Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Have now read the discussion.

[x] Cult of Verena
[x] Locals

Cult of Verena is my #1, approval voting for Locals because I love the multicultural angle and the integration into the Karak, will swap strategically etc. etc. you all know how this works.
The easiest way to integrate the Library into the wider Karak is to recruit its staff directly from it, bringing in whoever is willing and able and training them as librarians. While this might not give you any distinct advantages, it does mean that the Library will be more properly part of the Karak rather than merely located within it, to the benefit of both.
I don't think the We are a great choice, but I don't think they're an awful choice either. I am sure they'll work out eventually, if they win as their lead seems to imply they will -- it's the eventually that I don't like, because I want the library to be up and running as a library instead of just being a place Mathilde is inconveniently-to-herself storing books that only she uses.
Then there's the more exotic options. The We have been doing well enough for long enough that they're beginning to consider 'splitting', where a few Egglayers are birthed, given a coterie of Webweavers and an honour guard of Hunters, and go off into the world to find a new home for themself. At first the new We will be almost identical to the original, but over time they will diverge into entirely different individuals. While the current plans would be to establish then somewhere under Karagril so they can be conveniently close to the greenskins that are their prey, they could instead establish themselves in your library and dedicate themselves to the care and cultivation of your library. It will be a long and difficult process to teach them all that they'd need to know, but at the end of that path is a staff of librarians that are able to easily move in three dimensions, instantly communicate with each other, increase their numbers to whatever amount is needed, and be absolutely terrifying to anyone inclined to misbehave and might normally expect nothing more than a smack with a ruler and a stern look from a more conventional librarian.
We've got a long while before we're ready for the Orbs of Sorcery creation experiment -- we have 22 CF, pay 1 per turn, and gain a variable amount per turn that is usually around 4-5, so call it 4 turns to be pessimistic -- so there's time to do at least some of the other AV research, assuming we can spare the AP, before the Colleges start really wanting to know how the fuck we did that and it will be politically desirable for us to write the goddamn AV book like, right now. We have ~3 AP remaining in that tech tree assuming we skip the "make AV into a weapon" option (enchanting & powerstone creation, but we need to learn how to make powerstones first), because I honestly cannot see a conceivable application of AV as a weapon that is better than turning it into the most powerful death machines that the Empire and the Karaz Ankor have to offer.

I am glad Oswald, of whom for a long time for a long time I was the #1 fan in a tiny fanclub, found someone to love, or at least someone to do ballistic calculus with and generate further Oswaldssons, which is enough like love for many practical purposes. Hopefully Lieutenant Snuggles is happy with her new humans.

Back to my extremely stupid day.
 
@Boney

How worried should we be about the We encountering memetic hazards? They have ways to deal with warpstone and similar physical hazards from their food.

I guess I just wonder about the potential problems with the we being librarians of knowledge that might be inherently dangerous?
 
Cython picked fights with pretty much every dark elf raider that sailed too close to his island, usually just for the sport of hunting the sea monsters that pulled their ships, and he actually did destroy clan skyre, that happened in quest.
Cython picked, and won, fights with everything smaller than a Black Ark. That's not quite the same thing as being ready to Yolo straight at anything.
 
It would be hilarious if we took the powerstone making lesson, and then a few months later came back with an Orb of Sorcery. The look on Algard's face would be priceless.
If we do this we should start off with "Hey, I tried making a powerstone but it came out a little weird. Could you take a look?" And then hand over the Orb of Sorcery.

I would also like to suggest a few options for librarians that I don't think have been considered:
[] Cult of Tzeentch
When we say we want the library to contain all knowledge, we mean all knowledge. Why settle for just halfway with the Cult of Verena?
[] Undead Librarians
They say the best friends are the ones you make, not buy. These would be perfectly loyal, incorruptible, and eternal. What's not to like? The only issue is the library fines might get to be a bit severe, perhaps a literal arm and a leg.
 
@Boney

How worried should we be about the We encountering memetic hazards? They have ways to deal with warpstone and similar physical hazards from their food.

I guess I just wonder about the potential problems with the we being librarians of knowledge that might be inherently dangerous?

They'd probably be considerably better off than any human librarian. There probably aren't a lot of memetic hazards built to find purchase on a distributed hivemind.
 
We've got a long while before we're ready for the Orbs of Sorcery creation experiment -- we have 22 CF, pay 1 per turn, and gain a variable amount per turn that is usually around 4-5, so call it 4 turns to be pessimistic -- so there's time to do at least some of the other AV research, assuming we can spare the AP, before the Colleges start really wanting to know how the fuck we did that and it will be politically desirable for us to write the goddamn AV book like, right now. We have ~3 AP remaining in that tech tree assuming we skip the "make AV into a weapon" option (enchanting & powerstone creation, but we need to learn how to make powerstones first), because I honestly cannot see a conceivable application of AV as a weapon that is better than turning it into the most powerful death machines that the Empire and the Karaz Ankor have to offer.
I honestly think people are overthinking this a little.

if we can make one Orb of Sorcery and hand it in, and then ask all the other colleges for a powerstone to see if the same trick works (even if we know it will) they would totally hand the powerstone over.
 
