"I actually thought this had been adequately communicated earlier, but perhaps I was being too diplomatic, and therefore too indirect.

The Lady Avaricia, in alter-Cheliax, was raised as the heir to a Chelish county, and raised believing that because she is much better than everyone else, it is her duty to study hard and become wise and govern them responsibly. Yes, her mother is Good. She has been warned she'll probably end up Good too, once she's a Countess, but it's considered healthy not to try to rush there deliberately, when you're young and your decisions don't yet affect other people. 

The Lady Avaricia is not an idiot, and it would have occurred to her, at some point, to wonder if it was true she was much better than everyone else and that it was reasonable for her to rule over them. She studied the matter carefully and concluded it was entirely true. Most people are terrible at planning, barely if at all literate, impulsive and violent, sexist and stupid. If you ask them how their county ought to be governed they propose less taxes and more public-goods." She uses the Baseline, rather pointedly. "Lots of them want to conquer Andoran; the most popular complaint about the Church is that it's not out there killing more infidels. It's not just an impoverished upbringing; my tutors' children, raised alongside me, are stupider, and have worse judgment, and handle themselves worse in negotiations. My best guess is that half of nobility is in the blood, and the other half in the bearing, and you actually do need both. 

Now, 'better than everyone you've ever met' need not translate to 'better than everyone in Cheliax'. If nothing else, there's all the other counties, and there are Dukes, and I have never been given reason to believe I rival the Queen in any of my strengths. And so the Lady Avaricia, advertised a secret project, joined eagerly, not because she wants money - she has all the money she could reasonably want - but because there might be people there who are as good as her. 

The Lady Avaricia was disappointed. The project had some children with the blood, maybe, to be nobles, but not the bearing; some who can surpass her in how fast they do arithmetic in their heads, or how desperately they want to impress the teacher, but none who actually see as far, none who can pay attention from as many angles, none who are doing anything other than trying to race down the track Keltham laid out at top speed, none who are venturing off the track every few minutes because they see so many connections, between what's being spoken and what they already knew. And Keltham, himself a child with no leadership ability to speak of, selects for his favor those who hand on his every word, because that feels, to him, like those are the ones who really understand it.

The Lady Avaricia does not blame them. They are all peasants. None of them were raised to rule because none of them were going to. The skills they lack would have been less useful to them than the skills they possess, if they'd gone off to fight demons like they were supposed to. But she is disappointed, and she is aware that she is unlike them, and she does not care to be like them; if nothing else, she thinks it'd be a loss to the project. 

All this but my mother's alignment, wall-girl, is green. Should we go on to the parts that are orange?"

"I actually thought this had been adequately communicated earlier, but perhaps I was being too diplomatic, and therefore too indirect.

The Lady Avaricia, in alter-Cheliax, was raised as the heir to a Chelish county, and raised believing that because she is much better than everyone else, it is her duty to study hard and become wise and govern them responsibly. Yes, her mother is Good. She has been warned she'll probably end up Good too, once she's a Countess, but it's considered healthy not to try to rush there deliberately, when you're young and your decisions don't yet affect other people. 

The Lady Avaricia is not an idiot, and it would have occurred to her, at some point, to wonder if it was true she was much better than everyone else and that it was reasonable for her to rule over them. She studied the matter carefully and concluded it was entirely true. Most people are terrible at planning, barely if at all literate, impulsive and violent, sexist and stupid. If you ask them how their county ought to be governed they propose less taxes and more public-goods." She uses the Baseline, rather pointedly. "Lots of them want to conquer Andoran; the most popular complaint about the Church is that it's not out there killing more infidels. It's not just an impoverished upbringing; my tutors' children, raised alongside me, are stupider, and have worse judgment, and handle themselves worse in negotiations. My best guess is that half of nobility is in the blood, and the other half in the bearing, and you actually do need both. 

Now, 'better than everyone you've ever met' need not translate to 'better than everyone in Cheliax'. If nothing else, there's all the other counties, and there are Dukes, and I have never been given reason to believe I rival the Queen in any of my strengths. And so the Lady Avaricia, advertised a secret project, joined eagerly, not because she wants money - she has all the money she could reasonably want - but because there might be people there who are as good as her. 

The Lady Avaricia was disappointed. The project had some children with the blood, maybe, to be nobles, but not the bearing; some who can surpass her in how fast they do arithmetic in their heads, or how desperately they want to impress the teacher, but none who actually see as far, none who can pay attention from as many angles, none who are doing anything other than trying to race down the track Keltham laid out at top speed, none who are venturing off the track every few minutes because they see so many connections, between what's being spoken and what they already knew. And Keltham, himself a child with no leadership ability to speak of, selects for his favor those who hang on his every word, because that feels, to him, like those are the ones who really understand it.

The Lady Avaricia does not blame them. They are all peasants. None of them were raised to rule because none of them were going to. The skills they lack would have been less useful to them than the skills they possess, if they'd gone off to fight demons like they were supposed to. But she is disappointed, and she is aware that she is unlike them, and she does not care to be like them; if nothing else, she thinks it'd be a loss to the project. 

All this but my mother's alignment, wall-girl, is green. Should we go on to the parts that are orange?"