K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Plan: Contacts
First Impressions [Warhammer Fantasy Wizard Quest]
- Thread starter fishsicles
- Start date
fishsicles
ate a calculator to gain its power
- Location
- Alexander Horned Earth
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Voting was closed when the auto tally post went up.
(Still figuring out how all the formatting options for it work...)
Preparations in Altdorf
fishsicles
ate a calculator to gain its power
- Location
- Alexander Horned Earth
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Myrmidian Connections: +1
3d10 = 5 1 31 = 9 Setback
Giancito gladly agrees to meet with the Myrmidians of the city – apparently, Altdorf is home to a number of knights of the Order of the Blazing Sun, whose martial traditions in the Crusades were influential on the development of his family's sword style. The details of it go over your head, but he sets off briskly and tells you to meet with him in the evening once he's made the first introductions.
"Well, there is good and bad news," he says in the exact tone of everyone you've ever heard speak that sentence, accent or no. "The good news is that among the priests, there is a cohort of missionaries from beautiful Cebreros, and many are willing to make introductions for a fellow son of their city."
You give him your Master's best "I'm a Celestial Wizard and I already know what you're trying not to tell me" look and wait for him to continue.
"The bad news is that, well, there is a man among them who has a sister in Cebreros. I have a brother in Cebreros who I will concede is not," he mulls over his words for a moment, "perhaps the most honourable of men, in matters of the heart. Were I not his brother I would call him a rogue and scoundrel. But what happens between a man's sister and another man's brother, well, that is not always the concern of the men themselves, and he said nothing about my brother that I did not concede was true."
You keep staring, and motion for him to get on with it.
"But then the topic of my mother was broached, and there are some lines even a man rightly wronged cannot cross. I shall be meeting him on the field of honour in two days."
It is only years of Collegiate discipline that stops you from flopping forward and slamming your head against the table.
Reward: New options available next turn! Bloody Estalians...
* * *
Prodigal Assistance: -1
4d10 = 1 2 101 = 13 Regular Success
Magical Perception Experiments: (-2 +2 Prodigal Assistance = +0)
3d10 = 5 1 8 = 14 Regular Success
The Colleges are rather clear on the policy of working with multiple Winds, but training one's perception of all the Winds is a tradition that dates to the very founding of the colleges. It was his mastery of magical perception that saw the Supreme Patriarch elevated to his position by Teclis, and his devotion to it in lieu of hedge magic which kept his soul pure from even the slightest touch of magical taint.
While you've met members of other Colleges before, you've not really been in a position of leadership. Even the junior Apprentices you've met largely tended to be accompanying their Master for business with yours. With three now following your lead, you have a perfect opportunity to develop your awareness of the other Winds of Magic. The first thing on your agenda for the week is to meet up at the tavern again, with whatever notes each of you have on perception of the Winds.
This time, the proprietor sends you upstairs to a private room.
Giancito describes awareness of Aqshy in a bevy of esoteric terminology. After longer than you'd admit, you realise he's not using magical language at all, but describes the flow of the Red Wind using Estalian duelling forms, with the Wind's ebb and flow compared to the movement of both his sword and his opponent's, often both in the same sentence. Reinhold struggles to explain his perception of Ghyran at all, relying on vague descriptions of instinct and gardening metaphors that he struggles to explain in a way you understand.
For her part, Hildegard asks you to meet her at a house not far from the Amethyst College.
"House" perhaps being generous, even by the dismal standards of Old Altdorf. It stands half-leaning on the adjacent storefront, which has long been boarded up. A simple sign reading "College Property" hangs slightly askew, nailed to the front of an older board which probably once said "foreclosed". (Or possibly "Four Clover". You wouldn't have even gotten this much, were it not for years of experience with your master's hastily-scrawled notes.)
You knock on the door, and step inside just as an unfamiliar Amethyst Apprentice draws it open. "You here for the Box?" he asks, his voice more akin to a growl than any dialect of Reikspiel you've encountered.
"Hildegard should be expecting me." you say, neutrally.
The man nods, and points you down the stairs. You catch a muffled "poor bastard" as he walks away. Wonderful.
In the building's much better-maintained basement, Hildegard is standing over a large metallic machine which looks eerily like a coffin. Your Amethyst associate turns to you with an uncharacteristic smile on her face. "Siegfried! I'm glad to see you made it." She points to a small walled-off chamber with a curtain drawn over it. "Change out of your robes and get in the tank."
You briefly consult Azyr to make sure this is a good idea. No portents of doom assail you, but you swear you can already see Shyish mirroring Hildegard's manic grin a little too clearly. And she's definitely between you and the staircase now.
Still, if this was anything truly dangerous, you doubt the Amethyst College would sanction it, so holding onto that thought like a raft in a storm you change into the light, close-fitting garments inside the booth and walk slowly towards the machine. As you lie down, Hildegard closes the lid on top of you.
"I'm going to activate the enchantment on the chamber now." You hear Hildegard's voice somewhere in the distance. "You won't be able to hear us, but we can hear you. If you want to end the test, just say 'I can taste blood'. Also say that if you can actually taste blood, there's some unusual side-effects we're hammering out with the Shyish version of the sound-blocking enchantment. Otherwise, we'll be running various magical items outside the box; describe them to us as you sense them."
With that said, you feel a slightly disorienting sensation for a moment, and then you hear the unmistakable sound of running water. One moment you are wondering if the Amethysts actually were about to drown you, and the next you are floating in a void. The box blocks all light and sound from behind it, and the denser-than-normal water lifts you up away from the surface. Even the inescapable smell of Altdorf seems to have been driven away. The only thing that tells you you're alive is, ironically, the very slight patterns of Shyish which weave through the chamber's walls.
As you regain your bearings, somewhere to the left of you lights up with a spike of magic – something imbued with Aqshy, from the look of it. You say as much to the void, and receive no answer, but the item vanishes – only to be replaced by a slightly fainter source tinged with Hysh.
You couldn't be sure how long you were in Hildegard's box, calling out knick-knacks from various Colleges as she and at least two assistants paraded them around the room, the house, and even the surrounding streets. Eventually, the water slowly drains from the tank and the void fades away, leaving you once again sitting on the inside of an uncomfortable metal box. You're not immediately sure of the benefits – until Hildegard shows you her notes. Several times throughout the several hours you were in her tank, she'd shown you the same objects – each time, your descriptions grew a little more precise, as your senses focused better in on the Winds. Something about how eliminating distractions can help you focus on just your magical senses.
By the time you've changed back into your robes, she's gone and taken her notes with her. The Amethyst who showed you down to the basement escorts you back out, and hands you a small pamphlet asking you a series of questions to "rate your experience".
Gained Awareness of Aqshy, Ghyran, Shyish at +0.
Better multi-Wind awareness improves Awareness of Dhar to +1.
Hildegard has notes on Siegfried's magical perception, feedback on her magical awareness testing and training system.
* * *
Priestly Research: +1 (Research Assistance)
4d10 = 4 2 101 = 16 Success
Most citizens of the Empire know that there are a certain number of true Gods of the Empire. Exactly what that number is, of course, varies depending on which citizens you ask. A devout Sigmarite will say that the sole God of the Empire is Sigmar; after all, he is the patron of the Empire itself. The more… sensible Sigmarites will acknowledge others as gods within, but not of, the Empire. Ulricans and Taalites will claim their own patron to be a peer or above Sigmar as a god of the Empire – after all, was Ulric not the god of Sigmar? Was Taal not the King of the Gods?
