Crown of White Ravens (and its variants)--Preparation?

[Kevingway]

I'm really puzzled about this item when it comes to your readied maneuvers (emphasis mine).


...the wearer must choose one of the White Raven
maneuvers that the item can grant for which he meets the
prerequisite. He then gains knowledge of that maneuver and
can use it as long as the crown is worn.

and


A person who has worn a crown of White Ravens for
24 hours gains the use of a single White Raven maneuver for
which he meets the prerequisite.

So if I'm a Warblade, would these extra maneuvers that I can "use as long as I wear the crown" count against my other prepared maneuvers that day, or would they be freebies that I can also recover (would I even have to recover them?) with my other maneuvers after use? It's very unclear to me.

Edit: And while we're at it, here's a fun question (emphasis mine on quote):


Anyone can wear a crown of White Ravens,
but to gain any benefit from it, a wearer must meet the prerequisite
of the desired maneuver.


After wearing it continually
for 24 hours, the wearer must choose one of the White Raven
maneuvers that the item can grant for which he meets the
prerequisite.

I know I repeated the same quote twice here at the bottom, but... do you even have to have a high enough initiator level to use this maneuver as long as you have the prerequisite? The text states that the item grants a maneuver that you can use up to the highest level that the "item" (even italicized in the book) can grant, as long as you meet the prerequisites. The only prerequisites I see are those that require you know at least 1/2/3/whatever number of martial maneuvers of the same path.

Diamond Defense for everyone?

[Manly Man]

Personally, I just rule that you can only use it once per encounter, like if you were a non-initiator who got the maneuver through the Martial Study feat. As for the maneuver level thing, I have it be figured out just like the rules for using a scroll with a spell level that's higher than you current caster level, but use initiator levels instead.

[sleepyphoenixx]

The minimum initiator level is a prerequisite. Also, you gain the maneuver known. For a non-initiator that means you can use it 1/encounter, similar to the Martial Study feat. For an initiator that means you gain an additional maneuver known. You don't gain additional slots to prepare it.

[Kevingway]

The minimum initiator level is a prerequisite. Also, you gain the maneuver known. For a non-initiator that means you can use it 1/encounter, similar to the Martial Study feat. For an initiator that means you gain an additional maneuver known. You don't gain additional slots to prepare it.

Makes sense; however, I'm not sure if minimum initiator level would be a prerequisite if the item is what contains the maneuver, kind of like how using a magic item doesn't require you to be a 3rd level wizard to benefit from its effects. I guess. Trying to piece it out, but it seems specific enough to designate only the prerequisite field and not the initiator level field of a maneuver, though for trying to learn maneuvers, you'd need to meet the minimum level.

It's just my interpretation of the RAW (which I'm sure by my saying that someone will get into RAI semantics without addressing the RAW at face value :| )

Edit: And actually, I'm sure this is the case.


The wondrous items presented here can be used both by
martial adepts and by those who have no knowledge of the
martial disciplines.


The crown’s wearer need
not be a martial adept, but knowledge of other maneuvers
and ranks in the discipline’s key skill
give the wearer access to more powerful
maneuvers.

This seems to imply that initiator level is not a factor, and only the prerequisites for higher-level maneuvers, which typically involve some kind of skill check or a number of other maneuvers known, would come into play.