Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Maaaybe that could work. It'd depend on whether picklepikkl is right and we don't need a sixth Branulhune action (which I hope we don't). And of course, it assumes Codifying and Swords wins in the first place. Honestly, we've seen bigger upsets where votes are concerned so I'm not inclined to declare victory just yet and start worrying about next turn's plan. The Windfall or Red Rider plans could still make a comeback. I don't want to tempt fate by saying Swords is a done deal.
Yeah that's true, it's been said before:
Volans said:
Nothing in this turn or the next is free, and whilst I am willing to trust in my own abilities and limitations, and accept any errors I make while writing my plans, I do not wish to trust the continued benevolence of a thread whose need for my votes and commitments might far outweigh my own need for its aid.
That'd be nice and would free up options for the WEBMAT-dedicated actions.
It would be nice, though it would be a shame if Eike won't get to participate. Though to be fair my original plan didn't even have the Windfall paper, so I can't complain too hard about that.
Sell us on it. I'm not super into either the aesthetics or the proposed uses of the red riders, I'd probably vote for San alternative.
It's hard for me to shill for the Whispering Darkness when I'm not so into apparitions in general. Here's why I think it could maybe work well, and I think @Nerdasaurus Rex proposed a few spell ideas that use it though I can't recall them offhand.
 
This is not allowed. We're not permitted to drop the organizations on a turn-by-turn basis. We either keep them, and pay the AP cost, or drop them entirely and not get to pick them up again casually.
That's clearly not completely true since our WEB-MAT organization actions can be folded into Waystone Project actions with no issues.

Aside from that thanks for the quote about the extra AP, I really dont like it because there are so many WEB-MAT options I really want to see and losing two of them fprone Mathilde Exclusive action feels very stupid every time it happens, but I get it.

I am still trying to figure out if we can find ways for WEB-MAT actions to cover more options, bringing Johann on an appartition hunt makes total sense, so trying to find ways to make other Mathilde exclusive research or self improvement actions into collabarative WEB-MAT efforts seems very worthwhile.
 
Last edited:
I insist that we can put Sarvoi in a Foundation action instead of Leylines, and it would at least get us started on that path.
 
Personally, the thing I'd like to do in the next ~4 turns or so is get the Library into a good place where we don't need to oversee the day-to-day of its expansion and hand off our organizations, reclaiming the 1 personal AP from those two half-actions
Is there already some kind of plan to hand off our EIC responsibilities? I guess we aren't obligated to help, but it's an awesome deal, for the grey college, ourselves and the EIC itself to have that kind of influence on a major trading company. If Eike is willing and ready to take over as the EIC wizard we would have a clean break, but we don't know if that will ever happen. I wouldn't have a problem with any sufficiently competent grey wizard taking that post, but I'm not sure if that position is popular since we have a very personal connection to the EIC and Wilhelmina might not like an unknown wizard with that much influence on, and insight into direction of the company.
 
Last edited:
It's hard for me to shill for the Whispering Darkness when I'm not so into apparitions in general. Here's why I think it could maybe work well, and I think @Nerdasaurus Rex proposed a few spell ideas that use it though I can't recall them offhand.

Beep boop I'm a quote fetching bot:

Knight of the Dämmerlichtreiter: The Dämmerlichtreiter was a legendary wizard-knight who hunted vampires atop a magic steed. Speaking this incantation summons her shadow—horse and all—to your side. It is said that it holds a special hatred for oathbreakers, and will turn against any master who acts with dishonour. Some journeymen have taken to calling this spell "The Knight of Night".

Mathilde's Misty Hounds: Made of shadow and fog, these relentless hunters pursue their prey, passing through any obstacle, only solidifying as they lunge to bite and tear. Any similarities to Gehenna's Golden Hounds are firmly denied by both the Gold and Grey Orders.

Weber's Wrathful Witch: The soul of every wizard feels the tempting call of Chaos, but it is said that one Lady Magister of the Grey Order, following an encounter with a Lord of Change, excised that part of her in an arcane ritual and bound it to her will, setting the vengeful spirit upon her enemies instead.

