Are the Bretton's our pawns?

[alexwellace]

There is much debate over this, it is cleat the Asrai have some influence on Bretton development but are they our pawns? Is Ariel really the lady of the lake or is she some different deitiy that is tyed to the land of brettonia itself?

My main pont i base this quesion on is that in our book, on the timeline it says "The Fey Enchantress us appointed to oversee the Brettonians." Is the Fey Enchantress not the pope of the Bretton religion and if we appointed her, as in she is a servant of Ariel does that not mean we made up there whole religion? I have not read knight of the grail but i heard there are some answers there. Can anyone clarify this for me, because when i was having a look at the round table forum they where all saying that we did not have any influence on them, but do we?

[dusk1983]

If you read the Brettonian book and the wood elf book in tandum one of the most interesting correlation is thus:
Brettonia pg 47
"for every child that shows signs of such mystical powers, there are other 'gifted' children that never display any outward sign of their strange, otherworld traits... Before they reach puberty, almost all children with these strange talents are visited by the Fay Enchantress. She takes them with her to the otherworld, and they are mourned by their parents as if they were no longer living... While nothing is ever seen of the boy children again, sometimes the girl children will..."
Wood Elves pg 5
"Boy children taken from the lands around the forest, destined never to grow old, joyfully serve their graceful Elven masters"

Coincidence? Maybe. This has always been the big connection for me.

Gilles the uniter and his companion met the lady of the lake in the forest of Chalons which is in the province of Quinelles (borders on Athel Loren).

Whilst I don't believe the brettonians to be 100% at the mercy of wood elven masters, it appears that the lady is indeed Ariel or at least a powerful Asrai caster, and their development as a culture has been crafted by the Asrai to form a bit of a symbiotic relationship. The easily scared and superstitious Brettonians are a much better neighbour than the rampaging orcs that occupied those lands before them. And the belief in the Lady and therefore the power bestowed upon the Fey Enchantress is there to keep the most powerful members of the Brettonian race (mages) on either a short leash or perpetual youthful servitude in the case of the little boys. (which i find a bit creepy. Why keep only the boys?)

Also Fey Enchantress Profile is Movement 5. She is not human. The profile definately looks Elfish.

EDIT: Upon further research, I've got a bit more evidence: Brettonian Lore states that Unicorns dwell within the mysterious otherworld(In the section for the fey enchantress). We all know that unicorns are in fact of magical creature of Athel Loren as their entry in our army book states. But the otherworld is where the Fay enchantress takes her little boys and girls as stated in my uote above. So maybe the otherworld... is... athel loren? (When you read this, please read it with my voice rasing as the sentence continues and me putting my pinky to my mouth just like Doctor Evil)

[Ravenlord]

You Sir, know your fluff. Very nice read too, I might ad.

[Billthesurly]

Of COURSE they are! They bees our bitches. We've been leading those ignorant and superstitious humans around by the nose forever. We made up their religion for them and serve as their dieties. High level spellweavers take turns showing up as "The Fay Enchantress". They have archery contests to see who has to go and be the Lady of the Lake this month. We set up their entire culture to be a bulwark against nasty things on our northern border. They are deferential, brave, obedient, loyal, honest, trustworthy - everything you want in a guard dog. Their culture is not too advanced so we don't have to put up with soot and smoke belching, steam powered mills and factories like they have in the Empire or that those tree-murdering Dwarves love so much. We have convinced their nobility that black powder weapons are not chivalrous and dis-honorable so we don't have lots of loud noise disturbing our glades. Who could ask for better neighbors?

The above is not necessarilly cannon. It is the viewpoint of MY Welf's "Arafel's Exiles" and is simply what the books hint at taken to extremes. It is intended to be mostly humorous so please, no letter bombs from Brettonian players unless delivered in the same vien.

[Ravenlord]

Extremism is an excellent way to prove a point.

[Beithir Seun]

Not canonical, but the WFRP book Knights of the Grail states outright that the Fey Enchantress is an elf. I seem to remember somewhere else (maybe also in Knights of the Grail or possibly Guardians of the Forest) hinting that the Fey Enchantress and Naieth the Prophetess are the same person as well.

[Ethankyou]

This is an awesome fluff-extrapolation!

I think the official answer would be "...Sure!"

My official answer would be "...Cool!"

[dusk1983]

You Sir, know your fluff. Very nice read too, I might ad.

thanks for the compliment. In all honesty though, I was avoiding doing an assignment and I saw this post. "Aha!" thought I to myself. "A thin excuse to procrastinate!" and then i pulled out both books and did some fact checking from what I'd thought I'd read in the past.

[Ravenlord]

Slacking like a Sir

[Highborn Rayden]

(which i find a bit creepy. Why keep only the boys?)

Ok, regarding this kind of thinking.

We as a society aren't geared towards the thinking that was prevalent a century ago. A century ago, children were innocent and beautiful little people and were basically adored for their looks and manners in a completely NON-sexual way.

So that is what i think the elves took them for, because having children serve them for eternity, laughing, playing games and basically being childlike amuses the elves.

Just my 2 cents

[dusk1983]

no i get all of that and would understand entirely, if they kept the best and brightest children to be their servants rather than just the boys. Little girls are just as vibrant and energetic as little boys.

From a fluff standpoint perhaps the Male spellcasters are more difficult to control and manipulate when they grow up compared to the girls who become the damsels of the lady. In which case the boys are kept as servants because the Asrai can't afford to let them grow up, but can't bring themselves to kill them. Which all in all is a lot nicer.

[Moose123]

Maybe they rip out their hearts and turn them into slaves of athel loren. Darker and moe sinister but that's how I like my woodies, none of this, "fairies and sunshine," stuff.

[Overmind]

Hey fairies are dark as heck in old time legends. Let's be fairies.

[Revelen]

They have archery contests to see who has to go and be the Lady of the Lake this month.

I just snorted tea up the back of my nose and got a bizarre look from my girlfriend. Thanks.

[Billthesurly]

Don't mention it.

[Baardah]

But if the enchantress can use any lore of the book and is a spell weaver, why can't our casters use those lores too?

[Moose123]

Because she is better!!!

[Lain]

The armylist we had when the rules for her were written allowed us to use all BRB lores with our L3+4 Casters.
I bet she will be limited to life and beasts when they get a new book.

[Saulot]

They have archery contests to see who has to go and be the Lady of the Lake this month.

I just snorted tea up the back of my nose and got a bizarre look from my girlfriend. Thanks.

LOL thanks for bumping this post.

I'm a Bretonnian player myself, and I enjoyed this immensely.