Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
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- warhammer warhammer fantasy fantasy be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist pansexual protagonist ck2 quest divided loyalties mountain vietnam ranald is real this is a dwarf quest (dwarfs) this is maybe an elf quest this is not a vampire quest this is not an empire quest try it and find out open voting
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
I like the sword through a snake, maybe with subtle thorns. It's directly symbolic (swords are the symbol of grey wizards, and we strike at the treacherous), and subtly symbolic (we are a powerful wizard who killed (as far as we're telling) a Thorned One, which are said to be immortal and inescapable).
Explanation for vote(split up because urgh, mobile):
-[] Rewrite the relevant part of the legal code of Stirland so that the Watch reports to you, personally. (will face pushback from existing Watchmen; will take two turns; the Watch will come permanently under your control)
Okay, so the first part here involves taking CONTROL of the Watch. In totality. We want the Watch to report to the Spymaster's office rather than being their own independent thing. This is easy at present because the Watch is small.
We can expect it to become much harder if the Watch grows larger, so deferring the other Watch expansions.
-[] Spread some coin around so that a cross-section of the Watch passes on information to you as well as their superiors.
Next, we make sure that the Watch overall reports to us as well, even through the channels they aren't sure about. This helps us find out who is resisting being taken control of, and either persuade or 'persuade' the relevant parties.
We probably want this as well to detect which parts of the Watch are already bribed by other people.
-[] Delegation - Ground Floor: Start putting people on your payroll into the EIC before it even begins, so you'll have information flowing right from the start. (NEW)
Explained previously. We want to do this on the ground floor so we don't need to do extra work later. Early employees are likely to become managers and supervisors later on. And they can be used to cycle in new spies with minimal fuss.
-[] Investment: Wilhelmina has offered you the limited-time chance to become a founding shareholder in the EIC; the buy-in will be a cool 1000 crowns, but with Van Hal's permission, Wilhelmina has offered you an interest-free loan from the Stirlandian Treasury to cover it, and promises that unless something goes terribly wrong, the dividends will more than pay for it. (NEW)
-[] Knighthood: There's a ceremony, of course. And a number of oaths to make. And you'll have to visit your 'estate'. But gosh. Dame Mathilde. (NEW)
These are no brainers.
-[] Enchantment: So far you've failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try again with local goods. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
--[] If unable to buy the stuff(again) do this instead of setting it up:
---[] Final Round-up: You're so close to mastering all the lesser magics. Just one final push and you'll have them all. (NEW)
Okay, if possible, I want the lab up before we study the box.
But it's been a bust twice now, so I put a backup action in to finish off the lesser magics if bloody Wizard Chic shows up again. They aren't that impressive, but there might be a trait or Magic rating upgrade in there.
-[] Weber's Box: It has a nice ring to it, but you've got no idea what 'Weber's Box' actually is, or what's going on in there. Have a very, very careful look at it. (NEW)
--[] Ranald's Blessing on Weber's Box
We really do not want to fuck up this one. Ranald halp!
-[] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)
--[] Kasmir
---[] Apologize for your previous sharpness, which was partly due to finding out just how badly the castle was infiltrated and having spent nearly the whole year on rooting them out.
Mend bridges. Seeing as he's not being kicked out, it's in our best interests to make sure that we don't needlessly antagonize him too much. And I imagine he's at least as frustrated as we are about undead monsters infiltrating the castle.
[] [Surname] Keep Weber
No reason to change. I think?
[] [Coat] A grey flamberge thrust into the ground on a field of black. Grey clouds across the top and a grey band across the bottom, with two cats on the bottom band flanking and menacing a snake under the swordpoint.
Okay, so symbolisms:
-Black background - Stirland coat of arms is black.
-Grey Flamberge - That's us! The Derpwizard!
-Grey Clouds above - The Grey Order above us.
-Grey Band below - Just visual contrast really.
-Snake - Publically, it's all the infiltrators, undead and whatnot in the country, being stabbed
-Two cats - That DAMNED cat is what kept us alive. He's going on the banner. Also the more personal meaning of it is well, Ranald was instrumental to our success. Subtle recognition!
[] [Motto] Unseen, but not Undone.
I just thought this sounded cool
-[] Rewrite the relevant part of the legal code of Stirland so that the Watch reports to you, personally. (will face pushback from existing Watchmen; will take two turns; the Watch will come permanently under your control)
Okay, so the first part here involves taking CONTROL of the Watch. In totality. We want the Watch to report to the Spymaster's office rather than being their own independent thing. This is easy at present because the Watch is small.
We can expect it to become much harder if the Watch grows larger, so deferring the other Watch expansions.
-[] Spread some coin around so that a cross-section of the Watch passes on information to you as well as their superiors.
Next, we make sure that the Watch overall reports to us as well, even through the channels they aren't sure about. This helps us find out who is resisting being taken control of, and either persuade or 'persuade' the relevant parties.
