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Scheming Princess Quest

Your princess would have forgotten to turn her swag off and woken up covered in bitches, metaphorically speaking. Everybody in the quest would be lesbians for her.

Which she would be extremely disgusted by, immediately severing all ties and doing her best to drive away all her suitors.

Also, as much casual homophobia as I could fit into the quest.
That would have been fun to play. Ah well.
 
*sighs* I wish my plan had one. We'd have had the same point total, and I think it would have been more interesting. :(

...And I just noticed my vote had not been counted. Fuck.
 
I think it's because you put it in a spoiler.
Why should that matter?

Anyway, the corrected tally(bit pointless, but my bruised ego demands it!):
Direst Cruelty [0] 1 Votes:
- BFldyq
Playboy [10] 6 Votes:
- Darkened, Dreadis, Adyen, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, Drak4806
Mark of the (Old) Gods [10] 2 Votes:
- Jiven, MHLord
Power At Any Cost [20] 1 Vote:
- Cassiemouse
Buggered [-10] 5 Votes:
- redaeth, Xicree, Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Adyen

Married Off [0] Votes:
- None
Convent [0] 1 Vote:
- Drak4806
Kept Close [10] 6 Votes:
- Xicree, Darkened, Dreadis, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, BFldyq
'Terrible Accident' [-10] 7 Votes:
- redaeth, Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Cassiemouse, Adyen, Jiven, MHLord

People's Princess [20] 3 Votes:
- Xicree, Cassiemouse, BFldyq
Charming [20] 10 Votes:
- redaeth, Xicree, Darkened, Dreadis, Jiven, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, Drak4806, MHLord, BFldyq
Beautiful [20] 10 Votes:
- redaeth, Xicree, Darkened, Dreadis, Cassiemouse, Jiven, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, MHLord, BFldyq
Mature [20] 9 Votes:
- redaeth, Xicree, Darkened, Dreadis, Adyen, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, Drak4806, BFldyq
Inspiring [20] 8 Votes:
- redaeth, Xicree, Darkened, Dreadis, Adyen, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, BFldyq
Plain [-10] 3 Votes:
- Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Adyen
Childish [-10] 4 Votes:
- Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Jiven, MHLord
Dull [-10] 2 Votes:
- Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard
Impassioned [-10] 4 Votes:
- Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Cassiemouse, BFldyq
Abrasive [-20] 3 Votes:
- Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Cassiemouse

Dark Charisma [-20] 6 Votes:
- Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Adyen, Jiven, MHLord, BFldyq
Handsome [-20] 12 Votes:
- redaeth, Darkened, Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Dreadis, Adyen, Jiven, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, Drak4806, MHLord, BFldyq
Blood Knight [-20] 13 Votes:
- redaeth, Xicree, Darkened, Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Dreadis, Cassiemouse, Jiven, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, Drak4806, MHLord, BFldyq
Magical Prodigy [-20] 9 Votes:
- Xicree, Darkened, Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Dreadis, Cassiemouse, Pipeman, Ct613hulu, BFldyq
Long Live the King [-30] 4 Votes:
- Xicree, Wutnhammer, Bobs Beard, Cassiemouse

...I think my vote being counted correctly might have pushed Dark Charisma into being taken.
 
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There were 13 votes in all. Meaning it'd be 7 who didn't vote for Dark Charisma vs the 6 who did. I don't think it would have made it.

Why should that matter?
Manual counters would most likely miss it and I think the auto counter does too. Not completely sure on that though.
 
*sighs* I wish my plan had one. We'd have had the same point total, and I think it would have been more interesting. :(

...And I just noticed my vote had not been counted. Fuck.
Sorry about that, must have missed it.

And now that I think about it, your vote together with redath's vote change would have given us 7 votes for Kept Close and only 6 for accident, which is a bit awkward.
 
Heart stoppingly supernatural beauty is an interesting trait to go with though.

