Teclis showing up would be cool since Paht would be much more of an equal to him than Mathilde, so there's a fun contrast. This quest also works on a timescale where Teclis could be an actual regular member of the cast despite his constant adventures across the globe.
'Stuff that tempts Teclis to come here and destructively research my problems' could actually be a valid interest for Patron Aelsabrim.
The fine line is stuff to tempt him over to destructively research Aelsabrim's problems while not being interesting enough to have him want to destructively research us.
I like the Lie of Aenarion option. Both because of its narrative and because it's probably the most inappropriate choice for Pahtsekhen so I'm sure if he were on the ballot he'd definitely choose it.
I mean, there's nothing wrong with a teacher of many great black mages taking custody of a member of the Aenarion line who is destined for greatness, right?
Okay, so I wanted to refine the idea I've been repeatedly advocating (and repeatedly losing the vote for) into something with enough synergy to be beneficial, but enough flexibility to change tacks depending on what results end up being. Ultimately, the main focus of my ideas has been an exhibit on the Kraken Sea, the practice of the Norscans of sending their fallen out to be devoured by the monsters of it as an honor, and the creation of the Tide of Skjold from that practice.
My arguments remain the same: Our Acquisitionist and Staff are well-suited for this: The Tide of Skjold are excellent acquisitionists for both Sea-Beasts and Norsca, both of which would be key parts of the exhibit. Our Skald also has detailed understanding of Norsca, and an even better one of the history of the Vampire Coast, which can likely be used for the Tide of Skjold's part in things.
But rather than focusing on the Kraken Sea itself (where we'd really mostly only have some Sea Beasts/Trophies for things that appeal to the audiences we currently have cultivated) or the way the Kraken Sea interfaces with the Norscan people who inter their dead there (who we lack an Audience that's particularly interested in), I'm thinking of altering my various ideas into an exhibit centered more specifically around the creation of the Tide of Skjold.
This would still hit the main points I wanted (covering the interment traditions of the Bjornlings), but with a renewed focus on the Tide of Skjold's origin from those traditions and how it led to their creation.
This would mean a newfound focus on History (which could have an even better result if it counts as Vampire Coast History thanks to our Skald), Magic, and possibly even Necromantic Diaspora depending on how relevant it is to the manner in which the Tide of Skjold was raised, while retaining some aspects like Sea Beast that would appeal to the Sea Elves.
We've already got the Runestone, and we could do some dedicated investigation into both the Tide of Skjold and the Kraken Sea for other particular Relics, since both the Skald and the Tide of Skjold themselves should be very helpful in going after them.
This won't really do much with our most likely new Staff member, but I think that's more than alright. It's not what the Lie of Aenarion can do now that we're interested in so much as seeing what happens after Paht gets to tutoring him. And who knows? Maybe there'll be something in my idea that the Citadel of Dusk as a Patron will be interested in.
Any thoughts on how I could develop this? What I've got in terms of thoughts for Relics/actions for this are:
-Investigate (Kraken Sea and/or Tide of Skjold) and follow up on leads for Relics
-Tide of Skjold hunts for Kraken Sea Sea Beasts (specifically looking for one used for the process by the Bjornlings.)
-Acquire Relic: Norscan/Bjornling Funerary Paraphernalia (dress up a Draugr or two and set up the exhibit so that it looks like one is entering the beast's mouth, while another is sinking beneath the waves, ignored.)
-Get a replica made of the Tide of Skjold (the ship.)
Oh damn, so it looks like the whole 'the dwarfs took in a bunch of Belthani refugees' may have roots in Warhammer proper. Vampire Counts 8e, page 29:
In the mountain range known as the Vaults, savage tribes of men wage war upon the monsters that haunt the peaks. In caverns hidden from beast and storm, they bury their honoured dead in the fashion of the ancients. Every year, the tribesmen return to pay homage to the chieftains of the past, and every year, there are always a few who are no longer in place. These waking dead walk the lands once more, the tattered remnants of their majesty bound to the service of the lords of the night.
Not a fan of "savage tribes of men" (I personally attribute that to perennially ignorant scholars, probably from Nuln), but otherwise it maps well onto the new lore, with the Belthani maintaining their ancient traditions into the modern day.
Also while I'm here, I'd like to express annoyance with how Vampire Counts 7e puts its magic spells in the middle of the units list instead of afterwards like it would if it were sensible.
