Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

Nerdasaurus Rex · Oct 21, 2023

Dragonofelder said:
Why are people calling the Asur "Azur"?

Spellcheck error I'm guessing, azur is a word for blue.

Angelform said:
Are you familiar with the term 'bidding war'? Anything we lose in freedom we more than gain in leverage by openly pitting the two rivals against each other.

Assuming you think the Druchii could ever be trusted. And could be worked with even assuming they can be trusted. I remain unconvinced on either point.

I trust the Druchii to act in their nature, and that they will prioritize any gain from working with the Empire over backstabbing—at least in the short term—if only because it's novel and may give them an edge over their rivals back home.

Attacking the Empire is a non-viable strategy for the Druchii, especially for the three cities that are visiting us, so there isn't a lot of opportunity for them to profit from such treachery. But acquiring exotic goods and selling out their rivals to be destroyed by the imperial navy can only increase their own power and influence back home, and I trust that they are smart enough to realise that.

If anything, it leaves them vulnerable to being betrayed by the Empire, and they don't fear or respect us enough to see that as a possibility.

But with our grey wizard training and the Deceiver coin, we have a marked advantage over them that we can exploit for our benefit and their loss.

Parabola · Oct 21, 2023

I don't really wanna gigaflex and then bounce, funny as the mental image is. I'd rather gigaflex and then go on vacation the next turn.

BelligerentGnu · Oct 21, 2023

I suppose just my brain expecting to be blocked on "You rolled once" grounds.

NexusEye · Oct 21, 2023

BelligerentGnu said:
I suppose just my brain expecting to be blocked on "You rolled once" grounds.

I'm not quite sure why you're quoting me, you seem to be talking about Zlata's and Baba Niedzwenka's contributions and the post of mine you quoted seems to be unrelated. Could you clarify?

Ptolemy03 · Oct 21, 2023

[X] Middenland
[X] Nordland
[X] Eike
[X] The Black Water Canal
[X] Eonir Tourism

BurnNote · Oct 21, 2023

It occurs to me that with the current progress of the project, we might have the opportunity for an extended gigaflex, a teraflex, if you want, by dropping not only the AV book, liminal realms and morbs, but also a waystone prototype.

As for elfcation, I see two possibilities: The leave giggling option is to start the elfcation on the same turn as the drop, since boney has confirmed we can split that across turns (he did right? I'm pretty sure he did). The other option is to shedule it on the next turn (potentially also with a split to the following), and add an AP for lectures on AV, similiar to what we did after Waagh and Peace. I'm sure the news of several impossibilities as lecture topics, as well as possibly related impossibility (as implied by dropping the waystone at the same time, even if it's flatly wrong), and the author heading of to Ulthuan for ~mysterious business~ shortly after should make for a full auditorium.

EDIT: Remove accidental doublepost
Anyway, @Boney would a social to talk to Baba Niedzwenka about her adventures in suppressing rebellion (aka gleefully taking a chance to fuck up people she hates) be possible? She seems surprisingly willing to work with/for Boris, and I'd like to see if she'd be willing to talk about it.

Ergosum · Oct 21, 2023

[X] Eike
[X] The Black Water Canal
[X] Eonir Tourism
[X] Tzar Boris Bokha
[X] Skull River Ambush

CornyBones · Oct 21, 2023

Laurelorn
[X] Eike
Have a discussion about faith, the Gods, and the role they play in one's life.
[X] Swordplay
Test your newly-completed swordfighting style against the swordsmen of Tor Lithanel.

[X] Middenland
[X] Wissenland
Though the Elector Count is his usual self, some of their actions recently have hinted at the hand of someone a great deal defter. Investigate who took the job of his Spymaster after you turned it down.
[X] The Black Water Canal
Attend the grand opening of the Black Water Canal as it finally bridges the waterways of the northern and southern halves of the continent.

[X] Eonir Tourism
Despite language and cultural barriers, some of the Eonir have begun venturing out into the wider Empire. Check how this is going, and get a glimpse of the Empire you were born in from the point of view of those to whom it is alien.

Friends Abroad
[X] Tzar Boris Bokha
Attend the coronation of the new Tzar of Kislev.

[X] Kalishiniviks

Will probably drop a few of these from the vote as time goes on. But right now these are what appeal to me.

Nerdasaurus Rex · Oct 21, 2023

CornyBones said:
Who, exactly, are the Kalishiniviks?

Noble family of Praag. Might be vampires. Boris blamed his father's murder on them.

BurnNote · Oct 21, 2023

CornyBones said:
Who, exactly, are the Kalishiniviks?

A branch of them was involved with Katarin, but the other was spared as innocent. They also had/have some holdings in Praag. Then Drycha went after the surviving branch, and so they got investigated again, because she probably did that for a reason. The results were enough to make them targets for Boris, and we helped give a cause by impersonating a Lahmian.