The Cult of Verena in the Empire has historically listed eight "Gods of the Empire": Verena, Sigmar, Ulric, Taal, Rhya, Morr, Manann, and Shallya – though not without a typical Verenan debate on the matter. Historically, the most contentious of these was whether to consider Taal and Rhya as two Gods or as one Cult; Magnus's further recognition of Myrmidia (the prior Verenan consensus was that despite her worship in the Empire, cultural ties to Tilea and Estalia were sufficiently strong that she should be counted as a tolerated foreign deity such as the Lady or the Widow) and Ranald (never well-liked in Verenan circles) had kicked up a new round of debates, and of course the Marienburgers had seized the opportunity to spin the argument back to Haendryk.
Midway through a fascinating discussion with an itinerant Verenan acolyte on the syncretic worship of Dwarven gods in Sylvania and the Middle Mountains, Reinhold sheepishly clears his throat and reminds you that you're mostly concerned with the politically influential cults, which brings you right back around to Magnus's list.
Sigmar: Grand Theogonist Kazgar XIV was a young man, by the standards of Sigmarite high priests. Orphaned after the death of his father at the Gates of Kislev, he was raised at a Sigmarite orphanage and showed a remarkable aptitude for theology and oration. Reared on tales of Emperor Magnus's valour as much as Sigmar's, he was an outspoken supporter of the Emperor even by Sigmarite standards from his days as a young priest. His rise in the Cult was bolstered by a series of successful campaigns in the Forest of Shadows, and it was with the support of many older Warrior Priests that he was named Lector of Ferlangen; a decade later, he was elected Arch Lector of the East as a dark-horse candidate. His election to Grand Theogonist was relatively recent and quite close, but tales of his martial exploits in Ferlangen won him the day over his more political counterpart in Nuln.
Your first impression of Kazgar from records of his speeches and sermons is that he never stopped being star-struck by the Emperor. You of all people are hardly one to criticise someone's admiration of Emperor Magnus, of course, but you're also not a political figure – it's hard to tell how much of Kazgar's veneration of the Emperor is idealism and how much is naivete. At times, it seems he even forgets that the Emperor is a political figure at all. You can't help but wonder how the Arch-Lector of Nuln feels.
Ulric: Ar-Ulric Kriestov has led the Cult of the Wolf God since the Age of the Three Emperors, and went from a fierce opponent of Magnus to one of his close allies, fighting as one of his most prominent commanders for the duration of the war, and being granted an Electoral seat for the Cult in its aftermath. Despite his old age, he still entertains popular support within the Cult of Ulric, and is a close personal friend of Magnus's heir presumptive, Graf Gunthar von Bildhofen of Middenheim, despite his history with the Emperor.
That said, Kriestov is an old man. There is a constant undercurrent of speculation to be found in more recent theses on Ulrican history and theology; the Ar-Ulric is old, which leaves many questions about his succession. Authors more willing to be outright critical of a High Priest and Elector highlight his consistent distrust of the Cult of Sigmar, even throughout Magnus's reign, and how many of the clerics he surrounds himself with as advisors (or possible successors) share his views on the Sigmarites and Grand Theogonist – though none go so far as to say he would break with the Empire or risk another Age of the Three Empires, some worry that he may be succeeded by a young firebrand who will cause trouble in future Grand Conclaves.
Taal and Rhya: The Cult of Taal and Rhya (you reluctantly let Reinhold pull you away from a spirited discussion with two Verenan priests and a Knight of the Everlasting Light about at what exact times it should be considered a Cult of Ishernos in an academic context) is, ironically, perhaps the closest of the other Cults to the Verenan style of leadership. Major territories are governed by a pair of Hierarchs, with the Hierarch of Rhya ruling in spring and autumn and the Hierarch of Taal in summer and winter. The Hierarchs' authority is largely informal, and priests can debate or ignore the edicts of the Hierarchs, in order to better care for the specific sites they manage. The de facto leaders of the Cult as a whole are the Hierarchs of the High Temple at Talabheim – they were the ones who refused Magnus's offer of an Electoral title, as it was their belief that becoming too involved in the politics of cities and Emperors had led the Talabheim Emperors away from Taal and Rhya's roles as protectors of the wilds.
You suspect that's all you would be able to find, but for one thing. While Talabheim is named for the Talabec and Taal, and its Temple of Sigmar is the traditional seat of the Arch-Lector of the East, there is a third tradition which shapes Talabheim. The Law District stands at the very heart of the city, and there stands the only rival to Taal's High Temple: Talabheim's Temple of Verena. While largely concerned with internal matters and managing the city's infamously complex Ottilian legal code, the Verenans of Talabheim remain in close correspondence with sister temples.
The Hierarch of Rhya currently acts as the formal authority in Talabheim's temple, and will do so until the Cult agrees winter has reached Talabecland. She is an old woman who most simply call Grandmother Oak – apparently from a tale where she, during the Great War, climbed atop an oak tree to bellow a challenge to a servant of the Lord of Excess, then leapt down to banish the daemon with a single blow. Since becoming Hierarch, she has largely been content to remain in the High Temple and tend to its overgrown gardens. There are many anecdotes of her wandering the streets of Talabheim and offering wisdom and guidance to random passers-by, with a special eye to poorer neighbourhoods; the Verenans think well enough of her, and also note that she has a close relationship with the Shallyans.
Her counterpart, Hierarch Arnfried of Taal, is rarely seen in spring or autumn, only returning to Talabheim to take leadership of the church as summer and winter begin. Reports describe him as a young, wild-haired man who spends most of his time wandering Talabecland in the guise of a simple hunter; he was apparently a protege of the prior Hierarch before his death, and feels a need to prove himself after being named to the position at a young age. He is particularly disdainful of the nobility, and has fought a number of duels with noble scions who take offense to his hunter's guise being dismissive of their station. Many of these scions, after being soundly humbled, have gone on to join the Knights of Taal's Fury and become his loyal followers – often to the frustration of their families.
Morr: If you can trust any of the priests to be sympathetic to a message from the Colleges, it would be the Morrites – the High Priestess of Altdorf regularly takes tea with the Magister Patriarch of the Amethyst Order, and their predecessors worked closely together throughout the Great War Against Chaos. There is no leader of the Cult of Morr, be it in the Empire or elsewhere. Much like the Verenans, each temple is functionally independent, though very much unlike his wife's priesthood, Morrites tend not to travel between temples; those that do are considered to belong to none of them. For the Empire, and the Conclaves, the role of representative of the Morrites typically belongs to the head of the temple at the Emperor's seat – in this case, Nuln.
While typically Morrites would acknowledge local authorities, the High Priestess of Nuln is certain to accompany Magnus's body and take a central role in the proceedings even if it is not her temple; her history of representing the Morrites at the Conclave and working with the Emperor will give her a great deal of de facto influence even if the Altdorf temple will make a show of its independence. As for the woman herself, most of what you learn can be summed up in one sentence: High Priestess Landriche Augenstein was born in Sylvania.
She joined the Black Guard as a page as soon as she could hold a sword, and spent years on end in campaign in her blighted homeland before the loss of her sword arm saw her retire to the priesthood. She retains her suit of the Black Guard's iconic obsidian armour, and has been known to wear it on formal occasions – especially when she believes the topic of the Empire's military commitment against the undead may come up. It's commonly thought that the main reason she accepted a place in Wissenland's priesthood, instead of Stirland or Sylvania, is that it would give her a better position to gain political support for the Black Guard and Sylvania – albeit rather bluntly. Despite her political shortcomings, by all accounts she's earned her reputation for deep knowledge of Morr's rites, and her martial leanings have made her a regular lecturer at the Imperial Gunnery School.
Manann: The Patriarch of the Cult of Manann proved to be an interesting case. At first, you'd shared the common belief that Magnus had elevated the Cult of Sigmar more than any other; certainly, they held three Electoral seats, and Magnus himself was a Sigmarite, but the Sigmarites already had sway over a number of Electors and great influence in the capital and Nuln. No, looking at it now, the cult which had risen the most, albeit not the highest, under Magnus was the Cult of Manann. Patriarch Manfred Sauerbeck began as a junior sailor serving aboard the Marienburger trade cog Sigmar's Hope – an unremarkable posting for a quiet young man, until the ship was chosen to carry Magnus's envoys to Ulthuan, in one of the most fateful journeys of any Imperial vessel.
