The Long Night Part Three: Bonfire at Dawn (45k)

Desperation was a funny thing. When defeat was almost certain, a monster could sometimes start to empathise with those in a similar position. Well, whatever in their twisted soul-mind passed for empathy. And those in a similar position being, well, similar monsters.

So it came to pass that the Lord of Shadows sent emissaries to the fortress of Asdrubael Vect. At first, they were quiet, ghostly things, passing word to underlings – but when rumours got out about the Clown's visit to the Drukhari, Belakor requested an audience.

Despite holding a deep enmity towards Belakor for the daemon being broadly responsible for his current situation, the once-Eldar was intrigued by what these tidings could mean. His fortress, opulent yet twisted under Slaanesh's influence, seemed to hum with an uneasy anticipation. Silks rippled, shadows stretched, and distant echoes of indulgent laughter felt more hollow now than comforting. Slaanesh, once an ever-watchful guardian, had grown weak – her promised protection now barely more than a veneer.

The original bargain Vect had struck was simple, if dark: his people for the protection of Slaanesh, all of it bound by the Oathstone. Yet, as Slaanesh's influence waned, her guardianship was no longer a safeguard but a glaring vulnerability. It made Vect increasingly aware of how exposed he truly was.

Belakor, however, had his own problems – he was losing as well, albeit more slowly. Yet even in his diminished state, the daemon prince remained a dangerous player, and, apparently, he had a plan. Through the trickery of the warp and a thousand technicalities, Belakor claimed he could subvert the Oathstone. By using the stolen power of Tjapa and his control over the Domain of Slavery, Belakor offered to take on the burden of protecting Vect from Slaanesh, and in return, enslave a second Chaos God.

Vect found himself considering the offer with a mixture of intrigue and trepidation. His current deal with the Prince of Pleasure left him increasingly exposed – relying on a failing god was a risk he could no longer afford. But accepting Belakor's proposition meant tying himself to a different sinking ship. Belakor's ambition was no less perilous, and the promise of a touch more safety came with new chains – ones that might be even harder to slip free of.

The Master of the Drukhari had always done whatever was necessary to survive, but now, the options were getting bleaker. As the message of his intent made its way back to Belakor, Vect steeled himself. He would meet with Belakor, and listen to what the Shadowlord had to say. He had no choice, really – survival demanded it, even if it meant dealing with a devil.

And so, in the dim light of his Slaaneshi fortress, Vect waited, poised between treating with the clown to preserve a crumbling alliance and the shadow of Belakor's approaching offer.

1) Are void shields easy enough to upgrade for old DAoT ships send to the Unchained to have the ones Tranth developed?
a) Would those ships have Ex Torps?
b) Would they use old batteries and lances or upgrade to disintegrators?
c) Are runes easy enough to refit for those ships to have any?
1) yes
a) yes
b) most have upgraded
c) yes

2) What rolls would have been necessary for the Fell Handed to cut into Abaddon in such a way that his arms are eternally at risk of falling of, without any chance of healing?
2) not raelly any

1) What generation of Avernite abhuman are current babies being born right now on?
1) 9th century
slightly better then 8th but not a whole lot

1) Just to check, but is 35 Combat the threshold where outside of crit fails the character is very unlikely to die from wildlife and other random encounters?
1) in general yes
though as Governor of Avernus it will be a bit lower
30 should do
you will also be likely to gain combat traits early, so could easly afford to be a point or two down
especily if you dont buy many aquired combat traits

1) Would the first successor to Fred dying to Avernus Being Avernus cause any problems, do we think, or is that just going to get "Fucking Avernus" and move onto the next one?
1) just going fuck Avernus and moving on
if there is one thing Avernite understand its deaths in the chain of command
if they keep dropping like flies it will cause problems
but a single early death will cause none

1) Does Be'lakor have any direct pull with Solariel right now through Tjapa without getting out extra sorcerous bindings?
1) some

1) When purchasing an upgraded version of a trait do we pay just the cost of the upgraded trait or the sum cost of the upgraded trait and all previous versions of that trait?
1) sum cost

2) Can you explain how the minus skill value traits work? Such as Fast Learner.
2) it reduced your total skill value by X
making it easier to earn new traits

3) How many 'points' of C for purposes of not dying is Danger Sense worth?
3) 1-2

4) How does Tormod's Fate-Touched stack up against the hero's luck traits?
4) its a more dangerous version
but also one with higher rewards

5) Does taking an intelligence or quick learner trait make Nurma worse at teaching others due to prodigy syndrome? Do the diplo traits help offset this?
5) yes and no

