Guiding the Powerful Yet Incompetent, Tuesday, Second Period

[tellmehowstuffworks]

"While you were away from your kingdom dealing with Hugh and his mess, a situation has developed at home," Yennefer told her students. "You will perhaps be pleased to know that it is not the ruler being an idiot this time. Rather, several of the nobles, who are either unmarried or have unmarried sons, are pressuring the queen regent to either remarry herself, or to choose who her daughter will marry when she comes of age. Most of them are not pushing for both, because they assume that whoever marries one of these women will become the true power behind the throne...which might not be entirely a bad thing. Remember: your queen was unprepared and reluctant to rule. Having a partner could be a very welcome thing, if it is the right partner. And Princess Calanthe will have to marry eventually, to secure the succession. That's unavoidable.

"So: your queen wants your advice. What would you tell her to do?"

Comments

Sign In

[tellmehowstuffworks]

Ugh, men.

Re: Sign In

[grayskollar]

Adora

Re: Sign In

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Illyana Rasputin

Re: Sign In

[mylandmyrules]

Nell Ingram

Re: Sign In

[scoffs_at_tradition]

Shuri

Re: Sign In

[unusual_sith]

Lana Beniko

During the Lecture

[tellmehowstuffworks]

Ugh, men.

Talk to the Queen

[tellmehowstuffworks]

What should she do?

Re: Talk to the Queen

[grayskollar]

"It's not like she needs to marry a man." Adora was surprised no one had brought up this pretty obvious solution. After all, she could see it and she hadn't even known what marriage was until leaving the Fright Zone. "There's probably another princess out there she'd like."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[tellmehowstuffworks]

Yennefer opened her mouth to reply, then paused. Finally, she said, "A novel approach. Perhaps a bit revolutionary for a kingdom who didn't allow women to inherit at all prior to five minutes ago, but who knows? Might work out. Although it doesn't do anything for the succession issue."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[grayskollar]

"Pfft. You don't need a man for that either." Even with her severely limited Horde sex education, Adora knew that. "Not when you have magic, or cloning, or adoption."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"I can probably make them a magic baby," 'Yana hollered offered, looking pleased at the idea of tackling a large magical undertaking like that. "I mean, adoption is fine too..."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"What? Designing multiple advisory councils wasn't enough to keep them busy?" 'Yana groaned, putting her head in her hands.

"Fine. Is there anyone either of them actually like," love was optional, "--and isn't a complete moron?"

Re: Talk to the Queen

[scoffs_at_tradition]

"She needs middle of the road," Shuri said. "Smart but not conniving."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[unusual_sith]

"The queen should announce she's foregoing her own possibility of marriage to focus on the needs of the kingdom; the last thing we need is a war of succession years down the line because some idiot insists his child is the rightful heir instead of Calanthe," Lana said firmly.

"Each of them wanting to marry the princess needs to write up their full argument for their suit, and we'll go over each with the queen," Lana said. "That should at least buy us enough time to send out our own people to determine their actual suitability - intelligence, honour, and so forth. And to find enough information to blackmail anyone who might be a problem."

They had spies, right? Everyone had spies.

Re: Talk to the Queen

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"Can we give them some sort of trials or tests, to help keep them too busy to meddle and weed out the really stupid ones who could be easily controlled or blackmailed by people other than us?" 'Yana asked.

"Additionally, we establish right-fucking-now that any other children the queen regent has are out of the line of succession, because they are not the children of the former king. That way if she decides later she wants to remarry, she's not putting any of her daughters at risk."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[unusual_sith]

"Oh, I like that," Lana said. "A few weeks of trials to determine the most worthy. Bill it like that, you could open it to anyone. There are probably commoners who'd be every bit as qualified. And even if not, it'll keep the nobles focused on the audacity of it and possibly catch them off-guard."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"Calanthe won't marry until her majority, in order to find the best possible husband. Her decision is final. The trials are open to all, including people from other kingdoms, in order to give her the best selection of qualified candidates and possibly strengthen the kingdom's alliances," 'Yana mused. "...and to keep them interested, if she's obviously uninterested, spread some rumors that her sisters might be looking for husbands."

Re: Talk to the Queen

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded along with all of that. "Perfect. That also gives us plenty of time to teach her what to look for herself; even if she has to marry a man for the good of the kingdom," ugh, seriously? "there's no reason for her to be miserable. Killing too many kings in a row might be a bad omen."

Talk to Yennefer

[tellmehowstuffworks]

She is here.

OOC

[tellmehowstuffworks]

I forgot it was Tuesday. Weeks, how do they work? I haven't known since April.