The prince is just as beautiful and charismatic though. Makes me a bit worried the Playboy fault won't matter. That he'll just get all his beaus together and convince them to be okay with polygamy, it's not too unreasonable a result in a feudal society really.
 
Heart stoppingly supernatural beauty is an interesting trait to go with though.

The prince is just as beautiful and charismatic though. Makes me a bit worried the Playboy fault won't matter. That he'll just get all his beaus together and convince them to be okay with polygamy, it's not too unreasonable a result in a feudal society really.
Their fathers, brothers and possibly even husbands would presumably still take issues with it.
As would any with actual ambition beyond being one of a dozen haremettes.
And then there'll be all the people simply unwilling to stand for their house's matriarch to debase herself and the entire house in such a manner.

Edit:
In any case, I think I'll share my basic thoughts on the different options we have right now, though I think I'll leave actually voting for later.

Among ladylike options History and Economics could come in rather handy, Medicine is useful to dodge attempts at poisoning us or leaving us at the mercy of untrustworthy physicians, and Courtly Behaviour is important so we don't destroy ourselves politically, especially since our uncle may have us missout on that.
Dance to a lesser degree the same, though the higher cost is a turn off.

Of liberal subjects the only one that seems really useful but our uncle could ahve us miss out on is law, though we may want to interfere here once we find out what his current schedule for us actually is in order to direct it more suitably.

On magic I'm not really decided.
We may want to take a look at how monofocused our uncle really is on Evocation, but if we do pick an Archmage apprenticeship, we'll probably want to pick our discipline, since we'll be almost locked into that and we may want something subtler than Evocation.
There is the consideration that Actually choosing Evocation and going along with our uncles plans to turn us into a weapon for the nation, may help with our relationship though it does seem like a bit of a risk. If we're going with that, we may want to couple it with something he'd approve of a bit less to at least be sure to get some benefit out of it.
Of special note is that an apprenticeship with a Necromancer may unlock the special win condition of reviving our parents, though that could obviously get a bit weird, esepicallyif our uncle learns of such plans.

Free time I'd at most want to go for Little and even that only if we want to leave for our estate, since we'll want to learn of the state of things there as soon as possible.
I just don't think we have enough skills to benefit much from extra time spent socializing at the moment and independent study at our age is equally suspect.
 
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Courtly Behavior is a must. Let's assume that our Uncle won't be pushing us to Ladylike subjects. We'll have 6 regardless and can pick two at most.

In practice, we're not going to be fighting any wars tomorrow or winning duels regardless. We're 10. However, social situations begin now. Ergo, we need to raise these ASAP.

[X] Courtly Behavior -10
[X] Clairvoyance [10]


How much time do you spend outside of classes?
[X] None

When you do have time on your own, where do you spend it?
[X]The palace gardens and grounds [0]



Will you seek a formal apprenticeship under one of the crown's archmages?
[X] No

Tempting. But it's an early advantage that'll drop off in utility. Let's get our magic grounding THEN go to an archmage after feeling them out.

Pushing for an early social lead. our uncle's choices will give us liberal arts and some combat/magic maybe. Ergo we should prioritize spending on social. Some free time to build connections is useful.

With beauty, charisma and maturity, we're pretty decent for some small social contact. That said, I wouldn't mind trading this for clairvoyance. (Knowing things is always useful)
 
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Darkened, while I think Courtly Behaviour is pretty much a must, the combination of it + 'little' means we have no Fate points left, meaning we won't be able to learn what's unlocked by Courtly Bheaviour, or that we won't be able to learn any advanced magic at all... in a setting where your magical ability dictate your stature.

Unless I misunderstand things Guile, and we aren't locked out of being especially good at magic if we don't pick one of the magical field? (E.G, As I understand Darkened's vote would have us being good at court but not very good as we can't get the evolution of those lessons, and we would be a average/slightly talented mage and not quite talented as we would be if we picked a magical discipline, or very talented if we picked one and its evolutionary tree later).
 