Manfred's journals describe the voyage both physically and as a singular drawn-out battle between Manann and Stromfels, with the God of the Seas fighting as hard as the sailors of the Hope against the waves and winds that would have ended their journey. He returned to Marienburg alongside Teclis and his students, and while the latter went on to join Magnus, Manfred would take his revelations from the voyage to the High Temple, turn his record of his journey and visions over to the High Priest, and beg admission to Manann's priesthood. He became known as a talented orator and deeply pious man, with many crediting the survival of their ships or sailors to his visions.
He is not the first Patriarch to have served on the Directorate of Marienburg, but between his piety and force of personality have made him one of its most influential leaders. While the merchants united can overrule Manfred and the other priests, the often fractious mercantile politics of Marienburg often see Manfred as the Directorate's de facto kingmaker – which has led to many sizable donations to the Cult of Manann. He rarely takes a strong stance on matters of internal policy, believing that the Cult should be above disputes between merchant houses unless they risk Manann's wrath outright, he is firm in his commitment to a strong Imperial naval presence, especially to combat piracy. He often speaks at length of the importance of the Cult of Manann to both Marienburg and the Empire writ large – and there is a compelling case from more candid statements that he holds something of a grudge about Magnus's offer of an Electoral seat to the Taalites not being extended to Manann.
Shallya: Shallya's high priestess resides in Bretonnia, and she would likely be its most important deity if Bretonnian peasants had even half the freedoms of the Empire's commoners. Instead, while the Cult remains on the rise, it's in something of a back-and-forth spiritual conflict with the cult of the Lady, with the nobility's heavy hand coming down in the latter's favour if it ever boils over a little too strongly. Still, even the most hamfisted of Bretonnian dukes can't oppose the Shallyans too openly, if only because it's impossible even for Bretonnia's chivalrous hypocrisy to hold together when you're butchering a temple of pacifists espousing universal kindness.
The Shallyans within the Empire have no strong formal hierarchy; time spent managing internal business of the cult is time that could be spent spreading Shallya's mercies. At the Conclaves, the Cult has been typically represented by the High Priestess Gertrud of Nuln, if only because of her ties to Magnus from serving among his physicians. The current High Priestess is a middle-aged woman who's spent most of her life in the city; it's hard to get a read on her beyond "Shallyan priestess", but she seems to have devoted a particular amount of energy to trying to get Magnus to improve sanitation in Nuln, while also working (possibly at Magnus's behest) to build ties between the Shallyans and the Jade College.
It's likely she'll be accompanying the Emperor's body, but the level of influence she'll exert in Altdorf will depend on its own High Priestess – a woman you largely know by reputation, for having allegedly once stormed the doors of the Bright College and dragged a Magister into the streets to berate him after one too many Apprentices showed up at her temple with serious burns.
Myrmidia: The question of the other daughter of Verena and Morr is commonly raised within the Temple. You're both grateful and frustrated to have Reinhold working with you, as he often drags you out of intellectually fascinating but utterly irrelevant discussions on the precise nature of Myrmidia's ascension and her ties to the rest of the pantheon. The downside of being a god so closely tied to Verena, with so many unanswered questions. Thankfully, with Reinhold shepherding the discussions back on topic, the specific answers you're looking for are more straightforward. While the leadership of the Cult of Myrmidia is one of the many points of conflict in Estalia and Tilea, that same conflict keeps the disputed de jure leadership from interfering much in Myrmidian matters in the Empire. When you step back from the highest seats of official power, the Myrmidians approach religion with the same strict, military formality that their goddess brings to war – priestly ranks echo military ones, and the Empire's High Priest's official title is Commander of the Northern Regiment of the Order of the Eagle.
The current Eagle of the North is based in Nuln; it is likely he will be travelling alongside the Emperor's procession. Ingmar von Wald is former Knight of the Blazing Sun and veteran of the Battle of Kislev. The first Imperial to be named to the position for generations, sources differ on whether his appointment by his nominal Tilean superiors was a ploy to gain Magnus's favour, or a concession to the Estalians to whom his order is formally sworn. Aside from healthy Verenan curiosity, the question is largely moot; Von Wald has deftly avoided taking any official stance on southern matters, focusing his time as high priest on bolstering the Empire's knightly orders and offering Myrmidian support to reconstruction in both the Empire and Kislev, as well as attempts to proselytise at the Imperial Gunnery School.
Verena: Given all the time you've spent in the library asking after high priests, it's hard not to piece together the history of the one High Priest of the Empire that you've met in person. Detlev the Reckoner began his career as many Verenans did: as an itinerant missionary trying to bring some of Verena's law and wisdom to the ever-chaotic lands of the Border Princes. He travelled between the minor principalities, negotiating temporary peaces and bold promises which the Princes often broke as soon as the Verenans had moved on, seeking out whatever understanding of local life he could gather to return to Altdorf and add to the Temple's libraries, in the hope that one day the knowledge might lead to a lasting peace.
And then came the Battle of the Howling River. A band of Tilean mercenaries, flush with gold from the coffers of northern states and drunk on victory against their rivals, had pressed south into the lands of the Iron Claw Orcs. After putting the greenskins to flight, they seized an old fortified bridge they had used as a strongpoint and used it to found a small settlement – and run a chain across the river, in the hope of collecting valuable tolls from the route to Mad Dog Pass.
To say that this displeased the King of Barak Varr, whose ancestors had built the fortress before Sigmar's day, and who commanded the only fleet which could reasonably navigate the river, would be something of an understatement, and the mercenaries were hardly skilled in the art of diplomacy. When Detlev arrived at the city, originally to negotiate the boundary between the mercenaries' territories and a settlement further north, he found the bridge-fortress staring down the guns of a flotilla of dwarven ironclads, under the command of none less than Barak Varr's crown prince.
And then Detlev received word from a friend in the north: the Bloody Spear tribe had torn through his present employer's territory, and had struck an alliance with the Iron Claw to drive dwarf and man alike from the Howling River. Seeing no chance for a victory against the greenskins by dwarf or man alone, and after being rudely rebuffed by the mercenary captain, he leapt into the river's deadly currents and swam to the dwarf prince's flagship; as he climbed the hull, he emerged in front of the prince and his officers as they surveyed the shore, and without even pausing to catch his breath swore an oath to Verena that he would see their conflict with the mercenaries end if they would lend their aid against the greenskins. The prince, impressed by his daring, agreed, on the condition that the mercenary leader would lower the chain from the river as a sign of good faith.
The exact details of that night's events are the matter of fierce debate, which Detlev seems to encourage among the acolytes, but the next morning, he returned to the dwarven fleet in a fishing barge with the whole chain aboard, along with the second-in-command of the mercenaries to seal an alliance. The mercenaries would keep their city at the fortress, but in the service of Barak Varr's prince, and Dwarven ships would pass the bridge without tolls while supplying the defenders. Detlev, the prince, and the mercenary would fight side-by-side in the clash against the greenskins, and by his hands Verena's power shielded the prince from death.
It was the mercenaries who first gave him the name "the Reckoner", after watching him near-constantly debate the small group of true Dwarven Reckoners who arrived to handle the details of the agreement. The longbeards grumbled most vigorously, of course, but after one of them conceded he was "barely not the worst fool beardling I've had to set to rights" the name stuck. When the prince recovered, he invited Detlev back to Barak Varr as a guest and friend, and apparently "the mad umgi priest who swam the Howling River" is the subject of a popular Dwarven drinking song. When he finally returned to Altdorf, it was with the full knowledge of Khazalid, and Reikspeil transcriptions of everything the dwarves would let him copy.
