Scheming Princess Quest

[X] Plan Darkened (mostly)

Spoiler

Playboy [10]

‘Terrible Accident’ [-10]

Charming [20]
Beautiful [20]
Mature [20]
Inspiring [20]

Handsome [-20]
Blood Knight [-20]
Magical Prodigy [-20]

You have 20 fate points remaining.


You have some years yet, but it is time to begin building the foundation of your rise to power. Your tutors are excellent (uncompromising, really; your uncle was very clear) and your will to learn is strong. Your future will depend on it, after all. You have some small amount of leeway in what you shall learn, and you will continue to learn over the years, but what you learn earliest will become your greatest strength.

You will be schooled in six subjects, which can be changed yearly of your own initiative (or at the Regent’s behest). You may also choose to occasionally skip classes, reasoning that real life experience teaches better than the classroom or simply to avoid burnout. Skipping gives you opportunities for events you cannot gain otherwise, and may produce other benefits. It will likely displease your uncle, who is keeping a gimlet eye on your training.

Speaking of, your uncle will be directing the course of your classes just as he will your brother. You may contest his will, but it is always difficult, and will cost fate points. The way this works in practice is that you can choose classes to spend fate points on, and your Uncle will fill up the rest of your itinerary according to his own agenda. Spending fate points on a class indicates a subject near and dear to your heart, and will produce better results.

Some advanced subjects are gated behind the subjects listed below, and will only be made available in the event those are picked.

Ladylike Subjects – A princess is generally expected to be able to navigate a dance floor, manipulate a noble, orate a speech, learn an instrument, strike up a conversation or strike down an adversary, whether through words or proxy. Choose wisely.
Courtly Behavior [10] – The ability to move in court circles without committing social blunders. Lessons in etiquette and noble customs. A princess without Courtly Behavior will find the nobility less forgiving of her other faults.
Medicine [10] – Your physician is not a priest; he will teach you the mundane arts of dressing wounds and other battlefield medicine, as well as the common symptoms and cures for poisons. He will attempt to impart his creed of ‘First, do no harm’ as well, but that’s a little more hit and miss.
History [10] – Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, the historians say. You don’t know about that, but it does give you a good idea of what has or hasn’t worked in the past. These include the broad strokes of famous military maneuvers as well as social reform and the way economies and nations rise and fall.
Economics [10] – You will learn in detail how to administer funds, raise taxes and enter negotiations over money. The kingdom is relatively prosperous, but a good grounding in economics will could only help you keep it that way… or to skim off the top with no one the wiser.
Theology [10] – Taking a greater interest in religious matters will highlight the contrast between yourself and your brother. The priesthood will look charitably on you, and pious nobles are also somewhat popular with the common folk. Even visions from God might be possible for a pious royal, or at least, religious folk believe so…
Your uncle has no love of the New Church, but women make up a disproportionate number of followers of the Goddess, and therefore he will not contest your course of study as much as he might otherwise have done.
Music [20] – Learn the harp, the flute and how to sing. Music lessons will make you popular at festivals and are looked well on by the church. Salons with music are also in vogue among the nobility at the moment.
Dance [20] – Given the number of balls and festivals that will be thrown in your honor, learning to dance may be wise. Your suitors will increase in number, and dancing is a good way for a ladylike princess to remain fit.

Liberal Subjects – Many of these subjects are nearer and dearer to your uncle’s heart, and therefore likely for him to include in your schedule even should you not request instruction in them.
Law [10] – You will learn the law of the realm. Typically, royals employ barristers and lawyers to handle such things. However, you may have certain precedents to look up that you wouldn’t want people finding out about before the proper time. Law gives you a thorough grounding in what the kingdom finds most important, and helps in the event of nobles trying to slip advantageous rulings past a young ruler.
Engineering [10] – Knowledge of mathematics, of building and architecture. From monuments to war machines, you can understand them and even build them. These include war golems popular in the army of Caelis Valera.
Horse Riding [10] – Horse riding gives you a way to move quickly or outrun bad news, and would allow you to look fantastic at the head of an army. Slightly scandalous compared to travel by automated coach.
Athletics [10] – A way to keep fit for a princess who dislikes dance. In addition, being flexible and able to run like the wind may come in handy in various ways.
Military Strategy [10] – Learn to lead and direct an army, and triumph over your foes.
Logistics [10] – Logistics is the study of how to move large groups of men. How to set up camp, keep an army supplied, pay and equip them. More useful for a general than a princess, but there is some crossover.
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.