We probably want this as well to detect which parts of the Watch are already bribed by other people.
-[] Delegation - Ground Floor: Start putting people on your payroll into the EIC before it even begins, so you'll have information flowing right from the start. (NEW)
Explained previously. We want to do this on the ground floor so we don't need to do extra work later. Early employees are likely to become managers and supervisors later on. And they can be used to cycle in new spies with minimal fuss.
-[] Investment: Wilhelmina has offered you the limited-time chance to become a founding shareholder in the EIC; the buy-in will be a cool 1000 crowns, but with Van Hal's permission, Wilhelmina has offered you an interest-free loan from the Stirlandian Treasury to cover it, and promises that unless something goes terribly wrong, the dividends will more than pay for it. (NEW)
-[] Knighthood: There's a ceremony, of course. And a number of oaths to make. And you'll have to visit your 'estate'. But gosh. Dame Mathilde. (NEW)
These are no brainers.
-[] Enchantment: So far you've failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try again with local goods. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
--[] If unable to buy the stuff(again) do this instead of setting it up:
---[] Final Round-up: You're so close to mastering all the lesser magics. Just one final push and you'll have them all. (NEW)
Okay, if possible, I want the lab up before we study the box.
But it's been a bust twice now, so I put a backup action in to finish off the lesser magics if bloody Wizard Chic shows up again. They aren't that impressive, but there might be a trait or Magic rating upgrade in there.
-[] Weber's Box: It has a nice ring to it, but you've got no idea what 'Weber's Box' actually is, or what's going on in there. Have a very, very careful look at it. (NEW)
--[] Ranald's Blessing on Weber's Box
We really do not want to fuck up this one. Ranald halp!
-[] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)
--[] Kasmir
---[] Apologize for your previous sharpness, which was partly due to finding out just how badly the castle was infiltrated and having spent nearly the whole year on rooting them out.
Mend bridges. Seeing as he's not being kicked out, it's in our best interests to make sure that we don't needlessly antagonize him too much. And I imagine he's at least as frustrated as we are about undead monsters infiltrating the castle.
[] [Surname] Keep Weber
No reason to change. I think?
[] [Coat] A grey flamberge thrust into the ground on a field of black. Grey clouds across the top and a grey band across the bottom, with two cats on the bottom band flanking and menacing a snake under the swordpoint.
Okay, so symbolisms:
-Black background - Stirland coat of arms is black.
-Grey Flamberge - That's us! The Derpwizard!
-Grey Clouds above - The Grey Order above us.
-Grey Band below - Just visual contrast really.
-Snake - Publically, it's all the infiltrators, undead and whatnot in the country, being stabbed
-Two cats - That DAMNED cat is what kept us alive. He's going on the banner. Also the more personal meaning of it is well, Ranald was instrumental to our success. Subtle recognition!
[] [Motto] Unseen, but not Undone.
I just thought this sounded cool
Theunderbolt
"Prepare for trouble..."
- Location
- USoA
I don't think they have one actually. Their symbol is usually The Sword of Judgement, the Cowl, the Coil of Mist.
[X][Action] In The Darkness We Watch
King Arthur
The Once and Future King
Question, would this just be, like, reading books? Do we think this would be a relatively safe seventh action essentially?
Also, what would Ranalds Blessing and/or a crit on gaining Knighthood even look like? We just make, like, a super good impression during the ceremony or something?
Do you mind if I take these for my own plan? If you do then I can drop them.
[X][Action] Watch from on High
-[X] Rewrite the relevant part of the legal code of Stirland so that the Watch reports to you, personally. (will face pushback from existing Watchmen; will take two turns; the Watch will come permanently under your control)
-[X] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of Wurtbad.
-[X] Delegation - Ground Floor: Start putting people on your payroll into the EIC before it even begins, so you'll have information flowing right from the start. (NEW)
-[X] Investment: Wilhelmina has offered you the limited-time chance to become a founding shareholder in the EIC; the buy-in will be a cool 1000 crowns, but with Van Hal's permission, Wilhelmina has offered you an interest-free loan from the Stirlandian Treasury to cover it, and promises that unless something goes terribly wrong, the dividends will more than pay for it. (NEW)
-[X] Knighthood: There's a ceremony, of course. And a number of oaths to make. And you'll have to visit your 'estate'. But gosh. Dame Mathilde. (NEW)
-[X] Final Round-up: You're so close to mastering all the lesser magics. Just one final push and you'll have them all.
-[X] Weber's Box: It has a nice ring to it, but you've got no idea what 'Weber's Box' actually is, or what's going on in there. Have a very, very careful look at it.
-[X] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)
--[X] Van Hal
[X] [Surname] Keep Weber
[X] [Coat] A grey flamberge thrust into the ground on a field of black. Grey clouds across the top and a grey band across the bottom, with two cats on the bottom band flanking and menacing a snake under the swordpoint.