Also while I'm here, I'd like to express annoyance with how Vampire Counts 7e puts its magic spells in the middle of the units list instead of afterwards like it would if it were sensible.
I used to be a pirate, and it made unliving fine
I'd loot my way across the land and down the Upper Reik
But times were hard and though I tried, the booty wasn't there
And the bankers came and took my ship and told me "fair is fair"
I looked for every kind of berth, the answer always no
"Hire you now?" they'd always laugh, "We just let twenty go!"
The ghoul Black Jens, he promised me a measly little sum
But I've got too much pride to end up just another bum.
Then I thought, who gives a damn with all the targets gone?
I'm gonna do some research and dissect a Stegadon!
And it's a read-ho, find-ho, digging up the plains
Doing lots of research until it's all explained
It's a ho-hey, hi-hey Altdorf bar yer doors
When ya see the Jolly Roger come to give you a lecture
Well, you'd think the local mummies would know that I'm at large
But just the other day I found a sunken ancient barge
I snuck up right inside it and they were none the wiser,
I took their ship and displayed it and now we analyse her!
A bridge outside of Itza spans a mighty ravine
Lizards patrol far and near to find our dig site unseen
Cause they know Museum Jack is hidin' in the bay
I'll test the bridge and publish first and gather all acclaim!
And it's a read-ho, find-ho, digging up the plains
Doing lots of research until it's all explained
It's a ho-hey, hi-hey Altdorf bar yer doors
When ya see the Jolly Roger come to give you a lecture
Well, Kraken Bob he chased me, he was always at my throat
He was stuck at the shoreline cause he could only float
But movement aids were comin so the Kraken got a job
So now he's digging with us, and we call him Study Bob!
A research board, a skull and bones and pleasant company
I never give gold tablets back and screw angry mummies (Screw em!)
Divin' down in Tiranoc, the expert of the seas
If you think that you can publish first, boy, you gotta out write me!
And it's a read-ho, find-ho, digging up the plains
Doing lots of research until it's all explained
It's a ho-hey, hi-hey Altdorf bar yer doors
When ya see the Jolly Roger come to give you a lecture
Well, research life's appealing but you just don't find it here
I hear just south of Norsca there's some mad examineers
They roam the Sea of Claws now from Skjold to Tor Alessi
And they'll go and talk your ear off if you have to pass their way!
Well, morrsleib is a'comin' and the dhar is in the breeze
My digging time us over once artifacts start to bleed
I'll be back in daylight but soon I have to go
I hear there's lots of researchin' down under old Tylos!
And it's a read-ho, find-ho, digging up the plains
Doing lots of research until it's all explained
It's a ho-hey, hi-hey Altdorf bar yer doors
When ya see the Jolly Roger come to give you a lecture
And it's a read-ho, find-ho, digging up the plains
Doing lots of research until it's all explained
It's a ho-hey, hi-hey Altdorf bar yer doors
When ya see the Jolly Roger come to give you a lecture
When ya see the Jolly Roger come to give you a lecture
Last Saskatchewan Pirate, by The Arrogant Worms. I got nothing.
'Wildly differing' in religions and traditions is easily evident, but is the same true of writing? While you'd realistically expect a bunch of linguistic drift over the years, my understanding is that Warhammer languages are weirdly close, such as Bretonnian and Reikspiel basically being dialects of one another. By the time they'd set up oghams, linguistic drift was minimal enough that Teclis could translate it because of its similarity to Anoqeyan, a language from another species on another continent. I have the idea that while there'd be differences in how different Belthani groups wrote, they'd be mutually intelligible with one other.
Apologies if what I'm doing is nitpicking what you said to the point of misunderstanding and/or badness.
'Wildly differing' in religions and traditions is easily evident, but is the same true of writing? While you'd realistically expect a bunch of linguistic drift over the years, my understanding is that Warhammer languages are weirdly close, such as Bretonnian and Reikspiel basically being dialects of one another. By the time they'd set up oghams, linguistic drift was minimal enough that Teclis could translate it because of its similarity to Anoqeyan, a language from another species on another continent. I have the idea that while there'd be differences in how different Belthani groups wrote, they'd be mutually intelligible with one other.
Apologies if what I'm doing is nitpicking what you said to the point of misunderstanding and/or badness.
@Boney If I wanted to do investigation specifically relating to the Tide of Skjold's connection to and origin from the Kraken Sea, what would be the best wording for it? Kraken Sea? Birth/Creation of the Tide of Skjold? I was concerned that just doing it on the Tide of Skjold would mean the focus starts to turn to their later deeds when I'm more focused on their creation.
