big advantage to marrying locally is to meet them first, if we were marrying outside we could get a good alliance but the delay over the desert would make actual courtship a problem.  That is why we chose this way.

Cite the good relationship our parents had as a reason to want to meet first to figure out personal relationships before marriage.  Less then a year, maybe 3-6 months just to meet everyone a few times and then decide.

[StrawBarrel]

Voting:

Also can we get a report on our military strength and capabilities, so that we can have a better picture if we were going to ever need to use them against a foreign power or support one.

+1

Anders can cut back on some of the public-facing priestly aspects of his position for a while, and at least make an attempt to lean on us privately when it comes to the research of illicit magics, unless our knowledge and connections can’t actually help him out much. If we’re wanting our court mage to be helpful to our own magical efforts it may be worth later splitting it and the religious role into separate council positions, even, or something of that sort. Otherwise either we’re going to de-emphasize one or the other (like I here suggest) or we’re going to fucking combust Anders.

I’m not sure at ALL about hiring a spymaster who isn’t trained given the imminent threat and the BRAINDEAD motherfuckers on our council who will do the opposite of help with it, so I want to wait for their list, but let’s have Keanu act as an unofficial envoy of ours with the Merchant Families. Aside from keeping Keanu around regularlyish, with both the blockade AND the Braindead Motherfuckers, we need to work closely with the merchant families to keep them alive and leverage that time we spent with them into something useful.

Speaking of the Braindead Motherfuckers, let’s insist to them that we need to meet our potential spouses before committing to a marriage, and that at least some level of courtship is required so we can truly know what our spouses offer both as a match for us and as queens. This has the advantage of being something I want to be true, god damn it, I want more information on our potential spouses than little secondhand scraps of introductions. Also, I want to meet crocogirl.

+1

[Maximum Spin]

We already said we wanted to marry sooner than later; it's reasonable to say "I want to get to know them first" but let's not completely dither about this or we'll look indecisive. I think we ought to have a shortlist within a couple weeks max.

Separately, to be clear, I think we should plan to install our own trusted councillors in most of the seats, as befits a new incoming monarch. If you guys are really firmly against making waves by firing everyone (who isn't a relative), we should at least order that the council be expanded.

[StrawBarrel]

Do you have any follow up to the other topics, or any new matters to raise?

Open the floor to discussion. Encourage the councilors and audience to speak.

[Powder Miner]

While replacing most of the council is a longterm goal I agree with, I think we absolutely need to know more about where the DeVilles lie in the kingdom as a whole before we do something drastic in the short term. Getting a rebellion or coup attempt on our hands would be bad, and right now we may unfortunately be dependent on Burt economically until we can figure out how to deal with the blockade to cash up the Merchant Families. I’m all for bringing the council under our control, but we have to have the tools and be able to manage the risks of doing so.

[King Zultan]

Lets take our time picking a bride, also why can't we just fire all the DeVille people on the council and be done with it?