[X] [Motto] Unseen, but not Undone.
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VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
Maybe a sword punctured through a closed box with bits of snake scales scattered around?
[X] (Surname) Temere, Latin for "to beware" and "by chance, by accident, at random"
[X] (Coat of Arms) Snake scaled box punctured by a sword. The box is firmly closed.
[X] (Motto) "Pounce onto the interesting"
[X] (Surname) Temere, Latin for "to beware" and "by chance, by accident, at random"
[X] (Coat of Arms) Snake scaled box punctured by a sword. The box is firmly closed.
[X] (Motto) "Pounce onto the interesting"
A cat rampant greatsword sable holding in his dexter paw all in cross or and argent.
If anyone wants some inspiration for a cool "Fantasy" coat of arms, they might want to have a look at Sir Terry Pratchett's coat of arms.
Also, remember that there's something called the Rule of Tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour
Also, remember that there's something called the Rule of Tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour
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Explained above(took a bit of time to type this), but this is basically watching the front door and the back door. So a couple of things about medieval(or at least the faux medieval that makes up WHF Empire):
-The Watch in many cities are not at all similar to a modern police force. Their primary duties are to secure the city's gates and walls(or other access like docks) against bandits, tax evaders, smugglers, poisoners, fires, invaders and wild animals(including horrible gribblies). They fight crime so much as it involves putting down public violence, and being the primary source of state muscle for shutting down brawls and riots below the notice of the crown.
-This means that most City Watches are badly infiltrated by criminals(particularly smugglers), neighboring rulers, and in many cases ARE criminals themselves, running protection rackets. In our case theres' probably some undead involved somewhere as well.
-City Watches do not actually report anything to the crown beyond hauling offenders up to the crown to be sentenced if they refuse to pay the necessary bribes. Most of the time they find this too much trouble and just release the offenders after trashing them to within an inch of their lives.
Thus, the two pronged approach to control.
First, making them actually answerable to our office is going to face pushback because their bribes are going to be in danger, either the new boss will force them to give a tithe over to her, or they'd be an idealist and force them to stop. Horrible.
But once we do that, they'd be open to being financed by us for equipment and training. We can also deploy them as needed to do searches and arrests under our personal authority.
This is the macro control.
Second, putting the Watch internal members under our payroll. This is basically instituting Internal Affairs, where Watchmen are paid to listen to who bribed who, and who's doing what, and who's literally in bed with the enemy.
We want this because control of the top does not mean control of the parts. What the constable sees may never make it past the Watch Sergeant, much less to the Watch Commander(and then to us).
This is the micro control
Hope that clarifies!
I've updated the Stirlandian Geopolitics threadmark with a much sexier boundary map, which includes Anton's changes to solve the Flensburg Issue.
1. Yes, though it can be difficult to find a priest willing to officiate.
2. It's not common enough for there to be a typical case.
1. Yes, though it can be difficult to find a priest willing to officiate.
2. It's not common enough for there to be a typical case.
VoidZero
Passing Flan 布丁魔王
- Location
- Anywhere but RL
Get investment in loan, visit estate, eat watchmen and expand them. Study enchantment plus making purchases, and finally start reading on undead. Talk to chaplin with blessing and free action, also free action in inserting people in EIC.
[X] Plan Have I got a deal for you
-[X] Rewrite the relevant part of the legal code of Stirland so that the Watch reports to you, personally. (will face pushback from existing Watchmen; will take two turns; the Watch will come permanently under your control)
-[X] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of Wurtbad.
-[X] Ground Floor: Start putting people on your payroll into the EIC before it even begins, so you'll have information flowing right from the start. (NEW)
-[X] Investment: Wilhelmina has offered you the limited-time chance to become a founding shareholder in the EIC; the buy-in will be a cool 1000 crowns, but with Van Hal's permission, Wilhelmina has offered you an interest-free loan from the Stirlandian Treasury to cover it, and promises that unless something goes terribly wrong, the dividends will more than pay for it. (NEW)
-[X] Knighthood: There's a ceremony, of course. And a number of oaths to make. And you'll have to visit your 'estate'. But gosh. Dame Mathilde. (NEW)
-[X] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.
-[X] Enchantment: So far you've failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try again with local goods. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
-[X] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead.
-[X] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)
--[X] Kasmir
--[X]Ranald's Blessing
[X] (Surname) Temere, Latin for "to beware" and "by chance, by accident, at random"
[X] (Coat of Arms) Snake scaled box punctured by a sword. The box is firmly closed.
