Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

Nice map making.

[X] Magic used recklessly has catastrophic effects; great care must be taken in it's handling.
Lots of good lessons available, but the most personally applicable is this. If nothing else it will hopefully cut down on the suicide-via-Dhar options.

[ ] Dwarven ale is a valid coping mechanism.
For a moment we were in Ostland.

[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.
Least damaging option.

Wish we had some way to know what experience and trauma the other advisors got out of this. Neither exactly covered themselves in glory here.

Yep. If she loses her tiny but fierce designation, that would cut off a decent chunk of my enjoyment to her as a character. Seriously, we are a badass in battle. Please dont undermine Mathilde that way.

[X] The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved.
I can not conjure the words for how true this is in medieval wars. Especially in the Empire, which is predominantly forest.

[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.
It's a kind of shift of blame. Denial of responsibility and so to speak. It's textbook grief irrationality, but it makes emotional sense. Blaming Casamir and Sigmar for it is not exactly healthy, but it has the advantege of being at least partially true. They did fail here. Maybe not as much as Mat will blame them, but grief can make us all do wierd things. It fits the story, the character. Especially as she is pious herself and has seen her god aid her multiple times, seeing Sigmar ignore(be unable to help) someone as important as an Elector count?

Not a great look.

[X] Mathematics is universal.
[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.

All this Dhar voting smh.

While it's tempting to go Dwarven Ale Is A Great Coping Mechanism, I don't think we've got Frederick von Hohenzollern's liver. >_>

[X] Mathematics is universal.
[X] In the confusion of battle, even the greatest warrior can lose their life pointlessly.

Zaratustra said:

[X] If such rank amateurs could rival the strength of an entire Province, imagine what a skilled hand could do with Dhar.
[X] The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved.
[X] Mathematics is universal.

[X] I, personally, failed to protect Abelhelm.
[X] What use are infantry, if all they can do is die in droves?
[X] Dwarven ale is a valid coping mechanism.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

It says pick one at each of these options so why have you picked three?

BoneyM said:

Pick ONE:
[ ] Artillery is the King of Battle.
[ ] Dwarves are the greatest ally of humanity.
[ ] The Halflings have proven themselves as a worthy neighbour.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

BoneyM said:

Pick ONE:
[ ] In the confusion of battle, even the greatest warrior can lose their life pointlessly.
[ ] The Colleges of Magic act in their own interest, rather than that of the Empire.
[ ] Sylvanians will meekly accept any tyrant, to the point of complicity in their actions.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Joker Eden said:

It says pick one at each of these options so why have you picked three?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Approval voting of course. They aren't the only one doing it.

[X] The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved
[X] If such rank amateurs could rival the strength of an entire Province, imagine what a skilled hand could do with Dhar.


[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.
[X] The Empire is a morass of self-interest, to the point of becoming a millstone around the neck of humanity.

Edit: Preferential voting allowed, hussah!

Joker Eden said:

It says pick one at each of these options so why have you picked three?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Seeing as boneyM made no note of the large amounts of approval voting that occured while they were still answering questions, I assumed that this referred to the fact that only one option would be selected in the end.

[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.
[X] The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved.

[X] The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved.
[x] Dwarven ale is a valid coping mechanism.

vsh said:

@BoneyM Are you okay with approval voting (multiple lines per vote)?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I'm okay with it. Edited the post accordingly.

[X] The fog of war is a bitch, to all involved.
[X] The Empire is a morass of self-interest, to the point of becoming a millstone around the neck of humanity.

[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.

Alliterate said:

Unless those plot hooks involve the pursuit of war.

And if as is my concern this trait leads to actual cowardice, or even just loss of Brave and avoidance of battle... I'd be very disappointed in that character direction. Tiny but fierce. Not 'tiny but avoids a fight'.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I've read through the thread and I'll be crossing out that option from my list, despite that, the one I like the most is the "bury secrets" damage.

racnor said:

And we have just resolved a pile of plots.What do we have on our plate now besides the watch and experimentation?. Heck, we might even be out of a job soon if the new EC is stupid about it. If there's any time for more plot it's now.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

There are many potential plots. Being Spymistress, Shareholder in largest trading company in Striland, as well as top boss of the watch pretty much ensures that mischief would find us. Stirland has been in the gutter for centuries, Sylvania much more so. It'll tale decades to sort out fully.

Other plots that jump up is:

• Witch Hunters, now that Van Hall is gone, there is bound to be interaction with them
• New Count, new personal baggage, new motivations
• Helping sort out Drakenhof, who rules it, how. Consolidating and investigating new holdings
• New trade routes with Zufbar Hold
• Investigate the Vampire noblewoman
• Elf Biography - Results?
• Elector Meet
• Magister exam
• Checking out the old Van Hall holdings, might be prudent to revisit due to death and nostalgia
• Finding out what the hell the Supreme Patriarch tried to pull

There's quite a lot still without Boney adding anything else, and tbh, speculating that we might be kicked out of our job would be rather unjust if Boney did so. Why even offer the choice if we'll be kicked out? So I feel speculation of what we can do if we are no longer spymistress / in the council is counterproductive and aggressively pessimistic.

[X] Mathematics is universal.
[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.

LoganBert34 said:

Yeah, I've read through the thread and I'll be crossing out that option from my list, despite that, the one I like the most is the "bury secrets" damage.



