As Claude himself, it just cracked me up to find this forum post. And in Claude's defense, I would point out that he and just a couple other nobles, with a whole bunch of gold sent to us, managed to save the city. I was flat out blown away though that Claude was actually appointed, even though I think he'll do a good job.
Mainly, this should be an encouragement to newer players that if you don't try and reach a bit with your characters, nothing interesting is likely to happen to your characters, and that trying and failing leaves you where you were before, but with others aware that you want to be involved.