Magic – Magic is in your blood. Over the years you’ve picked up some minor cantrips through simple exposure. The creation of light or sound or fire, some telekinesis. With the basics of the arcane known to you, you may advance your knowledge with more focused study of the magical arts or even become directly apprenticed to one of the Royal Retainers, to learn a style of magic at the feet of one of the world’s best.
Evocation [10] – Unlike Nature magic, Evocation focuses on the creation of natural phenomena at the user’s will. Balls of fire, arcs of lightning, and so on. The flashiest and most immediately deadly form of magic, evokers are terrors on the battlefield. Their ability to defend with their magic is poor, however, and evokers tire more quickly than most magic users.
The legendary application of Evocation is a matter of scale rather than type; where normal evokers might decide the course of a battle, a legendary evoker decides the course of entire wars.
Your uncle is quite fond of ‘battle-magic’ such as this. He will take a hand in your evocation classes personally.
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.
Clairvoyance [10] – Clairvoyance allows one to divine the future and scry upon the present. Scrying requires a piece or sympathetic item of the thing or person you wish to see. Information divined about the future is often cryptic, confusing or even occasionally – infuriatingly – in rhyme.
The legendary application of Clairvoyance is a matter of breadth and scope; a miracle of multi-tasking. Legendary clairvoyants are capable of seeing… everything.
Holy [10] – Magic which destroys demons and the undead, and the most powerful defensive magic available. Healing and the curing of poison or disease are also within its purview. This magic is granted by a god, however, and can be revoked.
The legendary application of Holy magic is the true manifestation of the Goddess; heathens are smote, the weak succored, and the just and righteous rewarded.
Holy (Old Gods) [10] – Though the New Church would disapprove, there are methods to learn the ways of the Old Gods. It is a magic of ritual and bargain with beings as old as the world. Dangerous, for in the offering Old God magic calls on beings which care nothing for human lives. But it is an old and powerful magic, one which your family wielded with prowess in older times. For the royal embodies the kingdom, and the god embodies the land…
The legendary application of Old God magic is to become a ‘rider’, to call an ancient being into you through incantation, or sacrifice, or even dance. For as long as the rider’s strength and will lasts, she is all but undefeatable.
Enchanting [20] – Enchanting is the process of imbuing an object with magical properties. Minor forms of any magic the enchanter knows is simple enough, but powerful enchantments require vast amounts of time and expensive reagents. Another use of Enchanting is that one material may be used to grant it’s properties to another, permanently.
The legendary applications of Enchanting are found in every epic tale, legendary weapons and armor which will last millennia as the treasure of their nation.
Illusion [10] – Magic which may fool the senses of others. Twisting light, shadow and sound, an illusionist can produce convincing visions of things which do not exist, or hide things which do. Between two practitioners all else being equal, illusions do not defeat Clairvoyance magic.
The legendary application of Illusion is true creation; illusions with heft and weight and even minds of their own. Your father’s talent was on this level, or as close as you have ever seen anyone come.
Alchemy [20] – The art of potions, poultices, salves and tinctures. Potions to heal illness or alter the human body, the creations of poisons or acids.
The legendary application of Alchemy is a stone which transforms things into their purest possible state, be that lead into gold or a man back into his most youthful and potent form.
Necromancy [10] – Magic which interacts with the dead; the communication, summoning and binding of souls. An unpopular branch of magic banned everywhere except Caelis Valera.
The legendary application of Necromancy is the recombination of body and soul – true resurrection without blemish or flaw.

Will you seek a formal apprenticeship under one of the crown’s archmages?
Yes [0] – Accepting an apprenticeship under one of the royal archmages will give you a nigh-peerless instructor in your master’s path of magic, and will tie him close to you politically – perhaps even personally – in the years to come, if you handle things properly. However, other archmages will have less reason to look upon you with favor and being caught studying magic outside your master’s realm of expertise will be seen as a dire insult to him.
No [0] – Avoiding an apprenticeship allows you to freely study multiple paths of magic without negative social repercussion, and leaves open the possibility of seeking apprentice under someone more politically advantageous than one of the crown’s retainers in the future, should you find one. Even the hint that you might seek instruction will make most mages more inclined to give you their favor.

Even at the age of ten your class schedule is demanding, but you still value that time which you can spend on your own. Of course, your uncle has assigned guards to see to your safety- and report back to him on your activities, likely- but they are courteous enough to give you a small measure of privacy should you request it, as long as they’re not too far off.

How much time do you spend outside of classes?
None [0] – You take only that tithe of free time which the regent has planned in your schedule. This means that your life is a near-continuous stream of tutoring, but surely the skills you gain under their instruction will be of more value than anything you could manage on your own.
Little [10] – You press your tutors to allow you additional precious free time as a reward for good work, or to accompany you elsewhere to hold lessons in other settings. This does not buy you a great deal of additional free time, but it is some and will not raise your uncle’s ire.
Some [20] – You are meant to be free, not trapped with a teacher! At any opportunity you will beg off from class, slip out from under your guards’ eyes, turn in half-completed work, or do whatever else comes to mind to escape to your own concerns. This will allow you much more latitude in how you spend your time but will rapidly gain you a reputation as willful and difficult to control and may affect your rate of learning.

When you do have time on your own, where do you spend it?
The palace gardens and grounds [0] – The beauty of the trees and flowers soothes your heart, the servants are unfailingly polite, and it is a chance to speak with nobles from time to time without being observed too closely.
The palace libraries [0] – A chance to have near-solitude and quiet while seeming respectable and productive, with the opportunity to investigate documents on nearly any topic; even esoteric or forbidden lores such as ancient artifacts and demonology are well-documented amongst the esoteric tomes of the Caelis Valeran royal library, and no one questions what you read.
The nearby city [10] – To see the people and be seen reminds you of what you will one day rule, gives you a chance to see and experience things which would otherwise remain wholly alien to your experiences, and of course reminds the people that you exist. It even inspires your lessers to humbly approach you from time to time.
Your barony [10] – It is more difficult to arrange trips here than you would like and your uncle feels that its steward keeps matters well enough in hand that you should not concern yourself, but you are within your rights to oversee it personally. There are certain opportunities available in a place where your word is law, it provides a convenient place to meet others away from most eyes, and knowing the people there personally will be vital to any serious use of the place in your future plans.


How will you assert yourself (or not)?
[ ] Classes?
[ ] Apprenticeship?
[ ] Skipping class?