Thank you, that was extremely helpful and very entertaining. Very entertaining especially on The Lady spiel.Here is a summary I've written of the current theories. Here is a brief argument for the Haletha theory (part II is the relevant one). Of the available candidate, Halehta/Haleth and Hekarti are related to the waystone project. Also The Lady, I guess, if you think that's likely. We don't have a lot of hints (except for the clearly correct Haletha theory, I will literally cry if it turns out to be wrong I swear) but we are hopefully going to buy a book on minor empire Gods so we might know more soon.
Goat balls are literally a delicacy IRL, a delicacy mostly because people don't eat than it's expensive than hard to prepare though. I imagine that there really isn't a use for goat balls, so it's most assuredly a widely-eaten meal so it doesn't go to waste.On my first read, I didn't make the connection to meat balls, and at it took me a second to get my mind out of the gutter. Though I supposed it would fit right in among 'local specialties', aka 'stuff no one else is dumb enough to actually eat'.
On my second read, I saw an extra n in goat dogs, and I realised I hadn't gotten my mind out of the gutter after all.
Imagine Cython just loving into that section of the library.If we get books on elven gods as topics we should still be able to group them, right? Major Cytharai or Patron Gods? It seems wasteful to spend an entire slot on only one or two gods.
Evidence in favor of Valaya being a daughter of Ranald?You let your eyes slide out of focus as you turn all your attention to the magic around you. [...] The extremely faint hint of something alien yet familiar that emanates from Dwarves.
Mathilde also had Gazul thrum through her soul, and he has a closer relation to Valaya, so I took it as evidence that she was feeling a similar signature since they're both Dwarf gods who likely live in the same realm.
I still think it's more likely that what she felt was Valaya's energy resembling that of Gazul's.It glows with the energy of Gazul's flame, not that of Gazul Himself.
Lore of Hashut's Curse of Hashut spell has the ability to turn the malediction of stone that inflicts all Chaos Dwarf Sorcerors into their enemy, petrifying them and turning them to stone. Another group of people that turn people to stone, but this one is pretty thematic.Nehekharans have neat magic like that. That particular invocation does raise my curiousity on the magical properties of turning someone to stone. That is an ability shared by a decent array of beasts in Warhammer. Gorgons (different from Ghorgons of course), Bloodwrack Medusae (cursed Druchii Sorceresses for daring to be more beautiful than Atharti), Basilisk (Chaos mutation), and the Cockatrice (chicken). I assume the magical application is some sort of Ghyran, since Ghyran has "Flesh to Stone" (although that spell is beneficial, it might be able to be turned negative). A bunch of creatures just randomly came across the ability to apply Ghyran in one specific way without getting the rest of the package I suppose.
I'm quite sure it has not.
The Asrai are on the bottom of the list in terms of priority precisely because of their general attitude. Those guys are just as likely to string you up as a warning as they are to serve you a warm meal (which might be addicting and send you into an endless cycle of euphoria that you never want to leave the place). This isn't even touching the fact that their relationship with the Dwarves might be even worse than the High Elves' relationship with them at the moment.The tread moves quickly, so this might have already been discussed, but I am curious.
Its my understanding that Ariel, Queen of the Wood Elves might be the person with the best understanding of the waystones in the old world.
Consider:
- Before her ascension to demi-godhood, Ariel was the greatest of the high elf mages who went to Athel Loren, exactly the sort of person you'd expect to have an understanding of waystones.
- Her age & history is unclear, but it is at least possible, and perhaps even likely, that she was directly involved in waystone construction & maintenance, or taught/in direct contact with the people who were.
- The Wood Elf book refers to the Asrai erecting waystones many times, usually more to contain forest spirits than drain the winds of magic, but it may be the same type of waystone.
- She's now partially Isha, which might give her some insight into cleansing corruption.
Now, approaching the Asrai at all, let alone Ariel herself, is clearly very dangerous. And even if we can speak with them without getting murdered, they may just refuse to help, xenophobia and isolationism being what they are.
Also possible that as soon as they hear the dwarves are in on the project they'd storm out.
Still, I think there are some reasons they might share information.
- Broadly, they don't want the world to end
- Their main concern is protecting the weave by protecting various entities and sites, and their hell feud with the beastmen. The waystone network is critical to maintaining the weave, I think.
- We could trade information about what we discovered in the north, about Morghur, their eternal foe.
What does everyone think - would it be too risky to approach them? Has this already been discussed?
I actually brought it up waaay back when the jobs were first being floated. But yeah there is absolutely no way to get access to Ariel. Though I'd still hold that Malekith would be the person with the most direct knowledge as the elven ambassador to the dwarves and a highly accomplished mage in his own right... just a negative chance of getting anything out of him or getting access to anything he may have written.I'm quite sure it has not.
The problem with it imo is that we don't have an in with them, and they are very much the "shoot first, ask questions never" type.
Afaik, there is no diplomatic connection between them and the empire... But maybe if we get the Brettonians on the project, they might have something.
Afaik, there is no diplomatic connection between them and the empire... But maybe if we get the Brettonians on the project, they might have something.
That seems inverted. When making deals with cults you want copies of their private collection books, not open market books. You want to be able to tell them "I already have 80% of your collection, what exclusive books do you offer to get copies of my exclusive books?"The main reason I dislike backfill is that it feels like it should be covered largely by deals with cults/other libraries. I'd much rather focus on picking up stuff that is either rare or directly useful and fill out the more common stuff from the deals we make or patronage.
We got the Gold Order to have a scribed copy already. Its now in two handsSpeaking of exclusive books, I wonder how we're going to present our skaven books. Claim they are from some far off and unspecificed polity? Maybe just say 'donated by the Grey Order, origin unknown'.
Yes, but the libraries of the Gold Order aren't fully accessible to the rest of the Colleges, let alone the general public, so I would still call those books exclusive.We got the Gold Order to have a scribed copy already. Its now in two hands