Mathilde's Malicious Mist: With a single command, this dark, flesh devouring fog spreads out, seeping in through the gaps between doors and windows, before coalescing around its target. It is said that the last thing its victims hear is the whispered screams of all it has consumed, before their own voice is added to the silent cacophony.

Mathilde's Maddening Miasma: Those afflicted with this mind altering spell will suffer visions of decay and rot affecting all they behold, until their mind itself breaks from the torment. Buildings appear as ruins, fields become wastelands, and people wither into desiccated corpses.

Shadowworms: The target's own shadow rebels against them, twisting into a thousand writhing worms, consuming all they come into contact with.

Murder of Shadows: a flock of winged shadows darts forth from the casters hand, and descends upon the target, pecking and tearing at any exposed flesh. Shamans of the Amber Order have expressed interest in the workings of this spell, but the Shadowmancers hold their secrets tightly.

---

Made some RPG style descriptions of the apparition spells.

Bear in mind these are mostly fluff and flavour descriptions as seen by outsides who don't know it's discount demonology, rather than actual proposals for apparition based spells.

I agree that the Whispering Darkness ("Mathilde's Malicious Mist") is a very good fit for Mathilde.
 
Something that compounds the issue is that with the Waystone Project we can assign our wizards to that research, encouraging us to skip on the bonus AP if we want to do another cool action that is Mathilde only.

I will forever cry at the thread not deciding to open up AV to WEBMAT. AV fits the mission statement perfectly! Look, I'm pretty sure we have some sort of confidentiality agreement in place!!! The flex would still be really good!!!!!

Also uh just realized I might have overstated how extreme anti Nordland sentiment in Laurelorn might be. They got rid of all the forest dwellings but have left the coastal settlements mostly alone--potentially as a diplomatic sop when things calm calm. Still think general trade and normalized relations are presently off the table for many reasons. And even if they arent, the issues with Mathilde acting as mediator definitely still stand.
 
[X] Plan Codifying and Swords on a Solid Foundation
-[X] Overwork: Yes
-[X] COIN: The Gambler
-[X] Attempt to codify Rite of Way so that others can learn it. (The Gambler)
-[X] Branulhune's ability to disappear and reappear at a thought allows entirely new forms of combat. Continue to work on them. (Hand-switching)
-[X] Branulhune's ability to disappear and reappear at a thought allows entirely new forms of combat. Continue to work on them. (Double-tap)
-[X] Waystone: Capstone (Hatalath, Thorek, Elrisse, Max, Johann)
-[X] Waystone: Foundation (Sarvoi, Cadaeth, Baba Niedzwenka, Elrisse, Aksel, Tochter, Egrimm)
-[X] Tributary: Water Spirit (Stirland) (Baba Niedzwenka, Zlata, Max)
-[X] KAU: Seek an exchange arrangement with another Library or a Karak's archives to be able to make copies of their corpus (Nuln; use KaK Metalsmithing Guild Boon)
-[X] EIC: Attempt to establish a trade route with the Eonir (charcoal)
-[X] SERENITY: The Black Orc Warboss' worship of Only Gork, and what you saw of the Rogue Idol ritual (FADED)
-[X] Eike Actions: Branulhune training, EIC action
-[X] Eike Study: Study Petty spells

Okay, new plan. Turns out the group for the River is pretty diverse and might help quite a lot to start chipping away at the foundations. I moved Egrimm there because having 2 light magisters in the Capstone is overkill, and a grouo so diverse will provide quite a lot of insights into the Foundation. We can later call Thorek and Hatalath if it proves a tough nut to crack.

Also approval voting

[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition. (ft. Red Riders)
[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition
 
I'll vote for plans that have different EIC actions and tributary actions, not real tempted otherwise.

