Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

"So," Senior Lecturer Emeritus Sarvoi says to you in an open-air tavern built into the side of the Library of Mournings. "Tell me about this," he says, gesturing to your shadow as it inspects a jar of olives inset into the bar.

You give him a scrutinizing look. "You don't know what it is?"

"I know nothing of your understanding of what it is."

You accept that with a nod. "We call it an 'Arcane Mark'. It is theorized to be the visible effect of a partial transmutation of the soul into a Wind, or something partway between Wind and soul-stuff. It comes from exposure to large amounts of insufficiently-controlled Wind, usually from miscasting. It is considered inevitable, even desirable, among the Orders."

He nods slowly. "It would make you incapable of wielding any other Wind, but that is the way of your Orders anyway, isn't it?"

"It is possible for someone to change Orders, but not after they have developed their first Mark."

"Immutably bound to a single Wind, and unable to touch any of the others without flooding themselves with Dhar." He looks at you with something like pity.

"To an Elven perspective, perhaps. How long does an Elven Mage study for?"

He nods thoughtfully. "To think that you are not yet forty and already half-spent. I can see how that would alter your perspective. If you don't have the years to master them all, then what value is there in retaining the potential to?"

"It's more than that. Here, catch this." You lightly toss an olive in his direction, and he catches it obligingly. "How long have you practiced catching olives?"

"Not at all, of course. I take your meaning, but for that to be true..." He frowns, and looks back to your shadow. "Well, it clearly is true, isn't it? It is literally a part of you, now. Instead of learning it in the abstract, you have made it a part of your being, and you control and understand it as such. You don't have to learn fundamental Sevirrics in the same way a child with a ball doesn't need to learn ballistics. This is an underpinning of your Orders?"

"Not just ours. It's also the method of the Dragons that schismed from the Caledorians and bound themselves to individual Winds."

"Oh?" he says, curiosity growing. "Is this conjecture?"

"An Ice Dragon resides in Karak Eight Peaks," you say with a smile. "Not quite as a citizen, but as a neighbour, and I have found that I share some interests with it. Its embrace of Hysh has advanced to the point where it is light and magic where once it was flesh and blood, and it has said that my Marks are a step down the very same road. A road that I do not believe exists for Qhaysh."

He looks at you for a while longer, then begins to titter. "Oh, very elegantly framed," he says with glee and sincerity. "To not just say that embracing a singular Wind is a handicap or a shortcut, but an outright rival to the holistic approach. Is this your own theory, or something your Orders have been working on collectively?"

"A bit of both. Teclis made no secret of how Sapherian doctrine would feel about the way our Orders learn magic, and nor have the guest speakers at Tempelwijk. It is something we have been grappling with for our entire existence, and we have developed several schools of thought over whether our inherent mutability is a handicap or an advantage."

"And what do you think?"

"I think I like being what I am."

He smiles. "Who could ask for more?"

---

"There's something I've been wondering about," you ask him a while later, after several more cups of wine. "When I spoke to Councillor Isthien to bring him in to the Project, he only attached conditions if the Project got to the state of constructing new Waystones. I'm wondering why that is. Does he see the job ahead of us as particularly easy?"

He gives you a smile. "I would not claim to know the mind of the Councillor, but I doubt he thinks so."

"Then why?

He considers that. "The Waystone Project is perceived by many as a way to build bridges to the Empire," he says, slipping into the tone of someone used to explaining things to an audience. "Its continued existence is a continued success for Laurelorn's foreign policy. Even if nothing comes of it, working alongside major figures from the Empire and Kislev and the Karaz Ankor reassures those among us that think that Laurelorn might be condescended to, or that Nordland's troops might spill over into the Ward of Frost at any moment. The involvement of the Grey Lords or the Ward of Frost doesn't change that perception. But bringing in a Major House very easily can, as if an isolationist House becomes part of the Project, then that gets a lot murkier. And if you're looking for a Major House to contribute magical theory, the choice is between four Houses - Tindomiel and Vaire of the Hekartian school, and Echthelion and Thyriolan of the Hoethian school. Of those, all but Tindomiel are isolationist."