Needless to say there weren't many objections to naming him High Priest.
Ranald: With all the more… organised faiths out of the way, that left one more officially sanctioned cult. A single leading figure of the Cult of Ranald would probably be undermined and overthrown by their fellows on principle, but there's always some Ranaldites who manage to reach the Grand Conclave in something of a semblance of an official capacity. As such, beyond cataloguing who these priests are and their official and unofficial stances at the Conclave, it's difficult to dig up any particular resources on the Ranaldites.
That said, your research does turn up one thread. Wedged between two particularly hefty treatises on Verenan interpretations of Ranald's relationship with Handrich you find a leaflet dated to twenty years ago, presenting itself as a "Guide for the Novice Priest on Combatting Ranaldian Trickery as Commonly Employed in the Matter of the Records". The text contains an overview of everything from abandoned passages and buildings in Altdorf's poorer districts to an overview on identifying forgeries.
Apparently, there has been an informal battle of wits between younger priests of Verena and Ranald in the streets and schools of Altdorf. Verenans attempt to catalogue and record whatever they can about the Ranald cultists of the city, and the Ranaldites try and steal those records and hide them away. They don't destroy them, thankfully – that would likely spark a much more overt confrontation; instead it's taken as something of a test for novice priests, to see if new Ranaldites can find a place that young Verenans wouldn't think to look, or otherwise
The Guide ends with a brief description of why either cult's leadership would put up with this sort of thing – apparently, while recovering a book of observations on the Ranaldite delegation to the first Conclave, a group of Verenan priests happened to simultaneously happen upon a large chest of alms stolen from the Temple of Shallya, accompanied by two hogtied men and their written confessions. (A handwritten note has been scribbled in the margins. It makes several spurious claims about the two men and their mothers, and is only signed with a drawing of a cat making an obscene gesture.)
Rewards: Information on high priests of officially-recognised Imperial cults, except Ranald.
Awareness of backdoor channel between Verenans and Ranaldites in Altdorf.
* * *
Meeting a Reckoner: +2
5d10 = 8 10 95 1 = 27 Greater Success
You finish your research in the early evening on Marktag. With some time remaining in the day, you approach one of the priests and ask for a meeting with the High Priest; while he originally starts explaining how things are often prepared well in advance, handing him the token you had received changes his tune quickly. Apparently, the High Priest sets aside a block of his evenings to talk to people he meets in the temple one-on-one, and uses the tokens as a sort of invitation. No one else has come by with one tonight, so if you're willing to come back in an hour or two, he believes you'd be the first in line. Azyr agrees - best to get there right as his usual block begins.
After a quick supper of a slightly overcooked pub steak and something vaguely resembling onions, you make your way back to the Temple, meet back up with the priest, and are shown to a waiting room. A young woman in acolyte's robes sits behind a desk, while several heavily-armed men you can't quite place loom in every corner of the room. As you enter, half of them turn their heads slightly, staring at you suspiciously; the others keep their equally suspicious stares locked on the young acolyte. The priest motions for you to approach the desk, then turns and leaves; the acolyte takes the token from you nervously, and quietly points you to a row of comfortable-looking chairs, each embroidered with an alternating pattern of the city heraldry of Altdorf and the scales of Verena.
After several long minutes, the acolyte awkwardly stands up, gives you an apologetic shrug, and knocks on the heavy door at the far end of the room. "Yes?" the familiar voice of an elderly man answers.
"High Priest, there is a man here to see you." the woman says, barely loud enough to hear. "From the Colleges." she clarifies, her voice somehow even quieter. Some mumbling conversation on the other side of the door follows.
"Send him in, we shall be finished shortly." The acolyte nods even as the men in the corners all visibly tense. She motions for you to stand, and shows you through the door into the High Priest's office.
As you may expect, the office is packed in every corner with piles of books, some neatly shelved and others stacked precariously on any surface fit to support them. The only places free of books are those close to the lanterns which hang from the walls - the convenience of having more texts close at hand is ever outweighed by the danger of an errant spark.
The great hardwood desk of the High Priest of Verena is empty; instead, Detlev the Reckoner is seated by a small round table, staring at a largely-empty chessboard. He turns and smiles at you as the acolyte closes the door behind you. "Ah, yes, the young wizard. I apologise; it seems our game has been going on a bit long. Do you mind if I play while we talk? I doubt Diethard would be so kind as to forfeit." He nods to his prior guest, who simply scoffs, his hands hovering back and forth between several pieces.
It takes you a very long moment to put a name to a face to a person to a title.
Sitting on the other side of the chess table is Diethard von Holswig-Schliestein, Grand Prince and Elector Count of Reikland.
To think that there was a time when you thought being a Celestial Wizard meant you couldn't be caught unprepared.
What's the plan?
[ ] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
[ ] Measured disclosure. Spare the magical particulars to focus on the conclusions you can draw, unless pressed for details.
[ ] Priestly advice. Ask to talk to Detlev alone for a moment, try and keep the possibility of speaking to the Grand Prince afterwards open if he thinks it's wise.
[ ] Seal of the confessional. You're here to talk to the High Priest of your Cult personally, not one of the Elector Counts. Detlev can talk to the Grand Prince himself if he sees the need.
* * *
3d10 = 5 1 3
Giancito gladly agrees to meet with the Myrmidians of the city – apparently, Altdorf is home to a number of knights of the Order of the Blazing Sun, whose martial traditions in the Crusades were influential on the development of his family's sword style. The details of it go over your head, but he sets off briskly and tells you to meet with him in the evening once he's made the first introductions.
"Well, there is good and bad news," he says in the exact tone of everyone you've ever heard speak that sentence, accent or no. "The good news is that among the priests, there is a cohort of missionaries from beautiful Cebreros, and many are willing to make introductions for a fellow son of their city."
You give him your Master's best "I'm a Celestial Wizard and I already know what you're trying not to tell me" look and wait for him to continue.
"The bad news is that, well, there is a man among them who has a sister in Cebreros. I have a brother in Cebreros who I will concede is not," he mulls over his words for a moment, "perhaps the most honourable of men, in matters of the heart. Were I not his brother I would call him a rogue and scoundrel. But what happens between a man's sister and another man's brother, well, that is not always the concern of the men themselves, and he said nothing about my brother that I did not concede was true."
You keep staring, and motion for him to get on with it.
"But then the topic of my mother was broached, and there are some lines even a man rightly wronged cannot cross. I shall be meeting him on the field of honour in two days."
It is only years of Collegiate discipline that stops you from flopping forward and slamming your head against the table.
Reward: New options available next turn! Bloody Estalians...
* * *
Prodigal Assistance: -1
4d10 = 1 2 10
Magical Perception Experiments: (-2 +2 Prodigal Assistance = +0)
3d10 = 5 1 8 = 14 Regular Success
The Colleges are rather clear on the policy of working with multiple Winds, but training one's perception of all the Winds is a tradition that dates to the very founding of the colleges. It was his mastery of magical perception that saw the Supreme Patriarch elevated to his position by Teclis, and his devotion to it in lieu of hedge magic which kept his soul pure from even the slightest touch of magical taint.
While you've met members of other Colleges before, you've not really been in a position of leadership. Even the junior Apprentices you've met largely tended to be accompanying their Master for business with yours. With three now following your lead, you have a perfect opportunity to develop your awareness of the other Winds of Magic. The first thing on your agenda for the week is to meet up at the tavern again, with whatever notes each of you have on perception of the Winds.
This time, the proprietor sends you upstairs to a private room.