6) Would something like Natural Mentor that makes Nurma better at teaching others skills she is good at work as an option?
6) yes
it would also be very expensive

7) How beneficial is having basic Sa sense?
7) its pretty valauble in some situations, not at all in others
general value of 2

8) Are both Gets Magic and Sa Sensitive redundant/included in the package if we choose Magical Genius?
8) no, just Sa Sensative

9) Can we get an upgraded version of Danger Sense?
9) no
you did not focus on combat

10) do we know how proud of the silver skulls Perturabo is?
10) no

11) Trait Idea: Coward's Luck: -3 Combat, counts as 2x that positively for the purposes of not dying, reduced morale for forces under your command, less likely to get into duels.
11) will add wth modifications

12) would Perturabo be willing to turn traitor for any reason?
12) unknown

13) how much of an issue would the below groups have with finding out numra considers xenos her parents?
A) avrenites in geeral
B) the rest of the trust
13) some but not major
b) notable but not critical

14) Does Magical Genius include the sa sense?
14) yes

2) What happens if Skill Value goes negative?
2) nothing special

3) Do Rapid Learner and the Heroes Luck tree count for Trait Value?
3) if they don't provide stats then no

5) Do the innate traits count towards the breakpoints of 30/40/50 in the Acquired Traits section?
5) yes

7) Is Avernus exempting Tamia from fatal wildlife attacks these days?
7) no

1) Could we request that for her and other high-value researchers like Tranth and Maximal, at least for the Singularity? Or is that very likely going to be denied if we try?
1) you can ask

2) Is Frederick really still 562 or is that age out of date?
2) out of date

3) Is she on the list that would get an Eldar rez if she died like Jane?
3a) Is she not targeted by the truekilling spiders?
3) yes
Ans yes

1) Can the Eldar catch Tamia or Tranth's souls in time if they died to non-soulkilling wildlife?
1) maybe

2) By the by, this one is fine, right? The Long Night Part Three: Bonfire at Dawn (45k)
2) yes

3) If Nurma has Magical Genius and develops it, how does she handle Telepathica research that uses Power or Control? Is she just locked out of those entirely, forced to roll without those bonuses, or something else?
3) forced to roll without bonuses

1) How long do we expect Trust Mechanicus like Scott can live?
1) another 500 years or so maximan
barring notable tech improvments

1) What level of Will do we need to be safe in the way we need 30C?
1) no set breakpoint

2) How does Nurglite doctrine interpret Freedom?
2) unknown
its brand new

3) Could the Necrons be used to diplo the Tortolions?
3) maybe

4) Out of curiosity, was a minor psyker possible for this character gen?
4) no

5) Would:

Push Past your Limits (+1W, +2C, more liekly to gain traits)

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From Jacob's traits be something that could be adapted into an innate or acquired trait option?
5) no

6) How about ?

Lucky (+2C, far less likely to die)

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Click to shrink...

6) no

7) Do conditional bonuses to stats influence trait value?
7) no

8) Given the number of harassing operations that the Trust goes through, are Gravhook Harass ships workable, especially if the effective number goes up a lot?
8) yes but are restrictive

1) How much of an issue would the Standing changes from Coward's Luck be?
1) it would make the early part of Nurmas leadership challaning
but unless you mess up you would eventuly move past it

1) Can Bushmen training be an Acquired Combat trait?
1) yes
done

2) Is Veteran compatible with Coward's Luck?
2) yes

3) Mechanically speaking what happens if we push Trait Value + Skill Value into the negatives (most likely by taking all the -Skill Value traits)?
3) im pretty sure that is impossible
it would require all your aquired traits to give you less then 6 stat points
rather then the average of 20

4) Just to confirm, random events, assuming you don't die, boost trait gain, right?
4) yes

1) Can you stack Veteran multiple times?
1) no

1) Do bonuses to using a weapon contribute to lower chances of dying?
1) yes

2) How much L do we need to start taking Research actions (Assuming we pick one of the traits that allow researching)?
2) 30
Though there will also be a few other gates

3) would a trait about her being raised by xenos work as a diplo trait?
3) yes

4) Is there any reason to pick Academic as an L trait as opposed to the Magic/Sciences L trait instead?
4) just stacking

1) How would a Trust vs Old Imperium fight go today?
1) how's you ammo reserve?
And will your troops morale hold up killing non chaos humans in job lots
It's not like they are a military threat or anything

2) How's Akadia's body compare to a primarch?
2) newly on par biologically
So several tears down when you actually compare themn