"So if he named a price I balked at and I went to one of the other three Houses, House Tindomiel would be to blame for robbing the cooperative clique of a victory."

"There are those that could make that argument."

You mull that over some more. "Just by walking in that door, I'd cornered him." Sarvoi smiles, but says nothing. "He couldn't let me walk out of there without making a deal. If he'd let on, I could have pushed for concessions from him. But not only did he avoid that, he also set his house up nicely for if the Waystone Project turns into a huge success."

"What's the difference between a Mage and a politician?" You give him a questioning look. "One tries to wrestle poorly-understood forces into submission for personal gain despite the fact that it could all blow up in his face and ruin the lives of everyone around him, and the other casts spells."

You can't help but join him in laughter.

---

Zlata stares forlornly out over a park full of Elven athletes. "They had me swear a vow of chastity," she bemoans, "and sent me to the land of beautiful men."

"We are all called on to sacrifice for our peoples," you commiserate.

"Hopefully our business here ends on good terms," she says with a heartfelt sigh, "so I can return after I am promoted."

You give her a moment to wallow in her yearning before you broach the subject you have in mind. "There was something of a confrontation between you and Baba Niedzwenka earlier."

She shrugs, seemingly unconcerned. "This was expected. Baba Niedzwenka is always trouble. Has been since before Kislev was Kislev."

You consider that. "Is it an inherited title?"

"Nie. Just her. Ice Witches eventually rejoin the winter, but Hag Witches get old quick and some stay old forever. She used to be worse, but still likes to interfere with Ice Witch business." She sighs. "Maybe that's why I was sent. If it was an older Witch, they wouldn't be able to help themselves, would keep trying to out-Witch her." She shrugs. "The leylines in Kislev are Ice Witch business, but anyone with Witchsight can see it and anyone with common sense can guess the rest. Ulthuan knows, Za knows, the Fire Spire knew."

You frown as you consider that. "What happens when one of the four falls?" Praag did during the Great War Against Chaos, and both Erengrad and Kislev City came close.

"That is why Castle Alexandronov was built. There used to be only three, the old cities of Norvard and Dorogo and Srebrograd, but if you have three and lose one it collapses. If you have four, you can lose one and fall back to the others and retake and rebuild later."

You consider fishing for more information on that subject, but decide against it. The Ice Witches have already agreed to contribute, and will do so in their own time. "Why is it, do you think, you were selected for this?"

"Beyond having nothing more important to be doing? Because I can read and I can speak Reikspiel."

"Is that unusual for Ice Witches?"

"The reading more than the Reikspiel. Most Ice Witches are from peasant families. Some say because they are closer to winter and the land, others say it's just a matter of most Kislevites being peasants. So most are only really taught the secrets of Ice Magic and the doctrines of the Ancient Widow. I've heard things were different before Kattarin, back when we had a proper Ice Court and the Ice Witches shaped the bloodlines of the Boyars, but for now the only Ice Witches that can read are the ones that were taught to as children. My parents were traders in Kislev City, so I was one of them."

You nod. "I take it being an Ice Witch wasn't a career path you would have expected as a child."

She gives a short laugh. "No. And I did sometimes resent it, because I grew up expecting to see the world, like in tato's stories. But now look at me." She smiles at a particularly shirtless group of Elves jogging past, their muscles gleaming.

You talk with Zlata a while longer, and the overall impression you get is that what you see is what you get - she's fairly competent, fairly scholarly, and fairly out of her depth. And while you might have preferred an Ice Witch of greater age and experience like Ljiljana or Věnceslava, there's something to be said for someone who's too intimidated to play games, and won't do anything but her best.

---

The high and gleaming walls of Tor Lithanel are its last line of defence, but its battlements are patrolled only by those who wish to admire the view over the trees. This is the norm for the capital of Laurelorn, and yet has only recently been restored, as when humans encroached as nearby as Schlaghügel the city had felt vulnerable enough for a full-time watch to be needed. It is up here you find Aksel, staring moodily out over the ocean of canopies.