CornyBones · Oct 21, 2023

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Noble family of Praag. Might be vampires. Boris blamed his father's murder on them.

got it. Adding it to my vote then. Its a good follow up.

pucflek · Oct 21, 2023

CornyBones said:
got it. Adding it to my vote then. Its a good follow up.

Now, it would be metagaming, but we never acted on it. Drycha herself had info that there was a bloodline in kislev that had nehekherran blood (ergo vampire, the only way that would spread that far). We think it might be these guys because thats who she went after, but we can´t really tell.

TheFairTyrant · Oct 21, 2023

[X] The Black Water Canal
Attend the grand opening of the Black Water Canal as it finally bridges the waterways of the northern and southern halves of the continent.
[X] Tzar Boris Bokha
Attend the coronation of the new Tzar of Kislev.
[X] Kalishiniviks
Observe the fate of the Kalishiniviks, who have been made a scapegoat for the death of the Tzar.
[X] Okri
You've met Loremaster Okri of Karak Eight Peaks once before. Pay him a visit and see how his great ambitions for heavily-armed Ironbreakers delivered by Gyrocarriage are going.
[X] Skull River Ambush
Look into the investigation of the mining of the Skull River, and any consequences of it.

Shaper47 · Oct 21, 2023

[X] Eike
[X] Druchii Diplomats
[X] Eonir Tourism
[X] Tzar Boris Bokha
[X] The Black Water Canal

Nerdasaurus Rex · Oct 21, 2023

I thought I'd check to see how well my predictions panned out:

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Cadaeth: like Hatalath's, but foresty

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Aksel: eight sticks

Cadaeth and Aksel didn't participate in the foundations action, so nul points for me there. I actually should have checked before hand—for some reason I thought we had put everyone on the action.

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Colleges: something weird and experimental and prone to exploding.

Boney said:
Jovi Sunscryer

Do I need to say any more? 1 point.

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Hatalath: simultaneously elegant and complicated. Can't be mass produced.

Boney said:
"Lords Skathrai and Yngra worked together on an orbital mechanism," he says, tapping on a stack of notes in what looks like an Anoqeyån-based shorthand. "They both have a long history of developing things for military use, so they know the importance of keeping mechanisms simple for widespread deployment." He slides over a set of thaumaturgic schematics towards you and you frown down at them. Sure enough, you're pretty sure that creating the enchantment detailed here would be within the capabilities of even most human enchanters, but that doesn't mean you understand how it works - it's all elegant interweavings and interdependent and recursively self-referential crosshatchings.

Boney said:
"Meanwhile, Lord Elrithish and I," Hatalath continues, "have reverse-engineered and replicated the original storage mechanisms - though I very much doubt we've recreated the way they were originally made. Even by the standards of that time, this would be a nightmare to have to create in any substantial number." The second schematic covers three and a half scrolls, and you feel a headache brewing before you finish skimming the second. This shows none of the elegance and efficiency of the other schematic, instead being a brute-force piece-by-piece recreation of every individual component of the enchantment, with a great deal of struts and scaffolding to prevent it all from collapsing in on itself before its completion. This might make a starting point for further refining - hopefully a great deal of refining - and perhaps as a basis for theoretical research into Elven enchanting techniques, but unless you stumble upon a few thousand underemployed Archmages its current form is not going to be usable for creating new Waystones in any usable number.

The Grey Lords trumped my expectations by providing two prototypes, both of which are elegant and complicated, but only one can't be mass produced. I'm going to grade myself one and a half points there.

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Sarvoi: like Hatalath's, but mystical

Boney said:
Sarvoi, it seems, has a lot to share but little of it of immediate use - he and the Druchii Sorceress had apparently engaged in some rather recursive mind-games to try to winkle magical secrets out of each other, and while it seems both of them enjoyed the challenge and Sarvoi is eager to retell what he considers to be the most thrilling gambits of it, there seems to be a profound lack of usable results from it.

A druchii sorceress is equal parts elegant, complicated, and mystical, and the fact that Sarvoi provided nothing but stories shows its lack of mass productivity—1 point.

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Thorek: a bunch of lost runes cobbled together

Boney said:
"It struck me that trying to do such rote and predictable work with any of our crafts was misplaced effort," he says. "The Engineers Guild of Karak Hirn put this together for me, a hand-cranked proof of concept for a mechanism that would be linked into Wind-sensitive valves. It would take input from the array of eight valves here," he points to eight small steel drums, and pushes three of them downwards. "Using mechanisms adapted from a stepped reckoner, it opens between two and eight valves when the input from enough of them is above some arbitrary threshold." He turns a wheel, and with a rattle of gears and a sudden click, three rods push downwards, and then retract back up again as the machine resets itself. "It seems to me that the most appropriate design would be based on a mainspring that would need rewinding once a month, but it could also work with vanes or a millrace or similar."

Thorek completely outsmarted me here by going for a purely mechanical solution. Nul points.