Giancito describes awareness of Aqshy in a bevy of esoteric terminology. After longer than you'd admit, you realise he's not using magical language at all, but describes the flow of the Red Wind using Estalian duelling forms, with the Wind's ebb and flow compared to the movement of both his sword and his opponent's, often both in the same sentence. Reinhold struggles to explain his perception of Ghyran at all, relying on vague descriptions of instinct and gardening metaphors that he struggles to explain in a way you understand.
For her part, Hildegard asks you to meet her at a house not far from the Amethyst College.
"House" perhaps being generous, even by the dismal standards of Old Altdorf. It stands half-leaning on the adjacent storefront, which has long been boarded up. A simple sign reading "College Property" hangs slightly askew, nailed to the front of an older board which probably once said "foreclosed". (Or possibly "Four Clover". You wouldn't have even gotten this much, were it not for years of experience with your master's hastily-scrawled notes.)
You knock on the door, and step inside just as an unfamiliar Amethyst Apprentice draws it open. "You here for the Box?" he asks, his voice more akin to a growl than any dialect of Reikspiel you've encountered.
"Hildegard should be expecting me." you say, neutrally.
The man nods, and points you down the stairs. You catch a muffled "poor bastard" as he walks away. Wonderful.
In the building's much better-maintained basement, Hildegard is standing over a large metallic machine which looks eerily like a coffin. Your Amethyst associate turns to you with an uncharacteristic smile on her face. "Siegfried! I'm glad to see you made it." She points to a small walled-off chamber with a curtain drawn over it. "Change out of your robes and get in the tank."
You briefly consult Azyr to make sure this is a good idea. No portents of doom assail you, but you swear you can already see Shyish mirroring Hildegard's manic grin a little too clearly. And she's definitely between you and the staircase now.
Still, if this was anything truly dangerous, you doubt the Amethyst College would sanction it, so holding onto that thought like a raft in a storm you change into the light, close-fitting garments inside the booth and walk slowly towards the machine. As you lie down, Hildegard closes the lid on top of you.
"I'm going to activate the enchantment on the chamber now." You hear Hildegard's voice somewhere in the distance. "You won't be able to hear us, but we can hear you. If you want to end the test, just say 'I can taste blood'. Also say that if you can actually taste blood, there's some unusual side-effects we're hammering out with the Shyish version of the sound-blocking enchantment. Otherwise, we'll be running various magical items outside the box; describe them to us as you sense them."
With that said, you feel a slightly disorienting sensation for a moment, and then you hear the unmistakable sound of running water. One moment you are wondering if the Amethysts actually were about to drown you, and the next you are floating in a void. The box blocks all light and sound from behind it, and the denser-than-normal water lifts you up away from the surface. Even the inescapable smell of Altdorf seems to have been driven away. The only thing that tells you you're alive is, ironically, the very slight patterns of Shyish which weave through the chamber's walls.
As you regain your bearings, somewhere to the left of you lights up with a spike of magic – something imbued with Aqshy, from the look of it. You say as much to the void, and receive no answer, but the item vanishes – only to be replaced by a slightly fainter source tinged with Hysh.
You couldn't be sure how long you were in Hildegard's box, calling out knick-knacks from various Colleges as she and at least two assistants paraded them around the room, the house, and even the surrounding streets. Eventually, the water slowly drains from the tank and the void fades away, leaving you once again sitting on the inside of an uncomfortable metal box. You're not immediately sure of the benefits – until Hildegard shows you her notes. Several times throughout the several hours you were in her tank, she'd shown you the same objects – each time, your descriptions grew a little more precise, as your senses focused better in on the Winds. Something about how eliminating distractions can help you focus on just your magical senses.
By the time you've changed back into your robes, she's gone and taken her notes with her. The Amethyst who showed you down to the basement escorts you back out, and hands you a small pamphlet asking you a series of questions to "rate your experience".
Gained Awareness of Aqshy, Ghyran, Shyish at +0.
Better multi-Wind awareness improves Awareness of Dhar to +1.
Hildegard has notes on Siegfried's magical perception, feedback on her magical awareness testing and training system.
* * *
Priestly Research: +1 (Research Assistance)
4d10 = 4 2 10
Most citizens of the Empire know that there are a certain number of true Gods of the Empire. Exactly what that number is, of course, varies depending on which citizens you ask. A devout Sigmarite will say that the sole God of the Empire is Sigmar; after all, he is the patron of the Empire itself. The more… sensible Sigmarites will acknowledge others as gods within, but not of, the Empire. Ulricans and Taalites will claim their own patron to be a peer or above Sigmar as a god of the Empire – after all, was Ulric not the god of Sigmar? Was Taal not the King of the Gods?
The Cult of Verena in the Empire has historically listed eight "Gods of the Empire": Verena, Sigmar, Ulric, Taal, Rhya, Morr, Manann, and Shallya – though not without a typical Verenan debate on the matter. Historically, the most contentious of these was whether to consider Taal and Rhya as two Gods or as one Cult; Magnus's further recognition of Myrmidia (the prior Verenan consensus was that despite her worship in the Empire, cultural ties to Tilea and Estalia were sufficiently strong that she should be counted as a tolerated foreign deity such as the Lady or the Widow) and Ranald (never well-liked in Verenan circles) had kicked up a new round of debates, and of course the Marienburgers had seized the opportunity to spin the argument back to Haendryk.
Midway through a fascinating discussion with an itinerant Verenan acolyte on the syncretic worship of Dwarven gods in Sylvania and the Middle Mountains, Reinhold sheepishly clears his throat and reminds you that you're mostly concerned with the politically influential cults, which brings you right back around to Magnus's list.
Sigmar: Grand Theogonist Kazgar XIV was a young man, by the standards of Sigmarite high priests. Orphaned after the death of his father at the Gates of Kislev, he was raised at a Sigmarite orphanage and showed a remarkable aptitude for theology and oration. Reared on tales of Emperor Magnus's valour as much as Sigmar's, he was an outspoken supporter of the Emperor even by Sigmarite standards from his days as a young priest. His rise in the Cult was bolstered by a series of successful campaigns in the Forest of Shadows, and it was with the support of many older Warrior Priests that he was named Lector of Ferlangen; a decade later, he was elected Arch Lector of the East as a dark-horse candidate. His election to Grand Theogonist was relatively recent and quite close, but tales of his martial exploits in Ferlangen won him the day over his more political counterpart in Nuln.
Your first impression of Kazgar from records of his speeches and sermons is that he never stopped being star-struck by the Emperor. You of all people are hardly one to criticise someone's admiration of Emperor Magnus, of course, but you're also not a political figure – it's hard to tell how much of Kazgar's veneration of the Emperor is idealism and how much is naivete. At times, it seems he even forgets that the Emperor is a political figure at all. You can't help but wonder how the Arch-Lector of Nuln feels.
Ulric: Ar-Ulric Kriestov has led the Cult of the Wolf God since the Age of the Three Emperors, and went from a fierce opponent of Magnus to one of his close allies, fighting as one of his most prominent commanders for the duration of the war, and being granted an Electoral seat for the Cult in its aftermath. Despite his old age, he still entertains popular support within the Cult of Ulric, and is a close personal friend of Magnus's heir presumptive, Graf Gunthar von Bildhofen of Middenheim, despite his history with the Emperor.
That said, Kriestov is an old man. There is a constant undercurrent of speculation to be found in more recent theses on Ulrican history and theology; the Ar-Ulric is old, which leaves many questions about his succession. Authors more willing to be outright critical of a High Priest and Elector highlight his consistent distrust of the Cult of Sigmar, even throughout Magnus's reign, and how many of the clerics he surrounds himself with as advisors (or possible successors) share his views on the Sigmarites and Grand Theogonist – though none go so far as to say he would break with the Empire or risk another Age of the Three Empires, some worry that he may be succeeded by a young firebrand who will cause trouble in future Grand Conclaves.