[X] (Motto) "Pounce onto the interesting"
[X] Plan Have I got a deal for you
-[X] Rewrite the relevant part of the legal code of Stirland so that the Watch reports to you, personally. (will face pushback from existing Watchmen; will take two turns; the Watch will come permanently under your control)
-[X] Expand the ranks of the Watch, so that they're able to start covering even the poorer parts of Wurtbad.
-[X] Ground Floor: Start putting people on your payroll into the EIC before it even begins, so you'll have information flowing right from the start. (NEW)
-[X] Investment: Wilhelmina has offered you the limited-time chance to become a founding shareholder in the EIC; the buy-in will be a cool 1000 crowns, but with Van Hal's permission, Wilhelmina has offered you an interest-free loan from the Stirlandian Treasury to cover it, and promises that unless something goes terribly wrong, the dividends will more than pay for it. (NEW)
-[X] Knighthood: There's a ceremony, of course. And a number of oaths to make. And you'll have to visit your 'estate'. But gosh. Dame Mathilde. (NEW)
-[X] Enchantment: You're naturally talented at enchantment; so far, this just amounts to being able to make your desk meow for about an hour. See if you can improve on that, or at least figure out a way to make that useful.
-[X] Enchantment: So far you've failed to find suitable equipment (damn Wizard Chic) but you could always try again with local goods. (-discretionary gold, action required to set up and learn to use equipment)
-[X] Undead Research: This is Stirland. Time to bone up on your knowledge of the Undead.
-[X] Free Time: Now well-established in Wurtbad, you can spend some time in your scant off hours getting to know someone better. Pick one character. (no action required) (NEW)
--[X] Kasmir
--[X]Ranald's Blessing
[X] (Surname) Temere, Latin for "to beware" and "by chance, by accident, at random"
[X] (Coat of Arms) Snake scaled box punctured by a sword. The box is firmly closed.
[X] (Motto) "Pounce onto the interesting"
Couple of things: Ranald's symbol is painted in gold in official art, so we can throw some gold in there. Also, we can do cross-partitioned shield instead of a single color one, for a subtlish hint at cross. So, I propose gold and black crossed shield instead of pure black.
[jk] [Motto] DERP
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Go nuts.
Actually, the Name, Coat of Arms and the Motto are separate from the rest of the plan, since they are stylistic choices and affects nothing else.
As per previous explanation, overwork has two risks:
1) Bad Decisions. As with anyone being overworked, Mathilde here would be doing dumb things because it seemed like a good idea at the time. So while a normal undead study would likely involve books and talking to Van Hal at some point, with a critical potentially involving 'live' specimens, an Overwork might have Mathilde decide that she wants to study a ghost first hand and visit an actual haunted house.
i.e. see the brillian decision to try to get Markus' attention by shooting a rock rather than using the sound spell.
2) Overall fatigue. There's a health roll on every turn when we're pushing ourselves. If we fail that we can get sick from exhaustion, costing us actions or stats until we recover.
Knighthood includes being granted an estate. Probably a Lucky roll on that might net an estate with a shiny, while an unlucky roll might get us a blighted farm or something?
Personally I'd trust that stuff to luck and make sure we don't accidentally break the one of a kind box while studying it
Guile
Having a really great time right now
The way the option is described is that Watch members report information to you as well as their superiors. That doesn't sound like internal affairs, that sounds like they're giving you the same information they give their local sergeant about whatever they did that day.
If you want internal affairs, you may want to rewrite the option a bit.
Ginger cats maybe? That'd keep it low key. I'd rather not put his symbol directly in public view
bookwyrm
Doom of Public Libraries
- Location
- Wichita, Kansas
I have an idea for our Heraldry: Two standing panthers with their backs turned to each other and with raised Greatswords so that that the blades cross each other, the left panther blowing the horn of Stirland in its other paw, while the right panther is mauling a pale viper. Stirland's colors are yellow and green so the field can be split or quartered into the provincial choices.
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For people looking to put Ranald symbols in. I already did.
@BoneyM
Mind clarifying this option up?
What happens if we take control of the Watch AND buy Watch informants?
@BoneyM
Mind clarifying this option up?
What happens if we take control of the Watch AND buy Watch informants?
I imagine shields divided quarterly (like this) to be quite common, so cats on the coat of arms would be much less subtle.
- Location
- Norway
It means that you've got informers in the ranks, so you've got information coming from individual members as well as from the official chain of command. If you're concerned about the Watch not falling in line, it could act as a check on whether information is getting to you whole and unedited.
Heh. The cats are just cats. Animals are common, it's not like the hornblowing skeleton of Stirland's coat of arms means the count leads undead armies!
Also for anyone missing things because I made it too subtle?
A sword is a cross.
I put it smack in the center. Hidden in plain sight.
- Location
- Norway
Ranald's symbol is the X sort of cross. A sword loosely approximates the † sort of cross at best. That's not hidden, that's gesturing vaguely in the direction of.
That's a pretty common interpretation. Still pushing for three hints instead of two.