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Zlata: shrugs shoulders

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
Niedzwenka: spirits

Boney said:
Niedzwenka, as it turned out, called it justification enough to rain hell and nightmares down upon those lands in general and the Boyar specifically.

Technically speaking, Niedzenka did make extensive use of spirits in her hunt for a foundation prototype, and Zlata did look on in horror as a mage many times her senior broke reality over their knee. I think that's worth a point and a half, collectively.

Final tally: 5/8—I was more than 50% correct on my predictions. I think I'm going to reward myself with a cookie for that.

Gavin Prince · Oct 21, 2023

[ ] Waystone Prototype (Carved Rune, Runic Capstone, Material+Collegiate Storage, Grey Lord Orbit Enchantment, Hedgewise River Leyline)
[ ] Make Orbs of Sorcery
[ ] Write AV Book (Part I)
[ ] Codify Knightbringer
[ ] ELFCATION PART ONE

[ ] Serenity: AV Book Part II
[ ] EIC: Earn thousands of gold through ithilmar
[ ] KAU: Set up book contracts in Lothern
[ ] Coin: Protector

does sound on the face of it like a very fulfilling and eventful turn.

Kinda fittingly, the best pick in every category for Waystone construction comes from a different magical tradition (well, the leyline has several good options). With nothing at all from Kislev.

TotallyNotEvil · Oct 21, 2023

[X] The Black Water Canal
[X] Tzar Boris Bokha

bigal134 · Oct 21, 2023

[x] The Black Water Canal
[x] Tzar Boris Bokha
[x] Eonir Tourism
[x] Eike
[x] Nordland

Tomcost · Oct 21, 2023

Boney said:
According to my notes it's something like this:

Capstone
Collegiate Fascis
Stone Flower
Runic Inductor

Rune
Carving
Dwarven
Eonir
Collegiate

Storage
Material
Enchantment (Collegiate)
Material + Collegiate Enchantment
Enchantment (Reverse-Engineered, Unrefined)
Runes

Orbital Mechanism
Dwarven Clockwork
Grey Lord Enchantment

Leyline
Riverine - Hedgewise
Riverine - Jade
Riverine - Spirit

It is supposed to be 'your'.

After seeing this, I think that we can analyze what to do next turn.

So far, I think that the best components from each category is the following:

Capstone
Runic Inductor

Rune
Carving

Storage
I don't know, it is not really clear which one is best

Orbital Mechanism
Grey Lord Enchantment

Leyline
Riverine - Jade

With special mention to the original enchantment, that could be polished until it is as strong as the original one, and the capstone metal we have not deigned to try to buy from Cathay (but we could, and would be optimal).

Mechanical components inside a Waystone are a few move cantrips from exploding from the outside, so while I like the idea, I would not support it. The storage mechanism could go to the colleges, to get input from humans and make this a more collaborative experience. Every race contributing something.

Thoughts?

Gavin Prince · Oct 21, 2023

Tomcost said:
Mechanical components inside a Waystone are a few move cantrips from exploding from the outside

I don't know if that's really true, though. Nothing I've heard about Move indicates that you can do it to the internals of your target, or it would be a horrifically effective murder spell.

DragonParadox · Oct 21, 2023

I think the hedgewise leyline is probably better if we are making this thing in a populated area. As for storing Material + Collegiate Enchantment is probably our best bet. We want to over engineer this first stone as a proof of concept, if we can later pare down the storage good, but for now we just want to know how all the parts fit together.

Nerdasaurus Rex · Oct 21, 2023

DragonParadox said:
I think the hedgewise leyline is probably better if we are making this thing in a populated area.

I agree—the Hedgewise enchantment in high trafficked areas, where the weekly upkeep can be maintained, and then the druidic enchantment in more remote areas, where we can just fire and forget it without worrying too much.

Tomcost · Oct 21, 2023

Nerdasaurus Rex said:
I agree—the Hedgewise enchantment in high trafficked areas, where the weekly upkeep can be maintained, and then the druidic enchantment in more remote areas, where we can just fire and forget it without worrying too much.

The problem is that it is not fully efficient and we probably have to decide for the full river what Dhar transportation method we are using.

If I had to choose with my eyes closed, I would choose the Jades over the rest every time.

Nerdasaurus Rex · Oct 21, 2023

Tomcost said:
The problem is that it is not fully efficient and we probably have to decide for the full river what Dhar transportation method we are using.

If I had to choose with my eyes closed, I would choose the Jades over the rest every time.

But the Jade enchantment is noted to be challenging and time consuming to make. Meanwhile, the upkeep for the Hedgewise enchantment can be tied into road/riverwarden patrols, or local religious practices (seeing as we'll likely have to negotiate with local river spirits anyway). That's why I'd prefer to use the faster and easier to produce method in areas with lots of people, and use the slower method to plug gaps where maintenance isn't practical.

Glau · Oct 21, 2023

I think we need to be thinking in time scales of millenia rather than decades when we think about external upkeep. Idk if the wardens will survive that long.

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