Taal and Rhya: The Cult of Taal and Rhya (you reluctantly let Reinhold pull you away from a spirited discussion with two Verenan priests and a Knight of the Everlasting Light about at what exact times it should be considered a Cult of Ishernos in an academic context) is, ironically, perhaps the closest of the other Cults to the Verenan style of leadership. Major territories are governed by a pair of Hierarchs, with the Hierarch of Rhya ruling in spring and autumn and the Hierarch of Taal in summer and winter. The Hierarchs' authority is largely informal, and priests can debate or ignore the edicts of the Hierarchs, in order to better care for the specific sites they manage. The de facto leaders of the Cult as a whole are the Hierarchs of the High Temple at Talabheim – they were the ones who refused Magnus's offer of an Electoral title, as it was their belief that becoming too involved in the politics of cities and Emperors had led the Talabheim Emperors away from Taal and Rhya's roles as protectors of the wilds.
You suspect that's all you would be able to find, but for one thing. While Talabheim is named for the Talabec and Taal, and its Temple of Sigmar is the traditional seat of the Arch-Lector of the East, there is a third tradition which shapes Talabheim. The Law District stands at the very heart of the city, and there stands the only rival to Taal's High Temple: Talabheim's Temple of Verena. While largely concerned with internal matters and managing the city's infamously complex Ottilian legal code, the Verenans of Talabheim remain in close correspondence with sister temples.
The Hierarch of Rhya currently acts as the formal authority in Talabheim's temple, and will do so until the Cult agrees winter has reached Talabecland. She is an old woman who most simply call Grandmother Oak – apparently from a tale where she, during the Great War, climbed atop an oak tree to bellow a challenge to a servant of the Lord of Excess, then leapt down to banish the daemon with a single blow. Since becoming Hierarch, she has largely been content to remain in the High Temple and tend to its overgrown gardens. There are many anecdotes of her wandering the streets of Talabheim and offering wisdom and guidance to random passers-by, with a special eye to poorer neighbourhoods; the Verenans think well enough of her, and also note that she has a close relationship with the Shallyans.
Her counterpart, Hierarch Arnfried of Taal, is rarely seen in spring or autumn, only returning to Talabheim to take leadership of the church as summer and winter begin. Reports describe him as a young, wild-haired man who spends most of his time wandering Talabecland in the guise of a simple hunter; he was apparently a protege of the prior Hierarch before his death, and feels a need to prove himself after being named to the position at a young age. He is particularly disdainful of the nobility, and has fought a number of duels with noble scions who take offense to his hunter's guise being dismissive of their station. Many of these scions, after being soundly humbled, have gone on to join the Knights of Taal's Fury and become his loyal followers – often to the frustration of their families.
Morr: If you can trust any of the priests to be sympathetic to a message from the Colleges, it would be the Morrites – the High Priestess of Altdorf regularly takes tea with the Magister Patriarch of the Amethyst Order, and their predecessors worked closely together throughout the Great War Against Chaos. There is no leader of the Cult of Morr, be it in the Empire or elsewhere. Much like the Verenans, each temple is functionally independent, though very much unlike his wife's priesthood, Morrites tend not to travel between temples; those that do are considered to belong to none of them. For the Empire, and the Conclaves, the role of representative of the Morrites typically belongs to the head of the temple at the Emperor's seat – in this case, Nuln.
While typically Morrites would acknowledge local authorities, the High Priestess of Nuln is certain to accompany Magnus's body and take a central role in the proceedings even if it is not her temple; her history of representing the Morrites at the Conclave and working with the Emperor will give her a great deal of de facto influence even if the Altdorf temple will make a show of its independence. As for the woman herself, most of what you learn can be summed up in one sentence: High Priestess Landriche Augenstein was born in Sylvania.
She joined the Black Guard as a page as soon as she could hold a sword, and spent years on end in campaign in her blighted homeland before the loss of her sword arm saw her retire to the priesthood. She retains her suit of the Black Guard's iconic obsidian armour, and has been known to wear it on formal occasions – especially when she believes the topic of the Empire's military commitment against the undead may come up. It's commonly thought that the main reason she accepted a place in Wissenland's priesthood, instead of Stirland or Sylvania, is that it would give her a better position to gain political support for the Black Guard and Sylvania – albeit rather bluntly. Despite her political shortcomings, by all accounts she's earned her reputation for deep knowledge of Morr's rites, and her martial leanings have made her a regular lecturer at the Imperial Gunnery School.
Manann: The Patriarch of the Cult of Manann proved to be an interesting case. At first, you'd shared the common belief that Magnus had elevated the Cult of Sigmar more than any other; certainly, they held three Electoral seats, and Magnus himself was a Sigmarite, but the Sigmarites already had sway over a number of Electors and great influence in the capital and Nuln. No, looking at it now, the cult which had risen the most, albeit not the highest, under Magnus was the Cult of Manann. Patriarch Manfred Sauerbeck began as a junior sailor serving aboard the Marienburger trade cog Sigmar's Hope – an unremarkable posting for a quiet young man, until the ship was chosen to carry Magnus's envoys to Ulthuan, in one of the most fateful journeys of any Imperial vessel.
Manfred's journals describe the voyage both physically and as a singular drawn-out battle between Manann and Stromfels, with the God of the Seas fighting as hard as the sailors of the Hope against the waves and winds that would have ended their journey. He returned to Marienburg alongside Teclis and his students, and while the latter went on to join Magnus, Manfred would take his revelations from the voyage to the High Temple, turn his record of his journey and visions over to the High Priest, and beg admission to Manann's priesthood. He became known as a talented orator and deeply pious man, with many crediting the survival of their ships or sailors to his visions.
He is not the first Patriarch to have served on the Directorate of Marienburg, but between his piety and force of personality have made him one of its most influential leaders. While the merchants united can overrule Manfred and the other priests, the often fractious mercantile politics of Marienburg often see Manfred as the Directorate's de facto kingmaker – which has led to many sizable donations to the Cult of Manann. He rarely takes a strong stance on matters of internal policy, believing that the Cult should be above disputes between merchant houses unless they risk Manann's wrath outright, he is firm in his commitment to a strong Imperial naval presence, especially to combat piracy. He often speaks at length of the importance of the Cult of Manann to both Marienburg and the Empire writ large – and there is a compelling case from more candid statements that he holds something of a grudge about Magnus's offer of an Electoral seat to the Taalites not being extended to Manann.
Shallya: Shallya's high priestess resides in Bretonnia, and she would likely be its most important deity if Bretonnian peasants had even half the freedoms of the Empire's commoners. Instead, while the Cult remains on the rise, it's in something of a back-and-forth spiritual conflict with the cult of the Lady, with the nobility's heavy hand coming down in the latter's favour if it ever boils over a little too strongly. Still, even the most hamfisted of Bretonnian dukes can't oppose the Shallyans too openly, if only because it's impossible even for Bretonnia's chivalrous hypocrisy to hold together when you're butchering a temple of pacifists espousing universal kindness.
The Shallyans within the Empire have no strong formal hierarchy; time spent managing internal business of the cult is time that could be spent spreading Shallya's mercies. At the Conclaves, the Cult has been typically represented by the High Priestess Gertrud of Nuln, if only because of her ties to Magnus from serving among his physicians. The current High Priestess is a middle-aged woman who's spent most of her life in the city; it's hard to get a read on her beyond "Shallyan priestess", but she seems to have devoted a particular amount of energy to trying to get Magnus to improve sanitation in Nuln, while also working (possibly at Magnus's behest) to build ties between the Shallyans and the Jade College.
It's likely she'll be accompanying the Emperor's body, but the level of influence she'll exert in Altdorf will depend on its own High Priestess – a woman you largely know by reputation, for having allegedly once stormed the doors of the Bright College and dragged a Magister into the streets to berate him after one too many Apprentices showed up at her temple with serious burns.
