Having just run a session about the political situation in Ussura using the 2e set up of Ilya vs Ketheryna I have one question:
Why hasn't Matrushka sorted it?
Normally she finds a poor farmer, gives them white hair and green eyes and boom - new unambiguous ruler. So why hasn't that happened this time?
It was the big plot hole that we danced around, and at one climactic point one of the players called out for Matrushka to intervene and pick a side, but given her inactivity previously, I didn't see a reason she would, so she didn't.
Yeah, I think that as long as Ilya is still breathing, Matrushka can't just pick someone else. Granted, I might be going off 1e info, but the position of ruler only tranfers upon death, and generally a new person unrelated to the prior ruler, with Ilya being the one exception due to trickery on his father's part.
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Then I guess my issue is if she has chosen Ilya (even if tricked to do it), how does Ketheryna have any support? Surely in Ussura no one would go against Matrushka's choice.
1e implied that Matushka had elevated Ketheryna to a "chosen" as well or was at least in the process of doing so; the situation may be similar here.
It could also be that Matushka has just decided to... provide less help than she historically has...in order to spite Ilya. I mean she didn't feel particularly inclined to intervene when the 1e boyars tormented Ilya as a child, which was what made Ilya unstable and unreliable in the first place (again 1e.)
My take on Ketheryna's situation was that she had been gifted with Pyerem by Matsuhka (who could bestow or remove said power at a whim), not that she'd been chosen as the new Gaius.
And yeah, 1e Matsuhka had pretty much made it clear that 1e Ilya wasn't going to get much help from her due to the trickery that his father pulled. It's not wise to upset ancient quasi-magical beings, being right up there with starting a land war in Asia.
Dono's Gaming & Etc Blog
http://jedimorningfire.blogspot.com/