"What do you think of the Loren Lauroi?" you ask him as you approach.

"Compared to what I know, it's like the difference between a dog and a wolf. Is this what the Forest of Shadows could become?"

You look out at the trees as you consider that. "I suppose it's possible," you eventually conclude. "Though likely no time soon. The Elves have cultivated this forest for thrice the age of the Empire, and I doubt it was so welcoming when they first arrived."

He sighs. "I suppose so. I don't know whether to be jealous or pitying of them and their tamed trees."

"If you wish to do the same, or something like it, you may have an advantage over them. The Eonir venerate Isha above all, but Her domain is all things that grow, and this forest and those within it are just a sliver of it. Halétha is a much more local Goddess, so much more of Her attention would be reserved for your struggle. If we can restore and expand the Waystone network, it should be possible to change the nature of the Forest with Her help, whether that be simply to be less welcoming to Chaos or whether that be to shape it as dramatically as the Elves have theirs."

He nods, though he doesn't seem convinced. "I suppose we've got the same goal as everyone else, make our homes a little less Chaos-y. That's the sort of goal that can bring just about anyone together. Worked for Sigmar, worked for Magnus."

"Lofty company to be in."

"Lofty goals."

"So everyone keeps saying, but I'm not so sure. Back when Chaos was flooding the world, everyone was doing it. I think the reason everyone forgot wasn't that literally everyone has fallen from some mythical global golden age, I think it was just too expensive to bother with when the problem was solved. Now it's not quite so solved, so we just have to dust off what we used to know and get to work."

"Is that how you'll put it if you succeed?"

"Gods no. If we pull it off I'm definitely painting us all as the equal of Caledor Dragontamer." He chuckles and nods at that. "So, bit of a strange question, but does Halétha have any siblings?"

He gives you a considering look. "We're not the Ostermarkers, but that doesn't mean our faith is a completely open book," he says, his tone neutral.

"If there's nothing you can tell me, that's fine. I've just encountered the name Haleth a time or two."

He seems to relax. "Oh, that. Yes, some of our people in larger towns disguise some aspects of their worship, and those half-truths have grown into almost separate faiths as outsiders see their success and attribute it to what they know of their God. Lady of the Hunt in the west, Patroness of Childbirth in the south, God of Journeys in the east. It rubs some of the hidebound the wrong way, but nobody can deny how useful it can be to have allies outside the Forest."

You ponder that. "Do you think they worship truly out of ignorance, or do you just worship different facets of the same being?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't see their worship as lesser. If I was speaking to one of them I'd put it more diplomatically." He gives you a worried look. "Erm. I'm not, am I?"

You weigh for a moment how much truth to give, and eventually say simply, "I worship Ranald."

He nods in understanding. "Like our brothers in Middenland. No wonder you think in aspects. But no, I don't think I know the full truth of Halétha. Nobody knows every face of any being. I do think I worship Her most important facet, but I'd guess the others do too. And if I found myself lost in the Western Oblast or seeking to father a child in Middenland, I would gladly accept any help or teachings they'd be willing to share."

---

On your way to your next meeting in Altdorf, you make a detour to the Great Library of Altdorf to leaf through their texts on Kislevite faith, and a few hours of effort finds you a few scant paragraphs on Kalita, called by some the God of Journeys. At first glance He seems to be a poor fit for Halétha and most Imperial writers would seem to agree, describing him as a rival or aspect of Handrich, but one of the books contains the God's sigil: a singular point with roads branching downwards from it, a more angular mirror of the tree-root scars ringing Aksel's arm. It's not very difficult to see how such a thing might have come about if a little imagination is applied: a trader of Kislev on the dangerous roads of Ostland hearing a partial description of a God that might protect them from its dangers, and they find enough success to adopt that faith for their own and with a sightly garbled name. Gods do have a tendency to sprawl when they have the opportunity, don't they? And Ranald is attempting to make inroads into the sphere of commerce as Ranald the Dealer, perhaps His daughter is following in His footsteps.

