Lady Olénie of Glass

Table of Contents

Report for Lord Adélème's attention—Your new Western neighbour

Lady Glass

Who: Olénie of Glass, a young woman in her early thirties.
Fief: Lady of the Fief of Glass, an average size fief of 27 towers and 45k inhabitants. Its noteworthy productions are valuable glass magic-measuring instruments that will be highly beneficial to us, my lord, and precious Soulmates' wine that can be used to bribe other lords and ladies.
Politics: She plays no role in current city politics and belongs to no faction.
Skills: According to her people, she is a master glassmaker able to create complex and fully enchanted glasswork. Hard to say how true this is given that she became a lady before starting a mastery apprenticeship and has had to focus on politics since. Also rumoured to have a high sensitivity to magic.
Conclusion: She is an easy target and her fief should fall quickly into your hands, my lord.

Lady Olénie by AmélieIS

Lady Olénie, as painted by Dame Louise of Glass

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Origin

Boring origin as a commoner in the Fief of Glass, with unremarkable masters glassworkers parents and a childhood spent learning the craft.
The parents died when one of the glasswork towers caught fire and collapsed—typical maintenance negligence by the previous Glass Lord. Said lord also, of course, refused to help support the victims' relatives in any way.
It seems that teenager Olénie decided that if she was going to do any work to support herself, it was only going to be as the leader.

Please, my lord, find enclosed herewith a copy of one of the "educational" posters made by the Glass government to present the magic they use in glassworking and the profession of glassworker.

Shocking? The "Incident"? Oh no, everyone knew this was going to happen sooner or later with how that tower was falling to ruins. You can't do something as dangerous as glasswork and not be willing to invest the magic to maintain highly specialised fire wards!
But I can assure you that none of us working in this tower today are afraid for our life! If there is one thing our lady has prioritised, it's tower maintenance!
So you see, when your lord takes over, us glassworkers will be a highly valuable asset!

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Coup

She seized power soon afterwards despite having only a handful of supporters. A few of the previous lord's government members rallied to her cause, but most refused and were executed.
Her fight with the lord himself was short and contained. As only their closest allies witnessed it, we have no detailed account of her fighting skills, but she likely caught him by surprise.
Her seizing of power was also given a very lukewarm reception by the people of the fief. Without much support while she transitioned into her new role of lady, young Olénie made many mistakes from which she has still not entirely recovered.

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Her leadership

Her new government invested a lot of effort into reforming the politics of her fiefs and changing its culture, but this had a mix success and an even more mixed welcome among her people.
Her focus was and still is first on tower maintenance, second on glasswork, and third on education, a field in which she has had a lot of strange new ideas such as the creation of these strange "educational" posters that are plastered all around the fief.
As expected, this is not a priority order approved by many of her people.

Please, my lord, find enclosed herewith a copy of another "educational" posters, this one made by the Glass government to show off its "accomplishments".

At the stadium? Oh, of course not, you'll never see her around here! She never deigns to mingle with us, always thinking herself above us and keeping only with those that worship her! You'll have better luck at one of the Glass towers. Who are you spying for, anyway?

This game? Oh, it was all funded by Old man Généus over there! It's not like our government would lift its little finger for any of us! The lady always wants to appear kind and helpful, but we all see where the money goes! It's always only Glass building this, sewer that! Never anything that we would actually appreciate!
But we've all heard the new emperor is amazing with his people! I can assure you we're all looking forward to finally receiving the appreciation we're owed!

Character and Relationships

As you can see, my lord, Lady Olénie's people do not have to be begged to openly criticise her in public spaces. Looking between the lines of the information I have collected, the lady appears to be of a reserved character and to be highly distrustful of those around her, only allowing close her early supporters, such as Dame Louise.
This has unsurprisingly engendered a great deal of resentment in the upper class of her people. As for the lower class, it is divided between uneducated rabble who instinctively respect their lady and easily manipulated idiots who follow the upper class' guidance.

Dame Louise is the only Glass inhabitant of concern for us. A child spy under the previous lord, she has kept from this a love of backstabbing and has earned the reputation of being a vicious fighter. I have marked her as "Attempt to recruit" in our file.
For more information, please consult my report on her, my lord.

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Diplomacy

Foreigners:
The Fief of Glass has always been highly dependent on trade. They need sand import from outside of the city to create their glass, and then they need to be able to sell that glass and their glass instruments to other fiefs or to foreigners. This lack of independence is a big weakness.
Even without going against the City Council and blocking the trade caravans, the foreigners can easily be persuaded to stop their dealings with her.
Inside the city:
Her brutal coup has cooled the relationships of the Glass fief with several of its previous allies, and they have been struggling since then.
Your lordship's conquest of Perfumes is sure to send the lady in a panic and to convince her to finally look out of her fief and deign attend a meeting of the Council to find allies. This will force her out of her depth and leave her open to humiliation and further losses of allies.

The Glass girl is either an idiot who thinks too highly of herself to deign interact with her neighbours or an idiot who is too terrified to leave her wards. In any case, we certainly want nothing to do with her! Please be sure to send our most sincere salutations and wishes for good health to your lord, monsieur, and assure him that Spice will not stand in his way!

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Recommendations

Lady Olénie should be easy to cow and seduce to your side, my lord, if she is as sensible as she seems. If not, a revolt among her people should be easy to trigger.
In any case, given her unpopularity with her own people and her lack of political skills, it might be more advantageous to get rid of her and put one of your vassals at the head of the fief.

Future confrontation...

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Related articles

The Fief of Glass

Territories The City of the Hundred Fiefs · The Fief of Glass · The Lady's Tower Politics Politicians (Lady Olénie, Dame Louise of Glass) · Political system (Lords and Ladies of the Fiefs, Lady Olénie's government, The Police of the Fief of Glass) · Problems (The ongoing Elantian civil war, Previous inhabitants of the Fief of Perfumes, Water sickness) Magic Dangers (Seasonal magic flood, Magical corrosion, Basement kraken) · Technologies (Tower wards, Ward pins, Tasty Treat) · Industry (Glass and Magic Lenses, Glassworkers, Runes) Culture Farming (Soulmates' wine, Painted magpie, Fungus for Plant Warfare) · Travellers (Trading caravans, Travelling healers) · Others (The Worship of the Imperial Family, Election of a Tower Leader, Spying Devices)