@Boney If I wanted to do investigation specifically relating to the Tide of Skjold's connection to and origin from the Kraken Sea, what would be the best wording for it? Kraken Sea? Birth/Creation of the Tide of Skjold? I was concerned that just doing it on the Tide of Skjold would mean the focus starts to turn to their later deeds when I'm more focused on their creation.
'Creation of the Tide of Skjold'. 'Kraken Sea and Tide of Skjold'. 'The town of Skjold'. 'The Pearl of the Kraken Sea'. Any of those would do the job. If you're really worried about being misunderstood, elaborate further in the post where you first lay out the vote - if there's any ambiguity I go to the origin for an option and see if they said anything further about what was meant.
That said, investigations cast a wide net. Doing an investigation into the Tide would get you at least one option connected with their origin.
In a hall carved out of a rock in the middle of the ocean, a young Elf looks without seeing at a skeleton of some sort of beast, mind too turned inward to notice more than the size of the teeth. They had thrown off the shackles of who they had been told they were and were still working on who they had been taught they were. So thorough would the purging have to be that even the word 'they' was merely being used as a least bad identifier. Nothing of what they thought they knew can remain for the despair of entrapment to cling to, lest it refoul the new beginning they seek.
Among the forest of bones, a sheet of canvas has been set up next to one of the skeletons so that it can be stripped down for some sort of unguent to be applied by a Human labourer in plain robes. For an Elf the signs of ageing the Human shows would indicate they have mere decades left to live, but for a Human they might still have a third of their lifespan ahead of them, which... would still be mere decades. A twinge of sympathy runs through a soul far more practiced at feeling that for itself. Humans are so terribly beholden of death, it's little wonder that they have a long history of reinventing methods to try to hold it at bay, one of which led to the warlord being glorified here.
The youth turns their more mystical senses outwards, and sure enough, the Wind of Death that suffuses this place runs through the Human, rather than circling warily around him in the way that it usually does Elves. Shyish is the Wind of Endings, and the emotion it resonates with is the awareness of one's mortality. Perhaps reminded by the setting he labours in, the Human knows well that his life will soon be over. The Elf wonders if that will truly be the end for this Human, or if the loud Vampire outside will simply raise this one to continue their work. The Elf wonders if the human would prefer that, so far from the safety of the Gods of their homeland.
The sense that something has evaded them hovers in the back of their mind until they realize that the tides of death in this place orbit around one specific moon. The soul of the Human stood amongst the sea of Shyish not like mere flotsam being battered along by its whims, but as immovably, stubbornly, and in defiance of nature as Ulthuan itself.
---
One passenger on an Elven ship that visits your museum catches your attention for being younger, more brooding, and better dressed than the Elves you've met before. You greet them as they wander through the skeletons and they say the bare minimum to you to move away without causing offense, and you shrug and turn your attention back to the bones you're tending. Then later they approach you once more, more cautiously this time, and introduce themselves in a way that makes it clear they're fishing for information. Clearly something has piqued their curiosity. You obligingly describe yourself with the Eltharin to refer to a firstborn son to a Ruling Prince and kin to a Phoenix King, and you can see the wheels turning in their head.
They retreat once more, timid as a desert mouse, and you turn back to your work with a smile. You have a feeling that this one will be just as tenacious as the desert mouse; over the years you've developed something of a sense for those touched by greatness, and just as there's something within such people that calls out to you, there seems to be something in you that calls out to them. Destiny is like water: its flow can carve the world, but refusing to obey it forces the entire current to shape itself around you, leaving eddies that others can find shelter in.
The captain of the Elven ship that brought this passenger is no doubt being questioned now. You make no secret of your identity, but neither do you go out of your way to broadcast it, and you don't know if the captain knows or believes it. But you do know that they are under extremely clear instructions from Princess Aelsabrim to treat you with care and deference, and for a Human to be treated as a peer by an Elven Princess means a great deal more to most Elves than any Human title would. You're reconnecting a scapula when the child returns, and once it clicks into place you turn your full attention to them with a smile.
---
Ulthuan is the land beloved by the Gods, shaped into a paradise for their favoured children. To live there is to see their fingerprints everywhere you look, to be constantly surrounded by the reminder that the dictate of the Gods outweighs even something as basic as that a continent of stone should not be floating above the surface of the ocean. In such a place, the idea of avoiding a God-touched destiny is barely conceivable.