Myrmidia: The question of the other daughter of Verena and Morr is commonly raised within the Temple. You're both grateful and frustrated to have Reinhold working with you, as he often drags you out of intellectually fascinating but utterly irrelevant discussions on the precise nature of Myrmidia's ascension and her ties to the rest of the pantheon. The downside of being a god so closely tied to Verena, with so many unanswered questions. Thankfully, with Reinhold shepherding the discussions back on topic, the specific answers you're looking for are more straightforward. While the leadership of the Cult of Myrmidia is one of the many points of conflict in Estalia and Tilea, that same conflict keeps the disputed de jure leadership from interfering much in Myrmidian matters in the Empire. When you step back from the highest seats of official power, the Myrmidians approach religion with the same strict, military formality that their goddess brings to war – priestly ranks echo military ones, and the Empire's High Priest's official title is Commander of the Northern Regiment of the Order of the Eagle.
The current Eagle of the North is based in Nuln; it is likely he will be travelling alongside the Emperor's procession. Ingmar von Wald is former Knight of the Blazing Sun and veteran of the Battle of Kislev. The first Imperial to be named to the position for generations, sources differ on whether his appointment by his nominal Tilean superiors was a ploy to gain Magnus's favour, or a concession to the Estalians to whom his order is formally sworn. Aside from healthy Verenan curiosity, the question is largely moot; Von Wald has deftly avoided taking any official stance on southern matters, focusing his time as high priest on bolstering the Empire's knightly orders and offering Myrmidian support to reconstruction in both the Empire and Kislev, as well as attempts to proselytise at the Imperial Gunnery School.
Verena: Given all the time you've spent in the library asking after high priests, it's hard not to piece together the history of the one High Priest of the Empire that you've met in person. Detlev the Reckoner began his career as many Verenans did: as an itinerant missionary trying to bring some of Verena's law and wisdom to the ever-chaotic lands of the Border Princes. He travelled between the minor principalities, negotiating temporary peaces and bold promises which the Princes often broke as soon as the Verenans had moved on, seeking out whatever understanding of local life he could gather to return to Altdorf and add to the Temple's libraries, in the hope that one day the knowledge might lead to a lasting peace.
And then came the Battle of the Howling River. A band of Tilean mercenaries, flush with gold from the coffers of northern states and drunk on victory against their rivals, had pressed south into the lands of the Iron Claw Orcs. After putting the greenskins to flight, they seized an old fortified bridge they had used as a strongpoint and used it to found a small settlement – and run a chain across the river, in the hope of collecting valuable tolls from the route to Mad Dog Pass.
To say that this displeased the King of Barak Varr, whose ancestors had built the fortress before Sigmar's day, and who commanded the only fleet which could reasonably navigate the river, would be something of an understatement, and the mercenaries were hardly skilled in the art of diplomacy. When Detlev arrived at the city, originally to negotiate the boundary between the mercenaries' territories and a settlement further north, he found the bridge-fortress staring down the guns of a flotilla of dwarven ironclads, under the command of none less than Barak Varr's crown prince.
And then Detlev received word from a friend in the north: the Bloody Spear tribe had torn through his present employer's territory, and had struck an alliance with the Iron Claw to drive dwarf and man alike from the Howling River. Seeing no chance for a victory against the greenskins by dwarf or man alone, and after being rudely rebuffed by the mercenary captain, he leapt into the river's deadly currents and swam to the dwarf prince's flagship; as he climbed the hull, he emerged in front of the prince and his officers as they surveyed the shore, and without even pausing to catch his breath swore an oath to Verena that he would see their conflict with the mercenaries end if they would lend their aid against the greenskins. The prince, impressed by his daring, agreed, on the condition that the mercenary leader would lower the chain from the river as a sign of good faith.
The exact details of that night's events are the matter of fierce debate, which Detlev seems to encourage among the acolytes, but the next morning, he returned to the dwarven fleet in a fishing barge with the whole chain aboard, along with the second-in-command of the mercenaries to seal an alliance. The mercenaries would keep their city at the fortress, but in the service of Barak Varr's prince, and Dwarven ships would pass the bridge without tolls while supplying the defenders. Detlev, the prince, and the mercenary would fight side-by-side in the clash against the greenskins, and by his hands Verena's power shielded the prince from death.
It was the mercenaries who first gave him the name "the Reckoner", after watching him near-constantly debate the small group of true Dwarven Reckoners who arrived to handle the details of the agreement. The longbeards grumbled most vigorously, of course, but after one of them conceded he was "barely not the worst fool beardling I've had to set to rights" the name stuck. When the prince recovered, he invited Detlev back to Barak Varr as a guest and friend, and apparently "the mad umgi priest who swam the Howling River" is the subject of a popular Dwarven drinking song. When he finally returned to Altdorf, it was with the full knowledge of Khazalid, and Reikspeil transcriptions of everything the dwarves would let him copy.
Needless to say there weren't many objections to naming him High Priest.
Ranald: With all the more… organised faiths out of the way, that left one more officially sanctioned cult. A single leading figure of the Cult of Ranald would probably be undermined and overthrown by their fellows on principle, but there's always some Ranaldites who manage to reach the Grand Conclave in something of a semblance of an official capacity. As such, beyond cataloguing who these priests are and their official and unofficial stances at the Conclave, it's difficult to dig up any particular resources on the Ranaldites.
That said, your research does turn up one thread. Wedged between two particularly hefty treatises on Verenan interpretations of Ranald's relationship with Handrich you find a leaflet dated to twenty years ago, presenting itself as a "Guide for the Novice Priest on Combatting Ranaldian Trickery as Commonly Employed in the Matter of the Records". The text contains an overview of everything from abandoned passages and buildings in Altdorf's poorer districts to an overview on identifying forgeries.
Apparently, there has been an informal battle of wits between younger priests of Verena and Ranald in the streets and schools of Altdorf. Verenans attempt to catalogue and record whatever they can about the Ranald cultists of the city, and the Ranaldites try and steal those records and hide them away. They don't destroy them, thankfully – that would likely spark a much more overt confrontation; instead it's taken as something of a test for novice priests, to see if new Ranaldites can find a place that young Verenans wouldn't think to look, or otherwise
The Guide ends with a brief description of why either cult's leadership would put up with this sort of thing – apparently, while recovering a book of observations on the Ranaldite delegation to the first Conclave, a group of Verenan priests happened to simultaneously happen upon a large chest of alms stolen from the Temple of Shallya, accompanied by two hogtied men and their written confessions. (A handwritten note has been scribbled in the margins. It makes several spurious claims about the two men and their mothers, and is only signed with a drawing of a cat making an obscene gesture.)
Rewards: Information on high priests of officially-recognised Imperial cults, except Ranald.
Awareness of backdoor channel between Verenans and Ranaldites in Altdorf.
* * *
Meeting a Reckoner: +2
5d10 = 8 10 9
You finish your research in the early evening on Marktag. With some time remaining in the day, you approach one of the priests and ask for a meeting with the High Priest; while he originally starts explaining how things are often prepared well in advance, handing him the token you had received changes his tune quickly. Apparently, the High Priest sets aside a block of his evenings to talk to people he meets in the temple one-on-one, and uses the tokens as a sort of invitation. No one else has come by with one tonight, so if you're willing to come back in an hour or two, he believes you'd be the first in line. Azyr agrees - best to get there right as his usual block begins.
After a quick supper of a slightly overcooked pub steak and something vaguely resembling onions, you make your way back to the Temple, meet back up with the priest, and are shown to a waiting room. A young woman in acolyte's robes sits behind a desk, while several heavily-armed men you can't quite place loom in every corner of the room. As you enter, half of them turn their heads slightly, staring at you suspiciously; the others keep their equally suspicious stares locked on the young acolyte. The priest motions for you to approach the desk, then turns and leaves; the acolyte takes the token from you nervously, and quietly points you to a row of comfortable-looking chairs, each embroidered with an alternating pattern of the city heraldry of Altdorf and the scales of Verena.