Swapping in little for clairvoyance then. I think that's the best magic for our build. We're a SCHEMER and a leader. We don't need to craft when we can order people to craft for us. But intelligence is the leader's domain, and knowing everyone's secrets combined with perfect etiquette and great social stats, as well as knowledge of our brother's inclinations...

I believe that's an effective build. Clairvoyance on generals, to know enemy plans in advance, etc, etc, is quite wonderful.

Now I'm tempted to go for the archmage in this field...
 
Now I'm tempted to go for the archmage in this field...

No Archmage, as that would mean everyone knowing about our clairvoyant abilities. While that's great for when we are a Queen (reputation gains), when we are a Schemer Princess it's basically showing your cards. Clairvoyant shines for scheming more when people don't know it's your speciality.

Also, are we sure we can get more Fate Points later? If that's confirmed, then:

[X] Courtly Behavior [10]
[X] Clairvoyance [10]


How much time do you spend outside of classes?
[X] None


Will you seek a formal apprenticeship under one of the crown's archmages?
[X] No
 
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Being able to craft unique wonders is probably the reason why Enchanting is so expensive. Same with Alchemy. It's a way to empower not just ourselves but any followers we gain. We managed to get Terrible Accident picked and our brother is a beast in battle. We need a way to mitigate that.

Knowing when our brother has decided to kill us isn't going to help us much as we cannot run forever. We picked Female Diety and a Liberal Uncle who will not care if we die. If our brother dearest decides to challenge us to a duel then we have no choice but to fight... or to flee the kingdom.
 
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[X] Combat [10] – You may learn the sword, the bow and the firelance. To wear armor and redirect a blow. If all else goes wrong, being able to fight may save your life more than any silver tongue.
[X] Nature [10] – The manipulation of the natural world. Crops grow faster, water may dance or drown under your command, and communication with animals is possible.
The legendary application of Nature magic is to gain command of the world around you down to the smallest detail. Within the sphere of your influence, you would be almost impossible to surprise and nearly as difficult to defeat.



How much time do you spend outside of classes?
[X] None
Will you seek a formal apprenticeship under one of the crown's archmages?
[X] Yes
 
Being able to craft unique wonders is probably the reason why Enchanting is so expensive. Same with Alchemy. It's a way to empower not just ourselves but any followers we gain. We managed to get Terrible Accident picked and our brother is a beast in battle. We need a way to mitigate that.

Try: "Not fighting our brother in a duel"

Blacksmith is a full time job. You're talking about using enchanting to outfit either an army or a large group of companions which is going to take a lot of time. I'd much rather simply recruit an enchanter if we really must go that route (and we don't even know what enchantments are viable).

Also scheming is in the title. I'd rather assume that the clearest path here is going to be, well, scheming and manipulation not building an army and then trying to stab everyone.

Clairvoyance helps us scheme and I don't want to be dependent on anyone else to know secrets/give us intel. By contrast, we can easily have someone else double-check whatever gear we buy, etc.



Knowing when our brother has decided to kill us isn't going to help us much as we cannot run forever. We picked Female Diety and a Liberal Uncle. If our brother dearest decides to challenge us to a dual then we have no choice but to fight... or to flee the kingdom.

If our brother challenges us to a duel and kills us for no reason, he will have political fallout to deal with. Also fairly sure that enchanting won't help at all given that you usually can't use rigged weapons in a duel.

What's more, none of the motivation whatsoever has to do with our brother challenging us.

Clairvoyance is about secrets, knowing secrets and using them. Keeping an eye on our brother and preempting his plans before he acts, knowing each noble, just what they care about and what we can use to buy them.

"All warfare is deception"

And clairvoyance is the art of piercing deceptions, of knowing just what to say to deceive others.

Pair it with illusions later if we must diversify.
 