And ALL alternative plans offered so far share those two items.
 
that only way Ulthan can stop this at this point is either war or sending Teclis back to Empire for a couple of decades to make nice.
Frankly also at this point in not convinced the latter wouldn't result in the elves, kislevites and Aksel quietly going "you know we've actually gotten a lot more done than expected. I think we can keep this going." Honestly maybe even Thorek if he's built up enough trade ties anyway.
 
[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition. (ft. Red Riders)
[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition

When it comes to the Lustrian rubbings and the researchers notes, it's appeal to me is not just that it's set around being something Eike can help with or exposing her to other cultures and thus being a potential lense towards xeno-affinity, It is also an action that partially looks into Old One symbology (rubbings of the plaques of the great plan) being taken on the same turn as other old one symbology (the capstone, and the runes upon it.) Likewise we've seen from Johann's new arm soemthing that bears at least passing resemblance to waystone gold (It looks like gold, but it doesn't behave like it) It's far less likely the Asur researcher who took those notes may comment on lizardman metallurgy but a stray reference to some golden artifact of unusual properties may be within the realm of possibility.

Plus, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time, for the potential scope it opens up into dealing with Lizardmen and realizing the scope of their cultural and historical role in things

Dropping that is a deal breaker for me.
 
Last edited:
That's clearly not completely true since our WEB-MAT organization actions can be folded into Waystone Project actions with no issues.
WEB-MAT isn't a half-AP-per-turn organization that we get a single action from every turn; it works differently. What I said is true for the EIC and library.
Is there already some kind of plan to hand off our EIC responsibilities? I guess we aren't obligated to help, but it's an awesome deal, for the grey college, ourselves and the EIC itself to have that kind of influence on a major trading company. If Eike is willing and ready to take over as the EIC wizard we would have a clean break, but we don't know if that will ever happen. I wouldn't have a problem with any sufficiently competent grey wizard taking that post, but I'm not sure if that position is popular since we have a very personal connection to the EIC and Wilhelmina might not like an unknown wizard with that much influence on, and insight into direction of the company.
That's part of what we recruited the Hochlander for: to be our understudy and assistant in running the intel network, and to be a trusted person we could hand the intel network over so it can still be used for Grey College-endorsed actions if we ever decided to. Lately the EIC has been a solution in search of a problem: we've managed to use its intel to good effect a few times in the last few turns, but mostly we've been using it as an economic and political lever. Which is great! I'm personally pretty pumped at the notion of helping normalize relations with Laurelorn via an expanded trade route. But it's not the thing it's really optimized for, and ultimately the question is whether the half-AP per turn is better used for something else.

My goal, like I said, is to get to a point where both the EIC and the library are fairly stable and have nothing really dramatic afoot, and then hand them off. Eike can take control of the EIC intel network from the Hochlander when she makes Magister or inherits the EIC itself from her grandmother, and hopefully for the library we can downgrade only slightly:
[ ] (LIBRARY) Hands-off
Mathilde will have no involvement at all beyond this point, but will retain full rights to peruse the contents of the library.
[ ] (LIBRARY) High-level policy
Mathilde will be able to make decisions such as location, selecting a Head Librarian, and setting broad policies, but will not have day-to-day control over the library, so it will not consume any meaningful amount of Mathilde's time.
[ ] (LIBRARY) Head Librarian
Involved in all the day-to-day workings, and able to make staffing decisions, negotiate access to new sources of books, assign priorities for book acquisition, and make sure the day-to-day of the library is going fine. Will count as an organization under Mathilde's control, so will cost a half-action a turn.
We voted for Head Librarian to make the day-to-day decisions, but hopefully we can eventually go to High-level policy, allowing us to still be involved on a broad scale but not be making decisions for it every turn and therefore reclaiming the half-action. Having six full personal AP to work with instead of five would really make life a lot easier, so I dream of that happy day.
Beep boop I'm a quote fetching bot:
good god there's another one of me now
 
Last edited:
A lot of these things overlap so I'm just going to blindly approval vote.