You tear yourself away before you get too mired in crafting theories out of nothing and make your way to the Grey College for a meeting with the Dean, the person ultimately responsible for all recruitment and education efforts of the Order. Not the same Dean you occasionally encountered as a student, as time marches on and he retired a few years back. His replacement is Magister Tomaso Mugnaio, known to most of Altdorf as Tomas Muller, a man earning a good name in the Guild of Stevedores for the prison sentence he's supposedly serving in Mundsen Keep for a crime committed by their Guildmaster. Actually serving that sentence would be a waste of a perfectly good Wizard, so he's also serving as Dean in between occasional appearances looking suitably miserable yet stoic as part of the prison's work gangs.

"Lady Magister Weber," he says to you as you enter his office, his accent impeccably dockyard Altdorfer and rather out of place in an academic setting. "Thank you for coming."

"Of course, Dean Tomaso. What can I do for you?"

"Apprentice Eike Hochschild," he says, taking a folder from a pile. "I understand you have a stake in her education."

You nod. "I work with her grandmother in a trade concern in Stirland, and Eike's to inherit her grandmother's stake in it."

"The EIC, yes. I've encountered them a time or two in my other job, they're a nightmare to suborn. Was Eike named after the company?"

You blink. "I never noticed that, actually. I don't believe so, she was named by her mother, who wasn't involved with the EIC back then."

"Glad to hear it. By all accounts the girl has taken to the mysteries and habits of Ulgu like a duck to water, her teachers describe her as bright and inquisitive, and she spends a fair bit of her spare time in the library. The only potential problem of note is that she's rather open and expressive about what she thinks, which is nice to have in a student but could develop into a weakness for a Grey Wizard. She's also on track to graduate out of Junior Apprentice in the first half of next year, which means it's time to start talking about who her Master is going to be. Starke and the Bursar have both expressed an interest, but you're the one that brought her in and you're probably going to be inextricably tied up in her future, so unless Algard decides he wants her as his Apprentice it's going to be up to you."

You nod thoughtfully. It's a matter you've given no small amount of thought to yourself in the past few years. An Apprentice is a big commitment and would require some work on your part, but the point of Junior Apprenticeship is to get the student to the point where they'd be at least as much help as they are a hindrance to their future Master, so she shouldn't be an outright encumbrance. After all, you spent most of your time with Regimand assisting him with research and translations, tagging along on the occasional adventure within Altdorf, and performing projects he pointed you at and left you with. Your role as her Master wouldn't be to tutor her one-on-one for months at a time, but to allow her the opportunity of learning from her experiences as she assists you in your endeavours.

If you decide against taking her on, then your word will carry a lot of weight in where she'd end up. Wilhelmine's interest is to be expected, considering the woman's pet project of making sure the economy of the Empire serves the Empire, but you're not as sure what Starke's angle would be - perhaps he thinks her faith and forthrightness makes her a good match for his responsibilities. If you don't like either, then Regimand is also a possibility. He's pretending to be retired for longer and longer stretches these days which suggests his actual retirement might not be that far off, but plenty of Wizards spend their twilight years training successors, and you're fairly sure you'd be able to convince him to do for Eike what he did for you.



Who will Eike's Master be?

[ ] You
Eike will become the Apprentice of Lady Magister Mathilde Weber.
[ ] Wilhelmine
Eike will become the Apprentice of Lady Magister Wilhelmine von Bucht, Bursar of the Grey Order.
[ ] Starke
Eike will become the Apprentice of Lord Magister Reiner Starke, Porter of the Grey Order.
[ ] Regimand
Eike will become the Apprentice of Magister Regimand Speiseschrank.



- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- I hope it is unnecessary to remind thread participants to keep the coming debate civil.
- If you decide to take Eike on as your Apprentice, then she will begin at the start of Turn 40, so you will still have the coming turn before she enters your care.
- Eike's affinities were rolled for here.