After several long minutes, the acolyte awkwardly stands up, gives you an apologetic shrug, and knocks on the heavy door at the far end of the room. "Yes?" the familiar voice of an elderly man answers.
"High Priest, there is a man here to see you." the woman says, barely loud enough to hear. "From the Colleges." she clarifies, her voice somehow even quieter. Some mumbling conversation on the other side of the door follows.
"Send him in, we shall be finished shortly." The acolyte nods even as the men in the corners all visibly tense. She motions for you to stand, and shows you through the door into the High Priest's office.
As you may expect, the office is packed in every corner with piles of books, some neatly shelved and others stacked precariously on any surface fit to support them. The only places free of books are those close to the lanterns which hang from the walls - the convenience of having more texts close at hand is ever outweighed by the danger of an errant spark.
The great hardwood desk of the High Priest of Verena is empty; instead, Detlev the Reckoner is seated by a small round table, staring at a largely-empty chessboard. He turns and smiles at you as the acolyte closes the door behind you. "Ah, yes, the young wizard. I apologise; it seems our game has been going on a bit long. Do you mind if I play while we talk? I doubt Diethard would be so kind as to forfeit." He nods to his prior guest, who simply scoffs, his hands hovering back and forth between several pieces.
It takes you a very long moment to put a name to a face to a person to a title.
Sitting on the other side of the chess table is Diethard von Holswig-Schliestein, Grand Prince and Elector Count of Reikland.
To think that there was a time when you thought being a Celestial Wizard meant you couldn't be caught unprepared.
What's the plan?
[ ] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
[ ] Measured disclosure. Spare the magical particulars to focus on the conclusions you can draw, unless pressed for details.
[ ] Priestly advice. Ask to talk to Detlev alone for a moment, try and keep the possibility of speaking to the Grand Prince afterwards open if he thinks it's wise.
[ ] Seal of the confessional. You're here to talk to the High Priest of your Cult personally, not one of the Elector Counts. Detlev can talk to the Grand Prince himself if he sees the need.
* * *
I'm back! And so are my dice.
So this update took a while in small part because it's long (I had to roll up a lot of NPC backgrounds given how few major characters we have firmly established in Magnus's timeline, which meant a lot of tables) and in large part because of my course schedule and Factorio/Mario Maker.
Something is definitely messing with dice whenever Detlev shows up. My thought process was essentially "Okay, a greater success, that means he'll be meeting with someone else who's useful to know and relevant to unravelling the conspiracy, let's write up a table and roll 1d100 to see how us-98. Well, that answers that. Thanks, Urist." (A 99 would have gotten you the Grand Theogonist; a 100 would've been Teclis.)
Regarding the priests, it's unclear from the canon sources I have whether Kriestov was still Ar-Ulric at the time of the Scandal of the Shroud, but since it refers to him having denounced and then fought with Magnus, I'm assuming it's him. Likewise, Kazgar XIV's age is unclear - but WHFRP mentions that none of the electors after Magnus really remembered what it was like before his reign, so I'm working under the assumption that in OTL, Kriestov remains Ar-Ulric until shortly before the proper election, at which point he either dies or is sufficiently impaired to resign in favour of a successor (probably from stress dealing with the Gunthar fallout). The rest of them are essentially generated through tables and some stitching things together to make them make sense - though none of them matched the goofiness of Detlev's initial rolls, some came close!
So this update took a while in small part because it's long (I had to roll up a lot of NPC backgrounds given how few major characters we have firmly established in Magnus's timeline, which meant a lot of tables) and in large part because of my course schedule and Factorio/Mario Maker.
Something is definitely messing with dice whenever Detlev shows up. My thought process was essentially "Okay, a greater success, that means he'll be meeting with someone else who's useful to know and relevant to unravelling the conspiracy, let's write up a table and roll 1d100 to see how us-98. Well, that answers that. Thanks, Urist." (A 99 would have gotten you the Grand Theogonist; a 100 would've been Teclis.)
Regarding the priests, it's unclear from the canon sources I have whether Kriestov was still Ar-Ulric at the time of the Scandal of the Shroud, but since it refers to him having denounced and then fought with Magnus, I'm assuming it's him. Likewise, Kazgar XIV's age is unclear - but WHFRP mentions that none of the electors after Magnus really remembered what it was like before his reign, so I'm working under the assumption that in OTL, Kriestov remains Ar-Ulric until shortly before the proper election, at which point he either dies or is sufficiently impaired to resign in favour of a successor (probably from stress dealing with the Gunthar fallout). The rest of them are essentially generated through tables and some stitching things together to make them make sense - though none of them matched the goofiness of Detlev's initial rolls, some came close!
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
- Location
- In shambles
I was in the middle of rereading this, so I'm glad to see it's back!
Kaboomatic
Where the Wild Things Are
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
I see no reason not to do this
I see no reason not to do this
- Location
- USA
fishsicles Theadmark?
also
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
also
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
fishsicles
ate a calculator to gain its power
- Location
- Alexander Horned Earth
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I will note that Reikland at this time is far better known as one of the seats of the Sigmarites than it is as the home of the Colleges, which are a relatively recent addition. You've got no idea of how exactly the present Grand Prince feels about the Colleges or the reliability of wizards, and by extension which approach is the most persuasive.
Full disclosure is a gamble that he won't hear "I had a magic vision of Chaos manipulating the Cults" and parse it as the Warhammer equivalent of this:
- Location
- USA
To be fair, I think all factions know prophecies are a BITCH. From Mors, Bird brains, and to our type.
- Location
- va
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
in other circumstances, I'd argue against this, but Detlev is pretty much the best character witness we can get.
Also: if this succeeds, I suggest we make a small offering to Ranald in his aspect as the gambler in thanks. Set some milk out for stray cats or something. We're Verenian, but it's only sensible to be polite.
in other circumstances, I'd argue against this, but Detlev is pretty much the best character witness we can get.
Also: if this succeeds, I suggest we make a small offering to Ranald in his aspect as the gambler in thanks. Set some milk out for stray cats or something. We're Verenian, but it's only sensible to be polite.
Warmach1ne32
Machine of War and Quests
- Location
- Indonesia
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
I feel that this is too important to leave anything out. Plus Verenas like to uphold truth and justice so telling them everything is the best action I think. If they can't do anything, multiple perspectives of the problem could result in a solution we haven't thought of yet.
I feel that this is too important to leave anything out. Plus Verenas like to uphold truth and justice so telling them everything is the best action I think. If they can't do anything, multiple perspectives of the problem could result in a solution we haven't thought of yet.
DevilsAdvocate
Always follow the golden rule.
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
Seems a formality, but I agree with everyone else. This is the best chance to get an elector count in on it, with a friendly and influential voice in the room to boot.
Seems a formality, but I agree with everyone else. This is the best chance to get an elector count in on it, with a friendly and influential voice in the room to boot.
- Location
- yorkshire
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
[X] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
Police and thief would work together to kick your ass over it.
Never ever fuck with the Shallyans.
Police and thief would work together to kick your ass over it.
Well, one really good thing we have going on top of the meeting is the fact that the current Theogenist is Magnus' fanboy. That is bound to be beneficial if we have to persuade him
[x] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
We should also bring up the owl feather. It appears plane to our magesight, but to a Verenan High Priest? Could be nothing, could be interesting
[x] Full disclosure. Explain the circumstances of your vision and your interpretation of it in detail to the High Priest and Grand Prince.
We should also bring up the owl feather. It appears plane to our magesight, but to a Verenan High Priest? Could be nothing, could be interesting
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