Just so you guys know, not all classes unlock an advanced class - some you just continue to get better at.
Being able to craft unique wonders is probably the reason why Enchanting is so expensive. Same with Alchemy. It's a way to empower not just ourselves but any followers we gain. We managed to get Terrible Accident picked and our brother is a beast in battle. We need a way to mitigate that.
Enchanting and Alchemy are both potent magics, but their 20 point cost is more reflective of your uncle not really considering them good 'royal' powers. I mean, you could be learning to set people on fire instead, that's much more respectable. Holy would have been 20 points too if you hadn't picked Female Diety.
Knowing when our brother has decided to kill us isn't going to help us much as we cannot run forever. We picked Female Diety and a Liberal Uncle who will not care if we die. If our brother dearest decides to challenge us to a duel then we have no choice but to fight... or to flee the kingdom.
He's smart enough to not just walk up and stab you. It's pretty much never okay to duel your little sister to the death. Unless she cavorts with demons or is an embarrassment to the family or something.
 
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Hmm, alright with this new information I shall change my choices to [] Military Strategy [10] and [] Illusion [10]. You can do a lot with mass scale illusions.
 
[X] Necromancy [10]
[X] Yes [0]
[X] None [0]
[X] The palace gardens and grounds [0]
 
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That time you realize you've completely spaced on voting cause you think you already have.

[X] No Apprenticeship

[X] Little Free time [10]
[X] At our Barony [10]
 
Courtly Behavior [10]
Law [10]
None [0]
The palace gardens and grounds [0]
 
The major issue with choosing clairvoyance now is that that particular discipline actually requires one to have the freedom to act upon what you find out with it.
And quite frankly? Looking at our schedule and our uncles disposition towards us, that's not going to happen any time soon.

If you're voting for clairvoyance there is something to be said for getting an archmage right now.
Sure, that may have some longterm drawbacks, but given that the discipline we start with now and boost with an archmage may be the only one we ahve any chance in hell to push into the high-end levels, it's advantages are still signficant and the sooner we get signifcant skill at clairvoyance, the sooner we can leverage the certainty that we are better informed about things in general than most for more freedom to make our own decisions.
As far as I see it the fact that this path is the one of the few that actually requires him to give us freedom if he wants to maximise our potential as a weapon is its main advantage, but if we don't double down on it with an archmage reaching that tipping point will take that much longer especially since our uncle will retain his ability to squeeze other disciplines that don't help our agenda much into our schedule.


On another note, noone has anything to comment on the possibility of Legendary Necromancy being a non-standard victory condition, in that it allows us to bring our parents back?

Even outside that rather long shot, Necromancy which after all does include communicating with the dead does high-light our own "failure to cope" with the fate of our parents in a way our uncle can't ignore nearly as easily and, while it's probably not going to win us many brownie points with him on its own, the simple fact of the matter is that his reaction to our father's death was to isolate himself from us and, if we want to change his current attitude towards us, which after all at the moment is "The girl I am going to forge into a weapon to benefit the realm and I am doing everything I can not to see as the daughter of the beloved brother whose demise I just can't bear" and therefor anything but beneficial, we are going to have to force him to confront us as his brother's daughter and his niece.
Diving straight for the necromancy after our parents' death may not be the most elegant way of doing so, but it sure as hell is going to be expedient and considering that we kind of need to outpace our brother's own efforts, there is a lot of value in that.

In addition Necromancy offers a lot of the benefits Clairvoyance does, given that communicating with the dead can is also suited towards intelligence gathering rather well and given that we have an agressive brother quick to kill those he needs to get rid of in the duel grounds, it stands to reason that being able to make his attempts to silence people rather futile is quite valuable.
Its applications in making yourself damn hard to put down for good (which I presume this setting's necromancy have to some degreee at least) are also rather important given the role our uncle is pushing us into and a brother that wants to kill us.

[X] Courtly Behavior [10]
[X] Necromancy [10]
[X] Yes [0]
[X] None [0]
[X] The palace libraries [0]

Anyways, Courtly Behaviour is kind of a must and Necromancy I already exlpained why I want.