There are many potential plots. Being Spymistress, Shareholder in largest trading company in Striland, as well as top boss of the watch pretty much ensures that mischief would find us. Stirland has been in the gutter for centuries, Sylvania much more so. It'll tale decades to sort out fully.

Other plots that jump up is:

• Witch Hunters, now that Van Hall is gone, there is bound to be interaction with them
• New Count, new personal baggage, new motivations
• Helping sort out Drakenhof, who rules it, how. Consolidating and investigating new holdings
• New trade routes with Zufbar Hold
• Investigate the Vampire noblewoman
• Elf Biography - Results?
• Elector Meet
• Magister exam
• Checking out the old Van Hall holdings, might be prudent to revisit due to death and nostalgia
• Finding out what the hell the Supreme Patriarch tried to pull

There's quite a lot still without Boney adding anything else, and tbh, speculating that we might be kicked out of our job would be rather unjust if Boney did so. Why even offer the choice if we'll be kicked out? So I feel speculation of what we can do if we are no longer spymistress / in the council is counterproductive and aggressively pessimistic.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Being a spymaster and burying secrets is kind of impossible. Thats not even inclusing our mystery juice, mystery swords, and (sort of) mystery magic book.

[X] Sigmar abandoned his most worthy follower in his hour of need.
[X] Expertise matters. And Stirland has precious little of it.

BoneyM said:

It really is. It's also been a huge boon for Leicheberg and Nachthafen - the former got a big chunk of the hills and the latter got their hills pacified and now have access to the rest of the Empire and soon trade with Zhufbar.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Lots of wool, lots of cheese, lots of shit, which means lots of saltpeter.

Seventeen said:

Yeah, so maybe next time we can not do that and instead do something useful...

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

More like, next time we want to do that, ,we do it personally. We do still need the money

Artemis1992 said:

I wish people blaming Sigmar or the Empire would unite.

It's similar enough in the end.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Its very different.
Sigmar blaming means that you specifically lose faith in his priesthood, in his benevolence, and all that. The plotline opening up would be the conflict between being a wizard and the Empire's biggest religion hating wizards.

Empire blaming means outright rebellious sentiments. The plotline opening up would be to embrace what makes Ranald a proscribed cult in many provinces: that his followers often seek to tear down institutions and rightful rulers. This is incidentally against a number of our oaths, so another conflict there.

TheHappyVampire said:

What could "Mathematics is universal" provide?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

A few things:
-Learning improvement. A lot of advanced logic is really mathematics, and Ulgu, in particular, deals a lot with light, geometry, timing, and probability.
-Stewardship improvement. Money and supplies flows by math, and all that. This plays into her role as Watch Commander, the better to direct its resources and to operate her spy network without going broke.
-Strategy is mathematics. A BIG part of any military strategy is how you achieve local superiority in numbers, which is math of travel time, combat ability and probabilistics.
-Ciphers and codes are mathematical. All strong and stable encryption methods are math based.
-Artillery and long ranged spells alike play into math. Trigonometry was used by Mathilde in most cases to rapidly locate an enemy spellcaster, down to distance and direction. Geometry determines how her Burning Shadows project themselves.

Pick Math if you want to focus on Mathilde as Wizard, Spy and Administrator.

Will be doing a longer analysis, but it'd take some time.

TimEd said:

Being a spymaster and burying secrets is kind of impossible. Thats not even inclusing our mystery juice, mystery swords, and (sort of) mystery magic book.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Not really, half of being a spymaster is hiding information. She literally dealt with all the mysteries of Drackenhof by collapsing a castle on it, not by "researching" and "study". The vote itself states "mystery" not "secrets" (Yes I used that word as well, sorry). My take on it is that Mathilde will be generally more wary of mysteries, seeing them as trouble to be dealt with and not an opportunity.

There might be one or two exceptions, such as the juice, but its a mindset I'll have fun with.

I like this one:

[X] Write-in: With the right pivot (a chance comment to a Dragonlord, the capricious will of God and magic, mutual self-interest coming together), I can move the world.
[X] The Empire is a morass of self-interest, to the point of becoming a millstone around the neck of humanity.

EDIT: Changed my mind on the downside. Being pissed at the entire rest of the Empire for being a bunch of short-sighted twats is more likely to be fun to roleplay. Fuck alla y'all, Stirland stands alone!

What exactly is the stance of Godly assistance in WHF? Is it Sigmar (or similar) saving throw for important person even if it's for a non-believer. Or is it faithful gets X% chance of help?

Popcorn god seems to be on ball for Mathilde since ever.

VoidZero said:

What exactly is the stance of Godly assistance in WHF? Is it Sigmar (or similar) saving throw for important person even if it's for a non-believer. Or is it faithful gets X% chance of help?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

If really faithful person asks for aid from God, odds are it'll arrive.

Basically, if a random Sigmarite solider begs for Sigmar to Smite that horde of oncoming Orcs, it ain't happening.

Sigmarite warpriests, OTOH.... Lot better odds.

veekie said:

lots of shit, which means lots of saltpeter.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Not really. The reason collecting human waste and refining saltpetre from it is economical is because it's already concentrated by the sewer system. It's not reasonable to have people roaming around the Haunted Hills collecting sheep dung for saltpetre. Shepherds will probably be the only people the landscape and lack of infrastructure will be able to support, and they'll be plenty busy already looking after the mindless living clouds that are their sheep.