Spider Librarians is absolutely the meme pick, but it's such a strong image that as much as I'm worried about it I'm equally in love with it. They would work pretty well and at this point the risk of corruption, mundane or otherwise, with the We is nonexistent. But something to keep in mind is that this Library is going to last for hundreds of years, provided the world doesn't end, and we can't really predict the way the We will develop (Try saying that five times fast), though we can influence them by doing something like this.

I'd actually be fine with one of the Cults or outside groups being the librarians because after 15-30 years they'll be heavily involved with the Karak as a whole, and after 100 years their children and grandchildren would be native citizens of 8 Peaks.
 
Now, my only problem with making the Orbs of Sorcery is that Mathilde probably wouldn't get one for herself. I mean, unless she just kept the Ulgu one out of any given set, but while she would be well within her rights, presumably, it would be mildly less impressive and obvious to Algard.

Then again, making him wonder what the heck Mathilde needs a personal Orb of Sorcery for would be funny.
 
...is it bad I'm imagining turning Orbs of Sorcery in Nukes? Just throwing them at the enemy?
OH GOD NOW IT'S STUCK IN MY BRAIN

Light - Creates a miniature sun briefly, banishes all demons and undead
Celestial - Mother of all Lightning storms, or screws with the fate of everyone in the area
Gold - Like that one scene in Spongebob, but instead of everything being chrome it's all gold
Jade - Have a forest! And probably cancer as well, actually...
Amber - Devolves everything sentient into their animal ancestors
Bright - Like Light but much more fire
Grey - Erases all memories. Maybe makes the space Unplottable
Amethyst -Dead Dead Dead. Probably ghosts as well
 
Also Also; How can we use Orbs of Sorcery to help with the Webway project?

It'd be a bit much to give every waystone an orb, but maybe major nexuses?
 
...is it bad I'm imagining turning Orbs of Sorcery in Nukes? Just throwing them at the enemy?
OH GOD NOW IT'S STUCK IN MY BRAIN

Light - Creates a miniature sun briefly, banishes all demons and undead
Celestial - Mother of all Lightning storms, or screws with the fate of everyone in the area
Gold - Like that one scene in Spongebob, but instead of everything being chrome it's all gold
Jade - Have a forest! And probably cancer as well, actually...
Amber - Devolves everything sentient into their animal ancestors
Bright - Like Light but much more fire
Grey - Erases all memories. Maybe makes the space Unplottable
Amethyst -Dead Dead Dead. Probably ghosts as well
Why do that when you can cast a Cataclysm spell instead.
 
Then again, making him wonder what the heck Mathilde needs a personal Orb of Sorcery for would be funny.
@Boney if we got a dwarf to make a casting box, could we promote a certain shape in a Orb of Sorceries development (sort of like a square watermelon or 'casting a sword')

Because I would totally like a powerstone dais for the dragon throne.

(less memey, shape each of them into the symbols of the wind its made of (or at least close for the ones that have unconnected bits.)
 
The talk of having a We hive as librarian is giving me crazy ideas.
Do we know if the Doppelganger spell works on the We or does it take a more complex Illusion spell ?
Because having normal seeming librarians that are actually spiders under illusions sounds like the biggest Grey Wizard prank of all time.
We could even make it a Windhearding project to combine it with The Talking Beast Amber spell.
 
I honestly think people are overthinking this a little.

if we can make one Orb of Sorcery and hand it in, and then ask all the other colleges for a powerstone to see if the same trick works (even if we know it will) they would totally hand the powerstone over.
Just going with what Boney said.
My current idea is there'd be a 'use CF to do it and have the Orbs of Sorcery to do with as she will' option and a 'explain what the plan is to the Colleges, get them all to chip in a power stone, and then rewards (if it all goes according to plan) but no galaxy flex moment' option.
"but no galaxy flex moment" is a dealbreaker for me, so I'd want to take the former (and then sell the Orbs back to the Colleges).
 
I honestly think people are overthinking this a little.

if we can make one Orb of Sorcery and hand it in, and then ask all the other colleges for a powerstone to see if the same trick works (even if we know it will) they would totally hand the powerstone over.
Unfortunately, I think this runs into the issue that doing so would effectively waste seven gallons of Aetheric Vitae.

It will take eight gallons regardless of whether we make one, three, four, or all eight power stones.

I... suppose there might be ways around that? but it would be things like asking Thorek to modify his runic array to accommodate the Orb, or finding a similar use for vast quantities of the other seven winds all at once.
 
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