2) Has Akadia reached her final form or could she plausibly go even further beyond?
2) she doubts she will be able to go further

3) Does Sa Sense contribute to reduced chance of dying?
3) yes

4) What other gates are there?
4) actions

1) Any obvious issues with this build? The Long Night Part Three: Bonfire at Dawn (45k)
1) no it's looks like a valid build focused more on growth potential over starting stats

1) How is the Baal Protectorate doing? Iirc they had been almost flattened by the Last Waagh a while back.
1) they are one of the stronger minor powers these days
So not good

2) Since Sa Sensitive reduces chance of dying, and Prodigy makes us worse at teaching. I presume other innate traits have secondary effects. Would Prodigy include the secondary effects of Gets Magic/Technology +Genius?
2) no

4) Does Bushman Training have any extra bonuses to preventing death chance besides the raw stat increases?
4) no

5) Would our favorite Catachans benefit from Alkahestral Treatments attuned to the Infiltrator?
5) yes

1) Would they be willing to undergo augmentation?
1) unknown

2) How would we go about finding out?
2) diplo action

6): how about a "Specialty {char-stat}" (or maybe "idiot savant"?) trait that acts like the "{stat} genius" traits. So you get bonus to the stat, --but with the downside of a -1 in all other stats. could reasonably cost 1 I'd think (since you gain nothing in overall stats and it still doesn't grant arbitrary point-distribution control)
6) no

7): will we get a turn focused on what equipment we have? We are the governor now, so at minimum I'd expect us to be able to requisition some equipment within some "requisition budget" and that this is independent of our future efforts (example: diplo actions to get artifacts from the lizard folk/other, since I expect that rotbarts not handing over any of his).

Furthermore, I'd expect that we are still going to have wildlife attacks/assassination attempts be abstracted to a roll with our characters overall capabilities more-or-less simplified and abstracted into a bonus to our chances (although with every plan going with 'chosen of fate', maybe there will be at least some unique encounters? <shrug>)

.....but this would be a good moment to establish some fluff and connect with our new POC by having more decisions on how to build our character (do we build for proper combat, or anti-ambush?) maybe also a way for us to try to fill in holes in our char-sheet too....its also the only thing that can be plausibly done IC too.
7) you won't
Your equipment list is anything produced by the trust that you want
With a cost so negligible it's not worth mentioning

8) What's Zeno's A score now?
8) exemplar

9) What narrative effects would the following traits have in the future:
9a) Prodigy
9b) Gets Magic
9c) Gets Technology
9) not going into details

2) Will Vlad's debriefing happen during the Grand Conclave or another time?
2) off screen

3) Did we give the Anatolian access to our psychic knowledge?
3) yes

4) Why is Prospero Egyptian like the necrons?
4) who knows

1) Is a trait representing having been worked with the Biologis in a lesser research study possible?
1) not a seperate one

1) Can we have Frederick order his advisors to give Nurma extra training during one of the turns where we still play as him?
1) yes, and have Nurma ask for training during turns when its her

2) Just to confirm, for the write in-stat bonus for Expert of [Weapon], can't write in more C, right?
2) yes

1) Would faster UDA production via 'spending a ton of energy on it' make sense as a tech?
1) yes

2) Does the initial lighting of the Astronomican work as a cataclysm spell base?
2) yes

3) A weird thought, but just occured to me, but is it possible to use Psychic Archtecture to make something like a Guide-Ship? Basically a ship with PA to max out it's warp speed in a way that would let a fleet follow it and take advantage of it's boosted warp speed. (Specific narrative would likely be based around explorer ships charting out the unknown, scout ships looking ahead for danger as well the general idea of scout searching ahead for a larger army.)
(Another advantage on top of the boosted warp speed is that an entire fleet could take advantage of the speed of the highest-skilled Navigators instead of the speed of the average-skill Navigator)
3) no

1) Is the Emperor's Death that spelled the end of the Imperium a good Cataclysm spell base?
1) no

1) Are the Triumvirate, as in the gods themselves, good at casting Rituals?
1) no

1) Is it possible to use the sealing of that original Primordial Sea contamination into the Sword as a cataclysm spell base? Or at least the Sa parts
1) maybe

1): the first step for improving standing with the Council of Peoples is 1 point while with the trust its 2; this seems odd to me. any particular reason or...?
1) I don't know what you are asking

1) Regarding point costs for the Liason to the Council of Peoples (1) and Representative to Imperial Trust (2) traits
1) different expectations

