Quoted By:
>2 SUCCESS: Extended Invitation. In addition to answering your questions as good manners require, and answering hers satisfactorily, you are invited to remain here for the night as a guest. A tour of the island is planned tomorrow and further subjects to be discussed at your leisure.
>DOUBLE PASS: Friendly Conversation. Nil counter-intrigue attempt required this round. Vancewell bonus. Kyria Eustace has ties with Faction members.
The elder woman is Maia, despite her advanced age and simple robes you were correct in identifying her as a person of significant rank among the women here. She is in fact the Autarch of the Stratiokas, one of two on this island, and was Exalted herself at one point in times past. Helena and Eustace don’t seem to show much in the way of deference to her despite her seniority, both in rank and age, but it appears your efforts to pay your respects are regarded in a positive light. She sidles up to Brother Rousseau, who for the first time since he donned the white robes of the Comitas actually appears somewhat perturbed by the attention. Although she pretends to pay little attention to yourself and Kyria Eustace, you suspect she hears every word. Thankfully, the conversation between yourself and your host stays on what you believe to be safe territory.
As the afternoon drifts into evening Kyria Eustace finds your interest in her own past a delightful topic. You'd have probably used a different word, like shocking. Born to a birth-mother in the house of the Daughters of the Dragon, Eustace never knew who her father was. You learn that this is by no means unusual among the Stratiokas, although she did have some suspicions, this caste places very little weight on the paternal line. The mothers of the compound form a unit, not an ad hoc element but a formal one in fact with clear ranks, a formation charged with the bearing and nurture of healthy young soldiers to be. The fathers have little contact with their offspring, if any. Kyrios Militades and Kyria Eustace did not share the same birth-mother, but apparently of more importance they did serve together in the <span class="mu-i">Psiloi</span>. You recognise this name to be as the green robed skirmishers, which are typically made up of younger bloods of both genders before proving themselves worthy of a place in the main phalanx with the hoplites. Eustace stresses that is a generalisation, many veterans stay on or leave the phalanx for the roles and she herself prefers that command where it presents itself due to the increased flexibility in tactics and impact on strategy. The hoplites may form the battleline, Kyria Helena explains with a roll of the eyes, but it’s the skirmishers that pick the battlefield.
[1/3]