Aenureir, parched of hope for years, eagerly drinks deep of the poisoned lesson of Nehekhara, where destiny was shattered by Nagash and the shards ground down into powder by Neferata and her coterie. Where ordination had so little remaining hold that a Priest and a Prince, with the blood of the Fourth Dynasty still flowing through his veins, could simply walk away. The place that taught the lesson that all things died; men and beasts, gods and fates, hope and doom. And that in all that death, there is freedom, and that when all things rust away to nothing, that includes the chains and shackles.
Two Princes talk long into the night, and when the Elven ship leaves the next morning, it is without the passenger that it brought to the island.
---
Aenureir, by your measure, is a fifteen-year-old bundle of resentment and potential and doom. They have a sharp mind and have received some of the finest education Ulthuan can provide, making them a good source of knowledge on Asur culture and politics, and their former home of Ellyrion meant that said education included a great deal of knowledge on animals. They are, like so many others before them that have entered into your orbit, filled to bursting with potential and just waiting for a single scrap of intellectual nourishment to blossom forth, but unlike most you've known, this one currently has no direction, no ambition, no cause - they are here to free themselves from all of that, and are now adrift. You could give them a nudge towards a field to direct their energy towards, or take them on as a student yourself, or you could leave them to their own devices and see what they make of themselves. The decision is likely to have significant ramifications for the person they grow into.
[ ] Physical Raised in Ellyrion, Aenureir has had an extremely physically active life on the Ellyrian steppes and is already skilled enough with a bow that they'd have been welcomed into the Legions of Lybaras. They could be encouraged to hone this even further, joining one of the living crews of Awakening to hone their body with the labours of the seas and their skills with the clash of combat.
[ ] Mental Aenureir is intelligent and curious. Fill in the gaps in their general knowledge, then introduce them to mentors among the academics of Awakening, Araby, and the Citadel of Dusk to pursue whichever studies interest them.
[ ] Life Direct their energies towards learning how to interact with people in this new corner of the world, from this new position of lesser status. Have Fjlonir introduce Aenureir to Awakening's populace, and once some time has passed and their hair has grown out, have Aelsabrim introduce them to the civilian population of the Citadel of Dusk.
[ ] Death Most living beings would balk at living in a place so suffused with Death, and yet this one didn't hesitate. That speaks of either a mindset already very attuned to Shyish, or a natural affinity for it. Take them on as your student and teach them to understand and wield the Amethyst Wind as taught by the Mortuary Cult, either for its own sake or as a foundation for further studies into what Nagash built atop it.
[ ] Nothing Leave them without direction, to flourish or not based on their own desires and impetus.
New Staff:
Prince Aenureir of Korumel
That definitely isn't their real name. Whoever they are, their ancestor was Aenarion the Defender, and that means they are of the Line of Aenarion: a scattered bloodline that is the subject of all sorts of disparate and vague prophecies and omens. These are supposedly taken extremely seriously by the Phoenix Kings, who subject all of the bloodline to an extremely rigorous and invasive physical, psychological, spiritual, and magical examination upon their sixteenth birthday. This one has refused, and their flight led them to you.
Knowledges:
Ulthuan (Surface)
Beasts (Surface)
- Aenureir is currently adrift and impressionable. Any direction given to them now is likely to have a huge amount of influence on the person they turn out to be.
- None of the options will require any further actions taken or goodwill spent.
They are very thoughtful and could provide an interesting perspective to our museum.
[X] Death
Army of terrible beasts, Meleketh here we come. The curse of Khaine being what it is they could do worse than cutting themselves off from the Aethyr entirely and this would be a step along that path. Plus it's just Uncle being Uncle.
[X] Mental
A bright and curious young lad with the potential to become a titan in any or even all of the fields he cares to study? How could I not encourage him to learn and grow as broadly and deeply as he can?
Teaching Death feels very fitting to Uncle here, but it feels wrong to me to focus so hard on teaching Shysh to an Elf who could, if he wished, ascend to wield all of the winds, either individually, collectively, or as Dhar. That said, as an introduction to Necromancy, well, that has potential. Not gonna mind if it wins, but not gonna vote for it either.
He will be growing up in a museum, so study is critical, but no need to make a special note of the study of death, there is enough resources that he can ask if he wants.