1) Could you elaborate?
1) the trust and the council of peoples have different levels of expectation for their relationships with avernus
And different ways of judging who would be a good leader

2a): does the over-30 trait cost only applies to acquired traits?
2b): If you have 3 traits that increase a stat to 30, all of them separate; does adding another make all of them +1 cost? or just the one that is being added (and its pre-requisites)? If yes, that makes increasing a stat past 30
2) yes
2b) just the one being added

3): would one of our magic researchers not being themselves a psyker (IE: Nurma if she gets magical genius and 30 L) provide better avenues for us developing psi-tech (better runes, warp-tech, etc) that doesn't require active-upkeep/interaction from psykers (or more likely, just less)?
3) unknwon

4): Does "magical genius" provide any bonuses to research actions--not just the ability to do telepathica actions in the first place? if so, roughly how much power/control is it equivilent to? I'm wondering if this trait costs too much for the ability to do only the easiest of research actions (as things stand, missing that power/control bonus seems crippling to a researcher)...

(I'd take this to mean: For the Hands-- a group of people that was filtered for people good for govenorship--its improbable that they'd be useful for telepathica research)
4) it does not
Reminder that around 90% of your research is learning base not power or control

5) Did Slaneesh getting rekt affect the Solitares any?
5) no

6) Slaneesh got an insignificant hold over the Eldar during the Great Ritual, did that fade or otherwise have anything happen to it given everything that has happened so far?
6) no

1) For the inert matter transporters, would this general idea work?

Basically they are based on the original First Worldship Teleporters which have extreme range, but are suicidal to use, but because it's for inert matter and not for living people, the suicidalness factor does not matter too much.

(Range would be planetary, possibly within the same solar system? It's effectively industrial tech)
1) sounds viable
Might have issues with delicate machinery as well

2) When does voting close?
2) I will give you a day or two

1) How much influence does Kilbark have in the BI?
1) a tiny amount

1) Do all these work? Industrial Tech
1) 1st two yes, third no

1) Do augmentations and blessings tend to count as acquired or innate traits?
1) it varies case by case

2) Does Nurma already have artifacts, or do we need to take a diplo action to get her some next turn?
2) diplo action

1) Does she get the Saurus Relics by default?
1) yea

3) Is there an "Unusual Phenotype (-1D with racists) - This character's [insert physical traits here], while perfectly normal for an Avernite, are considered somewhat deviant by the standards of baseline humanity, and therefore may be subject to prejudice" trait on some Avernites' char sheets? Is that an accurate encapsulation of the trait and its mechanical effects?
3) there is
It's pretty rare though
The standard for what is normal is way bigger then 40k, let alone real life

1) Is Zarernax currently in the Ophelian Theocracy?
1) yes

1) Are machine spirits sa, ka, both, or something else?
1) sa

2) Has Akadia integrated much of the biological weirdness of Avernus?
2) a little
Most is beyond her

3) If she hasn't, is buffing her in such a way something Maximal could do?
3) no

1) In the hypothetical that our character had rolled a maxed out exploded stat, would we have gotten extra options for that stat even if we had not focused on it?
1) yes

1) Would the long study of Micro-Alloys enough to justify upgrades to UDA?
1) no

2) Can the Trolls create UDA directly via Transmutation?
2) yes but not in naval quanitates

There are 3 main forms of traits
Innate Traits are traits that are part of what you are, they include things like genius, your species and similar. They are near impossible to gain and lose and do not contribute to your Trait Value but do contribute to your skill value.
Acquired Traits are traits that you have gained over your life, and are the vast majority of all traits. They contribute to both Trait Value and Skill Value .
Artefact Traits are traits that reflect the artefacts you wield, and as such do not contribute to either Trait Value or Skill Value .

Trait Value is one of the main factors determining how easy it is to gain new traits, and the higher it is the harder it is to gain new traits. It is the total bonus of all acquired traits divided by the number of skill categories you have (rounded)
Skill Value is another factor that affects how easy it is to gain new traits, and also determines when you reach the boundaries of Paragon and Transcendent. You gain 0.5 Skill value for every stat of at least 30, plus an additional 1 for every 10 beyond 30 you raise a stat. You also gain 1 Skill Value for every Paragon and 2 for every Transcendent.
The sum of your Skill Value and Trait Value determines how hard it is to gain new traits, with breakpoints at 16, 34 and 54.

Bullet points are upgrades of previous trait and totally replace it, (note, I am open to write in traits but they need to be okayed by me first). First choose all innate traits then acquired traits.