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I'm looking up the different Pantheonic Mandelas of the Elves and I've come across an intriguing oddity. In the Asur Mandela, the Cadai Runes have a crown on top to signify their position. The Cytharai have horns to signify their position. This is pretty consistent across the spectrum, except for a few notable exceptions. None of the Ellinilli or Ellinil himself, with the exception of Drakira, have horns. This includes Mathlann, Estreuth, Hukon, Addaioth and Ellinill.

I'm trying to follow a similar pattern with the Druchii and Asrai pantheons, but it's not easy. I thought the Druchii pantheon separated the Cadai by the shape on top of the rune, with the Diamond meaning Cadai and the Pentagon meaning Cytharai. But Nethu and Mathlann have a Diamond whereas Asuryan, Vaul, Kurnous and Isha have a Pentagon. The horns distinction only exists for the inner circle of the Mandela.

Maybe I'm trying to look too deeply into something that isn't there? Ugh, whatever. I'll keep staring at these goddamn runes until I find the pattern.
 
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[X] Favour to Mira

After Regimand leaves or after we follow whatever advice he gives I really think we should team up with Alric. Fighting Chaos is far more important than playing politics, and in any case we only promised Mira we'll tell her what Alric was doing here, which we'll certainly be capable of doing once we're done dealing with this mess.
 
[X] Favour to Mira

After Regimand leaves or after we follow whatever advice he gives I really think we should team up with Alric. Fighting Chaos is far more important than playing politics, and in any case we only promised Mira we'll tell her what Alric was doing here, which we'll certainly be capable of doing once we're done dealing with this mess.

I mean generally I agree with this, but do we trust him not to fuck everything up and get Mathilde killed? He is kind of a failure of a has been looking to regain his glory.
 
We also know he's vindictive considering he went to Stirland to look for dirt on Elspeth because she kicked him out of Wissenland, and we took Egrimm from him and supported Mira's takeover of the Light Order, at least from his perspective.

Keep in mind that just because you might think that this is above politics, does not mean Alric thinks it's above politics.
 
while Step 0 would be finding a Runesmith that would be willing to go maximum kickflip like this in the first place.
To protect a retaken Karak, at the request of a King, with the involvement of a High Priest, while being Kragg. Finding someone willing to experiment without any of those four justifications would be tricky.

That gives me a few thoughts. First, would 'try a rune/enchantment item with Mathilde specifically' be easier than ant other wizard to a useful degree?

Second, could we take a stab at convincing Thorek on the grounds that "waystones clearly use both runes and enchantments; learning to create mixed magical items can only help us with our waystone research"?

Third, is our Dwarven Favour: Yes good enough to ask regular dwarven runesmiths for the names and locations of the *really* radical ones?

You could, but invoking it to protect Heidi instead of to protect the Empire would be a complete betrayal of Mathilde's vows to the Grey Order.

Question: how does killing Heidi protect Mandred? I feel like the secret could still come to light and damage the Empire. Wouldn't truly closing this avenue of attack involve killing Mandred too?

Second, is "I know for a fact that Heidi became Empress by the direct will of a sanctioned Empire god" be at all effective as a defense of Heidi, at least within the Grey Order LM circle?

Thirdly, have we technically been betraying our oath since the moment we met Heidi in the Emperor's chambers? If so, why did this never before come up?


Well, that's in no way both infuriating and terrifying.
 
Question: how does killing Heidi protect Mandred? I feel like the secret could still come to light and damage the Empire. Wouldn't truly closing this avenue of attack involve killing Mandred too?

It does not, it protects the Empire. Mandred in that situation would go to wherever unwanted Imperial bastards go.

Also yes we have been betraying out vows for years, Mathilde is just good at double-thinking herself into believing otherwise.
 
[x] Favour to Mira
[x] Other (It started as a favour to Mira - she asked me to find out what Alric was up to, in exchange for aid with the Waystone project - but now I've found out it feels like unfinished business from Stirland, and I owe it to my old friends to make sure the business is finished properly and the case closed.)
[x] Other (If it is that Haupt-Anderson who's behind it, it could result in someone trying to take vengeance on his last living relative. I want to make sure that doesn't happen.)
 
[X] Politics and Personal - In addition to the favor to Mira, you're concerned that, depending on how things play out, the problem could spill over to the Empress and/or Roswita.
 
That gives me a few thoughts. First, would 'try a rune/enchantment item with Mathilde specifically' be easier than ant other wizard to a useful degree?

If it was anyone but Mathilde, this conversation wouldn't have gotten past word one.

Second, could we take a stab at convincing Thorek on the grounds that "waystones clearly use both runes and enchantments; learning to create mixed magical items can only help us with our waystone research"?

It would not be a good idea to try to explain Dwarven history to Thorek. He would be of the opinion that in his centuries of being a Dwarf, he's established more of a grasp on it than Mathilde has in her not even one decade of living among Dwarves.

Third, is our Dwarven Favour: Yes good enough to ask regular dwarven runesmiths for the names and locations of the *really* radical ones?

No. If a Runesmith doesn't agree with what you're trying to do they're not going to make themselves an accessory to it by making an introduction for you.