[X] Plan Codifying and Swords
[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition
[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition. (ft. Red Riders)
 
[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition
[X] Plan Codifying and Swords
 
we have to do the windfall or the cabal will kill us
Sincerity of intent is noted, relax. Ain't nobody been doing anything that'll cause anyone to feel the need to break out any sorta' mob jokes.

Fwiw, I view Windfall and Windhearding as 'Egrimm' actions, and seeing as 'Sharing Windfall with colleges' takes one turn for the writing but Windherding takes at least a turn to try again and another turn to write a paper, I put Windfall as my higher priority.

So maybe that's why many of the Windherding folk kinda folded into the Windfall crowd?
They didn't need to be threatened to clearly see what the best options were. They're clever people. Dependable. I know that if any of them are asked if there were any threats of any sort, there'll be a resounding 'no'.
 
Last edited:
To be honest I think it makes a lot of sense to investigate the Nehekharan network before looking into river leylines, since apparently a big chunk of it uses their massive river.
 
To be honest I think it makes a lot of sense to investigate the Nehekharan network before looking into river leylines, since apparently a big chunk of it uses their massive river.

I assume that the "river leyline" action has "find out what the hell is up with Nehekara's leylines" as a follow up action—that is to say, investigating Nehekara is part of the river leyline research chain, rather than a prerequisite.
 
On an unrelated note how exactly do we plan on presenting the Morbs? I would sort of want representatives from each college there. So Mathilde can be as dramatic and Mathildey as possible.
Traditionally, Mathilde delivers her discoveries by wheelbarrow. She's done that with: A massive pile of silver she was tithing, a comatose druchii, a massive pile of books on spidersilk weaving, and a frozen ork warboss. I see no reason to assume she wouldn't just roll up to Dragomas with a wheelbarrow full of orbs.
 
[X] Plan Codifying and Swords
[X] Plan Lore and Metal, Windfall Edition. (ft. Red Riders)

Frankly I wanted to do rivers in the first place and if it's also got a good chance of freeing up next turn for red riders, That's great.
 
Sincerity of intent is noted, relax. Ain't nobody been doing anything that'll cause anyone to feel the need to break out any sorta' mob jokes.

Fwit, I view Windfall and Windhearding as 'Egrimm' actions, and seeing as 'Sharing Windfall with colleges' takes one turn for the writing but Windherding takes at least a turn to try again and another to write a paper on, I put Windfall as my higher priority.

So maybe that's why many of the Windherding folk kinda folded into the Windfall crowd?
They didn't need to be threatened to clearly see what the best options were. They're clever people. Dependable. I know that if any of them are asked if there were any threats of any sort, there'll be a resounding 'no'.
For me, personally, I do want to do Windherding, it's just that Windfall took priority for me because we've got plenty of cool magical research to do, but the Windfall paper furthers Egrimm's character arc and develops Mathilde's relationship with him. That's a slam-dunk for me; ultimately, I think most of us are in this quest because we fell in love with the way Boney writes characters. The Windfall paper action isn't about the paper, it's about the responsibility that superiors have to their subordinates, the way that Egrimm is carrying trauma from someone who viewed him first and foremost as a resource to be exploited, and the way that Mathilde can offer him a better sort of relationship because she was fortunate enough to have three good bosses in a row (Regimand, Abelhelm, Belegar) and can model that sort of behavior in her own relationships with people working for her.

...fuck, I'm talking myself into supporting one of the Lore and Metal variants again. Sigh, I really am bummed about missing out on that action.
 
Last edited:
I assume that the "river leyline" action has "find out what the hell is up with Nehekara's leylines" as a follow up action—that is to say, investigating Nehekara is part of the river leyline research chain, rather than a prerequisite.

I don't really see why. It's a completely different action in its own category that we could do right now, not a future subset. It's also not required to complete a river leyline, it's just deciding whether to do it from first principles or with some example to draw inspiration from. Right now the vote is to do so from first principles.
 
Honestly, as a proud member of the Completionists I'm just happy one of my own pet peeves (Gork paper) is finally being done.

Next on the list is finishing the spell book!
 
Back
Top