The Apprenticeship is largely for the same reason I'd suggest to take it if you're going for Clairvoyance.
The things we start learning now are the ones we have the most hope to take to the levels of pure bullshit, so focusing our training on those and getting a really good tutor for it is very valuable, especially with our uncle being likely to force those magical disciplines upon us he thinks will suit us most in being someone he can chuck at the realm's enemies as opposed to those that will suit us in taking over, unless we make it impossible for him to do so by making our magical education our master's business instead.
Not to mention that with us having "suitors without number" and our betrothal being "a prize beyond price, for which men would gladly kill or die" I don't believe we'll ever lack in the ability to gain influence by getting people's hope up and the hope that we'll find a better tutor in whatever discipline we end up favouring than a full on archmage and that their teachings will end up being more beneficial than being an apprentice from the get go is kind of unreliable as well.

Besides, going for as much necromancy as we can is kind of integral to my plan to force our uncle to pay attention to us as his niece who tragically lost both her parents instead of continuing to think of us in as abstract terms as he can to spare himself grief.
Visiting the library is similarly motivated.
Not to mention that I don't think we'd have that good opportunities for fruitful socialization with so little time anyways, so I think the slot is better spent ramping up the image of the little girl trying to find any way to get her dead parents back.
 
If you're voting for clairvoyance there is something to be said for getting an archmage right now.
Sure, that may have some longterm drawbacks, but given that the discipline we start with now and boost with an archmage may be the only one we ahve any chance in hell to push into the high-end levels, it's advantages are still signficant and the sooner we get signifcant skill at clairvoyance, the sooner we can leverage the certainty that we are better informed about things in general than most for more freedom to make our own decisions.
As far as I see it the fact that this path is the one of the few that actually requires him to give us freedom if he wants to maximise our potential as a weapon is its main advantage, but if we don't double down on it with an archmage reaching that tipping point will take that much longer especially since our uncle will retain his ability to squeeze other disciplines that don't help our agenda much into our schedule.

You are right. On the other hand, if he wants us spying/doing recon that might be what he has us doing all the time. Also I'd like to get a better grasp of the social dynamics. Bullshit tier clairvoyance is tempting, but I'm hoping to stress our role as princess more than magician for this and having us as an apprentice is a potent coup, something we can bargain away for a good price.

Anyone have ideas what our schedule will looks like?

Obviously our uncle is pretty unlikely to give anything costed at 20 and liberal subjects are specifically likely to be included.

He also loves evocation and he respected our father who was crazy on illusions. On the other hand, our uncle is the evocation teacher and he isn't fond of us at the moment, so that's perhaps less likely and he might push our brother toward illusions (And oh look, clairvoyance is illusion's natural trump...)

So let's see. I envision it will be something akin to:

1. Courtly Behavior
2. Whatever magic wins the vote
3. Some royal-ok magic? Evocation or Illusion probably.
4. Liberal Art 1
5. Liberal Art 2
6. ???Of the liberal subjects, law is uncommon for princesses. Horseback riding, combat and athletics take up a similar PE slot though he may surprise me and double up here. Military Strategy or Logistics would both synergize with our chosen clairvoyance. Whether he uses that or not is unknown though.

In a perfect world, I'd hope for

Courtly Behavior
Clairvoyance
Illusion
Logistics
Economics
Combat

Or something along those lines. I doubt we'll get anything quite that convenient though.
 
[X] Courtly Behavior [10]
[X] Necromancy [10]
[X] Yes [0]
[X] None [0]
[X] The palace libraries [0]
 
Looks like the votes are as follows:

Military Strategy [10] 1 vote
Combat [10] 1 vote
Law [10] 1 vote
Illusion [10] 1 vote
Nature [10] 1 vote
Necromancy [10] 2 votes
Clairvoyance [10] 3 votes
Courtly Behavior [10] 6 votes

Yes [0] 5 votes
No [0] 4 votes

None [0] 6 votes
A little [10] 1 vote
The palace gardens and grounds [0] 3 votes
The palace libraries [0] 2 votes
At our barony [10] 1 vote


So Courtly Behavior is all but locked in, Necromancy and Clairvoyance are both pretty even for another class slot, and any number of votes only need a couple more votes to sneak up and take it. As are 'Yes' and 'No' for an apprenticeship, and that's a pretty big step. You're also going to work your little princessy guts out, taking almost no time off, but what you do with your little free time is also still up in the air between just relaxing on the palace grounds or studying up at the library.