Question: how does killing Heidi protect Mandred? I feel like the secret could still come to light and damage the Empire. Wouldn't truly closing this avenue of attack involve killing Mandred too?

I don't see why you're trying to make an argument for why the baby would have to die too, but you should probably stop before you convince me.

Second, is "I know for a fact that Heidi became Empress by the direct will of a sanctioned Empire god" be at all effective as a defense of Heidi, at least within the Grey Order LM circle?

Thirdly, have we technically been betraying our oath since the moment we met Heidi in the Emperor's chambers? If so, why did this never before come up?

If you invoke maximum classification, it is because you need to start killing people or the Empire dies, and if you're stopped and made to explain why you're doing it, the Empire dies. If you invoke it because the truth about Heidi's identity is a threat to the Empire, then you need to kill as many people as it takes for that threat to stop existing, up to and including Heidi and, as you've just raised, possibly Mandred. If you're caught while doing so, you need to die before you talk. That's the sort of extremely big deal invoking this is. Invoking it for anything less than the best of reasons would be a fundamental, extreme, and unjustifiable betrayal of every oath Mathilde has made to the Grey Order, and if the Grey Order finds out she has done so, then they will do everything in their power to ensure that Mathilde dies an excruciating death.

It is not the sort of thing you do to get out of an awkward conversation.
 
I mean generally I agree with this, but do we trust him not to fuck everything up and get Mathilde killed? He is kind of a failure of a has been looking to regain his glory.
We also know he's vindictive considering he went to Stirland to look for dirt on Elspeth because she kicked him out of Wissenland, and we took Egrimm from him and supported Mira's takeover of the Light Order, at least from his perspective.

Keep in mind that just because you might think that this is above politics, does not mean Alric thinks it's above politics.
These are legitimate concerns. However, I notice that this is also a very convenient line of reasoning: it's not that we are hiding information from our political opponents for political reasons, it's just that if they knew they would use that information for political reasons.

Alric's choice of projects is obviously motivated by personal considerations, true. But any Magister, and especially any Lord Magister, has a lot of discretion in choosing how to serve the Empire. Alric has been exercising his privileges as a Magister of the Colleges in a way that I find distasteful, but that is still legal. Actually sabotaging an investigation into a plot of the Four crosses the line into actual treason, and I don't think we know enough about Alric to say that he is likely to do that kind of thing.

...and if Alric does do something like that, then he isn't just a washed-up has-been but a dangerous traitor. And in that case it's better he shows his true colours now, under the watchful eyes of the Grey Order, than during the invasion of the next Everchosen or something like that.
 
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[x] Favour to Mira
[x] Politics and Personal - In addition to the favor to Mira, you're concerned that, depending on how things play out, the problem could spill over to the Empress and/or Roswita.
[x] Other (It started as a favour to Mira - she asked me to find out what Alric was up to, in exchange for aid with the Waystone project - but now I've found out it feels like unfinished business from Stirland, and I owe it to my old friends to make sure the business is finished properly and the case closed.)
[x] Other (If it is that Haupt-Anderson who's behind it, it could result in someone trying to take vengeance on his last living relative. I want to make sure that doesn't happen.)
[x] Favor for my Godson.
 
Plot twist Alric was the Chaos Worshipper all along.

yeah okay it's pretty unlikely but would still be funny
I mean, it could go together nicely with Van Horstmann being legit. On top of that turning to dark gods is about the only available route for increasing his power left to Alric, as he is way too infused with Hysh to be able cast anything else by himself.
 

This comment is driving me crazy. I can't think of any group or faction we've engaged with who would be a secret chaos cult, but it would also be peak Mathilde to have fought one without even realising that they were there in the first place.

Sure, it could just be Boney messing with us... but what if he isn't? Hell, I used to make similarly cryptic comments all the time when I DM'd, it's practically required of the role.

Aghhh my head hurts now.
 
We also know he's vindictive considering he went to Stirland to look for dirt on Elspeth because she kicked him out of Wissenland
Did he do that? Maybe he just thought that what was good enough to interest (and kill) one Magister Patriarch is good enough for another? Or maybe he planned to trade whatever he found in exchange for Elspeth's support.
 
Did he do that? Maybe he just thought that what was good enough to interest (and kill) one Magister Patriarch is good enough for another? Or maybe he planned to trade whatever he found in exchange for Elspeth's support.

That might be what happened, but if so, why did he lie to Roswita about helping with the Sylvania campaign first? That's the big red flag that has me wary of him. He said he'd join the war and then he went digging in a crypt for unrelated secrets.

You hear of him trying to insert himself into the Sylvania situation and being politely but firmly evicted after he demonstrates he's more interested in digging into the fate of the late Magister Patriarch Hexensohen than he is on making any sort of contribution to the ongoing campaign.
 
For reference, [ ] Favour to Mira is definitely not the truth. The truth is 'the Empress you had assassinated was replaced by a woman who had previously pretended to be a member of the conspiracy you assassinated the Empress for being a part of, who was able to pull off the deception partly using Ranaldian magic which I personally gathered by being possessed by Mork and then funnelling that power to Ranald, and now I seek to bury this matter for the safety of my godson, the heir apparent'.

You can write that in if you want.
Now I'm just tempted to answer him by crossing our fingers at him.
 
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