I'm hoping for a little more of a lead in the matter of the second class, the apprenticeship and the relaxation time, honestly. Some people only made half votes, too, so they could come back and throw in with whoever can convince them to. I want to see some good, honest political mudslinging, guys! It gets you in character.
 
[X] Combat [10]

[X] Evocation [10]

[X] Yes [0]

[X] None [0]

[X] The palace libraries [0]

[X] Classes?
 
[X] Necromancy [10]
[X] Yes [0]
[X] None [0]
[X] The palace gardens and grounds [0]

Clairvoyance is cool, and it's great for scheming. But necromancy has ghost spies and lets us raise dead people for intel, AND when push comes to shove we can whip out a zombie army. Hard to say no to the option that lets us get a zombie army. Apprenticing to an archmage will let us learn more necromancy faster, so that's important if we want to get to legendary necromancer status as quickly as possible- remember that our brother is even better at magic than we are, so we can't afford to half-ass our studies in this respect.

The grounds sound like a social option for free time, assuming that we can actually do anything with the free time that we don't have. If we're going full classes then we need to squeeze in socializing somewhere or we'll never build a powerbase.

I sort of want to save the last ten fate points just in case there's some kind of
[ ] Don't eat the chocolates [10]
option in a future update. I remember how fragile princesses' lives are. But that's probably not going to fly.
 
I do love me some zombie armies, and the rest of that looks solid, so I'm going to be lazy and simply subordinate my vote to another, as tacky as it may be to do so.

[X]DarkLight140
 
[X] Necromancy [10]
[X] Clairvoyance [10]
[X] Yes [0]
[X] None [0]
[X] The palace gardens and grounds [0]


I really want to get the princess to be all scary and junk - and since the tentacle princess option is out, the Pale Princess is an excellent sub-in!

But even more than that, adding Clairvoyance could give us the most deadly zombies of all: zombies that know where you're going to hide before you do.


Mongrel from some inferior nation: OH GOD IT'S THE PRINCESSES ZOMBIE ARMY, I HAVE TO HIDE-
*Open storage shed to hide, find zombie inside*
Precog Zombie: RAAAAAR I KNEEEEEW YOU'D HIDE HEEEEEERE... ALSO, BRAAAAAAAIIIIIINS!
Mongrel from some inferior nation: BEING OUTTHOUGHT BY SOMETHING THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MINDLESS MAKES MY PAINFUL DEATH EXTRA SHAMEFUL!
 
Guys? SCHEMING Princess.

SCHEMING

Look at the title. Look at your zombie army. Do you get where I'm going with this?


Aside from that entirely ridiculous tangent, the only real arguments in favor of necromancy are intel (As if it will give us better than the magic that only works there) and winning a social benefit with our uncle.

While that might work, necromancy is also a huge penalty to a lot of other stuff. Note how it's unpopular and disliked? How it has a reputation abroad and is illegal in most of the civilized world? If we go this route, we're throwing away our social advantages for, so far, the plan that's as bad or worse as randomly murdering our brother in broad daylight or intel which we get better from clairvoyance anyway.



As for legendary, we don't get "legendary" anything ASAP. You maybe get it after a lifetime of practice having reached the absolute height of your discipline. This is a pretty unlikely occurrence, and any legendary magic would probably let us win in its own ways if not countered anyway. Besides, "get skill maxed, auto-win" is very often a boring way to win games in practice.
 

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